On a dark, stormy night, Bernarda (Chantal Andere), Leopoldo b Guillen's lover, takes her two small daughters, Eugenia (Mercedes Molto) and Carlota (Yadhira Carrillo), to his funeral. Leopold's son, Roman, his wife, and the priest tell them that they are unwelcome at the funeral and Román (Alejandro Ávila) throws them out in the mud.
Years later, Carlota and Eugenia are attending a university where Carlota studies music and Eugenia studies accounting. Bernarda favors and expects the best out of Eugenia, who is failing school. However, she disdains and expects the worst out of Carlota, whom Bernarda calls "inutil" (good-for-nothing).
In reality, Carlota is the one who is successful, as she plays the piano beautifully and paints many masks, showing us that she has quite the artistic side. Bernarda is a materialistic woman, determined to never allow her daughters to marry in order to avoid what is stated in the father's will: Upon marriage, they will take their part of the fortune.
She oppresses the girls and holds them near prisoner in their own home. However, Carlota and Eugenia do not allow circumstances to stop them from being their own selves. Eugenia is secretly dating Roman and has already had relations with him. Roman has slept with her for vengeance only.
He thinks that she is his half-sister. However, she is not Leopoldo's daughter. When Bernarda and Carlota discover that Eugenia is pregnant, Bernarda sends her away to a small town with their housekeeper (Tomasa Josefina Echánove). In the small town Eugenia meets Cordelia (Yadhira Carrillo), who is identical to Carlota.
She also meets Santos (Ignacio Guadalupe), a man who falls in love with her; and they marry in order to give her child a name. Meanwhile, Carlota forms a relationship with a young doctor named Álvaro (Juan Soler). He soon asks for her hand in marriage. When Bernarda finds out, she adamantly opposes and unsuccessfully tries break them up via many means.
Eventually, she concedes and gives Carlota her blessing. Of course, knowing Bernarda, there is always an ulterior motive. Eugenia gives birth but because Bernarda tells Eugenia the entire truth about everything that has happened, she instigates her own daughter's early death.
During her last moments, Eugenia orders Tomasa to hide the baby with Santos and lie to everyone and say the baby died. Eugenia curses her mother with misery and guilt and dies. When Eugenia's body is delivered to Bernarda, Álvaro asks to see Carlota, but Bernarda demands that he leave and leave her to mourn her daughter's death.
Ignorant of recent happenings and of the fact that Carlota has a sister, Álvaro believes Carlota died. Bernarda does not correct him and says that Carlota died in a freak accident. She denies him access to view the dead body by lying (The lie is that Carlota's body is unrecognizable from the serious degree of the accident).
Álvaro leaves for his parents' hacienda in a rural town to get over his first (and only) love. Bernarda tells Carlota that he abandoned her and that he was just using her. With the death of her sister and this terrible news, Carlota tries to kill herself, but she only kills her unborn child.
During Alvaro's grieving process, Cordelia eventually seduces Álvaro into a loveless marriage, using her appearance and her charismatic manipulation skills to her advantage. Ten years later, Carlota is nothing more than a mere shadow of her former self, further enslaved by Bernarda, and Álvaro and Cordelia are having marital troubles, causing misery for their daughter Natalia.
Eventually, Carlota will learn to break free and become her own person...but it will take walking into the lion's den to do so. She will go to Alvaro's house and assume the position of La Otra.
Thorsson the king is falling ill and wants to make a pilgrimage to an island cursed by Odin. The island is home to a horrible beast. His daughter, Freya is betrothed to Sven one of Thorsson's greatest warriors.
Freya tries to get an army together to go back and save her father, Thorsson (whom she believes to be alive) however, no one will join her, and Sven reminds her that he is now king and that she is betrothed to him. Freya and Ingrid go to the island alone to rescue her father, Thorsson.
Eric steps forward and tells everyone they've all been acting like cowards. He also says he'll go and save the king's daughter himself if Sven does not dare. Sven who is unwilling to look like a coward, angrily agrees to send an army back to fight the beast and rescue Freya.
Freya and the Beast begin to develop a friendship. Sven returns to the island with an army and confronts the Beast. Freya tries to stop them, by telling them the beast is not a monster. Sven does not listen to her, thinking the Beast has fooled her mind. Sven and the Beast fight and ends with Sven's archers shooting him. The warriors set the island afire and return home with Freya.
The Beast journeys to Freya's home where Thorsson has recovered from his illness and is once again king. As the Beast holds the dying Freya in his arms, Freya's sacrifice breaks the curse and the Beast is Agnar once again.
Michael Parker is a successful American businessman living in Italy with his girlfriend Hélène. However, when she leaves on vacation, Michael soon becomes involved in an affair with Marie, a woman he once had a one-night stand with. This affair proves more difficult for Michael, as Marie is not going to let him off the hook again so easily. To complicate matters worse, Marie's young daughter Jacqueline also finds herself attracted to Michael, resulting in an incestuous love triangle.
Clark Kent (powerless after his fight with Superboy-Prime a year earlier) has enjoyed his life as a civilian. After watching a presentation on Superman in Metropolis Park, his wife Lois Lane goes to report on the trial on Lex Luthor, who is now a free man after 120 counts against him are dropped. Luthor is carrying a Sunstone crystal in his hand. Praised by Perry White for his work in ''The Daily Planet'', Clark goes to cover the return of Intergang while, at the same time, Lois is interviewing scientist K. Russell Abernathy when an accident turns him into a new Kryptonite Man. Clark calls Supergirl through his signal watch, and she defeats Kryptonite Man. Clark later runs into Luthor who assaults Clark because of articles that ruined Lex's career and cost him his company.
In an underground laboratory, Toyman works with Luthor on the Sunstone crystal while Clark nurses his injuries. Later, he heads to Metro Square and sees several men from Intergang wearing old LexCorp battle suits. They notice Clark and open fire, until Green Lantern and Hawkgirl save him and take care of Intergang. Once that is done, Hal and Kendra talk privately to Clark, insisting that it is time for him to get ''back into the game'' - whereupon Hal presents him with an S-shaped Green Lantern ring.
Above Lois & Clark's apartment building, Lois sees Green Lantern, Hawkgirl with Clark playing around with the ring's power. Afterwards, he gives it back to Hal, stating he is fine now and does not know if he wants to resume his career as a superhero. While Lex Luthor meets and kidnaps Metallo, to steal the kryptonite inside him, robot insects break into Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl arrive and find the Prankster behind it all and defeat him, while the new Kryptonite Man breaks out of prison.
The next day, with Jimmy Olsen by his side, Clark is checking around in hopes of exposing Intergang's illegal activity. Luthor wants to awaken an ancient Kryptonian warship that crashed in 1938, and he and Toyman harness the Kryptonite Man to use his energy to the Sunstone crystal to do so. Neutron and Radion attack Clark because he exposed Intergang. The blasts do not seem to hurt him, and racing down a subway tunnel, Clark is hit by a subway car that tosses him several yards. Thinking he is dead, the villains leave. But Clark is alive, and sees his handprint on the hull of the subway car. He is once again, ''more powerful than a locomotive''.
Later, with his powers returning only by one third, Clark needs to master them again. Lois notices his powers have returned when she sees his hand on the hot burner. She goes to the closet and pulls out a Superman costume and says, "Go get 'em". The Puzzler attacks the Daily Planet looking for Clark Kent when Superman appears. The fight is carried down into the street where, after Puzzler is defeated, Bloodsport, Livewire, Riot, Silver Banshee and the Hellgrammite attack. When Jimmy Olsen is about to be shot, Superman goes as fast as he can and stops the bullet. He is now, again, ''faster than a speeding bullet''.
In the heated battle, Superman defeats all of the villains, then switches back to Clark Kent as he heads to the Daily Planet. Later, above Metropolis, Superman picks up something and tries to listen in. Then, dozens of Sunstone crystals grow out from the ground, damaging surrounding buildings. As Superman saves the city, he finds Luthor inside and controlling the ancient Kryptonian warship. With Metropolis having turned its back on him, Luthor declares his intent to destroy the city.
The Sunstone crystals then form tanks and hover-craft. Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, the Justice Society of America and the Teen Titans arrive to intervene but are prevented from entering the city by an energy shield generated by Luthor's stolen ship, which he declares to be the Kryptonian flagship once commanded by General Dru-Zod. Superman goes on to damage the section of the warship that controls the remote craft with his heat, causing Luthor to release kryptonite into the ship's matrix and also to change the warship into a robot. Having enough, Superman takes all of his energy and flies at speed through the cockpit of the warship, destroying it and removing Luthor from the controls. Weakened by the kryptonite, Superman's momentum carries both himself and Luthor through the ship and high above the West River as his powers fade, causing the two to crash into the water below.
On an island in the river Luthor and the still-depowered Superman fight each other hand-to-hand. Once Luthor is unconscious, Superman passes out only to awaken with his powers returned and Luthor taken into custody again. Flying above Metropolis, the crowd cheers and thanks him for saving their lives. After returning to the Planet as Clark Kent, he changes back to Superman to do some heroic deeds and to give Jimmy Olsen a new signal watch. After signing autographs from fans, Superman takes the Sunstone crystal Luthor used and flies to the Arctic. Knowing that it in fact contains blueprints and designs from his Kryptonian parents, he throws it into the landscape and watches it construct a massive citadel. Superman decides to use this as his new Fortress of Solitude.
American government agent Dan Dannerman has been imprisoned, tortured, and repeatedly duplicated by his jailers, the "Beloved Leaders", a species that enslaves or destroys the other species they meet. ''The Far Shore of Time'' opens with the "Horch", rivals of the Beloved Leaders, occupying the zoo planet where Dannerman is being held captive. Dannerman is rescued, although initially the Horch treat him in much the same way the Beloved Leaders did: keeping him isolated and under interrogation. Eventually he is treated as a guest, given medical attention, and begins to make friends among the other freed prisoners.
Dannerman recovers from his ordeal and learns more about the Horch, the Beloved Leaders, and other species involved in their war. He collects information and technology, while looking for an opportunity to return to Earth and warn humanity about the coming of the Beloved Leaders. When Dannerman is asked to assist in preparing one of the former prisoners to infiltrate the Beloved Leaders he sees an opportunity to return home. He presents the plan to the Horch, and although they do not agree to it he is able to bluff his way through. He ends up back on Earth aboard one of the stealth submarines that the Beloved Leaders have placed on Earth.
Dannerman is able to make contact with his government, and discovers that they are already aware of the Beloved Leaders and are taking precautions against them. However, they are not aware of the stealthed submarines. Dannerman and his alien friends are again interrogated by the American government and representatives of the United Nations, although more gently than his previous interrogators. Dannerman must serve as a translator between the humans and the aliens, because he has a translation implant from the Beloved Leaders.
With information from Dannerman and help from Horch technology, the Beloved Leader's submarines are cut off from their masters and captured before they are able to unleash pockets of undersea methane gas. This attack strategy is the Beloved Leaders standard practice for dealing with planets that will not submit to them. Having survived the initial contact, the President of the United States prepares to release all information about the aliens and the confrontation to the world, so that humanity can prepare to defend themselves in the future.
Ralph Anderson returns to his remote California hometown for the first time in many years. Now a lawyer, he has been estranged from his father, Lloyd, and brother, Tippy, ever since being sent to reform school as a youth for stealing a car, taking the blame for his brother's crime.
Lloyd is now sheriff and Tippy his deputy. Forced to represent a wanted criminal, Ralph asks the law to look the other way while a local airfield is used to enable the mobster, Massonetti, to flee the country. A disgusted Lloyd agrees to help, but Tippy decides to arrest Massonetti and cash in on a big reward.
Tippy's beautiful wife Linda was once the love of Ralph's life and regrets his long absence. She is tired of Tippy's shiftless, drunken ways and Lloyd's domineering rule of the family.
Massonetti arrives in town, backed by Davis, his top thug. Tippy and two deputies, Karger and Eddie, make an amateurish attempt to capture Massonetti, only to get Lloyd shot and killed while trying to stop them. Ralph manages to get Massonetti behind bars at the town jail.
The mob cuts off phone communication and highway access to the town. Ralph suggests driving Massonetti to the authorities in Barstow in the mobster's own fast car. Noticing the tension between the brothers, Massonetti taunts them both and offers $25,000 to tempt Tippy into betraying Ralph and setting him free.
On the road, deputy Eddie is ambushed and the brothers learn that Linda has been abducted. A deal is made to get her back, but Karger is killed and the car is disabled. Ralph manages to get the four of them to a gas station, where the owner is found shot. In a fight for the gun, Ralph is winged and Tippy seriously wounded.
Borrowing a miner's jeep, Ralph drives Massonetti to a main highway, where two policemen take them into custody. They turn out to be impostors who drive Massonetti to an air strip where Davis is waiting with a plane. After they board, Ralph drives the car into the plane, overturning it. He drags Massonetti from the wreckage and holds him until real cops arrive. By the time he returns to the gas station, Linda is watching Tippy's lifeless body carried away.
The story takes place in thirty-five chapters. The characters come from a variety of locations, and travel across the land in their adventures. Grant created his own place names, drinks, songs and more for this novel. Unlike many fantasy novels, he did not create a map of the world, which is supposedly a futuristic Earth after the occurrence of an apocalypse of some kind. It may or may not be the same world as used in ''Rumors of Spring'' and ''Through the Heart''. The characters are still human and are not a great deal different from modern humans in most cases. In all three books, the humans are mostly dealing with major environmental changes and the resulting changes in humanity, but some people have stood out as different.
Professor Wellington Johns, an endocrinologist, experiments with a love philtre (which he terms his ''amatogenic cortical principle''), that causes those who take it to fall helplessly in love with the first person they see. Johns' students, Alice Sanger and Alexander Dexter, become entangled in philtre-induced promises of marriage.
The narrator theorizes that the ending to ''The Sorcerer'' was not the original one, but was forced on Gilbert by Victorian mores. Instead of the title character in ''The Sorcerer'' breaking the spell by yielding his life to Ahrimanes, the narrator believes that originally Gilbert intended that the spell would be broken by the couples marrying, since married couples only seem to argue (in the opera, the love philtre has no effect on married people). This solution, however, would have been offensive to Victorians. The narrator proposes that the couples affected by the philtre marry, which should cancel the effect. He is proven correct, and the couples are free to have the marriages annulled so that they can marry their true loves.
The film begins in a village where various characters appear Bullebbai (Rajendra Prasad) is a lottery ticket agent, Pala Pullaiah (Tanikella Bharani), the local dairy farmer, Pilli Pentaiah (Kondavalasa) a hoax political leader, Chanti (LB Sriram) the barber, Varadaraju (MS Narayana) belongs to a former royal dynasty. Varadaraju takes some loans from Pullaiah, in return he accommodates his son Kittu (Richard Rishi) with him and he falls for Pullaiah's daughter Bhagyalakshmi (Farjana). Parallelly, Ranikasula Renuka Rani (Kiran Rathod) a tyrant, who suffers the entire village by allowing debts, and her brother Aphis (Venu Madhav) a vagabond aspires to possess Bhagyalakshmi and forcibly engage with her. Meanwhile, Bullebbai realizes that one of the tickets has won the top prize of Rs.1 crore and ploys to obtain it. So, he hosts a dinner for his customers and by elimination, he deduces that the town drunk Yesudas Gotham (Ali) is the winner and immediately rushes to him. Thereupon, Bullebbai spots Yesudas dead, due to shock and the ticket clutched in his hand. Right now, Bullebbai pries the ticket when Pullaiah arrives and Bullebbai lures him by offering a share. Eventually, Kittu also observes it and intimidates them to couple up with Bhagyalakshmi. At present, Bullebbai orders Kittu to throw Yesudas's body into the river but the hard time following they make some mistakes which are noticed by a few villagers. The next day, when Bullebbai calls the lottery office he learns that before dying, Yesudas managed to call them. As well as to his brother Joshua Gotham's (Brahmanandam) family, ex-wife Parvathi (Abhinayasri) and several people to whom he owed money. Here, a tough situation arises to maintain secrecy, so, Bullebbai congregates them into a group of 20 members. After some time, the lottery inspector (K. Naga Babu) lands to interview Yesudas. The rest of the story is a humorous confusion drama that how Bullebbai manages to grab the lottery prize?
