The 20th century is just under way, and somebody is killing the vampires of London. Against the wishes of his fellow undead, Simon Ysidro, oldest of the London vampires, seeks the assistance of Oxford professor James Asher, former spy for the British government. Ysidro gains Asher's cooperation by threatening the life of his beautiful young wife, Lydia.

Unbeknownst to Ysidro, Asher enlists the help of his wife, a physician with a keenly analytical mind. Asher prowls the streets and crypts of London with Ysidro, entering the dark underworld of the undead, as Lydia combs property records and medical journals for clues as to who might have the means and the motive to carry out the slaughter.

Asher's theory is that the killer must be a vampire himself, one able to remain awake and active in the daytime. Lydia develops a theory as to how such a vampire might come to be. Together Asher and Ysidro travel to Paris to seek out the mythical eldest of all vampires, Brother Anthony, who might be either the killer himself, or the key to the killer's undoing.

What they discover is a threat to the living as well as the undead. A scientist seeking to artificially endow British agents with the powers of vampires is behind the killings. The scientist's son has been transformed into a hybrid vampiric monster who can walk in the daylight, but craves the blood of other vampires to arrest the degeneration of his body. Asher and Ysidro, aided by Brother Anthony, destroy the hybrid vampire and end the threat. Ysidro leaves Asher and Lydia in peace and vanishes from their lives.

When Marie is found dead after making significant recovery before, Frank convinces the family that the cause of death was pneumonia. When David admits to seeing his uncle leave the residence hours before his babysitter's death, Wesley later confronts Frank about his actions at a family dinner at their parents' house and they reach a compromise, where Wes agrees to forget the whole incident. David, who was playing with his grandfather's pistol, once contemplates shooting Frank because of all the troubles he has given their family. Eventually, David decides to tell his parents Frank leaving their house time Marie died, implying that Frank was involved in the actions.

Wesley arrests Frank, who admits to killing Marie and molesting Indian women and arrests him in the basement, in order to avoid the embarrassment Frank would experience by going to the local jail. Wesley and Frank's father Julian is opposed to Frank's arrest and sends men to break Frank free at the house when Wesley is not there. Gail tries to scare them away by firing shotgun shots into the air. Gail later pleads for Wes to stop the nonsense and take Frank out the home so everything would stop. Wesley's moral values override his family loyalty and he agrees to take his brother to the local jail the next day. The sound of jars breaking in the basement, so the family wakes up. In the morning, Wesley finds that Frank killed himself by slitting his wrists with the broken glass.

After that, David and his family moves out of Bentrock, ending the fight between Wes and his dad.

The protagonist, Beli Bora Perjar (Bekim Fehmiu), is a charming but mean-spirited gypsy, while his former affair, the ''kafana'' singer Lenče (Olivera Vučo), is submissive. Bora is in love with the younger Tisa (Gordana Jovanović), who is being offered in marriage by her step-father. The two get themselves in trouble and eventually have to flee. Tisa rejects her husband and she and Bora get married in the church. Tisa tries to get to Belgrade, while Bora stabs a man in a knife fight. They are both, therefore, exiled from their Romani camp, yet their adventures continue.

This camp screwball comedy of errors, that includes many over-the-top stereotypes, is set at Halloween against the backdrop of West Hollywood, California.

Five friends, interior designer Evan (played by London); interior designer Harvey (played by Cheng); stockbroker Dave (played by Meadows); spinning instructor Fredrico (played by Sabàto); and Emme (played by Ubach), a sassy young woman obsessed with style and classic movies, have all been anticipating the West Hollywood Halloween Parade on Santa Monica Boulevard, which is the biggest and brashest block party of the year. Their annual tradition of joining the festivities in outrageous costumes has become part of local legend.

It is the night before Halloween, however, and they still have not decided what to be. Evan and Harvey, who are femme gay boyfriends and business partners, have come up with food-themed sushi costumes that everyone refers to as "wasabi tuna." Emme offers another suggestion — that they all dress up as gang members.

They all opt for the gang theme, but are unable to find the appropriate attire at the local stores. They then decide to seek out real life gang members in order to achieve the authentic, straight-from-the-hood look they want.

While doing interior design work for an extremely wealthy Armenian woman who is actually in the illegal drug trade, Harvey and Evan become unwitting drug couriers. After they are arrested, there is a comic scene at the WeHo sheriff's station with them attempting to talk their way out of trouble.

Dave goes to East L.A., where he comes across a real gang member named Romeo (played by Díaz). He makes a deal with Romeo to loan him his Porsche in exchange for his lowrider gang car. A case of mistaken identity makes a vengeful, rival gang get after them. There is a comic drive-by shooting scene. Also, by driving Romeo's lowrider they are unknowingly carrying an illegal cache of weapons.

Reality TV actress Anna Nicole Smith's (appearing as herself) pet dog, Sugar-Pie, is kidnapped. All is havoc, as a group of drag queens who dress like Smith, Santa Ana Anna (played by Arquette), Eenie Anna (played by Gil, who is a dwarf), Brown Sugar Anna and Hot Spicy Anna, believe that Harvey stole their idol's dog and band together to get Sugar-Pie back for Smith.

A wild chase ensues as gang members, drug dealers, drag queens, and the police force are after the partygoers. They end up in Chinatown, where an old Chinese man, Mr. Ling (also played by Cheng), is in partnership with the Armenian drug shrew. Everything culminates with the clash of personalities colliding in a feisty showdown. A free-for-all street fight, involving the gang members, drug dealers, undercover DEA detectives, a trio of female martial arts gymnasts and the Santa Ana Annas, erupts and everyone battles it out with flying fists, feet and wigs.

Anna Nicole Smith herself arrives and saves the day. As she shamelessly mocks herself, Smith clears up the Sugar-Pie mess, hands the drugs over to the police and invites the group to her Halloween party, where they change into their "wasabi tuna" costumes.

Bret Maverick wins a saloon in a poker game and decides to end his roving ways and settle down in Sweetwater, Arizona. He takes on as a partner the former sheriff who comes with a shady background.

In this romantic comedy story, a dim witted high school girl named Kotoko Aihara finally confesses her romantic feelings to a fellow senior named Naoki that she has been infatuated with from afar since she saw him on their first day of high school. However, Naoki, a hottie "super-''ikemen''" (handsome male) who is smart and good at sports, rejects her offhand. Fate intervenes when a mild earthquake ruins Kotoko's family house. While the house is rebuilt, Kotoko and her father stay at the home of her father's childhood best friend, whose son is revealed to be Naoki. Naoki eventually falls for Kotoko despite her clingy ways and childish behavior and starts to have romantic, protective feelings for her.

In this sequel to ''Those Who Hunt the Night'', professor James Asher and his young wife, Lydia, are again swept up in the dangerous world of the undead.

It is 1908, and a weary Asher, traveling home from his tiresome duties as executor of a relative's estate, spots Charles Farren, vampire Earl of Ernchester, clearly involved in some intrigue with mercenary and enemy spy Ignace Karolyi. Asher, who had left the secret service years ago to wed Lydia, reluctantly trails the pair to Paris, wiring Lydia to alert her to the danger.

But Lydia is aware of something Asher does not know: an obscure footnote in one of her medical journals clues her into the fact that the safe house Asher is planning to use is in the hands of a double agent, actually in league with Karolyi. To save her husband, Lydia seeks the assistance of the oldest of the London vampires: the enigmatic and haughty Simon Ysidro.

Ysidro agrees to help, to keep Farren from forming an alliance with humans, but on one condition: over Lydia's strenuous objections, he recruits a drab but romantic-minded governess, Margaret Potton, to travel with them as Lydia's chaperon. The three of them trail Asher across Europe to Constantinople, as he joins forces with Farren's strong-willed and alluring vampire-wife, Anthea.

In Constantinople, the trail dies, as Asher has been kidnapped by the vampire lord of the city, who is struggling to keep control as a rival seeks to destroy him. Asher tries to uncover his own role in the power struggle, for this may hold the key to his survival.

Meanwhile, Lydia and Ysidro explore the city, Lydia through Asher's diplomatic connections, Ysidro through his nocturnal prowlings, seeking any clue as to where Asher and Charles have disappeared to, even as Margaret's obsession with Ysidro and jealousy of Lydia endanger them all.

Only by unwinding the threads of money trails, strange business transactions, and a series of increasingly gruesome murders can Ysidro and Lydia find Charles and Asher, and escape the city alive.

A hostile alien race has conquered the earth and enslaved the human race to do their bidding. The player assumes the role of a man who has worked in an alien maintenance garage, steals a prototype alien combat vehicle called the MASTER and escapes with it. The MASTER is used to fight the alien forces in a desperate bid to save the planet.

The film set at a castle during the Middle Ages. One day a merchant brings musical instruments to sell to Peewit, the court jester, but because Peewit is such a terrible musician, the King throws the merchant out before Peewit arrives. However, he has left behind a flute that has only six holes. The King throws it into the fireplace in his room, which starts to emit green smoke. When the fire is put out, Peewit retrieves the flute from the ashes unharmed. He cleans it and starts playing it for the whole castle, realizing that it causes everyone to dance when it is played.

That night a man named Matthew McCreep learns from the merchant that the same flute he had been looking for is at the castle. He heads over to the castle and steals the flute from Peewit. The king sends Peewit and the young knight Johan out to catch McCreep, who uses the flute to rob people of their money. However, McCreep uses the flute to stop them. Johan and Peewit then go to the house of Homnibus the wizard. Using a spell called Hypnokenesis, the wizard sends Johan and Peewit to Smurfland where the magic flute was built.

Upon arriving, they meet a Smurf who leads them to the village. Papa Smurf greets the two of them and tells them that they will make a new flute in order to counter McCreep's flute. The Smurfs head into the forest and chop down a huge tree to get wood from the tree trunk's very centre as only this kind of wood can be useful in crafting a magical flute. Afterwards, they celebrate with a party. However, just as Papa Smurf is about to give the flute to Johan and Peewit, the two are warped back to the wizard's house. Homnibus tries the spell again but passes out from a headache.

Meanwhile, McCreep, who has now stolen over 7,000 gold pieces, arrives at the castle of his secret partner, Earl Flatbroke. McCreep tells Flatbroke of his plan to go to an island to hire people for an army to raise war on the King's castle; two Smurfs had been listening to this. Back at the wizard's house, the Smurfs regroup with Johan and Peewit and give them the magic flute. Then they head to the port of Terminac where McCreep sets sail for the island. However, they are too late. Papa Smurf tells Johan and Peewit about Flatbroke's castle and Johan comes up with a plan.

Flatbroke receives a letter from McCreep (written by Johan) to come to the island. He heads over to Terminac to board a ship where Johan and Peewit are also on board in disguise as well as Papa Smurf and three others. They head to the island where Johan and Peewit tail Flatbroke. Suddenly, Peewit comes face to face with McCreep and they both start playing their flutes to each other. They both become exhausted soon after, but Peewit knocks out McCreep with a final note.

With McCreep and Flatbroke being brought back to the castle and all the stolen money recovered, Peewit now has two magic flutes. Johan tells him that the flutes are dangerous and must be brought back to the Smurfs, but Peewit begins to carve a phony flute to give to them instead. At the castle, Johan and Peewit give the flutes back to the Smurfs, and after they leave, Peewit starts playing the flute, only to realize (to his horror) that it has no effect on the townsfolk; it is rather the fake flute he had made, much to his frustration.

"The White Ship" is a story of a young boy who grows up with his grandfather, Momun, on the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake. He spends time exploring, listening to legends from his grandfather, and looking out over the lake as white ships sail along. He finds particular interest in the stories that his grandfather tells him about the Horned Mother Deer that is sacred to the Bogo tribe. A series of tragedies occurs at the end of the novella, and a hunting party kills a sacred deer with Momun and the boy as witnesses. This sends the boy into despair. Longing for love and acceptance, he dives into the waters of a stream nearby to "turn into a fish" and swim towards Issyk-Kul in search of his father.

A controversy surrounded the novel after publication due to its graphic and violent depictions of Soviet "heroes" as well as hints of child suicide.

A mentally challenged girl is defended by a young man who takes care of pigs. He gets into a fight with the local saloon keeper, prompting the man to get the boy drunk and bribe a priest into marrying the boy to the unfortunate girl. A female teacher arrives in town to teach women how to paint. She uses the young boy as a model and then as a toy for her pleasure. The teacher subsequently takes another lover and abandons the young man, claiming that she was unaware of his marriage. The young boy eventually kills his wife, but his father takes the blame for the crime and confesses his sins before he dies in prison. As a conclusion to this sad movie, the townspeople punish the young boy for what he has done.

On 22 August 1962, the militant underground organisation OAS, infuriated by the French government granting independence to Algeria, attempt to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle. The assassination attempt fails, leaving de Gaulle and his entire entourage unharmed. Within six months, OAS leader Jean Bastien-Thiry and several other members are captured and Bastien-Thiry is executed.

The remaining OAS leaders, now hiding in Austria, plan another attempt, and hire a British assassin, who goes by the code name, "Jackal", for $500,000. The Jackal travels to Genoa and commissions a custom-made rifle from a gunsmith, and fake identity papers from a forger, whom the Jackal kills when the man tries blackmailing him. In Paris, the Jackal duplicates a key to a flat overlooking the Place du 18 juin 1940.

The OAS relocate to Rome. The French Action Service kidnap the OAS's chief clerk, Viktor Wolenski. Wolenski dies under interrogation, but not before the agents extract vital information about the plot, including the word "Jackal". The Interior Minister convenes a secret cabinet meeting of the heads of the French security forces. Police Commissioner Berthier recommends his deputy, Claude Lebel, to lead the investigation. Lebel is given special emergency powers, though de Gaulle's refusal to change his planned appearances complicates matters.

Colonel St. Clair, a personal military aide to de Gaulle and a cabinet member, carelessly discloses classified government information to his mistress, Denise, unaware she is an OAS agent. She passes this on to her contact, which, in turn, aids the Jackal. Meanwhile, Lebel determines that British suspect Charles Calthrop may be travelling under the name Paul Oliver Duggan, who died as a child, and has entered France.

Although the Jackal learns the authorities have uncovered the assassination plot, he decides to proceed. While at a hotel, the Jackal meets and seduces the aristocratic Colette de Montpellier. Warned by his contact, the Jackal leaves just before Lebel and his men arrive. After a nearly fatal vehicular accident, the Jackal steals a car and drives to Madame de Montpellier's country estate to hide out. He kills her after discovering the police have already spoken to her. Using a stolen passport, the Jackal then assumes the identity of a bespectacled Danish schoolteacher named Per Lundquist. After disposing of Duggan's belongings in a river, he catches a train for Paris.

Madame de Montpellier's body is discovered and her car is recovered at the railway station. Lebel, no longer hindered by secrecy restrictions, launches a public manhunt. The Jackal picks up a gay man at a Turkish bathhouse and stays at the man's flat. The Jackal kills him after the man sees a TV news broadcast that "Lundquist" is wanted for murder.

At a meeting with the Interior Minister's cabinet, Lebel says he believes the Jackal will attempt to shoot de Gaulle during the commemoration of the liberation of Paris during World War II, scheduled three days hence. Lebel plays a recording of a phone call in which St. Clair's mistress, Denise, is heard providing information to an OAS contact. St. Clair apologises for his indiscretion and immediately leaves. When asked how he knew St. Clair was the source of the leak, Lebel says he wiretapped every cabinet member's phone. Denise returns to St. Clair's apartment and discovers that he has committed suicide and finds the police are waiting for her.

On Liberation of Paris Day, the Jackal, disguised as an elderly veteran amputee on crutches, enters a building using the key he had earlier procured. In an upper apartment overlooking the ceremonial area, he assembles the rifle hidden within his crutch and waits by the window. When Lebel discovers that a policeman allowed a disabled man to pass through the security cordon, the two race to the building. As de Gaulle presents the first medal, the Jackal takes aim but as he shoots he narrowly misses when the president suddenly leans forward. As he reloads the rifle for another shot, Lebel and the policeman burst in. The Jackal shoots the policeman, but Lebel kills him using the cop's submachine gun.

The Jackal is buried in an unmarked grave, with Lebel as the only witness. While police are searching Charles Calthrop's flat, the real Calthrop suddenly arrives. He accompanies police to Scotland Yard and is later cleared. Inspector Thomas then asks who the Jackal really was.

After scientists accidentally spill a deadly chemical into the ocean that will eventually kill all life on earth, a group of aliens offer to help humanity. They offer a choice: the 'Good Package' to clean up the mess, or the 'Big Gun', a weapon capable of destroying the planet. The aliens only ask for a glass of water in return, which must be delivered by CIA agent Pillbox (John Ritter), the only human they entirely trust.

While on a run-thru of the alien meetup, agent Pillbox is shot and killed in a forest by an unseen assassin in an inside-job. FBI computers find Bob Wilson (also played by Ritter), an insurance agent who looks just like Pillbox, and suggest sending Wilson in Pillbox's place. However, Wilson is a meek office worker who we initially see being easily pushed around by a group of local bullies and by a milkman who is trying to seduce his wife.

Tough guy government agent Nick Pirandello (James Belushi) is sent to recruit Wilson and escort him to the meeting; he is also to build-up Wilson's confidence and decrease his insecurities. He meets Wilson at Wilson's home, with Russian agents close on his tail, who want a unique map to the meeting place. Wilson thinks Pirandello is an intruder and tries ineffectively to attack him, culminating in a shoot-out with the Russians that devastates Wilson's house.

Pirandello explains the mission as the pair head to meet the aliens near Washington, D.C. Wilson doesn't believe the story, and instead believes that Pirandello is insane. He repeatedly tries to escape, forcing Pirandello to stop and try to convince him they're real. After a series of rather unconvincing demonstrations, one finally convinces Wilson of their authenticity.

Wilson is then willing to do the job, but lacks skills and confidence. The pair meet corrupt CIA agents dressed as clowns, part of a splinter group that would rather receive the Big Gun. Pirandello tells Wilson that he is in fact a Russian sleeper "Super Agent", at which point Wilson charges into battle and is knocked out with one punch. Pirandello defeats the clowns, but leads the waking/groggy Wilson to believe he did it. Wilson gains a new macho attitude.

Pirandello, weakened by love for a dominatrix he meets in a bar in Pittsburgh, abandons the mission, leaving Wilson on his own. During a final shootout between the rogue CIA element and Wilson, Pirandello comes to his senses and rejoins the mission; together they defeat the others, including Pirandello's boss. Wilson meets with the aliens and receives the Good Package to save humanity.

Wilson returns to his home, which has been repaired. With his new-found machismo, he deals with the bullies and the amorous milkman, bringing the film to an end.

The film revolves around various plots. The central story-line is about a murder investigation involving one of the central characters Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and his relationship with his girlfriend Tracy (Sophie Okonedo).

The second narrative involves the relationship between a gay punk Billibud (Jason Durr) and a soulboy Caz (Mo Sesay) and the racism and homophobia they face in both West Indian and white British communities. The film is a love story that can be seen as an allegory for racial and class solidarity, as their love transcends class and race barriers.

Set in London in June 1977, the plot takes place against the background of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The film begins as buddy movie between two friends, Chris and Caz, who run a pirate radio station from a tower block in Dalston, East London. The film starts with the murder of their friend TJ while cruising for sex in the local park at night. While Caz is distraught by the death of his friend, Chris seems focused on balancing a professional career in commercial radio without selling out. They both want to promote soul music while the prevailing popular music is punk.

The murder and the different paths they diverge on causes tension between buddies Chris and Caz. Chris discovers that he has a tape recording of the murder but fails to hand it in as evidence. He is then pulled in by the police as a suspect because he was in possession of TJ's cassette radio. He tries to call Caz but Caz is busy with his new boyfriend, Billibud, who is a punk that espouses the views of the Socialist Workers Party while wearing (admittedly stolen) Vivienne Westwood designer T-shirts. The character Billiibud gets his name from the fictional character "Billy Budd" from Herman Melville's novel ''"Billy Budd, Sailor".'' In this novel Billy Budd is described as "renowned for his good looks and gentle, innocent ways". Similarly, in the film Billibud is known for being good looking. However, in Melville's novel the character is also known for being on the less intelligent and gullible side, as seen for his "inability to perceive ill will in other people" and has an "unpredictable tendency to stutter". In comparison, in the film Billibud is also portrayed as somewhat dimwitted.

Chris and Caz then have a showdown on the roof of the tower block and Chris nearly falls off the roof. He then meets Tracy and she persuades him to send the tape to the police, but not before he has made a copy. They then make love on a rooftop. On the day of the Silver Jubilee celebrations Caz and Billibud go to the street fair, where Billibud is attacked by local skinheads. Caz and Billibud return home and make love. That evening Chris goes to the radio station but Caz is not there and the studio has been vandalised. He starts broadcasting "Funk the Jubilee" but feels is not the same without his partner, Caz. Chris is then attacked by TJ's murderer, who turns out to be someone he and Caz had thought of as a friend. He escapes but cannot find Caz.

A grand reckoning takes place at an open-air disco in the park where TJ was murdered. While Caz and Billibud are MCing, Chris attempts to warn them about the revelations regarding TJ's murderer. A Molotov cocktail is thrown onto the stage and Caz and Billibud begin trying to save the vinyl records. Chris puts on the tape of TJ's murder, but doing so requires going onto the stage. TJ's murderer, a member of the National Front, follows Chris on stage, whereupon he falls to his death in the inferno of his own creation.

The scene is a bitter-sweet microcosm of the racial and sexual tensions of 1970s Britain, with skinheads hassling Chris and Caz, whites making snide remarks about how things have changed since their youth, and blacks stating that they are unable to decide if they hate whites, mixed-race people or "batty boys" most. Yet, despite all of this, youth in the clubs are enjoying the music, drinking, dancing and bonking inter-racially while paying no mind to the gay men around them.

The film ends with the two DJs reconciling their differences while they clean records, which is followed by a one-by-one each of the friends joining into dance together.

As the Autobots escort a Cybertronian senator to an Energon-mining colony, the senator informs the miners that they are no longer needed and will be relocated. As the miners complain about being replaced by automated equipment, an Autobot guard commander attempts to silence the lead protester, who is eventually beaten to death. The miners riot, and one of the miners, Megatron, gets into a fight with the commander and is shocked when he kills him with his bare hands. The Autobots violently subdue the miners, and many casualties result.

On a prison shuttle, fellow miners Rumble and Frenzy convince Megatron to help lead a revolt against the corrupt Autobot security force. They attack their guards and take control of the shuttle, then escape to Cybertron to hide underground in Kaon, the seediest city on the planet. Prowl notifies Sentinel Prime of the incident, who plans to locate the fugitives.

After Megatron joins the secretive gladiatorial contests, he becomes accustomed to killing and rises to be one of the best gladiators, and his battles are distributed illegally through video recordings. A news report about Megatron is observed by Senator Ratbat, who then takes great interest in Megatron. During a later battle, Megatron betrays Clench and usurps command of the games from him.

The report is also witnessed by Prowl's forces, as well as Sentinel Prime, who plans to end the contests and states that Megatron "will hang." Autobots Fastback and Bumper are sent to scout out a potential gladiatorial site. They come across the Constructicons, who begin building the site, and throw an unlucky resident into Mixmaster's molten metal solution. Megatron, Rumble, and Frenzy arrive, noting that the building is behind schedule and are approached by Soundwave, who offers to outfit Megatron with advanced weaponry, including his traditional Energon flail, which he presents in a hologram. While observing all this, the Autobots are spotted and captured by Soundwave's minions, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage. Megatron crushes Fastback's head to show his power and Bumper calls him a psychopath. Soundwave and Laserbeak probe Bumper's mind and determine that he is not a threat or useful, so Megatron kills him with his bare hands.

Soundwave enters a gladiatorial location and Swindle informs him that Megatron is in a foul mood, having lost an arm in combat. Megatron greets Soundwave coldly while Hook repairs him using parts from fallen warriors. Soundwave presents Megatron with three flight-capable combatants: Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp. Instead of using them to fight in the arena, Megatron uses the three of them, Soundwave, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage to perform acts of terrorism throughout Cybertron and kidnap Senator Decimus. Senator Ratbat seems concerned that the acts of terrorism have gotten out of control.

At the funeral for Bumper and Fastback, Sentinel Prime uses the tragedy to drum up interest in capturing Megatron and his gladiators. Meanwhile, Megatron rallies his gladiators and proposes an alliance, bringing out Senator Decimus to show his weakness. However, Sentinel Prime's police force have been watching, and they capture and arrest Megatron and his followers. The Autobot security center is overflowing with the arrestees and Megatron is silent. Starscream speaks to a guard and makes a deal to get out of jail and inform the Senate of some crucial information.

Starscream is taken before the Senate and delivers his message: that they helped create the Decepticons indirectly. Using his built-in weapons systems he and Soundwave slaughter the Senate. Starscream then frees the prisoners, arming them and giving Megatron his fusion cannon in the process, and general revolution breaks out in Kaon. Sentinel Prime and his team attempt to contain them, but Prime soon realizes that it is out of control. He then withdraws to "go Apex".

As the slaughter continues, Prime returns - in a titanic suit of armor - and engages Megatron. Despite his firepower, Megatron is able to overcome him and the two fall off a building, with Prime taking the brunt of the damage. Later, Prowl's team find Prime, who has been beaten within an inch of his life. With Soundwave by his side, Megatron consider his options, reclining on a throne made out of Sentinel Prime's Apex armour.

Act one

After a strange, half-mentioned turn of events, Richie and Eddie are about to meet the Queen. Richie is very excited over it while Eddie keeps forgetting it, because he's permanently drunk (as mentioned in the Bottom TV episode "Burglary"). When the Queen is rallying through Mafeking Parade, Hammersmith, they think she'd enjoy them getting out their "todgers" and set off a massive fireworks display, a mixture of rockets and Semtex that leads to the unexpected explosion ending the first act with a cliffhanger.

Act two

Richie and Eddie are sentenced to 350 years in prison charged with:

Attempted asphyxiation of the entire population of West London detonation of 400 lbs of Semtex under contravention of the Anti-Terrorist act Attempted regicide Arson causing an affray wiggling their "todgers" at the Queen

They are faced with a problem in prison: they are trying to escape Geoffrey Nasty the Psychopathic Penis-Remover's boss, Horace Big (who is built like a donkey AND has a really enormous knob) after he takes an unfortunate "''liking''" to Richie. They eventually escape just in time for the Queen to come round for tea. They don't realise that the Queen was actually coming (and also the police were after them for escaping), so they set up a tripwire wired up to a bomb at the door to stop the police from catching them. Unfortunately for them, it just so happened to be the door that the Queen was coming through, so they accidentally blow up Her Majesty as well as themselves.

The first act involves Eddie and Richie on a similar tropical island to the one from ''Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island''. Eddie has been away in the jungle gambling for three days, and Richie is wearing some tight 'pants' that he cannot get off. Eddie returns and helps him to get them off, when Richie's parrot Dave has a heart attack. At first, they try the kiss of life, but Richie becomes too enthusiastic and gets his tongue caught in the parrot's mouth. Next, they try a defibrillator, but increasing it to maximum voltage to try and resuscitate Dave causes him to explode. The pair put his remains in a box and place it in a grave (that Eddie had dug for Richie with a gravestone saying 'THE FAT TWAT IS DEAD. HOORAY, PISS HERE') and Eddie takes pictures of the scene. Once this is finished, they have a few drinks at Eddie's makeshift bar and become increasingly bored, so decide on the spot to have a fighting match. Eddie wins again, and Richie prays to God begging him to relieve him of the boredom by killing him. He receives a sharp pain in his chest and believes it is a heart attack but Eddie reveals to him that he simply put his underpants on instead of his vest. He manages to convince Richie to keep away from him in exchange for milking the pig (who he nicknames Vanessa Feltz), but it doesn't go so well and he only gets enough milk for a cup of tea each, because the pig in fact was not female like both had thought, meaning the "milk" was actually semen. The pair then realise it is the interval, and race off to the bar before the audience get there.

The second act changes the structure drastically, with the pair (now in their traditional costumes) falling down chutes into a capsule-like room. After another fight (which Eddie wins once again), the pair try and remember how they got there in the first place, but struggle to recall anything. Richie says a good way out would be to climb up the chutes they came down in. Eddie tries this, but ends up in the same room, with Richie believing he's gone somewhere else. Eddie then kicks Richie up the rear end, and Richie turns round to find him there. Next, Richie tries this, leaving Eddie to have a conversation with an imaginary person, and comes back to find Eddie again, bringing him to the theory that he is on an alien ant farm with multiple clones of Eddie. They discuss their situation, and acknowledge that the audience are missing the second part of the play, and make fun out of the actors play them in real life. While Eddie tries again, Richie prays to God, but soon insults him as the situation is not dramatic enough and the spotlight is shining in the wrong area. Eddie then returns with two pints, saying he found a bar (which is really just the theatre bar they went to in the interval) which helps them realise they are still in Nottingham, and attempt to find a 'bird' in the audience. Eddie goes to the toilet on the electrics inside the chute, and when the lights come back on, he is seen walking away with a briefcase overstuffed with cash. He reveals he stole it from the theatre manager and Richie sees it as perfect for their future. They then put on underwear and close the show by singing a song about pants.

Set in a different northwestern city some years after the events of the first film, the film opens with a beautiful girl, Delia (Michelle Molineux), making out with a guy in a car on cold, snowy night. After being interrupted by a passing-by officer, the two resume their activity only for tentacles to erupt from Delia's chest.

In an Evolutionary Biology class held by Prof. Erwin Buckton (Tobin Bell), the first film's protagonist, Luke Callahan (Corey Sevier), is shown to have survived his encounter with Alex (Meghan Ory). Part of the class are Sam Compton (Tyler Johnston) and Stephanie Baxter (Kailin See). When Prof. Buckton's class ends, Luke sees from a distance one of the aliens he had a hand in killing previously: Constance Snowden (Kim Poirier). Constance now is under the guise of a doctor. He later visits his psychiatrist, Dr. Alana Geisner (Dina Meyer). Though he tells her the Aliens and the events of the first film are a product of his dreams and hallucinations instead of actual events, he reveals to her that he doesn't know how he survived, only that he woke up in a hospital days later being attended by a psychiatrist. Dr. Geisner hands Luke a full container of Anti-Hallucigens which only seems to make Luke more agitated.

Sam returns to his dorm room where his friends and dormmates - Henry Robbins, Peter Brunson and Nick Dean - hatch a sex-fuel competition to see who can hook-up with the most co-eds by the end of the summer with the winner earning a hefty sum of cash. It involves recording the event as proof while also keeping it all a big secret. Initially against the idea, Sam is convinced to join.

Another alien disguised as an attractive human female, Jasmine (Lindsay Maxwell), is caught speeding by the same officer from the start of the film. She seduces but accidentally kills the officer.

Luke mistakes Stephanie for Constance but is able to ease the situation. The two chat while heading for Stephanie's dorm about Constance which Luke says was a girl his best friend used to like but she did bad things to him. All the while Constance has been viewing them from afar. Now the leader of the Decoys, Constance warns her fellow Decoys, Jasmine and Delia, not to leave behind bodies for the police to find. Learning from Luke's survival, Constance deduces that their mates need to have passion and must be slowly aroused and excited even further. Using this tactic, the Decoys use their telepathy to figure out their intended mates fetishes and secret desires. Constance heads over to Prof. Buckton's office where she falsely warns him that Luke is a paranoid and delusional man obsessed with aliens. Buckton would later find Luke drawing remarkably detailed sketches of the Decoys with one looking very similar to Constance.

Sam, Henry, Peter and Nick head for a bar to initiate their competition. Only Nick succeeds. Later that night, Henry meets Delia who discovers his fetish of leopard skin clothes. In spite of it all, Henry resists her due to him being a virgin. An old friend of Sam's, Arnold Steiner, discovers the four's competition and persuades them to let him join. Despite having been told to keep it a secret, Arnold blurts it out to several of their male schoolmates who then want to partake. Arnold gets seduced by Jasmine. He borrows Sam's phone and follows Jasmine outside to the cold. Jasmine dresses up as a Dominatrix which has the desired effect the Decoys want. Jasmine successfully mates with Arnold but is interrupted by Sam who saw partial footage of Arnold in danger sent from his phone before it froze over. Sam finds a paralyzed Arnold and his phone and calls for the police. But Arnold's body ends up missing causing the police to dismiss Sam's call as a prank and claim that Arnold simply left.

Stephanie tells Sam of Luke's supposed hallucinations of the aliens and informs him that they are "allergic to fire". Peter encounters Delia who dresses up like a school girl. Delia fails in her attempt as Peter accidentally turns on the heating system. Peter relays what happened to Sam and Henry, saying that she was "allergic to fire". Sam rushes over to Stephanie's dorm and then they break into Luke's dormroom where they find multiple newspaper clippings about aliens and frozen bodies. Stephanie opens a window claiming, "It's too hot in here."

Luke has another appointment with Dr. Geisner who at first he suspected of being a Decoy. Dr. Geisner clears up that she isn't and that Luke can trust her. Luke meets Sam outside who reveals believes him. Luke sees Constance and chases after her but is hindered by Sam and a hospital guard. Dr. Geisner has him detained as a patient, but Sam would later sneak him out of the hospital.

Luke and Sam set out to find the Decoys in a Hawaiian theme party. The telltale sign being the lack of belly buttons. Sam finds a now blonde Stephanie dressed sexily being surrounded by boys. Stephanie takes Sam outside to the cold to escape the heat of the party. Meanwhile, Nick starts making out with Jasmine with Peter watching the live recording. Jasmine's tentacles burst from her chest but Nick is able to hold her off. Peter goes to get Sam and Henry for help. Sam luckily finds Stephanie's belly button. Stephanie realizes that Sam and Luke suspected her of being an alien and was about to walk away mad until Peter gets their attention. They see the footage of Nick being attacked by Jasmine. They arrive to Nick's aid and save him, as Jasmine takes off.

Luke realizes the Decoys have been using the hospital's morgue as a hideout and a nest due to the morgue being rarely used and cold. The group gathers some flares, prepares Molotov Cocktails and makes makeshift Flamethrowers using a lighter taped to a bottle of hairspray. In the hospital, Henry kills Delia, Peter and Nick kill Angeline, and Sam and Stephanie kill Jasmine for Arnold's sake. Dr. Geisner makes it in time to see the last Decoy Constance in her true form and assists Luke in killing her. Sam and Stephanie get together which makes Sam the winner since he actually got a girlfriend instead of a fling.

The group hear a sound from another room. There they find the missing victims including Prof. Buckton and Arnold who are still alive but cold and unconscious. Alien offspring soon start breaking out of their father's chests and the group is last heard screaming. The words "The End... Maybe" appear on screen before fading to black.

Oscar Bonsetter tells a dying prisoner that he will take revenge on the sadistic guard who killed him. In exchange, Oscar is told of a stash of money. Oscar is eventually released from prison but when he goes to get his revenge, he gets sidetracked by the now blind guard and his beautiful wife, Rose. Rose hates her life, and when someone shows her some attention, she jumps at it eventually. The tension builds as Oscar becomes more and more attracted to Rose.

''Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms'' comprises two stories, "Town of Evening Calm" and "Country of Cherry Blossoms".

Family tree

Hirano Tenma (c. 1905–7 August 1945) m. Fujimi (c. 1907–27 August 1987) Kasumi (c. 1931–11 October 1945) Minami (c. 1932–8 September 1955) Midori (c. 1934–6 August 1945) ** Ishikawa Asahi (b. 1939) m. Ota Kyoka (1945–1983) **Nagio (b. 1974) *** Nanami (b. 1976)

Town of Evening Calm (''Yūnagi no Machi'')

Set in Hiroshima in 1955, ten years after the atomic bomb was dropped, "Town of Evening Calm" is the story of a young woman, Minami Hirano, who survived the bomb when she was in her early teens. She lives with her mother, Fujimi, in a shanty-town near downtown, having lost her father and two sisters to the bomb; her younger brother, Asahi, was evacuated to Mito, Ibaraki, where he was adopted by his aunt. Fujimi is a seamstress while Minami, who is "all thumbs" as her mother puts it, works as a clerk in an office, and together they are saving money for the trip to Mito to visit Asahi.

One of her co-workers, Yutaka Uchikoshi, cares for Minami and visits her shanty when she misses work because her mother is sick. He later gives her a pair of sandals made by his mother and a handkerchief, but when he tries to kiss her, she has a flashback where she sees the victims of the bombing where they now stand and pushes him away. She runs off, still reliving the horrors of the attack, including finding her little sister's blackened body and watching her older sister die of radiation poisoning two months later. The next day at the office, she apologizes to Uchikoshi, saying she wants to somehow put the past behind her. She spends the day exhausted, however, and the next day becomes bedridden from the long-term effects of radiation poisoning. As Minami's condition worsens, she is visited by Uchikoshi and other co-workers, and dies just as her brother and aunt arrive.

Country of Cherry Blossoms (''Sakura no Kuni'')

"Country of Cherry Blossoms" is a story in two parts. Part one is set in 1987 in Tokyo. At the start of fifth grade, Nanami Ishikawa, the daughter of Minami's brother Asahi (and thus second-generation atomic bomb victim), is a tomboy nicknamed "Goemon" by her classmates, to her disgust. At baseball practice, she gets a bloody nose after being hit by a ball, after which she skips practice to visit her brother Nagio in the hospital, where he is being treated for asthma. On the way, she meets her best friend and next-door neighbor, a feminine girl named Toko Tone, who loans her subway fare and accompanies her. In Nagio's hospital room, they toss cherry blossom petals that Nanami collected into the air, to give him the experience of spring that he's missing. Nanami is scolded by her grandmother for visiting Nagio when she's not supposed to. That summer, her grandmother, Asahi's mother, Fujimi, dies, and that fall Nanami loses touch with Toko after her family moves closer to Nagio's hospital.

Part two takes place 17 years later, in 2004. Nanami, now working as an office lady, lives with her recently retired father. One day Nagio, who recently graduated from medical school, tells Nanami he ran into Toko as a nurse at the hospital where he is interning. Nanami tells him she's worried their father's going senile because he has started wandering off for a couple days at a time without explanation.

One evening, Nanami follows Asahi as he leaves the apartment, and while she tails him runs into Toko and together they follow him onto an overnight bus to Hiroshima. In the morning, they follow as he visits several people before Toko leaves to visit the Peace Park. Asahi visits his family grave, then sits by the riverside, and while waiting Nanami discovers in the jacket of Toko's borrowed jacket a letter from Nagio to Toko, saying that her family asked him to stop seeing her as they believe his asthma is a result of the atomic bomb.

In a flashback, Asahi recalls the riverbank as a shantytown, then remembers meeting Kyoka Ota, a neighborhood girl his mother hired to help her after Minami died, when he returns to Hiroshima to start college. Asahi begins tutoring Kyoka because her teachers believe she is stupid due to the atomic bomb. When Toko finds Nanami by the river, Toko is upset to the point of illness by what she saw at the Peace Memorial Museum, and Nanami finds them a hotel room and cares for her, even though she has flashbacks to seeing her mother's last illness when she was a young child. In another flashback, Asahi proposes to a grown Kyoka, against his mother's wishes, as Kyoka was exposed to the bomb.

On the ride back to Tokyo, Nanami arranges for Nagio to meet her and Toko, then leaves them alone together. Asahi tells Nanami he visited Hiroshima for the 49th anniversary of Minami's death, and that Nanami resembles her.

Hazari Pal is a rural farmer who moves to Calcutta with his wife Kamla and three children in search of a better life. The Pals do not get off to a good start: they are cheated out of their rent money and thrown out on the streets, and it's difficult for Hazari to find a job to support them. But the determined family refuses to give up and eventually finds its place in the poverty-stricken city.

Meanwhile, on the other end of Calcutta, Max Lowe, a Houston surgeon distraught after the loss of a young patient, has arrived in search of spiritual enlightenment. However, he encounters misfortune as soon as he arrives. After being tricked by a young prostitute, he is roughed up by thugs and left bleeding in the street without his documents and valuable possessions.

Hazari comes to Max's aid and takes the injured doctor to the "City of Joy," a slum area populated with lepers and poor people which becomes the Pals' new home and the American's home-away-from-home. Max spends a lot of time in the neighborhood, but he does not want to become too involved with the residents because he is afraid of becoming emotionally attached to them. He soon, however, is coaxed into helping his new-found friends by a strong-willed Irish woman, who runs the local clinic.

Eventually, Max begins to fit in with his fellow slum-dwellers and become more optimistic. There are many around him whose lives are much worse, but they look on each day with a hope that gives new strength to the depressed doctor.

Dr. Schrader, Professor Layton's mentor, reportedly has come across the mysterious Elysian Box, fabled to kill anyone who opens it. When Layton and Luke pay Dr. Schrader a visit, they find him unconscious on the floor and no sign of the box. A train ticket to the Molentary Express is the only clue of the box's theft, and the two prepare to follow on the next train out to head towards the town of Folsense, listed in Schrader's diary as the origin of the Elysian Box. They are followed by Inspector Chelmey, tracking down the crime, and Flora, who sneaks aboard the train but is eventually discovered by the pair.

The train makes a stop in Dropstone, a town celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its founding. As they enjoy the celebration, Layton and Luke learn that the town's founder, Sophia, also had an interest in the Elysian Box, but she died the year before, and her granddaughter Katia continues to seek it out. Don Paolo, Layton's arch-rival, kidnaps Flora and disguises himself as her, leaving her behind in Dropstone as the train departs.

En route to Folsense, Layton, Luke, and "Flora" are knocked out with sleeping gas by the train's conductor. They awake to find their train car separated from the rest of the engine at the Folsense station. As they enter the town, they are struck by a brief wave of nausea, and "Flora" feigns illness to stay at the hotel. Layton and Luke explore the town and learn it was founded on top of rich mine deposits by Duke Herzen and his sons, Anton and Fredrich. Some fifty years ago, upon discovery of a new vein of gold, strange incidents began to occur around town, and many of its citizens left. Fredrich left with his part of the family fortune and founding the Molentary Express, changing his name to hide his identity. They also learn that Dropstone's founder Sophia was also a former resident, evacuating with several of the citizens to form the nearby village. The remaining citizens point to the central castle over the mines, where they claim that Anton remains to this day as a vampire.

On returning to the hotel, Layton and Luke find that the remainder of the train's contingent has arrived, and Chelmey has arrested one of the conductors named Thunder as a suspect in the theft of the box and Schrader's death. Layton proves him wrong, revealing Don Paolo after exposing his disguise. Don Paolo escapes but leaves behind the Elysian Box. Layton and Luke open it but find the box is completely empty, so Layton eventually suggests visiting Anton to solve the mystery.

At the castle, the surprisingly young Anton initially welcomes them as his guests, but when they start to ask about the Elysian Box, he becomes suspicious and at one point ties the pair up, though they are able to escape. During the escape, the pair find a large hole in the basement of the castle, along with some strange machinery. Layton discovers the mine, which is connected to the castle basement, but finds the effects of the nausea worsen as they get closer to it. In spite of this, the two return to Anton and find Katia along the way. Upon mistaking her for Sophia, Anton challenges Layton to a fencing duel. Anton eventually tires from the duel: this leads Katia to break it up, revealing Anton to be her grandfather in the process. She also tells everyone that her grandmother left Folsense to protect her and Anton's unborn child (who would grow up to be Katia's mother) and that Sophia and this child had died some time ago. Unfortunately, Anton lashes out with his saber in rage and disbelief, cutting a chain holding the chandelier in place and causing the castle to collapse. Everyone makes it out in time before the building falls into the mine, caving in the exposed mine shaft in the basement. Layton explains that when the mine was discovered fifty years ago, it released a hallucinatory gas that affected everyone in Folsense; as the gas disperses, Anton is revealed to be an old man, and Folsense an abandoned, desolate town. Layton suspects a quantity of the gas was in the Elysian Box, causing those that believed in the myth to actually succumb to death.

Anton is suddenly reminded of his fiancée, Sophia, and that he has commissioned the box to hold a message to be sent to Sophia in Dropstone after her departure, but it had been stolen so many times he had lost hope Sophia received it. Luke opens the special compartment and reveals that Sophia had gotten the box and left her own note to Anton, stating her love for him and Katia's relationship to her. Anton welcomes Katia with open arms, wanting to love her as much as he had Sophia, stating that he has to get to know Katia before he can join Sophia in death. The group returns to Dropstone, where Flora is located. As Layton and his friends return to London, they learn that Dr. Schrader had only fallen into a temporary coma from his exposure to the gas from the box, and has now fully recovered.

