Former police psychologist Rob helps to save a young woman, Chrissy, when she is about to commit suicide by jumping off a 21st-storey balcony with her 4-year-old son, Jake. When he persuades her to go on a date, they are trapped with Jake and a neighbour called Pat in a lift because a drunken gang crashed into its engine room.
Dresden and Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross, try to track down a bewildered but dangerous ghost in Cook County Hospital, are nearly ensnared by Dresden's faerie godmother the Leanansidhe, then arrested by the Chicago police. Harry is bailed out by his girlfriend Susan Rodriguez, then receives an official invitation to represent the White Council at a Red Court vampire party. He refuses to allow Susan to accompany him.
While trying to rescue a young seer, Lydia, Harry is attacked by two Red Court vampires (Kyle and Kelly Hamilton). Kelly also sexually assaults him. He manages to injure Kelly by pulling down the roof of a warehouse, and is sent into a narcotic slumber. He has a flashback dream in which he recalls events three or four months prior, when Special Investigations, Michael, and he went to capture Leonid Kravos, a sorcerer, cult leader and serial killer. The dream ends up diverging from reality; in the dream, a demon summoned by Kravos kills Michael and eats Dresden alive. When Dresden awakens, he discovers that the Nightmare's dream attack was both real and powerful, draining Harry of much of his magic. Harry realizes that the Nightmare will attack his friends and allies. He tries to warn police lieutenant Karrin Murphy and discovers that she believes he's already in her office. In Harry's guise, the Nightmare puts Murphy in a nightmare-filled coma. Dresden tries to help by putting Murphy into a dreamless sleep that he says will last until dawn. He then goes to Michael's house to warn him, but Michael's nine-months-pregnant wife Charity has gone to a 24-hour convenience store and, while there, met the Nightmare disguised as Harry.
Dresden (followed closely by Michael) tracks down the Nightmare to Graceland Cemetery, but is losing his struggle with it when the Leanansidhe appears again. She aids him in return for his pledge of service, but after he drives the Nightmare away and rescues Charity he tries to use Michael's sacred sword, Amoracchius, to break his pledge to the Leanansidhe, an act of treachery allowing her to seize the sword for herself.
Charity, injured and in labor, is brought to Cook County Hospital. Dresden tries to get medical care for his own wounds and learns that Lea healed his exterior injuries, leading the doctor on duty to scorn the idea that he could need medical care. Stallings, Murphy's partner, sees Dresden and tells him that though it is past dawn, Murphy has not awakened. He also provides Dresden with Kravos's journals, which Stallings stole from the police evidence locker. Dresden then goes to the nursery floor to find Michael and discovers that Michael's son has been born and that the baby is dying. Dresden persuades Michael not to remain at the hospital but to come help him instead. For nearly twelve hours, they gather ingredients for a summoning spell. Just before sunset, Dresden summons the Nightmare and tries to exorcise it. This does not work. Dresden then casts a spell forcing the Nightmare to focus its attention on him, ignoring his friends.
Dresden and Michael go to the Red Court party, suspecting they will find the enemy controlling the Nightmare. Susan, who had tried calling Dresden while he was performing the exorcism, arrives with a forged invitation, unwittingly forsaking the pledge of safe conduct extended to legitimate invitees. The Leanansidhe also attends. Harry swallows a goblet of wine spiked with Red Court vampire saliva (which is both narcotic and addictive, and which he had been exposed to the day before). The Leanansidhe tricks Susan into trading a year's worth of memories of Dresden to her in return for a cure. As Harry and Michael try to safely extricate Susan from the party, they encounter Mavra, who is both a noble from another vampire Court and the sorceress controlling the Nightmare. Mavra plans to defile Michael's sword by murdering Lydia, now her prisoner, with it, in order to take revenge on Michael for killing her children and grandchildren twenty years earlier.
Harry and Michael ally with Thomas Raith, a noble of the rival White Court. They try to rescue Lydia and retake the sword, but the Red Court hostess, Bianca, offers Thomas a trade—if he will betray Dresden, Michael, and Susan, Bianca will leave his lover/food source Justine alone. Thomas agrees and kicks Susan into a crowd of Red Court vampires, who proceed to feed on her. Incoherent with rage, Dresden unleashes an unusually potent incineration spell, slaughtering many of the Red Court. He collapses, and Michael manages to drag both Dresden and Lydia to safety. Thomas and Justine are captured.
Dresden spends the next couple of days unconscious. Michael takes care of him. When he awakens, Thomas arrives at Dresden's apartment, offering Michael Amoracchius in exchange for an alliance to rescue both Susan and Justine. Lydia, now possessed by the Nightmare, attacks Dresden, throwing him across the room. Thomas uses his incubus powers to make himself irresistible to the Nightmare, which is now controlling Lydia's body; this leads to a scene where the Nightmare is trying to rape Thomas by using Lydia's body. Dresden tries to exorcise Lydia, but discovers that the Nightmare is not a demon but actually the ghost of Leonid Kravos, who (Dresden presumes) committed ritual suicide in order to empower his ghost and break down the barriers between the living and the dead.
Dresden, Thomas and Michael head toward Bianca's stronghold through the Nevernever. They meet the Leanansidhe on the way, but Thomas and Michael distract her long enough for Dresden to eat a poisonous mushroom which will kill him if he does not get treatment as soon as possible. Coerced, Lea agrees to free him for now and not to attack him in the mortal world for a year and a day. Lea, however, gets around that by calling on other fairy creatures to attack him while he's in the Nevernever rather than the mortal world. Thomas and Michael fight the fairy creatures and Dresden heads to Bianca's manor.
He reaches the manor... but he is captured by Bianca and perhaps a dozen other vampires, who knew that a possible "door" to the Nevernever existed in this spot. They swiftly strip him of his weapons and his clothes. Bianca then rapes him genitally, transforming into her giant bat form as she does so, while the other vampires use their mouths to violate him (thus reinforcing the addiction the vampire Kelly Hamilton infected him with during the fight over the seer Lydia). He eventually blacks out. When he awakens, he is imprisoned with Justine and Susan. Susan has been half-turned to a Red Court vampire; the transition will be completed if she feeds on Dresden and kills him.
Dresden forestalls her nascent bloodlust by casting a spell restoring her memories. Kravos attacks, and Dresden tricks him into stopping his heart. Because the barriers have been weakened, Harry's powerful ghost appears as Susan resuscitates him with CPR. Harry and his ghost defeat Kravos, recapturing his own stolen power and draining Kravos's strength as well. After Harry's ghost dissipates, Bianca attacks, but before the barriers can re-establish themselves Harry unleashes the spirits of Bianca's many victims against her and escapes with Susan and Justine.
Harry's actions have precipitated a war between the vampire Red Court and the White Council of wizards. Susan rejects Harry's marriage proposal and leaves Chicago, knowing that her half-vampiric condition would eventually compel her to kill him, in any moment of weakness.
''Dangerous Parking'' tells the story of Noah Arkwright, a cult director in the indie film world, whose life is dominated by alcohol, drugs, and casual sex.
Alcoholism and drug addiction have him firmly in their grasp - but Noah has no interest in acknowledging either until Kirstin, a reformed alcoholic, convinces him that he is heading for destruction and sets him on the path to reclaim himself.
With the help of his best friend Ray and his new girlfriend Claire, Noah attempts to get his life back together. And that is when Mother Nature deals him the cruelest blow of all.
Anna, a single school teacher in Baltimore, finds out from the doctor that she has contracted Acquired Toilet Disease from the toilet in her classroom. In an attempt to find a cure, she, and her brother Carl, plan a trip abroad to see Dr. Todesrocheln in Vienna. At the airport, on their way to Paris, Carl makes Anna hold his stuffed rabbit as they walk through security.
Once in Paris, the pair visit the Eiffel Tower and Anna notices a man in a trench coat and beret carrying an identical stuffed rabbit that Carl has. She feels convinced they are being followed. Carl waves the suspicions away and they continue to a French bistro. After their meal Anna sleeps with the Garcon, while Carl wanders the Louvre.
Anna spends the rest of their trip in Paris afflicted with the six stages that affect terminal illness patients. It is after Anna reaches the sixth stage, Hope, that she feels the desire to continue their trip to Vienna to see the doctor.
In Holland, Anna sleeps with The Little Dutch Boy at Age 50, a reference to Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates. When Anna returns from her trip, she spots Carl on the Magere Brug. Carl meets the man in a trench coat and sunglasses. Both hold stuffed rabbits. Upon meeting in the middle of the bridge, the two stroke each other's stuffed rabbits before parting in opposite directions. That night, Carl refuses to explain what happened and says that they must leave for Germany immediately.
On the train, on the way to Germany, Anna and Carl show the audience slides from their trip. However, their descriptions of the German countryside are combined with pictures that do not match. For example, when Carl speaks about Neuschwanstein Castle, the slides show a picture of the castle at Disneyland. The pictures are primarily of Baltimore or the Johns Hopkins Hospital. In Germany, Anna continues to sleep around as tensions rise between her and Carl. Carl feels frustrated that Anna is not spending time with him. Once he and Anna make up, Carl convinces her to go to Vienna to meet up with one of his college friends, Harry Lime, because he might be able to get them medicine.
Upon arriving in Vienna, Carl meets Harry on a ferris wheel. Harry Lime sells blackmarket medicine that he makes in his kitchen—he is a self-proclaimed businessman who sells hope. Harry Lime and Carl fight over Carl's stuffed rabbit.
Meanwhile, at the doctor's office, Anna and Dr. Todesrocheln discuss his work with urine. While they speak, Dr. Todesrocheln fights with himself over drinking Anna's urine sample. He drinks it and Anna recognizes him as the Doctor from the first scene. Anna rushes back to the hotel room to find Carl laying stiff in bed with a white sheet over him. She gets him to stand up and they waltz before the Doctor pulls a white curtain across the stage.
Anna stands in the hospital lounge as the Doctor delivers the news that her brother Carl is dead. It is revealed that they did not travel abroad and Anna did not have ATD.
Amal (Faten Hamama) is the wife of Ahmed (Ahmed Mazhar) who manages a textile factory. One day, she receives a threatening letter directed at Ahmed. The letter reveals that Ahmed committed a murder; he killed a teller to steal the factory's money. Amal remembers that her husband had come to her telling her that he had lost his money, and weeks later had restored his money. One of the factory workers (Salah Mansour) meets Amal and confirms what the letter said, claiming that he witnessed the crime.
Amal seeks her brother's (Ahmed Ramzy) support. He goes to the worker and, after a heated and vehement argument, fights with him and eventually kills him. He immediately runs away. Minutes later, Amal reaches the worker's home to talk to him, and finds him dead. She is blamed for the crime. Amal does not tell anybody from her family. Her health conditions worsens and is hospitalized. Amal's brother confesses his crime. Her husband surrenders himself and confesses that he committed the crime saying that he only did all that to secure a better life for his wife.
Cyan is a young Abyssinian cat who lives with a boy named Kokoro and his parents in Ikebukuro. When Kokoro becomes sick, his parents abandon Cyan, leaving him in the basement of their apartment complex. Soon he discovers a group of stray cats called the "Free Collars", who control East Ikebukuro and believe that collars hold down cats' "Wild Spirit". Cyan is given the opportunity to join, provided that he removes his collar, the symbol that he is still Kokoro's pet. Cyan declines, opting to remain in the basement and await Kokoro's return. However, Cyan comes to realize that he must join the Free Collars if he hopes to survive and reunite with Kokoro. He removes his collar and joins them in their fight against Siam, a rival gang leader who wants control of East Ikebukuro and plans to rule the world and enslave humans.
In his ensuing adventures, Cyan grows close to the Free Collars, yet still longs for Kokoro. He becomes frustrated by Siam's continued advances on East Ikebukuro and his teammates' unwillingness to mount an offensive attack. Convinced that Siam must be destroyed, Cyan confronts her and learns she was once a Free Collar until her brother, Puriam, was chased onto a road by humans and killed by a bus. Cyan is able to defeat her, and, reminded of Puriam, Siam silently wishes him farewell. Soon after, Cyan learns that Kokoro had recovered but is moving away. Saddened by the thought of leaving the Free Collars, he meets Kokoro at the train station and gives him his torn collar as a memento. Kokoro promises to visit Cyan, and Cyan returns to his new friends.
The Free Collars are a group a stray cats who have removed their collars and refuse to have any relationship with humans. Cyan is a young Abyssinian who joins the Free Collars after being abandoned. He tends to be childlike, which sometimes irritates other members of the group. Scottie is a Scottish Fold who spends much of her time with the Free Collars but is not a member. She was discovered by Amesho, an old American Shorthair and leader of the Free Collars, in a bookstore. Char is a Chartreux and was once part of the "Cat House Kingdom", a household of high-class cats, but left, feeling she was being used by humans. Rat is a Korat and the most talented with gadgets and technology within the group. Coon is an easily angered Maine Coon who specializes in swimming. Minky is a Tonkinese who befriends Cyan and Scottie and is named after her mink-like fur.
On the opposing side is Siam, a Siamese cat who controls all of West Ikebukuro and is the leader of the Siam Army. Siam's principal henchman and general of the Siam Army is Kline, who has a distinct hatred for humans and sees them only as her potential slaves. Acting as Siam's bodyguards are A-Ko and I-Ko, two Manx cats. Having been previously discriminated against for their lack of tails, A-Ko and I-Ko pretended to have tails, fearing rejection from Siam.
Charles Modine is a fashion designer who has been hired by a company called Space Structures, Ltd. to design wings for use in space habitats. The habitats have only recently been built, and Space Structures is having trouble attracting immigrants; they hope that the prospect of flight will attract more permanent residents. Also, if the residents take up flying on a regular basis, the regular exercise they receive will eliminate the need to keep the habitat spinning rapidly, with its attendant unpleasant Coriolis effect. Modine travels up to Space Settlement Five, where he learns that the habitat's engineers have already designed a set of wings. Unfortunately, they are difficult to master; it will be Modine's job to redesign the wings in some way that will make it easier (or at least more attractive) to fly. Modine decides to design a set of wings for himself. After a week's work, he gives a demonstration for the habitat's administrators, and it is a success. Modine realized that in the low-gravity region near the habitat's axis, the movement of fish through water would be a better model than the movement of birds through the air, so he designed flying gear with fins and flippers. "Wings," he points out, "are for the birds."
The plot tells the story of the interaction between two very different families in rural England just after the end of the First World War. Squire Hillcrist lives in the manor house where his family has lived for generations. He has a daughter, Jill, who is in her late teens and a wife Amy, as well as servants and retainers. He is "old money", although his finances are at a low ebb. The other family is the nouveau riche Hornblowers, headed by the single-minded and rich industrialist Hornblower who throws old retainers the Jackmans out of their home (much to the Squire's disgust), and who plans to surround the Hillcrist’s rural estate with factories.
Hillcrist wants to preserve the last piece of open land (known as the "Centry") which adjoins their property but he is (as he sees it) tricked out of the land in an auction. The Hillcrists plan to get even with the upstart Hornblower and fortuitously learn a dark secret about Mr. Hornblower's daughter-in-law Chloe who had once supported herself as the "other party" in divorce cases. When he is told the news, Mr. Hornblower agrees to sell the property to the Hillcrists for less than half the auction price on the condition that the family swears to keep the secret, but the news leaks out via the unprincipled Dawker, Hillcrist's agent and Hornblower’s enemy.
Chloe Hornblower goes to the Hillcrists, begging them to help keep the secret from her husband, who is aware that something is going on, then hides behind a curtain when her husband storms into the Hillcrist home demanding to know the secret. Keeping his promise to Chloe, Mr. Hillcrist makes up a story, but the young Hornblower is not convinced and declares that he intends to end his marriage, even though Chloe is pregnant. Upon hearing this, Chloe runs to the lily pond outside the Hillcrist home and tries to drown herself. She is brought into the house and it is clear that she will live.
As the film opens, a motorcycle gang called the Hellcats is burying their deceased leader, Big Daddy, while being watched from a distance by two groups. One group consists of Detective Dave Chapman and his partner, who have been monitoring the Hellcats and their criminal activity. The other group is mobster Mr. Adrian and his henchmen. Adrian uses the Hellcats to move narcotics from Mexico into California, and, unknown to the gang, had Big Daddy killed after learning he was an informant for Chapman. Adrian and his goons decide to kill Chapman to end his investigation, and a sniper murders him on a romantic day out with his fiancee, Linda.
Following this, Dave's brother Monte, a sergeant in the United States Army, returns from active duty only to learn of his brother's death. Linda and Monte learn of the Hellcats from Dave's notes and decide to get revenge. Posing as a biker couple, they meet the Hellcats at their usual hangout, a dive bar called "Moonfire Inn." Monte has difficulty getting respect from the gang's new leader, Snake, but adopts a gruff, defensive attitude that seems to impress Sheila, the driving force of the Hellcats and their contact with Adrian. Monte and Linda watch a drunken gang party from the sidelines, looking for chances to gather information. One of Adrian's henchmen comes in with orders for Sheila from Adrian. When he turns aggressive after being rejected by Sheila, Monte comes to her rescue and manages to get a look at the note with Sheila's orders, learning that the drugs originate in Mexico.
The gang takes the party to the country, where they continue to drink, dance, and take drugs. A rival gang arrives and their leader challenges Snake to a bike race which devolves into a brawl. After Monte stops the brawl, the Hellcats question his toughness. To stay in their good graces, he accepts a test of endurance with Snake: Each man is tied by his feet to an all terrain vehicle while he holds onto a bar tied to another ATV. Both riders engage their engines and the man must last at least fifteen seconds being pulled between the two. Snake loses, and Monte gains the respect of the gang and has sex with Sheila. While this is going on, Linda retreats to the main party area and is offered heroin by Six-Pack. With hard evidence of the Hellcats' drug running, Linda accepts an invitation from Sheila to join her on her ride to pick up more drugs from their supplier, a man named Scorpio.
Sheila, Linda, and Betty meet Scorpio at night and hide the drugs behind the headlights of their motorcycles. On the way back to Moonfire Inn, they are pursued by a cop car. After splitting up, Betty is followed and drives into a ditch, dying on impact. Sheila reports the news to Adrian, who demands the Hellcats retrieve the drugs hidden in Betty's bike, which has now been impounded by the police. Sheila orders Moongoose to retrieve it, but he's caught by the police and arrested. Sheila drives to Adrian's headquarters, followed by Linda, who in turn is followed by Monte.
Hearing that the police have captured a gang member and found the heroin, Adrian flies into a rage and prepares to flee to Tahiti. When Sheila and Linda arrive, Adrian, further infuriated to learn that Sheila had allowed herself to be followed, has Sheila tied up in the shop room and beaten while he attempts to seduce Linda. Monte arrives and is captured by Adrian's henchmen. They beat him and tie him up in the shop room next to Sheila. Linda pretends to be interested in Adrian's advances while Sheila finds a Dremel tool, which she uses to cut Monte's bonds. He unties her and goes to rescue Linda, only to be apprehended again.
Sheila runs to a payphone, where she calls the other Hellcats for help. Adrian and his henchmen take Linda and Monte to the docks, where they are thrown into a garbage barge to die. Adrian's escape is delayed due to issues with his boat and the Hellcats arrive before he has a chance to leave. The gang assaults Adrian and his underlings and free Monte and Linda as sirens blare.
Later, Monte and Linda prepare to leave town separately. The Hellcats have been arrested for their role in the drug ring, but Monte hopes that Mongoose's confession will spare the gang too harsh a sentence. Linda drives off in her car as Monte rides his motorcycle into the distance.
The play is set in a vaguely described science fiction future dominated by "The Game," a conflation of rock music and violence played by "Markers" under the direction of "The Keepers." Hoss has struggled to become the top Marker, only to find himself doubting his own abilities in the face of opposition from "Gypsies" who operate outside of the official rules.
Act 1: Eager to make an outing, Hoss is frustrated when the Star-Man advises him against it on the basis of his astrology. Hoss learns that his rival, Mojo Root Force, has encroached upon his territory in Las Vegas in a move of questionable legality. After getting word that a Gypsy from Vegas is on his way to attack him, Hoss calls an old friend, Little Willard, for backup, only to find that Willard has committed suicide due to his inability to cope with his status. These successive revelations exacerbate Hoss's self-doubt and his belief that the old way is dying, and he attempts to perk up his confidence by challenging the Gypsy to a shiv fight.
Act II: Before the duel (which has been changed from a shiv fight to battle of words under the guidance of an official referee) Hoss and Crow attempt to psych each other out. While Crow learns to imitate Hoss's walk and style, Hoss intimidates Crow by taking on the voice of an old Western gunslinger. Despite an ostensibly effective second round in which he takes on the voice of a Delta bluesman, Hoss loses the battle when Crow exposes Hoss's "Fear that he's crackin' busted in two." After killing the Ref, a desperate Hoss begs Crow to teach him the new style. Ultimately, however, he decides to commit his last authentic act by killing himself, for which Crow commends him. The play ends with Crow assuming his place on Hoss' throne, with Becky quickly shifting her loyalty.
Two brothers, Michael Tutman (Rick Burks) and George Tutman (Carl Crew) are brainwashed by their serial killer uncle Anwar Namtut (Drew Godderis) into completing his task of resurrecting the ancient Lumerian goddess Sheetar (Tanya Papanicolas). Their mission is given to them once they resurrect him from his grave. Anwar Namtut is from then on a brain in a mason jar that commands the brothers. In order to complete their mission, the brothers must collect different body parts from many immoral women, stitch them together, and then call forth the goddess at a "blood buffet" with a virgin to sacrifice ready for her to eat. The brothers choose women for their "blood buffet" from those that enter into their wildly popular vegetarian restaurant. Meanwhile, two mismatched detectives (LaNette LaFrance and Roger Dauer) work together to try to track them down before more carnage can ensue.
Fuad Ramses III (J.P. Delahoussaye) returns to Miami to reopen his grandfather's defunct catering company. This arouses the interest of the local sheriff (Mark McLachlan), who holds Fuad's family reputation in ill favor. Fuad is soon, however, asked to cater the sheriff's wedding by his mother-in-law, Mrs. Lampley (Melissa Morgan), and fiancee, Tiffani (Toni Wynne). After finding his grandfather's statue of Ishtar, an Egyptian Babylonian goddess, in a utility closet, he becomes possessed by her evil spirit. He then goes on to create the 'blood feast' his grandfather failed to do, by killing young women in the area and making them into party food for the wedding.
The short follows Sachi (Hideko Yoshida/Cheryl Chase), a girl locked in a game of hide-and-seek with her cat Cicerone. Her search leads her to an old longcase clock which doubles as a doorway to a labyrinth world. The world is filled with supernatural oddities and characters, such as cardboard working class citizens, an invisible dog, a skeleton-led train and a weird circus. Eventually, Sachi and Cicerone arrive at a circus tent where a viewing screen is displayed, leading to the following segments.
Zack Hugh (Banjō Ginga/Jeff Winkless) is the titular "Running Man," the undefeated champion of the "Death Circus" racing circuit and has raced for 10 years. Competitors race in high-speed Formula One-like craft, and spectators bet on the lives of these people for huge winnings. A Marlowe-esque reporter (Masane Tsukayama/Michael McConnohie) is sent to interview the mysterious Zack outside of the track and watches one of his races. He soon discovers Hugh has telekinetic abilities which he uses to destroy the other racers, after quietly observing him in the dark, chronically over-using a training interface inside his penthouse. As the race ends in his favor, the monitors in the pit display "LIFE FUNCTIONS TERMINATED." Mysteriously, though seemingly dead, Hugh continues around the track and is overtaken by a spectral racer. He attempts to employ the same strategy, straining to destroy the opponent, but in truth it is against his own mind. The force of the telekinesis is directed inward which rapidly tears both Hugh and his car apart. The Death Circus is permanently shut down afterwards; the reporter believing the event's true draw was the spectators' need to see how long Hugh could beat death.
A revolution in the fictional South American country of the Aloana Republic has resulted in a new government being installed; this new government refuses to accept a contract detailing the construction of Facility 444. The company responsible for the construction has begun to lose millions, so salaryman Tsutomu Sugioka (Yū Mizushima/Robert Axelrod) is sent to stop production. The work is completely automated, carried out by robots programmed to finish the job no matter the consequences and led by a robot identified as 444-1 (Hiroshi Ōtake/Jeff Winkless). Witnessing the destruction of several robots and Robot 444-1's refusal to cease operations, Tsutomu begins to lose his patience and is nearly killed by 444-1 who was programmed to eliminate anything that poses a threat to the project. He retaliates by destroying 444-1 and follows its powercord that leads to the energy source of the robots in an attempt to finally end the production. Unknown to Tsutomu, the old government has been restored and they have agreed to honor the contract once more.
The series tells the story of Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes), a police officer in service with the London Metropolitan Police, who is shot in 2008 by a man called Arthur Layton and inexplicably regains consciousness in 1981.
The first episode of the series reveals that, in the present day, Drake has been studying records of the events seen in the series ''Life on Mars'' through reports made by Sam Tyler (John Simm) after he regained consciousness in the present. Upon waking in the past she is surprised to meet the returning characters of Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) and Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster), all of whom she has learnt about from her research, the trio having transferred from the Manchester setting of ''Life on Mars'' (Manchester and Salford Police) to London.
Tension between Drake and Hunt is built through the unsatisfactory explanation of Sam Tyler's absence and the perceived underhandedness and shoddy work of Hunt in contrast to the methodical, ethical and modern Drake. Continuing the theme of ''Life on Mars'', throughout the series, it is ambiguous to both Drake and the audience whether the character is dead or alive in the present day and to what extent her actions influence future events.
The final episode reveals that the ''Life on Mars''/''Ashes to Ashes'' world is a form of limbo or purgatory, for "restless dead" police officers. These restless dead include Drake, Sam Tyler and the main characters Gene, Ray, Chris, and Shaz (Montserrat Lombard), all of whom died in violent circumstances.
The revelation of their deaths comes as a surprise to all except Gene, who knew they were all dead but who had forgotten the circumstances of his own death, due to the passage of time. All except Hunt "move on" as he is a psychopomp, an Archangel Michael-like figure, to all of his officers, helping them on their way to The Railway Arms pub (standing for heaven).
During the final series, the character of DCI Jim Keats was introduced, originally appearing to be assessing the capabilities of Gene's division. However, in reality, Keats was the devil who was attempting to bring down Gene and his world, dragging Hunt's colleagues down to 'his department' (hell). When he is finally defeated, Keats slinks into the night, laughing insanely and singing to Gene "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when."
Finally Gene returns to his office, where a newly dead officer arrives, demanding his iPhone (implying that he is from the present) and asking where his office has gone, in a very similar manner to the arrival of Sam Tyler in the first episode of ''Life on Mars''. In fact, Gene's last words — "A word in your shell-like, pal" — are the same as his first words to Sam Tyler in the first episode of ''Life on Mars''.
The peace of Skokie, a comfortable suburban village located just north of Chicago, is threatened when Frank Collin (George Dzundza), a politically astute neo-Nazi organizer, selects the place as the site of his next rally. Close to 40 percent of the village’s population is Jewish, and many of them are survivors of the Holocaust. They see the march as a warning and reminder of their days as concentration camp prisoners.
The Jewish community decides to stand against the rally at all costs to make sure that the Holocaust will never be forgotten or allowed to happen again.
Moderate leaders Bert Silverman (Eli Wallach) and Abbot Rosen (Carl Reiner) advise the Jewish community to ignore the neo-Nazis; the strategy they put forward is "quarantine", isolating the meeting by totally ignoring the neo-Nazi presence and refusing to be provoked. They see their logic as simple: if the Jewish community refuses to acknowledge the rally and thus refuses to feed the media any publicity, the meeting will be futile and eventually forgotten.
However, one citizen challenges their argument. A Holocaust survivor, Max Feldman (Danny Kaye), says that he was told to ignore the Nazis nearly 40 years ago in Germany, and before he knew it he was in a concentration camp. He says this time he will take action, and he is ready to shed blood if necessary. Led by this de facto spokesman, most members of the community agree to protest.
Wheelchair-using Sir Hugo Coal narrates this tale of vice and murder at stately Crook Manor. Unable to communicate with those around him, the quirky Sir Hugo watches and listens, recounting recent events that began with his daughter's engagement, followed by the disappearance of her fiancé and the subsequent investigation. Of particular note is new butler Fledge, whom Sir Hugo believes is not only the cause of the troubles at the estate, but seeking to replace him as lord of the manor and in Lady Harriet's bed.
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Unlikely travel partners Esther (Alice Eve) and Gemma (Rachel Leskovac) are thrown together when their mutual friend, Carol (Koel Purie), has an accident on the eve of their trip. Adventurous loner Esther hopes to part company once in India, but needy Gemma is terrified of travelling alone. Gemma's money bag gets stolen and Carol returns it to her while on the train. She causes great friction between Gemma and Esther, and provokes several fights. Her husband Zac (Jason Flemyng) takes an instant liking to Gemma, and invites her for a cruise on his boat with him and his wife. Gemma requests that Esther be invited and reluctantly the couple agree. They spend the day on the boat sunbathing and relaxing. But Gemma is taken aback when Carol and Zac get naked and start having sex in the water.
Esther begs to be taken back to the dock with Gemma, but is mocked and told it was her choice to come, that she is outnumbered as the other three want to stay and she will have to wait till they're all ready to leave. They end up on a deserted island where Carol and Zac have rented a house and are taken deep into the forest to find it. Esther, becoming increasingly uncomfortable, pulls Gemma aside and begs her to leave together as she doesn't trust them, to which Gemma tells her off for trusting no one. They find themselves at an exotic Indian house decorated with strange masks. The girls are shown to the rooms where they will be sleeping, and while Esther is alone, she discovers a photo which Gemma gave her earlier, seeing Zak in the photo staring at Gemma and realizes they have been following Gemma; that this entire thing has been a set-up. She rushes to Gemma's bedroom only to have Carol open the door and tell her to go downstairs and wait for her and Gemma, hearing a muffled noise of agreement from Gemma in the background. Esther walks downstairs to find Zac in the kitchen, stabbing a chopping board repeatedly while talking to her, making her extremely nervous.
Finally Gemma comes downstairs, all dressed up in Indian finery. The four sit outside for dinner and drink wine (which Zac mentions has been drugged), making Esther very dizzy (as the viewer can tell from the blurry camera screen). Zac approaches Gemma, saying he has something very important to tell her, and she willingly accompanies him down some stairs to a beautifully Indian-decorated room. Esther eventually joins them, stumbling along. She listens while Zac tells Gemma about how he and Carol love her and want her to join their "family". Gemma happily accepts and hugs Carol when Zac tells her to. Esther becomes very agitated and pulls out the photo, showing it to Gemma while telling her how Zac and Carol targeted her, stalked her and stole her money bag so they could return it and become her friend. Zac invents lies to explain away these "coincidences", and Gemma turns on Esther, calling her jealous and otherwise insulting her. Esther slaps her and Gemma falls to the floor, hitting her head on a table. She appears to be unconscious. Carol rushes to her side while Esther runs for the door. Zac chases her but loses her in the thick brush. Esther collapses on the beach and later wakes up to police surrounding her. She is taken to prison after the police determine she killed Carol, whose body was found with multiple stab wounds. The first part ends with Esther whimpering in jail.
The interrogator comes in and begins trying to make Esther confess. He throws down the photos of Carol while telling her how she was stabbed 6 times with a large serrated object. He is adamant she killed her. The scene switches to Gemma talking to Esther, telling her how she can't help her and that Esther is on her own. Then it's back to Esther waking up in her jail bed, making the viewer unsure if the previous scene was real. Her new lawyer enters, and as they start speaking, the scene cuts to Esther being allowed to make a phone call. She calls hers and Gemma's mutual friend, Carol, who explains that she is physically unable to come to India because her leg is fractured and in a plaster cast, and Esther tells her that she's in prison, but the phone goes dead at that moment. Esther tries to dial the number again but the officer grabs it out of her hand and she is dragged from the room. The next scene is of Gemma in a room with Zac, who is instructing her to do something but he won't specify what. He hands her a pair of scissors and leaves for work.
The scene cuts back to Esther being yelled at by the prison interrogator, who is interrupted by her lawyer. She has been granted bail and leaves the prison after being handed a card which has on it the name of the person who posted her bond. She is met by Steve who was sent by Carol. He takes her to a hotel and they discuss ways of finding Gemma. The next day they go to the house of the person who posted Esther's bail, who turns out to be Coral's mother. She tells Esther that Coral was taken by a man who sent obscene pictures, and demanded money every week. Coral's mother paid the money faithfully until he asked for too much. One week later Coral turned up dead. Steve and Esther run into the city to look for signs of Gemma and eventually find online the photo Gemma originally gave Esther. Esther rings her lawyer and tries to send the photo to him but his server is down and won't receive it. Instead she returns to the hotel and faxes the photo to her lawyer.
The camera cuts back to Gemma, who has been told by Zac that she knows what needs to be done, and that he loves her, and again hands her the scissors. He kisses her goodbye and tells her he will allow her to go shopping if she does what he wants her to do. She promises to do it, and he leaves for work. Esther falls apart in Steve's arms and they end up kissing and sleeping together. The next morning Steve receives a text from the lawyer and leaves while Esther is in the bathroom. When she catches up with Steve, he tells her that their night together was a mistake, because he loves Gemma. She goes off at Steve about what Gemma is really like and he walks away. Later they meet back up and together go to the address of the house where she and Gemma were taken. Intermittently, flashes of Gemma crying and cutting off her hair are shown. Esther jumps out of the taxi and chases who she thinks is Gemma but once she sees the dark, short hair, she thinks she has failed. The person turns around and it is Gemma. She is terrified and refuses to go to the police, and runs away into the crowd while Steve and Esther are fighting.
They find her back at Zac's house, and he returns while Gemma slowly packs to leave. There is a struggle and Steve kills Zac by pushing him off a ledge. Gemma and Steve invent a story about how it was self-defense and then go to the police. Gemma signs the statement she's made against Zac. Esther is released and they all meet Gemma's parents at a hotel. Esther's jailer meets her at the hotel and harasses her into telling him what really happened with Zac. The viewers find out Gemma rang Zac from a phone booth after running away from Esther and Steve, and that she's been lying the whole time about it. She refuses to tell Steve until they get back home. Gemma admits to Esther she killed Coral, after Esther guesses the truth. Gemma says it's all Esther's fault and Esther responds by calling Gemma evil after being manipulated by her. Esther knows the police won't believe her if she tells them it was Gemma all along, especially since Gemma swears she will act dumb and dizzy if they arrest her, so Esther takes her bags and leaves.
In the present day, German industrialist Hans Wieck returns to Budapest with his family on the occasion of his 80th birthday having been stationed there during World War II. During dinner at his favorite restaurant, Szabó's, Hans regales his family and friends with stories of his many visits to the restaurant before and during the war. As he relishes his favorite dish, "Beef Rolls" he suddenly collapses with the song "Gloomy Sunday" being played, at his request, by two musicians. As he dies he sees a portrait of a beautiful woman taken many years before. The film then flashes back to Budapest during the late 1930s.
Restaurant owner László Szabó (a Jew by birth) and his beautiful lover and waitress, Ilona (the woman in the photograph) hire a young pianist, András, to play in their restaurant. András falls in love with Ilona and she with him, though she continues to sleep with László. András is inspired to write the song "Gloomy Sunday" for Ilona's birthday, the same night that a young Hans (who also shares the same birthday) takes the picture of her and asks her to marry him, though she refuses him. Later that night Hans tries to commit suicide by jumping into the Danube, but László saves him and Hans returns to Germany. The resulting song "Gloomy Sunday" is recorded and though very popular at first soon becomes feared by the public for its melancholy melody which seems to trigger a series of suicides. András comes to regret writing the song and nearly attempts to kill himself but is stopped by Ilona and László before he can take a small vial of poison. András, László, and Ilona form a tenuous relationship. It has its problems, as articulated by László to Ilona during an argument he is having with András in front of her: "Easy for you, you've got all you need. You have two men, and we each have only half a woman."
During Operation Panzerfaust, the Nazis invade Hungary and Hans returns as an SS officer responsible for organizing the deportation of Budapest's Jews to the death camps. Secretly, he saves the wealthiest Jews and smuggles them out of Occupied Europe in exchange for substantial bribes, including both goods and money. One night at the restaurant Hans brings a fellow SS officer to Szabó's and insists that András play his fateful composition. András refuses but is compelled to do so when Ilona begins to sing the words of the song, something she has told him she would never do unless they were alone. When the song is over András kills himself by grabbing Hans's pistol and shooting himself in the head.
After they bury András, László and Ilona pledge their love to each other and László puts the restaurant in her name to keep it from being confiscated by the Nazis. At Ilona's request, Hans promises to protect László from being rounded up for "special treatment". However, shortly before the Battle of Budapest, László is rounded up and sent to the railway station to be sent to the death camps. Ilona hurries to Hans' headquarters to ask him to intervene, which he promises to do, making it clear that she must first sleep with him. A tearful Ilona submits, but Hans later reneges on the bargain, passing László by at the station and saving another Jew whose family had already paid him off. The flashback ends with the revelation of Ilona's pregnancy as she "speaks" to András at his grave, leaving the audience unsure as to who is the child's father.
In the present, media reporters are paying tribute to the deceased Hans, as he is being put into the casket and driven away in a hearse. Ironically, Hans Wieck is now remembered not only as a wealthy industrialist but also as a Righteous Among the Nations who saved "a thousand Hungarian Jews" during the war. In the closing scene of the film, the middle-aged waiter at Szabó's pours two glasses of champagne and returns to the kitchen, where his elderly mother (Ilona) is washing out András' now empty bottle of poison. Her son congratulates her on her birthday and the two embrace as the song "Gloomy Sunday" plays in the background.
The film is about Native Americans who have left their reservations in the Southwest. It follows them in Bunker Hill, a gritty neighborhood in Los Angeles. The cast of American Indian actors are notable for their lack of self-consciousness as they drink and socialize during a night out on the town ending in a 49 party of drumming and dancing on "Hill X" overlooking downtown LA.
Hanna is living on a farm with her grandparents and mentally handicapped uncle when she gets her first period. The onset of puberty (and her grandmother's relatively non-supportive explanation of it) trigger her decision to return to her parents in Montreal.
Returning to the city, Hanna resumes her relationships with her depressive mother, her erratic father and her brother, who is understandably usually absent from home. Hanna's mother, a fashion designer, has put aside all of her artistic dreams in favour of devoting all her time to supporting Hanna's father, an unpublished writer she believes to be a genius. Hanna's father, distant and erratic, gets a job working for a newspaper, but soon quits, and spends all day playing chess in a café while his wife thinks he is at work.
Hanna is fascinated with Anna Karina's character in the Jean-Luc Godard film "Vivre sa vie" and spends much of her time watching the film and practicing mimicking her cool detachment. She also begins to be aware of her sexuality, developing a crush on a female teacher, and kissing another girl, Laura, at a school dance.
Hanna's mother attempts suicide, and while she is recovering, Hanna is sent to get a loaf of bread by her father. The baker gropes her; then gives her money.
Hanna attempts to set Laura up with Paul; however, it is clear that the inclusion of the boy is a pretense meant to somehow undercut the implications of her attraction to Laura. This culminates in a game of Spin the bottle between the three.
Hanna decides to experiment with being a prostitute, like her idol Anna Karina, but at the last moment changes her mind. However, her john refuses to let her back out, and forces himself on her.
As the school year ends, Hannah's mother returns to her family, and Hannah finds a new way to express herself and cope with the world using a film camera lent to her by her teacher.
The game begins with a cinematic where a sarcastic, ghostly theme park owner by the name of Dr. Dearth (Randy Polk) explains all the info about the game, and mysteriously vanishes. You are then directed to the game.
Marcel (Gilles Maheu) is released from prison, hoping to reconcile with his dying father, Albert (Lebel). Marcel is also harassed by a corrupt gay cop. Marcel returns to his father who reveals that he has money and drugs stashed away for him. Marcel and his gay former cellmate both corner the corrupt cop and get their revenge on him. Julie (Adams) is Marcel's former girlfriend who works in a sex club peep show.
In the early 1740s, Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, is seeking a bride for her nephew and heir, Peter. She picks the beautiful Princess Sophie, a teenager from a tiny German-speaking state. It's a huge change of fortune for the naive young girl. After arriving in Russia, she is received into the Russian Orthodox Church under the new name Catherine. Though she feels like an outsider at first, she eventually becomes devoted to her new homeland, its culture and its people.
But her personal life is in turmoil. Peter is mentally unbalanced and sometimes vicious. Shortly after the couple's wedding, he makes clear that the marriage will never be consummated. Meanwhile, Empress Elizabeth, whose anger is legendary, expects Catherine to produce an heir or perhaps suffer the consequences. One of the troubled Catherine's few confidants is an aging, worldly-wise British diplomat, Sir Charles Williams. On his advice, she gives up her virginity to a soldier who is devoted to her, and bears a child, Paul, who is officially Peter's son and heir.
As the life of the old empress draws to an end, Peter increasingly threatens to take "revenge" on Catherine, and on Russia itself, once he occupies the throne. Catherine and her supporters at court realize that action is needed to protect her, and some warn that ultimately, the struggle may come down to her life or Peter's.
Annie sends video diaries to her 19-year-old son who is stationed in Iraq under British Forces. It isn't long before the video becomes more than just a diary. Set against the backdrop of the current Iraqi conflict, the film explores its impact on an ordinary family in the north of England.
Diamond Jim Brady (Edward Arnold) is born to an Irish saloonkeeper and his wife in 1856, but is soon orphaned. At the age of thirty, working as baggage master at the Spuyten Duyvil train station, he rents a suit and a diamond from a pawn shop, and gets a job as a salesman; soon, he is the top salesman on the staff.
While on a cross-continental sales trip, Brady rescues Mr. Fox (Eric Blore) from a crooked salesman, but in the process they are forced to jump from the train. Brady soon discovers that Mr. Fox is trying to sell something called an "undertruck" to be used at railroad stations, so he takes on the product himself. With success, Brady wants to marry his sweetheart, Emma Perry (Jean Arthur), but finds out that she is engaged. Heartbroken, he devotes all of his energy to the Brady-Fox Company.
A grand success, Brady has ostentatious diamond jewelry designed for him, leading to his nickname, "Diamond Jim Brady". Brady spares no expense to indulge his every whim, lavishing money on wine, women, song and especially food. Brady sees singer Lillian Russell (Binnie Barnes) perform, introduces himself, and soon he is promoting her career and flirting with her. Russell, however, is in love with businessman Jerry Richardson (Cesar Romero). Brady soon meets Jane Matthews (Jean Arthur again), a lookalike for Emma, and is instantly smitten with her. They become engaged, but on the eve of their wedding, Brady gets drunk because of his suspicions about Jane's relationship with a banker named "Briggs" who is supposedly her "uncle", and the wedding is called off. Jane remains his friend, but refuses to give in to his occasional proposals – for one thing, she has fallen in love with Jerry, but neither want to tell Brady for fear of hurting his feelings.
When the stock market crashes, Brady loses his fortune, and starts again from scratch, promoting a steel railroad car for its supposed safety. He is injured during a public demonstration of the car, and spends a year recovering in the hospital, while at the same time rebuilding his fortune. When he gets out, he plans a trip to Europe for himself, Jane, Lillian and Jerry, during which he believes he will finally get Jane to marry him. Instead, Jane and Jerry confess their love, the news of which shatters Jim. On the rebound, he proposes to Lillian, but she rejects him as well. Despondent, he returns home and prepares to eat himself to death, but not before burning up all the I.O.U.'s in his possession.
''Boxy an Star'' tells the story of the relationship between two young lovers, 'Bole' (Thomas Boler) and 'Star' (Stacey Brain), Bole being the narrator of the story. The 'Boxy' in the title is the couple's friend and drug dealer.
After a party at Boxy's flat, at which Bole and Star consume a large number of Boxy's spangles and Es and confuse a duvet with a bag of drugs, they go to visit Star's friend Prim and have afternoon tea. Invited to stay the night, the pair later awake and, forgetting where they are, become frightened and decide to escape, encountering Prim's boyfriend Gary on the way who they think is a 'Mephisto Conjurer' due to his 'smoking stick'.
The film is centered on three teenagers in South Wales and follows their lives inside and outside their homes, and touches on drugs, sex, and dysfunction through the teenagers' point of view.
It tells the story of seven young people in three different families who form an amateur theatrical group, the Blue Door Theatre Company. The children write, produce, direct and act in their own plays, each of them harnessing a particular talent. Nigel designs scenery, for example; Jeremy composes music; while Sandra makes costumes. During the course of the book, each of the young people realises a particular ambition. It is "Bulldog", who shines in comic roles, who realises his ambition to create the elusive "swish of the curtain". At the book's climax, the "Blue Doors" enter a drama contest which they have to win in order to be allowed to attend dramatic school to realise their dream of a career in the professional theatre.
Wanting to learn if he can communicate with deceased loved ones, adventurer and trader Allan Quatermain seeks a meeting with the feared Zulu witch-doctor Zikali, who tells Allan to seek out a great white sorceress who rules a hidden kingdom far to the north, and he charges Allan to take a message to her. He also gives Allan a necklace with a strange amulet, carved in Zikali's own likeness. Zikali claims it has great magical powers that will protect Allan on his journey, but he must on no account take it off.
Allan is initially scornful of Zikali's claims, and sets off for the coast, but a series of odd events force him to go north in spite of his own wishes. On the journey he encounters Umslopogaas, a fearsome Zulu warrior chieftain. Umslopogaas tells Allan that he has discovered that he is about to be deposed and murdered, so he decides to leave his village and accompany Allan on his quest. Allan is again sceptical, but a few days later Umslopogaas and his band of warriors meet up with Allan's party, and Umslopogaas cements their friendship when he saves Allan from being killed by a lion.
Journeying into unknown country, they come to a remote settlement called "Strathmuir" run by a Scot, Robertson, a drunkard and former sea captain, who lives there with his beautiful daughter Inez. Her Portuguese mother had died years earlier and her father has now taken native wives and sired several children with them. A few days later, Robertson takes Allan on an expedition to hunt hippopotamus, but as they return they are intercepted by Allan's servant, Hans, who had stayed behind. He reports that, in their absence, Strathmuir has been attacked by a band of cannibal warriors from the north, who have killed and eaten many of the villagers (including Robertson's wives and children) and kidnapped Inez.
Allan, Robertson and Umslopogaas set off in pursuit. At one point they catch up to the cannibals, and Allan and Hans almost succeed in freeing Inez, but her servant panics and alerts their captors, who escape. They track the cannibals through the treacherous swampland that surrounds the lost kingdom of Kôr, and as they approach the great mountain the cannibals turn and attack Allan's group, but they are driven off by the arrival of Bilali, the servant of Ayesha, who tells that She has been expecting them, and that he is to bring them into her presence.
Allan is summoned to meet Ayesha, who is camped among the ruins of the ancient city of Kôr. Ayesha remains veiled, although she briefly reveals herself to him, but in spite of her allure, he manages to resist her power, and throughout the story he remains sceptical of her claims that she is immortal and has supernatural powers.