Set in and around New York City just prior to and following World War I, the story opens with ''Ziegfeld Follies'' star Fanny Brice awaiting the return of husband Nicky Arnstein from prison, and then moves into an extended flashback focusing on their meeting and marriage.
Fanny is a stage-struck teen who gets her first job in vaudeville. Her mother and her friend Mrs. Strakosh try to dissuade her from show business because Fanny is not the typical beauty ("If a Girl Isn't Pretty"). While rehearsing at a vaudeville theater, boss complains about Fanny's unsynchronized performance and her marking appearance. Upon his decision to sack her, she perseveres ("I'm the Greatest Star"). With Eddie's help and encouragement, Fanny gets a part in a roller-skating act despite lacking roller-skating skills. Although the act turns into a big mess, the audience find it to be hilarious and cheer her up ("Rollerskate Rag"). That is also when Fanny has her first performance "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You (Than Happy With Somebody Else)". Following the debut, she meets the suave Arnstein. Six months later, Fanny gets hired to become a member of the Ziegfeld Follies – something she has always dreamt of. In the debut performance, she put a comic twist to the supposedly romantic number, ending the number as a pregnant bride ("His Love Makes Me Beautiful"). She meets Arnstein again, who accompanies her to the celebration at her home on Henry Street ("People").
One year later, Fanny is now the rising star of Broadway. She and Arnstein meet again when she goes to Baltimore as a part of her tour. After having a romantic dinner at a swanky restaurant and declaring their feelings ("You Are Woman, I Am Man"), the pair become romantically involved. Instead of going to Chicago with the Follies, Fanny decides to take another train to New York in order to be with Arnstein ("Don't Rain On My Parade"). While traveling aboard the RMS ''Berengaria'', Nicky promises that if he could win a fortune by playing poker then they could get married, which eventually comes true. They move into a mansion and have a daughter ("Sadie, Sadie"), meanwhile Fanny also returns to Ziegfeld and the ''Follies''.
Nick's various business ventures fail, causing him to lose a lot of money. Nick being busy gambling and not showing up to Fanny's new play premiere ("Swan") makes her upset and the two have an argument. Refusing financial support from his wife, he becomes involved in a bonds scam and is imprisoned for embezzlement for eighteen months. At the moment of the farewell, Nick calling her "funny girl" leaves her feeling bitter and piteous ("Funny Girl"). Following Nick's release from prison, they agree to separate. She is heartbroken and claims that "I am his forever more" ("My Man").
The film is presented as footage from a personal camcorder recovered by the United States Department of Defense in the area "formerly known as Central Park", bearing a disclaimer stating multiple sightings of a case designated ''Cloverfield''.
Older, saved footage from April 27th, shows Robert “Rob” Hawkins waking up with Elizabeth “Beth” McIntyre in her father's apartment above Columbus Circle before sharing a special day across New York City and Coney Island. Fragments of this overwritten footage appear during the course of the film.
On May 22nd, Rob has a farewell party thrown for him by his brother Jason and Jason's girlfriend Lily, celebrating Rob's new job as vice-president for a company in Japan. Jason gets Rob’s best-friend Hudson “Hud” Platt to film testimonials for Rob during the party. Beth, who Rob has now broken up with, brings a new man to the party. Beth and Rob argue over her guest, and Beth leaves shortly before a massive earthquake occurs, causing a brief citywide power outage; the local news reports a capsized oil tanker near Liberty Island. From the roof, the party-goers witness an explosion in the distance and flee as flaming debris flies in their direction.
As the party-goers leave the building, the severed head of the Statue of Liberty is hurled into the street in front of them. In the chaos, Hud records an enormous creature several blocks away collapsing the Woolworth Building. During the group's planned evacuation of Manhattan, the creature's tail destroys the Brooklyn Bridge, killing Jason and dozens of other people. News reports show the Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division attacking the monster. Smaller parasite creatures fall off its body and attack nearby pedestrians and soldiers.
Rob listens to a phone message from Beth, in which she indicates she is trapped in her apartment at the Time Warner Center and unable to move. Going against the crowd, Rob, Hud, Lily, and Hud’s crush, Marlena Diamond, venture into Midtown Manhattan to rescue Beth. By 3:17 a.m., they get caught in a battle between the creature and the Army National Guard, run into the subway, and are attacked by several of the parasites. While saving Hud, Marlena is bitten by one of the creatures. The four escape the subway and enter a below ground mall where she begins to feel unwell. They are found by military and taken to a command center and field hospital nearby. In reaction to being bitten, Marlena begins bleeding from her eyes. She is forcibly taken into a tent, where she appears to explode. Rob, still intending on saving Beth, persuades one of the military leaders to let them go. He is then informed when the last evacuation helicopter will depart before the military executes its "Hammer Down Protocol," which will destroy Manhattan in its entirety in order to kill the monster.
They travel to Beth's apartment building to discover it toppled on its side. After crossing roofs from the opposite building, the group finds her impaled on exposed rebar. They free her and make their way to the evacuation site at Grand Central Terminal, where they encounter the creature again. Lily is first rushed into a departing Marine Corps helicopter to escape before the terminal is destroyed. Moments later, Rob, Beth, and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter and witness the creature being bombed. The bombing causes the creature to fall and success is assumed, but then it lunges out of the smoke, hitting the helicopter and causing it to crash in Central Park, killing the pilot and everyone inside except Rob, Beth, and Hud.
Less than an hour later, a voice on the crashed helicopter's radio warns that the Hammer Down protocol will begin in fifteen minutes. The three friends regain consciousness, and attempt to flee; Hud turns back to retrieve the camera when the creature suddenly appears and kills him. Rob and Beth grab the camera and take shelter under an arch as sirens blare, and the bombing starts. Rob and Beth each provide their last testimony of the day's events. The bridge begins to crumble, and the camera is knocked out of Rob's hand and buried beneath rubble. Rob and Beth proclaim their love for each other just as the bomb explodes, the camera freezing up before the footage cuts.
The film ends with the finale of Rob and Beth's trip to Coney Island on a Ferris wheel. Unseen by them, an indiscernible object falls from the sky into the ocean. Just before the camera cuts out, Beth states, "I had a good day."
After the credits, a voice can be heard saying, "Help us..." However, when played in reverse, it says, "It's still alive."
Betty Grable plays young Jane Morrow, who applies for the job of a theater usherette, and encounters her matinée idol. After he takes a liking to her, he arranges for her to audition in front of an audience. Jane is a hit, making her idol less favorable. Jane soon finds herself engaged to another man, so a battle of romantic wits ensues.
Mustafa (Sayed Badreya) is a widowed Egyptian immigrant and the owner of Habibe's Café, a popular hangout in Los Angeles for those with Middle Eastern backgrounds. He is devoted to providing his son, Richard Chagoury, with a moral upbringing despite the pressures of contemporary American urban life. He also finds himself cast in the role of protector to his unwed sister Salwah (Sarah Shahi), for whom, by family and tribal custom, he is responsible for finding a traditional suitor. But his respect for tradition comes up against his own aspirations to adapt to the American Dream when he decides to open a new restaurant with a Jewish partner – his friend Sam (Tony Shalhoub). This alliance is unpopular amongst the habitués of his café and the insular Arab community in which Mustafa resides. It is one of several personal points of tension that gradually build against the backdrop of larger, national events affecting the Arab-American community and lead to the explosive denouement of the story.
Salwah, Mustaf's sister, must also reconcile her traditional values and familial obligations with new American realities. Although she is grateful to Mustafa for bringing her to America when she was young, and allowing her to pursue an education, conflict arises between them when Mustafa insists upon fulfilling his duty of finding her a traditional, arranged-marriage partner from Egypt. The arrival of this arranged suitor, her older cousin Saber (Al Faris), throws her life into turmoil and makes her question her own beliefs and faith. Secretly, she is attracted to an American, Dr. John Westerman (Tim Guinee), a young and attractive non-Muslim. Any caution she feels toward him, however, is thrown to the wind by the abrupt arrival of Saber and a possible impending marriage that she does not want. She becomes sorely tempted to experience intimacy with the young doctor outside of marriage, a taboo. While she undergoes this internal conflict, her suitor Saber is staying as a guest at the home she shares with Mustafa and his children, and the incompatibility between this traditional man, her future husband, and Mustafa's Americanized family is another source of irritation adding to the mounting tensions underlying the story.
Mustafa's friend Omar (Kais Nashef) is a struggling actor and Habibe's Café regular, a young Egyptian man who supports his dream of becoming a film star by working as a part-time cab driver for Mustafa's ragged, one-car taxi company. Because of his Middle Eastern looks and accent, however, he is constantly cast in the role of a terrorist in American TV shows that portray only a shallow understanding of Arabs and their culture. When an opportunity for a non-racially-designated role arrives, Omar feels his chance for success—to be seen as an actor first and not a Muslim—has finally arrived. It is the break he has been waiting for on many levels: a chance at the financial freedom necessary to marry and support his pregnant American girlfriend Kate (Amanda Detmer), and a chance for him, and his future child, to be embraced as an American, in the same way that he has embraced America.
But misunderstandings and prejudices related to his Arabic background conspire against him once again and his opportunity is lost, pushing Omar to make a drastic, unreasoned decision that sets off a chain of events leading to a violent conclusion that affects the lives and conflicts of all the other characters – an explosive reminder of the simmering pressures under which Muslims live in the United States today. Will their American Dreams be shattered by a climate of distrust and suspicion, or will their hopes and aspirations be embraced by their fellow Americans?
When Ben's cousins, whom he lives with, are unwell, he is forced to spend the summer with his father and stepmother-to-be. They live in London and have little time to spend with Ben. So Ben decides to explore the gardens of the terrace houses in his street. He walks along the walls connecting all the houses until he comes to one covered in jagged glass. Ben then falls into the garden and meets Thomas, a young boy from Tiga, who is being kept in London, while his father, Chief Okapi, is exiled there. When Ben discovers a plot to kidnap Thomas, he, Thomas and Lil (a friend of Thomas) decide to run away.
Moderately successful criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller operates around Los Angeles County out of a Lincoln Town Car (hence the title) driven by a former client working off his legal fees. While most clients are drug dealers and gangsters, the story focuses on an unusually important case of wealthy Los Angeles realtor Louis Roulet, accused of assault and attempted murder. At first, he appears to be innocent and set up by the female "victim".
Roulet's lies and many surprising revelations change Haller's original case theory. He reconsiders the situation of Jesus Menendez, a former client serving time in San Quentin State Prison after pleading guilty to a similar and mysteriously related crime.
Haller outmaneuvers Roulet (revealed to be a rapist and murderer) without violating ethical obligations, frees the innocent Menendez, and continues in legal practice. He also conducts much self-examination and acquires some emotional baggage.
Two decades after the Majestic disaster, Zero Critical takes place on ''Rheom 1'', a small extrasolar terrestrial planet of eternal daylight. Rheom has plenty of oxygen and it is believed that there would have to be some areas that had water. The setting on Rheom is rendered by extensive use of shades of gray and muted colors. It is revealed that due to its proximity to the Pleiades cluster, a group of astronomers had built an observation outpost on Rheom 1 to study the nebula nearby (''Pleiades Observation Outpost'', otherwise known as the ''Thundercloud Project''). This project was halted due to financial difficulties and the outpost fell into disuse until it was renovated ten years later for the ''SATIN Project'', a highly-classified project funded by Interstellar Transportation Commission (ITC). The goal of the project is to develop a new form of long-distance space travel that would eliminate the drawbacks of the extant technology that harnesses traversable wormholes and is unstable, expensive and not terribly efficient. Doctor Victoria Fayn, a Nobel Prize laureate and expert on trans-reality physics, was hired to head the project, leading a small team of the finest scientific and technical minds alive.
The protagonist, Chatt Rhuller is an ITC field agent assigned to undertake his first case: a homicide in the SATIN facility on Rheom 1. Dr. Fayn has killed a fellow scientist, Dr. Dor Geopp, allegedly in self-defense. Subsequently, Chatt is sent to investigate the incident and to deliver an encrypted message to Dr. Fayn. Chatt's supposed quick investigation runs into a snag however, when his shuttle is delayed and he has to stay on base for a few more days.
During his stay, Chatt interviews station staff Dr. Fayn, Dr. Thomas Vilken, Roger Olken, Myna Symmine, Magus Canter, and Eugene Garr. The investigation is for the most part inconclusive but it is gradually revealed that, apart from Geop, three other staff members are equipped with ''SynCore Symbiotes'' or ''syms'' (microcomputers implanted into the brain to augment its calculation powers). Magus, the station's maintenance worker, and a former member of Thundercloud Project staff, reveals that not far from the SATIN research site lies the resting place of S.S. Majestic, the infamous space ship that was lost and its wreck was supposedly never discovered. Upon investigating the wreckage, Chatt finds a furious Dr. Fayn who seems to have lost someone on board but is adamant to speak about it.
Incidents however, do not leave the SATIN project alone. Strange anonymous messages that warn about the SATIN project appear on utility room's computer (where Chatt sleeps). Dr. Vilken, the project's second in command, is caught attempting to infect SATIN computers with a virus that would have ruined the research to which he was so dedicated. After the incident, he seems cooperative and harmless but largely confused. The good-natured and humorous Roger is the next to go mad; just as he once jokingly has fantasized, he knocks Chatt unconscious and attempts to shoot Dr. Fayn, but kills Magus instead and commits suicide.
Resolved to end the tragedy, Chatt breaks into Dr. Fayn's private quarter and learns of her obsession with S.S. Majestic, space-time continuum and her late love interest Roland Carson, Baron of Sombury, an art collector and one of the missing passengers aboard the Majestic. Chatt also learns that the shuttle's delay is due to Fayn's having dismissed it to prevent Chatt from alerting ITC; the SATIN project is on the verge of fruition and Dr. Fayn is unwilling to risk its being shut down. Chatt also breaks into the main lab and enters a sample SATIN rift which takes him to a room in an intact instance of S.S. Majestic. There, Dr. Vilken invites him to look out of a window overlooking the starry void. Chatt looks out of same window in S.S. Majestic's wreck and discovers a SATIN project's secret operation site.
Towards the end of the game, Chatt learns that Pleiades nebula, the site of the accident, has a unique property that every 2048 years it acts as a gateway into a type of parallel universe and every object that passes through it duplicates. There is an instance of S.S. Majestic that never crashed containing Roland's doppelgänger. Dr. Fayn's aim is to "tractor-beam" this instance of the Majestic back into the universe, but as Chatt learns from the aliens, the removal of Majestic would cause that parallel world to collapse. Chatt also learns that the aliens were trying to warn the scientists by transmitting thoughts and images through their syms, and that is what drove many of them to psychological dysfunction and mental breakdown. The player's final task is to stop the project.
Following a long period of doubt, Robert Swerts is discovered to be the serial killer and rapist and is arrested. Renzo Fierens is arrested for drug dealing. Dr. Geert Smeekens replaces Michael Bastiaens in the doctor's office alongside Ann De Decker. Jenny Verbeeck - Van Goethem returns from the south of France, while Eva Verbist and Nandje Reimers leaves due to Nandje's leukemia.
Eva begins a relationship with Maarten who turns out to be just as jealous and obsessed as Jan, his brother and her late husband. He kills his mother, Mathilde, for poisoning Eva to prevent her leaving the country and for and killing his father who learned of this. Maarten also takes over the health business of Werner, his rival for Eva's affection. Femke discovers that Maarten is the culprit and warns Werner. However, Maarten restrains Eva in their home and sets it on fire so that he, Eva, and her son, Nandje, can be together in death.
This season saw the introduction of Sonja and Ludo De Backer, Dorien's parents. Later on this season, civil law notary Peter Vlerick, played by Geert Hunaerts, will be introduced as a Bastiaens family friend. Meanwhile, Lien Van de Kelder ended her three-episode guest appearance. However, she was slated to return as Sofie Bastiaens on 21 November 2007.