After the credits, the game ends showing "to be continued" along with a picture of Layton and Luke standing in front of a time machine which continues on to the next adventure ''Professor Layton and the Unwound Future''.

A young woman, Fati, dies in a hospital. Her family is devastated when they discover her death was self-inflicted. She leaves a letter revealing her suicide is a result of being raped by Mansour Ab-Mangol—the brother of a friend who did nothing to stop it. Fati's older brother Farman, an ex street thug who now runs a butcher-shop, decides to confront Mansour. His uncle persuades him not to exact revenge; Farman struggles with his anger, and ultimately decides to give up his knife before confronting Mansour.

Farman's encounter with Mansour quickly degenerates into a fight, as Mansour's two younger brothers, Karim and Rahim, stand back and watch. Farman strangles Mansour, nearly killing the man. Rahim tells Karim to save their brother; Karim furiously stabs Farman, killing him. The three brothers dispose of Farman's body in a wasteland, planting the knife he was stabbed with next to him.

Qeysar, Farman's younger brother who works in Khuzestan, returns home bearing gifts for his family, only to find his siblings dead and his mother and uncle devastated. Despite his uncle's protests, Qeysar decides to take revenge, swearing to kill all three Ab-Mangol brothers one by one. He follows Karim to a public bath, where he stabs him to death in a shower cubicle. He then seeks out Rahim, and finds him working in a slaughterhouse. Qeysar murders Rahim, leaving him butchered amid the cattle.

The revenge spree is set aside when Qeysar is distracted by a former lover, Azam, only until he realizes he must abandon his love to finish off the path of revenge he has started.

Mansour goes into hiding, desperately afraid for his life. By this time the police have realized that Qeysar is the primary suspect in the murders; they pursue him. Qeysar's mother dies, only aggravating matters and strengthening Qeysar's desire for revenge. The police pursue Qeysar at his mother's funeral, but he manages to elude them.

He learns that Mansour has a girlfriend, Soheila Ferdos, an erotic dancer and singer. He visits Soheila and seduces her. She takes him back to her apartment, where he discovers the location of Mansour's hideout, a railway siding. Qeysar makes his way straight for Mansour. Mansour spots him and attempts to escape; Qeysar catches him. The two men fight. Mansour stabs Qeysar, badly wounding him, and flees from the scene.

The Police arrive, forcing Mansour back in the direction he came, back towards the wounded Qeysar, who summons just enough strength to kill Mansour in a final fight.

Qeysar stands tall, but only for a moment. The police spot him and he attempts to flee but is shot in the leg. Badly wounded, he tries to hide in an old train carriage. The police move in on him.

Rome, Year of our Lord 1809. The Pope Pius VII with his cardinals and ministers manages both temporal and spiritual power of the Papal States in Italy. The Marquis Onofrio del Grillo is one of his favorites, but even the worst of all the nobility. As a privileged and protected nobleman, Onofrio feels free to play his pranks on the poor people without any fear of the consequences. On one occasion, when he is arrested at a dinner with common criminals, he turns to the populace in a vulgar speech, claiming that his nobility allows him to do what he wants, and that they, being poor, are not worth anything. Memorable is the dispute between the poor Jew Aronne Piperno and the Marquis for the payment of a salary. Aaron is amazed when Onofrio refuses to pay with the argument that his creditor being a Jew is a murderer of Jesus. Aaron brings his case to court, but Onofrio wins the lawsuit by corrupting the judges and the cardinals. Piperno is condemned and mocked by the people, and Onofrio announces to the Pope that justice has just died in his States.

In the meantime the Pope has the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte excommunicated. When the conflict escalates, Onofrio is appointed commander of the Swiss Guards in Castel Sant'Angelo. He does not take the situation very seriously, and ultimately fails in his task to defend the Papal palace. While he is leaving command to check on the fidelity of a young plebeian lover of his, the French guards enter the Holy See to arrest the Pope. Onofrio has personally few prejudices and quickly includes acquaintances from the new order within his circle, becoming friends with a young commander of the French regiment as well as more senior officers. This is however much to the disappointment of his pious mother who claims that the French, as enemies of the Pope King, are also sworn enemies of God.

With the French occupants a theater company also arrives from Paris, introducing the novelty of real women for female roles. Due to the obtuseness of the Roman people the show proves a failure, but Onofrio takes the chance to start an affair with the beautiful and free spirited singer Olympia. One night, while walking around the ruins of the Forum to find a suitable spot for sleeping together, they notice a drunken coalman who is a perfect sosia of the Marquis. Onofrio decides to play one of his jokes by switching roles. He instructs his servant to have the unconscious man dressed up as himself, while he will play the part of Gasperino the coalman. The next morning the poor drunkard wakes up in Onofrio's bed to find himself transformed into a marquis. His bad manners lead the family to believe that he is possessed by the spirit of a dead coalman, and Onofrio's uncle tries to have him exorcised. After the first shock Gasperino starts to adapt to his new role and some of his family find him even better than the real Marquis. But when the Pope returns after Napoleon's defeat he has Onofrio condemned and Gasperino risks to end his life under the guillotine.

The film is set in the Kyzylkum Desert, Kazakhstan. The opening scenes of the movie sets up the various alliances and tensions between a group of cavers. Five of them - Bailey, Gannon, Domingo, Miranda, and Ori - are part of a team who have caved together for a number of years, making their living from exploring and photographing new caves and reporting back to the world what they find there. Also involved in this trip are two Kazakh natives, Vlad and Slava, who the band have hired as guides, and Ambrose, who is researching for a book on caving.

It can also be said that there is a ghost with the group - that of Rachel, a member of the team who died on an expedition in Peru two years prior, and whose story is told in flashback as the movie goes on. The men are killed one by one by a mysterious creature, and just as the two women find the escape route, they are captured. They awaken in the beast's lair naked and wrapped in animal skin blankets where they find photos, belongings and an airplane wing in the surrounding area. After searching further, the two find water, then food, and, while eating, discover that the meat is one of their dead friends. The beast enters, and we discover he was the only survivor of a plane crash, a Russian boy called Peter. He proceeds to brutally kill one and rape the other.

Arthur Banks (Kiefer Sutherland) is an Ivy League-educated hitman for Latin American drug cartels who picks up solitary women, uses them as cover for a hit, then kills them. His trademark is a bullet with a tungsten core. Over the years, he has become wary of the FBI's attempts to catch him, including by use of satellite and security cameras, which leads him to mostly stay in rural desert areas when not working. The FBI team is spearheaded by Agent George Scanlon (Jamey Sheridan), who lost five years of his career when Banks killed a witness he was guarding 15 years ago while leaving no evidence behind. In a desperation sting, Scanlon plants Agent Bennie Harper (Melora Walters), portraying a drifter, in Banks' path, and Banks picks her up for what he says will be his last job, a hit on a Mexican presidential candidate. Scanlon and Agent Donna Marbury (Leslie Stefanson), along with several support agents, follow Banks and Harper through the Southwest, but the scheme goes wrong when one of the tailing agents is spotted and caught by Banks.

Thinking quickly, the agent pretends to be Harper's jealous and abusive ex-husband, but this plan goes awry when Banks, who seems more interested in Harper than normal, kills the agent out of Harper's sight and then disposes of the body in a manner not witnessed by Harper (incineration), leaving the FBI once again with no evidence to arrest him. That night, Banks and Harper become lovers at a remote motel. Scanlon decides to cancel the sting after the agent's death and to withdraw Harper, but Harper talks him out of it, pointing out that Banks is their only lead to his employers in the drug cartels. On the road, Banks confides to Harper that he hates his job but hasn't had a chance to get out of it for years until now.

In Mexico, Harper double-crosses both Banks and the FBI, first shooting Banks to stop him from committing the assassination and handcuffing him to the balcony, but then killing the thugs who hired him and taking their key for the payoff from the hit. She tells Banks that she expects the FBI will be so happy to catch and question him that she'll depart with the payoff without much problem, which is why she leaves him alive. However, by the time Scanlon responds to her call on Banks' location, he has escaped. Meanwhile, the FBI agents follow Agent Marbury's sighting of a fleeing Harper to the local airport, only to lose her there, because the "sighting" was actually Marbury herself in a disguise, which she sheds in a washroom, permitting Harper's undetected escape.

In the last scene, Harper and Marbury meet in the desert and kiss, while discussing their new wealth. In the distant brush, we see Banks' boots and bloody hand, unnoticed by the two women. After the screen goes black, we hear a single shot.

Bobby Grady is an ordinary middle-class electronics store owner who occasionally moonlights doing surveillance work. He attends a group therapy session because his wife, Amy, has lost interest in sex and he fears their marriage is in trouble.

Grady is soon approached by the owner of a fashion design house to spy on an employee, Joanna Crane, who is suspected of selling clothing patterns to his competitors. Grady discovers the accusations are unfounded, but also learns that Joanna is moonlighting as a prostitute under the name China Blue, and shedding her business attire for provocative clothing and a platinum wig.

Grady keeps quiet about Joanna's double life. Following a sexual encounter with her in her China Blue persona, Grady begins seeing her on a regular basis, first professionally, then romantically. However, their involvement is complicated by his guilt and her intimacy issues—in addition to her clientele of regular patrons and their bizarre sexual fetishes.

Among them is the "Reverend" Peter Shayne, who alternately spends his time delivering soapbox sermons on the street, visiting peep shows while sniffing amyl nitrite, and patronizing prostitutes. Shayne has been seeing China Blue as a customer and declares a misguided need to "save" her. (When he says, "Save your soul, whore!", she replies, "Save your money, shithead.") Underscoring Shayne's contradictory nature is the cache of sex toys he carries in a small doctor's bag with his Bible.

Grady admits he may leave his wife and children, but Joanna feels put-upon and depressed. She seeks solace in turning tricks because the encounters are not fraught with emotional entanglements. She dominates a young policeman in an S&M session, penetrating him with his nightstick, and endures a botched threesome in a limousine. A session with a dying man whose wife wants China Blue to give him sexual gratification one last time inspires Joanna to reveal her real first name, suggesting for the first time that she is the proverbial "hooker with a heart of gold"---and compelling her to begin facing the truth about herself and her double life.

Shayne grows increasingly psychotic: he carries a sharpened metallic vibrator he nicknames "Superman" and starts stalking Joanna. He moves into a seedy motel next door to her nighttime place of business and watches her activities through a peephole. He also sets up a shrine with candles and numerous photos of her. Sensing that he is mentally unhinged, Joanna no longer wishes to see him, but Shayne follows her home to her actual apartment. Once there, he begs her to kill him.

Grady comes there to tell Joanna that he has left home. He hears shouting from her apartment, breaks down her door and finds someone he assumes is Joanna, cowering in terror, not realizing it is actually Shayne in her China Blue disguise. Joanna, now wearing Shayne's clothing, leaps from the shadows and stabs Shayne with the "Superman" vibrator before he can attack Grady with a large pair of scissors. Shayne dies, convinced that his sacrifice has "saved" them both.

The film ends with Grady addressing his group therapist about his new relationship with a woman named Joanna.

Carrying out orders, rookie hitman Ray shoots a priest during confession, but accidentally kills a young boy who is also in church. He and his mentor Ken are sent to Bruges by their employer Harry, where they are to await further instructions. Ken finds the city charming and quaint, while Ray has nothing but contempt for it.

They chance upon a film shoot involving a dwarf actor, which amuses Ray. Ray is attracted to Chloë, a local drug dealer moonlighting as a production assistant. He takes her to a restaurant, where he gets into an argument with a Canadian couple (mistaking them for Americans) and ends up knocking them unconscious. Chloë takes Ray to her apartment where they begin to have sex, but her ex-boyfriend Eirik appears and threatens Ray with a handgun. Ray disarms him and fires the gun, loaded with blanks, in Eirik's face, blinding him in one eye. Chloë admits that she and Eirik rob tourists, but insists she had told Eirik that Ray was not a target. Ray and Ken spend a debauched night with the dwarf actor, Jimmy, who takes cocaine and rants about a coming war between blacks and whites.

Harry calls Ken and orders him to kill Ray, on the principle that killing a child, even accidentally, is unforgivable. With a handgun supplied by Harry's local contact Yuri, Ken tracks Ray to a park and reluctantly prepares to kill him. Ray, however, distraught at his killing of the boy, prepares to kill himself with Eirik's loaded gun. Seeing this, Ken stops Ray, informs him of Harry's order and tells him to leave Bruges to make a new start elsewhere. He gives Ray some money and puts him on a train to another city, while confiscating his gun to prevent a further suicide attempt. Ken reports the truth back to Harry, who immediately sets out for Bruges, enraged at the disobedience. He picks up a gun at Yuri's, and Eirik, Yuri's son, learns of his intention.

On the train, Ray is identified by the Canadian couple he assaulted in the restaurant and is escorted by the police back to Bruges. Chloë bails him out and the two share a drink on the market square beneath the Belfry of Bruges. Harry arrives in Bruges and rushes through the streets towards Ray's hotel, but spots Ken sitting outside a cafe. As the two have a drink, Harry boasts that if he himself had killed a child, he would have immediately taken his own life. Ken argues that Ray has the capacity to change and deserves a chance at redemption. Harry is unconvinced, so Ken suggests they ascend the bell tower. At the top, Harry pulls his handgun on Ken, but Ken refuses to resist. Confused, Harry cannot bring himself to kill Ken, so he shoots him in the leg as punishment for not killing Ray. Seeing Ray at the square, Eirik climbs the tower to inform Harry, who is helping Ken down the tower. Ken tries to disarm Harry, who shoots him in the neck and rushes down. Bleeding heavily, Ken drags himself back to the top of the tower and jumps into the square. Ray rushes to Ken's mangled body and learns of Harry's arrival. Just before he dies, Ken tells him to take his gun, but it has been broken in the fall.

Harry chases Ray to the hotel; Marie, the pregnant owner, refuses Harry entry, even when he draws his gun. To protect the owner and her unborn child, Harry and Ray agree to continue the chase on the canal and Ray, armed with Eirik's loaded gun, jumps on to a passing barge but loses the gun. Harry wounds Ray with a shot from a distance. Ray staggers onto the street where Jimmy's film is shooting. Harry catches up and repeatedly shoots Ray until he collapses. One of the bullets hits Jimmy (costumed as a schoolboy), blowing his head apart. Mistakenly believing that he has killed a child, Harry, despite protest from Ray, kills himself. Ray is carried past Chloë, Marie and Eirik into an ambulance. In narration, Ray reflects on the nature of hell, speculating that it is an eternity in the city of Bruges, and declares that he really hoped he wouldn't die.

The game begins with the protagonist walking through a forest in a deep fog. They have no memory of how they ended up in the forest. They eventually see a bright light coming from a hotel, Gregory House, which is the game's main setting. They enter the hotel and are greeted by Gregory, the mouse that runs the hotel. He asks the player what their name and gender is, allowing them to proceed. From there, he gives them a room in the hotel.

That night, after the player has fallen asleep, they meet Death in a dream. He tells the player that they have been trapped at Gregory House, but that he will help them to escape. In return, he wants the player to find 12 lost souls which are kept by residents of Gregory House. Death makes the promise that, once he has received the 12 souls, he will help them to escape.

The player, upon waking, hears screaming from the neighbouring room, which is locked. The room's inhabitant, Neko Zombie, asks the player to get the key for the room by stealing it from Gregory. Once the player has done so, they encounter Neko Zombie. Neko Zombie gives the player explanations on various aspects of the game and, once the tutorial is finished, he gives them the game's first lost soul.

After this, the player needs to retrieve the souls from each guest as they come into the hotel. As the story progresses, the story introduces Gregory's mother, who feeds on lost souls to retain her youth.

Once the player has retrieved every soul, Death tells the player that he will help them to escape, but the player declines; before they leave, they want to bring Neko Zombie with them. They then go to Neko Zombie's room, asking him to accompany them. Neko Zombie declines, urging the player to hurry and leave. The player, before leaving, gives Neko Zombie a red handkerchief to tie over his foot, which has been injured by a ball-and-chain.

The player then goes to the lobby, where the door is locked. There is a boss battle with Gregory's mother, in which the player has to get her to break the door down. Once this is done, the player flees Gregory House. Gregory takes on a ghostly form and gives chase, but the player manages to escape to reality.

Back at Gregory House, Neko Zombie burns down the hotel, destroying it and killing everyone inside, including himself, Gregory, Gregory's mother and all of the guests.

The game's ending shows that the hotel was a creation of the player, and served as an escape for the struggles of reality. The player then states that should they ever grow bored with life in reality, they will find their way back to the hotel once again. Gregory house is then shown being reconstructed, and Gregory has a room prepared for the player when they return.

Sam Leonard is the new kid at Bridgeport High School, joining for the senior year. On his first day, he is humiliated by the school jock Kyle Plunkett, becomes friends with Annie Dray and falls in love with Kyle's girlfriend Vicki Sanders. When he goes to the guidance counselor, the counselor gives him the advice to lie to get the other kids to like him. Sam tells lies like "I drive a Porsche", "My dad's a rock star", "My dog ate my homework", "I never miss a shot" (at basketball) and that Vicki Sanders and his English teacher Mrs. Moran are pursuing him. That night, after an argument with his parents, he accidentally breaks the mirror behind his door. The next morning, Sam finds his dog actually eating his homework, he has a Porsche, he ''never'' misses a shot, and Mrs. Moran and Vicki Sanders ''are'' after him. Now he must find a way to fix what he's created.

Slick salesman Jimmy Starks (Pearce) has auto problems in a small New Mexico town and while his car is in the shop he visits low-rent fortune teller Vacaro (J.K. Simmons) to pass the time. The supposed seer tells him he will have good fortune soon, but looking deeper relates the information that his future is blank, and he is safe only until the first snow of winter beyond which there is no future to foretell. The act upsets Jimmy and rekindles old transgressions and makes him feel he is on a collision course with destiny especially when an old friend Vincent (Shea Whigham) returns from a jail sentence that was longer because Jimmy "sold him out." Jimmy becomes obsessed with knowing more of his future and re-visits Vacaro but the old man can only tell the salesman that he has related to him all he can see. Jimmy feels that Vincent has returned to kill him and that he must do something to change the course of his future but Vacaro convinces him to accept his fate.

One theme referenced in the film (by the radio announcer) is the idea of the Sword of Damocles.

The film alternates between the 1950s and the present, in which a dying Ann Grant Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) reflects on her past. Her comments about people she never mentioned before leave her daughters, Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette), wondering if she is delusional.

As a young woman in her early twenties, cabaret singer Ann (Claire Danes) arrives at the spacious Newport, Rhode Island, home of her best friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer), who is soon to marry Karl Ross (Timothy Kiefer). Lila's brother (and Ann's college friend) Buddy (Hugh Dancy) introduces her to Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), a young doctor and the son of a former family servant. Buddy tells Ann his sister has always adored Harris, and expresses his concern that she's marrying another out of a sense of duty rather than love. Drunk, Buddy passes out, and as Ann and Harris chat they have an instant connection.

On Lila's wedding day, she tells Ann that she confronted Harris with her feelings and he rebuffed her, so she marries Karl as planned. At the reception, Ann sings and is joined on stage by Harris. Afterwards Buddy, perpetually drunk, confronts them about their growing closeness. Then he unexpectedly kisses Harris. As Lila prepares to depart with her new husband, Ann offers to help her get away, but Lila refuses and leaves for her honeymoon.

Buddy admits to Ann he and Lila have had a type of crush on Harris since his childhood, though he says not in "that way". He then changes the subject, confessing he has loved Ann for years, offering as proof a quick innocuous note she once gave him he has kept in his pocket ever since.

The younger guests dance drunkenly and dive into the sea from a clifftop: Buddy joins in but fails to surface, prompting a panicked search. When Buddy reappears at the top of the cliff, Ann expresses her anger at the prank and berates him for building her up as his true love and possibly for repressing his feelings for others. Storming off, she and Harris slip off to his secret hideaway and make love.

Buddy, seeking Ann, stumbles into the road and is hit by a car. He is found, but too late to save him. The following morning, Ann and Harris, oblivious to what transpired the night before, jokingly consider sailing away, but at the Wittenborn's they hear the news of Buddy.

In the present day, Lila (Meryl Streep) arrives at Ann's bedside to comfort her and reminisce. Ann recalls a day when she ran into Harris in the street in New York City. By then she had one daughter and was on the verge of moving to Los Angeles, and he was married with a son. He declared he still loved her before they exchanged cordial goodbyes.

As Lila leaves, she tells Nina about Harris and reassures her that her mother did not make any mistakes in her life. Nina sits with Ann, who encourages her daughter to have a happy life. Nina finally musters the courage to tell her boyfriend Luc she is pregnant with their child. An ecstatic Luc proudly announces the news to Constance and promises he always will be there for Nina. Their joy is interrupted by Ann's nurse, who urges the women to rush to bid Ann farewell.

When a car bomb detonates in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton, killing family planning doctor Karen Lynott (Karen Westwood) and severely injuring her young daughter Sarah, Section D of MI5 is on the case. Danny Hunter (David Oyelowo) learns from one of his assets, "Osprey" (Kelly Rolfe), that the group responsible have smuggled 20 bombs into the country from Ireland. After following her, the team learn that the terrorist responsible for smuggling the bombs and killing Lynott is Mary Kane (Lisa Eichhorn), an American anti-abortion extremist; she smuggled herself into the country under an assumed name and has been setting up cells across the UK. Section D also learn that Kane may be setting up the attacks in tribute to her husband, who is on death row in Florida following a series of attacks on abortion clinics. Upon tracking the movements of one cell, the Central Intelligence Agency pressure MI5 to extradite Kane back to the United States; such an action will seriously hinder their efforts to find the cells and a put a stop to them. By the time Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) signs the extradition forms, Kane has evaded MI5.

In the meantime, Zoe Reynolds (Keeley Hawes) goes undercover to pose as a sympathizer to the cell. She lures a member, Rachel (Rachel Power) to the same hospital Sarah Lynott is being treated; Sarah later dies from the extent of her injuries. Senior case officer and team leader Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen) attempts to persuade her to stop Kane, believing she has little regard for any life. Rachel leaves in haste, but unbeknownst to her, MI5 bug her mobile phone and record a phone conversation she makes to the cell regarding their next target, Diane Sullivan, a doctor living in London. Tom's team are able to take Sullivan to safety whilst Zoe poses as the target. The team see Kane deliver a bomb to Zoe's car, and prepares to detonate it via mobile phone. To counter the attack, a Bomb Squad jams the signal long enough for Tom to arrest her. During the interrogation, Tom promises to send her to a state in the US where the death penalty does not apply in exchange for the locations of every cell she runs in the UK. After she cooperates, Tom goes back on the deal and delivers Kane to CIA liaison Christine Dale (Megan Dodds), who returns her to Florida to be executed.

Over the course of the episode, Tom enters a relationship with civilian Ellie Simm (Esther Hall) following an unrelated operation before the events of the episode, going by the pseudonym of civil servant in IT "Matthew Archer".

Set in modern-day Japan, the plot centers on , a cheerful thirteen-year-old with an excellent sense of taste who hopes to become a chef. In her backstory, it is revealed that a mysterious boy rescued her from drowning in Hokkaidō as a young, recently orphaned girl and gave her flan to cheer her up. Before he left, she promised to make him the best-tasting dessert in the world. Now on a journey to find her "flan prince," as she calls him, Najika attends Seika Academy in Tokyo, after she learned that the silver spoon her flan prince left her is unique to the school. There she befriends , the substitute director of the academy, and his younger brother . Although teen model initially dislikes her, they eventually become friends after Najika heals her eating disorder by making her her grandmother's recipe. Najika periodically competes in cooking competitions, both formal and informal, while working at the diner run by the skilled, yet lazy chef .

Najika falls in love with Sora, after he tells her that he is her flan prince. However, he soon dies after being struck by a truck while on a journey to deliver some ingredients to Najika, and, in his final moments, admits that he lied about being her flan prince, having fallen in love with her. She loses her sense of taste out of sorrow, although she quickly recovers it. After Sora's death, Daichi is unable to bring himself to act on his love for her, though he gives in to his father's demands to protect Najika from being kicked out of the school and becomes the student body president to replace Sora. Wealthy and conceited junior pastry chef also begins to attend the school, where he clashes with Najika, whom he had watched bake as a young girl at the orphanage. Seiya eventually falls in love with her, and tries to romantically pursue her, although he gives up when he realizes that she loves Daichi. After Daichi recovers a repressed memory of his mother's death during a family trip to Hokkaidō—which Sora attempted to protect him from by lying about being Najika's flan prince—he remembers that he is actually her flan prince, having given her a flan made by Seiya, and accepts her feelings for him. Joyful, she fulfills her promise to him by making him a crème brûlée.

After getting shot during the Turkish consulate raid in the previous episode, Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen) is on sick leave until he recovers. When Ellie (Esther Hall) notices Tom's wound, he feels compelled to tell her that he is a spy. Over the course of the episode, Ellie threatens to leave Tom unless he also explains his job to her daughter, Maisie (Heather Cave). After he does, Ellie begins to forgive him for having lied to her ever since they met.

Danny (David Oyelowo) and Zoe (Keeley Hawes) observe an anti-globalisation rally before Bush's visit, where a riot ensues led by a man in a flaming helmet, who spots the two and flees with a young woman, Andrea Chambers. When they are surrounded by riot police, the man reveals himself as Peter Salter (Anthony Head), a legendary MI5 officer who recruited Tom. They contact Tom after they weren't briefed about the situation. Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) admits that Salter is working with Harry and Jools Siviter (Hugh Laurie) at MI6 in a joint operation to take down a European anarchist terror group led by Istvan Vogel. In order to get into the cell, Salter has been sleeping with Andrea. Upon meeting him, Tom questions Salter's allegiance after learning he is in love with Andrea; Tom reluctantly allows the operation to continue, but displays his concern to Harry.

Tom's concerns are revealed to be correct, as Salter and Andrea evade Danny and Zoe. Zoe is sent to meet up with one of Tessa's (Jenny Agutter) contacts, who may have information on where Salter is. However, upon waiting, Tessa arrives; Zoe works out that Tessa is running several phantom agents and pockets their money. In order to keep Zoe quiet, Tessa bribes her £10,000. Salter meets with Vogel in Wales. There, Salter offers his plan to take down the President; they break into a University researching Geographic Topography. There, Salter breaks into the database and manipulates the flightpath of Bush's plane, and the nearby topography to cause the plane to crash. By the time all but Salter leave, Armed Police arrive and arrest Salter, who is brought to Thames House.

After reluctantly telling Tom where Vogel's group are hiding, Salter hangs himself before revealing what he did in the campus. Harry learns about Danny hacking his way into improving his credit rating, and destroys his credit cards. As punishment, Danny is to train new staff. There, he learns of Salter's intentions; the plane is diverted to Paris. In the end when Ellie asks Tom about his day, he replies; "a man, who believed in a cause, killed himself for love, totally pointless."

Carter relates an adventure commencing with a private war he and his picked followers have been waging against the resurgent Guild of Assassins, led by Ur Jan. Hoping to cut off the threat at the root, he travels undercover to the Assassins' base, the restive city of Zodanga, still smarting from its defeat and sack by the Empire of Helium and the horde of Tharks in ''A Princess of Mars''. There Carter passes himself off in the underworld as Vandor, a freelance bravo, cultivating small-time criminal Rapas the Ulsio and attempting to penetrate the ranks of the Guild.

Simultaneously, Carter becomes embroiled in the affairs of two rival scientists, Fal Sivas and Gar Nal, who are competing against each other to create a viable "synthetic brain"-controlled spacecraft. Complications ensue as the two threads of the plot become entangled, and the Guild, in its own attempt at a preemptive strike against Carter, kidnaps his wife, the princess Dejah Thoris of Helium.

For the first time the action of the series goes off-planet, as Ur Jan and Gar Nal flee with Dejah to the Martian moon Thuria (Phobos) in one of the spacecraft, pursued by Carter and his allies Jat Or and Zanda in the other. The passage shrinks the travelers down until to them the tiny moon is the size of a planet.

There, all are captured by the sun-worshipping Tarids, white-skinned and blue-haired natives of Thuria (which they call Ladan) whose mental powers render them invisible to the spacefarers. To win freedom from their jeweled prison, the antagonists must join forces with each other, aided by another captive, the one-eyed and two-mouthed chameleon-like "cat-man" Umka.

Amid betrayal and heroic sacrifice, the parties from Mars eventually return to their home planet with Carter and Dejah still separated and the latter believed still captive on Thuria. In a final twist, she is revealed as still in the hands of Gar Nal, whom Ur Jan, honoring his earlier pledge of fealty to Carter, redeems himself by dispatching.

Lora Hart applies for a job as a nurse trainee but is rejected when the hospital's superintendent of nurses, Miss Dillon, learns she does not have a high school diploma. After a chance encounter with the hospital's chief of staff, Dr. Arthur Bell, Hart charms him and he tells Dillon to hire her.

Lora and Miss Maloney, a fellow nurse, become roommates and best friends. After they violate curfew, Miss Dillon assigns them night duty in the emergency room. When Lora treats a bootlegger named Mortie for a gunshot wound, he persuades her to not report the wound to the police as required by law. He wants to know Lora better, but she resists him at first.

After she passes her training, Lora is hired as a private nurse for two sick children, Desney and Nanny Ritchey. She moves into the Ritchey mansion, site of frequent parties. Mrs. Ritchey, the children's socialite mother, lives in an alcoholic stupor and is infatuated with her brutish chauffeur Nick. When a drunken guest tries to molest Lora, Nick knocks him out. After Mrs. Ritchey gets soused, Nick demands that Lora pump her stomach; when she refuses, he knocks her unconscious with a telephone receiver.

The Ritchey family physician is "society doctor" and drug addict Milton Ranger. Lora is alarmed by Dr. Ranger's treatment of the children after she sees that they are being starved to death. When she is unable to persuade anyone to take her seriously, she quits and tells Dr. Bell of her suspicions. At first, he is reluctant to interfere with another doctor's patients, but eventually he advises her to return to her job to gather evidence of the children's mistreatment.

Nanny becomes so weak that Lora fears she will die. Lora is unable to get Mrs. Ritchey to show any concern. When Mortie delivers liquor to the perpetual party at the mansion, Lora sends him to get milk. He steals some from a delicatessen to allow Lora to give Nanny a milk bath, a folk remedy recommended by Mrs. Maxwell, the frightened housekeeper.

Maxwell gets drunk and confides her suspicions to Lora. Nanny and Desney have a trust fund from their late father. Nick killed their sister with his car; with Dr. Ranger's help, he is deliberately starving the girls. With their deaths, the trust fund would go to Mrs. Ritchey, and Nick plans to marry her for the money.

After being threatened by Mortie, Dr. Bell arrives and examines Nanny. When he tries to take her to the hospital, however, Nick knocks him out. Mortie stops Nick from interfering further, and Nanny's life is saved when Lora provides her an emergency blood transfusion.

The next day, Mortie gives Lora a lift in his car. When they pass several police cars, Mortie tells Lora that Nick will not be arrested because he told his criminal associates of his dislike for him. An ambulance delivers a corpse dressed in a chauffeur's uniform to the hospital's morgue.

Sixteen-year-old Connor is on his way home from school when he is run down by an ice-cream truck. He is sent to hell with his dog, Scrote, who choked on an ice cream cone which rolled off the truck. There he is sentenced to spending all eternity reading intellectual books and listening to classical music with his personal devil tormentor, Clarence, and a transvestite Viking, Olaf. Eventually he meets a beautiful naked angel called Francessa who tells him that one person's hell could be his heaven. He sets out to swap hells with an elderly, classical music loving, homosexual gentlemen whose hell is to constantly play the PlayStation and have his penis fondled by nude women. He, Clarence, Scrote and Olaf set out on a long journey, of which if they are caught means they will be annihilated and be gone forever. On their travels, Olaf is captured and annihilated. Eventually they reach Connor's heaven, but he finds that Clarence has betrayed him. Olaf also betrayed him and is not dead, but then tries to help Connor and is this time killed for good. Connor and Scrote are sentenced to their ideal heaven, which has now become their worst nightmare as their tastes have changed. Connor notices a lever on the annihilator which has a plus and a minus. Figuring that it will reincarnate him if he changes it to plus and jumps in, he does so. It is left to the reader to decide whether Connor and Scrote were reincarnated or were fully annihilated.

While chasing Jerry in the garden, Tom runs through a mud puddle and then into the house, tracking mud on the kitchen floor right after Mammy Two Shoes has finished cleaning. As punishment, Mammy makes Tom clean the floor and orders him to keep the house clean, while she leaves to go shopping.

Once she is gone, Jerry wants to sabotage Tom, so he begins making a mess around the house by, among other things, emptying the ashtray onto the floor, squirting ink from a fountain pen into a pail, juggling food, bringing an old horse and pushing an ink stamp pad onto Tom's paws while he takes a nap, causing the cat to leave a long trail of paw prints in the living room.

Tom throws Jerry down the laundry chute into the basement and quickly cleans the room. As he does so, a coal truck arrives at the house to make a delivery, and Jerry uses a rope to pull the truck's delivery chute up to the living room window, causing the house to flood with coal. When Mammy returns from shopping and discovers this, she blames Tom, who flees. As he runs, Mammy throws lumps of coal at him, one of which knocks him out.

Karthik (Charan), hailing from a rich family, is quite inept in his academics. Neha (Shriya Saran) is Subbu's (Chandra Mohan) daughter and she's motherless. Karthik is the senior of Neha in the college and rags her quite a bit. When Karthik's mother Lakshmi (Poonam Dhillon) meets with an accident, Neha rescues and admits her in a hospital. Over time, Lakshmi and Neha become friends and Neha falls in love with Karthik. But when Subbu proposes to get Karthik and Neha married, Lakshmi refuses. The film is about why Lakshmi doesn't accept the marriage, who initially wanted Neha to marry Karthik.

After his stern Uncle Daniel describes him as a "millstone" for neglecting his chores, ten year old Toby Tyler runs away from his foster home to join the circus. There, he soon befriends Mr. Stubbs, a frisky chimpanzee. However, the circus isn't all fun and games. His employer Harry Tupper, the candy vendor, is dishonest and greedy. He convinces Toby that his Aunt Olive and Uncle Daniel don't love him nor want him back and hides their letters. Toby resigns himself to circus life, even scoring himself a much bigger role, when he replaces the uppity, self-centered boy bareback rider after an injury. When Toby discovers, with the help of Mr. Stubbs, that Harry lied to him about his aunt and uncle, he departs the circus for home. Mr. Stubbs follows him and Toby decides to take the chimp home with him. Soon after, though, Mr. Stubbs is chased by a hunter's dog. The hunter, Jim Weaver, accidentally shoots Mr. Stubbs just as Harry arrives to haul Toby back to the circus.

Back at the circus, Toby finds his aunt and uncle in attendance, leading to a tearful reunion. When Harry tries to pursue Toby, he's obstructed by Ben, who confronts him for tampering with Toby's mail and warns him to leave him alone. Joyfully, just before Toby's performance, with his family in attendance, he discovers that Mr. Stubbs has survived his wounds, having been brought back to the circus by Jim. Relieved, Toby begins his performance on horseback, only to have Mr. Stubbs jump down from the trapeze to join him, thus creating a wonderful new act for the circus.

In the evening, several Pomor men have brought in their boats for the day and are relaxing in a fishermen's hut by the light of a kerosene lamp. The eldest of them named Senya Malina (on his behalf is narrated in the Pisahov's tales) tells them that "there has been so much untruth told about our Arkhangelsk region" that he wants to set the record straight and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. With that said, he begins his first tale.

Eternal Icebergs (Вечны льдины)

A tale by Stepan Pisakhov of how the villagers of the Arkhangelsk Governorate (along with the polar bears who work for them) sell "eternal icebergs", which they use in place of boats.

About the Bear (Про медведя)

A tale by Stepan Pisakhov. Because this is, after all, the North, no brown bears are allowed in the villages – only white polar bears. This is a tale about a brown bear who finds some baking powder, makes himself white, and attempts to sneak into a village.

Frozen Songs (Морожены песни)

A tale by Stepan Pisakhov. In the winter, it sometimes gets so cold that words freeze as soon as they come out of your mouth. This tale is about how a German merchant buys frozen songs from the people and shows them to a packed concert hall in Germany. The Merchant theme is Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da melody, played on Russian folk instruments.

The Magic Ring (Волшебное кольцо)

A tale by Boris Shergin about young man named Ivan who lives in poverty with his single mother. In an attempt to make some money for a living, Ivan decides to sell first his hat, then his shirt and finally, his fancy blazer. But every time he tries to go to the market to sell his clothes, he ends up meeting the same man who abuses various animals, and gives him all his possessions in exchange for these animals. This way he rescues a cat, a dog and, finally, a snake, who eventually reveals to be a snake princess and, for Ivan's good treatment of her, gives him a magical ring that can basically do anything the wearer wishes.

With his new ring, Ivan starts wishing for food in the house, then for a new house, clothes and everything else that he didn't have before. Now living rich, he impresses the Tsar with a brand-new crystal bridge built for him overnight and demands one of his daughters' hand in marriage. Yet his new wife, an extremely unpleasant and selfish Tsarina, already has a lover in Paris. She tricks Ivan, takes his ring away and wishes to immediately go alone to Paris with Ivan's house and the crystal bridge, while Ivan ends up thrown into a prison for bridge thievery. After this, Ivan's cat and dog travel on their own to Paris, successfully retrieve the ring and return it to Ivan. With his ring back, Ivan wishes to return everything he used to own back home, including Tsarina, refuses to have any affairs with anyone of the Tsar's family and settles down with a nice girl from the village.

The Sawess (Перепилиха)

A tale about a woman who meets a bear while in the woods, screams in fear and realizes she has an extremely powerful voice, so powerful that it makes the bear faint and cuts through everything (hence the name). She takes the bear home as a trophy and yells at her husband so much that she bores a hole through his chest. However, the husband finds that the hole whistles when he breathes and that he can now sing with accompaniment. Finally, the Perepilikha's voice is put to a good use – cutting trees for the men.

The Orange (Апельсин)

A tale about how the narrator once accidentally threw an orange overboard while crossing the river. The orange proceeds to grow into a huge tree (growing in the middle of the river) with one gigantic orange-shaped fruit at its top. No one of the local people is able to cut the fruit, so they decide to bring in the Sawess. The fruit turns out to be full of hundreds of oranges which rain down on the deck of the ship. The people decide to stitch up the burst orange so it could stay where it was, and in the polar winter, they find that it has absorbed the sun's light from the summer and gives them light during the whole season.

Ivan and Andrian (Иван и Андреян)

With the evening getting later, the old man tells a more serious tale. The tale is about two fishermen who decide to spend the night on a small rocky island in the sea. At night a huge storm comes upon them and sinks their boat. Left on the island with no hope of escape or rescue, and knowing that they are going to die, they come to the conclusion the nobody is going to have anything to remember them by and so decide to carve their story on the piece of wood which they used for cutting fish. Meanwhile, their mother sings a song lamenting their deaths. The younger dies 6 weeks later, and the date of death of the older is not recorded on the beautifully carved board.

With his last tale finished, the old man asks his audience if they are asleep. "We're living", one of them answers.

Ivan and Andrian was set in 1857.

It is the story of Roberto Sánchez (Miguel Ángel Rodríguez) a lonely man, who thinks he was born to live with anyone. He is a soccer referee, he is obsessed by the rules in life, as by the rules of the game. His partner leaves him and when he believes again only the presence of his nephews and his niece invades him. This is also the story of Pablo Marquesi (Nicolás Cabré) and Martín Domingo Marquesi (Mariano Martínez) the two children of the sister of Roberto Sánchez who come from a small town in the interior and get to settle in his uncle's house with the goal of trying his luck and triumphing in football, playing in the first of Club Atlético All Boys. A short time later their younger sister Valeria Marquesi (Florencia Bertotti) joins the presence of her two brothers that can no longer support the village life. Getting used to a style of coexistence bullanguero, chaotic for a rigid man is a problem. This is what life proposes with the arrival of his nephews and his niece and will gradually learn to manage it. This is also the story of Dolores "Lola" Montero (Millie Stegman) a woman who turns out to be hidden in two ways of being. On the one hand it is an efficient professional. She works as a midwife with an obstetrician star, and knows how to favor the good arrival of a new life in this world. On the other hand she turns out to be her husband's most precious jewel. Guillermo Carmona (Mario Pasik) a man who, still loving her, maintains a certain selfishness that she does not initially perceive. Flattered, taken care of and believing in love, she starts the story by turning thirty in the midst of a crisis she doesn't understand. Her biological clock is marking her to meet some needs that she will gradually discover. A different world will open before her eyes when she is face to face and fall in love with that hermit who, like her and his nephews and niece is learning a new way of life.

Archie Andrews, fifteen years after graduating from Riverdale High, has become a successful lawyer and is preparing to marry his fiancée, Pam, and move to "the big city." Before doing that, however, he returns home to Riverdale for his high school reunion and save his friend Pop Tate's diner.

Archie and company are all now in their early thirties, with the trials and tribulations one might expect to have happened to such a group over the years:

• Betty, a grade school teacher, has had problems finding permanent employment, and is constantly bossed around by a crummy boyfriend named Robert.
• Veronica, having lived in France since graduation, has been married (and divorced) four times to very wealthy men.
• Jughead, now a successful psychiatrist, is also divorced (although only once), and now has sole custody of a son named Jordan. Due to the divorce and other failed relationships, Jughead carries emotional baggage that manifests itself in a terrible fear of women. (A running gag in the movie is Jughead's desperation to avoid seeing Big Ethel during his visit to Riverdale.) This is played for laughs at the end when at the reunion it turns out that Big Ethel is no longer the gangly, awkward teenager she once was but is now a striking beauty and still has a crush on Jughead.
• Moose and Midge have gotten married and become chiropractors. They also have a son, Max, who hits it off with Jordan.
• Reggie is a successful gym owner and owns a car lot.

When Archie sees Betty and Veronica for the first time in fifteen years, all his old feelings for them come flooding back, threatening his engagement—and it doesn't help that the girls renew their pursuit of Archie, heedless of the fact that he has a fiancée. Meanwhile, Archie also tries to keep Reggie, helped along by an uncharacteristically menacing Mr. Lodge, from evicting Pop Tate from his soda shop, under the pretext of expanding his gym. Hiram Lodge doesn't want Archie near Veronica and still thinks they are wrong for each other. Archie ultimately saves the Chock'lit Shoppe, though he loses Pam in the bargain, and decides to stay in Riverdale. Veronica, Betty, and Jughead decide to move back to Riverdale as well. Reggie sees the error of his ways and reconciles with his friends.

Henry Stauf, the main antagonist from ''The 7th Guest'' and ''The 11th Hour'' is a toymaker with a dark and disturbed imagination inclined toward the macabre and the deadly. In ''Uncle Henry's Playhouse'' Stauf has created a twisted dollhouse, the 12 rooms of which he has furnished with miniaturized puzzles from his previous mansions. In the attic of the dollhouse Stauf has placed a thirteenth puzzle that can only be accessed once the player has satisfactorily completed the other 12 puzzles.''Uncle Henry's Playhouse'' instruction manual. Trilobyte. 1996. As the player progresses through the game, Stauf observes the proceedings and offers commentary in the form of gleeful taunts for the player's failures and sounds of unhappiness for the player's successes.

Daniel (Tom Long), an Australian classical dancer, is drugged and abducted in an alley by three hooded women. They proceed to hold him in an abandoned warehouse for about two weeks, mutilating him sexually and using him for their own physical and psychological gratification, before dumping him blindfolded from a car near his home.O'Neill, S. (2006). The Book of Revelation. Retrieved from The Book of Revelation website: http://static.thecia.com.au/reviews/b/book-of-revelation-production-notes.rtf

Traumatised, Daniel neither reports his kidnapping and rape to the authorities, nor reveals it to family, friends or colleagues. In the aftermath, he loses his ability to dance and has problems readjusting to normal life. His sceptical live-in lover, a ballerina, suspecting that he was unfaithful to her during his absence, leaves him. Obsessed with finding the culprits, who he has reason to believe are from the vicinity, he dates every woman who bears a resemblance to his abductors, hoping to identify them. This leads him into trouble with the law, and to an eventual breakdown that may or may not prove cathartic. The film concludes on this ambiguous note, with Daniel weeping in the arms of a policeman.