Some days later Robertson disappears from the camp to seek out the rebel Armahagger who are holding Inez captive, hoping to rescue his daughter and, if possible, to kill their chief, the dreaded Rezu, who is also rumoured to be immortal. Allan and Hans learn that this rebel group are the descendants of an ancient sun-worshipping cult who perform human sacrifice, and that Inez will be married to Rezu and installed as Queen of all the Armahagger if they defeat Ayesha.
Knowing that Rezu is preparing to attack and try to overthrow her, Ayesha seeks help from Allan and Umslopogaas in the coming battle, asking Allan to lead the army of Kôr. He reluctantly agrees, but when Ayesha brings him before her generals, they at first refuse to accept him, until he displays the "Great Medicine", the amulet given to him by Zikali. Though outnumbered three-to-one, Allan draws up plans that he hopes will give Ayesha's army a tactical advantage, but he has little confidence in her Armahagger soldiers. As they advance, Hans scouts ahead; he discovers that Inez's unfortunate servant has already been eaten, and that the rebels have captured Robertson and intend to sacrifice him and eat him before his daughter's eyes. Soon after, a Zulu scout returns to warn that some of Ayesha's soldiers are spies for Rezu, and that the enemy having found out their plans have set an ambush just ahead. Allan quickly draws his men into a defensive square just before Rezu's forces attack; they hold their ground against the first two waves, but the square breaks under a third onslaught. Allan fears all is lost, but at that moment a glowing apparition of Ayesha appears in their midst, bearing a wand, and she moves forward towards Rezu's soldiers, who become paralysed as she advances. Heartened, the Kôr soldiers surge forward, slaughtering most of Rezu's army.
As they reach the enemy camp, they see Rezu kill the helpless Robertson with an axe. They now confront the fearsome Rezu himself, a huge, bearded giant seven feet tall; Allan fires two heavy-gauge bullets, which hit Rezu, but they have no effect, and they realise he is heavily armoured. Now Umslopogaas steps forward and challenges Rezu to single combat. A desperate struggle ensues, and although Umslopogaas carries an ancient axe rumoured to be the only weapon that can kill Rezu, he makes no impression against Rezu's heavy armour. Finally Umslopogaas employs a ruse – he appears to flee, enabling him to reach higher ground, from which he makes a rapid run towards Rezu. Leaping into the air, he strikes Rezu down from behind with a mighty blow as he vaults over the giant's head. Ayesha's soldiers then surge forward and, before Allan can examine him, they hack Rezu's body to pieces. Allan and Hans now race to the tent where Inez is being held; she seems drugged or catatonic, and as they enter the handmaidens who guard her all commit suicide, and Inez is freed.
The day after the battle, Allan and Hans watch from a distance as Ayesha addresses her surviving troops and punishes the captured traitors. As she speaks, a fierce storm blows up, and lightning flashes around Ayesha and the captives, but it leaves the faithful soldiers unharmed. When the storm clears, Ayesha has vanished, and when they move forward to examine the captives, they find them dead, although their bodies are quite unmarked.
The next night Ayesha summons Allan to receive his reward. He balks at fulfilling his wish to see if his loved ones survive beyond the grave, but Ayesha takes control and her power paralyses him; he feels himself dying and his spirit moving into another realm. He sees visions of his family, but their spirits seem unaware of his presence; only the spirits of a faithful dog and an African woman whom he had loved seem aware of him and able to communicate with him. When he revives, Ayesha questions him but, despite his experience, he remains profoundly sceptical and he argues with Ayesha over what has transpired. Later that night Allan meets up with Umslopogaas, who tells him of his own experiences.
By now Inez has fully recovered from her ordeal although, as Ayesha had predicted, she remembers nothing of her traumatic experience or her father's death. Allan and Umslopogaas have no desire to remain, so Ayesha arranges for the surviving members of the party to be escorted back to Strathmuir. We learn that Inez never recovers her memory of what had transpired, and she is never told the truth; she eventually retires to a convent. Umslopogaas returns to his people to face his destiny, and Allan returns to Zululand to deliver Ayesha's message to Zikali.
David Kennedy (Matthew Newton) is preparing to go to university. His mother, Frank (Sinéad Cusack) is a widow and has very little social life. David tells her that she should get out more and much to his surprise, Frank enrolls at the same university. Frank falls for her poetry tutor (Sam Neill), who hates mature students. David falls for his best friend's girlfriend (Rose Byrne), who isn't interested in the least.
In the year 2005, the world's population of six billion is suffering from acute famine. The World Food Organization decides on desperate measures to decrease the population by a process of triage. They propose to do this by adding selective poisons to certain food shipments to grossly over-populated areas.
They attempt to blackmail biochemist Dr. Aaron Rodman into cooperating with their scheme (threatening to withhold food rations from his daughter's family if he doesn't comply), proposing to utilise his development of LP - a lipoprotein which when incorporated into foods will cause random deaths.
The scheme is planned but Rodman is unwilling to go along with it. At a meeting between him and senior government officials and members of the World Food Council, he provides sandwiches laced with the LP as refreshment, so that they will die at random, just as they had planned for so many others. He carefully matches the LP in the sandwiches (which he also eats) to his own metabolism, so that he will die quickly and not be guilty of involvement in the scheme.
A couple of 1930s Great Depression-era convicts, Ned and Jim, jailed on never-specified charges and abused by a ruthless warden, are dragged along when a vicious killer named Bobby escapes the electric chair.
The two end up in a small upstate New York town near the Canada–US border, where they are mistaken for a pair of priests expected at the local monastery. They want to flee but cannot, since misunderstandings and the warden's search party looking for Bobby make a trip across the bridge to Canada almost impossible.
Ned and Jim continue to masquerade as priests, trusted and welcomed by Father Levesque. An opportunity presents itself in the form of a procession to the church's sister church across the border. Each priest participating has to bring along someone who needs help, so they decide on the deaf-mute daughter of Molly, a local laundress and prostitute.
Bobby is killed by police during the procession. Ned saves Molly's daughter from drowning, after this event she is able to speak. Jim is befriended by a young monk and decides to stay in the monastery to actually become a priest. Ned takes Molly and her daughter to Canada.
Seventeen-year-old Anna Percy trades her privileged life on New York City's Upper East Side to move to Los Angeles to live with her father for the second half of her senior year. While on the plane to Los Angeles, Anna develops an instant connection with the handsome Ben Birnbaum, who rescues her from an obnoxious seatmate. Ben invites Anna to be his date at the wedding of A-list action movie star Jackson Sharpe and she accepts.
Once Anna arrives in Los Angeles, she is annoyed that her father Jonathan sent his charismatic but mysterious chauffer Django instead of greeting her himself. Jonathan swears that he has changed and offers to arrange an internship for Anna at the talent agency managed by his new girlfriend, Margaret Cunningham, but Anna is skeptical of his promises.
At the wedding, Anna meets Ben's friends from high school: Samantha "Sam Sharpe, the witty daughter of Jackson Sharpe who is insecure about her looks; Camilla "Cammie" Sheppard, Ben's devious and sexy ex-girlfriend who wants him back; and Delia "Dee" Young, a spacey but sweet girl who believes in New Age spiritual practices. All three are in love with him and are angry to see Anna as Ben's date. Ben and Anna try to pretend they've been dating at Princeton but her obnoxious seatmate from the plane, who is also in attendance, recognizes them and exposes their secret. The three girls spend the rest of the night cutting down Anna, culminating in Cammie ripping Anna's dress. Sam gets soundly rejected by Ben, and goes to cry in the bathroom where Anna is freshening up. Sam apologizes for mistreating her and invites Anna to attend a Warner Brothers New Year's Eve bash after the wedding as an apology.
At the party, a jealous Cammie attempts to break up Anna and Ben but it backfires and Ben firmly tells her to back off. Cammie leaves the party to visit her mother's grave where she confesses how much she truly loves Ben and he was the only person who ever made her feel safe.
Meanwhile, Sam and a group of partiers go to her father's house for an after-party while Ben and Anna go to his father's boat to have sex. However, Anna admits to Ben that she is not ready to lose her virginity yet. Ben appears to be understanding but after Anna wakes up from a nap, she discovers he is gone.
The next day, Anna joins Sam, Cammie, Dee and their other friends on a charity project but goes home early due to food poisoning. Dee takes Anna home and while caring for her, Dee confesses that she hooked up at Ben when she went to tour Princeton and now she is pregnant with his baby. Anna is shocked and wonders what kind of person Ben truly is.
Anna's internship at Margaret's agency falls through and so she is forced to enroll at Beverly Hills High. Dee and Sam are friendly with her, which makes Cammie feel threatened. Ben shows up at school and begs Anna's forgiveness, but she firmly rejects him. She then leaves to start her classes, impressed with her own newfound confidence.
Victor Sartorius (Karloff) is an ailing doctor working in Morocco. He teams up with Lady Yvonne Clifford (Mona Goya) in a plot to poison her husband, Sir Charles Clifford (Morton Selten), so he can collect the 20,000 pounds necessary to save his experiments and his funding. Roger Clifford (Arthur Margetson), the son of Sir Charles has also been marked for death. The only one who can stop the murder plot of Sartorius is Nurse Eve Rowe (Joan Wyndham).
The book centers around Otto of Schlepsig, a circus performer and tightrope walker, who is surprised to learn that he's an almost dead-ringer for Prince Halim Eddin, recently invited to become king the newly independent country of Shqiperi. Fed up with his life in the circus, Otto, and his friend, the sword swallower Max of Witte, get some uniforms and set out to take the Prince's place as King of Shqiperi.
Henry Soames owns a rural diner, and has befriended Willard Freud and Callie Wells. One day Willard and Callie get the news that Callie is pregnant, and Willard leaves her. Henry takes in Callie, and helps her through the pregnancy. They fall in love and get married. All is going well until Willard is back from the road and wants the baby.
Friedrich Schneider is a young Jewish boy growing up in an apartment house in Germany, with the narrator as his neighbour and friend. The story starts in 1925 and finishes in 1942 when the narrator is 17. Though the story is told by his non-Jewish friend (Hans Peter Richter or the narrator), Friedrich is the protagonist. We can assume the narrator is Hans Peter Richter. The narrator tells of the persecution of the Jews through Friedrich's eyes. Friedrich is forced to switch to a Jewish school and is thrown out of swimming pools and movie theaters. An angry mob goes to his house and kills his mother (see Pogrom). His father gets fired and has an emotional breakdown. Friedrich finds a girlfriend, Helga, whom he likes, but soon he must stop seeing her, or she will be sent to a concentration camp. Friedrich and his father are forced to do whatever they can to make money to survive. Friedrich helps his father hide a rabbi in their house, but soon Friedrich's father and the rabbi are arrested, and Herr Schneider was probably sent to a concentration camp. Friedrich, who was not home when the police came, now must live in hiding.
During an air raid, Friedrich begs to be allowed into the air raid shelter but is kicked out by the air-raid warden, Herr Resch, who was also their landlord. After the raid, the narrator, his family, Herr Resch, and his wife return to the house. They notice Friedrich on the stoop, apparently unconscious. Herr Resch decides to get rid of him by kicking him, and they realise that Friedrich is dead, killed by shrapnel (not specified). Resch then remarks that Friedrich has died a better death than was expected.
The novel begins with the introduction of a garden gnome named Polycarp. The narrator talks about how he and Friedrich never met: their parents lived in a different apartment building, which was owned by a man named Herr Johann Resch. At first, the Schneiders and the narrator's family were more and dangerous where he can not have in his life because he is dealing with so much already acquaintances, but with the births of the narrator and Friedrich a week apart, they become better friends. The Schneiders' religion is not revealed in this chapter, though it is assumed they are Christian because of how well-off they are. The narrator's father is unemployed, and the birth of the narrator puts a financial strain on his family. However, the narrator is still well received and feels welcomed in his home.
Snow(1929) One day when Friedrich and the narrator are four years old, Friedrich stays with the narrator's family while his mother attends to some business at City Hall. At first, the narrator is reluctant to share his toys with Friedrich and blocks the way to his room, but Friedrich doesn't seem to mind. He takes out a cuckoo whistle and begins blowing into it, and the narrator is fascinated by it. Friedrich gives him the whistle, and the narrator allows Friedrich to play with his toys. They later help the narrator's mother to make potato pancakes, and eventually, both children fight for the first pancake. When Friedrich drops the pancake, they decided to share and eat it from the ground. Because of the mess, the mother allows them to take a bath together, an activity both enjoy very much. This becomes the foundation of their friendship.
It is snowing and Friedrich is playing with his mother in the snow, and the narrator wants to go over and play with them. When the narrator sees the duo having so much fun, he is anxious to go and play with them. However, the narrator has to wait until his busy mother is done before he could play. In the end the narrator's mother relents after finishing her work and brings the narrator out to play in the snow with Friedrich, just in time to watch them build a snowman. The narrator's mother thinks that the snowman is missing something after they are done building it, and Friedrich and his mother also seem to have the same thoughts. Thus, they use pieces of trash to form the parts of the snowman, such as potato peels and coal dust, but their landlord, Herr Resch, screams at Friedrich not to mess up his rose bushes when Friedrich when he plays and fools around and calls Friedrich a “Jewish Boy” as an insult. The narrator's mother pulls the narrator away from the window.
Hans's grandfather comes to visit and learns of Han's interactions with the Jewish Friedrich. Han's grandfather forbids Hans from playing with Friedrich anymore, although nobody listens.
Hans sits in on the majority of a traditional Friday night Jewish tradition (the Sabbath) after playing with Friedrich all day. He gets to see how the Jewish people worship and what they do at the Sabbath dinner. Hans leaves politely shortly after Hans' Mother comes home.
On the first day of school, shortly after school lets out, Hans and Friedrich's families both have a day out at the amusement park. However, since Hans and his family are poor, they are helpless to Schneider's generosity, which makes them feel even poorer. When Hans' father finally jumps at the chance to buy them all photos and licorice, the family has to go without lunch.
Friedrich and Hans see that Friedrich's doctor, Doctor Askenase, had a word "Jew" scrawled over his sign. They go to tell the doctor, but he claims he already knows. Later, they see a crowd of people outside a shop, so they push through and see a man with a swastika on his arm and a sign stating "don't buy from Jews" blocking the door. However, an old lady pushes past the man saying she wants to buy from the shop and everyone stares at her. The old lady later emerges from the shop and proudly strode away.
The Narrator and Friedrich attend a Hitler Youth camp. The leader explains why the Jews are Germany's enemy. While every other youth can repeat this mantra with no problem, Friedrich finds it hard to repeat. This is the first time Friedrich discovers Hitler's hatred for Jews. He is devastated. He runs out, and Hans is left watching.
The narrator and Friedrich were playing with a ball when Hans accidentally threw it into a shopkeeper's window, breaking it. A crowd gathers around. The woman accuses Friedrich of breaking her shop window and trying to steal and insulted him for being a Jew. Hans immediately confessed to breaking her window and denied that Friedrich was trying to steal. The woman disbelieved him. Someone had called the police, and the woman explained the attempted 'burglary' of her shop, while Hans defended Friedrich. Then, Herr Schneider came and the woman explained the situation to him, leaving out her insinuation about Jews. Herr Schneider agreed to pay her for the damage, if the police let Friedrich free.
Herr Resch confronts Herr Schneider on the house's stairwell and asks them to leave, calling the Narrator's Father to bear witness. Hans' father denied. Herr Schneider reminds Herr Resch of the tenant's agreement, but Herr Resch doesn't care. Herr Schneider begs for time to find another apartment.
Herr Schneider loses his job because of his religion.
Herr Resch sues Herr Schneider and tries to make him to move out of the apartment. In the court, the attorney of Herr Resch reveals that Herr Schneider is a Jew. However, Herr Schneider also reveals that he lived in Herr Resch's house for ten years and Herr Resch did not find anything wrong with that until a short time ago. In the end, Herr Schneider is allowed to continue staying in the house. At this point, Friedrich suddenly cries out. The judge calls Friedrich up and assured him that he will see that justice is done.
Dr. Peter Hamilton works for Concord University under Dr. Leo Sardis and Dr. Carla Jennings, and has developed a serum called AccelRate. Mark Stratton, his assistant, steals a sample and injects it into the pregnant Tina Hogan. The unborn baby grows rapidly and explodes from Tina, killing her. A murder investigation, led by Chief Max Reed and Detective Ed Carlisle is soon launched, Mark becoming the primary suspect.
Peter finds the baby at his home/lab. Assisted by Charlotte "Charlie" Tanzi, he studies her as she grows from infancy to adulthood within two days, and names her Jasmine.
Peter gets phoned by the fugitive Mark, borrows Charlie's car to confront him, and demands his help with saving Jasmine. Mark reveals that Leo ordered him to conduct the experiment resulting in Tina's death, having promised that he would be set for life. Mark tells Peter to take his notes and leave, then fatally shoots himself. A landlady sees Peter departing immediately afterward.
Meanwhile, Jasmine begins developing feelings for Peter, and sneaks away to explore the outside world. Peter returns to the lab, leaves Charlie with Mark's notes, and goes out to find Jasmine. He succeeds; Jasmine tells him she wanted to look pretty for him.
Back at the lab, Peter injects Jasmine with an experimental governing agent, earlier tested on one of his rabbits; their feelings for each other deepen.
The next day, Jasmine awakes still looking youthful. She joyfully urges Peter to go out and experience life with her. Charlie offers to stay behind to continue the lab work. Later, Charlie notices that the rabbit injected with the governing agent has died.
While Peter and Jasmine are at a conservatory, Peter notices a streak of white in her hair, and decides that they should return to the lab.
Meanwhile, Charlie is confronted by Max and Ed. Max opens a drawer to discover Tina's blood-stained scarf, deepening their suspicion of Charlie and Peter. Peter and Jasmine return to see Charlie being taken into custody, and enter the lab through a back entrance to avoid police attention.
Peter decides that he and Jasmine need to continue work elsewhere. as they pack, Jasmine notices the dead rabbit, and Peter confirms that his governing agent only slowed down her aging.
Meanwhile, Charlie reveals that Jasmine is Mark and Tina's child, and mentions the video footage used to track her development. Ed doesn't believe Charlie, but Max departs to find the footage.
Peter and Jasmine arrive at a lab that he previously shared with Leo, so that he can gather materials for a functional governing agent. Jasmine looks in a mirror, shocked by her older-looking face. As Peter unsuccessfully attempts to open a cabinet containing a governing agent, Leo enters, alerted by a security alarm. He insists that the governing agent doesn't work. As Peter pleads with him, the police arrive, looking for Peter. Peter shoves Leo and escapes with Jasmine through a back exit; he tells Jasmine to wait for him at the conservatory while he retrieves the governing agent, but he is caught and arrested.
While being interrogated by Ed, Peter attempts to escape from the police station, but is stopped by Max, who demands the truth. Carla confesses that she went along with Leo's orders to conduct the AccelRate experiment, so that they could make millions. Ed reluctantly releases Peter and Leo is arrested.
By the time Peter reaches the conservatory, Jasmine is elderly. They accept that it's too late to save her, and she dies in Peter's embrace.
Later, Charlie is packing Peter's possessions into storage, as he has decided to get away from Concord. The final scene shows Peter leaving the campus, holding a jasmine branch in memory of the woman he loved.
The story begins with the Japanese army's defeat of the China forces occupying Hong Kong on 25 December 1941. Nicholas is an eleven-year-old boy whose parents have both suddenly disappeared in the chaos of war breaking out. As the Japanese come to do a home to home search, three loyal family servants, Tang, his wife Ah Mee, and the gardener Ah Kwan take Nicholas and they escape to Kowloon as Hong Kong Island is no longer safe. Upon reaching the shore of Kowloon, Tang and Ah Mee disguise Nicholas as a Chinese boy and the trip continues to Tang's home village, the village of Sek Wan.
Nicholas passes the years of the war here with Tang and his family. He is given the Chinese name Wing Ming. During this time, many events happen. Nicholas makes a dangerous journey back to Kowloon to get quinine cure to the malaria Tang has contracted. He also helps the Communist partisan army – The East River Column Fighters – to translate instructions for using heavy explosives. Nicholas joins the partisan army on a mission to Kowloon where they blow up a railway bridge and weaken the position of the Japanese army. Yet his most dangerous job would have been to deliver a medicine into the prison of war camps (POW camps). Taking news or items to prison camps is nicknamed "playing music on the bamboo radio". Nicholas does more than expected by entering the camp itself because the person who he was supposed to pass the medicine to had the fever. Exhausted and worried, Nicholas narrowly escapes the clutches of the Japanese with the help of the prisoners and finally reaches the safety of Sek Wan village.
As the war comes to an end, Nicholas returns to his home on Hong Kong Island, and when he returned, everything is ruined, his home is badly damaged. As he walks through the house he finds his mother. Nicholas does not recognize her, she seems much older and exhausted, but he knows it is his mother. It is nearly four years since he was last at home. At first he introduces himself as Wing Ming, then he remembers he is Nicholas Holford.
An evil gang of twins hold up a train to steal a magical Tibetan artifact, the Heaven's Bead from 3 dalai lamas. This artifact has healing powers and is a highly desirable item. A battle ensues and the artifact is knocked from the hands of a parachuting villain into the bag of an unsuspecting passerby.
The passerby, oblivious, gets into his van and heads to Hong Kong. This is where the other set of twins come in; they are aided by the twin Laus and Uncle Luck as they try to get the Heaven's Bead back.
A secret mission takes place, in which the good twins infiltrate a high rise building in order to recover the item. Although they initially succeed, the artifact is then passed to the wrong twin. Happy, Lilian's sister, who is suffering from cancer is also kidnapped and held prisoner in the high-rise building.
The good twins eventually recover the Heaven's Bead and lose it again while rescuing Happy. The villains get away with the Heaven's Bead.
Schaine Madduc returns to Koryphon from school off-world, met by her brother Kelse. They and Gerd Jemasze are to meet their father, Uther, who has said he just learned something that is a splendid joke. An acquaintance, Elvo Glissam agrees to visit Uaia with them. However, Uther is ambushed and killed by Retent Uldras. Schaine, Kelse, Gerd, and Glissam survive a similar ambush and reach the Madducs' domain Morningswake.
Uther Madduc was exploring the Palga plateau before he was killed. Gerd, Glissam, and the Madducs' Uldra foreman Kurgech go into the Palga to discover what he found. After various encounters with the Wind-runners, they find the secret: an ancient temple built by Erjins, who are in fact fully sentient.
They return to Morningswake to learn that the Mull, the seat of government on the island continent of Szintarre, has ordered the land barons to give up their domains. The land barons defy this decree, and form their own Order of Uaia. The Uldra leader Jorjol, a childhood friend of the Madducs and the so-called Gray Prince, incites several hundred Retent Uldras to invade Morningswake. This attack is defeated by the Order's militia.
A committee of the Mull arrives at Morningswake. Gerd escorts them to the Erjin temple, where he explains the first part of Uther Madduc's joke. The Mull has demanded that the land barons yield to the claim of the Uldras, who were there first. But the temple shows that the Erjins are sentient, which makes the Szintarrese slaveowners.
Near the temple is the depot from which tamed Erjins are shipped. There they discover that the Erjin mounts and servitors exported by the Wind-runners are actually warriors, who at that very same moment are uprising and destroying their supposed masters. Erjin "servitors" seize control of Szintarre from its effete inhabitants. Erjin "mounts" turn on their Retent Uldra riders, but the combative Uldras defeat them. The Order of Uaia's militia (including Submission Uldras) fly south and defeat the Erjins in Szintarre. Returning to Uaia, they defeat a second and larger Uldra attack incited by Jorjol.
This experience chastens some of the Szintarrese reformers, but the others persist in their campaign. Now Gerd Jemasze reveals the rest of Uther Madduc's joke. The temple shows that the Erjins were there before the Uldras, so they have an even better claim to the land. Furthermore, the temple's decorations depict Erjins arriving in spaceships and in combat with the semi-intelligent Morphotes: the Morphotes are in fact the original inhabitants of Koryphon and "rightful" claimants to the land.
Gerd, speaking for the land barons, tells the Szintarrese that to be consistent they should either revoke their decree against the land barons, or else give their own country to the Morphotes as well.
Jimmy and Alison Porter, a young married couple, live in a Midlands industrial town (Derby) in a shabby attic flat, which they share with Jimmy's best friend and business partner, Cliff. Despite graduating from university, Jimmy and Cliff make a meagre living running a sweet-stall in the local market. Jimmy's inability to climb the socioeconomic ladder, coupled with other injustices he sees around him make him angry at society, particularly to those in authority. He takes out his frustrations on his wife Alison, a submissive girl from an upper-middle-class family. Jimmy's love for Alison is mixed with contempt, as he feels she never had to experience want, pain, or suffering. He verbally abuses her telling her, in temper, that he wishes she would have a child that would die. Unbeknownst to Jimmy, Alison is pregnant, and having mixed feelings about the pregnancy and her marriage.
Tensions heighten between the couple when Alison invites her assertive friend, Helena, whom Jimmy loathes, to temporarily stay with them. After witnessing Jimmy's treatment of Alison, Helena persuades Alison to leave Jimmy on the same day that Ma Tanner, who lent Jimmy the money to set up his stall, has a fatal stroke. Eventually, Alison moves out and departs with her kindly father, Colonel Redfern, who has come to collect her. A grieving Jimmy returns to the flat to find Alison gone, and learns for the first time that she is pregnant. He starts an emotional tirade with Helena, who first slaps him but then kisses him passionately, and the two begin an affair.
Months later, Jimmy and Helena have settled into a comfortable relationship, but Jimmy is still hurt at Alison's departure. She, living in her parents' tranquil home, is having a precarious pregnancy, and fears that Jimmy's wish for her to suffer tragedy might come true. Cliff decides to strike out on his own, and Jimmy and Helena see him off at the railway station. After Cliff's train departs, Jimmy and Helena see Alison sitting disconsolately in the station. Alison explains to Helena that she has lost the baby and Helena, realizing that she was wrong to break up their marriage, informs Jimmy that she is leaving him. Jimmy and Alison reconcile.
The movie, set in 1988 begins when Majid (Kambiz Dirbaz), a local thug from Southern Tehran is released from prison along with his friend Amir (Arzhang Amirfazli). To avoid embarrassment, Majid and his friends have told his family and neighborhood that Majid is returning from Hajj at Mecca. Even though his lie is unveiled after some stupid mistakes by Amir and his other friend Bayram (Akbar Abdi).
Majid has been attempting to show that he is an honorable man so he can marry Narges (Niousha Zeyghami), the daughter of Mirza (Manouchehr Azar); a pious man in the neighborhood. Bayram on the other hand wants to marry Majid's sister Marzieh (Negar Forouzandeh). In order to impress Narges and her father, Majid decides he must go to the front and fight against the Iraqi Army.
Majid, Amir, Bayram, Mostafa (Alireza Osivand), Bijan (Amin Hayai) and a local musician sign up for the war and head off to training. Here they are met with opposition by Haj Saleh (Mohamad Reza Sharifinia) and Kamali (Ghasem Zareh), who question their faith as Majid and his friends don't pray, gamble, use foul language, smoke and use drugs. They are eventually kicked out of training but with the help of an acquaintance from the neighborhood named Morteza (Javad Hashemi) they are allowed to go back to training.
Morteza attempts to "reform" Majid and his friends as they go through the last days of the Iran–Iraq War.
Daffy is enjoying his "daffy" nature around the forest. Later, Porky pulls up and sets up camp to enjoy the countryside. He paints a landscape picture, briefly interrupted when Daffy poses. Taking a hint, Daffy rides off. Daffy then comes back in and tells Porky he may not paint "his" lakes, but the mountains are okay since he does not own them. Porky resumes painting, but "the old man of the mountains" comes—trying to get the mountains out of Porky's painting.
Porky sees through the disguise and tries to use a shotgun against Daffy, but a sheriff calls for an executioner. The sheriff walks out and the executioner appears with an axe. At the last moment, Porky is "saved" by Pocahontas. However, when "Cap'n John Smiff" does not agree to marry "her", Daffy starts making war whoops—until Porky shuts him up.
Porky then decides to try fishing, putting a bait attached to a bell. Daffy fools Porky twice by ringing the bell and Porky gets the better of Daffy by trying to chop him with an axe, but Daffy then rings his own bell—only to be surprised when Porky does catch a large fish. Daffy then asks about the various licenses Porky has until Porky says he does not have a marriage license. Porky responds by throwing a rock at Daffy, but Daffy makes out like they are in a baseball game, and encourages Porky as Joe DiMaggio to slide for home. Porky realizes too late that he is not really DiMaggio and lands in a mud puddle ("My name is Mud," Porky says).
Porky then starts packing up his trailer to get away from Daffy and avoid going insane. Daffy climbs into Porky's engine, deliberately throws out the engine and closes the hood. Porky tries starting the car, but gets Daffy's stalled motor sound. When Daffy makes the sound while Porky is out of the car, Porky jumps in, makes some "adjustments", then climbs back in the car. Having finally gotten the better of the duck, Porky starts the car again, pulling on the 'choke' lever, which causes a mechanical arm to pop out and choke Daffy, who is now wired into the car and is powering it. Daffy mentions that Porky has absolutely no right to do this, until a license appears, showing that Porky has a license to use Daffy as a motor.
A double murder has been committed in the town of Leatherhead and Dr. Watson has encouraged the player, who plays Holmes, to investigate. Inspector Lestrade is also investigating.
''Dead Head Fred'' takes place in Hope Falls, New Jersey, a once-prosperous area based on American cities in the 1940s. The city has steadily fallen from grace since a business mogul named Ulysses Pitt began accumulating power. Pitt has a background of petty crime, and there are allegations that he was somehow responsible for the disappearance of Vinni Rossini, an influential Hope Falls businessman. Pitt's new "Nukular Plant" has recently finished construction and has caused a high level of radiation in the city, leading to strange phenomena like mutated wildlife and undead monsters.
Hope Falls is composed of several areas. The first that Fred has access to is Dr. Steiner's castle, the ancestral home of the Steiner family where Fred has been resurrected. Outside of the castle is a large cemetery that borders the forested area of Creepy Hollow. In Hope Falls proper are the urban areas of Downtown, Uptown, Old Hope Falls and Zombietown. Downtown is the home of Pitt's headquarters, and Fred's office is found in Old Hope Falls. Zombietown, as its name suggests, is overrun with zombies and most of its residents have fled the neighborhood or barricaded themselves in their homes. Two other rural areas border the city: Freak Farms, where Fred owns a small cabin, and the Boonies, a highly irradiated area where the Nukular Reactor has been built. Each area contains several teleporters in the form of sewer manholes, which Fred can use to quickly move from one area of Hope Falls to another.
The protagonist of ''Dead Head Fred'' is Fred Neuman (voiced by John C. McGinley), a private detective. Fred is the only playable character, but since each head gives him a different set of animations, he could be considered nine separate characters. As he does not have a proper face, Fred's mood is portrayed by the tone of his voice and by face-like expressions formed by his eyes and frontal lobes. Fred has a wisecracking, sarcastic personality and occasionally breaks the fourth wall, such as heckling the player when he dies. Ulysses Pitt (Jon Polito), the game's primary antagonist, is a small-time hoodlum turned racketeer. Pitt employs many henchmen throughout Hope Falls, the most prominent of which is his lieutenant Lefty, whose right leg has been amputated and replaced with a tommygun. Fred makes several allies throughout the game, including Dr. Steiner, who resurrected him, his girlfriend Jeanne Rossini (Kari Wahlgren), and his former partner Benny Salazar. Fred's enemies are generally employees of Pitt, like the skeletal "bone thugs", or creatures created by Hope Falls' radiation, like zombies and animated scarecrows.
The game begins with Fred waking up in the castle of a Dr. Freidrich Steiner, an employee of Ulysses Pitt. Fred soon learns that he has been murdered and subsequently resurrected, and his head is missing. In its place is a liquid-filled jar that contains his brain and eyes. Steiner explains that Fred is a private detective who had been investigating Pitt, but Pitt had discovered that Fred was on to him and had him murdered. Many of Fred's memories are missing as a result of the trauma to his brain, and before Steiner can explain further, Pitt and several of his henchmen arrive. As Fred hides in Steiner's lab, Pitt's thugs apprehend Steiner and announce that he is to be taken to the Horseman, a minion of Pitt's who resides in Creepy Hollow.
Fred leaves Steiner's castle and meets a blue-skinned hunchback in the cemetery outside. The hunchback introduces himself as Sam Spade, a gravedigger and "head merchant" who can help Fred by providing him with quality interchangeable heads. Fred continues to Creepy Hollow, where he defeats the Horseman and rescues Dr. Steiner. Steiner, however, has little information regarding Fred's investigation and suggests that he question the residents of Hope Falls to learn more about his demise. Fred begins exploring Hope Falls, meeting many strange personalities along the way. He reconnects with his old girlfriend Jeanne, who is the daughter of a prominent Hope Falls citizen, Vinni Rossini. Fred learns that Mr. Rossini had been reported missing by Jeanne, and Jeanne had subsequently hired Fred to find him. Fred had eventually followed the trail to Pitt, who had bribed Fred's partner, Benny Salazar, into betraying him. Fred was promptly caught by Pitt's henchmen and shot to death by his right-hand man, Lefty.
Armed with the knowledge of his death and the events leading up to it, Fred continues his investigation and recovers a videotape of Vinni Rossini's murder that incriminates Pitt. Pitt learns that Fred is still "alive" and kidnaps Jeanne to use as leverage against him. Fred confronts the mobster at his headquarters after shutting down the centerpiece of his criminal enterprise, the Pitt Nukular Plant, and defeating Lefty. Lefty, however, was exposed to nuclear waste during the fight and subsequently mutated into a huge beast who comes to Pitt's aid in the game's final battle. Fred ultimately defeats both Pitt and Lefty atop the Pitt Building. Pitt is killed during the battle, but Lefty manages to escape and retreats to the remains of the Nukular Plant. After the battle, Fred's head, which, along with Jeanne, had been held hostage by Pitt, is shown tumbling into an open manhole near the Pitt Building, unbeknownst to Fred. The final scene of the game shows Fred and Jeanne having dinner at a restaurant to celebrate, with Fred lamenting the loss of his head.
A young German Princess (Catherine Zeta-Jones) marries the immature future Tsar Peter III (Hannes Jaenicke). She gradually becomes a skillful politician and rises to become Catherine the Great.
The story opens with Sylvester patiently rummaging through trash cans for food. When he realizes how distasteful the bits are that he is finding, he despondently wanders down to the shipyard and sits by a docked cruise ship. The ship moves up and down with the current and, as the cat ponders things, he becomes aware of a porthole through which can be seen Tweety swinging in his cage. Sylvester grasps the edge of the porthole, opens the window and says, "Hello breakfast". Tweety slams it shut, causing Sylvester to drop into the water. Sylvester climbs back to the dock and smacks the lobster off on his tail
Managing to get aboard, Sylvester enters Tweety's cabin and grabs him, mid-chirp. As he heads out the door, Granny is standing there, demanding to know what he is doing with "my little birdie". Sylvester chuckles nervously, patting Tweety's head as if he is fond of him. Tweety says, "Ooh, what a hypotwit". Granny chases the cat, hitting him with her umbrella, and calling him various things, including hooligan and devil. Granny's glasses fall off and, though they are near her on the floor, she cannot see them, and she cannot see anything without them. Sylvester kicks them under the couch and begins pursuing Tweety around the cabin. Tweety runs under the couch and retrieves the glasses; he is able to get them back on Granny just as Sylvester is leaping at the bird. She swipes at him with the umbrella, misses, but catches him in the head after she throws it at him when he runs from the ship.
The ship sets sail; Granny and Tweety wave and call goodbye to the crowd on shore. Sylvester, stowed away on a lifeboat with the number 13 on it, waves farewell with a white handkerchief.
Soon, Tweety and Granny are taking naps on deck. Sylvester takes Granny's glasses and paints a likeness of the bird on one lens. He opens the cage door and takes Tweety, who flies up calling out "Help!". Awakened, Granny puts the glasses on and, looking at the cage, is fooled into thinking Tweety is there. Sylvester follows Tweety onto high wires; the bird gets safely across while the cat is struggling with his footing. Tweety springs the wire so Sylvester falls, able to hang on to one wire with one paw. As he is sweating with fear, the bird starts doing an "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe" while pulling each 'finger' from the wire. Because the cat has only three, Tweety only reaches 'Miny' before Sylvester falls into the water. Tweety says, "Well, what do you know? No Moe".
Rough seas eventually make Sylvester seasick. When Tweety sees Sylvester's literally green face, he laughs and offers him something for his tummy: a nice piece of salt pork. Sylvester turns a variety of colors and becomes even sicker; he dashes to the medical room to get some seasick remedy. After he downs this, he is instantly better and chases Tweety, who leads the cat below deck and tricks him into running into the furnace. The fire and heat results in Sylvester being ejected through the smokestack screaming in agony.
After he climbs back aboard and sees Tweety, Tweety shows Sylvester a picture of a boat on the water. He moves it back and forth, while narrating: "It was a tewwible torm. Da boat wocked and wocked. Up one wave and down anudder, wocking da boat. Wocking. Wocking..." This nauseates Sylvester, who runs again to the medical room for more seasick remedy. Tweety gets there first and fills the bottle with nitroglycerin. Sylvester drinks it and seemingly realizes something is not right about the liquid. He spits and creates a small explosive spark. Now he chases Tweety, using his spit as a weapon. As they round a corner, Granny is waiting, umbrella in hand; she begins striking at Sylvester but keeps missing. Tweety tries to tell Granny to stop: "No, no, no, no! Don't hit 'im, Dwanny! You'll be towwy!". Despite Tweety's warnings, Granny finally manages to hit Sylvester, and thus sets off the nitroglycerin he drank.
The ensuing loud explosion leaves Granny frazzled with a look of "''Now'' he tells me" on her face and Sylvester launched up like a rocket. In the open sky, there is a flash of a firework with a cascade of white sparks before the cat falls back down. The captain, watching through binoculars, uses Tweety's catch phrase: "I tawt I taw a puddy tat!". Sylvester lands on the captain, leaving both looking pretty battered and bruised. Granny, who is now steering the ship, and Tweety reply, "You did, you did tee a puddy tat!". Granny dons the headgear of an admiral, and Tweety a sailor's cap, and takes over steering the ship for the dazed captain.
Woody arrives at ''Tony Figaro's'' barber shop in hopes of getting a ''victory haircut'' (a then-contemporary World War II reference). Finding the shop's proprietor out for an Army physical, Woody attempts to cut his own hair and those of other customers. The first customer that comes in is a Native American who asks for a quick shampoo, and Woody then makes a mess shampooing the man's head, which then causes the man's headdress to shrink into a badminton birdie. The angry Indian then threatens to scalp Woody for ''giving him the bird'', but Woody quickly knocks the customer out cold with a mallet and sends him out the door, where he ends up standing perfectly still on a pedestal in front of a tobacco shop, holding cigars. Shortly afterwards, Woody's second and primary customer is a burly Italian construction worker who asks for ''the whole works''.
Once Woody blow-torches the man's construction helmet off his head, he proceeds to lather his client's face, chin, mouth, and shoes while singing Rossini's ''Largo al factotum''. Woody then produces a sharp razor and begins shaving the man. He elevates the barber's chair to the ceiling while singing an aria, allowing the man to fall to the ground and destroy the chair. Woody then begins liberally swinging the razor at his frightened client, who runs to escape him. A chase throughout the barbershop ensues as Woody doubles the tempo of his singing, until the woodpecker corners the man in the barber's chair and proceeds to give him a shave and haircut at manic speed.
The construction worker is dusted off and sent out the door on his way, but the angry client returns to give the woodpecker his karma. The man picks Woody up and slings him through a glass window and back inside the shop, where the woodpecker lands and is bopped by shaving mugs falling from a broken shelf. As a last touch, the barber's pole falls on Woody, whose head is seen caught inside the pole.
In ancient Hong Kong about the Yuan Dynasty, Chief Hong challenges his rival, Yuan Zeng, for the title of martial arts master. Their students face off against each other, and when his students are easily defeated, Hong calls in a samurai to fight on his behalf. Zeng's students are initially dismissive of a Japanese martial artist, but he defeats his opponent, whom he goads into committing suicide. Zeng's student Liang Zhi Sheng defeats the samurai, but before the samurai commits suicide, he warns that an allied ninja clan will seek revenge for his death. He tosses his ring at Zeng, who is poisoned when he catches it.
As Zeng recuperates, he receives a challenge from the Five-Element Ninjas. Suspecting a trap, he keeps two of his best students, Sheng and Tian Hao, at the school to guard it against an invasion and sends ten others to do battle. As Sheng and Hao help to reinforce the school's defenses and set traps, the ninjas use trickery and guerrilla warfare to defeat their opponents. Hong is overjoyed, but the leader of the ninja, Cheng Yun Mudou, advises that they push their advantage to destroy Zeng's school. Hong agrees, and Mudou sends a female spy, Senji, to infiltrate the school. Sheng convinces a reluctant Hao to take her in after they save her from being beaten.
Senji secretly makes a map as she takes various jobs around the school. Distrustful of her, Hao accuses her of hiding his weapon when she cleans his bedroom and demands to taste-test the soup that she has poisoned before letting her serve it to Zeng; to maintain her cover, she intentionally drops it. Once Senji completes her map, she smuggles it to Mudou. That night, Senji offers herself to Sheng, who refuses to take advantage of her, though he agrees that she may play a song for him on her flute. Under the cover of her flute-playing, Mudou's ninja attack the camp, killing many of the students before they are aware of the assault. Senji reveals herself as a spy and mortally wounds Sheng before he can rush to Hao's aid. Mudou kills Sheng and Zeng; Hao, who Senji requests they take prisoner, is the only survivor.
Remembering basic ninja training that he received in the past, Hao escapes from his bonds and takes Senji hostage when she comes to tell him that she has fallen in love with him. Hao escapes the ninja and returns to his old ninja master to complete his training. He joins three other students, who help him in his quest for revenge. Meanwhile, Mudou kills Hong and takes his place as martial arts master. Hao delivers a challenge to Mudou, who sends Senji to spy on Hao and report who his new master is; he also sends four ninjas to spy on Senji herself. Hao easily detects her, but when he also sees the ninjas, he accuses Senji of trying to trap him and kills her. After killing the ninjas, Hao and his fellow martial arts students proceed to fight each of the Five-Element Ninjas.
Now well-trained in ninjutsu and aware of the ninjas' trickery, Hao and his fellow martial arts students easily defeat the Japanese ninjas and destroy their symbols. Mudou, however, proves to be a difficult foe. As the four Chinese ninjas face off against him, he sneaks leg shackles onto Hao. Hao uses a mysterious key his master gave to him to unlock them, and makes many unsuccessful attempts to put them on Mudou. Finally, channeling his rage over the deaths of Senji, Sheng, and Zeng, he shackles Mudou's legs and pulls him down and while his 3 fellow martial arts students spear him, Hao tears Mudou in half. Hao himself is mortally wounded in the process. As his fellow martial arts students enquire as to why he put himself in front of Muduo's spiked feet, he dies. His brothers destroy the final symbol.
A quartet of teenage girls spends the night in an old house. On the night of their arrival, a strange man named Gideon Fisk arrives at the house, delivering an old book. Once he is gone, the girls examine the book, finding it full of sketches of bizarre monsters.
When an incantation in the book is read, one of the drawings emerges from the book and becomes a living cartoon who takes the form of Roxanne, one of the girls, after killing her. The monster begins murdering two of the girls, but not before doing the same to Roxanne's arriving boyfriend, Biff, and the girls' superior, Burt. Gideon returns to vanquish the monster and the only surviving girl, Megan, throws the book into the fireplace, incinerating it and erasing the monster from existence. As Gideon departs and the monster's victims are revived the next morning, Megan screams in terror when the neighbor, Mr. Hinchlow, stops by and brings his portable television set so that the girls can watch Saturday-morning cartoons.
An evil Qing general (Wong Lung Wei) comes up with a brilliant plan to rid the Qing Empire once and for all of the Shaolin masters. He invites three Northern Shaolin experts to his mansion and has them fight in a contest against three novice Southern Shaolin men already present at his mansion. By royal decree, Shaolin was required to supply experts to teach the Qing troops martial arts. The Northern Shaolin experts easily and decisively win against the South Shaolin men. After the contest, the general visits the South Shaolin men in their quarters later that night and secretly kills the Southerners. He then has his subordinate go to South Shaolin placing the blame squarely on the Northerners. The Southern master of the dead disciples is deceived into believing that the Northern experts killed his disciples. This would begin an internal conflict between both Shaolin schools. It is only when the South Shaolin experts have their final confrontation with the Northerners that the general reveals himself. The experts from both schools realize they have been deceived and manipulated. Joining forces both North and South experts battle the general and his troops to allow some of their fellows to escape and reveal the Qing plot to destroy Shaolin.
Haine Otomiya, a 15-year-old high school student at the elite private Imperial Academy (帝国学園 ''Teikoku Gakuen''), was apparently sold to the Otomiya family by her father, Kazuhito Kamiya, for 50 million yen. Disoriented with her place in life, she became a gang member until she met Shizumasa Tōgū, who told her to live life how she wanted to. Recognizing Shizumasa as the author of a treasured picture book given to her from father, Haine reformed herself and entered the Imperial Academy to try and win his love.
However, Shizumasa is the Emperor of the school, the sole Gold rank student as the admired President of the Student Council. Through various circumstances, the Bronze-ranked Haine is tricked into becoming Shizumasa's bodyguard and assigned the special rank of Platinum - which designates her as the Koutei's companion. To Haine's surprise and disappointment, Shizumasa claims not to know her and acts coldly toward her. Still determined to win his love, she soon learns that the Koutei is not Shizumasa, but his twin brother Takanari. In the brothers' childhood, Shizumasa won the right to be recognized as the heir to the prestigious Tōgū family, which left Takanari to become his brother's "shadow" and was reported to have died. Because Shizumasa is sickly, Takanari is forced to assume Shizumasa's identity and reluctantly falls in love with Haine. Their relationship is strained by Haine's uncertainty as to whether she loves Shizumasa, whose kind words saved her during her darkest crisis of identity, or Takanari, who is revealed to be the author of her beloved story book. In the end, she decides to marry Takanari.
The story is presented as if related by a female story-teller in an Anglo-Saxon court, the author feeling it would have been about that time that the legend would have reached its fullest development, and such a teller would have been least likely to abbreviate it.
The Danish king Halfdan is murdered and his position usurped by his brother Frodhi. Halfdan's young sons Helgi and Hroar go into hiding to escape his fate, successfully eluding Frodhi until they reach adulthood and can take vengeance on their father's killer. On attaining the kingship themselves they rule together. Helgi, a warrior and sea-rover, visits the equally warlike queen of the Saxons, whom he woos overbearingly. Sent packing, he later returns and rapes her, a union resulting in a daughter, Yrsa, who years later becomes an instrument of vengeance when Helgi encounters and marries her. Only after they are wed does her mother reveal Yrsa's parentage. Haunted, Yrsa leaves Denmark to wed Adhils, King of the Swedes, and Helgi is ultimately killed in battle attempting to win her back.