At the end of last season, Kristin Arras her character Mathilde Reimers was murdered and written out. She's the only character to disappear from the main cast from season 12. The characters introduced last season and part of the main cast, but not yet of the opening titles were all added to the opening titles. These were Viktor Corthout and Sandrine Verbeelen (first individual shots in intro in episode 3 of season 13), Dorien De Backer and Youssef Bakali (first individual shots in intro in episode 4 of season 13). Daisy a supporting character in season 12 was also added to the main cast and the opening titles (first individual shot in intro in episode 4 of season 13). It wasn't quite certain if she would play a more important role this season. Surprisingly, Julia was also added to the opening titles, and had her first individual shot in the intro in episode 2 of season 13. Julia only appeared in a few episodes of season 12 and was considered a guest character. She still has to appear this season.
It was announced in early 2007 that Marie Van Goethem played by Patsy Vandermeeren, Werner Van Sevenant played by Peter Van Asbrouck, Eva Verbist played by Nathalie Wijnants and Leontien Vercammen played by Marijke Hofkens will leave onscreen in 2007.
Eric and Martine's daughter Sofie is missing, last seen at a wedding. Her body is found and a police investigation begins. Nancy tries to reveal that Femke's new lover, Mike, is actually Femke's father. Mike tries to kill Nancy, and Femke suspects Mike is Sofie's killer. Mike stalks Femke and is fatally stabbed by Erik, who is absolved of murder. Femke later accepts an inheritance left by Mike and falls in love with Peter.
Leo makes a bad investment, defrauded by Mike, and Femke helps return the money. Dorien falls in love with classmate Jonas, threatening her marriage to Sam. Sam and Dorien move to Lanzarote to pursue her dream. Waldek falls for Kris who turns him down after a passionate weekend.
Peggy returns to have an abortion, but agrees for Ann to adopt the child. Jenny's daughter, Bianca, is to marry her young love, Tom De Decker. Tom arrives to donate a kidney to his ill mother, Marianne, and Peggy reveals that Tom is the father of her child, Sandrine. Not wishing to cause a break between Tom and Bianca, Peggy leaves. However, Bianca cancels the marriage plans and starts a relationship with Mo.
Waldek quits his job and Luc tells Rosa about the affair, so that she decides to divorce. Cois and Julia marry and depart for their honeymoon. Katrien and Paulien decide to throw a party but their father forbids it; they drug him and he falls into a coma.
There is a custody dispute as Tom and Peggy want to keep their baby. The court decides that Ann will be Sandrine's adoptive mother.
Eddy tries to prevent Jelena's deportation by faking a marriage, but is unsuccessful. She asks Waldek to try and they fall in love. When Joery learns, he asks Eddy to kill Waldek in a car accident, but Eddy ends up hitting Mo and Bianca.
Herman, an ex-lover of Simonne, arrives with his son, Bram, who is rebellious until Herman becomes sick. Simonne falls in love with Herman, who dies. She promises Herman to take care of Bram until he is an adult, but Frank is not pleased when Bram moves in.
Before his death, Herman tells Frank where his son Bram can find of black-market money, but Frank keeps the money for himself. Franky and Simonne convince Frank to give Bram the money in stock, but a dispute causes Frank to change his mind and Bram stabs him. Franky claims responsibility and spends several weeks in youth prison. It is later revealed that Franky did this because he wants to be in a relationship with Bram, and Franky is disowned by his father for being gay.
Rosa distances herself from her ex-husband, Waldek, by pursuing Luc, and they become engaged. However, she feels pity for Waldek, who can't get over Jelena's death. In the end, she fails to appear at the wedding ceremony, choosing to be with Waldek.
Femke's business is almost broke. Raffael, who claims to be her half-brother, moves to Belgium and falls in love with Femke. Femke rejects him, and Raffael sets hotel Ter Smissen on fire during Rosa and Waldek's wedding party. At the same time, Luc and Freddy get into a fight over stealing Sanitechniek stock for insurance fraud; Freddy threatens to tell the police but Luc knocks him onto a table, breaking his neck.
Paulien becomes pregnant and Bram changes his mind a few times but concludes that he doesn't want to be a father and that Pauline should have an abortion. Upset, Pauline reveals to Simonne that Bram stabbed Frank, and Frank launches a raid on Bram.
Tom and Peggy buy Femke's loft, which needs renovation. They stay with Marianne though Peggy can't stand her. Later, it is revealed that Marianne paid Sanitechniek to delay the work.
Marianne is found guilty of the Ter Smissen hotel fire and Freddy's death, and must pay a large sum to Rosa and Freddy's son.
Raffael continues his secret love affair with Femke. When Femke becomes pregnant by Peter, Raffael puts lovage in her food to cause a miscarriage. Doctor Ann informs the police, while Peter makes Femke leave and Raffael is put under psychiatric care. Peggy ends her relationship with Tom after he tried to kidnap Robin. Later, she begins dating Peter which displeases Femke and Tom. Tom begins dating his secretary, Lynn, while Femke becomes depressed and addicted to drugs.
Rosa and Jenny start a bed and breakfast, overcoming the establishment's prior image as a swingers club. Leo moves his taxi company; he falls in love with Jenny and when he tries to inform his girlfriend, Yvette, she suffers a stroke. Some time later, Yvette becomes suspicious and ends their relationship.
Fien and Jens quarrel and she leaves. Her DNA and earring are found in Guy's apartment, and Guy tells Julia that he killed Fien on an impulse. In court Tom convinces the judge that Fien died due to a hereditary heart disease, and Guy is released. Unable to forget Fien, Jens leaves.
Franky's relationship with his new boyfriend, Tibo, is in risk when Tibo learns about Frank's stabbing. They promise not to have secrets, but Tibo is hiding a fifteen-year-old daughter, Jana, who lives with her lesbian mother, Ellen. Franky is shocked but later asks Tibo to marry him, while hiding the fact that Jana is in love with Bram.
Mayra moves in with Ann and starts a jewelry business, but her inventory is stolen by Kasper, the son of Rosa and Waldek, who owes money to criminals. Marianne's husband Geert keeps inviting Mayra's father, David, and Marianne realizes she has feelings for David. Eddy returns and, after successfully hobby-brewing beer with Frank and Waldek, they buy a brewery with Geert and David as investors.
At Franky and Tibo's wedding, the gifts are stolen by Kasper. Marianna and David end up in bed where David suffers a stroke. Jana and Bram are caught together by Tibo. Simmone quarrels with a drunk Frank and is hit by a car driven by Femke, who doesn't notice.
Kasper delivers the stolen money to the criminal organization. He finds Simmone who has brain injury. Peggy loans Kasper money to conceal the theft. Femke is interrogated by Tim, who makes a procedural error but Femke is determined to face justice. She is given a large fine and has to sell her loft. She moves in with her mother but after a conflict with Eddy she moves to Tim.
The criminal organization hides drugs in the B&B. Sandrine, believing it is sugar, is rushed to hospital. Ann withdraws Peggy's visitation rights over the incident. Later, Guy holds Sandrine, Mayra and Marianne hostage, which Peggy uses as an argument that the doctor's home is no safer.
Peggy buys pepper spray when she learns that rapist Axel has been released, and uses it on a burglar in her bistro. The burglar, Kasper, falls and dies, and Peggy decides to sell the bistro. Franky and Jens buy the building and open a trendy pub.
After Geert learns his wife Marianne slept with David he wants divorce and leaves the practice, replaced by Judith. David is fired from the brewery, which nears bankruptcy without his knowhow and is sold. David moves away though Marianne refuses to go with him. Luc is surprised at the sudden appearance of his 16-year-old son, Lowie, whose mother died. Lowie starts a relationship with Jana, who learns she is pregnant by Bram. Against her wishes, Franky gets in touch with Bram who returns, and Jana ultimately chooses to be with Bram. Lowie is taken to hospital after binge drinking and falsely claims that Franky served him alcohol at the pub. Franky and Jens receive a small fine as there was insufficient proof.
Yvette burns her hands and moves into a rest home where her roommate is Madeleine, who has amnesia and diabetes. One day Ann forgets a protocol which leads to Madeleine dying of an insulin overdose, and Ann's medical license is suspended for three months. Geert moves temporary back to the medical practice .
Eddy and Frank are installing fake merchandise and selling the real goods on the Internet. Eddy persuades Luc to continue the swindle. Among the merchandise is a boiler installed at the B&B, which causes Jana to collapse from carbon monoxide poisoning and miscarry. Eddy is arrested and Frank turns himself in, while Luc feigns ignorance. Tom tries to seduce Judith to the dismay of his former girlfriend, Lynn. Lynn tells doctor Judith that she was raped by Tom. Lynn's father claims he can save Tom if Marianne marries him, and she agrees. When Lynn learns of this she withdraws her accusation, negating the deal.
Frank and Eddy are released on conditions and want to beat Luc. Lowie is upset with Luc for lying about their past. Jana, Tibo and Bram are furious as proof comes out that Luc knew about the swindle. Everyone is together for Peter and Peggy's wedding, and as they leave the church an unconscious and injured Luc is found.
Luc survives, and Jana, Tibo and Bram each confess to his attempted murder. Eventually, Lowie confesses and produces the weapon used. Luc does not charge his son, so Lowie is sentenced to charity work at a library. Despite a court order to stay with Luc, Lowie stays with Julia; he feels betrayed when he learns they are dating again, but reconciles when he realizes they are serious about each other. Frank and Eddy are discharged from the swindle after Luc admits to forcing their participation.
Tibo is fired after trying to suffocate Luc; he leaves with Franky, who assigns Bram to manage the pub. Later, Bram leaves the country; Jana wants to go with him but he sneaks away so she'll finish high school.
Jens begins teaching guitar to fourteen-year-old Emma, who has a crush on him. When Jens tells her he's not interested in her, Emma allows her mother to come to a wrong conclusion and have Jens arrested for pedophilia. Jens is exonerated and Emma moves in with her father.
Frank starts work at an odd-jobs company where a prank with co-workers Adil and Toon leads to his electrocution. Toon is fired and gets a job with Luc's new team-building company, then is reassigned to De Kabouters.
Tim learns Femke is pregnant. He stops her outside a wedding for an alcohol test and catches her in parole violation. Later, Femke is released, still pregnant. It is revealed that Peter is the father and he leaves his wife Peggy to move in with Femke, who delivers a son, Lucas. When Jens moves away, Paulien and Femke take over the pub.
Mayra also wants to have a child, and she and Ann convince Kurt to be a sperm donor but he changes his mind when this becomes public knowledge. Obsessed, Mayra has sex with multiple men, and one night is raped by Kurt. Waldek stops Kurt, and some days later Kurt's body is found in the river, and Waldek remembers pushing him in. Mayra finds she is pregnant by Kurt. Waldek is discharged due to lack of evidence.
Mayra and Marianne have a quarrel and fall from the stairs. Emma is kidnapped by a Facebook chat-friend, possibly Geert. Judith and Tom drive to Geert's country house, but find no trace of Geert or Emma. Peggy kidnaps Lucas at a party and heads to a lake to commit murder-suicide. Rosa and Frank discover what's going on and both drive with their car to the lake. There is a car accident but it is not known who is involved.
Rosa has a car accident and is in coma for several weeks. Frank stops Peggy from killing herself and Lucas. Femke starts a lawsuit against Peggy but cannot prove the murder attempt. Peggy is declared non compos mentis and goes to a mental institution. Tim determines that officer Danny kidnapped Emma. Geert is discharged and wants a divorce as Marianne didn't believe him. Marianne assigns Eddy as her assistant. She accuses Geert of not helping a person in an emergency and has his medical license suspended. She offers Eddy money to beat her so she can accuse Geert of domestic violence. As Eddy refuses Marianne harms herself. Marianne goes to rehabilitation and cancels her complaint. She starts dating William. Geert begins dating Hélène who convinces him to sue Marianne for wage loss, receiving .
Lowie buys a house and rents rooms to Olivia, Paulien, Jana, Tim and Sam. Jana moves back to Frank and Simonne's after learning Lowie cheated on her. Paulien asks Adil and Lowie to pose half naked for a book's cover photo, and they agree as long as their faces aren't shown. However, Lena chooses a photo with Adil's face and persuades Paulien to give approval. Adil feels betrayed, especially when he learns the book is about homosexuality.
Peggy sells her shares in the taxi company which are bought by Femke. Jenny has a heart attack when Luc announces he sold half of his shares in Zus & Zo to Peter. Feeling she is too old Jenny sells her shares to Peggy.
Sam is pregnant and wants an abortion as she was abandoned as an infant. After a conversation with Simonne she decides to keep the baby. Sam searches her biological mother and is upset when it turns out to be Simonne. Simonne was misled by her mother Yvette De Backe when Sam was born.
Julia marries Luc and kicks him out when she learns he has been embezzling from the team-building company. Co-owners Peter and Femke blackmail Luc, threatening to inform the police unless he hands over the property and his shares. Louis determines that Luc drove Leontien off the road and is responsible for her death.
Frank and Simonne hold a 20th anniversary party. Franky returns but won't attend and has shocking news: he's divorced Tibo – and will be undergoing gender reassignment surgery. The party is a success until a video montage shows an inserted confession from Luc asking for forgiveness. Elsewhere, Luc hangs himself.
Geert marries Hélène and William convinces Marianne to marry him. Marianne reads emails on Hélène's phone and suspects she is having a secret affair with a man named Henri and is about to lose . She reveals her suspicions to Geert in front of Hélène and William. Moments later, Ann and Mayra rush in to the sound of screams and find Marianne holding a bloody knife over a dead Geert. Marianne claims Hélène is the killer but Hélène and William say it was Marianne.
Luc survives the suicide attempt but has to learn to speak again. Frank convinces Simonne to let Yvette come back into their home. Marianne is arrested for Geert's murder. Hélène and William have a secret affair and plotted to kill Geert and Marianne to inherit all their possessions. Marianne and William temporarily move to Tuscany. Hélène claims William tried to drown her. Tom confronts William, but Marianne says that William changed his mind and they're really in love. Marianne becomes suspicious when William hides a gun in their home. Confronting him at her 70th birthday party she suffers a cardiac arrest and demands a divorce. Danny is on trial for kidnapping and sexual misbehaviour to Emma. He escapes during transport and holds Emma and Sam hostage in the De Kabouters warehouse. Toon intervenes when Danny is going to shoot Sam, and is himself shot in the lungs. Police storm in and arrest Danny, who commits suicide in jail. Lena accepts Jens' wedding proposal which she'd rejected days before. Jens runs to the taxi to give her the engagement ring but is struck by a car driven by Paulien. He dies on Christmas Day at the same time Hannah, daughter of Tim and Sam, is born.
Waldek has lost his feelings for Rosa and moves into Frank's house. Rosa and Peggy suspect Waldek has an affair with Julia, which turns out to be true. Peter and Femke become the owners of the Zus&Zo, kick out Rosa and Peggy and start a new team-building business.
Franky completes gender reassignment and wants to be addressed as Kaat. Frank can't accept Kaat and breaks contact. Toon is intrigued by Kaat until he learns she was a man. Others accept Kaat who starts working for De Withoeve. Frank tries to win back Simonne but she wants a divorce if he won't accept Kaat.
Femke buys the car from Zus & Zo, and has a collision which kills Lucas. Peggy is suspected of tampering with the car, but a drunk Eddy confesses. Eddy is sent to prison and Nancy divorces.
Lowie receives pictures of Olivia and Arne together and becomes jealous. She ends their relationship. Jessica reveals to Tamara that she's sending the pictures with Arne's cooperation. Olivia grows closer to Arne despite not reciprocating his love. At a party, he puts a date rape drug in her drinks and takes pictures whilst raping her.
Femke and Peter's wedding was cancelled due to Lucas' death, and Peter secretly arranges a new ceremony. Femke books their first customer for LEV on the same day and doesn't notice what's happening and leaves. Nancy informs her. Femke feels guilty and reorganizes the wedding.
In agreement with the new attorney at Tom's office, Hélène meets with William to record their conversations. Unaware of this, Tom thinks she is violating her bail conditions. Hélène goes missing and her body is found in William's house. Meanwhile, William tries to suffocate Marianne in her hospital room. Tom catches William but is overpowered.
Judith knocks-out William, saving Tom and Marianne. William is arrested. Marianne and Rosa trick him, leading to a fraud investigation and the recovery of Marianne's money.
