The Earth ships ''Apollo'' and ''Daedalus'', which have been upgraded with Asgard plasma beam weapons, arrive in the Pegasus galaxy to battle the Asurans. After some initial successes against their enemy, they learn that the Asurans have retreated back to the safety of their homeworld to rebuild their numbers. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett) works with Todd, a Wraith prisoner (Brendan Penny, Christopher Heyerdahl) to create a computer virus to deactivate the Asurans, but they do not succeed. However, McKay develops an alternate plan to enhance the attractive forces between the Asuran nanites, pulling them together into a superdense mass that the Expedition can then implode by overloading ZPMs around it. To carry out this plan, he creates another humanoid Replicator to serve as a nucleus, later dubbed "FRAN" ("Friendly Replicator Android", played by Michelle Morgan).

For the plan to be successful, the Expedition must also prevent the Asuran ships from escaping into hyperspace. The Wraith prisoner convinces seven Wraith hive ships to join the Earth ships' attack. Concerned about the Asuran threat, the Travelers under Larrin contribute some of their ships as well. Back on Atlantis, Teyla (Rachel Luttrell) is forced to admit that she is pregnant, and is pulled off duty. The combined fleet arrives over the Asuran homeworld and engages the enemy fleet, while Fran beams down to the surface and begins to pull the other nanites towards her. However, the nanite mass collapses the power grid, meaning that the ZPMs cannot be overloaded. McKay and Colonel Carter (Amanda Tapping) determine that, if they increase the mass's attraction to the ultra-dense neutronium in the planet's crust, the additional mass will cause it to sink into the core of the planet. The pressure and heat in the core initiates a fusion reaction so that the planet explodes, shortly after the allied fleet escapes. One Asuran ship survives at the end of the episode, revealing its commander as Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson), who notes that their "work" can now begin without interference.

The main "race" of creatures inhabiting the universe of ''Drawn to Life'' are anthropomorphic fox-like beings known as the "Raposa" (''raposa'' meaning "fox" in Portuguese). They were drawn by the Creator, who also drew their world and everything upon it, but is believed to have abandoned the Raposa long ago.

The story begins with a Raposa named Mari crying out to the player, the Creator, to help save the village she lives in. Along the way, the player meets her best friend, Jowee, and her father, the Mayor. These characters are the last remaining villagers. The player designs a hero for them, and then runs into Wilfre, a corrupted Raposa that dabbled in creation, and spawned a legion of evil shadow-like creatures. The player starts by rescuing the Mayor, who sets off to bring back the Raposa to the Village. As the player progresses, the player learns that Wilfre was once a prominent member of the Village, and that in his lust for power, he stole the Book of Life, and tore the pages from it. The Mayor asks the player to find and return the pages of the Book of Life, so the Creator can once again draw the missing objects from the Village.

The player starts by designing the Eternal Flame, which is then used to clear the darkness from each section of the Village each time the player returns from completing a level. Along the way, the player rescues a cast of villagers, who agree to return to the Village and open up shops, restaurants, and other places of interest. Mari begins training to take over as Mayor, and the Village plans a festival to celebrate. Meanwhile, adventure-hungry Jowee sneaks into a level, and the player has to save him and help find an appropriate gift for Mari. This reckless act causes a rift between Jowee and Mari, but they eventually make up and grow closer as they help the Hero restore the Village to what it once was.

After numerous confrontations with Wilfre, he finally tricks the Mayor into appearing alone, and attacks him, stealing the Book of Life as well. Everyone tries to help the Mayor but a Raposa named Dr. Cure says she can do nothing for him. Everyone is devastated, but after seeing the Village's creations are vanishing, they decide to band together and stop Wilfre for good. The Hero defeats Wilfre, and returns to the Village. Jowee plans to leave on a Treasure Hunt, and after saying goodbye, Mari reminisces about the past, upset about losing her father and best friend. The story ends with Mari on the beach, shocked at seeing Jowee walk up behind her. She runs to him happily, watched over by the spirit of the Mayor, and the Hero, on the cliff above.

Richard Collier is a 36-year-old screenwriter who has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and has decided, after a coin flip, to spend his last days hanging around the Hotel del Coronado. Most of the novel represents a private journal he is continually updating throughout the story.

He becomes obsessed with the photograph of a famous stage actress, Elise McKenna, who performed at the hotel in the 1890s. Through research, he learns that she had an overprotective manager named William Fawcett Robinson, that she never married and that she seemed to have had a brief affair with a mysterious man while staying at this hotel in 1896. The more Richard learns, the more he becomes convinced that it is his destiny to travel back in time and become that mysterious man.

Through research (see below), he develops a method of time travel that involves using his mind to transport himself into the past. After much struggle, he succeeds. At first, he experiences feelings of disorientation and constantly worries that he will be drawn back into the present, but soon these feelings dissipate.

He is unsure what to say to Elise when he finally does meet her, but to his surprise she immediately asks, "Is it you?" (She later explains that two psychics told her she would meet a mysterious man at that exact time and place.) Without telling her where (or, rather, when) he comes from, he pursues a relationship with her, while struggling to adapt himself to the conventions of the time. Inexplicably, his daily headaches are gone, and he believes that his memory of having come from the future will ultimately disappear.

But Robinson, who assumes that Richard is simply after Elise's wealth, hires two men to abduct Richard and leave him in a shed while Elise departs on a train. Richard manages to escape and make his way back to the hotel, where he finds that Elise never left. They go to a hotel room and passionately make love.

In the middle of the night, Richard leaves the room and bumps into Robinson. After a brief physical struggle, Richard quickly runs back into the room, and he casually picks a coin out of his pocket. Realizing too late that it is a 1970s coin, the sight of it pushes him back into the present.

At the end of the book, we find out that Richard died soon after. A doctor claims that the time-traveling experience occurred only in Richard's mind, the desperate fantasy of a dying man, but Richard's brother, who has chosen to publish the journal, is not completely convinced.

Leo the Lion (who now speaks with an Irish accent in this cartoon), on his tenth birthday, receives a book as a present, and after finding out that lions rarely live beyond ten years, a hungry Beaky Buzzard, who turns out to be the one who had sent the book to him in the first place, takes the chance to eat him for his meal. What follows is a series of attempts by Beaky to eat Leo, starting with making him slip off a cliff using a banana peel to try and kill him. After he lands, Beaky makes a burger out of Leo's tail, which he tricks Leo into biting so he will jump up in pain. Beaky proceeds to catch the lion in a roasting pan and starts to prep him for dinner.

Leo comes to his senses and then points out to Beaky that he should wait until he is dead before he tries to eat him, since buzzards typically eat their prey well after they are "decently deceased." When Beaky refuses to back down, Leo instead attempts to beat him with a club. But Beaky evades every swing and takes cover up in a tree, which Leo tries to climb to reach the buzzard and try and beat him up. But Beaky slicks up the tree trunk with oil just as Leo reaches him, making him slide down the trunk, running into hard branches along the way, and crashing hard against the ground, causing Beaky to mockingly tell him, "You really oughta be more careful, Mr. Lion."

Leo makes another attempt to get up the tree, now using climbing hooks to avoid any attempt by Beaky to make him slip again. Seeing this, a startled Beaky thinks fast and, out of nowhere, adds on the trunk of another tree to give Leo more trunk to climb. Leo is initially shocked and frustrated by this, but continues his climb, only to find out that Beaky has added yet ''another'' tree trunk to the tree. Leo keeps on climbing until he finally reaches the top, where he hopes to find Beaky. But Beaky has since flown down to the bottom and starts to chop the tree down, with Leo still in it. Leo is frightened by this, as he has now gone up an incredible height, and he tries to dissuade Beaky from chopping. But Beaky chops it down, anyway, and Leo crashes to the ground, feeling dazed afterwards. He comes to his senses seconds later and smells Beaky attempting to cook his tail, which he has now tied up to look like sausage links.

Finally fed up with Beaky, the dimwitted Leo tries to escape to the moon by a rocket. Unfortunately, by the time he arrives, he finds Beaky already there, waiting to eat him. Leo hides in a cave on the moon and barricades himself inside for years. But the stress and paranoia of knowing that Beaky is outside, still waiting to eat him, finally gets to him one day, and he (now elderly) comes out to surrender himself to him. But so many years have gone by, Beaky (also elderly) can no longer eat meat, instead only being able to eat marshmallows, one of which he offers Leo.

A narrator attempts to convince the reader to burn the book they’re currently reading, but eventually reluctantly agrees to tell his story, and introduces himself as a lesser demon named Jakabok Botch, who lived a traumatised childhood in Hell, especially due to his brutish, physically abusive demon of a father. To prevent himself from losing his mind, Jakabok decides to write violent, hate-filled papers in which he commits torture and patricide.

After Jakabok accidentally and severely burns himself, his father finds out about the journal and threatens to kill Jakabok, who flees until he is captured by a magical fishing net, which hauls him into the human world. Jakabok finds himself in 14th century Europe, where he has a series of often comical adventures, sometimes as a lone traveler and sometimes in partnership with a more experienced and powerful demon he befriends.

Jakabok reveals the means by which he became imprisoned in the book. Finding Heaven and Hell locked in combat over Johannes Gutenberg's first printing press, he then discovers them secretly meeting to determine how Heaven and Hell will divide the rights to various forms of publication. Discovering Jakabok eavesdropping, they use the press to turn him into the book.

Throughout the story, Jakabok repeatedly tries to get the reader to burn the book, first by asking, then by pleading, then bribery, and finally by threatening. After realizing that the reader is heartless and cold, he gives up on asking, and reveals that doing so would have set him free to kill the reader. He ends the book by suggesting that the reader give the book to someone they hate, and warns them to be cautious, as they now know the secret Heaven and Hell sought to keep by imprisoning him.

''I Really Hate My Job'' is the story of the lives of five women stuck working in a second-rate London restaurant with delusions of grandeur. The action takes place over a single evening. Customers come and go, unaware of the real concerns of these women: a rat or two in the kitchen, bitter arguments about life and art, as well as a coup d'état in the kitchen, all overshadowed by the anticipation of a booking by a famous Hollywood film star.

A man is robbed while making a call in a phone booth. Staggering in the middle of the road from the beating by the thieves, he is then struck by a car driving by a woman named Oom. Feeling sorry for him, Oom brings the man to her apartment and gives him shelter. The man, it turns out, has developed amnesia. Based the name on a pendant the man is wearing – his only possession – Oom names him Tan. A doctor's examination reveals that Tan is uninjured except that he can't remember anything about his life prior to being struck by Oom's car. Tan is given a journal and urged to free associate in an effort to recall his past life.

Oom is experiencing trouble in her own life. She has recently broken up with her domineering boyfriend, Krit, whom she still sees at her workplace, where she is a creative director for an advertising agency. Oom has also had motherhood thrust upon her, since she is caring for her nephew, the son of her dead sister.

Initially, having Tan around adds stress to the situation, and when Tan reorganizes her stacks of magazines, and interferes in her disciplining of Ohm, she is angry.

But Tan proves useful around the apartment. He is looked up to as a father figure by Ohm. And for Oom, he builds up the self-esteem and confidence she lost in her relationship with Krit. Tan seems to instinctively know things about femininity, such as what dress Oom should wear and what shade of lipstick is appropriate. As a family unit with Oom and Ohm, Tan goes to an amusement park and defends Oom after he gets in trouble for fighting in school, with the result being Tan getting punched by the other boy's father.

While visions of his past nag him, Tan seems perfectly happy with Oom and Ohm, especially after he becomes romantically involved with Oom. "I don't want to remember anymore. I want to be like this with you here, forever," he tells Oom one night as they watch the sunset from a ledge outside her apartment.

Eventually the memories of the past catch up with Tan. Taking some numbers he wrote in his journal, he retraces his steps to the scene of the car accident, and eventually finds the numbers are an address to a house. The home belongs to a man whom Tan had a homosexual relationship with, but since the man is married to a woman and has a family, he must keep the relationship secret.

Meanwhile, the police call Oom. They have some items recovered from the thieves who attacked Tan on the night he was struck by her car. Among the items is a mobile phone. The police have already called the number, and Tan's friends from Phuket on their way to Bangkok to claim the phone and find out more about their missing friend. The friends, it turns out, are all katoey dancers in a transvestite cabaret, where Tan was the star attraction.

Set in Pennsylvania coal country, the film tells the story of Joe Radek (Paul Muni), a miner of Slavic background. Upset after an argument with his girlfriend Anna Novak (Karen Morley), he drinks and attends a union meeting, where he acts as a catalyst to splitting the union members into radical and moderate factions; radically inclined miners decide to walk out and strike, the others led by Radek's best friend Mike Shemanski (John Qualen) stay at work. Meanwhile, the company brings in a private police force cobbled out of thugs by a Pinkerton-type detective agency.

One night, when three drunk company cops are trying to violate Shemanski's daughter, both friends reunite in defending her honor. During the fight, Shemanski is killed by McGee (Barton MacLane), and Radek is injured and hospitalized. While he is recovering, the strike ends with no results and Shemanski's murder stays unpunished. Angry Radek collects dynamite and provision and decides to start his own underground protest by hiding in the mine during the daytime and blowing up company property at night. His exploits draw the national attention after being reported by the media. Corrupted company cops are trying to catch Radek in the mine; he fights back with dynamite sticks and accidentally seals himself and Shemanski's murderer McGee in a mine tunnel. After an epic fight Radek emerges from the mine with subdued company policeman to deliver him to justice, and as a winner in the court of public opinion he is able to influence more favorable union contract for his mining buddies, making amends with his girlfriend as well.[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0CEFD91F3CE23ABC4952DFB266838E629EDE Andre Sennwald. ''Movie Review: Black Fury (1935) Paul Muni in the Coal-Mine Melodrama "Black Fury," at the Strand -- "Four Hours to Kill."''], ''The New York Times'', 11 April 1935, accessed 12 September 2013.

In 16th century London, a pauper called Tom Canty reads to a group a children but is attacked by his cruel father John Canty and threatened that he will be beaten if he does not steal five shillings by suppertime. Tom goes into the city square and steals a purse from a rich man, but drops it after bumping into another man. Thinking that Tom still has the purse, the rich man and other men chase Tom through the streets of London. Tom escapes by climbing up a wall and through a window, where he falls into a palace garden in front of King Henry VIII, who sets the guards on him. However, Tom outruns them by going to the roof of the castle and hiding in a chimney. In the grounds, Henry VIII orders for The Duke of Norfolk to be arrested during the masked ball that evening.

In his royal chamber, Prince Edward of Wales insists on not wearing a costume to the masked ball and his dressers leave him. Tom falls down the chimney into the chamber and Edward demands to know who he is. Tom introduces himself and explains his situation. Interested that Tom looks like him, Edward decides they swap appearances and clothes to attend the masked ball, but adds that the Prince's Seal stays with the true Prince. However, Edward is mistaken for Tom by The Duke of Norfolk, who orders for him to be escorted out of the palace. Outside, Edward is rescued by skilled swordsman Sir Miles Hendon. At the masked ball, The Duke of Norfolk is arrested and Henry VIII and the guests laugh at Tom's dancing, despite Tom repeatedly claiming that he's not the Prince of Wales.

Meanwhile, despite Edward repeatedly claiming that he is the Prince of Wales, Miles says he believes him, but actually doesn't and takes him to John Canty where Edward discovers what Tom's life is like. But when John attempts to beat Edward, Miles intervenes and a fight breaks out, resulting in John pushing Miles off a roof into a stream. John is declared a murderer and he flees London with Edward. At the castle, Henry VIII has fallen ill since the morning after the masked ball and he orders for no one to declare that Tom is not the Prince, not even Tom himself. Although some of the royal household are suspicious of the sudden change of demeanour of the "Prince", they dismiss it as a mere phase. During a banquet, Henry VIII dies in his royal chamber and Tom commands that The Duke of Norfolk shall not die.

In some woods, John and Edward are escorted by some unfriendly men to a cavern where Ruffler's gang hide out. They reveal that word has reached them of Henry VIII's death. Edward is inspired by the gang's hardships and vows to restore their honour. After winning a fight with one of the gang members, Edward leaves and John goes after him to beat him again, but is killed by another member of Ruffler's gang. Outside, Edward meets Miles, having survived his fall. Miles takes Edward to Hendon Hall, where Miles is outraged to discover his brother Hugh Hendon has married Miles' love interest Lady Edith and taken Hendon Hall for himself. Hugh has Miles and Edward captured, but Edith helps them escape and Edward convinces Miles that he (Edward) really is the rightful King and offers to restore him to his honour as a Knight.

The day of the crowning arrives and Edward and Miles race to London by hijacking a horse and cart which Hugh and Edith are in. Miles swaps clothes with Hugh and ties him up in the cart, but he breaks out in London and attempts to have Miles arrested, but Miles and Edward fight off the guards and Edward gets inside Westminster Abbey before the doors are closed. Edward halts the ceremony and he and Tom swap back to their original positions, admitting to each other that they were not good at each other's position. Archbishop Cranmer and other witnesses are stunned until Edward presents the Prince's Seal and takes his position as the rightful King.

After the ceremony, Edward makes Tom Head Governor of Christ's Hospital and his mother sets up shelters for the homeless. Miles' brother Hugh agrees to a divorce from Edith and enjoys a political career in America. Miles is restored to his honour as a Knight and marries Edith. The Duke of Norfolk has his enemies put to death and Princess Elizabeth later becomes Queen in her own right, keeping her promise to take "good care of England".

''Pushing Daisies'' centers on the life of Ned, a pie-maker gifted with the ability to reanimate the dead by touching them. If something is revived for more than one minute, a similar "life value" in the vicinity drops dead as a form of balance. If he touches the revived person or thing a second time, they die permanently.

As a child, he brings back his mother when she dies of an aneurysm. This causes the death of the father of his neighbor and childhood sweetheart, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles. That night, Ned's mother falls dead permanently when she kisses him goodnight. Chuck's agoraphobic aunts, Vivian and Lily, move in to care for her and Ned is sent by his father to a boarding school, separating the children.

Ned becomes a pie-maker and opens a restaurant called The Pie Hole. He is aided by waitress Olive Snook, who pines for him. The restaurant is failing financially when private investigator Emerson Cod accidentally discovers Ned's powers and offers a proposal: Ned will temporarily bring murder victims back to life, allowing Emerson to inquire about the circumstances of their death, quickly solve the case, and split the reward money with him.

The scheme succeeds without issue until they learn that Chuck, whom Ned has not seen since childhood, was murdered. Ned revives her, but he cannot bring himself to let her die permanently. Ned and Chuck fall in love again, and although they can never touch each other, she moves into his home. Chuck joins Ned and Emerson in investigating deaths for reward money, beginning with her own murder.

Over the course of the series, Emerson searches for his missing daughter who was taken away by her mother, a con woman. After meeting a publisher of pop-up books, he is inspired to create and publish his own pop-up book, hoping that his daughter will read the book and find her way back to him. Chuck struggles to keep the secret of her revival from Vivian and Lily, and Vivian and Lily slowly accept the death of their niece. It is discovered that Chuck is Lily's daughter from an infidelity with Chuck's father while he was engaged to Vivian. Ned revives Chuck's father to ask him questions, and Chuck tricks Ned into thinking he touched her father a second time so that she can keep her father in her life. Chuck's father and Ned have an antagonistic relationship, and Chuck's father asks her to travel the world with him. When she tells him she would rather remain in town, he leaves alone.

The epilogue reveals that Emerson's daughter returns to him, Chuck is able to let her mother Lily and aunt Vivian know she is alive, and Olive has fallen in love with Ned's friend and opens The Intrepid Cow, a restaurant dedicated to macaroni and cheese.

Catherine "Cathy" Kean is an American (or, depending on the dub, Australian) woman who travels to Bali to write a book about voodoo and black magic. She learns of Leák magic from her lover Mahendra, who says that it is the most powerful form of black magic and that it can be used to kill. After attending a ceremonial ritual, Mahendra agrees to help Cathy study magic, and they share a kiss as an unknown woman watches from afar. The next night, after a brief thunderstorm, the two meet the cackling leader of the Leák cult, an old witch with long fingernails known as the Queen of the Leák.

The Queen of the Leák shows the two her face, but says that her face changes every time she makes an appearance. Before departing, the Queen shakes hands with Cathy, and her severed arm is left in Cathy's grip. She drops it in fright, and the arm crawls a short distance and stops. The following night, Cathy and Mahendra bring bottles of blood to quench the Queen's thirst. The Queen, revealing herself only as a prehensile tongue, orders Cathy to take off her skirt, and carves a spell into Cathy's upper thigh. The Queen demands that Cathy return the next night, and that Mahendra is not to join her.

The next day, Cathy asks Mahendra to read the spell on her thigh, but he can only decipher the word "Leák". At midnight, wearing a tapis, Cathy ventures into the graveyard. The Queen appears, cackling, and Cathy laughs maniacally and dances with her, and they transform into pigs. Later, Mahendra's uncle, Machesse, teaches him mantras which can counteract Leák magic. Cathy tells Mahendra that she and the Queen could communicate telepathically, and that she envisioned destroying a wall of fire, which Mahendra says means that she killed someone somewhere. Cathy feels ill, but tells Mahendra that the Queen will cure her illness that night. In her meeting with the Queen that night, Cathy's head, organs, and entrails detach from her body. Now a floating vampiric head under the control of the Queen, Cathy's head flies into the home of a pregnant woman and sucks out the unborn baby from the mother's womb.

Cathy's head returns to her body, her illness is cured, and the blood she devoured invigorates the Queen's youthfulness and power. They transform into snakes, and Cathy awakens as a human and vomits mice. During the night, in the form of fireballs, the Queen and Cathy defeat one of the Queen's enemies. The unknown woman witnesses Cathy's head flying, and she tells Machesse, who informs his colleagues of the evil and retreats to meditate. The Queen appears to Cathy as a young woman and detaches her head again. Machesse finds Cathy's headless body, and the townspeople attempt to ward off the flying head. Machesse tells Mahendra that Cathy is no longer the woman he loves, and they bury her body to prevent the head from reattaching. Mahendra dreams of Cathy, who pleads for her body to be exhumed.

That night, the Queen and the flying head appear to Machesse and Mahendra in the graveyard. The Queen, revealed to be an old rival of Machesse, uses her powers to disinter Cathy's body. The head reattaches, and the Queen electrocutes Machesse and slices his neck, killing him. The unknown woman, revealed to be Mahendra's former lover, tries to attack the Queen but is killed. Mahendra's uncle Oka appears and attacks the Queen. The Queen transforms into a humanoid pig, which Oka stabs in the heart with a dagger. Becoming a masked figure, the Queen shoots energy at Oka, who projects energy in return, causing an explosion. The Queen and Cathy are killed by the sunrise.

The game begins with a prologue detailing Gil and Ki's war against the demon, Druaga, which took place during the first four games of the Druaga series. Three years later, Ki and Gil are set to be married as Gil is to be crowned king of Babylon. The evening before the ceremony, Ki is captured by an evil sorceress, Skulld, who takes her back to the Tower of Druaga. Gil enters the portal shrine under Ishtar's temple to save her.

Fighting his way through the formerly sealed tower, Gil encounters the Shrine Mother, Callindra, who Gil returns to Ishtar's temple instead of leaving her to save Ki. Gil confidently states Ishtar and Anu's blessings will protect him, but Callindra informs Gil that the protection seems to be weakening. Gil returns to the dungeon to save Ki, regardless.

Venturing deeper and deeper into the dungeon, Gil finds Skulld and Ki on the bottom level of the dark ruins. Skulld refuses to free Ki, explaining that Druaga didn't kill Ki when he captured her because she attracts powerful monsters. A giant slime approaches and Gil is forced to kill it to protect Ki. After the battle, Skulld imprisons Ki with the Chronos Orbs, a barrier Gil cannot destroy. Skulld then knocks Gil out and transports him back into the temple.

While Gil prepares to try to rescue Ki, Callindra explains the Chronos Orbs. Gil resolves to destroy the orbs to save Ki.

Gil locates the orbs at the bottom of an ancient cavern, and destroys them. He then comes across Skulld, whose power has been drained. However, Skulld has already released Ki from her crystal prison. Ki informs Gil that she has something to do and disappears, leaving only her tiara behind. Skulld laments her own fate as she fades, and expresses regret that she could not be with Gil. Confused, but determined to find Ki, Gil returns to the shrine.

Callindra explains that Ki may be on a mission for Ishtar. She recommends that Gil speak with Ishtar deep within a holy sanctuary. Inside the sanctuary, Ki's tiara glows intermittently, granting Gil visions of what appear to be Ki by herself. In one particularly horrific scene, bodies are shown to be strewn across the streets of Babylim. Ki herself appears to be in distress, thinking she has killed Gil. At the sanctuary, Ki is shown speaking to Ishtar about what she can do to save Gil. Ishtar explains to Ki how to transcend time.

At the deepest point of the sanctuary, Gil meets Ishtar. Ishtar reveals that Babylim was in fact destroyed when Gil brought down the Blue Crystal Rod from the Tower of Druaga. The Blue Crystal Rod was in reality the Dark Crystal Rod, which resonated with a seed planted in Ki's body. Although this seed had been repressed by Ishtar's providence, by agreeing to marry Gil, Ki was required to give up her position as a shrine maiden and with it, Ishtar's protection. The seed then awakened and killed everyone but Ki. Skulld, Ishtar reveals, is none other than Ki, who had transcended time with Ishtar's blessing. Although Skulld/Ki succeeded in saving Gil, this was by kidnapping Ki before her marriage to Gil. By preventing Ki from marrying Gil, Ki never loses Ishtar's protection and thus, the seed inside her is never unleashed. However, this also means that Ki is herself trapped in a time loop in which she abducts her past self; transfers her knowledge of the seed to the imprisoned Ki; and is defeated by Gil. Thus Gil and Ki are trapped in Druaga's "nightmare". Ishtar informs Gil that the only way to break the loop is to return to from before Druaga's original defeat at Gil's hand, and there retrieve the true Blue Crystal Rod.

Gil returns to the Tower of Druaga and recovers two of the pieces of the Blue Crystal Rod. At the 57th floor of the tower he encounters Druaga's consort and chief lieutenant, Succubus, who offers him the Ruby Mace with which to kill Druaga. Gil discloses to Succubus that he has seen through her plan, and insists that she relinquish the third piece of the Blue Crystal Rod. Succubus, realizing that Ishtar can interfere with her plans even from across time, is taken aback. Gil defeats her and assembles the true form of the Blue Crystal Rod.

On the 59th floor, Gil confronts Druaga. Upon seeing the Blue Crystal Rod, Druaga realizes that Gil has defeated Succubus. Druaga explains that he had intended to fool Gil by allowing Gil to slay him, only to be resurrected when the seed in Ki awakened. More powerful than ever, Druaga could have invaded even heaven itself. Druaga resolves to defeat Gil and to destroy the "hateful" Blue Crystal Rod.

Gil bests Druaga, but is interrupted by Succubus. Succubus melds with Druaga into a new form, "Ultimate Druaga". Gil defeats them both—for the final time—and frees Ki from her crystal prison.

Gil marries Ki without incident, but soon turns restless. He has determined that humans should create their own happiness without the gods' help, and resolves to return the Blue Crystal Rod to Anu, atop the Tower Between Heaven and Earth.

At level 20 of between heaven and earth, the dungeon Gil goes through to return the crystal rod to Anu, he defeats a giant slime boss reminiscent of the dark ruins, at level 40 destroys another set of chronos orbs ala caverns. At level 60 Gil must defeat 4 guardian dragons (Quox being one of them) before proceeding to level 80 where he once again bests Succubus. After level 80 all enemies are golden in appearance and namesake. At level 100 beats Druaga again and who like Succubus is annoyed at being referred to as a demon. At level 108 Gil meets (peacefully) with Ishtar and it is revealed that the demons have been freed by Gil and now honorably protect the path to heaven. Ishtar gives her blessings to Gil and his cause. Level 119 is guarded by many ropers and hyper-knights, the walkway is a 2x2 checker-board pattern that forces you to go head on with every enemy. Level 120, finally Gil meets with Anu and is given the choice to return the crystal rod or just visit. Gil returned the rod, to Anu's displeasure, it seemed, and he had little confidence in humankind's ability to manage themselves without the gods' involvement. To prove his determination Gil fights and defeats Ki (who fights like Succubus). Gil beforehand recites a poem to Anu and after being returned to town it is again scrolled.

The story centers on Lola's best friend, Ella. School elections for student body president are being held at Dellwood High. Lola wants to run against Carla Santini but can't because she hasn't been class representative for one term. So instead Lola enters Ella and Sam to be candidates and run against Carla.

The narrator explains that in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Earth's first satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit. In 1961, when NASA was putting a monkey named Enos aboard Mercury Atlas 5, astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to go to space. Feeling the sense of urgency to overtake the Soviets in the space race, U.S. President John F. Kennedy made a statement toward a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, stating that before the decade is out, he plans to launch a man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth.

Eight years later, in 1969, an 11-year-old fly named Nat and his two best friends, I.Q. and Scooter, build a "fly-sized" rocket in a field across from Cape Canaveral, Florida, where Apollo 11 sits on the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39. From his earliest memory, Nat's grandfather, Amos, often tells him of his many adventures such as his daring rescue of Amelia Earhart when she crossed the Atlantic Ocean on her historic 1932 solo flight. Wanting to be an adventurer like his grandpa, Nat tells his friends his plan to get aboard Apollo 11 and go to the Moon. They, with some reluctance, are in. The next morning, the three flies make it in to Mission Control and stow away inside the space helmets of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.

Grandpa, Nat's mother, and the others watch TV to get news of their offspring's adventure. As the astronauts appear on camera, the heroic flies wave in the background, visible to other flies but barely seen by humans – except for the attentive NASA flight controller Steve Bales, who informs Armstrong of the "contaminants" on board. In the Soviet Union, there are other flies watching TV – Soviet flies who cannot tolerate the idea that American flies might get to the Moon first. Special Soviet operatives are enlisted to interfere with the American mission, including an operative named Yegor. Fortunately, Nadia, a Soviet fly, hears Scooter calling out the name of Amos, who she met in Paris and loved many years ago.

Onboard the Command Module ''Columbia'', as the burn cycle to enter the Moon's trans-lunar injection orbit begins, the spacecraft is violently rocked. There's a short circuit in the service module that must be fixed manually or the ship won't be able to complete its mission. Nat and I.Q. fly through a maze of wires, find the problem, and repair it just in time. Unaware of the flies' aid, the ship enters orbit and just as they congratulate each other, the flies are sprayed with a numbing aerosol and held captive in a test tube.

The flies manage to break the vial. Nat sneaks into Armstrong's helmet as he enters the Lunar Module ''Eagle'', which lands on Mare Tranquillitatis. From inside Armstrong's helmet, Nat beams with every awe-inspiring historic step. I.Q. and Scooter join him on the surface inside Aldrin's helmet. After a climactic rescue with Nat bringing Scooter back to ''Columbia'', ''Eagle'' is jettisoned. Back on Earth, other plots are being set in motion. After more than 30 years apart, Nadia arrives in America and visits Amos, and tells him and Nat's mother about the Soviet plot to divert the mission. Amos takes off with a vow to save the mission. At Mission Control, the Soviet operatives prepare to alter the descent codes. Unaware of the potential danger, the Apollo 11 astronauts and the flies prepare to come back home.

Amos, Nat's mother, and Nadia join forces to stop Yegor and the Soviet plan as ''Columbia'' arrives near Earth's atmosphere. After a short period of radio silence due to ionization blackout, ''Columbia'' splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, where it is recovered by USS ''Hornet''. Nat, I.Q. and Scooter return to their junkyard as heroes.

At the film's end, the real Buzz Aldrin appears and explains that no flies were on board during the historic flight, and it is scientifically impossible for a bug to go to space.

''Condemned 2: Bloodshot'' takes place 11 months after the events of the first ''Condemned: Criminal Origins''. The mysterious phenomenon causing insane violence and mass psychosis amongst Metro City's homeless population has only gotten worse, with massive riots breaking out across the city. Protagonist Ethan Thomas, having resigned from the FBI's Serial Crime Unit after the events of the Serial Killer X investigation, has been caught in a downward spiral and now finds himself homeless, violent, and an alcoholic. He still suffers from paranormal visions, and his alcoholism even manifests as an antagonistic alter-ego that taunts him during his hallucinations.

Under the orders of Director Farrell, Ethan is recruited back into the SCU to investigate the murder of his one-time mentor Malcolm Vanhorn. He is aided by his old partner Rosa and commanded by the hostile and antagonistic Agent Dorland, SCU's tactical commander. Over the course of Ethan's investigation, he discovers that his nemesis Serial Killer X is still alive, having been nursed back to health by his uncle Malcolm Vanhorn after being shot in the head at the end of the original ''Condemned''. Serial Killer X killed Malcolm Vanhorn, as well as Metro City's Mayor Rachel Mars, and eventually kidnaps Director Farrell.

Ethan and Rosa also discover the source of all the city's troubles is a secret organization known as "the Oro", the cult hinted at in the first ''Condemned'', whose members use painful metal implants to develop sonic powers that allow them to influence and control the rest of humanity. Rosa theorizes that they are the source of all humanity's crimes, wars, and hatred.

Serial Killer X, having learned about the Oro, now wants to harness their sonic ability, and is currently killing and dissecting Oro members to obtain this ability. The Oro are much more powerful than previously thought; their members include many high-ranking members of society, including Mayor Mars, Director Farrell, and Agent Dorland. The Oro also control the SCU, and Dorland and his tactical teams attempt to kill Ethan when he discovers their secret. Ethan fights back with the help of Rosa and SCU Agent Pierce LeRue, and even Serial Killer X, who saves Ethan from the SCU, calling it "a future investment".

Malcolm Vanhorn, who has spent his life battling the Oro, leaves Ethan a videotaped message revealing the final truth; Ethan's parents were Oro members who defected from the organization and were killed for it. Ethan himself is "the Remedy", a long-prophesied being possessing "perfectly evolved" vocal cords capable of generating the Oro's sonic power without the metal implants the Oro use. Ethan's ability is more powerful than the Oros, capable of destroying flesh and bone. The Remedy is destined to be "the voice opposing that of the Oro". As a result, Agent Dorland and the Oro want Ethan dead. Director Farrell, part of a splinter faction of Oro that wants to recruit rather than destroy Ethan, sacrifices his life to unlock Ethan's sonic powers after the two of them are cornered by Agent Dorland.

Ethan proceeds to the Peninsula, an artificial landmass where the Oro have a secret base from where they monitor and control the entire city. Using his newfound sonic powers, Ethan defeats the Oro members, destroys the Oro machinery allowing them to control the city, then battles Dorland in a sonic duel within the collapsing Peninsula. Defeated, Dorland informs Ethan that the Oro's motives are "To create hostility, the unwavering desire to fight. To unknowingly become... our protectors". Ethan asks what they are protecting against, receiving no reply. Ethan then concludes that Dorland doesn't know it himself, that he is nothing more than a puppet, and the former commander is flung to his death. Ethan escapes in a helicopter along with Rosa and LeRue, declining LeRue's offer of a drink and falling asleep. Meanwhile, the President of the United States suffers an apparent heart attack after receiving the message "The Remedy is among us!", suggesting that the President was a member of the Oro. Finally, Serial Killer X is shown receiving Oro metal implants in his mouth, similar in appearance to the Oro Dark Primary, the "final boss" Oro member Ethan fought and killed at the end of the first ''Condemned''.

A few nights before Independence Day, three 12-year old military brats (Danny, Adam, and Jason) gather in a Key West bedroom reading their favorite comic book, Sgt. Slammer. Meanwhile, a Soviet warship is anchored just off the coast. Intelligence officer Sulock ignores the captain and drags Mischa Pushkin and Boris into a raft to row ashore and accept a prototype surveillance device from a U.S. turncoat. The raft capsizes, and Mischa washes ashore.

The next morning, Danny, Adam, and Jason set out in their motorboat for their hideout. Along the way, they find a Russian-language codebook and the wrecked raft with Russian lettering. Adam and Jason head back to the city and leave Danny to secure their bunker. Danny enters the bunker and finds himself held at gunpoint by Mischa. Unable to warn anyone of the suspected invasion, Adam and Jason return and overpower Mischa.

The boys interrogate Mischa, with Danny set on turning Mischa over to the police. Adam is more interested in being diplomatic. With no medical training, they enlist Adam's nursing-student sister Diane. After lunch, tensions flare over what to do next, with Jason siding with Adam not to turn Mischa over to the authorities. Mischa buys clothes, and the four play at the racetrack, arcade, mini-golf, and batting cages. Later in the day, Adam goes off to maintain his cover story to his father, who has realized that Adam's invasion theory may have been right. Still, before Jason can leave, they encounter Raimy, a drunken U.S. Army corporal causing trouble on the docks. Mischa intercedes and nearly come to blows before the military policemen turn up and return Raimy to base. Mischa berates himself, realizing he almost committed what could be an act of war, and says that perhaps he should give himself up after all.

Danny devises a plan for the boys to borrow a pleasure craft from the marina and deliver their friend to Cuba, where he might find his way home. Getting help from Diane again, they learn that their parents went to their bunker.

Raimy intercepts Mischa and the boys on the way to commandeer a boat. The encounter with Raimy causes a delay long enough for the ship to leave the dock by its owner. Thinking Mischa's at a dead end, they are greeted by Sulock and Boris, who communicate the Soviet submarine is on the way to pick them up after midnight. Once Adam and Jason leave to borrow another boat for the rendezvous, Sulock pulls a gun on Danny, ordering Mischa and Boris to tie him up. Sulock shoves Mischa and Boris out of the boathouse at gunpoint, planning to break into the army base and steal the surveillance device. After begging Sulock not to go through with this potential act of war, Mischa trips an alarm and retreats to the boathouse with Raimy and the military police on their tail. The boy's parents nearly run the Russians down, and Diane inadvertently reveals everything when she recognizes Mischa.

After Sulock orders everyone into the boat, Mischa unties Danny and begs him to find help. Trying to call the police, Danny witnesses Raimy commandeering his drinking buddies' ship to chase down the Russians. Danny stumbles across the van of a local performer who impersonates Sgt. Slammer and takes his jetpack to fly out over the ocean.

The parents arrive at the rendezvous point. Danny flies over in the jetpack. Raimy shoots him down and shoots Mischa as he dives into the water to rescue Danny. Free of the jetpack, Danny surfaces and pleads for his father to save Mischa. Once all three of them are safe on the ship, the Soviet submarine surfaces, and its sailors draw their guns. Fearing their comrades are about to be killed, Sulock puts his gun to Adam's head. Diane and Danny's father stand in front of Mischa, ready to take Raimy's bullet for him. After a few tense minutes, the standoff ends peacefully.

The next morning, Raimy and Sulock get arrested by their respective militaries. Danny's father and Mischa embrace in mutual gratitude. Mischa is the last Russian to enter the submarine, saying goodbye to his young friends and fervently hoping he and the boys will meet again. The final scene shows Danny in his bedroom reading Mischa's favorite book, ''War and Peace'', to Adam and Jason dressed in civilian clothing, thereby indicating they've abandoned their military personalities.

Flamboyant Zani (Gene Raymond) is a kindly young man who grew up entirely and works in the zoo in Budapest, Hungary. His only true friends are the zoo's animals, and indeed Zani has been chastised by his boss for being too nice to them. His dad was one of the finest caretakers of the animals, but unfortunately passed away early in Zani's life, and for his mother who died at childbirth, so Zani was raised with the animals that became his only friends. You also meet the other main character Eve (Loretta Young) a young and beautiful orphan girl. Eve must somehow escape from her strict orphan school, since she is faced with the prospect of being forced to work as an indentured servant (more like a slave) until she grows up.

At the beginning you get to meet and see a lot of the different animals that live at the zoo, and how people react to them. You meet a little boy named Paul, played by Wally Albright, who is with his harsh governess and all he wants to do is interact with the animals but he never gets the chance too. As you keep wondering throughout the zoo you meet Dr. Grunbaum, who is looking at a sick monkey. A woman then comes into the office of the zoo and says that her skunk fur has been stolen, and apparently hers isn't the first to go missing. She threatens to ruin the place if it is not found. The Dr. sends for Zani, who is playing with the lion cubs, and the officers escort him through the zoo where he spots the orphan girls that had come to the zoo, and these girls are all whispering to each other that Zani is there. Zani makes it back to the Dr's. office where they end up bonding over his father and Zani admits that he stole the furs. Dr. Grunbaum tries to punish him but he can't as Zani has headed out the door toward the orphan girls that just walked by. The Dr. assures the officer that he will not do it again.

As Zani gets closer to the girls he lets out a whistle tune and the girls automatically recognize its his. The girls move along to look at the ostriches, as the head of the orphanage reads a fact booklet to them. While the girls are walking though they start talking to Eve about if she wants to escape now would be the chance, but there is one girl that is strictly advising her against it and warns her of what could happen if she went through with it and got caught. Since Eve is 18 as of yesterday this might be her only chance to leave. They keep walking around the zoo when they come across the lions and Zani is standing in between them and the cage. Zani starts talking to the lion, but it is directed at Eve telling the lion to think of all the fun you could have if you were free, and that you just have to take that chance. After missing her first window to escape the girls send a signal to the girl at the front by touching the arm of the one in front of her. Once receiving that message the girl jumps over the railing and into the pond giving Eve the distraction she needed to escape. The girls around her give Eve different clothes and she runs off into the bushes.

After all of this Zani overhears a couple talking about wanting to buy the fox at the zoo so the wife can turn it into a muff. This angers Zani greatly and the first chance he gets shortly there after he steals the woman's fur. The woman and the man go to the office to report that her fur has been stolen, and immediately the officers and the Dr. know who did it.

After that realization you turn your attention back to Paul the little boy with his governess who escapes while getting on the bus all the while his governess is pre-occupied. You go straight back to the head of the Orphanage who is realizing as she counts that there is one missing, and that one would be Eve. Then you go back to the governess who realizes that the boy is missing and she alerts an officer who go's to look for him. You see the boy run away and back into the zoo another way, and the officers close up the gates to get in, but the head of the Orphanage informs them that there is still someone in there that is lost, but they assure her that everyone is out. She tells the officers that if they do find anyone in there to come get her immediately so she can grab Eve herself.

Going back to the stolen fur Dr. Grunbaum realizes that he has no choice but to turn Zani in. You then see Zani offering to help search for Eve. He eventually finds her in the bushes, but informs the officer that there's no one there, so he turns around and leaves. That is when Eve changes out of her uniform into normal clothes. After leading the officer astray Zani goes back to Eve and you find out they've cared for each other this entire time and the whistles were to let the other know they were near. They sit there for a while talking and eventually they kiss before heading off in a direction Zani knows they wont be caught. He takes her to an old bear den, that has a hole in it where you can look and see a view of the city. Leaving Eve alone to gather food for her you come to find out that the officers, who have all gathered at the zoo dinner, are all looking for either Zani, Paul, or Eve. Not being able to resist Zani enter the hospital and immediately jumps into action thinking of what they're going to do save the monkey the Dr. is trying to save and without a second though Zani goes and gets the solution of bringing in Maria who is the other monkey in the cage. He ends up saving the animal and Dr. Grunbaum temporarily forgets that he's having Zani arrested.

On Zani's way back to the den he picks up Mimi the monkey and takes her with him. When he gets there Eve is upset and is wondering what is going to happen tomorrow. and Zani is trying his best to comfort her. Meanwhile Paul's parents are worried and want to know where their son is, and a lot of officers have now arrived to look for these three. Back at the den you find out that Eve ran away for Zani and that Zani wanted her to run away for him. Eve says she thought they'd get married, and this takes Zani aback but realizing that hurt Eve when he did that he asks what they would do if that happened. She says that they would get a house somewhere just like others. After having a moment of happiness Eve find Paul hiding and crying near the den, because he thinks since he ran away he's gong to jail.

One of the other zookeepers finds the three in the den and Zani runs after him, but shortly after he starts running away from the officers. Zani gets caught and you realize that the other zookeeper is trying to have his way with Eve since Zani is gone, but Zani hears Eve's screams and escapes to run after her. He fights the other zookeeper off of Eve. Paul escapes and keeps running until he gets to an area where there is a strange man locked in a cage, because he was put earlier that night by one of the zookeepers. The strange man has Paul go and get the key and get him out of the cage but Paul accidentally does the wrong cage and lets loose the tiger. All the sudden with the tiger leaping around getting mad at the other animals making them excited all of the animals break out of their cage and start fighting with one another. This makes the little boy start to sob, someone hears him and they recognize it coming from the tiger, lion, and elephant area.

In a resourceful move Zani lowers himself to where Paul is so he can snatch him up and get him out of harms way, but after grabbing him one of the animals grabs hold of Zani's leg and he is left very injured. After getting the help of some hoses and a very smart elephant the Dr. gets the animals back into their cages. As Zani is getting taken away to the hospital Paul's father comes up to him and says thank you, and if there is anything I can do let me know. Zani then replies that he doesn't want the orphanage to take Eve away.

You fast forward a little bit and Paul's father, Mr. Vandor, played by Niles Welch, is at the orphanage arranging with the head that Eve is under his protection for the next five years, but it's not going to matter because she is marrying Zani tomorrow and they will live on his estate and Zani will look after his animals. The last shot you see is of Eve and Zani riding a horse and saying that they are home and they are just like the others.

''Contact Harvest'' takes place in the year 2524 in the ''Halo'' universe, where faster-than-light technology has allowed humanity to spread across the galaxy. The novel is an ensemble piece, with the action being narrated from human and alien Covenant viewpoints. After noticing the disappearances of ships around the remote agricultural colony Harvest, The United Nations Space Command sends Staff Sergeants Avery Johnson and Nolan Byrne to Harvest to raise a militia. The disappearances are revealed to be alien Kig-Yar vessels intercepting the ships in their search for relics left by the Forerunners, an ancient race sacred to the Kig-Yar and other members of the Covenant. Members of the vessel are shocked to discover that their instruments indicates hundreds of thousands of Forerunner relics on Harvest. Setting a trap for the hijackers, Johnson and Byrne engage the Covenant in combat. Another Covenant ship arrives, this one crewed by Jiralhanae. These troops, led by their chieftain Maccabeus, have been ordered to confirm the presence of the relics; despite the reservations of his nephew, Tartarus, Maccabeus agrees to parley with the humans on Harvest to secure the Forerunner relics. In the midst of the meeting in Harvest's gardens, the Covenant begin a firefight and peace talks are shattered.

On the Covenant holy city of ''High Charity'', two San 'Shyuum, the Minister of Fortitude and the Vice-Minister of Tranquility, plot to take the place of the three Prophet Hierarchs currently leading the Covenant. They visit the Philologist for blessings and advice. As Tranquility and Fortitude are meeting with the Philologist, the "Oracle", a Forerunner artificial intelligence named Mendicant Bias, awakens from dormancy. Mendicant Bias informs the San 'Shyuum that the "Forerunner artifacts" found at Harvest are actually the humans themselves, meaning that the Covenant's central teachings are false. The Minister of Fortitude realizes that the truth must never be revealed, lest the Covenant be torn apart.

Back on Harvest, Johnson and his militia continue to resist the Covenant attack. Maccabeus is ordered to bombard the planet from space, but disobeys and launches a ground assault in an effort to recover the relics. Johnson and his team board an orbital platform to evacuate Harvest's population. Tartarus challenges Maccabeus for control of the Jiralhanae pack, killing his uncle and becoming the next leader. The human civilians and survivors of Harvest successfully evacuate the planet, while on ''High Charity'', the Minister of Fortitude, Tranquility, and The Philologist become the new Prophet Hierarchs, and announce a war against humanity to suppress the truth they have learned.