Hrolf, the son of Helgi and Yrsa, is raised in the household of Hroar, becoming his adherent and supporter. During this time the events of ''Beowulf'' occur, and are briefly retold as part of the story. After Hroar's death a short civil war Hrolf becomes his successor. He builds up the realm and assembles a band of famous warriors, most notably Hjalti and Bodvar Bjarki, a were-bear and one of a trio remarkable brothers, the others being Elk-Frodhi and Thorir Houndsfoot. The story goes on to relate the personal tales of these champions.
After a reign notable for prosperity at home and successful war abroad, Hrolf visits the court of Adhils to see his mother and attain recompense for his father's death. Feigning hospitality, Adhils does his best to destroy his unwanted visitors through rigged tests of their prowess, while Yrsa warns Hrolf of his treachery. At length the animosity is brought into the open and the Danes fight their way out of Adhil's stronghold, taking his treasure with them. Pursued by the Swedes, they scatter the treasure along the ground to delay them and successfully escape. This "sowing" of the field of Fyrisvellir later becomes a famous incident in Norse legend. But during his Swedish adventure Hrolf manages to offend the god Odin, giver of victory. He returns to Denmark knowing he must henceforth avoid war, as his luck in battle has left him.
The end comes through treachery from Hrolf's half-elven half-sister Skuld, a witch married to Hjorvard, one of his sub-kings. Inciting her husband to revolt, they secretly raise an army and rise suddenly, besieging Hrolf in his hall. Hrolf's champions are roused from sleep and rallied by the chanting the ''Bjarkamál'', a famous Old Norse poem whose origins supposedly lie in this event; it has been largely lost, but Anderson presents a partial reconstruction as part of his story. Hrolf's warriors fight valiantly, but the witchcraft of Skuld prevails, and after a long, terrible battle the defenders fall.
Hjorvard does not last long as king, being killed by Vogg, a weakling Hrolf had befriended who in consequence had sworn to avenge him. Skuld herself is soon overthrown by an army led by Elk-Frodhi and Thorir Houndsfoot, come to avenge their brother Bodvar Bjarki. The realm goes to pieces, to be eventually pulled back together in part by a remote kinsman of Hrolf's.
Ricky Braithwaite is an engineer from British Guiana who has worked in an oil refinery in Aruba. Coming to Britain just before the outbreak of World War II, he joins the RAF and is assigned to aircrew. Demobbed in 1945, he is unable to find work despite his qualifications and experience due to racism. After discussing his situation with a stranger, he applies for a teaching position and is assigned to Greenslade School, a secondary school in London's East End.
Most of the pupils in his class are unmotivated to learn, and are only semi-literate and semi-articulate. He persists despite their unresponsiveness to his approach. Students attempt to discourage and demoralise him by disruptive noises, constant use of the adjective "bleeding" in the classroom and, finally, the burning of a used sanitary towel in the fireplace. This last causes Braithwaite to lose his temper and reprimand all the girls.
Braithwaite decides to try a new approach, and sets some ground rules. The students will be leaving school soon and will enter adult society, so he will treat them as adults and allow them to decide what topics they wish to study. In return, he demands their respect as their teacher. This novel approach is initially rejected, but within a few weeks the class is largely won over. He suggests out-of-school activities including visits to museums, which the students have never experienced before. A young teacher, Gillian Blanchard, volunteers to assist him on these trips. Some of the girls start to speculate whether a personal relationship is budding between Braithwaite and Gillian. The trip is a success and more are approved by the initially sceptical headmaster.
The teachers and the Student Council openly discuss all matters affecting the school including curricula. The general feeling is that Braithwaite's approach is working, although some teachers advocate a tougher approach.
The mother of one of the girls speaks privately to Braithwaite about the girl's troubling attraction to nightlife, feeling that he has more influence with her impressionable daughter.
Braithwaite and Gillian fall deeply in love and discuss marriage. Her parents are openly disapproving of a mixed-race marriage, but realise that the couple are serious and intelligent and must be trusted to make the right decision.
The movie involves two stories concerning the original Ten Tigers and their future disciples. The film opens with Tung Chi (Wang Li) and his nephew, Liang Seo Hu, pursuing the disciples to take revenge for General Liang, who was the father of Liang Seo Hu, and who was also Tung Chi’s martial arts brother. After killing one of the disciples, Wang Chow Ming (Lung Tung Sheng) and Lin Fu Sheng (Chin Siu-Ho) tells the story of the original Ten Tigers.
Anti-Ch'ing revolutionary leader Chai Min Yu (Ku Feng) is being hunted down by Manchu General Liang (Wang Lung Wei). He is almost caught when a masked man rescues him from death and escapes with him. The masked man is Li Jen Chiao (Ti Lung) a loyal ex-Shaolin man and the owner of a pawn shop in town. Li Jen Chiao hides Chai Min Yu in the back of his pawn shop, and sends his younger brother Tan Ming (Fu Sheng) to seek the help of two other ex-Shaolin men who reside in the town, Wan Yi Ling (Sun Chien) and Su He Hu (Lu Feng). Tan Ming is temperamental and is always getting into fights, and he starts fighting with Wan Yi Ling and Su He Hu before he explains the reason for his visit. Luckily, Li Jen Chiao is able to explain the situation in time, and the two man gladly swear their allegiance. They are also joined by loyal Shaolin brothers Wong Yin Lin (Wei Pai) and Wong Kei Ying. Beggar Su Chan (Kuo Chui), Iron-finger Chung (Lo Mang), Chu Yu Sheng (Chiang Sheng), Tieh Chow Tsan also join in the fray to assist the revolutionary in escaping and killing General Liang
In the present, an older Su Chan and Su He Hu plan a counterattack to kill Tung Chi, his brother Tung Pa, and their nephew before they can kill the remaining Ten Tigers.
In France in 1719, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans is the regent for the young Louis XV. He is sophisticated, gentle, a liberal and a libertine. He endeavours to keep his subjects cultured and happy—mainly to stop the peasants from rising up—but he knows he has no real royal authority. To assist him, Philippe enlists the aid of an atheistic and venal priest named Guillaume Dubois, another libertine who does not care for anyone except himself. The film begins with the gruesome autopsy of Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchess of Berry, elder daughter of the Regent who died on 21 July 1719, her health fatally ruined by her debauched life and a series of clandestine pregnancies. Notoriously promiscuous, Joufflotte ("chubby")—as she was nicknamed because of her generous proportions—was rumoured to have committed incest with her father. The autopsy reveals that the Rubenesque princess was again pregnant. Philippe is very much affected by her death. Meanwhile, a rebellion led by a Breton squire named Pontcallec occurs. Philippe's natural idealism is further shaken when he is forced to execute Pontcallec's band of revolutionaries. Dubois, however, tries to take advantage of the revolt and subsequent famine to become archbishop. It becomes apparent that true joy will only be found when the peasants successfully overthrow the aristocrats who have held them down for so long.
The film provides a description of 18th century life at court, and features the music of the real Philippe d'Orléans.
The government asks Yang Hu Yun (Sun Chien) to escort a cargo of gold to a famine stricken area. The vicious Chi Sha gang announces their intention to hijack it by killing one of Yang's employees. Yang describes to his men Chi Sha's four chiefs, each of whom has mastered a style of fighting: Golden Arm (Lo Mang), Silver Spear (Lu Feng), Iron Robe (Wang Lung Wei), and Brass Head (Yang Hsiung). To protect the gold, Yang hires swordsman Li Chin Ming (Wei Pai), Ming's girlfriend Miss Leng Feng (Helen Poon), Long Axe Yang Jiu (Shu Pei Sun), Short Axe Fang Shih (Chiang Sheng), and drunken master Agent Hai Tao (Kuo Chui).
On their way to meet with Yang, Long and Short Axe encounter the Seven Hooks gang and proceed to fight and kill three gang members each. Being competitive fighter neither wants to kill more than the other so they kill the last gang member together.
Before meeting with Yang, Leng encounters Iron Robe; Hai Tao appears and defeats her attackers, though he disappears once again before she can thank him. When Leng meets with Ming at a winery, the employees, which are Silver Spear, Brass Head, and several Chi Sha gang members in disguise, attack them. Ming is poisoned by Sand Palm (Dick Wei) before they flee. Despite the commotion, Hai Tao enters and demands service. After defeating several gang members, he identifies the disguised owner and manager as Silver Spear and Brass Head. After they pull off their disguises, they invite Hai Tao to join their gang. When he refuses, they allow him to leave peacefully, still hoping to recruit him.
Ming continues on his own after arguing with Leng over whether he should see a doctor; he is interested only in completing the mission. Meanwhile, Yang and his men battle Brass Head, who bursts from a secret tunnel in the floor. After mortally wounding him, they are in turn defeated by Golden Arm, whose unarmed style makes him invulnerable to their attacks. Golden Arm promises Brass Head vengeance before leaving to catch up with his gang members that have stolen the gold. Hai Tao stops the wagon by popping off a wheel, kills Iron Robe, and hides. Impressed with Hai Tao's skill, Golden Arm becomes determined to fight him. Golden Arm leaves the wagon for Yang to fix, confident he can retake it later.
Silver Spear easily defeats a weakened Ming, but Hai Tao rescues him. As Silver Spear retreats, Hai Tao takes Ming to a crematory. As Leng protests, the heat revives and cures Ming, though he is ungrateful and annoyed to owe his life to Hai Tao. As Yang and his men retrieve and fix the wagon, several men are poisoned from traps and die. All converge in a town, where they agree to rest for the night. After several more people die from poison traps, and Hai Tao saves the survivors from another trap, they realize the entire town is trapped. Ming becomes angry when Hai Tao and Leng become flirtatious.
Two of Yang's men die as they attempt to steal the gold, making Hai Tao suspicious, as he reasons the Chi Sha gang could not foresee this. In the morning, he leaves for another town, where he confronts Silver Spear, who is confused when Hai Tao questions him about poisoning the gold. Silver Spear leaves him with an ultimatum: join the gang or duel Golden Arm. Hai Tao chooses to duel. On the road, Yang's remaining escort become afraid and ask to leave, which he grants. Short Axe and Long Axe scout ahead, where they encounter several Chi Sha gang members and Silver Spear. Silver Spear kills Long Axe from a distance with silver darts, which angers Short Axe spurring him to kill most of the gang members. While Silver Spear is fighting Short Axe, a gang member sneaks up behind Short Axe and impales him on a spear. In turn, Short Axe uses his weapons to kill the attacker. As Silver Spear is about to inflict an impaling blow to Short Axe, Short Axe impales Silver Spear before he dies. Before either can inflict another blow to the other, they each drop dead.
Upon finding the tombs of Long Axe and Short Axe, Ming storms off impatiently to challenge Golden Arm, who defeats and kills him. Hai Tao duels with Golden Arm. Reasoning that his eyes are unprotected, Hai Tao blinds him by spitting wine. Yang demands they kill Golden Arm, but when Hai Tao refuses, a man bursts from the gold cart, slashes Hai Tao, and reveals himself as Iron Feet (Sun Chien). Iron Feet explains that he partnered with Yang to counteract Golden Arm's Chi Sha Gang and claim the gold for themselves; however, he kills Yang. As the now-blinded Golden Arm and Iron Feet duel, Hai Tao reveals that he was only pretending to be wounded; Iron Feet only slashed his wine canteen. Together, Golden Arms and Hai Tao kill Iron Feet. Golden Arm intends to retire but is mortally wounded by Leng Feng. Instead of killing her, he accepts death as a better alternative, and Hai Tao leaves Leng to escort the gold as he gets drunk.
The insidious Masked Gang of hired killers have been terrorizing the countryside, with their mastery of the trident and an inherent brutality, raping and pillaging. But who are the men behind the mask, and what are the identities of the three chiefs in the gold masks?
Chiang Sheng stars as Chi San Yuen, a martial arts expert and leader of a protective escort service of other expert fighters. Chi and his team are hired to find the Masked Gang and end their reign of terror.
Along the way Chi's team encounter Kao Yao (Philip Kwok) who was a former chief of the Masked Gang until he left the gang. He assists Chi's team in their struggle against the Masked Gang and helps to reveal that his replacement in the gang has already infiltrated Chi's group. The final confrontation between the Masked Gang and Chi's team of fighters lead to an all out battle at the Masked Gang's secret lair.
A sadistic serial killer, Patrick Channing (Jeff Kober), known by most as the Pentagram Killer, is at large in Los Angeles, killing innocent people as a sacrifice to Satan. His specific MO is engraving a pentagram symbol into the flesh of his victims before killing them.
Detective Russell Logan (Lou Diamond Phillips) is determined to bring the Pentagram Killer to justice. He receives an anonymous phone call from a psychic called Tess Seaton (Tracy Griffith). After getting his promise that the man will not be executed, she tells him where the killer is going to strike next. With time running out for the next victim, Logan decides to take Tess on her word. Logan goes on a stakeout and successfully tracks down Channing's lair. During a struggle in which Logan apprehends Channing, Logan receives a severe stab wound to his torso.
Logan manages to recover from his stomach injury and breaks his word, and successfully seeks a death penalty sentence. Tess makes another phone call to Logan, pleading with him to keep his promise that Channing not be executed. Logan refuses, satisfied that Channing is now caught and cannot harm another person and, therefore, is not interested in sparing the serial killer from what he believes is a much-deserved fate. Channing is later convicted and sentenced to be executed in the gas chamber. However, since Channing was a worshipper of Satan, the latter seemingly grants Channing ''The First Power'' -- resurrection. This is the first of three special powers Channing is attempting to gain, and is directly stated in the film that Jesus Christ also possessed all three of these powers. Channing returns from the grave and is able to appear or disappear at will, as well as possess others. His main objective now becomes to get his revenge on Russell Logan as well as continue his work. Logan must then team up with Tess in order to find a way to defeat Channing once and for all. The climax of the film takes place at an unused part of a water treatment plant where Logan finds Tess after she was kidnapped from his apartment by Channing. Logan and Channing fight, while Channing is possessing a nun, resulting in Channing getting stabbed in the chest with a crucifix that has a knife hidden in it which is the only thing that will kill him. A police officer shoots and wounds Logan after he thought Logan was attacking a nun. Tess visits Logan in the hospital, where he wakes up and attacks her. She wakes up to realize that she was having another psychic vision of Channing possessing Logan, and she hears Channing's voice taunting her with the same line he used throughout the film to taunt Logan. This suggests that Channing's spirit is still free and roaming around.
The master of the respectable and honored Iron Flag Clan (a clan that uses spears with flags as weapons) is murdered by the mysterious White-Robed Wanderer, an assassin hired by the elder brother of the clan Tsao Feng (Iron Tiger). Brother Lo (Iron Leopard) takes the heat when the authorities arrive to make an arrest and agrees to go away for a while. Tsao Feng offers to send him money, however money never arrives, only killers constantly trying to take Brother Lo's life. The White-Robed Wanderer arrives again, only this time to save Brother Lo from being murdered. White-Robed Wanderer admits to Lo that he killed his Chief but he was tricked into doing so by Tsao Feng so that Tsao Feng could take over not only the Iron Flag Clan but their rivals the Eagles. Lo and his brother Iron Monkey team up with the White-Robed Wanderer to go after Tsao Feng and take revenge for their murdered chief.
China is ripped apart by a civil war, and thousands of displaced refugees swarm into towns not yet ravaged by war. Three such refugees (Kuo Chui, Lo Man, and Chiang Sheng) arrive in one town. The three swear an oath of brotherhood in a similar fashion to Liu Bei Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. They join forces with the local rebel leaders (Sun Chien and Yang Hsuing) to escape to the south before getting into trouble with Lu Feng who is out to exterminate all rebels.
Struggling to survive the murderous gang wars of Hong Kong, Tan Tung (Alexander Fu Sheng), a young martial arts street fighter, successfully takes on all challengers—until he runs up against the savage underworld empire of Hong Kong's Triad mafia. Escaping to San Francisco, he again tangles with criminal gangs, but this time fights his way to the top of the city's most feared gangster organization led by the White Dragon boss (Kuo Chui). At last, his rise to power leads to a final, murderous, gang-land war for control of all Chinatown. And in the end, Tan Tung must decide whether he will use his awesome skills to fight for evil ... or for to help his best friend Yang Ching.
After his father refuses to teach him kung fu and he is constantly being beaten by rival school students, a young Wong Fei Hung (Gordon Liu) must train under Luk Ah Choy (Chen Kuan Tai) to avenge the evils being done by the rival school.
Each episode opened with the announcer (Pierre Andre, Roger Krupp, Stuart V. Dawson) explaining: :Now, we present once again, ''Backstage Wife'', the story of Mary Noble, a little Iowa girl who married one of America's most handsome actors, Larry Noble, matinée idol of a million other women — the story of what it means to be the wife of a famous star.
In 1946, when the program was in its 12th year, a newspaper article summarized the plot's status as follows: :When her husband joined the coast guard, Mary tried to carry on his work in the theatre, thereby establishing a reputation for herself as an actress. Now Larry has come home, and the two are encountering the difficulties of peacetime readjustment.
Sara has been madly in love with popular classmate Brian ever since preschool and dreams of marrying him. He is unaware of her existence. A solar eclipse inexplicably transports them from high school in 1990 to the day of their wedding in 2007. Sara in reality is a 17-year-old (Katee Sackhoff), seen by those around her as thirty-something (along with Brian), her dream marriage has come true, and she and Brian are not prepared for adulthood. Sara is in an election campaign for Lieutenant Governor and Brian is a wealthy investment banker. They find that what they have become is not what they appreciate. Brian is responsible for fraud at his investment company, and discovers that he is having an affair with his secretary. Sara finds out that she has become cruel and unreasonable in her quest for her dreams and has lost touch with her family and best friend (Katie). Sara decides that the only way to fix what has happened is to go back in time. She enlists the help of Katie's daughter to help her find how to get back to 1990. Sara discovers that to travel back in time she must be in the same place and time that the eclipse happened in 1990. But when Brian gets arrested for fraud and tax evasion, Sara must come to his rescue as his lawyer. During the trial Sara and Brian find out that Brian's ex-girlfriend is the judge of his trial, they plead not guilty, and the bail is set at $100,000. In the end, they go back in time and forgot that they were married.
This novel takes place in the seven days after Pen O'Grady's lover, Cara Wall, has been killed in a car accident. The two had been together for thirteen years, after meeting as schoolgirls in a Catholic school in Dublin. The story combines flashbacks giving the history of Pen and Cara's complex and tumultuous relationship with details of the various ways Pen feels and responds to grief, the reactions of people who do or don't know the nature of the relationship, Pen's feelings about lesbians in Ireland, and several decisions to come out to those close to her.
Curious George, left alone at home with his new ball, looks out the window and sees a small house. He jumps out the window, inside the house sees a lot of bunnies. He accidentally lets one out, plays hide and seek with the bunny, and lets it back in the house.
As George walks back home, he sees a fisherman fishing and is inspired to fish too. When he uses cake (for fishing bait), he catches no fish. After two failed attempts for catching the fish, he eats the rest of the cake (as he realized he loved cake too). Then, he tries another way to catch fish, but ends up falling into the water. The neighbor boy, Bill, helps him get out. He tells George that even though George did not catch any fish, the good news is that none of the fish ate him. Then Bill shows him his new kite. He lets George watch it while he gets his bicycle.
George flies the kite. At first, he thinks it would be okay to fly it. But when he tries that, the kite soon flies off with him. The Man with the Yellow Hat asks Bill if he saw George, and soon sees him up in the sky with the kite. The Man with the Yellow Hat did not wait to hear any more from Bill, so he said, "Then I must have George back! I ''must'' get him back!". So the Man rescues him by helicopter. George returns the kite to Bill, who in return gives him the bunny.
''The Queen of Air and Darkness'' is the second book in the four-part work ''The Once and Future King'' which chronicles White's own version of the legend of King Arthur. Although it is the shortest book in the series, it is a vital point in the story for several reasons:
Arthur invents the idea of the Round Table, which is central to the plots of the third and fourth books. Arthur also defeats the barons rebelling against him, securing his position as king. Arthur's understanding of "Might vs. Right" is explored more deeply in this book. The Orkney faction is introduced. These four boys (Gawain, Agravaine, Gaheris, and Gareth) grow up and become major characters in the third and fourth books. *King Pellinore gets married and has several children who will become important in ''The Ill-Made Knight''.
The novel begins with the four Orkney boys, Gawaine, Agravaine, Gaheris, and Gareth, telling each other stories late at night. As they speak, it becomes clear that they have great respect and love for their mother, the beautiful Queen Morgause, although she does not devote herself entirely to motherhood, but has a desire to understand and unlock her magical powers while her husband, King Lot, is off to war against King Arthur. We also learn that Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, raped Morgause's mother, Igraine, making Morgause Arthur's half-sister (although no one is yet aware of this fact except for Merlyn, who had forgotten to tell it to Arthur).
Arthur is still being tutored by Merlyn, although the relationship between the two has changed. Instead of seeing Merlyn as an almighty sage, Arthur treats him as more of a friend throughout the novel. Despite this, Merlyn still attempts to teach Arthur how to create a perfect society out of his newly formed kingdom. Arthur is unimpressed and would rather be off fighting wars than taking care of peasants.
Back in the Orkney Isles, the four Orkney boys are bored and seek a story from their own tutor, St Toirdelbach, a very different teacher from Merlyn. He tells them a story, but quickly becomes annoyed with the boys and threatens to hit them with his shillelagh if they refuse to leave him alone. This is one of White's best examples of how different the loveless childhoods of the Orkney boys are from the happy childhood of Arthur.
As the boys are walking on the beach after visiting St Toirdelbach, Sir Grummor Grummursum and King Pellinore arrive on the shore in a magic barge. Along with them is a Saracen knight named Sir Palomides, who has apparently befriended them between the previous book and their arrival in the Orkney islands. The trio had previously been in Flanders where Pellinore fell in love with the daughter of the Queen of Flanders. The knights had entered the boat and had been unable to turn it around, causing Pellinore to become so lovesick that he no longer wishes to hunt the Questing Beast, his lifelong passion.
Arthur is preparing for the battle against Lot's Gaelic warriors. He has begun to accept the idea of chivalry, and of "Might vs. Right". He announces to Merlyn that he plans to put down Lot's rebellion and then use his power to enforce justice throughout his kingdom.
Morgause is pleased that the three bumbling knights have landed because they have no idea that England is at war with Orkney. She takes advantage of their ignorance and attempts to make them fall in love with her. She attempts an unsuccessful unicorn hunt with the knights. The boys consult St Toirdelbach and then attempt to catch a live unicorn to present to their mother. They almost succeed but Agravaine kills the unicorn in a fit of rage (the boys were pretending that the virgin who lured the unicorn was their mother and Agravaine hated the unicorn for touching their "mother"). The other three brothers are angry, as they believe that Agravaine has ruined their chances of getting a reward from their mother. Only Gareth feels sorry for the unicorn. Morgause is not pleased that they succeeded where she failed and she has them whipped.
On the plains of Bedegraine Arthur is making final preparations for battle. He announces his idea of the Round Table and Merlyn informs him that another king has such a table. This king is the father of Arthur's future wife, Guenever. Sir Kay, Arthur's foster-brother, says that he believes that if war will help the conquered race to live a better life, they should be conquered. Merlyn angrily informs him that there is a certain Austrian who shares Kay's views, and "plunged the world into bloody chaos." This is an allusion to Adolf Hitler.
Sir Palomides and Sir Grummore, concerned about King Pellinore's lovesickness, plan to impersonate the Questing Beast and lure him back to chasing it. Their plan backfires when the real Questing Beast appears and chases them. They spend the night caught half-way up a cliff.
Morgause, frustrated that the knights have not fallen for her, decides that her boys matter more to her. Gareth rushes to the stables to tell his brothers that she loves them, and finds that Gawaine and Agravaine are having a heated argument. Agravaine wants to send a letter to Lot, informing him about the three knights and Morgause's plans to cheat on him. Gawaine is infuriated by the idea, considering it a betrayal of their mother. The argument ends when Agravaine threatens Gawaine with a hidden knife, and Gawaine nearly kills him. White explains that Gawaine cannot help his sudden passions, which will plague him throughout his life.
Merlyn knows that his time with Arthur is nearly over, as he will soon be locked up for a thousand years. Arthur is distressed and asks why Merlyn can't avoid the imprisonment that awaits him. Merlyn tells Arthur a parable to explain that no one can escape fate (the famous story of a man who learns of his death, then rides to escape death, but ends up running into Death while escaping). He also warns Arthur about Guenever and Lancelot, but Arthur is too saddened by Merlyn's departure to take the warning to heart.
Early the next morning King Pellinore is walking alone on the beach when he spots Palomides and Grummore stuck on the cliff, with the Questing Beast waiting for them below. He explains that the Beast has fallen in love with them, as she thinks that they are her mate when they are in disguise, and he refuses to slay the creature. Instead he holds it down while Grummore and Palomides escape to Morgause's castle. Pellinore is reunited with Piggy, the daughter of the Queen of Flanders. He returns to the castle to find that the Questing Beast is waiting outside. Merlyn has begun his journey to find Nimue and passes by them. He advises the pair of knights to psychoanalyse the Questing Beast. They do so, but it backfires and the Questing Beast falls in love with Sir Palomides. Pellinore gives up chasing the Beast then and Sir Palomides takes over from him.
Arthur has engaged Lot in a battle that will determine who will rule Britain. Arthur overcomes Lot with an ambush at night, despite Lot's having a larger number of soldiers. Contrary to the code of chivalry (or at least White's version of it) he also attacks the enemy knights first rather than the foot soldiers. Arthur realises that it is wrong to slaughter peasants for the fun of knights, as Merlyn had insisted in his lessons. Assisted by the French noblemen, Ban and Bors, Arthur wins the battle.
The defeated Lot returns home and the three English knights are shocked to learn that Orkney has been at war with England. Morgause heads south to England in order to reconcile with the English, and brings with her her sons and the three knights. Arthur conducts the wedding of Piggy and Pellinore, whom he remembers fondly as the first knight he ever met. At the same time, St Toirdelbach also marries. After the ceremony Morgause seduces Arthur and becomes pregnant. It is then that Merlyn, far away in North Humberland, remembers that he had forgotten to tell Arthur that Morgause was Arthur's half-sister, so Arthur's adultery is also incest. Morgause becomes pregnant with Mordred, who will one day come to ruin his father's kingdom.
Continuing from the previous module, ''Dragons of Despair'', players reenact the ''Dragonlance'' story using the pre-generated players. The player characters return to their hometown and find it overrun by evil; the elves of Qualinost hire them to free captives that the Draconians have imprisoned in the fortress of Pax Tharkas. In ''Dragons of Flame'', the brave Innfellows are suffering thanks to the Draconians, and require aid in the beleaguered North Lands before setting off to rescue an enslaved population. When the adventure starts, Solace has been captured by Kapak Draconians. The dragon armies control the plains, but Qualinesti is not conquered. Plainsmen are being taken by caravan to Pax Tharkas to be slaves.
;Chapter 5 – Que Kiri and the Plains A short set of encounters on the plains and the ruins of Que Kiri show the effects of the dragon armies as the PCs travel back to Solace from Xak Tsaroth, where they finished ''Dragons of Despair''. There is also an encounter to ensure the PCs are captured and taken to Solace if they head in another direction.
;Chapter 6 – Solace The PCs see the devastation at Solace, and are arrested in the Inn of the Last Home along with Tika and Gilthanas.
;Chapter 7 – The Slave Caravan As slaves being transported to Pax Tharsis, the PCs meet Gilthanas, and are rescued by elves.
;Chapter 8 – Elvenhome The elves, polite but aloof, update the players on the start of the war and suggest that they and Gilthanas should free the slaves and hostages in Pax Tharsis. Laurana is introduced, and soon after is kidnapped by Fewmaster Toede.
;Chapter 9 – To the Walls of Pax Tharkas The heroes and Gilthanas, who becomes a PC, travel overland for a day, then enter and traverse Sla-Mori, the secret passages that lead into the fortress of Pax Tharkas.
;Chapter 10 – The Tharkadan Towers In a section of Pax Tharkas, the heroes must find and rescue all the children, women, and men who are being held prisoner in different locations. Besides all the draconian or hobgoblin guards, they must avoid two ancient red dragons and dragon highlord Verminaard.
In ''Dragons of Hope'', the player characters' (PC) objective is to help the freed prisoners from Pax Tharkas escape a draconian army and then to assist them in finding Thorbardin, the ancient home of the mountain dwarves. To do so, the player characters must first find the key to Thorbardin, which is hidden in the lair of an ancient wizard.
The adventure starts with the players freeing 800 refugees from Pax Tharkas, who are subsequently pursued through the wilderness by Verminaard's army. The players must then lead their characters through the snow-capped Kharolis Mountains, across the Dergoth plains towards Skullcap, and ultimately to Thorbardin.
The module contains special rules and challenges in each particular region in order for the PCs to successfully reach their goal of leading the refugees to safety. Bonus experience points are available to players depending on how many refugees they manage to lead to safety.
In ''Dragons of Desolation'', the player characters (PCs) find their way into the underground kingdom of Thorbardin, where the dwarves are already contending with agents of the draconians. The characters must search a floating castle for the legendary Hammer of Kharas to obtain the dwarves' aid. The module describes the realm of Thorbardin, which is mapped using reusable modular map pieces.
In this module, the dragon armies have conquered the North. The PCs must lead a band of refugees to the Doors of Thorbardin and persuade the dwarves to let them pass by meeting their price. All of this must be done before the draconians find the hidden camp of the refugees and destroy it.
'''Chapter 14: The Doors of Thorbardin'''
Chapter 14 is event-based with a small wilderness trip. Elistan appears dead, the PCs have strange dreams, and there is a possible conversation with Verminaard. The chapter concludes with the discovery of the Doors of Thorbardin.
'''Chapter 15: The North Gate of the Dwarves'''
This chapter occurs in a vast, but very sparsely populated, dungeon that leads into a vast underground dwarven realm. The PCs encounter the dwarf Arman Kharas, who is searching for his kidnapped half-brother Pick, but should avoid the Derro city.
'''Chapter 16: The Honor of the Hylar'''
Eventually the PCs will come or be brought to the Life-Tree of the Hylar, a massive half mile high stalagmite with a dwarven city carved into it that rises out of the middle of an underground lake. There they have an audience with the Council of the Thanes, who agree to allow the PCs to go, and the refugees to pass through, if the heroes recover the Hammer of Kharas. Eben Shatterstone is kept as a hostage by the dwarves, but Arman Kharas travels with the party on their quest to recover the hammer.
'''Chapter 17: Kalil S'rith'''
Kalil S'rith (Dwarven for "The Valley of Thanes") is a valley enclosed by high mountains where the Dwarves bury their dead. There the PCs find the Derkin's tomb floating above a lake. The Gold Dragon Evenstar guards the Hammer of Kharas ensconced in the tomb. After a confrontation with Ember, which ends with the death of both Ember and Evenstar, the heroes escape on magical horses as the tomb begins to sink (this is the image shown on the module's cover).
'''Chapter 18: Dark Realms'''
With the dragon armies in pursuit, the Heroes are either chased or captured and taken to the climactic encounter of the First Book of Dragonlance. In the Temple of Stars, the heroes confront Verminaard, the traitor is revealed, and they fight the final battle.
'''Epilogue'''
With Verminaard dead, and the Hammer of Kharas recovered, the heroes have secured a safe passage for the refugees. If they have not done so in time, few survive. The Wedding of Goldmooon and Riverwind completes the story as the heroes consider what needs to be done next.
Cindy, short for Cinderella, lives with her widowed stepmother and two stepsisters, Bertha and Ertha. Cindy is forced to do all of the housework and is effectively a servant. The widow hates Cindy because when her late Grandfather died, he hid his will which the widow knows passes all the family inheritance to Cindy. The widow purposely keeps Cindy busy so that she won't find the will, giving the widow time to find it first. The widow is also planning to marry her favorite daughter, Bertha, to a handsome young man named Phillipe, though he is smitten with Cindy.
One night, Cindy falls asleep before finishing her chores, but an old lady sneaks into the house to finish the chores for her. Ertha, Cindy's kinder stepsister, encounters the old lady, who reveals that she is Cindy's Grandmother, and was kicked out of the house by the widow after Grandfather died. The same thing happens the following night, but the widow wakes up and chases Grandmother away. Ertha, who witnessed everything, tells Cindy about it.
The widow is afraid that Grandmother will help Cindy find the will. Following the advice of her magic mirror, the widow puts on a salesman disguise and visits Grandmother in the woods, tricking her into entering The Castle of a Hundred Doors, from which there is no escape. Cindy, dressed in a red riding hood, arrives at Grandmother's cottage too late and is chased away by a "wolf", which is actually the widow in disguise.
Cindy sits by a lake, telling her hopes to an ugly duckling, unaware that Phillippe is listening. Phillippe reveals himself and gives her a ring as a token, but their meeting is interrupted by the widow, who orders Cindy to work. While in the barn, Cindy discovers the widow's wolf costume and realizes what happened. Bertha, who is jealous of Cindy, chases the pigs away from the farm and blames Cindy for it. Ertha advises Cindy to escape to Grandmother's cottage, which she does. There Cindy discovers seven wooden dwarfs and one wooden puppet Pinocchio. They come alive when she kisses them, and they tell her that widow took Grandmother away.
The widow wants Cindy back at the house working for her. She discovers Cindy's music box and decides to lure her back by holding a masked ball. Cindy wants to go, as it is a chance to see Phillippe. The dwarfs make her a costume, but warn her that since her mask is made of snow it will melt at midnight. At the ball, Cindy's disguise works and she gets to dance with Phillippe. Meanwhile, Ertha and Pinocchio dance together. When the clock strikes twelve, Cindy's disguise melts and she runs away to escape the widow, her friends following close behind.
When the widow mocks Ertha for falling for Pinocchio, Ertha retaliates by telling Phillippe that Cindy can be found at Grandmother's house. He heads out to find her, but finds the Castle of a Hundred Doors instead. The dwarfs also find the Castle, but they too get lost inside and unable to escape.
The widow goes to the cottage wearing another disguise devised by her magic mirror, this time pretending to be Pinocchio's mother. The widow hypnotises Cindy with a magic apple to fall asleep, and in the commotion the widow accidentally falls into a well. Pinocchio, now alone, searches for help and stumbles upon the Castle. When he enters, one of his shoes is caught on a nail and starts to unravel. Eventually Grandmother is found, and everyone groups up and follows the trail out.
When they arrive back at the cottage, Cindy is woken up by a kiss from Phillippe. Grandmother explains to Cindy about the will, and that the answer is in his Magic Riddle, a poem which ends with: "Only Pinocchio knows". It turns out that the will is inside Pinocchio's nose. Grandmother reads the will, confirming that all of Grandfather's possessions go to Cindy. Cindy and Phillippe's wedding is held at what used to be the widow's house. After the celebrations, the dwarfs and Pinocchio turn back into wood, their task completed. But when Ertha kisses Pinocchio, he comes back to life to be with her.
''Dragons of Glory'' is both a sourcebook and a strategic-level war based board-game. The game is set during a war between two factions: the draconians and the defenders of Krynn. The set describes the war and the opposing armies, using Battlesystem statistics for both sides.
''Dragons of Glory'' is a simulation game, designed to allow players to produce their own historical timeline of the events in the world of Krynn for an ongoing ''Dragonlance'' campaign. By keeping a record of forces' positions over time, news can be related to the player characters, who can encounter various armies, creatures, or leaders at appropriate points.
''Dragons of Triumph'' is both a scenario and the title of a sourcebook. The sourcebook describes the continent of Ansalon, including its status before and after the war, and all of the draconians, creatures, and artifacts of Krynn. In the scenario, the player characters cross a land of smoke and fire to reach the capital of the Dragon Empire in order to confront the Dragon Queen for a final battle between good and evil. In this final battle with Takhisis at her temple in Neraka, the Heroes of the Lance must drive her back to her own plane. ''Battlesystem'' statistics are provided to enable the battle.
Dr. Laurience (Karloff), a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origins of the mind and soul in an isolated manor house, aided only by the promising surgeon Clare Wyatt (Lee) and a wheelchair-using confederate named Clayton (Donald Calthrop). The scientific community rejects his theories and Laurience risks losing everything for which he has worked so obsessively. To save his research, Laurience (pronounced "Lorenz") begins to use his discoveries in brain transference for his own nefarious purposes, replacing the mind of philanthropist Lord Haslewood (Frank Cellier) with the personality of the crippled, caustic Clayton. With Lord Haslewood's wealth and prestige at his command, Laurience becomes an almost unstoppable mad scientist.
Despite a powerful patron and a state-of-the-art laboratory, chain-smoking Laurience remains the typical absent-minded professor, with eraser dust on the back of his wrinkled jacket, and in constant, desperate need of a strong hairbrush. However, he is not immune to the feminine charms of the lovely Dr. Wyatt. He attempts to take control of the body of Lord Haslewood's handsome son Dick (John Loder) in an effort to seduce Clare, but finds it impossible to disguise his own strange physicality even in the body of another man. Nor can he go without a cigarette in front of Clare although he is aware that young Dick Haslewood never smoked. Unfortunately, before transferring his mind with that of Dick, Laurience strangled Clayton, who was inhabiting the body of Lord Haslewood, so that Dick, afterwards a prisoner in Laurience's own body, would be hanged for the murder of the man presumed to be his father.
Realizing the truth, Clare and her friend Dr. Gratton (Cecil Parker) return Laurience's mind to its proper body, but that body has been badly broken in a panicked fall out of a high window, taken while Dick Haslewood was in unwilling possession. Admitting he has wasted an incredible invention on a selfish and murderous scheme, the shattered Laurience tells Clare he should never have meddled with the human soul. He takes his knowledge to the grave, having changed his mind for the last time.
Back to Bosnia is a documentary film about a family who returns to Bosnia in 2001, to reclaim the property they were forced out of at gun point. While there, the family is confronted with the destruction of their city's multi-ethnic character and forced to examine the community they left behind. They witness an exhumation, visit the sites of war crimes, and seek out the remnants of a city that was once their home, as well as confront those that forced them out.
Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. They are deeply in love though they fight occasionally. One winter, Gerry dies of a brain tumor, and Holly realizes how much he meant to her as well as how insignificant their arguments and differences were.
Deeply distraught, Holly withdraws from her family and friends out of grief until they descend upon her on her thirtieth birthday. She doesn't want to live anymore without him. They are determined to prod the young widow to face the future and explore what her life choices should be. As they rally around Holly and help organize her apartment, a cake is delivered, and with it is a message from Gerry. It proves to be the first of several meaningful messages—all ending "P.S. I Love You"—which he had arranged to have delivered to her after his death.
As the seasons pass, each new message fills her with encouragement and sends her on a new adventure. Holly's mother is worried that Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly slowly embarks on a journey of rediscovery.
Gerry arranged for Holly and her friends Denise and Sharon to travel to his homeland of Ireland. They arrive at their destination, a house in the beautiful Irish countryside where they find letters from Gerry for Sharon & Denise, one asking Denise to take Holly to his favorite pub. While there, they meet William, a singer who strongly reminds Holly of her deceased husband. He asks her to stay to see him after his last song ("Galway Girl"), which he dedicates to her. Upon hearing it, she is overcome with emotion and walks out, because it was the song Gerry sang to her shortly after they first met.
During the vacation, while on a fishing trip, they lose the boat's oars, leaving the three women stranded in the middle of a lake. During their wait for help, Sharon announces that she is pregnant and Denise reveals she is getting married. This news causes Holly to relapse emotionally and again withdraw into herself. They are eventually rescued by William, whom Sharon and Denise invite to stay the night because of the pouring rain.
Unable to deny their feelings for each other, William and Holly kiss and have sex. They begin a conversation about her deceased husband and Holly asks William to drive her to visit her in-laws. Upon Holly revealing their names, William realizes she is the widow of his childhood best friend. Revealing this to Holly causes her to panic, but William calms her down and starts to tell stories about his and Gerry's childhood. The next day, Holly visits Gerry's parents and while there receives another letter from Gerry, reminding her of their first meeting.
Arriving home, Holly again withdraws from family and friends. As she continues to become more and more lost, she is inspired by Gerry after finding one of his suspender clips next to one of her shoes and realizes she has a flair for designing women's shoes; she enrolls in a class that teaches how to actually make the shoes she has designed. New found self-confidence allows her to emerge from her solitude and genuinely embrace her friends' happiness.
While on a walk with her mother, she learns that her mother was the one whom Gerry asked to deliver his letters after his death. Her mother hands her the last letter and she takes it home where she gets a voicemail from Daniel asking her to forget everything he said about not wanting her. She meets him at Yankee Stadium and asks him to read the last letter from Gerry, who tells her not to turn away from new love. Daniel and Holly kiss but decide they are better off as friends.
Later, Holly takes her mother on a trip to Ireland. By chance they meet William, and he expresses his wish to see her again.
The novel opens in February 1986 with Lee Peterson waking up and going about his daily routine before heading to work. But something is off. Lee takes an egg from the refrigerator and tries to break it into a frying pan. It doesn't break. He tries again; it wobbles. Lee then wakes up. He begins his routine again only to wake up again. This happens a number of times, like the peeling of one layer of onion off another. Lee calls these occurrences ''repeaters''.
The phone rings and he wakes up again to hear a voice that he hadn't heard since his college days: Ella Innes. The first thing they say to each other is that it's happening again. They thought they could escape Dreamside only to find that over ten years later, it is once again worming its tendrils back into their lives.
Lee and Ella meet to discuss why this was happening to them now and what to do about it. Believing that either Brad or Honora is travelling to Dreamside and causing the effects to manifest in the others, Ella convinces Lee that they must find their other two classmates. Lee reluctantly agrees to go find Brad while Ella searches for a reclusive Honora.
The novel flashes back twelve years earlier to April 1974 when Lee, wanting desperately to start a conversation with Ella, joins a lucid dreaming study that she shows interest in.
The group consists of a variety of students, some pretending that they lucid dream and those that legitimately can. Over the semester, the group dwindles to a few students. At the end, Professor L.P. Burns picks Ella and Lee along with Brad and Honora. Burns' decision to select two pairs of the opposite sex may have been deliberate: over the course of the study, Lee and Ella become intimate. Brad, an obnoxious yet skilled lucid dreamer, wishes the same scenario between him and the shy Honora. The professor is conducting a double-blind study. The lucid dreaming serves as a distraction to study group dynamics. However, Burns' interest in the dream data increases as the four began showing promising results with the exercises.
Brad and Ella are the first to contact one another in a shared lucid dream. The dreamscape mirrored a park setting that the couple had copulated in near the beginning of their relationship. Brad and Honora have less luck.
The Professor, wishing to set the foundation for a share dream space between the four, takes the students for a weekend vacation to a rural cabin owned by a colleague of his. A few miles down the road is a scenic lake with a single ancient tree leaning over it. After the trip, the four finally meet in Dreamside. This world vaguely mimics the lake area.
As Lee and Ella perform sexual experiments in Dreamside, Brad aggressively pursues Honora in hopes of being able to experience what the other couple is. Honora rejects him, saying that she wishes to remain a virgin. Brad argues that it wouldn't count in Dreamside.
Around this same time, the group discovers certain frightening aspects of Dreamside. If they stop paying attention to themselves, the dreams begin to meld and sink into the ground, water, or tree. Also, the occurrence of repeaters have increased. The students feel as if the waking world and the dreaming world are beginning to interweave. Concerned, Professor Burns decides to bring the experiment to a conclusion. Before the matter can be discussed further, the students find out the next day that Burns has died.
Against Professor Burns' wishes, Brad, Lee, and Honora decide to continue the experiments. During one particular session, Brad finally forces himself upon Honora in Dreamside and rapes her. Honora wakes up in her own bed to find that her sheets are stained with blood. At this point Honora goes into seclusion and withdraws from any more experiments.
The novel flashes back into the present where Ella finds Honora who is now a grade school teacher. Honora confides with Ella that she had a miscarriage in the real world, but gave birth to a daughter in Dreamside. This girl, who is now approximately twelve years of age, is now making appearances in the waking world.
The four dreamers meet together in the real once again and try to figure out how to rectify the problem they left behind. Then one night they are all pulled in back to Dreamside. The world is now ice-covered and barren. A hurricane-strength storm whips through the dream and in the middle of it, they find Honora and Brad's daughter. They try to escape, but the storm rages on. Honora lets go of the others, saying that the girl wants her to join her in the raging waters. Brad chases after her and pulls her from the water before either falling or jumping in. He's never found, in either world.
Two astro-miners in the asteroid belt, Estes and Funarelli, are badly injured when their spaceship is damaged by the tidal effects of an uncharted black hole. Their drive and communications systems are beyond repair and they have a finite supply of food and air.
In desperation, Estes hits on the idea of going outside the ship and throwing small rocks at the black hole. This will generate bursts of x-rays which, he hopes, will be detected by radio-astronomers on Earth.
He does this several times, attempting to time the bursts so that they spell out S-O-S in Morse code. The attempt works and within days, an unmanned drone ship with supplies arrives from Earth.
In 1483 England, Richard, the Duke of Gloucester (Vincent Price), is dismayed when his dying brother King Edward IV names their brother George, Duke of Clarence as Protector to his young son and heir, Prince Edward. Richard wants the position himself, to become ''de facto'' ruler after his brother's death. He secretly stabs George to death with a dagger bearing the crest of the Woodville family, framing the dying king's in-laws. Richard is now named Protector. His wife Anne approves of his crime and encourages him to take the throne for himself.
After the death of King Edward, Richard tries to achieve his ends by intimidating the widowed queen's lady-in-waiting Mistress Shore into claiming that the dead king's two children are illegitimate. She refuses, and Richard tortures her. After she dies on the rack, Richard claims he executed her for spreading the rumour that the princes were illegitimate. He says that the two princes should be placed in his protective custody.
The ghosts of Clarence, King Edward and Mistress Shore haunt Richard, warning him that they will be revenged at "Bosworth". He is also told that he will be killed by a dead man. Shore's ghost merges with the body of Anne, and a semi-deranged Richard strangles his own wife, believing her to be Shore. Without his beloved Anne, he is struck with guilt and loneliness. Richard consults the Moorish physician and sorcerer Tyrus, who shows him visions of his future, including the prophecy that he will be king.
Tyrus is disturbed by Richard's increasingly deranged demeanour. Fearful for the safety of the princes, he informs Sir Jasper, a young aristocrat who is looking after the lads. Jasper plots with his girlfriend, Lady Margaret Stanley, to rescue the princes. He manages to get the young Duke of York and his mother free, but he is trapped and captured with the child-king Edward. Lady Margaret, who has been sent to get aid from her father Lord Stanley, is also captured and imprisoned.