Arne starts seeing a psychiatrist and Jana, who interns there, learns that Arne drugged Olivia and tells her. Olivia confronts Arne who tries to kill himself. Jana is expelled by the university for ethics violation.
Karen, a new partner in Tom and Peter's law practice, wants to throw Peter out for losing clients. Peter resigns but sells most of his shares to Tom, giving him a majority. In revenge, Karen tries to get Eddy out of jail by saying that he was acting under Peter's orders. At the last moment, Eddy says that Karen manipulated him and does not agree to her plea. Eddy is sentenced to 5 years but is released on probation after several months.
Femke gives birth to a son, Vic. Jenny and Leo visit Bianca in Morocco, where Jenny stays to help during Bianca's pregnancy. The day Jenny returns, she has a fatal stroke. Charité starts a relationship with Renzo but is astonished when her husband - thought killed in a civil war - appears. Adam faces deportation, having entered the country illegally.
Frank comes to accept Kaat, but Simmone already concluded their marriage is over. Blaming Kaat, Frank attacks her and is stopped by Toon. Yvette confronts Frank over this during which she suffers a heart attack; she dies. Eventually Frank and Simonne move back together, Frank knowing that she had an affair with Waldek. Toon and Kaat start dating, but Toon leaves her brokenhearted with a letter saying he can't return her feelings.
Julia confronts Simonne and Waldek over their affair; they claim it ended and they never had sex, though Julia does not believe them. Julia goes missing and evidence suggests she was murdered by Waldek, who is jailed. Julia appears months later with a Goth makeover, acting like nothing happened. Waldek is released. Sam fires Frank after he has another fight with Waldek.
Tom gets Stan and Emma's help to propose to Judy. Ann and Mayra decide to marry, but a video of Mayra trying to rape Jessica is put on social media, and Ann throws Mayra out. A hearing determines they should have shared custody of Sandrine, which displeases Ann.
Sam's business is almost bankrupt and decides to do a job off the books, but the client refuses to pay since they didn't have a contract. Frank and Youssef demolish the work but are caught by the police.
Julia goes crazy, pouring boiling water over Luc and putting sleeping pills in his cookies, risking his life. Waldek is missing, shown bound, and the police suspect Eddy and Frank.
Karen's estranged brother, Kobe, arrives to tell her that their mother died. He starts working as a cook at De Withoeve. During a business lunch with Steven Lambrechts, it is revealed that Kobe is actually Karen's son and Steven is his father.
Luc appeals to an escort but she eats a poisoned cookie and dies. Waldek is captured by Julia who threatens revenge on all who harmed her. She reveals to have killed her ex-husband. Julia sends Mayra poisoned chocolates resulting Mayra and Sandrine are being admitted to hospital. Rosa discovers evidence in Julia's cookbook and informs the police, who arrest her. Karen explains her mother raised Kobe as Steven was engaged to another woman and she didn't feel she could raise Kobe. Steven informs Karen he has ALS which Kobe may have inherited. Kobe can't handle this and starts taking drugs. Kobe blames Kaat when he is fired and tells Karen he killed Kaat. Kaat is found alive and taken to hospital. Tom and Judith marry, but the reception is a disaster. Ann is furious there's no place for her lover, Jessica, and their relationship is slighted in Marianne's speech, provoking Ann to propose marriage. Jessica breaks off the relationship, feeling that she's treated as a trophy. Ann declares that Tom and Karen are having an affair. Judith is heartbroken and leaves Tom, while Ann pressures Judith to kick Marianne out of the house. Judith wants an immediate divorce. The judge orders that they share their belongings, so a furious Judith saws their furniture in half. They sell their house which is bought by Ann. Without asking, Marianne moves in at Tom's place. Stan can convince his mother to sign papers so Tom becomes his adoption father. After a medical test, it turns out Adil his semen is of low quality so he and Paulien start an In vitro fertilization-treatment. Luc does not want to live anymore and he signs papers to get a euthanasia. His last wish is to go on a road trip with Lowie and Frank. He dies on their way to Valencia. Marianne and Leo are sure Tom spoils Stan too much. Since he moved in at Tom's house, Stan became a rude boy with many strings on his bow. When Leo confronts Stan, Stan tells him he had hoped Marianne died when she was taken into hospital. Leo cuffs his ear. Stan, feigning to have a brain concussion, convinces Tom to inform the police. Mayra gives birth to Zoë. Afraid the baby will have disability due to the poisoned cookies, she switches the newborn with another. Some weeks later she learns that their daughter died, but carries on as if nothing is wrong. After a blood test on Zoë, Waldek gets suspicious about Zoë's blood group. Doctor Judith confirms Waldek can't be the father. Mayra flees away with Zoë but loses control over the car and crashes in a ditch. Whilst still in the car, she confesses Zoë is neither her child. The car gets on fire. At same time, Leo wants to apologize Stan for hitting him. Stan pushes Leo against the wall breaking his skull. Stan leaves the house as nothing has happened. A bleeding unconscious Leo is found by Marianne and Tom.
Leo survives the attack. Waldek is able to save Mayra and Zoë from the car. He demands her to leave so she moves to Cape Verde.
Dries starts working at the law firm, but his real intention is to sue Karin as she committed fraud in a case in which Dries his father (and many other people) should have gotten a huge amount of money which she darkened. He succeeds and she is suspended for a year.
Tamara is pregnant of Bob. When she informs him he ends their relationship as he does not want a child yet. After babysitting for Emile, a pupil in Olivia's class whose father Lander works at the taxi company, Bob realizes he does like children. He pleases Tamara to restart their relationship but she rejects.
Steven marries Rosa. As his ALS takes overhand, he commits euthanasia. Just before dying he bought a villa in Spain for Rosa and Kobe. This is noticed by tax inspection who thinks the villa was paid with dark money. They start up an investigation and all the financials of "Stevenson", the wine company of Steven and Kobe, are frozen. It turns out no fraud was committed.
Frank gets carjacked. Some weeks later he is attacked again in his home by the same person as he recognizes the gloves. Frank is shocked when those gloves are in the backpack of Emile. The police is called to interrogate Lander. Lander takes Olivia and Sandrine as hostages. Sandrine is shot by Dieter by accident and dies. He decides to stop as a police officer and reopens the pub in "De Withoeve". Olivia and Lowie become the adoptive parents until Emile pushes a pregnant Paulien from the stairs by accident. She loses the child and her uterus. She becomes depressed, stops her relationship with Adil, neglects her pub...
Judith started a relationship with Jacques, the coach of the swimming club. After a quarrel with Jacques, Judith gets some bruising on her wrists. When Judith gets some broken ribs, Ann informs Emma and Tom. Everybody is blaming Jacques for mistreating Judith. Stan claims Jacques made a sexual approach to him and thus a pedophile. Nobody understands why Judith still defends Jacques until it turns out Stan is the wrongdoer. Joren figures out he is gay and in love with Stan which seems to be mutual.
Bob starts a relationship with Christine. Nobody likes Christine as she is a manipulator, gossip, faked a pregnancy of Bob and also faked the abortion. She also brought Olivia more than once in discredit only to get better herself. Lowie finds out Bob is still in love with Tamara. Olivia finds out Tamara still has feelings for Bob.
Bill, the alcoholic father of Joren, wants to rejoin with him, but Joren is not impressed. One day Stan, Joren and another friend drink lots of hard liquor. Joren, who was to be at school, misses a school test. Bill finds the three who run by bicycle. Joren falls over the train rails. Bill runs upon the rails but is hit by a train and taken into hospital.
In season's finale it is insinuated Bill died. Stan tells Joren not to be gay and it was just for fun. Bob and Christine marry. Olivia stops the ceremony and tells everyone Bob is still in love with Tamara and that Tamara just gave birth to his child. Bob wants to leave the town hall, but Christine claims she is also pregnant.
''Due to COVID-19 the complete season could not be recorded so the season ended on 24 April 2020 instead of 11th of June. As filming was no longer possible the producers had to be inventive with the material they had, resulting in a choppy storyline in last episodes.''
The wedding between Bob and Christine takes place as she is pregnant. After a blood test it turns out she is not pregnant at all and there is even no proof in her blood she was pregnant lately. Due to this lie, Bob wants to divorce immediately.
Jacques tries to drown Stan in the pool but is stopped by Joren. Stan quits school and gets a job at Stevenson but he does not like it. Next he starts homeschooling but also gives up after some weeks. Finally he joins the army. Kaat did not pass her examinations and stops her course in favor to do a world travel trip.
Pauline starts a relationship with Kobe and they marry. They have the intention to adopt a child. Bianca and Mo, who live in Morocco since several years, die in a car accident. Their son Robin is adopted by Tom De Decker, his biological father.
Dries got his master's degree and stops his job as gigolo which does not suit one of his clients: Reinhilde. She turns in a complaint claiming Dries got lots of extra money and presents from her. As this is considered to be legal profit she hints the police Dries did not pay taxes on these extras and most probably did not turn in all of his profits. The tax department starts an investigation but it turns out Dries does not have black money and he is in rule with law.
At Bowie Dries is hired for the position of lawyer consultant. Karin is still angry at Dries because of his actions in previous season. Reinhilde attacks Dries sexually and then sets up a plan with Karin to prove Dries is the wrongdoer and raped Reinhilde. Customers of Bowie get knowledge of the twisted story and want to stop their projects so Dries is fired. After investigation it is proved Karin spread the rumor to those customers. Reinhilde gets remorse and wants to withdraw her statement which does not please Karin. That's why Reinhilde does not want to work any longer with Karin. Tom is informed about the fake acquisitions and wants to stop his partnership with Karin. As she rejects, he starts up a procedure so she never can be a lawyer again. He gets support from Reinhilde, Dries and Peter.
To everyone's surprise Adil started a relationship with Christine. An astonished Bob decides Bowie will not work with The Kabouters anymore.
Jasper, the boxing teacher of Ann, is found guilty of the murder on the manageress of pub "Bar Madam", the rape on Tilly and sales of drugs. All of this is proved in a setup arranged by his daughter Viv and the police. Jasper admits the selling of the drugs, claims the death was an accident but claims he did not rape Tilly. In a flashback it is revealed to the viewers Jacques was the wrongdoer. Jasper is sent to jail. Jacques starts a part-time job as real estate salesman in the company of Reinhilde and goes to Spain for some time to sell some houses.
In last episode Jasper is set free due to procedural errors. Viv is upset and is sure Jasper will come after her. A severe accident takes place. Policeman Tim only reveals the victim is someone he knows.
Tania reveals she was raped a long time ago and got pregnant. Her son Xander is now in search of his father and is in a rage when he hears about how he was impregnated. After a DNA-test reveals Walter De Decker was the rapist, Xander starts strangling Tania. Doctor Ann interferes and by killing him she saves Tania's life. The act is ruled as self-defense. As Marianne always knew about the rape, Ann moves abroad.
Frank and Simonne decide to move to an apartment and sell their house. Due to an issue with a fuse "De Kabouters" are hired to fix the electric cabin. Joren - who did the job - had to leave early so Frank finished the job. The house burns down due to a short circuit and Frank did not pay the invoice of the fire insurance.
Lowie starts dating the drug addicted Roxanne Goethals, sister of BOWIE’s most important customer. Lowie realizes he must end the relationship so he does. An upset Roxanne puts drugs in Lowie his cup of tea. Lowie ends up in hospital but survives. Mister Goethals thinks Lowie started with drugs so he decides to stop all business with BOWIE. Harry Peeters also stops his project, but as he convinced Louis to make some changes in the standard contract, he does not have to pay BOWIE at all. Roxanne is interrogated by the police. Afterwards she is found dead in a burned out car.
A charming man brings a visit to pub "Bar Madam" but steals money from the till so Angèle is temporary fired as she was responsible. Eddy runs into that man and they start a fight. Eddy gets a huge hit on his head and can't smell anything for a couple of months.
Totally unexpected Nina stands in front of Leo. She is with her child Yasmine on the run from Interpol as she is found guilty of a huge swindle. She claims she was framed by her mother. Things get more complicated when it turns out Peter impregnated Nina and he is aware of the fathership. This leads to a break between Peter and Femke.
Dieter concludes Jacques is involved in the murder of Jasper. Jacques finds out the police is shadowing him thus flees away. Reinhilde is also found dead and Dries is the heir according her will, making him rich.
Jacques holds Rosa and Waldek but is shot down by Dieter. He falls in the river and is assumed dead. However, he survived but the bullet is still in his body. He enters some house and forces the owner to call doctor Judith who comes over. Jacques kills the owner and holds Judith as a hostage. She is freed by Waldek and Tilly after Judith was able to send a text message. Once outside, they run into Jacques, but the police also arrives and Jacques is shot dead. In the season’s finale the viewer is informed Rosa is abducted by Jacques and hold somewhere else. Leo and Marianne marry.
On his wedding day Leo gets a stroke and dies. The police starts an investigation after the missing Rosa but it is Waldek who finds her in Jacques his car. Christine has a partial miscarriage: one of the twins died in the uterus. Due to this, the other baby had to be born via a Caesarean section. Christine has no bondage with the child and she is taken into a psychiatric institute for undefined time.
Ilias, a nephew of Dieter, is arrested by police for driving a souped-up moped. He is a rather rude, wagging school young man who decided to leave his last year in high school until he meets Silke on which he has a crush. She admits or feigns to also have feelings for Ilias but he must prove himself by doing all kind of wager tasks such as going to class in a womans outfit.
Silke, who studies laws at university, gets Karin as one of her teachers. Silke spreads all kind of gossips about Karen, posts photoshopped images of her via social media... Karin wants to take revenge but figures out Silke is the daughter of dean Stefaan Le Grand.
A fighting divorce starts between Femke and Peter about who is going to raise Vic. Peter does not want Kobe around Vic due to his past. Karin is not upset Peter puts Kobe in a bad light and starts helping Femke to get as much as sche can. Karin also starts up a procedure to clear Kobe his criminal record.
Although technically a Spaghetti Western, the plot of ''Texas, Adios'' plays more like a traditional American western film. Franco Nero plays two-fisted, taciturn Texas sheriff Burt Sullivan, a man committed to duty and justice but possessed by a desire for revenge. Sullivan, along with his younger brother, crosses the border to bring wealthy and sadistic Mexican crime boss Cisco Delgado (José Suárez) to justice for the murder of their father. Eventually joining forces with a group of Mexican revolutionaries, Sullivan and his brother soon find themselves at the centre of a bloodbath.
Seemingly content with the way her life goes, and deeply in love with her psychiatrist husband Doruk, Beyza is thrown off-balance by strange, occasional memory blackouts. Meanwhile, a number of mutilated legs found around Istanbul push the city into the terror of a serial murderer. Police Lieutenant Fatih investigates the gruesome murders with his new expert partner, Doruk. As the police follow the trail of the murderer, Beyza faces the truth about herself: a relationship, which even she cannot explain, exists between herself and the victims.
In the not-too-distant future, people are living in peace thanks to the benefits of highly developed robot technology. However, the Scrap Squad led by Dr. Bug begins to wreak havoc on the Earth. The company that stands up to crush his ambitions is the Pukarin Company, a long-established robot development and rental company run by the Tenjinbayashi family. The "Saver Kids," a rescue team made up of children, gets in the way of Dr. Bug's plans.
Yuri Makurano is an unattractive girl who learns her mother is a famous actress named Shoko Hanai following her grandmother's death. Yuri begins to live with her mother's family which consists of three children named Sumire, Aoi, and Fuyo Hanatashiki. Yuri is treated as a maid at the household, eventually bonding with the family and builds up unrequited feelings for Sumire. Later, she comes to learn the only blood relation she has to the family is Aoi, her half brother.