''Renegade Squadron'' takes place during the original ''Star Wars'' film trilogy, mostly during and in-between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi''. Some time after the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War with the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the New Jedi Order is formed by Luke Skywalker. The game begins with Tionne Solusar, the New Jedi Order's chief historian, researching the forces of the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. Tionne finds several vague references to a "Renegade Squadron" and its commander, Col Serra, who were apparently involved in covert ops missions during the war. Tionne manages to contact Serra and he candidly relates the entire history of the unit. The single-player campaign follows the major exploits of Renegade Squadron throughout the war, as told in flashbacks by Serra to Tionne.

Renegade Squadron is formed shortly before the Battle of Yavin at the request of Han Solo and General Jan Dodonna, who are looking for experienced warriors who require no additional training. Solo contacts one of his former smuggling associates, Col Serra, and asks him to help. Serra agrees to Solo's request and puts together a unit of mercenaries, bounty hunters, smugglers, and other fringe-types who will work behind-the-scenes to further the goals of the Alliance. All of the members of Renegade Squadron are wanted by the Empire and generally harbor an intense hatred for it, ensuring that they will remain loyal to the Alliance.

Under Serra's command, the unit is responsible for several operations undertaken for the Alliance throughout the war. The unit operates in secrecy and is able to work anonymously at several major incidents, including the Battles of Yavin, Hoth, and Endor. The unit is made up of skilled pilots in addition to ground operatives, and, as such, is able to assist in missions both in space and planetside. The unit is considered elite by the Alliance, and despite its anonymity, takes part in several high-profile battles against Imperials, including the bounty hunter IG-88 and the Sith Lord Darth Vader. After the Battle of Endor, which marks the ultimate defeat of the Empire, the squadron is disbanded, its purpose fulfilled. Its surviving members disappear, many of them returning to their former criminal roots.

Johnny Drake (Dennis Hopper), a sailor on shore leave in Santa Monica, meets a young woman named Mora (Linda Lawson) in a local jazz club where flautist Paul Horn and his band are playing. Mora tells him that she makes her living on the pier appearing as a mermaid in a sideshow attraction under the name 'Mora the Mermaid' - a 'half-woman, half-fish' on the boardwalk, operated by Captain Murdock (Gavin Muir). She lives in an apartment above the amusement park that houses the merry-go-round. He goes to see her in her mermaid costume at the pier. Mora later tells Johnny that Captain Murdock is her godfather and that he has been like a father to her since he found her as an orphan living on an island, Mykonos. Captain Murdock refers to her as his 'ward'. Johnny becomes acquainted with the merry-go-round operator and his daughter, who warns Johnny that Mora may be dangerous, as her two previous boyfriends both drowned under mysterious circumstances.

As Mora and Johnny become closer, Mora tells him that she believes she is a Siren, one of the legendary creatures who lure sailors to their deaths under the influence of the moon. Johnny witnesses Mora being followed by a mysterious black-clad woman, the 'Sea Witch' (Marjorie Cameron) whom she believes is one of the Sirens, calling her to return to the sea to fulfill her destiny. However, Johnny doesn't believe that Mora is capable of killing anyone, and thinks she must be suffering from a delusion. During a scuba dive on the day of the full moon, Mora cuts Johnny's air hose, apparently attempting to drown him. He is forced to the surface. She swims out to sea and disappears.

Johnny is devastated, but returns to the boardwalk the following evening and goes to the sideshow, where he finds Captain Murdock at the entrance as usual. Peering into the mermaid tank, he sees Mora's corpse on display. Captain Murdock appears brandishing a gun, admitting to Johnny that he killed Mora's boyfriends because he couldn't bear the thought of her leaving him. Murdock fires at Johnny, but misses. The gunshots attract the attention of two policemen on the boardwalk, and Murdock and Johnny are taken into custody.

At the police station, Murdock confesses, saying he found and adopted Mora when she was a young orphan on a Greek island. He planted the idea that she was a mermaid, incapable of living the life of a normal woman, as a way of binding her to him forever. When she matured and began to attract the attention of young men, Murdock murdered them and let Mora think that she had caused their deaths. However, Captain Murdock denies any knowledge of the strange figure Mora believed to be a Siren.

As Johnny's shore leave ends, the merry-go-round operator's daughter, who has taken an interest in him, visits the police station to bid him goodbye. He tells her that he will try to return in the future.

While searching for the fabled Timeless Power gem to power his Airship, Cid and his partner Chocobo ended up being sucked into a vortex and landed in the quaint town of Lostime within the island of Memoria, which disappeared from the rest of the world fifty years ago. In the center of Lostime is a clock tower which rings the Bell of Oblivion that makes everyone lose their memories. Along with his new friend Shirma and a mysterious boy named Raffaello who is able to create a labyrinth of memories, Chocobo has to recover the lost memories of Lostime's residents. However, these actions reveal the mystery behind Raffaello and the calamity that began the trouble.

Businessman Paul Montgomery and his heiress wife Jennifer are two wealthy, but blasé, Upper East Side New York socialites with an attitude sometimes accompanying the over-privileged: a propensity to amuse themselves in a bizarre, chic, and upscale fashion. They frequently host parlor tricks and other social games for their peers at their spacious townhouse, occasionally revealing what appears to be a playfully sadistic streak.

Lisa Schindler, an older German woman, arrives at their door one day selling cosmetics. After she nearly faints and falls ill, Jennifer agrees to let her spend the night. The couple take a liking to Lisa, who professes to have psychic abilities, and Jennifer asks her to arrange some "games" for their amusement. Lisa proceeds to set up several situations of simulated domestic discord that the couple can react to, among them being a staged affair between Jennifer and the grocery deliveryman, Norman. Paul is initially enraged upon finding Norman in the couple's bedroom, but is bemused when Lisa appears, revealing it to be a phony setup.

When Norman delivers groceries the next day, Paul witnesses him make a romantic advance toward Jennifer. Paul threatens him with a revolver, and fires the gun at him, but it discharges blanks. Paul and Jennifer begin to laugh, revealing to Norman they are only joking. Paul playfully fires the gun again, but this time it shoots Norman in the head, killing him. In a panic, Paul stores Norman's bloodied corpse in a small elevator in the home, and Jennifer sends Lisa to the drugstore to purchase a salve to divert her.

That night, Jennifer drugs Lisa with a sedative so Paul can decide how to dispose of Norman's body. He ultimately chooses to encase it in plaster, posing it as a new statue among the couple's collection. In the morning, Lisa does a tarot reading for Jennifer, drawing the Death card, which upsets her. Late in the night, Lisa approaches Jennifer, confiding in her that she senses a ghost in the house. In the parlor, Jennifer is horrified to see an apparition of Norman with a bullet through his eye.

Lisa departs in the morning after a confrontation with Paul, and Paul heads to Maine on a business trip, leaving Jennifer alone. While watching television, Jennifer hears noises in the house, and the electricity goes out. In the kitchen, she sees the figure of a man approaching, resembling Norman. She swiftly enters the elevator and ascends upstairs, where she attempts to use the telephone, but finds it disabled. Norman enters the room and approaches Jennifer, his eye bloodied, and she fearfully shoots him several times, killing him. Paul enters the room moments later, and removes a prosthetic piece from Norman's eye. Paul calmly phones the police, reporting that his wife has committed a murder. Jennifer realizes she has been set up by Paul and manipulated into killing someone so he can inherit her fortune; Norman, who agreed to participate, was an unwitting casualty.

After Jennifer's arrest, Paul and Lisa share a celebratory drink as Paul gives her a ten-percent cut of Jennifer's fortune. As they have their drinks, Paul soon begins to feel ill. Realizing Lisa has poisoned his drink, he collapses moments later and dies. Lisa leaves the townhouse with a briefcase full of the money

BJ just cannot wait to play all of his favorite outdoor games and sports. But it never seems to be the right season of the year. Barney and his friends help BJ, and with four magical jars and a little bit of imagination, they experience spring, summer, fall and winter – all in one fantastic day of seasonal fun!

Five years after the explosion on Richard Hughes' yacht, the player character (Charles Shaughnessy, Kenn Michael, Alex Mendoza, Katie Semine, G.K. Bowes, or Rebecca Sanabria), who was the sole survivor, awakens from a coma within the infirmary of Stilwater's maximum security prison after undergoing extensive plastic surgery. They escape to Stilwater with the help of Carlos Mendoza (Joe Camareno), the brother of a former 3rd Street Saints member, who explains that the gang has since disbanded. Most members were arrested by Troy Bradshaw (Michael Rapaport), an undercover cop who had infiltrated the gang as a lieutenant, and who has since become Chief of Police, using his influence to protect the imprisoned Saints. In the gang's absence, their former base of operations, the Saint's Row district, has been redeveloped into a pristine commercial and residential area by the Ultor Corporation, who have further plans for Stilwater.

The player works to rebuild the Saints by rescuing their former lieutenant Johnny Gat (Daniel Dae Kim) from his trial; recruiting new members, including Carlos and Gat's acquaintances Pierce Washington (Arif S. Kinchen) and Shaundi (Eliza Dushku), whom they quickly promote to lieutenants; and setting up a new headquarters in a hotel destroyed by an earthquake. Eventually, the player steps up as the Saints' new leader, earning the monicker of "The Boss", and declares war on the new gangs that have taken over the city during their absence, assigning their lieutenants to discover more about each:

• Gat and Pierce focus on the Ronin, a Japanese ''bosozoku'' gang who conduct gambling and porn operations, led by Shogo Akuji (Yuri Lowenthal) and his second-in-command, Jyunichi (Brian Tee) – with Shogo's father, Kazuo, leading international operations.

• Carlos researches the Brotherhood, an outlaw gang who conduct gun-running operations, led by Maero (Michael Dorn), his girlfriend Jessica (Jaime Pressly), and tattoo artist Matt (Anthony Pulcini).

• Shaundi investigates the Sons of Samedi, a Haitian voodoo gang who run drugs operations, led by "The General" (Greg Eagles) and his right-hand, Mr. Sunshine (Phil LaMarr). One of Shaundi's exes, DJ Veteran Child (Neil Patrick Harris), is a high-ranking lieutenant.

Each gang slowly becomes annoyed at the Boss' actions to interfere in their businesses, and seek revenge. The Ronin attempt to ambush the Boss and Gat at the home of the latter's girlfriend, Aisha (Sy Smith), killing her when she tries to warn them, and wounding Gat. After saving Gat from an attempt on his life while hospitalized, the Boss works with him to eliminate the gang's leaders as revenge. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood capture and torture Carlos to death; in response, the Boss tricks Maero into murdering Jessica, and steals the Brotherhood's latest weapon shipment, which the Saints use to attack their headquarters. Although Maero manages to escape the attack, the Boss ultimately kills him in a demolition derby. Concurrently, the Sons of Samedi take revenge on the Saints for stealing their customers by kidnapping Shaundi and attacking their hideout. The Boss rescues Shaundi, murdering Veteran Child in the process, and thwarts the attack, before tracking down and killing Mr. Sunshine and the General to finish off the gang.

With Stilwater back under their control, the Saints find themselves targeted by Ultor's power-hungry CEO, Dane Vogel (Jay Mohr), who seeks to redevelop various parts of the city, and who ordered a hit on the Saints as revenge for eliminating the other gangs, which he had been using to his other ends. After fending off several attacks by Ultor's private security forces, the Saints retaliate by destroying one of the company's labs and killing its board of directors. Taking advantage of this to assume full control of Ultor, Vogel decides to personally deal with the Saints, but before he can do so, he finds himself targeted by them at a press conference. Escaping back to the Ultor Building, Vogel is pursued by the Boss, who fights their way to Vogel's office and kills him. Afterward, the Saints return to ruling over Stilwater undisputed.

At any point during the game, the Boss can listen to wiretap conversations between Troy and former Saints leader Julius Little (Keith David) at the police station, which reveal that the former asked Julius to disband the gang in exchange for not arresting certain members. Knowing that the player would disagree, Julius attempted to kill them on Hughes' yacht, then retired. The Boss calls former Saints lieutenant Dex Jackson, who left the gang to work for Ultor, to discuss their findings, and agrees to meet him in person. When they arrive, however, the Boss is met by Julius instead, and realizes Dex lured them both into a trap. After surviving an attack by Ultor's security forces, the Boss and Julius argue over what the Saints have become, before the former executes the latter in revenge.

National Kid is a messenger from the Andromeda Galaxy thirty thousand light-years away, who is immortal and protects the Earth from invaders. His alter ego on Earth is —or Massao Hata in the Brazilian dub—the son and apprentice of the world-renowned scientist, Dr. Masachika Hata, who holds his practice in a suburb of Tokyo. His powers include superhuman strength and flight. National Kid also carries the which was similar to the flashlight sold by Matsushita. Hata raises five orphan children, which try to help investigating the strange phenomena in the series. When in danger, the kids call National Kid to rescue them via the , a National radio transmitter.

The story revolves around Tsukishima Yui and five other girls who were summoned into the Edo period by the power of mysterious stones. Each one of them became celestial nymphs and obtained different powers, that were provided by the stones. The power Tsukishima received was "words". She would fight against evils by her "words" that gave hope to all the people.

The film opens in St. Louis, Missouri, on Lutie Cameron's (Katharine Hepburn) wedding day. She has had a short courtship with a cattle rancher of New Mexico. As she dresses, she receives a telegram from her fiancé Col. Brewton (Spencer Tracy) telling her to board the train for New Mexico to marry him in the small town of Salt Fork. The first person she meets in town is Brice Chamberlain (Melvyn Douglas), who warns her of likely unhappiness with Brewton, locally considered a tyrant. He takes her to the courthouse, where she sees Brewton testifying against a settler who had tried to stake a claim to part of the government-owned land where Brewton runs his cattle.

Back at the ranch, Brewton takes her out to see the vast prairie. He explains how he had fought with Indians to run his cattle there and to make it fit for ranching. He runs his cattle on government-owned land, and opposes homesteaders because he believes the Great Plains do not get enough rain to sustain farming. Lutie struggles to understand Brewton's attraction to the forbidding prairie, but she tries to make the most of her new home.

She persuades Brewton to allow a family of settlers onto the ranch, because she had befriended one of them. Brewton warns her that the settlers will not last more than six months, due to some unforeseeable, but certain, circumstance. When Lutie visits the settlers as they build their sod house, she is surprised to see Chamberlain. He is visiting the settlers because he had helped them file their claim on the land. He rides with Lutie on her way back home and confesses his attraction to her. Lutie confesses her struggles to adapt to her new home and her husband's emotional distance. Lutie gives birth to a daughter, Sara Beth.

During a great blizzard, the settlers are alarmed by the sound of Brewton's cattle near their house. Fearful for his wheat crop, knowing its destruction would spell the ruin of his farm, the man goes out of the house with his rifle, planning to scare off the cattle. When they stampede, he shoots and kills one of the cows; he also wounds one of Brewton's cowboys, who were trying to herd the cattle in the storm. The rest of the ranch hands severely beat the farmer. His pregnant wife goes into the fierce storm to help him inside and loses her baby. When Lutie learns of the incident, she rides quickly out to the settlers' house, but they refuse to see her. Having lost their crop and baby, they are broken and concede the land to Brewton.

Brewton tells Lutie that he had warned her the settlers faced severe challenges. Furious with him, Lutie decides to leave Salt Fork for a while. She goes to Denver. While planning to return to St. Louis, she runs into Chamberlain. The two have a discreet affair, and Lutie decides to return to Brewton. After her return to Salt Fork, she gives birth to a boy, whom she names Brock. She continues to struggle in Brewton's world.

Chamberlain successfully lobbies for a Federal District Court in Salt Fork, and he wins election as its judge. He will preside over land disputes, which increase as the government encourages homesteading. Brewton believes that Chamberlain will decide in favor of settlers on "his" land. As he arms himself and his men to ward off the settlers, Lutie pleads with him to reconsider. They argue in the abandoned sod house, where Brewton prepares his ammunition, and he gets Lutie to confess to the affair with Chamberlain. She agrees to leave, but Brewton refuses to let her take the two children.

Back in St. Louis, she consults a lawyer. He says that if she testifies in court that Chamberlain is Brock's father, she could win custody of her son, but she would certainly lose custody of Sara Beth. Convinced that fighting would cause too much damage to her children, Lutie stays away. She returns after two years in a futile attempt to reconnect with them, who no longer recognize her. Chamberlain tries to get her to fight for Brock's custody so they can run away together as a family, but Lutie says that she does not love him enough to marry him.

As the years pass, the town doctor keeps Lutie informed about her children through letters. On his deathbed, he chides Brewton for driving Lutie away by his emotional distance. After the doctor's death, Chamberlain takes up the correspondence to tell Lutie about her children. He shares his concerns that Brock has grown into a reckless young man, too endowed with charm and luck.

For years, Brock has endured taunts from townsfolk about his "real father," but the truth has never been acknowledged outright. During a card game, his opponent refers repeatedly to Brock only as "judge", referring to Chamberlain. Brock gets drawn into conflict and, when his opponent draws his pistol, Brock shoots him fatally in the stomach. Once Brock is bailed out of jail, he returns home and confesses the incident to his father and sister. Brewton insists that Brock return to town and stand trial. In private, Brock confesses to his sister that he could not stand a trial because it would bring up the reason for the fight, and humiliate their father. Brock decides to flee, and the sheriff pursues him with a posse. Brewton goes after him when Sara Beth tells why Brock skipped bail.

Brewton reaches the cabin where the posse is exchanging gunfire with Brock, who is holed up inside. When Brewton enters the cabin, he finds his son fatally shot.

Having read in the newspaper that Brock was on the run, Lutie returns by train to Salt Fork. Just before arriving, she learns that he has been killed. She decides to keep traveling to San Francisco later that night. In town, she sees Brewton escorting Brock's body to the church, and she hides from view.

Sara Beth visits her mother in her hotel room, warning her against trying to see Brewton and stirring up more trouble. Lutie tells Sara Beth that she is glad that Brewton will have his daughter to love him. Sara Beth breaks down and invites her mother back to the house, where she reconciles with Brewton.

Lonely widow Jamie Rowan (Katharine Hepburn) helps the war effort by marrying a military research scientist, Patrick Jamieson (Spencer Tracy), who has set up his lab in her house in Washington, D.C. Patrick has had all the worst of love, and Jamie all the best. They both believe a marriage could be a success without love, as it reduces the chances of jealousy and bickering and all the other marital disadvantages. But as the film progresses, the inevitable happens as they begin to fall in love with each other.

John O. Banion is a well-known pundit, who hosts a popular Sunday-morning television show (similar to ''Meet the Press''). One morning, Banion grills the president of the United States on issues surrounding NASA. Shortly after, while enjoying a game of golf, Banion is abducted by what he believes are aliens and taken to their lab and probed.

When he is returned, Banion is a changed man. He sets about trying to convince his friends in the Washington elite that the alien threat is real, but he is met with skepticism and derision. His marriage begins to fall apart and his friends abandon him.

Banion starts to doubt himself, but is soon abducted a second time. When he returns from this abduction he completely abandons his old life and redevotes all his energy to pressuring Congress and the White House to investigate the alien threat.

In fact, Banion was not abducted by aliens at all. Rather, he was abducted by Majestic, a government agency so secret that not even the president knew it existed. The purpose of Majestic was to occasionally make U.S. citizens believe they had been abducted by aliens. The abductees helped spread paranoia that was crucial to sustain public support for NASA's funding levels. When Majestic saw that Banion was critical of these funding levels, a Majestic agent authorized the abduction.

However, the abduction of a well-known public figure caused problems within Majestic. Normally, they abducted slightly crazy people because, while helping "spread the word", nobody would take them too seriously. In an attempt to cover up the error, the leader of Majestic attempts to have Banion sentenced to death.

As the truth about Majestic is discovered, the agency is ultimately forced to disband and the charges against Banion are dropped, although his life as a "Beltway insider" is ruined.

The events of the series take place 15 years after the last season of the original ''Mission: Impossible'' TV series. After his protégé and successor as leader of the top-secret Impossible Missions Force is killed, Jim Phelps is called out of retirement and asked to form a new IMF team and track down the assassin.

His team consists of: * Nicholas Black, a disguise expert and actor. * Max Harte, a strongman. * Casey Randall, a model-turned-agent. * Grant Collier, son of Barney Collier, IMF's original technology expert, and a technical genius in his own right.

After finding the killer, Jim decides to stay on and keep the team together. Midway through season 1, Casey is killed during a mission (becoming the first ongoing IMF agent to be disavowed on screen), and Secret Service agent Shannon Reed succeeds her for the remainder of the series. With the exception of this cast change, Phelps's team remains constant throughout the series.

Story

In ''Rise of the Argonauts'', the player assumes the role of the protagonist Jason, in this instance portrayed as a king of Iolcus. Jason's bride, a warrioress princess called Alceme Enialios, who is the daughter of a Mycenean king called Lycomedes, is assassinated on the wedding day. Jason avenges Alceme by killing the assassin, who led an unexplained attack by mercenaries from Ionia -- and begins to investigate the doomsday cult of Hecate-worshippers in which the assassin admitted membership. Jason seals Alceme's body in the temple where the two were to marry, and it becomes Alceme's mausoleum. Jason quickly discovers that the only way to bring back his wife is to obtain the Golden Fleece, as it is said that the Fleece alone can undo events that have already occurred. Traveling to Delphi, Jason learns from the Oracle that the only way to tread the road to the Fleece is to find three descendants of three of his patron gods: Hermes, Ares and Athena. The descendant of Hermes is found on Saria, Athena's on Kythra, whereas Ares' is located on Mycenae.

After convincing all of them to join him, Jason travels to Delphi again and learns that the Fleece is in Tartarus, the Hell of the Greek Underworld. After obtaining it, Jason sails home to revive Alceme. He confronts Pelias, his traitorous uncle. During the course of the game, Jason will face Blacktongues, who are behind Alceme's assassination, Ionians mercenaries, mythical beasts and other characters, but he would not be alone.

Characters

Jason – The young king set out for the quest to seek the Golden Fleece. He's the leader of the Argonauts and the sole character the player will control. Depending on which gods Jason hails the most, he can become proficient in the sword, spear, mace, and even his shield offensively. Jason's overall personality is decided by the player's actions and choices. Hercules – A son of Zeus and an old friend of Jason's. Knowing Jason's pain from losing his wife and children, Hercules joins his friend on his quest. Needing only his great legendary strength, Hercules' sole weapons are his own bare hands (and feet). Despite his continuous bad luck, he is a jovial soul, and frequently engages Pan in debates. Atalanta – The world's fastest woman. She was raised by centaurs and joins Jason's crew to save her people and see the world. She wields a bow in combat. Though aloof and headstrong, Atalanta is more insecure than she lets on. She also has a teasing, playful side, and is very loyal to her tribe. Achilles - The great and "undefeated, unrivaled, untouchable" hero of the Mycenaean arena who is destined to die in the Trojan War. He has yet to find something to fight for, as he has it all: women, wine, fame. He only joins Jason for glory and wields a dual-bladed spear. Achilles is a boastful, wisecracking sort, and he and Atalanta quarrel sometimes. Pan - The wise old satyr of lore, Pan has been wandering the world for nearly 800 years. Pan is the healer and resident spell caster of the Argonauts. He has a very spirited, if eccentric, personality, like when he claims going to Tartarus would be an experience he'd give everything to see. He is a poet and loves telling stories, but is lonely. Lykas - Chief of the Nisyros, a tribe of centaurs who raised Atalanta after the death of her parents. Lykas is the descendant of Hermes whom the Oracle foresaw helping Jason on his quest. Despite being one of Hermes' most devout followers, Lykas hardly resembles the trickster god. He is evenhanded, honest, does not exaggerate, and upholds the law even when he does not approve. He has a lame front leg. Medea - Once a member of the Blacktongues, now hostile towards them when she realized they made her a thrall, she joins the Argonauts to help Jason kill them. Medea vowed to never be powerless again after her father Aetes married her off when she was 12 to a suitor of 60. Argos - The builder of the Argo. He requests that Jason let him steer the ship. Argos is later killed by one of Pelias' Blacktongue associates. Jason later avenges him. He is upbeat, studious, and a stargazer, but does not like pipers, and is the cook of the ship. Daedalus – A Minoan blacksmith who forges armor and weapons for Jason when he is fighting in the arena. When Jason finds out he is in danger (being pursued by agents of King Minos), Jason allows him to join the Argonauts. Daedalus is a bit of a jokester, casual, but has a hefty ego, and refers to himself as "the world's foremost genius". Medusa – Once was a very beautiful woman, she has been turned into a hideous beast. Medusa is the indirect descendant of Athena, whom Jason must convince to join his crew. She was once serious about her station and people, and when (if) she is restored to her former self, she'll have lapses of vanity she immediately tries to rectify. She dislikes the sight of blood. In the game, Perseus is her brother. Nessus - A centaur who tamed the manticore Hep'naje, a boss battle in the game. Nessus is killed by Atalanta and Jason. He is gruff, a realist, but is proud of his son, and later reveals he was promised sky and endless fields of grass for helping the Blacktongues. Blacktongues - Sorcerers and assassins whose power comes from commune with Tartarus. They worship the Titaness Hecate and believe her to be the true ruler of Tartarus, where she was born. They believe the pre-Olympian gods deserve their throne back. King Lycomedes - King of Mycenae and Alceme's father. At first he blames Jason for Alceme's death, but after various trials, trusts him and joins Jason on his quest. He is a priest of Ares, and is very much like him - proud, aggressive, and protective of his family. Captain Idas - A very skilled warrior and Captain of the Iolcan guard, he retires in the beginning of the game after the attack. Patroclus - Head of the Mycenaean arena. Allied with Docon in a failed plot to kill King Lycomedes. Daedalus says Patroclus has two talents - "Business and thinking up ways for men to die." Elpis - A young and faithful servant of Jason's. Mnason - The father of the Iolcan guards Timaeus and Pathras. Mnason is killed by Pelias, along with Captain Idas, Elpis, and many more. Pelias - Jason's uncle and adviser for Iolcus. He is the secret Blacktongue leader and is killed by Jason at the very end of the game. Pelias is a learned man, but Jason's father did not trust him and sent him away. Xeno - Menander's arrogant, loud-mouthed brother who causes trouble in Iolcus due to Jason's failure to protect his brother on his visit during the assassination. Pytheas - A young lyre-playing merchant from Mycenae. Husband to Zosime. He plans to move to Massalia. An orphan himself, Pytheas adopts Bolo. Bolo - An orphan from Mycenae who is forced to steal money for his brutal stepfather, the Stork. Bolo is a gullible boy who sings terribly. He wants to find his place in the world. Docon - The Ionian champion who comes to Mycenae for the tournament. Captain Ekekios - Captain of the Mycenaean guard. He was paid by the Blacktongues to keep their presence in Mycenae a secret. Sinon - An ambitious, if foolhardy teenager from Iolcus who wants to be a warrior, but after the events on Iolcus, admits Jason was right about him not being a fighter, and says he can stick to the shadows well enough. Phaedon - A Blacktongue orator who invaded Kythra and stole the Golden Fleece. He seduces Medusa (before her transformation) and is killed by Jason. He is noted as a prince and scholar. Lysander - A former Blacktongue, sent to kill the Oracle Pelagia after she gave King Lycomedes information on Alceme's fate. Instead of killing her, Lysander falls in love with Pelagia and they flee to Saria, where Pelagia gives birth to Atalanta. Both Lysander and Pelagia were later killed by manticores.

Operation Harvest Red

In preparation for Operation Harvest Red, elements of the U.S. Marine Corps' Force Recon are deployed behind enemy lines into Chernarus to weaken ChDKZ coastal defenses for the invading Marine Expeditionary Unit. Among the Force Reconnaissance Marines is Razor Team, a five-man special operations team, which includes second-in-command Master Sergeant Matthew "Coops" Cooper, and team leader Master Sergeant Patrick "Eightball" Miles.

Razor Team is to conduct a raid on the small Chernarussian town of Pusta, to disrupt ChDKZ communications in preparation for the invading Marine Expeditionary Unit. During Razor Team's raid on Pusta, the team rescues torture victims, and subsequently uncovers a mass grave, revealing that the ChDKZ have been conducting acts of genocide and war crimes in South Zagoria. After the raid on Pusta, Razor Team is tasked with helping to unite the Chernarussian Defense Forces with National Party guerillas led by Prizrak.

As the civil war in Chernarus continues, a terrorist bombing occurs in the middle of Red Square, killing dozens and wounding several more. The ChDKZ blames the attack on the National Party, and the Russian Federation, already wary of U.S. forces operating near its border, demands the unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces from Chernarus. Russia also proposes to the United Nations Security Council that the United States withdraw its forces from Chernarus, whom the Russians allege are escalating the conflict. The United States' mandate in Chernarus expires, and U.S. forces quickly withdraw from the country. Shortly after the U.S. withdrawal, the Russian Federation sends a United Nations-backed peacekeeping contingent into South Zagoria to replace the U.S. forces. However, Razor Team is left behind in the confusion as the rest of the U.S. forces withdraw from the country. Later, it is revealed that the terrorist bombing of Red Square was in fact a false flag attack committed by the ChDKZ to paint the National Party as terrorists. Razor Team is then tasked to acquire evidence which will prove the ChDKZ's involvement in the bombing of Red Square and the National Party's innocence.

The ending of the campaign depends upon a number of different factors: whether or not Razor Team eliminates Prizrak, who is opposing the alliance between the Chernarussian government and the National Party, and if Lopotev remains in custody. The campaign's endings range from Razor Team escaping safely, their elimination by the ChDKZ, or Russia's eventual nuclear strike against Chernarus.

Operation Eagle Wing

After the conclusion of Operation Harvest Red in 2009, the civil war in South Zagoria province has escalated into a outright war between the U.S., backing the Chernarussian government, and the Russian Federation, backing the ChDKZ insurgency, sparking World War III. The U.S. launches "Operation Echo Wave" and dispatches a naval fleet carrying a U.S. Marine expeditionary unit off the coast of South Zagoria to aid the CDF in their retaking of the province from the Russians.

Eleanor of Aquitaine gives birth to twin sons, Lurkalot first and then Richard. But the nobles, led by Sir Braggart de Bombast, abduct baby Lurkalot and abandon him in a forest to die. He is raised by a family of pigs who belong to Sir Coward de Custard who takes him in as a serf. By way of remittance, Lurkalot aids his master by selling love potions and chastity belts as well as some unusual inventions in the local village, as Sir Coward is not a particularly successful noble. Lurkalot is also visited by strange "voices" in the middle of the night who speak to him and try to tell him who he really is, but get drowned out by events like lightning.

All grown up, Richard is bored of ruling England and decides to go on a crusade. Meanwhile, Sir Braggart de Bombast wants to acquire Sir Coward's lands and daughter for himself and makes him an offer. Sir Coward refuses but invites Sir Braggart and his followers to a banquet so as not to offend them, but refuses to toast Prince John. Offended, Sir Braggart challenges Sir Coward to a duel, with Lady Lobelia as the prize. Lurkalot, although not a knight, takes up the challenge as the "Man with no name" and defeats Sir Braggart's champion, Sir Grumbell de Grunt, with the aid of a giant magnet. Realising that the rules of chivalry have not been met, Sir Braggart declares the duel void and declares war. Lurkalot and Lady Lobelia flee to his workshop where to protect his master's daughter, he locks her up with a chastity belt.

Sir Coward responds to the challenge by running away to join the crusades, whilst Lurkalot, encouraged by his voices, goes to find both him and Richard the Lionheart. Once in the Holy Land, he discovers that the "crusades" are actually a Bacchanalian orgy, an excuse to leave the wives and families for a few years. Saladin is actually a friend of a crusader and started everything. Richard will not leave the Holy Land, as he is with Scheherazade and insists on trying every position in the ''Kama Sutra''. Lurkalot's voices provide inspiration, and he takes all the unused weaponry and fashions them into chastity belts. He then brings feminism to Saladin's women, who go on strike, and Richard is forced to return home.

In Germany, Richard meets a local woman and decides to stay with her. He casually tosses Lurkalot the crown and says that if he looks like him, he can be him. Lurkalot returns home and attempts to rally the people, but he is recognised as Lurkalot and is accused of witchcraft following his earlier escape from the castle where he used his flying machine. After being ducked, he is sentenced to death by burning, but is rescued by Robin Hood. They plan an attack on Sir Braggart and are joined by Sir Coward, who is fed up with being bullied and fortified by smoking from a hookah pipe. Meanwhile, Richard has had to flee to England following an ignoble episode with his German woman and returns to Lurkalot's village, where he is captured by people mistaking him for Lurkalot.

Sir Coward feigns severe illness to get himself and Lurkalot into the castle, where they are incarcerated. He suffers withdrawal symptoms from the loss of his hookah and Lurkalot offers to make him a remedy based on sulphur and charcoal, but spills in saltpetre by accident. He mixes it together, but Sir Coward, who hates taking medicine, throws it in the direction of a fire, where it ignites and blows open the door. Lurkalot calls his new invention "gone powder" and they use it to open the castle gate so Robin Hood can attack. Meanwhile, Sir Braggart duels Lurkalot and reveals that he must be Richard's twin brother. The two battle all over the castle, and he is eventually forced to flee in disgrace. Richard then resumes his rule and everything is right in the land. He agrees to marry Lady Lobelia and makes Lurkalot a knight, but Lurkalot gets Lady Lobelia whilst Richard returns to Scheherazade.

The film introduces new characters and takes place twenty one years after the previous film.

In 2025, time travel technology has improved considerably; Time Enforcement Commission (TEC), the agency that monitors time travel, is still keeping the past safe and after the events of the previous film, Society for Historical Authenticity (SHA) is established to ensure that TEC personnel do not alter history. However, the Society's leader, Brandon Miller, believes he has the responsibility to change history based on a "moral obligation to right the wrongs of the past" and plans to do so by traveling back to Berlin in 1940 and kill Adolf Hitler. TEC agent Ryan Chang is sent back to stop him, but in the resulting fight, Miller's wife, Sasha, part of the SHA, ends up dead. Miller is imprisoned in the World Penitentiary for trying to change history, and Ryan Chang begins arresting Miller's close Society friends. In Atlantic City in 1895, Ryan prevents SHA member Frank Knight from robbing Andrew Carnegie. Knight accuses the TEC of being murderers when they execute him. Ryan is haunted by memories of when his father, Josh, died of a brain aneurysm in 2002. Josh was lecturing about time travel at the University of Southern California, and had a heated debate on the morals of altering history.

TEC agent Douglas illegally makes physical contact with his younger self and they are suddenly merged, causing the agent to wink out of existence. Without the agent ever existing, a key Brandon Miller associate isn't arrested and Miller is able to leave prison on a technicality. Miller sets out to eliminate every TEC operative by traveling back in time and killing their ancestors, making it as if the agents never existed. Miller could then change history with impunity since there wasn't anyone to stop him. Eventually, Ryan is the only agent left and he has to stop Miller.

Ryan fights his way through rioters at the World Penitentiary, killing an inmate with a grudge against him on his way to confront Miller, but is unable to convince him that what he wants to do is wrong. Back in his present time, Ryan finds changes to history; Doc is more irascible because her husband was "killed in the war". When he returns to the World Penitentiary, Miller was never there at all. Ryan, becoming less and less capable of surviving all these time jumps, returns to 2025 again. This time, the world is even more different due to Miller's interference: Ryan's parents were "killed in the war", Doc has been executed for trying to save her husband and O'Rourke wears an eye patch and has never heard of Hitler.

Ryan is issued a tracker that enables him to follow Miller by jumping into the wake of his time leaps. He is sent to 1881 and prevents Miller from killing an ancestor named Jason in Springfield, Texas, then chases him to 1929 where he saves a Frances in a Chinese restaurant. In a nightclub in 1988, Ryan is embarrassed to see his young parents disco dancing and lures Miller away from them. Miller shoots Ryan, but the bullet is stopped by the pocket watch that his father bequeathed to him. Returning to his own era, where things are mostly back to normal, he realizes that his father died when Miller tried to kill Ryan at age 11. Barely surviving another time leap, Ryan goes to the University of Southern California on 7 May 2002.

The student who disagreed with Josh was a young Brandon Miller. Josh tries to stop the older Miller from killing Ryan, but is killed by one of Miller's weapons that induces brain aneurysms. The older Ryan intervenes, threatening to erase Miller's existence by killing his younger self. The older Miller taunts Ryan by accusing him of hypocritically being willing to change history. He provokes him into a fight, watched by the younger Miller, younger Ryan and his mother, and Sasha. When Ryan has Miller at his mercy, he tells the younger Miller that “it doesn’t have to be this way. You can change all this.” Ryan and Miller then disappear, suggesting that the younger Miller changed his mind. In 2025, Ryan's colleagues who were erased by Miller are back, although Doc still refuses to date Timecops and Ryan appears to retain his memories of the changes Miller made.

Nan Cooley (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of racketeer Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee), is in love with The Kid (Gary Cooper), a shooting gallery showman. Cooley tries to urge him to join the gang, in order to earn enough money to support her in the lifestyle she is accustomed to, but The Kid refuses. Soon her father kills bootlegging chief Blackie (Stanley Fields), at the urging of Big Fella Maskal (Paul Lukas), because Blackie was against Maskal's involvement with Blackie's gun moll Aggie (Wynne Gibson).

After Pop shoots Blackie, he passes the gun to Nan, thus implicating her in the murder. She naïvely takes the rap, believing the mob will arrange for her acquittal, but is sent to prison. Pop Cooley tries to convince The Kid to join the gang to free Nan, and he does so out of love for her. However, her attitude had changed since she was railroaded to prison. When The Kid visits Nan in prison in a fur coat, she becomes terrified of his involvement with Pop's gang after witnessing a fellow inmate's mobster boyfriend being gunned down outside the prison gate. When Nan is released, having served her term, she wants nothing more to do with the mob. She tries to persuade The Kid to quit the gang, but he refuses. Things go downhill from there. She finds that her father is unrepentant and involved with a loose, gold-digging woman named Pansy (Betty Sinclair). Maskal soon takes a strong liking to Nan and throws her a homecoming party, forcing her to dance with him all evening. When The Kid finally asserts his claim over Nan, Maskal threatens him, then later sends his thugs to kill him, but The Kid successfully disarms them, then goes after Maskal.

Terrified her lover will be killed, Nan goes to Maskal to warn him and offers herself to him in exchange for The Kid's life. Aggie, now Maskal's mistress, shoots him with Nan's gun after he leaves her for Nan, and Nan is accused of murder. The Kid then names himself mob chief and escapes with Nan in a car with three of Maskal's men, but they aim to kill him. The Kid and Nan are then taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. They race a train and maintain high speeds. Nan pulls a gun on the men and disarms them. Dropping the thugs off with "no hard feelings", The Kid tells them he has quit the beer business, and he and Nan drive off.

Sayuka Kōenji is the guardian of the Earth and has the ability to transform into her alter ego Escalayer to protect the world from the evil forces of the Dielast. However, in order to transform into Escalayer she must recharge her power source, the Doki Doki Dynamo which can only be recharged through sexual excitement. This was previously achieved through lesbian sex with her gynoid friend Madoka, however, this has become less effective and Madoka recruits the school playboy Kyōhei Yanase whose vast sexual experience will help Sayuka transform.

Elsha is a teenager living in a bleak, cold future where world-wide cloud cover has permanently blocked out the sun. Humans have split into two classes - the Chosen and the Quelled, of which Elsha is the latter. The Quelled are doomed to spend their lives in servitude to the Chosen, mining "firestones" - the only means of warmth on the planet. The Firelord is the leader of the Chosen, said to be a great and powerful man.

A rebellious girl, Elsha causes trouble for herself - even going so far as being considered for execution - until she is met by a Chosen man named Amasai, Steward of the Firelord, and given the highest position available to a woman - Handmaiden to the Firelord. The Firelord's life is not known to the Chosen, but he actually made better lives for many Quelled when he was younger. He became Firelord when he was old so he could call upon a young Handmaiden to continue his previous work. On her journeys with the Firelord, Elsha meets Teraj, later revealed to be the Firelord's son, with whom Elsha forms a romantic relationship. Elsha uses her unlikely position to fight the stigma and oppression of her people, eventually inheriting the title for herself after the Firelord's unexpected death and changing the course of the planet's history for the better.

Republished by Scholastic New Zealand Ltd July 2019.

The book is a multi-layered novel-in novel. Starting even before the front matter a letter exchange between editors and Sorrentino is presented expressing their reasons for rejecting the novel. The novel itself consists of three main layers, namely the comments, notes and letters of the fictitious author, Antony Lamont, as he develops and writes his novel initially called “Guinea Red” and later titled “Crocodile Tears”, various chapters of Lamont’s novel with Martin Halpin as the protagonist all stylistically different, and the comments of Halpin himself who is the main “actor” of Lamont’s novel. Other matter is interspersed such as advertisement, erotic poems for Lamont to review, a masque play, and an academic-type manuscript concerning a mathematical proof. As part of the "stew" the novel contains intentionally "bad writing".

In Lamont’s novel Halpin believes that he has killed his friend and business partner Ned Beaumont. Beaumont had a love affair with Daisy Buchanan who is married to Tom Buchanan and also became a love interest of Halpin. Beaumont, however, had fallen under the seductive spell of two other women who went on exploiting him, and Halpin’s efforts to “rescue” had been futile.

As Lamont develops his novel he seeks unsuccessfully the support of his ex-wife Joanne and his sister, Sheila Lamont, who is married to Dermot Trellis, writer of “The Red Swan”. Lamont despises the more successful brother-in-law in part because he believes he writes with a commercial interest in mind. He is furious when the Midwestern Associate Professor Roche prefers his work over Lamont’s for his course. He tries unsuccessfully to seduce a poet who has sent him erotic material. Under the impression that there is a conspiracy against him he schemes on how to publish his novel.

Halpin and Beaumont have a life of their own, outside of Lamont’s novel and unbeknownst to him. They complain about their work, the shabby dialogue, the degradations and the incomplete scenery, and meet other characters who also complain about their writers, notably the clichés they are exposed to.

As Lamont is developing his novel, he becomes more and more pretentious and delusional, his support systems fail, and the “story” gets out of hand. As he loses direction and control, Halpin fears he even may have died. Eventually his characters leave him and Halpin runs off, - Beaumont, too, provided he is "alive".

Twelve-year-old Ann Uekusa and her mother move to the small town of Shimane, where Ann's grandparents live and everyone seems to be familiar with everyone else. Ann soon becomes friends with Daigo, a young boy who lives in Shimane, as well as Fuji and Shika, Fuji's younger sister and her best friend in Shimane.

When Ann's mother, Miwako, commits suicide, Daigo helps Ann cope with the sudden change in her life. They fall in love, but Ann's life can only become more complicated when her estranged father suddenly arrives from Tokyo. After greatly contemplating going to Tokyo to live with her father after he asks her, she decides to stay. Ann tells Daigo about her decision but makes her go anyway. Ann and Fuji both live in Tokyo but hardly ever talk because Fuji goes to an elite high school, K High. Ann reunites with the friends she had before moving to Shimane and they continue their friendships. In Tokyo, she ends up becoming closer to Fuji, which causes conflict between her and Daigo.

In Shimane, Shika learns the truth about her parentage; in her confusion, she begins to fall in love with Daigo. When Ann returns to Shimane, Shika upsets Ann's fragile emotional state so that Ann and Daigo will break up. In the end, Ann breaks up with Daigo for fear that her own sadness will weigh him down. Ann returns to Tokyo and starts a relationship with Fuji; however, because she does not love him, the relationship does not last. Daigo refuses Shika and rumors begin to circulate that he is interested in his middle school classmate Ayumu, who has been helping him studying to get into university and become a teacher.

Nearing graduation, Ann learns that her father and his friend Kaede Kuroki have been dating and she is pregnant with Ann's half-sister.

After attending her middle school reunion, Ann spends some time with Daigo, where he tells her to find her own happiness. Six years later, Ann meets a young businessman named Keiichiro Sakura and they become engaged shortly after. After Ann learns that he only uses people for his own gain, she confronts him about his insensitivity, but he is disappointed in her and breaks off the engagement. Almost a week afterward, she takes a train to Okayama, where Daigo teaches elementary school. Ann's grandmother, meanwhile, believes Ann will suffer the same fate as her mother. After a suicide attempt on the beach, Ann is taken to the hospital and later meets Daigo, who asks her to marry him. She says yes, and at the very end, the two are shown to be happily married with an infant son named Ryo. Meanwhile, Fuji decides to marry his cousin Mariko (against his family's wishes) and Shiika decides to work for her uncle in America.

A hostile race of aliens have invaded the planet Earth. A lone soldier takes up arms to fight against the invaders and drive them away.

A former police officer known only as "S" operates as a private detective based in New York City, finding people and objects for a fee. S steals a quantity of a strange substance called "Heavy Liquid". On its own, it is a metallic-liquid explosive, but it turns into "black milk" when cooked, and exhibits mind-altering, drug-like properties. A mysterious art collector who also has a quantity of Heavy Liquid wishes to hire S to find a missing artist named Rodan Esperella (coincidentally S's ex-lover), whom he hopes will create a piece out of the Heavy Liquid for him. In the meantime, assassins are on S's trail, looking to retrieve the stolen Heavy Liquid. S finally trails Esperella to Paris, and he tries to broker a deal between her and the art collector. Esperella promises to sculpt a masterpiece on the condition that she never see S again. His job done, S boards a train heading to Prague, where he is cornered by one of his pursuers. S then discovers from his pursuer that the Heavy Liquid is alien in origin, and may even possess some form of consciousness. Ingesting the drug himself, S escapes by jumping onto another train, his physical abilities dramatically increased by the Heavy Liquid. S comes to understand its nature as a medium containing an alien intelligence. Ultimately, on the European train, S experiences first contact with the being.

''Summer Time Machine Blues'' is based around a group of friends in a science-fiction club who spend their days fooling around at the clubhouse. The boys play a game of baseball as their friend Yui Ito takes pictures of them nearby. After the game, the boys return to the clubhouse and head off to the bathhouse leaving the girls, Yui and Haruka to develop their pictures. While they bathe, Niimi gets angry because he thinks someone stole his Vidal Sassoon shampoo. On their way back, Komoto decides to sneak off to buy tickets at the theater for a sci-fi B movie. He hopes that he can ask Haruka out. Haruka says that she does not want to go out with him since he apparently has a girlfriend, but Komoto has no idea what she is talking about. But when he returns to the clubhouse, his friends act very strangely as to where he has been. They make him explain what happened, but through a series of chain events, Ishimatsu accidentally spills Coke all over the air-conditioner remote control after being hit in the face. Everyone rushes to try to clean the remote off, but it's too late. The remote is broken and they cannot turn on the air-conditioner. This immediately becomes a problem as the day becomes hotter.

The remote apparently cannot be repaired as it is too old, so the boys give it to their club advisor to try to fix. They look for a fan in the meantime but only find broken ones. Back at the clubhouse, the boys discover a strange boy in the room who hurriedly escapes, leaving behind some sort of machine. They put Soga on the time machine thinking it is a practical joke on the sci-fi club, but to their surprise it actually works. Soga appears in a picture of their baseball game that they held yesterday. They fool around discovering that it is a time machine. The boys decide to travel to the past to steal the remote control before it was broken and bring it back to the present. But as soon as they step back one day, they run into problems beyond their control.