Set in the town of Springfield, ''Believe'' tells the story of Adam Pendon (Larry Bagby), a struggling truck driver who was recently laid off from his job at the steel mill when it closed. Adam is approached by a salesman for a multi-level marketing company, Believe Industries. The salesman, Mark Fuller (Lincoln Hoppe), offers Adam a business opportunity.

Adam agrees to meet Mark at a local hotel for the business meeting. This meeting is filled with distributors for Believe Industries, such as Dan Bretenheirmer (Steve Anderson) and Sally Bretenheirmer (Ann Bosler) who are unable to succeed at Believe, even though they sincerely try to work the program. Tom (Brian Neal Clark) and Amy Hawks (Britani Bateman) are a focused couple who also meet Adam.

The owner of Believe is Howard Flash (Jeff Olson), who claims to have lived in a trailer park until the business of Believe saved his life and made him wealthy.

Adam decides to join Believe and succeeds unexpectedly. He is invited to be a speaker at a Believe convention. The crux of the plot is Adam at a crossroads of either enjoying wealth and fame from Believe or walking away because he believes he is misleading other people with his wealth and fame.

The film shows a scene of a girl being kidnapped from a charity plane by Vietnamese Hmong rebels (a U.N. supplies as in food and medicine plane) in Vietnam. Then we are taken to the United States to a detention center in Los Angeles where the warden of the center and 6 of the toughest prisoners are hired to rescue the girl, whose name is Gabrielle Prescott, daughter of Jameson Prescott, CEO and billionaire. Warden Toliver and prisoners (by last name only, their first names are never revealed) Butts and "Monster" (black youths), Lopez and Vasquez (Latino youths, with Vasquez being a girl), and Brophy and Lamb (white youths). The group travels to Vietnam with three days to rescue Gabrielle, spending one day to train and the rest of the days to find her.

After winning a battle the group spends the night at a village brothel and has a small celebration, with Brophy sneaking away into the night. The group awakens to find the rebels with Brophy as a hostage and asking the villagers to hand over the rest of the Americans. The group decides to attempt a rescue for Brophy and are successful, however, Lopez and Monster are both killed during the fight. The group runs away into the jungle and is tiredly marching along when Lamb steps on a landmine. While Toliver is trying to disarm the mine, some rebels are slowly getting nearer and nearer to the group. Brophy once again sneaks away but sacrifices himself, bringing another death to the group. Toliver and his men finally arrive at the rebel base camp, with Toliver combing the camp for Gabrielle. After he finds her he returns to the others and hands each of them a set of explosives to be detonated by a timer.

After setting all of the charges, the group is found out and a battle ensues. The group kills scores of rebels but there is no apparent end in sight, forcing the group to retreat. The group is driving away in a stolen armored truck when a missile explodes inches away from the truck. The rebel leader has taken a chopper and followed the band of "soldiers". But Butts had secretly put a charge in the chopper back at the base, and detonates it, killing the rebel leader. The group heads home and the camera shows a chopper flying away into the Vietnamese sunset.

Michael Lander is a pilot who flies the Goodyear Blimp over National Football League games to film them for network television. Secretly deranged by years of torture as a POW in the Vietnam War, he had a bitter court martial on his return and a failed marriage. He longs to kill himself and to take with him as many as possible of the cheerful, carefree civilians he sees from his blimp each weekend.

Lander is desperately in love with Dahlia Iyad, an operative from the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, who controls and manipulates him. They conspire together to launch a suicide attack using a bomb composed of plastique and a quarter-million steel flechettes. They plan to mount the bomb on the underside of the gondola of the Goodyear blimp which traditionally flies over the Super Bowl football game, and detonate it over the Miami Orange Bowl during Super Bowl X, in order to call attention to the plight of the Palestinians and to punish the United States for supporting Israel.

During a raid on a Black September unit in the Middle East, the Israeli counter-terrorist Mossad agent David Kabakov surprises Iyad while she is bathing. His mission was to kill everyone in the unit; however, seeing her unarmed and naked, he spares her life and turns his attention to clearing the rest of the unit. She escapes. When the raid is complete, Kabakov finds a recorded message which Iyad had planned to publish after the terrorist attack. The recording explains the motive for the terrorism, but does not include any specific information about the attack plan itself. Collaborating with FBI agent Sam Corley, Kabakov and his partner Robert Moshevsky try to learn the details of the plan. Meanwhile, Black September bribes freighter captain Tekiaki Ogawa to transport the plastic explosives, disguised as statuettes. Ogawa puts the explosives aboard Iyad and Lander's motorboat, but the two terrorists are discovered by the Coast Guard and forced to flee.

Ogawa is interrogated by Kabakov and Moshevsky, only for a bomb Lander had secretly planted to explode, killing Ogawa and injuring Kabakov, who is hospitalized. Iyad disguises herself as a nun to infiltrate the hospital and assassinate Kabakov, only for Moshevsky to discover her. When he tries to report her to the hospital security, she kills him and escapes. Kabakov uses a contact in the Egyptian government to discover her identity, and Corley tracks Iyad and her superior Mohammed Fasil to a hotel in Miami. They attempt to capture them, but Iyad escapes, while Fasil is killed. After searching Iyad's room, Kabakov realizes that they are targeting the Super Bowl. Corley and Kabakov form a security detail to search the crowd for any sign of suspicious activity. During the Super Bowl game, Kabakov figures out that Iyad and Lander have mounted the bomb on the Goodyear blimp. He and Corley commandeer a helicopter and set out in pursuit of the blimp, accompanied by a police helicopter.

Loaded with the bomb, the blimp approaches the stadium. Lander pilots the blimp while Iyad exchanges deadly gunfire with policemen in the pursuing helicopters. From his place in one helicopter, Kabakov sees Iyad's face, and recognizes her as the Black September agent whose life he had previously spared. This time he does not hesitate; he shoots and kills her. Lander is mortally wounded, but he lasts long enough to succeed in flying the blimp straight into the Super Bowl, causing mass panic and destruction in the stadium. Just before dying, Lander lights the fuse of the weapon. With just minutes away from detonation, Kabakov lowers himself from the helicopter to the blimp, and hooks it up with a cable to the helicopter, which hauls it out of the panicked stadium and over the ocean. Kabakov unhooks the cable from the blimp, and clings to the cable as the helicopter moves away to a safe distance. A few seconds later, the bomb detonates, firing the flechettes harmlessly into the water.

The movie opens in live-action Denmark. The narrator mentions Hans Christian Andersen, who is from there, and his original story. The scene then dissolves to 2-D hand-drawn anime.

Princess Marina, who lives in the undersea kingdom with her father, grandmother and five older sisters, plays with her best friend Fritz, a dolphin, before getting caught in a storm conjured by the Sea Witch. Once home, she is scolded by her sisters for being late, reminding her that their grandmother will not give her the pearl hairpin that signifies adulthood unless she is responsible. The following day, Marina's sisters go to the surface. Marina is forbidden to go because she has not yet come of age. While exploring a sunken ship, Marina discovers a statue of a human prince. She and Fritz sneak to the surface, where she sees the same prince on a ship.

Another storm arises and throws the prince into the sea. Marina saves him and brings him to shore, leaving him there to be found. A raven-haired girl finds the prince and cares for him. Because of her rescue of a human, Marina's grandmother decides that she is ready to come of age, and Marina receives her pearl hairpin.

Determined to see the prince again and gain an immortal soul, Marina visits the Sea Witch, who gives her a potion that will make her human, although in exchange, she must give the Sea Witch her beautiful voice and will never be able to become a mermaid again. The Sea Witch warns her that if the prince marries another, she will die and dissolve into sea foam the next morning. After a heartfelt goodbye to her family and Fritz, Marina drinks the potion and is transformed.

She is discovered by the prince on the shore, and lives with him for a month. The two become close and the prince tells her that his parents want him to marry a foreign princess but he wants to marry the girl who saved his life. Since he cannot find her, he wishes to marry Marina. The prince's jealous cat, Jemmy, who vows to get rid of Marina, reports the conversation to the prince's parents, and the queen suspects that Marina has bewitched her son. When the foreign princess arrives, the prince's father orders Marina to be arrested for treason. The prince recognizes the foreign princess as the same raven-haired girl who had supposedly saved him. They are soon to be married.

Heartbroken, Marina summons Fritz so that she can say goodbye. Fritz vows to find a way to save her. Marina's sisters, having given their hair to the Sea Witch in exchange for a magic dagger, give her the dagger. They tell her that if she stabs the prince through the heart and lets his blood drip onto her feet, she will become a mermaid again. With dawn only minutes away, Marina sneaks into the prince's room but cannot bring herself to kill him. She kisses him goodbye as he sleeps.

As she throws the dagger into the sea, the reflection wakes the prince. He rushes onto the deck, calling after her, but she jumps. As he calls her name, he sees that she has left behind her pearl hairpin and a scale from her tail. As the sun rises, her body turns to foam and ascends into the sky. The prince realizes that Marina was the girl who had saved his life, and grieves her death. Marina becomes a daughter of the air and her spirit lives on in heaven for her self-sacrifice.

The movie fades back to live-action in Denmark, and the narrator expresses belief that the mermaid princess has become one with the sea and waves and her love and courage forever lives on. The movie ends on a still shot of the ''Little Mermaid'' statue in Copenhagen.

Gwen, a Canadian, is visiting her cousin, Findabhair (finn-ah-veer), in Ireland. The two, who keep regular correspondence, share a deep love of Irish mythology. Since their youth, they have tried to find a doorway to another world called Faerieland. Now sixteen, they travel to Tara, without telling their parents, the ancient seat of the High Kings in Ireland in search of adventure.

While they are there, the cousins challenge an ancient law by sleeping in a fairy mound. That night the King of Faeries, Finvara, comes to take them away. Since he is King of Dreams, he comes to them in their sleep and asks them to come with him. Findabhair says yes, but Gwen refuses. Therefore, since he is bound by an ancient law, the King only takes Findabhair, leaving Gwen to wake up wondering about her cousin's safety. Gwen decides to rescue her cousin from her fate, only to find she is happy. Gwen does not want her to stay with the faeries because they are immortal, partying teenagers. As Gwen tries continuously to find the Faeries, which is hard for her since the King is hindering her, she meets many good friends, including a middle-aged businessman, a farm girl, a king (who becomes her boyfriend) of an island, called Island Island, and even befriends the second in command of the Faeries, Midir.

When she finally catches up with the faeries fast pace, she learns that either her cousin or her must be the sacrifice to an evil ancient creature known as Crom Cruac, the Great Worm, supposedly the serpent from the Garden of Eden. Her cousin voluntarily chooses to be the sacrifice, upsetting Gwen and the King of Faeries, who has fallen in love with her. In the end, with the help of many friends, Findabhair decides not to be sacrificed, but to be the first person ever to fight the serpent. With their friends by their sides, Findabhair and Gwen attack the serpent after being equipped for battle by the Land of Light, but after a while Findabhair gets blasted with poison from the serpent and falls unconscious with her life on the edge. The King of Faeries, in a desperate act of love, gives himself up as the sacrifice. He is greatly mourned, and Midir becomes king. The friends decide to meet again in a year.

After a year, they meet again at Island Island and reminisce. Then they suddenly hear music. As they search for the source of the music, they find the king, alive. The worm had only taken his immortality instead of killing him, and now the faerie was mortal and without memory. They understand that it's going to be hard for the king, because of his loss. But overjoyed as they are, they promise to explain everything to him.

The storyline is episodic, reflecting the original serialisation of the novel. In 1905, the Waterburys are an affluent family who live in a luxurious villa in the suburbs of London. Charles Waterbury, the father, works at the Foreign Office. The day after Christmas, he is arrested on suspicion of being a spy. This is hidden from the rest of the family by his wife. The family become impoverished and are forced to move to a house called Three Chimneys in Yorkshire, which is near Oakworth railway station. When they arrive, they find the house in a mess and rat-infested. The three children, Roberta (known by her nickname Bobbie), Phyllis and Peter, find amusement in watching the trains on the nearby railway line and waving to the passengers. They become friends with Albert Perks, the station porter, and with an elderly gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train. To make ends meet, their mother works as a writer and also home schools the children.

Mrs Waterbury falls ill with flu. Bobbie writes to the gentleman, who delivers food and medicine to the house to help their mother get better. They are admonished by their mother for telling others of their plight and asking for assistance. The following day, a man is found at the railway station. He speaks a language they cannot understand. The children figure out he can speak French, in which their mother is fluent. Mrs Waterbury discovers the man is an exiled Russian writer who has arrived in England to find his family who had fled there. He stays at their house. Bobbie writes another letter to the gentleman, asking him to help in finding the exile's family, who are soon found.

One day, while watching the railway tracks, they notice there has been a landslide which has partially obstructed the tracks. The children fashion the girls' red petticoats into flags to warn the driver of the impending danger. The train stops due to their warning. The railway company and villagers hold a party for the children and thank them for their actions. The children are given personalised engraved watches and are dubbed "The Railway Children".

The children find out that Mr Perks, the station porter, doesn't celebrate his birthday. They secretly ask for gifts from the villagers that he has helped in the past and deliver the gifts to his house. Mr Perks initially refuses the gifts as he doesn't accept charity. However, after the children explain that the gifts are from people that he has helped over the years, he thanks them for their kindness. In return the following day, he delivers old newspapers and magazines for them to read. Bobbie reads one of the newspapers and notices a story about their father being imprisoned. She discusses this with her mother who finally discloses that their father is in prison after having been falsely convicted of being a spy and selling state secrets. She speculates that a jealous colleague of his may be behind it. Bobbie again contacts the gentleman and asks him to help her father; he informs her that since meeting the children and reading about their father's case, he has been working to prove his innocence.

A group of youths are playing a game of paper chase which the children observe. One of the boys injures his leg in a railway tunnel and is helped by the children. He is taken to their house where he recuperates from his injuries. The gentleman visits their house and reveals that the boy is his grandson, Jim, and thanks the family for looking after him. Jim and Bobbie grow close during his recuperation and promise to write to each other when he departs to his home.

After Jim's departure, the children remark on their long hiatus from waving at the train passengers, and resolve to go to the railway the following morning. When they do so, all the passengers wave at them, and the gentleman gestures to a newspaper. Later, with a strange prescience, Bobbie excuses herself from her lessons and walks down to the station, where Perks hints that something special has happened. Confused, Bobbie stands on the station platform, where in the silent lingering smoke she sees her father, who has just alighted onto the platform after being exonerated and released from prison. She runs to greet him shouting "daddy; my daddy!". They return to 'Three Chimneys' and the family are reunited.

End credits

The entire cast break the fourth wall and perform a curtain call as the credits roll. The camera moves slowly along a railway track towards a train which is decked in flags, in front of which all of the cast are assembled, waving and cheering to the camera. At the start of the credit sequence, a voice can be heard shouting "Thank you, Mr Forbes" to acknowledge producer Bryan Forbes. At the end, Bobbie Waterbury (Jenny Agutter) holds up a small slate on which "The End" is written in chalk.

For two centuries a small island of Ymros enjoyed eternal springtime thanks to the enchanted Shard of Spring, a piece of the long-lost legendary Life Stone. However, three years ago the land's peace was shattered when a mysterious Siriadne arrived to Ymros and stole the Shard. With the threat of the Shard's destruction, the selfish sorceress and her minions now extort a ruinous and ever-increasing tribute from the people of Ymros. Anyone who might put an end to her tyranny will be a hero for all time to come. The aim of the game is to gain access to Siriadne's castle (which is encircled by a magical force field) and defeat her. The player needs to kill Siriadne's chief followers Devon the Destroyer, Ralith (in Ralith's Tower) and Edrin (in Edrin's Dungeon) so the party can storm Siriadne's Fortress. Siriadne herself transforms into a dragon for the final battle. After the player's victory, the game ends in a cryptic way.

Jack's down-and-out brother, Eddie, pays him a visit claiming that their father is dead. Jack and Eddie, after feuding, later bond and even decide to invite their sisters (Molly Shannon and Siobhan Fallon Hogan) and brother-in-law (Boris McGiver) to 30 Rock for an impromptu family reunion. As his family are about to watch a taping of ''TGS'', Jack's supposedly dead father visits Jack in his office, claiming that Eddie is dead. It is soon revealed that Eddie and his father pretended to be dead in conflicting plans to scam the entirety of 30 Rock. This eventually leads the family confronting each other live on the ''TGS'' stage and Liz getting knocked out by one of Jack's sisters, further resulting in a brawl.

Meanwhile, Liz has been told by Jack that she has to fire ten percent of her staff. While the staff try their best to keep their jobs, Liz struggles with making a decision of whom to fire. Liz's problem is solved when Floyd, for whom Liz has romantic feelings, tells her that his girlfriend works in accounting at ''TGS''. Liz meets with Floyd's girlfriend to gain leverage, leading her to discover that the other Liz seeks commitment with Floyd. Enraged, Liz promptly fires her then goes on a rampage around 30 Rock firing people, including her producer Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit), who disagrees with her decision to fire Floyd's girlfriend for her own personal gain along with the entire accounting department who attempt to stick up for their fired colleague. Jack later tells her that he hired all the fired people back, but he is transferring Floyd's girlfriend to General Electric headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) has been told by his lawyer that he should join a religion. He asks advice of people including Liz and Jack, going as far as attending church with Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer). When Eddie explains Irish Catholicism to Tracy, emphasizing the seeming free ride aspect of confession, he decides that this is the religion he was looking for and joins. He changes his mind after learning about the constant crushing guilt from Jack.

The setting for the story is a near-future Japan where politicians and businessmen pamper and lavish themselves amidst growing public unrest, while excessive corruption and speculation lead the country to a massive economic downfall, increasing the public deficit to an enormous seven hundred trillion yen and triggering an economic recession. When her father's company goes bankrupt, Shiina finds out and resolves to sell herself into prostitution by attending high-class parties through an escort agency, in order to help pay off her family's debt.

It is during the first and only such party she attends, where the guests were mainly VIPs and high-profile officials of the Ministry of Finance, and what was set to become an orgy, is suddenly interrupted by a young man wearing an Oni mask, who after giving a speech on how savage and corrupt the upper class of Japan has become, shoots the attendants in order to state his point and then proceeds to brutally slaughter the most prominent guest using a fire axe. Recognized by a frantic Shiina as Shou, the man simply waves the statement off as a misunderstanding, then grabs the mauled body of his victim and walks calmly to the front lobby, where he is gunned down by police and, before dying, has his head blown off by a device implanted into his own mask.

Thus, the act introduces a long, exceptionally violent campaign of murders performed by such masked individuals, targeting those who are deemed as responsible for the massive economic crisis and, as such, labeled as ''evil'' by the masked men, who all goes by the common alias ''Akumetsu'' (literally ''destroyer of evil'').

During a party, Frannie Scott (Richard Crystal) croons a Sinatra song and playfully tries to kiss his friend's date, causing the friend to pull Frannie's hair, which unexpectedly comes off. The bald Frannie then has a psychotic break, brutally murders several party guests, and chases Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) into the nearby road, where Frannie is hit and killed by a passing truck.

Jerry is wrongly accused of the murders and goes on the lam, trying to gather evidence to prove his innocence, helped by his friends Alicia Sweeney (Deborah Winters) and surgeon David Blume (Robert Walden). After learning about a similar sudden mass murder by a bald police officer, Jerry discovers that ten years prior, a group of college students had taken a new form of LSD called "Blue Sunshine," provided by dealer Ed Flemming (Mark Goddard), and are now suddenly losing their hair and becoming homicidal maniacs many years after their trips are over. Flemming, now a respected local politician running for Congress, lies and tells Jerry he never heard of Blue Sunshine. When Jerry visits Flemming's estranged wife, Wendy, he finds she is also bald and about to murder two children she is babysitting. Jerry saves the children by pushing the knife-wielding Wendy off her apartment balcony, but ends up wrongly accused of her murder as well.

Jerry schemes to prove that Blue Sunshine is causing homicidal psychosis by finding a past user of the drug who is still living and can be tested for chromosome damage caused by the drug. Armed with a paraldehyde dart gun, Jerry goes to a Flemming rally at a shopping mall, having learned that Flemming's campaign manager/ bodyguard Wayne Mulligan (Ray Young) was a heavy Blue Sunshine user. Before Jerry's arrival, the now-bald Wayne goes on a rampage through the mall discotheque, beating and terrorizing its patrons including a police detective and Alicia, and causing crowds to flee the mall in panic. Jerry tracks Wayne to an empty department store and paralyzes him with the dart gun. An on-screen epilogue states that Wayne was tested, found to have "extensive chromosomic aberrations", and confined to a sanitarium, and that 255 doses of Blue Sunshine are still unaccounted for.

Equitan, the king of Nantes, falls in love with the beautiful wife of his seneschal. The king agonises between his feelings for her and his loyalty towards the seneschal. When Equitan declares his sentiments for her, she is incredulous because of the difference in rank between them. He convinces her that his feelings are genuine and he would be willing to be her servant. The couple begins their affair.

As the affair progresses, Equitan's advisors pressure him to marry. One day, the seneschal's wife tearily asks the king if she will one day be set aside in favour of another, more highly-born woman who can become his wife. The king tells her that she is his only love, and that he would marry her if not for her husband. The wife suggests the idea of killing the seneschal by preparing a bath of boiling water. Her idea is that the king and her husband will take a bath, and then the king will claim that the seneschal mysteriously died while bathing.

Later on, the king and the seneschal go on a hunting trip. They stay in a lodge where there are two bathtubs side by side in the bedroom. When the seneschal goes out to fetch something, the king and the woman prepare their trap, then they have intercourse. The seneschal returns to the lodge and finds the bedroom door locked. He bangs on the door so persistently that the door bursts open, showing the couple in each other's arms. The king, ashamed by his nakedness, tries to hide himself and runs straight into the tub of boiling water. The seneschal, angered by his wife's infidelity, tosses her into the tub as well, and the unfaithful couple are scalded to death.

Nancy enters a magazine competition with an answer to an old Belgian mystery of a missing nobleman. However, her manuscript is intercepted and someone else submits her same solution, so she must find out who it was and prove that the solution was indeed hers. Meanwhile, her friend Bess Marvin's mom has been sent a letter from her friend in Belgium, Madam Chambray. Madam Chambray recently bought an old house with a mystery attached, and she invites Bess, Nancy, and their friend George Fayne to come stay with her and solve the mystery. But on the way to Belgium, Nancy's suitcase is stolen. She and her friends continue to Madame Chambray's house, where the old woman tells them about a beautiful cross made of gold, diamonds, and Lapis Lazuli. It came when she bought the house and she does not know who owned it. While in Belgium working on these three mysteries, the girls are guided by their Belgian friend Hilda Permeke. They visit a lace center and learn how it is made. At a museum, Nancy is intrigued by a painting of a man on a bridge with a dark cloaked figure behind him (this painting appears on both of the covers pictured below). She later identifies the man as the missing Belgian nobleman, and solves the real-life mystery that the magazine contest was for. The valuable cross and suitcase and manuscript theft also tie in. The proof copy of this title was provided by Simon and Schuster and says Nancy's next case will be called "The Clue of the Ancient Mask". This was changed when the book went to print and the text remains the same but the title is changed to "The Greek Symbol Mystery".

Nancy is asked to fly to Greece investigate the disappearance of money that was intended to help a needy village family, after the New York agency responsible for donations closes suddenly. While in Greece Nancy is told that a large inheritance from a Greek tycoon, meant for her friend Helen Nicholas, was stolen, and she agrees to find the culprit, aided by her friends Bess and George. They are also on the hunt for Helen’s cousin, Constantine. A poisonous snake in a basket of apples that was delivered to their room and a strange symbol stamped on a rare Byzantine mask that was dropped in Nancy’s shopping bag are the main clues, which lead Nancy and her friends to a ring of art smugglers and to the secret of the Greek symbol. The working title for this story was "The Clue of the Ancient Mask" and listed as such in the proof copy printed of the previous title.

When Nancy Drew discovers an amnesia victim is carrying a royal Hindu ring, she is all the more determined to use her detective talent to identify him. At the same time, she is working on a mystery for a beautiful harpist.

When Nancy, Bess, and George arrive at the McGuire's Fitness ranch in Arizona, they discover that the future of the ranch is being threatened by unexplained accidents. Teaming up with a ghost, Nancy begins her search for a precious collection of ancient kachina dolls and hunts for her elusive adversary who is determined to prevent the ranch from operating.

When a star model disappears, Aunt Eloise insists that Nancy replace the model in a NYC fashion show. Nancy reluctantly accepts the invitation, only to discover that several of the clothes for the show have been stolen! Once on the trail of her elusive enemies, Nancy discovers clue after clue pointing to a diabolical scheme that she must stop at all costs!

Nancy is on a student tour of Austria with Emerson college. After an attempted theft, the tour leader, professor Raymond Bagley, tells Nancy of his secret mission: to smuggle ten children aged six to thirteen out of an Iron Curtain country to relatives in England, France, and the United States. Another Emerson student, Eric Nagy, who had been paralyzed by an accident and uses a wheelchair, is also in on the mission as his thirteen-year-old cousin is one of the children. Upon arriving in Salzburg, the large group finds that their hotel reservations have been canceled. An obnoxious man named Herr Gutterman offer reservations at another hotel for a large group that had canceled. Grudgingly, the professor accepts the offer as there is no other alternative. At the hotel, Nancy is now able to focus on an assignment given to her by her father. A famous film director named Kurt Kessler created a devastating political film about the oppression of human rights in his home country in Eastern Europe. However, the film was stolen and the studio with the negative burned down, so the stolen film is the only copy of Kessler's ''Captive Witness.'' Kurt Kessler had hoped to enter the film in a film contest in five days, and unless Nancy can find his film, he will not be able to show the world his important work. Nancy thinks that the stolen film is in Vienna, which the tour will not reach for another few days, so she convinces her boyfriend Ned Nickerson to drive with her to Vienna. Because no rental cars are available, Nancy convinces Herr Gutterman to take her and Ned in his car. As soon as they leave, however, Nancy realizes that she and Ned are being kidnapped by Herr Gutterman, who is the person who tried to steal Professor Bagley's luggage. Herr Gutterman and his chauffeur, Herr Burger, drive Nancy and Ned high into the Alps. Herr Burger is not a cautious driver, and the car almost goes over the edge of a cliff. Later, Gutterman and Burger drive up to a small cabin high in the Alps. They question Nancy, but she quickly escapes and steals their car. The car is amphibious, and she and Ned drive into a river that turns into a waterfall. They make it safely to Vienna. After an attempt to find the film fails, Nancy goes with Gutterman and sees half of ''Captive Witness''. She returns to the hotel to meet Ned, and later the rest of the tour arrives. While they are eating lunch, a man tells Professor Bagley that he has a message for him regarding the children. But before he can say anything, he has a heart attack. While being lifted into the ambulance, the man keeps looking at Eric as if trying to say something. Nancy has a sudden idea and takes apart Eric's wheelchair, where she finds an envelope containing information on where to bring the children across the border. Then, she meets Emile Popov, who asks for help in the rescue mission as two of the couples who planned to help the operation have been arrested and the refugee organization does not have anyone it can spare. Eric reveals that he can actually walk, and Nancy then devises a daring plan. She send her friends on a decoy mission the throw Gutterman off the trail, and she and Eric successfully rescue the children with the help of Emile Popov and his wife. She then finds the stolen film, ''Captive Witness .'' It is shown at the film festival and wins first prize.

The film is inspired by the true story of Gang Lu, a former graduate student who killed four faculty members and one student at the University of Iowa. However, the story has substantial differences in plot and character motivation.

Liu Xing (Liu Ye) is a humble but brilliant Chinese student who arrives at Valley State University and makes a bumpy transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver (Meryl Streep). Silver is a wealthy university patron who has a fascination with Chinese culture and takes a liking to Liu Xing. Xing joins a select cosmology group under the direction of his hero, the famous cosmologist Professor Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn). The group is working to create a model of the origins of the universe, based on Reiser's theory. Xing's enormous talent leads him quickly to become Reiser's protégé, and it seems that only hard work stands between him and a bright future in science.

Xing is obsessed with the study of dark matter, an unseen substance that he believes shapes the universe, and a theory that conflicts with the Reiser model. Xing makes scientific breakthroughs of his own which improve the Reiser model. Without Professor Reiser's approval, Liu Xing proposes to research dark matter for his doctoral dissertation. Reiser explains to Xing that this type of research is too complicated and suggests that he should pick a simpler dissertation topic.

Refusing to work with Xing, Reiser finds a new protégé in Feng Gang (Lloyd Suh), another Chinese student who was Xing's rival in undergraduate school in Beijing. Professor Reiser approves of Feng's dissertation proposal as it sticks to the Reiser model. Feng's English skills are far superior to his fellow Chinese students', and he refuses to speak in Mandarin with them. Feng changes his name to Laurence so that Americans would be more comfortable pronouncing his name.

Without the permission of Professor Reiser, Xing publishes an article in an astronomy journal. Reiser is enraged by this and refuses to accept Xing's doctoral dissertation.

At a graduation party for the Chinese students it is announced that Laurence Feng has won the university's Gell-Mann honorary doctorate prize for that year. Joanna Silver urges Professor Reiser to do something to help Liu Xing. Reiser informs her that he has written a "very fine" recommendation for him. Professor Reiser also attempts to belittle Xing by telling Silver that Xing is not a "team player."

Xing does not graduate and finds his dream of winning the Nobel Prize shattered. He goes on to sell beauty products to try to make money. His roommate offers to find him a job in China, but Xing refuses to leave. A few months pass and Xing mails all of his money (a check for ten thousand dollars) to his parents in China.

One day, Xing returns to campus. He heads into an auditorium where Laurence Feng is giving a presentation to the cosmology department. Unable to cope with his emotions, Xing pulls a revolver out of his coat and begins firing, shooting Laurence and Reiser before making his way to Reiser's office and shooting himself in the head.

Nancy, Bess and George arrive in Chicago for the Mystery Lovers of America convention. The two stars scheduled to appear are kidnapped, and some think it is a ratings ploy, but Nancy uncovers the truth and only she can save them.

With Galleria away at Cambridge, Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan), and Aqua (Kiely Williams) are left as a trio and are cast in the lavish Bollywood movie "''Namaste Bombay''". The Cheetah Girls travel across the globe to India. There, they meet Rahim (Rupak Ginn), the man cast as the lead, whom they realize is attractive, yet somewhat clumsy. After meeting the movie's choreographer, Gita (Deepti Daryanani), a dance battle erupts between themselves and Gita with her backup dancers. They subsequently discover that the musical's director, Vikram "Vik" (Michael Steger), must choose only one Cheetah for the role as the budget is only enough for one star.

When it becomes apparent that they must travel home, they are upset, until realizing they may each try out for the lead. Though they all make a promise to be fair in the competition, situations arise in which each member becomes jealous of the others' specific talents. Chanel befriends Vik, Dorinda befriends Rahim, and Aqua befriends a boy she has been in contact with since before leaving America, Amar (Kunal Sharma). Each girl is led to believe the producer of the film, Khamal (Roshan Seth), Vik's uncle, will choose her after the audition. Chanel is told because she is the better singer, she will receive the role, while Dorinda is promised the role as she is the best dancer, while Aqua is convinced the coveted role will be hers as she is the best actress. The three Cheetahs audition against one another with Chanel being awarded the role, which she later refuses realizing, as do the other Cheetahs, that friendship and unity are more important than furthering their individual or group careers.

After refusing the role, they set to convince Khamal to award Gita as the lead, to which he reluctantly agrees, ending in a scene from "''Namaste Bombay''" in which the Cheetahs sing and dance the titular song, "One World".

Norman (Norman Wisdom), a lowly stock clerk at Burridge's department store, is in love with another employee, Sally Wilson (Lana Morris), though he has been unable to muster the courage to let her know how he feels. After he antagonizes the new head of the store, Augustus Freeman (Jerry Desmonde), he is promptly fired. On his way out, Norman helps Miss Bacon (Margaret Rutherford) carry her bulging suitcases, unaware that she is an audacious shoplifter. Freeman sees Norman assisting a "customer" and rehires him.

Meanwhile, Peggy Drew (Moira Lister), the store's personnel manager, flirts with Mr. Freeman, while plotting with her boyfriend Gerald (Derek Bond) to rob the place. Norman is fired and rehired again and again, as his escapades somehow manage to benefit the store. He also finally becomes acquainted with Sally, chasing her down through the city streets to return her handbag. His antics make her laugh.

After his latest firing, Norman is alarmed to find the handsome, suave Gerald trying to get to know Sally better. When he goes to the man's apartment to warn him to stay away from her, Norman inadvertently uncovers the robbery plot, scheduled to coincide with a big sale the next day. But, he is unable to get Sally or anyone else to take him seriously.

Sally eventually decides to bring Norman's story to the attention of the management, but tells the wrong person, Miss Drew, and is tied up for her efforts. Norman finds her and together, they foil the thieves. Freeman takes Norman back into his employ...but not for long.

The story is first recorded by the Greek geographer Strabo (64 or 63 BC – 24 AD) in his ''Geographica'' (book 17, 33), written sometime between c. 7 BC and c. 24 AD:

The film begins in Paris in the cold spring of 1794 when the Reign of Terror is in full swing, with vehicles entering the city being searched and long lines of citizens grumbling in the rain as they wait to buy scarce bread. Ill in his flat, Robespierre sees Danton in the street, just returned from the country and being acclaimed by the hungry and dispirited people as their hero.

When Héron, head of the secret police, calls round, Robespierre instructs him to destroy the print shop of Desmoulins, who is publishing pro-Danton circulars. While Robespierre is being tended by his barber, his friend Saint-Just comes in and urges him to have Danton guillotined. He ignores him and goes to a meeting of the Committee of Public Safety, the effective government of France, where other members also push for the elimination of Danton. Robespierre resists, because Danton is so popular with the ordinary people and is his friend.

Before that day's sitting of the National Convention, the legislative assembly of the country, General Westermann discusses with Danton a coup to overthrow the tyranny of Robespierre and the Committee. Danton disapproves, even though friends warn him that Robespierre is planning to have him jailed and he should strike first. Danton is positive that the influence of his newspaper, Le Vieux Cordelier, and the support of the people will keep him safe. However, he asks his supporter Bourdon to denounce Héron and his secret police in the Convention, which leads to Héron's arrest.

That night, Danton asks Robespierre to an elaborate dinner in a private room of a restaurant, fortifying himself in advance with copious wine. Robespierre refuses to eat and insists on a serious talk. He asks Danton to join his cause and stop fighting him, because he does not want to be forced to have Danton executed. Danton simply carries on drinking and refuses all Robespierre’s advances. After Robespierre has left in disgust, in the street Danton meets a group of armed men who turn out to be part of Westermann's preparations for a coup. Once again, Danton refuses to join their illegal venture.

Robespierre, having failed with Danton, then goes to the house of Desmoulins, who is furious that his printing business has been destroyed and refuses to talk to him. Robespierre tries to convince him that Danton is exploiting him, but is ignored. Desmoulins' wife begs Robespierre to stay and talk sense into her husband, because she wants him to live, but Robespierre can achieve nothing. He goes to the Committee of Public Safety and orders a warrant for the arrest that night of Danton, Desmoulins, Westermann and several of their associates. Though Danton could still rally support, he does not want to cause more bloodshed and accepts arrest, claiming that his oratory and the affection of the people will protect him.

At the National Convention in the morning, members are outraged at the arrests, but Robespierre simply justifies his action by stating that Danton is an enemy of the Republic and must be tried regardless of his popularity. Having escaped arrest, Bourdon hastily changes sides and backs Robespierre. When the trial opens before the Revolutionary Tribunal, only seven jurors can be found who will agree to vote Danton guilty but it continues regardless. Danton keeps breaking order to address the spectators, and the prosecutor Fouquier is unhappy because he has insufficient grounds for a conviction. Back in prison that night, Danton's confidence is shaken when another prisoner tells him how overjoyed he is to hear that Danton, the first president of the Committee and the creator of the Revolutionary Tribunal, is to be executed.

Next day, while visiting the studio of the painter Jacques-Louis David, Robespierre is told by Fouquier that Danton's constant interruptions are making a farce of the trial, which lacks validity anyhow. Robespierre gets the Committee to issue a decree that anyone who speaks out of turn will be removed from court. Within minutes, all the accused have been bundled out and the verdict of guilty is read.

On the day before their execution Danton is depressed, not because of his death but because he feels that he has failed the people. Once the condemned men have been taken through the silent crowds to the scaffold and guillotined, Robespierre's long-maintained tension breaks and he relapses into shock. The noble ideals of the Revolution in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, recited to him by a child forced to learn it by heart, are fatally compromised.

In 1900, Ann Mercedes (Eleanor Parker) travels to Cairo with her husband Philip (Carlos Thompson) and Mark Brandon (Robert Taylor). She is interested in visiting and studying the tomb of Pharaoh Rahotep. After many adventures, she seeks to prove its link with the tomb of Joseph.

Part I

Ross and Rachel frantically arrive at the hospital, where they are greeted by Chandler, Monica, Phoebe, and Joey. Even though they requested a private room, the only thing available is a semi-private one. Many couples come and go as Rachel waits hours to give birth. Judy comes into the room, asking to talk to Ross privately outside in the hallway. She gives Ross his grandmother's engagement ring and wants him to propose to Rachel with it. Ross isn't too sure about it but takes the ring anyway, putting it in his jacket. Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Monica jokes to Chandler about wanting to have a baby just to freak him out. He agrees that he has been thinking about having a baby too which in return freaks Monica out. The two of them decide to start a family and start trying for one right away while at the hospital. At the vending machine, Phoebe flirts with a patient named Cliff and goes looking for his room. Chandler and Monica try to find somewhere in the hospital to have sex in, and when they find an empty room they are interrupted by a nurse. Rachel watches impatiently as women who arrived at the hospital after her go into labor before her. Ross and Rachel are shocked when one of the women is Janice. Next door Chandler and Monica discover another empty private room. As they are getting it on, they stop when they hear Janice's laugh.

Part II

Chandler and Monica go next door to see if they actually heard Janice, and they are correct. With help from Joey, Phoebe finds Cliff's room but wants him to pose as "Dr. Drake Ramoray" to ask Cliff personal questions before she goes in. Finally, after 21 hours of labor, Rachel gives birth to her baby girl. Ross and Rachel share an intimate moment in the delivery room. When Phoebe gets to know Cliff better, ''Days of Our Lives'' is playing on the TV, and Cliff recognizes Joey. Phoebe tries to deny it, but Joey bursts into the room to tell her Rachel is having her baby. They end up telling him the truth. The rest of the gang comes by the room to see Rachel and the baby, and they ask what her name is. Ross introduces her as Isabella, which makes Rachel cry, and says, "that's not her name." He then says their backup name, Delilah, which leaves Rachel in disgust and says the name sounds like a biblical whore. Monica gladly gives Rachel the girl name she has picked out to use for herself, Emma, since Rachel liked it so much. Later on Rachel, who is now all alone in her room, gets a visit from Janice. Janice introduces her new baby, Aaron, which leaves Rachel aghast after looking at him. Janice tells her that Ross may not always be there for her and the baby, and he might even start a new family with another woman. She leaves Rachel saddened and afraid, especially when Ross walks in and tells her he got distracted talking to a nurse while on his way to get some sodas. He goes back to get some. Joey walks in and comforts her, telling her that he will always be there for them. Looking at Emma through the nursery window, Phoebe asks Ross why he and Rachel are not together. He tells her the reasons why, but she tells him he could finally have everything he's dreamed of since he was 15. Back in the room, Joey goes to get Rachel some tissues, and when he does, the ring falls from Ross' jacket. Joey kneels to pick it up, and Rachel, believing he is proposing, impulsively says yes. Meanwhile, Ross, with a bouquet in his hand, makes his way back to the room, intending to ask Rachel if she wants to start things up again.

:This section needs a lot of work... even a complete rewrite. Study WP:WAF. Also, there are a lot of factual errors and places where you guess or assume too much. If you want to analyse the plot, do so, but cite! See below. : The plot just recieved a re-write and copy-edit. I will try to fix your problems listed but Im not that good with Plots so if anyone else can help that would be great. DrNegative (talk) 23:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC) :Don't use the word "queen" to describe Sarabi; I'm pretty sure it's not used in the film. : Fixed. DrNegative (talk) 23:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC) :I would not call Rafiki a "shaman" unless you can source it. Certainly, he seems to act like the stereotype, but that's not enough. : Fixed. DrNegative (talk) 23:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC) :*I don't think there's any indication in the film that Scar is "plotting" to kill Mufasa and/or Simba ''during'' the ''Circle of Life'' scene. He does say "... perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on me", but that's hardly "plotting"... : Fixed. DrNegative (talk) 23:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC) :Explain the concept of the "Circle of Life, the delicate balance affecting all living things." : Fixed by another editor. DrNegative (talk) 02:16, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :Zazu is not Mufasa's "adviser", he is the majordomo. : Fixed. DrNegative (talk) 23:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC) :*"hyena sightings in the Pride Lands" - explain the territorial dispute. : The movie never really establishes why the Hyenas are not allowed in the Pride-lands (excluding the destruction they caused while Simba was gone). The viewers are just left to assume that its "against the rules" so to speak. Please clarify and I will fix it. DrNegative (talk) 02:21, 12 August 2008 (UTC) : In the natural wild they are more like scavengers. Is that what you meant? DrNegative (talk) 02:23, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"about the elephant graveyard, a place where Mufasa has forbidden Simba to go" - Explain ''which'' elephant graveyard. : There was only one "Elephant Graveyard" mentioned in the movie that I am aware of. Please clarify. DrNegative (talk) 02:17, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"eludes Zazu" - either explain why he was being followed or take this out. : Re-worded. DrNegative (talk) 23:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC) :*Scar's hyenas" - are they his pets? ;) : Fixed. DrNegative (talk) 00:47, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"Scar is furious" - actually, I don't think he is. : Fixed. DrNegative (talk) 00:47, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"Scar is furious that his plan has failed, and gains the loyalty of hyenas by claiming that if he becomes king, they'll "never go hungry again" ("Be Prepared")." - Perhaps now would be the time to introduce the regicide bit. : Clarfied. DrNegative (talk) 00:47, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :*Shorten the summary of Mufasa's death significantly. The exact method (the fall, etc.) is not important for the reader. : Shortened and clarified. DrNegative (talk) 00:47, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"the pride" - which pride? Say it's Mufasa's... : Clarified. DrNegative (talk) 00:47, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"Still mourning, they are told the hyenas are now part of the pride." - Not exactly. The hyenas are just allowed to enter the Pride Lands. : Clarified. DrNegative (talk) 00:47, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :*"their 'Hakuna Matata' lifestyle." - "Hakuna Matata" is not an adjective. : Re-worded. DrNegative (talk) 00:57, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"the two fall in love" - this is conjectural. : I understand what you are saying but how would I re-write this? It never mentions that they are in love but it seems self-evident because of the song's lyrics. DrNegative (talk) 00:57, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :"indirectly persuades Simba" : Fixed. DrNegative (talk) 01:06, 12 August 2008 (UTC) :*"is shocked to see the condition of the Pride Lands" - explain why they are they way they are. Explain ''how'' they look. Perhaps, "desolate, being poorly governed by Scar". : Re-wrote a little and clarified. DrNegative (talk) 01:06, 12 August 2008 (UTC) *

The game's narrative takes place using cutscenes at the beginning and end of each level, featuring Shatner himself (in character as Walter Bascom) as the narrator. Cutscenes vary depending on the player's performance during missions: if the player does not shoot any innocent non-player characters (NPCs), kills the TekLord in the mission, and does not raise any tension (i.e. walking with his gun drawn), Bascom delivers praise. On the other hand, shooting innocent characters or aborting the mission causes him to threaten to have you put back into cryo-storage.

The premise details an ex-cop who acts as a rogue agent under the direct guidance of Walter Bascom, exterminating drug dealers ("TekLords") who peddle "Tek", a highly addictive neurological drug. Bascom sends the player through several missions to kill TekLords. Killing each TekLord gives players a symbol to be taken into the Matrix, a virtual computer world where players must decipher the meanings of the symbols. Killing all seven TekLords has players return to the Matrix one final time to stop a Tek distribution system that is wired into the Matrix.