Richard spares Jasper, because he needs him to negotiate with Stanley, who is withholding his support for the Protector. Richard forces the Archbishop to give up the Duke of York, who has sought church sanctuary in Westminster Abbey with his mother. Aided by his crony, Sir Ratcliffe, Richard then murders the two princes in their beds and proclaims himself king.
The ghosts of the princes try to lure Richard to his death from the battlements of the Tower, but he is saved by Buckingham. Buckingham confides in Ratcliffe his doubts about Richard's sanity, suggesting that they should join Lord Stanley. Ratcliffe informs Richard, who has Buckingham tortured to death. Meanwhile, Tyrus helps Jasper to rescue Margaret, but is mortally wounded during the escape. Jasper and Margaret join Stanley to encourage him to topple Richard from the throne.
Richard is crowned, but is still haunted by fear. Ratcliffe informs him that Stanley has marched to the village of Bosworth with an army. Richard declares that he will fight. When Ratcliffe learns that Stanley has been joined by the Earl of Richmond, he advises Richard to flee, but the king is convinced of his invincibility. At the Battle of Bosworth Field Richard is eventually left alone on the battlefield after his army has been defeated. The ghosts of his victims appear, and he attempts to fight them. Jasper, Stanley and Richmond watch as Richard swipes at thin air. The king attempts to mount a horse, but is thrown and killed by a battleaxe held by a dead soldier.
A ship arrives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Four of the alighting passengers are: Major H. O. Jones (Alec Guinness), a British businessman with a letter of invitation to do business with the government; Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Paul Ford and Lillian Gish), an elderly American couple who wish to set up a vegetarian complex for education and nutrition for the locals; and the central character, a cynical, washed-up hotel owner named Brown, portrayed by Richard Burton.
Upon arrival, Major Jones presents his credentials to Captain Concasseur (Raymond St. Jacques), a law enforcement officer, who notices that the official who invited Jones has been deposed and imprisoned. Concasseur and his men rough up and imprison Jones.
Brown has been bequeathed a hotel in the capital from his late British mother, but has been unable to sell it in his trip to New York City. Brown also has an ongoing affair with Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), the German-born wife of the Uruguayan ambassador to Haiti, Pineda (Peter Ustinov). When Martha and Brown have an argument, Brown goes to Mere Catherine's brothel where he discovers that not only has Jones been released, but he's a guest of Captain Concasseur and is enjoying the hospitality of Brown's favourite prostitute, Marie Therese (Cicely Tyson).
Jones has gained the favour of the new regime, who are keen to receive a supply of arms. They have paid a down payment, and Jones claims the weapons are impounded in a warehouse in Miami, but the weapons may be imaginary and a confidence trick by Jones. The government will not allow Jones to leave the island until they are sure the weapons exist.
Mr. Smith, a former "Vegetarian Party" candidate for the Presidency of the United States against Harry S. Truman, is given a tour of the new capital, an empty shambles called Duvalierville. He and Mrs. Smith follow a local procession that they believe is a religious ceremony but turns out to be an audience for executions by firing squad. Captain Concasseur and his men enter Brown's hotel and beat him up until Mrs. Smith bluffs the thugs by threatening to inform her husband, the American "presidential candidate." The Smiths depart the next day.
Brown watches as the Duvalier regime seeks to put down any dissent with an iron fist. He becomes friends with Dr. Magiot (James Earl Jones), the rebel leader who was once a close friend of Brown's late mother.
As Brown becomes a reluctant participant in the planned insurrection, the rebels recruit Major Jones to provide military leadership. Jones has been regaling the other expatriates with his tales of heroism as a commando officer in the Burma Campaign that Brown does not quite believe. Brown hosts a meeting of the group, including Magiot, Jones, and Ambassador Pineda. But trouble ensues soon thereafter Duvalier’s spies from the Tonton Macoute are watching Brown’s Hotel Trianon and his every step.
When the government informs Jones that they wish to have Captain Concasseur fly to Miami to inspect the apparently fictional arms Jones wishes to sell to the regime. Jones flees to Brown's hotel. Brown is able to get Jones into the Uruguayan embassy where he pleads asylum. He escapes by dressing as Brown's female cook, wearing drag and blackface.
The day after the meeting, three assassins confront Magiot while he’s performing surgery and cut his throat with a scalpel knife. Taking him to a rebel rendezvous in the place of Dr. Magiot, Brown suspects that Jones has become involved with Martha Pineda. The inebriated Jones makes matters worse by bragging about his conquest.
Driving carelessly up the treacherous, winding road, Brown hits an embankment and breaks the car’s front axle. On foot, they arrive at a remote cemetery, the designated meeting point. They settle in for the night with Jones admitting that his jungle war stories were total fabrication, as was his claimed conquest of Martha. His wartime career involved running a cinema in India, and he'd never been with a woman he hadn't paid "or promised to pay."
In the morning, Captain Concasseur and one Tonton Macoute accost Brown at the cemetery. Brown denies that the Major is there, talking loudly to warn Jones. But a sleepy Jones approaches anyway. Commanded to stop, Jones turns and runs, but is killed. Brown is ordered into a jeep, but shots from rebels ring out. Concasseur and his henchman drop dead.
Asked about Jones, Brown tells the two rebels in dismay: "You arrived two minutes too late." The rebels plead with Brown to assume the role of Jones, seeing this as the only hope they have left. Brown hesitates, but relents after being asked whether he wants to continue living like this.
The three meet up with a ragtag group of poorly equipped rebels who believe that Brown is Jones. He gives a cynical, taunting speech, apparently without being understood, since the rebels speak French and he English.
The Pinedas are leaving the island. Petit Pierre (Roscoe Lee Browne), a journalist friend of Brown, tells them about a battle between government troops and rebels. He says two rebels have been killed, one "unidentified." As the plane takes off, Martha notices smoke on a hillside of the island. The question whether Brown has survived remains unanswered.
Under the grieving eyes of most of a town, the funeral procession of Doctor John Abbott (Edward Ellis) passes a lawyer's office. The lawyer opens Abbott's strongbox for the deceased man's impatient creditors, local banker George Sykes (Granville Bates), newspaper editor Jode Harkness (Frank M. Thomas) and store owner Homer Ramsey (Harlan Briggs). Flashbacks begin as they peruse Dr. Abbott's papers.
Widowed, Dr. Abbott arrives in Westport with his son Dick (Lee Bowman) after World War I. He borrows money in order to set up his medical practice. He delivers a healthy baby, Jean (Anne Shirley), but the mother dies. When her father does not want her, the doctor adopts the child.
Later, Ramsey tries to collect what he is owed from Abbott, only to find that Abbott has a hefty $100 bill for him for a life-saving operation. When Ramsey complains about the amount, the good-natured doctor settles for a mere $2.
As time goes on, Dr. Abbott seeks to convince the town leaders of the need for a hospital. Sykes, Harkness, and Ramsey refuse to consider it. However, when Sykes's son Howard (William Henry) accidentally shoots Jean in the arm, the doctor informs Sykes that he is required by law to report all gunshot wounds. Sykes is blackmailed into building the hospital and donating it to the town to avoid the legal problems. However, Dr. Abbott finds that Sykes has spitefully stipulated that only doctors who have had graduate studies within the last twenty years can register, and he is turned away.
Meanwhile, Dick goes to Paris to train to become a doctor. When he graduates and returns to Westport, he tells his father that he is going into partnership with Dr. Robinson (Gilbert Emery) because he is more interested in making money than in helping people. This hurts the father deeply, but he never shares this with his son.
When Abbott fears that an outbreak of infantile paralysis (polio) among the children is imminent, he tries to get an upcoming county fair canceled. However, Sykes and Ramsey refuse his request. They phone Jode Harkness to get him to refuse to publish Abbott's urgent warning. Undaunted, the doctor has handbills printed and distributed by some young boys. He and Jean then visit all the children in Westport. This is brought to the attention of the county medical association, which votes to suspend him. Dick defends his father and resigns in protest. Then, Abbott is proved right. An epidemic erupts everywhere...except Westport. The association reverses itself and elects him its president.
Abbott is finally recognized for his humanitarian work by the community. His son sees the light and agrees to join Abbott's small medical practice. However, after Dick and Jean leave, he dies peacefully in his sleep. Returning to the present, Harkness, Sykes, and Ramsey finally acknowledge the goodness of the man who had been a thorn in their sides for so long.
God and Satan are on a train headed to Las Vegas, disputing what they each offer to humankind. Also aboard the train is a group of young people having a party. God and Satan discuss the fate of three individuals as they watch their stories unfold.
In the first story, "The Case of Henry Billings", salesmen Henry Billings is an alcoholic and hedonist who accidentally kills his wife while driving recklessly. He is taken to a mysterious psychiatric hospital where is placed under hypnosis by a Dr. Fargo and Dr. Brewer. A young couple stop there to use the phone after becoming lost, and are kidnapped and murdered by Otto, an orderly. Meanwhile, the staff use a hypnotized Henry to lure various people to the hospital, including a bartender and a young woman, only to be brutally murdered. The victims' corpses are then used for organ harvesting. Dr. Fargo turns on Brewer, spiking his drink with a sedative. Dr. Fargo lobotomizes Brewer, leaving her in sole control of Henry, with whom she has become romantically involved. Henry defies Fargo and kills Otto while attempting to escape. Meanwhile, a lobotomized Brewer enacts revenge by performing vivisection on Fargo.
The second story, "The Case of Gretta Connors", follows the young Gretta, a struggling aspiring actress working at an amusement park, who meets and falls in love with the austere middle-aged George Youngmeyer. George exploits Gretta by forcing her into pornographic films. Glenn Marshall, a medical school student, becomes enamored of Gretta after seeing one of her films, and tracks her to a Manhattan bar owned by George, where she performs as a pianist. The two fall in love, and a jealous George enacts a revenge plot by recruiting the two into a death cult of which he is a member. The cult subjects Glenn to various Russian roulette-style death games. When Gretta and Glenn are to be married, George kidnaps them and subjects them to another death game using a wrecking ball, but the game ends in one of the cultists dying instead.
In the third story, "The Case of Claire Hansen", Claire is a devout Catholic surgeon plagued by nightmares about Nazis. Meanwhile, police Lieutenant Stern attempts to help the elderly Abraham Weiss track down a group of Nazis who murdered his family during the Holocaust, and whom Weiss believes fled to the United States during World War II, where they assumed new identities. Stern is skeptical of Weiss's claims, as the individuals Weiss identifies do not appear to have aged since 1944. Weiss takes it upon himself to enact revenge by tracking the group to a large mansion, but is killed after encountering a demonic-looking woman. Claire later performs Weiss's autopsy, and finds a mysterious "666" tattoo on his abdomen, indicating the mark of the beast. Claire's atheist scientist husband is met by Papini, a man branded with this tattoo, but her husband dismisses him. Papini attempts to stop the Nazi group—who are in fact a cult of demonic apprentices to the Devil—but is captured by a monstrous creature and dragged into the earth. The cult begins preying on Claire's husband, luring him to an island to meet with their leader, Olivier. He is killed when he refuses to accept Satan as his master. Later, Claire accidentally hits Olivier with her car near the cult's mansion. At the hospital, she performs a surgery on him, during which her assistant is compelled to kill him, and stabs him on the operating table. Realizing Olivier is a servant of the Devil, the women begin to remove his organs as he flies into a violent rage. Olivier remanifests in the operating room, his body restored, and Claire observes that the vivisected body on the table is now that of her assistant, dead. Claire screams in horror as a coiffed Olivier walks out of the hospital.
On the train, God and Satan vie for control of the fate of its passengers; Satan plans to crash the train and send all its unwitting passengers' souls to hell. Satan causes the train to derail, apparently killing everyone aboard, but God intervenes and, instead, the train is seen ascending a track into the sky.
The story revolves around a group group of teens who meet in a haunted house to hold a seance. The characters include a hero (Jovan Meredith), a naive girlfriend (Ashley Schneider / Aurora Sta. Maria), a goth girl (Renee Dorian), a tough guy (Devin Marble), a ditzy blonde girl (Lindsay Gareth), a shy geek in love with the blonde (Matt Blashaw), two big nerds (Cory Assink & Jonathan Brett), and a pair of lipstick lesbians (Jamie Carson & Christina DeRosa). Strange things begin to occur as they enter the house,strange incidents including nudity, pitfalls and even deaths, while the hero works to save the day before every teenager is dead.
Robert Colomb (Yves Montand) is a famous TV newscaster, married to Catherine (Annie Girardot), but continually unfaithful to her. Then he meets, and becomes fascinated with Candice (Candice Bergen). He takes her along on an assignment in Kenya and later establishes an "arrangement" with her in Amsterdam.
He is then assigned to Vietnam, tells Candice their affair is over and discovers that is more than acceptable to her as she is tired of him. Returning from a Vietnamese prison, he decides to return to Catherine, but discovers she has made a new life for herself.
Sometimes it feels like their weekly knitting circle is the only thing that keeps Kathleen, Sari, and Lucy from falling apart. Their fine-gauge scarves may look fabulous, but their lives are starting to unravel...
For years, beautiful, flighty Kathleen has been living off of her famous actress sisters. When she moves out, she misses her life of luxury and begins to think that marrying rich might be an easy way to get it back.
Lucy is dating the man of her dreams-gorgeous, a brilliant scientist, going places-but when an animal rights group targets him, she wonders whose side she's really on.
And Sari finds herself suddenly face-to-face again with the "it" boy from high school who still has "it"- he's gorgeous, sensitive, and kind, and he has a son who needs Sari's help. But can she ever forgive him for what he did to her brother a decade ago?
Caught between life, love, and pursuit of the perfect cast-on, these three friends learn that there are never any easy answers, except maybe one-that when the going gets tough, the tough gets knitting.
In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, communist veteran Diego has dedicated his life to continuing the struggle against the Francoist State while he lives in exile in Paris. Lately, however, he has become war-weary and skeptical about the tactics of the extremist underground.
After meeting Nadine by using her father's passport, Diego learns that she is involved with an alternative extremist group that is planning an armed attack in Spain. When he meets the young extremists who will execute the plan, he tries to persuade them to abandon the action as misconceived, but they ignore him. The leaders of the underground send Diego on a mission to Barcelona along with a new recruit, perhaps as a way of getting rid of him as the police have since discovered his identity. His lover Marianne, who has received a warning from Nadine, attempts to intercept him before he is arrested.
Frustrated former hippie novelist Sandy Blair becomes involved in the investigation of the brutal murder of rock promoter Jamie Lynch, whose heart had been torn from his body.D'Amassa, Don "Martin, George" pages 388-390 from ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers'' edited by David Pringle, Detroit: St. James Press, 1997. Lynch, a despised rock promoter, had been found dead in a small town in Maine, the victim of a ritualistic murder. Lynch had managed several bands, including the legendary rock group the Nazgûl (named for the evil Ringwraiths in Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''). He was found dead on the 10th anniversary of the Nazgûl's breakup, with his bloody body placed on top of the band's West Mesa, New Mexico concert poster; during that concert, Nazgûl lead singer Patrick Henry "Hobbit" Hobbins had been mysteriously murdered.
Lynch's high-profile death soon opens the door for a Nazgûl reunion tour, which slowly begins to eerily mirror the events of their original West Mesa tour. With Lynch out of the way, a disastrous act of arson forces the remaining three members of the Nazgûl to go on a reunion tour, promoted by a rich man named Edan Morse. The mysterious Morse may or may not had been a left-wing revolutionary in the 1970s, noted for his violent methods. Morse produces a young man who is a doppelganger for Hobbins, who Morse plans to make the lead singer of the reunited Nazgûl, despite the fact that the doppelganger's musical talents are subpar and he lacks any charisma. Interviewing the surviving members of the band while tracking down his old friends from the 1960s, Blair meditates on the meaning of the flower power generation as he crisscrosses the country. He eventually becomes the Nazgûl's press agent and is soon swept up in the frenzy of their successful reunion tour and an oncoming supernatural convergence, whose nature he must uncover in order to solve the murders of Lynch and Hobbins. Blair comes to suspect that Morse wants to bring the Nazgûl together to perform an occult ritual that will unleash a dark supernatural power upon the world, an act of revenge against a world that has spurned the idealism of the late 1960s counterculture.
The story begins on March 6, 2007 in the small town of Sterling, New Hampshire, tracking the lives of a number of characters on an "ordinary day." The characters include Alex Cormier, a superior court judge; her daughter Josie, a junior in high school; Lacy, Lewis, and Peter Houghton; Detective Patrick Ducharme; and several victims-to-be.
At the local high school, Sterling High, the story follows a routine day of students in classes, at the gym, and in the cafeteria. Suddenly, a loud bang is heard from the parking lot, which turns out to be a bomb set off in Matt Royston's car. As the students are distracted by the noise, gunshots are fired. When Patrick, the only detective on the Sterling police force, arrives at Sterling High, he searches the school to seek out the gunman, who is alleged to be a student. After passing several dead and wounded victims, Patrick traps and arrests the shooter, Peter Houghton, in the locker room, where he finds two students, Josie Cormier and Matt Royston, lying on the floor surrounded in blood. While Matt is dead, having been the only victim shot twice, Josie is not seriously injured, but only shocked: she cannot remember what happened.
The shooting kills ten people (nine students and one teacher) and wounds many other people.
Throughout the book, time flashes back and forth between events before and after the shooting. In the past, the reader learns that Peter and Josie were once close friends. Peter was frequently the target of severe bullying at school, and Josie often stuck up for him. The friends slowly drifted apart as they got older: Josie joined the popular crowd in order to protect her own interests, seeing her relationship to Peter as embarrassing. The story pictures Peter as an outcast at home as well; Peter believes his older brother Joey is favored by their parents. Joey is a popular straight-A student and athlete, but feels it necessary to ridicule Peter to protect his reputation, even fabricating a story that Peter was adopted. When Joey is killed in a car accident in 2006, Lacy and Lewis Houghton are too upset to pay attention to their remaining son, causing a bigger rift between Peter and his parents.
In their sophomore year, Josie begins dating Matt, a popular jock who leads his friends Drew Girard and John Eberhard in bullying Peter. Matt often calls Peter "homo" and "fag," leading Peter to question his sexual orientation. The bullying intensifies once Matt begins dating Josie, in his possessive efforts to keep her away from other boys. On one occasion, Peter approaches Josie after school to try talking to her. Matt beats him up, leaving Peter humiliated in front of the school.
The flashbacks also reveal several subplots: the difficult relationship between Josie and her single mother Alex, Alex's dilemma of being a judge and a mother, Peter's escape from bullying into the world of video games, Josie's fear of falling out of the popular crowd and her suicide back-up plan when she does, Matt's abusive behavior toward Josie, Josie's pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, as well as Lewis Houghton's hunting lessons with his son Peter.
One month before the shooting, Peter realizes that he has feelings for Josie, and sends her an email expressing his love. Courtney Ignatio reads this email before Josie and has Drew forward it to the entire school. Courtney then convinces Peter that Josie likes him. Peter asks Josie to join him later during lunch, only to suffer public humiliation as Matt pulls down Peter's pants and exposes his genitals to a cafeteria full of students. Peter's psychotic break is triggered on the morning of the shooting when he turns on his computer and accidentally opens the email he wrote to Josie.
After the shooting, Peter is sent to jail while the trial proceeds. The probable cause hearing is waived as Peter admits to killing ten people and wounding nineteen others. Jordan, Peter's defense attorney, uses battered person syndrome caused by severe bullying and abuse as a basis to convince the jury that Peter’s actions were justified as a result of his suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Jordan argues that he was in a dissociative state at the time of the shooting. In the final stage of the trial, Josie reveals that she was the one who shot Matt the first time in the stomach after grabbing a gun that fell out of Peter's bag. She admits later that she did this on account of the abusive behavior that she had endured while in a relationship with him. Peter later fired the fatal second shot; a blow to the head. Peter promised her he wouldn't tell anyone what she had done, and he kept this promise, happy to have Josie as his friend again.
Peter is convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison. A month afterward, Peter commits suicide by stuffing a sock into his throat.
At the end of the book, one year from the date of the massacre, Josie has received a five-year sentence for accessory of manslaughter and is regularly visited in jail by her mother. Throughout the book, Josie never told the whole story, instead repeating, "I can't remember." When Josie admits to shooting Matt, Peter's sentence is reduced. Alex and Patrick, who are expecting their first child, walk the halls of the high school. Sterling High has been extensively remodeled after the shooting. The cafeteria, the gym and locker room where the massacre took place have been replaced by a large glass atrium with a memorial to the dead in the center, a row of ten white chairs bolted to the floor. A plaque declares the building "A Safe Harbor."
Bentine takes the leading role, playing Horace Quilby, a mild-mannered widower living in the London Docklands. His job as a sandwich-board man requires him to wander around London wearing morning dress and carrying advertisements. He is also secretary of the Sandwichmen's Brotherhood. But his real interest in life is pigeon racing, especially 'Esmerelda', who is racing from Bordeaux to London.
During the course of one day, Quilby encounters a host of eccentric characters, who are played by some of Britain's best known comedy and character actors, and becomes involved in a series of capers. The main story thread sees Quilby reunite Sue (Suzy Kendall), a young model, with her errant boyfriend Steven (David Buck).
Esmerelda wins her race, and the whole of Quilby's neighbourhood join in the celebrations.
The fictional plot revolves around a real political figure, Gianni Agnelli, head of the Fiat corporation from 1966 to 2003. When Agnelli is disfigured in a failed kidnap attempt, he is rescued by Antonio, one of his Fiat employees. Antonio flees the scene when people start shooting at him, leaving his jacket on Agnelli's body. Agnelli is taken to hospital in Antonio's jacket, where he mistakenly has his face reconstructed in Antonio's likeness. Farcical confusion ensues.
This book tells the tale of Gawain and Squire Terence's journey to the fabled Green Chapel, the home of the Green Knight. Gawain is forced to decapitate the Green Knight, and Gawain promises that he will allow the Green Knight to return the favor one year from New Year's Eve, at the Green Chapel itself.
The world's nations are beginning to form a new global government, the first OVA is centered around a young girl named Elaine, and details the development and creation of a "Genocyber", an ultimate biological weapon created by combining the powers and consciousness of two psychic sisters. The project is directed by a mad scientist and funded by the Kuryu Group, a huge Japanese corporation that is a world leader in military research. (The Kuryu Group was called Kuron in the English dub by Manga UK, but this was corrected by Central Park Media for episodes 4 and 5.) Starting off in Hong Kong, the story follows Elaine, a young girl with the nervous system of an animal. She is central to the ambitions of the scientist who wants to combine her powers with those of her crippled sister, Diana, to activate the Genocyber. Both were children of a former colleague of the mad scientist, who he betrayed to receive funding for his research.
In its physical form, Genocyber is a gigantic humanoid monster, which the scientist calls a ''Vajra''. In addition to having almost unlimited strength and regenerative abilities, Genocyber also possesses incredible telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers.
After a brutal search by the scientist and his masked henchmen for Elaine that kills dozens, Elaine is chased by cyborg agents of the Kuryu group and the scientist is later arrested for going rogue and conducting his own research without the group's approval. During a battle where Diana wears a cybernetic suit of her own to try to catch her, Elaine supposedly dies, which leads to the cyborgs arresting the scientist and collecting Diana. However, Elaine (from within Diana) then uses her psychic power to merge with her and become Genocyber. In the ensuing battle, in which the scientist is killed, huge fires are started and numerous buildings are heavily damaged, Genocyber also destroys the cyborg agents and throws one of them through a moving airplane. The next morning, Elaine finds that her only friend, a young homeless boy called Rat, whom she met before she was captured, has died after falling from a construction site, likely having been dropped by Wakayama, one of the Kuryu cyborgs. Elaine becomes filled with anger and screams, turning into Genocyber, and initiating a massive explosion which completely destroys Hong Kong, leaving only a barren wasteland in its place.
The second OVA apparently occurs shortly after the first one ended. A country called Karain has withdrawn from the United Nations (in protest of the new world government) and launched an invasion of a neighboring country. In response, the United States agrees to deploy a Carrier Strike Group to support offensive operations against Karain. This fleet is to be led by the ''Alexandria'', a massive futuristic Supercarrier stationed off the coast of Japan.
However, satellite photographs have identified an unknown superweapon believed to have been deployed by Karain (in fact, the image is of Genocyber, which destroyed several helicopters after they attacked and killed Elaine's friends). Concerned about the power of this new weapon, the United States military requests assistance from the Kuryu Group. Realizing that the image is in fact of Genocyber (although this is kept secret), the Kuryu Group agrees to send a team of its top scientists to the ''Alexandria''. The Kuryu scientists, including the mentally unstable Sakomizu, bring on board their own secret weapon, a newly created ''Vajra'', out of anticipation that the fleet will encounter Genocyber.
Unlike Genocyber, this new ''Vajra'' has a completely robotic body that enables it to almost literally fuse with any machine or weapon it operates. This is demonstrated when the ''Vajra'' fuses with a fighter aircraft, enhancing the fighter's capabilities far beyond anything that would be possible for a human pilot.
As the fleet travels from Japan to Karain, the ''Vajra'' is conducting a test flight in a fighter when a UN scout plane operating near Karain radios in and requests to make an emergency landing. The pilot also has aboard a civilian he rescued near Karain: Elaine. As the scout plane approaches the carrier, Elaine senses the ''Vajra'', which in turn senses Elaine. Alarmed, the ''Vajra'' s fighter veers wildly off-course in pursuit of the scout plane, entering into a steep dive and narrowly avoids crashing into the carrier. The scout plane is forced to make a crash landing on the carrier deck, although Elaine survives unscathed and is taken into the care of the crew.
The carrier's senior officers sharply rebuke Sakomizu for the ''Vajra'' s strange behavior, yelling at him that his ''Vajra'' is not only dangerous, but is also uncontrollable. Later, Sakomizu yells at the ''Vajra'' for embarrassing him.
Unlike in the previous OVA, Elaine now has a largely cybernetic body from the neck down. Although it is unclear why and how this change occurred, it is possible that Elaine and Diana (whose body was cybernetic) have completely merged.
A young female doctor, Myra, takes Elaine under her protection and gives her the name Laura. To Myra, Laura/Elaine reminds her of her own daughter (also named Laura) who died in the plane crash depicted in the first episode of the OVA, when Genocyber was fighting with the Kuryu cyborgs. Although Elaine is still mute, she is able to communicate telepathically with Myra, with whom she forms a special bond. Almost immediately, Myra comes to think of Elaine as her own child.
Neither Myra nor the crew are aware of the girl's psychic abilities and her presence on board is briefly uneventful. However, numerous members of the crew begin experiencing nightmarish hallucinations and several suffer mental breakdowns. Soon after, the ''Vajra'' again senses Elaine, and interprets her presence (i.e. Genocyber's presence) as a threat to itself and the ship. Elaine also senses the new ''Vajra'', and, after seeking it out, transforms into Genocyber and destroys it, but Genocyber's arm is hacked off during the fight. The ship's crew, unaware of what actually happened, simply conclude that Sakomizu's ''Vajra'' has malfunctioned again, and blame him for the incident (once again, Elaine survives without injury). However, Sakomizu, upon seeing his ''Vajra'' destroyed, is insulted and wrongly concludes that the crew sabotaged his work, although he now clearly suspects that Elaine is more than she appears to be. He eventually creates a new ''Vajra'' after acquiring Genocyber's severed arm but is unable to control it; the ''Vajra'' then expands throughout the carrier, engulfing and consuming the entire crew, except for Myra, whom Genocyber saves. Sakomizu also appears to survive initially, before he too is consumed by the ''Vajra''.
Genocyber then flies into the carrier and reaches the core of the ''Vajra''. The ''Vajra'' attempts to fuse itself with Genocyber but Genocyber's psychic powers prove to be stronger, and the ''Vajra'' loses control of his body and the consumed carrier, which detonates in a massive explosion.
Later, Myra is rescued by a Karain helicopter as its pilots investigate the remains of the American fleet. Deciding that Myra is delirious, they fly back to Karain, but are horrified to discover that the entire country has been devastated. Genocyber then rises in the sky and spreads its wings, confirming that Karain has suffered a similar fate as Hong Kong. The episode ends with Genocyber flying away, as Myra, who has been driven to madness by the events, yells for Elaine, who she now truly believes to be Laura, to come back to her.
The fourth OVA onward are much different from its previous ones in terms of setting, taking place in a post-apocalyptic earth, in a region called the City of the Grand Ark.
The young girl, Elaine, does not appear much in this episode, only a transparent image in the story. In this story, Genocyber eventually realizes that "there was no place in the world for its power" and is dormant until it reawakens at the end.
In a brief opening scene, the now-extremely elderly leader of the Kuryu Group is seen looking at a wall of computer screens that show Genocyber on a rampage of destruction. It is revealed that for 100 years, humanity has been waging a desperate and hopeless war against Genocyber, which has devastated the Earth. He vows to find some way to stop Genocyber, even if it takes centuries. All of a sudden, Genocyber attacks his location, and a massive explosion is seen to rise into the Earth's atmosphere. The next scene, apparently set further into the future, shows a massive space station, possibly a colony ship, orbiting Earth. Aboard the station, a computer monitor indicates that it is now the year 2400 AD.
The story starts out in Ark de Grande City (City of the Grand Ark), one of the last remaining cities on earth, which is controlled by an evil mayor who claims that he is restoring the civilization that was destroyed by Genocyber, but only does this to gain trust from the civilians. The Mayor is ruthless, killing anyone who opposes him, and most of the city's population lives as an exploited labour class with few rights, while the mayor and an upper class live in luxury.
The story shifts to a couple, Ryu and Mel. Ryu is trying to find a doctor good enough to cure Mel's blindness. They arrive in Ark de Grande City but, as members of the lower class, are unable to get the medical help necessary to allow Mel to see again. Ryu and Mel attempt to earn money as performers, as Mel possesses an extraordinary ability to determine appearances, colours and numbers, even though she is blind. She describes her power as an ability to "see the person's form floating in [her] mind." She also has remarkable hearing and can often sense the environment around her. Ryu has an ability to throw knives while blindfolded, and hit targets with pinpoint accuracy. After Ryu and Mel make love that night, Ryu says that he hopes to earn enough money so that they can leave the city as soon as possible.
Later, Ryu is recruited by a member of the upper class to perform at his establishment, promising a large sum of money. However, the man tricks Ryu (who in blindfolded) into throwing knives at a real person who is tied to a wall, killing him, much to the delight of the spectators. Realizing that he has been tricked, Ryu manages to escape but is now pursued by the city's guards. While Ryu and Mel try to hide in the ruins beneath the city, Mel hears Elaine's voice calling to her, and she and Mel find themselves in a ritual chamber with the seemingly fossilized head and torso of Genocyber at the centre of an altar.
A flashback then shows Genocyber on his rampage of destruction. An image of Diana appears, and her voice then calls to Elaine, telling her that "It has to end. We can't stay in this world. We can't use our power". The two sisters then join hands and disappear, while Genocyber appears lying on the ground, having seemingly been turned to stone. The scene shifts back to the present and to a shot of the massive space station orbiting the earth.
In a series of images, Mel is seen walking with Diana towards Genocyber's broken body. An image of Elaine appears in front of Genocyber, and Diana screams. In a subsequent dream, Diana refers to Mel as "big sister."
The scene shifts back to Mel, who is taken in by the religious sect which opposes the mayor. The sect believes that the destruction brought by Genocyber was a punishment from God, and believe that Mel is God's messenger, who will prevent such destruction from happening again. Meanwhile, Ryu makes his way up to the surface, where he is detained and subject to brutal interrogation by the police, after which he is apparently declared brain-dead. As Mel worries about Ryu, it is revealed that she is pregnant with his child.
Under orders to destroy anyone opposing the mayor, the city's troops then attack the sect's church, killing everyone, including (apparently) Mel, whose bullet-riddled body lies on the ground with the bodies of children surrounding her.
In an apparent dream, Diana begs Elaine not to turn into Genocyber again, stating that "Our power has no place in this world." Mel, who appears to be in some sort of cocoon, asks Diana for help, stating that if she dies, the child she is carrying will never be born. She also states that she wants the city destroyed. Diana warns that asking for such power will unleash Genocyber, but it is too late: Genocyber awakens as Elaine, Diana, and Mel amalgamate into a red version of Genocyber, one which is much larger than its previous form. As Genocyber emerges, monitors aboard the orbiting space station switch on and begin recording the event. Genocyber then attacks the city, killing the mayor, and then all of its citizens. By the time Genocyber's rampage is over, the entire city has been left in ruins.
As Genocyber rises into the sky, whole pieces of the city's remains begin to tear away from the ground and rise into the air. Genocyber resurrects Mel and Ryu, and Mel is then torn from Genocyber; she and Ryu begin to slowly fall into the burning city. Genocyber then reverts to its earlier, smaller form, and images of Elaine and Diana are seen superimposed against Genocyber as it ascends into the sky. Genocyber then flies into space and attacks the orbiting space station, whose defenses open fire on Genocyber, but with no effect. Genocyber breaks into the station and watches a repeating broadcast of Genichiro Kuryu, the former leader of the Kuryu group, ordering his forces to destroy Genocyber. Diana's voice then calls to Elaine, and images of the girls superimposed against Genocyber are briefly seen before Genocyber begins to freeze itself and the entire space station. The station then falls out of orbit, and explodes as it enters the atmosphere.
The last scene shows Mel, who is no longer blind, and Ryu, lying unconscious in the ruins of the city. As Mel opens her eyes, she hears Diana's voice calling, "Big sister...", and the scene turns to the ruined body of Genocyber, while a baby is heard crying in the background.
Marge discovers that Maggie has become excessively clingy while putting her to bed one night. After Maggie's behavior causes a bottle of milk to fall and break on the kitchen floor, Bart and Lisa help Marge get in touch with Creative Responses for Infant Edu-Loving (CRIE, pronounced as the word "cry"), a group that helps children to be more independent. A CRIE counselor arrives to work with Maggie, ordering Marge to leave her alone in a room. Marge is unnerved by Maggie's crying at first, but Maggie quickly calms down as Marge watches in surprise. Maggie is soon able to climb up into her own high chair and get a book and banana for herself, and Marge is saddened to realize that she is no longer needed.
Meanwhile, Homer drives all over Springfield in search of more milk, to no avail. He finally buys some in the sleazy neighboring city of Guidopolis, which is populated by Italian-American stereotypes, but finds his car being towed away by a man named Louie. Seeing Homer's fascination with towing, Louie unhooks the car and introduces him to the business, but warns him not to work in Guidopolis as it is Louie's territory. Homer begins to tow one car after another in Springfield, angering the residents and prompting them to plan revenge.
The residents plant a car just inside Guidopolis, set it up to appear as if it is parked illegally, and hide the city-limits sign to fool Homer into thinking that it is within Springfield. When he tows the car, they reveal the sign; furious at this trespassing, Louie abducts Homer and locks him in his basement with other tow truck drivers who have run afoul of him.
With Homer gone, the parking situation in Springfield degenerates into pandemonium. After four days, Maggie rides Santa's Little Helper into Guidopolis and frees the drivers by using the hook on Louie's tow truck to rip out the bars on his basement window. Homer returns home with Maggie and the dog, and Marge and Maggie happily reconcile.
Jim Qwilleran decides to get out of the city for a while and go on vacation to Moose County, Pickax, in the countryside. He stays at a lakeside cabin, owned by his old friend, Aunt Fanny. He has plans to write a book, however his plans get delayed when a peaceful fishing trip catches a body. Or is it simply an old tire, like the locals claim?
Two young warriors from the Ming loyalist Shaolin Clan are engaged in a deadly secret mission that could bring down the Qing empire. Tung Chien-chen is the "Shaolin Hercules", who is sent from Shaolin to take revenge on the local Wudang experts. Li Detong and Li Pashan are the Wudang chiefs who attempt to kill Tung using Li Detong's throwing knives technique after meeting him in a restaurant. Tung barely escapes and meets up with Chin Tailei and his sister, who teach him a special kung fu to counter knives. He eventually meets up with Hu Wei-chen, who is another Shaolin student. Wei Sing-hung is the son of a Ming general who was adopted by Wudang, but in his heart he supports Shaolin and frequently questions why the Wudang sect supports the Qing but is usually hushed quickly by his masters. His love interest is Wang Li's daughter, Li Erh-wan.
The Wudang teacher, Feng Daode, sends Detong to kill Tung. However, Tung, Tailei, and Wei-chen end up killing him, forcing Wudang to take revenge. Li Pashan and another Wudang disciple, Lu Yingbu, challenge Tung and Hu to a duel, but Tung bests Pashan and Hu kills Yingbu. Tung plans to marry Chin Tailei's sister, but after getting drunk and the wedding raided by the Wudang, Chin and his sister are killed, Tung is kidnapped, and Wei-chen is too inebriated to help defend. Wei Sing secretly meets up with Wei-chen, then frees Tung and allows him to escape, but is found out by Li Erh-wan when he unknowingly leaves his dagger behind, forcing a rift between them. Tung, realizing his wife is dead, loses his will to fight until his brothers bring him back to reality. Tung and the other Shaolin men visit his wife's grave and meet up with a wandering scholar, Kow Xuewen, and his three servants. They immediately befriend Tung and Wei-chen. Kow occasionally brings them food and gifts and discusses martial arts with them. Kow Xuewen is secretly a Qing government official, Kow Chinchong, who uses the monkey sword style while his servants use the monkey poles. They are planning to ambush the Shaolin men.
Wei Sing finds out about the plan, and sides with Tung and Hu Wei-chen. All the men end up in a battle at a local tea house. Tung and Wei-chen kill Kow Chinchong and his servants (being killed themselves in the process) and Wei Sing kills Li Pashan. Erh-wan arrives just as Wei kills her uncle. She tearfully asks him why he would betray his own adoptive family. In response, a speechless Wei kills himself.
The film opens with a number of figures battling with Priest Pai Mei and Gao Chin-Chung (Lu Feng). During the fight, famous Shaolin heroes San Te and Fong Sai-Yuk are killed, while Hung Si-Kuan (Jason Pai Piao) narrowly escapes.
Chun Ah-Chin (Lo Mang) is a local bean curd maker who uses the mantis style and likes to spar with his friend Ying Cha-Po (Kuo Chui), a waiter who can use anything as a weapon, particularly a bowl and a pair of chopsticks. Although the two both work menial jobs with which they are unhappy, they dream of one day becoming great heroes and dying for noble causes. Chu Tsai (Sun Chien) is a light skill student at a local school who is constantly abused by his master and a fellow student (Ku Kuan Chung), He ends up befriending Ah-Chun and Cha-Po after they save him from getting beat by his fellow students.
Meanwhile, Pai Mei, Gao Chin-Chung and his fighting men arrive at a temple looking for the injured Hung Si-Kuan and end up in a fight with the monks and Han Chi (Chiang Sheng). Han Chi escapes but the monks are killed, so Chi goes looking for Hung Si-Kuan. Meanwhile, Hung has arrived at Chu Tsai's school, as the master is an old comrade. However, the teacher rejects Hung’s request for help and immediately reports to Gao.
Chu Tsai, Ah-Chun and Cha-Po find the injured Hung Si-Kuan and they conjure up schemes to get him medicine. Once healed, Hung Si-Kuan thanks the three by teaching them special techniques to perfect their skills. Han Chi also meets up with the four after helping them in a fight at Cha-Po’s restaurant.
However, Chu Tsai's fellow student had spotted Chu purchasing the medicine for Hung. He reports this to Gao Chin-Chung, and leads the Wu-Tang Clan to Hung Si-Kuan’s hiding place. Hung and company escape and hide in an old temple. Although they are trapped, Gao decides to wait until dawn to attack, so as not to risk one of the fugitives escaping in the dark.
Morning arrives and Gao Chin-Chung attacks. Although Gao and his men are all killed, Chu Tsai is killed in the battle while Ah-Chin and Cha-Po are mortally wounded. With government troops on the way, Ah-chin and Cha-po volunteer to stay behind and occupy the troops so that Han Chi and Hung Si-Kuan can escape. The film ends as the two realize they have achieved their dream: Dying for a noble cause.
Kern, a werewolf, is hunted by a harper who uses magic; escaping, but injured, he finds himself at an inn called the Yellow Tinker. Long ago, he had once tried to find acceptance as a man and a werewolf, and was nearly killed for revealing what he truly is. Kern comes to love the woman who is the innkeeper, and decides to stay, and never reveal his animal nature. However, the harper finds him and threatens everything Kern now holds dear. The wolf moon is the first moon of winter, when the climax of the story takes place.
Socialite Angela Brooks (Kay Johnson) reads in a newspaper that her husband Bob (Reginald Denny) and "Mrs. Brooks" were in night court together along with Bob's best friend Jimmy Wade (Roland Young). The woman is actually Trixie (Lillian Roth), a showgirl Bob has been seeing, but Bob tries to pretend that she is Jimmy's wife.
Angela is more amused than angered by the clumsy lies, but it soon becomes clear that Bob has lost interest in their marriage, as he feels Angela has become staid and cold. They each declare that they are moving out and leaving the other, but Angela instantly repents. Her maid encourages her to fight for her happiness.
Angela tells Jimmy that she will spend the night with him and Trixie. Thinking she believes they are married, Jimmy rushes to Trixie's apartment to warn her, but Angela arrives and they reluctantly pretend to be married. The scene becomes more farcical when Bob arrives as well, while Trixie is hiding; Jimmy conceals Angela under a blanket and says she is his girlfriend, a married woman whose name he will not reveal. Trixie reenters so that Bob will know the woman is not her.
After the men leave, Trixie observes that Angela was caught in her own trap. She says that the difference between them is that Trixie understands the things that a man wants in a woman, and as long as she gives them to Bob, he will stay with her. Angela takes that as a challenge and says she can outdo whatever Trixie is capable of doing.
An elaborate masquerade ball is to be held by Jimmy aboard a moored rigid airship, the Zeppelin CB-P-55. To win back her husband's affections, Angela decides to attend the soiree as a mysterious devil woman, "Madame Satan", to "vamp" him. Now hidden behind her mask and wrapped in an alluring gown that reveals more than it covers, Angela finds her errant husband and begins teaching him a lesson.
To Trixie's dismay, Bob is indeed bewitched by Angela in her devil woman persona, nothing like the demure spouse he left at home. During the ball, several exotic musical numbers are performed. A severe thunderstorm quickly moves in, and the airship is damaged and breaks free and now in danger of breaking apart. Everyone begins to panic as they are told to abandon ship and parachute to the ground.
By that time Angela has unmasked and made herself known to Bob, who quickly resents her deception, he gives her his parachute harness and goes to find another harness for Trixie after she is unable to find one; Angela extorts a promise from Trixie to leave Bob alone in return for her own parachute harness. When Bob returns, he gives Angela his, and she parachutes safely into the open jump seat of a convertible car in which a couple are making out. Bob rides down a portion of the now broken apart zeppelin, diving at the last minute into the city reservoir just before impact. Jimmy ends up in a tree in the middle of the lion enclosure at the city zoo. Trixie parachutes through the roof of a Turkish bath full of toweled men who immediately scramble to cover themselves.
The next day, Angela, who is unharmed, and Bob, who has his arm in a sling, reconcile after a visit from a heavily bandaged Jimmy.
The 9th Prince aka "Iron Fingers" wants the royal seal to become emperor. To get it he must kill the current emperor and his two new born sons elder brother Tao Hing and younger Wong Szu Tai, and their bodyguards Gu Long and Li Chin. Gu Long and Li Chin escapes with the boys and they end up separated, Tao Hing goes under the care of the "3 Holy Fools" at Shaolin temple and Szu Tai under the care of the Prime Minister (Ku Feng) and are unaware of each other's whereabouts or existence. Tao Hing is raised by the 3 Holy Fools who are forbidden to come out of their dwelling due to corruption in Shaolin Temple and learns the secret Yijin Jing, however he is naive and knows nothing of his lineage though he carries the royal seal. He constantly gets into fights with a traitorous monk who secretly works for the 9th Prince but bests him in every scuffle. Wong Szu Tai however being raised by the Prime Minister and Gu Long is well aware of the existence of his brother (though he does not know who he is), the evils of the 9th Prince, and getting revenge. Gu Long tells him the only way to beat the 9th Prince is to go to Shaolin and get the Yijin Jing. The 9th Prince hears of the existence of Wong Szu Tai and visits the Prime Minister. He attempts to test if Wong knows kung fu but Wong holds back as he realizes he cannot beat the 9th Prince.
After an arranged exorcism by monk Dao Kong goes haywire and leaves Tao Hing to fend for himself , a passing Wong Szu Tai rescues and befriends Tao Hung. Tao Hung offers to escort him to Shaolin which angers monk Dao Kong as they arrive. Szu Tai fights his way into Shaolin to get the Yijin manual but is defeated and held captive. Monk Dao Kong goes to apprehend Tao Hing but he is defeated again by Tao Hing. Tao Hing goes to rescue Wong Szu Tai and finds out about the corrupt Shaolin monks and helps Szu Tai to escape. They are almost successful but lose to the "18 Buddhas" until rescued by the 3 Holy Fools whose house arrest is about to expire and they also gave them the Yi Jin manual. Tao Hing goes with Wong Szu Tai to kill a puppet emperor but after meeting with him, Tao Hung realizes the puppet emperor is a good man. This cause a rift between him and Wong Szu Tai after Wong tries to kill the puppet emperor and Tao is forced to use the Yijin on Wong. An angered Wong departs until intercepted by "Fire Man" and "Water Man", however Tao Hing arrives, helps him defeat them and they make amends. They return to the Prime Minister's house but everyone is dead except the Prime Minister and Gu Long. Tao Hing kneels to help Gu Long and accidentally drops the royal seal which sparks the curiosity of Gu Long thus prompting him to say "we found him!" before he dies. Tao Hing and Wong Szu Tai realize they are brothers and go to Shaolin to defeat an awaiting 9th Prince. After the Prince is killed, Wong Szu Tai returns to the throne and Tao Hing becomes an elder monk at Shaolin with the 3 Holy Fools.
Wang Hsieh Yun (Lau Kar Leung) is the current teacher of a kung fu school in Hong Kong. However it is the 80’s and people are not interested in "old school" kung fu anymore. He receives a letter telling him to pick up the schools boss from the airport which much to his surprise is Chan Mei Ling (Kara Hui). Mei Ling is the daughter of the schools' master, thus making her the "de facto" boss. She is very much Americanized and begins making changes at the school and taking in her father's students–Li Hon Man (Gordon Liu), Cheuk Jin Shing (Hsiao Ho), Wong Yuen Shuei (Robert Mak Tak Law), Ng Ming Fat (David Cheung Chin-pang) and Ah Wing (Wong Yue)–off the street, discos, and bars, which angers the traditionalist Wang. Eventually Mei Ling gets in trouble with a local gang headed up by Big Boss (Johnny Wang Lung Wei), and after provoking a fight at bar owned by Big Boss, Wang is forced to rescue her and teach Big Boss and his thugs a slight lesson. This forces Big Boss to retaliate until a fight breaks out in a local gym in which Big boss is defeated and Mei Ling eventually returns to the U.S. after realizing Wang should be in charge of the school.