; :Yuri is an unattractive girl whose only talent is housekeeping. She is initially believed to be Ichiro Makurano and Shoko Hanai's daughter. Eventually, she learns her parents were the Kusinagis, Ichiro's friends who died after a false double suicide; this makes her Aoi's half sibling. She admired Sumire since she saw his debut acting as a child. In the Taiwanese drama, she is portrayed by Ella Chen. ; :Sumire is the middle child and was born to Shoko Hanai and her second husband, an American film producer. He wears sunglasses most of the time to hide his blue eyes due to the attention he receives. Sumire was engaged to a girl named Seri; her death caused him severe angst where he attempted suicide multiple times. Due to Yuri's influence, he begins to recover from her death. ; :Aoi is the youngest child and was born to Shoko Hanai and Kusanagi, a man whom she had an affair with. He joined the Hanatashiki family when he was a preteen, resulting in him falling in love with Sumire; as a result, Aoi grows his hair out to appear more feminine. When Yuri joins the family, he begins to shift his love towards her. ; :Fuyo is the oldest child and was born to Shoko Hanai and her first husband. She excelled at housekeeping as she wanted to become a good wife. She was once married but divorced due to her husband siding with her abusive step mother. Since then, she has been disdained to housekeeping and spends most of her time watching movies. Due to her deductive abilities, she realizes Yuri's relationship to the family. ; :Shoko, once known as Teruko Hanatashiki, was in love with , a man who was years her senior. When Ichiro became stricken with disease, he ended his relationship with Shoko by claiming Yuri was his daughter to spare her the suffering, causing Shoko lose her trust in men. Afterwards, she adopts a loose lifestyle full of parties and men; she becomes more calm after learning the truth about Ichiro and Yuri.
;"Haggis": Benkei entices a man to his bar with malt scotch, the same drink he was consuming when he crashed a car to dodge the draft. There, the man is confronted by the son of the woman who was killed while driving the car, and the man is killed in a knife-fight. ;"Hook": Benkei takes a cabaret dancer named Maria home and draws her. Benkei tracks down a man who killed their shipmate on a fishing trawler with a hook. He chases him through a fish market and using a hook, cuts him down the side of his face. ;"Throw Back": Benkei follows a man from Grand Central Station to Central Park for the third day. The two spar using hand-to-hand combat. They continue fighting in the American Museum of Natural History with swords taken from an exhibit and Benkei kills the man. ;"The Cry": Benkei paints a forgery of ''The Scream'' for the Italian mafia. However, its sale is used as a setup to kill a subordinate so the boss, Gantino, can expand his operations. Benkei is targeted in the process but escapes. He creates another forgery from memory and meets Gantino, lying that he has the original. Benkei kills Gantino while he gazes at the fake and leaves the original in a museum. ;"Sword Fish": Benkei is invited to Sicily by Troia, a former leading figure of La Cosa Nostra, to forge his collection of European paintings. Sorchi, one of Troia's men, works with Gantino's brother to attack Benkei's car and kidnap Maria. In the resulting negotiation, Sorchi reveals that he wants Troia's paintings and tries to kill them. Benkei uses a swordfish's bill as a weapon but is shot. When he shows the paintings to Sorchi, Troia sets them on fire along with Sorchi. Fatally wounded, Troia dies as Benkei shows him his forgery of Jean-François Millet's painting ''Maternal Care''. ;"Necklace": A man wants Benkei to kill Sophie Gibson, the leader of a drug ring, but Benkei refuses because he feels that the request is dishonest. When the man tries to kill her himself, he is shot. Before he dies, he reveals to Benkei that Gibson and him were engaged lovers from Vermont and asks him to give her a necklace of pearl. Benkei strings the necklace with piano wire and uses it to strangle Sophie. ;"Basement": An architect named Gordon murders his more successful peer and wife, Betty, at their summer home on an island. Benkei visits him to deliver a painting of Betty and the image scares Gordon. Running from Benkei, Gordon hides in the basement which includes a pool designed by Betty. Benkei barricades the man inside while delivering a message from Betty saying "I loved you too much."
A prelude scene in the form of a Newsreel story suggests that the film is part of a package of information about the development of atomic energy and the atomic bomb being placed in a time capsule in California, to be opened in 2446.
In 1945, physicist and atomic scientist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer (Hume Cronyn) praises the discovery of atomic energy but also warns of its dangers. American scientists such as Matt Cochran (Tom Drake), working under the guidance of Dr. Enrico Fermi (Joseph Calleia) and Dr. Marré (Victor Francen), have split the atom, and essentially beaten the Germans in the race to create an atomic bomb. With the assistance of Albert Einstein (Ludwig Stössel), they inform President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Godfrey Tearle) that a monumental discovery has been made.
In 1941, with the United States at war, Roosevelt authorizes up to two billion dollars for the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. In December 1942, at the University of Chicago, under the watchful eyes of observers such as Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Nixon (Robert Walker) and international experts, scientists create the first chain reaction, under a stadium at the campus.
Nixon is assigned to General Leslie Groves (Brian Donlevy), who is placed in charge of the project. Groves has to bring together the scientific, industrial and defense communities to build the atomic bomb. In 1945, following the death of Roosevelt, the new president, Harry S. Truman (Art Baker), continues to support the atomic project, now moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Facing stiff resistance in the Pacific War, Truman orders the use of the atomic bomb against Japan in July 1945.
Cochran and Nixon are assigned to accompany the crew transporting the bomb to Tinian. While assembling the bomb, Cochran comes into contact with radioactive material and dies. The following day, on August 6, 1945, the ''Enola Gay'', a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. After the mission, Nixon returns home to break the news of her husband's death to Cochran's wife.
"Ghost" Wakefield is the leader of a struggling jazz band. At a party he meets the attractive singer Jess, who is in a relationship with the Ghost's agent, Benny. At Ghost's insistence, she joins the band, and he begins a relationship with her, antagonizing Benny.
Benny arranges for the band to cut a record. In a party at a bar celebrating the recording session, Benny encourages a tough guy, Tommy, to pick a fight with the band. Ghost avoids fighting, causing a rift with Jess. She leaves the band, and it breaks up. Ghost becomes the protege of a rich patron, playing the piano in night clubs, his career in decline, while the rest of the band plays inferior music to make a living.
Ghost locates Jess, who has become a prostitute, and goes with her to the other band members, who reject him but begin playing their old music with Jess singing.
A mailman heads to Porky Pig's house and delivers a telegram to Porky. When Porky reads the telegram, he sees it is an offer from a big shot producer in Broadway, New York City, who wants Porky and his pet ostrich, Lulu, in his show, offering $75 a day. Porky wants the job, so he tells Lulu the good news and takes her on a leash to the train station.
Once there a passenger train speeds right past the station and Porky has to change the signal to stop the second train. Porky and Lulu get on board, but the conductor kicks them off, on account of a "no pets" policy. Porky tells Lulu to go down the tracks so he can pick her up when the train passes by. Porky gets on board and the train departs. When it passes by Lulu, Porky grabs her and pulls her in. Realizing what will happen if the conductor finds out, Porky shoves Lulu under his seat, but Lulu insists on poking her head out. She then squeezes out and swallows passengers' personal belongings, ao. an accordion.
Just then, the conductor comes asking the passengers for tickets. Porky sees him, shoves the noisy accordion down Lulu's throat to her stomach, stuffs her inside a guitar case and trims her sticking out tail feathers. When the conductor comes up to Porky, Lulu blows her cover by squawking, pushing her legs out, and taking the conductor on a wild ride to the other side of the coach. Angered, the conductor throws Lulu and Porky out of the train from the observation car. Porky spots a handcar in a siding and a cow grazing. He and Lulu hop on the handcar, and Porky grabs the cow's tail. The cow happily takes them down the track, and even outruns the train, much to the conductor's shock.
In 1918 a young and simple Mongol herdsman and trapper is cheated out of a valuable fox fur by a European capitalist fur trader. Ostracized from the trading post, he escapes to the hills after brawling with the trader who cheated him. In 1920 he becomes a Soviet partisan, and helps the partisans fight for the Soviets against the occupying British army. However he is captured by the British when they try to requisition cattle from the herdsmen at the same time as the commandant meets with a reincarnated Grand Lama. After the trapper is shot, the army discovers an amulet that suggests he is a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. They find him still alive, so the army restores his health and plans to use him as the head of a puppet regime. The trapper is thus thrust into prominence as he is placed in charge of the puppet government. By the end, however, the "puppet" turns against his masters in an outburst of fury.
Eccentric millionaire philanthropist Axel Clark wishes to prove that all people are essentially honest and good. Following his death and as a provision of his will, his lawyers drop wallets on the streets of town that each have $100 in them, with information for contacting the lawyers. The four honest people who return the wallets then find themselves unexpectedly in a sort-of lottery. Each person is given $5000 and the first person who could double that sum within one month, through honest means, would inherit Clark's entire estate. Otherwise, the entire estate would go to Clark's greedy brother, who is determined to thwart the plan.
The trouble begins when Lord Strathpeffer (John Barrymore), who is on his way to visit an Egyptologist with a case of instruments used by entomologists, loses his way in the fog and wanders into the home (who lives next door to the Egyptologist) of a woman who is hosting a fancy dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Tidmarsh (Dick Henderson and Emily Fitzroy), a middle-class English couple, are giving a dinner party in honor of their wealthy uncle, Gabriel Gilwattle (Albert Gran), hoping to receive his financial aid in their struggle to keep up appearances.
As a result of many of the invitees informing Mrs. Tidmarsh that they could not attend her party, she believes that only 13 guests will show up. As Gilwattle is a superstitious man, Mrs. Tidmarsh sends to the Blankley Employment Agency to send them a distinguished looking man to serve as a guest. In the meantime some other guests inform Fitzroy that they won't be able to come and the hired man is no longer needed. She informs the agency that the man is no longer needed. Nevertheless, when Barrymore arrives at the door, they automatically assume that he was sent by the agency and invite him in to dinner.
Mayhem ensues. Margery Seaton (Loretta Young), one of the dinner guests, recognizes Barrymore as a former lover, and therefore assumes him to be an impostor. Sobering, Strathpeffer realizes he has come to the wrong party and asserts his right to his title; but Gwennie (Angella Mawby) hides her father's watch in Strathpeffer's pocket as he is renewing his romance with Margery. A police inspector arrives hunting for the missing lord, establishing his authenticity and the fact that he is not, after all, the hired guest.
Darth Bane, still on the planet Ruusan, finds his apprentice Zannah, a girl only 10 years old. Together they decide to see the effects of the thought bomb, and journey into the catacombs where it lies. Inside they find a boy, Tomcat, who is Zannah's cousin, who challenges Bane to a duel. Knowing Bane will kill Tomcat, Zannah spares his life by using the Force to cause his hand to explode.
Ten years later, Zannah is a woman and now a powerful Sith. Strikingly attractive, she tricks a handsome Twilek named Kel into a plan to assassinate former chancellor Valorum. Kel and other members of the rebel group attack, but two members flee upon seeing his bodyguard is Jedi Knight Johun Othone. After a fearsome battle, the Jedi narrowly defeats Kel, and kills the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, at base camp, Bane has been trying to construct a Sith holocron; after three failed attempts, he fails again on the fourth one and goes into a blinding fury. Zannah plants the idea in his head that the orbalisks, a parasitic creature found on Dxun which feeds on dark energy, caused the failure. The orbalisks, which have a lightsaber-proof shell and provide the afflicted person with additional Force energy power, had attached themselves to Bane when he went to Dxun to retrieve a Sith holocron made by Freedon Nadd. He now wonders whether the orbalisks are causing his mind to degrade.
The two members of the rebel group who had fled find Zannah and accuse her of tricking them into an attack that was doomed to fail. Unable to attack in public, she goes with them to see their master, Hetton. In him, Zannah senses the dark side of the Force. She kills the two members that fled in a dramatic flair of Sith power. Hetton, very impressed, asks Zannah to make him her apprentice. She accepts, knowing that he has a large collection of manuscripts valuable to her master. After killing Hetton, Bane uses Hetton's manuscripts and finds the location of the tomb of Sith Lord Belia Darzu. Hoping that it will contain the secrets of holocron construction, he travels there.
Bane instructs Zannah to disguise herself and go to the Jedi archives, to see if she can find a way to remove the interfering orbalisks. There she finds the cure, but stumbles upon her cousin Tomcat, now called Darovit. Darovit has told the Jedi about Darth Bane surviving the thought bomb on Ruusan. He now finds himself changing alliances and decides to come with Zannah because of his brotherly love for her. Five Jedi journey to the tomb of Belia Darzu, arriving after Zannah and Darovit. Bane instructs Darovit to hide, and he and Zannah together duel with the five Jedi. After the Sith slay four of the Jedi, Bane attempts to kill the last one with Force lightning. One of the four supposedly slain Jedi is still barely alive, and casts a Force orb around Bane as he releases the lightning. The lightning is reflected back on Bane, frying him inside the orb. Most of the orbalisks are destroyed by the tremendous power of the Force lightning, and release a toxin that will kill Bane in days. Zannah takes Bane and Darovit to Ambria, to find the healer Caleb, who once before saved Bane's life. Caleb refuses to heal him, having sent his daughter, Serra, away after his first encounter with Bane. But he makes a deal with Zannah that he will heal Bane if Zannah informs the Jedi of their existence. She accepts, but after Bane is healed, Zannah kills Caleb and causes Darovit to go mad with her Sith sorcery. When the Jedi arrive on Ambria, Zannah sends a now insane Darovit to attack them with a lightsaber, tricking the Jedi into thinking that Darovit was the Sith Lord. The Jedi cut down Darovit, and then depart Ambria, believing that the Sith are now truly dead in the galaxy. Meanwhile, Zannah and Bane are hiding in a secret cellar. Bane expected her to let him die, but after the Jedi Knights leave, she tells him that she saved him because she still has much to learn.
On the first day of school, Arthur and his classmates are given homework by Mr. Ratburn, leaving them distraught. Later, the principal, Mr. Haney, announces that there will be a Spellathon in the coming weeks. One day, Mr. Ratburn tells the class to study hard for a test to see who will qualify as representatives for the Spellathon. Eventually, Arthur and The Brain end up being chosen and are given lists of words to study. On the day of the Spellathon, the representatives of each class are eliminated one by one until Arthur is the only one left. He manages to win the trophy after spelling "Preparation" correctly. In the end, Mr. Ratburn announces to the audience that he will be teaching Kindergarten, much to D.W.'s dismay.
Laura Landon is a sheltered freshman at a fictional university in a midwestern town. Intensely shy and introverted, she is drawn to the president of the student union, Beth Cullison. Beth is outgoing and friendly, experienced socially (with men, particularly) but feels a void in her life. She doesn't understand how the other girls are so fulfilled by the men in their lives, despite having tried. Every time she allows herself to be intimate with one, she breaks it off out of disappointment.
Beth shares a room in the sorority house with Emmy, and convinces Laura to pledge the sorority. Feeling a pull to Beth, Laura delights in her presence and experiences jealousy and confusion in her attachment to the older woman. They go on dates together to movies and plays, and Beth considers Laura something of an enigma, unsure of how to reach out to her to get to know her well. Laura finds herself especially jealous of Beth's most recent beau, Charlie, who to Beth's surprise, has awoken some new feelings in her. Laura is often so at odds with her unemotional upbringing conflicting with the intensity of the emotions she experiences for Beth that she practices self-injury.
Beth begins to realize what effect she has on Laura and teases her good-naturedly to watch what happens to her, but Beth is taken back by Laura's intense attraction and love for her and they begin an affair. This is compounded by her escalating relationship with Charlie, who is frustrated with Beth's vacillating between affection for him and her guilt for hurting Laura.
Beth loses faith with her sorority and the university when, during a sorority costume party, Emmy gets drunk and her boyfriend, Bud, hoists her scantily clad over his shoulder and the top of her costume falls off. The sorority kicks her out after she is caught in the middle of coitus with Bud, after she was told not to see him. Bud is angered by this and feels partly to blame. He reassures Emmy and promises to marry her. Whether or not he will fulfill his promise remains ambiguous. Emmy writes to Beth about her frustration when she doesn't hear from Bud, and her feelings of estrangement from her community.
Disillusioned and not sure what to do, Beth agrees to leave school to be with Laura. They plan to run away to Greenwich Village. Charlie corners Laura and she tells him about their relationship, triumphant that she can have what Charlie cannot. Charlie confronts Beth when she is on her way to meet Laura at the train station. He calls her relationship with Laura childish, to which Beth admits that she only loves Laura, not him. Charlie drops her off at the station and says she must make her own decision, but he will wait nearby for half an hour, just in case. Beth finally reveals the truth to Laura when she meets her at the station. Laura stays on the train resolute her love for Beth and even thanks her for teaching her who she is. Beth says her goodbyes to Laura and rushes off to catch Charlie.