Upon successfully halting the Tek distribution system, Bascom praises the player for their deeds, and promises them a permanent spot in his agency and a guarantee that their original sentencing will be dismissed.

On his deathbed, Henry VIII reflects upon his long reign, and especially the crucial part his six marriages have played. The bulk of the film is depicted in flashback, while the dying Henry is surrounded by his family and courtiers.

Henry's first queen is the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon. The young pair are in the midst of celebrating the birth of their son, only to be told that he has died. Henry and Catherine mourn their child together, and hope for another soon. Many years pass, during which time Catherine only produces one living daughter, Mary. Henry confides to Thomas More that he fears the marriage is cursed by God, as Catherine was previously wed to Henry's late older brother, Arthur, although Catherine proclaimed the marriage was not consummated.

Henry woos Anne Boleyn, a lady at court, who refuses to sleep with him unless she is his wife. Henry presses the Vatican to annul his marriage to Catherine. When that fails, he has Cardinal Wolsey removed from office and himself made head of the new Church of England. The marriage annulled, Catherine is sent away from court, and Anne is crowned the new queen. Anne also fails to produce a male heir, giving birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. Henry loses interest in Anne and starts courting Jane Seymour, another lady of the court. Thomas Cromwell, protégé of Cardinal Wolsey, observes Henry's interest in Jane and assists him by presenting a false case of Anne's infidelity with various men of the court, including her own brother, George Boleyn. Anne is beheaded in the Tower of London.

Henry marries Jane Seymour, who successfully returns Princess Mary to royal favour and has opinions on the matter of religion, asking for pardons for the participants of the Pilgrimage of Grace. Jane gives birth to Henry's long-sought male heir, Edward, but she dies soon after.

Henry's courtiers advise him to marry again for diplomatic reasons, with Cromwell pushing for the German Anne of Cleves, of whose portrait Henry approves. However, when she arrives Henry is disappointed that her appearance does not match the image. After a reluctant wedding, he arranges an annulment.

At court, Henry is drawn to Catherine Howard, young cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine is flattered by Henry's attention. Her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, urges her to return his affections. Henry and Catherine marry, with Henry lavishing her with many gifts and jewels. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer discovers that Catherine has had liaisons before her marriage, and presents this knowledge to Henry, who initially disbelieves the charges. Cranmer secures a confession from Catherine, who also admits an affair with Thomas Culpeper during her marriage to Henry. Catherine is beheaded.

Henry, now elderly, approaches Catherine Parr, a widow from two previous marriages. Catherine is reluctant, citing her religious views which differ from Henry's, but Henry admits his need for companionship in his old age. The pair marry, and Catherine becomes a loving stepmother to the royal children Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward.

At the end of the flashbacks, Catherine Parr is shown waiting by Henry's beside with Princess Mary. Archbishop Cranmer is summoned for Henry's final confession, and Henry dies holding his hand.

A group of friends, Amy (Susan May Pratt), James (Richard Speight, Jr.), Zach (Niklaus Lange), Lauren (Ali Hillis), Dan (Eric Dane), and Dan's new girlfriend, Michelle (Cameron Richardson), go for a weekend cruise on Dan's new yacht. Amy and James also bring their infant daughter, Sarah.

Most of the friends decide to jump into the water for a swim, except Amy and Dan, who are still on board with the baby. Amy is tending to her baby, Sarah, and puts her down for a nap. Amy then puts her life jacket, which she refuses to take off while on board, back on. Amy is hydrophobic after a childhood traumatic event - as a young child, while swimming with her father, he tragically drowned. Amy and Dan talk about her fear, but while he is talking he scoops her into his arms, and as she screams, jumps into the water. The group realizes that nobody has lowered the ladder, leaving them unable to re-board the ship. Despite their efforts, the side of the yacht is too smooth to climb and the deck is too high to reach. They see a boat of teenagers heading towards them, but as the group tries to grab their attention, the teenagers think that they are just greeting them, and sail off. The group hears a phone ringing from Zach's clothes hanging slightly off the deck of the boat; however, the clothes fall into the water as Dan reaches for them. The phone is soaking, and as Zach tries to answer it, they hear the voices of some birthday singers, but are unable to respond. The phone goes dead, and Zach angrily throws the phone into the ocean. Michelle screams and tries to retrieve it, but it's lost.

They are left to tread water disconsolately. The group resorts to removing and using their bathing suits to make a rope. After a couple of attempts they manage to get one end of the rope wrapped around a railing. Instead of having the lightest person climb up, the heavier Zach attempts to climb. He pulls himself up and his fingers brush the gunwale but the makeshift rope rips apart as he is too heavy. The group are now mostly naked and have only a partial swim suit rope.

Meanwhile, James goes underwater, and messes with the prop, in an attempt to remove it and use it, but he drops the knife. He swims down after it and manages to catch it, then desperately panicking under water, tries to swim for the surface. As he swims back up he crashes into the bottom of the boat, and is knocked unconscious. He resurfaces motionlessly and blood trickling out his head with an obvious skull fracture. Zach gets the knife from James and starts stabbing the boat to climb back up. Dan tries to stop him, they get in a fight and in doing so he causes Zach to stab himself in the chest.

Fearing that sharks will be attracted by the blood, the now hysterical Michelle begins to swim away, but sinks underwater. Dan swims after her and sees her lifeless body drifting underwater. He dives after her, but he can't reach her, and her body disappears into the depths. After some time, Zach dies from blood loss in Lauren's arms. She reluctantly lets go of his body which floats away, face down. Out of guilt, Dan admits that he doesn't own the yacht. After much waiting, Lauren says she refuses to die treading water and attempts to swim back to shore to find help. Her fate after this is unknown.

Later that night, during a rainstorm, James dies from his head injury. Dan unsuccessfully searches underwater for the knife. He slams his mask on the hull in frustration and the lens pops out. Remembering Zach's attempt with the knife, Dan uses it to wedge in the crevice of the side door for the ladder, giving him a handhold. Amy climbs over his shoulders, finally stepping onto his hand wrapped around the lens, causing him to scream as his hand bleeds more and manages to grab the gunwale and pull herself back on board. Once on board, she lowers the ramp steps for Dan and tends to her baby, Sarah. Amy notices Dan swimming away to drown out of guilt. She jumps back in to save him, reminding her of when she attempted to save her father in the same manner, at a young age.

The next morning, a fishing boat approaches the yacht, and notices the lowered ladder and life ring still floating in the water - no one had pulled them in. The yacht appears empty except for the sound of Sarah crying on the lower deck.

The film cuts to Amy standing on the boat in the sun, looking around appearing heartbroken. Dan is shown lying face down on the boat with a towel covering his lower half, seemingly either sleeping or dead.

Stephanie's path crosses again with that of her despised ex-husband, Richard "Dickie" Orr, while doing a favour for Ranger. When Dickie is later discovered missing from his apartment under some rather violent circumstances, Stephanie becomes the prime suspect in his apparent murder.

While Master Higgins and Tina are leaving the church after getting married, a shadowy figure called Baron Bronsky and six of his underlings kidnap Tina and some of the island children. The player controls Higgins through six stages with four areas each (the fourth area being a boss battle) to rescue the children, and then finally defeat Baron Bronsky in his fortress to rescue Tina.

After Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm get married and move to Hollyrock in I Yabba-Dabba Do!, Fred and Barney are both working overtime for Mr. Slate, and Wilma and Betty now own a food delivery service called 'Bone Appetite', but much to Fred's disgust. Wilma is not there to cook for him, so he cooks his own TV dinners as well as Barney's.

One day, the Flintstones and the Rubbles go to Hollyrock to visit their children, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm (who is trying his luck at being a screenwriter), after Pebbles reveals that she's pregnant with her and Bamm-Bamm's first child. During the visit, they drive Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm crazy by telling them what to do now that Pebbles is going to have a baby.

Meanwhile, Fred and Barney try to help Bamm-Bamm sell his script, but end up in a mess with a robbery of a giant pearl when it is mistaken for a bowling ball. Big Rock sends his henchmen Rocky and Slick to recover the giant pearl. Fred and Barney manage to get the tickets to a taping of a show at ABC studios in hopes to sell Bamm-Bamm's script. Fred and Barney encounter Shelley Millstone in hopes to have her for Bamm-Bamm's film. It doesn't go well and the security guard is called in to eject them. A chase begins throughout the ABC studios and they eventually get thrown out.

Meanwhile, Wilma and Betty are designing a nursery when Pebbles reveals that she is attending the premiere of "It Came From the Tar Pits" starring Craig Craigmore. Fred and Barney decide to take the advantage by finding someone to buy the screenplay. Rocky and Slick also slip in to get to Shelley Millstone in an attempt to get the giant pearl. Bamm-Bamm mistakes Slick and Rocky for movie producers. When they find Fred's car, they are attacked by Dino. Back at the party, Fred tries to get to Shelly Millstone, which ends up with Craig Craigmore being injured. The next day, Pebbles has Fred attend a baby training seminar while she does paperwork for her boss, Mr. Pyrite.

With Bamm-Bamm exhausted, Barney attends in Bamm-Bamm's place. Slick and Rocky follow Fred to the baby training seminar where Slick and Rocky infiltrate the class. It soon breaks up into a fight which ends up with Fred, Barney, Slick, and Rocky being thrown out. After a call from Rocky, Big Rock gets impatient and decides to take over the operation. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm declare themselves unready for the baby after they were busy. Fred and Wilma try to get Pebbles to calm down until she breaks down. The next day while Fred apologises to Pebbles about being too helpful, Pebbles attends a baby shower which her maternal grandmother, Pearl Slaghoople, also attends. Pearl sends Fred and Barney to get the baby supplies. At the grocery store, they end up gaining a lot of "Maps to the Stars' Homes" and decide to take another shot at Shelly Millstone.

Later that night, Fred and Barney sneak into Shelly's property and distract the guard dogs. Rocky and Slick show Big Rock the house where Fred and Barney are staying and mistake Pearl for Fred when they abduct her. The next morning, Fred confesses to Bamm-Bamm that he lost the script in Shelley Millstone's yard. They soon return a call from Big Rock who demands the giant pearl in exchange for Pearl's freedom. They are forced to give them the pearl for the exchange. They disguise a bowling ball as the pearl when they forget the giant pearl.

Pebbles goes into labor and they drive a bus towards the hospital with Big Rock, the real bus driver, and the painter of the bike the bus driver borrowed. There is a high speed chase which attracts the local cops. Fred finally makes it to the hospital and Pebbles is taken into the hospital fast. Big Rock, Rocky, and Slick catch up to them and Bamm-Bamm arrives to take them down as the cops arrest the crooks. Pebbles gives birth to twins, Roxy (who has muscular strength like her father) and Chip (who has his Grandpa Flintstone's mouth because he's another chip off the old Flintstone). As for Bamm-Bamm's script, Shelly Millstone got Bamm Bamm's script when Fred and Barney left it to her house. She loves the script and wants to star in it and Bamm Bamm sold his screenplay. Mr. Pyrite manages to get the script to Craig Craigmore and promotes Pebbles as Vice President. Fred and the others head back to Bedrock, leaving their children and grandchildren in happy harmony.

Canon Fodder

The story opens with a badly wounded Canon Fodder being confronted by Lucifer who then apparently finishes him off. It then cuts to a flashback with Dr. Watson discovering that Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty have killed themselves in a suicide pact, in order to go to heaven and kill God for not appearing on Judgement Day. Fodder and Watson recruit Mycroft Holmes (who is portrayed as a psychopath similar to Hannibal Lecter), to get them to heaven before Holmes and Moriarty. However, Holmes and Moriarty were themselves too late, and discover that Lucifer has overthrown and killed God. Fodder and his comrades arrive on the scene to be confronted by Lucifer, whose demons kill Watson and Mycroft and rip off Fodder's hand. As Lucifer is about to finish Fodder off, God unexpectedly returns. He kills Lucifer and asks why he shouldn't wipe out mankind, but Fodder points out that without mankind, God will never find the answer to who created him. The story ends with Dr Watson completing his entry in the Purgatory journals as the last adventure of Sherlock Holmes.

Dark Matter

After a failed attempt at stopping a hostage crisis in a church, Canon is locked up in Bedlam asylum, being treated by Sigmund Freud. He is freed by Deacon Blue, one of the vanished members of the Priest Patrol, who reveals that the Priest Patrol (apart from Fodder, who was judging the "Miss Purity 2000" pageant) were investigating the League of Anabolic Atheists when they were sucked into another dimension. Blue managed to escape and return to the real world, and now wants Fodder to return with him to rescue their colleagues. Freud, Fodder and Blue travel to the other dimension, which seems to be the collective unconscious, where Deacon Blue turns out to be a demon in disguise, and the rescue mission a trap. Fodder is rescued in the nick of time by a trans-dimensional airship captained by Jules Verne. Returning to the normal universe, he is briefed by Albert Einstein and Wilhelm Reich on the threat posed by the accelerating expansion of the dimension they have just come from, which it seems is composed of dark matter, and which is feeding on humanity's fears and dark desires. Reich has constructed an "Orgone Bomb" which can destroy the dark matter universe, and Fodder returns there to detonate it. After facing down his deepest fear he detonates the device expecting to die but is amazed to discover he has instead set free the Goddess who was imprisoned in the universe and who returns him to the normal universe.

It is Christmastime in Bedrock, and the Flintstones and the Rubbles are all getting ready for when Santa Claus comes to town. On the morning of Christmas Eve Fred is busy decorating the house, alongside Wilma and Pebbles, when the Rubbles show up. While Barney helps Fred finish the decorations before heading to work, Wilma and Betty, who have been busy with the preparations for the Christmas party at the Bedrock Orphanage, talk about how Wilma has failed to convince Fred to dress up as Santa for the children. Still, she believes that Fred will change his mind, if she keeps insisting.

Fred arrives at work in Slate's Quarry, where Mr. Slate tells him that he has chosen him to be Santa for the children of Bedrock Orphanage during the Christmas party that very same night. Fred immediately accepts the honor, with Mr. Slate telling him to take the rest of the day off, while warning him that he must show up on time, or he will be fired. Leaving work, Fred heads home, while singing "It's My Favorite Time of the Year". Back at home, Fred tells Wilma how he accepted Mr. Slate's offer to be Santa, and quickly changes into the Santa costume. Shortly after, Barney shows and Wilma leaves for the orphanage, while Fred and Barney plan Fred's grand entrance. While planning, the two of them hear a noise coming from the rooftop. Going outside, they see a pair of boots stuck in the snow. Pulling them out, they find out that the owner of the boots is none other than the true Santa, who accidentally slipped and fell off Fred's roof, spraining his ankle. The guys find out that on top of a sprained ankle, Santa has also caught a cold, preventing him from delivering the presents. With Christmas in jeopardy, Barney suggests that Fred should be the one to do it. Loving the idea, Santa uses his magic, giving Fred his suit and turning Barney into a Christmas elf, while also instructing Fred on how to drive the sleigh.

After a couple of mishaps, Fred and Barney start delivering the presents around the world. Having managed to deliver half of the presents, they fly over China, when they are caught in a snowstorm, which forces them to take the sleigh to a higher altitude in order to escape it. They do so, but in the process, they lose the remaining half of the presents. Calling Santa for help and explaining the situation, the old man tells them that there is only one thing to do, and that they must go to his workshop back on the North Pole to get the rest of the presents. When asking how to get there, Santa tells Fred and Barney to tell the reindeer to head back home, because they know the way. Santa even calls up Mrs. Claus to let her know of the situation.

Arriving at the North Pole, Fred and Barney quickly fill the sleigh with a new set of presents with help from Mrs. Claus and the Christmas elves and fly into the sky. They begin dropping the rest of the gifts down the chimneys, when Fred remembers about the Christmas party. Knowing that they will not be able to reach Bedrock in time, they call Santa for help, who tells them to put the sleigh in top speed.

This allows them to deliver the rest of the presents and reach Bedrock in time. Not having a minute to lose, they arrive at the orphanage, sliding down the chimney. Using Santa's magic to produce gifts for the orphans, Fred not only saves the party, but also his job.

In 1813, the war turns in favour of the British. Lord Wellington is poised to invade southern France after triumphing in Spain. The Comte de Maquerre, a French nobleman, offers to raise a rebellion in Bordeaux against Napoleon. Wellington's intelligence chief, Major General Ross, is unconvinced, as his spies have reported no discontent in the region, but agrees that a brigade can be sent as a probe if the comte can provide a secure base; he offers a family castle, though he admits that it is garrisoned.

Wellington is forced to put a young, inexperienced Colonel Horace Bampfylde (the son of a general Wellington needs to placate) in charge of the expedition, instead of Major Sharpe. Sharpe is reluctant to go, as he has just married Jane Gibbons and she has come down with a deadly fever. Without quinine, her prognosis is bleak, but he is a soldier and he has his orders.

Bampfylde botches the initial assault on the fortress and is driven back with heavy casualties. Disgusted, Sharpe and his men gain entry to the castle at night by a ruse, pretending to be a wounded French patrol, and capture the place easily. The comte is reunited with his sister and gravely ill mother. For his trouble, Sharpe is sent by Bampfylde on a useless reconnaissance in order to grab the credit for himself.

While Sharpe is away, the comte brings the "mayor of a nearby town" to Bampfylde who confirms that Bordeaux is ripe for rebellion; however, the comte is in league with Napoleon, and the mayor is in fact Napoleon's agent, and Sharpe's bitter enemy, Major Ducos. Ducos also tells Bampfylde that Sharpe was ambushed and killed by a French column. Convinced that his mission is a success and seeing no further reason to stay, Bampfylde is convinced by the comte to demolish the front gates, blow up the captured ammunition, abandon the wounded, and return to Wellington immediately with the good news.

Sharpe's patrol ambushes and annihilates a French column of reinforcements, capturing a resupply cart and a doctor bringing quinine for the comte's mother. Resisting the temptation to save it for his wife, Sharpe allows it to be administered to the ailing woman.

One of Sharpe's men, Rifleman Robinson, is found with a local French girl. Sharpe is required to hang him by Wellington's standing order, but when the girl says she had been willing, Sharpe reduces the sentence to a beating from Sergeant Harper. During the incident, they question the locals and find them fiercely loyal to Napoleon.

Hearing the explosion from the castle's magazine, Sharpe and his men hurry back. When he gets a description of the mayor, he realises he has been trapped by Major Ducos. Not only will Wellington be tricked into advancing into an ambush, but Ducos will have his own personal revenge on Sharpe.

French General Calvet arrives with a sizable, but inexperienced, force. Under a flag of truce, the comte reveals himself to be Napoleon's agent, and offers to let the British go free, provided that they leave Sharpe behind; Robinson replies for them all, "Fight them to the finish, sir." Sharpe turns them down. Sharpshooters mortally wound the comte in the back at long range as he returns from the parley.

Sharpe and his men only have 18 rounds each due to the destruction of the ammunition. Earlier, out of gratitude for Sharpe providing her mother with quinine, the comte's sister had told them to burn a cellar full of oyster shells to produce lime. The French attack, but are met by accurate volley fire. With the British ammunition running low, Sharpe's men dump powdered lime from the walls, blinding their foes as they break into the castle. The British proceed to massacre the helpless Frenchmen. The beaten French retreat just as the British run out of ammunition. A messenger arrives at Calvet's camp from Marshal Soult, Calvet's superior, demanding to know why he was not guarding the flank when Wellington attacked ... fifty miles away. The wily British commander had been suspicious, so he attacked elsewhere. General Calvet hurries away, leaving Sharpe victorious.

When Sharpe gets back, Bampfylde is placed under arrest for cowardice and other charges. Sharpe is astounded to find his wife well; she tells him that Wellington had gone to some lengths to obtain quinine for her.

Waking from their latest jump, Ryan Cawdor and his friends find themselves in a MAT-TRANS chamber which is smaller than the norm. This curious change is overshadowed by their next discovery: the chamber door release latch is stuck, leaving the group no way to leave the chamber and no way to start another MAT-TRANS jump to a different redoubt. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to make the mechanism work, Krysty Wroth calls upon her mutant strength and forces the door open. This frees the group but breaks the latch mechanism completely, rendering the MAT-TRANS inoperable. Rick Ginsberg, a cryonic patient from 2001 who was "thawed" by Ryan, estimates that he can fix the mechanism, but will need at least basic tools to do so.

The remainder of the redoubt is unusually small and limited, lacking the usual assortment of rooms and equipment. The only exit leads up a long, spiraling metal staircase which eventually comes out in a secret door built into the attic chimney of a partially fire-destroyed dacha. Finally able to see the sky, J. B. Dix uses his pocket sextant to find their approximate location; to his disbelief, the latest jump has taken him and his friends somewhere near Moscow.

After taking food and clothing from hostile residents of a nearby town, Ryan, J. B. and Krysty head out to obtain tools to repair the MAT-TRANS chamber. Their progress is halted when they are nearly shot by a Russian government security patrol. Realizing they need to be able to understand the local language to avoid further incidents, the group returns to the dacha for Rick, who is fluent in Russian. Rick protests at first, revealing that his ALS is no longer in remission and is making him progressively weaker, but relents when it becomes clear there is no other option if they are to find tools.

Meanwhile, in the Russian government capital (located in the suburbs near the heavily bombed ruins of Moscow), the recently promoted Major-Commissar Gregori Zimyanin has been following reports of the group's actions. The descriptions of the people involved stir memories of his encounter with a one-eyed American in Alaska. Despite orders to the contrary, Zimyanin continues his investigation, culling reports for suspicious behavior or crimes committed by one-eyed men.

On the advice of several locals, Ryan, Krysty, and Rick travel to the Russian War Museum in order to learn more about the current Russian government. Shortly thereafter Zimyanin arrives at the Museum, having estimated the group's likely path and assuming they would not be able to ignore the Museum. Ryan spots Zimyanin, immediately recognizing him, and hastens the group's progress through the Museum. On the way through they come across an ill-visited side exhibit which unexpectedly holds all the tools Rick needs to fix the MAT-TRANS chamber, presumably looted from the nearby dacha. The three resolve to come back at night when the Museum is closed to retrieve the tools.

With Zimyanin closing in from the front entrance and soldiers moving to set up roadblocks, Ryan and his friends move to leave through the back, only to discover that the back exit goes past the most popular (and monitored) exhibit: a tattered American flag, which attendees are expected to spit on. All three are nearly overcome with disgust, and Rick balks at following through, but in the end all three spit on the flag and leave unnoticed. As they leave Rick demands that the flag be taken as well when they return in the evening.

With Rick's condition rapidly worsening, Ryan and Kristy return to the Museum without him. The tools are stolen easily, their cases not even locked, but taking the American flag trips an alarm and alerts Museum security. Ryan and Kristy shoot their way through the confused guards and escape.

Ultimately Zimyanin is able to track the group's path back to the abandoned American dacha, following a path of violent firefights and other crimes, while the group works quickly to repair the MAT-TRANS door under the guidance of Rick, who is entering the final, fatal stages of ALS. Zimyanin's forces attack the dacha as repairs are nearing completion, and Rick asks to be left behind with cans of gasoline and a pyrotab to cover the escape. Ryan and the others are able to hold off the Russians long enough for the door to be repaired; before they leave Rick, wrapped in the rescued American flag, asks for one last favor, to hear The Star-Spangled Banner before he dies. With Doc's help the group tearfully sings the anthem for Rick, who dies before the song is finished.

Zimyanin manages to make it to the hidden redoubt during this time, and enters the control room just as Ryan hurls the burning pyrotab into the gas-soaked room before closing the chamber door; Zimyanin narrowly avoids being killed by the ensuing fire. As the MAT-TRANS activates he runs through the fire and quickly enters the chamber, intent on killing the now-incapacitated Ryan. Ryan is aware of Zimyanin's hands around his neck as the jump continues, but is unable to do anything as he slides into unconsciousness.

The film begins in Moscow, with civilians preparing defences in their streets. Men in civilian clothes with rifles prepare for battle. Women machine shell cases and prepare hand grenades. An apparently huge Stalin makes a battle speech in Red Square to thousands of cheering Red Army soldiers on parade with greatcoats, ushankas, and fixed bayonets.

Men, trucks, tanks, and artillery advance into battle. Anti-aircraft guns fire into the night sky, which is crisscrossed by searchlight beams. A crashed German bomber is seen in close-up. Russian fighters and bombers are readied and armed.

Artillery guns of many types fire many times. Tank crewmen scramble to their tanks and jump aboard. Tanks race across snow-covered plains towards the enemy. Snow camouflaged troops parachute behind enemy lines. They collect skis parachuted to them and go into battle, lying down under fire before attacking again. Tanks rush from a forest across the snow, infantrymen riding on their rear decks or skiing into battle in large numbers. A tank is hit and explodes as the attack goes on. Russian infantry in greatcoats storm a village and clear the houses of surrendering German soldiers. Towns and cities are liberated. The Russian soldiers are greeted by smiling civilians. An old woman kisses several soldiers.

German atrocities are shown. The elegantly preserved houses of the playwright Anton Chekhov and the novelist Leo Tolstoy are seen badly damaged, the museum exhibits destroyed. The bodies of murdered civilians are shown. Quantities of destroyed German armour and transport are scattered across the landscape. Captured artillery is to be used against the Germans. The bodies of dead Germans are seen frozen in the snow. Maps show the extent of the Russian advance. The front line has retreated far from Moscow.

File:Moscow Strikes Back title frame.jpg|title frame: ''Разгром немецких войск под Москвой'' (Rout of the Germans at Moscow) File:Moscow Strikes Back - still 09-41 women making shells.jpg|09:41 Russian women making artillery shells File:Moscow Strikes Back 14-24 AA guns muzzle flash.jpg|14:24 Anti-aircraft guns fire at night File:Moscow Strikes Back 20-15 Tank Crewman Jumps Aboard.jpg|20:15 A crewman jumps aboard his snow-camouflaged tank File:Moscow Strikes Back 24-56 Tanks and Ski Infantry attack together.jpg|24:56 Tanks and ski infantry attack File:Moscow Strikes Back 27-40 Germans Surrendering.jpg|27:40 German soldiers surrender File:Moscow Strikes Back 46-08 German Soldier dead in snow.jpg|46:08 dead German soldier, snow on back <!-- hiding uncited quotation - it's certainly of interest, but a source is required for it

In 1638, King Louis XIII of France is delighted when his wife bears him a son, Louis, the heir to the throne. However, a few minutes later, a second son is born. Colbert (Walter Kingsford), the king's trusted adviser, persuades the king to secretly send the second child, Philippe, away to Gascony to be raised by his majesty's dear friend, d'Artagnan (Warren William), in order to avert a possible civil war later. Fouquet (Joseph Schildkraut), a mere cardinal's messenger at the time, finds out about the twin and uses this to advance his career. Twenty years later, he is the Minister of Finance under Louis XIV. The king is hated by the commoners for levying oppressive taxes and for executing them for not paying them.

Fouquet sends soldiers to force d'Artagnan and his people to pay the taxes, though the old king had exempted him and his village from them. They are driven off, but return in much greater numbers and, with great difficulty, capture d'Artagnan, the three musketeers and Philippe. Louis is about to order their executions when Colbert tells him about Philippe's uncanny resemblance to him. As Louis is aware of an assassination attempt to take place that day (but not where or when), he makes Philippe impersonate him in exchange for his friends' lives. Philippe not only survives the ambush, he shows mercy to his would-be killers and is cheered by the people. Princess Maria Theresa (Joan Bennett), whom Louis is to wed to seal an alliance with Spain, finds this new Louis much more attractive than the real one. However, when she discovers that Louis is having an affair with Mademoiselle de la Valliere (Marion Martin), she returns to Spain.

When the truth is discovered, Louis has Philippe imprisoned with an iron mask placed on his head, hoping that Philippe's beard will grow inside the mask and eventually suffocate him. Philippe is rescued by the musketeers, who break into the sleeping Louis's chamber and imprison him in the mask. The musketeers drag him away and lock him in the Bastille, where the jailers mistake him for Phillippe, and whip him.

When Louis manages to get a message to Fouquet, he is freed, and a chase by coach ensues to stop Philippe from marrying Maria Theresa and taking Louis' place on the throne. The coach is waylaid by the musketeers, who all die heroically, but Fouquet and the real Louis XIV are also killed when the driverless coach plunges off a cliff. The mortally wounded d'Artagnan survives long enough to exclaim "God Save the King!" at Philippe's wedding, and then falls dead. Philippe finally assumes the throne.

At the center of the action is the unjustly imprisoned and exiled twin brother of the French King Louis XIV. In order to hide his face from others, an iron mask was put over his head, which he cannot remove himself. The aging D'Artagnan and his musketeer friends try to right this injustice and free the mysterious prisoner. Because only he has a legitimate claim to the throne of France. These events lead to numerous confusions and intrigues at court.

In this version, the twins' ages are swapped. Philippe is the firstborn and rightful king, who had been spirited away at birth and raised with no knowledge of his true identity in a plot by Cardinal Mazarin to manipulate Louis before his own death. Colbert and D'Artagnan plot to replace Louis (who is an ineffective king more interested in dancing and pleasure than the welfare of France) with Philippe, and in the process bring down the corrupt finance minister Fouquet, who has embezzled from the national treasury. Louis is repulsed by his own wife and makes repeated advances on Louise, who is in turn repulsed by him yet falls in love with Philippe.

An example of a narrative within a narrative, the frame story begins in Egypt when the "sphinx was young," with an (unnamed) lamia sitting upon a ridge near the Nile River, who, due to her infamy, has been unable to procure a lover for a fortnight. Charnadis, a demon speaking with the lamia, provides the narrative for the further story, told to brighten the lamia's day.

In his youth, Charnadis was accustomed to use his wings to travel through space and explore remote and distant places. One day, traveling through a particularly remote and distant galaxy, Charnadis encounters a grey, desert planet orbiting a dying sun: the world of Sadastor. Flying over its equator, Charnadis finds a deep gorge in the former ocean beds and comes eventually nigh to a tiny, green pool, the last of the oceans. About to leave, a voice calls to him, asking him why he is there, and then relating its tale: it is a Siren, called Lyspial, the last of her kind on their world. After recounting her memories of Sadastor in its earlier days, when the seas were nearly boundless and she could easily prey upon sailors, Charnadis offers her transport to another world. Sobbing, Lyspial explains that she, being born of the seas of Sadastor, is bound to them and must perish with them.

The narrative ends with Charnadis chiding the lamia, and advising that she reflect on the siren's fate, which was infinitely worse than the Lamia's own present predicament.

Anthony Mallare (Noël Coward) is a publisher who (it appears) wishes to ruin the life of every person he comes in contact with. Every sentence he says is like a poisoned dart aimed for the greatest damage, and delivered in cold lifeless tones. He is under no illusion regarding his own personality, remarking to his staff at large that he has found the perfect woman—one as empty as he is: "I must marry her ... it would be like two empty paper bags belabouring one another". He finally manages to completely destroy the career and life of an aspiring young author (Stanley Ridges) and his girlfriend (Julie Haydon), who curses him with the hope that he will die friendless. Shortly afterwards he is killed when his plane crashes into the ocean—Haydon's character, upon hearing of the tragedy, remarks, "I've just found out there IS a God!"

Faced with the prospect of damnation he is allowed to go back to earth to find one person who will mourn for him—which person turns out to be Haydon. (Those around him are astonished to see him apparently alive and back at work, but gradually become aware that something supernatural is afoot.)

"The Renegade" is one of the most obscure and confusing of the short stories published in ''Exile and the Kingdom''. It is presumed to be an allegory. The story begins with the narrator, who we are told has somehow lost his tongue, waiting in the desert with a rifle. Much of what the narrator says at the beginning of the story is not explained until much later.

After the opening pages in the desert which are set in the narrator's present, the narrator recounts events from his past which begin to explain his present nature and situation. The narrator, a French Catholic from the Protestant Massif Central region, left his home to work as a Christian missionary to the Tribes in the closed city of Taghaza, Mali. His mentor warns him that he is not yet ready for such a task but in his self-confessed 'pig-headedness' he decides to go anyway. Upon arrival, his guide turns on him and robs him leaving him in the desert.

The narrator has more misfortune in store as he arrives at Taghaza and is imprisoned and beaten by the men and women of the Tribe. After several days of isolation he is taken to the House of the Fetish where the tribe's priest and several men and women engage in worship rituals in front of Fetish. During the rituals the narrator and several others are physically and mentally abused. Eventually the narrator is converted by the tribe that he came to convert. He disowns Christ, refusing to believe in his righteousness and declares that the Fetish and the power of hatred are the only true and flawless powers in the world.

The narrator relates of one day when the priest without his mask brings a woman into the House of the Fetish. The woman has a tattoo across her face in the image of the Fetish and is left prostrate on the floor in front of the fetish itself as the priest leaves. It is implied here that the narrator attempts to engage with the woman (although nothing explicit is described) but is caught by the priest who returns with several tribesmen. They beat him and remove his tongue, causing him to pass out on the floor.

Some time later the narrator learns that another missionary is to be sent to look after the children in Taghaza but that a garrison of twenty French soldiers is to be maintained to ensure the missionary's safety (possibly a result of the narrator's disappearance). Upon learning this, he decides to escape the day before the missionary is due to arrive, steal a rifle and kill him.

In killing the missionary, the narrator intends to instigate a conflict between the French and the Tribe. Although it seems this is not to effect revenge on his captors but to give the tribe a chance to conquer and spread throughout Europe.

Eventually the missionary and his guide appear on the horizon and the narrator fires on them. Wounding his target, the narrator closes in and beats the missionary to death. The narrator comments on how good it feels to strike the face of goodness with his rifle butt. As soon as the new missionary is dead the tribesmen come for the narrator; alerted by his gunfire.

The story ends with the recapture and torture/execution of the narrator. The narrator compares himself to the martyred Christ; asking why the Fetish has forsaken him and declaring his love for the nails which crucify him. When the narrator realizes that the Fetish is not coming to save him and the powers of "good" are winning, he wonders if he's made a mistake and chosen the wrong side. He hastily tries to convert back to the side of good and mercy, but as he babbles his narration ends. The narrative switches to a third person point of view for the closing line: "A fistful of salt fills the mouth of the babbling slave."

Rosamond Vivian, a discontented maiden who lives on an English island with only her bitter old grandfather for company, begins the novel by rashly declaring: ''"I often feel as if I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom."'' Right on cue, a man named Phillip Tempest, a libertine who intentionally bears a more than trivial resemblance to Mephistopheles, makes contact with Rosamond. Within a month, Rosamond is in love with him, and although she realizes that this man is "no saint", she marries him, believing with the fatuousness of youth that her love will save him. She sails away from her lonely island in Tempest's yacht, the ''Circe'', and begins her married life at a luxurious villa in Nice.

Much to his own surprise, Tempest, an otherwise cold and heartless man, finds that he is content with the relationship. He tries to make Rosamond happy, and succeeds for a while; however, after a year in his company, she realizes how conscienceless and cruel he is, and discovers that Tempest has a wife and son already, making their marriage a sham and Rosamond the unwitting mistress of a man who has grossly deceived her. On the same night, she packs up, stealthily climbs down from her second-floor balcony, and catches the next train to Paris. Tempest aggressively pursues and stalks her, beginning the obsessive "chase" of the title.

Tempest continues to hunt and torment Rosamond, repeatedly signalling to her that he enjoys the pursuit and pressuring her to return to him. To attempt to avoid him, she assumes a variety of disguises: in Paris, she is a seamstress named "Ruth"; next, she escapes to a convent, where she is known as "Sister Agatha"; after that, under the name "Rosalie Varian", she travels to Germany as a nameless companion to a wealthy little girl.

Each time, as she begins to settle comfortably into a new life, Tempest reappears and attempts to recommence the relationship, which has become far more perilous than before. Under this treatment, Rosamond learns to hate and fear her former lover. At the same time, a hopeless passion develops between Rosamond and Father Ignatius, a handsome, virtuous, high-born man who happens, unfortunately, to be a Roman Catholic priest. The chase finally, and tragically, ends on the night Ignatius attempts to help Rosamond return to her grandfather's island.

In 1938, Brad Craig (Richard Quine), the son of a famous Army colonel, starts his freshman (fish) year at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). After spending the past four years in the Philippines, he has acquired both an intimate knowledge of Japanese culture and a desire to invest in the modernization of Asia. At the train station, Brad is met by cadet “Cyanide” Jenkins (Noah Beery, Jr.), his new roommate. He is also introduced to sophomore (pisshead) cadet “Panhandle” Mitchell (Robert Mitchum), who wastes little time in penalizing Brad for various violations of cadet conduct. As Brad adjusts to life on campus, he becomes romantically involved with Nina Lambert (Anne Gwynne), the daughter of beloved chemistry professor “Pop” Lambert (Harry Devenport).

Following an artillery exercise, Brad observes that the brakes on his section's caisson appear to be damaged. Panhandle disregards Brad's concerns and orders the section to move out. When the brakes fail and the caisson goes careening out of control, Brad risks his life to improvise a solution and prevent a disaster. His actions save Cyanide's life and earn him Panhandle's respect. Brad is soon promoted to “fish sergeant” and his upperclassmen delight in exhausting him (smoking him out) by constantly staging fights and ordering Brad to intervene; he finally discovers the game and wreaks revenge.

As Brad's college career progresses, he discusses marriage with Nina, who is secretly smitten with Cyanide (and he with her), though each is hesitant to disclose their feelings. During the Field Artillery Ball, Brad encourages Cyanide and Nina to dance together when they finally admit their mutual attraction. By the following year, they have become a couple with Brad's blessing. Meanwhile, Brad finds himself in a difficult position when his classmates are concerned about his support of Japan. Two Japanese-American cadets, Kubo (Allen Jung) and Matsui (Roland Got), come to his aid, their justification of Japanese war crimes angers the others and earns Brad the contempt of his friends.

While guarding the Chemistry Building one night, Brad discusses with Pop Lambert his invention that will protect servicemen from poison gas. Pop hides the formula in his office to prevent tampering, but after he departs, Brad is drugged and locked in a closet, but manages to escape, seeing Kubo and Matsui ransacking the professor's office. He trails the pair and confronts their employer, a traveling salesman (William Frawley) working for the Japanese. Having taken some papers from Pop Lambert's office, Brad offers to provide the formula in exchange for a bribe, but deliberately gives them a version of the formula missing a key element whose absence will render it useless.

Brad is accused of treason for his actions, although the commandant does not have enough evidence to bring formal charges. Ostracized by the student body, Brad decides to leave the university. Months later, Brad is working for the Japanese Navy recording English-language propaganda for distribution in the United States. He is assigned to give radio commentary on an impending Japanese assault on the Solomon Islands. The maneuver is detected and a U.S. Navy carrier group moves to intercept the Japanese fleet.

While airborne to cover the battle, Brad manages to contact the U.S. fighter group, led by Cyanide, revealing his covert infiltration of the Japanese military and offering his services to the American forces. He crashes his own aircraft into the Japanese aircraft carrier, disabling the flight deck and giving the Americans the advantage. Brad dies as the carrier is destroyed and is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

In a Renaissance chamber decorated with devilish faces and a warped coat of arms, a gleeful demon throws three human victims into a cauldron, which spews out flames. The victims rise from the cauldron as nebulous ghosts, and then turn into fireballs. The fireballs multiply and pursue the demon around the chamber. Finally the demon himself leaps into the infernal cauldron, which gives off a final burst of flame.

The film begins in 1987 when penal reform campaigner Lord Longford is invited by a radio host to discuss his new book “''Saints”'', with the radio host inviting listeners to call in and join in with the conversation about the new book. Instead, Longford finds himself being challenged by a man who berates him for campaigning for Myra Hindley's release from prison - particularly as she has recently confessed to another two killings which had remained unsolved for more than 20 years. Longford declines to talk about Hindley, as he had made it clear that he would not be discussing her on this particular programme, and makes the same response when another caller questions whether he regrets having supported Hindley for so long now that he knows she stayed silent for so long about the two additional murders, and other facts about the case which Hindley had only recently revealed.

The story itself begins during the late 1960s (during the first premiership of Harold Wilson) at the House of Lords, with Lord Longford, a regular prison visitor, presiding over a reception for a number of ex-convicts he had visited and corresponded with during their imprisonment, including one who is now a successful artist and another who has forged a career in motor engineering. He then receives a letter from one of the most notorious criminals in Britain, the Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, who has recently been sentenced to life imprisonment for her role in the Moors Murders - which involved the murder of two children and a teenager.

When he visits her, she asks for books, but also for him to arrange for her to meet Ian Brady, her former partner who instigated the Moors Murders. Longford is shocked and tells her that it would be in her own best interests to have no contact with Brady, as it might harm any future chances of parole. Hindley seems equally shocked at the idea that she would ever be considered for parole. Longford then begins his campaign for Hindley to be paroled, remembering that her trial judge had felt that rehabilitation and the chance of eventual parole would be possible for Hindley once removed from the influence of Brady.

The question remains of whether Hindley is indeed reformed - for example, in her decision to convert to Longford's own Roman Catholic faith - or whether she is merely manipulating him and feigning her rehabilitation in an attempt to boost her chances of parole. Longford’s friendship with Hindley is soon uncovered by the tabloid media, and Longford soon receives a letter from Ian Brady, requesting a prison visit from him.

He visits Brady twice; on both occasions, Brady tells him that Hindley is manipulative and that he should turn his back on her, as she is only interested in winning release from prison and will do or say anything to boost her chances of gaining parole.

Longford, driven by his deep religious belief that all people are ultimately good and can be reformed if they have sinned, decides to continue on his course, despite heavy criticism from the public, tabloid media, politicians and even from his own family. His own wife advises him to find another cause to pursue for his family's good as well as his own, before eventually deciding to support his campaign for Hindley's parole.

In 1977, he appears on the very first episode of ''Brass Tacks'', a current affairs programme, in which he takes part in a debate on the issue of whether Myra Hindley should be given parole. Longford argues that Hindley has repented and had merely acted as Brady's accomplice under duress, but is faced with an argument against Hindley's parole from Ann West (the mother of Moors Murders victim Lesley Ann Downey), who feels that Hindley should never be given parole, and vows to kill her if she is ever released. Patrick Kilbride, the father of one of the other victims, appears on the program via telephone and also threatens to kill Myra Hindley if she is ever released.

Ann West was at the centre of a campaign to ensure that Hindley was never released, and gave regular newspaper and television interviews to argue against any suggestion of parole for Hindley, and on many occasions vowed to kill her if she was ever set free. Ann West died in February 1999, shortly after Hindley's unsuccessful second appeal against a Home Office ruling to keep her in prison for the rest of her life. Her media campaign to keep Hindley was also actively supported by John Kilbride’s parents and brother. Longford often condemned the media - particularly ''The Sun'' newspaper - for their "exploitation" of Ann West.

By 1986, Hindley is about to have her case for parole assessed by the Parole Board and appears to stand a good chance of parole in the near future, but Longford visits her in prison and she reveals that she and Brady were responsible for two further murders. She later helps police locate the body of one of the victims.

Even as Hindley's revelations spark yet more public hostility towards Longford, he remains loyal to Hindley in public and continues to back her campaign for release, even though Hindley herself had told him at an earlier meeting that the campaign he conducted on her behalf may have done her more harm than good, and that she would understand if he decided not to visit her again. He continues to defend Hindley and campaign for her release. He does so during a includes a radio interview regarding a book he has had published in the late 1980s, during which a number of callers berate Longford for his support of Myra Hindley, and demand to know whether he regrets his campaigning now that new facts have emerged. Longford finally agrees to discuss Hindley when the radio host questions him, but insists that he does not regret having supported Hindley and that his friendship with her has enriched his life.

Privately, he is depicted as being affected by doubts, particularly when he listens to the audio tape recording of Lesley Ann Downey being abused during the minutes leading up to her death.

He is last seen visiting Hindley in prison in the late 1990s, by which time he is frail and aged over 90. Hindley is now in her late 50s and her health is deteriorating, and it appears unlikely that she will live for many more years.

As the film ends and just before the credits start to roll, we are informed that Longford died in August 2001, while Hindley died in November 2002, having never won parole.

Gisella Perl, a Jewish-Hungarian gynecologist from Sighetul Marmatiei, Romania, testifies before an Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) review board consisting of three men. Perl is seeking to be granted citizenship after passing the New York State Medical Licensing Board examinations, wishing to begin practicing in New York. She recounts her early life when she aspired to be a doctor despite the admonishments of her father, her time practicing as a gynecologist before the German invasion, and her experiences as prisoner #25404, where she provided what medical care she could to fellow prisoners. Her most controversial actions included providing late-term abortions to pregnant women in order to save their lives. These pregnant women would otherwise have been killed immediately or subjected to the torture of horrific "medical" experiments.