The player controls Prince Erik, the descendant of the hero from the first game, Lord Jair. When Prince Erik returns to his home country, he finds out about his father's murder. The Prince is framed by the minister of the late king, who imprisons him where the adventure starts.
Dragon Nine, an imperial detective, is on his way back after concluding the case of the Thief Ghost. He encounters "Sword Saint" Yeh, who asks him to tell "Sword Deity" Simon to meet him for a duel on the night of the full moon at the highest rooftop of the Forbidden Palace. News of the upcoming duel between the two greatest swordsmen spread like wildfire and attract much attention, with people starting to place bets on the final outcome. The Emperor sends Dragon Nine and Princess Phoenix to stop the duel from taking place and investigate whether it is a mask for any sinister plots.
It takes place after Princess Athena defeated Dante, but she is again bored with the peaceful days without adventures. This time she opens the ''Door Which Shouldn't Be Opened: '''B''''', disregarding the advice from her loyal maid ''Helene'', an additional playable character who is proficient in magic, and they both fall to the Elysium World to face a bunch of new villains.
Like other games in the ''Neverwinter Nights'' series, ''Mask of the Betrayer'' takes place in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The story is a direct sequel to the plot of ''Neverwinter Nights 2'', set almost immediately following the events at the main game's end. The main campaign is set in Rashemen near the kingdom of Thay, and the Red Wizards of Thay are a driving force behind the campaign story.
In Act I, the Shard-bearer's story resumes after the defeat of the King of Shadows. The player awakens alone in an underground barrow in Rashemen, where he meets Safiya, a Red Wizard of Thay. The player follows Safiya to the Veil Theater in the nearby town of Mulsantir, hoping to find Lienna, an acquaintance of Safiya's mother, who is supposed to provide the player with some much-needed answers. Unfortunately, the player finds that the theater has been attacked by Red Wizards, and Lienna has been killed. At the back of the theater, the player finds a portal to the Plane of Shadow, a dark reflection of the Prime Material Plane, where he defeats the Red Wizards who murdered Lienna. Upon returning to the Prime Material Plane, the player finds that the spirit-god Okku has besieged Mulsantir, demanding the player's blood. The player confronts Okku and defeats his spirit army. At the end of the battle, the player learns that he has become a spirit-eater, an accursed being who must feed upon feys and elementals (and sometimes mortal souls) in order to survive.
In Act II, the player meets a group of gargoyle-like creatures who reveal that Lienna and her "red twin" ordered them to kidnap the player from the Sword Coast. This plot was allegedly inspired by the Slumbering Coven, a sisterhood of hag oracles who dwell in an ancient flooded city. The player follows this clue to Lake Mulsantir, where he finds another portal to the Plane of Shadow. In this "alternate reality," the player enters the flooded city and confronts the hags. The Slumbering Coven reveal that Lienna, along with Safiya's mother Nefris, were responsible for the hero's current dilemma. They send the player to Nefris's Academy in Thay to discover her motive.
At the Academy, the player enters a portal to the Astral Plane where they meet Myrkul, the former god of the dead. Myrkul reveals that the spirit-eater "curse" originated as a punishment for his former servant, Akachi "The Betrayer", who once led a crusade against the realm of the dead. Akachi's empty and hungering soul now resides in the player's body, and the player's own soul has been displaced to the Wall of the Faithless, in the realm of the dead.
In Act III, the player meets the Founder of the Academy, and Safiya realizes that she, Lienna, and Nefris are all splinters of the Founder's soul, and that the Founder was once Akachi's lover. The Founder explains that, while Lienna and Nefris understood their identities, the truth was hidden from Safiya for her own safety. The Founder also admits that she is responsible for the player's plight – she wanted to use the player to end the spirit-eater curse (and Akachi's suffering, as well). She returns the silver sword of Gith to the player, which allows him to open the Betrayer's Gate and travel to the realm of the dead. There the player finds the City of Judgment, ruled by the current God of the Dead, Kelemvor Lyonsbane. As the player arrives, an army is assembling outside the walls, led by Akachi's captains from his First Crusade – Zoab, a fallen solar, Rammaq, a demilich, and Sey'ryu, a blue dragon. The captains recognize the player as Akachi's heir, and the player must decide whether to lead their crusade against the City of Judgment or to oppose them.
Depending upon his choice, the player character must assault or defend three key positions around the City of Judgment. After the battle, the player learns where his own soul is located and wrests it from the Wall of the Faithless. The player is then pulled into a dreamscape where he must battle Akachi's avatar, The Faceless Man, for control of his soul. After defeating the Faceless Man, Kelemvor narrates the ending, which varies based on the player's choices throughout the game.
A hangman, a prostitute, a thief and a drunk try to make some sense out of the revelation that they are the last four people on earth. When a mysterious figure appears out of the desert claiming to be God, it sets off a chain of events which finally does answer their questions, but not necessarily in the way they had hoped.
Three men and a horse stand in a field. The first man in white holds the reins of the horse, the second man in black stands observing while the third man attempts to mount the horse. After six unsuccessful attempts he is finally able to seat himself and is set to ride off sidesaddle.
Patrick Davenant invites a group of friends to visit a theatre inside his villa, a place which later reveals itself as sinister. Within a short time, the guests realise that they are trapped in the villa. A merciless killer then begins to murder them one by one.
Eagle Chief Yoh Xi-Hung (Ku Feng) is the leader of a group of bandits called the Iron Boat Clan. He recruits and raises orphans to be his personal army of ruthless killers -he calls his recruits "Eagles.". One such orphan, indoctrinated by Yoh Xi-Hung, is Chik Ming-sing (Ti Lung). In a series of reflections, we find that Chik was an orphan that was sold to the Iron Boat Clan at the age of seven; he soon becomes one of Chief Yoh's top killers as he relishes engaging opponents in combat whenever the bandits go on a raid. However, after one particularly rough heist, Chik is badly wounded in a solo fight with Golden Spear Tao De-biu. He escapes into the nearby woods and manages to hide his silver plaque among the fallen leaves just before falling unconscious- thus concealing his membership in the Iron Boat Clan. Chik is later found by a stranger and nursed back to health by his kind family. It is later revealed that this stranger is a police chief -Wang An- a sworn enemy of Yoh Xi-Hung and a target for termination. While recovering, Chik starts having second thoughts about his criminal lifestyle; he begins to realize that there is an alternative to his violent, murderous lifestyle. He learns that he can live a peaceful, nonviolent way of life with a wife and family if he so chooses.
In the present time, we learn that Chik is running from the Iron Boat Clan, following the death of Wang An- who saved him in the woods. As a result of the kindness he received from Wang An and his family, Chik betrays Yoh Xi-Hung and departs from the clan. Meanwhile, Yoh has ordered that Chik be found and brought back for punishment. Chik meets up with a stranger while on the run. The stranger, Cheuk Yi-fan (Alexander Fu), secretly carries hidden wrist knives and is obsessed with hunting down his enemies to revenge the murder of his wife and family at the hands of the Iron Boat Clan. Chik Ming-sing is suspicious of the mysterious Cheuk, even when Cheuk does not hesitate to help him kill the other Eagle Clan members who are chasing him for leaving the bandit clan.
Not knowing that Cheuk Yi-fan is the son of the family that Chik and the other Eagles robbed and murdered, Chik Ming-sing confesses his evil doings to him one evening. Chik reveals that he has vowed to change his ways after that incident and is looking to end the exploits of Eagle Chief Yoh and the entire bandit clan. Chik also reveals that he is searching for the husband of the woman he killed so that he can die at his hands to atone for his crimes.
Cheuk decides to accompany Chik to Eagle headquarters. Upon the arrival of the duo, Eagle Chief Yoh recognizes Cheuk and reveals his name and true intentions. When Chik asks Cheuk why he did not take his revenge earlier, Cheuk reveals that what he wanted to know the whole story, and that he and Chik should join forces to defeat their common enemy, Chief Yoh Xi-Hung.
Chik and Cheuk manage to eliminate the remaining underlings of the clan and set their efforts on killing Yoh Xi_hung. After a lengthy fight with both men, Yoh attempts to manipulate both fighters to turn on one another. The two heroes briefly scuffle with each other -with Chik concocting a scheme without Cheuk's knowledge. As the two men continue to fight each other, Chief Yoh helps to contain Cheuk and holds his sleeve knives in order to provide Chik a chance to kill Cheuk. In a surprise move, Chik leaps up, lands upon the shoulders of Cheuk and plants his fighting sticks into the shoulders of Yoh. Cheuk follows by thrusting his double blades into Yoh's midsection. As Yoh Xi-Hung is dying, Chik tells him that it may be easy to raise someone but to win his heart is difficult; and because of this he now knows between right and wrong. Chik then uses his sticks to finish Yoh -ending the murderous reign of the Iron Boat Clan. With Chief Yoh dead, Chik tells Cheuk that he is ready to accept his punishment. Cheuk tells him that all his enemies are now dead and begins to walk away. Chik attacks Cheuk and forces the double blades into his body. He tells Cheuk that if he doesn't get his revenge now, then the spirit of his pregnant wife and unborn child would never know peace.
The final scene of the film show Cheuk looking over the graves where his family is laid to rest. A new headstone can be seen where Chik's remains have also been placed at the burial site.
The story is told in eight major parts, called Scenes.
Scene One begins in 1846, at Combe-Raven in West Somerset, the country residence of the wealthy Vanstone family: Andrew Vanstone, his wife, and their two daughters. Norah, age 26, is happy and quiet; Magdalen, 18, is beautiful but volatile and willful. The family lives in peace and contentment, with the girls' former governess, Miss Garth.
Through amateur theatricals, Magdalen discovers she is a talented actress and falls in love with Frank Clare, who is also in the play. Frank, the idle but handsome son of a neighbour, has reluctantly tried to pursue a career but failed, and his father is not wealthy. However, the young couple wish to marry and Magdalen's fortune will easily support them.
Their fathers agree to the marriage, but before it takes place Mr. Vanstone is killed in a train crash and Mrs. Vanstone dies in childbirth. The family lawyer, Mr. Pendril, tells Norah and Magdalen that despite appearances their parents had only been married for a few months, and their wedding invalidated the will which left everything to the daughters.
Since the daughters are illegitimate, they have no name, no rights, and no property. Combe-Raven and the entire family fortune are inherited by Andrew's older brother, Michael Vanstone, who has been bitterly estranged from the family for many years. He refuses to provide any support for the orphaned young women. With the help only of their governess Miss Garth, they set out to make their own way in the world.
Scene Two is set in York, where Magdalen is found by Captain Wragge, a distant relative of her mother's, who confesses that he is a professional swindler. He helps her in getting started on the stage in return for a share of the proceeds. His wife Matilda, whom he married for an expected inheritance, is physically huge and kindly but mentally slow; she has to be supervised like a child.
Scene Three is in Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth. Magdalen, having earned some money, forsakes the stage and plots to get her inheritance back. Michael Vanstone has died; his only son Noel is sickly and looked after by his housekeeper, Virginie Lecount, a shrewd woman who hopes to inherit his money. Magdalen goes to Lambeth and disguised as Miss Garth visits Noel to see how the land lies, but Mrs. Lecount sees through her disguise and cuts a bit of cloth from the hem of her brown alpaca dress as evidence of Magdalen's deception.
Scene Four is in Aldborough, Suffolk, where Magdalen tries to carry out her plot to regain her inheritance by marrying Noel Vanstone under an assumed name, with Captain and Mrs. Wragge posing as her uncle and aunt. Captain Kirke, a sea captain, sees Magdalen and is smitten; she is privately annoyed by his attention to her. Wragge and Lecount plot against and attempt to outdo each other; in the end, Lecount is sent on a false errand to Zurich. Captain Wragge arranges Noel and Magdalen's marriage with the understanding that he will receive a payment promised by Magdalen and have no further contact with her afterwards.
Scene Five is in Baliol Cottage, Dumfries. Noel is alone, as his wife has left to visit friends in London. Mrs. Lecount is back from Zurich and explains who his wife really is, with the help of the cut bit of cloth from the brown alpaca dress. Noel, at her direction, rewrites his will, disinheriting his wife and leaving a respectable legacy to Lecount and the remainder to Admiral Bartram, his cousin. Lecount also induces Noel to write a Secret Trust to Admiral Bartram, directing that the money be passed to young George Bartram, but only on the condition that he marry someone not a widow within six months. This Secret Trust precludes Magdalen from marrying George in order to regain the inheritance. The stress of writing an angry letter denouncing his wife is too much for Noel, and he dies from a weak heart.
Scene Six is in St John's Wood where Magdalen has lodgings. Estranged from Norah and from Miss Garth, who she thinks betrayed her husband's whereabouts to Lecount, she conceives a plot to disguise herself as a parlour maid and infiltrate Admiral Bartram's house in order to search for the Secret Trust document. Her own maid, Louisa, trains her for this role in return for Magdalen's giving her the money to marry her fiance, the father of her illegitimate child, and emigrate to Australia.
Scene Seven is at St. Crux, the Bartram country house. Magdalen, serving as a parlour maid under Louisa's name for Admiral Bartram, searches through the house for the Secret Trust. Eventually she locates it by following Admiral Bartram as he sleepwalks, but she is discovered and secretly leaves the house before she can be discharged for being a thief.
The last scene is set in a poor lodging house, Aaron's Building. Magdalen is ill and destitute, on the verge of being sent to a hospital or the workhouse, when a handsome man appears and rescues her. It is Captain Kirke, the sailor who had become enamored of her after seeing her once at Aldborough. Meanwhile, Norah has married George Bartram, thus inadvertently regaining half the Vanstone inheritance. The other half reverted to Magdalen, because her dead husband never made a provision for George not marrying within 6 months, or the admiral passing away. Magdalen however denies her money, because she is trying to become a better person. Admiring the integrity of Norah and Captain Kirke, she confesses her disreputable past to him and affirms that she will live a life worthy of him henceforth. The novel ends with Kirke and Magdalen professing their mutual love.
A young female martial-arts champion, Cheng Tai-nun (Kara Hui) marries an elderly landowner so the old man can keep his estate from falling into the greedy and unscrupulous hands of his brother Yu Yung-Sheng (Wang Lung Wei). Tai-nun inherits his estate when he dies, and is soon in Canton, staying with her older nephew by marriage, Yu Cheng-chuan (Lau Kar Leung), and his son Yu Tao (Hsiao Ho). When the traditional and conservative Tai-nun, a woman from the provinces, runs into the modern and Westernized Yu Tao for the first time, the sparks fly and a clash of egos begins.
Their conflict eventually leads to Yu Tao inviting Tai-nun to a costume party in hopes of embarrassing her in public. When the two get into trouble and Cheng-chuan needs to bail them out, the evil brother takes this opportunity to steal the deed to the dead husband's estate. Tai-nun and Yu Tao reach out to their extended family and ask for their help to retrieve the deed back. Although the family members agree, it becomes apparent that Yu Cheng-chuan and his brothers may be too old to help.
Tai-nun and Yu Tao decide to go get the deed back themselves and work together to infiltrate the evil brother's estate. Although they fight bravely, they are eventually outnumbered. Tai-nun is held hostage while Yu Tao is able to escape. With the help of his father and uncles, Yu Tao is able to help Tai-nun and the deed is given back to its rightful owner.
The show’s central character is Leo (Mathew Horne), the ex-boyfriend of businessman Roman Pretty's (Neil Dudgeon) middle daughter Nikki (Montserrat Lombard), who still works and lives with the family. Nikki's new boyfriend, Seb (Nicholas Burns), has a shady past, which Leo tries to reveal to the Pretty family but usually ends up making himself look a fool. His best mate Jase (Chris O'Dowd) is married to the eldest sister, Jenny (Sarah Solemani), and is constantly attempting to get away from her and their new-born daughter.
After a complaint from Roman in a restaurant, Japanese chef Mr. Hokkasawa loses his job. He had sworn that he would never use his sword again but later takes the job of the Pretty family gardener, in a plot to kill Roman. however, he falls for Roman's youngest daughter Kelly. All the characters live in a large house owned by Roman, which is where the majority of the story is set.
The music video is based on the movie The Shining (1980). It features the band exploring a hotel which they are care-taking. At the start, Jared Leto states that they have the hotel all to themselves for three days; although, later on, after the first chorus, it comes on the screen saying "One Week Later", before showing the pages saying "This is who I really am". In the extended version of the video, the other band members complain that they have been at the hotel longer than expected and have canceled shows because of Jared's peculiar behavior, explaining the discrepancy.
A letter from the hotel owner tells the band to "Enjoy your stay and please stay out of Room 6277." Shannon Leto does not heed the warning and opens Room 6277. Following the opening of the door, each band member begins to experience the effects of the room opening throughout the hotel. Each member experiences the effects differently, but one thing remains constant for each individual – they encounter a version of themselves dressed in a 1920s style tuxedo with tails. Several other apparitions then take up residence in the hotel, dispelling the promise Jared made in the beginning of the video that the band will have the hotel all to themselves and that "there's not gonna be a single fucking soul". The video reaches its climax when Tomo encounters himself in bed with a man in a bear suit (another Shining reference), and immediately the band dressed in tuxedos are shown performing the song in the hotel's ballroom in front of a crowd of twins, dressed like the roaring 1920s, dancing with themselves. The theme of duplicity resonates throughout the video.
When Jack Conroy goes to San Francisco, he leaves his wolfdog White Fang with his friend, Henry Casey. The two immediately form a bond, but enter trouble when washed up on shore while sailing to bring their gold into town.
Meanwhile, a local Native American chief, Moses Joseph, has a dream about White Fang and his niece Lily. He said that Lily will guide them to find the wolf from this dream, whom he believes will help save the starving tribe. Lily sails to the river and hears White Fang barking. She runs to find the source, and sees White Fang, but White Fang suddenly disappears, and Henry appears in his place, leading Lily to believe that the wolf had changed into Henry. She rescues Henry from and brings him back to her home. When Moses tells Henry that he is the wolf, Henry says he's not, and that the wolf was his friend, leading to laughter from the crowd. Meanwhile, back at the river, White Fang managed to save himself. As he makes his way through the wilderness to find Henry, White Fang finds a wolf pack that he follows for a short time. He ultimately decides not to join them, and continues his journey.
Henry goes back to town and sees many hungry people, and Reverend Leland Drury explains the poor state the town is in. The same day, White Fang spots Lily's village, and when Lily sees him, she calls her uncle to show him that it was the wolf she'd seen by the river the day she found Henry. As Moses tries to get a closer look, White Fang is startled and runs away.
The next day, Henry decides to go back to the village, and gives Lily a white shawl as a gift. White Fang, hiding in the forest, spots the wolf pack again, and a female wolf decides to come over and play with him. That night, as he is with the tribe, Henry hears White Fang howling. Henry runs into the forest, calling for White Fang. He finds a wolf, and thinking it's White Fang, calls to him, only to nearly be mauled by what turns out to be another wolf. White Fang intervenes and protects him. Henry calls White Fang to go to the village with him, but White Fang hesitates because of his female wolf companion. Henry understands and lets him go with his friend, but White Fang decides against it and goes back to the village with Henry. That night, Henry has a similar dream to the one Moses had, but this time including Henry himself.
Moses gives Henry a bow and arrows and sends him to the forest to practice his hunting skills. His first shot misses, but surprisingly another arrow hits the target perfectly. When he calls for whoever is there to reveal themselves, the mystery archer is revealed to be Lily. She shows him how to accurately use the bow. Peter, Moses's son, and Henry practice their hunting together. Henry, now romantically interested in Lily, asks Peter how he can impress her. Peter tells him to lean his head on her shoulder and whisper in her ear, then reveals he was joking, and that if he tried that, she would probably break his nose. Moses allows Peter to hunt with Henry. When Lily's aunt asks her husband what will happen next, he says that one of the men will not come back. Lily tries to convince her uncle to let her join Henry, but Moses refuses as women don't hunt.
When the time comes, Henry, White Fang and Peter go into the forest. Lily grabs her bow and secretly slips into the forest to join them. Henry and Peter find the bodies of the previous hunters who never returned. After Henry is almost wounded by a trap, Peter goes to examine the body of one of the hunters, and is suddenly shot at. He tasks Henry to find the caribou and runs to distract a gunman on horseback. Henry and White Fang escape, but his leg gets caught in a snare trap and is pulled up and suspended in mid air. He is nearly killed by a man in a hunting blind, but is saved by Lily, who shoots a fiery arrow in the man's direction, destroying the blind and causing him to run away. Afterwards, Lily gets Henry out of the trap, and they continue on their way. Upon arriving at the hunting grounds, they find the path is blocked by a crude man made wall and the caribou herd cannot pass through.
They go to find out who blocked the caribou but end up falling into a hole, which turns out to be an airshaft to a large gold mine. They discover Reverend Drury is behind the blockade, as he is running an illegal mining operation. They decide to steal some dynamite to clear the path, but along the way, Henry spots the Reverend. Henry accosts the Reverend when he threatens one of the Native American miners and the Reverend offers him a cut of the mine's profits if he just walks away. Henry refuses and ends up shooting the Reverend in the arm as he and Lily run to escape the mine. Henry finds another airshaft and hoists himself up to get out but Lily is captured by Leland's men. Henry escapes the mine, and White Fang defends him from the remaining miners while he sets the dynamite. The explosion clears the path and frees the caribou.
Meanwhile, the Reverend has loaded the gold and a bound Lily onto a wagon and is making a break for it. Henry and White Fang race through the forest to try and save Lily. As the wagon speeds past the cliff edge, White Fang and Henry jump onto the wagon. White Fang lunges at Reverend Drury, sending them both tumbling down the cliffside. Henry tries to grab the reins but to no avail. He then frees Lily from her bonds. The screw on the carriage comes loose, sending the carriage careening towards a cliff as the horses run off. Henry and Lily jump clear before they go over. Reverend Drury climbs back up to the path to see his gold loaded wagon crashing down the cliffside. The Reverend runs toward the wagon but is shocked to find a stampede of caribou barreling toward him, and is trampled to death.
Henry and Lily retrieve a wounded White Fang, and return to the village with him. They find Moses and Katrin, who are grateful Lily is safe, but are also heartbroken at the loss of Peter. White Fang later recovers.
Some time later, Lily gives Henry back his gold which she had found in the remains of his boat, stating Henry can leave now despite his wanting to stay with her. As Henry prepares to leave, the village thanks him for saving them from starvation. Just as he's about to leave, Lily comes running toward him wearing the white shawl he had given her. She says "she chooses" him and they embrace while White Fang's mate emerges from the trees and joins him. Three months later, White Fang and the female wolf have a litter of pups. Henry and Lily arrive at the den and are greeted warmly by the new family.
The film is based around the life of Mona Berglund, a mother-of-four obsessed with the Eurovision Song Contest - so much so, that her house is decorated with posters of her idols, and she has named her children after Swedish Eurovision performers: Kikki, Anna Book, Lena PH and Carola. Her partner Bosse is unemployed, and she is left to feed the family. Her brother, Candy, is a transvestite and an AIDS-sufferer who designs clothes. David, Mona's employer has cerebral palsy and is a proficient songwriter, and composes a song which Mona steals and sends a demo of (with her own lyrics) into Melodifestivalen, the Swedish heats for the Eurovision contest. Much to Mona's delight, the song qualifies for the finals. Mona's new-found fame takes her to unexpected places, including a TV interview, and an invitation to lunch at Berns. Throughout, the film, though, Mona is torn as to whether she should reveal that she was not in fact the only writer of her song, and thus risk losing the public's support.
Muthuveerappan, an idler from Karamadai, falls in love with Devayani alias Devi, the daughter of Carnatic musician Krishnamurthy Shastri. To lure her, Muthu pretends to learn music from Shastri. One day, Devi overhears Muthu discussing his plans to seduce her with his friends, and confronts him. Chastened, Muthu concentrates on his music and later wins over Devi. They marry in secret but before they can make this official, Rathnavelu, son of the village landlord, tries to rape Devi. Muthu saves her by subduing Rathnavelu. Enraged, the landlord insults Muthu's mother, tells her about a loan owed to him by Muthu's late father and threatens to evict her if the loan is not paid within a week. Muthu goes to Madras to earn money.
In Madras, Muthu tries to enter a music competition to win the prize money. He meets tabla player Ravikanth, who gives him the stage name Veera. Both make repeated attempts to enter the competition but are unsuccessful. Muthu saves the competition promoter's owner Viswanathan's daughter Roopakala from Harichandran, a gangster. With Roopa's help, Muthu is able to perform at the competition with Ravikanth, and wins the prize money. Muthu returns to Karamadai and repays the loan, clearing his mother's debt. He learns Devi's house had been destroyed by a flood; the bodies of Devi and her father were not found. With Devi presumed dead, Muthu's mother tells him to return to Madras so that he can start afresh.
After Muthu and his mother arrive in Madras, he gets a full-time job in the music industry as Veera. Viswanathan appoints him as the new company manager after firing the previous manager Chandran for selling pirated cassettes. Roopa, having fallen in love with Muthu, wants to marry him. Muthu initially refuses because he misses Devi but his mother persuades him to marry her. After her marriage, Roopa and Viswanathan go to the United States as the latter needs a heart surgery there. One day, at his recording studio, Muthu finds Devi alive and well. She survived the flood but was left with amnesia; her memory was restored when she heard Muthu singing on the radio so she went to Madras in search of him. Muthu decides not to tell Devi about his marriage to Roopa.
After Roopa and Viswanathan return, Muthu tries to tell Roopa about Devi but decides not to after she tells him about how her friend, at Roopa's suggestion, murdered her lover for infidelity. Devi and Muthu go to a temple to formally marry on Devi's demands, and Ravikanth is tasked with preventing Roopa from going there but fails. Roopa arrives at the temple; Ravikanth helps Muthu to hide his marriage to Devi from Roopa and vice versa. When Roopa sees her husband leaving with Devi, Ravikanth lies that Muthu and Veera are different men. As a result, Muthu is forced to live a double life as Devi's husband Muthu and as Roopa's husband Veera.
Chandran, aware of Muthu's double life, tries to blackmail him but Muthu gives him an altered photograph showing two of him. Believing it is genuine, Chandran gives the photograph to Harichandran who sees through the fraud, commits a murder and frames Muthu as Veera's killer. After Muthu reveals the truth about his double life to his wives, they fight over him and refuse to share. The wives are kidnapped by Harichandran's men. Muthu subdues Harichandran and Chandran, who are arrested. Muthu's wives reconcile with him but not with each other. Muthu's mother persuades him to leave Madras and return to Karamadai. When he, his mother and Ravikanth enter Muthu's house, they find Devi, Roopa and Viswanathan already there. Devi and Roopa take a bag each from Muthu then flounce off in opposite directions.
Lucy is a journalist who is dumped by her "perfect" boyfriend and then goes on a series of dates with five different men—Doug, an entomologist; Gabriel, a playwright; Bobby, a baseball player; Barry, a computer store owner; and Luke, a doctor. She acts differently around each of the men—she is drunk on her date with Doug; she uncharacteristically jumps into bed with Gabriel; she is, at first, irritated with but then moved by ex-baseball star Bobby; her date with Barry gets off to a rough start, but then while on their date, they run into her parents and end up having dinner with them; and her date with Luke is sidetracked when they see a colleague of Luke's who is with his daughter, Eve, who appears to have her own eye on Luke.
She doesn't connect with Doug, but she does get him to come out of his shell by the end of the date. She takes Bobby to several places that put him completely out of his element and then he takes her to a baseball card show where she discovers a different side of him. Her date with Gabriel essentially becomes a one-night stand when she realizes he isn't what she wants in life. She becomes serious with Luke, but an incident at a restaurant in which he is rude to one of the waiters makes her realize he isn't the one she wants, either. Barry surprises her several times throughout the movie with touching and thoughtful gestures, which of course win her over in the end.
In the year 2001, Jerome Bishop, a jazz composer and trombonist, is asked by Dr. Cray to assist in a project at a mental hospital, lending his musical knowledge to an experimental treatment of depression.
Although initially doubtful that he has anything to offer, he agrees to work on it and returns a few days later. He suggests to Dr. Cray that the irresistible rhythm of a revival hymn can snap anyone out of depression and demonstrates this by humming the opening beat of "When the Saints Go Marching In", which makes the patient feel much better and even gets Dr. Cray's toes tapping.
Philip Stenning is a commercial pilot, trained during the First World War. After his engine fails, he crashes and is rescued by an escaped convict, Denis Compton, who turns out to have been framed for embezzlement by his Italian half-brother, Baron Rodrigo Mattani, who is smuggling drugs into England.
The story tells how Stenning plays a key role in breaking that drug ring. It involves episodes characteristic of Shute: flying, small boat sailing, and a love story.
Stenning was a major character in Shute's first (unpublished) novel ''Stephen Morris''. Stenning also crops up as a comparatively minor character in Shute's next two novels ''So Disdained'' (1928) and ''Lonely Road'' (1932).
The story follows a group of children and their adventures in outback Australia.
The title character of the show, Li'l Elvis, who is a ten-year-old boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He has a gift for music, a talent for trouble, and a desire for only one thing: to find out who he really is and be a normal kid again. The opening sequence and music reveal that he was thrown out of a gold Cadillac in a guitar case, hinting that he is the illegitimate child of Elvis Presley (in real life, Presley only had one daughter named Lisa Marie). He is raised by foster parents, truck-stop proprietors Grace and Len, who are fervent fans of Presley. As Li'l Elvis is musically talented, singing and playing the guitar, his foster mother is convinced he is the son of Presley.
Li'l Elvis and his two friends, Lionel and Janet, form the band "The Truckstoppers", and the show follows their adventures in the outback town of Little Memphis (formerly Wanapoo). Lionel is an Indigenous Australian boy who plays the didgeridoo and has a penchant for exclaiming "deadly", while Janet is a beret-wearing Asian Australian girl who plays the drums standing up, similar to The Velvet Underground's drummer Maureen Tucker.
The Truckstoppers' recurring enemy is the businessman W.C. Moore, who wants to become their manager to exploit them commercially, turning Little Memphis into a tourist attraction. He is also infatuated with finding deposits of the mysterious mineral Berkonium. He has a Berkonium marble, which he uses to beat children at the game of marbles, their major recreational activity. He also frequently electrically zaps his hapless limousine driver, Duncan.
Peter Moran, the narrator, is agent to Lord Arner, administering his (fictional) estate of Under Hall in West Sussex. Driving home after a dinner in Winchester, he chances to encounter Maurice Lenden, who in 1917 had been a fellow pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.
It emerges that Lenden, who had suffered repeated financial failure and believes himself to be divorced, has entered Soviet service as a mercenary pilot, thus becoming a traitor to his own country. On a night espionage flight to photograph naval construction in Portsmouth Harbour, he has made a forced landing in his Breguet XIX in a remote part of the Under Hall estate.
Despite having no Communist sympathies, Moran shelters Lenden, hides the aeroplane, and contrives to mislead a Royal Air Force investigator. However, he takes the precaution of covertly exposing Lenden's photographic plates so that the images cannot be returned to the Soviets.
Shortly afterwards, two Communist agents steal the photographic plates in order to take them back to their base in an Italian villa. Lenden, who has recovered his wife and his patriotism, sets off in pursuit. Moran in turn sets off to intercept Lenden near the Italian border, taking off in the aeroplane as the only way to catch up with him.
Moran's plan fails because he is injured landing in Italy. Instead, he persuades the local Fascists to storm the communist hideout. They are too late; most of the Communists have fled and Lenden has been mortally wounded while stealing the photographic plates. Shortly before dying, he redeems himself by smashing the plates; Moran does not tell him that they were exposed even before he sacrificed his life to retrieve them.
Philip Stenning, the first person narrator of ''Marazan'', appears in the final part of this novel as Moran's ally. Once again he is portrayed as a 'rough diamond' with a debatable sense of moral justice.
The film tells the story of a facially-damaged android robot who fights alien invaders. Despite the title, neither Dr. Frankenstein nor Frankenstein's monster appear in the film. However, it is stated near the beginning of the movie that the android is partially built from human pieces and he is also often called by the first name of Frank.
All of the women on the planet Mars have died in an atomic war, except for Martian Princess Marcuzan (Marilyn Hanold). Marcuzan and her right-hand man, Dr. Nadir (Lou Cutell), decide they will travel to Earth and steal all of the women on the planet in order to continue the Martian race. The Martians shoot down a space capsule carrying the android astronaut Colonel Frank Saunders (Robert Reilly), causing it to crash land in Puerto Rico. Frank's electronic brain and the left half of his face are damaged after encountering a trigger-happy Martian and his ray gun. Frank, now the "Frankenstein" of the title, described by his creator as an "astro-robot without a control system", proceeds to terrorize the island. A subplot involves the Martians abducting beautiful bikini-clad women for the purpose of breeding.
The "Space Monster" of the title refers to a radiation-scarred mutant named Mull brought along as part of the Martian invasion force. The "Frankenstein" android and Mull battle each other at the end of the film and both are destroyed.
Olivia Dunne ‘Livvy’ (Keri Russell) is a young woman of Denver who has become pregnant by a naval flight instructor on furlough during the war. Embarrassed by his daughter's out of wedlock pregnancy, her father decides to deal with the issue by quietly arranging for her to marry. Livvy is sent off to a rural town in southeastern Colorado, there to be married to a young farmer in need of a wife. The groom is Ray Singleton (Skeet Ulrich), who farms a remote section of land on a family farm. Hearing of Livvy's dilemma from his pastor, Ray is moved by the story and agrees to marry without even having met her. Unbeknownst to Livvy, Ray has suffered the loss of both his father and mother, and the further loss of his younger brother when he was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Though young, handsome and a family man at heart, Ray has lacked the opportunity to find a wife in this remote region. His sister Martha (Mare Winningham), her husband and their three children are the only family he has left.
Ray and Livvy are an unlikely couple. Livvy has the benefit of a good education and until recently had been in graduate school studying archeology. The possesser of a broad formal education, she knows nothing of cooking or farming and is not particularly devoted to her religious beliefs. Though outwardly sophisticated, she has felt bereft and lonely since the death of her mother. Ray is a man of few words. A hard worker, he is kind, honest and patient. Family life and faith in God have been the central features of Ray's life. His daily activity is focused on working his family's farm.Erickson, Hal. - [http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-magic-of-ordinary-days-320478 ''The Magic of Ordinary Days'']. - All Movie Guide at Allmovie. Livvy and Ray strive hard to be polite and courteous to one another, but are nevertheless awkward in each other's company.
Though she agreed to marry to please her father, Livvy never intended to remain in this stark life. She secretly writes to Lieutenant Edward Brown, the flight instructor who is the father of her child. A visit by her sister brings sharp contrast between the life Livvy came from and the life she is living now, but it is also apparent how much Livvy has changed her view of her surroundings. Her sister has no news of Lt. Brown, who has yet to answer Livvy's letters. Now without her husband who has been called up to serve, her sister finds herself lonely. She asks Livvy to leave Ray to come stay with her, suggesting they make up stories of Ray drinking and being violent to cover her leaving him. Livvy cannot bring herself to do this.
With most of the young men gone for the war effort, Ray's farm is lacking in farm hands. Needing to maintain production of food, the government supplies laborers to the farms. Ray's farm is supplemented by Japanese Americans interned at nearby Camp Amache. Life in the high country leaves Livvy feeling isolated and alone. She comes to befriend two sisters from the camp, Florence and Rose Umahara (Tania Gunadi and Gwendoline Yeo). Both are well-educated, and Livvy finds familiarity and comfort in their friendship.
Ray's sister Martha and her family give Livvy new insight into the lives of people in rural America. Throughout Ray proves to be a caring husband, both patient and supportive. He quietly does things to make her more comfortable in her surroundings, and it is clear that he is much brighter than Livvy had first suspected. Over time Livvy comes to value the life people like Martha and Ray lead. The love and forbearance shown to her stand in marked contrast with what she had known at home since the passing of her mother. With the baby coming she must choose the course her life will take.
''The Ferals'' are an eclectic group of animals that live together in a backyard shed. There is a rat called Rattus, a feral cat called Modigliana, a rabbit called Mixy, and a feral dog called Derryn. The humans are two university students, and their landlord, who clash with each other and the Ferals.
They include the uptight, neurotic landlord Joe King who is determined to remove the ferals from his garden; the affable science student Leonard, and medical student Roberta 'Robbie', who attempt to shield the ferals from eviction, but are sometimes exasperated with their antics.
There were also the 'Bozos From The Bush' as Modigliana liked to call them, Keith, a koala and Kylie, a kangaroo. These two characters often clashed with the Ferals, thinking they were above them due to their status as native Australian animals.
They were also quite nasal and whiney in their characteristics. Other characters included White Ants (Tina Bursill, Robert Hughes), Rock Wrangler (Tina Matthews) and Fat Cat (Taylor Owynns)
Tex Murphy is hired by business mogul Marshall Alexander, founder of TerraForm Corporation, to locate his missing daughter, Alexis. As in the first game, Tex travels between destinations and interrogates characters associated with the subject such as Alexander's attorney, his wife, and Alexis's roommate and business partners. Interrogations are menu-based and dialogues open up additional destinations and dialogue options. The investigation will reveal to Tex that the girl's disappearance is linked with an item in Alexander's possession.
Alexis has been traced on planet Mars, whose exploitation is mostly owned by Alexander's company. Tex will find out that Alexander was actually Collier Stanton, a scientist and explorer of Mars, infamous for killing mutant colonists to obtain the "Oracle Stone". With this stone, Alexander foresaw the future, read antagonists' minds and built his corporate empire. Alexis's good will was used to lure her into stealing the Stone and bring it to Mars, only to fall into the hands of Thomas Dangerfield, the original discoverer of the Stone.
The character of Larry Hammond, who appeared in ''Mean Streets'', returns to this game, giving information to the player. Lowell Percival who is introduced here, also appears in ''Killing Moon'', as does Mac Malden, who appears in both ''Killing Moon'' and ''Pandora Directive''.
The films follow a friendship of a group of young ornithodirans (four dinosaurs and a pterosaur) named Littlefoot (''Apatosaurus''), Cera (''Triceratops''), Ducky (''Saurolophus''), Petrie (''Pteranodon''), and Spike (''Stegosaurus''). After finding the Great Valley, they raise a carnivorous baby, (a ''Tyrannosaurus'', whom they name Chomper), survive a drought and a cold snap, and witness a solar eclipse. Throughout all the films, they embark upon adventures, learning lessons about life and friendship along the way.
After a box of carrots is dropped into the middle of a jungle in Tasmania, Bugs pops out, wondering how he went from sleeping in a carrot patch to the middle of Tasmania. Suddenly, a group of animals (both wild and domesticated) come running through the woods, scared for their lives (Bugs mistakes it for "chow time at the zoo"). A crocodile (who turns himself inside out into a bag for a disguise) hands Bugs a booklet talking about the Tasmanian devil and the many things it eats. Bugs reads: "Beware of the Tasmanian Devil, a vicious, ravenous brute with powerful jaws like a steel trap. Eats aardvarks, ants, bears, boars, cats, bats, dogs, hogs, elephants, antelopes, pheasants, ferrets, giraffes, gazelles..." Bugs snarks, "A likely story, but there ain't no such animal."
While Bugs is going through the list from stoats, goats, shoats, ostriches, etc., the Tasmanian Devil comes roaring in and spots Bugs Bunny still reading the booklet as he completes the list from octopuses, penguins, wigeons (which Bugs reads as people), warthogs, yaks, newts, walruses, gnus, wildebeests, and then states "What?! No rabbits?!" The Tasmanian devil greedily says that it 'especially' eats rabbits as it turns to the page that says "...And Especially Rabbits" and eats the booklet. Bugs is able to temporarily fool Taz into thinking he is a monkey, which Tasmanian devils do not eat (despite the fact that one of the animals seen running for its life was a monkey - ostensibly because all animals are scared of Taz). However, Taz soon starts chasing Bugs again, and Bugs tags the Tasmanian Devil saying, "Tag! You're it, Baggy Eyes!", And the chase is on again. Bugs tricks "Baggy Eyes" into getting crushed under a tree but Taz manages to exit through a knothole in the tree. Bugs jokes around wondering what Tasmanian devil pancakes would taste like, but he accidentally lets his guard down and Taz grabs Bugs by his ears and asks him: "What for you say you monkey, when you got little powder puff tail like rabbit, ''Rabbit?''"
Bugs ends up on a spit, trussed like a roast pig, as Taz puts salt and pepper on Bugs, which results in Bugs sneezing the apple out of his mouth. Bugs is really nervous, because he is about to be eaten and has no escape plan, but luckily he sees Taz making a large salad to go with him (with turtles, squirrels, etc.). Bugs compliments Taz on his "mean salad" but informs him that the best thing to have with a salad is "wild turkey surprise", not rabbit. Taz, wanting to try it, unties Bugs. Bugs throws some sticks of dynamite together, lights the fuses and dresses the 'legs' up to look like they are from a turkey. Taz gobbles the dish, but does not seem too harmed from the explosion in his stomach.
When Taz starts chasing Bugs again, Bugs runs into a store owned by a "Trader Mac" and pulls some items off the shelf to dress himself up as a Tasmanian she-devil, whom Taz goes gaga over. Bugs 'makes out' with Taz and, with a bear trap for lips, gives him a big kiss, driving Taz wild. This causes the real Tasmanian she-devil (whom Taz married at the end of ''Devil May Hare'' in 1954) to come in and smack him across the head with her rolling pin. Bugs comments: "She's a ''nice'' lady. Yeesh!"
As a favor to his hippie sister who has gone off to India, Pedro, a gay dentist, has agreed to look after his nine-year-old nephew, Bernardo. Bernardo's father is dead and the boy and his uncle have not had much to do with each other until now. Originally, the boy was to stay with Pedro for a few days, but six weeks have passed with no word from the boy's mother.
His nephew's presence forces Pedro to take a break from his otherwise extremely active sex life. In fact, Pedro was beginning to tire of the superficial nature of his frequent relationships. Even his boyfriend, Manuel, who suddenly pays Pedro a visit and who shares his penchant for leather and latex, is not really the man with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life, although they express love for each other. Then, all at once, an entirely different set of problems arise. For one, there is Doña Teresa, Bernardo's paternal grandmother, who one day darkens Pedro's door and puts the emotional screws on him. Worse still, however, is the news that Bernardo's mother has been arrested in India for drug smuggling. She may be facing a prison sentence of 30 years, so the embassy informs Pedro. Pedro is just as shocked at this news as Bernardo; nevertheless, he realizes that he is now responsible for the boy. Without further ado, he decides to rise to the challenge this represents. There suddenly seem to be so many things to organize – such as repairs to the house and finding a school for the boy – that Pedro hardly misses the life he used to lead. Gradually, however, he succeeds in rekindling his sex life – albeit in a less excessive form.
Doña Teresa makes another appearance, this time demanding custody of Bernardo. However, Pedro is willing to fight for the boy's welfare. After illegally obtaining his medical history (revealing that Pedro is HIV positive) and hiring a private investigator who obtains pictures of Pedro on a night out in a gay club, and threatening him with both, he ends up allowing her to enroll Bernardo in a boarding school. When his grandmother goes to visit him later on, revealing Pedro's HIV status (despite their previous agreement), Bernardo reveals that he already knew from his mother, and that his mother was HIV positive as well. She then reveals that he is in the hospital with pneumonia. He tells her that he hates her and that it is her fault that he is currently in the hospital, because she was not there to care for him.
Three years pass, during which several letters go back and forth between Bernardo, Pedro, his mother and his grandmother. Bernardo and two of his friends, a boy and girl, attend a funeral, where a casket is being lowered, although it is not immediately revealed whose funeral this is. Shortly after, a cab pulls up with Pedro inside, out of the hospital and healthy, and he expresses lament at the passing of Bernardo's grandmother. After a brief conversation, Bernardo returns to his two friends, kisses both, and parts from them; it is unclear whether or not he is romantically involved with one of them. Bernardo then returns to his uncle and they ride away together in the cab.
The plot is based around the ancient Flawse family, landed gentry based at the falling-down Flawse Hall, (near "Flawse Fell") in the wilds of Northumberland, just south of the Anglo-Scottish border. The single remaining family member is a cantankerous octogenarian named Edwin Tyndale Flawse. His illegitimate grandson Lockhart (aka "the Bastard") combines sexual and educational innocence with an alarming propensity for violence when he or his wife is threatened. The old man was born in the late 19th century, and his main aim in the very autumn years of his life is to find the father of his bastard grandchild and flog him to within an inch of his life.
The plot involves the pair making a double marriage while on a cruise, Edwin to the grasping middle-aged Mrs. Sandicott (who desires to marry a very rich old man with as short a lifespan remaining as possible) and Lockhart to her innocent and beautiful daughter Jessica (who knows as little of real life as he does and wants nothing more than a stereotypical male hero).
One plot strand has the older couple moving to Flawse Hall; the pair immediately begin fighting as she realises that the old man has no immediate intention of dying and that Flawse Hall is not the aristocratic seat she imagined. The house has no electricity or modern appliances, and is located miles from the nearest town of Black Pockrington and the nearest railway station of Hexham, and thanks to a clause in her new husband's will which states that although she will inherit everything after he dies, she can never leave or else she'll forfeit the entire estate. The other strand has Lockhart and Jessica moving to Sandicott Crescent in the south London suburb of Purley and fighting an innocents' battle together against the modern world. Lockhart is not at home in his new suburban environment and subsequently loses his job in his mother-in-law's accountancy firm (courtesy of and in retaliation by his mother-in-law when Edwin's will includes another clause stating that if Lockhart ever finds his natural father the entire Flawse estate and inheritance immediately reverts to him) and longs for home. Unable to get another job since he doesn't statistically exist (thanks to his grandfather's refusal to register him with a birth certificate or with the National Health Service), Lockhart embarks on a prolonged, complicated, merciless and ultimately successful campaign to evict the tenants of the houses owned by Jessica so that they can be sold.
The finale has the two strands reunited back in Northumberland and involves the inevitable discovery that the spirit of the Flawse family lives on in "the Bastard" but is spiced up by several deaths, the inclusion of a human taxidermist, extensive use of sound equipment and a vicious battle with the taxmen and "the excise men" (Her Majesty's Customs and Excise Department).
After a series of lion dances in the opening minutes, Wong Fei Hung and his once-rival, now friend, find themselves and their martial arts schools pitted against a rival school which uses a kung fu expert Master Shan from the north to do their dirty work, although the expert doesn't realize he is being evil (they lie to him). After his friend Chu-Ying's brother is beat up in a brothel, Fei Hung goes to the rival school to confront them and Master Shan. There is also a mass kung fu "war" in a local theater which is the second highlight of the film, the first being an excellent fight in an alley between Fei Hung and Master Shan. This may be the only role in which Wang Lung Wei as the hero from the north isn't a villain. He fights Wong Fei Hung but once he discovers that he has been tricked by the bad school, he refuses to help them anymore.
Frensic and Futtle is a small and successful literary agency. But following a successful court case by a woman who claimed to have been libelled by one of their authors, the agency rapidly loses business.