While Ishimatsu, Niimi and Koizumi go back in time to retrieve the remote. The strange guy is revealed to be Tamura who is a member of the sci-fi 25 years in the future. Tamura gets sent to the past the same way Soga was coerced onto the machine. The remaining members, Haruka, Soga, Ito, and Komoto take Tamura on a tour of the past. While on the tour they encounter their club adviser, Professor Kohtaro Hozumi, referred to as Hose, who explains that changing the past results in the grandfather paradox and would cause the universe to vanish. Realizing this the remaining club members rush back to ensure that the Ishimatsu, Niimi, and Koizumi do not change the past. Ishimatsu and Koizumi get sent back to the present but they return shortly with Tamura after being informed about the situation. They find the time machine waiting for them when they get back to the club room. Soga and Takuma go to the past and prevent the trio from changing the past. In the process Soga wraps the remote in tape and gets transported to 99 years into the past to prevent the caretaker from discovering the time machine. The school being originally a swamp, Soga almost drowns before returning to the present. The past villagers mistaken him as a Kappa and Kappas becomes integral to the town culture. Soga also loses the remote 99 years in the past.

Komoto finds Niimi at the bathhouse and in a twist it is revealed that Niimi himself took the shampoo. With the remote missing Tamura goes into his future to retrieve the future's remote so that the past won't be altered. Everyone gets on the time machine but the machine is too small and Komoto gets knocked off. Komoto deceives the past club members who mistakenly believe that he has a girlfriend due to a voice message Komoto sent to the "present Soga" which "past Soga" received. Komoto distracts the club members but before he can leave his past self enters the club room. With no other options Komoto hides in the club room locker. The present club members return and notice that Komoto is not with them, but Komoto is already in the present having spent the whole day in the locker. A dog digs up a remote which is revealed to have survived for 99 years in mud and the remote still works. Tamura returns to his present but forgets his camera. When he returns for it he says that it belonged to his mother and Komoto and Ito note that Haruka also possess a similar camera. When they met, Tamura notes that his mother also attended this college. Komoto and Ito deduce that Tamura is the son of future Haruka.

Professor Kohtaro Hozumi is inspired by these events to build a time machine which might explain the time machine's origins since Tamura and his club members also did not know the machine's origins.

Since Takuma's girlfriend was revealed a lie, Haruka agrees to go on a date with Komoto. Komoto wonders how he can change his name (presumably to Tamura).

The story is set in an unnamed port city in Africa, told in the first-person by a baker, José M. V. He finds Nelio, a 10-year-old boy, shot on the stage of a theatre. He helps the wounded child who refuses medical care, and listens to the story the boy has to tell over the course of nine days before he dies.

Nelio says he grew up in a village close to the border. The village was destroyed during a civil war by partisans, who killed his father, sister, and many others, and deported him and his mother to a camp from which he escapes. He meets Yabu Bata, who has albinism. Together they reach the sea, and Nelio alone moves to a port city. He lives as a street boy, sleeping in the monument of a rider. He joins a gang of other homeless street children led by a 14-year-old boy. They live off waste, stealing, and earning a little money by watching the cars of the rich. A happy event is the birthday of Alfredo Bomba, which they celebrate in an empty house of a man who travels.

Alfredo is diagnosed as terminally ill. To make his last days as pleasant as possible, the group wants to perform a play. Alfredo enjoys the performance in a theatre and dies. Watchmen notice the children and everyone is able to flee except Nelio, who stays with the corpse and is shot. Nelio dies nine days later. José decides to give up his profession and travel as the chronicler, telling Nelio's story, reasoning: "I kept asking myself: where does the evil in human beings come from? Why does barbarism always wear a human face? That's what makes barbarism so inhuman".

Police detective Aurelio Zen is posted to remote Calabria, at the toe of the Italian boot. Beneath the surface of a tight-knit, traditional community, he discovers that violent forces are at work. There has been a brutal murder and Zen is determined to find a way to penetrate the code of silence, to uncover the truth, but his assignment is complicated by another secret which has drawn strangers from the other side of the world - a hunt for ancient buried treasure, launched by a single-minded player with millions to spend pursuing his bizarre and deadly obsession.

Poppo, a teenage girl, is raped by four boys on the roof of a seven-story apartment building. She asks them to kill her, but they mock her and leave. Tsukio, a teenage boy, has been watching the rape passively. Over the course of a day and a night, Poppo and Tsukio begin a relationship, telling each other of their troubled past and philosophizing about their fate. Poppo describes an earlier rapes shown in flashback. In a color flashback, Tsukio tells of his own recent sexual abuse at the hands of a neighboring foursome, all of whom he has stabbed to death. Poppo repeatedly asks Tsukio to kill her, but he refuses.

When the gang returns and again rapes Poppo, Tsukio kills each of them and their three girlfriends. While he is doing this, Poppo follows him complaining that he refuses her request, yet is killing the gang. The story ends with Poppo and Tsukio both jumping off the apartment roof to their deaths.

The series centers on Dan Vasser, a newspaper reporter living with his wife Katie and young son Zack in San Francisco. For an unknown reason, one day he begins "jumping" backward in time. He soon learns that each series of jumps follows the life of a person whose destiny he is meant to change. Dan's jumping affects his family life and his job, and instills suspicion in his brother Jack, a police detective. While in the past, Dan reconnects with his ex-fiancée, Livia, whom he had believed was killed in a plane crash but who is actually a fellow time traveler.

A title card announces that the film is a result of found footage assembled by cameraman J.J. Burden (Roscoe Lee Browne) working for the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jim Dunn (William Redfield), who has disappeared.

Leach (Warren Finnerty) a heroin addict, introduces the audience to his apartment where other heroin addicts, a mix of current and former jazz musicians, are waiting for Cowboy (Carl Lee), their drug connection, to appear. As the men grow increasingly nervous, waiting for their fix, some of them start to address the camera directly. Although director Jim Dunn asks his camera operator J.J. to turn off the camera, J.J. films him coaching the junkies to "act natural" and revealing where the microphones and lights are hidden in the apartment. Furthermore, Jim reveals that he is the one who has given the addicts the money for their heroin in exchange for being able to film them.

Jim, who is nervous around the junkies, confesses a private hope that he will be able to film the connection behind the connection. The junkies shoot down this idea and suggest it would be more interesting to watch Jim take heroin. J.J. suggests that Jim start with marijuana, which Leach finds amusing and does not even have.

Cowboy finally arrives, bringing with him an older woman called Sister Salvation who has no idea what they are up to. The men shoot up one by one in the bathroom.

Under pressure from the other men, who claim Jim is exploiting them, Jim agrees to try heroin. He almost immediately becomes ill from the effects, which are much stronger on him than on the others. Despite this, Jim continues to film the others encouraging them to act more cinematic and telling Cowboy he once thought of making him the "hero" of his film.

Despite the fact that Cowboy injected Leach with heroin, Leach claims to not be high. Annoyed, Cowboy gives Leach the heroin and allows him to shoot up himself which he does in full view of J.J.

However, this final shot proves too much for Leach and Leach overdoses, but Cowboy manages to revive him & Leach continues to have a bad trip.

The men who are left wait for their next connection to show up. Meanwhile, Jim turns to J.J. and tells him that the film belongs to him and goes to join the other addicts in waiting.

The Barry family acquire a German Shepherd puppy after their old one dies in an accident. They buy the puppy from a seemingly friendly fruit vendor who is actually a Satanist who bred the dog during an evil ceremony, causing it to be possessed. The satanic cult then gives away the dog's offspring in order to wreak havoc in the world in the hope that Satan will overcome good once and for all.

The dog acts very strangely when they bring it home, leading the father, Mike, and the family maid to believe that there is something wrong with it. Mike starts to believe so after the maid is killed in a fire while she was watching the dog and he is nearly forced to stick his arm into a lawnmower while it is running and the dog is present. Mike barely avoids having his arm cut off and soon the dog begins to exhibit mind control powers that allow it to kill, injure or mentally control many victims. Eventually, the family's souls are possessed by the dog causing them to act strangely, including Mike's son framing another student by stealing a watch and planting it in a classmate's locker, thus allowing him to win the student election.

Mike finally decides that the dog has overstayed its welcome when he finds a secret shrine to Satan in the attic. Mike tries to shoot the demonic beast to put an end to the hardships, but it is unharmed. Realizing that the dog is possessed, Mike finally makes a special trip to Ecuador to determine how to destroy the animal. Unfortunately, there is no way to kill it, but if you hold a holy symbol to its eye, you can imprison it in Hell for 1,000 years. He takes it to a showdown at his work plant, but there the dog turns into a demonic version of itself and begins to wreak havoc. When he is cornered by the beast, he holds the sign he made on his hand right up to the beast's eye. This causes the beast to be engulfed in fire and imprisoned, getting his family's souls back.

The final scene shows the family loading the family car for a vacation and Mike's son mentioning that there were 10 puppies that the vendor was selling and wondering where the other nine are, suggesting that there are more Satanic dogs out there somewhere and that it is not over yet.

Introduction

The children are planning to stage Nikolai Gogol's play ''The Government Inspector'' and listen to the reading by teacher Inna Andreevna. The general consensus amounts to the fact that while the play is good, it is out of date - it seems to the children that such a situation would nowadays be impossible. The teacher suggests that the action of the classical work to be moved to a modern pioneer camp .

"Hooligan (almost based on Gogol)"

The chairman of the council of the squad Anton receives from his friend a letter with a warning that a famous hooligan named "Goose" is about to come to the camp. Behind him, three boys march on the advice of the squad - Artem (head of the sports section), Alik (head of the chess section) and Lyosha (responsible for the camp wall newspaper ), and two girls - Olya Dobkina and Olya Bobkina (an allusion to Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky from Gogol's comedy) - eavesdrop at the door of the room where the council passes. The guys are not very happy about the arrival of the bully, since he can break the whole plan of educational work. Nevertheless, Anton proposes to exert every effort to re-educate the malicious hooligan, and his arrival is kept a secret for as long as possible so that there will be no panic in the camp. Nevertheless, Dobkina and Bobkina immediately spread news about the bully throughout the camp.

At this time, Petrov and Vasechkin arrive in the camp, who come there not on their own will - during the summer holidays they just want to rest, and the camp program with numerous sections and circles makes them depressed. Nevertheless, for the joy of the children it turns out that the head of the camp is their class teacher Inna Andreevna. Dobkina and Bobkina decide that Vasechkin is that hooligan, and Petrov is his accomplice. Petya and Vasya at first do not understand why Anton and the others are so in a hurry to help them, but figuring out what's wrong Vasechkin persuades the friend to exploit the image of the hooligans.

Anton decides that the energy of Vasechkin-hooligan needs to be redirected to the right track, and the pair begins to be persecuted by the heads of various sections and circles. Vasechkin decides to confess in everything only to Dashenka, the local winner of ballroom dancing, and Anka to the commander of the local detachment "Search". But they do not believe him - Dasha, being a romantic nature, believes that Vasechkin simply refuses to admit to being a bully, and Anka, who has a sense of collectivity in her heart, recognizes Vasechkin's accusation as an attempt at licentiousness, so that he will soon be accepted into the camp team. During all this, Petrov writes a letter to Masha Startseva, who at that moment is at the competitions. The guys try to confess to Alik, but he becomes frightened and even without listening to them, climbs onto the flagpole .

Realizing that the other guys will not listen to them, the couple decides to secretly escape from the camp. During the escape Petrov accidentally drops his letter to Masha. The letter is picked up by Olya Bobkina, who at that moment was hurrying to the meeting of the council of the squadron, where Anton and the others summed up the first results of their attempts to re-educate the "hooligan". She reads the letter and, arriving at the meeting, shows it to Anton. Realizing that they have been wrong all this time, Dasha and Anka are reproaching themselves for not believing Vasechkin, and the other guys are blaming Dobkina and Bobkina for what happened. In the midst of discussions, local sports judge Filipp rushes into the room, informing him that the real "Goose" has arrived at the camp. On this, Inna Andreevna completes her modern interpretation of the play, but the guys do not like this ending. Real Petrov and Vasechkin offer their finale.

The guys decide to escape from the camp along the beach, but they come across Goose. A fight breaks out between them. The whole camp runs to the noise of the struggle, and the exhausted and beaten guys fall from fatigue to the sand. They are taken to the medical center, where the children are discouraged. Although they are still all served (only now as a victim), the boys discover that they are already very tired of all this rest. Vasechkin at some point says that he dreams of a "game for life." Their discouragement fades to a bit when Masha Startseva comes to the camp. As a gift, she brings ''Don Quixote'' by Cervantes to the boys . Vasechkin, after reading it a little, says only one word to Petrov: "Idea! ".

"The Knight"

In the second part, the plot of ''Don Quixote'' by Cervantes is played out. Late at night Vasechkin comes to Inna Andreyevna with a request that she accept him as a knight. Inna Andreevna thinks that Petya is ill, but he starts to quote the monologue of Don Quixote in response. At some point, Inna Andreyevna starts to see Vasechkin in the image of the real Don Quixote, and as a result, being impressed, the teacher "knights" the boy. Early in the morning, Vasechkin pulls Petrov out of bed, telling him that he came up with a "game for life." They sit down on the tandem and go "to perform feats in honor of Dulcinea of Tobos" - Masha Startseva (they leave a note for her goodbye).

Vasechkin commits a lot of hooliganism, considering it a feat. On the contrary, Petrov, meanwhile, does several good deeds.

Petrov and Vasechkin find in the book a scene where Don Quixote takes a mill for a giant and decides to repeat this "feat", which turned out to be almost fatal for Vasechkin: after flying to the mill, Petya, along with the bike, hangs on her wing, then jumps off with the umbrella and flies away in an unknown direction. Petrov mourns his best friend and recognizes him as a real "knight", after which he mentally writes a letter to Masha, but unexpectedly finds Vasechkin in a well, unharmed. Vasya becomes a faithful assistant to Vasechkin, known as Sancho Panza .

Meanwhile, in the camp, the staff worries about the loss of Petrov and Vasechkin. Goose comes to Masha Startseva and finds out where they went. After Masha comes Inna Andreevna. Both begin to blame themselves for the loss of boys, and go in search of a convertible UAZ-469 car. They are joined by the Goose and Filipp, who hid in the car.

Petrov and Vasechkin go down to the road, see stones on the road, and 102-year-old oldman Nodar strides toward him. Petrov decides to help him in clearing the road. Vasechkin hurries to commit his next "feats", but instead disturbs a shepherd, whose dog he took for a wolf.

After meeting with oldman Nodar, the guys meet with small black-haired Manana, a local girl. Petrov and Vasechkin begin to behave as investigators, questioning her, if anyone has offended her, and as a result get acquainted with the grandmother of the girl, a lonely woman who immediately gives the work to the children. Together with Manana, Vasechkin goes for water, but on the way back he encounters the cow of Manana, and, taking it for a wild bull, fights with it, but eventually runs away and climbs up a tree. Together with Manana, they are found by Petrov and grandmother.

Further, Petrov and Vasechkin see mountains and climbers descending down the rope. One of the climbers explains to the guys that at the top of the mountain grows edelweiss, which according to tradition is given only to a beautiful woman. The guys had an idea to give edelweiss to Masha Startseva, and Vasechkin goes for the flower, but never reaches it. The climbers invite the guys to their lodgings for the night, and by the fire Vasechkin sings a song. During the performance, Vasechkin imagines a duel between Gus and Vasechkin for Masha, where Vasechkin receives a mortal wound, and Masha comes to mourn him. In the meantime, Inna Andreevna and Masha tearfully worries about the guys. And Masha imagines a similar duel between Goose and Vasechkin, but in her imagination she comes running and covers Vasechkin with her body, and receives a mortal wound - respectively, they lament her now.

In the morning Petrov ascends to the top of the mountain, takes the edelweiss and puts it in the tent. Eventually, Inna Andreevna, Masha and Goose find the tent with Petrov and Vasechkin, and before returning to the camp, Petrov gives Masha the flower.

The result of the advertisement posted after ''Dark Challenge'' appeared in person as the new mechanic, Tempest Trine. Darius takes a while to realize that she is his true lifemate, a concept newly introduced to him by Julian Savage, his sister Desari's new lifemate. Julian is also the first person to note the fact, and is certain that a good show is coming for the family unit to watch.

However, Tempest has no intention of staying with Darius, whom she thinks is a vampire. After being persuaded that they are not, in fact, vampires, "Rusti" Tempest Trine proves a loyal ally.

She is another (the fourth) female human to undergo conversion to a Carpathian, after Darius completes the transfusion.

''After the Cape''

It started out as Ethan woke up in bed and got his kids ready for school. After his wife came home from a long night at work, Ethan told her about him getting a promotion at work. The next day, it showed Ethan going to wait for some guys and decided to go to the bar to get just one drink which ended up being a long series of drinks.

He flashed back to when he was Captain G, a gravity based superhero who had to face an intervention by his fellow superheroes. His team confronted him about his alcoholism endangering innocent lives and even their own lives. After some arguing, Ethan left the team.

It was revealed that he had been robbing banks with a couple of other thugs, using his power to immobilize the patrons of the bank. After his 'last job', he got called by Yip Loch, who knows about his powers and offered him a chance for more money. He also subtlety threatened his family. So, Ethan decided to do the job.

Meanwhile, Ethan's ex-teammates discovered that Ethan had been robbing banks to get money and decided to stop him.

Shadow Stalker told Ellie, Ethan's wife about what happened. He told her that he and his teammates will stop Ethan.

Ethan and a group of mob men attacked at Russian ship. After Ethan started drinking again at the ship where the mob men were looting the place, the superheroes attacked. Ethan got so drunk that he was not sure he could fly and he and Shadow Stalker fought.

Ethan ended up badly injuring Shadow Stalker and escaped to look for his wife and kids only to find the house empty with a Dear John letter. He was left alone.

''After the Cape II''

Ethan, trying to get back together with Ellen, meets her at a restaurant, but she is disgusted that he is drunk, and then gunmen attack.

The Monk Chi San (David Chiang) is sent by his Shaolin masters to learn a special kung fu from a Wu-Tang priest and befriends his niece Wu Mei (Lily Li). The priest's brother is Pai Mei (Lo Lieh), who disapproves of his associating with Shaolin rebels who oppose the Qing, leaves as his nephew Dao De (Ku Kuan Chun) remains behind to cause trouble for Chi San. While Chi San is in training, the Qing soldiers and a northern Lama attack and destroy Shaolin Temple. Chi San arrives too late as the attack has already run its course. His master orders him to go to the south to search for loyal Shaolin men and rebuild the temple.

Pai Mei is promoted by the court, returns to his brother's temple, and arranges for his nephew to poison him. He then attacks the priest himself and kills him for teaching Chi San kung fu. Pai Mei orders the search for Chi San so that he may kill him. Chi San arrives in the south and assists a local businessman, Mr. Li who is being robbed. The grateful man takes Chi San into his home. At this point Chi San gains his first student, Jin Lun nephew of Mr Li and goes through various integrity "tests" from local businessmen to prove if he is a true Shaolin monk. Chi San succeeds and the impressed businessmen offer to help him rebuild the temple. Chi San also gains more students after a butcher and a knife grinder fail in their attempts to beat him at kung fu.

Pai Mei and his nephew then attempt to kill Wu Mei, but she is rescued by Chi San and his students. Chi San orders his students to head south to wait on a ferry while he pursues Pai Mei and the Lama. Chi San meets the lama in the woods and defeats him but Pai Mei intercepts Wu Mei and the students. Chi San arrives before Pai Mei can kill them and defeats Pai Mei.

The film takes the course of an entire school year and describes three teachers and one assistant principal. Mr. Stroope is campaigning for Teacher of the Year but many of his students are a little bit smarter than him. Mr. Lowrey is an introverted first-time history teacher struggling to find passion for his new profession. Coach Webb (played by Janelle Schremmer) is a female gym teacher who is struggling to get her students to take her class seriously, and becomes interested in Mr. Lowrey. Mrs. Reddell (Shannon Haragan) is the first year assistant principal who is regretting leaving teaching.

Mami Sakura used to be a normal junior high school student, but she happened to acquire supernatural powers. Using her powers and with the help of her childhood friend, Kazuo Takahata, she solves mysterious occurrences. When she senses someone needs help, she uses the "Teleportation Gun" (a heart-shaped brooch Takahata designs) and transports herself there. She then saves people in trouble with her psychic powers, such as telekinesis and telepathy.

The game takes place in 2105 where the Earth's environment is devastated and humankind travels through space in search of a new home world. Upon finding and settling upon the planet Europa, the human colonists are attacked by the space military of an alien colony-people known as the Araxians. After studying downed Araxian fighter technology, the humans develop a powerful space ship capable of using great firepower to be used against the Araxia in the war for Europa.

While traveling to an important diplomatic meeting, the USS ''Enterprise'' is attacked by a Klingon warship. Managing to secure a truce, Kirk discovers the Klingon captain thought he was gaining revenge for vanishing Klingon ships. Kirk and his crew soon learn that ships from all over known space are vanishing. They race to stop the phenomenon before interstellar war breaks out.

Kawada Noboru is a peasant from Mikuni who becomes a yakuza in the Tomiyasu Group in Fukui. He holds a letter from his boss Mr. Yasuhara promising that he would receive control of the security business for the speedboat racetrack in exchange for killing Yamada. When Kawada is released from prison in 1968 and Mr. Yasuhara refuses to make good on the deal, Kawada buries him up to his neck and forces him to relinquish control over the security business of the bike race and speedboat race run by their gang.

At a branch office in Tsuruga, Yasuhara asks for help from the Kanai Group, a destructive yakuza organization based in Osaka working under the umbrella of the Asada Group. Their leader, Kanai Hachiro, sends an excessive amount of 50 assassins to kill Kawada and Mantani warns Yasuhara that this is part of Kanai's plan to invade and destroy Fukui. Kawada hides out in the Shiranami House with his lover Nakai Kiku, who works there. Mr. Yoshitama from Kyoto acts as a mediator and arranges a meeting between Kawada and Mr. Kubo, who has been sent by Mr. Okano of the Asada Group to offer support to Kawada in any battles with the Kanai Group, but Kawada is unreceptive.

Kawada is attacked in a diner but the police arrive and stop the fight before he is killed, leaving him seriously injured. Yasuhara appoints Mantani as underboss of the Tomiyasu Group and tells him to take care of Kawada. Mantani is Kanai's sworn brother, so Kawada sees this as another means by which Osaka seeks to control Fukui.

Kiku's younger sister Nobuko and brother Takashi, a yakuza in the Yanaka Group in Kanazawa, take Kawada to their hometown of Wajima to recover. Takashi's boss Oya fears that the Kanai Group will invade if they learn of this, so he tells Takashi to move Kawada to a different location. Mantani visits and Kiku agrees to be his woman if he keeps the secret about Kawada's location. Meanwhile, Kawada begins a relationship with Kiku's sister Nobuko. Kawada attacks the Tomiyasu Group and buries a member up to his neck until he reveals that Mantani is currently at a gambling house run by the Yoshitane Group in Kyoto. Kawada sneaks in and cuts off Mantani's hand, then kills a member of the Kanai Group who mocks him.

While serving time in Hamamatsu Prison for the murder, Kawada is stabbed by Toshimoto of the Kanai Group in Gifu but is saved by Takii of the Yanaka Group, who tells him that Oya, the boss of the Yanaka Group, has been stabbed and that Nakai Takashi has become head of the Kanai branch office.

When Kawada is released in 1973, Takashi's superiors tell him that he will be given control of Mikuni and Kanazawa if he kills Kawada, but Kawada evades them and returns to his old office, where he finds Nobuko waiting for him. Kawada finds Mantani and apologizes to him, but Mantani beats him with his cane. Kawada then confesses to Kiku that he and Nobuko are getting married.

The Asada Group fears that Kanai is going rogue and they plot to take him out. Kiku arranges a meeting between Kawada and Okano Nobuyasu, a chief in the Asada Group, and Okano agrees to secretly assist Kawada. Kawada and some men from the Yanaka Group rob the safe at one of the offices of the Kanai Group, then begin murdering members of the Kanai Group. Kawada forcefully convinces Chairman Ryugasaki in Nagoya to lend him some powerful machine guns. Mantani's men call for reinforcements from Osaka. Yasuhara visits Kawada and asks for his assistance it taking down Mantani, who has become a puppet of the Kanai Group.

Mr. Yobu calls the police to raid the Kanai Group's office in Osaka, where they arrest Kanai Hachiro for illegal weapons possession. Kawada and Okano officially swear loyalty to each other and become bonded brothers. Mantani tells Takashi that he will take him into the Asada Group if he kills Kawada. Takashi beats his sister Nobuko but she will not reveal Kawada's location so Takashi holds her hostage to lure Kawada there. When Kawada and his men arrive and rescue Nobuko, she grabs a knife and kills Takashi, then turns herself in to the police.

Kiku leaves Mantani for Okano. Kawada and Yasuhara visit Mantani in his hideout where he is hiding from potential attacks by Okano and Kawada and Mantani form an alliance against Okano. Takii pays off some old members of the Kanai Group to destroy the bar where Kiku now works. Okano and Kiku assume that Mantani was somehow involved and confront him in the hospital where he is recovering from a heart attack. Mantani agrees to give control of Fukui to Kawada. Kawada brings Okano and Kiki to a field where the Kanai Group members who destroyed the club have been buried up to their necks, then one of his men drives over their heads to kill them and send a message to Okano. Okano leaves in a car and Kiku walks away in the snow.

The protagonist is , a detective employed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's special crimes division, which handles serious criminal cases. His gun of choice is a customized .44 Magnum-caliber Ruger Blackhawk. Kano's harsh methods are the subject to criticism by the media, but he does not mind the reputation at all. While Kano has no pity for serious criminals, he holds a respect for children and elderly people, as well as former criminals who want to reform themselves for their prior misconducts.

At the beginning of the manga, the only members of the Special Crimes Division were Kano himself and Superintendent , but they would gradually be joined by additional members such as Detective , a gang specialist who was transferred to Shinjuku from Osaka; female detective ; and from the United States, female detective . While the series started with a hardboiled atmosphere, it gradually became more light-hearted as it progressed.

The episode begins with the death of Michael John Piper, whose wife is a psychic. As he dies, Mrs. Piper states that she can see a light emanating from above his head. Nate begins to experience muscular twitching and loss of verbal skills, which after some internet research David determines to be a condition known as AVM. Later, as Mrs. Piper is selecting a casket for the funeral assisted by David, she informs him that she is being advised by her late husband.

In a scene in the kitchen, Ruth comes downstairs and informs Nate, David and Claire that she will be attending a self-improvement seminar called "The Plan". Her friend Robbie had urged her to attend the course. Claire is worried that "The Plan" is some kind of cult, and Nate remarks that it must be "one of those self-actualization things from the '70s where they yell at you for twelve hours and don't let you go to the bathroom". Upon arrival at the seminar, the leader begins to use jargon and metaphor which compares a "blueprint" for home renovation to self-improvement of one's life. She singles out Ruth and berates her for "tiptoeing around her own house like she's afraid of waking someone up".

Claire attends a counseling session at school, and David brings Nate to the Independent Funeral Directors lunch, where Nate proceeds to rant about the evils of corporations as related to their industry. Claire later returns to the counselor's office, where a police detective questions her about her boyfriend Gabe's involvement in a convenience store robbery, and Claire is angry with her counselor for breaking their trust. Brenda and Nate have a conversation about college-life while she is selecting courses for her adult education, and the conversation leads to Brenda's current lack of interest in sex. Brenda later decides to leave the genetics class she had enrolled in, after getting in a public argument with the instructor.

Ruth comes home late at night from her seminar, and finds Claire waiting for her on the couch. Ruth mentions that she will be attending more seminars of "The Plan" because she has already paid for the coursework and does not want to appear rude. Ruth begins to use jargon from the course in her conversation with Claire, and then Ruth complains that she cannot yet go to sleep for she must first do "homework" from the course. This homework includes writing a letter to her dead mother forgiving her for "all the terrible things she did to me", and writing a letter to herself, describing how she will "renovate" her life. As Nate prepares for the funeral, his father Nathaniel visits him, and they discuss philosophical opinions regarding death and the afterlife. A poem by Walt Whitman is read aloud at the funeral. After the funeral Claire requests assistance from Nate, but David interrupts them with follow-up news from their Independent Funeral Directors meeting. Keith and his mother have a heated discussion about the care of Taylor, and the neglected responsibilities of his sister Carla. Brenda flirts with a patron at a bar, and he gives her his business card moments before Nate arrives to meet her.

At "The Plan", the seminar leader gives the group a new assignment: to go outside to ready banks of phones, and call their family members to inform them of specifically how they wish to "renovate their homes" together. Robbie goads Ruth into calling a family member, but she fakes a conversation with Claire while listening to an automated message. Later, Gabe calls Claire, and asks her to come meet him. Nate and Brenda have dinner together, where she tells him of her academic experience and he discusses concepts of death with her. In the seminar, the leader asks everyone to close their eyes and imagine that everyone else is laughing at them for being stupid, and then asks the participants if they get the joke. Everyone does, except Ruth, who rants at the course instructor. After her rant, the leader congratulates her for "knocking down her old house", and proceeds to tell her that now she can rebuild a new house. Ruth and Robbie then hang out at a bar where they flirt and Ruth asserts herself in conversation. While driving Gabe, Claire witnesses him shoot at another car while they are stopped, but does not see if he has hit anyone. Claire later grabs Gabe's gun, and leaves him to go seek help from Keith. Keith questions Claire in a supportive tone, while Nate and David are more concerned. However, Keith explains to them that Claire was conflicted due to her love for Gabe.

The opening intro for the game features Professor Calamitous on a reality show called "The Biggest Genius". Calamitous states that by feeding fairies Krabby Patties, they can emit a magical gas that, combined with the ghost energy, can be used as a form of fuel for his army of "Toybots".

As the opening credits are shown, the game itself opens with Patrick Star and SpongeBob SquarePants delivering a truckload of several million Krabby Patties to a Krabby Patty processing and toybot factory. Upon arriving at the factory, a robot sucks up all the Krabby Patties, and Patrick, unintentionally, in the process. SpongeBob chases after the robot, and eventually finds his way into the factory.

After finding his way through the factory, SpongeBob finds Patrick vacuum-packed like a toy. After freeing Patrick, they meet Tak, of the Pupununu People, who claims to have been abducted and scanned. They later find Timmy Turner, Jenny Wakeman (XJ-9), Rocko, GIR, Stimpy and Jimmy Neutron, all of whom also claim to have been abducted and scanned. They meet the Chad-Bot, a robot who is the Professor's helper. They ask him to use something to contact Danny Phantom and he commands them to find more master models (the action figures that Calamitous created, which modeled after various heroes from every dimension) for his collection.

After collecting the master models, Jimmy contacts Danny, who says that Calamitous' invading toy army took over his house to use the energy coming from the ghost portal and its surrounding with robots, that looks like him and Sam. So Jimmy tells Danny and Sam to meet him and the other heroes at the Amity Park (which is almost destroyed) EvilToyCo outlet and when they get there they see that Jimmy made some mech-suits that will let them fight the big tin robots. After defeating a giant evil toy Jimmy head, they head back into the factory where they find some more master models.

Chad-Bot tells them that Saucer Men toys capture heroes, so the heroes go through the factory, collect the rest of the master models and destroy the Saucer Men toys. Then, the heroes head to Fairy World. They then free Jorgen (who was in a frozen state on till Patrick bumped into him thanks to Jimmy), who destroys the Fairy Harvester, and then get back into the mech-suits to the Professor's lair (Jorgen even tells them to collect 500 fairies which they do).

They get to where the opening intro of the game was and the winner of the Biggest Genius is none other than Chad-Bot himself, who tells Calamitous' plan to abduct the very best characters from every dimension lead to his victory. Chad-Bot credits SpongeBob, Danny, Patrick, Sam, Timmy, Jimmy, Jenny, Rocko, GIR, Stimpy and Tak for his rise to success, and the game ends with Chad-Bot cutting Calamitous' mustache off with an electric shaver as a prize.

Chandler eats from a box of cheesecake that was mistakenly delivered to his door instead of one of his neighbours and falls in love with it. He gives a bite to Rachel and she loves it too, but both of them feel guilty for stealing the cake. When another cheesecake gets delivered to his apartment by accident again two days later, Chandler and Rachel return the cheesecake to their neighbour's doorstep, before ironically heading to Chicago to eat lunch at the restaurant where the cheesecakes are made. Upon returning, they find the cheesecake untouched at their neighbour's door, and promptly steal it. Chandler catches Rachel eating the cheesecake alone and says he does not trust her with it. They decide to split it, but in the process; Rachel ends up dropping both her half in the hallway, and when Chandler gloats about it, she drops his half as well. Joey catches them eating the cheesecake on the floor and joins them without thinking twice.

Meanwhile, Monica feels bad that Ross was invited to their cousin Franny's wedding while she was not. Ross tells Monica that they did not invite her to the wedding because there was limited seating available. Monica makes Ross cancel on his date Joan, the assistant professor from the linguistic department, by telling him that she cares about family and does not want to miss out on her cousin's wedding. Monica confronts Franny at the wedding and asks her why she was not invited. She then realizes that Franny has married one of Monica's ex-boyfriends.

Phoebe and Joey make plans for their monthly dinner where they discuss the other four, but Joey cancels as he has a date. This annoys Phoebe and Joey tells her he will make it up to her by taking her out for dinner the next night. Phoebe bumps into David, the scientist guy, at Central Perk. David says that he is in New York for a conference on Positronic distillation of sub-atomic particles and would be leaving the next day. He asks Phoebe out and Monica convinces her that she can make Joey understand why she cancelled on him. Phoebe decides that she will finish up with Joey early and then meet David. Joey finds out about her plans from Chandler and intentionally delays her at the restaurant. Phoebe tells him that she has a date with David and leaves to meet with him. The two manage to have a quick rendezvous at her apartment before David leaves for Minsk. He implies he loves her but says that saying it out loud would make it unbearable for him to leave her. Joey witnesses this and tries to comfort a saddened Phoebe, understanding how upset she felt the first time David left her.

In hopeless pursuit of happiness, Shing (Aaron Kwok) is a man who desperately attempts to hold on to the dwindling threads of his family. Once a man who had a dream, Shing has become a deadbeat gambler whose marriage is failing with wife Lin (Charlie Yeung). Shing's machoistic ego over-rides any reasonable logic for change, which forces Lin to leave Shing repeatedly. After finally managing to escape, Shing is left with nothing but his son, Lok-Yun (Goum Ian Iskandar).

Hoping in vain to pay back loansharks, Shing turns to his loving son, Lok-Yun, who has somehow retained his filial loyalty. In his most desperate hour, Shing forces his struggle of survival onto his son, Lok-Yun, through thievery and tests the strength of loyalty and the boundaries of trust in their father-son relationship. With each passing day, the bond of love is threatened with Shing's unrepentant ways.

In the unique city of Siena, Italy, five foreign university students stumble across an ancient Etruscan mask. After a series of unexplainable events, it becomes clear that the mask must be destroyed. However, one of the students has already succumbed to its powers and in doing so has released an ancient demon which has no intention of being destroyed.

The story takes place in 1958, and involves a town, Clarksberg, with a famous speed trap. Disturbed Sheriff Roy Childress (Vic Morrow), whose wife and daughter were killed by a speeder, turns bad, with a habit of punishing speeders by deliberately pushing their cars off the mountain highway curves with his 1957 Plymouth Belvedere.

Two Navy sailors on leave (one portrayed by Sheen's younger brother, Joe Estevez), speeding to get back to base on time in a 1951 Ford Custom, are pushed to their deaths by the sheriff. Soon after, a stranger arrives, driving a hot rodded black 1934 Ford three-window coupe. He provokes Sheriff Childress into giving him a speeding ticket on purpose, establishes his credentials with the sheriff as a hot rodder and potential speed maniac, boasting it can do 75 mph in 10 seconds. He pays the ticket in front of Judge J.A. Hooker (Frederic Downs), and it is revealed he is Michael McCord (Martin Sheen), older brother of one of the sailors.

Believing his brother's death was no accident, he does his own investigating, with the help of Maggie (Michelle Phillips). He finds the wreck of his brother's Ford at the impound yard, with the rear bumper dented as if by pushbars. He checks out the lay of the land. Knowing how his brother was killed, he goes out to the Curve, testing its limits and tuning his car to better handle the terrain.

Lyle Stafford (Gary Morgan), the younger brother of the town's auto mechanic Buzz Stafford (Nick Nolte) is killed and his girlfriend Sissy (Janit Baldwin) badly injured by the sheriff after the duo go for a drive in a 1955 Mercury. Buzz wants to kill the sheriff for revenge, but McCord says there's another way. Then the sheriff tries to run McCord out of town, and the stage is set for the climactic duel.

McCord then runs the speed trap, challenging the sheriff, who tries to run him off the road. McCord is ready, knowing his car's limits for the curve, and the sheriff is a victim of his own obsession, going too fast to make the deadly turn. He drives off the cliff as Buzz and a deputy look on, while McCord slides to a stop on the sandy shoulder.

"A Worn Path" is told in the third person point of view. "A Worn Path" follows an elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson as she ventures toward a town. The story is set in Natchez, Mississippi during the Great Depression era. As Phoenix journeys along the Natchez Trace, she periodically encounters many obstacles, including thorny bushes, barbed wire, and a large dog, among others. She meets a hunter, pocketing a nickel that he drops, and a lady who ties her shoes. The story concludes with Phoenix arriving at the town having completed the journey yet again. Her motivation for having done so is also revealed as she laments how her grandson swallowed lye damaging his throat from the reaction. She tells the nurse supplying the medicine that the damage to his throat never fully heals, and every so often his throat will begin to swell shut. It is Old Phoenix's love for her grandson that causes her to face the trial of the journey to town, every time it is necessary, with no questions asked.

In the Dothraki Sea

Daenerys gains confidence and earns the respect of Ser Jorah Mormont. After assaulting her, Viserys is nearly killed by one of Daenerys's bloodriders. Irri notices that Daenerys is pregnant and Jorah, upon being told, departs for Qohor for supplies. Later, Daenerys reveals to Drogo that their child is a boy.

At the Wall

Jon easily beats his fellow recruits in combat. Master-at-arms Ser Alliser berates them all for their poor performance, even Jon, nicknaming him "Lord Snow" to mock his bastard heritage. Jon asks Benjen to take him north of the Wall, but he tells Jon that he must earn it.

Jon makes amends by giving his fellow recruits proper sword training. Tyrion is asked to provide more men from Cersei and Jaime for the outnumbered Night's Watch. Though skeptical, Tyrion agrees to do so; he departs the Wall and says goodbye to Jon, who finally accepts Tyrion as a friend.

At Winterfell

With Bran now awake, Robb tells him that he will never walk again. Bran, saying he is unable to remember anything about his fall, wishes he was dead.

In King's Landing

Ned Stark and his daughters arrive at King's Landing. On his way to a meeting of the king's Small Council, Ned encounters Jaime Lannister. It is revealed that Jaime killed the Mad King Aerys Targaryen, father of Daenerys and Viserys. Ned remains dissatisfied that Jaime broke his oath as knight of the Kingsguard.

Ned joins the Small Council, consisting of Robert's brother Lord Renly, Lord Varys, Grand Maester Pycelle, and Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish. Renly announces Robert's plans for a great tourney in honor of Ned's appointment as the Hand of the King. Ned learns that the crown is heavily indebted.

Upon arriving in King's Landing, Catelyn is taken to a brothel owned by Littlefinger who, along with Varys and Ser Rodrik, discuss the attempt on Bran's life. Littlefinger admits that the assassin's dagger was once his but he lost it to Tyrion. Ned agrees to ally with Littlefinger to find who is responsible for Bran's attempted murder.

Ned returns to his keep to find Sansa and Arya arguing, with Arya angry at Sansa for lying for Joffrey. Ned reminds her that Sansa and Joffrey will be married one day. Learning that Arya aspires to be a swordsman and has a sword of her own, Ned hires Syrio Forel to teach her the art of swordsmanship.

Berthe, an elderly widow, is forced by her declining health to close the French farmhouse where she has spent much of her life. She moves in with her daughter Émilie and son-in-law Bruno, who share a legal practice and have two grown children: Anne, a law student, and Lucien, who was adopted. In spite of Émilie's efforts, Berthe is not happy in her daughter's bourgeois home in Blagnac. She sits by the swimming pool in the middle of the night talking to herself and finds the house pretentious. Worried about her mother's physical and mental health, Émilie pays a visit to her unmarried younger brother, Antoine, a neurosurgeon. They have not seen each other for three years, since they quarreled at their father's funeral. Émilie informs Antoine of their mother's condition and invites him to Christmas dinner with the family.

On Christmas Eve, Antoine arrives at his sister's home as Émilie, Bruno and Anne are leaving for midnight mass. Antoine urges himself not to get carried away and spoil the evening. As he wanders through the house looking for his mother, he surprises Lucien, who works at a nightclub in town, making out with Khadija, Émilie and Bruno's Moroccan secretary, who has been invited to spend Christmas with the family. Antoine promises not to tell anything. When he finds his mother's room, Berthe is delighted to see him, but complains about living with Émilie. She dislikes Bruno, has no affection for the grandchildren and does not value Émilie's efforts to put her at ease. Dinner is lively, but after the youngsters leave for Lucien's room, tempers flare between Bruno and Antoine and they exchange blows. Antoine leaves with a bloody nose and Berthe departs with him. Talking later with Bruno, Émilie says she loathes what they have become. Anne is distraught by the family's dispute and looks to Khadija for solace.

Berthe returns to live alone at her farm but suffers a stroke. This forces Émilie to visit her brother once again. Antoine has moved to a small apartment in Toulouse. He is glad to learn that Émilie has separated from Bruno. The siblings agree to place their mother in a nursing home. They pick up Berthe and on the drive they remember old times. When Émilie and Antoine sing as they used to when they were children, Berthe cheers up. On a stop during the trip, Antoine fulfills a childhood dream and goes skinny-dipping in a river. Berthe introduces her children to the director of the retirement home. She took good care of her children and they are now two very successful professionals who are too busy to take care of her, she says bitterly. Pressured by her brother, Émilie spends the night at Antoine's apartment. He gives her a drug to help her sleep and joins Khadija and Anne at the bar where Lucien works. Anne has now given up her law studies and works in a music shop. Lucien and Khadija have a rocky relationship. Antoine tries to rekindle the childhood closeness he enjoyed with his sister.

When Antoine and Émilie visit their mother at the retirement home, her physical and mental health have greatly deteriorated. She says she wishes she had had a third child because that child would have taken care of her. Émilie and Antoine remove their mother from the nursing home. An exam at the hospital where Antoine works confirms their suspicion that Berthe is in her final decline. Émilie moves back to her house at Blagnac. Antoine breaks into the house to talk to her, and they have an argument. They recriminate each other about their behavior toward their mother. Feeling guilty, Antoine makes a halfhearted attempt to commit suicide, jumping from the balcony of his apartment and breaking a leg. Berthe dies alone at the hospital. After the funeral, Antoine, Émilie, Bruno, Lucien, Anne and Khadija meet at the house in Blagnac and have breakfast outdoors. During the conversation Anne asks the others which is their favorite season since she does not have one. Before Antoine's departure Émilie recites a poem she learned as a song as a child. She used to sing it while waiting at school for the holidays to be reunited with Antoine.

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The game is set some time after Prince Selios, the hero of the original game, has defeated the demon god Agunija. Iseruhasa is at peace. Selios has married Dina and she has given birth to Atlas. At the age of fifteen Atlas and his teacher Lowel spot strange beings in spacesuits outside of the capital city. They do not recognize the spacesuits and believe them to be monsters.

Three British seamen (Scousers) working as waiters on a transatlantic liner in 1927 are given a chance to work for the Al Capone gang, after running booze (bootlegging) into America which had Prohibition in place.

Quote 1999— I was told a story by a gentleman called Leo White and after doing some research, found to be true (though I never doubted it- Scousers get everywhere don't they!) Subsequently Vic Gibson wrote an article in the Liverpool Echo- the response was both dramatic and energising. I received letters and phone calls from people scattered throughout the Merseyside area, confirming that their Great Uncles or Grandfathers were Al Capone's bodyguards or bootleggers. This confirmation of authenticity led me to pen the story and with the addition of a little artistic licence, to develop the musical play-"Al's Lads" - Marc Gee

Ever since his childhood Svartman has been obsessed by exactness in the measurement of time or distance. He seeks solace through secretly observing or following people, and at night overcomes fear by cradling his most precious possession, his sounding lead. Svartman's obsessions and growing distrust of others leads him to submerge himself in a web of deceit involving his employer, Kristina and Sara which increasingly threatens to engulf him.

Quebec Bill Bonhomme is a hardy schemer and dreamer, who, desperate to raise money to preserve his endangered herd through the rapidly approaching winter, resorts to whiskey-smuggling, a traditional family occupation. Quebec Bill takes his son, Wild Bill, on the journey. Traveling with them are Henry Coville, an inscrutable whiskey smuggler, and Rat Kinneson, Quebec Bill's perpetually disconsolate ex-con hired man. Together, they cross the border into vast reaches of Canadian wilderness for an unforgettable four days "full of terror, full of wonder."

The dialogue from the movie was used in the video game Gun for PlayStation 3.

Roubaix, December 2006. Junon Vuillard, married to Abel, is the iron-willed matriarch of the family. Junon held her family together through tough times, but her willpower made her children resentful. Junon remains handsome, and though her husband, who owns a small factory, is obese and elderly, he retains clarity, acceptance, tolerance, and unconditional love for his family. He and their mutual love holds a fragmented family together, albeit uneasily.

They have three children in their 30s. Eldest is Elizabeth, a successful playwright and married to the equally successful Claude. Their only child is 16-year-old Paul, mentally ill and taking powerful medication. The middle child is Henri, who drinks too much and has always fought with everyone else. He has a new girlfriend, Faunia. Ivan is their youngest, married to Sylvia with two sons, Basile and Baptiste. Henri and Ivan are friends with Simon, their cousin raised with them after his parents' death. Simon works in Abel's plant, but is a part-time painter. He is an alcoholic, frequently in trouble for public brawling. All three men were interested in Sylvia once, but manipulated her to think that only Ivan loved her; she married and grew to love him. Junon’s other son, Joseph, is the presence around which everyone's psyches revolve: he died of leukemia when six, despite trying to save him by having another child who could be a bone marrow donor. It may be that the part of siblings' poor relationship is the mutual resentment for not saving his life.

Six years before the Christmas gathering of the film, Henri faced bankruptcy. Elizabeth paid off his debts, but demanded that he never see her again, meaning he was excluded from family gatherings. Family members speculate on the reason for this condition, including perhaps incest between them.

Just before Christmas, Junon learns she has acute myeloid leukemia and will soon die, unless she has a bone marrow transplant. Her family gathers at her home and immediately start bickering. Junon asks them to donate bone marrow. Elizabeth fights with Henri, who drinks heavily and hides Paul's medication. Paul fears the blood test might reveal his father is not his biological parent. Henri refuses the test, because he never loved his mother. Faunia has agreed to visit before leaving for her own family. Her honesty and gentleness soothe Henri, and she stays for two days.