Perl is accused of "colluding" with the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele who directed experiments on pregnant female inmates at the Auschwitz concentration camp. As the review board questions her over several days, she becomes increasingly emotional and questions her own determination to survive, as well as her guilt at having lived while so many others did not. She testifies that despite her intention to keep herself and others alive, she unknowingly became part of the Nazi efforts to kill, but she held on to the hope that the lives of the women she saved would undermine the efforts of the Nazis to exterminate the Jewish race. After she is granted citizenship and begins to practice in New York, she gets a call to attend one of the women whose first baby she had aborted in the camp. She delivers the baby and sees her wish that the Jewish race will survive fulfilled.

In Jerusalem, a rabbi named Rostenburg is using software he designed to decode seventy eschatological prophecies hidden within the Torah. Rostenburg has handwritten each one in a journal, to be entered into the program for deciphering. The program deciphers a prophecy which says that he is about to die; immediately, he tears the page containing the final code from his journal, hiding it in his shirt pocket. He is then shot and killed by an assassin, who takes his journal and the optical disc containing the decoding program. After the assassin leaves, two mysterious men (later revealed to be two prophets) retrieve the journal page Rostenburg had hidden.

Television reporter and talk show host Cassandra Barris (Catherine Oxenberg) introduces Dr. Gillen Lane (Casper Van Dien) as her show's guest. Lane is a popular author and charismatic motivational speaker who explains that codes hidden in the Old Testament describe events past, present, and future; he sees no contradiction between this belief and his dismissal of religious faith.

Media mogul and European Union Chairman Stone Alexander (Michael York) receives a humanitarian award in Rome for having all but eliminated world hunger through advances in nutritional technology. There, we see that the man who killed Rostenburg and stole his decoding software is Alexander's apprentice, Dominic (Michael Ironside). Dr. Lane is in attendance, seeking to meet with Alexander "to discuss some ideas." Cassandra, employed by one of Alexander's television networks, is also in attendance, providing Lane brief conversation after Alexander spurns him. Some time afterward, however, Alexander sees a prophecy (deciphered with Rostenberg's program) that leads him to ask Lane to become his Minister of Information.

Using each prophecy Rostenburg's program deciphers to guide him, Alexander works toward world domination by whatever means he deems necessary, including secretly arranging for the bombings of Muslim and Jewish holy sites in Israel. Reporting from Jerusalem, Cassandra is caught up in one of the blasts. The two prophets from Rostenburg's study take her from the rubble, telling her that they have "a message for [her] to carry". Alexander goes on to use the sites' rebuilding to help forge a groundbreaking Middle East peace treaty. Not long thereafter, most national governments agree to join a ten-state "World Union", of which Alexander is chairman. Lane finds fulfillment in his new position, though he regrets not being able to be with his estranged wife and young daughter.

Cassandra delivers to Lane a warning that the prophets gave her, though he is skeptical. Nevertheless, the warning leads Lane to discover the decoding facility where Alexander's staff uses Rostenburg's program. No one else is in the facility at the time, but Lane sees that the program is running, and leafs through printouts of previously deciphered codes. Seeing Lane on a surveillance feed, Alexander and Dominic go to confront him. A disillusioned Lane accuses Alexander of "following the code like a script," and being behind the Israeli bombings. Confessing to Lane's charges, Alexander asks him to be "my spokesman for this new world, my visionary, my prophet." Believing himself to be the only rightful aspirant to the position, Dominic shoots Alexander in the head, mortally wounding him. Dominic immediately alerts security, claiming that Lane shot Alexander and fled. Lane escapes Alexander's compound, but becomes the target of a worldwide manhunt. Alexander is pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Lane runs into a sympathetic Cassandra, who agrees to smuggle him onto a network jet so that he can return to his family in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Satan enters Alexander's body in the hospital, causing his head wound to heal miraculously and the World Union chairman to rise from the dead. Seven of the ten World Union leaders agree that Alexander will be appointed "Chancellor of the United World" in a ceremony to be held at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, coincident with the reopening of Solomon's Temple. In Los Angeles, it becomes clear that Lane cannot be safely reunited with his family, which is under heavy surveillance. He and Cassandra end up flying back to Jerusalem, where the prophets give him the page of Rostenburg's journal containing the final code. Immediately thereafter, Cassandra pulls a gun on Lane, demanding the code and revealing that she is loyal to Alexander.

At the ceremony in Jerusalem, Chairman Alexander (now Chancellor Alexander) proclaims that he has "become king and god!" The crowd is upset by this statement, with some devout Jewish and Muslim listeners denouncing him as a blasphemer. Out of the growing tumult, the two prophets appear inside the temple, identifying Alexander as the Abomination of Desolation, quoting evangelistic biblical prophecies, and predicting that they would be resurrected three days after their deaths. Alexander has Dominic kill them both, and put them on display as an example of what happens to those who oppose him. He leaves for his compound in Rome, as Dominic relays word to him that "the Israelis and several others are seceding." Alexander plots a massive military action, including a nuclear strike.

Alexander meets Cassandra, who gives him the final code; when he examines the writing, it evaporates from the page supernaturally. Alexander accuses her of conspiring with Lane (who is being detained on-site). The two of them go to Lane's holding cell, where Dominic violently interrogates him as to the whereabouts of the final code. Lane is truly ignorant of its whereabouts, causing the interrogation to reach an impasse. Lane is left alone in his cell. In his solitude, demons swirl around him, tormenting him; Lane prays, "God... Jesus, save me." Immediately, the demons are scattered, Lane's cell door opens, and he exits. Meanwhile, the two prophets are resurrected.

Lane, trying to find Alexander, runs into Dominic instead. Dominic is about to kill him when the two prophets supernaturally appear. They strangle Dominic without touching him, and give Lane the journal page with the final code. Lane takes Dominic's gun and confronts Alexander, who, with Cassandra at his side, is about to commence the attack. Alexander uses this as a bargaining chip to get Lane to give him the final code; Lane agrees, typing it into Rostenburg's program for deciphering. Once he does, however, Alexander reveals that he never intended to call off the attack, and now, with the final code, will begin his massive war. Just as Alexander is about to give the final authorization to attack, a blindingly brilliant and pure white light appears on the horizon, expanding like a shockwave through the entire surrounding area. As it reaches Alexander's war room, its appearance is accompanied by a strong wind. While Lane stands safely and peacefully within it, it blows through Alexander violently enough to cause Satan to fly behind him. Initially attempting to grasp onto Alexander's shoulders for stability, Satan is finally blown away, out of sight. At this point, Alexander reaches behind his ear and finds that his hand is bloodied: His head wound was restored after Satan was ejected from him, leaving him dead again.

The shockwave of light spreads to cover the entire Earth, then grows in brightness and intensity such that it causes the entire screen to remain white for a few seconds. This effect ends with a fade to the printer in Alexander's facility, the output tray of which bears a freshly-printed page with Rostenburg's final code, deciphered as follows: "0000 ... Dawn of New Millennium".

As an idealistic 23-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of "unteachable, at-risk" students. One day she intercepted a note with a racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust – only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books ''Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl'' and ''Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo'' as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels between these books and their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the "Freedom Writers" in homage to the civil rights activists "The Freedom Riders".

With funds raised by a "Read-a-thon for Tolerance", they arranged for Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California during the 1994/1995 school year, where she declared that Erin Gruwell's students were "the real heroes." Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition – appearances on ''Primetime Live'' and ''All Things Considered'', coverage in ''People'' magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley – and educational benefit. All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many went on to attend college.

Written in an epistolary style, consisting of newspaper cuttings, letters, and extensive excerpts from the diary of its protagonist, the novel tells the story of Humphrey Mackevoy, a young man who achieves sexual satisfaction by boring holes in trees and penetrating them with his penis.

Intercut with the story of how his passion leads him into confusion, shame and prison, but eventually into acceptance of, and almost pride in his peculiarity, are a series of comic sub-plots involving the local naturalists' society (are the holes appearing in trees around town really the work of the sabre-toothed dormouse?); a feud between local councillors that leads to mass poisoning; Mackevoy's unwitting involvements in the sexual fantasies of teenager Rose Hopkins; and the increasingly outrageous behaviour of "mummy".

The local government of Irschenberg are planning the construction of a motorway exit with a fast-food restaurant, for which they need the property of Magdalena Trenner, a rich old woman who is unpopular in the village until she takes in a traveling carpenter, Johannes, and later an asylum seeker named Theophile.

With their help she regains popularity among the villagers and prevents the mayor's numerous plots to get his hands on her land from succeeding. When she dies the mayor thinks he has won, but Johannes tricks them into believing she left a will leaving her entire property to the local scouts. A fight starts at the end of which the mayor has to abandon his plans.

The story starts with 10-year-old Liza Barton accidentally shooting and killing her mother and shooting and injuring her stepfather Ted. She is acquitted of the crime and is later adopted by some distant relatives.

Twenty-four years later, the story picks up with Liza determined to bury her past. She has changed her name to Celia Foster and married Alex Nolan after her first husband Larry's death. Alex, not aware of Celia's past, gifts her with a surprise birthday present—the keys to her own parents' home in a neighboring town Mendham. Alex, Celia and her 4-year-old son, Jack, move into the home to find that it has been vandalized. Unsure of how Alex would react to her past, Celia decides to hide it from him for some more time.

Flashes of the night her mom died come back to Celia as she sets out to find out more about what really happened that night. She discreetly tries to find information about her father's accident that led to his death a year before her mother's death. One by one, a few of the older residents of the town are murdered and some of the evidence leads to Celia being suspected. Celia finds her own life in danger, as the pursuit of the murderer's identity picks up pace.

The film unfolds in brief episodes, detailing the travails of the working-class Pollock family, who live in a shabby flat in a tower block in London's East End. They are struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the nagging, put-upon mother Mavis (Pam Ferris) is working; the bitter, feckless father Frank (Jeff Robert) and the couple's two sons Colin (Tim Roth), an extremely shy young man, and Mark (Phil Daniels), his outspoken, headstrong older brother, are on the dole. Their aimless, querulous existence is contrasted with Mavis's sister Barbara (Marion Bailey) and her husband John (Alfred Molina), whose financial and social loftiness in suburban Chigwell serves as a comfortable facade for their lacklustre marriage.

The boys spend their time at home, on the street, at friends' flats, in the unemployment office, and at the local pub. Mark is continually scrounging for cash and cadging drinks from his friends, among them Coxy (Gary Oldman in his screen debut), a crude, impulsive skinhead. Colin has a crush on a sweet-natured girl named Hayley (Tilly Vosburgh), but he can't bring himself to act upon it. Mark mocks his father, teases Colin by calling him "Kermit" and "Muppet," and makes insinuations about Barbara's troubled relationship with her husband. Barbara offers Colin a job helping her redecorate her home, but when Mark shows up, Colin withdraws, refuses to do any work, and finally leaves. When he returns home, he's had his head shaved. There is no resolution to the film, simply a succession of days that present commonplace problems, amusements, conversations, and arguments.

The story revolves around two local cricket league teams that compete against each other in local matches and consider each other as sworn enemies. Royapuram Rockers are on top of the chain and keep bashing the Sharks year after year. The heroes of the movie are the Sharks' team.

The story begins when Raghu's parents move from Royapuram to Visalakshi Thottam, Chennai 600 028. Raghu is a member of the Royapuram Rockers Cricket team, and a college student living with his parents. He has no choice but to move with them although he detests the area. He is not very excited at the prospect of living in the same area as his sworn enemies. Raghu is faithful to his teammates, but they ignore him because of the distance. Angered at being replaced by a new guy in the team in one of the matches, Raghu estranges himself from cricket and the Rockers.

Raghu informs of Pazhani's sister Selvi's love for Karthik to him. This incident initiates Raghu's friendship with a few Sharks team players and eventually gets induced into the team. Raghu practices with the Sharks to play against the Rockers in the upcoming Radio Mirchi trophy. Pazhani, who soon learns of his sister and Karthik's love affair is disappointed and then there is a tiff amongst the friends. The team splits up for a while, but Karthik apologizes to Pazhani and they make up. The team reunites and starts practicing for the trophy once again. Unfortunately, Karthik is stabbed by his brother's enemies and is rendered unfit to play the match. Pazhani replaces Karthik as the captain and the team heads for the match.

Under tight pressure and with a nail biting finish, the Sharks finally defeat the Rockers in the semi-finals of the tournament. In the finals they meet their enemies, a group of school kids named Bad Boys-II who practice by bunking school to play cricket on the beach. The kids are really good and the Sharks know it because they have lost badly to them once before.

The movie ends with the team really struggling to keep it up in the game.

After the recent death of her husband and extreme loneliness because her son and especially her daughter have little time to visit her, Ruth (Doris Roberts), an elderly socialite takes an overdose of pills in an attempt to commit suicide. She is saved by Billy (Judy Reyes), a homeless woman. Although Billy is initially resistant to Ruth's attempts to befriend her, she eventually relents and accepts a place to stay in the lonely old socialite's mansion.

To the dismay of Ruth's family and neighbors, several other homeless people also move in with them. Ruth works with them to better their lives and helps them find jobs and purpose in life. Eventually, her daughter finds out and tries to throw the people out because she thinks they're taking advantage of her mother. Ruth's son sees how happy his mother is, so he decides to return to the house to help her.

However, the neighbors are upset and think their property values will go down because of Ruth's new occupants. They sue her and tell lies under oath in court to get the formerly homeless people thrown out. For example, they say that one of the men was urinating in their garden at 3 a.m., yet this never happened. Although Ruth hires a good lawyer (who regularly volunteers to provide free legal advice to the homeless), she soon risks losing her case, because of Beverly Hills covenant rules; the home is regarded as a boarding house which is illegal in their residential neighborhood.

In the meantime, Ruth's lawyer and Billy begin a romantic relationship, but this is stalled when Billy finds out that Ruth is going to lose her case. Billy and the others leave in the middle of the night because they love Ruth and don't want her to lose her home. Ruth finds them, however, and convinces them to come back, saying she needs them as much as they need her.

As Ruth is testifying in court, she faints. Her doctor tells her that her cancer is terminally active. Her daughter realizes the error of her ways, decides to help her mother, so she works together with the lawyer Ruth had hired and creates a deal that the prosecution cannot refuse.

If the prosecuting lawyer (who happens to be a condominium real estate king) suing them doesn't drop the case and sell Ruth's daughter one of his condominiums to house Ruth's friends, then Ruth will give the house to them and they will each become part owner of the house and live there permanently.

Ruth wins her case and they all move into the newly purchased condominium. Ruth passes on, but not before she sees her new and old families come together to provide the halfway house for the homeless which is now called "Our House".

The silent men are the workers at a cooper's shop during the war in Algeria. They have recently returned to work after a failed strike. When the owner's daughter has a serious, acute illness requiring an ambulance, the men do not offer any words of condolence. Where once there had been a sense of being all part of a whole, they no longer feel such for the owner who had refused to acquiesce to their demands following their strike. The owner himself is not a bad person; it is stated that he treated his men well, even offering each man five bottles of vintage wine each new year. The owner even tried to reconcile with the men, saying that if they are to increase productivity and thus bring in more revenue he will not only increase their salaries but he will do so without being prompted. Nevertheless, the men are cold, and when the owner says goodbye to everyone at the end of the day, nobody reacts. The men themselves have preserved their own sense of fraternity, however, and despite the situation with the owner and his daughter, the men are warm and humane to each other. While as a whole the men seem morally unaffected by the situation, Yvers, the protagonist, can't stop thinking about the little girl. At the end of the story, Yvers breaks his silence and confides in his wife all that has happened in the course of the day, and concludes by uttering "Ah! it's his own fault!"

A stevedore in Thessaloniki, Greece, Salamo Arouch's passion is boxing. Captured along with his family and fiancée Allegra in 1943 and interned in Auschwitz, Arouch is used by his SS captors as entertainment, forced to box against fellow prisoners. He knows that if he refuses, his family will be punished; if he wins, he will be given extra rations which he can share with them; if he loses, he will be sent to the gas chamber. As his family and friends die around him, he has only his love of Allegra and his grim determination to keep her alive.

The film follows the early life story of Salamo Arouch, though it takes some artistic liberties including the early introduction of wife Allegra (a pseudonym for Marta Yechiel), whom Arouch did not actually meet until after the liberation of the camp.

The film stars Tom Courtenay as the title character, a prisoner in the Soviet gulag system in the 1950s who endures a long prison sentence. It tells of a routine day in his life.

When a frightened child approaches Marcus Didius Falco with a plea for help, he does not believe her. One quarrel with the family does not mean that a relation is trying to kill her. Beset by his own family troubles, his new responsibilities as Procurator of the Sacred Poultry, and the continuing search for a new partner, he decides to send her home.

However, he almost immediately regrets it. Gaia Laelia comes from a pre-eminent Roman family with a long history of key religious positions. Gaia, herself, is considered the most likely candidate for election to the office of Vestal Virgin. When she disappears, Falco is officially asked to investigate.

Meanwhile, Helena's brother Aelianus has problems of his own. In an attempt to restart his political career - stalled by his younger brother's elopement with his wealthy fiancee - he tries to gain election to the Arval Brethren. During the night-time ceremonies, however, Aelianus stumbles across the body of one of the Brethren with his throat cut as if he had been sacrificed.

Unable to bring in the Vigiles, Falco is forced to search the house of Gaia Laelia alone, aware that time is running out for finding her before the lottery takes place, or even alive.

When Marcus Didius Falco gives a poetry reading for family and friends, things get a little out of hand. The event is taken over by Aurelius Chrysippus, a wealthy Greek banker and patron to a group of struggling writers, who subsequently offers to publish Falco's work, which Falco turns down as being a raw deal. Unfortunately, soon afterwards Chrysippus is brutally murdered, with part of a broken scroll jammed up his nose, and due to his presence at Chrysippus' ''scriptorium'' Falco is implicated in his death and forced by his friend Petronius Longus, the enquiry chief of the vigiles, to investigate.

The result is a trawl through the literary and financial worlds of Ancient Rome, as Falco delves deep into Chrysippus' personal life and business history. Falco's investigations reveal that the deceased Chrysippus (Greek: "Golden Horse") was owner of the Golden Horse Bank, and many potential suspects are turned up, including disgruntled writers employed by Chrysippus’ ''scriptorium'', a shipper Pisarchus who has fallen on hard times, as well as his family: Chrisyppus' widow Vibia, his ex-wife Lysa and his son Diomedes. Meanwhile, things get worse: one of the suspected writers, Avienus, is found dead and Falco and his friend Petronius are also attacked, although they manage to survive and kill the assassin. To add insult to injury, Falco also faces problems with his own family: his estranged father Geminius has problems coping with the death of his mistress, Flora, and Falco's nemesis Anacrites is slowly ingratiating himself with Falco's own mother, persuading her to place her savings with his own at the Golden Horse Bank — which, unfortunately for the two and Falco, goes insolvent.

Falco initially suspects Pisarchus because Pisarchus has recently gone into insolvency, but soon discounts that motive as being insufficient for murder after consulting his banker and his father for advice. Running out of time and options, Falco plays a desperate gambit — bring together Chrysippus' family and his associates who are directly implicated in the murders at a conference at the Chrysippus home for questioning, along with Helena and the vigiles, who have been assisting Falco so far. Eventually, the murderer is identified and it's none other than Diomedes, identified by his accidentally revealing knowledge of how Chrysippus was found dead, and with further corroborating evidence collected during investigation or provided by witnesses at the time of the crime. The novel ends on an ominous tone, with Diomedes being sentenced to a gruesome death, and Falco brooding over tensions between his family and Anacrites, who has tried to woo Maia but was spurned by her.

Fresh from his trip to Britannia, Marcus Didius Falco needs to re-establish himself back in Rome. A minor role in the trial of a senator entangles him in the machinations of two lawyers: Silus Italicus and Paccius Africanus, both ex-consuls with notorious reputations.

The senator is convicted, but then dies, apparently by suicide. Silius hires Falco and his young associates – Aelianus and Justinus – to prove that it was murder, not an attempt to protect his heirs from further legal action. However, probing this tangle of upper-class secrets leads to fresh prosecutions. Falco finds himself in the role of advocate, exposing himself to powerful elements in Roman law. If he offends the wrong people, it might lead to charges he has not bargained for and ruin his family financially.

The story follows a young teacher, Pat Conroy, in 1969 assigned to isolated Yamacraw Island (Daufuskie Island) off the coast of South Carolina and populated mostly by poor black families. He finds out that the children as well as the adults have been isolated from the rest of the world and speak a dialect called Gullah, with "Conrack" of the novel's title being the best they can do to pronounce his last name. The school has only two rooms for all grades combined, with the principal teaching grades one through four and Conroy teaching grades five through eight. Conroy discovers that the students aren't taught much and will have little hope of making a life in the larger world.

Conroy tries to teach them about the outside world but comes into conflict both with the principal and Mr. Skeffington, the superintendent. He teaches them how to brush their teeth, who Babe Ruth is, and has the children listen to music, including Flight of the Bumblebee and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. He explains that when Beethoven wrote the Fifth Symphony, he was writing about "what death would sound like". He is astounded they've never even heard of Halloween, and he decides to take them to Beaufort on the mainland to go trick-or-treating, which the superintendent has forbidden. He also must overcome parental fears of "the river." As a result, he's fired. As he leaves the island for the last time, the children come to see him leave, all of them lined up on a rickety bridge. As he is about to leave by boat, one of the students then begins playing a record, which is the beginning movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

A long and complicated case awaits Falco and Lucius Petronius Longinus (or Petro' for short) on the streets of the port town of Ostia, accompanied by Maia, Helena and Falco's daughters — Albia, Julia and Favonia. Petro' is on the lookout for Balbinus Florius, a dangerous mobster last seen in Britain, while Falco is on the lookout for a missing gossip columnist named Diocles, an Imperial freedman known by the pen name of "Infamia" (Latin: "scandal", "calumny"). A young boy named Zeno approaches Petro', and tells him that "his mother won't wake up". Zeno's mother is found unconscious and drooling, and Maia is sent to nurse her - only to end up with a black eye when the woman, Pullia, wakes up. When asked why he told them, Zeno replies to Petro' that his uncle Lygon told Zeno that "the vigiles would want to know" if Pullia wouldn't wake up.

Infamia's colleagues Mutatus and Holconius say that Diocles is gifted but dissolute, and believe that he is playing truant, but Falco suspects otherwise. Continuing on the Infamia case, Falco calls on Diocles' landlady, who admits that she has no idea where he has gone to. Falco bribes one of her slaves, Titus, to hand over Diocles' possessions, which but for one note tablet marked with the name "Damagoras" and another engraved with a strange grid-shaped pattern, hand no conclusive leads to Falco. Much to Falco's chagrin, the one man in all of Ostia who seems ready to talk about Damagoras and who he is turns out to be none other than Falco's brother-in-law Gaius Baebius, whom Falco loathes greatly.

Gaius leads Falco to a large estate up north near Portus, where they are assaulted and confined (and Gaius belatedly tells Falco that Damagoras is rumoured to have been a pirate), and brought out later to meet its ostensibly prosperous owner. Damagoras surprisingly treats them hospitably in the opulent surroundings of his villa, and reveals that he was born in Cilicia (a region in Asia Minor notorious for piracy) but when questioned by Falco about being a pirate, Damagoras instantly denies being one or being connected with them, saying he is a "retired sea captain" who contacted Deiocles to "write his memoirs". Falco is not convinced by Damagoras, however, and decides that Damagoras needs to be inspected more closely.

Back in Ostia, the local vigiles chief, Brunnus, suggests that Falco talk to an expert on piracy — a naval officer named Caninus. Caninus, once drunk, however arouses Falco's suspicion: Caninus is a naval attaché who is supposed to be attached with the Imperial fleet at Ravenna on the Adriatic: if so, then what is he doing on the wrong side of the Italian peninsula? Meanwhile, Aulus comes back to Falco with news — the wife to the owner of Aulus' ship to Athens, Aline, has been kidnapped. Falco discovers more clues about the kidnapping racket in Ostia, and discovers that the kidnappers' go-between for contacting hostages' relatives is a cross-dressing man known as "The Illyrian".

Seeking more help, Falco returns to Rome on two errands — the first is Marcus Rubella, Petro's tribune, to inform him of the kidnappings going on in Ostia. The second is to speak to Holconius and Mutatus, but they are out. Nevertheless, a slave in the columnists' office tells Falco the reason Deiocles went back to Ostia - to see his aunt Vestina. En route, Falco meets his father Favonius, who tells Falco that he knows Damagoras as a business partner. Falco's father also reveals that Aline wasn't the first victim — previously, a young girl named Rhodope had also been abducted. Speaking to Rhodope, Helena manages to discover that she was seduced by one of her former captors, named Theopompus. Back in Ostia, Falco tries to locate Vestina, but discovers that she died in a fire almost a year ago, and that Deiocles would normally stay with her.

Falco's sleuthwork also reveal a darker side to law enforcement in Ostia — the vigiles are seen as heavy-handed and not trustworthy, and so fire fighting and security work is done mostly by members of the local builders' guild, headed by a rich building contractor named Privatus. When Rubella's Sixth Vigiles Cohort arrives in Ostia to take over from the Fourth Cohort of Brunnus, Privatus has his men attempt to intimidate the vigiles at the handing-over ceremony. Naturally, Falco asks Privatus about the whereabouts of Diocles, and notes Privatus' seeming disquiet, implying that Privatus is somehow involved with Diocles' disappearance. More note tablets by Diocles turn up, proving that he had contact with someone who had engaged in piracy, mentioning the name of Lygon — Zeno's uncle, and possibly one of Damagoras' henchmen. Falco decides that he needs to question Damagoras again, but once more, Damagoras flatly denies anything to do with piracy or the abductions on the quays. At the same time, Falco and Helena manage to meet Falco's uncle Fulvius, whom Falco has not see for twenty years.

More trouble is in store for Falco, however: Theopompus elopes with Rhodope in Ostia, but is soon murdered — ostensibly by jealous colleagues and the wealthy but hapless Posidonius is forced to cough up for Theopompus' wake. Suddenly, Holconius and Mutatus arrive in Ostia, with what seems to be a large chest full of cash in order to ransom back Diocles on Helena's advice. This causes her to have a heated argument with Falco, but he backs down in the end and following Helena's plan, he asks the vigiles to trail the scribes, but the scribes are assaulted by unknown assailants who take the ransom money, and the vigiles lose the trail. Dejected and disgusted, Falco goes for a walk and bumps into Caninus, who tries to convince Falco that his uncle Fulvius is "the Illyrian", but Falco doesn't believe him and tells Caninus to leave Fulvius alone. Much later, however, Falco catches sight of the alleged kidnappers with the ransom chest, and tails them to a military dock, where they are planning to board a ''liburna'', but is spotted and attacked. Falco, outnumbered, is defeated in the ensuing scuffle and realises that Caninus is connected with the pirates operating in Ostia.

Now taken prisoner, Falco discovers that he is on board a pirate ship and confronts her Illyrian captain Cotys. Cotys and his crew taunt Falco and force him to climb down a ladder into the water, but when they discover that the scribes' chest is actually full if pebbles, Cotys cuts the ladder off in anger, dropping Falco overboard. By a twist of fate, Falco is rescued by his father and his father's porter Gornia. It turns out that Geminus has been smuggling goods into Ostia from offshore, possibly with help from Fulvius. Once back, Falco hastily returns into town to attend Theopomous' wake, presided over by Rhodope. As usual, things get out of hand once Rhodope identifies a suspect for Theopomous' death at his wake, sparking a gang war which results in a three-way melee between the Illyrians, Cilicians and the vigiles. Falco, his family as well as Petro' manage to rescue Rhodope from the fight and take refuge in a mausoleum, where she finally reveals that during her captivity she was drugged (possibly by Pullia) and held in a sacrificial vault in a temple. After being rescued along with Petro and the rest, Falco follows Mutatus into a temple to Cybele to meet with Diocles' supposed captors, where he bumps into Fulvius, who reveals that he works for the Navy as an intelligence gatherer, and that he has been watching Caninus, who is the actual "Illyrian" — this is soon proven when they hear Caninus demanding the ransom money from Mutatus, before killing him. Caninus is shortly afterwards detained by the vigiles, never to be seen again.

But what of Diocles? Damagoras finally breaks his silence and offers Falco information in return for Diocles' note tablets. Damagoras asserts that he and Diocles were indeed working on publishing the old sea dog's memoirs, but Diocles was depressed at having lost his aunt in the fire. Damagoras also warns Falco that Diocles might have blamed Privatus for Vestina's death, and the building guild then had Diocles murdered to silence him. Falco finally figures out what the strange grid pattern in Deiocles' possession was — it's a map, and shows that Diocles may have been working on the old vigiles station prior to disappearing. The vigiles send for a diver to look for Diocles in a cistern under the vigiles house, and confirm Damagoras' story, when they find a human corpse weighed down deep in it.

Norman Neale and his best friend Chuck have an ongoing debate on the subject of "what single superpower would you choose?" Then, one day, Norman notices Victor Ventura, a successful trader at Richmond financial, the company he works for. While the two are both getting coffee, Norman accidentally drops a mug. Victor amazingly catches the mug in midair. Though impressed, Norman dismisses it as good reflexes. Later, Mr. Richmond, company CEO, asks Norman to videotape Victor at the company softball game. He notices that as Victor is about to hit the ball, the video momentarily displays static interference, and begins to suspect Victor has Telekinesis.

Norman confirms his theory with a small trap, but Victor catches Norman watching and threatens to have him fired if he doesn't back off. Victor knows he has powers, but also fears that if they become public he would be institutionalized and studied. Norman consults Chuck on what to do, and after an initial misunderstanding, Norman lets Chuck continue to believe that Victor is a comic book character of Norman's creation. Chuck suggests training Victor and Norman agrees, but again Victor refuses to go along with it.

Meanwhile, Victor's competition, Carson Fleming, introduces the secretary, Andrea Hicks, into a secret project of his. He claims that once he is finished the project and presents it to Mr. Richmond they will both be rewarded. One night Carson and Victor go out drinking. On their way home, Carson slips on a curb and falls into the path of a car. Victor tries to use his powers to save Carson, but isn't strong enough. Carson is run over and killed. Victor returns to Norman and agrees to let him train him.

Norman sets about training Victor, increasing his range and strength. The two also discover his weakness; Alcohol causes his concentration to diminish severely, drastically reducing his powers. Norman ends the training by making Victor save him from the same situation he lost Carson in. He then offers to make Victor "Victory Man", a real life superhero. Victor, mad at Norman for what he pulled, calls him delusional and tells him to go. Later that day, however, Victor decides to treat Norman to one night of crime fighting as payment for the training. The pair run into a gang of street thugs, who threaten them. Victor quickly defeats them with his powers, but then begins to force two of the toughs to do humiliating things to each other. Norman begs Victor to stop and they both leave.

Norman tells Chuck that he has given up on Victor, because he has no compassion left. Chuck tells him that he shouldn't give up on his comic-book, because now he has a "killer villain". Realizing this may be true, he quickly leaves to find Victor. At the same time Andrea shows up at Victor's house, telling Victor that she still wants in on Carson's project. Victor reveals that there was never any project and that it was all a scheme, created by Victor for Carson, to get girls. An argument ensues, but is cut short by the arrival of Norman. As he enters, Andrea is not there, and Norman informs Victor he wants out of the partnership. He also accidentally reveals Chuck as his confidant. Norman leaves and then Andrea is shown to be paralyzed and hidden in the closet. He gets information on chuck from her and heads out to find him. Just after closing time, Victor breaks into Chuck's comic book store and kills Chuck.

Victor breaks into Norman's house and demands that Norman help him steal money from Richmond Financial. The two break into the corporate building after dark. Victor reveals that Andrea is being help captive and threatens to hurt her if Norman doesn't continue to help. Before he begins hacking the company computer, he suggests they have an alcoholic drink. Norman only drinks a little, but while waiting a long time for Norman to do his work (Norman was actually stalling), Victor drinks nearly the rest of the bottle. Norman waits until Victor has passed out before going into the men's bathroom, where he takes off his suit to reveal that he is wearing the Victory Man costume.

Norman releases Andrea and tells her to run. Then he tapes Victor to a rolling chair and rolls him to the elevator. While waiting for the elevator, Victor comes to, but isn't focused enough to use his powers. Norman reveals that he put sleeping pills into the scotch and that he's turning Victor in. As they talk, Victor regains his focus and attempts to push Norman down the elevator shaft. Before Victor can finish Norman off, however, Andrea returns and knocks him out with a fire extinguisher

Norman is interrogated by the police. Norman tries to warn them of Victor's powers, but they refuse to believe it. As a result, Victor breaks free of his hand-cuffs, kills the guard and escapes.

The story takes place in the production order of the films, rather than the chronological order, starting with episodes 4-6 and ending with episodes 1-3. The bulk of the story concentrates on the character of ''Luke Seespotrun'' as he joins the ''Rebelend'' in their struggle against the nefarious forces of the ''Imperial Empire of the Imperium'', trying to prevent them from enslaving the entire galaxy.

Due to page restrictions the last three episodes are heavily abbreviated with Episode II being only three chapters and Episode III only one chapter long.

The Chapters

''Episode IV: A Nude Hope'' ''Episode V: The Empire Strides around in Black'' ''Episode VI: Return of the Son of Jobbi Rides Again'' ''Episode I: The Fans-of-Tron Menace'' ''Episode II: Attack of the Clichés'' ''Episode III: Revenge of the Return of the Son of Psmyth Rides Again: the Next Generation - The Early Years''

Nanami, a young nude dancer, and her friend Shun, who is still a virgin, rent a room in a love hotel. He isn't able to make love to her, but she is understanding about it. They both reflect on their past; Nanami came from Shizuoka to Tokyo and started working as a dancer because her former job didn't pay enough, Shun was left by his mother as a child and now works as a goldsmith in his stepfather's workshop. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Shun was and is still being repeatedly sexually abused by his stepfather. A customer of Nanami, Ankokuji, talks her into participating in erotic photo shootings with other models, which are also attended by members of the red light district and the yakuza. Shun, who witnessed the photo shootings and is jealous of Ankokuji, confronts him and Nanami. Ankokuji explains his interest in Nanami with his loveless marriage, but when Nanami later sees him with his seemingly harmonic family, she turns away from him in disappointment. Nanami and Shun continue seeing each other and make another appointment in the love hotel. On his way to the hotel, Shun is stopped by Ankokuji's former red light district associates, who try to press him into telling them Nanami's whereabouts. Shun flees and is fatally hit by a car when he crosses the street. Nanami, who waits for Shun in the hotel apartment, hears the voices from the street, opens the window and sees Shun's body surrounded by passers-by.

Having narrowly escaped the self-destruction of the last redoubt they jumped to, Ryan Cawdor and his friends find themselves in the southwestern desert somewhere near the border of New Mexico and Texas. The group sets out South, hoping to find food and supplies, and possibly surviving "freezies" in a cryonics facility that the late Rick Ginsberg believed was located in the area.

Soon the group comes to a prosperous ranch and are nearly shot by the residents, who have mistaken them for members of a local group of raiders. Once Ryan convinces the residents that they are not in any way associated with Skullface, the feared leader of the raiders, they are cautiously welcomed in. The ranch belongs to the Ballinger family, consisting of a widowed father, his two sons, and his daughter. The daughter, Christina, takes an immediate liking to Jak Lauren, but is impeded by her verbally and physically abusive father.

That evening the men of the family are revealed to be serial rapists and murderers: the two brothers enter the room housing Krysty Wroth and Mildred Wyeth, plainly stating their intent to rape and kill them, while the father keeps armed watch outside. The women are able to kill the brothers while Jak silently kills their father. Christina, upon learning of the death of the rest of her family, says only one thing: "good."

Continuing south, the companions link up with a West-bound wagon train, where they serve as scouts and protection against hostile mutants who roam the area. After several days of travel they bring the settlers to a seemingly abandoned town, but while most of the companions are out scouting for additional supplies the town's current residents return: Skullface and his gang of raiders. Everyone but the scouting party is captured, including Mildred and Dr. Theophilus Tanner. Doc is shaken to the core when he recognizes Skullface as none other than former sec-boss Cort Strasser.

Strasser attempts to draw out Ryan and his friends, first by organizing a sweep of the town, then later by arranging a murderous lottery in revenge for the six gang members killed by Ryan and his friends during the sweep. Acting on Mildred's cue, the uncaptured companions attack during the final stages of the lottery. They kill more than half of Strasser's remaining gang, but not before those same men kill fully half the wagon train settlers in the chaotic firefight. The six companions reunite and head off after Strasser.

The pursuit is long and marked by violence, with the companions narrowly evading ambushes and attacks as they pursue Strasser by railcar, then foot, and eventually on rafts down the wild flowing waters of the Grandee. Strasser takes Mildred hostage during one encounter and flees with her to a heavily damaged redoubt; his gang is completely wiped out by the time he reaches it, leaving him alone with Mildred.

After the chase winds through the ruins of the redoubt, and after Strasser tries and fails (with Mildred's intervention) to kill Ryan with a long-range sniper rifle, Cort convinces Ryan to agree to a fight to the death, armed only with knives, to bring the pursuit to a final end. The fight takes place on a rapidly decaying wire bridge over perilous terrain riddled with quicksand, which greatly hampers both fighters. Finally Ryan deliberately causes the bridge to snap, dropping the two men to the ground below. Strasser lands in a quicksand pit, and as Ryan watches from relative safety Cort demands he be shot to end it quickly; Ryan refuses. Rather than face death by suffocation, Strasser slits his own throat.

Although the redoubt is mostly destroyed, including the attached cryonics facility Ryan had hoped held survivors, the MAT-TRANS facility is undamaged. As the companions prepare to make the next jump Jak states that he is not going; Ryan correctly guesses that this is because Jak intends to stay with Christina Ballinger and start a family. Jak is given a fond farewell before he departs. The rest of the group enters the chamber and makes the jump to the next location.

Setting and background

The story is set approximately 9,600 years in the future (approximately 11,600 C.E.). As is made clearer in McDevitt's later Alex Benedict novel ''Seeker'', during the course of recorded history, human civilization has spread through a substantial part of the Orion Arm of our galaxy. The novel is concerned with two time periods – the present of the principal viewpoint character, Alex Benedict, and a period approximately 200 years before his time, which is viewed through back-story.

Humanity discovered the ruins of one alien technological civilization, and encountered one that at the time of the story is alive and thriving, the Ashiyyur. The sphere of Ashiyyur worlds is described by the author as abutting the worlds of human civilization along the Perimeter – first contact was made at least several hundred years before the time in which the back-story is set. McDevitt conceives the Ashiyyur as being at approximately the same technological level as humans, and in fact humanoid – bi-laterally symmetrical, bipedal, larger than average for human, of two genders, descended from predators, and interested in the same kind of real estate as humans. Most significantly for the story, they are also incapable of audible speech without mechanical aids, and are nicknamed “Mutes” by humans as a result. The Ashiyyur are telepathic and have evolved a society based on that form of communication. They have the ability, with some difficulty, to “read” human minds and emotions. Ashiyyur civilization is described as being much older than human civilization (approximately 75,000 years versus perhaps 15,000) but as having developed much more slowly. It is important to the back-story that to the Ashiyyur, human dynamism and exuberance appear threatening and humans are aggressive, untrustworthy, and unethical.

McDevitt describes human civilization at the time of the back-story as spread across many worlds, most of which were independent of the others. All maintained sentimental ties with Earth, but difficulties of interstellar travel and local parochialism ensured that there was no central government. Many human worlds maintained their own armed forces but again there was no central direction. Communication between worlds was limited to travel by interstellar ships, which used magnetic drives for short and medium distance travel within star systems and Armstrong interstellar drives by means of which ships could travel between star systems through “Armstrong space”. Both at the time of the back-story and in the protagonist's time, navigation using Armstrong drives is sufficiently imprecise that ships must for safety reasons emerge from Armstrong space well away from stars and planets and travel substantial distances (and times) using magnetic drives. In addition, and partly as a result, travel through Armstrong space is time-consuming – as described in the novel, a voyage of 3,000 light years takes about seven months, of which about five months time is spent in Armstrong space. It is important to the story that some individuals, like Alex Benedict and most Ashiyyur, react physically badly to the transitions into and out of Armstrong space.

As described in the back-story, following first contact with the Ashiyyur, there was increasing friction between human and Ashiyyur civilizations, evolving from a “cold war” into an increasing number of small and then larger military clashes in which the Ashiyyur generally prevailed. The fiercely independent governments of the human worlds responded to the Ashiyyurian challenge largely by dithering and self-deception about the threat. A few human worlds, led by Dellaconda, reacted militarily by forming a small military force, based at first mainly on the Dellacondan navy, to wage a guerrilla war known as "the Resistance" against the Ashiyyur. The back-story begins at this point in history, although it is not told in strictly chronological sequence.

Plot

Alex Benedict receives word from a cousin that his uncle Gabriel was among the passengers on an interstellar that disappeared in Armstrong space. A package arrives from his uncle’s lawyers informing Alex that he is his uncle’s heir and giving Alex a sealed message from his uncle. Alex learns that his uncle had been working on a special archeological project that Alex is to pursue now that his uncle cannot. Alex must return to his uncle's home on Rimway and look in the “Leisha Tanner” file to recover relevant research and notes. The message does not discuss the nature of the project, other than to mention Hugh Scott, an old acquaintance. However, en route to Rimway, Alex learns that his uncle’s house has been burgled and, when he arrives, that the Tanner file is missing and all of his uncle's computerized records have been destroyed.

From this point onward, the story follows two increasingly intertwined threads, a mystery in the present and a history narrated in the backstory. The mystery is the nature of Uncle Gabe’s project, which Alex works to discover. As Alex does so, he becomes increasingly immersed in the history of the Resistance and its principal leader and hero, Christopher Sim. The story switches back and forth between the developing mystery and the historical narrative.

Alex visits the local police inspector and learns that the burglars apparently wanted only the Tanner file. The inspector, a social friend of Alex's uncle, can shed little light on Gabe’s project other than to note that Alex's uncle seemed distracted for the three months before his death and that he had become a “nut” on the subject of Christopher Sim and the Resistance.

Chase Kolpath visits Alex at his uncle's house. Before disappearing, Gabriel Benedict had hired Ms. Kolpath to investigate the last flight of the ''Tenandrome'', Hugh Scott's Planetary Survey ship, and then meet Gabe at a world near the Veiled Lady star cluster and pilot them to an unspecified destination. Alex's uncle disappeared before reaching his destination, and owed Ms. Kolpath a considerable sum. Alex agrees to pay what his uncle owed her and asks her to assist him in his investigations. From the planned logistics of the trip, Ms. Kolpath estimates that they were to travel from 800 to 1,500 light years distance. Chase doesn’t know Gabe’s objective, only that it had something to do with the ''Tenandrome''. That ship had explored the Veiled Lady about three years before Gabe’s death and returned unexpectedly early. “Apparently, they saw something. . . Gabe wanted to know what, but I could never find out.”

Alex researches the ''Tenandrome'' flight but finds no indication of anything unusual besides a mechanical breakdown. He then attempts to visit Hugh Scott, but finds that Scott has been away from home for months. One of his neighbors notes that Scott’s personality has changed since the ''Tenandrome'' flight. Like Alex's uncle, Scott has become obsessed by the Resistance and Christopher Sim.

Alex gradually learns more of the history of the Resistance and is puzzled by the fact that during the war Sim’s forces, and especially Sim himself, appear to have been present and in action at widely separated locations virtually simultaneously. He contacts the local Ashiyyur representative office to review Ashiyyur records of the war, which might shed some light on the problem. Alex meets S’Kalian and experiences mind-to-mind contact for the first time. He learns that the Ashiyyur are aware of the “problem” of Sim’s nearly simultaneous appearances in distant places and account for it as human scholars have done, by assuming that Sim’s fleet included as many as three other Dellacondan vessels disguised as the ''Corsarius'', Sim's ship, as a form of psychological warfare.