One day, a manuscript for a book called ''Pause O Men for the Virgin'' arrives at the agency, together with a note from the author's solicitor, saying that the author wishes to remain anonymous and that the agency has ''carte blanche'' on how it deals with the book. The book turns out to deal with the love affair between an 80-year-old woman and a 17-year-old youth.
The populist American publisher Hutchmeyer agrees to sign a deal to publish the book in the United States for $2 million, providing the author carries out a promotional tour of the country. Sonia and Frensic decide to use aspiring but unpublished author Peter Piper to stand in for the anonymous author. But when Piper receives a proof copy of ''Pause'' from the publisher by mistake, it takes a certain amount of persuasion and arm-twisting from Sonia Futtle to convince Piper to travel to America.
A group of young hippies, having recently moved into an old house in the woods, slowly become aware of an otherworldly presence residing in the basement of the house.
Richard "Dick" Dudgeon (Kirk Douglas) is apostate and outcast from his family in colonial Websterbridge, New Hampshire, who returns their hatred with scorn. After the death of his father, who was mistakenly hanged by the British as a rebel in nearby Springtown, Dick rescues his body from the gallows, where it had been left as an example to others, and has it buried in the parish graveyard in Websterbridge. He then returns to his childhood home to hear the reading of his father's will, much to his family's dismay.
Local minister Rev. Anthony Anderson (Burt Lancaster), who was almost arrested for trying to talk the British into taking the body down, treats him with courtesy, despite Dick's self-proclaimed apostasy, but Dick's "wickedness" appalls Anderson's wife Judith (Janette Scott). To everyone's surprise, it is revealed that Dick's father secretly changed his will just before he died, leaving the bulk of his estate to Dick. Much to his shock, Dick's mother (Eva Le Gallienne) refuses to stay with him (a change from the stage play, wherein he promptly evicts his mother from her home). Dick proclaims himself a rebel against the British and scorns his family as cowards when they flee his home. In the meantime, the British discover the father's grave.
While Dick is visiting the Andersons' home at the Reverend's invitation to take tea, Rev. Anderson is called out to Mrs. Dudgeon's deathbed. With Anderson's permission, Dick is left alone with Judith. She has been instructed to keep him at the house for his safety, and to serve tea while Anderson is gone. Perceiving Judith's distaste for him, Dick attempts to leave, but Judith insists he stay until Anderson returns, lest her husband think she has disobeyed him.
While waiting, British soldiers enter Anderson's home and arrest Dick, mistaking him for Anderson, whom they believe illegally retrieved the body. Dick allows them to take him away without revealing his actual identity. He swears Judith to secrecy lest her husband give the secret away and expose himself to arrest. Judith, in a state of great agitation, finds her husband, who asks if Dick has harmed her. Breaking her promise to Dick, Judith reveals that soldiers came to arrest Anderson but Dick went in his place, stunning Anderson, who tells Judith to have Dudgeon keep quiet as long as possible, to give him "more start", then quickly drives away. Judith believes her husband to be a coward (not knowing he has gone to seek help from Lawyer Hawkins (Basil Sydney), secretly the leader of the local rebels) while Dick, whom she despised, she now sees as a hero.
Judith visits Dick and asks him if he has acted from love for her. He tells her that he has acted according to "the law of my own nature", which forbade him to save himself by condemning another. At a military trial, Dick is convicted and sentenced to be hanged, not for his theft of the body, but for his open acknowledgment that he is a rebel.
In this scene, we become better acquainted with General Burgoyne (Laurence Olivier), a charming gentleman and Shavian realist, who contributes a number of sharp remarks about the conduct of the American Revolution and the British Army, and engages in some gentlemanly verbal repartée with Dick who seems surprisingly unaffected by the high probability of being hanged. Burgoyne does believe he is Anderson, but notes his rather un-clerical behavior. After Dick is condemned, Judith interrupts the proceedings to reveal Dick's true identity, but to no avail, as he will be hanged in any case due to remarks he made during the trial, which the British consider treasonous regardless of his identity.
Meanwhile, Anderson suddenly decides to abandon his ministry and turn rebel. In Springtown, a battle is going on. Anderson finds a house that the British have commandeered that is next to their ammunition dump. Anderson sneaks into the house, fends off several British redcoats, sets his coat on fire on log, and throwing it out the window explodes the British ammunition dump. Surviving relatively unscathed, he then dons the clothes of a Loyalist courier bringing an urgent message from General Howe and reaches the village where Dick is about to be hanged.
Like Sydney Carton in Dickens's ''A Tale of Two Cities'', Dick defies his executioners and prepares to meet his death. However, Anderson confronts Burgoyne, informing him that the rebels have re-taken Springtown, have a British general as a prisoner, and that a captured message reveals that a relief army supposed to be in Albany is really farther away in New York City, being misinformed about his location; Burgoyne is outnumbered.
Anthony Anderson has become a man of action in an instant, just as Dick became a man of conscience in an instant. In Springtown, the British called for a truce, and Anderson bargains on the terms of the truce, including Dick's life; Burgoyne agrees to free him. Anderson tells Dick and Judith that he (Anderson) is no longer a minister but a Captain of militia, and will not stand in their way. Judith seems to be as entranced with Dick as she was previously disgusted with him. When Dick says they can go away together, she runs off; Anderson follows, sweeping Judith onto his horse and they leave Websterbridge. Under the temporary truce, Burgoyne invites Dick to tea.
Esteemed Monkey style Kung Fu master and opera actor, Chen (Chia-Liang Liu), is befuddled in a devious plot designed to exploit his alcoholism and tarnish his otherwise flawless credibility amongst townspeople where he and his beautiful sister Miss Chen (Kara Wai) performs. In a plot to defame Chen as a master of Kung Fu, ruin Chen and his sister's opera troupe and gain Miss Chen as a brothel worker, the villainous gangster and brothel-owner Tuan (Lo Lieh) along with his wife whom acts as the brothel Mistress, frame a drunken Chen for the rape of Tuan's wife, and inform Chen and his sister that the punishment for his "crime" is death, however Chen's sister offers herself to be Tuan's concubine and work in the brothel indefinitely in exchange for her brother's life. Getting exactly what he and his wife wanted, Tuan's agrees, though only with the addition of being able to cripple Chen's hands, knowing he will have ruined Chen's status as a master of Kung Fu in doing so.
Years pass by, and after the tragedy that befell he and his sister, Chen comes to terms with his alcoholism, and maintains a life of sobriety. Chen also gives up opera performing and practicing monkey style Kung Fu, as he is haunted by a regret and shame that he is to blame for his sister's life due to his previous inability to maintain sobriety. Chen struggles as a street entertainer and candy salesman (now somewhat of a local celebrity due to his kind and giving nature) to make ends meet, performing with his beloved trained monkey Ah Mao.
A young thief, albeit with a good heart, named Monkey, (Hsiao Ho) watches on with a group of children at Chen and Ah Mao's entertainment showcase, until it is interrupted by a group of the town's thugs and extortionists. When Chen barely affords to pay them, they retaliate by destroying Chen's set and throwing his candies across the town square. Monkey steps in to help Chen clean up and collect his things as the extortionists storm off through town. Monkey cracks up a plan to steal back the money that the extortionists had taken from Chen and gift him with a warm meal for dinner.
After successfully stealing the money back from the local extortionists, Monkey later visits Chen at his home on the outskirts of town with an expensive meal and wine to enjoy, knowing Chen likely lost all of his money to the extortionists earlier. Chen, who believes Monkey has sought him out for a show, asks the young man's name, to which Monkey explains he doesn't know his own name, but is called Monkey. Chen remarks that he ..."does act like one." and tells him that no show will be going on that night, and he begins to return to the paltry meal he's made for himself. Monkey begins to unpack the meal he's brought for Chen, waving the expensive wine he's purchased under Chen's nose. Chen starkly refuses the wine at first, even attempting to kick Monkey out for tempting him. Chen soon apologizes for his brash action after seeing Monkey meant no harm, and accepts the meal, offering to dine with Monkey. He then inquires how Monkey could possibly afford the expensive meal he's offered. Monkey reveals he's stolen the money for it, and from the thugs that extorted Chen earlier at that, stating, "...After all, if you're not strong, you have to steal." Chen realizes Monkey has been dealt a bad card, and comments on the cruelty of the unforgiving world they live in, and agrees to eat the gift of a meal with Monkey, and Ah Mao at his side.
The two bond over the meal and soon begin an odd friendship, where Monkey occasionally visits Chen for advice and guidance. Monkey continues to steal for a living, until he is caught by the local thugs who beat him up and run him out of town. Monkey seeks solace with Chen who reprimands him for his continued stealing, warning him that if he continues, he'll likely end up dead. Monkey refutes Chen's notion with the statement that if he does not steal, he'll die from starvation anyhow, to which Chen states: "I don't steal... I don't starve." Though true, Monkey sees his situation different from Chen's and remarks: "You're different, you've got a monkey show! I'm different, I HAVE to steal!". Chen pities the young man and the bad card he's been dealt in life, and offers him respite in his home for the night, allowing Monkey to sleep alongside Ah Mao.
The following day, the local thugs again attempt to extort what little money Chen earns from selling candies and doing street entertainment shows with Ah Mao. The extortionists throw Chen's candies across the town square again to distract him, then brutally murder Ah Mao, swinging him in circles from his leash and smashing the small monkey against a tree. Monkey visits Chen at his home later that night after hearing the horrific story of what happened earlier, and offers to get revenge for Ah Mao and Chen, but Chen refuses, as Monkey would surely be risking his life attempting to go against the local extortionists. Monkey instead goes into business with Chen as a stand-in for the late Ah Mao using his natural Monkey like traits and acrobatic skills to put on a compelling and lucrative show for the townspeople. However, once again, the thugs return for more extortion money from Chen, and while Monkey becomes immediately frustrated and attempts to attack the thugs, Chen is able to easily hold Monkey back and keep him grounded so he does not fight back. Chen's pockets are turned out and he is once again robbed of his earnings by the extortionists, which gravely angers Monkey.
When Monkey questions Chen why he does not act when the extortionists come around, Chen's passive attitude angers Monkey and he attempts to storm off for revenge. Chen however stops Monkey in his tracks with relative ease, exclaiming that Monkey would have no chance against them, which makes Monkey highly suspicious of the seemingly helpless old man. Monkey then argues with Chen pointing out that he knows Chen is hiding the fact he knows true Kung Fu rather than the monkey tricks he's been taught for their street performances. Chen disregards this and leaves Monkey bound so he can not act on his anger stating, "Now listen kid... Stick to monkey tricks, and LIVE. You got that!?"
Monkey, feeling his pride stomped on by repeated extortion from the local thugs, confronts the men at a local restaurant. Exclaiming he no longer wants to be called "Monkey" but "Monkey King" by the thugs. He uses his monkey tricks and acrobatics to embarrass the thugs, however they quickly overpower him and quickly beat him to a pulp, leaving him for dead outside of the restaurant. When Monkey returns to Chen, he maintains his stance that he was fighting for justice rather than for violence, and that if he wouldn't have been beaten as badly if Chen had taught him true Kung Fu. Chen reluctantly agrees to this and begins to lightly train Monkey in his unique style of Monkey Kung Fu, far off in the mountains outside of town. Months later, although the training is not quite complete, Monkey believes he is strong enough to defeat not only the extortionists, but the boss they work for, and leaves Master Chen to enact his revenge against them all.
Monkey travels back into town and fights the extortionists, easily defeating them and forcing them to bring him to their boss. Monkey is led to the extortionist's boss, an older man who runs the local brothel and happens to be, the villainous Tuan. Tuan laughs at Monkey's unpolished Monkey style Kung Fu, mockingly suggesting he knows what real Monkey style Kung Fu looks like, and knows how to defeat it. Monkey eagerly confronts Tuan, believing himself to be the better skilled martial artist, but is badly beaten by Tuan, nearly to death; however a suspicious concubine of Tuan's recognizes the distinct style of Kung Fu that Monkey is using, to be that of her own brother's. Revealing herself as Miss Chen, she steps in to assist Monkey in the fight against Tuan; though her efforts merely buy Monkey enough time to escape and she is killed brutally, albeit reluctantly, by Tuan.
Monkey returns to his Master, Chen, bruised and beaten, and details his naive attempts to beat the extortionist's boss, the meeting with Chen's sister, and her death. Chen, tempted to flee into town and avenge his sister, is halted and reminded of his crippled hands by Monkey. With no hesitation, Monkey offers himself to be the hands of his master, and complete his training in Monkey style Kung Fu, to avenge everyone who has befallen the fate of crossing paths with Tuen, and protect the town from his devious acts of extortion and villainy. Chen agrees, and trains intensely for an unspecified time with Monkey, who uses the time to bond with his master in a unique and congruent fashion, coming to model himself as a fighter and a man on a whole, after Chen. Monkey's training concludes after a sparring match shows Monkey has grown fast and strong enough to finally land not only his first, but a nearly unexpected strike on his master, even though Monkey is using Chen's own Monkey style Kung Fu to compete against him. Chen can only smile as he is amazed how quickly Monkey has adapted to and learned his cherished style of martial arts.
Shortly thereafter, Monkey returns to the brothel in town with a new approach. Quickly working his way through all Tuan's henchmen with relative ease, Monkey's temper boils inside and he falters, getting physically trapped in a net by a group of Tuan's henchmen, who attempt to drag Monkey off and execute him. Chen appears just in time, and saves Monkey and they fight side by side thinning out the herd of Tuan's henchmen. When Monkey and Chen prove to be too much for the countless men Tuan throws at them, Tuan challenges them both head to head, and engages in combat with the Master and student. Tuan manages to hold his own against the crippled master and gains the upper hand. Monkey, eager to get revenge steps in to take his master's place and be his hands, and quickly turns the tables on the villainous Tuan. As Monkey fights Tuan by himself, his focus grows, and while calm and collected he clearly outclasses the older man with his youth, let alone sheer skill in martial arts. Seeing that he can't possibly win, Tuan tries to flee the fight, however Monkey doesn't let him, and cripples Tuan's hands by sending them through a thick paned glass lantern, as payback for his master. Chen watches on and excuses the aggressive action as he believes justice has been served, though before he can intervene, Monkey still fueled by rage and not forgetting the lives lost at the hands of Tuan, drags him up a tall balcony in the brothel and jumps off, leaving Tuan to fall to his death on the concrete floor at Chen's feet. As Monkey drops down to return to his master, the remaining staff of the brothel, including Tuan's wife peer down at Monkey and Chen in fear. As Monkey jumps up to teach them a lesson as well, Chen catches him and calms his rage, leaving the brothel and ending their quest of revenge.
The game's story is set in the bedroom of the player, presumably a child. Jiminy Cricket (Eddie Carroll) is the guardian of a book in the player's room which features several stories with happy endings. However, the book's happy ending pages are ripped out by a very bored Jiminy Cricket, who has read them so often that they put him to sleep. As a game to make it very interesting, he asks the player to put them back to the story where they belong, when suddenly the book is possessed by the spirits of several Disney Villains, namely Captain Hook (Corey Burton) from ''Peter Pan''; The Witch (Queen Grimhilde) (Louise Chamis) from ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''; The Queen of Hearts (Tress MacNeille) from ''Alice in Wonderland'' and the Ringmaster (Corey Burton) from ''Dumbo'', who alter the stories to their advantage, without the presence of happy endings. The Blue Fairy (Rosalyn Landor) appears and explains that because stories live on in the hearts of readers, by removing the happy endings, the stories were left at their climax with the heroes in peril and the villains in control. Jiminy and the player venture into the worlds of the stories, via the cover door, to correct the happy endings.
In the altered stories, the Wicked Queen Grimhilde as Old-Hag Witch has built a giant house resembling her infamous poisoned apple and has put Snow White to sleep and intends to do the same to the seven dwarves, and the player must use the spellbook to free the Prince (Michael Gough), whom she trapped by magic, so that the Prince kisses Snow White to wake her up, the Ringmaster forces a now flightless Dumbo to endlessly perform humiliating stunts in his circus, and the player must help Dumbo fly again by making the circus contraption perfect so that they can force the clown to perform the humiliating stunts, the Queen of Hearts has rather violently had Alice (Kathryn Beaumont) beheaded, although the girl does remain alive despite the separation of her body and head, and the player must find Alice's head to piece her back together, so that the White Rabbit (Corey Burton) must lead them home, and Peter Pan (Michael Welch) is an old man (Kevin Schon), which makes it too hard for him to fight Hook, and the player must pick up Elderly Peter's sword to win the swashbuckling sword fight against Hook and his pirate crew, so that the Crocodile can chase him away, and Peter turns back into a young boy again.
The villains steal the happy ending pages, changing the bedroom into a battlefield mixed with their four areas. The player uses the book as a shield to deflect the villains' attacks and defeats each one (Hook is sent flying by a reflected cannonball, the Wicked Queen Grimhilde as Old-Hag Witch is seemingly frightened to death by her own reflection when it shattered, the Queen of Hearts surrenders when a hedge maze topiary statue she hides in is destroyed by the player shooting Hedgehogs, and the Ringmaster is knocked unconscious by a well aimed custard pie). All of the happy endings are restored at the end of the game.
A complex story, about a stolen piece of jade which was originally stolen by 4 thieves (Dick Wei, Bruce Tong, Lau Wai Ling & Suen Shi Pau) that falls into the hands of a habitual gambler named Mao Kai Yuan, knowns as "The Golden Lion" (Wang Lung Wei) and his arrogant anti-hero bodyguard Yun Xiang (Fu Sheng), a knife throwing expert. Various individuals want the jade from Mao Kai Yuan for their own purposes (to get rich or to return it to its owner), particularly the con-woman Peng Shuang Shuang (Shirley Yu) and her hired help, who wants to get it played in a gamble game at Mo Jun Feng's (Lo Mang) small hotel, along with Xiao Qiang (Lin Chen-Chi) and her hired help Xiao Tang (Chiang Sheng), as well as the handless off and on villain Yan Zi Fei (Lu Feng); previously Xiao Qiang and Xiao Tang offered a duel to Yan Zi Fei to defeat his new sword technique, and if he lost he would lose his hand. The sword was made by the blacksmith Qiu Zi Yu (Kuo Chui), who formerly made weapons for kung fu experts with his only payment being for every expert to teach him his kung fu style, and therefore Qiu Zi Yu himself is an expert at various forms of kung fu. However, he retired from making weapons after Yan Zi Fei used his new sword to try to kill Qiu Zi Yu.
Yan Zi Fei indeed lost his hand and lived as a reformed vagabond until hearing about the jade, so he approached Qiu Zi Yu to apologize and ask for a new weapon to replace his hand but Qiu Zi Yu refuses. Peng Shuang Shuang and Mo Jun Feng approach Mao Kai Yuan about the jade and offer him a price (basically give it up or die), however Yun Xiang hears this and challenges Mo Jun Feng who is also a knife expert to a duel which ends up a draw when Mao Kai Yuan intervenes. Xiao Tang approaches Peng Shuang Shuang in private and she seduces and then murders him. A police captain and his daughter Xiao Hong (Kara Hui) arrive and suggest that Peng Shuang Shuang can be absolved of the murder and claim it was self defense if she helps the police officer sneak Xiao Hong into the gambling event. Xiao Hong goes undercover as a maid in Mao Kai Yuan’s house and captures the attention of the interested Yun Xiang, which gets him to think about changing his lifestyle.
Mo Jun Feng approaches Qiu Zi Yu about making more knives for him but again Qiu Zi Yu refuses to make weapons causing Mo Jun Feng to get angry and attack Qiu Zi Yu. Qiu Zi Yu counters all of Mo Jun Feng’s knives and destroys them leaving Mo Jun Feng with no weapons to defend himself and retreat. At this Bruce Tong approaches Qiu Zi Yu and asks why he "does" have weapons (his tools to make things: such as a hammer, a shovel, etc.) and kills a bunch of thugs who also came looking for Qiu Zi Yu to make weapons. Lastly another individual, the nobility member Master Nan (Li Yi-Min) arrives and explains he is the owner of the escort party who lost the jade and asks for Qiu Zi Yu’s help in getting it back. Qiu Zi Yu offers to help but gets assistance from two individuals, he makes an iron hand with darts for Yan Zi Fei if he offers to help Zi Yu and goes straight, he also makes replacement knives for Mo Jun Feng if he also helps and offers to go straight in which both of them agree. At this point everyone flocks to Mao Kai Yuan’s place to get the jade, Peng Shuang Shuang, Mo Jun Feng, Qiu Zi Yu, Yan Zi Fei, and Xiao Qiang, with Xiao Hong and Yun Xiang already on the scene and the police captain waiting at the hotel.
Everyone arrives and the 4 original thieves end up dead thanks to Wag Lung Wei's fixed gambling device. Qiu Zi Yu arrives and gambles with Mao Kai Yuan for the jade saying if he wins he keeps the jade and if he loses he dies. Qiu Zi Yu rigs the gambling piece so that the outcome will be "death" either way for Mao Kai Yuan. Mao Kai Yuan attempts to escape but is killed by the darts in Yan Zi Fei's iron hand. Yan Zi Fei grabs the jade and returns to his usual self (villain) and threatens to kill everyone with his new iron hand if he doesn’t get the jade. Mo Jun Feng attempts to apprehend him but Yan Zi Fei catches his knives with his iron hand and kills Xiao Qiang. Yan Zi Fei tries to fire another dart which backfires and kills him as Qiu Zi Yu rigged his iron hand to need to be "reset" after the fourth dart is fired or it will backfire. Mo Jun Feng and Yun Xiang then get into another knife contest to settle the previous duel which was a draw, this contest ends up being another draw until Yun Xiang throws a magnetic knife which catches Mo Jun Feng knives and kills him. Qiu Zi Yu tries to give the jade to Yun Xiang and Xiao Hong to give it back to the police but Peng Shuang Shuang takes her hostage and escapes. Qiu Zi Yu goes after Peng Shuang Shuang in the hotel and Yun Xiang goes to check on Xiao Hong.
Peng Shuang Shuang has the jade, but it is stolen on the stairs by a thief without her knowledge. She is murdered by a ninja assassin, who doesn’t find the jade but escapes anyway. Qiu Zi Yu convinces the thief to give it up, and Qiu Zi Yu proceeds to return it to the escort service owner. The policeman, Xiao Hong and Yun Xiang arrive looking for the jade. After talking to the thief, the policeman tells him to go find Qiu Zi Yu, explaining that a trap for Qiu Zi Yu has been set up by the escort service, who wants to keep the jade, as it’s worth more than the reward. Qiu Zi Yu meets Master Nan and his escort service but is ambushed and injured, as planned by the treacherous Nan, who seeks this way to put down the stories and rumors about the jade been stolen and the failure of the escort service, which can hurt his family's business as well as his personal pride. The thief returns to tell Yun Xiang, who tracks down the escort service, but not in time to save Qiu Zi Yu. Yun Xiang kills Master Nan and his men and returns the jade to the police.
It is 1924 and the height of Prohibition. Oklahoma is still a wild and lawless haven for all manner of criminals, and even the men who are sworn to uphold the law are themselves corrupt and part of the new crime syndicates looking to expand into the new markets and towns. One of these men is Wiley Lynn (Arliss Howard), an unscrupulous federal agent who hides behind the power his badge gives him and ruthlessly deals with anyone who stands in his way, even his own wife. His drinking and drug addiction further feed his increasingly violent and erratic behavior.
Bill Tilghman (Sam Elliott) is a legendary lawman who is as famous for his shooting and exploits with one-time partner Wyatt Earp as he is for his virtue and honesty. Now retired from law enforcement to a more normal home life in Chandler, Oklahoma with his wife Zoe and their two young sons, he turns to directing and starring in a movie about his Wild West exploits. Concerned about audiences' growing appetite for movies that romanticize and exaggerate the past, he is especially intent on producing a movie that deglamorizes and more accurately portrays the lives of outlaws.
Fed up with the growing and indiscriminate violence and chaos in their town, the people of Cromwell reluctantly turn to Tilghman to help restore order and kick out the criminal element. Although he is faced with several corrupt business owners who frequently attempt to thwart his efforts, Tilghman quickly wins over the more intimidated or skeptical townsfolk with his honesty, wit and fair dealing. They gradually become more assertive and willing to take a more active role in directly dealing with the gamblers, swindlers, murderers, and prostitutes. Before long, Cromwell becomes a quiet and genteel town.
The new order does not sit well with Lynn, who dismisses Tilghman as a relic whose time has long passed. Having previously murdered three other men in cold blood, Lynn sets his sights on Tilghman.
Inspired by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, the film follows a group of university students who are seeking their lost professor. They soon learn that he has discovered an alternate universe, accessible through a closet in an old farmhouse, and they decide to rescue him. Little do they know, horrible creatures live in the darkness of his alternate reality - ready to consume anything that enters their world.
Gwynedd in north Wales is ruled by Math, son of Mathonwy, whose feet must be held by a virgin at all times except while he is at war. Math's nephew Gilfaethwy is in love with Goewin, the current footholder, and Gilfaethwy's brother Gwydion tricks Math into going to war against Pryderi so Gilfaethwy can have access to her. Gwydion kills Pryderi, Prince of Dyfed, in single combat, and Gilfaethwy rapes Goewin. Math marries Goewin in compensation for her rape, and banishes Gwydion and Gilfaethwy, transforming them into a breeding pair of deer, then pigs, then wolves. After three years they are restored to human form and return.
Math needs a new footholder, and Gwydion suggests his sister, Arianrhod, but when Math magically tests her virginity, she gives birth to two sons. One, Dylan, immediately takes to the sea. The other is raised by Gwydion, but Arianrhod swears that he will never have a name or arms unless she gives them to him, and refuses to do so. Gwydion tricks her into naming him Llew Llaw Gyffes (Llew Skilful Hand) and giving him arms. She then swears he will never have a wife of any race living on earth, so Gwydion and Math make him a beautiful wife from flowers, and name her Blodeuwedd ("Flowers"). Blodeuwedd falls in love with a passing hunter called Goronwy, and they plot to kill Llew. Blodewedd tricks Llew into revealing the means by which he can be killed, but when Goronwy attempts to do the deed, Llew escapes, though wounded, transformed into an eagle.
Gwydion finds Llew and transforms him back into human form, and turns Blodeuwedd into an owl (Blodeuwedd, literally "Flower Face," means "Owl"). Goronwy offers to compensate Llew, but Llew insists on returning the blow that was struck against him. He kills Goronwy with his spear, which is thrown so hard it pierces him through the stone he is hiding behind.
"Rab and His Friends" is a simple story which includes an insight into how John Brown's teacher and employer, Doctor James Syme, taught and operated. The other main characters are Rab, a ferocious mastiff dog, his owner, James Noble, a carter or carrier by trade, and the carter's ailing wife Ailie. Set in Edinburgh in the 1830s, the story begins with a fight between Rab and a bull terrier which Brown, the narrator, watches as a teenage boy. Six years later, Brown is a medical student at Minto House Hospital and has maintained a friendship with Rab and James, the laconic carrier. One day, James arrives at the hospital with his wife Allie, who is found to have advanced breast cancer. Following an operation, Allie dies, attended by James and Rab. Not long after Allie's funeral, James dies too, and the carrier's business is sold, along with James's horse and dog. A chance meeting between Brown and the new owner reveals that Rab the dog had to be killed, because he wouldn't let anybody near the horse out of loyalty to James. The story ends with the faithful dog's funeral.
The Sjölund family at Lillholmen Island in the Stockholm archipelago is quite religious and has therefore been regarded as a suitable place for the care of "odd young people adrift" who are to be placed there by the "Municipal Protection Society for Young Girls". One day, the fashionable Sonja Waller, a woman with a "questionable reputation", is expected at the island and the Sjölunds are waiting anxiously. Unfortunately, the young handsome Gunnar Andersson of the neighboring Storholmen Island has been sent to get her at a local steamboat bridge. Sonja, who is a pretty girl, immediately makes a great impression on Gunnar, who soon forgets that he is actually engaged to Aina, Sjölund's daughter. As Gunnar wants to show off for the new guest, the boat trip back to the Lillholmen is delayed for more than an hour. Back at the Storholmen Island, the general mood gets tense as all the locals are anxious to have a glimpse of the woman from the big city. After a short while, Ivar (Gunnar's brother) and Sixten (his cousin), along with the farmhand Snor-August, take off to the Lillholmen under false pretences. This angers Aina who herself maintains that she is actually engaged to ''Sixten'', the heir of half the islet. Sixten is, for the solemn occasion, dressed in a seaman's sweater with the text "Waxholm I" (a famous archipelago steamer) across the chess. When Sonja arrives at the Lillholmen, Aina is horrified to discover that Gunnar and Sixten are almost obsessed by the new woman.
After having a look at her new home, Sonja takes off to the Storholmen to use the only phone available at the two islands. There, one of her friends back in Stockholm incidentally calls her. Sonja tells her about her new home and that the people there are really funny, and she jokes that the young men are particularly handsome. The friend gets interested and invites the brothers to Stockholm (a place where they have never been before), and the brothers take off to the city to see her at a nightclub. The young men are dressed in their black Sunday suits, and arriving in Stockholm, they have a drink at a bar where Sixten encounters a bald man (a classic scene where Sixten thinks that he should pull the poor man's hair). At the nightclub they meet with Sonja's friends, and they are quickly lost in the latest "Apache Dance". In quite a dizzy mood, the boys finally return to the Storholmen, where Sonja Waller has eventually reconciled with Aina – who now gets her Gunnar back. Moments later, Ivar proposes to Sonja, telling her that it doesn't matter that she is a woman with a "questionable background", and besides, there are "very few handsome women" in the archipelago anyway.
The novels are narrated in the first person by the schoolboy Jamie Grant, who at the start of the first book is twelve years old and has just started a new school. The Time Runners of the series title are people who fall through a time break and who therefore "no longer exist": they cannot be seen and are not remembered, but they continue an existence outside time, with some degree of power over it. The Runners comprise an alliance from many places and times who work to protect time from the interference of those such as Darkling Midnight, an Adept (someone with a very powerful control over time) who the Runners see as their enemy, and who is assisted by evil time creatures called Skitters. The Runners appear to remain fixed at the age they were when they fell outside time, so once Jamie becomes a Runner he remains at twelve years old throughout the remaining books.
In the first book of the series, the narrator, Jamie Grant, is introduced, along with his mum and dad and little sister Ellie. Jamie is having trouble settling at school when he meets Anna, a Runner who appears to be fourteen years old but is later revealed to have many years of experience as a Runner. She attempts to protect Jamie from his first encounter with Darkling Midnight, but Jamie falls through a time break and is rescued by Senex, Anna's partner in the alliance. He becomes a Runner, and is revealed to be very strong, and he starts to learn how to exercise his control over time.
The second book of the series recounts the first mission on which Jamie and Anna are sent as Runners. They go to 1596 to prevent an assassination, and in the process meet William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I.
The third book of the series is set in America in 2021, at a time when civilization has broken down after the assassination of the President. Jamie and Anna discover that someone is tampering with time, and sacrificing children in the process.
The fourth book is set in the 1950s, in Britain during the Cold War. Jamie succeeds in returning Anna to her own time, along with twenty years of time in which to live. Both Darkling Midnight and Jamie arrive at the end of this time interval to meet the now-adult Anna who has no recollection of the Runners, and the book ends on a cliffhanger.
In Paris during the World War II invasion of France by Nazi Germany, Jewish refugee S. L. Jacobowsky (Danny Kaye) seeks to leave the country before it falls. Meanwhile, Polish diplomat Dr. Szicki (Ludwig Stössel) gives antisemitic, autocratic Polish Colonel Prokoszny (Curt Jürgens) secret information that must be delivered to London by a certain date.
The resourceful Jacobowsky, who has had to flee from the Nazis several times previously, manages to "buy" an automobile from the absent Baron Rothschild's chauffeur. Prokoszny peremptorily requisitions the car, but finds he must accept an unwelcome passenger when he discovers that Jacobowsky has had the foresight to secure gasoline. The ill-matched pair (coincidentally from the same village in Poland) and the colonel's orderly, Szabuniewicz (Akim Tamiroff), drive away.
Jacobowsky is dismayed when the colonel first heads to Reims in the direction of the advancing German army to pick up his girlfriend, Suzanne Roualet (Nicole Maurey), a French innkeeper's daughter. Prior to their arrival, Suzanne attracts the unwanted admiration of German Major Von Bergen (Alexander Scourby), but he is called away before he can become better acquainted with her.
As they flee south, Jacobowsky begins to fall in love with Suzanne. At one stop, Jacobowsky manages to find the group magnificent lodgings at a chateau by telling its proud royalist owner that unoccupied France is to become a monarchy headed by the colonel. A drunk Prokoszny challenges Jacobowsky to a duel, but Jacobowsky manages to defuse the situation. When the Germans, under Von Bergen, occupy the chateau, the foursome barely get away.
They are chased by Von Bergen, but the assistance of a sympathetic Mother Superior (Martita Hunt) enables them to shake off their pursuers and reach a prearranged rendezvous with a British submarine. There, however, the submarine's commander informs them that there is only room for two. Suzanne makes the colonel and Jacobowsky go, while she remains behind to fight the invaders in her own way.
Jim Douglass (Gregory Peck) is a rancher pursuing four outlaws he is convinced murdered his wife six months before. He rides into Rio Arriba, where these four men, Alfonso Parral (Lee Van Cleef), Bill Zachary (Stephen Boyd), Ed Taylor (Albert Salmi) and Lujan (Henry Silva), are in jail awaiting execution for an unrelated murder. Sheriff Eloy Sanchez (Herbert Rudley) allows Douglass to see the men.
In town, Douglass happens upon Josefa Velarde (Joan Collins), whom he met and fell in love with nearly five years previously in New Orleans. She has been looking after her late father's ranch and has never married. Douglass reveals that he did marry, is now a widower, and that he has a daughter (Maria Garcia Fletcher). Josefa later learns, from Rio Arriba's priest (Andrew Duggan), the truth of how Douglass' wife died.
Simms, the executioner, arrives. He waits until the townspeople are at church, then while pretending to check the men's height and weight, stabs the sheriff in the back. The sheriff manages to shoot and kill him, but the inmates escape and take a young woman named Emma as a hostage. A posse rides out immediately, but Douglass - with his extensive experience trailing these outlaws - waits until morning; he anticipates one of the prisoners will stay behind to cut off everybody at a pass, which is what happens. Douglass eventually catches up. The posse finds a dead man, who appears to be the real Simms.
The outlaws determine that Douglass is the man they must worry about most. Parral is assigned the job of ambushing him. Instead, Douglass takes him from behind. Parral begs for his life and insists, when Douglass shows him a photo of his wife, that he has never seen the woman. Douglass kills him, then sets out after the other three. Taylor hangs back, figuring he can take Douglass down. Douglass, however, evades his fire, then ropes him by the feet and hangs him upside-down from a tree.
The two remaining fugitives reach the house of John Butler (Gene Evans), a prospector and Douglass' neighbor. Butler tells the men he needs to get to work outside and leaves, in actuality attempting to escape. Zachary shoots and kills him; Lujan goes to retrieve a sack of coins which Butler had taken with him. While Lujan is doing this, Zachary rapes Emma. Lujan sees riders approaching, calls to Zachary, and they flee, leaving the girl behind. The riders turn out to be Josefa and one of her ranch-hands, who now spot Douglass coming toward them from another direction. The posse also arrives and Emma's father and fiancé find Emma.
Douglass goes to his ranch to get fresh mounts, but finds that the fugitives have taken his last horses. He leaves Josefa with his daughter. In a town just across the Mexican border, Douglass enters a bar and finds Zachary. The outlaw claims not to know the woman in the picture Douglass shows him and shouts at him to let him be. Douglass draws his gun, Zachary pulls his, and Douglass shoots him dead. He then goes on to the home of the fourth man, Lujan, who has a family of his own. When shown a photo of Douglass's wife, Lujan says he has never seen the woman before. He recalls that he and his companions had ridden past the ranch. Douglass points to Lujan's sack of coins and tells him that whoever killed his wife stole that from his ranch. Lujan explains that he took the bag from Butler, whereupon Douglass realizes that Butler was the murderer.
Now knowing that the four men whom he pursued had nothing to do with his wife's death, Douglass realizes that he is no better than they were, having killed three of them in cold blood. He returns to town and goes to the church to ask for forgiveness. The priest says that while he cannot condone Douglass' actions, he respects him for not making excuses for what he has done. Josefa arrives with Douglass' daughter, and they exit the church together.
Scott is a young man working as a street sweeper in the town of Clifton, Arizona. Scott is looked down upon by the town people, as he has never known his father and only knows his mother's first name was Mary. The only two people who show him respect and friendship are Murph Allan Short, a former gunslinger, and Blind Bill, a partially blind old beggar. When Frank Talby rides into town and kills Perkins, one of Scott's bullies, Scott realizes the opportunity to change his life, and decides to prove his worth as a gunfighter to him. Talby soon leaves town to go after Wild Jack, his former associate, who owes him 50,000 dollars of a planned robbery. Scott follows him and Talby reluctantly lets him tag along and agrees to teach him ten essential rules about gunfighting.
Talby and Scott find Wild Jack, but the criminal tells the pair that he does not have the money anymore, as he was double-crossed by a group of Clifton's most seemingly respectable citizens, the same citizens who despised and mistreated Scott. A gunfight ensues and Scott manages to convince Talby of his skills with a revolver. After taking care of Wild Jack's gang, the pair return to Clifton, where Scott changes his name to "Scott Mary", after Talby's suggestion. Scott showcases his shooting skills to those who resented him, and quickly becomes a feared man.
With Scott's help Talby takes over the town, killing first Perkins' gang and later the inner circle who runs Clifton and conspired to kill Talby when he revealed their dirty secret. Talby becomes the de facto town manager and Scott his second-in-command. Nevertheless, Scott's old friend Murph, who taught Scott how to shoot, explains to Scott that his fast draw and accuracy has now become a threat to Talby, who is aging and wants to settle in Clifton. Soon after, Murph takes the Sheriff's badge and forbids the carrying of guns. Scott warns Talby not to mess with his former mentor, but Talby obliquely says that he won't back down.
Murph knows that he can't defeat Talby in a duel, but he still decides to face him, as he also knows that in doing so Scott will finally realize that Talby and his ruthless ways are not Scott's true path. When Murph comes to take Talby's gun with Scott watching, Talby shoots and kills him in cold blood. Accordingly, Scott flees in anger and decides to settle things in a shoot-out. Scott finds that Murph left him famous gunfighter Doc Holliday's gun, adjusted for quick fire, as well as some instructions on how to defeat Talby. Scott defeats Talby's gang by taking advantage of the rules Talby once taught him, and then kills Talby in an open duel. Triumphant but despondent, Scott discards his gun and walks away from the scene of the duel with Blind Bill.
A survey starship crewed by three scientists lands on a planet on the rim of the Milky Way, much like their own some 100,000 light years away. On the planet they discover an indigenous race of bipedals much like themselves but on a vastly lower technological level. We learn during the story that despite their ability to travel across the galaxy, their own civilisation is failing and at intervals increasingly bad news arrives from home. We also learn that their species has so far located a mere hundred examples of "their kind of life" in the whole galaxy. They initiate contact with the indigenous species while comparing them to their own origins 100,000 years ago. They initially hoped to assist the newly discovered race to allow it to climb "out of barbarism" in a dozen generations, but as their own civilisation is in its death throes they must leave and the natives will have to ascend their society on their own, which might take them as much as a million years.
As they are about to leave, the key scientist engages in a monologue directed at the indigenous Yaan, despite very limited common language. He gives Yaan various small gifts and then enters the ship which has just arrived. The ship floats into the sky and departs with a streak of light and a peal of thunder, leading Yaan to conclude that the gods have departed forever.
All through the story there are no definite clues whether the visitors or the locals are the "real" humans, until the final paragraph where we learn that some thousand centuries later, on the plain by the river, Yaan's descendants will build the city they will call Babylon.
Created on the basis of ancient Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar folklore. This is the Ukrainian version of Romeo and Juliet. A fugitive Cossack falls in love with a stunningly beautiful Tatar woman who saves him from imminent death.
Director Sanin wrote about the combination of three stories in the film: two epic Crimean Tatar and one invented by him — how a Tatar woman finds the youngest dying Cossack in the steppe. brings him home, treats; falls in love with him, becomes his wife.
"Terry Rooney" (James Cagney) is the stage name of Thaddeus McGillicuddy, a popular New York band leader and hoofer with a radio show, who gets an offer to go to Hollywood to make movies. He leaves behind his fiancée, the band's singer, Rita Wyatt (Evelyn Daw), and finds himself in the hands of studio boss B.O. Regan (Gene Lockhart), who sets a team of studio professionals to mold Rooney into a star. Regan, after struggling with another new talent who quickly developed an uncontrollable ego, also secretly insists that no one praise Rooney's work, on pain of being fired.
While shooting a bar fight for his first film, a stunt man who is supposed to throw a fake punch at Rooney hits him deliberately instead. Rooney retaliates, and a full-out fistfight breaks out. Disgusted with Hollywood, Rooney leaves to marry Wyatt, and for a honeymoon takes her on a tramp steamer for a cruise to the South Seas, ending up in San Francisco.
While they are away, the film is completed and premiered, and becomes a huge hit – but, to Regan's dismay, nobody in the studio knows where Rooney is. When he is finally spotted in San Francisco, Regan flies out immediately with a contract, a clause of which requires Rooney to remain single for its seven-year duration. Rooney and Wyatt agree to keep their relationship quiet, with Wyatt posing as Rooney's secretary.
Another film is begun, with Rooney acting alongside Stephanie Hajos (Mona Barrie), and to promote it, studio publicist Hank Meyers (William Frawley) plants news stories saying that Rooney and Hajos are love interests off-screen. The combined stress of having their marriage remain a secret, while Rooney has less and less time for her, eventually drives Wyatt back to New York. Hajos finds out that Rooney is not only not interested in her but is married; the story breaks to the papers, and Rooney returns to Wyatt and their band in New York with a front-page article declaring his relationship with Hojas a hoax.
Shino had gotten his high school girlfriend pregnant, knowing that he would become a father because he very much loved his girlfriend. However his girlfriend, who came from a wealthy family, left him so that she "wouldn't interfere with his goal of becoming an actor".
The story actually begins when Shino's son Nakaya finds the apartment of his father. He finds out the yaoi aspect of Shino's job later and is not quite pleased, though he ends up reconciling with it. When Nakaya has a false pregnancy alarm with his girlfriend, he begins to relate to his father more.
At work, Shino is constantly being hit on by thirty-seven-year-old Tenryu and twenty-something year-old Mizusawa. They're both bisexual and play the ''seme'' to Shino's ''uke''. Tenryu is just getting over a divorce with his wife, and is going through emotional turmoil as his wife has forbidden him from seeing their seven-year-old daughter ever again. He turns to Shino during the turmoil and consequently things go further than Shino is at first comfortable with.
In the third volume, a Canadian hockey player becomes Nakaya's coach and Nakaya becomes infatuated with him. They end up a couple, much to Shino's dismay, who believes that the homosexuality seen in his son is because he plays uke so many times in yaoi anime series.
A pair of country singers and their band are headed to Nashville. Their car unfortunately breaks down and they stop overnight at an abandoned house, which turns out to be haunted. A ring of international spies (Lon Chaney, Jr., Basil Rathbone and John Carradine) who live in the haunted house are seeking a top-secret formula for rocket fuel. While it's never revealed for whom they are spying, they carry out their activities under the cover of a supposed haunted house, which comes complete with a gorilla lurking in the basement.
Similar to previous games, ''Trials and Tribulations'' focuses on the careers of defense attorneys Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey. Other featured characters include Maya Fey, Mia's sister and a spirit medium who acts as Phoenix's secretary and assistant, and her young cousin Pearl Fey. After Mia was killed during the events of ''Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney''; Phoenix took over her law practice. Nevertheless, he regularly consults with her on cases by having either Maya or Pearl channel her spirit, which allows them to assume her appearance. Phoenix also occasionally receives help from prosecutors Miles Edgeworth and Franziska von Karma, who both hold him in high regard. The game's featured antagonist is Godot, an eccentric, coffee-loving prosecutor who keeps his identity concealed behind a mask and who seems to harbor a personal grudge against Phoenix.
The first case, "Turnabout Memories", takes place five years prior to most of the game's story. University student Phoenix Wright is charged with the murder of his classmate Doug Swallow. Mia, acting as his lawyer, exposes prosecution witness Dahlia Hawthorne, Phoenix's girlfriend, as the real murderer, revealing she used Phoenix to hide evidence tying her to the poisoning of Mia's former partner Diego Armando, planning to kill him as well. For her efforts, Dahlia is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death. Out of gratitude, Phoenix tells Mia that her defense of him inspired him to switch majors and to study to become an attorney.
In the present, case two, "The Stolen Turnabout", has Phoenix representing thief Ron DeLite in court, faces off against prosecutor Godot. Although Phoenix is able to get Ron acquitted, Ron is subsequently arrested for the murder of his former boss Kane Bullard, based on evidence Phoenix presented in his defense. At the last second, Phoenix manages to identify corrupt private investigator Luke Atmey as the true culprit, having realized Atmey framed Ron so he could use double jeopardy to escape punishment.
The third case, "Recipe for Turnabout", is set months later. Phoenix is informed he supposedly failed to properly defend former client Maggey Byrde against accusations of poisoning programmer Glen Elg. Realizing someone impersonated him, Phoenix secures a retrial and conducts his own investigation, discovering that Elg was developing a computer virus on behalf of loan shark Furio Tigre. He deduces Tigre killed Elg to steal the virus, needing money to repay a large debt to a mob boss, before framing Maggey and posing as Wright to ensure her conviction. Despite no conclusive evidence, Phoenix manages to get Tigre arrested by tricking him into identifying the bottle of poison used in the murder, exposing himself as the killer.
The fourth case, "Turnabout Beginnings" depicts Mia's first case six years earlier, in which she and Armando defend death row inmate Terry Fawles, who was under suspicion of murdering policewoman Valerie Hawthorne during an escape attempt. Facing off against Edgeworth, also on his first case as a prosecutor, Mia's persistence pays off when she learns the truth: years earlier, Terry, Valerie, and her younger sister Dahlia staged a kidnapping to steal a jewel from their family. Dahlia then faked her death, leaving Terry to be convicted of murder based on Valerie's testimony. Terry had escaped in the hopes of learning the truth, but unbeknownst to him, Dahlia had already killed Valerie and planted her body in his car. Before a judgement can be passed, Terry dies from poison slipped to him by Dahlia, forcing a mistrial and freeing Dahlia. She subsequently poisons Armando after learning he was investigating her further, leading to Phoenix gaining the bottle, ensuring that they would both cross paths with Mia.