The ''Ulam'' are a tribe of cavemen who possess fire in the form of a carefully guarded small flame which they use to start larger fires. Driven out of their home after a bloody battle with the ape-like ''Wagabu'', the ''Ulam'' are horrified when their fire is accidentally extinguished while taking refuge in a marsh. Because the tribe does not know how to create fire themselves, the tribal elder decides to send three men, Naoh, Amoukar, and Gaw, on a quest to find fire.
The trio encounter several dangers on their trek, including an encounter with the ''Kzamm'', a tribe of more primitive-looking cannibals. The ''Kzamm'' have fire, and Naoh, Amoukar and Gaw determine to steal it. Gaw and Amoukar lure most of the ''Kzamm'' away from their encampment. Naoh kills the remaining warriors, but not before being bitten on the genitals by one, which causes him agony. The three ''Ulam'' take the ''Kzamm'' fire and prepare to head home.
A young woman, Ika, had been a captive of the ''Kzamm''. She follows the trio. She makes a primitive poultice to help Naoh recover from his injury. Later, Amoukar attempts to mount Ika. She hides near Naoh, who then mounts her himself in front of the other two males.
Ika soon recognizes that she is near her home and tries to persuade the ''Ulam'' to go with her. When they refuse, they go their separate ways. Naoh turns around, followed by the reluctant Gaw and Amoukar, and the band is reunited. After Naoh leaves the others to scout a village, he is trapped in quicksand, nearly sinking to his death, but he is discovered and captured by the Ivaka, Ika's tribe. At first, Naoh is subjected to several forms of humiliation by the Ivaka. He is forced to mate with the high-status women of the tribe, who are large and big-breasted. The petite Ika is excluded by her tribe, and when she attempts to lie near him later that night, she is chased away. The Ivaka show Naoh their advanced knowledge of fire-making with a hand drill.
Gaw and Amoukar find Naoh among the Ivaka. They try to rescue him, but Naoh seems unwilling to leave. At night, Ika helps them knock Naoh unconscious and escape the camp. The next day, Naoh washes off the Ivaka body paint. He tries to mount Ika again, but she teaches him the more intimate missionary position. Not long before they reach the marsh where they started the journey, the three are beset by peer rivals from within the Ulam, who wish to steal the fire and bring it back themselves, but Naoh and his group defeat them using the Ivakan atlatls, which are superior to Ulam weapons.
Finally rejoining the Ulam, the group present the fire to the delight of all. But during the ensuing celebration, the fire is again accidentally extinguished. Naoh tries to create a new fire as he'd seen in the Ivaka camp, but after several failed attempts, Ika takes over. Once the spark is lit, the tribe is overjoyed.
Months later, Naoh and Ika prepare to have a child.
Ko Chun came from a rich and affluent family and was taken care of by his nanny. One day in 1969, the nanny was gambling and as she just put her jade ring down as a bet, the banker of the gambling den, Tai-Chin, created a ruse that the police is coming and ran away with the ring and other bet in the chaos. While running away, Tai-Chin's daughter, Seven, tripped and fell but Ko Chun pushed her away from further danger. Ko Chun, however, was kidnapped by some child kidnapper and was about to have his hands chopped off so he can become a beggar and beg for money, Kent stepped in and offered to buy Ko Chun while also bringing another child that he had bought at the same place, Ko Ngo to take down the child kidnapper and thus, Ko Chun became Kent's adopted son and also, student in the arts of gambling.
Years later, in 1986, Seven has grown up and So told her that he brought a Vietnamese friend, Lung Wu, along to meet her and told her that her dad had found a way in the Central district to cheat some money off some poor guys in a gambling scheme. Just before they left the mahjong parlour, a gangster Mothball that Seven had offended earlier brought a couple of men to trash the place and also harm her. However, Lung Wu caught it early and as a payback for the ten bowls of Char Siew rice he ate off Seven's generosity, Lung Wu single-handedly beat every gangster to the ground with just a vinyl tape that he snapped into half and use it as a makeshift shiv. After fighting them down, Lung Wu, Seven and So left for Central. When they arrived, Seven instantly recognized Kent and Ko Chun but initially kept silent about it. After Kent left the table, he asked Ko Chun to substitute him in. However, it was a ruse as the others thought that Kent was losing but the cards Ko Chun opened turned out to be a Three of a Kind which beats the nearest Pair of Ks. Enraged, the banker of the table sent men to chase after Kent and his posse when they leave. As Ko Chun was leaving, he glanced upon Seven and noticed the jade ring she had around her neck was what his nanny had pawned during the earlier gambling scene and tend to recognize Seven as the little girl but did not say anything and left. Sensing something was wrong, Seven dispatched Lung Wu to shadow Ko Chun and make sure he suffers no injury. Lung Wu shadowed Ko Chun into the subway train and soon, both started to fight in the train for 1 minute. After no one could be declared the winner, both agreed that it's a draw and both started befriending each other then.
Weeks later, Kent told Ko Chun that there's an international "God of Gamblers" tournament in Macau and he wants the whole team to be there including Ko Ngo and his daughter, Hing, to support Ko Chun in the competition to win as the "God of Gamblers" with the prize being the owner of all of Asia's casino. Already knowing how well Lung Wu fights, Ko Chun went to find Lung Wu for extra support and Lung Wu agreed. Seven and Ko Chun both recognized each other immediately and reminisce their encounter when they were young and Ko Chun soon left the house and went to Macau for the competition. Just before the second round of competition begins, Kent passed him a discreet item that was actually a gun that can't be detected by any metal detectors. During the second round of competition, only Ko Chun and Ko Ngo were left at the table. Ko Chun knew his card were bigger than Ko Ngo and cannot fathom why Ko Ngo would continue betting despite losing, he questions Kent on the reasons why while both are in the toilet. However, Kent shows his true colours as he was actually a big bookie that was hedging on Ko Chun's loss and told Ko Chun to lose. However, Ko Chun did not parlay and insisted on winning. Out of options, Kent lured Ko Chun into a hug and promised him that Ko Chun could do whatever he wants only to see himself get shot by the same kind of gun that Kent gave him into the side of his brain. As Ko Chun collapsed, he realized that the one that killed his dad was actually Kent due to the words his mother had told him: "I have seen the killer and the man is mental to be able to laugh consistently even when he kills a man".
Miraculously, Ko Chun managed to survive the gunshot wound and fell into a coma for almost 3 month. While during that time, Ko Ngo became the "God of Gambler" and took Hing as his wife. Seven, So and Lung Wu has been taking of him in the hospital while he was still in a delirious state after awaking, constantly having flashbacks of the shooting. He even refused to eat and entered "shutdown mode" locking himself from all sort of communication. He even refused to eat till Lung Wu stuffed dark chocolates into his mouth to ensure he has the energy after refusing to eat for 3 days and somehow, ended up enjoying it and finishing the whole box. Lung Wu soon found out that the outside world, including his rival Ko Ngo, knew that Ko Chun isn't actually dead and being in a hospital could pose as a danger to Ko Chun thus, they moved him to Seven's house where Seven took good care of him. While taking care of him, Ko Chun opened up finally and guarantees that he will be able to make a comeback. With that guarantee that Ko Chun is already has a stable mind, Seven went to her dad's mahjong parlor to borrow money from Tai-Chin but along the way to the parlor, So revealed that Tai-Chin had actually owed Mothball a lot of money and could not lend Seven the money but when they reach the parlor, Mothball was already in the parlor while pinning Tai-Chin with his feet. To wriggle out of the situation, So blurted out that the God of Gambler is actually the future husband of Seven and Mothball instantly threatened So to bring the God of Gambler to him or else Tai-Chin, Seven and himself would be shot dead. When So reached the house, Ko Ngo was already in the house goading Ko Chun. Ko Chun initially showed close to no response but after watching and hearing from Ko Ngo that he had actually married Hing and actually got her pregnant, he got enraged which aggravated the wound and slowly lost his sense of thought and became slightly retarded. Not wanting to land everyone in trouble, So still brought the now-retarded Ko Chun to the mahjong parlor in a wig to disguise him as the God of Gambler. Despite being retarded, Ko Chun never lost his skill in cheating nor gambling and instead won all 3 rounds against Mothball through cheating. Enraged, Mothball started and his men started to whack So for lying to them but it turned out that the guy they were beating was Lung Wu disguising as So. Lung Wu flipped the situation and fought every of Mothball's men down including Mothball himself.
When they reached home, the doctor had officially declared Ko Chun mentally unstable. However, the whole house was bugged by Ko Ngo and Kent. Fearing that Ko Chun might just be feigning to be retarded and ruin Ko Ngo's plan for yet another upcoming competition, they orchestrated Ko Chun's kidnapping and succeeded. However, Lung Wu witnessed it and stopped Seven for calling the police realizing that the ploy was to prevent Ko Chun from entering the 2nd "God of Gamblers" competition in Macau yet again and vowed to get Ko Chun out from Ko Ngo's hand. In Macau, Ko Ngo was just introduced to be the representative for Hong Kong but soon after, Seven, Lung Wu, So and Tai-Chin arrived and Lung Wu instantly went up on stage and berate Ko Ngo. Just then, Ko Chun arrived his presence. Turns out, his "kidnapping" was a ruse to confuse Ko Ngo as he did not become a retard after all and had always been in contact with the European side that were also competing and agreed to be their representative while also being protected by the FBI. Ko Chun also professed his love for Ko Chun.
While in the new safehouse, Ko Chun deduced that due to Kent knowing his prowess, Kent himself have zero confidence that Ko Chun would actually lose and due to the way Kent has been handling things, he would surely send assassins to claim Ko Chun's life. Just as Ko Chun predicted, Kent sent a bunch of Vietnamese assassins to wipe out the whole safehouse estate of guards and also to claim Ko Chun's life. While the assassins were dealing with the Caucasian guards around the premise, Tai-Chin was awaken by the constant loud thuds he was hearing. Curious, he opened the balcony and have a peek of was going on before being slashed in the throat by the lead assassin before being left for death. While Lung Wu was fighting those nearest to him, Tai-Chin crawled to the nearest assassin facing Ko Chun and Seven and bit the assassin in the leg with his last breath before being shot by the said assassin. Both Seven and Ko Chun split in the chaos with Lung Wu finally arriving beside Ko Chun's side. When Lung Wu, Ko Chun and So met, they heard noises on the roof and rushed up only to find the lead assassin had already tied Seven up and threatened to push her down while challenging both Lung Wu and Ko Chun to a fight. Ko Chun stepped out of the door and agreed to fight the assassin. However, the assassin turned his gun and tried to fire a shot at Ko Chun only to have Lung Wu throwing a dagger at his firing arm which caused him too lose his grip on Seven and Seven fell off the ledge. Ko Chun tried to save Seven but missed and Lung Wu held Ko Chun tight to prevent him from falling too but got stabbed in the back. So took a plastic chair and smashed it against the assassin while Ko Chun and Lung Wu recovered from their position and both simultaneously attacking the assassin till Ko Chun kicked him off the roof and fell to his death.
Before the competition. it was revealed that Seven actually did not die from the fall but was in a comatose state and requiring apparatuses to keep her alive. Ko Chun requested to see her and not wanting her to suffer, he hugged her for the last time, kissed her forehead and turned off her oxygen mask to put her out of the suffering and left for the competition. During the competition, Ko Chun folded every round and never placed a bet. Till the final round as things were heated up, he asked for the cards to be covered. Hing revealed her support for Ko Chun with bank bonds worth $30 Million dollars for the side bet between Ko Chun and Ko Ngo. On top of the side bet, Ko Ngo, feeling arrogant that he would win, raised the stake to even bet on each other's hand which Ko Chun agrees to. As the competition resumes, it revealed that Hing was actually lying to Ko Chun that she had switched her allegiance and her intention was to switch cards away from Ko Chun which allow Ko Ngo to gain Ko Chun's 10 of Hearts to beat him with a Straight Flush. However, Ko Chun already predicted it and when both showed their hands, it's revealed that Ko Chun had all along knew about the cheats Ko Ngo and Hing was doing together with the one-eyed man behind him giving out instructions of Ko Chun's cards. To counter that, he had corners of red cards all in his pocket and used it to cover up his base card to trick the man behind and sensing Hing wasn't sincere, he purposely let Hing swapped his card as even with the swap, Ko Chun won with a Three of a Kind with 2's while all Ko Ngo had was an Ace High (If he had the Hearts of 10 (Which Ko Chun lied with the quartered card), he would have won but Ko Chun's base card was actually a Ace of Spade).
With no more options left and to honor the bet, Lung Wu took out an axe and chopping board to allow Ko Ngo to honour and chop off his hand. Pleading for Kent's help, Kent instead just turns around and live with Ko Chun backing up that Ko Ngo had been fooled into thinking that Kent treats him like a treasure but Kent actually dispose him because he's useless now. Enraged, Ko Ngo took the axe and chased after the leaving Kent. Kent turned around and tries to shoot Ko Ngo with the concealed gun only to realize at the last minute that the gun has been switched to a lipstick by So on the orders of Ko Chun and helplessly gets chopped to death by Ko Ngo. Wanting to exact revenge, Ko Ngo instantly flipped around and charged towards Ko Chun but Lung Wu disposed him with a flying kick while the rest of the guards surrounding the venue subdues him.
One year after leaving college, Laura Landon is exhausted by living with her harsh, judgmental father, who perceives that she failed out of school. Laura leaves home in the middle of the night and goes to New York City. She gets a job as a secretary in a medical office and lands an apartment with a roommate — Marcie. Marcie is young and very impulsive, but vivacious and puts Laura at ease. Laura moves into the apartment in Greenwich Village with a vague gnawing excitement in her.
Laura and Marcie develop a routine and Laura learns her new job. Marcie is constantly fighting with her ex-husband Burr, who comes around frequently to date Marcie, and in between fights, they sleep together. Finding that Laura tempers Marcie a bit, she insists that she will only date Burr if Laura is with her — which confounds Laura as she recognizes that she is attracted to Marcie and intensely dislikes Burr. Burr brings along a friend, Jack Mann, and they double date one evening. As a joke, he explains, Jack takes them to a gay bar in Greenwich Village and watches their reactions. Jack is an alcoholic, but is good-natured and has a self-deprecating sense of humor. Laura is intrigued by him, and his friends laugh at him.
Jack returns the intrigue when he hears Laura argue with Burr's statement that he can make any of the women in the bar straight if he wanted to. Jack asks her out again and shocks her when he tells Laura he knows she's in love with Marcie. Jack admits he's also gay and helps Laura deal with the realization about herself. She also confides to him that her father hates her because her mother and brother drowned and her father could not save them.
After going out a couple times, Jack introduces Laura to a mutual friend, Beebo Brinker (born as Betty Jean), a tall, swaggering, dark-haired butch. They meet later in the gay bar after Laura runs away from Marcie, unable to contain her attraction. After a few drinks, Laura is afraid to return home, so Beebo allows her to sleep on the sofa. From a desperate longing and loneliness, Laura sobers up enough to seduce Beebo and they begin a torrid affair. Laura tells Beebo about Marcie, and Beebo warns Laura that Marcie knows Laura is in love with her and is playing with her. Laura refuses to believe it.
Laura attempts to contact her father when he travels to town for a journalists' convention, only to be rebuked. Marcie finally stops speaking to Burr and Burr, frustrated, calls Laura at work and accuses her of being in love with Marcie and keeping her from seeing him. Laura begins to spy on her father and unravel under the strain of her relationship with Marcie. She depends on Jack, who is in a new relationship with a young man, but who expresses his sincere doubt that it will last. After getting drunk and humiliating Beebo in a bar, she's left alone.
Exhausted, Laura finally tells Marcie she's in love with her. Marcie, deeply moved by Laura's sincerity and intensity, admits that it was a game for her after all, but will try to return Laura's love. Heartbroken and ashamed, Laura leaves the apartment to confront her father at his hotel. They have a violent fight and Laura hits him over the head with an ashtray and runs.
After wandering the night in the rain, Laura shows up at Jack's house fearing she killed her father. Jack and his new boyfriend take care of her. Laura shows up to apologize to Beebo and tells her she loves her. In an ending that was completely different from any previous work of lesbian fiction, they walk together to Beebo's apartment arm in arm.