On 23 December, Rosaimée visits for dinner and fireworks. She was Abel's mother's friend, although it is suggested that they were lesbian lovers. Rosaimée tells Sylvia that Simon stopped seeing Sylvia because he believed she would be happier with Ivan. Sylvia feels betrayed and manipulated. Henri has the test and discovers he can donate. He decides to do so despite disliking his mother. Simon begins drinking heavily in cafes, and the family seeks him. Sylvia discovers him and confesses that she knows he loves her. She and Simon spend several hours talking, then return to the house and make love. Paul tells Henri about his fears. Henri convinces him that he is not his father, confirmed by the test, and reassures Paul that it is not a failing to be afraid. They bond, and Paul’s mental condition improves. On Christmas Day, Abel and Elizabeth discuss Elizabeth's longstanding depression, and Abel reads her the prologue to Friedrich Nietzsche's ''On the Genealogy of Morality'' about how well we know – or don't know – ourselves. Abel suggests that Elizabeth fears death, and that has led to her caution and depression.

The film ends with Ivan discovering his wife has had sex with Simon (they make no effort to hide it, waking up together in bed and greeting her children as they come bearing tea), but the effect on him is not revealed – he seems remarkably blase, as though he has expected it. Paul stays behind with Henri, who is having a positive effect on his mental health. Henri donates his bone marrow to Junon, but she announces, seemingly before medical evidence for it, that her body will reject the transplant. Elizabeth speculates that Junon will live, but Henri is shown flipping a coin in the hospital in front of his mother and not revealing the answer.

Street-smart white detective Danny Bassett (Alex Rocco) teams with educated black detective Sgt. Jesse Williams (Hari Rhodes) to investigate a theft of $400,000 at a fund-raiser for Representative Aubrey Hale Clayton (Rudy Challenger).Van Gelder, Lawrence (October 9, 1998). [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9E06E0DB123BF93AA35753C1A96E958260 FILM REVIEW; Detective Buddies and Racial Boundaries.] ''The New York Times''

Fourteen-year-old Jerry Luna refuses to speak after her mother's disappearance. Living at her great-great-aunt Constanza's house, she discovers a trunk and is transported into the lives of her Jewish ancestors living in Spain in the years before the Spanish Inquisition and in Spanish America.

After the death of Simon Harlowe, a wealthy art collector, his widow has continued to live in Dijon, latterly with her niece Betty and Betty's paid companion Ann Upcott. When Mrs Harlowe herself dies, her English solicitors receive a blackmailing letter from her brother-in-law Boris Waberski. He formally accuses Betty of poisoning Mrs Harlowe, and junior partner Jim Frobisher is dispatched to Dijon to provide legal advice.

Waberski claims that Betty had bought poison from a shady herbalist, Jean Cladel, but is unable to make good his murder accusation. Mrs Harlowe's body shows no trace of poison, and it appears that she may have died of natural causes. But Inspector Hanaud is suspicious when on searching the house he finds in Ann's room a monograph describing ''Strophanthus Hispidus'', a plant from which an undetectable arrow poison can be extracted. The book includes a plate of an actual arrow smeared with poison and an author's note thanking Simon Harlowe for lending it for research purposes. Although the house contains many treasures collected by Simon Harlowe, there is no sign of the arrow. Hanaud believes it to be in a suite of rooms that has been sealed by the police – Mrs Harlowe's downstairs bedroom and an interconnected "treasure room" used as Betty's sitting room.

Betty says that on the night of Mrs Harlowe's death Waberski had been away for a few days. She had seen Mrs Harlowe shortly before leaving the house at 8:55pm to go to a dance, returning at exactly 1:20am (the time being noted by the chauffeur) and going straight to bed. She was woken by her maid Francine Rollard at 7:00 and told of the death.

Ann says that she had fallen asleep in her chair, and had woken up after dark. Needing to check an address for a letter, she had gone downstairs to Betty's sitting room. Entering, she had flicked the light on and then quickly off again when she saw to her surprise that the interconnecting door leading to the bedroom, which was always locked, stood open. Through it she could hear voices and sounds that she interpreted as someone trying to sedate an intoxicated Mrs Harlowe. During the split-second that the light was on, she noted the clock on the opposite wall: it showed 10:30. Not wanting to intrude, she returned to her own room.

When the door seals are removed, Hanault is able to search the treasure room and bedroom. The clock is found to be accurate to the minute, but the arrow is not there. Jim stumbles across it later in Ann's room, converted to a pen.

Following up Waberski's story, Hanaud and Jim track the herbalist Jean Cladel down to a seedy part of town. But they are just too late: he has been stabbed to death.

When Ann receives an anonymous letter bidding her attend a ball where she will learn the truth about Mrs Harlowe's death, Betty encourages her to go. Ann is kidnapped, bound, and taken to an empty house nearby where she is confronted with the murderers: Betty and her maid Francine. As Betty approaches Ann with a hypodermic syringe of arrow poison, Hanaud steps out from his hiding place. He had suspected Betty for some time, he later tells Jim, but unable to prove her guilt had allowed the kidnapping to go ahead to secure hard evidence.

The key to the mystery had been Hanaud's realisation that Betty continued to have access to the treasure room, in spite of the sealed doors, via a secret passage running from an old sedan chair in the room to the nearby empty house. The murder, which had indeed been heard by Ann, took place after Betty's return, at 1:30am. The clock which had apparently read 10:30 was showing the correct time, but had been seen in a mirror. Betty took advantage of the mistake, and before the room was unsealed she moved the clock so that it stood in direct line of sight opposite the door. The arrow had been in the room, but after Hanaud had drawn attention to the monograph Betty had re-hidden it to implicate Ann.

Looking for a new start, a young taxi driver moves into Apt. 504 of an old tenement named Migum Apartments. He soon finds that the previous tenant died mysteriously, and everyone on the floor is connected to the man.

After befriending the neighbor living a few doors down, he falls into an affair that sends them both down a dark path. But there's something else odd about the atmosphere in the run-down building. Does a ghost haunt those living here, or does the evil exist in those left alive?

The game's story plays out in episodes, similar to a television series, with many events told out of sequence. On Christmas Eve of 2012, monstrous creatures dubbed as "Babels" appear in New York City. Along with lifeforms spawned by them called the Twisted, they lay waste to the city and consume any human in their path. By the following year, an investigatory team known as the CTI (Counter Twisted Investigation) has been formed. One of the CTI members is Aya Brea, who was found outside St. Thomson's Cathedral in 2010, just before the Babels and Twisted began appearing. Dr. Hyde Bohr, Chief of the CTI, finds that Aya is suffering from amnesia, and that her personality has changed. After taking Aya in, the CTI discovered that she was capable of transferring her soul from body to body independent of time, an ability dubbed "Overdive", which enables her to fight the Twisted.

Bohr and the others planned to use this unique ability to travel back through time and prevent the disaster, developing a machine called "Overdive System" to allow Aya to travel into the past and change events. As she embarks on each mission, she is confronted by powerful, sentient Twisted born from corrupted humans, later dubbed High Ones. One such High One is Kyle Madigan, a man she met and fell in love with during ''Parasite Eve II''. As she defeats each High One, she regains pieces of her memory, most prominently her memories of being engaged to Kyle, and the existence of Eve Brea, her adopted sister. After an incident that saw the CTI HQ and the Overdive device destroyed by the Kyle High One, Aya reunites with Kunihiko Maeda, a man who aided her in ''Parasite Eve'', to resolve the entire mystery behind the appearance of the Babel, Twisted and High Ones. Aya eventually discovers that Bohr is himself a High One. Bohr masterminded the death of other High Ones in order to form the Grand Babel, which functions like a giant Overdive system. Bohr seeks to dive back in the past to Time Zero, the point where events were set in motion, to fulfill his plan for the survival of his own species from a time war cycle between humans, the Twisted, and the High Ones. Aya battles Bohr and is pulled with him into Time Zero, where she discovers the truth.

In 2010 at St. Thomson's Cathedral, Aya and Kyle were going to be married. The Cathedral was attacked by a SWAT team and Aya was killed. Eve attempted to save Aya by sending her consciousness into Aya's body, creating the Overdive ability. The event caused Aya's consciousness to separate from her body and fragment through time to create the Twisted, Eve's consciousness became trapped in Aya's body while parts of Eve's body were transplanted into the people close to them creating the High Ones. The "Aya" of the main story is in fact Eve in Aya's body. After these revelations, Eve returns to her body and is asked by Bohr to assimilate him and trigger the birth of a new species. Eve refuses, and when Bohr tries to force the process, a reborn Aya shoots him to death. Aya then reveals that to avert the birth of the Twisted and High Ones, the sources (Aya and Eve) must be removed. Expressing her regret of not being able to marry Kyle, she tells Eve to shoot her. In a fit of emotion, Eve switches bodies with Aya before shooting her, creating a new timeline where Eve's body and Aya's consciousness do not exist, erasing the game's events. Though Eve offers to marry Kyle, he refuses and hints that he is going to find Aya. In a post-credits sequence four years after the game's events, Eve is walking the streets of New York and is wished a "Happy Fourth Birthday" by a woman resembling Aya.

In Ballroom Dance class Adam (Jordan Todosey) finds himself developing a crush on dance partner Bianca (Alicia Josipovic). After class he collides with Clare (Aislinn Paul) in the hall, dropping a pack of tampons which, when Fitz and Owen notice them, he forces on Clare as if they were hers. The next day Adam comes out as transgender to Clare and Eli (Munro Chambers). Later Adam and Bianca flirt until Bianca discovers that Adam is transgender and begins spreading the story. Her friends Fitz and Owen assault him in the boys' bathroom. Adam's brother Drew (Luke Bilyk) tries to fight them after school but is beaten. Fitz and Owen get suspended and Principal Simpson (Stefan Brogren) assigns teachers to escort Adam to and from classes.

When Drew and Adam's grandmother, who only knows Adam as "Gracie", comes for a visit Adam decides to go back to being "Gracie" for the sake of family harmony. The stress leads him to burn himself, something that had been a previous pattern. Clare convinces him that he needs to be true to himself. Adam begs his mother for her understanding and support and later he and his family and friends burn Gracie's clothes in a bonfire, symbolically laying her to rest.

Anya (Samantha Munro) brings some soup home for lunch for her mother, who had complained of a cold. When Anya and her friend, Leia (Judy Jiao), discovers her mother has left home without her wedding ring, they suspect her of having an affair. Anya confronts her mother, who explains that she took off her ring for an MRI. The scan reveals non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Anya's fear of her mother's death initially leads her to skip a family medical consultation but a talk with former best friend Holly J. (Charlotte Arnold) inspires Anya to go.

Dave (Jahmil French) believes the only way to improve his Media Immersion grade is to make the teacher, Ms. Oh (Cory Lee) laugh. He checks her "FaceRange" page and uses her posted pictures for a class project. Failing the assignment leads him to increase his effort to be the class clown until he discovers that Ms. Oh has recently ended a relationship. He offers her empathy and she explains that hard work and not gimmicks will earn him good grades.

Chevalier plays a Parisian playboy who finds himself obliged to care for an abandoned baby. The film was directed by Norman Taurog and also stars Edward Everett Horton, Helen Twelvetrees, and Baby LeRoy (in his film debut, as the baby).

Trying to avoid the usual letdown of New Year's Eve, Ted rents a limo for his friends so that they can party together. Robin has plans with her rich boyfriend, Derek, but Ted, Lily, Marshall, and Barney plan to attend five parties in the three hours before midnight to find the best party to be at to begin the new year. With Ranjit as their limo driver and Barney's "Get Psyched" mix CD to amp them up, the group goes to the first party where they pick up Ted's coworker Marybeth (Kathleen Rose Perkins), who has been flirting with him at the office. Barney also finds a date, a woman with a Russian-like accent named Natalya. Lily complains that her shoes are hurting her feet, but Ted asks that she power through the pain and they head to party number two.

Disappointed with party number two, the gang heads to party number three, leaving Natalya behind because no one except Barney liked her. Robin calls Ted asking if they could pick her up because Derek had to work late and canceled their plans. Even though the extra stop jeopardizes the schedule, Ted cannot refuse to pick up Robin. Robin joins the group and her disappointment caused by her canceled date brings down the mood. Ted tries to lift Robin's spirits by saying that he will kiss her at midnight and suggests that they go to Gray's Papaya. Lily returns to the apartment to change her shoes, intending to catch up with the group at party number three, while everyone else gets hot dogs. Lily tries to wish Marshall a happy new year in case she can't rejoin the group, but Marshall says that they will find each other.

The limo heads to party number three when Marshall sees Moby (J. P. Manoux) out the window of the parked limo. Ted asks Moby if he wants a ride to the party that he's going to and once inside the limo the group wangles an invitation to Moby's party. Worried that Lily won't find them and unable to reach her on her cell phone, Marshall leaves the limo to find Lily. The group heads to Moby's party, but discover that he is not Moby (nor 'Tony', but Eric) when he brandishes a gun and rants crazily. As they drop off Not Moby at his party, Marshall's cell phone that he accidentally left in the limo rings. Barney answers the call from Lily and tells her that Marshall is looking for her at party number three. Lily doesn't see Marshall but she does see Not Moby walking into the party. Ted tells her to leave the party quickly and when she rejoins the group they realize that Lily accidentally went to party number four, which coincidentally is Not Moby's party. The group heads to party number three to find Marshall. Barney realizes that Not Moby took his "Get Psyched" mix just as the limo gets a flat tire. While Ranjit fixes the tire, Barney laments the loss of his CD. To cheer up everyone, Ted and Robin begin singing the first song from the "Get Psyched" mix. Recognizing that Ted is in love with Robin, Marybeth decides to leave the group.

Still stuck with a flat tire and only 15 minutes until midnight, Ted suggests that the group begin walking so that they can get to party number three by 12:45 and celebrate the New Year in central time. As Lily tries to find Marshall by yelling his name, Barney tells Ted to stop trying so hard-—he can't keep New Year's Eve from being what it is, the biggest letdown of the year. Just as Ted is about to give up, they hear Marshall yelling Lily's name. Marshall runs up to the limo and tells the group that when he couldn't find Lily at party number three he walked to party number four (Not Moby's party) where he heard Barney's mix CD playing and he swiped it, and got his shirt signed by "not Moby" as "Eric". Marshall then went to party number five, which was awesome, and says that they need to be at party number five at midnight. With eight minutes until midnight, everyone climbs in the limo—-where they find Natalya who had been sleeping in the front seat—-and they head to party number five.

With three minutes until midnight, the limo is stuck in traffic. Accepting that the group won't make it to party number five, Ted opens a bottle of champagne and pours everyone a glass, saying that they have a great party in the limo. Derek appears at the limo's window, having left his business meeting early to be with Robin at midnight. As the countdown to midnight begins with everyone in the limo paired off except for Ted, he leaves the limo. To Ted's surprise, Robin follows him, saying that she hadn't forgotten their deal to kiss each other at midnight, and they share a kiss.

Setting and characters

''Fatal Frame II'' is set in the fictional region of Japan. The region is home to Minakami Village (lit. "All God's Village"), an abandoned town where the majority of the game takes place. The player learns that Minakami Village was host to the "Crimson Sacrifice Ritual", the failure of which caused the settlement to vanish—thus earning it the name "The Lost Village". In the game's present, 1988, two years after the first game canonically, there is an urban legend about the Lost Village, where people who become lost in the Minakami forest will become trapped forever in the village.

The protagonists of ''Fatal Frame II'' are Mio and Mayu Amakura, twin sisters who are visiting their favorite childhood playspot in Minakami before it is lost due to construction of a new dam. The main antagonist is the vengeful spirit of Sae Kurosawa, the sole Twin Shrine Maiden sacrificed for the failed ritual. She yearns to reunite with her twin sister Yae. Sae mistakens Mio for her sister, and wants to use Mayu to try and complete the ritual with her. Other characters include the spirit of Itsuki Tachibana, a young man who also mistakes Mio for Yae, but instead tries to help her and Mayu escape; and Seijiro Makabe, a folklorist who visited Minakami Village with a Camera Obscura prototype (the same camera Mio uses in the game) and his assistant, Ryozo Munakata.

Story

The plot of ''Fatal Frame II'' is independent from the first game in the series. During the Amakura twins' visit to their favorite childhood playspot in the Minakami region, Mayu follows a mysterious red butterfly deep into the woods. Mio, concerned for her older sister, follows, and they soon discover a village at night. While it seems abandoned, the twins soon realize that the village contains the tortured souls of the dead, forever reliving the events that trapped them in this state.

Mayu soon falls under the village's spell and is led deeper into the village by the butterflies. As Mio searches for her, she slowly learns of the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual, the failure of which caused the "Repentance", a disaster which shrouded the village in darkness. The village houses a system of tunnels underneath, where its deepest point is home to the "Hellish Abyss", a deep hole that collects the souls of the dead. To keep the Abyss from unleashing the dead, a pair of twins born in the village are required to perform a ritual approximately every decade, in which the elder twin strangles the younger, after which the soul of the younger twin stays to guard the village as a crimson butterfly while the older stays in the living world as the remaining.

In the past, before the Repentance occurred, twins Yae and Sae Kurosawa tried to escape their fate with Itsuki's help. While fleeing, Sae was caught and brought back to the village, while Yae escaped. The Minakami villagers desperately hanged Sae to try to satisfy the Hellish Abyss; however, the attempt failed since Yae's body wasn't there for Sae's soul to reunited with, causing the Repentance to occur and the village to disappear. During the Repentance, Sae returned from the Hellish Abyss as a vengeful spirit along with folklorist Seijiro Makabe, who had previously been made a Kusabi (an outsider sacrificed to satisfy the Hellish Abyss if it rumbled during a year when a twin sacrifice wasn’t ready), and together they slaughtered the rest of the priests and villagers who were still living. The village now only exists in a state of perpetual death, populated by the deceased villagers who are reliving the night of sacrificial failure. Throughout the game, several ghosts refer to Mio as Yae and seem to expect her to perform the ritual with Mayu, who slowly becomes possessed by Sae as the game continues. Itsuki, however, tries to help her—believing the two to be the Kurosawa twins, he tries to aid their escape from the village again.

Near the end of the game, Mio learns that in Minakami Village, the twin born second is considered the elder, as the village believes that the "elder" lets the weaker, "younger" twin be born first. This completely reverses Mio's implied fate: instead of being sacrificed herself, she must now strangle her "younger" twin sister. When Mio and Mayu finally begin escaping, the villagers' spirits take Mayu back to the Kurosawa house, where the Hellish Abyss awaits them below. Should the player choose to take the escape route alone, they will obtain the ''Lingering Scent'' ending, which leads to an automatic game over. If the player instead chooses to pursue Mayu, they have a chance to obtain the other endings. The "Crimson Butterfly" ending sees Mio and Mayu proceeding with the ritual, where Mayu becomes a crimson butterfly, After that, Mio is shown running after her sister's butterfly, crying her name and telling her how sorry she is for killing her. She reaches out to catch the butterfly, but it flies away just out of her grasp, causing Mio to fall to her knees in tears as the flock of butterflies part the dark skies and the sun rises over the village. After the credits, it shows Mio sitting alone on a bench near the lake that replaced the village because of All God's Dam. It shows her to have a crimson butterfly mark on her neck as well. After that, the screen goes black and it's heard Mio's voice saying, "Didn't we always promise each other? Together...forever...". The "Hellish Abyss" ending sees Mio rescuing Mayu from Sae, only to become permanently blinded from looking into the Hellish Abyss. The "Promise Ending", added to the ''Director's Cut'' version, Mio sees Yae and Sae performing the ritual and freeing the villagers' spirits, thus sparing Mio and Mayu of the ritual. According to the events of ''Fatal Frame III: The Tormented'', the direct sequel of the game, the "Crimson Butterfly" ending is the canonical ending.

23-year-old freelance photographer Rei Kurosawa has been mourning the death of her fiancé, Yuu Asou, after a car accident caused by Rei's reckless driving. About two months after his death, while on assignment for the derelict Kuze mansion, Rei discovers her image on one of the photos she had taken. Shortly after, she begins having recurring nightmares of an old Japanese manor house—the —during a heavy snowfall, where she is touched by a tattooed ghost. Upon waking, Rei notices a mysterious bruise/tattoo on her body, where the ghost had touched her; this mark spreads each time she dreams about the Manor.

As Rei continues to explore the Manor of Sleep, she begins to receive investigation notes from Kei Amakura, a close friend of Yuu who writes in his letters that he and his niece Mio both have similar symptoms. Rei learns that her photography assistant, Miku Hinasaki, is also under the same curse. The lines between dream and reality blur when ghosts began appearing in Rei's house, and the bruise on her body continues to expand and form a snake-and-holly tattoo similar to the tattooed ghost who touched her.

Rei learns through uncovering diaries and research that the dreams are caused by Reika Kuze, the last Tattooed Priestess tasked with the duty of containing others' emotional pain within the tattoos on her body. Although meant to rest for eternity, Reika had unintentionally released "the Rift", a form of darkness which destroyed the village, after her childhood lover Kaname was murdered in front of her eyes. Now corrupted and unable to rest, she haunts people with a strong attachment to dead loved ones. Within time, the tattoos Reika had cursed her victims with will completely cover their bodies and cause them to disappear, leaving behind black soot, although following the dead would eventually lead to death as well. Because of Rei's attachment to Yuu after the accident; Miku's to Mafuyu who stayed with Kirie to keep her company while Miku escapes the Himuro mansion; and Kei's strong connection to Mio, mourning for her sister Mayu after killing her in the crimson sacrifice ritual, all three are trapped in the Manor of Sleep.

When Miku enters a coma, Rei loses all hope of ending the curse until Kei suggests that by staking down Reika's body in the Chamber of Thorns, she can rest peacefully and no longer endanger them. However, he becomes trapped in the chamber himself upon making a horrific discovery: Reika's body has already been pinned to the ground. With only Rei remaining, she confronts Reika and exorcises her spirit. Following the lyrics of a song in the ritual, Rei puts the bodies of Reika and Kaname in a small boat and pushes it across an underground sea behind the stone ritual chamber - the Abyss of the Horizon, the passage to the spirit world. As the boat begins to vanish into the distance, other dead spirits begin to cross the sea, one of them being Yuu. The tattoo which now covers Rei's body transfers to Yuu, who insists that she must go on living and keep his memory alive. Once Rei and Miku wake up, they resume their normal lives.

Two ''Endings'' appear in the game. The ''Normal Ending'' shows that Rei and Miku have survived, while Kei has been spirited away; Mio's fate is unknown (presumed spirited away by Reika as well). The ''Photograph Ending'' is achieved by finishing an optional sidequest only available on the second playthrough of the game. This ending shows that both Kei and Mio survive as well, and that Mio is introduced to Rei and Miku after the game. In both endings, both Rei and Miku resolve to live on, as their deceased loved ones would have wanted.

Lisa is named "Student of the Millennium", so Marge stresses that Homer has to attend her ceremony due to past absences at most of the kids' events. Homer then wakes up early and takes Maggie to the school auditorium. Meanwhile, Marge gets impatient waiting in line at the bank, so she strikes up a conversation with an apparently charming man named Dwight (Steve Buscemi). While talking, Dwight tells Marge to hold on. He then pulls out a gun and tells everyone to get down on the floor, just as another man walks into the bank and pulls out a rifle. Gil Gunderson then arrives, prepared for his new job as a security guard, however, he is repeatedly shot by Dwight's accomplice, who then flees in a panic.

Homer is smugly waiting for Marge at the ceremony. Marge privately calls Homer, informing him she is a hostage at a bank robbery. Dwight notices Marge on the phone and cuts off the call. He then makes a compromise; he will promise to turn himself in as long as Marge promises to visit him in prison, to which she reluctantly agrees. A nervous Marge returns home. Homer attempts to convince Marge not to visit Dwight in the prison, but Marge wishes to honor her promise and visit him. However, while going to the prison, she makes continuous stops to avoid going to the prison and misses visiting hours. At the prison, Dwight expectantly waits for Marge. While watching Snake Jailbird chatting with his girlfriend, Gloria, Dwight becomes depressed and then angry, and Marge's guilt begins to get to her while watching a depressing movie about a prisoner who was to be electrocuted. At the same moment, Dwight is breaking out of Springfield Penitentiary. He finds Marge's address in a newspaper and sets out to find her.

While watching television at home, Marge sees a news report by Kent Brockman on Dwight's escape from prison. Dwight begins stalking her in various places, and successfully catches up to Marge and keeps her as his hostage. Dwight takes her to the same amusement park where he was abandoned by his mother, with the intention to have Marge help him repay the time he had lost, and promises to let her go afterward, to which Marge, out of sympathy, agrees. He and Marge then ride the Viking ship ride together. Chief Wiggum arrives attempting to save Marge, but he is caught in the ride. Dwight jams the ride's gears by throwing in his own body to save Wiggum (referencing ''The Brave Little Toaster''). He survives, fortunately, and returns to prison after being hospitalized and making a full recovery. Back at the prison, Marge finally visits Dwight, who gives her a flattened dandelion encased in a bar of soap he had carved for her with a message on the back intending to recruit her in helping him attempt another prison break. Marge does not agree to the escape attempt and Dwight, although saddened, says she can keep the token.

The movie begins with a team of scientists working on a US government project, known as ''Stormshield'', whose goal is to control and manage storms, particularly hurricanes.

Hurricane Grace, a Category 3 hurricane which is slowly climbing to a Category 5, is up to hit the United States. Using a predictive technology named ''Tempest'' and developed by Lance Resznick, they are able to simulate the effects of seeding the storm in order to collapse the eye of the storm and then decrease its intensity.

Lance is openly skeptical towards the theories of Sara Hughes, an English scientist who is convinced about the effectiveness of cloud seeding. An experiment is done on a smaller hurricane, Agatha. A plane and several UAV carrying the seeds (in this case, supercooled liquid) fly into the storm. At first, the experiment is a success but then the storm intensifies during the seeding and the plane crashes.

Weeks go by and Grace has now become a category 5 hurricane, headed straight for Miami. At the urgings of Katzenberg, the fund seeker of the project, the team formulates a plan of ''distant atmospheric perturbation'' to deflect Grace out into the Atlantic Ocean by creating a low pressure system on the Pacific coast and allowing it to be carried across the nation towards the hurricane.

While the team leader Abrams and mathematician Munish Loomba try to model the weather perturbation that will safely deflect Grace, Lance tells Sara that her attempt to change Agatha's course after the seeding was actually successful. Discussing such results with her grandfather, who was head of a similar, discredited project in the 1970s, Sara discovers that he and his team knew they could make hurricanes change course but made their efforts appear fruitless because they realized the military were behind the project, looking for ways to use weather as a weapon. The same turns out to be true for ''Stormshield'', even if Katzenberg had previously assured that there was no military involvement.

Meanwhile, the low pressure system approach has been finalized, with B-52 bombers ready to release trails of carbon over the West Coast. Just before proceeding with the operation, Lance states that the attempt must be stopped as another storm is moving up and could deflect Grace back into the USA. Unimpressed, Katzenberg fires the whole team, who refuses to take such a high risk.

The team soon learns that the operation went on even if they did not provide the necessary data to the flying squad. The mole in the team turns out to be Bengali-born Munish, who lost his family in a hurricane while still a child and now desperate to make the theory of hurricane deflection work.

The other storm did deflect Grace, now headed right for New York City. After realizing that in the first experiment the course of Agatha was altered by the supercooling of the areas of the storm, the team decides to apply the same method. They manage to slightly deviate the storm away from New York City, thus causing smaller damage, but cannot avoid that Long Island, where the ''Stormshield'' headquarters are located, is hit.

Sara is the only member of the team who survives without severe injuries and the series finishes with her about to either admit the terrible tragedy caused by their research or, as Katzenberg would want, lie to cover it up and suggest to the American people and to the whole world that the technology did work and is to be expanded.

The plot of the poem is loosely based on episodes of Paul the Deacon's ''History of the Lombards''. The poem tells the story of an early medieval Lombard Duke called Gondibert and his love for the beautiful and innocent Birtha. His love for Birtha means he cannot return the affections of princess Rhodalind, the king's daughter, even though he would be made ruler of Verona if he were to marry her. Rhodalind, in turn, is loved by Oswald. These various conflicts of desire and devotion occasion philosophical reflections on the nature of love, duty and loyalty. The story is never resolved, since the poet gave up on the work before completing his design.

The plot surrounds a confused bride Melissa (Prepon) who wakes up hand-cuffed to a Mexican stranger who claims to be her husband; she has no recollection of the marriage after having consumed a Mexican "moonshine" drink and having forgotten the events that occurred the previous night.

Tim (Patrick Kennedy) invites eight friends of his to his Scottish mansion for a weekend celebration for his 21st birthday. Among the guests is his former college roommate Pete (David Nicolle), Pete's former girlfriend Laura (Amelia Warner), her best friend Emma (Rosie Fellner), Emma's former roommate Lucy (Vivienne Harvey), Lucy's New York socialite friend Jo (Paris Hilton), Jo's Manchester boyfriend Tom (Lex Shrapnel), and fellow college friends Damien (James Schlesinger) and Andy (Ben Peyton).

During the night of a sudden snowstorm which strands everyone in for the night, Tom finds an old book behind a bookcase about a local Scottish lord, named Murray, who was put to death in 1746 during the last Scottish uprising. Upon reading the book, the spirit of Murray emerges from the book and possesses Tom, causing his eyes to turn black, and goes on a killing rampage starting with Jo whom he kills in a bathroom. Next, Tom kills Emma in her bedroom as she is preparing for bed, until he is stopped by Tim who stabs him to death. But then, Tim is possessed by Murray, continuing the killing spree.

When Lucy is stabbed and severely wounded by the possessed Tim, the five survivors hole themselves up in the parlor where they try to make sense to what is going on. While Pete tries to rationalize an explanation, Laura discovers the book that contained the evil spirit of Murray and begins to put two and two together about the possession: whenever the possessed person is killed, the spirit of Murray will pass onto whoever killed his host. Pete and Damian leave the parlor and confront the possessed Tim in the mansion cellar. In the struggle, Damian accidentally kills Tim, and in turn, gets possessed as well.

Leaving Andy behind to look after the wounded Lucy in the parlor, Laura and Pete attempt to capture the possessed Damian, only to have him slip past them when they attempt to trap him in one of the mansion's many bathrooms. The possessed Damian breaks into the parlor and attacks Andy, only to be accidentally killed by the fireplace poker Andy had earlier given to Lucy to defend herself. Realizing that she is now possessed, Andy stabs Lucy with a shard of glass, taking the spirit into himself.

When Laura is attacked and stabs the possessed Andy in self-defense, she realizes that the spirit will pass onto her, so she first pleads with Pete (who has locked himself in the parlor) to kill her before Andy dies. But when Pete is unable to, Laura makes the ultimate sacrifice of stabbing herself so the spirit will not pass onto her. Pete opens the door to prevent her from doing so, but is too late. Laura dies just before Andy expires, and thus saving Pete from being possessed as well.

By the next morning, Pete finds himself the sole survivor of the massacre and after finding the cursed book, he burns it to ensure that nobody else will ever read it and restart the cycle ever again. Pete also realizes as the lone Scot of the group, he was the only one Murray ever intended to spare, albeit alone and emotionally scarred.

The film reflects on the struggle for Power, Money and how having the influential connections in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, can bridge the line between poverty and wealth. Jennifer and Sophia are rivals in this game, they happen to belong to the same clan and have inside information of each other's mission. However, Jennifer is far ahead of the game. She always defeats Sophia. Sophia is now fed up with the humiliation, she decides to stop the rivalry and look for Money and Power else where. Will she succeed? Or has Jennifer finally won the Battle?

In September 1942, during World War II, Susan Cahill (Dianne Foster), art director for an ad agency on Madison Avenue run by her fiance, is jealous of his business flirtation with a client's daughter to secure a deal. She accepts an invitation to dinner on Long Island from agency artist Alexander "Alec" Austen (Alan Ladd). Susan is disturbed by Alec's obvious feelings for her, but accepts a lunch date the next day anyway. After she leaves, Alec receives a telegram to report for active duty in the U.S. Navy but decides not to tell Susan as their relationship grows. Just before reporting for duty, Alec takes Susan home to meet his mother, a Quaker, revealing to them his hope to marry Susan—and his call up. His mother is hurt that Alec did not disclose his military obligation and saddened that he has disregarded the pacifist tenets of his upbringing. Susan admits she loves Alec, but will not break her engagement.

Alec reports aboard his ship, the destroyer USS ''Poe'', at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, with no one to see him off as it departs for San Francisco. The ship's captain, Cmdr. Meredith (James Whitmore), quickly takes a shine to Alec and he is befriended by his roommate and the ship's doctor, Lt. Blanchard (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), who soon realizes Alec is "carrying a torch" for Susan. However, the ship's executive officer, Lt. Comdr. Edge (Keenan Wynn), has an immediate dislike of Alec's Quaker background and objects to his assignment as assistant gunnery officer. Alec introduces himself to the sailors in the gunnery division, catching them gambling but overlooking the offense. Chief Petty Officer "Frenchy" Shapiro (William Bendix) congratulates Alec for the way he handled the situation but receives a gentle warning that they best not repeat it. The two become close friends despite their differences in rank when Frenchy reveals that he became estranged from his wife because of his Navy duty. Underway, the ship picks up three survivors from a sunken German submarine, but when Blanchard and Alec attempt to treat them humanely, Edge angrily intervenes. He accuses Alec of being less than a man because he cannot hate, but Alec assures him that he can.

In San Francisco, Alec begins drawing a portrait of his Frenchy to give to his daughter. The captain gives Alec a five-day liberty to meet Susan, who has come to California after Blanchard contacted her. They agree to marry immediately and travel to Pebble Beach to stay with Susan's sister, who unfortunately receives notification that her husband has been killed in action. Alec decides to return to the ship and marry Susan only upon his safe return from duty. At sea in the Aleutian Islands, when an aircraft is spotted approaching the ship, the gunners plead for orders to open fire but Alec cannot bring himself to give the command. The plane turns out to be American, apparently justifying the hesitation, but he admits to the captain that he simply froze. Although sympathetic, the captain swaps Alec's assignment with that of the damage control officer. Edge violently condemns Alec and the entire crew save Frenchy shun Alec for being a conscientious objector. During an actual Japanese air attack, a bomb crashes through the deck without exploding. With Frenchy's help, Alec throws the unexploded bomb overboard. At a funeral service for sailors killed in the air attack, the captain reminds the crew that they all might have died without Alec and Frenchy's bravery.

The ship docks at Dutch Harbor, where the navy seamen quarrel with those from the Merchant Marine. Alec tries to intervene and is knocked to the ground by a merchant mariner. Mocked for apparently "turning the other cheek," Alec defends himself but is accidentally knocked unconscious by Frenchy when a brawl begins. He admits to Blanchard that he felt an angry urge to kill, but Blanchard reassures him that his response was natural. Alec volunteers to lead a dangerous mission ashore to rescue stranded airmen and their reconnaissance photos of the Japanese-held island, joined by Frenchy and several members of the crew. They link up with the airmen, but cut off along the beach by Japanese soldiers, Alec orders his men to open fire and calls the ship for fire support. Frenchy is forced to kill a Japanese soldier shooting at them when Alec cannot bring himself to fire his own weapon. As Frenchy openly pities his friend, four enemy soldiers emerge and Frenchy is wounded. Alec kills them to protect his friend and is also wounded, but Frenchy dies before they make it back to the ship. Soon after, Alec returns to Susan with Frenchy's completed portrait to deliver to his daughter.

James Bellamy returns from America with renewed enthusiasm for life and hope for his future. He has taken to speculating on the New York Stock Exchange and is making a lot of money. After bestowing lavish gifts on Virginia and Georgina, James proposes to pay for Georgina's wedding and even suggests moving to a bigger house as a direct result of his increasing wealth. He even manages to persuade Rose to invest her entire inheritance, from the estate of her deceased fiance Gregory, but sadly this is just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. James loses everything, as does Rose.

The disclosure of the losses - particularly Rose's - leads to an argument with his father where James is berated for his failures. Richard tells James that he is glad his mother did not live to see the mess their son has created. Retreating to his room, James later upsets Georgina by burning the letters she wrote to him in happier times. He then leaves Eaton Place, ostensibly to visit a friend. In reality he goes to a small hotel where he takes his own life with his service revolver.

While Davy tries to get the band to rehearse for a very important gig, Micky seeks to find a gimmick to give them an identity, and Mike debates the necessity for anything other than just hanging out together. Various potential story lines present themselves, but each time the Monkees are quick to point out that they have already used that plot line in a previous episode and do ''not'' want to do it again.

Several musical sequences and comedy sketches are included.

''The Duchess of Padua'' tells the story of a young man named Guido who was left in the charge of a man he calls his uncle as a baby. Guido gets a notice to meet a man in Padua in regards to something concerning his parentage. When he arrives in Padua he is convinced by a man named Moranzone to abandon his only friend, Ascanio, in order to dedicate himself to revenging his father’s death at the hands of Simone Gesso, the Duke of Padua. In the course of the play Guido finds he has fallen in love with Beatrice, the title character, and confides his love to her, a love which she returns. By this time Guido has had a change of heart and decides not to kill the Duke of Padua, and instead intends to leave his father’s dagger at the Duke’s bedside to let the Duke know that his life could have been taken if Guido had wanted to kill him. On the way to the bedchamber, however, Guido is met by Beatrice, who has herself stabbed and killed the Duke so that she might be with Guido. Guido is appalled at the sin committed on his behalf and rejects Beatrice, claiming that their love has been soiled. She runs from him and when she comes across some guards she claims that Guido killed the Duke. He is brought to trial the next day. Beatrice tries to prevent Guido from speaking on his behalf for fear that she might be exposed as the killer, but Guido admits to the killing to protect her, and so the date for his execution is set. Beatrice goes to visit Guido in his cell and tells him that she has confessed to the murder but that the magistrates did not believe her and would not allow her to pardon Guido. Before waking Guido, Beatrice drinks some poison and when Guido discovers that the poison is all but gone, he shares a kiss with Beatrice before she dies, at which time Guido takes her knife and kills himself.

''Dramatis Personae''

Simone Gesso, Duke of Padua Beatrice, his Wife Andrea Pollajuolo, Cardinal of Padua Maffio Petrucci, Gentleman of the Duke's Household Jeppo Vitellozzo, Gentleman of the Duke's Household Taddeo Bardi, Gentleman of the Duke's Household Guido Ferranti Ascanio Cristofano, his Friend Count Moranzone, an Old Noble Bernardo Calvacanti, Lord Justice of Padua Ugo, the Headsman Lucia, a Tire Woman *Servants, Citizens, Soldiers, Monks and Falconers with hawks and dogs

Act I

Guido Ferranti, a young man, travels to Padua with his friend Ascanio after receiving a mysterious letter from a stranger, claiming to know the true secret of Guido's birth. Guido meets him in the market, as the letter instructs, and after Ascanio leaves, he reveals himself as Count Moranzone. He tells Guido that his father was the Duke Lorenzo, who had been executed after being betrayed by a close friend in exchange for land, that his mother died in a swoon on hearing the news, and it was he who had taken the young Guido to the family he had grown up with. He encourages Guido in his revenge, and telling him that betraying the Duke is better than merely killing him, and shows him his father's knife. Before Moranzone can tell Guido the traitor's name, the Duke of Padua enters with his court, and Moranzone indicates the Duke's guilt by kneeling before him. He introduces Guido as one who wants service in the Duke's household. The Duke accepts him, then continues to the Cathedral. Moranzone tells Guido that until he is avenged, he should put aside all other things - when Ascanio returns, Guido sends him away. As Guido speaks a soliloquy, swearing this, he sees the Duchess of Padua pass. Their eyes meet.

Act II

Guido has risen in the Duke's confidence sufficiently that he rests on his arm. A mob outside the palace calls for the Duke's death, and when he orders them fired upon, the Duchess stands between them. She intercedes for them with the Duke, and when he will not listen to their grievances, divides her whole purse between them. The Duke expresses his displeasure, but does not notice the mutual attraction between her and Guido. The court leaves - the Duchess alone wonders how Guido can dote on the Duke as he does. Guido returns alone as she prays and declares his love for her, which she eagerly returns. Their kiss is interrupted by a servant, who delivers to Guido his father's dagger - the sign from Moranzone that he should now kill the Duke. Guido tells the Duchess that they must part forever, and leaves for his revenge.

Act III

Guido meets Moranzone on the way to the Duke - he explains that he has decided not to kill the Duke. Instead he intends to leave the dagger with a letter, so the Duke will know Guido had him in his power and chose to spare him. Moranzone calls him a coward and bad son, and blames his contact with the Duchess for his change of heart. While Guido prays alone that he has done the right thing, the Duchess enters, and tells him there is nothing separating them any more - because she has killed the Duke. Guido rejects her in horror, and they argue. He repents of his reaction as she leaves, and the act drops on her leading the guard to arrest Guido.

Act IV

During the trial, Guido declares that he will tell the truth before the verdict falls upon him. Fearing that Guido will identify her as the real murderer, the Duchess orders the judges not to allow him to speak. However, the judges finally grant Guido the right to defend himself, at which time he claims that he is the murderer. The duchess faints in shame, shock and gratefulness.

Act V

The Duchess masks herself in a cloak to visit Guido in jail. She plans to substitute herself for him at the execution on the next day. Determined to die, she drank the poison that was put next to the sleeping Guido. Guido wakes up and admits that he has forgiven the Duchess and that he loves her. The Duchess urges Guido to flee but he refuses. Guido finally kills himself with the Duchess's dagger after she dies in his arms.

Detective Ma investigates a mass murder at the residence of Ms. Park. Five were killed with two survivors: Ms. Park and her caretaker, Mi-Ja. Mi-Ja recounts her story to Ma.

Mi-Ja takes care of her ex-teacher, Ms. Park. They organize a class reunion with Ms. Park's past students: Se-Ho, Eun-Young, Dal-Bong, Sun-Hee, Myung-Ho, and Jung-Won. Each resent Ms. Park for different reasons: the couple Se-Ho and Eun-Young because of Ms. Park's belittling of their poverty; Dal-Bong because of his cast leg caused by Ms. Park punishing him with repeated squatting after losing a relay at track; Sun-Hee because of Ms. Park's criticizing of her former obesity; and Myung-Ho because of Ms. Park sexually abusing him. The friendless and quiet Jung-Won, once ridiculed for defecating in class, stopped attending school when his mother was hit by a car. Nevertheless, they all try to maintain a facade of jolliness for the reunion.

However, tensions arise as the former classmates become more open about their anger. Se-Ho drunkenly explodes during the barbecue party and accuses the others of lying to themselves. A bunny-masked figure later drags him to the basement, where he is killed. Eun-Young tries to drown Ms. Park while the latter is bathing, though it fails. She is attacked next by the bunny figure and killed. Dal-Bong tries to attack Ms. Park but is caught by the bunny figure, who inserts insects into his ear to kill him. Throughout the murders, flashbacks show the students laughing at Ms. Park's deformed son, who wore a bunny mask to hide his face. Only Jung-Won wanted to befriend him, but Ms. Park mistakenly assumed him the bully. Sun-Hee tries to throw Ms. Park off the cliff, but is interrupted by Mi-Ja. In the ensuing struggle, Sun-Hee falls off instead and dies. Mi-Ja is knocked out by Myung-Ho, who would have set Ms. Park on fire if not for the bunny figure killing him. The figure is revealed to be Jung-Won.

Detective Ma investigates Jung-Won's supposed apartment. All he finds is his mother's decaying corpse, women's clothing, and articles about the success of Ms. Park's ex-students, contrary to Mi-Ja's claims. It is revealed that there is no male student of Ms. Park's bearing the name "Jung-Won"; it is instead the real name of Mi-Ja. She fabricated the story about her life: she was the one who was poor, obese, broke her leg after doing Ms. Park's punishment, and defecated in the class. Her mother was handicapped during the car accident and died when she was an adult. Jung-Won then took the identity of Mi-Ja and became Ms. Park's caretaker until she could kill her classmates at the reunion.

Jung-Won drives Ms. Park to the beach and vents her frustration at her before committing suicide by jumping from the pier, while Ms. Park can only watch. The film closes with Ms. Park's wheelchair lying empty on the pier.

Set in the year 2090, the book depicts a future world where global warming has caused sea level to rise considerably. The Highlands of Scotland are the only unsubmerged part of Britain – the Highlands now being known as the Drylands. Damage to the ozone layer has resulted in much higher levels of UV light and so sunburn and skin cancer are serious issues – most people do not venture outside unless entirely necessary, and carry high factor suncream and anti-cancer kits. Most of the world's population were wiped out in "God's flood"; the survivors live in collections of floating oil-platform-like city structures, known as parishes. The story takes place around the seas and drylands that were once Scotland – initially ''Port'', a collection of parishes (named after towns around Scotland) attached to what was once Greenock by underwater cables.

The Population of Port are watched constantly by a totalitarian government; there are class divides in the parishes (there is an underclass of Danish refugees living in many of the lower levels); the climate of Earth is now inhospitable. In addition to these problems, Senga, a new strain of HIV infects much of the population. There is no cure, and the entire population is infected with the Mowdy virus (similar to HIV) and are dependent on government issued medication to suppress Senga. Senga also becomes active if individuals engage in sex – reproduction is performed using laboratory techniques, and only virtual sex is possible.

Anyone who develops Senga is put into isolation for the virus to run its course – these people are ''kistit'' – entombed in capsules in huge hospitals. Victim's thoughts are visualised by ''thochtscreens'' on each kist.

The wife of the ambassador of the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Wasabia gets drunk, steals her husband's car and drives out of the compound. When pulled over by police, she desperately phones her friend Florence Farfaletti, the "Deputy to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs," begging for asylum to avoid a harsh punishment. Florence is unable to arrange asylum.

The wife is taken back to Wasabia and beheaded for her crime. In anger over her friend's execution, Florence drafts a proposal to introduce a women's television network in the relatively liberal Matar. The state department rejects the proposal, and reassigns Florence to an obscure posting outside the country. To Florence's surprise, a mysterious government employee, identified only as "Uncle Sam," representing an unknown agency, notifies Florence that her proposal has been accepted and agrees to fund the mission.

Florence arrives in Matar and creates a women's television network that is broadcast into neighboring Wasabia. The network airs shows like "One Thousand and One Mornings," which feature empowered female characters who nettle their oppressors and make fun of men. The programming is effective, eventually causing the women of Matar to stage an uprising.

Florence is thrown in jail, but ultimately is rescued and returns to the United States. Back in the United States, Florence discovers that her operation was not funded by the U.S. government at all, but rather by the Waldorf Group, a private equity firm which wanted to prevent extremism in Wasabia to help secure the flow of profits.

Florence is exasperated to have been working for bankers all along, but glad that her work improved the status of women's rights in Wasabia. An ex-president, who is on the board of the Waldorf Group, tells her, "One way or the other, Florence, we're all working for investment bankers."

In 2006, Ted frets about finding a date for his friends Claudia and Stuart's wedding; when Robin breaks up with Derek, Ted invites her to the wedding and she accepts. But when Ted runs into Claudia two days before the wedding and mentions that he is bringing a date, Claudia tells him that he indicated on his RSVP card that he would be coming alone and angrily forbids him from bringing a date. Ted tries to tell Robin that he will not be able to take her to the wedding, but chickens out when he sees Robin in the dress that she bought for the occasion.