Dellaconda itself is the next destination, as Chase and Alex continue their hunt for Hugh Scott. Alex visits Christopher Sim’s home and the school where he taught before the war; both are maintained as shrines to his memory. He locates and meets with Hugh Scott, in spite of Scott’s obvious reluctance. Scott will not say anything about the''Tenandrome'' mission, except to confirm that the survey ship found something and that there was a good reason to keep it secret. Alex startles Scott by guessing that the ''Tenadrome'' had found a Dellacondan warship, but Scott will say no more.

The mystery begins to unravel. Alex and Chase decide that whatever the ''Tenandrome'' found, Lesha Tanner had found it first, 200 years before. Alex has an inspiration – the location of the missing something is obliquely described in a poem by Walford Candles, to whom Tanner must have confided the secret. A collection of Candles' poems, ''Rumors of Earth'', had been in Uncle Gabe’s bedroom when Alex returned, and was open to that poem. Gabriel Benedict must have had the same insight. Alex is able to find the university researcher who helped his uncle work with the clues in Candles’ poem and who identifies a location about 1,300 light years into the Veiled Lady as the primary locus of search.

Alex and Chase rent a ship and begin a two-month journey through Armstrong space. At their destination, they find a red dwarf star with two planets in its habitable zone. One appears to be a terrestrial world and they move toward it. From a distance, they are able to see something artificial orbiting this world. Moving closer, they can see first that it is a ship, then that it is a warship, and then that it is a Dellacondan warship. Finally, they can make out clearly the ship’s insignia – the famous markings of ''Corsarius'', Christoper Sim’s own.

They board the ship and find that the ''Corsarius'' has power and appears functional. Indeed, the ship appears virtually normal, aside from a few mechanical malfunctions due to age. They play back the captain’s log, and unexpectedly find that it ends before the battle at Rigel at which Sim died. They listen to the whole record and hear a Sim’s-eye view of the history of the Resistance. It becomes clear that as time had passed, Sim became increasingly angry at the shortsightedness of the major human worlds and increasingly disturbed by the casualties among “our finest and bravest.” Toward the end, “his anger flared: there will be a Confederacy one day, . . . but they will not construct it on the bodies of my men.”

Gradually, Alex works out the answer. Christopher Sim became disillusioned with the war and wanted to sue for peace. His brother Tarien and other Resistance leaders seized him and marooned him on this planet to keep him from surrendering. Alex confirms this by searching the planet in a lander and finding Sim’s camp. There is no indication there what happened to Sim.

Chase reports from orbit that an Ashiyyur warship is inbound at high speed. Then another appears, slowing to make orbit around Sim's world of exile. Alex warns Chase to abandon their rented ship for the ''Corsarius''; she does so just before the first Ashiyyur warship destroys their rented ship. Alex joins her and learns that the Armstrong drive on the ''Corsarius'' won’t be fully charged for about a day. Their problem is to stay alive until the Armstrong drive is ready. They borrow a classic maneuver from one of Sim’s battles and leave orbit at high speed headed directly toward the incoming Ashiyyur warship, which cannot slow its speed quickly enough to meet them. It uses lasers to disable ''Corsarius''' magnetic drives; Chase realizes too late that she has forgotten to raise the ship’s shields. The Ashiyyur warship reverses its trajectory and reaches them about ten hours before they can jump. It demands their surrender. Through a strategem, Alex and Chase are able to fire ''Corsarius''’ major weapons at it, damaging it badly and forcing it to flee. Ten hours later, the interstellar drive activates. It is not an Armstrong drive but something else, product of Rashim Machesney’s genius. In an eye blink, ''Corsarius'' is in orbit around Rimway, and safe.

The huge (if temporary) technological advantage conferred on humanity by the new drive ends the human-Ashiyyur rivalry; the Perimeter stabilizes and more peaceful relations develop between the two civilizations.

In an epilogue to the novel, the reader learns, with Hugh Scott, that Christopher Sim did not die on the planet where he was marooned. Sim was rescued by Leisha Tanner and lived afterward under the assumed identity of Jerome Courtney, spending considerable time as a respected lay brother at a Catholic monastery on an isolated planet. There, he continued to write on various historical and philosophical subjects.

Alex Benedict receives word from a cousin that his uncle Gabriel was among the passengers on an interstellar that disappeared in Armstrong space. A package arrives from his uncle’s lawyers informing Alex that he is his uncle’s heir and giving Alex a sealed message from his uncle. Alex learns that his uncle had been working on a special archeological project that Alex is to pursue now that his uncle cannot. Alex must return to his uncle's home on Rimway and look in the “Leisha Tanner” file to recover relevant research and notes. The message does not discuss the nature of the project, other than to mention Hugh Scott, an old acquaintance. However, en route to Rimway, Alex learns that his uncle’s house has been burgled and, when he arrives, that the Tanner file is missing and all of his uncle's computerized records have been destroyed.

From this point onward, the story follows two increasingly intertwined threads, a mystery in the present and a history narrated in the backstory. The mystery is the nature of Uncle Gabe’s project, which Alex works to discover. As Alex does so, he becomes increasingly immersed in the history of the Resistance and its principal leader and hero, Christopher Sim. The story switches back and forth between the developing mystery and the historical narrative.

Alex visits the local police inspector and learns that the burglars apparently wanted only the Tanner file. The inspector, a social friend of Alex's uncle, can shed little light on Gabe’s project other than to note that Alex's uncle seemed distracted for the three months before his death and that he had become a “nut” on the subject of Christopher Sim and the Resistance.

Chase Kolpath visits Alex at his uncle's house. Before disappearing, Gabriel Benedict had hired Ms. Kolpath to investigate the last flight of the ''Tenandrome'', Hugh Scott's Planetary Survey ship, and then meet Gabe at a world near the Veiled Lady star cluster and pilot them to an unspecified destination. Alex's uncle disappeared before reaching his destination, and owed Ms. Kolpath a considerable sum. Alex agrees to pay what his uncle owed her and asks her to assist him in his investigations. From the planned logistics of the trip, Ms. Kolpath estimates that they were to travel from 800 to 1,500 light years distance. Chase doesn’t know Gabe’s objective, only that it had something to do with the ''Tenandrome''. That ship had explored the Veiled Lady about three years before Gabe’s death and returned unexpectedly early. “Apparently, they saw something. . . Gabe wanted to know what, but I could never find out.”

Alex researches the ''Tenandrome'' flight but finds no indication of anything unusual besides a mechanical breakdown. He then attempts to visit Hugh Scott, but finds that Scott has been away from home for months. One of his neighbors notes that Scott’s personality has changed since the ''Tenandrome'' flight. Like Alex's uncle, Scott has become obsessed by the Resistance and Christopher Sim.

Alex gradually learns more of the history of the Resistance and is puzzled by the fact that during the war Sim’s forces, and especially Sim himself, appear to have been present and in action at widely separated locations virtually simultaneously. He contacts the local Ashiyyur representative office to review Ashiyyur records of the war, which might shed some light on the problem. Alex meets S’Kalian and experiences mind-to-mind contact for the first time. He learns that the Ashiyyur are aware of the “problem” of Sim’s nearly simultaneous appearances in distant places and account for it as human scholars have done, by assuming that Sim’s fleet included as many as three other Dellacondan vessels disguised as the ''Corsarius'', Sim's ship, as a form of psychological warfare.

Dellaconda itself is the next destination, as Chase and Alex continue their hunt for Hugh Scott. Alex visits Christopher Sim’s home and the school where he taught before the war; both are maintained as shrines to his memory. He locates and meets with Hugh Scott, in spite of Scott’s obvious reluctance. Scott will not say anything about the''Tenandrome'' mission, except to confirm that the survey ship found something and that there was a good reason to keep it secret. Alex startles Scott by guessing that the ''Tenadrome'' had found a Dellacondan warship, but Scott will say no more.

The mystery begins to unravel. Alex and Chase decide that whatever the ''Tenandrome'' found, Lesha Tanner had found it first, 200 years before. Alex has an inspiration – the location of the missing something is obliquely described in a poem by Walford Candles, to whom Tanner must have confided the secret. A collection of Candles' poems, ''Rumors of Earth'', had been in Uncle Gabe’s bedroom when Alex returned, and was open to that poem. Gabriel Benedict must have had the same insight. Alex is able to find the university researcher who helped his uncle work with the clues in Candles’ poem and who identifies a location about 1,300 light years into the Veiled Lady as the primary locus of search.

Alex and Chase rent a ship and begin a two-month journey through Armstrong space. At their destination, they find a red dwarf star with two planets in its habitable zone. One appears to be a terrestrial world and they move toward it. From a distance, they are able to see something artificial orbiting this world. Moving closer, they can see first that it is a ship, then that it is a warship, and then that it is a Dellacondan warship. Finally, they can make out clearly the ship’s insignia – the famous markings of ''Corsarius'', Christoper Sim’s own.

They board the ship and find that the ''Corsarius'' has power and appears functional. Indeed, the ship appears virtually normal, aside from a few mechanical malfunctions due to age. They play back the captain’s log, and unexpectedly find that it ends before the battle at Rigel at which Sim died. They listen to the whole record and hear a Sim’s-eye view of the history of the Resistance. It becomes clear that as time had passed, Sim became increasingly angry at the shortsightedness of the major human worlds and increasingly disturbed by the casualties among “our finest and bravest.” Toward the end, “his anger flared: there will be a Confederacy one day, . . . but they will not construct it on the bodies of my men.”

Gradually, Alex works out the answer. Christopher Sim became disillusioned with the war and wanted to sue for peace. His brother Tarien and other Resistance leaders seized him and marooned him on this planet to keep him from surrendering. Alex confirms this by searching the planet in a lander and finding Sim’s camp. There is no indication there what happened to Sim.

Chase reports from orbit that an Ashiyyur warship is inbound at high speed. Then another appears, slowing to make orbit around Sim's world of exile. Alex warns Chase to abandon their rented ship for the ''Corsarius''; she does so just before the first Ashiyyur warship destroys their rented ship. Alex joins her and learns that the Armstrong drive on the ''Corsarius'' won’t be fully charged for about a day. Their problem is to stay alive until the Armstrong drive is ready. They borrow a classic maneuver from one of Sim’s battles and leave orbit at high speed headed directly toward the incoming Ashiyyur warship, which cannot slow its speed quickly enough to meet them. It uses lasers to disable ''Corsarius''' magnetic drives; Chase realizes too late that she has forgotten to raise the ship’s shields. The Ashiyyur warship reverses its trajectory and reaches them about ten hours before they can jump. It demands their surrender. Through a strategem, Alex and Chase are able to fire ''Corsarius''’ major weapons at it, damaging it badly and forcing it to flee. Ten hours later, the interstellar drive activates. It is not an Armstrong drive but something else, product of Rashim Machesney’s genius. In an eye blink, ''Corsarius'' is in orbit around Rimway, and safe.

The huge (if temporary) technological advantage conferred on humanity by the new drive ends the human-Ashiyyur rivalry; the Perimeter stabilizes and more peaceful relations develop between the two civilizations.

In an epilogue to the novel, the reader learns, with Hugh Scott, that Christopher Sim did not die on the planet where he was marooned. Sim was rescued by Leisha Tanner and lived afterward under the assumed identity of Jerome Courtney, spending considerable time as a respected lay brother at a Catholic monastery on an isolated planet. There, he continued to write on various historical and philosophical subjects.

Renji is a rogue angel who seems to know only how to fight. God banishes Renji to earth for his recklessness. He can only return on one condition – if he is able to save ten thousand human souls. God sends an elite angel, Kaito, to watch over him and help him with his mission. Renji's abilities are dampened before his mission because his power would be too potent for earth. In order to save the ten thousand souls, God has granted Renji the power of Soul Rescue. This power enables him to relieve souls of emotional damage and heal physical damage. The power of Soul Rescue lies hidden somewhere within Renji, and he must find it in order to use it.

Forty years after the events in the film ''Hawaii'', Sea Captain Whipple "Whip" Hoxworth returns with a full hold of Chinese laborers to learn that his grandfather (Captain Rafer Hoxworth) has died and left his fortune to Hoxworth's cousin, Malama, and her husband, Micah Hale. Whip, considered the black sheep of his devout and conservative family, receives the worthless, waterless Hanakai plantation

The story also follows two Chinese from Whip's ship, Mun Ki and Nyuk Tsin. When Nyuk Tsin is discovered in among the male Chinese immigrants, Mun Ki claims that she is his wife to protect her from rape. The man who kidnapped Nyuk Tsin from her Hakka village and sold her to a Honolulu brothel is killed during the voyage. At the dock, Mun Ki and the brothel owner argue over Nyuk Tsin. Whip's wife, Purity, intervenes and makes him accept Nyuk Tsin as Mun Ki's wife and hire both. The couple are provided a wood shack on the plantation to live in.

Mun Ki takes the pregnant Nyuk Tsin to the merchant Foo Sen, a wise man, astrologer and genealogist. Mun Ki's horoscope foretells many sons to be named after the continents. The first-born will be Kee Ah Chow, Asia. Foo Sen explains to Nyuk Tsin that when her child is born, Mun Ki's first wife in China will be considered the “real” mother of all his anticipated sons, and will be called Mother of Wu Chow, Mother of Five Continents. Nyuk Tsin will be “Aunt of Wu Chow,” (familiarly called "Wu Chow's Auntie"), Aunt of Five Continents. One day, Mun Ki will return to China, taking his sons to their "real" mother.

The boy is born, and, soon after, Purity also gives birth to a son, Noel. Purity has no milk, and Whip asks Wu Chow's Auntie to nurse the child. He notices her garden and learns she plans to save money to buy land by selling the produce. She declares never to return to China.

A well-driller named Overpeck drills through caprock on Whip's land and releases water trapped between layers of ancient lava, creating the first artesian well in Hawaii.

Purity, like Whip, is one-quarter Hawaiian. She becomes obsessed with their native ancestry and rebuffs Whip's affections. The doctor believes Purity suffers from post-natal depression, but says her mental decline could also be from generations of inbreeding by her royal Hawaiian ancestors.

Whip's relatives refuse to finance him farming sugar cane, saying it will fail. He then has two seed pineapple plants smuggled out of French Guiana. He gives the nearly-dead specimens to Wu Chow's Auntie. The plants flourish under her care. Whip, ecstatic, buys her some land in gratitude, then returns to French Guiana to steal more pineapples.

While Whip is away, Wu Chow’s Auntie and Mun Ki discover that he has leprosy. Whip returns to find that Mun Ki is about to be banished to the leper colony on Molokai. Wu Chow's Auntie insists on going with him, leaving her sons behind.

Whip fetches his son Noel from Purity, who now lives among Hawaiian natives and refuses to return home. Whip then goes to Molokai to retrieve Mun Ki and Wu Chow's Auntie's infant daughter. At Wu Chow Auntie's request, Foo Sen names the baby girl, Mei Lei. Years pass. Teen-aged Noel goes to sea. Japanese arrive to work in the pineapple fields. Whip meets a beautiful, well-educated Japanese girl named Fumiko, who becomes his mistress.

Mun Ki dies. With Whip's help, Wu Chow's Auntie is reunited with her grown, educated, and prospering sons and young daughter. She sends one son to America to study law.

The United States annexes Hawaii. When Noel and Mei Lei fall in love, Whip and Wu Chow's Auntie are against their marrying, although her sons approve. She says that white people do not understand the value of building a large family that expands exponentially through generations. This is Mun Ki's immortality.

Plague comes to Honolulu. Fires set to burn out vermin rage out of control. Amid the ashes, Whip and Wu Chow's Auntie agree that Mei Lei and Noel can marry, and Whip will lend Wu Chow's Auntie the money to rebuild.

The film ends with Wu Chow's Auntie sitting next to Mun Ki's grave, telling him about their family.

The film is about the day in the life of two detectives (Robert Forster as Lieutenant Matt Lewis, Ward Costello as Captain Lloyd Bryant, and later Don Johnson as Sergeant Brian Scott) in Los Angeles solving (in this particular case) a crime where a man is killed for unknown reasons, coming to find an unstable young man (Mark Hamill as Eugene Banks) with a deep hatred against a famous country singer (Jimmy Dean as Wes Collins).

The short play is set in Honest Sancho's Used Mexican Lot and Mexican Curio Shop, a fictional Californian store that apparently sells various "models" (robots) of stereotypical Mexicans and Mexican-Americans that buyers can manipulate by simply snapping their fingers and calling out commands. The action of the play revolves around "The Secretary," a character by the name of Miss Jiménez, who converses with Honest Sancho, the owner of the store. Sancho says her name with Spanish pronunciation ( or, roughly, ), though she chastises him for speaking bad English, demanding that it be pronounced as the Anglicized .

Miss Jiménez explains to the courteous Honest Sancho that she is a secretary for Governor Reagan and that his administration is looking to purchase "a Mexican type" to appeal to a lower income crowd. Sancho shows the Secretary four different models, snapping his fingers in order to bring them to life and demonstrate their behaviors. Although Miss Jiménez is herself evidently a Chicana (Mexican-American), she seems completely ignorant to the cultural stereotypes displayed in each of the four buyable characters.

First, Sancho shows her the sturdy Farm Worker, but she refuses to buy him because he speaks no English. Second, they examine the "Johnny Pachuco," a 1950s Chicano gang member model who is violent, profane, and drug-abusing, though an easy scapegoat and perfect to brutalize. Third, when Miss Jiménez asks for a more romantic model, they come to the Revolucionario, one of the glorified bandit/martyrs of early Californian history; however, she denies him when she learns that he is completely Mexican and not even American-made.

Finally, they come to the most contemporary Mexican-American model, named "Eric Garcia": a well-dressed and exciting public speaker who is university-educated, ambitious, bilingual, and polite. Miss Jiménez very reluctantly agrees to buy Eric for $15,000, when suddenly he begins staging a vocal protest in Spanish: "¡Viva la raza! ¡Viva la huelga! ¡Viva la revolución!" (Long live the people! Long live the strike! Long live the revolution!). Soon he snaps the three other models awake and they join in his miniature uprising. After Jiménez flees in fright, the four models converse among each other, revealing that they, in fact, are not robots, but rather, living human beings. They leave the lot and share the money amongst themselves, and Sancho stays still; it is he who is the robot. One of the people take him for an oil job and the play ends.

Murphy plays a successful Broadway musical comedy producer named Johnnie Demming. He needs a star for his new show. He's smitten with the glamorous film star, Helen Hoyt (Simms), and offers the part to her, but she turns him down because she wants to be sure she's in a hit. Johnnie's father (Winninger), retired from vaudeville, wants to do his own show. He gets his daughter, Patsy (DeHaven) and also Helen. Johnnie feels betrayed by his father.

The film is very loosely based on the Broadway musical ''Very Warm for May'' (1939). However, all the songs from the musical except for "All the Things You Are" were left out of the film. Some of the songs from the movie are by the writers of the original musical, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II: * All the Things You Are * That Lucky Fellow * In Other Words, Seventeen * All in Fun

Gorgibus wants at all costs to marry Lucile to the old Villebrequin. However, Lucile loves Valère. Entrusting his love to Lucile's cousin Sabine and his valet Sganarelle (who takes on a double role as both himself and his twin "doctor" brother"), Valère is going to need all the help he can get to solve this problem.

The story tells of the experience of a man, Herbert, on his way to meet his girlfriend Guenevere, who experiences what seems to be a macabre vision of various skeletons, each of whom advances with a skeleton child in its arms. The ninth skeleton (of the title) has no infant skeleton, but is still in the grave, and attempts to pull the narrator in. However, he awakes to normal reality, apparently due to the touch of Guenevere on his arm.

The opening of the story features an accurate description of the area of Boulder Ridge in Auburn, California where Smith lived most of his early life.

While driving home from his London office in his Rover P5B, Harold Pelham, a director of Freeman, Pelham & Dawson, a marine technology company and very conservative creature of habit, seems to undergo a sudden personality change and starts to drive both fast and recklessly on his way home, imagining himself in a sports car, and ending in a serious high-speed crash. On the operating table he briefly suffers clinical death, after which there briefly appear to be two heartbeats on the monitor.

After he recovers from the accident Pelham notices odd things occurring and people acting strangely, and he gradually finds his life in turmoil. Friends, colleagues and acquaintances claim to have seen him in places where he has no memory of being or doing things he can't recall, involving behaving in rash ways quite unlike his usual character. When he gets home from work, a friend is at his house for a drink which he doesn't recall arranging, and an attractive girl at the company swimming pool casts him a knowing glance. At bedtime he and his wife have a somewhat tense but amicable discussion about their recent lack of a love life. His wife also notices a mysterious silver car (a Lamborghini Islero) which she sees parked outside their house, but gives it no further thought. The driver of the car is then seen lighting a cigarette and snapping the match stick in half after he blows it out, exactly as Pelham does.

There seems to be a spy at work trying to force a merger with a rival company. Pelham drives to the research and development centre in Rugby to try and see where the leak began.

Soon he suspects there is a "double" masquerading as him. On a night out at the company club with his wife, he hopes to energise their relationship by indulging her request to go gambling, but he is tense and clearly not interested. As they are about to leave he bumps into the attractive girl, who sees his wife a short distance away and says "I didn't know you were married." His wife notices the exchange and is furious, suspecting the worst. She threatens to leave him. He finds out where the girl lives and confronts her; confused, she makes it clear that "he" was having an affair with her. He angrily denies the affair; the woman, hurt and almost hysterical, yells at him to leave.

At his usual the barber‘s he is told, "I cut your hair yesterday".

At work Pelham finds out that apparently he was supporting a merger that he now opposes with the board. He confronts an executive of the other company, who explains how the two of them had clandestinely arranged the deal in a series of meetings, to "his" (the double's) benefit as well as the company's, when "he" revealed a "top secret" technology breakthrough his company was about to make. When he confronts the rival firm (run by Ashton) he is reminded of three secret meetings: at the top of The Monument; in the London Planetarium; and in a boat on The Serpentine.

He phones home and due to a misunderstanding, his butler Luigi thinks he is asking for Mr Pelham. Luigi says "I will just get him". He drives home quickly.

Distraught and unable to explain the unfolding events, he consults a psychiatrist, Dr Harris, and undergoes extended treatment in his clinic, where Harris explains that he doesn't believe Pelham is mad but perhaps was acting out of a subconscious desire to break out of his obsessively rigid lifestyle. He agrees to be admitted to the psychiatrist’s clinic for a few days’ observation. On his discharge the doctor persuades him to adopt some less conventional behaviour, so he goes to work dressed quite differently. However, during his time away, the double finalised the merger and took his wife out on the town, culminating in their going home and sleeping together. Pelham calls his home from the office and is astonished when the phone is answered by someone claiming to be himself. On edge, he drives to his house as quickly as possible, and inside comes face to face with his double, who calmly insists he is the real Pelham, pointing out the uncharacteristic clothes the visitor is wearing. The family and his best friend are all there and side with the double.

After asking the others to let the two of them speak alone, the double tells the "real" Pelham that the new clothes were a mistake, and explains how on the operating table the double was "let out" but there is only room in this world for one of them. Both insist they will go to the police.

The real Pelham drives off in his Rover in a greatly agitated state. The double immediately leaves and pursues him in the sports car. Dr Harris happens to see both men and is shocked. After a high-speed chase in the rain, the two cars race towards each other on a bridge. The real Pelham swerves off into the river, and just before he hits the water his image fades away. The double stops and looks down into the water, and then, to the audible sound of a double heartbeat, he briefly clutches his chest as if in extreme pain, but the spasm soon passes and he becomes calm: there is only one Pelham again.

The novel is a retelling of the assault on the Roman Republic by the Carthaginian general Hannibal. It begins in Ancient Spain, where Hannibal sets out with tens of thousands of soldiers and 30 elephants. After conquering the Roman-allied city of Saguntum, Hannibal accepts Rome's declaration of war. He befriends peoples disillusioned by Rome and outwits the opponents who believe the land route he has chosen is impossible. Hannibal's troops suffer brutal losses as they pass through the Pyrenees Mountains, ford the Rhone River, and make a winter crossing of the Alps, before descending to fight battles at the Trebia River, Lake Trasimene, Cannae and Zama. The novel ends roughly where the war ends, although Hannibal lived on for some years as both a political figure and a mercenary soldier.

The novel features a wide cast of characters of many nationalities, from famous generals down to infantrymen and camp followers, from Numidians to Macedonians. Durham draws a complex portrait of Hannibal, both as a warrior and as a husband and father.

Durham made his literary debut with a novel which, in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy's ''All the Pretty Horses'', views the American West through an original lens. Set in the 1870s, the novel tells the tale of Gabriel Lynch, an African American youth who settles with his family in the plains of Kansas. Dissatisfied with the drudgery of homesteading and growing increasingly disconnected from his family, Gabriel forsakes the farm for a life of higher adventure. Thus begins a forbidding trek into a terrain of austere beauty, a journey begun in hope, but soon laced with danger and propelled by a cast of brutal characters. By writing about African American characters, Durham gave voice to a population seldom included in our Western lore.

When he learns that his pregnant wife has been spirited off to a distant city, William responds as any man might—he drops everything to pursue her. But as a fugitive slave in antebellum America, he must run a terrifying gauntlet, eluding the many who would re-enslave him while learning to trust the few who dare to aid him on his quest.

Among those hunting William is Morrison, a Scot who as a young man fled the miseries of his homeland only to discover more brutal realities in the New World. Bearing many scars, including the loss of his beloved brother, Morrison tracks William for reasons of his own, a personal agenda rooted in tragic events that have haunted him for decades.

''Walk Through Darkness'' is a provocative meditation on racial identity, freedom and equality. It followed Durham's award-winning ''Gabriel's Story'' and preceded his bestselling ''Pride of Carthage''.

In 1940, after the fall of France, the fictitious Channel Island of Armorel is occupied by a small garrison of German troops under the benign command of Hauptmann Weiss. The hereditary ruler, the Suzerain, is away in the British Army, leaving the Provost in charge.

Back in London, the Ministry of Agriculture realise that during the evacuation of the island, Venus, a prize pedigree pregnant cow, was left behind. They petition the War Office to do something urgently due to the value of the cow's bloodline, and Major Morland is assigned the task of rescuing Venus. The Suzerain's sister, Nicola Fallaize, is in Wales, serving as an Auxiliary Territorial Service army cook. She is quickly posted to the War Office so she can tell them about the island. However, when Morland finds out that Venus is practically a member of her family, he obtains permission to ask her to go along. They, radio operator Sergeant Forbes and naval officer "Trawler" Langley, who knows the local waters, are taken to the island by submarine.

They contact the Provost and discover that Weiss, a cattle breeder in civilian life, is about to have the cow shipped to Germany. Nicola persuades her pacifist cousin and painter Lionel Fallaize to disguise another cow as Venus, so they can switch them. Weiss detects the deception, and the chase is on. They are captured by Sergeant Vogel, but manage to overpower him (after Venus gives birth). They spirit the cow and her calf onto a Royal Navy Motor Torpedo Boat which takes them to Britain, sinking a pursuing German E-boat in the process.

In 1907, in a Central American country called San Miguel, Maria II (Brigitte Bardot), the daughter of an Irish Republican anarchist, meets Maria I (Jeanne Moreau), the singer of a circus. After her father dies, Maria II hides in the circus where she sees Maria I's partner commit suicide after a failed love affair. Both Marias agree to form a theatrical team.

In her debut as a singer, Maria II accidentally invents striptease, an action that lets the circus achieve great fame. Shortly afterwards the Marias meet Florès (George Hamilton), a socialist revolutionary. He invites them to join his cause, a revolution against "El Dictador" (José Ángel Espinoza). But Florès is soon shot. On his deathbed he makes Maria I promise to carry through with his cause and she agrees. Though at first reluctant to acquiesce to Florès' and Maria I's endeavor, Maria II joins the cause when she comes to the aid of her vulnerable friend.

The rest of the film concerns the revolution. After Maria I leads her men into an ambush, and Maria II saves them, the women create a peasant army, organizing the countryside into a quasi-Socialist state. There are numerous sight gags and comic actions.

Preparing to take the capital city, the Marias are captured by Catholic churchmen who fear the disorder of a revolution and want to stop the people from treating the women like saints. After a bungled attempt to tickle torture them (the Inquisition's equipment is too old to work well) the Marias are rescued by their victorious army. Finally they move to France, where the circus is recreated as a successful musical version of the revolution. The women now wear dark wigs to look more "Latin American".

The film's theme of immurement draws inspiration from Balzac's "La Grande Bretêche",Gunning, 1994, pp. 177-178 and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado". The king constructs a cozy, windowless love-nest for himself and his concubine. However, she is not faithful to her sovereign, but consorts with the court troubadour. In fact, they use the king's new play chamber for their trysts. When the king discovers this, he sends for his masons. With the faithless duo still inside, the masons use stone and mortar to quietly seal the only door to the vault. The two lovers suffocate and the film ends.

During a rainstorm, a reckless car driver causes the collision of a bus and a truck on a two-lane road between Zagreb and Belgrade. The film covers the events on the bus and the truck leading up to the crash, and the lives of the characters who end up in the crash.

''Snowbound'' is based on a true story. Jim and Jennifer Stolpa and their infant son Clayton are 500 miles from their home in Castro Valley, California, when they lose their way and are stranded in an endless wilderness of deep snow in northern Nevada, east of Cedarville, California. They battle for survival against the elements when Jim Stolpa drives too far down a snow-covered road and gets stuck during a snowstorm. Using only meager supplies and resourcefulness, the young couple struggles to keep themselves and their son alive in a frozen shelter while awaiting rescue.

Realizing they will not be found and out of supplies, Jim ultimately strikes out on a courageous 50-mile walk through the snow alone, determined to reach help and return to save his family.

When former supervisor Evžen Huml, now on disability pension, returns from the spa to the small flat where he lives with the rest of his family in the small room behind the bathroom, he decides to move out of Prague to the peaceful countryside. He buys a cottage in the village of Třešňová, but there is one problem — there is still one former tenant in his dream cottage, Bohouš Císař, a pensioner too, who doesn't want to leave. Their adventures begin.

Mark Walsh, a young war photographer, returns to New York in 1989 after being injured in Kurdistan whilst on assignment. He had spent a few frightening days in the recovery ward of a dilapidated, overcrowded hospital inside a cave, but can this explain his sleeplessness, distraction, his wounds' inability to heal? Elena, Mark's Spanish girlfriend, grows more and more alarmed by his strange behavior, while she also tries to calm her pregnant friend Diane, whose photographer husband has gone missing in the same war zone. As Mark continues to deteriorate, Elena's grandfather sweeps onto the scene. Joaquin is the last person from whom Elena wants to accept help; once very close to him, she ended all contact after learning of his role in "purifying" conscience-stricken officers after the Spanish Civil War. In treating Mark, Joaquin sees a way back into his granddaughter's life, and, despite Elena's disapproval, the two men begin to forge an extraordinary relationship. Eventually, all three travel to Joaquin's manor home in Granada, Spain so that Mark can find a safe haven in which to heal. It is in this romantic and haunted Spanish valley where both men's secrets surface with life-altering force and where Mark and Elena attempt to know and love each other again, with the discovery of her grandfather's secrets of the incurables and of Mark's knowing that Colin is dead and that he could not save him.

In 19th-century England, a youth born into poverty named Dio Brando is adopted by the wealthy George Joestar to repay a family debt to Dio's father Dario, who died in 1880. George's son Jonathan, who aspires to become a gentleman, is shunned by his family and friends, whom Dio manipulates as part of his plot to take the Joestar fortune for himself. After Jonathan overpowers Dio in a fistfight, Dio gets revenge by murdering Jonathan's pet dog Danny, before biding his time to adulthood. Jonathan and Dio develop an interest in a mysterious stone mask that reacted to Dio's blood being spilt in the battle. Jonathan learns that the mask was used by the Aztecs to bring the wearer immortality.

In 1888, after becoming old enough to inherit the Joestar fortune, Dio deliberately poisons Jonathan's father, George. Jonathan's search for an antidote takes him to Ogre Street, a dangerous street in London, where he befriends a thug named Robert E. O. Speedwagon. At the same time, Dio intends to arrange a freak accident to kill Jonathan with the stone mask and tests the mask on a drunkard. The mask instead turns the drunkard into a powerful vampire who nearly kills Dio before being destroyed by sunlight. Jonathan and Speedwagon return to the mansion with an antidote and expose Dio's scheme. Dio attempts to kill Jonathan with a knife but George sacrifices his life to save Jonathan. Dio uses the blood spilt by George and the mask to become a vampire. Jonathan sets the Joestar family's mansion on fire and impales Dio on a statue in the burning mansion, but Dio survives.

While Jonathan walks with Erina Pendleton, his girlfriend, they meet Will A. Zeppeli, a man who intends to destroy the stone mask after it caused his father's death. Zeppeli teaches Jonathan how to use a supernatural energy produced by controlled breathing called Then, on November 30, 1888, Jonathan, Speedwagon, and Zeppeli travel to Wind Knights Lot, where Dio is creating an army of zombies. Zeppeli is mortally wounded by one of these zombies, Tarkus, and passes the last of his Hamon energy on to Jonathan before dying. Joined by Zeppeli's fellow Hamon users, on December 1, 1888, Jonathan destroys Dio's body by sending Hamon directly through him. Dio decapitates his head to survive the Hamon attack. Speedwagon destroys the stone mask. On February 2, 1889, Jonathan marries Erina. The next day, they leave on a ship to America on their honeymoon. Dio sneaks aboard the ship, intending to transplant his head onto Jonathan's body.

On February 7, 1889, Dio mortally wounds Jonathan. Jonathan uses the last of his Hamon to manipulate the body of Dio's servant Wang Chan into obstructing the ship's paddle wheel, setting it to explode. Jonathan dies with Dio's head in his arms while Erina escapes in the coffin that Dio hid in with a dead passenger's baby girl. Rescued near the Canary Islands two days later, Erina vows to pass on the truth of Jonathan's life to her unborn child and the generations to follow.

In the series' backstory, 102,000 years ago in a place that would be modern-day Mexico, it started with a mysterious but powerful race with incredibly long lifespans and the ability to absorb life forces from plants and animals, although they had the disadvantage of being easily disintegrated if exposed to sunlight and thus lived underground instead. Kars, an underground-dwelling humanoid being known as a Pillar Man, created a stone mask which grants immortality by absorbing life energy to conquer the sun (which kills his kind). He slaughtered all but four of the tribe. As the Pillar Men's bodies were already immortal, they required more power for them to become ultimate beings. In 39 AD, three of the Pillar Men, Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi, came to the Roman Empire to find a perfectly cut known as the Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi developed fighting styles to counter Hamon, an energy with the same properties as the energy from sunlight, and nearly wiped out the Hamon tribe, but the stone narrowly escaped them. Following this, the Pillar Men went into a 2,000-year sleep.

In 1889, Erina Joestar's husband Jonathan was killed by Dio Brando on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Erina survived and saved the life of a baby girl, whose parents were killed by the stone mask. The girl, Elizabeth, was raised by the Hamon master Straizo, who taught her to use Hamon and gave her the Super Aja. Elizabeth married Erina's son George and they had a son called Joseph. When Joseph was a baby, George was killed by a zombie that blended in as a commander of the Royal Flying Corps and his death was covered up. Upon killing the zombie in an act of revenge, a warrant for Elizabeth's arrest was sent out. She went into hiding and adopted the alias Lisa Lisa. Joseph was raised by Erina. He inherited Hamon abilities from Jonathan.

At the start of the series, in the fall of 1938, as the World War II looms, Joseph and Erina move from London to New York. Meanwhile, former thug turned oil baron Robert E. O. Speedwagon invites Straizo to Mexico to destroy a sleeping Pillar Man with Hamon. Straizo instead wounds Speedwagon, and uses a stone mask near the Pillar Man and Speedwagon's blood to become an immortal vampire. Straizo goes to New York to destroy Joseph and Erina, believed to be the last people who know about the stone mask. When Joseph defeats Straizo, Straizo tells him that the Pillar Man is about to awaken and he will meet the Pillar Man soon. Intrigued, Joseph goes to Mexico and is informed that Speedwagon was taken to detention by the Nazis, who also hold the ambition to study the Pillar Men to serve Adolf Hitler's world conquest. Joseph saves Speedwagon, who survived, from the awakened Pillar Man named Santana, and with the help of Rudol von Stroheim, the Nazi Major wounded by Santana, tricks Santana into being turned to stone by the sunlight reflected from a well.

Joseph and Speedwagon travel to Rome, where they meet Caesar Zeppeli, a man who trained in Hamon to continue the legacy of his father Mario and grandfather Will. However, the group arrives too late to prevent Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi from awakening. Joseph plays on Wamuu's pride and convinces Wamuu to let him live to be a more worthy opponent. Both Wamuu and Esidisi implant poison-filled rings in his aorta and windpipe, giving Joseph 33 days to get the antidotes from each of them.

Joseph and Caesar train in Hamon under Lisa Lisa on Air Suplena Island off the coast of Venice. Joseph destroys Esidisi's body and takes his antidote, but Esidisi's brain is able to possess Suzi Q to steal the Super Aja and ship it off to Kars and Wammu. Joseph and Caeser work together to purge Esidisi's influence on Suzi Q and destroy him for good. The group tracks down Kars and Wamuu to Switzerland. Caesar is killed fighting Wamuu one-on-one, and takes the antidote for Joseph before dying. Joseph and Lisa Lisa then confront Kars and Wamuu for the Super Aja, Lisa Lisa bluffing that she has a timed explosive that will destroy the stone. Joseph kills Wamuu in battle.

On February 28, 1939, Kars acquires the Super Aja and uses it along with the stone mask to become the ultimate being, despite efforts by Joseph and his newfound allies von Stroheim to prevent it. Now immune to the sun and able to use Hamon, Kars's only desire is to kill Joseph. Joseph steals a Nazi plane and tries to crash it and Kars into the volcanic island of Vulcano. Joseph and Kars escape, but the shock of the plane crash causes a volcanic eruption. Kars attempts to kill Joseph with Hamon, but Joseph instinctively holds up the Super Aja, which causes the energy to prompt an eruption climax, sending Joseph and Kars flying into the sky on a large rock. Kars is knocked into space by volcanic debris. He tries to return to Earth, but his body freezes over and turns to stone. Unable to perish even though he desperately wants to, he drifts through space for eternity, eventually ceasing to think. Returning to Earth, Joseph is nursed to health by Lisa Lisa's assistant Suzi Q, whom he marries. In the epilogue, set in 1987, an aged Joseph takes a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Japan, where his daughter and grandson live, leading in to the first chapters of the following story arc, ''Stardust Crusaders''.

In Japan, 1987 , Jotaro Kujo, grandson of Joseph Joestar, has been arrested, and refuses to leave his cell, believing he is possessed by an evil spirit. After being called by Holly, Joseph's daughter and Jotaro's mother, Joseph arrives with an associate, Mohammed Avdol. They explain that Jotaro's "evil spirit" is actually a manifestation of his fighting spirit, called a Stand, and reveal that they possess Stands as well. Joseph explains that the sudden appearance of their Stands is caused by the nemesis of his grandfather, Jonathan Joestar: Dio Brando, now referred to simply as DIO. Dio has survived his battle with Jonathan by decapitating his nemesis's corpse and attaching his own head to it. Now preparing for global conquest, Dio has awoken his own Stand (which awakens the Stands of the rest of the Joestar bloodline due to his use of Jonathan's body) and recruited Stand-using assassins to kill Jonathan's remaining descendants. Soon after, Jotaro uses his Stand, which is later named Star Platinum, to defeat the first of these assassins, a transfer student named Noriaki Kakyoin, before freeing Kakyoin from Dio's control by removing a parasitic flesh bud from him. Holly soon becomes gravely ill due to a Stand manifesting in her, which is slowly killing her due to her reserved personality. With little hesitation, Jotaro, Joseph, Avdol, and Kakyoin begin a journey to Egypt to kill Dio and save Holly's life. On the way, they defeat another brainwashed assassin named Jean Pierre Polnareff who later joins the quest to kill Dio and avenge the death of his sister, whose murderer is among Dio's forces.

Forced to travel on foot after Dio's assassins manage to foil their travel by plane and ship, the group encounter Hol Horse and the murderer of Polnareff's sister, J. Geil, in Calcutta, with Avdol seemingly killed during the confrontation. Polnareff kills J. Geil with Kakyoin's help, and the remaining group travels further into Pakistan. After defeating Geil's mother, a Dio loyalist named Enya, the group reach the Red Sea, where Polnareff learns Avdol faked his death to acquire a submarine that allows them to reach Egypt.

Upon arriving in Abu Simbel, the heroes are joined by Iggy, a Boston Terrier with a Stand of his own, while facing the first of nine Stands named after Egyptian deities (rather than the tarot theme of before). Kakyoin is wounded in the fight, and is taken to a hospital to recuperate. After the group defeats several more Stand users while reaching Cairo, Iggy discovers and leads them to Dio's mansion, with Kakyoin rejoining them. At the mansion's entrance, the party is split up- Jotaro, Joseph, and Kakyoin fight the last of the nine Egyptian god Stands, while Polnareff, Avdol, and Iggy make their way through the mansion. However, one of Dio's servants, Vanilla Ice, kills Avdol and Iggy, both of whom separately sacrifice themselves to save Polnareff. An enraged Polnareff battles Vanilla Ice and discovers that Vanilla Ice has been transformed into a vampire like Dio, a fact that Vanilla Ice himself was unaware of. Polnareff floods the room with light, disintegrating Vanilla Ice and avenging his friends.

Jotaro, Joseph, Kakyoin, and Polnareff ultimately encounter Dio, and escape his mansion. A chase across Cairo follows, leading to Kakyoin confronting Dio and his Stand, The World, whose power Dio has taken great lengths to keep secret (having previously assassinated Enya to keep her from telling the heroes). Though fatally wounded by The World, Kakyoin manages to deduce the Stand's ability to stop time for five seconds and covertly relays it to Joseph in his final moments. Joseph is able to pass it on to Jotaro, but is swiftly killed by Dio, who uses his blood to increase the duration of his ability to nine seconds. With most of his allies dead and Polnareff unconscious, Jotaro is left to fight Dio alone. During the fight, both sides discover that their respective Stands are similar in both range, power, and ability, meaning that Jotaro is able to use The World's time-stopping powers as well. Jotaro first uses this ability to briefly move around while Dio has stopped time, but he learns how to stop time directly when Dio tries to crush him with a road roller. Dio attempts to kill Jotaro with one final kick, but a counterattack from Jotaro splits The World in two, killing it and Dio. Jotaro transfuses Dio's blood back into Joseph and uses Star Platinum to restart his stopped heart (an ability he'd previously used on himself while playing dead during the fight with Dio), reviving him. The two Joestars then expose Dio's corpse to the sun, destroying the vampire for good. Jotaro and Joseph bid Polnareff farewell before returning to Japan, as Holly has made a full recovery.

In 1999, in the town of Morioh located in S-City, M-Prefecture, a freshman named Koichi Hirose meets a man looking for Josuke Higashikata, local high school student. Josuke, who is the illegitimate child of Joseph Joestar, soon encounters the man, who introduces himself as Jotaro Kujo. Josuke reveals that he possesses the Stand Crazy Diamond, which has the ability to return any object or living creature to a previous state (though he cannot use it on himself or revive the deceased with it). After Jotaro inadvertently insults Josuke's outdated hairstyle, the two fight, with Jotaro explaining to Josuke he is one of many Stand users and that he is searching for the Bow and Arrow, an artifact that creates Stands. Josuke and Koichi eventually come across a pair of Stand-using brothers, Okuyasu and Keicho Nijimura. Keicho, the older brother, shoots Koichi with the Arrow, which nearly kills him. When Josuke heals Koichi with Crazy Diamond, he develops a Stand, Echoes. After Keicho and Okuyasu are defeated, Keicho is killed by the Stand Red Hot Chili Pepper, which takes the Bow and Arrow. Okuyasu then joins Josuke's group to avenge his brother, encountering several other Stand users before they eventually find and defeat Akira Otoishi, Red Hot Chili Pepper's user, as Joseph arrives in Morioh. The Bow and Arrow are taken into Jotaro's custody and all seems to be over for the moment.