In the fifth and final case, "Bridge to the Turnabout", Phoenix is visiting a mountain retreat with Maya and Pearl when fellow guest Elise Deauxnim is murdered. While looking for Maya, he falls into a river and becomes ill, forcing Edgeworth and Franziska to temporarily fill in as attorney and prosecutor to keep his client, a nun named Iris, from being found guilty. When Phoenix returns, he explains Elise was really Maya's long-lost mother, Misty Fey, and that her death was the result of a plan engineered by her sister Morgan to kill Maya with the help of the now-executed Dahlia, who turns out to be Iris' twin. Through cross-examination, Phoenix reveals that not only is Dahlia impersonating Iris, but she is also using Maya's body to do so. With Mia's help, Dahlia is exorcised from Maya and the real Iris is declared innocent. Godot is revealed as the one responsible for killing Misty to protect Maya from Dahlia, leading to the discovery of his true identity: Diego Armando. Having spent his time since awakening from his coma blaming Phoenix for Mia's death and seeking revenge, he concedes that Phoenix has done more to continue her legacy than him. Iris is also arrested as Diego's accomplice, but reveals to Phoenix that it was her he dated in college, as she posed as Dahlia to protect him from her sister before eventually falling in love with him. Reuniting with his friends, Phoenix celebrates finally being free of his past.
A steel worker, Leo, tries to live a carefree life, but his progress towards that goal is impeded by the steel mill management that does its best to earn a profit before the steel bubble bursts and the company goes under. Leo and his comrades are faced with a bleak and uncertain future. As this trouble with his employment goes on, he meets a woman named Verica and becomes involved in an extramarital affair with her.
His wife, Ruža, fed up with her husband's constant cheating and dishonesty divorces him and goes back to live with her parents, leaving Leo behind. As she takes her leave, she meets Michel, the head of security at Leo's steel mill. Michel is a photographer and an ex-soldier. After seeing them together, Leo is faced with emotional turmoil and manages to lose his job after a jealous outburst. In a fit of anger Leo attempts to knock down a monument in the town square, and is sent to prison.
Oddly enough, after being sent to prison Leo ends up working back at the steel mill, as the factory and the prison have a deal in using prisoners as general laborers. Foreign business partners arrive and they are very impressed with the historic appearance of the mill and the workers that they decide that the whole place be put under historic preservation. The foreign partners, being passionate collectors of socialist realism take a liking to Leo and take him with them as a "perfect specimen." Several years later he returns - triumphantly - driving a new Cadillac car.
In the beginning, Matyi, who is a young peasant boy, is trying to sell his geese at the market. Trouble ensues when the local lord, Dániel Döbröghy, proclaims the geese belong to him. Lord Döbröghy orders his servants to punish Matyi with 50 lashes to his back. Matyi makes a vow to get vengeance, that he will repay the punishment three times to the lord.
Three years after Matyi's punishment, Döbröghy begins building a castle for himself. The construction goes on very slowly, because of the lack of carpenters. Matyi identifies this and dresses as an Italian architect-maestro, then he visits the construction site. Matyi lures the lord and his servants to the nearby forest to gather wood for the structure. He orders all the servants and guards to harvest the forest, he then lures Döbröghy away, ties him to a tree with a rope, and beats him the first time.
After being thrashed, Dániel Döbröghy is being cured in his fancy new castle. He orders his soldiers to get him a real doctor, because his wound isn't getting better. The servant go to seek a doctor. Matyi knows about the plan and he dresses as a German battlefield medic. He is brought to the lord and ordered to cure him. He sends the whole folk of the castle out to the nearby field to collect some special herbs. Certainly, he needs fictional plants, but he uses the silliness of the soldiers. While everybody is out harvesting, Matyi gives Döbröghy the second revenge. After that he frees the geese of the village, which formerly were imprisoned by the lord.
It's now winter and the date of the yearly market. Döbröghy knows that Matyi will surely repay the punishment, so he orders his servants to search to whole market for suspicious people. They don't find anything because Matyi now doesn't wear any disguise. He makes an alliance with a local horse rider boy. The boy lures the whole army away, because they think that they're chasing the real Ludas Matyi. But they make a mistake, because the real one stays at the place and finds Döbröghy. The lord now publicly gets his last third of punishment.
A Sunday in the life of Derrick King, an Irish kid raised in Compton, California by a black family. He speaks and dresses in a way that might be called "black" and thinks of himself as a black person. It is a day of disasters: his mom kicks him out of the house, his uncle fires him, the woman he loves dismisses him as childish, the LAPD (wearing Confederate flag shoulder patches) impounds his car and tosses him in the drunk tank, a mean dude is after him for money, he is imprisoned in a store basement by gay sadists, and he is shot at. Along the way, however, he shows kindness to a near-sighted kid, and those random acts may prove to be his salvation. Rappers Xzibit, E-40 and Flesh-n-Bone appear in the film.
The movie features numerous parodies, including one of ''Pulp Fiction'', as well as ''Good Will Hunting'', and an appearance by George Clinton as himself. Professional basketball player Gary Payton also has a speaking role in the movie.
The story of a group of nuns at the convent of St. Mary's and their efforts to convince a millionaire to help pay for the repairs to their poorly capitalized and decaying parochial school building.
When young history professor Russ is called upon by his sister to execute their late mother's estate, he is reunited with boyhood friend Mike, and with his father, the charismatic leader of a New Age cult. While exploring his memories, Russ wanders into a warehouse where hundreds of names are listed on the walls. As he sleeps that night, he dreams of a stone cudgel and awakens to find a cudgel (with the word Dagon written on it) in his motel room; the town drunk warns him that it is an instrument of sacrifice. A young liquor store clerk enlists him to help find her brother, whom she believes has been taken by the cult. Russ's aunt, who has been living in an asylum, tells him that his mother left a message hidden in her house.
Looking for answers in the warehouse, Russ is taken on an unbelievable journey through the small town's ancient, subterranean origins. When he escapes, he and Mike find the girl's brother murdered. Russ begins to believe preparations are underway for a mass sacrifice, and engages the attentions of a seductress in order to obtain information. He is raped and arrested for murder on the eve of the May Festival. The stakes are raised when Russ discovers that the cult intends to take over the world by raising anthropomorphic creatures from the sea.
Russ is shown his children in a bathtub. The film ends with Russ and his best friend/lover being held by the cult, as Russ' father orders him to sacrifice the man he loves. Russ moves to strike someone.
In the game's first case, "The Burning Question", Peter Potamus is accused of burning down half of Harvey Birdman's house. In the second case, "The Cleaning Crew", Magilla Gorilla and Secret Squirrel are accused of robbing Harvey's office. In the third case, "From Glamour to Slamour", Yakky Doodle's latest name change lands him in jail when the Nailgun name makes the authorities think that he's the criminal of the same name. Harvey comes to Yakky's defense, but winds up being jailed himself after it is discovered that his license has expired. In the fourth case, "Personal Piracy", Peanut is suspected of copying music controlled by the RIAA without permission. In the game's final case, "Two Birds, One Throne", Blue Falcon is put in charge during Phil's absence, and tricks Birdman into hiring prosecutors for his own "embezzling" trial.
The story begins in Trondheim, Norway in 1581, with the story of Silje Arngrimsdotter, and how she comes into contact with the Ice People, a community of outcasts living in an isolated valley. From there on it follows the Ice People through the centuries, with members of the clan migrating from Norway to Denmark and Sweden. Other members of the clan wind up in or visit various corners of Europe and Asia over the course of the series.
The Ice People are cursed with a terrible forefather, Tengel the Evil, whose actions resulted in at least one cursed individual being born in every generation. The cursed individuals were born with magical and mystical abilities, but also the potential for bottomless evil. The cursed men have yellow eyes, malformed shoulder blades and Mongol features, while the cursed women have yellow eyes, but are otherwise beautiful. Some cursed individuals fight their tendency for evil, whilst others embrace it.
Each book tells a separate story, very often the story of one or a few individuals of the clan. Quite often the protagonist of each book is a female, sometimes of the Ice People, but sometimes one who will marry into the clan. Many of the books also focus on the cursed individuals, their battle with their evil tendencies, and also how they utilise their powers, be it for good or evil.
Throughout the series, the cursed and their helpers steadily increase their efforts to rid the clan of the curse from Tengel the Evil. But the beastly forefather is not dead, he is merely sleeping, awaiting a special signal that will wake him up and allow him to take over the entire world with a reign of terror. Before this signal is played his descendants must find a way to defeat Tengel and rid themselves and the world of his curse. The end battle will require the birth of a very special individual as well as the help of some powerful mythological creatures.
The film tells the story of Italian politics from 1944 to 1960, from the poverty of World War II to the end of fascism and the birth of the Italian Republic and the rise of the Italian Communist Party. It follows the life of Silvio, who strongly believes his political activism should be rewarded but eventually realizes that the Italy he once knew has changed and he must change with it.
In 1944, Roman student Silvio Magnozzi (Alberto Sordi), is a second lieutenant in the Royal Army serving near Lake Como. After the Italian surrender on September 8, 1943, the Italian king abandons his army and flees south. Silvio joins a local partisan group to continue fighting the Nazis still occupying the Italian countryside. Looking for a safe place to stay, he is sent to a hotel. He is quickly discovered by a German soldier who intends to shoot him on the spot. Elena (Lea Massari), the daughter of the hotel owner, saves his life by killing the German with an iron. She guides him to a safe place: the mill owned by her late grandparents. For three months, he and Elena live as lovers. He eventually sneaks out away without saying goodbye and joins back up with the partisans.
After the liberation, Silvio returns to Rome where he works as a journalist at "The Worker," a poorly funded communist newspaper. Seven months after the war ends, Silvio and his friend Franco travel to Lombardy on assignment for the newspaper. Silvio winds up in the same town in which he met Elena so arranges to see her again. She agrees to live with him in Rome despite his extremely modest income and poor prospects.
On the day of the 1946 referendum deciding whether Italy would become a republic or remain a monarchy, Elena and Silvio are turned away from several different restaurants after trying to obtain a meal on credit. They run into a friend of Elena's who invites them to dinner at the home of an elderly Italian princess. The table is filled with snobby aristocrats anxiously awaiting the results of the referendum. They explain that they only allowed them to dinner because they could not have a table with only 13 people. Silvio barely refrains from openly declaring his republican faith in order not to give up their first real meal in days. Finally, the victory of the republic is announced and everyone but Elena and Silvio leave the table devastated at the results of the referendum.
Silvio and Elena eventually marry and have a son named Paulo. Their lives proceed with difficulty because Silvio, not wanting to compromise his political ideals, refuses to obtain a better paying job. His journalistic career comes to an end when he is arrested for libel after publishing an unverified story about a group of wealthy industrialists. In 1948, Silvio is sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for rioting after an assassination attempt on Togliatti, a popular communist leader. While in prison, he writes his autobiography called "A Difficult Life."
After his release, Elena suggests he finish his degree and move to Cantù-Cermenate where her mother could get him a permanent job with a good salary. Silvio tries to go back to his old job at the newspaper, but eventually agrees to take the architecture exam. He winds up failing the test, getting drunk and telling Elena that he has only ever felt physical attraction for her because she is too ignorant to understand him. Hurt and disappointed, Elena disappears from Silvio's life.
Two years pass and we find Silvio intent on publishing his memoirs. He is told that his writing is mediocre and uninteresting so he approaches well-known directors and actors (Alessandro Blasetti, Silvana Mangano and Vittorio Gassman at Cinecitta, all of whom refuse him because his book is too critical of the government. "There is a generation ignoring the facts of what I'm describing even though they must know them," he says. He learns of Elena's whereabouts and travels to Viareggio to win her back. He drunkenly begs Elena to come back but she explains that love doesn't matter to her anymore, only economic security. "It's easy to make money like all these people do. What is more difficult, to write an ugly novel, or to sell household appliances?" he asks. Elena storms away and Silvio vents his bitterness by spitting on luxury cars circulating in the town and shouting at tourists.
Many years later in 1961, the funeral of Elena's mother Amalia takes place in Lombardy. Silvio, to everyone's surprise, shows up behind the wheel of a luxury car. He begs Elena to take him back, stating that he has found a permanent job and set aside his political ideas to seek economic stability. Elena is moved at seeing the mill where they had spent happy days and decides to return with him.
The film ends with a party organized by the businessman Bracci, who hired Silvio as a secretary. Silvio is now able to afford luxuries like a fur coat and a car, but is forced to perform all kinds of humiliating tasks for his boss. Bracci ridicules Silvio in front of the guests and Elena by spraying seltzer in his face. Unable to bear this last affront, Silvio slaps Bracci, making him fall into the pool. He and Elena leave the party and walk home.
Six young people wake up in an abandoned building, with no idea of what is going on or how they got there. A mysterious figure speaks to them over a PA system and tells them that they are on a game show called ''Are You Scared?'' They will have to face their deepest fears in order to win the contest. However, their challenges are real – and deadly. The show involves several "contests", each of which result in the grisly deaths of the contestants, including death by acid, explosion, shotgun, hungry rats, strangulation, power drill, and decapitation.
The episode is set a week before Christmas. WIN has traced a series of forged United States dollar bills to an unlikely source – the Reverend Joseph Shepherd, vicar of St David's Church. Professor McClaine, Joe 90 and Sam Loover (voiced by Rupert Davies, Len Jones and Keith Alexander) are assigned to investigate and travel to the Reverend's village. Equipped with the brain pattern of a World Bank vice president, Joe determines that all of the bills have been printed recently even though the plates were destroyed in a fire many years ago.
The trio confront the Reverend at his vicarage. Though apparently half-deaf, Shepherd amazes the WIN agents by identifying the make of Loover's handgun merely from the click of its safety catch. He admits that his deafness is an act and that the plates were not destroyed: a pair of criminals, Kline and Mason, have brought them to England and are using them to print $6 million in counterfeit bills. The plates were smuggled into the country inside the coffin of Mason's uncle, Clem Mason – known to the intelligence community as notorious racketeer Carlo Masoni – who was born in the village and wished to be buried there. Kline and Mason's hideout is on the church grounds in the crypt beneath Clem's tomb. To protect the counterfeiting operation, Mason has planted electronic devices inside the church to make its bells ring at odd hours, leading the villagers to think that the church is haunted and stay away from the area. The counterfeiters have also taken the verger, Thomas, hostage and have threatened to kill him if Shepherd betrays them to the authorities. Desperate for money to save St David's from dry rot, Shepherd had no choice but to agree and has been using his feigned deafness as a way of deflecting attention.
Sam comes up with a plan to apprehend the counterfeiters by using Mason's fears against him. That night, Mason and Kline are nearing their $6 million target and Mason has removed all his gadgets from the church ahead of their getaway. Yet the counterfeiters' surprise, the bells ring out once more. Searching for trespassers, Mason is petrified when Sam, hiding in the shadows with a megaphone, announces that he is the spirit of Carlo Masoni and that an angel is coming to avenge his "desecrated" memory. With Thomas at gunpoint, Kline and Mason come out of the crypt to meet the angel. Joe, wearing a jet pack underneath white robes, flies towards Kline and Mason. As Mason tries to flee, Kline fires wildly at Joe until the boy knocks him down. Thomas is rescued and local police arrest the counterfeiters.
Several days later, a white Christmas has arrived. For helping to recover the stolen plates, WIN and Interpol have given Shepherd a combined reward of £10,000 – enough for him to fully restore St David's. The episode ends with shots of the snow-covered fields around the village, accompanied by Shepherd's congregation singing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".
The story is based upon two schoolgirls, Hailey and Claire, who have lived as neighbors and close and best friends for many years. Their favorite place for amusement has been the Capri Beach Club for as long as they can remember. However, the Capri Beach Club has become ruinous via neglect by its staff. When Claire's grandparents, with whom she lives, decide to leave the area and move to Florida, the girls are dismayed. They spend hours trying to make their last days together as long as possible, both frightened by the future because each one would be alone.
When a violent thunderstorm occurs, a large quantity of trash is deposited in the Capri Beach Club. In the swimming pool, Hailey and Claire discover the spoiled yet beautiful creature that will change their lives: a mermaid named Aquamarine. The next morning, Aquamarine surfaces after some hesitation, being stimulated to do so by the presence of the handsome Raymond. During the night, Aquamarine has undergone mild hardships; she has eaten very little, has been separated from her six sisters, and is suffering from the chlorine in the pool. Hailey and Claire advise Aquamarine to return to the ocean, however she refuses, because of her new attachment to Raymond.
Claire and Hailey read books that contain information pertaining to marine life-forms, trying to find an answer to Aquamarine's troubling conditions. They learn that mermaids cannot survive on land for more than a week. The necessity of returning Aquamarine to the ocean is thus made more urgent. In order to persuade Aquamarine to return to her home, Hailey and Claire arrange that she will spend one evening with Raymond, after which she must leave. To compensate for her nudity and lack of legs, they plan to dress her in a long blue gown and place her in a wheelchair. Before the meeting, the two girls confide their story in Claire's grandfather, Maury. He believes their story because of his own encounter with a mermaid once. He takes them to the Capri Beach Club, where they organize the table and food for Aquamarine and Raymond. They then lift Aquamarine out of the pool – an operation wherein Claire must overcome a hesitation to enter water – and introduce her to Raymond. To explain her acquaintance with them, they present her as a distant cousin.
Raymond is awestruck by Aquamarine, with whom he spends the evening happily. Meanwhile, Claire and Hailey begin to embrace their future and rekindle their hope. At 9 o'clock, they take Aquamarine back to the swimming pool. As she leaves, Aquamarine gives Raymond a seashell, by which to contact her by speaking her name into it; she will hear this call regardless of their relative positions. Hailey and Claire sleep together in Claire's soon-to-be-vacant house, which has been made empty of furniture. They have by now grown very fond of Aquamarine, and she of them. Hailey and Claire arrive to take Aquamarine back to the ocean. They meet Raymond, who regrets that he cannot bid Aquamarine farewell before he leaves for Florida. Just then, a boy named Arthur falls into the swimming pool. Aquamarine rescues him, with the help of Raymond. Raymond, seeing her tail and thus realizing she is a mermaid, is utterly shocked, however, this discovery does nothing to impair his adoration of her.
Hailey and Claire carry Aquamarine to the ocean and cast her into the water, where she is restored to full health and strength. They promise never to forget her and return to the Capri Beach Club, thanking its owner for the best summer of their lives. Claire and her grandparents later move away to Florida. After her departure, the Capri Beach Club is dismantled. Hailey does not tell Claire about this because she wants Claire to remember the Capri Beach Club as it once was. In Florida, Claire learns to swim and encounters Raymond, who has come to live nearby. From him, she learns that Aquamarine is in the vicinity. Claire thinks to take a photograph of the mermaid, but defers on the grounds that Hailey will soon visit.
In a Prague ghetto, poor Jews find themselves oppressed by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (Harry Baur) which leads to talk among the Jews of re-awakening the Golem who is being held in an attic by Rabbi Jacob (Charles Dorat). During a food riot, Rudolph's mistress, the Countess Strada (Germaine Aussey), is rescued by the enamored De Trignac (Roger Cuchesne), who gets hurt in the process. De Trignac is taken to Rabbi Jacob's house by his wife Rachel (Jany Holt). When Rudolph gets engaged to his cousin Isabel of Spain, it angers Strada who charms De Trignac to steal Jacob's Golem.
Friedrich (Gaston Jacquest), the prefect of the police informs Rudolph of the Golem's disappearance. Rabbi Jacob is brought into the palace by Rudolph and told if any Jews are found in relation with the Golem's disappearance, then they will be hung. Rachel seeks De Trignac to aid Jacob’s escape from the castle. De Trignac offers what he claims to be Charlemagne's sword for Jacob's release. After Jacob and De Trignac leave, Rudolph wanders his palace where he meets up with the Golem. After a failed polite gesture to the statue, Rudolph attacks it with his sword and has it chained to the walls of his dungeon. Rudolph then demands all Jewish leaders be imprisoned and executed, including Jacob. Rachel had learned previously from her Jacob that when a beast roars the Golem will awake. As people enter the palace to honour Rudolph, Rachel gets the lions near the Golem's cell to roar. Rachel carves the Hebrew word "emet", meaning “truth” on the Golem's forehead which brings the creature to life.
The Golem snaps his chains and causes panic through the palace along with the released lions. Chancellor Lang, Friedrich and many other of Rudolph's other advisors are attacked and killed by the Golem while Rudolph escapes the palace. Jacob erases the first Hebrew letter on the Golem's head (which now spells "dead") making the Golem disintegrate while Rudolph's benevolent brother Mathias approaches Prague.
These crucial events are mainly seen through the eyes of two fictional characters, who meet near the beginning of the novel: Zev Barak and Joseph Blumenthal (nicknamed "Don Kishote"). Wouk portrays several real-life Israeli leaders: David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Mickey Marcus, Yigael Yadin, Ariel Sharon, Motta Gur, and others. Both the real and fictional characters are portrayed as brave and decent human beings with character flaws, who manage to lead Israel through three major wars in spite of the nation being surrounded, outgunned, and torn by internal conflicts as well as external threats.
Zev is a junior officer in the unsuccessful attacks on Latrun. Joseph Blumenthal, newly arrived in Israel, joins a new Israeli unit of troops who bravely attack. He acquires the nickname "Don Kishote" when teased about riding a mule wearing an old helmet ("Don Kishote" is Don Quixote in Hebrew). Both Zev and Kishote choose to stay in the Israeli army when the 1948 Arab–Israeli War ends.
The two accompany reporters with the first convoy taking supplies to Jerusalem up the Burma Road bypassing Latrun. Zev visits the US as part of the Israeli delegation to Mickey Marcus's funeral at West Point, there he meets Christian Cunningham, a CIA analyst sympathetic to Israel throughout the story, and his daughter Emily, who eventually becomes Zev's mistress.
Don Kishote is in love with Shayna Matisdorf, but has a brief sexual encounter with Yael Luria on a trip to Paris just before the 1956 Suez war. He returns to Israel and is part of the paratroop force invading Egypt in Operation Kadesh. Zev commands an effort to transport landing craft overland from Haifa to Eilat to supply Israeli units advancing on Sharm el-Sheik.
When Yael tells Kishote she became pregnant during their encounter in Paris, he marries her because he feels the child needs a father, even though he is still in love with Shayna Matisdorf.
Kishote supervises the paratroop training of several African officers, including Idi Amin. Idi Amin is portrayed as lacking the courage to jump out of an airplane, and Kishote arranges a fake jump so Amin qualifies for paratroop wings.
Zev is sent on several diplomatic trips to the United States, and he and Emily Cunningham become lovers the day of President Kennedy's assassination. In 1967, he is the Israeli military attache in Washington, and during the Six-Day War conveys to the Israeli government a message from Christian Cunningham that the U.S. government would not oppose Israel conquering the Golan Heights, even though it will not publicly say so. Zev's wife Nakhama tells Emily Cunningham she knows of their affair and accepts it, but Emily is unable to continue the affair knowing that Nakhama knows about it.
In the Six-Day War, Kishote is wounded in the Sinai campaign, then leaves his hospital near Jerusalem to take part in capturing the Old City of Jerusalem (which he regards as an act of liberation).
A gang of pirates working for the evil Count Artigas kidnap a scientist and his assistant in order to obtain the secret of the scientist's futuristic weapon. This weapon is intended to be used in the Count's plan for world domination.
Patchy and Potty are working at a restaurant called "Poop Deck," hoping to be just like SpongeBob. Patchy has new ideas (he makes three burgers of his own he calls "Buried Treasure", Walk-the-Plank", and the "Patchy Patty") which Potty disagrees with, and after an argument with Potty, Patchy ends their friendship and goes home. He compares himself and Potty to Mr. Krabs and Plankton, starting the SpongeBob Plot.
Later, Potty appears to Patchy and tells him that he is now assistant manager. Potty says that his fancy book smarts got him the promotion and Patchy thinks it's unfair. When Patchy realizes his food is terrible, Potty tells him that he needs to practice his cooking skills. After a montage of training, Patchy makes his first burger. He tries it and realizes it's just as bad and has it walk the plank (in other words, throw it into the garbage). Patchy shrugs and says that SpongeBob's first patty probably didn't go so well. However, Potty shows SpongeBob (as a baby) making his first patty and it's perfect on the first try.
Potty then scolds Patchy for his unsanitary environment (such as keeping ground beef in an old boot, having rats in the kitchen, not washing his hands after using the bathroom and not wearing a hair net). Fed up with Potty's criticisms, Patchy starts throwing patties at Potty, but they keep missing, and one eventually hits Mr. Pirateson, the Owner of Poop Deck. Patchy then tells the viewers to watch the rest of the SpongeBob episode while he watches Potty get fired, just as Mr. Pirateson forcefully shouts for Patchy to get in his office.
After the episode is over, Patchy claims he took some time off, but Potty then tells the viewers that Patchy actually got fired, and Patchy gets back at Potty by saying that he got fired too, which is also true (but Potty also got a golden parachute). Patchy then says that they cannot replace him, but Potty tells him that they already did. When Patchy finds out that he's been replaced by a gorilla, he calls it a "smelly, hairy fleabag", to which the gorilla fiercely responds to by throwing patties at Patchy. The narrator then tells the viewers to always follow your dreams (unless you're Patchy), and then the episode ends.
After yet another attack at the Krusty Krab by Plankton, SpongeBob asks Mr. Krabs why they hate each other. Mr. Krabs tells his side of the story, in a series of flashbacks. In the flashback, Mr. Krabs and Plankton were best friends from birth, and did everything together. Both were outcasts, Plankton being viewed as a nerd for his intelligence and Mr. Krabs (ironically) being extremely poor, and victims of cold-hearted ridicule and social prejudice by other children. One day, Mr. Krabs finds a penny at the carnival, his first exposure to money, which he spends on a balloon for Plankton. Later, they get enough money to buy a burger from Stinky's Burgers, which, despite having horrible food and being located in a landfill, is very popular among the local children due to being the only place in town to get a burger. When Stinky refuses to give them a burger, saying that freaks like them are bad for business, Plankton and Krabs decide to go into the burger business themselves, and create their own burger, but no one wants to try it. They then find out that the local health department closed Stinky's, so the two open "Plabs Burgers" at the dump, which the children are now forced to eat at, despite it being even worse than Stinky's. Plankton says that they are now ruling the children. Mr. Krabs argues that it should be about satisfying the customers, rather than power. Soon they get into an argument, and Krabs is ejected into a dump pile and tells Plankton that he will one day regret this.
Back at the Krusty Krab, Plankton comes in and disagrees with Mr. Krabs' story and tells SpongeBob his own version. His story is the same as Mr. Krab's, except that their roles during the fight at the end are reversed, with Krabs wanting to rule the money of the children and when they disagreed shot Plankton out of a straw into the dump. Plankton and Krabs begin arguing about the story, until Karen arrives and tells the real story. In the story, the restaurant initially has no customers, and Old Man Jenkins, an elderly resident and an old friend of Krab's family, is the first to try their burger, but collapses, having been poisoned by the patty. Krabs and Plankton become angry and accuse each other of tainting the patty. They begin fighting over the recipe, eventually tearing it in two. Their friendship over, Plankton storms out to pursue his own career in food. However, during the struggle, a shelf was knocked down, dumping various ingredients into the patty batter, creating the Krabby Patty recipe, which Krabs is left with. The two go their separate ways, each trying to open their own establishment. Mr. Krabs' "Krabby Patty" became a success, while Plankton's Chum Burger is horrible, making him to swear stealing the formula and taking revenge.
After hearing the story, Plankton and Krabs begin to make up, until Plankton takes the formula from his pocket. Then the two start chasing after each other.
''Gun Frontier'' takes place in a futuristic sci-fi setting during the 22nd century, where mankind has managed to expand into the stars beyond the Milky Way galaxy and have started to colonize uninhabited planets through different solar systems, among them being the Earthlike planet known as Gloria, which happened to harness an enormous natural supply of gold and this discovery would later prove to be pivotal in the emigration towards Gloria, so much that due to the expensive cost of reaching the location, immigrants would be impoverished but life on the planet thrived in an ambient similar to the American Old West and although they were poor, gold trading aided the Glorians in advancing their technology and knowledge a lot that talented inventors and engineers lived among the inhabitants. However, the Glorians were not the only living beings who were tempted by the abundance of gold on the planet, as an alien race of space pirates known as the Wild Lizards quickly invaded the location, decimating towns and enslaved those who survived the assault for the purpose of gold extraction. Two Glorian inventors who were part of the planet's development teams decided to strike back against the invading aliens by taking control of revolver-shaped fighter aircraft.
Several years have passed after the massacre at St. Rita's Academy and on Halloween night, Officer Larry (Larry Day) is on night watch at Hull House, where he is confronted and murdered by Angela (Amelia Kinkade) with his own police badge.
Bad boy Vince (Kristen Holden-Ried), his promiscuous girlfriend Lois (Tara Slone), and their friends Nick (Gregory Calpakis) and Reggie (Joel Gordon) are cruising through town in Vince's sidekick Orson's (Christian Tessier) van. They stop to pick up head cheerleader Holly (Stephanie Bauder) and her shy friend Abbie (Patricia Rodriguez), who broke down on their way to the school dance, on the side of the road. Holly remembers Nick from algebra class on the first day of school, and Nick speculates Holly likes him.
While stopped at a convenience store, Reggie tries to buy beer with his brother's fake ID, but the unfriendly clerk pulls out a shotgun. Tempers escalate, and Vince steals the gun just as two police officers enter the store. One of the officers is accidentally shot when the clerk grabs Vince, and the other shoots Reggie in the stomach twice. A fight between the officer and Vince breaks out, destroying the store. The teenagers and a wounded Reggie pile into the van, Vince brings the shotgun, and Orson steals the police officer's gun, and they drive away. Fortunately, the officer they shot is wearing a bulletproof vest and is not harmed. Lieutenant Dewhurst (Vlasta Vrána), who is due to retire at midnight that night, watches the security camera playback of what happened, and deduces that the clerk's story of a robbery is a cover for stealing the money from the cash register, and that the kids are frightened teens, rather than vicious cop killers.
In the van, Vince notices that the gas tank is almost empty, and they decide to hide out at Hull House. Abbie tells Vince that the place is possessed and not to cross over the underground stream, since demons cannot cross over running water, but Vince forces them all to enter at gunpoint. Vince, trying to prove demons do not exist, taunts them and shoots a hole in the wall, causing the evil spirit that possesses the house to rush upstairs from the basement crematorium in the guise of Angela. Orson decides to stand up for himself and reveal that he has the police officer's pistol, and tells Vince that he will watch the others and Angela while Nick, Lois, and Vince make sure no one else is in the house.
Angela puts on some music and does an erotic dance to distract Orson, and Abbie and Holly see this as an opportunity to escape with Reggie. Holly tries hot wiring the van, but remembers that Nick is still inside. Angela begins to seduce Orson, simulating fellatio by sucking the bullets out of the gun through the barrel. Then she kisses Orson and her long, demon tongue shoots through the back of his head, killing him. Meanwhile, upstairs, Nick sneaks up on Vince and Lois who are making out, but fails to take the shotgun, and Vince fires the gun at Nick but misses. Outside, Holly hears the shot, and then overhears a voice over Larry's police radio and finds his car. Abbie leaves Reggie in the van to look for Holly, but Angela takes Abbie to a small chapel and plays on her insecurities and says she can make her an irresistible woman, and the demonic Angela kisses her and possesses her as well.
The badly wounded Reggie hears his name called, and leaves the van, only to be run over by the now possessed Orson. Abbie, who has been turned into a demonic version of her cat costume, seduces Vince until he hears the van crash. Lois, who is angry at Abbie because she thinks that she is now the perfect woman to fall in love with Vince, is scratched by Abbie after slapping her, then is pursued by Angela, who causes her hand to transform into a snake head which bites her. Holly smashes the police car window to call the police, but is attacked by Officer Larry. He chases Holly across the courtyard when she steps over the underground stream; Larry tries to step over it and is disintegrated. Nick finds Holly going back into the house to get everyone out. After encountering Orson, they hide in the attic and share a kiss. Orson appears, and Holly throws a can of lye in his face. They rush down to the hall when Dewhurst appears and he explains that he wants to help, then handcuffs them and takes them outside. Vince runs outside using Angela as a hostage. Dewhurst tells Vince that the officer he shot did not die, but Angela convinces Vince that Dewhurst is lying. Vince opens fire, but is shot through the eye and killed, and Angela returns to her demon form. The other demons appear, and Angela offers to let Dewhurst and Nick go free if Holly will willingly give up her pure and powerful soul. Holly agrees, and Angela turns Vince into a demon. The other demons make their way inside to Hell.
Dewhurst creates a diversion, and stabs Angela with Nick's switchblade. Nick gets in the police car and rams Angela against a tree. As dawn breaks, Angela disappears inside the house. As the three make their way to the gate, Dewhurst tells Nick and Holly that they were not on the security camera at the store and no one will ever know they were there. Angela reappears just as they're about to escape and pulls Dewhurst's heart from his chest. She chases Holly and Nick and just before they cross the underground stream, Angela grabs Holly's arm. Nick ends up pulling Holly and Angela both over the stream and Angela dissolves. Holly leaves a cross made of sticks at the gate and promises she'll be back every Halloween to make sure no one ever goes inside again. Holly and Nick then walk home and the last screen shot of the house shows the lights turning on and Angela laughing and saying "Happy Halloween".
The episode begins its narrative in late December 2004, over ninety days after the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. The battle between the crash survivors and the dangerous and mysterious island inhabitants referred to as the "Others" comes to a head as ten of the Others attack and are then ambushed at the survivors' camp and are subsequently killed. Meanwhile, Jack Shephard (played by Matthew Fox) leads most of the survivors to the island's radio tower to communicate with a nearby ship. Intercut with this story are off-island scenes spotlighting Jack, who has become suicidally depressed and addicted to painkillers.
Jack is shown to be depressed, bearded, heavily drinking and addicted to oxycodone. After reading about the death of someone he knew, Jack appears to be ready to commit suicide by jumping off the Sixth Street Viaduct bridge. However, a fiery car crash occurs on the bridge before he jumps and he goes to the victims; it is eventually revealed that the driver crashed after being distracted by Jack. Later, Jack visits the memorial service for the person he read about and finds himself to be the only attendee. In the last of the flashes, Kate appears and Jack discusses the island with her. In a twist ending, it becomes clear that the sequences are actually flashforwards rather than flashbacks.Snierson, Dan, (January 4, 2007) "[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20169281_2,00.html ''Lost''
The Others intend to attack the camp and kidnap pregnant women for scientific research. The survivors are tipped off by the "Other" Karl (Blake Bashoff) and plan to kill the Others with dynamite-rigged tents. Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Jin Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim), and Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson) remain at the beach, tasked with shooting the tents while the rest of the survivors journey with Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) to the radio tower to communicate with Naomi Dorrit's (Marsha Thomason) nearby ship.
The Others arrive, and while Sayid and Bernard detonate their tents, Jin misses his target, which results in their capture. After hearing only two explosions, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) and Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) turn back to see if they can help. Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia), who was not allowed to accompany Sawyer and Juliet because of his weight, drives the van he found onto the beach, and the captives gain the upper hand, killing the remaining Others with the help of Sawyer and Juliet. Tom (M.C. Gainey) surrenders but Sawyer shoots him anyway.
In The Looking Glass, a research station of the Dharma Initiative, Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) is captured by the resident Others Greta (Lana Parrilla) and Bonnie (Tracy Middendorf). Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) learns of Charlie's infiltration and sends Mikhail Bakunin (Andrew Divoff) to the station to kill the three to preserve the signal jamming. Mikhail arrives and kills Greta and Bonnie, only to be shot through the chest with a spear gun by Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) who emerges from a closet where he had hidden after diving down a short time after Charlie. Getting the code from Bonnie before she dies (the notes to the middle eight of "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys), Charlie disables the jammer, and is contacted by Penny Widmore (Sonya Walger) via video transmission. Penny informs Charlie that she does not know Naomi, and did not send the boat that Naomi claims to be from. Despite his injury, Mikhail manages to swim out of the station and blasts the window of the jamming room with a grenade, killing himself and flooding the communications room. Charlie locks the door to save Desmond from drowning with him, but before he drowns, Charlie writes on his hand so Desmond can read: "NOT PENNY'S BOAT".
John Locke (Terry O'Quinn), one of the survivors, has been shot by Ben. Finding his legs paralyzed again, Locke is about to commit suicide, when he is stopped by what appears to be Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley). Walt tells John that he has the use of his legs and that he has "work to do". Meanwhile, Ben tells Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) to lead the rest of the Others to the "Temple" and then leaves the Others, with his adopted daughter Alex (Tania Raymonde) – Rousseau's daughter and Karl's girlfriend – to meet up with the survivors to persuade Jack not to call Naomi's ship for rescue.
Kate is upset about Sawyer not wanting her to come back to the beach with him to rescue Sayid, Jin and Bernard. Jack tells her it is because Sawyer was trying to protect her. When she asks why Jack is defending Sawyer, Jack informs Kate that it is because he loves her. Kate also witnessed a kiss between him and Juliet. Ben and Alex intercept Jack's group; Ben informs Jack that Naomi is not who she says she is, and making contact with her boat will be disastrous for everyone. Ben orders the shooting of Sayid, Jin, and Bernard, and when Jack hears three shots, he attacks Ben and punches him in the face repeatedly. Unknown to Jack, the shots were fired into the sand, following earlier orders from Ben. Rousseau meets her sixteen-year-old daughter Alex, who was kidnapped by the Others shortly after her birth, and they tie Ben up. The trek party, now able to get a signal, arrives at the radio tower. Rousseau disables her distress signal, freeing the frequency for Naomi. However, Naomi is knifed in the back by Locke, who threatens to kill Jack if he calls Naomi's boat. Locke cannot bring himself to kill Jack, who communicates with George Minkowski (Fisher Stevens) on Naomi's boat. Minkowski tells the survivors they will be sending rescue.
A retired American professor lives a solitary life in a luxurious palazzo in Rome, surrounded by pieces of art and books. He barely maintains contact with people other than his long-time housekeeper Erminia, but even that contact is characterized by detachment. One day, the rich but vulgar Countess Brumonti (her husband is a right-wing industrialist who does not appear) rings his doorbell. She manages to talk the Professor into renting the empty apartment on the upper floor of the palazzo to her, her much younger lover Konrad, her teenage daughter Lietta, and Lietta's fiancé Stefano, a conservative entrepreneur.
The Professor is calmly disturbed by the pushy new tenants who immediately have their apartment rebuilt, examine the Professor's apartment for clues to his past, throw parties, and have amorous experiences with each other (including Konrad with the Countess's daughter). But, in addition to the annoyance, the Professor feels animated by the young people; he is particularly drawn to the provocative, opaque Konrad. Konrad's past as a gigolo and as a leftist radical in the protests of 1968 who then slipped into drugs, is alluded to—a sharp contrast to the Professor's former completely different life that had been shaped by an upper-class upbringing and the experiences of World War II. Occasionally, the Professor sinks into memories of his former wife and mother. The Professor and Konrad have a common interest in art and become closer friends after Konrad is beaten up one night because of gambling debts and the Professor finds him and provides medical care.
The Professor invites the Countess, Konrad, Lietta, and Stefano to a dinner, at which he calls them his "new family" and at the same time expresses satisfaction that they have brought liveliness to his measured life with their move-in. However, a dispute arises among his guests about Konrad's dubious past and his relationship with the Countess. Although she wants to separate from her husband, she does not want to marry Konrad, who is significantly younger and is socially beneath her. Konrad then reveals that he spied on her husband for supporting far-right groups. This was not for business, but for fear of being arrested in Spain's Franco dictatorship. The Countess and Stefano then distance themselves from Konrad. The Professor rejects their reactionary views but does not intervene to support Konrad.
Konrad goes upstairs after saying goodbye to his new "father" by the letter he signed "Your son", suggesting that they would probably not see each other alive again. Immediately afterwards there is a gas explosion in which Konrad is killed. The Professor blames himself for Konrad's death and falls seriously ill.
The last scene shows him on his deathbed when the countess visits him with Lietta. The Countess tells the Professor that Konrad committed suicide—in order to hurt everyone who loved him—but that Konrad was too young to realize that, in time, everyone would forget him. After the Countess leaves the room, Lietta tells the Professor "Don't believe her. He didn't kill himself; they murdered him." Lietta leaves; the Professor is now alone. Becoming overcome with grief or despair, he gazes upward and clasps his hands as though in prayer to God or to something he might long to believe in.
A Special Forces unit, known as the Painkiller Unit, is exposed to a biochemical weapon while on a mission in Sovetskaia, Chechnya. While attempting to retreat, the entire unit is ambushed and executed by a group of armed men in protective hazmat suits. One member of the unit, Captain Jane Browning (Emmanuelle Vaugier), not only survives the execution, but recovers from the viral infection and develops an abnormally rapid healing factor, increased dexterity, speed, strength, enhanced senses, mental abilities, and a photographic memory.
Jane is studied by a psychiatrist, Dr. Graham Knight, though she refuses to cooperate with his attempt at examining her mental state. She is extensively tested by the military, and when her superior Colonel Ian Watts has her transferred to Alaska for more tests, Jane (fearing they'll never let go of her) escapes with professional thief, Nick Pierce.
Taking shelter with Nick, Jane meets his companions and lives with them briefly. Before long though she leaves to find out more about what was done to her, tracking down Dr. Graham.
Graham reveals himself to be Captain Lucas Insley. He claims to be investigating Watts, who has created the fake identity of Peter Erfan, the man who ostensibly created the virus she was exposed to.
Jane meets with Watts in a public place for safety, hoping to expose what happened. Watts says that Insley is Erfan, and he created the virus which alters people's DNA to enhance them. Their meeting is interrupted when gunmen attack however, with Jane throwing herself in front of Watts to take a bullet meant for him. After this, she chases after them and runs into Insley.
Insley admits that he is, in fact, Peter Erfan, and has a vial of liquid which he has extracted from Jane. Erfan refers to her as the new Eve, as something in her body altered the virus and then the virus changed her. This is why she survived but the rest of her unit did not.
While they are talking, an assassin starts to move in on Jane, who shoots him. However, Erfan has already been able to recreate the modified virus, and has given it to the assassin. As he is talking with her, the assassin gets up, rips a power box off the wall, and hits Jane on the head with it.
She wakes up in a helicopter being transported away by Insley, who plans to use her for development of his project. Jane escapes from the handcuffs he placed her in though. A struggle ensues in which the helicopter is disabled, with Jane then jumping from it with Insley below her, using him as a cushion. He is later believed to be dead.
The final scene sees a group of Asian men walk into a laboratory and meet with Lucas Insley however. He holds a vial of green fluid, the genetic material for the enhancement virus in a solution. The implication is that Erfan took the serum himself, allowing him to survive an impact with a river after apparently having fallen, and will soon be creating an army of superhumans for the unnamed Asian business partner.
13-year-old Christiane Felscherinow lives with her mother, younger sister, and her pet cat in their small apartment in an unkempt multi-storey, concrete social-housing building in a dull neighbourhood on the outskirts of West Berlin. She is tired of living there and is a huge fan of David Bowie. She hears of Sound, a new trending nightclub in the city's centre. Although she is not old enough to get in, she dresses up in high heels and make up, and asks a popular school friend, Kessi, who goes there regularly, to take her. Kessi also provides her with pills. At the club, she meets a boy named Detlev, who is a little older than she is and is part of a clique where everybody uses various types of drugs. The next morning, Christiane and Kessi are waiting for the subway when Kessi's mother sees them and angrily berates Kessi, grabbing her by the arm and telling Christiane to stay away from her daughter.
Christiane starts taking LSD in addition to abusing pills and befriends a girl her age named Babsi. After a David Bowie concert, Christiane tries heroin for the first time. As she falls in love with Detlev, Christiane begins using heroin on a regular basis in order to be close to him, gradually becoming more and more dependent on the drug until she is a full-blown addict. After her 14th birthday, Christiane stops going home and spends more and more time at her cohorts' unkempt apartment; she is also drawn to Bahnhof Zoo, a large train and subway station notorious for the drug trafficking and prostitution that takes place in its underpasses and back alleys. Christiane also starts to prostitute herself, imitating Detlev, who sells sex favours to male clients on a regular basis in order to support his heroin addiction.
After being discovered unconscious on the bathroom floor at home due to a heroin overdose, Christiane tries going cold turkey with Detlev, an excruciating experience for both of them. However, they both relapse the moment they revisit Bahnhof Zoo. To fuel her addiction, Christiane steals from home, sells all her possessions, and sinks to abysmal levels. One day, Christiane and Detlev find their best friend and roommate, Axel, dead in the apartment from a fatal overdose, due to a bad batch of heroin he was sold on the streets that Detlev believes to be strychnine. Christiane and Detlev quickly run away, ending up at the apartment of one of Detlev's male clients. When Christiane walks in on the two having very loud anal intercourse, she has a breakdown and flees. She returns to the station in order to find Babsi, only to discover that she is dead of an overdose at barely 14 years old, as plastered all over the front pages of many newspapers. In despair over the deaths of numerous friends, as well as her inability to break free from her heroin addiction, Christiane tries to overdose too. The film abruptly breaks to an off-camera voiceover that says eventually Christiane recovered, but most of her cohorts either died or are still addicts, including Detlev, whose whereabouts and current condition are unknown.
Don Gallico (Vincent Price) is a magician, master of disguise, and inventor of stage-magic effects in the late 19th century aspiring to become a star magician under the stage name Gallico the Great. Disguised as The Great Rinaldi, a headlining rival magician, Mr. Gallico performs a number of magic tricks successfully, building up to the reveal of his latest invention, the buzz-saw, an illusion that "severs" the head of the magician's assistant Karen Lee (Mary Murphy). Before Mr. Gallico can perform the buzz-saw illusion, the curtains come down to stop the performance. Businessman Ross Ormond (Donald Randolph) and his lawyer serve Mr. Gallico a cease and desist order against the performance of the buzz-saw trick much to the anger of Mr. Gallico. Ms. Lee's boyfriend, police detective Lt. Alan Bruce (Patrick O'Neal), is asked by her to intervene in the dispute between Mr. Gallico and Mr. Ormond. Mr. Gallico informs the detective that he signed a contract with Mr. Ormond's Illusions, Inc., a magician's trick provider, to invent new tricks. Mr. Ormond claims to own all work created by Mr. Gallico, not just the tricks produced for Illusions, Inc., Mr. Gallico's understanding.
The next day at Mr. Gallico's work area within the Illusions, Inc. warehouse, detective Mr. Bruce reviews Mr. Gallico's contract and explains that the contract is as Mr. Ormond stated: anything Mr. Gallico invents is the property of Illusions, Inc. As the detective is leaving, he asks Mr. Gallico to tell Ms. Lee where and when to meet him for dinner. Just then Mr. Ormond and the real Great Rinaldi (John Emery) arrive.
Mr. Ormond and The Great Rinaldi are shown the buzz-saw illusion's inner workings and ruminate on the performance of the trick by The Great Rinaldi and not by Mr. Gallico, the trick's inventor. Gallico grows angry. The Great Rinaldi departs leaving Mr. Ormond and Mr. Gallico to discuss their business arrangement; Mr. Ormond dismisses Mr. Gallico's anger by explaining that Mr. Gallico was presented the opportunity to invent under the contract and that Mr. Ormond's wooing of Mr. Gallico's wife Claire (Eva Gabor) was due to her rich needs and Mr. Ormond's ability to provision them, something that Mr. Gallico was never able to do. Incensed, Mr. Gallico attacks Mr. Ormond and forces him into the buzz-saw on functional (non-illusion) mode and decapitates him.