When he tells Lily his problem, she, against Marshall's advice, suggests that Ted appeal to Stuart, who gives Ted permission without a second thought. Ted is excitedly anticipating his romantic evening with Robin when Claudia calls to say that the wedding has been canceled: apparently the issue of Ted's date led to a huge argument and the couple broke up. Concerned about their friend and not wanting to disappoint Robin, who is really looking forward to the wedding, Marshall and Ted go to talk to Stuart and Lily goes to comfort Claudia at MacLaren's.

Stuart tells Ted and Marshall that he is glad the wedding is off and that he missed being single. Ted tries to reassure Stuart that everyone has doubts about commitment, but those doubts should not keep him from getting married; Marshall, however, tells Stuart that he should not marry Claudia unless he is absolutely sure that he wants to. Meanwhile, at MacLaren's, Barney finds Claudia waiting for Lily and immediately tries to seduce her, offering fake sympathy and alcohol. Lily pulls Barney away from Claudia and threatens him just as Stuart arrives with Ted and Marshall. Because of Marshall's words, Stuart apologizes to Claudia and they get back together. After a few more drinks, which were prompted by Ted for asking the question that caused this whole mess again, Claudia finally agrees to allow Ted to bring a date.

On the night of the wedding Ted arrives at Robin's apartment to pick her up, but just before they leave Robin receives a phone call from her producer offering her the opportunity to anchor the news that evening. Though disappointed, Ted tells her to go to work. Ted goes to the wedding alone and Claudia shows him his RSVP, on which he did indeed check the "coming alone" box. Thinking the mistake reveals that he really has given up on finding someone, Ted tells Barney that he is ready to just be single; suddenly he locks eyes with a pretty woman across the room.

At the Grand Canyon that night, a mosquito-like drone sucks most of the DNA out of Ben's Omnitrix while he's sleeping. The next morning, a giant object crashes into the mountains and Ben finds out he can't transform into any of his aliens except Four Arms and Heatblast. After fighting through multiple drones, he defeats a Giant Mech Drone and finds an Omnitrix Crystal which gives him access to XLR8.

Later, the Tennysons go to Mesa Verde and find Vilgax's Drones and the Forever Knights fighting. After defeating all the knights and drones, an injured Forever Knight tells them that Enoch has used all the technology of Area 51 to make a Big Battle-Bot to fight Ben. They go to Area 51 in Nevada and fight Enoch, but Enoch recovers and climbs his Battle-Bot. The determine Enoch will travel to a place to further empower the Battle Bot and Gwen thinks it is the Hoover Dam. They head to the Hoover Dam and fight the Battle-Bot. After defeating it Ben finds another Omnitrix Crystal which regains access to Cannonbolt.

When the Tennysons head to San Francisco, California for a vacation, they find out that Kevin 11 has escaped from the Null Void and has brought some plant creatures with him. He kidnaps Grandpa Max, but later gets sucked to the Null Void again by Ben at a Lumber Mill in Oregon. Later, after fighting through Crater Lake, they head to the Space Needle in Seattle where the mother plant (who has Wildvine's DNA) has made its home and infecting the whole city. After defeating it, Ben finds an Omnitrix Crystal which gives him access to the last unlockable alien in the game, Wildvine.

In outer space, Vilgax and Ghostfreak are working together to recover the Omnitrix. Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max head to Effigy Mounds in Iowa for camping, and find some of Ghostfreak's Troops hunting there. After defeating Hex at the end, they discover that Ghostfreak had plundered the Plumber Base in Mt. Rushmore. Ben chases him through Chicago and then defeats him in the Gold Coast Theater and Grandpa Max sucks him in the Null Void.

After defeating Ghostfreak, they go to the Historic Battlefield, where Dr. Animo kidnaps Gwen. They go to the Bayou and discover Clancy, in an abandoned mansion. After Ben defeats him, Max asks him where Animo had taken Gwen. He tells him that it is too late to save her now and Animo plans to turn her into one of his mutanst. Ben and grandpa travel to New Orleans and take a boat to Animo's oil refinery. After defeating Dr. Animo, Gwen tells them that Dr. Animo and Vilgax have planned to suck Earth into the Null Void. Ben then unlocks Master Control in the Omnitrix.

After going to Washington DC where there were Null Void Portals everywhere, and Ben defeats SixSix and his Detrovite Troops in Cape Canaveral. Grandpa Max uses rockets found there to make the Rustbucket capable of flight. Then, they fly to Vilgax's Ship and Ben tries to defeat Vilgax. After a big battle that ends with Vilgax's defeat, Ben discovers that the rest of the Omnitrix Crystals are right there on the ship. But just after he retrieves them, the ship starts powering down and projecting a Null Void Portal, which then sucks in Vilgax and his ship. Luckily, Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max escape in time and get back to their vacation.

In 1910s Nebraska, young Roy Hobbs learns to play baseball from his father. After Hobbs Sr. suffers an early fatal heart attack, lightning strikes the oak tree he died next to. Hobbs makes a baseball bat from the splintered wood, burning a lightning bolt and the name “Wonderboy” into the barrel.

Now 19 years old, Hobbs heads to Chicago for a tryout with the Chicago Cubs, leaving behind his girlfriend, Iris. While on the train, he meets legendary ballplayer "the Whammer" (based on Babe Ruth) and sportswriter Max Mercy. At a carnival during a stopover, Hobbs wins a bet that he can strike out the Whammer. Harriet Bird, a mysterious young woman also traveling on the train, takes notice and turns her attention from the Whammer to Hobbs.

In Chicago, Harriet invites Hobbs to her hotel room. She asks if Hobbs's boast that he can be "the best there ever was," is true. Hobbs answers yes, and Harriet shoots him in the abdomen, then commits suicide. It is revealed she previously targeted other top athletes.

Sixteen years later, in 1939, Hobbs is signed as a rookie to the New York Knights, a struggling ball club sitting in last place. Manager Pop Fisher is furious that Hobbs was signed without his approval, believing him too old. He initially refuses to play him but finally relents. At his first batting practice, Hobbs amazes the entire team with his powerful hitting. In the following game, Pop benches star outfielder Bump Bailey after a reckless play. Pop has Hobbs pinch hit, and he knocks the baseball's cover off. Shortly after, Bailey is killed crashing headfirst through an outfield wall, resulting in Hobbs becoming starting outfielder. Hobbs becomes a sensation and the Knights' fortunes turn around. Max Mercy finds Hobbs familiar, but fails to recognize him as the teenager who struck out the Whammer on a bet all those years ago.

Assistant manager Red Blow tells Hobbs that if Pop loses the pennant this year, his Knights ownership share will revert to the Judge, the team's majority owner, leaving Pop permanently out of the sport. The Judge offers Hobbs $5,000 ( ) to throw the season. Hobbs, unlike Bump Bailey, refuses the bribe. While watching Hobbs pitch during a practice session, Mercy suddenly remembers him.

Mercy introduces Hobbs to Gus Sands, a bookie who places large bets against Hobbs. He also meets Pop's beautiful niece, Memo Paris, who was Bump's girlfriend. Their budding romance causes a distracted Hobbs' game to slump. Pop cautions Hobbs about Memo, who may be working for the Judge, though Hobbs dismisses his concerns.

Hobbs' slump continues until, during a game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, a woman dressed in white stands up in the bleachers. Hobbs sees her, then hits a home run, shattering the clock on the scoreboard. The woman is Iris, and they later meet at a diner. Hobbs avoids telling her about Harriet Bird shooting him years ago in Chicago but reveals the truth when they meet the next day. Iris is unmarried and works in Chicago. She tells Hobbs she has a teenage son whose father lives in New York City. Their reunion restores Hobbs' hitting prowess, and the Knights surge into first place. However, at a team party, Hobbs collapses in pain and awakens in the hospital. A silver bullet removed from his stomach has caused long-term damage; the doctor warns him it could prove fatal if Hobbs continues playing baseball without giving the wound time to heal.

With Hobbs hospitalized, the Knights lose three games in a row, setting up a one-game playoff against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Judge comes to the hospital and offers Hobbs an even bigger bribe to throw the game, threatening to expose his involvement with Harriet Bird to the press. Memo visits Hobbs and urges him to accept the Judge's offer and to walk away. Later, Iris also visits and assures Hobbs he is a great ballplayer. Hobbs leaves the hospital, goes to the Judge's office, and rejects the Judge's bribe.

Still recovering, Hobbs returns to the team. Pop tells Hobbs that he is the best player he has ever seen and says to suit up. Watching from the stands, Iris sends a note to Hobbs in the dugout, saying she has brought their son to the game.

In the ninth inning, the Knights are trailing. The Pirates bring in a young, hard-throwing pitcher, who, exploiting Hobbs' condition, throws inside, attempting to harm him. Hobbs hits a foul that splits his bat, Wonderboy, in two. Batboy Bobby Savoy brings him his own bat, the "Savoy Special", which Hobbs helped him make. Hobbs, down to his last strike, his wound bleeding through his jersey, smashes the ball into the stadium lights, winning the game and the National League pennant. The victory secures Pop's share of the team and the Knights advance to the World Series.

Later, back in Nebraska, Iris looks on as Hobbs plays catch with his son in the same field where he and his father once played.

Set in an unspecified year, but probably a few years after 1956, the story centers on Szabo Tibor, an expatriate Hungarian, working as a pearl diver on a pearling boat between Queensland's Great Barrier Reef and Thursday Island.

When an off-course Russian space capsule crashlands in the sea nearby, Tibor is the first to reach it. He makes contact with the still-alive cosmonaut inside, who can hear him talking but cannot respond except by knocking on the hull. Tibor, who escaped from Hungary during the 1956 uprising and whose brother was killed by invading Russians, takes revenge by delaying the salvage attempts until the capsule's air has run out and the cosmonaut is dead.

When they get the capsule to land and open the hatch, they find that the dead cosmonaut, a beautiful young girl, has managed to record Tibor's words on a tape recorder, thus branding him as a murderer.

Tommy Taylor and "The Professor", two sailors returning from leave to Portsmouth on a tandem bicycle, they sing Sweet Fanny Adams - a song which now sounds very innocent but was extremely risque at the time.

They rescue Lydia, a Wren, who had been hitch-hiking on the road and was assaulted by an over-amorous driver. They get a puncture as they reach Stonehenge. The professor tells them of an old legend that those caught at Stonehenge at midnight on midsummer's night are transported back in time. Moments later the area is struck by lightning. Nearby a group of Roman soldiers have suddenly appeared whom they initially mistake for members of ENSA. However, they swiftly prove to be genuine Romans who arrest them and threaten instant death unless they can prove they are Druids.

Among the musical numbers in the picture, Tommy Trinder gives a stupendous performance as "Senorita Alvarez" from Brazil (impersonating Carmen Miranda). Caesar creates him a Dame of the Roman Empire for his performance.

Future Ted tells his children of a saying his mother used and which he agrees with: "Nothing good ever happens after 2 a.m." He then picks up his narrative from where the previous episode left off, having just returned home from a karaoke club and receiving a call from Robin.

Earlier that day, Robin does a presentation on her career with Lily's class but gets defensive when the children ask about her romantic life instead. Robin's feelings of loneliness are amplified when her co-anchor, Sandy Rivers (Alexis Denisof), tells her that they should have sex. When she returns home, she drinks a large glass of wine and calls Ted, who has been waiting for a phone call from Victoria. Ted believes the phone call will be about breaking up, but Victoria does not call when expected and Ted is left feeling anxious. When Robin's phone call comes, he agrees to go to her apartment, but his attempts to rationalize his decision are undermined when he begins conversing with his conscience, which appears personified as Victoria. When Ted consults Marshall and Lily, they both attempt to dissuade him, but Lily unwittingly encourages him when she says that Robin has feelings for Ted.

When Ted arrives at Robin's apartment, he lies about breaking up with Victoria and they begin kissing. Ted goes to the bathroom, to think about his situation. Just when he convinces himself that it is all right to have sex with Robin, he realizes he has Robin's phone. He emerges from the bathroom just as an upset Robin is getting off his phone with Victoria (thinking it was hers), who has called at last. Robin tosses Ted's phone back at him, and tells him to call her back (subtly advising Ted to leave). As Ted heads back to his apartment, he calls Victoria and the two break up. Future Ted reminds his kids that nothing good happens after 2 a.m., and says that lying to Robin was the stupidest thing he ever did.

Meanwhile, Barney attempts to prove to Lily and Marshall that good things can happen after 2 a.m. when they try to leave a karaoke bar early. Barney invites a Korean Elvis impersonator to come with the group to MacLaren's. When Korean Elvis tries to convince them to stay, he whispers something in Lily's ear, which causes her to knee him in the groin. Future Ted claims that Barney was right and that the night was "legendary".

Following the events of the first film, Princess Fantaghirò and Prince Romualdo are due to be married. The Black Witch, an evil ruler of the faraway Dark Kingdom, is disgusted by their love and wishes to destroy it, and to this end she kidnaps Fantaghirò's father, demanding the kingdom of Fantaghirò in exchange for her life. The couple hold off their wedding so Romualdo can lead their army to save Fantaghirò's father. On the journey to the Dark Kingdom, Romualdo and his men encounter Forest Elves and their Queen, who force them to submit to a series of tests to prove that their intentions are pure. Romualdo passes and the army continue on their way. They eventually reach the borders to the Dark Kingdom where they make camp for the night. As they are resting, the Black Witch, magically disguised to look like Fantaghirò, arrives and gets Romualdo to kiss her. He faints and the evil queen takes him to her Dark Castle where she makes him her lover.

Elsewhere, the real Fantaghirò has decided to secretly go to the Dark Kingdom on her own. She cuts off her hair and travels with her horse Golden Mane and friend the White Witch who transforms herself into a goose. Along the way, she encounters bandits led by the Lemon Gobbler, but she manages to escape. When she arrives at Romualdo's camp, she finds it abandoned. Fantaghirò enters the Dark Castle and learns that Romualdo's men have all been thrown in the dungeon. She negotiates with the Dark King to have a single duel between Fantaghirò and the Dark Kingdom's champion to decide the victor, with the losing kingdom submitting to the other. The Dark King agrees but, Fantaghirò is horrified to discover that she has to fight her beloved, Romualdo, who has been bespelled to forget all about her and now loves the Black Witch to the point of worship.

While Fantaghirò and Romualdo are dueling, the Black Witch's minions Bolt and Lightning rebel against their mistress, poisoning her so she falls asleep. Bolt and Lightning release Romualdo's men, who subdue Romualdo, stopping him from killing Fantaghirò. The group flee from the castle, taking Romualdo, as well as the Dark King as a hostage. Everyone's able to escape the Dark Kingdom except Romualdo, who runs back to the Black Witch, and Fantaghirò, who goes after Romualdo. Fantaghirò and the Witch have a face-off, with Fantaghirò emerging victorious in a battle of wits by daring the Witch to turn herself into a crystal form which she then smashes into pieces. With the Black Witch gone, the Dark King is revealed to be Fantaghirò's father, who was bewitched to forget his true self.

However, Romualdo's memories do not return. Fantaghirò, with the help of the White Witch, recreates the events of the previous film where they crossed paths for the first time. Romualdo starts to regain his memories but in doing so, it's revealed that a residue remnant of the Black Witch has been hiding in his mind, and the witch reappears to transforms Fantaghirò into a lowly creature off-screen. The White Witch comes to their rescue by shooting Lighting, who has transformed into an arrow, to destroy the Black Witch completely. Romualdo then guesses correctly that Fantaghirò has been turned into an ugly toad, and upon kissing her, the two are reunited again.

The evil wizard Tarabas has learned of a prophecy that a royal child no older than ten is destined to destroy his kingdom. Shocked to learn that he is not invincible, Tarabas sends his clay soldiers out to kidnap all the royal children of the world. His mother, Xellesia, disapproves of this, but Tarabas is obsessed with learning how he will be defeated. Among the children he targets are the babies of Catherine and Caroline, Fantaghirò's sisters.

Fantaghirò and Romualdo protect the babies from Tarabas's clay soldiers but, during the battle, Romualdo accidentally falls into a cursed river and turns into a statue. Fantaghirò seeks the help of the Elf Queen to cure Romualdo, but she is told that only "The Impossible Kiss" by Tarabas can cure Romualdo. Fantaghirò decides to track down Tarabas by following his clay soldiers. When she comes across the clay soldiers attacking another castle, she intervenes. However, she is too late to save the King who, with his dying breath, asks Fantaghirò to take care of his daughter, Princess Esmeralda. Fantaghirò agrees, and takes Esmeralda away to safety.

Tarabas, who has learned about Fantaghirò's quest, deliberately crosses paths with Fantaghirò and Esmeralda as they are travelling in the forest. He claims to be a common traveler, and they agree to camp together for the night for safety. Although Esmeralda is suspicious, Fantaghirò does not suspect anything. As they sleep, Tarabas is overcome with desire to kiss Fantaghirò, but as soon as he approaches her, he starts to transform into a hideous beast. Tarabas runs away from the camp, and as soon as he does, the transformation ceases and he returns to his human form. He is confronted by Xellesia, who explains that the dark magic within him does not allow him to fall in love, for as soon as he tries to kiss the one he desires, he will be transformed into a beast to devour them.

Fantaghirò and Esmeralda continue on their journey and are reunited with Lightning and Bolt who have a new plan to track down Tarabas. They decide to resurrect the evil Black Witch, who was destroyed in the previous film, and hold her heart hostage, promising to give her back her heart if she helps them find Tarabas. The witch reluctantly agrees, and leads them to Tarabas' underground lair. There, Fantaghirò is shocked to learn that the man she befriended in the forest is the feared Tarabas. Tarabas agrees to give Fantaghirò the Impossible Kiss if she will marry him. Fantaghirò agrees. Tarabas chains himself up to prevent himself from devouring Fantaghirò and they kiss. The magic of the Impossible Kiss is captured by the Black Witch, who promises to take it back to Romualdo. As Fantaghirò is preparing to marry Tarabas, she is told by Lighting and Bolt that the witch has broken her promise, and the power of the Impossible Kiss is waning.

Tarabas agrees to let Fantaghirò go, if she will promise to return him. Fantaghirò promises and chases after the Black Witch, but it is too late. Although Romualdo cannot be restored to life, Fantaghirò keeps her promise and returns to Tarabas. But Tarabas has had a change of heart and lets Fantaghirò go, realising that this is the only way to prove his love for her. A second Impossible Kiss is made when Tarabas kisses Esmeralda, whom he has also grown to care for. This second kiss revives Romualdo, the pair are finally married and they adopt Esmeralda as their daughter.

A mysterious black cloud is travelling across the land, bringing death and destruction wherever it goes. Fantaghirò is helping the people of her kingdom escape to safety when she crosses paths with young Prince Parsel. Parsel is chasing the black cloud because it took his castle, and he is trying to find a way to get it back. When the black cloud passes over Fantaghirò's castle, it too disappears, so she joins with Parsel to search for the origins of the black cloud. They travel to the kingdom of Tohor where they discover that Tarabas, the reformed dark wizard, has been imprisoned and accused of conjuring the black cloud. Fantaghirò, who knows that he has renounced his evil ways, helps him escape. Fantaghirò, Tarabas, Parsel and Princess Angelica of Tohor (who has fallen in love with Tarabas) leave Tohor to track down the black cloud, which they discover is conjured by a powerful dark magician named Darken.

Elsewhere, the evil Black Witch is struggling to restore her magical powers, which have become weak after she had helped Fantaghirò in the previous film. She revives Tarabas' mother Xellesia, who was killed by her rebellious gnomes, and the two witches fly off to find Tarabas and prevent him from discovering the origins of the dark cloud. Fantaghirò and her group have tracked the black cloud to Nekrad, a kingdom beneath a dormant volcano. There, they encounter a deformed man named Fiodor who tells them that the kingdom is ruled by Darken. Darken then emerges from Parsel's body, where he has been hiding from the very beginning. A fight ensues, and Fantaghirò is killed. An enraged Tarabas attempts to kill Darken, but Xellesia arrives and stops him. It is then revealed that Darken is Tarabas' father, and the black cloud was part of an elaborate plot to bring Tarabas back to his evil ways.

Darken promises to bring Fantaghirò back to life if Tarabas will embrace his dark side again. Tarabas is reluctant, but Fiodor talks him into it. It is revealed that Fiodor is actually Romualdo, transformed by Darken into a hideous monster in order to torment him with never being able to return to Fantaghirò. Fiodor also makes Tarabas promise to take care of Fantaghirò. Tarabas finally agrees to become evil again if it means that Fantaghirò can live, and Darken revives her. While Tarabas tries to convince Darken of his evil "honesty", Fantaghirò conspires with Fiodor, Angelica and a revived Parsel to rescue the stolen castles from Darken's collection and escape from the underground kingdom. After Darken is temporarily subdued, Tarabas, Xellesia and a reluctant Black Witch join the group in escaping from Darken's kingdom. Along the way, Xellesia sacrifices herself so her son will be safe.

Darken follows the group, and another fight ensues. In the end, Darken is defeated and Fantaghirò's castle is restored to its full glory. Fantaghirò has also realised that Fiodor is her beloved Romualdo. Fiodor tries to escape, embarrassed by his new form, but Fantaghirò insists that she does not love him for his looks. Tarabas is touched by Fantaghirò's devotion to Romualdo, and decides to move on with his life, promising Angelica that he will learn to love her. In the end, Fiodor transforms back into Romualdo (using edited footage from the first film), and the pair are reunited.

For many centuries two kingdoms have been at war at each other, though neither side remembers what the war is for. In one of the kingdoms, the warrior king has three daughters: Catherine, Caroline, and Fantaghirò. Although Catherine and Caroline are well-behaved princesses, Fantaghirò is outspoken, rebellious, and longs to fight in battle. She constantly argues with her father and two sisters who disapprove of her behaviour.

Fantaghirò secretly learns to fight when she befriends the White Knight, a mysterious warrior whom she meets in the forest. As they are training, she briefly crosses paths with Romualdo, the newly crowned king ruler of the neighbouring enemy kingdom. Romualdo is enchanted by Fantaghirò's eyes, but is unaware that they belong to the daughter of his sworn enemy.

Romualdo is tired of the war and sends an offer of a single duel to determine the outcome. Fantaghirò's father is told by the magical White Witch that only one of his daughters can win that duel. Seeing no other option, the King commands his three daughters to disguise themselves as male knights so they may fight Romualdo.

Fantaghirò relishes the opportunity and cuts her hair to make her look like a boy, but Catherine and Caroline are fearful. While traveling to Romualdo's kingdom, the three sisters argue about the wisdom of their fighting, and Catherine and Caroline decide that their youngest sister is the most qualified to win. Catherine and Caroline return to their father and Fantaghirò continues on her journey.

Fantaghirò eventually meets with Romualdo, who is confused when he recognises her eyes. After various attempts by Romualdo to discover her true gender by trickery, they eventually battle and Fantaghirò emerges victorious. However, she cannot kill him and returns home in shame. Fantaghirò's father, who is proud of what his daughter has achieved, forgives her. The King also allows Romualdo to continue to rule his people, on the condition that he marry one of the three princesses. Although at first Romualdo is hesitant to agree, when he sees Fantaghirò dressed up as a woman, the two kiss happily.

One ordinary day, 19-year-old Mercer White (Lou Taylor Pucci) steals a Volvo station wagon from a car wash, and leaves Eugene, Oregon to find his estranged half-brother Arlen, who is unaware that their mother has recently died. Soon after leaving, a cell phone in the car rings, and Mercer finds himself talking to the owner of the car, Kate (Zooey Deschanel), who lends him her car on the condition that he calls regularly to describe his trip to her.

Mercer travels to a bohemian pottery-making commune in Shelter Cove, California where Arlen once lived, but learns that he moved to Reno, Nevada. He passes through Fallon, Nevada to meet up with the seductive Joely (Jena Malone), his middle school crush. In Reno, they take ecstasy and almost have sex before Mercer resumes his search for Arlen. Later he finds himself on the set of a pornographic film, where the director (Julio Oscar Mechoso) tells him that Arlen left to work at a pet store in Sacramento, California. Joely asks Mercer if he can drive her cousin Buddy (Colin Fickes) and his friend Rid (William Lee Scott) to Mojave, California, where they are building their own car. While driving, Mercer finds Kate's YMCA card in the trunk of her car and, now knowing what she looks like, describes a dream to her in which he, Joely, and Kate are dancing in a re-enactment of ''Bande à part'' s dance sequence. Not wanting to get sidetracked, he tries to leave the others behind in a motel room, but when Buddy threatens to steal the car, Mercer tells him that the car belongs to his girlfriend, and Buddy, Rid, and Joely leave without Mercer in Kate's car. He hitchhikes to Mojave and finds the salvage yard where Buddy and Rid are working, and retrieves the car.

Mercer talks to Kate while driving, imagining her sitting in the back seat of the car, but she hangs up in jealousy when he mentions Joely for the first time. He arrives in Sacramento and finds the pet store where Arlen worked. The owner (Maura Tierney) asks Mercer to sing in her children's band, for which she plays as part of her probation. When he returns to the car, he finds somebody trying to break into it, only to discover that it is Kate. They spend the night at a hotel, but he leaves without her the next morning and catches a train to Los Angeles, California. With the help of a translator, he phones Arlen's last residence and learns from a Hispanic woman that Arlen is working at a hotel in Ensenada, Mexico. Mercer finally meets Arlen (Jsu Garcia) at the hotel in Ensenada, but Arlen assumes Mercer is just there for money. Enraged, Mercer tackles his brother to the ground and gets kicked off the premises. Kate later finds a bloody Mercer sitting on the side of a road and takes him to a hotel. She tells him that she let him take her car because she was attracted to him, and they have sex. The next day Mercer meets with Arlen again, more amicably, and tells him that he and Kate are driving to Louisiana to spread his mother's ashes.

Jackson (Benjamin Soames) has lived sheltered with his mother since his father's death when he was a little boy. He remembers the event from childhood, and is still troubled by it. His mother (Georgina Hale), is over-protective, and plays upon Jackson's emotions to keep him tied to her. On meeting an attractive policeman, he needs to decide whether to grow up or not.

Yang Gook-hwa ( ) is a nineteen-year-old country girl who leaves Yanbian and travels to Seoul because she is marrying Hong Soon-goo ( ), the third son in an average but respectable family. When she arrives in Seoul, however, she finds out that her fiancé has just died in a terrible car accident. Instead of returning to Yanbian, she decides to stay and create a new life in Korea while sending money back to her aunt and uncle. While she lives in Korea, she is taken in as a family member by Soon-goo's family. Hong Woo-kyung ( ), the son of Soon-goo's oldest brother Moon-goo ( ), especially cares for her like his own sister. Woo-kyung works in the marketing department of UT, a huge telecommunications company. His former classmate Park Yoon-hoo ( ), the son of UT's CEO, also works in the marketing department, in a higher position. Yoon-hoo's spoiled younger sister Yoon-jeong ( ) attends college. The oldest child, Yoon-ji ( ), is estranged from the family due to her marriage to a poor car salesman.

Yoon-hoo and Gook-hwa story

Several stories go on throughout the show, and the main story is the one focusing on the development of Gook-hwa and Yoon-hoo's relationship.

At the beginning, Gook-hwa and Yoon-hoo hate each other - Yoon-hoo despises her love for money and for behaving like a country bumpkin, while Gook-hwa detests Yoon-hoo's hot-tempered, icy exterior. He gives her the nickname "farm girl" because he finds her behavior crass. However, when Gook-hwa gets a job as Yoon-hoo's secretary, partly because of her ability to speak fluent Mandarin, Yoon-hoo gradually falls in love with her, as she is able to make him laugh and feel "alive" through her naivete and innocence.

Shin-hyung ( ), Yoon-hoo's childhood friend whom Yoon-hoo's parents want him to marry, notices the change in Yoon-hoo's attitude toward Gook-hwa, and is uncomfortable when Yoon-hoo appears to be getting closer to Gook-hwa, despite their upcoming wedding date. Her insecurity also stems from Yoon-hoo's apparent lack of commitment to their marriage.

Yoon-hoo tells Gook-hwa how he feels about her. She initially thinks he is drunk and rejects his feelings. Yoon-hoo tells his parents and Shin-hyung that he does not want to go ahead with the wedding. His father sends him to the company's Singapore office along with Shin-hyung, who also works in the same company, as a way to make Yoon-hoo forget Gook-hwa and get him to work on his relationship with Shin-hyung.

Gook-hwa learns that Yoon-hoo is going to Singapore, and realizes that she does have feelings for Yoon-hoo. Yoon-hoo confronts Gook-hwa while he is drunk, and demands to know whether she wants him to stay. She denies any feelings for Yoon-hoo. When Yoon-hoo is at the airport waiting to board his flight, Gook-hwa constantly thinks if she should chase after him and tell him the truth. She finally makes up her mind and runs to the airport, proving her true feelings. Yoon-hoo calls her but she does not answer the phone. She eventually fails to make it to the airport before his flight, as she thinks she is crazy for running the airport.

She decides to call Yoon-hoo, only to find out that he decided not to go to Singapore, and has chosen to leave his family, even giving up his credit cards and car. In episode 89, Yoon-hoo yells at Gook-hwa, saying that “I left my house to show my true feelings about you. Can't you be more honest and give me some courage? Now, you are the only one left for me!”

Despite the objections from the world, Yoon-hoo keeps on dating with Gook-hwa. However, Shin-hyung is plotting revenge on Gook-hwa, in order to get Yoon-hoo back. Under pressure from Yoon-hoo's father, Yoon-hoo is rejected by many corporations. Gook-hwa learns that Yoon-hoo is having a hard time and decides to leave him.

Meanwhile, Shin-hyung realizes that Gook-hwa really loves Yoon-hoo through the sacrifices that Gukhwa has made for Yoon-hoo's sake.

Yoon-hoo takes Gook-hwa, who worked as a Chinese translator for him, on a business trip to Jeju Island where an important exhibition is taking place. Yoon-hoo's father, Chairman Park finds Gook-hwa and Yoon-hoo there, and soon, Yoon-hoo has returned to UT as a planning manager in the marketing department, with Gook-hwa as his secretary. Yoon-hoo also decides to help Gook-hwa become more sophisticated and sends her to an academy to help her prepare for her college entrance examination.

However, Soo-jeong ( ), Yoon-hoo's ex-girlfriend, returns to Korea as a divorcee with her son from her previous marriage. Soo-jeong asks Yoon-hoo's mother what is she going to do if her son is Yoon-hoo's child. Yoon-hoo is shocked, and Gook-hwa realizes Soo-jeong's identity. Later on, when Soo-jeong's lie is exposed, and Yoon-hoo proposes to Gook-hwa.

Gook-hwa accepts Yoon-hoo's proposal, but persuades Yoon-hoo to return home, feeling that they have behaved rashly. Yoon-hoo agrees to her request, but Yoon-hoo's mother still opposes the marriage. On the other hand, Chairman Park decides to trust Yoon-hoo's decision, while Yoon-ji and Gwang Man support his decision as well, as Gook-hwa has gained the acceptance of Chairman Park, Yoon-ji and Gwang-man with her modesty and kind-heartedness.

A year later, Gook-hwa is pregnant, and has passed the college entrance examination. The show concludes with a scene of Yoon-hoo and Gook-hwa on a cruise ship on the Han River, celebrating her passing of the college entrance examination.

Woo-kyung and Yoon-jeong story

At first, Woo-kyung and Yoon-jeong meet at the funeral of Gook-hwa's fiancé. This does not start any relationship. Later, Yoon-jeong (being a bad driver) hits Woo-kyung's car and claims that Woo-kyung was at fault. Woo-kyung continues to try to avoid her, but Yoon-jeong chases him. Even though Woo-kyung tells her he is not interested, but she still chases him. Eventually Yoon-jeong says that she won't chase him anymore and she will stop wasting her time. Woo-kyung then starts to miss her presence all around, so he pursues her. In episode 95, Woo-kyung begs Yoon-jeong not to date Jin Soo and she came back to him. This eventually starts their relationship. When Yoon-jeong's mother finds out, she refuses saying that Woo-kyung has a poor background and family. However, Chairman Park, who is Yoon-jeong's father allows the marriage, claiming that Woo-kyung is too much for her. As the story goes, Yoon-jeong's mother doesn't let Yoon-jeong go out after she was greatly embarrassed in the public place by her and Woo-kyung. Woo-kyung goes to Yoon-jeong's house, firmly saying that he doesn't want Yoon-jeong to go to anymore dating.

Yoon-jeong then asks her older sister Yoon-ji what she did so that she could get their mother to let the older sister to marry. The Older sister then told Yoon-jeong that she faked her own pregnancy. Yoon-jeong then fakes her own pregnancy to her mother and her mother believes it. When she fakes it, her mother says that Woo-kyung and Yoon-jeong must be married quickly since sex before marriage is very bad in Korea. Woo-kyung and Yoon-jeong set a date and when her mother tells Woo-kyung that, he gets extremely angry. So does her mother. Yoon-jeong begs Woo-kyung and her mother for her dishonesty.

When Woo-kyung and Yoon-jeong get married, they go on a honeymoon/business trip because exhibition and honeymoon happened to be at the same time. Later in the story, you find out that Yoon-jeong actually got pregnant from Woo-kyung after their honeymoon. A recurring joke at this time is Yoon-jeong asking for something from Woo-kyung, he is going out to get it, and then she is telling him that she wants something else instead. A little later in the story, you also find out that Yoon-jeong is actually going to have twins. In the final episode, you see the twins born after the time lapse.

Later in the part, when Mr. Hong, the grandfather collapses, Woo-kyung decided to inherit his grandfather's tailor shop. Also, inheriting his grandfather's tailor shop was what he truly wanted to do. Woo-kyung's mother opposes his plan, reminding the fact from 10 years ago. However, Woo-kyung pursues his plan, with his new business ideas. A year later, Woo-kyung's tailor shop became famous nationwide, earned his fame as a great tailor. Woo-kyung earned a lot of money, however, maintains his original personality. Yoon-jeong became a mother of a boy and girl twin, still maintaining her bright characteristics.

Madame Atomos is a brilliant but twisted middle-aged female Japanese scientist who is out to revenge herself against the United States for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where she was born.

A sample ''Madame Atomos'' plot has the title character unleash a deadly new threat, such as radioactive zombies, deadly giant spiders, a madness-inducing ray, etc.

The heroes opposing Madame Atomos are: Smith Beffort of the FBI, Dr. Alan Soblen and Yosho Akamatsu of the Japanese Secret Police. With the help of former criminal Owen Bernitz, Beffort also organized the "Green Dragon" squad to fight Madame Atomos.

An interesting development was the creation by Madame Atomos of a younger version of herself, Mie Azusa, dubbed "Miss Atomos", groomed to continue the fight should she die. Mie eventually fell in love with Beffort, married him and joined forces with him to fight her evil progenitrix.

Madame Atomos herself regenerated into a younger self in the thirteenth novel, but remained as revenge-bent as ever.

In Baltimore, Maryland, Andie West pursues her dream of becoming a street dancer, but feels like she does not belong anywhere. Her mother recently died of cancer, so she now lives with a guardian, her mother's best friend Sarah. She is doing poorly at school, but her passion for dancing brings something good into her life. She rehearses regularly with her "crew", the 410, to retain top ranking in the illegal competition "The Streets".

Andie's friend and older brother figure Tyler Gage persuades her to audition for the Maryland School of the Arts, hoping it will help turn her life around the same way it did him in the first film. Andie auditions and Chase Collins convinces his older brother Blake, the school's director, to let her join. When the 410 find out about Andie's studies, they angrily kick her out. Andie and Chase form a new crew with help from many people Chase knows at the school who are not accepted as who they are. Chase has a copied key to the studio and the crew secretly practices their routine late at night when the school is empty. Missy, Andie's friend, joins the crew after dropping out of the 410 following Andie's removal. Missy tells the crew that the only way to enter the streets is to first do a prank and post it on the internet to show that the crew is entering the competition. Wanting revenge from being humiliated before, Chase decides to make a fool out of Tuck, leader of the 410, by leaving a dead fish in the vent of Tuck's home.

But the 410 doesn't like the fact that they had a new crew to compete with so they warn Andie's new crew to stay out of the Streets or there will be consequences. When Tuck finds Chase, he assaults him because of his prank. Chase comes into school the next day badly bruised and hurt. On top of that the dance studio has been trashed by the 410 late at night. Director Collins forbids the school from being involved in these types of competitions and expels Andie from MSA because of her involvement with the Streets competition; Andie proclaims herself the sole participant to protect her teammates. Chase attempts to defend her, but Director Collins is too busy with an upcoming MSA fundraiser to let her back in.

When Andie's guardian hears the news of Andie's expulsion, she becomes fed up with Andie's behavior and decides to send her to live with her aunt in Texas. Later that night, Andie receives a text message that the Streets is on that night, the same night as the MSA fundraiser. Along with Andie, her whole crew gets the text message. They decide to ditch the MSA fundraiser, and instead compete at the Streets. Andie's guardian hears about what Andie did to protect her crew and is proud of her; she reconsiders sending Andie to Texas and allows her to compete at the Streets with her crew.

When Director Collins goes in search of his students, he ends up at the Streets as well. He sees them compete and realizes that the street dancing he has been opposing is in fact a legitimate form of artistic expression. He accepts Andie back into MSA. With Andie's crew as a group of friends supporting her and her education now being secured, the film finds its optimistic ending.

The film is a highly fictionalized telling of a month in the life of the Zodiac Killer (played by Hal Reed). The film follows the killer (whose identity as the Zodiac Killer is not revealed until the end of the first act of the film) and a friend, Grover (a drunk, toupée-wearing truck driver who is divorced from his wife and in financial trouble from his divorce) as they meet and go about their normal day. Grover eventually has a nervous breakdown due to the upheaval in his life caused by his divorce, as he is denied the right to visit his daughter when he makes a surprise visit to his ex-wife. Taking his daughter hostage, the police are called and as he tries to escape, Grover sees the day's paper laying on the front steps announcing another murder by the Zodiac Killer. In a fit of madness, he declares himself the Zodiac Killer and lets his daughter go in order to flee. The police shoot him dead as he falls into a nearby pool.

The second act of the film follows the real Zodiac Killer, who the film positions as having a day job as a much put upon postal carrier. The death of his friend causes him to phone the police to announce that the man they killed was not the Zodiac Killer, then goes about a major killing spree culminating in him murdering a pair of lovers in a park. The film also portrays him as a Satanist and one who actively kills those in his personal life who mock him or are mean to him in his normal life or who he hears mock his alter-ego.

The final act of the film attempts to provide a motive for the crime. The Zodiac Killer visits his father in a hospital, where he is kept in a caged room on the top floor. It is implied that the Zodiac's father is mentally ill and has to be restrained 24/7 and refuses any verbal communication with his son. The Zodiac Killer begs for his father to talk to him only to be rebuked. The staff of the facility ask the Zodiac Killer to leave, claiming his presence "upsets" his father. On his way out, the Zodiac Killer takes out his anger on two patients, wounding one and killing another.

The film ends with a voice over monologue as the Zodiac Killer goes about his normal routine. The Zodiac Killer brags about how he will never be caught and taunts the viewers of the film telling them that other monsters like himself lurk out there, able to blend in with normal people to avoid being caught while doing evil.

Holiday Heart (Ving Rhames) is a gay African American man who performs as a drag queen at a popular nightclub in Chicago. He is talented, tough, compassionate, and a dedicated Christian. After his boyfriend dies, he befriends a down on her luck, drug addicted, single woman, Wanda (Alfre Woodard) and her young daughter Niki (Jesika Reynolds). Holiday offers them a stable home and becomes a much-needed father figure for Niki.

However, things go astray when the mother becomes addicted to drugs again and after a series of bad relationships, starts one up with a successful drug dealer Silas (Mykelti Williamson) who is as homophobic as he is chauvinist. Silas gives Holiday money and insists, with some threats, that he stay out of their life, which Holiday agrees to do before preparing to move to Paris.

Wanda and Holiday have a fight, and Holiday reveals that he was raped in jail. He was sent there after killing a man to protect his mother.

Niki is then left alone. Silas has to go away on a "business" trip, because Wanda starts to use too much of his product, and she becomes a prostitute to feed her drug addiction. Holiday steps in to take care of Niki and raises her as his own daughter. Under Holiday's guidance, Niki is baptized at the local Church, and graduates from elementary school with honors.

Soon after, a more friendly Silas re-enters their lives, and is thankful for what Holiday has done. He has been getting a house in Florida ready for Wanda and Niki, but is still earning a living by selling drugs. Holiday and Silas become a sort of "odd couple" as Niki begins junior high school, with Silas more willing to respect and tolerate Holiday.

After Silas brings Niki along on one of his illicit sales, she runs away and bumps into her mother, who is in a flophouse turning tricks. Ricky, Wanda's new boyfriend, shows pedophilic interest in Niki and Wanda agrees to prostitute her in exchange for heroin. However, Niki escapes as Ricky beats Wanda in anger. Silas finds Niki and leaves her in the care of Holiday.

As an angry teenager, Niki begins to rebel, and Holiday loses his temper and slaps her. Right before Christmas, Wanda appears at the gay nightclub where Holiday works and wants his help in getting clean and sober. The two walk to Holiday's car, with a bike for Niki, when Ricky and his associate, assault Wanda and steals Niki's bike gift. Holiday manages to beat them up, but not before Ricky gets into his car and runs over Wanda with his car, killing her. He then is stopped by officers.

The film then shifts to a few months later, where Niki is home from "spring break" and visiting her mother's grave with Holiday and Silas. Silas has returned and informs Niki and Holiday that when they get back from a trip to Paris, he has a surprise waiting for them.

''Dark Reflections'' tells the story of Arnold Hawley, a gay African-American poet who lives most of his life in New York City. The novel is divided into three sections, each illustrating a period in Arnold's life, arranged chronologically backwards, from age to youth. In the first part, "The Prize", Hawley is between 52 and 68; a book of his poetry wins a prize and is commercially successful, but neither of his next two books repeat this, and he falls further into poverty. In the second, "Vashti in the Dark" (named after a story by Stephen Crane), Hawley is in his middle 30s; the section tells the story of his brief marriage to a homeless woman. The third, "The Book of Pictures", is set in Hawley's college days, when he is attracted to another gay man, but does not act on his desires.

Maj. Joe Nolan (Cesar Romero) is the head of a South Pacific expedition to retrieve an atomic powered rocket that has vanished without a trace. His fellow serviceman and pilot, Lt. Danny Wilson (Chick Chandler), is also an expedition member. Aircraft mechanic Sgt. William Tatlow (Sid Melton) has also been recruited. The expedition includes the three scientists who helped build the rocket.

Their transport aircraft mysteriously crash-lands on a remote, unknown tropical island in the area where the rocket was lost on radar. Only two occupants are left on the island, a native woman (Acquanetta) and her young brother. The woman indicates something fell from the sky atop the forbidding, cloud-shrouded plateau that dominates part of the island. The rocket's fiery arrival caused the rest of the native population to abandon the island.

Expedition member Stanley Briggs (Whit Bissell) dies accidentally on the steep ascent up the escarpment. After long stretches of rock climbing, the expedition emerges from what turns out to be a toxic gas cloud cover. They discover a lush, prehistoric jungle inhabited by various dinosaurs and a large field of uranium, which is what disabled their electronic tracking equipment.

They come upon a Brontosaurus, which attacks Robert Phillips (Hugh Beaumont) as he retreats up a tree. Nolan and Wilson open fire, but they quickly discover that the dinosaur's thick hide absorbs bullets with little effect. Later that night they set up camp. When Nolan awakes, he finds Phillips and Russian scientist Michael Rostov (John Hoyt) gone. Phillips has gotten himself stuck in a large rock crevice near a Triceratops. Nolan accuses Rostov of arranging the accident on purpose, but Rostov insists that he was helping Phillips. The Triceratops nearly attacks the group, but another makes a challenge and the two dinosaurs fight to the death.

Nolan is convinced that Rostov, the scientist who helped make the rocket, is up to no good because he also appeared to be able to save Stanley Briggs on their ascent but failed to do so. Eventually, Rostov reveals himself to be a victim of the Holocaust in which he lost his wife and unborn child.

Wilson later shoots a Pterosaur for food near the rocket's landing site. The group soon discover that the rocket is surrounded by a Brontosaurus and a pair of Triceratops, but Nolan devises a strategy using their weapons that scare off the dinosaurs. Rostov and Phillips retrieve the needed data from the rocket. With his back turned, Tatlow is gored to death by an angry Triceratops, just as it is shot and killed by Nolan and Wilson. After the team finishes digging a grave, violent earthquake tremors begin, and the team must make a hasty retreat down the steep plateau.

The four manage to successfully return to the island's flatland in time to escape the island by using an outrigger canoe. The survivors are finally able to watch from a safe distance as the island is first rocked by more violent earthquakes, followed by a catastrophic eruption of the formerly dormant volcano, which ultimately destroys everything.

The Duke of Athens decrees that Hermia (Rose Tapley) shall forsake Lysander (Maurice Costello) in favour of her father's choice, Demetrius (Walter Ackerman). The lovers elope into the woods, quickly followed by Demetrius and his love, Helena (Julia Swayne Gordon). The town tradesmen, meanwhile, rehearse a play in honour of the duke's betrothal to Hippolyta. Back in the forest, Titania, Queen of Fairies (Florence Turner), quarrels with Penelope, who avenges herself by sending Puck (Gladys Hulette) away with a magic herb, which, dabbed on the eyes of a sleeping person, shall make the "victim" fall in love with the first person to appear after awakening. Soon, Lysander and Demetrius are smitten with the wrong girls and Titania has fallen in love with Bottom, the egotistical leader of the tradesmen, whom Puck has turned into an ass (donkey). When Penelope discovers all this mischief, she lifts the spell and the wedding of the duke and Hippolyta can proceed.

Ted is extremely happy in his new relationship with Robin, while Marshall wallows in depression following his breakup with Lily. Barney is unhappy with all of them, being forced to endure either Ted and Robin being cutesy together or Marshall lamenting the loss of Lily. After forty days, Marshall has yet to leave the apartment and Robin, Ted, and Barney discuss the situation. Barney takes Marshall to a strip club, telling him that he has not gotten over Lily yet because he can still picture her naked; unfortunately, all he can think about is Lily. Ted then takes Marshall to a Yankees-Indians baseball game, but when a couple becomes engaged a few rows down from them, Marshall freaks out and throws a hot dog at the couple.

Robin, who has been hiding from Ted the fact that she likes guns, takes Marshall to a firing range, which cheers him up a little. His good mood is short lived, though, when he finds one of Lily's credit card bills in the mail. Barney tells Marshall to look at her online credit card statement to see more recent charges, and Marshall discovers charges for a hotel in New York. Despite Ted's best efforts, Marshall calls the hotel and a man answers the phone in Lily's room, presumed to be her new boyfriend. Marshall decides to go to the hotel to beg Lily to take him back, but Ted finally snaps and yells at him that he is pathetic and has spent too much time wallowing in self-pity, and that going to Lily in his current state will ruin any chance he has of ever getting back together with her. Marshall agrees not to go to the hotel, and Ted and Robin leave for a romantic weekend after persuading Barney to look after Marshall. Ted calls Barney to see how Marshall is doing, but Barney, having taken Marshall to another strip club, realizes that Marshall is gone. Ted and Robin turn around and head to the hotel.