Laura Bartelli is a stripper in a French bar. She retires after a moody landscape architect named Marco Tisserand asks her to abandon her life and share his. However, after her red Volkswagen runs off the road en route to the rendezvous, she ends up scarred and comatose in a hospital. Marco stays at her bedside.
After some months, she awakens in a world of silence and gradually begins her new life with Marco, which is filled with affection and tenderness. She begins to love herself as much as she loves Marco. They have a son, Jeannot. Laura's deafness is more an irritation than an impediment and six years pass in family harmony. However, when Jeannot displays an unusual dysfunction at school, she goes to see a psychologist in Lyon, and shows a photograph of her son with his father. The psychologist recognizes Marco as a former university student colleague and tells her that he is a doctor. She investigates and finds out that he is a doctor specialized in multiple transplants, and that his (also deaf) wife Claire and daughter Jeanne had a car accident and are in a coma. Their whereabouts are unknown. She further finds out that her own car accident is unregistered with the police, and that her "hospital room" was a room in her own house. The medications she has to take are for people who receive transplants. All this suggests that she received multiple transplants from the first wife: internal organs and a hand, and that her ability to hear was removed on purpose, thus creating a copy of the first wife.
After Laura comes back from her investigative tour, Marco imprisons her. He then confesses to her son that he chose Laura because she had a blood test at the hospital he worked, and that the blood characteristics were identical to his first wife. The "accident" did not happen as thought; instead, he put nails on the road so that she would crash and then ambushed and drugged her so she lost her memory of that moment. He gives his son a drink with a testosterone inhibitor, and tells him that he will have to drink it daily. Laura tries to escape with her son but they are recaptured. She is able to communicate with her son and tell him to switch off the family chateau's electricity. A second attempt to escape is successful, her son helps her to find the secret room where the comatose daughter/sister lies. When Marco comes with a syringe to paralyze Laura, there is a standoff and she cuts off the electricity there too. Marco falls on the syringe and dies.
Two months later, Laura gets ear implants and gets back 60% of her hearing. She and her son visit the grave of Marco and his first family. She wants to get rid of the hand and get a prosthesis.
Fletcher portrays Valentinian as a lustful and rapacious tyrant, comparable to the King in ''The Maid's Tragedy.'' His empire is decadent and collapsing, his soldiers mutinous. Valentinian rapes the virtuous Lucina; she then commits suicide. Lucina's husband, the upright soldier Maximus, devotes himself to obtaining revenge against the emperor, though his friend Aecius tries to dissuade him. Maximus finally succeeds as Valentinian dies a painful and drawn-out death by poison. Maximus is crowned by the Roman Senate for overthrowing the tyrant, only to die himself soon after.
(Curiously, the play was published with an Epilogue suited to a comedy – an apparent print-shop blunder.)
Laura Landon has been living with her lover, a tough and strikingly handsome butch named Beebo Brinker, for two years. Their relationship has deteriorated and both are frustrated, even after a party for their anniversary where Beebo remarks that hardly any couples make it together for as long as they have. The chapters begin with Laura's diary entries asking herself why they all drink and fall into relationships they know will be ruined. Their mutual friend, Jack Mann, watches as Beebo descends into alcoholism and Laura becomes interested in another woman.
Tris Robischon, an East Indian dancer, is exotic to Laura, with a fascinating accent and story. Soon Laura begins taking lessons from her. Jack, disheartened once more after Terry, his boyfriend, has left him, begins to try to convince Laura to marry him, to which she responds in consternation since both are gay. Laura returns home from visiting Tris to discover Beebo's dog brutally slaughtered and Beebo bruised and battered from being raped, Beebo claims, by some hoodlums who found out she was a woman. Laura tends to Beebo for weeks after, but knows her heart is not in it.
Laura's lessons with Tris turn more intimate as Beebo refuses to go to work and drinks constantly instead. Fueled by boredom and alcohol, Beebo becomes controlling and suspicious of Laura, and when Tris visits unexpectedly, Beebo assaults Tris and later hits Laura in a rage, after which Laura leaves her. Laura goes to Jack, not knowing where else to turn. Jack proposes an atypical marriage to her: they would live together and perhaps have children, but they would never sleep together, and both could have their affairs if they wanted, but quietly.
Tris finds herself attracted to Laura but is confused, not sure what to do with her emotions. She takes Laura to a beach house for two weeks where Tris flirts with men and with Laura simultaneously. Not knowing what to do with her attraction to Laura, Tris relents to her advances, but does not enjoy it, and Laura is ashamed of their encounter. Laura returns to Jack, telling him also that Tris is married and is black and has been hiding both. Hearing about Beebo's further deterioration, Laura finally agrees to marry Jack.
Laura and Jack get married at City Hall and begin a most unusual relationship. Laura has grave misgivings, but through time both of them get used to it, until Terry comes back and Laura feels pulled by the Village once more. When Laura goes looking for Beebo again, she learns how badly Beebo actually descended — Beebo killed her own dog and lied about the rape to Laura — to keep her longer, and when Laura left, Beebo attempted suicide. Terry's return causes Jack to return to alcohol.
Laura finds Beebo again, who admits she has changed, unable to live in such a destructive way. They live together briefly, but their passion is no longer there. When Laura returns to Jack, they discover that a previous trip to get her artificially inseminated has worked, and she is pregnant.
When the latest incarnation of ''American Idol'' shows sets up shop in Santa Barbara, the requisite cruel British judge Nigel St. Nigel (Tim Curry) finds himself in a panic after a series of near-miss attempts on his life and hires Santa Barbara's most reliable psychic detective to protect him. Nigel believes that the police are in on the conspiracy, so to protect him Shawn and Gus go undercover on ''American Duos''. While exiting his trailer, Nigel is stopped by Shawn before he walks in an electrified puddle when Shawn notices a live wire in the puddle. Shawn then stops Nigel from eating a specially ordered sandwich when he notices that the toothpicks aren't the ones the hotel uses. When the toxicology report comes back from the police, it turns out the sandwich was poisoned with prescription drugs.
The culprit turns out to be repeat contestant Bevin Rennie Llywellen (Perrie), who would flop on purpose in spite of his amazing singing voice, for the sake of being able to audition in another city should his attempt on Nigel's life fail in the current city. The plan was orchestrated by Zapato (Dulce), one of the other judges. Zapato was a Latin pop star and singer of "Mírame," whose comeback was ruined by Nigel, who would never let him speak during the judging—Nigel actually believed Zapato could not talk or think at all. Zapato was so overshadowed by Nigel he even received fan mail addressed to other Latin artists such as Ricky Martin. After this revelation, Nigel is not shocked, and becomes an even bigger jerk, calling Zapato the "worst murderer ever."
The episode ends with Shawn and Gus performing an above average musical number, only to have Nigel, no longer having to force them through the competition, calling it one of the worst performances he ever saw.
The novel describes the relationship between men and women in Saudi Arabia. ''Girls of Riyadh'' tells the story of four college-age high class friends in Saudi Arabia, girls looking for love but stymied by a system that allows them only limited freedoms and has very specific expectations and demands. There's little contact between men and women—especially single teens and adults—but modern technology has changed that a bit (leading to young men trying everything to get women to take down their cellphone numbers). The Internet is also a new medium that can't contain women and their thoughts like the old system could, and the anonymous narrator of the novel takes advantage of that: she presents her stories in the form of e-mails that she sends out weekly to any Saudi address she can find. Sex is described in this novel and the various ways it is thought of before and after marriage. Engaging in pre marital sex in the novel has negative consequences for some of the characters who face rejection as a result. The novel also features instances of arranged and failed marriages and discusses the gamble a Saudi women takes when entering into one. Most of its 50 chapters begin with quotes from Arabic culture and sources. For example, journalists, poets, literature, songs, and the Qur'an.
The novel is written in a relatable, confessional style of writing which critics have likened to a global style of chick lit. Others have noted that the book can fit into the sub-genre of Muslim chick However, Rajaa Alsanea does not define the genre of her novel and states that she is happy to have created her own kind of genre with ''Girls of Riyadh''.
Harry Bailey, a former student activist, Vietnam War veteran, and graduate student, returns to college to complete a master's degree so he can become a teacher. He does his best to avoid the increasing student unrest that has surfaced at his university and in the country as a whole. However, he finds this difficult as his girlfriend, Jan, is a leader in these protests.
Over time, student demonstrations bring police to the campus to quell the unrest, and the ensuing clashes lead to a heavy police presence. Harry is forced to question his changing values. At the height of the rioting, he comes to agree with Jan that "getting straight" is more important than the unquestioning acceptance of the educational establishment.
In a Los Angeles neighborhood, Andy Hobart does everything he can to keep his struggling, two-man, radical underground newspaper, the ''Nitty Gritty'', going; he steals food from the supermarket and other people's laundry from the dry cleaners, and holds off their creditors, especially their landlady, Mrs. MacKaninee, and their printer, Mr. Karlson. To appease Mrs. MacKaninee, he accompanies her motorcycling, waterskiing, and surfing. He lives with talented, but nerdy Norman Cornell, who writes the entire newspaper.
One day, a perky, talkative Southern girl moves into the bungalow across from them. Amy Cooper has come to the big city to train for the Olympics with the best swimming coach in the country. Norman falls instantly in love with her (or rather with the way she smells) and neglects his writing, causing Andy untold headaches.
Norman drives Amy to distraction with his misguided, over-the-top attempts to win her affection. When he unintentionally gets her fired from her day job, Andy hires her as a secretary, just to keep Norman happy (and writing). Then something unexpected happens. Despite despising everything Andy stands for, the conservative Amy discovers (to her great disgust) that she is physically attracted to him and likes the way he smells, which is rather awkward, since she is scheduled to marry another swimmer in a few weeks. When she informs Andy, he is uncertain how to react. She gets him to kiss her to see how it feels, at which point Norman walks in.
Amy decides to go back to Florida because Andy is not interested in her. Norman quits over what he considers a betrayal, but quickly changes his mind and goes back to work, cured of Amy. Meanwhile, Andy discovers to his horror that the smell of Amy permeates the room even after she is gone. He chases after her and gets her to come back.
Set in the wake of the long Chadian civil war, 16-year-old Atim (Ali Bacha Barkai) is sent by his grandfather to the city to kill Nassara (Youssouf Djaoro), the man who murdered his father before Atim's birth. Atim, carrying his father's gun, finds Nassara running a bakery. Unexpectedly, the taciturn Nassara takes Atim under his wing as the son he never had and begins teaching him how to run the bakery. The emotionally conflicted Atim is drawn into the life of Nassara and his pregnant wife (Aziza Hisseine), before a finale that ''Variety'' described as "sharp, fast and unexpected."
''Limbo of the Lost'' follows Benjamin Briggs, the historic captain of the ''Mary Celeste''. In 1872, the ''Mary Celeste'' was discovered empty; the fate of Briggs and the rest of the crew remains a mystery. The game puts Briggs in Limbo, where he has to aid Destiny in a war against Fate.
Captain Briggs is portrayed as entomophobic, having a fear of insects. Throughout the game, he must confront his fear in order to complete puzzles and progress further. The existence of the player is acknowledged by the game's characters (described as a "spirit guide"), and during the final sequence the player, rather than Briggs, becomes the puzzle-solving protagonist. Briggs complains to the player from time to time regarding his feelings of the surroundings and what he has been asked to do. If the player does not move the mouse for a period of time, Briggs will let the player know about it.
The game ends with the characters throwing a surprise party for Briggs, declaring him “King of Limbo”, and performing a Doo-wop/Tin Pan Alley styled musical number praising him, in which he joins.
The episode begins with an announcement that viewers have waited for weeks for the answer to the mystery "Who Is Cartman's Father", but then points out that the answer will not be revealed in this episode; instead, there is a presentation of an unrelated cartoon titled ''Not Without My Anus'', starring Terrance and Phillip. A caption wishes the viewers a Happy April Fools' Day. The cartoon itself opens in a courtroom in Canada with Terrance on trial for the murder of a local doctor; Phillip is his lawyer while Terrance and Phillip's sworn nemesis Scott, who has had a long hatred of the duo's toilet humor, is acting as the prosecutor. Scott uses a group of airtight exhibits to prove Terrance's guilt, while Terrance's defense consists of nothing but a long string of fart jokes. The jury returns a verdict of not guilty. Angered, Scott promises vengeance. He is approached by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, proposing a deal: Saddam would assist in getting Terrance and Phillip out of Canada, in exchange for Scott assisting Saddam and his Iraqi associates ''in'' to Canada. Scott is apprehensive about trusting Saddam but agrees to the deal. The pair then conspires to kidnap Sally, daughter of Terrance and Celine Dion, and hold her hostage, as bait to lure Terrance and Phillip to Tehran; Saddam's soldiers would then murder Terrance and Phillip on arrival.
Terrance and Phillip become aware of the kidnapping when they receive a letter, but they immediately locate Sally upon arrival in Tehran. The duo returns Sally to her home, where Saddam has now taken control. Celine, Terrance's now ex-wife, is dating, and has become pregnant by a friend of the duo named Ugly Bob. While the couple discuss their relationship, Saddam interrupts and takes them hostage, with Celine having planned to sing at a Canadian football game. Scott has also become worried about the presence of the Iraqi soldiers in Canada but becomes infuriated when he finds that Terrance and Phillip have returned to Canada safely. He confronts Saddam about the double-cross, but Saddam's armed guards scare him into backing away. It is revealed that Saddam is trying to take over Canada as the first step in a plan for world domination. Terrance and Phillip arrive at the game. Instead of following a plan set up by Scott to commit suicide by using a bomb, they produce a new plan and put on gas masks. With brute force, everyone farts a huge gas cloud which kills Saddam and his soldiers. Scott arrives and is annoyed to find that Terrance and Phillip are still alive. Terrance, Phillip, Celine, and everyone else (excluding Scott) celebrate their freedom with a rendition of "O Canada". During the credits, an announcement stating that the solution to who Cartman's father is will be answered in a few weeks is shown.
''Mirror's Edge'' is set in a near-future city where life is comfortable and crime is almost non-existent. The city's state of bliss is achieved by an oppressive regime that controls the media and its citizens. An underground crew of parkour couriers, called Runners, operate independently from the city's security and surveillance measures, delivering private goods and sensitive information across the city. At the same time, a new candidate, Robert Pope, is challenging the incumbent Mayor Callaghan on a platform of deregulation. The game follows the story of Faith Connors, a 24-year-old Runner who lost her mother when she was campaigning against the city shifting from its vibrant atmosphere to its current regime 18 years before the events of the game. Faith was trained by former Runner Mercury "Merc", who now provides her with intelligence and radio support. Faith's twin sister, Kate, is a disciplined police officer who has a lot of affection for Faith but is also committed to protecting the city.
After completing a delivery to fellow Runner Celeste, Faith learns that Pope has been killed and that her sister has been framed for his murder. Faith tries to get Kate to flee with her, but she refuses, saying it would only make her look guilty. After making her way through the city's storm drains, Faith learns from former Runner Jacknife that Pope's head of security, Travis "Ropeburn" Burfield, may be connected to Pope's murder. She then infiltrates Ropeburn's office, where she overhears him setting up a secret meeting at an unfinished building. Faith informs Kate's wary superior officer, Lieutenant Miller, of what she has learned, but he refuses to help her. Later at the meeting, Faith confronts Ropeburn, who admits that he framed Kate and hired someone to kill Pope, but he is killed by a sniper shortly afterwards. Before he dies, Ropeburn tells Faith that he was going to meet the assassin at the New Eden Mall. Faith heads there, but the killer flees once they see Faith. Lacking other leads, Faith investigates the security firm that has begun aiding the police forces in capturing Runners. She finds that they are behind Project Icarus, a program designed to train special forces to eliminate Runners and control the city. Faith follows the trail of Ropeburn's killer to a boat that is docked at a nearby wharf. There, she learns that the assassin is Celeste, who decided to collude with Project Icarus to live a more comfortable life. She also explains that Pope had to be killed because he was seen as a threat, especially once he discovered Project Icarus.