His crime is almost revealed when Mr. Ormond's severed head is mistakenly taken for a trip with Gallico's assistant Ms. Lee and Mr. Bruce.
Gallico then impersonates Ormond to rent an apartment from Alice Prentiss (Lenita Lane), an author of mystery novels. Gallico disposes of Ormond's body, but is again forced to murder when his ex-wife Claire discovers the impersonation. Prentiss comes forth as a witness to the crime, but identifies Ormond as Claire's murderer. Gallico then invites the Prentisses to a preview performance of his sensational new illusion, The Crematorium, in which he appears to be incinerated in a fiery furnace. Afterwards, the Great Rinaldi reveals himself, and Gallico briefly confronts him before asking the Prentisses how they liked his newest illusion, and they discuss the realism and the safety measures taken to prevent the performer from burning to death. When Alice leaves with the Prentisses, the Great Rinaldi reveals his intentions to Gallico. Gallico tries to warn him not to try to plagiarize it, but Rinaldi blackmails him by revealing his ability to deduce Gallico's involvement in Ormond's disappearance. After Rinaldi's next show, Alan Bruce tries to get his fingerprints to compare them to Ormond's, only for Rinaldi to rudely turn him away. He then unmasks himself upon Bruce's departure, revealing Gallico's face, implying something terrible happened to Rinaldi.
Later, Bruce stops by the apartment to obtain Gallico's fingerprints, and Gallico appears to cooperate, only to knock him out and prepare to burn him to death, confessing his role in the deaths of Ormond, his wife, and the Great Rinaldi, revealing that Rinaldi had been incinerated in the furnace. Meanwhile, the novelist Prentiss realizes her boarder, and the murderer, was Gallico and not Ormond. The two, along with the assistant Karen, band together for an ultimate confrontation with Gallico, ending with Bruce knocking him unconscious long enough for him to burn to death in the furnace.
After Los Angeles housewife Lori Brandon suffers a stillbirth, her husband Frank obtains a job working in the advertising division of a toy company in the northern California community of Lilith. En route, they witness a violent car accident in which an oncoming vehicle swerves off an embankment, killing the female driver. When their car later runs out of gasoline, Frank walks toward town, and Lori waits at the car. She wanders into a field and finds a gravestone beneath a tree; there, she has a bizarre vision of a young boy's funeral.
Upon arriving in Lilith, Lori and Frank have dinner with his new boss, the eccentric Mr. Cato, who vaguely explains that Frank's job at the company will involve magic, and gives Lori a grimoire as a gift. Priscilla, another of Cato's employees, refers to Cato's dead son, whom he believes is merely "resting". Lori also discovers the house Frank and she have moved into had previously been rented by the woman who died in the car accident.
Lori becomes increasingly unnerved when she observes the power Cato exerts over the small town, owning all of its businesses and maintaining influence over its exclusively young residents, all of whom appear to have interests in the occult. Cato informs Lori of his pursuit of necromancy, the act of bringing the dead back to life, the one power he claims to have been unable to obtain; he also explains to her he believes she holds the key between life and death, and can help him achieve the revival of his dead son.
Lori and Frank are invited to a party, whereupon arriving she discovers it is a formal anointment into the town's coven, but she refuses. The following day, she witnesses an apparition of Cato's son, which lures her into the basement of her home, where she is attacked by a horde of rats. Later, she is confronted by Priscilla and another cult leader, who inform her she is to take the place of Cato's son during a necromancy ceremony. Terrified, Lori attempts to locate Frank when he does not return home from work. She phones Nancy, one of Cato's associates. Nancy is in the midst of having sex with Frank. Nancy lies to Lori, telling her Frank went back to Los Angeles.
Priscilla calls Lori and tells her she wishes to leave Lilith with her, and claims to have confidential information about Frank; however, Lori finds her drowned in a creek in the woods before she is supposed to meet with her. After a series of hallucinations, Lori stumbles upon the necromancy ceremony at Cato's son's grave, and is buried alive in exchange for the return of his son.
She suddenly awakens, and realizes the events she has experienced were only a nightmare. Frank consoles her, but she soon realizes she is experiencing ''déjà vu'', as they discuss their impending drive to Lilith. She realizes her nightmare was, in fact, a premonition of events to come.
The game takes place in the year 2039, two decades after the supercomputer DIA 51 attacked and decimated the Earth. After the long restoration period, Earth is invaded by a race of alien plantlike humanoids called the Vagand, intent on finding a new food source on Earth. In their first attack on Earth, the Vagand destroy an Earth space cruiser commanded by the previous Earth hero, Ray Waizen. Their plan to invade Earth is challenged by the newest version of the Aleste piloted by the daughter of Ray and Yuri Waizen, Ellinor, who has vowed to avenge her father's death and to personally kill the Vagand leader Gaizel.
The game takes place in the same fictional universe as ''Heritage of Kings'', where many centuries have passed since Dario defeated Mordred and Kerberos, reuniting the Old Empire. However, the Empire, now known as the "Darion Empire", has fractured once more. Centuries of invasions, rebellions, and political machinations have altered it into a group of autonomous provinces in a perpetual state of war with one another. In the province of Vestholm on the island of Westerlin, a newly ascended king is determined to rebuild the Empire, and the game begins with his two most trusted knights, Lady Alandra and Lord Marcus, alerting him that bandits have been raiding merchant carts on their way to the city. Establishing a settlement in the vicinity, so as to protect the merchants, the knights then head to nearby Challia to investigate why the carts have been coming without military protection. There they learn that Narlindir Vikings have been assaulting coastal settlements. Pushing back the Vikings, they are joined by the merchant Elias, and next head to Gallos, where the mercenary Kestral also joins their ranks.
As they travel to the continent of Narlind, Elias speculates that someone other than the Vikings themselves may be pulling the strings. Heading to the province of Narfang, they learn that a southern ambassador was recently taken prisoner by a woman named Crimson Sabatt, who is responsible for the Viking raids. They rescue the ambassador, Hakim Abd-Al Sar, who tells them he came to Narfang seeking allies against Sabatt's master, the Red Prince, and he too joins the party. Meanwhile, Sabatt informs the Prince of the king's mission. He is unconcerned, however, ordering Sabatt to destroy him.
Still in Narlind, the party are joined by the bard Thordal, and after assisting local villages in various ways, many Narlinders swear fealty to the king. Meanwhile, Sabatt reports to the Red Prince that Narlind has joined the king. Furious, he calls for arms, but Sabatt suggests one of the king's knights may be turned to their cause. Heading back to the mainland, the party travel south, to Hakim's home province of Sahir. As the party secure an alliance with the local tribes, one of the knights meets with Sabatt, who tells him that if he helps the Prince, he will be allowed to rule over Westerlin, an offer to which he agrees.
The party then head to Gueranna, Sabatt's home, where they storm her citadel, and arrest her. Upon returning to Vestholm, they find the Red Prince's army marching towards the city, and learn of Marcus's betrayal. Deciding it best if the king remain with all but one of the knights to protect him, that knight escapes, contacts their allies, and breaks the rest of the party out of prison. They subsequently capture Marcus, as the Prince retreats to his fortress, high in the mountains of Rossotorres. The party and their allies storm the fortress, arresting the Prince. Brought before the king, he gloats that in 300 years the Empire will be forgotten. The game then cuts to 600 years later – the modern day. A father and his daughter are walking towards a castle to celebrate the anniversary of the Empire's unification. The father tells his daughter of the "First King", and how he united the Empire, but she points out that everyone knows that story, which they learn in school.
''The Eastern Realm'' begins several months after the Red Prince's defeat, with Elias, Hakim, and Marcus (who has been forgiven for his betrayal), alerting the king that the southern kingdom of Basa has lost contact with the neighbouring kingdom of Hidun. In response, the king sends the trio to Basrima, a province on the border of Basa and Hidun. After riding the area of bandits intercepting communications between the two kingdoms, the party are led to the bandits' camp by a local woman. There, they find that the bandits were in the service of the "Goddess of the Green Fire". The woman then introduces herself as Saraya, daughter of Praphat, Mogul of Hidun. She joins the party, telling them that after losing contact with Basa, Praphat set out to investigate. However, contact with his expedition was also lost, and Saraya was searching for him when she was attacked by an army led by "strange priests".
The party travel to the province of Hendalla in Hidun, where they learn that priests recently told the settlers Hidun was cursed, and only Khana, the priests' leader, could save them. Praphet soon arrives, telling the party he has sent a spy into Khana's camp, before heading for Thela, Hidun's capital. Meanwhile, the spy sends word that Khana is in Amesthan. Accompanied by a battalion of Praphat's troops, the party are ambushed as soon as they arrive, having been led into a trap. Holding off Khana's troops, they are shocked when Praphet's battalion also attacks them. They repel the attack, but cannot understand how Khana could have persuaded the troops to join her. They soon learn that the battalion attacked on the orders of Praphat himself. Marcus then brings word that Khana has attacked Thela, which is badly damaged, but unconquered. Subsequently, Praphat has his men abduct Saraya, telling her: "I have come to rescue you from the invaders. Khana will protect us both".
Learning that Saraya is to be publicly sacrificed, the party travel to Almerabad, where she is being held. There, they are met by Namawili, a disciple of the real Khana. They free Saraya, who tells them that Khana has sent Praphat to Praphatstan to raise an army to finish off Thela. Namawili says Thela can be fortified before the army attacks, but only if the party are able to locate the treasure of Dario, hidden in the mountains of Idukun. They retrieve the treasure, which they transport to Thela, before heading to Praphatstan. Although they are no match for the city's defences, they cut off the military buildings from their iron sources. Telling the party that the army in Praphatstan was only part of the plan, and another legion is stationed elsewhere, Praphat flees. The party next travel to Nakhara, Khana's home province. As she gloats that she has already dispatched Praphat to destroy Thela, the party storm the city, and arrest her. They also learn that Khana secured Praphat's loyalty by giving him a draught that eroded his will.
In Thela, as the party set about securing the support of the local villages, Namawili arrives with the recipe for an antidote to Khana's draught. Procuring the necessary ingredients, Namawili brews the antidote. When Praphat leads a series of raiding parties against the local villages, the party capture him, and administer it. Shortly thereafter, he regains his senses, telling Saraya that he dreamt of a witch in green. With the war over and Hidun secure, Praphat thanks the party, and tells the king that he will always have an ally in Hidun.
Captain C.F. "Hawk" Hawkens (Vince Edwards) – a former Space Service Colonel turned pirate – leads his crew on a mission to steal a freighter owned by an interstellar corporation simply referred to as "The Company". During the theft, a 10-year-old boy, Peter (David Mendenhall), slips aboard the freighter to hide, and the pirates steal the ship unaware he is aboard. After the freighter rendezvouses with Hawk's ship, the crew fight to save the life of a comrade wounded during the shootout. Meanwhile, Peter comes out of hiding and asks to be taken home.
At first, Hawk considers ransoming the child, but during a skirmish with Company fighters, Hawk's feelings change when Peter courageously volunteers to squeeze into a tight compartment and fixes a damaged power conduit that allows them to escape. Hawk promises to return Peter to his home planet, Procyon III. First, however, Hawk's crew stop to rest at a space station owned by an alien crime lord, Zariatin (Ray Stewart).
On Procyon III, Peter's father meets with The Company's security director who decides to locate the boy with an advanced robot ship. This massive, fully automated battle cruiser can track an identity tag that Peter wears around his neck.
Back at Zariatin's station, a pair of bounty hunters spot Peter and realize he is a "Company kid" worth a hefty ransom. When Peter wanders off, Flightplan (Thom Christopher), a psychic alien member of Hawk's crew, senses the boy is in danger. When Hawk finds him, Zariatin arrives and is furious a child is snooping around his station. Hawk promises the kid will not be a problem, but threatens to kill Zariatin if he tries to lay a hand on him.
While Hawk and crew relax in the bar, a bored Peter slips out of his cabin and the bounty hunters follow. Meanwhile, Zariatin calls Hawk to remind him that his service fees are long past due. Zeriatin demands that Hawk steal four Company fuel ships from a depot on Regulus V, but to guarantee performance, the boy must remain at the station. Hawk refuses to leave Peter behind, but he agrees to steal the ships. He orders his crew member Amanda (Patsy Pease) to take Peter home in one of ships once the job is accomplished.
Hawk returns to Peter's cabin, but finds the boy missing and races back to the bar. In the meantime, Peter spots the bounty hunters and a chase ensues, but he is captured. Thinking Zeriatin has taken Peter, Hawk confronts him, but just then, Zariatin is alerted that the bounty hunters are making an unauthorized departure which Hawk believes can only mean that they have the boy. Hawk immediately chases after the bounty hunters, but they encounter the Company robot ship. Programmed for self-defense, the ship reacts to being fired upon and destroys the bounty hunter's ship. Peter survives by using an escape pod which Hawk retrieves.
Back on course to Regulus V, Hawk teaches Peter how to fire the ship's lasers using asteroids as target practice. Once at the planet, Hawk's crew go after the tanker ships and Hawk says goodbye to Peter. After a battle with security robots, Hawk's crew succeeds in taking the ships, but nearby, the Company observes the theft with the robot ship and orders it to follow the convoy.
As Amanda travels to take Peter home, her ship is ambushed by starfighters sent by Zeriatin and crashes on a nearby planet. Amanda is killed by Zeriatin's thugs, and Peter is captured for ransom. Flightplan finds and rescues the boy but is shot by Zeriatin's guards as they flee. Peter finds Hawk in the bar with his two remaining crewmen. The station is alerted to the approaching robot ship. The station launches several defense ships in response, but none can stop it. Peter and the remainder of Hawk's crew try to flee the station, but they are confronted by Zeriatin and his men. The last two of Hawk's crew are killed off, and Hawk manages to kill Zeriatin, but not before being shot himself. Peter struggles to help Hawk to his ship where they escape before the station explodes.
The robot ship pursues Hawk's ship. Unable to outrun it, Hawk tells Peter to fire the lasers the moment the robot ship lowers its defenses, which it must do to fire its weapons. Peter successfully destroys the enemy ship. A weakened Hawk returns to consciousness and takes Peter home. A sad and worried Peter disembarks the ship, and Hawk, severely wounded, flies back into space.
Two brothers get together for a fishing trip in memory of their recently deceased father. But while one, Ed, has left the small town of El Sobrante (the actual town where Claypool grew up) to go live in the town of Berkeley, California, the other, Earl, has stayed in the town and has become a methamphetamine addict. When Earl invites his best friend, Donny, along on a fishing trip things get heated between the left wing Ed and right wing racist Donny. When Earl mistakenly concludes that Donny has slept with his wife, he beats him to death with a boat pole. The rest of the novel is concerned with the brothers' efforts to dispose of Donny's body, a twist in the tale which explains Earl's mistake and a brief epilogue concerning the sturgeon which the three men were trying to catch during their day's fishing.
Claypool fleetingly addresses the themes of racism and urban decay in his novel.
Lee Su-ha is the last living daughter of a once-respected clan in the countryside. Always wearing a beautiful hanbok, Su-ha is the embodiment of traditional feminine virtues. Her peaceful life is interrupted when the son of a rich investor, Hwang Dong-gyu demands that she sell her ancestral house, which has 99 pillars, to him. (Under rules dating from the Joseon Dynasty, no one but a king could have a house with more than 99 pillars.) But she scoffs at his offer and tries to save her home by holding traditional home-stay programs for urban residents. She also finds out that the kind-hearted Dong-gyu and his brash cousin and rival Hwang Chan-min, are descended from a servant family that worked for her clan during the days of the monarchy.
Officer Armando Sancho (Clifton Collins, Jr.) is a former Mal Creado ("Badly Raised") gang member who is forced to choose between his conscience and his loyalty. Recruited into an undercover, anti-gang unit of the LAPD, Sancho brings his street smarts onto the force that he has sworn to protect. With his partner Salim Adel (Cuba Gooding Jr.), the two patrol LA's streets the only way they know how—with force.
Dax Xenos, a ten-year old boy in the South American country of Corteguay, witnesses the rape and murder of his mother by government soldiers and runs to his father, Jaime, who is with a band of revolutionaries. Jaime's men capture the government soldiers, give Dax the privilege of personally executing his mother's murderers, and then take the boy to their hideout in the mountains where he meets Amparo, the daughter of revolutionary leader Rojo. After the rebels oust the dictator and establish Rojo as president, Dax accompanies his father to Rome, where Jaime is to serve as ambassador.
Years later, Jaime returns to Corteguay to find that Rojo has established himself as dictator; he contacts El Condor, the new revolutionary leader, but is killed by Colonel Gutierrez, Rojo's security chief. Dax, now a young man, returns to Corteguay for his father's funeral. Rojo persuades Dax, who does not know the cause of his father's death, to convince El Condor to surrender, but when El Condor surrenders, he is killed by Gutierrez.
Because his promise to El Condor was betrayed, Dax murders Gutierrez, confronts Rojo with his treachery, and returns to Rome. He becomes a gigolo and finally marries millionairess Sue Anne Daley, but they soon divorce. Dax again returns to Corteguay, this time for the unveiling of a statue of his father, and finds himself thrust into yet another revolution.
Led this time by El Lobo, the revolution succeeds when Dax murders Rojo. Meanwhile, Dax learns that Amparo has borne him a son. Delighted, he sends her back to Rome with the intention of establishing a democracy in Corteguay and returning to his new family, but he is assassinated by the vengeful son of El Condor.
In 1958, with the impending completion of Tokyo's TV broadcasting tower as a symbol of Japan's escalating post-war economic recovery, rural schoolgirl Mutsuko (Maki Horikita) arrives from the provinces to begin her first job with Suzuki Auto. Initially impressed by meeting company "president" Norifumi Suzuki (Shinichi Tsutsumi), Mutsuko is shocked to discover her workplace is actually a shabby auto repair shop in Tokyo's down-at-heel Yuhi district.
Suzuki is a bad-tempered employer but Mutsuko is welcomed by his wife, Tomoe (Hiroko Yakushimaru), and their impish 5-year-old son, Ippei (Kazuki Koshimizu). One of Ippei's favorite haunts is a five-and-dime store managed by struggling serial writer Ryunosuke Chagawa (Hidetaka Yoshioka). Regarding now-successful writers like Nobel-prize winner Kenzaburo Oe, as overrated, Chagawa wants to be more than a hack churning out sci-fi yarns and selling cheap toys on the side.
When alluring newcomer Hiromi (Koyuki) opens a sake bar in the area, she gathers clientele quickly—in dramatically compressed manga style—but also finds herself lumbered with Junnosuke (Kenta Suga) the orphaned offspring of the bar's previous tenant. Drunk, and smitten by Hiromi, Chagawa accepts custodianship of the boy.
The story begins with Dr. Akamashi, introduced as a scientist formerly in the employ of the government, launching a coup d'état in the Forland Kingdom. Dying, the mortally wounded king sends his daughter Alita to find Prince Kaito, who is leading a diplomatic mission and its military escort abroad. She flees from the castle and reaches a forest on the country's border.
While running, the princess falls off of a cliff and onto Falis, an infamous female bounty hunter. Due to the nature of the near-death experience (referred to as a spiritual commutation, or spiritual transmigration in the Anime dub) the souls of Alita and Falis are switched. After Falis dispatches the forest's guardian beast, Alita pleads with the bounty hunter to protect the Forland kingdom, offering herself, body and soul, as collateral. Falis agrees and acts as the princess of the Forland Kingdom with her bounty hunter friends.
An enigmatic race of beings known as the ''Kurbs'' are introduced at the story's outset. Except as serpentine extensions of shadow, they are rarely seen, and thrive only in darkness. Utilizing something called the ''Power'', they are able to control the rhythm of day and night. When humans first arrived on Manhattan Island (a place of apparent significance to the Kurbs), a treaty was signed: the ''Ritual Cycle of Acknowledgment''. The Kurbs would loan the island out for human use, and even share their source of power. But there were conditions: in synchronization with the summer and winter solstices, the source of ''Power'' would be ritualistically hidden somewhere on the island, and if it was not found in time, the Kurbs would reclaim the island, and everything would freeze. Over the years, the ''Power'' was hidden inside different objects, including an ear of corn, a musket ball, an oil lamp and, most recently, a subway token. A lineage of women were given the responsibility of carrying out the ''Ritual Cycle Of Acknowledgment'', and were granted special powers through the Kurbs' source of ''Power'', as well.
This system works for centuries until evil Mr. Underton tried to steal the ''Power'' a few years back, and lost his eyesight. Now he is close to stealing it once again, and if he succeeds, the Kurbs will take back the City, reducing it to a dark and frozen tundra. It's up to two kids named Carlos and Sarah to find the subway token with the ''Power'' and keep the City safe, despite secrets of Sarah's history that are entwined with the token. What ensues is a race against darkness. A race against the lies of the past. And most of all, a race against time.
The game takes place in Weltluna, the third realm in Gagharv, seven years after ''A Tear of Vermillion'' and forty-nine years before ''Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch''. It centers around Forte, Una and McBain and their quest in seeking Leone's Resonance Stones.
Sadamoto was the original character designer for the anime with Hideaki Anno as the supervisor and animated only part of the original anime for the purpose of writing the manga version. However, in the early days, he was involved in some way up to the sixth episode by coming up with ideas, and in the 24th episode he was the animation supervisor.
Like the anime, the manga is focused on Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy who was recruited by his father Gendo to the shadowy organization Nerv to pilot a giant bio-machine mecha named "Evangelion" into combat against beings called "Angels". The plot, however, features numerous small differences from the plot of the anime, including Toji Suzuhara's death, the omission of five Angels, and an earlier introduction of Kaworu/Tabris. Shinji's character and personality, alongside various other characters from the series, such as Asuka Langley Soryu's, are also slightly different in the manga.
The manga volumes do not always begin or end at points corresponding to episode breaks. Volume 10, for example, begins halfway through the battle with Armisael in episode 23, while Volume 11 adapts the events depicted in episode 24 and the first several minutes of End of Evangelion.
Roy Tucker (Gene Hackman), serving time for the murder of his wife's first husband, is approached in prison by a man named Tagge (Richard Widmark) on behalf of a mysterious organization with an offer: in exchange for helping him escape and start a new life, Tucker must work for the organization for a few weeks. Following his escape with cellmate Spiventa (Mickey Rooney), whom the organization immediately kills, Tucker flies to Puntarenas, Costa Rica where he is reunited with his wife Ellie (Candice Bergen). After a few idyllic days, the organization's Tagge, Pine (Edward Albert) and General Reser (Eli Wallach) return them to Los Angeles. There, the details of his mission slowly unfold. He realizes that he is expected to assassinate someone and refuses. The organization retaliates by kidnapping his wife.
The next morning, Tucker fires on his target from a helicopter, but it is hit by return fire and crashes. Tucker and Reser escape but Tucker takes Pine hostage and demand a plane and the return of his wife. At the airstrip, Tucker tells Tagge that he deliberately fired short. Tagge reveals that he had two other shooters in place, including Tucker's supposedly murdered cellmate Spiventa, and Tagge's group has been manipulating Tucker for over a decade. Aboard the plane with Ellie, Tucker spots someone planting a toolbox in the back of Tagge's car. Unable to get the pilot to abort takeoff, Tucker watches helplessly as Tagge is blown up with his car. The couple return to Costa Rica where Tucker sees his new life dismantled as quickly as it was assembled: his false passport destroyed, his money taken and Ellie killed. Spiventa and Pine arrive to kill Tucker, but he gets the drop on them and dumps their bodies in the ocean. The film closes with a resolute Tucker vowing not to give in, unaware he is in the crosshairs of yet another assassin.
Two good looking lads meet while the girl is in a situation in some small Italian village. As they escape in an abandoned cloister, the man try to seduce the lady with manipulation techniques. As he makes fun of her, she refuses herself to him. and almost raping her. Randomly meeting later in San Francisco, the guy hits again on her and manage to seduce her to get married with a child. A troubled marriage for a troubled pair.
Two months after ''Shining Force Gaiden'',Shining Force: Sword of Hajya instruction manual. this story revolves around Deanna and his companions, young soldiers in the army of Cypress. Nick, the Prince of Cypress, has left the castle in order to defeat Iom, an aggressor nation. He leaves, however, without the powerful Sword of Hajya due to his inability to wield it, as his arm has been turned to stone. Deanna and his friends are left behind to defend the castle and the Sword, with Prince Nick's friend Mayfair placed in charge of them. When forces from Iom attack and steal the sword, Mayfair directs the young soldiers to pursue them in order to regain possession of the sword. The story is continued in new scenarios within ''Shining Force CD''.
''Shining Force Gaiden II/Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya'' is a direct continuation of the story of ''Shining Force Gaiden'' and takes place just two months after. ''Shining Force Gaiden'' tells how the war between Cypress and Iom began, how Nick befriended Mayfair, how his arm was turned to stone, and several other major plot points. Gyan, Ruce, Woldol, Randolf, and others all originally appeared in ''Shining Force Gaiden''. ''Shining Force CD'', in turn, contains a scenario which takes place just a few months after ''Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya'' and features most of the major characters. The hidden characters Hanzou and Musashi (mistranslated in the game as "Higins" and "Rush") previously appeared in ''Shining Force''.
Three college students, Toby, Casey, and Jude, start up a bookie business taking bets from various clients. Their business immediately booms, arousing suspicion among local campus authorities and Toby's girlfriend, Hunter. They subsequently are able to purchase many expensive items such as big-screen televisions and new computers to help them manage their complex business. When their business takes off, Jude receives threats from two local Italian bookies to back down because of their territories for the business overlap.
When a plan by Jude fails to materialize when betting on the college's team to win the game, Toby devises a way to eliminate the threat from the other bookies and get them out of the business. Jude makes a bet with the two Italian bookies, letting them choose whatever game and winner they want, which ends up being a boxing match. Knowing the game would be fixed, Jude and the others liquidate all of their assets and bet all of their earnings on the boxing match. The underdog on which they placed the bet won. Some money went to pay off the Italian bookies, while the remaining spoils were divided amongst the three.
Jude drops out of school and Toby says that "he wasn't the first genius to flunk out of college." Casey changes his major, gets new friends, makes the dean's list, and doesn't see Toby much. Toby continues at college and uses his money to get through grad school. He plays Hunter in a foosball match to win another chance with her after having lost her love through the ordeal.
In a post credits scene, the two Italian bookies are seen arguing as they struggle to start a chainsaw, to kill a man previously unseen in the film whom they abducted and had placed in their cars trunk. The film ends as the two get the chainsaw started.
A private plane belonging to the TDX company is shot down over Singapore by a rogue agent from the CIA, Kelvin Woo. The company president was coming to investigate a stolen computer protection system. Kelvin has a programmer, Alex, plant a bug in the 1st National Bank's computer system, but he still needs a "Caller Program" to wipe the systems before they can rob the bank.
Colonel Ng, head of the Army's Information Warfare Unit, recruits Major Eric Ong from the Singapore Police to investigate the plane shooting independently from the US authorities. Eric is sent to Hong Kong to quietly observe. In Hong Kong, brothers Peter and Greg Li are computer programmers. However, Peter's girlfriend Janet and her brother Bobby live with them. Greg calls his girlfriend, Salina. She tells him that her office was raided by the CIA.
Ronald Ng of the Hong Kong Police Force Government Security Unit raids Greg's home, with him are Kelvin and his accomplice, representing the CIA. Eric watches from the street. While searching, an emp bomb is triggered, which disables all the electronics in the house. The brothers are arrested, and an American diplomat interrogates Greg while Ronald listens in. It turns out Greg is a CIA agent and asked for help from the embassy. Greg suspects the CIA has been compromised and that TDX may be implicated. Kelvin finds Greg's computer was wiped clean by the ion bomb. Peter is released, but Greg is to be deported back to the States.
As the vehicles leave the embassy, Peter sees his brother and waves goodbye. Suddenly, a rocket hits one of the vehicles, flipping it on to Greg's vehicle. All the officers are killed by sniper fire. Kelvin, in the car behind Greg's, sits quietly while everyone else panics. A devastated Peter follows Ronald as he chases the sniper but find himself running ahead of the officers. The sniper fires at Peter until he runs out of bullets. Meanwhile, Peter knowing the sniper is out, attacks him. Kelvin arrives and is about to shoot Peter when PTU officers show up. Kelvin then pretends to help Peter while the sniper escapes. Kelvin offers his help and gives Peter his number.
As Peter drives home with Janet, he notices a car following them. He confronts the driver, who turns out to be Eric. He reveals he is a Singaporean agent and asks Peter to help him investigate his brother's death. When Peter gets home, he finds that the house is swarming with police as part of the investigation. An officer breaks a large vase, spilling coins all over the floor. Salina arrives with her friend, a judge, who prevents further searching. When the coins are later cleaned up, a key to Greg's safe deposit box is found. Salina advises Peter to check the contents right away. She helps him forge his brother's identity, and they find it holds a metal briefcase. They take the briefcase but are arrested by Ronald outside the bank.
While being driven away the GSU vehicles are attacked by assailants trying to steal the briefcase. In the gun battle several are killed, including Ronald. Just before he dies, Ronald warns Peter about Salina. Peter is forced to kill an assailant, while the sniper from earlier is stopped by Eric, who had just arrived. In the car, Salina opens the briefcase and finds a safe deposit box key for the Singapore National Bank. Peter decides to go to Singapore with Salina, despite Eric's objections. Eric tells Colonel Ng he believes the GSU were attacked by Kelvin, while confirming Peter's innocence and his suspicions about Salina. Colonel Ng is upset about his involvement in the gun battle and demands he returns to Singapore.
Peter's locks the key in the hotel room's safe. He obviously distrusts Salina, while she becomes colder. They have a confrontation over dinner and Peter demands to know her identity. However, Salina tearfully reveals her car thief skills from being a hooker in a night club, where she met Greg.
On the following morning, Salina and the key are missing. The others rush to the bank, where they see Salina leaving the bank, accompanied by the man Peter recognises as the sniper who shot his brother. The two leave in a red vehicle, while the others rush out to get help from some nearby policemen. Frustrated, Peter steals the police car while Bobby stops the policeman, who calls for backup. Eric hears the radio message and rushes to the scene. Peter chases the car to the Boat Quay, where he rams it.
Eric and three other officers intercept the sniper's car and have a gun battle. As Peter reaches the scene, Salina fires at his feet to stop him. A speedboat is hijacked and all three, including Salina, escape up the Singapore River. Eric tells Peter and his friends that they need to go back to Hong Kong and Eric asks Peter not to reveal his identity.
The contents of the safe are shown to Kelvin, but it only contains items of sentimental value to Salina. Disgusted, he reminds her that she belongs to him, she was the one who stole the Caller Program. He threatens to kill her, erasing all evidence. At the airport, Bobby finds a mysterious program implanted on his laptop. Alex successfully completes the Caller Program, and destroys the data for several organisations, including the Stock Exchange and National Bank, their intended target. Kelvin is upset that the second part will take a month to finish. He gets a call from an unsuspecting Peter, who tells him about the program in Bobby's laptop and asks for his assistance.
They arrange to meet at a hotel, where the sniper is positioned on a nearby rooftop. A waiter offers them water and Peter is surprised to see it is Eric. With increased confidence, he demands information on Salina and his brother's killer. Kelvin asks that they move to a quieter area. While on the way out, he pokes gun in Peter's back, who finally realises who his brother's killer really is. Eric pursues and they fight on the hotel roof. The sniper pins Eric down. As they fight for the laptop, Peter falls off the roof, but is saved by a window washing platform, while Kelvin escapes with the laptop. Bobby sees Kelvin leaving and tails him in a taxi.
Kelvin and two agents arrive at Suntec City, where they meet Salina and four others. Bobby calls Peter to tell him where they are, but he loses the agents, only to be captured by them later. Peter and several officers arrive at the Convention Centre, but Eric receives a call from Colonel Ng, who surprises him by asking him to arrest all the American agents. He has confirmation that they are operating without approval. The agents find Alex at his computer where he reports he completed his task. Kelvin shoots him and is about to shoot Bobby when Salina points her gun at Kelvin. As the other agents react, one of them, who was sympathetic towards Salina, stops them. Salina and Bobby leave with the laptop.
Eric and his men cover the exits. Salina and Bobby stay among the exhibits, while rogue agents hunt for them. Bobby tells Peter their location and they rush in to help. Kelvin sees the officers and Peter converging on Bobby's hideout. Kelvin and the sniper sneak up on Bobby and Salina, who start to struggle, causing Bobby to be shot by Kelvin, sparking mayhem. In the chaos Eric manages to gun down several CIA agents while Kelvin grabs the laptop and tries to escape. He takes some civilians hostage and forces them to run the software. He shoots a hostage and the police are forced to withdraw.
In a fit of rage, Peter rushes Kelvin and is shot. He aim his gun at Kelvin, but hesitates and Kelvin triggers the program's deletion process, which reveals a snapshot of Peter and Bobby, a hoax they planted instead of the program. Peter takes a shot at Kelvin, but the gun jams. The closing scenes show Peter with paramedics outside the Convention Centre. Eric tells Peter he is lucky the gun jammed otherwise he would have been a murderer. Kelvin is assumed to be arrested and the sniper is seen quietly walking away from the crowd. Salina compliments Bobby for his bravery while on the way to the hospital.
As described in a film magazine, young Dr. Jackson (Lloyd), or Dr. Jack, has plenty of practice but scant fees. He believes in using sunshine methods and avoids medicine as far as possible. This is quite contrary to the methods employed by the renowned Dr. Ludwig von Saulsbourg (Mayne), who for four years has reaped a golden harvest out of the father (Prince) of the Sick-Little-Well-Girl (Davis), keeping the latter in dark rooms and feeding her drugs without end. The family lawyer Jamison (Hammond) introduces Dr. Jack as a consultant and things begin to happen. Dr. Jack has met the Girl once accidentally, and is overjoyed when he is called to prescribe for her, a proceeding that results in both falling in love. Caught kissing the Girl, Dr. Jack falls into disgrace and is told that he must leave the next morning. In the meantime, news that a dangerous lunatic has escaped and has been seen in the vicinity of the house reaches its occupants. Dr. Jack, who holds that a little excitement is all the patient needs to make her perfectly normal, arranges a night alarm for the occupants of the home. He dons a wig and hat and, thus disguised, makes unexpected appearances in various parts of the establishment, throwing everybody into spasms of momentary terror. In the long run he reveals himself to the Girl, her father realizes that she is cured, von Saulsbourg is required to make an undignified exit, and the two lovers are happy.
Episode 1 opens with Mary, Queen of Scots, who is in exile in France returning to Scotland in 1561. Mary's second husband is Lord Darnley who participates in the extrajudicial killing of David Rizzio. Mary's son, James I, was sired by Darnley. Mary's final husband is long-time paramour Bothwell.
The opening scene of Episode 2 is in Scotland in 1587 showing James I saying, "I have every right to hate you [his mother Mary]."
On a local moon of Talin IV, a Federation first contact observation post is monitoring the events on the planet below with growing confusion and concern. Talin IV, a world inhabited by a reptilian society with a culture equivalent to late-20th century Earth, and possible first contact prospect for the Federation in the near future, is now a world divided. The two principal nation states of the planet have become increasingly paranoid and in danger of instigating a nuclear war. Provocations seem to be coming from each side, although both sides deny any intrusions into enemy space. Each nation's heightened security has made the UFP First Contact Office's work much harder, as detection has become more likely. Further complicating matters, Talin scientists have been researching naturally occurring dilithium crystals that may be capable of sensing the advanced subspace signals used by the galactic community. While the discovery of an interplanetary culture would allow for contact with the Federation, it is also possible the Talin will destroy themselves before they make that historic leap. To avoid accidentally revealing their presence and possibly affecting the delicate political situation, the Talin system is locked down by the First Contact Office, so no use of subspace or warp drive is permitted near the planet.
While preparing for their mission, James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy discuss the similar situation that faced Earth. To determine whether or not the First Contact Office has been discovered, Kirk and a joint USS ''Enterprise''/First Contact Office team beam down to the planet at one point, narrowly escaping detection. Soon after, Kirk prevents an accidental nuclear detonation from erupting into full-scale nuclear war. Afterward, Kirk convenes a board of inquiry on his own actions, and it is determined that he acted to prevent what was most likely a computer error from destroying a world. However, shortly after the inquiry, all the planet's nuclear arsenals are fired at their targets at once. The ''Enterprise'' is crippled when an intercontinental ballistic missile warhead explodes nearby. The fact that the missile targets the ''Enterprise'' is seemingly conclusive proof that Kirk's actions have not only revealed the existence of his ship, but that his prior intervention has also prevented the Talin culture from learning the lessons needed to prevent nuclear self-destruction.
Kirk and the other senior officers (with the exception of Scotty, who was not on the bridge at the time) are blamed for the destruction of Talin civilization, attributed to their supposed violation of Starfleet's Prime Directive (hence the title of the book), and either resign from Starfleet, are demoted to ensign, or in Uhura's case, court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. Although they are separated, Kirk's crew do not give up individual efforts to return and establish what went wrong at Talin. Kirk, under assumed aliases, works his way across space as laborer and cargo chief. Sulu and Chekov join up with an Orion smuggler and slave trader in order to steal his ship. Uhura and McCoy join forces and purchase a space craft and create a fictitious identity for McCoy, the feared pirate "Black Ire." On Earth, Spock joins forces with a radical student group that advocates the elimination of the Prime Directive. Through manipulation of the students, the Vulcan embassy and the by-laws of the Federation, Spock arranges for two Talin astronauts (one from each of the two Talin superpowers) who escaped before the planet's destruction, to speak before the Federation Council as ambassadors for their planet, and request the Federation's help. Through various means, Spock, Kirk and the other senior ''Enterprise'' officers rendezvous with Scotty (who has been working feverishly to refurbish the nearly-destroyed ''Enterprise'') at the now-closed observation post on Talin's moon.
It is revealed that the nations of Talin IV were manipulated into attacking each other by insect-like drones of a planet-sized creature called the "One," which is slowly approaching Talin IV. The drones (called the "Many") were sent to prepare Talin IV for consumption by the One. The drones inadvertently fomented the nuclear exchange by their efforts to create conditions on the planets' surface conducive to the growth of the algae that is the One's food. Ultimately, a gas giant planet in the Talin system is substituted for Talin IV as the One's new food source, sparing Talin IV without destroying the One. Kirk and the other senior officers are restored to full rank and resume their duty stations on the ''Enterprise''. Kirk lands on the surface of the planet with an away team, which begins reviving billions of Talin who have survived by going into hibernation.
The film depicts a bourgeois Italian family seen through the eyes of Carlo, an old retired professor who is the last patriarch of his family. The memoirs of Carlo characterize the entire film, from the time of the Belle Époque until the 1980s, through two world wars, the economic boom, love, friendship, and all the events which constitute human life.
The film unfolds all around the apartment bought by the grandfather of Carlo. It shows the family, its dynastic succession, and its many traditions.
The series was loosely based on the comic strip of the same name and incorporated elements from several previous adaptations, following the adventures of Steven "Flash" Gordon (Eric Johnson), a twenty-five-year-old who lives with his mother and whose scientist father was lost in a mysterious accident when Flash was 13 years old. Flash's ex-girlfriend, Dale Arden (Gina Holden), is a television news reporter and is engaged to police detective Joe Wylee. They introduce Gordons' eccentric former assistant, Hans Zarkov (Jody Racicot), when rifts in space appear, allowing travel between Earth and the planet Mongo.
Mongo is ruled by the ruthless dictator Ming (John Ralston), who controls "Source Water", the only source of safe drinking water on Mongo. Unlike the previous adaptations, he is not normally called "the Merciless" and is instead called "Benevolent Father", though he is still called "the Merciless" in closed circles. He also exhibits the traits of modern, media-savvy dictators, rather than the more simplistic, stereotypically evil characterization of earlier incarnations. Also, unlike previous depictions, Ming resembles a blond Caucasian human, rather than a bald East Asian man. Ming has a daughter, Princess Aura (Anna van Hooft), who is disturbed by her father's brutality. The series adds a new non-Terran character, Baylin (Karen Cliche), a bounty hunter from Mongo. She finds herself trapped on Earth and becomes a comrade of Flash, Dale and Zarkov and their guide to Mongo and its inhabitants.
The peoples of Mongo live in "cantons", tribal groups that echo the animal-human hybrids of the original comic strip. The cantons include the Verdan (based on Prince Barin's forest-dwelling people from the strip), the Turin (based on the strip's Lion Men), the Dactyls (the series' version of the strip's Hawkmen), the Omadrians (women who create powerful medicines), the Frigians (who live in the frozen wastelands), the Tritons (who live beneath the ocean), and the Zurn (painted blue "Magic Men" led by Queen Azura). There is also another group known as the Deviates, mutants whose ancestors drank "Grey Water" (toxic water) to survive. The Deviates are led by Terek, their unofficial king (and Aura's brother) and are distrusted by almost everyone.
In order for a town to prosper and have a successful harvest after a drought devastated the town, the citizens made a deal with a warlock that he can do whatever he wants and has complete immunity of all his actions in the town in exchange for his magic to enable a bountiful harvest for the town, desirable weather conditions and wells full of water. At first, all was well as the town prospered but the warlock eventually corrupted the townsfols with sinful hedonism. The first mayor and founder of the town, Silas Goodman and many people realized that they had made a pact of a devil but decided to brush it aside due to benefit of his magic to the town. However, when Silas's own daughter being seduced by warlock into doing sinful act of orgy, Silas finally had enough and conspired with the uncorrupted townsfolk to dispose him for good. After stealing the magic book of the warlock and learning about his magic, the mayor and the townsfolk drugged the warlock and crucified him until he succumbed to starvation and dehydration after two days. The townsfolk finally burned his corpse and put the charred bones of the warlock in a coffin and buried the warlock under the cornfield before imbedding a charm on the coffin to make him a living fertilizer to make the cornfield forever bountiful. Silas then marked a page in the spell book that shows instruction of how to destroy the warlock if his spirit ever being released as pre-caution and created an edict that all his descendants must enact a scarecrow in their generation to remind them about the warlock.
In the modern day, Mayor Goodman who is the descendant of Silas decided to demolish the cornfield to make way for a mall. In a night, two drunken workers drive the bulldozer and accidentally break the stone coffin that contains the Warlock's body causing the spirit of the warlock to be released and possessed the scarecrow. The Scarecrow then goes on a killing spree to retrieve his magic book to regain back his body and get revenge on the town. After the Scarecrow murdered one of Claire Goodman's uncle, the pastor of the town who is also Claire's uncle then revealed the history of the town to Claire and her boyfriend and lamented that the present day townsfolk that should not have forgotten the past to unleash the warlock's spirit. The Scarecrow attacked the mayor at his house and demands to know where is book is, which the mayor adamantly refused as he knows the consequences of letting the book into the hand of the warlock again. After he and his wife are killed by the scarecrow and Clair discovers her father's death body, Sheriff Goodman comforts Claire and reveals that Mayor Goodman actually aware and cautious toward the warlock the whole time as all first born of the Goodman family are given the magic book with all its secret and told him that if anything happens to him, anyone in his family should look for the attic as it contains something extremely important. As they look at the attic, they realize that the magic book of the warlock has been hidden there the entire time.
The Sheriff tries to defend his family and enable for Claire and her boyfriend to escape but got killed in the process. Reading through the book, it is revealed that there is a bookmark on the spell book that reveals the connection between his spirit and his body to be used in case the warlock's spirit is released, which shows that the only way to destroy the scarecrow is to destroy his bones. At first they try to use acid to melt the bones of the warlock but failed as the boyfriend accidentally spills the acid before he could dose into the bones. Clare finally defeats the scarecrow by putting the bones of the warlock underneath a rock crusher, causing his bones to be pulverized, destroying him once and for all.
The main characters are Mo Chara, Scud Murphy and Cereberal Paulsy, all from West Belfast. They have an interest in dog racing, which the narrator, Mo Chara, informs us, is very important in Ireland. A corrupt bookmaker makes a proposition to them, to help him win a race through underhanded methods and in exchange, he'll give them a dog. After sabotaging the race as requested, they find out that the dog, 'Boots' as they call him, is useless as a racing dog. When propositioned by someone else to help sabotage the bookmaker's attempts to win a very important race, they receive a dog, Cerberus as a reward.
They decide to test out Cerberus' ability and enter him in a race. However, instead of racing, Cerberus lies down inside the box and does not move, losing the three men some money. Outside the track after the race, the boys argue over what to do with the dog, when they are kidnapped and put in the back of a van. When they wake up, they find themselves hung up in a dog-food processing plant with the bookmaker and his henchman, Mooney in front of them. The bookmaker says that because they sabotaged the race his dog was in, which had a prize of £50,000, that they owed him that amount; he gives them a week to pay it.
The men decide to go 'down south' to the Republic of Ireland in order to escape their pursuers. While in the south, they see a local fair and decide to race the dog so as to win some money. The dog loses and angers Scud, who sells him to some travellers who are there, against Mo Chara's wishes. Later, it turns out that the dog is actually a great racer, which Mo Chara puts down to him only chasing real hares, not plastic ones. And the only place they use real hares is in Clonmel at the annual all-Ireland dog coursing championship. The three leave just after a fight breaks out between Scud, Paulsy and the rest of the fair to search for the travellers and their dog.
They manage to steal the dog and get away from the traveller camp, after a brief chase down Irish country roads, they get away from the travellers and make their way towards Clonmel. On the way, they lose the dog out the back door of the van so they turn around to catch him again, after running over a dog which they're relieved to find isn't Cerberus, they find him again.
The three men eventually get to Dublin and get some money by applying to test drugs at a clinic. The same night they meet and have sex with three Polish girls, except for Scud due to erectile dysfunction.
They eventually get the dog and race him in Clonmel. After the dog wins several of his races, the bookmaker again appears and once again demands what he says they owe him. As the three are discussing what they should do, the travellers appear on the scene again and hold the boys over a cliff, about to kill them. At the last minute Mo Chara offers them a deal where if the dog wins, the boys get to keep the dog, but they'll give the travellers the money they bet on the dog, plus half the prize money and if the dog loses, they'll pay the traveller's what they think he's worth, which they say is 50,000 in an unspecified currency. They can't win the money themselves because the dog is in the men's name.
After some tense moments, the dog eventually wins and the travellers get their money and the men get theirs. Paulsy ends up opening the first hash café in West Belfast, Scud gets a brand new shop van, Mo Chara builds a dogtrack and Cerberus is put out to stud.
''The Boy Who Grew Flowers'' follows the character of Rink Bowagon, a little boy disliked among his peers that has the ability to sprout flowers on his body on full moons. This changes one day when a new girl named Angelina starts attending his class, causing Rink to become enamored of her. Rink has no way of knowing that like him, Angelina also has something special about her that he will eventually discover during the school's full moon dance.