Soon afterward, after Josuke tries spending time with Joseph, the group encounters other Stand users such as eccentric manga artist Rohan Kishibe, middle schooler Shigekiyo "Shigechi" Yangu, and a beautician named Aya Tsuji. Koichi and Rohan later stumble across the mysterious Ghost Alley, where they meet the ghosts of Reimi Sugimoto and her dog Arnold; They learn that Reimi and Arnold were murdered a decade ago by a serial killer who is still lurking in Morioh. The culprit is eventually revealed to be a handsome office worker named Yoshikage Kira, who seeks to satisfy his murderous urges while living a peaceful, quiet life. Kira has acquired a Stand named Killer Queen, which has the ability to turn anything it touches into a bomb. He is discovered by Shigechi, who he promptly murders, but his impulsive cover-up leads to a brief battle with Jotaro and Koichi in which Kira is injured and later cornered by Josuke and Okuyasu. Facing certain defeat, Kira uses Aya's Stand to assume the identity of a man named Kosaku Kawajiri, kills them both, and disappears. Kira's father Yoshihiro, a ghost who uses his Stand to live on in a photo, uses a second Bow and Arrow to create an army of Stand users to protect his son, including a dying cat that reincarnated as a Stand-plant hybrid named Stray Cat, which shoots bubbles of compressed air at its target.

Kosaku Kawajiri's son Hayato begins to suspect that his father has been replaced by an impostor and confronts Kira, who responds by impulsively murdering Hayato. While panicking that he will be discovered, Kira is pierced by Yoshihiro's Arrow a second time, giving Kira's Stand a new ability which revives Hayato. The following morning, Hayato is approached by Rohan, who is investigating whether Kira has assumed Kosaku Kawajiri's identity. After using his Stand to read Hayato's memories, Rohan is blown up by a miniature version of Killer Queen, which had been implanted into Hayato; Hayato suddenly finds himself back in bed on the same morning, one hour earlier. Kira explains that he has used Killer Queen's new ability Bites the Dust, which kills anyone who asks Hayato for Kira's identity and then rewinds time by one hour, with the victim's fate assured regardless of Hayato's attempts to prevent it. The next loop ends with Josuke, Jotaro, Okuyasu, and Koichi all exploding as well; Hayato wakes up once again, and realizes that he must get Kira to deactivate Bites the Dust within an hour in order to prevent the others' deaths from becoming permanent. Hayato realizes that Killer Queen and Bites the Dust cannot be used at the same time, and takes advantage of his solitary knowledge of the time loops to wake Josuke up early and arrange for him to overhear Kira blowing his cover. Kira is forced to use Killer Queen to defend himself, which cancels Bites the Dust just in time to save Josuke and his allies.

Josuke, with help from Hayato and Okuyasu, engages Kira in a pitched battle. Kira combines his Stand's powers with Stray Cat to create invisible projectile bombs. Josuke and Hayato hide in a house, but Kira plants Yoshihiro's photo into Hayato's pocket, allowing him to detect Josuke's location without being able to see him. However, his trick is exposed and Josuke mimics Yoshihiro's voice, tricking Kira into detonating his own father. Meanwhile, Okuyasu separates Stray Cat from Killer Queen, disabling Kira's projectile bombs. As Jotaro, Koichi, and Rohan arrive on the scene, Kira attempts to use a nearby paramedic to activate Bites the Dust and rewind time once more, but he is stopped in the nick of time by Jotaro with assistance from Koichi. An arriving ambulance accidentally crushes Kira's head, killing him. Kira's ghost is confronted by Reimi, who causes his soul to be dragged into the underworld. Her mission accomplished, Reimi gives the group her final farewells and moves on to the afterlife. The next day, Josuke bids farewell to Jotaro and Joseph, who leave Morioh as the summer of 1999 draws to a close.

In 2001, Koichi Hirose arrives in Naples, Italy at Jotaro Kujo's request to obtain a skin sample from a young man named Haruno Shiobana whom Jotaro suspects to be the son of Dio Brando, conceived with Jonathan Joestar's body prior to the events of ''Stardust Crusaders''. Koichi ends up being scammed by Haruno, now going by the name of Giorno Giovanna, whose Stand Gold Experience allows him to transform inanimate objects into living organisms. After defeating a Stand-wielding mafioso named Bruno Bucciarati who was sent to avenge the injury he inflicted on a gang member, Giorno wins him over by revealing his goal of becoming a mafia boss to better Naples and end the scourge of drug trafficking plaguing the city's youth. Bucciarati agrees to introduce Giorno into the Passione organization, allowing Giorno to take a deadly initiation test from the morbidly obese capo Polpo. After convincing Koichi to cease his investigation, Giorno passes the test, though he indirectly kills Polpo afterward as revenge for an innocent bystander's death.

Giorno is placed in Bucciarati's group, which consists of fellow Stand users Guido Mista, Leone Abbacchio, Narancia Ghirga and Pannacotta Fugo. Polpo's apparent suicide provides an opening for Bucciarati to achieve the rank of capo by donating Polpo's amassed fortune on the island of Capri to a gang representative. Bucciarati is then given Polpo's final mission: Passione's boss, a mysterious figure whose identity is unknown to even his subordinates, requests that his teenage daughter Trish Una be brought safely to him in Venice. Along the way, Bucciarati's team eliminates all but one of the members of Passione's traitorous Hitman Team, who seek to use Trish as a means to identify and defeat the boss. On the boss's orders, the group retrieves a key in Pompeii and use it to unlock the room inside the Stand-using turtle Coco Jumbo.

After reaching Venice safely and escorting Trish into the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Bucciarati realizes that the boss intends to kill his own daughter to maintain his anonymity. An enraged Bucciarati pursues the boss in order to save Trish, but suffers grievous injuries at the hands of the boss's invincible Stand King Crimson, which has the ability to see into and skip time's progression several seconds into the future. Giorno seemingly heals Bucciarati's injuries as he escapes with Trish, and the two manage to escape the church, unaware that the body Bucciarati's soul resides in has already died. Despite Fugo's objections, the rest of the group defects from Passione and pledges to uncover the boss's identity in order to defeat him. The group and Trish, who discovers her own Stand Spice Girl, are forced to fight for their lives against elite assassins sent by the boss.

Bucciarati's group travels to the island of Sardinia after Trish recalls it as the boss's birthplace so Abbacchio can use his Stand to identify the boss. Vinegar Doppio, an alter ego of the boss who acts as his liaison to the assassins, reaches Sardina at the same time as the Hitman Team's leader, killing him before getting close enough for the boss to quickly kill Abbacchio. But Abbacchio creates a likeness of the boss in his final moments before the group are then contacted by a third party, who reveals the boss's name to be Diavolo and requests that the group visit the Colosseum in Rome to receive a special Arrow. The group arrives in Rome, but is held up when they meet a pair of Stand users called Cioccolatta and Secco, assigned to bump off Buccciarati's group. The group manages to overpower the enemy Stand users, but Diavolo reaches the informant first. He confronts the informant, who is revealed to be Jean Pierre Polnareff. Diavolo fatally wounds Polnareff, forcing him to stab his Stand Silver Chariot with the Arrow and evolve it into Chariot Requiem. Requiem, gifted the ability to swap the souls of living beings, goes berserk and causes a city-wide soul swap, leaving Polnareff's soul in Coco Jumbo's body.

Polnareff explains the Arrow and his Stand to the group, who realize that their own Stands will attack them upon approaching the Arrow. Though the group cripples Bucciarati's body as it awakens, Narancia is killed in skipped time, revealing a dying Doppio to be a separate soul of Diavolo's. Giorno attempts to revive Narancia, but can only reclaim his own body that was originally swapped. Diavolo's own soul is revealed to be inside Mista's body alongside Trish's soul and succeeds in weakening Requiem, but Bucciarati sacrifices himself to dispel the soul swap and pass the Arrow to Giorno. Using the Arrow, Giorno evolves his Stand into Gold Experience Requiem, which condemns Diavolo to an endless loop of being killed in various ways.

The story jumps back to an incident before Bucciarati's encounter with Giorno. Visited by a florist requesting vengeance for his daughter's death, Bucciarati, Fugo, and Mista visit the alleged murderer's place of residence. It is revealed that the suspect, Scolippi, is a Stand user whose Stand tries to euthanize those who are fated to die, such as the florist's daughter. Scolippi's Stand predicts Bucciarati's death and attempts to reach him, but Mista breaks the Stand before it can do so. As the group leaves the building, the dust of the broken Stand forms the shapes of Bucciarati's, Narancia's, and Abbacchio's faces, revealing their changed fates to an optimistic Scolippi.

As Trish and Mista return to the Colosseum, unaware of Bucciarati's death, Giorno and Polnareff's ghost (now within Coco Jumbo's Stand) agree to preserve the Arrow. Sometime afterward, Giorno becomes the new boss of Passione as Mista and Polnareff observe gang members kneeling before him.

Set near Port St. Lucie, Florida in 2011, the story follows Jotaro Kujo's estranged daughter Jolyne Cujoh, who was set up by her ex-boyfriend Romeo Jisso to serve a 15-year sentence at Green Dolphin Street Prison. Prior to her incarceration, Jolyne is pricked by a pendant given to her by her father which contains a fragment of the Stand-bestowing Arrow. Jolyne manifests her Stand before being visited by Jotaro, who attempts to break his daughter out while revealing that she was framed by a follower of DIO who seeks to kill her. However, a Stand named Whitesnake ambushes Jotaro and extracts his Stand and memories in the form of Discs, leaving him in a coma. Jolyne realizes the extent of her father's love for her and resolves to recover his Discs from Whitesnake's user, a Catholic priest in the prison known as Enrico Pucci who met DIO in the 1980s. Along the way, Jolyne allies with other stand users; Emporio Alniño, a boy born in the prison and Ermes Costello, an inmate seeking to avenge her sister's death. Jolyne also fights and befriends Foo Fighters, a plankton colony Pucci gave sentience to guard the stolen Stand Discs and disguises as a deceased prisoner. While Jolyne recovers her father's Stand Disc, Enrico holds on to Jotaro's memories which hold knowledge of Dio's plan to establish a "perfect world" when certain conditions are met at a predestined place on the night of the new moon.

As Jolyne's group are joined by Narciso Anasui, an inmate who fell in unrequited love for Jolyne; and an amnesic named Weather Report, Pucci begins sacrificing prisoners to instill life into one of Dio's bones in the form of a green homunculus called the Green Baby. Foo Fighters and Anasui are mortally wounded in an attempt to stop Pucci, with Foo Fighters using the last of her strength to save Anasui's life and retrieve Jotaro's memory Disc. Jolyne and her allies escape from prison, and Jolyne sends both of Jotaro's Discs to the Speedwagon Foundation, so they can restore Jotaro's Stand and memories back to him and save him.

Weather Report retrieves his own stolen memory Disc, causing him to remember his past as Wes Bluemarine, Pucci's long lost twin brother. It is revealed that in the past, their younger sister's suicide awakened their Stand abilities and acted as the genesis of Pucci's ideology that humans would be happier having full knowledge of their fate. Weather Report, regaining his ability to use Heavy Weather (an ability that creates rainbows and causes anyone who looks at them to turn into a snail), dies confronting Pucci and uses Whitesnake's ability to leave his Stand's Disc for his allies. Pucci reaches Cape Canaveral as Whitesnake evolves into the gravity-manipulating C-Moon, overpowering Jolyne's group as Jotaro arrives. But Pucci realizes that he can use C-Moon to replicate the new moon's gravity, allowing him to complete his plan two days early. Pucci evolves his Stand into the time-accelerating Made in Heaven, using it to rapidly advance time. Despite Anasui's self-sacrifice, Pucci manages to kill Ermes and Jotaro, while Jolyne sacrifices herself to save Emporio.

Pucci manages to accelerate time to the end of the universe, leading to a new cycle of time and a parallel universe where all surviving humans have subconscious precognition of their lives and the Joestar bloodline no longer exists. Pucci then attempts to kill Emporio, only to inadvertently insert Weather Report's Stand Disc into the child's head. Pucci attempts to accelerate time once more, but Emporio uses Weather Report to increase the surrounding oxygen's concentration to a lethal amount. A poisoned and paralyzed Pucci pleads with Emporio to spare him long enough to make his new universe permanent, but Emporio is unmoved, and Weather Report smashes Pucci's head into a piano and into the floor, killing him.

With Pucci's premature death, the parallel universe collapses with a new universe established where Pucci no longer exists and the precognitive effects of the second universe are gone. In the new universe, with Foo Fighters not among them, Emporio encounters alternate versions of his deceased friends with Irene, Jolyne's counterpart, engaged to Anakiss, Anasui's counterpart. As Ermes's and Weather Report's counterparts join the two as hitchhikers, Emporio tearfully re-introduces himself to Irene after noticing her star-shaped birthmark as the group drive off to meet Irene's father, Jotaro's unseen counterpart.

In an alternate 1890, racing jockeys from all over the world flock to the United States to take part in the Steel Ball Run- a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York City with a fifty million dollar prize. A paraplegic named Johnny Joestar enters the race to learn the mysterious Spin ability of a former Neapolitan executioner named Gyro Zeppeli, who temporarily restored Johnny's mobility. While beginning as rivals, Johnny and Gyro become friends as they travel through the wilderness while fending off various assassins, terrorists, outlaws and other violent competitors. Although the Steel Ball Run is organized by the eccentric oil tycoon Stephen Steel, it is backed by the United States government with president Funny Valentine using the race as a front to collect the scattered pieces of a 1900-year-old corpse known as the Saint's Corpse (heavily implied to be the body of Jesus Christ), to reassemble the body and gain power, with the Corpse's heart currently in his possession.

After Johnny and Gyro encounter another piece of the Saint's Corpse, it is absorbed into Johnny's body and he develops the evolving Stand Tusk, allowing him to fend off one of Valentine's subordinates. Later, they meet the mysterious racer Diego Brando who obtains one of two Corpse eyes, while Gyro gains the other. Johnny and Gyro continue the race, encountering other racers, gaining and losing Corpse parts and enhancing their Spin techniques along the way.

Meanwhile, Stephen's wife Lucy tries to uncover and foil Valentine's plan with later assistance from another racer, Hot Pants. However, Valentine discovers Lucy and takes her captive after she fuses with the Corpse and seemingly becomes pregnant with the Corpse's head. Diego and Hot Pants ally against and fight Valentine on a moving train, but are overpowered and killed by the president and his Stand “D4C” (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap) though Valentine is forced to transfer his soul into an alternate universe's Valentine to survive the fight. Lucy begins to metamorphose, enhancing Valentine's stand with a new misfortune-redirecting ability “Love Train”. Johnny and Gyro arrive and attempt to battle the seemingly invulnerable Valentine, only for Valentine to overpower them both and kill Gyro. Mourning his mentor and friend, Johnny achieves the earlier-taught Golden Spin, enhances his Stand and overwhelms Valentine. Valentine attempts to fake his surrender, but Johnny kills him, avenging his companion.

The Holy Corpse separates from Lucy, only to be stolen by an unknown antagonist. Pursuing the thief into the final stage of the Steel Ball Run, Johnny is shocked to find that it is a megalomaniacal version of Diego Brando, taken from a different universe by Valentine, entrusted with the Corpse and armed with the time-stopping Stand THE WORLD. Johnny attempts to engage the Alternate Diego, but Diego defeats him with his own attack and clinches first place in the race. He brings the Corpse to Trinity Church, only to run into Lucy armed with the severed head of the root world's Diego and die once he comes into contact with said head.

As the race ends, first place is awarded to the carefree Pocoloco, who had slept through the start of the race and only caught up by sheer luck, while Stephen Steel arrives to save Johnny. Valentine's death is covered up as retirement from public life, with concerns over the race placated by the donation of the prize money to charitable causes. Johnny, having regained his ability to walk through the power of his Stand and the Spin, leaves America to return Gyro's body to his family. On the boat, he meets the Japanese runner-up racer Norisuke Higashikata. Johnny later marries Norisuke's daughter Rina, leading to the events of Part 8, ''JoJolion''.

On Christmas Eve, suburban housewife Della Myers gets into an argument with her abusive husband Kenneth. After putting her two children to bed, she drives to the mall to buy some wrapping paper and cards. At the mall, she can't find a parking space for a while and angrily leaves a note on the windshield of a car that is parked using up two parking spaces. She leaves the store as the mall is closing, and the parking lot is nearly deserted. She notices the note is gone from the 'offending' car. As she enters her own car, the car on which she had left the note pulls up behind her.

She confronts the car, and four young men emerge—Huey, Vingh, and Tomás—led by Chuckie. They threaten to rape her. Della insults Chuckie, and a security guard intervenes, but he is shot dead by Chuckie. As the gang realizes that they have committed a murder, Della manages to start her car and drive away. They follow her, intending to kill her, as she is the only witness. As they pursue her some distance, she eventually crashes her car in a deserted area where homes are under construction. She takes a road flare and a toolbox out of her car and hides behind a backhoe.

Della runs through the buildings under construction to hide as they search for her. After some time, the thugs corner and threaten her by name, as they had found her drivers license in her purse in her car. As they have her open the toolbox, she hits Chuckie with a crescent wrench, and escapes again into some nearby woods. In the process of chasing her, Tomás accidentally steps on Huey, who falls through a construction site and dies from a broken neck.

After some hide and seek in the woods, Della beats and finally kills Tomás with a lug wrench. She flees through a creek, pursued by Chuckie and Vingh. Della sneaks up on Vingh and kills him with a screwdriver and hides behind a fallen tree. Chuckie tries to persuade Della to give up; he talks about her kids, saying that he is going to pay them a visit. He tells her what he thinks of her, that she lives a boring life she doesn't want, mistreated by her husband. He finds her, touches, and teases her face. She holds his hand, pulls him down and they kiss. He draws his weapon as they engage in foreplay. She tells him to have sex with her, and as he is distracted she ignites the road flare and blinds him, takes his weapon, and kills him.

Della returns home. Her husband Kenneth complains she was out late and is tracking mud throughout the house, but Della ignores him. She goes upstairs to check on her children who are both sleeping. The drunk Kenneth asks what she brought him from the mall, and she replies, "Nothing", and points the gun at him.

Karen (Catherine Tate) is a mother in her thirties, raising teenaged Charlotte (Holly Grainger). Karen's mother Nan (Anne Reid) is suffering from Alzheimer's.

Set in 1987, the series follows Jotaro Kujo and his comrades who have developed mysterious powers known as Stands. Jotaro, his grandfather Joseph Joestar and their allies travel to Egypt in search of the evil and immortal vampire Dio Brando, now known solely as "DIO" to save Jotaro's mother Holly, whose Stand has awakened and threatens to consume her in 50 days. Meanwhile, DIO has commissioned a number of assassins with various types of deadly Stands to destroy them before they can reach him.

An amateur photographer arrives in coastal Potters Bluff to practice his craft. A beautiful woman offers to model for him, but when he accepts her invitation to have sex, a mob of townspeople beat him and set him afire. The man survives the attack, but is later killed by the woman posing as a nurse in the hospital.

More visitors are murdered by the townspeople. Sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino), assisted by Dobbs (Jack Albertson), the eccentric local coroner-mortician, works hard to discover the motive for the killings. Gillis becomes increasingly disconcerted as a grisly death occurs every day. In each case, the killers photograph the victims as they are murdered. Gillis's investigations are complicated by the bizarre behavior of his wife, Janet (Melody Anderson).

Gillis accidentally hits someone with his squad car following an attack. On the grill of his car, Gillis finds the twitching severed arm of the accident victim, who attacks him and flees with the arm. After the attack, Gillis scrapes some flesh from the vehicle and takes it to the local doctor, who tells him that the tissue sample has been dead approximately four months. Gillis grows suspicious of Dobbs and conducts a background check. He discovers that Dobbs was formerly the chief pathologist in Providence, Rhode Island, until he was dismissed ten years before for conducting unauthorized experiments in the county morgue.

Gillis confronts Dobbs, who admits he has developed a secret technique for reanimating the dead, and all of the townspeople are reanimated corpses under his control. Dobbs considers himself an "artist" who uses his reanimated to murder the living in order to create more corpses for him to create art with. Even Janet is a reanimated corpse. When she appears in Dobbs's office, Gillis shoots and mortally wounds her, then shoots Dobbs as well. He follows her into the cemetery, where she pleads with him to bury her in an open grave. After he does as she asks, the rest of the townspeople come to pay their respects.

Gillis returns to Dobbs's office to discover that Dobbs has used his technique on himself. Dobbs then shows Gillis a film of Janet stabbing him to death as the townspeople and Dobbs watch. As Gillis stares at his own decomposing hands, Dobbs offers to repair them.

Fergus O'Connell, an itinerant Irish American dentist from New Jersey, offers his services free-of-charge to the isolated rural population of Patagonia, in Argentina. He's able to do so because of the supposedly no-strings sponsorship of a "dental consciousness" foundation. While his motorbike is being repaired, O'Connell meets Estela, the garage-owner's daughter, and they quickly become affectionate towards each other. Both lovers have prior commitment: he is married, and she is engaged. Yet, they go off together all the same. After a series of surrealistic adventures, O'Connell discovers that there's a subliminal price tag attached to his altruistic free services. Nevertheless, Fergus decides to continue with his work on the prevention of tooth decay and dental health education, simultaneously freeing himself from any kind of sponsorship and corporate meddling. He again proposes Estela to come join him, and they both depart, traveling on the road once again.

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are elderly gentlemen in 1910 Vienna. Both are involved independently with foiling Balkan terrorists. They reunite by chance with “The Woman”: actress Irene Adler. They save Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria from an assassination at the opera house and thus delay the onset of World War I.

The film also featured a number of historical characters, including Eliot Ness and Sigmund Freud.

It's the year 2020 AD. Tokyo which is a futuristic society, complete with flying skateboards, laser guns and a variety of advanced technology. It is also a city infested with crime with far fewer women than men, with a subsequently higher amount of violence against women. It is also an example of moral decay; the series opens with a girl being attacked in broad daylight with people apathetically passing by, remarking that she should take care of herself.

Not wanting their daughter to suffer the same fate, Tsukasa Kozuki's cop parents raise and teach her to live as a boy. While Tsukasa's parents investigate the murder of her classmate's, Ryuji Shirogami's, father, who is the leader of the powerful Kuryugumi yakuza group, they are both killed in one of the yakuza's in-fights. The deaths leave both Tsukasa and Ryuji orphans, with Ryuji succeeding the group as their third generation boss, known as the Sandaime, and Tsukasa on the streets with her three brothers.

With no other options left, she goes to Ryuji whom she has known for eight years with hopes for shelter. After catching their parents' killer, Tsukasa becomes indebted to Ryuji when her brothers eat a veritable fortune on his tab and he uses the opportunity to tie her into becoming his personal bodyguard until her debt is paid off. Intrigued by her, Ryuji keeps slapping on an increasing amount of debt onto Tsukasa using all manners of ploys necessary to keep the reluctant Tsukasa by his side.

The story mainly centers on the developing romance and relationship between Tsukasa and Ryuji, which has a vast array of difficulties. Tsukasa has dreams of becoming a police officer like her parents, which conflicts with Ryuji's position as the boss of the largest syndicate in the Kantō area of Japan. At the same time, Kuryugumi, as an extremely powerful yakuza group, has many conflicts and gang wars with other groups, making up the rest of the story's conflict.

Set in West Flanders, Belgium in the 1980s, two elderly sisters invite their wonderful nieces and nephews to a dinner party in celebration of the sisters' upcoming birthdays. The one nephew who is not invited is the ostracised black sheep of the family whose devil-worshipping activities have resulted in his being removed from the sisters' inheritance. The rest of the guests are merely putting in time; they are actually only waiting for their aunts to die, leaving them amply endowed via their respective inheritances. Unfortunately for all but the aunts, the nephew sends a party gift that turns the scene into a frolic of the macabre and ruins the party: under the gift's power, the aunts turn into cannibalistic demons and proceed to eat up all of their guests.

During World War II, an outsider, Baston Morris (Weller), comes to a tiny town looking for work at the local mill. He meets up with the town's evil employer, Pink Gresham (Smitrovich), who abuses the men and has affairs with the women. Pink toys with Baston's plight but keeps the upper hand with his pistol and chases Baston away.

Baston then meets Pink's wife, Maggie (Baker), and spins a tale of her husband's philandering and Pink's personal involvement with Baston's affairs at his hometown in the next county.

The subplot contains stories of Maggie's brother, Shep Sheppard, (Glover) who is a fundamentalist preacher that has followed his father's misogynistic ways. Sheppard sides with Pink when it comes to laying down the law, and a hunt ensues for Baston after stories are revealed of him being an axe murderer.

Yūya Fukushima decides to enroll in Natsuka Academy, a boarding high school, but is reassigned to live in Raspberry Dorm with five other students: Azusa Chiba, Nagisa Takamatsu, Emika Muto, Ame Yamanashi, and Kon Miyagi. Yūya is initially offended by her dormmates' quirkiness, but she is encouraged to stay by Azusa and falls in love with him. At the same time, she discovers that the occupants of the Raspberry Dorm are socially ostracized from the school, and she decides to support and defend her dormmates from the bullying.

Leodan Akaran, ruler of the Known World, has inherited generations of apparent peace and prosperity, won ages ago by his ancestors. A widower of high intelligence, he presides over an empire called Acacia, after the idyllic island from which he rules. He dotes on his four children and hides from them the dark realities of traffic in drugs and human lives on which their prosperity depends. He hopes that he might change this, but powerful forces stand in his way. A deadly assassin sent from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan in the heart of Acacia while other enemies unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed, Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to their separate destiny. His children begin a quest to avenge their father's death and restore the Acacian empire–this time on the basis of universal freedom.

The novel is notable for the complexity of Durham's imagined world, one in which political, economic, mythological and morally ambiguous forces all influence the fates of the ethnically and culturally diverse population. In some ways the novel uses familiar fantasy frameworks, but over the course of the novel many fantasy tropes are overturned or skewed in surprising ways. It is a fairly self-contained tale, but the author is at work on more volumes set in this world.

Ezekiel Cobb, a naive young man raised by missionaries in China, is sent to the United States to seek a wife. He is promptly enlisted by the corrupt political machine of the fictional city of Stockport, led by the corrupt boss Jake Mayo (George Barbier) to run for mayor as phony "reform" politician. He is expected to be the "cat's paw" of the political machine.

Cobb unexpectedly takes his job seriously. Frequently quoting Chinese poet Li Po (pronounced "Ling Po" in the story), he embarks on a campaign to clean his town of its corrupt political machine.

Fighting back, the corrupt politicians frame Cobb. He turns the table on them, however, by enlisting the help of his friends in the local Chinese community, who help him kidnap the corrupt politicians and their hoodlum backers, detaining them in the "cellar of Tien Wang." He tells them that since his attempts to use western methods have not worked, he is going to use the methods of the ancient Chinese: either they confess or they will be executed.

They take a man into a back room – everyone says it's a bluff, but then the man screams in terror and a moment later his decapitated body is brought out with his head set on top of his chest. When the second man is taken to the back room, it is shown that Cobb has enlisted the help of ''The Great Chang'' a famous Chinese magician on his first American tour, and that they are using his tricks to fake the executions.

This tactic works, and Mayor decides to throw his support to Cobb after all. The town is swept of its corruption and Cobb, with the support of local girl Petunia Pratt (Una Merkel), abandons plans to return to China and stays in the U.S. to fight corruption in his town. But his new wife insists on him returning to China.

Back from action in World War II, Sam Lawson leaves home and friends in Lansing, Michigan to fulfil his ambitions to make it as an actor in New York. After many auditions he joins the off-Broadway grassroots theatre group called the Actors' Rostrum, run by actor-director Maurice "Maury" Novak out of a seamen's mission in Greenwich Village. When the theatre group runs out of money, Novak leaves the theater eventually to become a well known Hollywood director.

Both men know Sharon Kensington, who is the alcoholic daughter of powerful Broadway producer Robert Kensington.

Lawson continually tries to establish himself as an actor, suffering the slings and arrows of rejection despite his dedication and passion for the theater. It costs him his first wife. Lawson's long-suffering agent Shirley Drake attempts to get him work and after marrying Sharon Kensington and with the grudging backing of his new father-in-law, Lawson's star slowly begins to rise. But Sharon is in love with Novak and pregnant with his child. Lawson makes a deal to give her a divorce for the lead in the new Novak production. But Novak reneges on the deal. After more struggle, Drake manages to find Lawson a job but he has been called up from the reserves to serve in Korea, where he sees out the end of the war.

Lawson returns to the rounds of auditions in New York. Just as he's about to land a long-term TV announcing job, his loyalty is researched and to Lawson's shock he is found to be on the blacklist. This is owing to his connection with Novak and the allegedly "subversive" theater work of the Actors' Rostrum. Drake explains, "Sam, these are very responsible, patriotic people. They're just trying to protect their country." The now blacklisted Lawson, reflecting the realities of real-life blacklisted actors, is forced to take work as a waiter. When Drake asks him what he's going to do, Lawson replies: "There's only one thing for me to do. Survive." In one sense this was among Hollywood's first direct documentations of the blacklist in a dramatic film.

Novak, himself on the skids, appears back in Lawson's life, vowing to start fresh with a new off-Broadway theater. Novak confesses that he was briefly a communist in the past, but for opportunistic, career reasons. He offers Lawson a chance to work together again. After an accidental meeting with his first wife, who now understands Lawson's ambition, Lawson quits restaurant work and accepts the offer. With the blacklist past, the new play becomes successful and heads to Broadway. With Lawson finally emerging as a major actor, Drake, who has fallen in love with Lawson, asks him in the final scene, thinking of his struggles and humiliation, if it was "worth it."

"Yes," says Lawson. "It was worth it."

Independently, the two protagonists, Diana Martin and Secret Service agent Larry Trent, are searching the jungle for missing relatives, her father and his brother. Tied up in this plot are ivory smugglers and a lost treasure hidden in the jungle.

Retired CID inspector Angus Blake tries to prevent a female jewel thief named the Queen of Diamonds from stealing a valuable ring which, according to legend, carries a curse.

In the Asian province of Seemang, where the Bay of Bengal meets the jungle, Chandler Elliott (John St. Polis) owns a large and prosperous rubber plantation. His attractive daughter, Dorothy (Charlotte Henry), is engaged to neighboring planter Tom Banning (William Bakewell), but troubles are brewing for both plantations. They ship a cargo of rubber on a riverboat to be taken to an ocean port, but the boat is hi-jacked by river pirates. They kill the crew and steal the shipment. This is part of a plot by Jim Murphy (LeRoy Mason), Elliott's plantation manager, and others to force Elliott to sell his plantation. Local explorer Frank Hardy (Frank Buck) determines to find out who is behind the plot.

In the Salton Sea, an underwater earthquake causes a crevice to open, releasing prehistoric giant mollusks. A rescue training parachute jump is conducted, but the patrol boat sent to pick up the jumper finds only a floating parachute. One sailor dives in but also disappears. The other sailor screams in terror as something rises from the water.

When the patrol boat does not answer radio calls, Lt. Cmdr. John "Twill" Twillinger takes a rescue party out on a second patrol boat to investigate. They find the deserted patrol boat covered in a strange slime; the jumper's body then floats to the surface, now blackened and drained of bodily fluids. Twill takes a sample of the slime to the base lab for analysis, where he teams up with recently widowed Gail MacKenzie and Dr. Jess Rogers.

A young couple disappear after going for a swim. U.S. Navy divers investigate and discover a giant egg and the body of one of the victims on the ocean floor. The divers are attacked by a giant mollusk (which looks like a giant caterpillar), which kills one of the divers. The mollusk attacks the boat, but Twill stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook. The egg is taken to the U.S. Navy lab for study and kept under temperature control to prevent it from hatching.

The mollusks escape into an irrigation canal system, attacking livestock, a lock keeper, a trysting couple, and others. Navy divers locate a group of mollusks in the canal system, and use explosives to destroy them.

In the meantime, Gail is at the lab with her young daughter, Sandy. Worried about the lab rabbits being cold in the lab's lowered temperature, Sandy surreptitiously turns up the thermostat. Twill calls the lab and gets no answer. He arrives and finds that the hatched mollusk has Gail and Sandy cornered in a closet, where they ran to escape from the monster. He fights it with lab chemicals, a CO₂ fire extinguisher and a live steam line until other Navy personnel arrive and shoot the mollusk.

As the novel begins, twelve-year-old Natalie is almost done writing a novel called ''The Cheater'' about a girl and her friends. It is uncommon, if not impossible, for someone her age to get published, but Natalie's best friend, Zoe Reisman, thinks ''The Cheater'' is good enough. Natalie wants her mother, Hannah Nelson, who works as an editor at Shipley Junior Books, to edit her manuscript, but she doesn't want her mother to find out that she wrote it. To accomplish this, Natalie uses the pseudonym Cassandra Day, and Zoe acts as her literary agent, fabricating the "Sherry Clutch Literary Agency". Zoe hides her identity by using her nickname, "Zee Zee", and pronouncing her last name differently. The girls decide to rent a cheap "instant office", then realize that they could use some adult help. They enlist a teacher at their school, Laura Clayton, to be their adviser, and together with the three form "The Publishing Club". Zoe gives Ms. Clayton $500 to pay for the office and services but feeling guilty, Ms. Clayton secretly pays for it herself and safely stores Zoe's money away in her bank account.

Besides the girls' age disadvantage, the editor in chief at Shipley, "Lethal" Letha Springfield, adds complications. Seeing that ''The Cheater'' could prove to be a success, Letha takes over editing the manuscript. Zoe (speaking as Zee Zee) gets into an argument with her and states that Cassandra (Natalie) will only write with Hannah as her editor. Instead of obliging, Letha refuses and declares that the book will not be published by Shipley unless an apology is received. This problem is averted when Zoe sends a copy of the manuscript directly to Tom Morton, president of Shipley, along with a letter describing Cassandra's wishes. After reading (and loving) the story, Tom tells Letha to let Hannah handle it. Later, when the girls are offered a contract, they show it to Zoe's father, who is a lawyer, and they get Natalie's Uncle Fred to sign in place of her mother. After hearing the story from the girls, Zoe's father is extremely impressed with Ms. Clayton and calls to commend her. He also gets her to send him a bill for the office.

The novel opens by introducing the reader to an alcoholic vagrant, resting in an abandoned and forgotten lock-keeper's house by a canal. As he is ruminating over the injustices inflicted upon him in his life, he is suddenly set upon by a pack of black rats the size of small dogs, and is devoured alive.

Harris, a young East London art teacher, notices that one of his students has a bloodied bandage around his hand. When he enquires as to what caused the damage, the student answers that he was attacked by a rat. Meanwhile, a baby girl and her dog are killed by the giant rats, now aided by packs of smaller black rats. The girl's mother rescues her daughter's mutilated body, but not before sustaining bites as well. Harris takes the student to the hospital and sees the grieving mother with her dead child. According to the doctor, the number of seemingly unprovoked rat attacks has strangely increased.

The next rat attack occurs at the remains of a bombsite, where a group of squabbling vagrants are slaughtered. Harris is visited at work by the Minister of Health, Mr. Foskins, who reveals that the bitten student, and all the other surviving victims of rat attacks, died of a mysterious disease 24 hours after being bitten. Foskins asks Harris to keep the existence of the disease a secret and lead an exterminator named Ferris to the area where the student had been bitten. Accompanied by Ferris, Harris goes to the canal described by the student and sights a group of giant rats. Harris attempts to contact the police, while Ferris follows the rats, who then attack and kill him.

The rat attacks become increasingly more daring, as more and more public places are attacked. A tube station is assaulted, leaving few survivors. Next, Harris' own school is attacked, resulting in the death of the headmaster. With the existence of the rats' disease now becoming public knowledge, a meeting is held, in which a young researcher by the name of Stephen Howard comes up with the idea of using a virus to infect the rats. The virus is injected into several puppies, which are left in areas of the attacks. This results in the deaths of thousands of rats, which crawl to the surface to die. A few weeks later however, the rats adapt to the virus, at the same time losing the toxicity of their bites. The rats brutally attack a cinema and overrun the London Zoo. Based on the fact that rats communicate with each other using ultrasound, a plan is formulated to use ultrasonic machines to lure the rats into poison gas chambers.

Foskins is dismissed as Health Minister and reveals to Harris that he has been investigating possible clues as to the rats' origins and comes to the conclusion that they were illegally smuggled into the country by a zoologist named William Bartlett Schiller from an island near New Guinea which had been near some nuclear tests. At his home by an East London canal, Schiller had bred these mutant rats with common black rats, producing a new and deadly strain. They later killed him and escaped.

Pursuing the disgraced health minister past waves of entranced rats, Harris finds the abandoned house and enters it. He goes into the cellar and finds Foskins' corpse being devoured by rats of unusually great size. He kills them after a bloody battle and discovers the rats' alpha hidden in the shadows; a white, hairless and obese rat with two heads. Harris kills the creature with an axe in a fit of rage and leaves.

The epilogue indicates that one female rat survived the purge by being trapped in the basement of a grocery shop. There, it gives birth to a new litter, including a new white two-headed rat.

Patrick Dennis, orphaned in 1928 when his father Edwin dies unexpectedly, is placed in the care of his aunt Mame Dennis in Manhattan. Mame is flamboyant and exuberant, hosting frequent parties with a variety of guests and free-spirited friends including the frequently-drunk actress Vera Charles; Acacius Page, who runs a nudist school; and Lindsay Woolsey, a book publisher. Mame quickly becomes fond of Patrick, and aims to give him as broad a view of life as possible. Patrick's inheritance is managed by Dwight Babcock, a trustee of the highly-conservative Knickerbocker Bank, who was instructed by Edwin to restrain Mame's influence. Without Babcock's knowledge, Mame enrolls Patrick in Page's school. When this is discovered, Babcock forcibly enrolls Patrick into his alma mater, preventing Mame from seeing her nephew except during holidays and during the summer.

When Mame is bankrupted by the 1929 stock market crash, she takes a series of jobs which end disastrously. During one job as a Macy's sales girl, she meets Southern oil baron Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside. Both are smitten, and he invites Mame to his estate. Despite an attempt on her life by Beau's original betrothed, Mame and Beauregard are married, travelling around the world for their honeymoon. Mame continues to receive letters from Patrick (and vice versa), indicating Babcock is influencing him into a more conventional personality. After Beau dies while climbing the Matterhorn in 1937, Mame comes home after a prolonged period of mourning to discover the now-adult Patrick gifted her with a dictaphone, typewriter, and secretary, Agnes Gooch. He and her friends persuade her to write her autobiography. Patrick and Lindsay arrange for a collaborator/ghost writer for Mame, Brian O'Bannion, who rapidly proves to be a fortune hunter.

Patrick announces to Mame that he is engaged to Gloria Upson, a girl approved by Babcock from a "restricted" community in Connecticut called Mountebank. Mame is initially angered by the change in his character, but relents to please him. She also sabotages O'Bannion's attempted wooing by sending Agnes to a party in her place, lying to O'Bannion that Agnes is a secret heiress. When Agnes returns, she barely remembers the evening, thinking they saw a movie with a wedding scene. After Mame meets Gloria, who proves to be spoiled and prejudiced, she visits Gloria's parents in Mountebank at their house, "Upson Downs", some time later. Finding them to be boorish and anti-Semitic, she invites them and Gloria to a dinner party at her apartment with Patrick, Babcock, and some of her friends.

On the night of the party, Patrick meets Mame's new secretary Pegeen, and the two are attracted to each other; Agnes also lives there, now pregnant due to her night with O'Bannion and presumed to be unmarried. The entire party is choreographed to show up the Upsons, but when Gloria insults Mame's company, Patrick instead defends them and insults Gloria's own circle, ending their relationship. Lindsay surprises the attendees with galleys from Mame's autobiography, reminding Patrick of forgotten adventures. Mame dedicates her royalties to a home for refugee Jewish children in Mountebank, much to the Upsons' horror. The book's release prompts a telegram from O'Bannion demanding half the royalties for his efforts, also revealing that he married Agnes on their night out. The Upsons leave in a huff, and Mame berates Babcock's attempts to manipulate Patrick's life before he also leaves. By 1946, Patrick and Pegeen are married and have a son Michael. Mame and Michael persuade his parents to let Mame take the child on a journey to India, and the movie fades as Mame tells Michael of all the wondrous sights they will see.

Hawkeye and Charles start a rumor that Marilyn Monroe will be visiting the 4077th but find themselves in hot water when people start to believe it, including Col. Potter. They desperately try to arrange for Marilyn to appear, with Hawkeye going so far as to try to contact her by phone pretending to be Ted Williams. However, they are ultimately unsuccessful, and end up having to send a faked telegram purportedly from Marilyn apologizing for not being able to appear.

Meanwhile, B.J. has a chopper pilot take him out on a fishing trip. On the flight, they encounter a wounded soldier-they land and place him on landing pad stretcher. As they fly up they encounter a second wounded soldier. B.J. throws the soldier a rope to haul him up into the helicopter, but at that moment the chopper is besieged by enemy fire. At the pilot's frantic behest, B.J. ends up cutting the rope and abandoning the wounded man as the chopper flies off. The pilot is impressed by B.J.'s valiant attempt to save the soldier and recommends him for a commendation; shortly thereafter, B.J. is notified he is to receive the Bronze Star. Far from gratified, B.J. is disgusted with himself for putting his own welfare first and possibly leaving a wounded man to die; he also remarks that he can no longer consider himself morally superior to those he operated on: "The minute I cut that line they made me a soldier." He eventually gives the medal to another patient.

Gerald S. O'Loughlin guest stars as General Franklin Schwerin.

In the film, Holmes is about to retire to Sussex and keep bees when King Edward (Joss Ackland) sends him on a mission to South Africa to retrieve the Star of Africa diamond. Complications arise and Holmes meets several historical people including ex-President Theodore Roosevelt (Claude Akins), and Lillie Langtry (Jenny Seagrove). He also encounters the fictional character A. J. Raffles.

The plot opens with a faux email addressed to Nigel MacDonald, listing a job offer. It is later learned that this email is for a work-at-home programmer position at Hayek Associates PLC.

It is then learned that a cybercrime has been committed in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Avalon Four. A robbery of several thousand euros worth of "prestige items" occurs in the game's central bank, led by a band of orcs and a "dragon for fire support." It is later noticed that this seemingly simple incident has deep implications – both financial (Hayek stock price) and logistical (compromised cryptographic keys), which sets the stage for the latter half of the novel.

The main story is then divided between police chapters as Sue, investigation sections as Elaine, and programmer and gamer geek sections as Jack. Initially separate storylines, the three inevitably join forces to combat a much larger conspiracy that hinges on international espionage and counterterrorism. These initial segments track the bank robbery and mystery man, Nigel MacDonald, who is revealed as a shadow identity created from Jack Reed's credentials as a programmer and gamer.

Eventually, it is discovered that the entirety of the European network backbone—including its root keyservers—has been compromised by Chinese hackers. It is more or less at this point that the wool is removed from the reader's eyes that "it's no longer a game," while Jack and Elaine develop a romance between action segments.

Using the game Spooks as a sock puppet for real espionage missions, Jack and Elaine are sent to uncover the identity of a mole inside Hayek Associates, which is subsequently revealed to be a front for the government. The mole is said to have leaked cryptographic keys to "Team Red", or Chinese interests, through a blacknet. For contrast, the European protagonists are called simply, "Team Blue".

It is at this point that the stage is set for the final confrontation. Using Nigel's shadow identity as bait for Team Red's mole, Elaine and Jack successfully expose and capture Marcus Hackman, who is revealed to be the mole and main antagonist. It is then revealed that Hackman had staged the whole thing to use strategic put options to earn €26 million when his own company, Hayek Associates, took the fall for the initial robbery sequence.

Jack is shot twice in the chest during this exchange, but is seen recovering in a hospital bed by the end of the book.

The novel closes with an email addressed to Hackman that resembles a 419 scam from a Nigerian banker, implying that is where he hid the money.

Antonio Badalamenti, a Sicilian who has been settled for many years in Northern Italy and is employed in a car factory in Milan, takes a vacation with his family, leaving behind the modern conveniences of his home in northern Italy, to visit his childhood village in Sicily and introduce his blond, northern-Italian wife, Marta, to his mother, father and other relatives back home.

While his wife suffers in the comparatively rustic conditions of her husband's hometown and has trouble adapting to the culture of Sicily, Antonio becomes reacquainted with his childhood friends. He also pays a visit to the local don, Don Vincenzo, who is a crime boss. The don smooths over some problems Antonio had with a deal to buy some property on the island, and in return, Antonio is tasked with carrying out a hit for the mob. As an outsider with no strings attached and a crack shot, Antonio is seen as a perfect candidate.