Ted finds Marshall in the hotel bar, and Marshall tells him that he had already gone up to Lily's room and punched the guy who opened the door. He then found out that the guy wasn't Lily's new boyfriend; he had stolen Lily's credit card and was later arrested for multiple counts of identity theft. Ted tries to reassure Marshall that Lily would not come back into town without calling him and she did not have a new boyfriend, but Marshall is upset that the last link that he had to Lily was a lie. Ted reminds Marshall of the first time that they met in college, before Marshall had met Lily, and encourages him not to let the breakup destroy him. Marshall promises to try to move on with his life, but relapses the next day. However, a week later (two months after his breakup with Lily), Robin and Ted wake up one Sunday morning to find Marshall tranquilly making the pancakes Lily used to make, thus taking the first big step to learning to live without her. As Marshall begins going out again, Lily appears at MacLaren's one night. She sees her friends having drinks and considers going in, but despondently leaves unnoticed after seeing how happy Marshall is without her.

The film is set in a British colony on the banks of a river flowing through the lowlands of Africa. A stranger named Deacon arrives in the tight-knit community, refusing to abide by its self-serving code. He immediately enters into disputes with the locals, including: businessman K.B. Priestley, who uses his authority in the community to disguise his personal weaknesses; his daughter Lydia, who uses the men in the community as rungs in her climb out of provincialism; Yorkie, a sour, manipulative club barman; and widow and cocoa heiress Mrs Blessington, who plays puppet-master from a distance.

Deacon writes and publishes a novel which draws on their weaknesses, which becomes a success back home, causing problems for its author. Before sunrise one morning, a boat sets sail upriver, carrying First Secretary Hugo Shrike and Deacon, who has made a rendezvous with a person he intends to kill.

Lauryn Kirk (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is an aspiring dancer. As there are no dance schools in her hometown of Glenwood, Indiana, Lauryn says goodbye to her brother, Joel (John Reardon) and departs for Chicago to audition for a famous dance school. Joel works as a mechanic in the family garage, and is wary of Lauryn's decision to leave but eventually gives her his blessing. When Lauryn dances at the audition, her mostly a hip hop dance routine, is rejected by the judge, who says that they need to see something more "sensual and feminine".

Dejected, Lauryn goes to a diner to down her sorrows, but soon finds her car towed off. Upon seeing her misfortunes, Dana (Tessa Thompson), a friendly waitress from the diner invites Lauryn to her apartment and out of the pouring rain. Dana subsequently offers Lauryn a place to stay, considering Lauryn could not go back home and face her brother. The next day, Dana brings Lauryn to a club called Ruby's (whose dances are rooted in burlesque), where she meets with Russ (Riley Smith), the slick-talking disc jockey, and Brenda (Karen LeBlanc), the club owner. Brenda hires Lauryn as a bookkeeper, in light of her skills with numbers. Lauryn watches as a dancer, Carmen (Julissa Bermudez) performs impressively on the stage.

Before locking up late one night, Lauryn goes on the stage and silently and elegantly dances, while unbeknownest to her, Russ watches from a distance. The next night, Brenda finds herself short of dancers. Russ asks Lauryn to dance, after having seen her graceful performance the previous night. Lauryn reluctantly agrees, and goes on stage. At first, new to the sexy routine, Lauryn looks foolish, but when Russ starts playing hip-hop music, Lauryn does a sexy hip-hop routine, and finds herself to be Ruby's new star. As Lauryn and Russ' relationship progresses, Lauryn continues performing stunningly on stage, much to Carmen's chagrin.

One night, Joel catches Lauryn at the club during a dance; After an argument, in which Lauryn realizes that Joel is losing the family garage due to stacking mortgages and bills, she decides to ditch the stage and return to Indiana to save the garage. Soon after though, Joel catches a peek of Lauryn joyfully dancing in the garage one day, and asks Lauryn to give the audition another shot. Lauryn returns to Chicago for a second audition. She nails it, and happily embraces Russ, who has come to encourage her. Lauryn goes back to Ruby's to apologize to Brenda, but finds a surprise congratulatory party awaiting for her, and the party breaks into dance.

Jerry steps out of his mouse hole, only to be met by a cleaver-wielding Tom rising his eyebrows. Tom tries to get him with the cleaver, and after a few tries, he hides underneath the "DOG" magazine. He falls down the stairs, and when he lands at the bottom the magazine opens to a page where a bulldog can be ordered. Deciding to order one to scare Tom, he writes a letter and takes it out to the mailbox.

The delivery truck shows up and the delivery man wheels in a large crate containing a loudly-barking dog. As Jerry signs for the crate, Tom is almost too scared to look on as he takes a crowbar to the crate. Jerry whistles for the loud dog to come out and it is a tiny bulldog even smaller than Jerry is in stature. Tom comes out to investigate and tosses the dog up a few times, pointing and laughing, which causes the dog to buzz saw his arm and tail fur off. The rest of this short sees Tom without fur covering either of his arms, although he regains that of his tail.

A satisfied Jerry pats the dog on the head, who then licks Jerry in the face and Jerry laughs in a ticklish manor. Stepping back, the dog feels an itch and scratches at a flea. When the pesky flea will not come off, the dog buzz saws itself, killing the flea. The now-proud dog tries to find Jerry searching around the crate, falling, and whimpering before seeing Tom in the window, holding Jerry by the tail in one hand and flicking his head with the other. The angry dog charges up, running around the yard, and as he is about to charge into Tom, he shuts the door while Jerry is trapped in a jar. The door, however, was no match for the dog who brings it down from the top. Tom and the dog flip the door over lengthwise and width-wise until the door is back in the door frame, and Tom is on the outside. Realizing his predicament, he runs and grabs an ax and tries to chop down the door as the dog opens the lid on the jar, landing in with the now-free Jerry. The two watch Tom, and when he breaks in, the dog buzz saws the ax handle, leaving the blade part to fall and hit his foot as Tom yells in pain before the dog buzzsaws his entire body.

At night, a heavily bandaged Tom heads to the hospital. Tom winces in pain while the doctor unwraps his foot, revealing the dog is still biting. Tom shrugs before unwrapping his tail, which Jerry is biting.

Dr. Fred Steele (Umberto Orsini) and Eve Barnett (Maya Brent) work together at an astronomical station on a bucolic island. Steele has just had his request for a transfer approved, and he and Eve look forward to leaving the island and getting married. However, their budding romance is quickly put on hold as the station's scientists learn they must deal with a rogue planet—"The Outsider"—that has entered the Solar System, and which is on a collision course with Earth. The brilliant but cantankerous Professor Benson (Claude Rains), living in an adjacent greenhouse with his dog Gideon, predicts that the Outsider will not strike the Earth but will simply make a close pass—a prediction that no other scientist will endorse. Meanwhile, a military base on Mars encounters the stray planet on its approach to Earth, and Commander Robert Cole and his wife Cathy quickly travel to the island outpost from Mars to help with the effort.

The base scientists are elated when the Outsider passes the earth at a distance of 95,000 miles, just as Benson predicted. But Benson himself is stunned when the Outsider takes up an orbit round Earth. He concludes that the Outsider must be controlled by an alien intelligence, and he calls upon the world's scientific governing council to destroy it without delay.

Against Benson's wishes, an expedition is launched to make a close study of the new planet. As the exploratory spacecraft approach, a number of disc-shaped alien spaceships emerge from beneath the planet's surface, destroying the Earth vessels.

The phantom planet begins spiraling inward toward the Earth, creating hurricanes and storms, and the beginning of the end appears to be near. Professor Benson discovers that the alien ships are computer-controlled, and he devises a way to seize control of them from the Outsider. Benson is given the opportunity to join an expedition to the Outsider, to learn something of its underground base. Meanwhile, a plan is hatched to launch an all-out attack against the planet, in the hope that a massive nuclear strike will break the planet apart.

Benson's expedition discovers a race of humanoid creatures dead at the controls of their planet-spaceship, as the automated systems continue their work without purpose. But the expedition has overrun its allotted time, and the order is given to begin the attack. It is a race against time as the members of the expedition try to get back to the ship before the nuclear warheads strike. Cathy is mortally wounded in the attempt to flee the Outsider. Benson refuses to leave, insisting that life without scientific knowledge is not worth living. He sees a way to communicate with the Outsider and program it to leave, but it is too late. The warheads reach their target, and the Outsider is successfully destroyed. As the exploratory ship returns to Earth, Commander Cole speaks Benson's epitaph: "Poor Benson—if they'd opened up his chest, they would only find a formula where his heart should have been". The screen fades out on Benson's little dog waiting for him by the window.

The main character, Golan, is a 20 something year old student nearing the end of his college studies, and is having a hard time deciding about his future. He sees no point in getting a job, finding a wife or stopping the endless round of parties. After a blind date with his best friend's quirky sister, he begins to question his life. Golan then begins a personal journey that has him challenge everything he has ever believed, about himself, about love and about the nature of life in contemporary Israel.

As professor Jonathan Drake (Franz) contemplates a shrunken head, he has a vision of three floating skulls. After recoiling in fear, he instructs his adult daughter Alison (French) to dispatch a telegram to his 60-year-old brother Kenneth (Paul Cavanaugh), to say that he will visit Kenneth on Thursday.

But before Jonathan can arrive, Kenneth sees a shrunken head outside his window. A tall man with long hair and his lips sewn closed, like a shrunken head's, pokes Kenneth with a bamboo stiletto, barely breaking the skin. Kenneth dies. The man, Zutai (Paul Wexler), attempts to behead Kenneth but is interrupted.

Police Lt. Jeff Rowan (Richards) is called. He meets Dr. George Bradford (Howard Wendall) - Kenneth's physician - and sinister archaeologist Dr. Emil Zurich (Daniell), a friend of Kenneth's. Not knowing of the attack on Kenneth, Bradford determines the cause of death of be cardiovascular disease. But he casually mentions that three generations of Drake men have died from cardiac problems at age 60. Jeff asks if there is a connection between the shrunken head and the death. Bradford doesn't think so. However, Zurich, apparently not saddened by Kenneth's sudden demise, proudly calls the shrunken head a "particularly fine specimen."

At Kenneth's, Jonathan learns of his death and demands that his closed coffin be opened. The body inside has no head, Zutai having finished the task. Zutai brings Kenneth's head to Zurich, who calls it "payment for the evils of your ancestors" and begins the process of shrinking it. He says that once he has Jonathan's head, "the curse will be finished."

At the family crypt, Jonathan tells Alison that all the Drake men are entombed there except Capt. Wilfred Drake, who in 1873 led an expedition to Ecuador. There, the Jivaro tribe killed Wlifred's "Swiss agent" and as revenge, Wilfred massacred the Jivaro men and boys. Wilfred also died. He was 60. The tribal witch doctor, Zutai, cursed the male Drakes. Jonathan says that each Drake in the crypt died at 60 and each body is headless. The crypt's locked closet contains two skulls. Neither he nor Alison know how they got there.

After Zurich sends Zutai to the crypt to deposit the third skull, Kenneth's, Alison explains the curse to Jeff. He is skeptical. At the crypt, Alison and Jeff discover the third skull. Zutai attacks Jonathan. He pokes Jonathan but is again interrupted and can't behead him. Jeff sees Zutai fleeing and shoots at him, but Zutai escapes. Bradford declares Jonathan dead. But Jeff has a sample of Jonathan's blood analyzed at the crime lab, where Lee Coulter (Frank Gerstle) finds curare in it. Jeff tells Bradford to administer an antidote, which revives Jonathan. He has another vision of floating skulls, but instead of the three he saw earlier, he sees four.

Lee dusts the three skulls in the crypt for fingerprints. The prints are the same person's - even though Jonathan's grandfather, father and brother died many years apart - and each print contains a tiny picture of a skull. Alison clears up the tiny skull mystery by showing Jeff a book about "The Cult of Headless Men", who achieved immortality and branded their fingertips with images of skulls. As the immortals needed no food or oxygen, they had their lips sewn closed.

Jeff goes to Zurich's to interview him, although he still discounts Zurich's suggestion of supernatural involvement. After Jeff leaves, Zurich and Zutai go off to kill Jonathan. But they can't as Jonathan has been taken to hospital after again seeing a vision of four skulls. Jeff surreptitiously returns to Zurich's house, finds his secret laboratory, and discovers Dr. Bradford's head. Bradford had gone to Zurich's to discuss the unusual occurrences.

Lee discovers that Zurich was the "Swiss agent" on the 1873 expedition but somehow still lives. Zurich kidnaps Alison. He displays the now-shrunken head of Bradford and says that Jonathan is next. Jonathan unexpectedly leaves hospital and, arming himself, goes to Zurich's lab. He reveals that Zurich is a creature with a "white" head attached to a "brown" Jivaro body. Jonathan raises his revolver to his head to kill himself so that his soul will escape from his skull, thus breaking the curse.

Jonathan and Zutai grapple for the pistol. Jeff bursts in and during a fight flings Zutai into an open flame. Zutai explodes. But Jonathan has Zutai's curare-laden stiletto and tells Jeff to poke Zurich with it. Jeff does and Zurich dies. Jonathan decapitates Zurich, forever ending the curse. Zurich's body turns to dust ... but leaves behind the intact fourth skull.

Pingu is helping Father deliver the mail. Pingu wakes up a penguin to deliver a parcel, but he's puzzled to receive it. Then his neighbor comes out and says it's for her, so Pingu grabs the parcel back and gives it to the other neighbor, who is delighted to get the parcel. the other neighbor on the other hand, gets very angry for not getting mail and shuts the door after yelling in anger. Father then gives the other neighbor more mail, but this time it was an envelope, as it's an invitation to a wedding. Pingu is curious and asks Father about it and he takes out an similar envelope and gives it to Pingu. Pingu is delighted and they go home. Mother was cooking and Pinga was playing until they were shown the envelope. A photo drops out of the envelope as Mother opens it and Pingu picks it up. Mother then exclaims happily that a penguin and a green penguin are getting married while reading the contents of the envelope. Father gets out his and Mother's wedding album with the green penguin friends and shows it to Pingu and Pinga.

Mother and Father go to get a present, leaving Pingu and Pinga at home playing with wedding clothing and drawing pictures for the bride and groom. The parents are shown a remotely operated Roomba, which they decide to get. The cleaner and remote are put on the table, and Pingu is intrigued. Father warns pingu not to touch the present and pingu nods his head. Mother then comes in and tells Father that she needs a new hat, so they go out to get one, and leave Pingu and Pinga alone at home again. Pingu touches the control stick, and the parcel moves. Pinga comes over to watch, as Pingu pushes the stick on the remote control full forward. The parcel takes off and hovers like a helicopter. Pingu finds that pulling the stick back makes it land. Unfortunately, when the parcel lands it over-balances and falls off the table, landing upside down and getting dented. Grandpa comes nearby their house and wonders what was going on. Pinga then explains the matter and Grandpa solves the problem by picking the box up and hiding the dent from the parent's view. when the parents return, Grandpa leaves and on the way greets the parents. The parents don't notice the box and Pingu gets anxious.

On the day of the wedding everything is ready, Pingu's family was getting ready and Grandpa put a small box in his pocket before he went. The whole family was in the snowmobile, they heard Grandpa on a hill in skis about to go down. he slid down and accidentally slipped, causing him to fall and break his leg. the whole family rushed as Grandpa was groaning in pain. Then they were alla t the hospital, where Grandpa's foot is thankfully in a cast, but he must be in a wheelchair for the whole wedding because of his foot. and the guests who have arrived are chatting at the wedding . Father and Grandfather chat to some of the other guests, and Mother and Pinga go to coo over an egg in a cradle being looked after by its mother. Pingu spots Robby, who is there as photographer and is polishing the camera, which is on a tripod. Robby taps the camera and the tripod collapses, which makes Pingu laugh. Pingu is looking at some flowers when he's called over by one of the green penguin family. She introduces Pingu to her son, who is about Pingu's age. The son greets Pingu by making rude noises, swaying from side to side, slapping Pingu on the back and shaking hands.

As it nears the time of the wedding they all go to anxiously look out for the groom, who hasn't yet arrived. The minister keeps looking at his watch. Then crying distracts them; the egg has hatched, and they all go to look at the baby. Meanwhile, Pingu is called over by Pongi's son, and they go and look at the cake. The green penguin and Pingu both naughtily sample the cake, and Pingu patches it up so it's not so obvious what has happened to it. Then the bride spots the groom and the others turn to look. The groom is momentarily distracted when his tie covers his eyes, causing him to crash into a block of ice, which sends him and the bouquet flying. He ends up sitting on the ice next to the bride, who catches the bouquet as it bounces off his head. Later they open the dented Roomba, which goes haywire by sucking up the bride's bouquet, and the groom attacks it with a stick. The Roomba spins its antennae like a helicopter and takes a little flight. It nearly hits Pingu's father, who drops the remote control, causing it to drop down to earth and break. Pingu takes the blame, and the green penguin's son comes and collects the sucked-up bouquet and drops it on the ground. Then he fixes the Roomba and it functions like normal. Everyone is now pleased.

Robby takes a photograph of the wedding party and the bride and groom leave on a sledge. When the family of green penguins are about to leave, Pingu begs the kid of the family to come with his family but Pinga disagrees and they start pulling him from side to side. The green penguin decides that he wants to come visit Pingu. Pingu and the green penguin both jump on the sled while Pinga gets on the snowmobile and they go home as the sun sets.

With Marshall and Lily's wedding reception in full swing, Ted and Robin begin discussing a big announcement, and when Barney overhears, he harasses them until they relent, telling him of what happened 2–3 weeks before the wedding. Ted and Robin say that they have not revealed it before, because of the wedding.

In the restaurant where Ted and Robin had their first date, Ted and Robin receive two complementary glasses of champagne. Robin discovers an engagement ring at the bottom of the glass, and begins to think that Ted is proposing to her. Barney reacts in horror at the thought they might marry, and Ted reveals Robin reacted with similar horror. The proposal was actually meant for a couple at another table; when the mix-up is clarified, the other woman accepts, but Robin's horror and subsequent relief unearths unresolved issues between Ted and her.

The restaurant owner recognizes Ted is the man who stole his blue French horn, Ted runs away, but runs into a waiter, food getting all over Robin and him. The restaurant owner forces Ted to return the blue French horn in order to get his credit card and driver's license back. They go to Robin's apartment, and Robin discusses that she does not want to settle down, and that she has always wanted to travel the world, going to places such as Argentina. Ted also expresses this desire, saying that he wished he had studied abroad for a year while at college and claiming that Argentina also needs architects. Since he just finished a big project at work (the Seattle project), he feels that now is as good a time as ever to travel the world. Barney is again disgusted by this idea, not on the terms of their relationship, but due to concerns of his being lonely in New York and Argentina being economically unstable.

Ted and Robin then discuss the issue of kids. Robin does not want to have kids, but tells Ted that if she was to have anyone's kids, she would have his. Before having sex, they realize that neither of them have a condom and initially decide to hold off, but then decide to take the risk. At this point, a terrified Barney believes that Robin is pregnant with Ted's child. His fears seem confirmed when he sees Robin catching the bouquet and making a point of not drinking.

As Marshall and Lily leave on the honeymoon, Ted and Robin then reveal that after they had sex that night, they realized that their relationship was not heading in a direction either of them wanted to follow, and that they could no longer pretend that these issues did not matter to them. After exactly a year of being together in a relationship, Ted and Robin break up, although they decide to remain on amicable terms. This further stuns Barney, who wondered why he had not heard. Through a flashback to the episode "Showdown", they explain that they decided to hold off announcing the breakup because of Lily and Marshall's impending wedding. As Robin is asked by a little boy for a dance at the wedding reception, Barney tells Ted that even though he had always joked about the two of them breaking up, he thought that they were a good couple. Ted agrees, but says that they were not headed in the same direction. Ted then gets a drink from the bar and a cigar from Barney, and tells an overjoyed Barney that he's going to need a wingman again. Future Ted then reveals that they eventually both got what they wanted out of life; Robin went on to travel the world, while Ted met his future wife. Ted no longer considers Robin to be "The One", and is finally able to move on.

Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily cannot eat at their own wedding reception because of things such as food being taken right out from under them and relatives congratulating them just as they are about to get a bite. Lily also gets drunk, and misses in her attempt to feed Marshall some cake. When they finally get to the limo, which is driven by Ranjit, Marshall asks to stop at a fast-food restaurant so that they can get something to eat. At the restaurant, Marshall begins to fully realize that Lily is his wife, and his realization makes him very happy. The season ends with Ted accepting Barney as his wingman, and Barney declaring the summer is going to be "Legen—wait for it..."

First season

''Life'' centers on Detective Charlie Crews, who at the start of the first season (set in 2007) is released from Pelican Bay State Prison after serving twelve years of a life sentence. In 1995, he was wrongfully convicted of the triple murder of his friend and business partner, Tom Seybolt, and all but one of Seybolt's immediate family. Thanks to the efforts of his lawyer Constance Griffiths, DNA evidence exonerates him of the murders. Having lost his job, his wife, his friends, nearly all contact with the outside world and even his grip on reality for a time while in jail, he emerges enlightened by the philosophy of Zen, a fixation with fresh fruit (which he acquired while in prison, as it is nonexistent on the inside), and an obsession with solving the murders that nearly cost him his life and exposing the conspiracy that framed him for it. After successfully suing the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, he is reinstated to the police department and receives an undisclosed amount of money, rumored at $50 million.

Crews is partnered with Detective Dani Reese, previously an undercover narcotics agent and now a recovering drug addict and alcoholic (thanks to her work and several betrayals as an undercover cop). Crews is not well received by Lieutenant Karen Davis, who, during the season, tries to force Reese into offering information that will see Crews suspended and eventually fired. Even though she herself is uncomfortable with her new partner, Reese backs Crews up on numerous occasions, and the two slowly develop a bond.

The overarching story of the first season concerns the murders for which Crews was wrongfully imprisoned, which leads him to confront various figures from his past such as his former patrol partner, his remarried ex-wife, and the detective who solved the triple-murder case and is still convinced of Crews' guilt. Near the end of the season, Crews manages to uncover information that implicates Reese's father (also a retired cop and Lt. Davis's former partner) in the murder. In the finale, Crews is able to bring the true killer, Kyle Hollis, to justice, but he remains unaware of the reasons behind his having been framed.

Second season

The second season premiered on Monday, September 29, 2008. On July 21, 2008, producers announced the second season would effectively re-launch the series with a new "pilot" episode. Earlier in March 2008, series creator and executive producer Rand Ravich explained that the second season would delve deeper into the conspiracy in the framing of Charlie Crews. Similarly, more of Dani Reese's past would be revealed.

Crews continues to investigate into the conspiracy to frame him and begins tracking some retired cops. He tracks down Rachel Seyboldt, the surviving member of his business partner's family and she moves in with him. Reese begins a relationship with the new captain after her father disappears. Crews eventually learns that he had been watched since the police academy, to eventually replace an aging crime lord. The intent was to corrupt Crews' friend Tom Seyboldt, who owned a bar with Crews and that by corrupting one business partner, they would also corrupt Crews. Mistakes were made, the Seyboldts were inadvertently murdered and Crews framed for the crime. The second season concludes with Crews trading himself for Reese after she is kidnapped by Roman Nevikov. Soon after, Crews kills Nevikov by crushing his windpipe. The last scene of the series shows Crews finally finding peace.

At the start of the series, high-schooler Riku Amami receives a cellphone picture from his dead step sister Amane with a hospital in the background. When he visits the said building, he is attacked by electromagnetic monsters called ''Kanshu'', which travel and reproduce using cellphone signals: if a human hears his cellphone giving off an eerie static sound, his body is then gruesomely converted into a Kanshu or suffers irreversible infection. Riku is saved by two warriors, Rena and Youhei, who wield Jinki weapons designed to destroy Kanshu. During the battle, however, Riku finds a cocoon, out of which hatches a toddler looking exactly like Riku's dead step sister Amane. As the situation goes downhill, Riku ends up receiving his own Jinki and gets drawn into the shadowy organization that fights the Kanshu.

Book I: Bikini

Sorry Rinamu is a fourteen-old boy who lives on Bikini Atoll. He and the other natives live through World War II under constant threat by the Japanese soldiers occupying the island. However, American forces attack the island one day and defeat the Japanese soldiers, freeing the island. The American victors give some of the items from the Japanese base to the natives while keeping the military equipment such as weapons. Sorry receives a magazine and is amazed by the cities and things he sees inside. He later repairs the radio in the captured Japanese base and learns of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War II soon ends.

Book II: Crossroads

An American battleship, the USS ''Sumner'', lands in the lagoon. A few days later, an American commander delivers the news to the natives that Bikini has been chosen as a site for Operation Crossroads, a series of nuclear tests, due to "ideal" conditions. He meets with the natives and asks them to relocate. Nine out of 11 ''alabs'' vote to move, with Sorry's uncle Abram and grandfather Jonjen casting dissenting votes. Despite their arguments that they should not submit to white men, the natives decide to relocate. The Americans tells the natives that the atoll will be returned in a few years, but Abram and Sorry believe that he is lying.

As scientists arrive on the atoll, it is being converted to a temporary military base. Abram comes up with a plan to stop the nuclear tests by sailing into the test area with a scarlet canoe, but he dies of a heart attack before he could carry out the plan. When Sorry decides that he should do it, the natives believe that he is insane. However, he is accompanied by Tara Malolo, a local teacher, and his maternal grandfather, Jonjen.

They paint a canoe bright red for visibility while the scientists prepare the aircraft ''Dave's Dream'' for the ''Able'' test.

Book III: The Bomb

Sorry, Tara and Jonjen carry out their plan, but the ''Dave's Dream'' crew fail to notice the canoe and drop the bomb. The three are killed in the blast.

The story is broken up into eight differing sub-stories all involving a series of sentient mechanical puppets known as Vendémiaire (which is also the name of each). These stories all have a similar formula involving a Vendémiaire puppet encountering a boy or man that tries to help them with varying levels of success, usually trying to attain freedom for them. Overall these stories are somber and explore different contrasting opinions of human nature and how the Vendémiaire are treated by humans, often like slaves or worse. The Vendémiaire puppets have wings, and there is a strong flight motif throughout the various stories.

Eddie Baxter is on the beach telling the story about what happened when his family inherited a spooky old house through his mother's family. After moving in, he discovers a strange crack running through the length of the basement with smoke coming up through it. The smoke soon starts resulting in strange activity through the house. At night, his father, Frank, is compelled to sculpt figures out of chocolate pudding while his mother, Kate, and sister, Linda, both go into a trance-like state and watch him. The following morning, they do not remember any of their behavior. Although his father tries to seal the crack, he later breaks it open again.

Eddie's aunt and uncle soon move into the house which they believe in rightfully theirs. By now, paranormal beings have started appearing in the basement, and his sister, Linda, discovers her bedroom has turned into an Egyptian tomb. A female vampire named Charlene appears in Eddie's room and gives him a mysterious coin, and Gramps mentions talking to his deceased friend, Leonard.

The following night, everyone but Eddie is in a trance again as his father sculpts from chocolate pudding again. In the basement, Eddie encounters an Egyptian priest named Kharis, who reveals the smoke heralds the release of the forces of evil. Charlene reveals the universe is lining up to release the energies on Saturday the 14th, which is the same day as his birthday. Unable to get his family to take him seriously, Eddie tries sealing up all the openings in the house to keep the smoke from spreading. and calls up a plumber, but the smoke turns him into a chicken. Meanwhile, his sister becomes a giant trapped in her room, the house prevents his father from painting it, the kitchen table spins as Leonard's voice announces he is coming, and the monsters are freely wandering through the house among other strange things. When Eddie successfully blocks all of the smoke from escaping the basement, everything reverts to what passes as normal.

Grandpa turns out to be the only one who believes Eddie's claims, but the smoke eventually builds up and blows down the cellar door. Even more monsters are now moving into the basement, and they tell Eddie that because of his birthday, he is one of them and the worthy successor of the Evil One. However, Eddie just wants to be normal, and his family becomes complacent to all the activity going on. Eddie tries reaching out to his teacher for advice, but she tells him to accept his destiny as the monsters chase him back to the house. Linda gets shrunk down and takes a trip through the pipes of the house before landing full-size in the basement, joining the side of the monsters.

When the monsters have a party in the house, Eddie meets Princess Takatiri, who tells him to give in to his powers. He uses them to conjure cheeseburgers and turn his sister into a rag doll, but the monsters want him to use his power for evil pursuits. He is also told to get rid of his parents as horns appear on his head, but he resists. After Leonard arrives, Eddie learns that his grandfather is not really his grandfather. Gramps reveals he is actually a wizard who moved into the family to watch over him. After testing Eddie over his intentions, Gramps removes his horns and gives him a bell to destroy the monsters while they are all together before midnight. However, he loses the bell twice. Facing the monsters, he ends up trapped in a coffin as the Evil One arrives, but Gramps and Leonard free him. Eddie goes on to battle the Evil One amidst scenes of violence and catastrophes as the crack in the basement expands over the world. When he realizes he still has the coin, he flashes the smiley face on it to the Evil One, driving him away and restoring the world to normal with him and Princess Takatri on the beach.

''Lipstick Jungle'' is a dramedy following the professional and personal lives of three best friends, all of whom are top professionals in their respective careers. Victory Ford (Lindsay Price) is a fashion designer, Nico Reilly (Kim Raver) is the editor-in-chief of ''Bonfire'' magazine, and Wendy Healy (Brooke Shields) is the former president of Parador Pictures, currently producing independently. These three powerful women are always there to support one another and navigate the crazy, romantic, and sometimes scary world that is New York City.

Carpoolers is the story of four very different men. Gracen, the lead character of the show, is an uptight mediator with a wife and son. He and his carpooling companions, Aubrey, a stressed family man, Laird, an egotistical dentist who has lost everything in a divorce and Dougie, a young member of the carpool whose marriage is often mocked by the others, all work at the same building complex. Apart from Gracen and Laird, who are best friends, they usually have no contact outside the carpool. However, in "The Recital", the four realize they are all friends, and become closer. Each episode begins with a cold open of the four carpoolers in a car, usually singing along with a past hit song with the exception of episode 6, in which Aubrey sings along enthusiastically with a commercial for women's pantyliners much to the disgust of everyone else. Following the cold open is a short Carpoolers theme song.

Twenty-three-year-old Peter Foster is an only child who lives at home, where he constantly hears his parents arguing. Because Peter does nothing all day, the family goes to a clinic where a therapist videotapes them. After Peter watches his tape, he views the tape of a troubled Armenian family, who gave their only son away for adoption when they arrived in Canada. Peter decides to visit this family, and he pretends to be their son, Bedros Deryan. The Deryan family welcomes him with open arms, and Peter tries to patch up the poor relationship between George Deryan and his daughter Azah.

A young, autistic girl at a hospital holds the key to defeating other-dimensional monsters that seek to kill everyone.[http://www.solarfilms.com/elokuvat/kaikki/darkfloors/en_GB/darkfloors/ Solar Films]

Charlie is a little boy in a small French village at the Atlantic coast. For three days he watches seven men who occasionally meet each other.

Kate Cold, an ''International Geographic'' reporter, is on safari in Kenya with her grandson Alex and his friend Nadia. They soon meet Angie Ninderera, a bold and seductive pilot, and Brother Fernando, a Catholic missionary who needs to reach a jungle-girt village called Ngoubé; its people are tended to by his friars. In a recent letter his friars described him their toil and the dangers they were facing due to the chiefs’ disesteem for their presence. Some time ago these chiefs—King Kosongo, commandant Mbembelé and sorcerer Sombe—seized Ngoubé, toppled its queen, and subjected its people to ceaseless attrition. Kate and her friends agree to help despite Fernando’s and Angie’s rows.

Once in the village, they masquerade as reporters who wish to interview the king on his “famed power and wisdom,” but Kosongo has them locked in a sentineled, empty hut. Nadia slinks out to the village’s women, who have been living in jail while the males have become cruel spies. She and Alex flee to find the queen and the pygmies, who all vow to mutiny.

A fleet-footed pygmy duels and tires the commandant, who is chased off by Alex in his jaguar form. Sombe appears to quell the revolt, but Nadia appears along with the queen and a group of powerful friends. The foe is vanquished, and when Angie removes his mask, it turns out that he, Mbembelé and Kosongo are one. The man is tossed to the crocodiles.

Fernando says he will help the locals rebuild their lives, and Angie succeeds in phoning a friend of hers, who agrees to pick up her and the others.

Two years later: Alexander is a medical student at Berkeley, and Nadia is at last willing to go to college, too. He lands in New York, where Nadia and Kate share a flat, to take his friend to a ceremony. It turns out that Kate has written three books on their adventures.

Based on the best-selling series of books by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, the series revolves around the lives of four women in San Francisco – a homicide detective, an assistant district attorney, a medical examiner, and a newspaper reporter – who come together to use their expertise and talents in their respective fields to solve murder cases. Though they lead distinctly different lives, they are bound together by a strong bond of friendship, which leads the women to realize that pooling their resources during investigations leads to undiscovered clues and answers in both work and their personal lives.

Strange objects have been sighted on the Moon near Mons Pico. Suspecting a communist plot, the British Government quickly formulate a plan to photograph the domes from above at a closer range. The rocket is not large enough to send a man - enter Chris Godfrey, a 17-year-old science whiz with an interest in rocketry and crucially less than 5 feet tall!

The launch site is Woomera Rocket Research Station in South Australia, but there may be a Soviet traitor amongst the ground crew...

The book pre-dates the first actual usage of satellite imagery by two years, and human spaceflight by four years.

Broadway stars Gwen Marlowe (Jeanette MacDonald) and Ernest Lane (Nelson Eddy) are appearing in a 6-year run of Victor Herbert's operetta ''Sweethearts'' (Ray Bolger dances the role of ''Hans''). They are also very much in love after six years of marriage. Norman Trumpett (Reginald Gardiner) is a successful Hollywood talent scout under pressure to recruit Marlowe and Lane for his studio, which their Broadway producer Felix Lehman (Frank Morgan) is equally determined to prevent.

The couple's attempts to rest and be together are repeatedly thwarted by professional and personal demands made on their time, talents and money by Lehman and their own theatrical families - who also live with them. Frustrated beyond endurance and seduced by Trumpett's idyllic (and false) description of working conditions in Hollywood, they decide to quit the show and take the Hollywood offer. (In guise of buying a new wardrobe for the trip Jeanette MacDonald models fashions of 1938.)

This spells “the end” for the Broadway production, news so devastating that constantly feuding playwright Leo Kronk (Mischa Auer) and composer Oscar Engel (Herman Bing) stop fighting long enough for Lehman, Kronk and company to hatch a counter-plot. By convincing Marlowe that Lane is having an affair with his pretty secretary Kay Jordan (Florence Rice) they split-up the happy couple, putting an end to the Hollywood deal and allowing Lehman to mount two separate touring companies of the show, each with one star and one understudy.

Delighted with the outcome, Engel produces Kronk's new play - which closes in a week. From a ''Variety'' review of the play, Marlowe and Lane realize they were tricked and join forces to confront Lehman, but nonetheless resume the Broadway run of ''Sweethearts'' together.

When die-hard horror movie fan Merv Doody (James Heathcote) finds a dangerous escaped mental patient at his doorstep, he has a panic attack but regains his cool when he realizes the potential in the hapless killer. Merv invites best pal Onkey (Dan Palmer) over and the two soon set about executing a makeover on the maniac to create the ultimate slasher movie villain. Outfitted with a snazzy orange jumpsuit, an appropriately menacing hockey mask, and armed with a spatula, Merv and Onkey's murderous creation soon sets out on a violent rampage that sends the small-town citizens of Redwater Cove running for their lives. Upon realizing that they are the only ones who can put an end to the bloody killing spree, the longtime horror fans prepare to put their vast knowledge of slasher disposal to the ultimate test.

An obnoxious student (Parker Stevenson) and his buddies play obnoxious pranks on women at a school of medicine.

A buzzard egg is mysteriously delivered to two sparrows, Gwendolyn and Monte. The "upper crusty" and very proper English Sparrows are not accustomed to having a repulsively ugly (and incredibly stupid) little bird about, but Gwendolyn convinces her husband that the baby bird will grow into a "beautiful swan". Unfortunately, as the narrator tells us, the little ugly bird grows into a very large ugly bird. Monte cannot even stand hearing the name of their "progeny", particularly when eating. But nonetheless, he takes Beaky out into the world to demonstrate the art of hunting for prey, such as barnyard fowl. Of course Beaky, being incredibly shy and inept, repeatedly causes many grievous injuries to Monte, and it is all Monte can do to salvage what little self-respect remains.

To the lunar domes previously photographed in ''Blast Off at Woomera'' and situated near Mons Pico has been added a cone emitting powerful neutron radiation which is causing havoc to the Earth's nuclear power stations. The diminutive Chris Godfrey has the job of piloting a British rocket to plant a homing beacon next to the cone to enable a strike by American rockets carrying Soviet nuclear warheads...

The show was officially pitched as "the story of four friends at the top of their game... until the women in their lives enter the room. Lines between boardroom and bedroom blur when these competitive but dysfunctional CEOs take refuge in their friendship, discussing business, confiding secrets, seeking advice and supporting each other through life's surprising twists and turns."

During the show's short run, each character had one or two major plot arcs that generally did not overlap. The principal characters were tied by their wealthy lifestyles, friendship and regular visits to their men's club, where they commiserated while engaging in leisure activities in the sauna, pool room, golf course and the like. James was promoted to the position of his late boss, but discovered that his wife had had an affair with the man. The fallout of the divorce, and his romantic relationship with his VP, Katie, were his main plot lines. Duncan tried to win back his first wife (the mother of his twenty-something daughter). His efforts were thwarted by personal scandal (sex with a trans woman) and the machinations of his professional and personal rival. Additionally, a mentally-troubled young man insinuates himself in Duncan's life, claiming to be his son. Karl takes up a mistress, but quickly ends the relationship. Ironically, his wife (who knows nothing of the affair) becomes the woman's best friend and she moves in with the couple. His story lines center on this ironic situation, along with the couple's infertility. Brody is characterized as hen-pecked at home, and the somewhat put-upon friend of the four. His connections often help them (especially Duncan) in their times of trouble. His chief actions surround his efforts to procure a higher clientele.

A tree that three young chipmunk brothers Alvin, Simon, and Theodore live in, is cut down and driven to Los Angeles after JETT Records purchases it as a Christmas tree. Struggling songwriter and composer David Seville has his latest demo rejected by their chief executive, Ian Hawke, his college roommate, who suggests that Dave give up writing songs. The Chipmunks hop into a basket of muffins that Dave stole from one of Ian's coworkers, and follow Dave home.

Once there, Dave discovers the Chipmunks and kicks them out of the house, only to hear them sing "Only You (And You Alone)", and "Funkytown." Dave then makes a deal with the Chipmunks to sing songs he writes in exchange for shelter. Later, when Dave tries to present the Chipmunks to Ian, they fail to sing because of stage fright. The day worsens as Dave is dismissed from his advertising job due to the Chipmunks having unknowingly ruined his presentation. While hosting dinner with former girlfriend Claire, Dave struggles to hide the Chipmunks after Alvin attempts to create a romantic atmosphere, making Claire uncomfortable and causing her to leave. To make it up to him, the Chipmunks go to Ian's lavish mansion where they sing Dave's song to him, prompting Ian to sign a record deal.

The Chipmunks quickly become internationally successful. When Dave, concerned for their well-being, insists that the Chipmunks are too young to handle fame, Ian convinces them that Dave is holding them back. After a misunderstanding, the Chipmunks choose to live with Ian, whose only interest is profiting off the Chipmunks’ success as they set off on a nationwide coast-to-coast tour where Ian exploits their naïveté by overworking them constantly. Frustrated by what Ian has done to the Chipmunks, Dave decides to infiltrate their concert at the Orpheum Theatre to take them back.

Before their tour can begin, a veterinarian explains to Ian that the Chipmunks' voices have been worn out due to exhaustion and suggests that they take a long rest, but Ian, unwilling to issue refunds, advises the Chipmunks to lip-sync. With Claire's help, Dave is allowed into the concert; the Chipmunks hear Dave calling and decide to sabotage the show. Dave is taken hostage by security and Ian steps on the Chipmunks' tails, locks them in a cage, and prepares to take them on their world tour, escaping in his limousine with Dave in pursuit, though the Chipmunks have already escaped into Dave's car. As Dave and the Chipmunks reconcile, Ian uncovers the escape, which costs him both his career and his fortune.

John T. Unger, a teenager from the Mississippi River town of Hades, is sent to a private boarding school near Boston. During the summer he visits the homes of his classmates, the majority of whom are from wealthy families.

In the middle of his sophomore year, a young man named Percy Washington is placed in Unger's dorm. He rarely speaks, and when he does, it is only to Unger. Percy invites Unger to his home for the summer, the location of which he only states as being "in the West." Unger accepts.

During the train ride Percy boasts that his father is "by far the richest man in the world", and boasts that his father "has a diamond bigger than the Ritz-Carlton Hotel."

Unger later learns that he is in Montana, in the "only five square miles of land in the country that's never been surveyed," and Percy's boasts turn out to be true. Cover of a book of stories containing the novella. Percy's ancestry traces back to both George Washington and Lord Baltimore. His grandfather, Fitz-Norman Culpepper Washington, decided to leave Virginia and head west with his slaves to enter the sheep and cattle ranching business. However, on his claim he discovered not only a diamond mine, but a mountain consisting of one solid diamond.

Washington immediately finds himself in a quandary; the value of diamonds multiplied by the sheer number available for him to mine would make him the richest man ever to live, but, based on the economic law of supply, the sheer number of diamonds, if ever discovered by outsiders, would drive their value to near zero, thus making him a pauper.

He immediately hatches a plan, whereby his brother reads to the African-American slaves a fabricated proclamation by General Nathan Bedford Forrest that the South had defeated the North in the American Civil War, thus keeping them in perpetual slavery. Washington travels the world selling only a few diamonds at a time, in order to avoid flooding the market, but enough to give him enormous wealth.

Apart from enslaving people, the Washington family goes to further appalling lengths in order to keep their diamond a secret. The founder Fitz-Norman found it necessary to murder his own brother, who was "too fond of drinking" and might have betrayed the secret while drunk. Airmen who stray into the area are shot down, captured, and kept in a dungeon. People who visit are killed and their parents told that they have succumbed to an illness while staying there.

John falls in love with Percy's sister, Kismine, who accidentally lets slip that John too will be killed before he is allowed to leave. That night, aeroplanes launch an attack on the property, having been informed by an escaped Italian language teacher. Percy's father offers a bribe to God, "the greatest diamond in the world", but God, being the Owner of everything, naturally refuses. John, Kismine, and Jasmine, another sister, escape while Percy and his mother and father choose to blow up the mountain rather than leave it in the hands of others. Penniless, the three survivors are left to ponder their fate.

Claude (Alain Cohen) is an 8-year-old Jewish boy living in France during the Nazi occupation. To reduce the chance that he would be sent to Auschwitz or a similar fate, his parents send him to live with a farm family, the elderly parents of Catholic friends of his parents. (In reality, many French urban Jews made similar choices for their children.) The elderly couple honestly think that the boy has been sent to live with them because Paris is dangerous; it never crosses their mind that Claude is a Jew.

Claude is given a new last name (Longuet), is taught a few things about Catholic ritual, such as the Lord's Prayer, and most important, is told to never let anyone see his circumcised penis (in France, generally only Jews and Muslims are circumcised); thus Claude's strange prudishness at bath time. Otherwise, he plays well the part of boy grateful to be safe in the countryside, building a warm relationship with Pépé (played by veteran character actor Michel Simon) and Mémé (Luce Fabiole), his simple and likeable surrogate grandparents. They form a strong and mutually affectionate bond.

There is a fly in the ointment; Claude's willing protectors share in the prejudices common to their time and place, anti-Semitism included. They believe World War II to be the fault of Jews, communists, Freemasons, and worst of all, the British who can never be trusted. Pépé considers Marshal Philippe Pétain, the puppet leader ruling France under Germany's thumb, a hero. Pépé attempts to pass his anti-Semitic convictions on to the boy. The boy plays along with the old man, teasing him about his prejudices but never revealing the truth about himself.

The story revolves around the Christmas adventures of three students in Nøddebo, in the 1860s. Siblings Christopher, Frederick and Nicolai were invited by the local pastor and his wife for the holiday celebration. Christopher and Frederick fell in-love with the daughters of their host family. Nicolai, however, wooed the girls and felt distraught when he found out about his older brothers’ feelings.

Joel Rothman (Jonas Chernick) is suffering from insomnia after having massive problems in his personal life including a separation and being targeted by his boss. As a psychotherapist he is assigned three patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. He must treat them to figure out his own life.

Kleinman, a meek salesman, is awoken late one night by a mob led by a man named Hacker, who forces him to join their vigilante group dedicated to catching a serial killer who frequently changes his modus operandi. Hacker claims to have a plan to catch the maniac, but when Kleinman asks about what he has to do, each man in the group says that they are only aware of their own part of the plan so the killer won't catch on. They march him to the street to stand guard and leave him on his own to await his part in the plan.

Kleinman is eventually joined by a doctor, who tells him that his interest in the case is to catch the killer so he can understand a psychopathic mind. The doctor leaves, and Kleinman hears screams in the night. He then meets a prostitute, Gina, and the two contemplate death and the possibility of life in the universe. Gina eventually leaves too, before the doctor returns mortally wounded by the maniac. A policeman and another man find the body. The man tells Kleinman that Hacker was murdered, but by a rogue faction of his vigilante mob who splintered off when they disagreed with his ideas on how to catch the killer. The two mobs arrive and demand that Kleinman join them, before getting into a large fight.

A third mob shows up, having hired a clairvoyant named Hans Spiro to identify the killer. Spiro says that Kleinman is the maniac, and the mobs join to perform a kangaroo court and sentence him to death. Just before Kleinman's hanging, a man arrives to tell the group that the killer has been spotted. The mob apologizes, and all run off. Kleinman is again left alone, before the real maniac, who resembles Kleinman, enters. The two converse briefly, and the killer admits to being a psychopath but insists that he can kill easily by pretending to be sane before he stabs Kleinman and exits. Kleinman is discovered dying by the mob, who bicker over his body until he expires. After Kleinman's death, another man arrives and tells the mob that the killer has been spotted in a different location, and they all run off again.

The story begins with Clark Kent and Lois Lane, along with the entire town, observing a scientist's (who resembles Captain Marvel's nemesis Doctor Sivana) demonstration of his magnetic telescope. A giant, u-shaped magnet connected to the telescope is pointed at a comet and turned on, drawing the comet towards the observers. Something goes wrong, however, and the comet crashes into the town, rolls through the streets, and then tumbles into the ocean nearby.

Newspapers the next day report the disaster, and the police are shown arguing with the scientist, who claims the importance of his work is worth the risk of human lives. The police say, as Lois looks on, that they will stop any attempt to try the experiment again, but the scientist refuses to quit, reminding them that any attempt to stop him could prove disastrous. He runs into his telescope room and shuts the door before the police can stop him, and begins his experiment again. Just as the magnet pulls the comet into earth's gravitational pull, the police jam a piece of metal into the electric generator running his machine and cut its main wires with axes. The comet, now out of the scientist's control, hurtles towards the town in a bright circle of light.

The magnetic telescope controlling a comet. As the police and scientist flee, Lois calls the Daily Planet from the scientist's building, reporting the impending disaster as the building crumbles around her and pins her. Clark happens to be standing nearby, and takes a cab to get to the telescope. As he nears the building, pieces of the comet destroy the road in front of them, and the cabby flees; Clark takes this opportunity to change clothes in the back of the car, becoming Superman.