While his wife is sleeping one night, Antonio leaves for what is purportedly a hunting trip with his friends. In reality, he is put inside a wooden crate and smuggled aboard an airplane into the United States, where he goes to New York City to carry out his task. The job done, he is returned to Sicily in the same manner and arrives back at home as if from the hunting trip. Plagued by what he has done, he goes back to his efficient job at the car factory.

Hawkeye is asked by the nurses to fix a malfunctioning stove in the nurses' tent. While doing so, a gas pocket builds up and explodes, flash burning and blinding Hawkeye. A specialist is called in to examine his eyes, and he is told he must keep them bandaged for a week, after which time the specialist will be able to tell whether the damage to his eyes is permanent. Hawkeye is initially despondent over the possibility of losing his sight and his surgical career. However, as the week goes on, he becomes fascinated by the stimulation of his other senses due to sensory deprivation. He also meets and bonds with patient Tom Straw (played by blind actor/singer Tom Sullivan) who was blinded in combat. He even participates in the OR; while unable to operate, he is able to give tips to the other surgeons due to his sense of smell and other clues, much to Frank's annoyance.

Frank, meanwhile, has been steadily winning money from the rest of the staff camp by betting on baseball games. The key to his success is that he cheats by listening to the games on the radio the night before, when everyone else is asleep, and then suckers people listening to the rebroadcast into betting on the losing team. Hawkeye, aware of Frank's scheme, arranges it so that Frank's radio is connected to the camp PA, and then "broadcasts" a fake Indians-Yankees ballgame into it at night, with B.J., Klinger, and Radar providing background noise. Hawkeye ends his phony broadcast with the Indians winning 5-4. When the real game's final score (Yankees won, 8-1) is broadcast over the PA the next morning, Frank notices the different outcome, inadvertently blurts out that he listened to the game last night, and the other staff members immediately begin to accost him, demanding their lost money back.

Finally, the specialist returns and removes the bandages, and Hawkeye, with great relief, announces that his sight is returned. However, shortly thereafter, Hawkeye appears in the nurses' tent with his eyes bandaged again, explaining that he had a relapse. However, this turns out to be just a ruse to trick the nurses into getting undressed in his presence, one that is easily exposed when he catches a cup one of the nurses throws to him. This prompts the nurses to kick him out their tent.

Nobita has been vaguely indulging in fantasy for the past few days . When Doraemon saw the situation, he said, "I'm going to throw away the trash," and took Nobita to the trash dump. Then they find a strange stone statue that looks exactly like Doraemon and take it home. After that, Nobita was invited to baseball by Gian, but lost as usual and was blamed by everyone. At that time, Doraemon quietly confessed his longing for magic. Although the two did not take it seriously and consulted with Dekisugi, magic was established as an academic discipline in the past, but it was targeted for witch hunting as a method to borrow the power of the devil, while science developed. Nobita finds a stone statue that looks exactly like himself, as he is taught that magic has disappeared, no one understands it, and he cannot give up his dream and is depressed. Doraemon wonders when he sees their stone statue, but when Nobita speculates that he is "in another world that has been turned into a stone," Doraemon left the stone statue as it was. At midnight, when they heard a strange voice from the front door, they headed to the front door and the stone statue stood in a different pose. When he puts it in the storeroom again and returns to the room. Nobita requests Doraemon to give him the Moshimo-box and wishes for the world to become a place where the use of magic is possible. Witchcraft replaces science and technology and everyone makes use of it on their daily lives, However, in the realized "magical world", friends and family can use magic, but it is far from Nobita's expectations and imagination, and he has to receive school education to learn magic, and he has a license and a high price to operate a magic carpet. It was just a substitute for the foundation of civilization, which required Nobita, from science to magic. Except for Nobita, who, like usual, isn't very good at conjuring spells. However, even in this world, when Gian and Suneo make a fool of themselves, they are enthusiastic to return to the original world after learning at least one of the simple magics. Doraemon desperately cheers for Nobita's spirit, but an earthquake struck just before that. According to Shizuka, frequent earthquakes are related to a hypothesis of a doctor of magic, the theory of approaching the demon world. Suneo and Gian bullies a monkey, it burns the brooms and let them fall down. Shizuka puts to good use the magic to take them to a house to cure. Doraemon and his friends meet , who studies magic and magical beings such as goblins, in the mountains. Before they have cured, he said them drink some tea first. According to his research, the demons of the demon world are currently planning to invade the earth, and if nothing is done, humankind will be destroyed by demons with unimaginable magical power. And the earthquakes and huge typhoons that are approaching the world are the precursors. Being frustrated, he plans on returning things to their past state, but his mother threw the Moshimo-box away. After dinner, they quarrel to watch TV programmes, Nobita's father watches news, about the massive typhoon is coming.

Reconciling while they were rubbing that night, the two tried to visit Dr. Mangetsu's house again and talk in detail. However, the doctor's house disappeared without a trace, and only one stray cat was standing. In fact, the cat was the doctor's beloved daughter, Miyako, and was changed by the magic of the devil.

The gang goes to the teacher to consult that the devil is going for the Earth. The teacher tells Nobita's grade is unreasonable. He says devils and ghosts are act against law and reason is long long ago matter, near 100 years, it doesn't have persuasive witness matter, they died out by human society development. Dr. Mangetsu thinks devils aren't organisms in the Earth, are from the Underworld's other celestial body alien. Dr. prophesies, this Underworld starts to invade and get to the Earth now, it happens massive earthquake and typhoon and makes big chaos, he says earthquake and typhoon are simple natural phenomena, but the doctor's house is disappeared, the teacher says it moved, if he be a doctor, let the house changes to the another place is not a piece of cake. Doraemon and Nobita see the stubborn cat. The massive typhoon will make unprecedented disaster in the history. It comes his home, Nobita puts to good use the magic to let it hide, but Nobita's mother call him to do homework, he puts to good use the magic, let it can do homework. Nobita takes the milk to feed it. He sees the sky is red. It meows when Doraemon and Nobita are sleeping. It transforms to human, she use magics to transform. The moon is covered by the black clouds, so Doraemon and Nobita go for a look, The moon is come out.

Fortunately, the magic is said to be unraveled while in the moonlight. Meanwhile, Miyako begs for the two to board the demon world together. And, according to the fortune-telling of the crystal ball, he told me that there are five heroes who defeat the Demon King: Doraemon, Nobita, Shizuka, Suneo, and Gian. The five hesitate once and decide to board the demon world with Miyako, and challenge the Devil Devil and his minions, but he doesn't done his homework yet, they afraid to let their parents worried.

The next day, The massive typhoon has come, they leave home from school early, the teacher tell them be careful on the road. It is at the South Sea area. After Nobita goes home, it is dark here. The fierce monsoons, hurricane and whirl are raging global, except it will happen scary disaster. Nobita thinks the news is scary, he thinks the typhoon will be gone for few days, the school suspends during this time, what Miyako happen next.

One day, Doraemon and his friends are warned of the dangerous approximation of the "star of the Underworld" to the Earth's orbit.

With the future of the planet at stake, the group must travel to the Underworld and pierce the heart of the terrible Underworld King with a silver dart, as detailed in the ancient texts of "The Chronicles of the Underworld". During this time, they find the book hidden in the tree hollow, but it takes to Miyako automatically. They hear a strange voice. The devil needs to take them out. Doraemon use the Translate Cake. She draws the closed area to hide, it is a six-angle star, and a barrier wall. The devil is staying on, we can't leave here. It is a star lower level, we mustn't defeat them, Before it enters the Underworld, we avoid the adventure. Shizuka chased by the devil. Miyako tries to defeat it. It comes down the watersprout. Miyako praises Doraemon because he can put to good use the magic to defeat it. Doraemon put on the magic hat, it uses for acting, Miyako takes the magic carpet, it used for camping and flying in the universe. In the universe, it has no air, they see the moon has come out and some rabbits on the Moon. They have lunch boxes on the planet. After having lunch boxes, they enter inside the magic carpet. This book mentions Underworld, surrounded by black flame, at the Underworld, South Pole in the sky. They take a month to arrive our target, it is there. Miyako says Nalnedes is landed safely, but he lands with devil at that time, he pretends to let devil for subordinate, cheats devil enter the Underworld. After go back to the Earth, he writes the Underworld Schedule. Afterwards, His betray action falls through and stand exposed, kills by devil. They feel hot, need to be patient, after passes through zone of flame and feel better. The magic carpet is on fire, they have to leave here to hide. Miyako says the book mentions there is devil's satellite observe station, if discover it, demons will rush over, It discover the magic carpet is burned, the Earth thing, the gang burns and escape. They feel cold, so Miyoko gives some fire to let them warm. Before they freeze to death, must leave the South Pole, it encounters snowstorm, so Doraemon uses Turvy Topsy Cream to let them warm. They arrive the actar circle terminal, cross the sea, is devil living continent, there is living mermaid island, living big monster nearby, some mermaid are singing, they will be misted and out of control, so the gang blocks the ear, but they still hear it. They see the mermaid island, Gian uses the song to get them out, other of the gang escape. They see the devil city, it mentions there are some port cities along the sea line, they avoid them to land. There is No Return Champaign, devil seldomness walks in here, they have lunch here. The gang uses Northwest direction to fly to the tree, they see odd animals racing, they eat gotten lost and die animals here, they also see the devil is going to have them be their food, but they can't, because all trees and grasses move. If the gang use this direction, they will get lost, compass can't stop, there are some ailmants on the ground. the Underworld has night, so the gang use Light the Way Beam to use Northwest direction to fly, they enter the scary forest, there are some beasts, so they enter the closed area, but it also has them here, so use Stone Hat to be cloaking to continue for using Northwest direction to go forward, but take-copters are running out of batteries, they arrive the terrible Underworld King's castle finally. Their attempts are, however, thwarted and Miyoko captured.

Doraemon and his friends then decided to use the Time Machine to return to the past and tell them to stop using it, but they chased by Demaon, so they uses the flying broom to escape, but they transformed to the stone statue by Demaon. Using Dorami's Moshimo-box, they manage to restore the Earth, but this matter has not over yet, because they need to save the captured gang, they travel by Time Machine to back to Magic World, Nobita uses Big Light and zoomed in Underworld Schedule to save them. The events on the Underworld continue, however, to take place in a Parallel Universe, they are informed that the devil's heart isn't in the demon king himself; it's hiding somewhere else. The captured gang can't use the magic to escape. They are going to be tonight's dishes, demons quarrel how to cook them. To save captured gang, Dorami sets off fireworks, use for let demons disperse attention. Luckily Doraemon puts on Magic Hat to throw out them, is demon's weak point. As a result, Nobita uses Time Cloth to cover collected magic carpet ash to revert, and the group is once again forced to travel to the Underworld and defeat its tyrannical ruler once and for all, but the gang chased by the demons, they let devil star transform to land mine and thunderbolt and blow the terrans, so Miyoko uses idea to gets out them. Gian pierce his zoomed in heart finally, he transforms to the fireball to rush forward to the Underground Planet. They rebuild his house, and restore the Earth. Suneo thinks it is a fantasy, Nobita puts to good use the magic, the wind blows and lets Shizuka's skirt get lifted up. The movie ends as he is invited to play baseball with Suneo and Gian.

In a Tyrolean castle in the late 18th century, twin sons, Gregor and Anton, are born to the de Berghmann baronial family. The baron is concerned: an old prophecy in the family states that the younger brother shall kill the elder in the Black Room of the castle.

Some years later in 1834, it is revealed that the Baron Gregor (Boris Karloff) has become a depraved ruler who murders the wives of local peasants. His brother, Anton (also played by Karloff), who cannot use his right arm and has spent much of his life traveling Europe, returns to the castle for a visit, but refuses to believe the rumors he hears about Gregor. The kindly Anton becomes popular with the villagers and the castle staff, being the exact opposite of his brother. At the same time, Gregor's attempts to woo Thea (Marian Marsh), daughter of family advisor Colonel Hassell, fail noticeably before both her admiration for Anton and her true love for young Lieutenant Albert Lussan (Robert Allen).

When the castle servant Mashka (Katherine DeMille) disappears after being seen with Gregor, the locals form a mob and enter the castle, confronting the baron. Gregor agrees to abdicate, and give power to his brother, who has become popular. After the papers are signed to relinquish his baronetcy to Anton, he lures his unsuspecting brother to the Black Room, kills him, and throws him into the pit where the dead bodies of Mashka and his other victims are kept. Gregor now assumes Anton's identity, and prepares to wed Thea, whose father supports their union. Lt. Lussan angrily and threateningly objects to the Colonel; Gregor kills the Colonel when a game of chess and his signing of a document reflected in a mirror both expose him, and then easily frames the Lieutenant, who is found guilty and sentenced to death.

Following this, only Anton's mastiff recognizes that the baron is not his master, and the dog pursues Gregor when he travels to town for his wedding. Meanwhile, Lussan escapes his cell and meets secretly with Thea, who urges him to flee. He refuses, however, and the wedding ceremony begins in the town cathedral. As the stately ceremony draws to a close, the priest asks for any who object to the union to "speak now or forever hold their peace", and the dog attacks "Anton", who defends himself with his supposedly paralyzed right arm. Standing thus revealed, Gregor flees. The townspeople gathered for the wedding form a mob in a matter of seconds. The dog, followed by the mob, which includes Lussan, pursues Gregor to the castle, where he attempts to hide in the Black Room. The mob discovers where he is and begins to batter open the secret door. Before they can gain passage, however, the dog squeezes through and throws himself on Gregor, who falls backward into the pit and onto the knife still held in his murdered brother's hand. Thus, the prophecy is fulfilled.

After the fall of Camelot at the Battle of Camlann, Lin, daughter of King Arthur and Queen Gwenhwyfar, is torn by grief and self-doubt. Believing herself unworthy to follow in her father's wake, Lin leaves Camelot. Twelve years later, while exploring the deserted castle with her four children, Lin tells them about her own childhood in the distant kingdom of Orkney, before she learned the truth of her birth.

Lin's earliest memories are of sorrow and hardship as a slave in the castle of Arthur's half-sister Queen Morgause. At five years old, the only mother she knows dies, leaving Lin alone with Dafydd, the boy she believes is her true elder brother. On Lin's twelfth birthday, she is given a slave collar and a new master: Prince Mordred, who knows she, not he, is the true heir to the throne of Camelot.

After Lin resists Mordred's every attempt to break her spirit, Mordred decides to sell Dafydd. But through a misunderstanding, Lin is sent to the auction block as well. King Arthur's brother Sir Kay witnesses the auction in progress. Appalled to see children for sale, he frees all those who have not been sold, including Lin. Kay notices her family resemblance and takes Lin to Arthur, who wants to avenge his innocent daughter for the abuse she endured. Lin has several reasons for stopping her father. She views slavery as a stigma and wants it to remain secret. She also realizes she cannot let her father fight her battles. She must face Mordred alone as she has always done.

The film is about a pianist who sells his soul to the Devil in order to become the greatest pianist over the world. But, every time a particular piece of music is played by him -Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)- , he transforms into a murderous monster.

The episode introduces the characters of Rocky Blue (Zendaya) and CeCe Jones (Bella Thorne). They appear in a group of people waiting at a subway stop, as Rocky plays her boombox and they attempt to dance for money. They give a rousing performance, which gets everyone in the crowd dancing as well. When they are done, the performance is received with applause, however, after receiving the hat they passed around, Rocky sees that they have only earned a dime. After telling the crowd that they want money for cell phones, and an operation, they pass around the hat again, only to see that their dime is gone.

Next, the girls get ready for school, and CeCe does her daily ritual of yelling out her apartment window for Rocky, who lives on the floor above, to get ready for school. While preparing for school, "Shake it Up Chicago" appears on television, and CeCe dances along to it. CeCe's mother, Georgia (Anita Barone), who is a police officer, and her brother Flynn (Davis Cleveland). When Georgia orders CeCe to fix breakfast for Flynn, Rocky arrives through the window, to rush CeCe to catch the subway for school. In a rush, the duo prepare a "one-minute breakfast" for Flynn, mixing his cereal in a blender and putting it in a bag. As they arrive at school, their friend Deuce (Adam Irigoyen) is introduced, offering them bootleg Lady Gaga concert tickets. He then tells them about an opportunity to audition on their favorite show, "Shake it Up Chicago." After deciding to go to the auditions, their rivals, Gunther and Tinka Hessenheffer (Kenton Duty and Caroline Sunshine), are introduced, and they tell CeCe and Rocky their plans of trying out for the show as well.

Before going to the auditions, Rocky has an impromptu dance-off with her brother, Ty (Roshon Fegan). CeCe encourages him to try out also, but he says that he "doesn't dance for the man." Both do well in their preliminary auditions, and Rocky shines during the solo round. However, CeCe gets stage fright and ends up running off stage. Rocky finds her crying at the subway stop, embarrassed and referring to herself as a loser. When CeCe brings up how Rocky is better and names all of her good qualities, Rocky replies with things good about CeCe. CeCe then accompanies Rocky on "Shake it Up Chicago" to support her. Rocky then tries to get CeCe onstage with her, and when she refuses, Rocky uses Georgia's handcuffs to make her come and they dance onstage together. After the segment is over, the show's host, Gary Wilde (R. Brandon Johnson) decides to let CeCe join the show as well. Trying to unlock the handcuffs, Rocky realizes they are gone. Flynn took the keys in retaliation for their "one-minute breakfast" prepared for him.

Phoebe (Nadia Litz) is a perky university student who has difficulty relating to her fellow students. Her only friend is her roommate Robin (Nikki Barnett) who she smothers with advice. Eventually Robin cracks under the pressure of being Phoebe's only friend and leaves on a plane with a stranger she just met, informing Phoebe that she is too uptight and immature, casually mentioning that she's never even had a boyfriend.

Embarrassed by her own immaturity Phoebe tries to go on a date. After it goes sour she ends up talking to Frazer, her 14-year-old neighbour who mows her lawn. As time passes, Phoebe grows close to Frazer as he enjoys listening to her advice and looks up to and respects her while at the same time teaching her to have fun and relax. However their friendship begins to strain when Robin returns and notices that Phoebe is spending lots of time with Frazer and has crossed getting a boyfriend off her task list. Meanwhile, Suzanna (Elliot Page), Frazer's neighbour, grows jealous of all the time he spends with Phoebe and tells him that Phoebe will want to have sex with him in an effort to scare him. Instead Frazer buys condoms and later attempts to kiss Phoebe. Disturbed, Phoebe brushes him off and pushes him away.

On her way to graduation Frazer approaches Phoebe to talk. She ends up kissing him in front of Robin and her friends but the two realize the age difference between them is too large for anything romantic to happen. Instead, they go to Phoebe's graduation ceremony as friends.

The film is about Marta, a young woman, who travels to her childhood village, only to find that one of her aunts is dead and another is under the influence of Mr. Duval, who later turns out to be a vampire named Count Karol de Lavud.

An ovum is deposited on pre-human Earth by an alien race and in due course it gives birth to a creature that takes the form of a human. Over the centuries, the creature lives amongst humans and mentally influences certain of them to advance the development of civilization. In particular, it works on scientists and eventually it causes the development of space travel. As the first spaceship to attempt to reach the moon is being built, the creature, now known as ''Kane'', causes the creation of a small space in the ship, which he enters, unknown to the builders.

The ship leaves Earth and at the appropriate point, Kane departs from the ship and, now fully developed, travels unaided to its home planet.

The author draws an analogy between Kane and a bee that visits and thereby pollinates flowers at random, with no real knowledge of what it has done.

A man named Jenkins is put on trial after accidentally damaging a computer system that potentially could have a disastrous effect on the totally computerized underground society in which he lives. The trial, which is carried out by computers programmed with prosecution and defence arguments, finds Jenkins guilty of equipment damage, a major crime by the society's laws. He is sentenced to permanent exile, a punishment considered harsher than execution.

Only at the end of the story is it revealed that the society is built beneath the surface of the Moon, with a totally conditioned and computer-controlled environment, and that the place of exile is on the surface of the Earth.

Jonathan Kent is a scientific genius who discovers that a meteor is about to crash into Earth. He then builds a rocket to carry his wife and son into space, but his wife would rather stay by his side, and so their son is sent alone. The ship eventually lands on Krypton and the boy, Clark Kent, is adopted by Jor-El and renamed Kal-El. Kal eventually finds a Green Lantern ring and saves Krypton. He later uses the ring to recover his memories and he returns to Earth, where he meets his love, Lois Lane, and his greatest enemy, Lex Luthor. Due to Kal-El's body having adapted to the stronger gravity of Krypton, he is a physical powerhouse when he returns to Earth (with superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and resistance to injury, much like the classic Superman in his earliest appearances), which he discovers when Luthor steals his ring in an attempt to access its power.

Earth has established a totally balanced and ecologically stable underground society (similar to that portrayed in Asimov's novel ''The Caves of Steel''). But one man, Cranwitz, regarded as a deviant and eccentric because he keeps a few animals as pets, refuses to get rid of these animals, the last non-human inhabitants of the planet.

He is finally persuaded by his sector representatives to exterminate his pets, but also commits suicide. This leaves Earth in 'perfection', with its fifteen trillion inhabitants, twenty billion tons of human brain and the 'exquisite nothingness of uniformity'.

On a routine flight from Los Angeles to Paris, a renegade group of scientists have smuggled aboard a secret container holding a fellow scientist infected with a deadly genetically engineered virus which reanimates the dead. The virus is said to be a variant of the "malaria virus." They discovered and manufactured the virus with the intent of turning it into a biological weapon. Their goal was to produce "super soldiers" who could continue fighting in the harshest conditions, including being mortally wounded or under heavy enemy fire. The virus has to be transmitted through bodily fluids. The infected have superhuman abilities, including sprinting and leaping beyond human capabilities. The zombies also become very durable, as one survived being turned into partial mulch after being chucked into an airplane engine.

The 747 jumbo jet encounters massive thunderstorms, and the violent motions from turbulence releases one of the infected scientists from its cargo hold. At first, the scientist that emerged from her storage appears normal, though she has no idea where she is. Screen flashes of blood and germs indicate her succumbing to the mutated strain. The box she was in was apparently kept at low temperatures to keep her in stasis and to quell the more powerful malaria. She spots a scientist, who lost his leg after heavy boxes landed on him, severing one leg. She pleads with him to ask where she is, only to be shot by the wounded scientist. Two of the scientists go below to ascertain if the container has been damaged by the turbulence, along with a flight crewman. They are subsequently ambushed by the lady (she would be considered Patient Zero) and a now infected scientist. The zombies then manage to break into the passenger hold, starting a zombie outbreak. The uninfected passengers must fight for survival aboard the flight. No government will allow the infected airliner to land, leaving the survivors stranded in the sky with their ravenous tormentors. Billy, his wife Anna, Burrows, Frank, Paul, and Megan, a stewardess aboard the plane, are all that are left of the uninfected. They must make their way to the cockpit and signal a fighter jet behind them that there are still living people aboard the 747 or the fighter will destroy them with a homing missile strike. After managing to get a MP5K machine gun from a dead guard, Burrows, Frank and Billy make their way from the tail of the plane to the cockpit, while the couple stay behind. Billy is bitten but manages to kill some of the undead passengers before the virus takes hold of him. When Anna comes to help Billy, she gets bitten but kills a zombie by thrusting an umbrella into its mouth. The zombies then attempt to overrun them, but Billy opens the emergency exit and most of the infected get sucked out.

Frank and Burrows make it to the cockpit where Frank kills the zombie copilot and pilot, and the two of them try to get the plane off autopilot and signal the fighter which fires at them. They are ultimately successful and waggle the plane's wings, alerting the fighter. The fighter pilot hits the abort key and the missile explodes away from the 747, but close enough to the plane to open a hole in the side. All the zombies are apparently sucked out. Frank and Burrows try to control the plane, but hit a mountain and crash land near Las Vegas, Nevada.

As the survivors walk toward the city, apparently some of the zombies also survived the crash, and they lurch toward the city as well.

"Every Sunday, the lonely bachelor and sophisticated judge Mladen (Stevo Žigon) comes to play chess with his friend, the sculptor Fedja (Relja Bašić), and gradually he falls into an affair with Fedja's wife Neda (Milena Dravić). The chess board is the center of the film, the moves mirroring the emotional developments of the characters."

The first part of the story takes part in the 1980s. Salomé, who was abandoned as a child by her mother, is a cabaret dancer who works at the cabaret ''Salón D'Rubí''. Her best friend, Karicia, also works as a dancer.

At the ''Salón'' she meets Diego Duval and his brother-in-law, Julio Montesino, a married man. Lucrecia, Julio's mother, is obsessed with having a grandson. Julio and Salomé meet in Tampico and begin an affair. Afterwards, Salomé finds out she is pregnant. When Doña Lucrecia finds out, she proposes to Salomé that she stay at the Montesino mansion while awaiting the birth of her baby. Salomé accepts and Doña Lucrecia proposes that Salomé turn over her baby to the Montesino Family to raise as Salomé has no financial means to care for a child.

Salomé accepts and moves into the Montesino mansion, much to the displeasure of Ángela. Ángela is Julio's wife; she has a fatal illness and is unable to bear children. Manola, the maid of the house, cares for Ángela and is also displeased with the situation.

It is later revealed that Manola and Lucrecia are half sisters. Arturo is Julio's father and is very understanding of Julio's situation. Salomé changes her mind and decides to keep the baby after he is born.

She runs away with the child and is aided by Hipólito and Piro. Piro's sister, Martha, is married to Hipólito, and they have two children. She is unhappy with her life and abandons her family. Salomé, whose real name is Fernanda, escapes Mexico City and takes with her Hipólito's kids (with his permission).

Salomé raises all three kids, who she registers as being born the same day in order to conceal her own son. The kids are called José Armando, José Miguel and José Julián. She marries a man who is a widow and wants to give her son's his name and protection and uses his last name, Lavalle. When the boys grow up, they decide to go to college in Mexico City and she is forced to move back.

She had never told the kids that two of them were not hers, that she used to be a dancer, or who their father was. Ángela has since died and left Julio's son the majority of her large fortune, much to the displeasure of Diego. Julio is raising his friend's daughter, Karla, because they died in a plane accident.

Julio is the Dean of the University that the boys attend, and he also a partner in a construction company. Eventually, Salomé and Julio meet and they start their romance once again. Mauricio, Julio's business partner, is also in love with Salomé.

Mauricio Valdivia is mentally disturbed and causes a lot of trouble when he partners with Rebeca Santos, who is in love with Julio. They constantly plan to ruin Julio and Salomé's plan of getting back together. Karicia has become an alcoholic and the ''Salón D'Rubí'' is now owned by Diego Duval, who has turned it into a strip joint.

Fernanda helps Karicia turn her life around, and she goes to live in Fernanda's house. Karicia also adopts a boy known as "El Guerejo", who took care of her when she was an alcoholic. José Julián falls in love with Karla, and José Armando marries Natalia, who has an incurable disease.

José Miguel falls in love with Romina, who used to dance at Salón D'Rubí. José Julián and Karla face many obstacles, mainly Mercedes who, after sleeping with José Julián (he thought she was Karla since she was wearing the costume and mask Karla was supposed to be wearing), makes him believe she is pregnant.

He almost marries her but then learns the truth. Natalia has an incurable disease but nevertheless gets pregnant because she wants to be able to leave a symbol of her and José Armando's love behind. José Miguel has to cope with Romina's lies about what she does for a living.

Julio and Fernanda marry but then Arturo is murdered, and Fernanda is accused of Arturo's murder and goes to trial. She is found innocent after Rebeca confessed she did not really see her murder Arturo. Manola, who had begun a romance with Arturo by then and since Arturo was divorcing Lucrecia, found written in her diary (by Arturo), the identity of the killer - Diego Duval.

Naive Montana cowboy Duke Fergus arrives in San Francisco and visits the notorious Barbary Coast. Fergus becomes smitten with the lovely star attraction of the fanciest gambling hall, "Flaxen" Tarry, the "Flame of the Barbary Coast". Fergus gets talked into gambling against the owner (and Flaxen's lover), card shark Tito Morell. Predictably, Fergus gets cheated and loses all his money.

Fergus sets himself to win Flaxen's affections and decides the best way to do it is to take over. Fergus gets his friend Wolf Wylie to teach him everything about gambling, including how to spot cheating. When Duke's ready, he sells all he owns and returns to the city to challenge Morell's rule of the Barbary Coast. He goes from casino to casino, challenging each one's resident poker champion to a heads-up game, starting with Morell. Duke wins every time.

Fergus then builds an opulent new gambling establishment, catering to the upper class. To make it a success, he needs to persuade Flaxen to come work for him, but she is initially not interested. Only when Morell offends her does she decide to accept Fergus' offer. On opening night of the new establishment, Morell comes to challenge Fergus and win back Flaxen only in the midst of it all, a great earthquake hits, leaving Fergus' and Morell's businesses are destroyed, and Flaxen grievously injured. The town rebuilds and Fergus helps Flaxen in her recovery.

In the aftermath, both Fergus and Morell run for mayor. Fergus catches Morell's men in the act of trying to rig the election. Fergus turns the results over the people to have them decide in favor of returning to Montana to marry Flaxen while Morell keeps his business and influence.

The action takes place on a future Earth that has established a totally controlled and balanced ecology. The Secretary-General of Ecology, Ino Adrastus, controls all the ecology with the aid of massive computers. He is visited by Jan Marley, a science writer, to whom Adrastus claims to be no more than a clerk whose sole task is to sign the directives produced by the computers.

Marley is invited to witness a meeting between Adrastus and Lou Tansonia, a medical researcher from the moon colony, whose proposal involving setting up experimental ecologies has been rejected by the computers.

After Tansonia explains his proposal, Adrastus approves it against the recommendation of the computers. This leads Marley to think that he was there specifically to witness this act. After Tansonia leaves, Adrastus explains to Marley that a common saying attributed to Tansonia is slightly misquoted as being, "Man's Greatest Asset is a balanced ecology." Whereas it should say that "Man's greatest need is a balanced ecology. Man's greatest asset is the unsettled mind." This is because unsettled minds are a necessary prerequisite for "man to be man - which is more important than merely to live." Adrastus is then revealed to have almost certainly engineered this encounter to correct this misattribution.

Magdalena Miłowicz is a young lawyer who seems to be a little lost in her love life, until she meets Peter, a man who also turns out to be a lawyer. After they met, they fall madly in love.

Nonetheless, Peter has chosen to fight for Magda's affection. Once he wins Magda's love, he gets very sick with an illness, requiring him to go to the United States for treatment. However, he chose not tell Magda, unwillingly hurting her in the process.

When he gets well and comes back, he tries to win her back. But for leaving her without a word, she wants him out of her life, saying that she has other men to choose from. But the question is—is Peter Magda's true love, a love that she has denied herself?

The story begins at the college where three young students, Zbyněk, Vašek, and Jano, are roommates. They decide to work for the same company after their studies, but after military service, they each go to a different city.

The novel is written as a first-person narrative of Peter Pustota (whose surname literally means "void") and in the introduction to this book it is claimed that unlike Dmitriy Furmanov's book ''Chapayev'', this book is the truth.

The book is set in two different times after the October Revolution and in modern Russia. In the post-revolutionary period, Peter Pustota is a poet who has fled from Saint Petersburg to Moscow and who takes up the identity of a Soviet political commissar and meets a strange man named Vasily Chapayev (loosely based on the real Vasily Chapayev) who is some sort of an army commander. He spends his days drinking samogon, taking drugs and talking about the meaning of life with Chapayev.

Every night (according to his post-revolutionary life) Pustota has nightmares about him being locked up in a psychiatric hospital because of his beliefs of being a poet from the beginning of the century. He shares the room in the hospital with three other men, each with his very individual form of fake identity.

Until the end of the book it isn't clear which of Peter's identities is the real one and whether there is such a thing as a real identity at all.

Prospector ''Juan Valdez'' is murdered by ''The Cactus Kid'' and his gang in an attempt to discover the location of his gold mine. Valdez's dog ''Rinty'' witnesses the murder and can also lead the gang to the mine, making him the villain's target throughout the serial. In addition Rinty must help Valdez's daughter ''Dolores'' legitimately find and claim the mine while being blamed for being the wolf that has been attacking local livestock.

The mysterious figure of ''Ramon'' is constantly on hand, overhearing pieces of the villain's conversations. He appears to be another bandit but his actions seem to contradict that. It is revealed in the finale of the serial that Ramon is in fact "Marco Roberto", an agent of the Justice Department.

Francisco Cortez escapes prison after serving fifteen years for the murder of Jim Lester's father. Hunted by a posse, the escaped convict takes refuge in Jim Lester's house. When Lester discovers him, Cortez proclaims his innocence. He lists the names of seven men, one of which is the real killer, the murderer calling himself "The Phantom".

Robert Grant, framed for a coup in the Indian country of ''Ranjapur'', escapes from prison to Africa in search of the real villains. Here he meets Sheik Mustapha (Boris Karloff), who has evidence to clear him and the location of a secret diamond mine.

Masked mystery villain The Voice is out to sabotage the Milesburg Oil Co. "Happy" Cardigan needs to successfully drill for oil before his contract with Milesburg expires or he goes broke. Jimmie Williams' father, Jed (Edward Hearn), has been framed for murder. Secretary Caroline Hall appears to have an ulterior motive. The mysterious "Vanishing Legion" is also on the scene. Jimmie and Cardigan team up, along with Jimmie's horse Rex, to defeat The Voice and solve the mysteries surrounding Milesburg.

Red Grange is thrown off the Clay College football team in disgrace when his friend, Buddy Courtland, takes a bribe to throw the big game and Red attacks him. Red then proceeds to investigate and hunt down the head of the gambling ring responsible. Red eventually clears his name and both he and Buddy are reinstated on the team.

The main character is Josef Pláteník, a conscientious and responsible man, and the leader of the Communist party in Brod, a fast-growing industrial region. All of his days are full of problems that must be solved.

The Doctor leaves Nyssa on Earth, not knowing that she's in Rhodes during the Crusades, then ends up in the American Civil War. The Doctor meets General Tillington, an American general that has been spying on the TARDIS with actinoids. The Doctor finds out that The Dalek Invasion of Earth hasn't happened and a new Dalek invasion is coming very soon. The Doctor must try to put history right, but how can he convince General Tillington? The Doctor heads to the TARDIS. With the help of Tillington's nephew Wilton, can he save Nyssa and her friends Mulberry and Floyd from getting blown up? And can he escape the deadly "Toy Daleks"?

The setting of ''e'' is the very beginning of the new millennium inside the London office of Miller Shanks, a prominent (fictitious) international advertising agency. When the novel opens two major projects are under way: the shooting, on location in Mauritius, of a commercial for a porn channel; and preparations for a sales pitch, with Coca-Cola as the company's prospective client.

While the Coca-Cola advertising campaign is supposed to be kept confidential, David Crutton, the chief executive officer, is astonishingly computer illiterate and inadvertently sends carbon copies of every single one of his e-mails to the Helsinki office of Miller Shanks. Simon Horne, the creative director, has stolen the "original" idea on which the Coca-Cola campaign is based from two recent college graduates who are looking for work and does not believe that the past will ever catch up with him. In the end it does, but although the campaign can be patched up in the last minute with the help of the Helsinki office, Coca-Cola finally decide not to award their advertising account to Miller Shanks after one of their female top level managers has watched a secretly filmed video on the Internet showing Horne in his office having sex with a ladyboy, uploaded thanks to the efforts of Liam O'Keefe, who filmed it all taking place, and his friend Brett Topowlski.

The shooting in Mauritius goes terribly wrong already during the flight to the island when the breast implants of one of the four models hired to appear in the video explode. Shortly afterwards, yet another model drops out due to hyperthermia, facts which force the creative team to continually rewrite the script. Bad weather makes filming impossible for a couple of days, but the last straw is an alleged sexual attack by the company's male client ("a fat lech") on television presenter Gloria Hunniford, who happens to be staying at the same hotel together with a BBC crew to film a holiday show. Miller Shanks encounter further complications when loose talk at the hotel bar by Topowlski and Vince Douglas, the two art directors for the commercial, triggers a headline in ''The Sun'' about the "Hunniford Affair".

Subplots revolve around the frantic attempts of Ken Perry, the Office Administrator, at upholding order in the building; the ongoing love affair between O'Keefe and Lorraine Pallister; a not even half-hearted suicide attempt by Susi Judge-Davis, devoted PA to Simon Horne and Simon Horne alone; and Nigel 'Nige' Godley's failed endeavours to be recognized as both a good chum and a loyal workaholic.

Undercover officer Nick had spent the last seven years penetrating into the core of a drug ring, working his way up from a street dealer post to the managerial position handling cargo deliveries for Kwan – the biggest player in the local heroin market. When the ailing Kwan makes Nick his protégé, Nick cannot help but sway before money and power and starts to perform his role like a real drug trafficker. This, together with his affair with heroin-addict Fan, causes Nick to become more and more confused about his true identity, and eventually leads to a disastrous end.

The film begins with a scene in a dark isolated rundown apartment building, showing a heroin addict living poorly with her young daughter. The scene then forwards to the perspective of Officer Nick who is suffering from loneliness just after completing an undercover assignment. He recalls the entire story of what happened and the events to lead to his emptiness.

Towards the end of the film, Nick finally builds a case strong enough to catch Kwan. However, Kwan realizes he has no way out and commits suicide traumatizing Nick because Kwan has put so much trust and faith in Nick, treating him like family. In addition, he finds that Fan who he had been looking after throughout the film, died of an overdose, discovering her body with rats on it. Due to this trauma, Nick completely goes into a breakdown. Swearing vengeance, and knowing that Fan's drug addicted husband was responsible for her death and encouraged her multiple times, Nick tricks Fan's husband into doing a drug run, however it turns out to be a trip to Singapore, and arriving at Changi Airport, Nick sets a trap with Singaporean customs officials to arrest Fan's husband on the spot. Nick then coldly informs Fan's husband that its over and that he will receive the death penalty under Singapore Law. Nick then returns home to Hong Kong, but is deeply affected by the death's of Kwan and Fan. He considers using drugs himself and just before he does, Fan's surviving daughter comes in and throws the drugs away saving Nick and silently reminding him he has something to live for.

On March 1, 2007, the site was updated with a video featuring Violet Kiteway—portrayed live, for the first time—and a news broadcast discussing a horrific murder in Perplex City. The on-scene reporter notes that bystanders were covered with blood. The news anchor who sees pictures of the scene faints at their sight. Violet finishes by asking players for help in solving the murder. This is expected to form the first re-playable 'episode' entitled ''The Missing Piece'', and is due to begin in early June, 2007

On May 1, 2007, it was announced via the Developer's Blog that a "part of the ARG" would be made public within the next few days. ARGN, a news website for ARGs, later reported that this was to be a pre-game which was due to start on May 4, 2007.

Hot Water

On May 4, VioletUnderground.com launched, with Violet asking players to help her locate a leak in her new apartment building. This began the first, non-replayable, 'episode' of Perplex City Stories.

Through the new site's sections and posts following the solution of the puzzle, Violet revealed that, after her theft of The Receda Cube, many people sent her death threats, and she was forced to relocate to a new apartment building. She also introduced a new character, another tenant in her building named Gustaffsen. Gustaffsen is a scientist who was working on a new super-coolant, which was making the drips that Violet had noticed.

Gustaffsen and Cassia, one of the newer puzzle scribes at the Perplex City Academy, had informed Violet that their mail was being delayed, despite the Perplex City postal service guaranteeing delivery within five hours. By contacting an employee of the Perplex City Post, players gained access to a 'testing' area for the Post. After several experiments by players, it was discovered that post being delivered to the Apolyton Institute, a shadowy scientific organisation in the city.

A member of this Institute, who remains anonymous, contacted Violet to tell her that their mail had been vanishing for weeks, after the disappearance of technology for a "neural override". The plans for this technology were sent to the IP address of BBC Radio 1.

After coming into contact with a man named Paul Denchfield, players discovered that V (a.k.a. Cyrus Quinton), an agent of the Third Power organisation and a murderer, was planning to use the neural override to control the minds of the public at Radio 1's Big Weekend festival in Preston on the weekend of May 19 and May 20, 2007. The project was called "Frozen Indigo Angel", as these were the words needed to activate the override.

Several players won tickets to the event under the guise of being Third Power agents. At the festival, the players (with the assistance of Paul and groups of online players) had to find transmitters around the area in order to prevent the neural override. The players were successful, yet V escaped the festival grounds without being caught.

The story takes place during the Muromachi period of Japan, in the midst of the Ōnin War. The main character in the series is Hino Tomiko, a historical figure with a bad reputation because of her actions to rebuild Kyoto after the Ōnin War.

1919: After surviving the Great War, Major Brendan Archer makes his way to Ireland, hoping to discover whether he is indeed betrothed to Angela Spencer, whose Anglo-Irish family owns the once-aptly-named Majestic Hotel in Kilnalough. But his fiancée is strangely altered and her family’s fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline. The hotel’s hundreds of rooms are disintegrating on a grand scale; its few remaining guests thrive on rumours and games of whist; herds of cats have taken over the Imperial Bar and the upper stories; bamboo shoots threaten the foundations; and piglets frolic in the squash court. Meanwhile, the Major is captivated by the beautiful and troubled Sarah Devlin. As housekeeping disasters force him from room to room, outside the order of the British Empire also totters: there is unrest in the East, and in Ireland itself the mounting violence of "the troubles".

The novel concerns the arrival of the English Major Archer, recently discharged from the British Army, at the Majestic Hotel on the Wexford coast in south-east Ireland in 1919. Both the hotel, and the town in which it is situated, Kilnalough, are fictional. Archer is convinced he is engaged, though sure he had never actually proposed, to Angela Spencer, the daughter of Edward Spencer, the owner of the hotel. She has written to him since they met in 1916 while on leave from the trench warfare of the Western Front.

The Spencers are an Anglo-Irish Protestant family, strongly Unionist in their attitudes towards Ireland's ties to the United Kingdom. Archer functions as a confused observer of the dysfunctional Spencer family, representing the Anglo-Irish, and the local Catholic population. As the novel progresses, social and economic relationships break down, mirrored by the gentle decay of the hotel.

Marie (Anita Pallenberg) shoots her ex-boyfriend with his own gun, after he attempts to beat her. Instead of reporting this to the police she hires two men to help her dump the body in a construction site near an autobahn. While doing this she becomes romantically involved with both men.

The Wolfman, a mysterious masked figure, is leading an Indian uprising to drive local settlers off their land. The Wolfman kills Jimmy Carter's father and Alan Scott's brother, which leads the two heroes and Alan's dog Rinty to hunt down and defeat the villain.

Colonel Nathan B. "Skipper" Gregory, a former World War I ace pilot, is the owner of a travelling carnival that has fallen on hard times. Only the money brought in by Craig McCoy, the carnival stunt pilot, keeps the carnival from closing. Jean Gregory, Colonel Gregory's daughter, works with Craig as a wing walker and parachutist.

A mysterious pilot, the legendary "Eagle", thought to have been shot down by accident by his own squadron and killed in the war, attempts to sabotage the Evans Aero Co., a large corporation. He sends threatening messages to the company's five directors by skywriting the date that the "Eagle" was shot down: May 23, 1918. Gregory is thought to be the Eagle because he has a grudge against Evans Aero, which stole his plans for a radio-piloted aircraft. Suspicion also falls on McCoy, who is also skilled in skywriting, and had left the message about the "Eagle" after being paid by an anonymous source.

Craig suspects that the "Eagle" is Mr. Green, a director of the corporation, a pilot who flew in the same squadron as the "Eagle", and the likely culprit who stole the plans to Gregory's invention. When confronted, Green escapes and teams up with two compatriots, Tim Moore and Boyle, but Craig grabs the plans and rushes back to the carnival to show Jean.

Gregory, who is confined to a wheelchair, tries to hide from the authorities. Someone steels Craig's aircraft and tries to burn down the carnival. Hoping to prove her father's innocence, the pair then learn of Gregory's disappearance, captured by the henchmen of the "Eagle". A murder occurs at the corporation and Gregory is again implicated.

Jean still thinks that her father is innocent and with Craig, escapes death on many occasions, fighting with gang members, as they go after the real "Eagle". Craig enlist the aid of the carnival's midget, strongman, and ventriloquist to track down the criminal. Craig unmasks the evildoer (Green) and brings the ordeal to an end.