Superman saves Lois from the rubble of comet-shards, and then streaks towards the hurtling comet, striking it full-force, but he bounces off, delaying the inevitable only slightly. While Superman lies unconscious, more comet-shards crush buildings, cars and trains across the town. Superman awakes and flies at the comet again, but with similar results, falling into the telescope's generator room. He notices the metal bar in the generator and removes it, then winds some cable around its rod and pulls, sending the generator into motion. He then completes the circuit to the scope by grabbing both ends of the cut wire and allowing the electric current to run through his chest from arm to arm. Lois sets the machine to reverse, and the comet is sent back into space just in time. Superman's silhouette appears in the telescope control room, and Lois kisses him; much to her chagrin, the silhouette is Clark.

The dramatists chose to portray only the beginning of the story of Caesar and Cleopatra in their play; they concentrate on the events of 48 BC. The play is set in Egypt; at its start, the Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII has sequestered his sister/wife/queen Cleopatra and has assumed sole rule of the kingdom, and the Battle of Pharsalia has not yet occurred. By the play's end, Caesar has deposed Ptolemy and placed Cleopatra in sole possession of the Egyptian crown. The play's Prologue specifically states that the work shows a virginal "Young Cleopatra...and her great Mind / Express'd to the height...." Some of the famous aspects of the story are reproduced in the play: Cleopatra has herself delivered to Caesar in Act III, though enclosed in a "packet" rather than rolled up in a rug.

The playwrights chose to concentrate much of their attention on the figure of Lucius Septimius, the Roman officer who betrayed, murdered, and decapitated Pompey the Great when Pompey landed in Egypt after his Pharsalia defeat (events depicted in Act II). Septimius is the "false one" of the title, and his prominence comes close to turning the work into a "villain play." Yet Septimius is portrayed as lacking any redeeming or sympathetic quality, making him a weak prop on which to mount a drama. The authors' choice in this matter may have been dictated by their desire to comment on contemporaneous political events; in this interpretation, the Pompey of the play represents Sir Walter Raleigh, executed in 1618, while the loathsome reprobate Septimius stands for Raleigh's primary accuser, Sir Lewis Stukeley.

Critics have seen the influence of Shakespeare's ''Antony and Cleopatra'' in ''The False One,'' and have suggested that the portrayal of Septimius was partially modelled on Shakespeare's Enobarbus. ''The False One'' is heavily dominated by political material, rather than dramatic realisations of its characters; for some critics, the split in the play's focus among Cleopatra, Caesar, and Septimius prevents the play from cohering into an effective dramatic whole.

A king's wife dies in childbirth, leaving a boy heir. The godmother, the "Good Queen", names the boy ''Alphege'' and keeps an eye on him from afar. Alphege is brought up by a lady courtier and her husband, who also have daughter, Zayda. The king eventually remarries and has another son; the new queen becomes jealous that Alphege, and not her own son, will become king and seeks help from her friend the "Fairy of the Mountain". The Good Queen sends Alphege a talisman, a red ruby, which will protect him only within his father's realm. The wicked queen fruitlessly plots to get Alphege out of the country, until chance intervenes and he is sent to visit the king's sister. On the way, the entourage stops by a brook, where Alphege drinks the water and immediately rushes off and disappears. Searchers are told by a mysterious black monkey that he will not return until after they have failed for some time to recognise him. The entourage returns; the king dies in his grief and the wicked queen's son becomes king.

Years later, the king is out hunting and spies a green monkey looking at him strangely; he entices it to eat and takes it back to the palace. Soon later, the monkey escapes to the house of Zayda and her mother (the father having died). The mother becomes convinced it is Alphege, and then the Good Queen appears to her in a dream. She and Zayda follow the Good Queen's instructions and restore Alphege. Meanwhile, the wicked queen implores the king to kill an "impostor" raised up by plotters of a revolt. Instead, he makes inquiries and goes to confront the women at their home. He is astounded to meet Alphege, and immediately renounces his crown. At the palace, Alphege displays the ruby talisman, which splits with a loud noise, and the wicked queen dies. Alphege marries Zayda and shares the throne with his stepbrother.

The story begins in West Palm Beach, Florida, when Natalia decides to leave her husband, Rogelio. She is tired of twenty years of domestic violence and marital rape by Rogelio and the constant insults of threats by Ágata, her mother-in-law. Natalia informs Ágata and Rogelio that she and her kids are leaving the mansion that night and that the legal divorce will be taken care of days after. Intent on teaching Natalia a lesson, Ágata calls Inés (Natalia'supposed best friend who actually despises Natalia) and the two agree on carrying a plot they had been planning for months.

That night, Natalia goes to her friend Monica's going-away party at Inés' house. Monica, Natalia and Inés' friend, was hired at a job in Pompano Beach and will be leaving that night. At the party, Inés and Manuel (Inés'lover) spike Natalia's martini and, when she passes out, take Natalia to Inés' room where Manuel rapes her. Inés calls Ágata who arrives shortly after with Rogelio and Natalia's kids, Luis rodrigo and Gloria. From everyone's point of view, it appears as if Natalia and Manuel are having an affair and have just been caught in bed together, as no one believes it is rape. Rogelio, Luis Rodrigo and Gloria, leave in tears with Ágata who thanks Inés. Natalia regains consciousness and breaks a lamp on Manuel's head in anger, killing him. Inés who Natalia still believes to be her friend and has no idea helped plan the whole thing, tells Natalia to run away because the police are coming. Natalia goes to Monica's house, who is packing up to leave for work, and explains everything that just happened. Monica tells Natalia that she should go to Pompano Beach with her while Inés clears up the misunderstanding with the police. Monica Natalia and Monica's friend Georgina leave for Pompano but have a car accident. Monica and Natalia are okay, but Georgina dies inside the exploding car. Because her body is left unrecognizable and because Natalia's ID is left inside the car with her, the police believe it is Natalia the one who is dead.

Meanwhile, in Pompano Beach, Adrian Torres, who works in a magazine ad marketing, is on the verge of divorce with his crazy wife Elena Torres after twenty years of a horrible marriage. Elena is obsessed with the idea of Adrian cheating on her and because of that has physically assaulted many women. Adrian frequents at work. What Adrian doesn't know is that Elena is mentally ill and is unaware that his wife actually has vivid hallucinations of him making out with other women. Nonetheless, Elena has become very dangerous and violent and Adrian believes it is best for him and their kids if they divorced as soon as possible.

Back in West Palm Beach, Ágata has made sure to fill her grandson and granddaughter's minds with lies about Natalia and Manuel's supposed affair. When they receive the news that Natalia died in a car crash while "escaping" to Pompano Beach, only Luis Rodrigo is devastated by the news. Though she never planned on killing Natalia, Ágata is glad about her reported death because that puts an end to the divorce issue. Had the divorce gone through, Natalia would have kept her fortune in its entirety, leaving Rogelio and Ágata with nothing. But now that Rogelio is widowed, he and Ágata have complete control of Natalia's estate. Additionally, Luis's life becomes a living hell at the mansion with Natalia's absence because he is gay and Rogelio beats him for it. Also, Inés discovers that Manuel is not actually dead but hears that Natalia is. However, Natalia gaby calls and Inés learns that she is alive. This foils Inés' plan, who was planning on seducing Rogelio and marrying him now that Natalia was dead. She tells Natalia to pretend to be dead for a while, while she sorts things out with the police, convincing Natalia that the minute she reveals she is alive, the police will arrest her for Manuel's death.

In Pompano, Natalia is staying at Monica's apartment and Monica is working at her job. Her boss is Adrian. One day Adrian pays a visit to Monica's apartment and meets Natalia, instantly becoming mesmerized by her beauty. But Elena has followed Adrian to the apartment. Convinced, in her insanity, that Natalia is another one of Adrian' lovers, Elena tries to shoot her with a handgun, but misses. Adrian apologizes for Elena's abnormal behavior and sends her to an asylum. Adrian and Elenas's kids, Freddy and Denisse (both in college but living at home), are saddened by the news of their mother in an asylum but understand it is for the best. They, too, are going through their own personal problems. Denisse, the oldest, is pregnant by her boyfriend Ricky, who forced her to sleep with him. Freddy who really likes a girl named Maria who always evades him, finds out Maria and her mother are abused and beat at home by Maria's father, a violent sexist man named Anselmo.

Back in West Palm Beach, Inés flor and Rogelio are now married. Ágata,because Inés helped her set up Natalia's rape, is fine with the marriage. Charlie, Inés' son, and Gloria,Rogelio and Natalia' s daughter, like each other but Ágata disapproves of the relationship and the two start dating in secret. Ágata forbids the relationships because Inés has told her that Charlie is actually Rogelio 's son, a product of a short romance Inés and Rogelio had twenty years ago before his marriage to Natalia. Gloria gets pregnant, hoping that a baby would be reason enough for Ágata for force marriage upon them, but upon learning they are siblings and have committed incest, she decides to abort and run away from home. She stays at Elsa's apartment, a friend of hers who ran away from home months ago because she couldn't stand seeing her parents argue all the time. Elsa confesses to Gloria that in order to pay for school and the apartment, she became a prostitute. Elsa convinces an emotionally weak Gloria to become a prostitute too. Natalia who has been keeping in touch with her son Luis all this time, learns from a series of events that Manuel is not dead and that Inés and Ágata her up. She and Adrian who are now unofficially going out, go to West Palm to confront Natalia's enemies. Meanwhile, Elena is out of the asylum.

The story begins with a shot of the front page of the ''Daily Planet''. The headline reads "World's Largest Bombing Plane Finally Completed". The man reading the newspaper is Japanese, he stands up and looks at a picture of the Statue of Liberty in his office, then pushes a button on his desk, and the picture changes into one of the Japanese flag. He bows to it and jams his glowing cigarette into the news headline. Later, the Japanese man and some acquaintances hit a guard as the plane is being loaded for a test run. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are taking a tour of the new bombing plane for the ''Planet''. When everyone is told to get off, Lois stays behind and hides in a locker on board the plane.

As the plane takes off, we see that there are other stowaways aboard. Hidden inside what look like bombs are the Japanese men. The spies tie and gag the pilots and hijack the plane. Meanwhile, Lois emerges from her hiding place and moves over to the cockpit. As she's about to open the door, she notices that the Japanese spies have hijacked the plane. She sneaks into the room and calls for help on the radio, but the spies seize her. In response to her calls for help, fighter planes are sent to stop the hijackers. In response, the hijackers deploy a bomb, which stops the fighters from taking off. Clark Kent goes into an elevator and changes into Superman as it goes up to the roof.

Superman enters the plane to stop the hijackers, but one of them has Lois tied up and is ready to drop her out of the plane through the bomb hatch. Superman jumps out of the plane and comes back in through the bomb hatch to save Lois as she's being dropped. He unties her and starts fighting the hijackers. One of them breaks the plane's controls, and the plane starts falling towards the city. Superman takes Lois out of the plane and places her on the ground, then flies back up and catches the plane, bringing it to a safe landing right in the middle of the street.

A robot flies into a scientist's secret lair and unloads a pile of cash into a vault. The robot is controlled completely from the scientist's command center, and many robots similar to it are lined up along the walls of the lair. The front page of the ''Daily Planet'' reports the robot's robbery right alongside an announcement for the display of 50 million dollars of the world's rarest gems at the local museum.

Later, as Lois Lane and Clark Kent are covering the museum's exhibit for the ''Planet'', a robot lands in the street outside. The police pelt it with machine gun fire as it marches towards the museum, but the bullets bounce harmlessly off. Museum visitors, including Clark and Lois, flee as the robot marches towards the jewels and begins loading them into an opening in its back. Robot #5 terrorizes the city in ''The Mechanical Monsters''. While Clark phones the ''Planet'' from the nearest phone booth, Lois climbs into the robot's back, just as it leaves the museum and takes off into the sky. Clark emerges from the booth, notices Lois gone, and says, "This is a job for Superman!" He goes back into the phone booth and changes his clothes, emerging in his classic red-and-blue costume.

Flying high above the city, Superman spots the robot and uses his X-ray vision to see Lois inside with the jewels. He lands on it and struggles to open the door in its back, only to have the scientist maneuver the robot upside down and throw him off into a power line, tangling him in the wires. As the robot is upside down, the door flies open and all the jewels fall out in the process, with Lois surviving only by hanging for dear life until the robot flips back over.

As Superman struggles to free himself from the wires, the robot arrives at the lair, but instead of jewels, the scientist finds Lois in its payload. Infuriated, he asks her what she did with the jewels, but she suggests that he "read about it in tomorrow's papers". The next time we see her, she is bound and gagged on a platform held over a pot of boiling metal in part of what appears to be an industrial foundry. The scientist pulls a lever which starts some machinery gradually lowering her closer and closer to the liquid.

Meanwhile, Superman frees himself from the power lines and knocks down the door to the scientist's lair, only to meet the army of robots (numbers 1 through 27 are seen). Under the scientist's control, the robots emit fire from nozzles positioned on the lower part of their heads, encircle Superman, and pound him with their fists. Initially, the robots seem to have the upper hand, beating Superman to the ground, but Superman defeats them, sending the scientist running. When Superman catches up with him, he is holding a knife to the rope holding Lois's platform above the molten metal, and threatens to cut it if he takes another step. Superman makes a move, the rope is cut, and Superman speeds across the room to catch Lois just in time, landing on a ledge below the pot of molten metal and the scientist. The scientist then pulls a lever to dump the hot liquid on them, but Superman shields Lois with his cape, then grabs the scientist and flies from the lair to take him and Lois back to the city. The next issue of the ''Planet'' details that the robots are destroyed, the jewels are recovered, and the scientist is incarcerated for the thefts. In the office, Clark says "That's a wonderful story, Lois". She replies, "Thanks Clark, but I owe it all to Superman". Clark smiles.

An all-American military family joins an overbearing Jewish family as they attend their gay daughters' wedding and wild reception. The party begins as wedding guests arrive and mingle at the bar area where appetizers and cocktails are served. Family members also mingle and greet patrons who are soon escorted into the "church" for the "almost holy" union of the two young lovers: Joni Gottlieb, a Jewish sports enthusiast, and Gina Spaulding, the independent daughter of a rigid military family. After dinner, wedding cake and champagne are served, and the real fun begins. Guests participate in a not-so-traditional bouquet toss, learn to line dance, dance the Hora, and have many surprises. The three-ring circus ends as everyone participates in a sing-a-long finale.

Amara Winter (Ciara), a beautiful and charismatic young singer, is on the verge of stardom. Raised in the church by her father, Reverend Dr. Kenneth Winter (Marvin Winans) and mother, Lillian Winter (Lynn Whitfield), Amara and her younger brother Luke (Kevin Phillips) have a very strong bond. After her father's untimely death, her mother is thrust into the limelight in the role as preacher, a daring move that ultimately catapults her to the top of the gospel world. Paralleling her mother's success, Amara soon becomes a huge star in her own right, taking the R&B world by storm.

Conflict begins to ensue when her mother is confronted with, and unequivocally disapproves of, Amara's secular music and videos. Amara must learn to pursue her dreams while navigating the often treacherous world of celebrity and striving to remain true to herself and family. Amara and her mother must work through their differences realizing that their journeys are not quite so different after all.

After Ted and Robin have their first fight as a couple, Ted meets Marshall and Barney at MacLaren's while Robin meets Lily in a nail salon. At work that day, Ted's boss unveiled a design for a skyscraper which is remarkably phallic, but when he tried to tell Robin about it, she said that she did not want to hear about his job because it is uninteresting compared to hers. She went on to say that one of his favorite films, ''Field of Dreams'', is stupid, which also upset him. Lily explains to Robin that even if she is not interested in Ted's work, listening is still an important part of an relationship. Marshall asks Ted to join him at a law school party, but Ted has to return to work. Barney tells him that his job is not boring: women think that architects are hot and Ted just needs to present his career with the right attitude. As the three leave for their evening plans, Ted approaches a woman at the bar and asks her what she thinks about architects. She tells them that she thinks that architects are sexy, and they begin chatting.

Robin heads to the bar with Lily to apologize to Ted, but he is not there. Robin asks the bartender about Ted, and a woman at the bar tells her that he left with her friend to go to Marshall's law school party. Robin is calm, happy that Ted found someone to talk to about architecture so that she does not have to hear it. Lily can't believe that Robin is not jealous that Ted is hitting on other women. Robin says that she is picturing the other woman as unattractive, but when her friend says that she is a kickboxing instructor and looks great, Robin decides to go to the party to check on Ted. Lily and Robin go to the law school party and ask around for Ted. The party's host, Brad, speaks reverently of Ted Mosby the Architect, but says that he left with his date and Marshall to go dancing at a club. Upset that Ted, who hates clubs, would go dancing with another woman, Robin tries to call him to apologize. When Ted does not answer his phone, Robin calls Marshall, who tells her that Ted is at work. Shocked that Marshall lied to her, Robin realizes that Ted is cheating on her.

At the club, the bouncer (who also refers to "Ted Mosby the Architect") tells them that Ted left with his date to go to her apartment across the street. After a bribe of her clutch purse, the bouncer tells Robin where Ted's date lives, and the girls go to the apartment. Finding the door unlocked, they sneak in and discover Barney in the woman's bed. Robin asks where Ted is and Barney replies that Ted is at work. Barney then tells them that he has been pretending to be Ted all night, introducing himself as "Ted Mosby, Architect" to the woman at MacLaren's after Ted left. Lily reassures Robin that everything is fine because Ted is not cheating on her, but Robin says that she hates how crazy and paranoid she has been acting. Lily tells her that people act crazy and paranoid in relationships, and she really misses those feelings. Leaving his standard goodbye letter for the woman he just had sex with, Barney, Robin and Lily flee.

Robin brings donuts and coffee to Ted at work, apologizes for their fight and tells him that she wants to be the person to whom he complains about work. Ted shows her an alternate design for the skyscraper that he has been working on, and Future Ted tells his kids that it was the first time he had ever shown his drawings to someone; the skyscraper later ended up being built and he had pointed it out to them when they had previously visited Spokane as a family.

The woman Barney slept with finds his goodbye letter on the bed, wherein Barney pretended to be a ghost who could only spend a day on Earth every 10 years, and "chose to spend it with [her]." However, he slips up as he signs the letter "Barney" (when she thought he was Ted), leaving the girl utterly confused.

It is winter in New York City; Marshall, Lily, Ted, and Robin are in "couples' hibernation mode". Barney tries to get them to go out, but the two couples consistently refuse. Tired of being his own wingman, Barney announces that he's invited his brother James (Wayne Brady) to town. Ted warns Robin that James is just like Barney, only gay, so she shouldn't be surprised. James arrives and Robin is very surprised to discover that James is black. Robin asks what the back-story is, and it is revealed that the two don't really know it; amongst other things, their mother says that Barney is white because she ate vanilla ice cream when she was pregnant with him, and James is black because she ate chocolate ice cream.

James tells them that they are young people living in New York and that they should go out and have fun. The six of them go out, and James helps Barney pick up a girl with a lower back tattoo. Lily, Marshall, Robin, and Ted comment on the differences between single people and people in couples. While they are discussing whether it is more difficult to pick up a girl or to deflect obnoxious guys picking you up, the group notices that James is acting strangely. He has been turning down a lot of guys tonight, complaining about his feet hurting him, and generally acting like the four of them. When they see James text messaging someone, they realize that he must be in a monogamous relationship and they have to tell Barney. Barney confronts James, grabbing James's phone, which has a picture of James and another man on it. James tells Barney that the man in the picture is Tom, his fiancé. James then asks Barney to be his best man. Barney says no, which crushes James.

The next day, Barney goes to the apartment and laments that once gay men start getting married, everyone else will get married, too (because whatever gay people do, everyone else starts doing six months later), and single life as we know it will be ruined. Marshall points out that just because James is getting married doesn't mean things have to change, and Barney points out that the four of them have changed. Ted says that his sister married someone he didn't like, but he realized he had to support it anyway, and tells Barney he should do the same with James. Barney says he will take James out to celebrate, and takes him to a gay club. At the club, gay men hit on Ted and Marshall, and the two point out that getting hit on is flattering; meanwhile, the girls are excited that they can dance without being groped. However, after several men come onto Ted and Marshall, they become uncomfortable, while the girls realize they miss the attention.

Meanwhile, Barney tries to hook James up with other men. When James resists their advances, Barney accuses James of abandoning him and their way of life. James surprises Barney when he tells him that he and Tom are adopting a baby. Barney is excited that he will be an uncle, and a year later, makes a toast at Tom and James' wedding. Marshall and Lily leave because of the time but Ted and Robin stay (hinting at the fact that they have broken up at this point, as they both have "single stamina"). Barney meets James's son, and promises to take him out on his 21st birthday and show him how to pick up women. The baby is also wearing a suit and Barney says "great suit".

Ted has decided to spend Christmas in his home this year with "his other family". He does not want to spend it with his mom and her new boyfriend, Clint; or his dad and his new "girlfriend", microbrewing; or his super-religious cousin, Stacy, in Staten Island. While Lily decorates his apartment, Marshall leaves for the law library to finish one last paper that is due that day. He refuses to look at any of the decorations as he leaves because he believes that the "winter wonderland" will be his reward for finishing the paper. After he leaves, Lily finds the old answering machine that was unplugged after Lily and Marshall broke up. Lily plays messages that are still on it, and hears a message from Ted to Marshall telling him to get over Lily. In this message, Ted calls Lily "a very, very bad word" which is substituted in future Ted's re-telling of the story with the word "grinch".

Lily asks why Ted would call her that word, and Ted reveals that he was trying to get Marshall to stop idolizing Lily even after they had split during the summer, and told Marshall at the time if he did not stop putting her up on a pedestal, he would never get over her. Ted asked Marshall to tell him one thing wrong with Lily. Finally, Marshall gave in and he followed with making jokes about Lily along with Ted and Barney at the bar. Ted tells Lily that he was just trying to help Marshall and he refuses to apologize to Lily because she was "kind of a grinch".

At the bar, Ted is telling Robin and a progressively ill Barney about what happened, and realizes that he has to apologize to Lily. Ted brings a beer back up to the apartment to offer as an apology. When he opens the door, he finds that Lily has taken all the Christmas decorations away from their apartment. Wanting to make sure the winter wonderland will be there when Marshall gets back, Ted tries to call Lily but with no result. As Robin and a very sick Barney stack at the apartment, Ted decides to go to Lily's apartment to apologize. He tricks her into thinking he is the pizza delivery guy so he is able to get her to open the door to her tiny, crappy, cramped NY apartment. He says he is sorry that he called her a "grinch", but Lily works out that he is faking an apology, and is clearly still angry with her. She asks Ted why he will not forgive her when she has already apologised to Marshall. He replies that she never apologised to him, and that her abrupt departure and lack of contact had hurt him as well. He and Lily get into another argument, when her super, who lives above her, cuts off her apartment's power. Ted then tells Lily that she can take the decorations back to his and Marshall's apartment because he is going to visit Stacy's family in Staten Island. In the meantime, Robin insists upon taking care of Barney, who has caught a terrible cold. He whines about wearing sweatpants, not getting ice cream for dinner, and everything else he can until Robin spikes his tea with codeine, making him fall asleep.

Marshall comes back home to the apartment, finding the winter wonderland intact and no knowledge of what happened earlier in the day. He reveals he blew off his paper and spent hours tracking down his gift for Lily. He went to the post office and discovered that the package was already on the truck headed to Poughkeepsie, so ran the truck down to get the package back. He also decided to help the driver deliver all of the packages on his route in time for Christmas. Lily opens her package to find an Easy-Bake Oven, something she has wanted since childhood, but never got because her feminist mom did not want her to conform to traditional gender roles, and gave her a Lego set instead. Since she has no idea how Marshall knew about her preferred item, he admits learning about it from Ted, whom Lily told her story to back in college. This makes her feel guilty for what she did.

At Stacy's house, Ted is having a miserable time when Lily, Robin, Marshall and Barney arrive at the door with an apology beer for Ted. Ted tells Stacy that it is carolers to keep her from coming to the door. While the other three sing, Lily says she is sick of apologizing and the two agree to skip straight to the forgiveness. Ted and the group take off after Stacy's children overhear Lily say she "was kind of a grinch", and they all begin to cheer "grinch!" over and over, much to their parents' horror.

For Ted's favorite holiday, Super Bowl Sunday, he and the gang plan to continue their tradition of watching it together with hot wings. The plans are cut short when they find out a worker at the bar has died, and they reluctantly agree to attend the funeral, out of fear that they will be banned from the bar. The funeral starts at the same time as Super Bowl XLI, so they tape it figuring they will watch it afterwards. The wake lasts too long and they run out of time to watch the game. They plan to not find out the score of the game until they watch it together the next day.

Ted decides to work at home so no one can tell him the score while Barney handcuffs himself to Ted's wall, so he cannot find out the score, because he has bet a lot of money on the game. Ted constructs a device (the “Sensory Deprivator 5000”) so he can get the wings and not find out the score while he is in the sports bar. After he gets back, he realizes he must go back to get the dipping sauce. At the same time, Barney escapes from Ted's apartment and tries as hard as he can to find the score of the game. He runs into many people including Emmitt Smith, who have all missed the game, to Barney's frustration.

Robin does the best she can to avoid the media by trying to delay the sports news and by covering her ears. When someone asks why she is acting weird, she uses the excuse of her friend dying and how she could not watch the game because she had to go to the funeral.

Marshall goes to class with Lily for show and tell, where a student threatens to tell the score to Marshall. Marshall asks the kid why he is threatening him and the kid replies that he is in love with Lily. The kid does many things to torment Marshall, such as blackmailing him to give him money. This continues until Marshall gets the kid back by spraying juice on his pants and threatens to tell everyone he wet his pants unless he returns the money.

While Ted is back in the bar getting the sauce, the others find out the score of the game without even watching it: Barney checks the newspaper, Robin hears the winner at the news station, and a janitor has the radio on in the kindergarten revealing the score of the game to Marshall and Lily.

Marshall, Lily and Robin head to Ted's but do not reveal that they know who won, and Barney promises he will not tell – only to be heard loudly screaming in Ted's room that he lost every bet thus ruining the game for everybody, since Ted knew who Barney bet on. Robin, Marshall and Lily play it off and pretend that Barney ruined the game for them. Despite this, the five decide to sit down and watch the game anyway and still manage to enjoy themselves as much as ever. Future Ted finishes the story by telling his kids that he does not remember who won or even who played, but he will always remember the evening as a fun one he spent with his friends.

The story begins as the narrator tells about an "Arctic Giant" found frozen in perfect condition millions of years ago in Siberia. The monster is shipped to the Museum of Natural Science in Metropolis, where it is kept frozen using special refrigeration equipment. The people look at the giant monster in the museum. Although the nameplate on the monster's case says "Tyrannosaurus", the dinosaur-like monster does not look like an actual Tyrannosaurus, being green-colored with an upward posture, large arms, and plantigrade feet, so it may be possible that they thought it was a Tyrannosaurus, but it was something else.

Lois Lane is sent to do a story on the monster because it is possible that if the ice were to thaw, it might still be alive. As she is leaving the Daily Planet, Clark asks if she wants him to come with her, but Lois says "No, thanks. You'd probably faint if you saw the monster. You scare so easily". Then once she leaves the room, Clark says "Maybe she's right. But Superman hasn't fainted yet".

At the museum, Lois is shown around the refrigeration plant that is responsible for keeping the monster frozen. The guide shows her the generator, and then proceeds to show her the control room downstairs. He places an oil can on a shelf right next to the generator. As the guide shows Lois' control room, he explains that any rise in temperature could be dangerous. Meanwhile, the shelf that the oil can is on is vibrating from the generator's movement, causing the oil can to move closer and closer to the turbine. The oil can falls into the turbine, jamming it. The workers nearby turn off the equipment so they can quickly repair the damage, but they are not quick enough. The temperature rises from freezing to melting to DANGER level. The ice around the monster begins to melt. Police officers escort everyone out of the museum, except Lois. As she attempts to call the Daily Planet from the museum, the monster destroys the entire building, leaving her in the rubble.

The monster escapes as a police squad starts to shoot at it, but the bullets have no effect due to its thick skin. The monster begins to march towards the officers making them flee as the monster's foot comes down, crushing a mailbox, a streetlight, and the police cars which causes gasoline to leak out of them. The monster begins to wreak havoc throughout the city, destroying a train station and damaging buildings. Back at the Daily Planet, Perry White tells Clark he'd better get on over to the museum to see if Lois is alright. Clark goes into a closet and changes into Superman, then hurries over to the museum and rescues Lois from the rubble. He tells her to go back to the Daily Planet building where she'll be safe, but Lois, always looking for a good story, doesn't listen to Superman.

As Superman leaps from building to building, the monster approaches a dam that is neighboring a small town. The monster destroys the dam, flooding the town while crushing some houses underfoot. Superman stops the flooding by pushing a giant boulder in to fill the gap. The monster continues its rampage through a lake, marching towards a suspension bridge. The fire department tries to slow down the monster by spraying it with high pressure hoses, but the monster is immune and capsizes the firefighter boats. The monster breaks through the suspension bridge, endangering several motorists. Superman then catches the falling bridge and ties it back together, saving the people on it.

As the monster approaches a nearby baseball stadium, Superman uses one of the bridge cables to trip it. The monster falls, crushing cars and a gas station. While the monster is tied up on the ground, Lois stands by to take a picture. The monster's head falls right next to Lois and the monster tries to eat her. Superman flies into the monster's mouth and takes Lois out, telling her to stay put this time. Superman then pins the monster over a lamp post and the city is saved.

Later at the Daily Planet, Lois and Clark are discussing the article Lois wrote about the monster which states that the monster is being held at the Metropolis Zoo. Clark says to Lois: "You showed plenty of courage getting that monster story, Lois" and Lois quotes: "Thanks, but where were you?" Clark replies "Me? Oh, I must have fainted".

Ted and Robin are running through the airport, trying to catch a plane to Chicago, where Ted has an job interview with a large architecture firm for the job of running the company's New York branch. As they reach their gate, the flight attendant tells them they cannot get on the flight. They explain that Ted had to attend a court date that morning for jumping a subway turnstile, and she asks them to wait while she talks with the flight. While they wait, Robin suggests that their lateness was Barney's fault.

The show then flashbacks a few months to when Marshall had just broken his toe, disappointing him as he had been training hard to run the New York City Marathon. Barney complained about his moaning, stating that running a marathon is easy, even without training. Marshall then bet Barney he could not complete the marathon, but to the group's surprise, Barney completed the marathon quite easily, showing no signs of being tired. Upon being informed that marathon runners could ride the subway free that day, Barney decided to ride the subway and show off the medal he was given for finishing the marathon. Later, Barney found himself suddenly unable to move his legs, forcing him to ride the subway end-to-end and call Ted to come and help him. In his rush, Ted failed to pay to use the subway, jumped the turnstile, but got tackled by a cop before he could help Barney.

The story then returns to the present, where the attendant tells Ted and Robin that their flight has already left, but they may be able to catch another flight leaving shortly. While making their way to the other gate, Ted remembers why Barney ran the marathon in the first place and blames Robin for the lateness. He recalls that in April 2006, Marshall decided to run the marathon to get into shape, with help from Lily and a guide book. One piece of advice suggested that the runner should apply petroleum jelly to areas affected by chafing, including the nipples. While following this advice, Robin walked in on Marshall, surprising him so much that he fell, breaking his toe.

Robin tells Ted that she is not to blame for their lateness, and the reason why she was at the apartment that morning was because of Lily. Robin recalls how she and Ted spotted a line of people camping outside a wedding dress store for a big sale. When they told Lily, she decided to go as well, and Robin agreed to camp out with her for the night. They could not get any sleep because of a car alarm, so Robin decided to sleep at Ted's apartment that day, where she found Marshall, causing him to break his toe.

Meanwhile, Ted and Robin reach the second flight in time, and ask if there are any seats. While the attendant searches, Ted realises it was not Lily's fault. A few months earlier, while riding the subway Ted found a penny from 1939 (during the events of “The Scorpion and the Toad”). Believing it to be valuable, Ted sold it to a collector, but only got $1.50. He and Robin decided to spend the money on hot dogs from the other side of town, which is where they saw the line for the dress store.

Knowing the story does not go back any further, Ted concludes it was his own fault for missing the first flight, Ted is then told there are no seats on the second flight, meaning that he has to miss the interview. Ted is upset, but Robin comforts him and tells him that if the firm wants him they will reschedule the interview. Future Ted reveals that the firm did not reschedule and someone else got the job, however he now knows that it was his destiny not to get it after all. Three months later, the guy who got the job was made to relocate to Chicago and Future Ted knows that if he had not found the penny and triggered the whole chain of events then he might have had to leave New York, and never met his wife.

Small-fry marijuana harvesters in Northern California try to keep the business running, negotiating the biggest sale ever and keeping a secret. But when silent partners, the Mafia, the police, and other meddlers crash the party, they begin to realize they are in over their heads.

Loading the gold onto the train. The film starts with an image of the front page of the ''Daily Planet'', reporting the shipment of a billion dollars of gold to the US mint. A train is being loaded with hundreds of bars of gold, guarded by several armed police officers. The locomotive is identical to the unique one used by the Twentieth Century Limited beginning in 1938. Further ahead, in a passenger coach, Lois Lane boards with help from Clark Kent, who says he wishes he could come, but he has another story to cover. As the last of the gold is loaded, a car a few hundred yards away turns on its lights, and the men inside put on robbers' masks and arm themselves. The mysterious car follows the train.

Later, a few of the robbers board the train from the back, climb to the middle, and separate several cars carrying guards from the front, leaving them stranded. Two other robbers attack the locomotive, throwing the engineer and a guard overboard, but falling off themselves as well. Lois, hearing the commotion, climbs to the engine's cab and is immediately machine-gunned from the robber's car, keeping pace with the train to the side. Lois grabs the machine gun and returns fire, only to have the bullets bounce harmlessly off of the armored car. The train continues to speed down the track, completely out of Lois' control and continually followed by the robbers. A stationmaster notices this when the train does not stop at the next station, and sends out a telegraph as signalmen change the warning lights to red, and for a railroad drawbridge to close. Finally, Clark hears the news report through the Planet's telegraph, and discreetly enters the building's storage room, changing into his Superman costume.

He arrives on the scene just as the robbers have forced the train onto a track leading to a boxcar filled with explosives. Superman manages to rip the track from the ground and guide the train back to its main course. The robbers then demolish a bridge further ahead, causing the train to fall. Superman catches the train and places it back on the track. Finally, the robbers had been throwed a massive, dangerous silver-colored, rocket-shaped bomb into the steam engine's boiler. Superman manages to pull Lois out just before the boiler explodes and both the locomotive and its tender car derail and crash to the ground below the bridge. Superman catches the lead car as it begins to roll backwards, and pulls the train up the hill himself, only to have the robbers toss several cans of tear gas at him. Coughing and choking, Superman momentarily loses control, but regains it, marching steadily up the hill despite the robbers' continued machine gun fire.

Superman pulls the train at full speed over several miles before bringing it to a safe stop at the US Mint. The ''Daily Planet'' reports the successful delivery of the money and the capture of the robbers. Reading the article, Clark says, "Uncanny how Superman turns up just when you need him". Lois replies, "I didn't even get a chance to thank him". Clark smiles.

The story begins as the clock strikes midnight. A strange, bullet-shaped rocket-car blows right through the police department, leaving an explosion in its wake. The paper the next day reports the destruction of the building and bafflement of the police. Perry White calls Lois Lane and Clark Kent into his office. Just as he is explaining the report, the sound of a loudspeaker comes in through the window. The leader of the "Bulleteers", as Lois later calls them, is shown announcing from his hideout atop a mountain outside of town, the demands of his gang. Over the speaker, Clark, Lois, and the rest of the town hear it: "Turn over the city treasury or other municipal buildings will be next as their last warning!"

The Bulleteers' Bullet car. Later that day, Lois asks the mayor what he is doing about the problem. The mayor announces that he will not be swayed by criminals. At the same time, policemen all over town setup sandbag fortifications for their machine guns and searchlights in preparation for the Bulleteers. At midnight, the gang strikes again, first destroying the town's power plant, bullets from defending policeman bouncing harmlessly off the bullet-car's sleek surface. Lights in the Daily Planet flicker on and off, and Lois takes off in a car to get closer to the scene, leaving Clark behind. Clark takes the opportunity to enter a nearby phone booth and don his Superman costume.

The Bulleteers take aim now at the city's treasury building, but Superman steps in front of them and knocks the rocket-car off course. As they struggle to regain control, he leaps in the air and grabs its front trying again to force it off-course, but the Bulleteers, through wild maneuvering, manage to shake him off the car to the ground below. Superman lunges to keep them from the treasury, only to arrive too late. Piles of rubble from the explosion bury him.

Lois Lane arrives at the scene in time to see the gang throwing bags of money into their car. She sneaks into its cockpit and tries to smash the controls with a wrench, but the gang returns, taking off with her. Superman, meanwhile, emerges from the rubble and chases after the car, grasping it by one of its retractable wings, and then by its tail-fins to throw it off course. As it spirals downward, he claws his way to the cockpit, rips it open, and pulls Lois and the three gangsters out. The car crashes to the ground far below.

The newspaper next day reports Superman's heroic feat and the gangsters' arrest for their rampage. Reading it, Clark remarks, "Nice going, Lois. Another great scoop for you". Lois replies, "It was easy, thanks to Superman".

The film begins with the opening words of Hemingway's story: "Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai 'Ngje Ngi,' the House of God. Close to the western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a leopard. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude."

The story centers on the memories of disillusioned writer, Harry Street, who is on safari in Africa. He has a severely infected wound from a thorn prick, and lies outside his tent awaiting a slow death, though in the film it is pointed out he may have acquired the infection from leaping into a muddy river to rescue one of the safari's porters from a hippo after he falls in the river. His female companion, Helen, nurses Harry and hunts game for the larder.

The loss of mobility brings self-reflection. In an often delirious state he remembers his past relationship with Cynthia Green, whom he met in Paris as members of the "Lost Generation." Upon the sale of Harry's first novel, rather than rent a nicer home, Harry wishes to go on safari to Africa. There he has his happiest moments, including bagging a rhino. Cynthia is pregnant, but worries about sharing this news with Harry, who is passionate about his travels and work as a journalist and author. Harry only learns about the pregnancy after her miscarriage. Suffering depression and sinking into alcoholism, she eventually leaves Harry for a flamenco dancer when she believes Harry is off for a job as a war correspondent.

Harry later becomes engaged to the wealthy and socially connected Countess Elizabeth, whom he meets on the Cote d'Azur; however, he still remains loyal to the memory of Cynthia. On the eve of their wedding, a jealous Elizabeth confronts Harry with a letter to Harry sent from Cynthia, who is now in Madrid. Elizabeth destroys the letter in front of Harry who stalks off to go to Spain. Unable to find Cynthia at the Madrid address on the envelope, he enlists to fight in the Spanish Civil War. During a battle he meets Cynthia, who is now an ambulance driver. Cynthia is mortally wounded, and Harry is shot and wounded when he deserts the battle to try to bring the dying Cynthia to a doctor.

Harry returns to Paris. While he is standing on the bridge watching the river, he meets Helen, who reminds him of Cynthia. After the death of his beloved mentor Uncle Bill, Harry receives as a bequest a letter from his uncle that gives him the riddle of the leopard. Harry's bartender suggests that the leopard ended up there as he was on a false scent and became lost, but Harry takes Helen on a safari to Kenya to learn the answer of the riddle. He is injured and develops an infection. As Harry nears death, the protective Helen fights off a witch doctor. Following the directions in an emergency first aid manual, she opens Harry's wound to release the infection. At the dawn a medical party arrives by airplane. The vultures and hyena who have been awaiting Harry's death leave and never return. Harry realizes his love for Helen.

''Big White Fog'' demonstrates the internal black tensions of the 1920s by following the Masons, a black family living in a rented house in Chicago. The residents consist of Victor Mason, his wife Ella, their son Lester, Victor's brother Percy, and Ella's brother-in-law Dan. Lester has received a college scholarship, Percy is returning home from military service, and Dan is a landlord. Their situation slowly spirals downward, with Lester losing his scholarship because he is black, and when the Great Depression hits, the family faces eviction. Victor, in his disillusionment, turns to Garveyism, and plans to immigrate to Africa. Lester begins to support a Communist revolution. Dan remains committed to the American Dream.

The story begins on a small spaceship docking with a refuelling station. On board are a group of four aliens called Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian. During a particularly tedious period of their stay at the station, the other three begin playing with the ship's controls while Bernard is outside playing spaceball. They accidentally disconnect his part of the ship, leaving him stranded while they crash into a large blue planet close by (Earth).

The aliens become instant celebrities on arrival, despite being able to bring no great revelation or technical ability to the people of Earth (as is central to the plot of many "aliens on Earth" films). They find a manager (Jones) and become wealthy more or less overnight, packing fans in auditoriums just to see them. Meanwhile, Bernard arrives on Earth via other means of transport. Despite being by far the most intelligent of the group, Bernard is not afforded any celebrity, and is in fact condemned to vagrancy and a brief stint in a mental hospital before reuniting with his fellow travellers near the end of the film. The others, fearing that the introduction of Bernard would lessen their popularity and celebrity, fail to mention that they had originally been travelling with a fourth.

Both America and Russia plan crewed missions to the Moon to examine the wreckage of the structures destroyed in ''The Domes of Pico''. The American astronaut, Morrison Kant, breaks his leg shortly before takeoff, so Chris Godfrey steps in. Both spacecraft arrive at the same time. Unlike Chris Godfrey, the Russian pilot, Serge Smyslov, is unable to leave his Lunar Rover vehicle and both head for the wrecked domes, leading to a tense standoff...

The book predates the first use of a Lunar Rover by 11 years.

A pair of hands meticulously crops images from a fashion magazine for a personal scrapbook. The hands belong to an unassuming and conservative physician named Julián. He runs a radiology clinic from his personal residence, assisted by a shy, mild mannered nurse named Ana.

One afternoon, Julián is invited to the house of the mother of his friend Pablo, where a reunion of the two childhood pals has been arranged. Pablo is a charismatic and sophisticated adventurer who has recently returned from Africa with the unexpected news that he has married a beautiful and carefree young woman named Elena. Pablo hands Julián a drink, his favorite cocktail, peppermint frappe, as the group awaits the entrance of Elena, who is upstairs dressing. The sight of the captivating Elena visibly stuns Julián, as Elena reminds him of a mysterious woman he had seen beating drums during the famous Holy Week ritual in the village of Calanda. She insists that she has never seen him before, nor has she ever been to Calanda. Despite her rebukes, Julián finds himself immediately drawn to Elena's cosmopolitan demeanor.

During the days following their first encounter, Julián becomes increasingly infatuated with Pablo’s bride and finds pretext to spend time with her. While Pablo is busy, Julián takes Elena sightseeing Cuenca. Despite her indifference to his attentions, Julián’s obsession with Elena does not diminish. Frustrated by his inability to win Elena's affection, Julián turns his attention to his laboratory assistant, Ana, who has secretly pined for Julián. A sexual liaison between the two is soon established. Julián manipulates Ana, coercing her to dress and groom herself like Elena does.

While involved with Ana, Julián continues to pursue the elusive Elena, but she resists his advances with open derision. Julián invites Pablo and Elena to his cottage on the countryside to spend the weekend. He takes them on a tour of the grounds of the abandoned spa where he and Pablo used to play as children.

After a practical joke by Pablo and Elena, aimed at humiliating Julián, Julián begins to plan an elaborate revenge against the couple. Picking up Elena’s curiosity about his relationship with Ana, Julián invites Elena and Pablo to join him and Ana in his country house.

Before Pablo and Elena arrive, Julián places what appears to be poison in a decanter containing peppermint frappe. When Pablo and Elena arrive, Julián tells them that Ana will be a little late and offers them the beverage. After a few sips, the couple begins to ridicule Julián once again. When they succumb to the poison, Julián carries their bodies to their car which he causes to roll off a cliff, giving the appearance that the couple had died in an automobile accident. Returning to his country house, Julián finds Ana now dressed as the woman of Calanda. The film ends as the two embrace.

Cole is hired by Ellen Lang to find her missing husband and son and in the end, with Cole and Pike's help, she kills former matador and crime boss Domingo Garcia Duran, the man responsible for her husband's death and her son's kidnapping. The facts behind the events leading to Ellen's husband's involvement with Duran and his death are revealed and her son Perry is restored to her.

Thousands of young people are terminally ill as a result of the radiation produced by the lunar structures destroyed in ''The Domes of Pico''. In an attempt to determine whether the fall-out from the domes can have a curative effect on the disease a joint east–west mission is planned under the auspices of the newly formed United Nations EXploration Agency (UNEXA).

The mission is commanded by Chris Godfrey, accompanied by American, Morrison 'Morrey' Kant and Russian Serge Smyslov. The 'patient' will be Tony Hale, from Aston near Birmingham (who goes on to feature in the rest of the series). The mission starts well, but is soon in trouble when a supply rocket crashes...

A probe returning from Venus crashes in the African desert; a Venusian spore on board thrives in its new environment; a grey mould quickly spreading and killing all it touches. An urgent crewed mission to Venus is launched from Lunaville, the now permanent Moon base. Chris Godfrey, Morrey Kant, Serge Smyslov, Tony Hale and Pierre, a scientist, are sent to try and discover what limits the mould's growth in its natural environment. The plan is to collect samples from the Venusian atmosphere but in the end a forced landing on Venus is required.

Despite being a straight A student, Zoe Tyler (Kellie Martin), a manic-depressive 17-year-old, constantly gets in trouble with her friends including Ann (Clea DuVall) due to angry outbursts caused by her refusal to take her medicine. One day, she skips school to hitchhike to San Francisco, California to visit her father at a piano concert. When the guy giving her a drive attempts to undress her, she screams and leaves the car, running back home where her mother Victoria (Karen Young) expresses her concern over her absence. In response, she runs away home to a nearby carnival, where she winds up dangling from a Ferris wheel. Her concerned mother decides that now something has to be done, and commits her daughter to a mental institution. Meanwhile, somewhere else Jake Walker (James Marsden), another 17-year-old, has difficulty respecting authority as well, even though he was raised by two forward, highly successful parents, one of whom is a respected lawyer, David (Terry O'Quinn). When he is not sleeping around with girls, Jake spends his day running away from the cops because of misdemeanors. One night, after a concert, he is arrested by the police and the judge advises for Jake to be in a juvenile facility. Preventing these hard measures to be done, David commits his son to the same mental hospital for a period of one month.

From the beginning, Zoe is pessimistic about her stay, feeling she does not belong in the institution. Nonetheless, she befriends Ally Winthrop (Lisa Jakub), a teenager who suffers from anorexia nervosa and constantly gets caught messing with her charts. When she is caught once again, Jake takes the blame and immediately becomes Ally's limelight, unlike for Zoe, who thinks that Jake is a low-life punk and rejects every attempt of him to get to know her. During her stay, Zoe meets the other patients, including the gay son of a military Luke (Jamie Kennedy), an extremely aggressive young man with family issues Timothy 'Trader' (Vince Vieluf), and a teenager who still has imaginary friends, Sammy (Joshua Jackson).

Over time, Zoe takes off her shield and grows closer to Jake. Ally notices this, and acts out by throwing up her dinner, for which Zoe apologizes. Nonetheless, Zoe and Jake soon kiss, but are caught by councilman George Beaumont (Sullivan Walker), who reports the situation. Zoe and Jake are both informed that any emotional involvement with other patients is bad for their progress, and that they should not see each other any longer. They are put in other wards, but are able to meet without the guards noticing, with the help from their co-patients. Chief Barbico (Kevin Dunn) opposes to the romance, though Dr. Sharon (Olivia Birkelund) feels that two people filled with hatred opening up to each other could help them recover. Dr. Sharon's theory seems to be confirmed when splitting them up becomes the cause for continuing outbursts, one of them including Jake trying to strangle his visiting father for having an affair. When Sharon arranges a meeting between the two, Barbico fires her on the spot and orders the teens to say goodbye. Instead of listening, Jake threatens Barbico with a knife, and is able to escape the institution with Zoe, Ally, Luke and Timothy.

Whereas Ally is caught by the police, Zoe & Jake and Luke & Timothy split up after accidentally shooting a security guard who attempted to hold them. In a diner, Zoe and Jake find out that Timothy was arrested after returning to the scene of crime. Instead of following his steps, they steal a car and hit the road. A stop at her father (Ronald Guttman) for help to escape to Mexico proves unsuccessful, as he turns her into the police. Zoe and Jake leave with her father's wallet before the cops arrive, but are almost killed on the road when Zoe drives dangerously upon noticing that Jake is flirting with another woman. She attempts to apologize after her outburst, and then runs to a deserted carnival because of Jake's lack of understanding. He follows her and finds her climbing in the Ferris wheel. Promising her a future with him, Jake convinces her not to jump and get off safely. Afterwards, they voluntarily return to the institution, believing that they will still be with each other after treatment.

In 1813, Napoleon is reeling from his disastrous invasion of Russia the year before, and Lord Wellington is preparing to drive the French out of Spain. Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) is mourning the death of his wife Teresa.

Sharpe's archenemy, French Major Ducos (Feodor Atkine), proposes a plan to his emperor to split the alliance between Spain and England (and gain revenge on Sharpe). He has a French spy, la Marquesa (Alice Krige), write a letter to her Spanish husband claiming that Sharpe tried to force his unwanted attentions on her. Sharpe is forced into a duel with the outraged nobleman, but the fight is broken up by Wellington's men. Later that night, while he is sleeping, the Spaniard has his throat cut by El Matarife (Matthew Scurfield), a partisan leader. Sharpe is framed for the murder and is sentenced to hang. To placate his Spanish allies, Wellington is forced to go along.

Major Nairn (Michael Byrne), Wellington's spymaster, arranges for another condemned soldier to be executed (keeping spectators at a distance so the switch can remain undetected), while he sends Sharpe and Sergeant Harper (Daragh O'Malley) to find out what is going on. Meanwhile, Father Hacha (Nickolas Grace) and his brother El Matarife, Ducos' co-conspirators, abduct la Marquesa and imprison her in a nunnery to tie up loose ends. Sharpe learns of this and frees her, only to be chased by El Matarife and his men.

Sharpe is captured by a French patrol and taken to Ducos. The gloating Frenchman tells Sharpe that his duel and the murder of the nobleman has made it possible to negotiate a vital peace treaty with King Ferdinand VII of Spain; the British army will be forced to leave the country. Harper and the rest of Sharpe's "chosen men" infiltrate the French prison in disguise and rescue their commander, just in time for him to play a pivotal role in the British victory at the Battle of Vitoria. Sharpe finds El Matarife at the end of the battle, fights him man to man, and forces him to confess in front of Spanish and British witnesses. El Matarife then tries to stab Sharpe in the back, but is shot by a Spanish major, who now clearly believes Sharpe. With his plot in ruins, Ducos kills Father Hacha.

In his attempt to flee from the advancing British, the arrogant Ducos is hauled from his horse by the routed French soldiers and is shot and left to die (but survives to bedevil Sharpe in the future).

The plot begins as a zany heiress uses and then takes pity on a man whom she believes to be homeless. She insists the man come home with her and gives him a job as the eccentric family's butler—much to the chagrin of her father, especially when it becomes clear the girl is falling in love with the fellow. The family's new butler, however, harbors a secret: he is actually as wealthy as and, in fact, more well-born than they are.

A traveler goes to the village of Femés in Lanzarote. There he takes an interest in Maria, called "Mararía" by the villagers, who walks in the shadows at night. The inhabitants tell him stories about her; it seems everyone has been entrapped by her in the past. All of her relationships ended badly, and she was held to be responsible. Now she is an old woman who walks in the dark and endures barking dogs and people’s comments. She is presented as a symbol of purification and self-destruction.

Category:1973 novels Category:20th-century Spanish novels Category:Spanish novels adapted into films Category:Novels set in Spain Category:Lanzarote in fiction

The story begins with a view of the city, lowering to a view of the ground underneath. Deep under the docks, several large wires are connected to the bedrock. Following the wires away from the coast along the ocean floor, it is shown that they all converge in a strange underwater capsule. An elevator-like object emerges from the top and rises to an abandoned fishing house infested with rats. A man exits the elevator and heads toward the city in a motorboat.

Starting up the earthquake machine. Later, at the Daily Planet, a Native American man warns Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and Perry White that they must run a report that Manhattan belongs to his people and should be given back to them. The Planet crew judges him to be crazy, and his threats to be empty... at least, everyone but Lois, who follows him to his motorboat. Hiding in the back, Lois is taken to the deserted fishing house on the water and sees his elevator. The man catches her watching him in the elevator's reflection, and calmly invites her to follow him, promising an amazing story.

The elevator lowers into the underwater capsule, and the man offers her a seat, then pushes a button which pins her arms and legs to the chair as a precautionary measure. Stepping up to the controls, he starts up his earthquake machine, sending a powerful surge of electricity through one of the wires and into the bedrock under the city. The large explosion causes the entire city to shake, and runs a large crack through the Daily Planet building. Clark takes advantage of the commotion to change into his Superman costume.

In one leap, Superman dives into the ocean and notices the several wires embedded in the rock. He pulls one of them out only to have it explode in his face, flinging him the ground and piling him with bedrock. He pushes the rock away and pulls at a few more, only to have the wires writhe with electric current and wind around him. At one point, Superman comes up for air only to have one of the wires wind around his neck and pull him down.

Finally, Superman follows the wires to the underwater capsule and pulls them out from its base, causing explosions which destroy the machine. As water fills the capsule, the villain takes the elevator to the surface, leaving Lois trapped as the water in the capsule slowly rises. Superman spots the elevator and catches the villain at the top, but is told that Lois is trapped, and darts back down to save her. The villain, meanwhile, loads the elevator with dynamite and sends it down after him. Superman, however, saves Lois in time, and captures the villain as he is making a getaway in his motorboat.

Later, as the Daily Planet reports Superman's latest heroic deed while the villain is implied to be arrested and sent to jail for his rampage, Clark and Lois are seen watching the now-rebuilt Manhattan from a cruise ship. Clark remarks, "You know, Lois, the old island looks just as good as ever". Lois replies, "That's right, Clark. Thanks to Superman".

The plot centers on Zuckerman's return home to New York after eleven years in New England. The purpose of Zuckerman's journey, which he takes the week before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, is for him to undergo a medical procedure that might cure or reduce his incontinence. While in New York, Zuckerman meets Amy Bellette, whom he had last encountered during a visit to the writer E.I. Lonoff's house in December, 1956, as depicted in Roth's novel ''The Ghost Writer''. Zuckerman also agrees to a housing swap with a young writing couple, Billy Davidoff and Jamie Logan, and quickly becomes attracted to Logan. In his hotel room at night, Zuckerman writes a play, ''He and She'', composed of imagined conversations between him and Logan.

Through Davidoff and Logan, Zuckerman meets Richard Kliman, a young, brash Harvard graduate who is working on a biography of Lonoff. Kliman was Logan's boyfriend in college. Because of Kliman's zealous interest in a potentially scandalous secret from Lonoff's adolescence, neither Zuckerman nor Bellette wants to help him complete his project. Zuckerman may also be motivated by his own confused feelings about Logan and Kliman.

Although critics once considered that Lonoff, deceased and neglected, was modelled partly on the writer Bernard Malamud, he now seems to be based on a number of writers. Henry Roth is a major influence, as becomes clear in ''Exit Ghost.'' Roth's biographer is Steven G. Kellman. It is known that Philip Roth has read the later novels of Henry Roth, though some of these remain unpublished. The rationale for Henry Roth is that in his novels published after his death he reveals that he had an incestuous affair with his sister when he was young; it also known that Henry Roth suffered from writer's block for much of his career after publishing ''Call It Sleep'', his only major novel. In ''Exit Ghost'' it is revealed that Lonoff also had an incestuous affair with his sister — which led to his writer's block — and the fact that while content to teach in oblivion, he never published again.

American politics forms a backdrop to the novel. Zuckerman, Davidoff and Logan watch the results of the 2004 presidential election together. Logan, whose father always voted Republican, was enraged and devastated by the results. The older Zuckerman, though not pleased, was more philosophical and was able to place the results into a more historical context.

A narrator describes Mt. Monokoa, a volcano which has been dormant for about 300 years:

"On this peaceful island crowned by the great volcano, Mt. Monokoa, occurred the mightiest eruption that ever shook the Earth, burying the beautiful city beneath it in molten lava, and creating destructive tidal waves that raced around the world. For 300 years, this mighty volcano lay dormant. A new and more beautiful city sprang up at its base. But now, after centuries of inactivity, slight tremors are being felt. At the Bureau of Meteorology, a group of scientists watchfully check delicate instruments to determine the seriousness of this renewed activity".

The scene shows various scientists at the Bureau of Meteorology checking the volcano, which is showing signs of eruption, threatening the small town yet again. Lois Lane and Clark Kent are sent to the scene by Perry White, who gives each of them steam tickets to the island, as well as press passes, ordering Lois to keep them safe as she stows them in her purse.

On arrival, Clark cannot find his press pass (Lois has it hidden in her purse even after she had been ordered by White to stop getting a good story all by herself and let Clark help her for a change), and goes into town to acquire another as Lois takes a tour of the volcano. Her guide tells her that the plan to save the city is to blow a hole in the side of the volcano, thus altering the course of the lava flow away from the town, to the ocean on the other side of the island. Suddenly, the volcano begins to erupt, and lava spews out of its top, flowing towards the town. Lois and her guide are separated. Two men on the other side of the volcano scramble to get to the machinery which will blow a hole in its side, but a giant boulder cuts the wire connecting the dynamite to the machine, rendering it useless. From the town below, Clark sees the volcano let out a particularly explosive blast and says, "This looks like a job for Superman".

He changes into his costume and flies up to the volcano, catching a huge boulder hurtling toward the town and flinging it into the ocean. This momentarily leaves him stunned on a ledge on the mountainside as the lava creeps nearer and nearer to the town and Lois is struggling to get away from the volcano by edging hand over hand along a cable wire connecting two mountains. She makes it to a cable car just as the cable begins to give way. Superman saves her, then flies back, catches the cable car and flings it at a mountain near the advancing lava, causing a landslide which dams up the lava flow to the town. Then Superman flies to the dynamite machinery and notices the cut wire. He pulls the two wires together to complete the connection, and in a huge blast the side of the volcano explodes, and the remaining lava slides harmlessly into the ocean.

In the final scene, Lois and Clark are on the boat home, and Clark commends Lois for her excellent story. Lois remarks that it is too bad he was not there as well, whereupon Clark pulls the second press pass sticking out of her open purse and says, "I would've been, if I hadn't lost my pass".

The player is washed ashore by a storm and is discovered by the partner, a timid Pokémon who dreams of forming an exploration team. After teaming up to recover the partner's Relic Fragment from some bullies, the player, who has lost all memories except their name and the fact that they used to be human, agrees to form an exploration team to piece together their identity. The two enlist at the Wigglytuff Guild and begin training as adventurers. During this time, the player discovers that they can have visions of the future or past. Eventually, the authorities alert the guild that a criminal named Grovyle has been stealing artifacts called the Time Gears, which stabilize the flow of time in each region and cause time to stop when stolen. The player and partner attempt to intercept Grovyle, but are defeated. Afterwards, the guild enlists the aid of a famous explorer named Dusknoir, who explains that the player's ability to see through time is called the Dimensional Scream. Dusknoir reveals that he and Grovyle are from the future and that if the Time Gears are stolen, the Pokémon world will become paralyzed and turn into a dark, dismal region filled with scared and corrupted Pokémon. With assistance from the guardians of the Time Gears, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, Dusknoir successfully captures Grovyle and returns the Time Gears to their rightful places. Back in town, Dusknoir opens a Dimensional Hole to take Grovyle back to the future to face justice and bids farewell to the villagers, but suddenly grabs the player and partner and drags them into the portal with him.

The player and partner awaken in a prison in the future. After escaping a near execution with Grovyle by Dusknoir, they discover the world is still paralyzed. They learn from Grovyle that the paralysis was caused because of the collapse of Temporal Tower, which also corrupted its head occupant, Dialga, into a tyrannical being known as Primal Dialga. Grovyle exposes Dusknoir as a villainous agent sent to the present to capture him and reveals that he and a human companion traveled back in time to take the Time Gears to Temporal Tower in order to save the world; this human is actually the player. With the help of Celebi, a friend of Grovyle, the group manages to escape Dusknoir's group and return to the present. Grovyle reveals that, while it is true that time stops when a Time Gear is taken (not "stolen"), this effect is only temporary and that once the Time Gears are returned to Temporal Tower, time is permanently restored in all locations.

Arriving back to the present, the group enlists the help of the guild to take the Time Gears to Temporal Tower to restore time. While Grovyle gathers the Time Gears, the guild investigates Temporal Tower and discovers a way to reach the Hidden Land where it lies, using the partner's Relic Fragment. The player, the partner, and Grovyle travel to the Hidden Land, and are accosted by Dusknoir. He reveals to the player that if they succeed in changing the future, they and Grovyle will be erased from existence. Grovyle sacrifices himself to drag Dusknoir back to the future, and the player presses onward. They and the partner make their way to the top of Temporal Tower, defeat Primal Dialga and restore it to sanity, and replace the Time Gears and stop the planet's paralysis. On the way back, the player says a final goodbye to the partner before vanishing. After the credits, Dialga is deeply moved by the partner's grief over the player's death, and restores the player to the timeline as thanks for bringing time back under control. The player reappears at the beach and reunites with the overjoyed partner.

After the main story, the player and partner graduate from Wigglytuff Guild and move their base of operations to Sharpedo Bluff, the partner's old home. In Luminous Spring, they learn that neither the partner nor the player can evolve due to a distortion in space. After many missions and explorations, it is revealed that Darkrai was responsible for the events in the main story. The team, with the help of Palkia and Cresselia, defeats Darkrai, fixing the distortion and finally allowing the player and partner to evolve.

Kouhei Kagami is a Japanese student with excellent grades and a fairly normal social life, but feels empty and transparent inside. The story revolves a pivotal moment in Kouhei's life where three girls, that have more problems than himself, meet him for the first time and soon make his life a roller coaster of emotions. Kouhei must choose to save one of them from their own despair.

The plot follows the same basic route for the first half of the game. Kouhei goes about his life and makes friends with three main girls: Aeka, Mizuki, and Nekoko.

The story chronicles the school lives of Mafuyu Oribe and Tomo Yamanobe at the Japanese Eastern Orthodox school St. Mihailov Academy, where they have endured persecution and isolation from other students led by the daughter of the current dean Miyuri Tsujidou and her second-in-command Hana Katsuragi. Mafuyu and Tomo's lives take a drastic turn when they nurse the silver-haired Russian-born Alexander "Sasha" Nikolaevich Hell back to health upon encountering him unconscious one day during their home commute. Almost immediately, Sasha begins to repay Mafuyu and Tomo's kindness as he repels their tormentors; however, this does not change Sasha's background as a throw-away Qwaser from the Adepts, and that the Adepts have no qualms about making an absolute war zone of the Academy in order to acquire the Theotokos of Tsarytsin from Athos, who wishes to keep the icon's existence a secret from the world.

It is set in the office of a Conservative magazine called "The Blue Touch Paper" owned by South African media mogul Lord Malan (Robert Hardy). To revive its failing sales, Malan hires a new editor Keith (Tony Gardner), who was previously the "token Tory" at the left-wing ''Guardian'' (and is thus nicknamed "Toynbee", after Polly Toynbee from the Guardian, by Malan). This angers Anna (Amelia Bullmore), the magazine's political commentator (and its acting editor for the last 3 months), who had been hoping to become full editor.

Much to the discontent of Malan and Anna, Keith then moves the magazine away from its traditional hard-right standpoint to views more in line with David Cameron's new "caring Conservatism", such as environmentalism. Anna, Malan and hard-right Tory backbenchers therefore try to ensure that Keith fails to make a success of the paper, often using Malan's three other national papers to do so. However, their attempts usually backfire, with Keith's brand of conservatism ''increasing'' rather than decreasing the readership.

In April 2006, Private First Class Angel Salazar (Izzy Diaz), a young United States Army soldier serving in the Iraq War, is an aspiring filmmaker who enlisted in the U.S. Army to help him get into film school, following the rejection of his application to University of Southern California. Salazar, based in Camp "The Oven" Carolina, near Samarra, Iraq, is using his camcorder to record an amateur documentary, ''Tell Me No Lies'', about his deployment in Samarra, to present to a film school of choice as part of admission. Meanwhile, a French documentary crew is shooting a documentary called ''Barrage'' while they are embedded with Salazar's platoon.

The French documentary crew films the soldiers performing their routine duties as they man a random checkpoint as part of their deployment in Iraq, to help curtail insurgent activity. The soldiers spend their days searching cars at the checkpoint. One day, the French documentary videotapes an incident in which Private First Class Reno Flake (Patrick Carroll), while manning a Humvee-mounted M2 machine gun, fires on a speeding car that tries to rush through the checkpoint. A pregnant female passenger in the car is shot and is rushed to the hospital by her brother, and later dies. It is later revealed that the brother, the driver of the car, was simply trying to get his pregnant sister to the hospital, as she was in labor, and misinterpreted the soldiers' commands to stop, believing that they were telling him that he was clear to proceed.

Back at Camp Carolina, Salazar, camcorder in hand, asks Flake how he felt about killing a pregnant woman, and he replies that he felt "nothing", and that it was like "gutting catfish". When Specialist Lawyer McCoy (Rob Devaney), a married, college-educated soldier, is disgusted by this response, Salazar and McCoy press the issue further, and Flake offers a sarcastic, facetious apology to Salazar's camcorder, enjoying the limelight, which further inflames the situation. Sergeant Jim Vazquez (Mike Figueroa) defuses the situation before it gets out of hand, stating that, under the rules of engagement, Flake's actions were proper.

While on a foot patrol, one of the more experienced soldiers, Master Sergeant Sweet, is killed after stepping on an improvised explosive device. Flake and his friend SPC B.B. Rush (Daniel Stewart Sherman) are enraged by Sweet's death and wish to take revenge by attacking some Iraqis. During a poker game, Flake and Rush announce their plan to go to the house of an Iraqi family they had searched previously, with the goal of raping a 15-year-old girl who is one of the family members. Despite objections from Blix and McCoy, Flake and Rush carry out their plan, with Salazar and McCoy accompanying them; the former to videotape the incident and the latter in the hopes of stopping them.

McCoy tries to stop the duo, but he is ordered out of the house at gunpoint. Flake and Rush rape the girl as Salazar films the events using a hidden helmet-mounted video camera. Afterwards, the girl and her entire family are killed and the girl is burned. McCoy tries to tell Blix about the rape, when Rush confronts the two and threatens McCoy at knife-point, demanding he not report the rape. Afterwards, McCoy is deeply disturbed by the rape and murders, and he tells his father about the incident via webchat. His father, citing the Abu Ghraib incident, urges him not to report the incident, fearing the publicity generated would disparage the U.S. internationally. Regardless, McCoy ignores his father's objections and reports the rape, going to the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) to make them aware of the crimes and they subsequently interview him. Salazar too is disturbed by the scenes he recorded, and he meets with an Army psychologist to discuss his deteriorating mental state.

While busy making a video for his mother during a foot patrol, a preoccupied Salazar is kidnapped by insurgents at knife-point and driven away in a van. Rush notices Salazar missing and his camera, which was left behind during the kidnapping. Later, Salazar is beheaded alive by the insurgents and a video of his murder uploaded onto the internet. Before beheading him, the insurgents claim that his beheading was retribution for Farah's rape. Salazar's decapitated corpse is discovered by a Bedouin man and subsequently retrieved by U.S. soldiers. The Army alleges the rape and murder were perpetrated by insurgents, but a relative rejects the claim, stating that they are of the same sect as the supposed insurgents. After the story makes the news, Flake and Rush are arrested and interrogated by the CID and the duo conceitedly admit to the rapes in rambling racist rants.

In October 2006, after returning home from Iraq, McCoy is at a bar with his wife when he is asked by his civilian friends to tell them a "war story". He obliges and tearfully tells them about the rape and murders, before sobbing into his wife's arms.

Greg Heffley, the middle school protagonist, clarifies that "this is a JOURNAL, not a diary." He then explains that he only agreed to write in one for when he is "rich and famous," and "for now, I'm stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons." Greg then discusses the old, smelly, moldy Cheese at his school. It started when someone left a piece of cheese on the blacktop, and it got moldy. If someone touches it, they have the "Cheese Touch," which they are stuck with until they pass it on by touching someone else. However, the last victim of the Cheese Touch moved away, and Greg hopes nobody starts it up again. He also talks about his best friend, Rowley Jefferson. Although Greg wants to be famous and explains popularity to Rowley, "it just goes in one ear and out the other with him."

Greg then introduces his family. He has a teenage brother, Rodrick, who likes to pick on him, and a little brother, a toddler named Manny, who gets everything he wants and gets away with everything he does wrong. Greg's father does not encourage his way of life — playing video games all day — rather than going outside and playing sports.

Near Halloween, Greg writes that his father likes to hide in the bushes on Halloween night and drench teenagers with a trash can of water. Greg and Rowley decide to make their own haunted house, although they end up profiting only two dollars. On Halloween night, Greg and Rowley go trick-or-treating, but are challenged by a group of teenagers who spray them with a water-filled fire extinguisher. When they get home, they are mistakenly soaked by Greg's father.

Greg fails a geography test after a girl named Patty Farrell catches him cheating. At home, Greg's mother forces him into auditioning for the school play (based on ''The Wizard of Oz''). Greg lands the role of a tree, while Patty Farrell is cast as Dorothy, the protagonist of the novel. During the show's performance, Greg becomes too nervous to sing, confusing the other trees. Patty gets frustrated, and Greg starts throwing props at Patty. The other trees join in, and while Greg's mother is disappointed, Greg ends up enjoying the play due to him getting back at Patty.

After getting a few presents for Christmas, Greg decides to play a game with Rowley in which Rowley must ride a bike while Greg tries to knock him off with a football. On one of Greg's tries, the ball gets under the front wheel, which causes Rowley to fall off and break his arm. When Rowley goes to school with a plaster cast, the girls take care of him (carrying his books, feeding him food), which makes Greg jealous.

Greg decides to join the Safety Patrols at his school, hoping that he will get authority. He gets Rowley to sign up as well and enjoys the benefits of being in the Safety Patrol, such as getting free hot chocolate. He tries to get a spot in the school's newspaper as a cartoonist and teams up with Rowley. Greg comes up with a strip called ''Zoo-Wee Mama!'' Eventually, Greg starts wanting to do other strips, but Rowley wants to continue with ''Zoo-Wee Mama!'' Greg submits his comics to the teacher and ends up getting the cartoonist job. However, the teacher completely changes Greg's comic, even making his character a "curious student" instead of a "cretin."

After an incident where Greg chases some kindergartners with a worm on a stick and is mistaken for Rowley, Rowley gets fired from the Safety Patrols. However, after it gets cleared up that Greg was the real culprit, Rowley is re-hired and promoted while Greg is kicked off.

Greg notices that the school year is coming to a close and tries to get on the yearbook's Class Favorites page. He plans to go for "Class Clown," but his plans do not work out. At lunch, he gets an issue of the school newspaper and learns that Rowley is the new cartoonist, with his ''Zoo-Wee Mama!'' strip left unchanged.

Greg confronts Rowley for not even listing him as co-creator and hogging all the fame. As they argue, the teenagers who chased them at Halloween appear and force Greg and Rowley to eat the Cheese. Greg lies that he's lactose intolerant, while Rowley is forced to eat the whole thing. The next day, when everyone notices that the Cheese is gone, Greg takes the fall for Rowley and lies that he threw it away. Greg reconciles with Rowley and lets people think that he has the Cheese Touch.

The book concludes with Greg getting his yearbook, seeing Rowley on the "Class Clown" page, and throwing it in the garbage.

The first man to pass close to Mars is driven insane by strange 'voices' he hears on his radio. He is unable to record the voices as the Van Allen radiation belts wipe the magnetic tapes clean, so doubt is cast on his account. U.N.E.X.A. (United Nations Exploration Agency) send their crack team (Chris Godfrey, Serge Smyslov, Morrey Kant and Tony Hale) to investigate. After landing on the planet's surface they find traces of an ancient civilization, but then a disembodied Martian appears and demands its people be transported to Earth, where they will enslave the human race. One-by-one the crew are taken over.

This novel introduces the concept of the Ion drive, allowing continuous acceleration of one-fifth g.

On a British cruise ship, there is a betting pool wherein passengers try to correctly guess the number of miles the ship will travel that day, within ten miles above ("high field") or below ("low field") the captain's own guess.

On a stormy day, a passenger named William Botibol bids two hundred pounds on "low field", the inclement weather having significantly slowed down the ship. He is gambling largely with money he doesn't have (it represents years of his and his wife's savings), but he views it as worth the risk.

The next morning, Botibol wakes up to find the sky is clear and the ship is moving very fast to make up for lost time. Horrified, he decides that to slow down the ship he will jump overboard, dressed as if for tennis so he can easily swim. This way, the ship will have to stop and turn around to rescue him.

Seeking out potential eyewitnesses, Botibol ventures to the rear of the ship where he encounters an elderly woman. After striking up a casual conversation to ensure that she notices him and will raise the alarm when he falls into the water, he then surreptitiously leaps off the end of the ship. Yelling for help as he plunges into the water beneath him, he captures the woman's attention. Initially, she seems unsure how to react, but she eventually relaxes and watches as Botibol, arms waving madly and shouting, disappears into the distance.

A matronly woman, evidently a caregiver, soon arrives on the deck and reprimands the older woman for wandering off without her. The older woman does not reply directly but instead comments offhandedly about a man who "dived overboard... with all his clothes on" – a remark that earns a stern "Nonsense!" from the caregiver. The elderly woman – who, unbeknownst to Botibol, is evidently a dementia patient – allows the caregiver to lead her away across the deck, saying "Such a nice man. He waved to me."

There are six people eating a fine dinner at the house of Mike Schofield, a London stockbroker: Mike, his wife and daughter, an unnamed narrator and his wife, and a wine connoisseur, Richard Pratt. Pratt often makes small bets with Schofield to guess what wine is being served at the table, but during the night in the story he is uninterested, instead attempting to socialize with Schofield's eighteen-year-old daughter, Louise.

When Schofield brings the second wine of the night he remarks that it will be impossible to guess where it is from, but Pratt takes that as a challenge. The tough talk on both sides leads the two to increase the bet until Pratt declares that he would like to bet for the hand of Schofield's daughter in marriage—if he loses, he will give Schofield both of his houses. Though his wife and daughter are horrified, Mike eventually convinces them to accept the bet—it is simply too good a deal to pass up, especially since he is sure the wine will be impossible to identify.

However, Pratt proceeds to name the district, commune, vineyard, and the year of the wine (though Mike doesn't turn over the bottle, his reaction appears to be one of disbelief that Pratt could have guessed correctly). At this moment, however, the maid walks in and returns to Pratt his glasses, which he had left on the cabinet in the study earlier in the evening where the bottle had been left out to reach room temperature. (Pratt had picked out this place in the study on an earlier visit as the ideal place to sit the wine—his glasses being left there reveals that he knew the wine in advance and cheated on the bet.) With Pratt's deception having been revealed to all the table, Mike's wife pleads with him to calm down as he sits up angrily in his chair.

The story begins with the music and noise of the circus. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at the Midway, Lois having an assignment to cover its events. She expresses her regret that she didn't have a more exciting assignment. Clark offers his condolences, then leaves for his own assignment as the show begins.

Later that night, as Lois attends the clown performance, a monkey wanders from the main tent and accidentally opens the cage of a giant gorilla (perhaps a homage to King Kong). Growling, the Gorilla named "Gigantic" wanders into the tent putting a stop in all of the acts and sending everyone into pandemonium. Circus workers attempt to tie the gorilla down with ropes, but are overpowered by its strength and are forced to flee. While other workers are struggling to keep the other animals under control, some of the elephants stampede, or rear up against their owners, knocking other cages open.

At the Daily Planet, Clark gets out of his taxicab and notices police cars driving by. He then gets back into the taxicab and tells Joe to follow the cars. Back at the circus, a lot of people are shown exiting the circus tent. Lois, who has been taking pictures of the gorilla and the fleeing attendees, is about to leave when she notices the gorilla lumbering toward a trapped young girl who emerged from the wrecked cart. She runs between the creature and the girl and helps her escape only to have the gorilla turn on her.

Clark arrives on the scene alongside the police and sees the chaos. Quickly, he changes into his Superman costume and begins returning animals like the lions and a black panther to their cages. Right after tossing an elephant into a cart, he hears a scream: Lois is trapped at the top of a pole holding up the tent and the giant gorilla is climbing perilously close. Superman confronts the gorilla and ties it down, but during the fight, one of the tent poles falls down and hits a power circuit, starting a fire. After tying the gorilla up in the net, Superman saves Lois from the flames just in time and then puts out the fire.

The final scene at the Daily Planet shows Lois vigorously typing the story, with Clark sitting lazily back in a chair at the next desk.

Benji, a stray dog who lives in an abandoned house on the outskirts of a small town, sets about his daily ritual of visiting human friends; he has no fixed home but he desires one, and he likes the children of the Chapman family, Paul and Cindy, best. Mary, their housekeeper, feeds him, but she knows that the children's father, Dr. Chapman, must not find out about him because he'll fire her on the spot. One day their father is about to appear, so they hide Benji under the table. After outwitting Dr. Chapman, the children leave for school and Mary explains to Benji that Dr. Chapman stubbornly dislikes dogs, but he is a nice man. Continuing on his route, Benji chases a cat and greets Officer Tuttle, who announces his wedding engagement and tells Benji that he, too, will soon meet the lady of his dreams. At Bill's Café, Benji wakes Bill from his morning nap and receives a bone as payment. Returning home, Benji finds three suspicious characters, Linda, Henry, and Riley, breaking in. Although Henry and Riley are spooked by legends that the house is haunted, Linda intends to propose the location as a hideout to their boss Mitch, mastermind of their illicit activities. Henry leaves a bag of groceries behind and Benji eagerly consumes an open pudding cup.

The next morning at the Chapman home, the children brush Benji, hoping their father will accept him into the family, but Mary tells them that the doctor will not change his mind. After impressing his human friends with his new hairstyle, Benji encounters a pretty white dog in the park who is scavenging through his favorite trashcan. Benji presents her with the bone he received from Bill and she follows him back to the Chapman house where Mary brushes her, brings her food and names her Tiffany after the jewelry store. Benji and Tiffany frolic in the park, but when they return to Benji's home, they find that Riley and Henry have returned. Riley points out that Henry's groceries have been overturned and becomes increasingly anxious that the house is haunted. As Mitch and Linda arrive to survey the property, Riley tells Henry that a pudding cup is missing, but Henry warns him against upsetting their plans.

The following morning, Dr. Chapman tells his despondent children that Benji carries diseases and forbids them from keeping him as a pet in spite of Cindy's tearful pleas. Later, Riley writes a ransom note to extort money from Dr. Chapman by threatening his children, but Henry throws it on the ground, writes a new one, and orders Riley to deliver it when he gives him the signal. Meanwhile, Mitch surprises Henry and Linda by actually kidnapping the Chapman children. Benji races to the Chapman home to alert the humans but is shooed out by Mary, not understanding his message. Benji returns to steal the ransom note, hoping that by doing that, he'll make the police follow him to the source of trouble, but he is stopped and the note is taken from him. Benji is at a loss at what to do next. He then follows Officer Tuttle into the police station but gets locked in. When he barks through an intercom, he is released by a passing policeman.

Returning to the crime scene, he snatches Riley's first ransom note and is grabbed by Mitch. Tiffany rushes out and bites him and gets a vicious kick in return; she is not killed, but her leg is sore and bruised. Benji runs home where he finds that Linda has preceded him in an attempt to cut off his efforts. She snatches the note from Benji and puts it in her purse. He growls and barks, and Mary berates him and carries him away, but he bites her and lunges at Linda, causing the note to fall out. Mary reads it and rushes it to Dr. Chapman, who demands to know where his children are, and Linda breaks down in tears. Benji leads the police, the FBI, Dr. Chapman, and Mary back to the hideout. Meanwhile, the kidnappers are concerned that Linda has not returned, and Henry and Riley argue that they should leave. As they walk outside, however, the police hold them at gunpoint and the children are reunited with their father and Mary. Their father is so proud of the dogs that he says they can stay with them permanently, much to their and the children's delight.

Before story events

In 1930s Paris, young Hugo Cabret and his father repair an automaton at the museum where his father works. When Hugo's father dies in a fire, his uncle brings him to live and work at the train station maintaining the clocks. His uncle disappears, and Hugo keeps the clocks running by himself, living inside the station walls and stealing food from the shops. He rescues the automaton from the burnt museum in hopes of restoring it. Later, he discovers a keyhole in the shape of a heart, and works on finding the key.

Part 1

A few months later, Hugo is caught stealing from a toy booth and is forced to return his stolen tools and mechanisms, as well as his notebook containing his father's drawings of the automaton. Hugo follows the shopkeeper to his house but fails to retrieve his notebook. A girl in the house named Isabelle promises him she will make sure the notebook is not destroyed.

The next day, Hugo returns to the toy booth, where the shopkeeper tells him the notebook has been burnt; he encounters Isabelle, who assures him it is safe. Isabelle brings him to a bookshop to meet her friend Etienne, who sneaks them into the cinema; Papa Georges, the shopkeeper, has forbidden Isabelle from watching films.

Papa Georges allows Hugo to work at the toy booth, with the possibility of returning the Diary; the job further delays Hugo's clock duties. Hugo and Isabelle visit the theater but learn Etienne has been fired for sneaking children in, so Isabelle unlocks the door with a bobby pin. They are kicked out, and Hugo is almost caught by the station inspector. Isabelle asks Hugo about his life, but he runs away, fearing that sharing the truth will send him to an orphanage or prison. Isabelle chases him but trips, revealing a dog-shaped key around her neck, which Hugo realizes is the key to the auto-machine.

The next morning, Hugo learns that Isabelle has read his diary. He pickpockets the key with a technique learned from a book on magic and returns to his hidden room, where he is confronted by Isabelle. They use the key to activate the auto-machine, which produces a drawing of a rocket which has landed in one of the eyes of the "man in the moon."

Part 2

The automaton signs its drawing “Georges Méliès”, who Isabelle reveals is Papa Georges. Believing Hugo has stolen the automaton, she runs home; Hugo follows, and inadvertently crushes his hand in the front door, and she brings him inside. Hugo notices a strangely locked drawer; Isabelle picks it open but drops the heavy box inside, breaking it and her leg. Georges enters and is enraged, ripping up the drawings inside the box. After Mama Jeanne forces everyone to bed, Hugo takes the key to the toy booth back to the station.

The next day, he and Isabelle collect the money from the booth and buy medicine for Georges. Hugo visits the film academy library where Etienne now works. Hugo finds a book titled ''The Invention of Dreams'' with a drawing of the automaton, which he learns is a scene from the first movie his father ever saw, ''A Trip to the Moon'', directed by Georges Méliès. Hugo invites Etienne and the book's author, René Tabard, to Isabelle's house later, and explains Méliès’ career to Isabelle.

At the house, Tabard and Etienne screen ''A Trip to the Moon'', and George finally reveals his past: he was the prolific and innovative filmmaker Méliès, but after World War I, the deaths of Isabelle's parents, and the loss of most of his films in a fire, he sank into depression and burned the rest, to begin a new life at the toy booth. He also created the automaton; excited to learn it has survived, he asks Hugo to bring it to him. Hugo returns to the station, stealing breakfast from Monsieur Frick and Miss Emily as usual; overhearing that his uncle was found dead, Hugo drops the milk bottle and is discovered. He escapes and fetches the automaton, but is pursued by the station inspector. Hugo, gasping for air as he very quickly tries to escape the guard's wrath.

Hugo awakens in a cell. He reveals everything to the inspector and is released to be adopted by Georges, Mama Jean, and Isabelle. He and Méliès repair the automaton together.

Epilogue: 6 months later

Six months later, Hugo and his new family attend a grand concert including Méliès’ surviving film scenes. Onstage, Tabard acknowledges Hugo, Isabelle, and Etienne for their help in honoring Georges. In the end, it is revealed that Hugo Cabret made his own automaton that wrote and drew the entire book of ''The Invention of Hugo Cabret''.

The play opens in a rural Irish pub with Brendan, the publican and Jack, a car mechanic and garage owner. These two begin to discuss their respective days and are soon joined by Jim. The three then discuss Valerie, a pretty young woman from Dublin who has just rented an old house in the area.

Finbar, a businessman, arrives with Valerie, and the play revolves around reminiscences and banter. After a few drinks, the group begin telling stories with a supernatural slant, related to their own experience or those of others in the area, and which arise out of the popular preoccupations of Irish folklore: ghosts, fairies and mysterious happenings.

After each man (except Brendan) has told a story, Valerie tells her own: the reason why she has left Dublin. Valerie's story is melancholy and undoubtedly true, with a ghostly twist which echoes the earlier tales, and shocks the men who become softer, kinder, and more real. There is the hint that the story may lead to salvation and, eventually, a happy ending for two of the characters. Finbar and Jim leave, and in the last part of the play, Jack's final monologue is a story of personal loss which, he comments, is at least not a ghostly tale but in some ways is nonetheless about a haunting.

The building of a hydroelectric dam, or weir, on a local waterway many years before is mentioned early in the conversation.

The story begins when a 14th-century English army is abducted by aliens of the Galactic Federation to serve as mercenaries on planets where only low-tech weaponry is legal. The aliens are bound by a Galactic Federation law that states that advanced weapons can not be used on primitive worlds. Another Guild had previously abducted a legion from the Roman Empire and used it to obtain victory in many confrontations and thereby increase its commercial empire. Other aliens were inspired to try the same tactics and came to Earth to find their own army to fight for them. As the plot progresses, the English army continues to fight for the aliens, until the Baron in charge of the English is approached by a dragon-like alien under the heel of the Guild Aliens. The dragon-like creature tells the Baron the story of the Federation.

The Galactic Federation was originally started over one hundred fifty thousand years ago by 3 races, with membership of the council requiring development of a form of faster-than-light (FTL) drive. Over the course of their long history, the Federation strayed from its values. It now has 22 races on the council (of which only 1 is an original founder) and when it discovers new races it invades them so it can freeze their technological development and force them to become a protectorate.

The dragon-like creature is from one of these worlds, saying that the Federation came during his world's nuclear age. The creature says that all the other races are different than humanity because of the rate at which it develops. This is shown when the Guild Alien makes a comment about how humanity would have developed gunpowder in 1000 years from the time he took the English from the 14th century, instead of the 200 years it actually took. The dragon-creature and the Baron eventually succeed in a mutiny and take over the ship, but they decide that they can not go back to Earth because the Federation would find them too fast.

The story then moves forward to the 22nd century, on Earth, now under the single Solar government, where humanity has become capable of building vast ships in space and has developed an FTL drive. However, the Federation considers their fast development a threat to its stability and has dispatched a fleet to wipe humanity from the universe.

As the massive Federation battleships are about to destroy the comparably tiny human ships, even bigger spaceships appear and destroy the Federation ships easily. The rescuers of Earth are the Avalon Empire, the civilization founded by the English who have grown in numbers and, using the technology found on the captured Guild ship, have advanced far beyond the Federation. For centuries, they have prepared and lay in hiding so could return at the moment of Earth's greatest need (just like the sword Excalibur in the legend of King Arthur, which gives rise to the title of the book).

The English reveal themselves to Earth and offer an alliance to take on the Federation, but the fight will be far from easy. The Federation has over fifteen hundred worlds, with an average population of 11 billion on each world, while humanity only has the Avalon empire, who has grown to live across 20 some worlds, and Earth. But, with the technical superiority of the Avalon empire and a carefully planned series of rebellions on "protected" worlds in the Federation, humanity at least stands a chance.

The story deals with Tom King, a boxer who is at the very end of his career. Once a great star who spent money freely and generously on himself and others, he is now so poor that the local merchants will not even loan him enough money for a piece of steak. Before his fight against a rising star, Sandel, he eats only bread and gravy and must send his wife and children to bed without food. The majority of the story details his boxing match with Sandel, who, as a much younger man, has far better stamina and recuperative abilities than King. Though King is much more experienced and tactically advanced than Sandel, King loses the fight. He knows that had he been able to eat a steak before the fight, the outcome would have been different. Because he has already taken out credit on the loser's share of the purse, he leaves the fight penniless and in despair. The story ends with King crying on his two-mile walk home, as he cannot afford a cab ride.

The story begins with Doctor John Dolittle looking for some money to earn to pay off his voyage to Africa. The Doctor's idea is to get the Pushmi-Pullyu into the circus, but he can't find one until Matthew Mugg suggest a small business circus owned by the ring master Blossum. The Doctor visits Blossum and persuades him to visit his house in Puddleby to discuss the payment and rules of the Pushmi-Pullyu before its performance in the circus.

The performance goes well after the Pushmi-Pullyu is put into the show and the doctor starts earning, but he also discovers the circus animals are living in wretched conditions, which Blossum doesn't co-operate with when the doctor makes suggestions on how to improve their lot. The doctor then meets Sophie the Alaskan seal, who is owned by Mr Higgins. She explains to him that she misses her husband Slushy, who is her herd's alpha seal, so the Doctor plans an escape for Sophie. When the night comes for the escape, Dolittle waits in the street while Matthew and Jip get Sophie out of the circus, but the guards shut the gate before the seal can make a break for it, so Matthew and his wife Theodosia distract them by luring them to Sophie's tank and pushing them in. The whole circus goes into pandemonium when they see the disappearance of the seal, but Sophie manages to escape eventually.

When Dolittle and Sophie reach the outskirts of the town, Sophie suggests that if they follow the river, they will get to the sea quicker. They consult the ducks, who tell them to go to Talbot's Bridge, which will lead them to Kippet River all the way to the Bristol coast. Dolittle buys some lady clothes to disguise Sophie while travelling in a coach, but the people in the coach grow suspicious - mistaking him for a notorious highwayman and Sophie for the highwayman's accomplice - so the Doctor and Sophie have to leave. The Doctor and Sophie meet up with the same horse whom the Doctor gave spectacles for his eyesight and who obliges to take them in his wagon to the Kippet River. When they reach the river, Sophie swims most of the way, and finally the doctor throws Sophie into the sea from a cliff, still in her disguise.

The doctor gets arrested by the coastguard for allegedly throwing his wife in the sea. In prison, the Doctor meets Sir William, an old school friend who is now a fox hunter and whom the Doctor tries to persuade to stop killing foxes. The police sergeant later comes in to explain to the doctor that the coastguard made a mistake and that the doctor is free to go. When the doctor makes his way back to Appledyke, he meets a mother vixen called Nightshade who is on the run with her cubs from fox hunters. The Doctor hides Nightshade and her cubs in his jacket, and when he discovers Sir William is on the hunt, he tells the hunter's dogs to hunt elsewhere so the foxes can escape.

After having saved Nightshade and her cubs, Dolittle returns to Blossum's Circus and finds there is a talking horse called Nino who performs a series of signs to communicate. Nino falls ill, so the doctor explains to Blossum that he can talk to animals and has an idea to use Beppo as a substitute talking horse for the act. Beppo later tells the Doctor of a nice pasture where he wishes to retire, so the Doctor persuades the farmer to let him buy the farm. The pasture is turned into The Retirement Cab and Wagon Horse Association, and soon afterwards the son of the farmer and his friends get paid by the Doctor to plant radishes to feed the horses with.

The Doctor then gets his animal friends, including Dab-Dab, Gub-Gub, Jip, Toby and Swizzle, to perform in a play called "The Puddleby Pantomime", and is approved by Mr Bellamy when the performance is done. However, Blossum disappears with the money he owes everyone, and the circus people elect the Doctor as the new manager of the circus. The Doctor reluctantly agrees and arranges everything to his satisfaction by giving tea and peppermints to his visitors.

One night the circus' lion and leopard ask the Doctor if they could stretch their legs by coming out of their cages. After the Doctor makes them promise not to eat anybody, the lion and leopard wander around each evening but one night the lion gets lost, frightens the visitors and, because he is hungry, eats some of a farmer's chickens, which the Doctor has to pay for. After the Doctor agrees with the leopard and the lion that he'll keep watch for them each time they have their night stroll, he decides to let the animals take over the performances in the circus and get rid of the people performing in it so the people can enjoy it more.

Pippinella is special in that she possesses what is generally assumed to be an exclusive trait of male canaries: birdsong. Ultimately, Doctor Dolittle creates a "Canary Opera" (using canaries and other bird species as well), based on Pippinella's life story. This opera, jointly composed by both the Doctor and Pippinella, becomes an overwhelming success in the Regent Theatre, London. He also shuts down a poorly run pet store and receives accolades from Niccolò Paganini himself.

The novel disrupts the chronological order of the series, with events occurring between ''Doctor Dolittle's Circus'' and ''The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle'' despite the book's publication between ''Doctor Dolittle's Zoo'' and ''Doctor Dolittle's Garden''. This book is the follow-up to ''Doctor Dolittle's Circus'', for the Doctor (at this point in time) is still operating the circus he inherited from the runaway former owner, Albert Blossom. Pippinella's eventual fate, and Doctor Dolittle's final adventures with her, are ultimately revealed in the much later book, ''Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary''.

Starring Jimmy Smits, this epic drama chronicles the external rivalries and internal power struggles of a large Cuban-American family running an immensely successful rum and sugarcane business in South Florida. When the family patriarch, Pancho Duque, is offered a lucrative but questionable deal by his bitter adversaries, the Samuels, he is faced with a difficult choice: Should he cash out of the sugar business and focus solely on rum, which would please his biological son, Frank Duque? Or should he protect the family legacy that he built from the ground up by refusing to sell? This would involve siding with his son-in-law, Alex Vega, who despises the Samuels and foresees multibillion-dollar profits from future ethanol contracts.

Alex and Frank's approaches to business are as different as their approaches to life. While Frank focuses on chasing women, Alex is devoted to his beautiful wife, Isabel Vega. Married to him when she was just 17 years old, Isabel chooses not to involve herself in the family business, focusing instead on raising their three children, who are determined to forge their own paths outside the family. Will family allegiance come first or will their secrets and acrimonious conflicts over love, lust, and money lead to their downfall?