With Kate convicted for Pope's murder, Merc helps Faith find a way to ambush the police convoy that is transporting her to prison. Faith succeeds and sends Kate to Merc's hideout while she leads the police forces away. Upon her return, Faith finds Merc critically injured and his hideout completely ransacked. Before he dies, Merc tells Faith that Kate has been taken to the Shard, the tallest skyscraper in the city and Callaghan's fortress. With Miller's help, Faith breaks into the Shard, destroying the servers that run the city's surveillance systems. On the rooftop helipad, she finds Kate held at gunpoint by Jacknife, who reveals that he is also part of Project Icarus. As Jacknife takes Kate onto a departing helicopter, Faith jumps onto it and knocks him out to his death. Faith and Kate then jump off to safety before the helicopter crashes. During the game's end credits, the media reports that Faith's actions have only served to intensify the city's security and that the location of both Faith and Kate remains unknown.
A young Cambodian man who has been trained to fight for money in his country is hired to kill someone in Hong Kong. He performs the hit and then flees from Hong Kong police, who are wrestling with internal problems of a model cop and his son, who is also on the force and who was told by his dad not to become a police officer. The father goes into a coma after being shot, and internal affairs suspects him of dealing drugs on the side.
The assassin then befriends a young girl who is raped and abused by her father. They both plan to get back on a ship to Cambodia but have to get past Hong Kong police, who do everything they can to catch him.
Lieutenant Colonel Lam is a Hong Kong-American army officer given a top-secret mission by the US military. The mission entails entering Vietnam to destroy an old American bunker filled with missiles before the Viet Cong can get to them.
Due to the dangerous nature of the mission, a group of 12 Chinese American convicts are selected to accompany him, led by Tung Ming-sun. Survivors are promised a pardon, U.S. citizenship and $200,000 each. After a brief training session they are dropped into Vietnam. During the jump, Lam learns too late that the mission has been aborted. One of the convicts miscounts when to pull his parachute and dies during the landing.
Once in enemy territory, they are met by 3 Cambodian guerillas and take refuge in a small town. There they meet Rat Chieh (aka Chieh Man-yeh), and his mentally ill "Uncle", Yeung-Lung. Due to a request by Colonel Yeung who died in a plane explosion off-screen, the commandos extract Yeung-Lung and a reluctant Rat who is forced to tag along with the convicts.
Later, the squad is captured and incarcerated in a POW camp, where the prisoners are forced to play Russian roulette in a similar manner to the film ''The Deer Hunter''. After escaping, Yeung-Lung is revealed to be have been faking being mentally-ill out of protection and reveals that one of the Cambodian guerrillas is a traitor. The Cambodians execute the traitor after she is revealed by Rat.
With the Vietnamese military in pursuit, they are able to reach the bunker, but the convicts suffer several casualties during the journey. In the bunker Lam orders the convicts to destroy the missiles but is wounded by the Cambodian guerilla leader who wants the missiles for themselves to destroy the Vietnamese and in the process accidentally shoots Yeung-Lung dead. After a brief standoff, the Vietnamese enter the bunker forcing Tung, Rat, Lam, the Cambodians and the remaining convicts to briefly team up and fight the Vietnamese general and his elite soldiers.
During the final battle, the group manages to kill many of the Vietnamese general's elite soldiers but Lam, the Cambodians and most of the convicts are killed in the process. The only survivors are Tung, Rat and Dai Hoi another convict helping them throughout the journey but was tempted to leave several times due to not being told the true nature of the mission. Rat attempts to fight the General but is knocked out in the process. Tung fights and manages to defeat the Giggling General and finishes him by shoving a grenade in the generals mouth.
Tung, Rat and Dai Hoi manage to destroy the missiles and escape the bunker through an underground tunnel where they are rescued by a helicopter presumably flown by the Americans out of Vietnam.
Describing the plot of the novel itself, Manson said: "The whole story, if you take it from the beginning, is parallel to my own, but just told in metaphors and different symbols that I thought other people could draw from. It's about being innocent and naive, much like Adam was in Paradise before they fall from grace. And seeing something like Hollywood, which I used as a metaphor to represent what people think is the perfect world, and it's about wanting — your whole life — to fit into this world that doesn't think you belong, that doesn't like you, that beats you down every step of the way, fighting and fighting and fighting, and finally getting there, everyone around you are the same people who kept you down in the first place. So you automatically hate everyone around you. You resent them for making you become part of this game you don't realize you were buying into. You trade one prison cell for another in some ways. That becomes the revolution, to be idealistic enough that you think you can change the world, and what you find is you can't change anything but yourself."
Manson has also stated that there is a character "that's very much a take on Walt Disney," who was a big inspiration in the writing of both the book and its accompanying album. In describing the setting, he compared Holy Wood, the place, to Disney World: "I thought of how interesting it would be if we created an entire city that was an amusement park, and the thing we were being amused by was violence and sex and everything that people really want to see."
Ananuri Church and fortress The novel takes place in 19th century Georgia, when it was occupied by the Russian Empire. It is the love story of Iago, a peasant boy, and Nunu, a beautiful young woman. Nunu's mother died early, and since her father (a member of the coalition army in the Shamil rebellion) is too poor to care for her, she lives with her uncle's family. They disapprove of her match with Iago, as they consider him a mere Plebe. Instead, they are sympathetic towards Grigola, the tyrannical village governor appointed by the Russians. Grigola is married, but in love with the beautiful Nunu. He convinces her family that his brother would like to wed her, though Grigola intends to keep Nunu as his own mistress.
To get Nunu, Grigola realizes that he has to get rid of Iago first. Grigola accuses him of stealing state property and gives orders to lock him up in the Ananuri fortress. He then kidnaps and rapes Nunu. Koba, Iago's best friend, witnesses the kidnapping. He fights through Grigola's men to rescue Nunu, but he is too late. Koba swears revenge against Grigola for his shameful behavior.
Koba and another friend break Iago out of jail, and they all decide to flee to the Northern Caucasus and hide in Chechnya, since Russian police and Cossacks are looking for them all over Georgia. Despite the fact that many Georgians were fighting on the Russian side, Shamil receives them and offers protection. The author portrays Chechens as free men who fight for their freedom, in contrast to the Georgians, who were kept on a short leash by people like Grigola, unable even to hold town meetings (a tradition since the Middle Ages).
Meanwhile, Nunu escapes from Grigola. Koba manages to contact her and tells her to meet them in Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia, along with her father. The night before Iago and Nunu are supposed to see each other again, Iago and Koba's host decides to inform Grigola of their whereabouts, hoping to receive their horses in exchange for the information. After midnight, Grigola shows up and murders Iago, the friend, and Nunu's father, hoping to pin the latter on Nunu and thus have an excuse to send her to Siberia. Koba escapes Grigola's wrath, but upon discovering both her lover and father murdered, Nunu dies from grief.
At the end of the story, Koba exacts his revenge for both Iago and Nunu by shooting Grigola and his supervisor in a cab in the forest. Koba is the hero of the story, who respects friendship, defends truth, respects women, and enforces justice.
''The Flats'' tells a cautionary tale of friendship and desire played out among a group of 20-somethings transitioning into adulthood. Main character Harper and his buddies make the most of their freedom prior to an impending court-ordered jail sentence. Things get even more serious when Harper and his best friend's girlfriend, Paige, begin a sobering relationship.
Lincoln Rhyme is in North Carolina with his aide Thom and his companion and partner Amelia Sachs in order to receive experimental spine surgery, which may improve or further worsen his C4 quadriplegic disability. Whilst there they are approached by a local police sheriff- Jim Bell, the cousin of Rhyme's NYPD colleague Roland Bell- and asked to help in a local case of kidnap and possible rape. They believe the kidnapper to be a local orphaned boy 'Garret', who is believed to be involved in a number of other murders and assaults. One of these involves a hornets nest being thrown at a woman, who suffers a heart attack after 137 stings, and dies. Garret is locally nicknamed 'The insect boy', due to his incredible love of insects. At the start of the novel a nurse, Lydia, is kidnapped by Garret when she visits the place where the first victim- 'Mary-Beth' was kidnapped. A police deputy is killed by a hidden hornets nest whilst searching Garret's hide-out.
Lincoln reluctantly agrees to help, and he and Sachs track Garret from the trace evidence found at the scenes. Meanwhile we follow Garret and Lydia as he takes her back to his main hideout. After Rhyme cunningly outwits Garret, he is arrested and Sachs is allowed to question him in order to find out where Mary-Beth is being hidden. Garret tells her it was "The man in the tan overalls" and Sachs believes him, however none of the rest of the police department do. She subsequently breaks him out of jail.
The rest of the police, including Rhyme, are trying to track her down, and as they come up close Sachs accidentally shoots one of the deputies dead. She is distraught, and is now being hunted for murder. Eventually they reach Garret's safe house, where he reveals that he was lying about the man in the tan overalls, but he never meant to hurt Mary-Beth. Once a small group of police arrive, along with Thom and Rhyme, they are attacked by a group of local gun-nuts who are attempting to get the reward of $2000 that Mary-Beth's mother has put up. They shoot several deputies dead and are eventually killed by Sachs and one of the deputies, Lucy. Inside the hut it is revealed that Thom has been shot.
Back in town, Sachs and Garret are in jail and Thom is in the hospital. Rhyme is curious and thinks things do not fit into place correctly, and eventually confides in Bell that he believes the murders in the town are accountable to a local businessman manufacturing an illegal pesticide. Anyone asking questions about why they were getting ill were killed. It is revealed that numerous deputies in the department are 'in' on the scheme, and have even helped in killing some of the townsfolk. Rhyme also says that he believes that the businessman had Garret's family killed, and a car crash framed, because they refused to sell the land around their house so the businessman could have shipments of the pesticide transported up the river.
It is at this point that Bell reveals he is in on it, and attempts to murder Rhyme with a sample of the harmful pesticide they have been analyzing. Lucy, the deputy who helped shoot the gun nuts earlier, is listening and they run in and restrain Bell, who is frustrated to see that Rhyme has tricked him and the sample of the pesticide was merely 'moonshine'. He is arrested.
Garret is freed, Mary-Beth has dropped the charges, as Garret was acting to defend her. She unearths the remains of his family, and it earns her a spot on the list of people who are a risk to the business. Sachs is still in jail and is accepting a guilty plea in return for a reduced sentence of 5 years in prison. She is about to be sentenced when Rhyme bursts in with evidence that the deputy she shot was in on the murders, allowing Sachs to be freed on the grounds that her victim was a criminal engaged in pursuit of an officer and thus legitimately making her 'crime' self-defence.
Later, Rhyme is in hospital, Thom is going to live and Rhyme is going to undergo the major spine surgery he has postponed while he searched for Mary-Beth. As he is wheeled in, Lydia, the nurse who had been kidnapped earlier, follows him in apparently to thank him and wish him luck. As he is going under anesthesia she reveals to him that she was the sheriff's mistress, and had been reporting who in the town had developed cancer due to pesticide poisoning so that those people could be silenced. As he is trying to fight off the effects of the anesthesia she ominously tells him "accidents happen in spinal surgery". Luckily Sachs notices that Lydia entered a closed surgery ward, and remembers that she is not a neurosurgery nurse, but an oncology nurse, and runs in, realizing what is going to happen.
The novel ends with Rhyme, Sachs, Lucy, Thom and Garret in the local cemetery. They are burying the remains of Garret's family. It is hinted that Lucy is to become Garret's foster mother. Rhyme does not have the surgery and is now back on the ventilator, after going into shock as Lydia attempted to stop his oxygen flow, requiring another year to regain his original physical status until he is fit to have the operation again.
The episode is styled as a variety show and features Mr. Hankey as the host; he sits by the fire in his sewer home and introduces shorts featuring unusual holiday songs. In a similar fashion to "Starvin' Marvin in Space", the episode was dedicated to Mary Kay Bergman, the original voice of most of the female characters on the show up to that point, who had committed suicide less than a month earlier. Since the episode features audio from the ''Christmas Classics'' album, which had been recorded months earlier, it marks the final episode in which Bergman's voice is heard. During the performance of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, a brief montage of several of Bergman’s characters are shown and some gather within Mr. Hankey’s home afterwards to sing.
During "The Dreidel Song", Gerald Broflovski sings his admiration for Courteney Cox, who is according to him, 'hot' on that show.
During the "Christmas Time in Hell" song Satan is singing along with various celebrities in Hell, including Jeffrey Dahmer, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Diana, Princess of Wales, Gene Siskel, Mao Zedong, Genghis Khan, Michael Landon and Jimmy Stewart. A framed picture of comedian Andy Dick is also seen during the dance number.
After every commercial break, a live action segment featuring a news anchor is shown, saying "Fighting the frizzies, at eleven." In the DVD commentary, Stone and Parker indicate this is a reference to a bootleg tape of ''Star Wars Holiday Special''. The original tape featured a brief clip at the end from WCBS-TV featuring newscaster Rolland Smith informing viewers, "Fighting the frizzies, at eleven." However, while the original news ad was apparently referring to "frizzy" hair, the ending credits of this episode of ''South Park'' feature the news anchor boxing a man in a giant fuzzy suit. The announcements were followed by Hanky's show's logo, which is based on that of Star Wars.
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The novel continues the story of Dermot Michael Coyne and his wife, Nuala Anne McGrail. They now have three children: Mary Margaret (called "Nelliecoyne"), Michael Dermod (called "The Mick"), and Socra Marie (often referred to, in Dermot's personal narration, as the "Tiny Terrorist" or some variation on that title). They also have two dogs, named Fiona and Maeve.
Dermot and Nuala decide to employ Damian Thomas O'Sullivan, the youngest son of John Patrick "Jackie" O'Sullivan, as a caretaker for their dogs. However, upon employing Damian, Dermot and Michael find out that Damian is on probation for allegedly running over a man in a traffic collision, and that Damian is also generally disliked by his entire family. Dermot and Nuala become determined to prove Damian's innocence, much to the contempt of John O'Sullivan, who treats Damian as inferior because Damian chose to be a painter rather than pursue a more serious profession.
Throughout the novel, Dermot reads the journal of Reverend Richard James Lonigan, a nineteenth century priest in Donegal. Lonigan dealt with two stressful issues in his life: strained relations between the Irish citizens of Donegal and the British officials who patrolled the area; and a strong attraction to his housekeeper, a widow named Mrs. O'Flynn. In the journals Lonigan wrote that one man in Donegal was killed and another was wounded, both by gunshot. In both cases the assassin is not revealed.
Nuala, who is believed to be "fey", claims that she knows the solution to both mysteries: who really ran over the man with the O'Sullivan car, and who shot the two people in Donegal. At the end of the novel she tells Dermot which people committed the crimes, although her theories cannot be proven. Dermot's sister, Cindy, defends Damian successfully in court, thus clearing Damian's name. <!--
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At the start of the game, Ryu Hayabusa is responding to an attack in his village as he rushes to a shrine where the leader of the attack was holed up in. Defeating him, the leader reveals that he was hired by a man named Totenkopf who was a smuggler who sells weapons to a variety of clients. Attempting to find out why someone would steal the Dragon Sword, Ryu infiltrates the boat and kills Totenkopf, revealing a man named Mr. Tsin who he was selling weapons to in Hong Kong. Ryu defeats Mr. Tsin but not without being captured and brought to India where the person who wants the Dragonsword to start World War III reveals himself to be Shiragane, a demon capable of mind control and with the power of the Dragon Sword, can effectively have almost unlimited power in dominating over the minds of others. Ryu kills him and brings an end to another threat of the world.
Ryu Hayabusa is a member of the Dragon Ninja clan, who have protected Japan for generations. One day he is away from home, he receives a message that the Dragon Village, home of the Dragon clan, has been brutally massacred. He rushes home finding that all but one of the village members have been killed. The last survivor of the village tells Ryu with his dying breath that the sacred Bushido scroll has been stolen. The Bushido is a scroll of power so strong that its owner can control the world. As the last Ninja of the Dragon clan, the fate of the world is in its hands. He embarks on a trip to regain the Sacred Scroll of Bushido from the hands of the evil Shogun of Darkness and his minions. Some of the minions Ryu must he must first take on and defeat are the Sumo Wrestler, Yakuza Oyabun, Tsutenkaku Samurai, Jetpack Soldier, Ice Monster, and the Stone Golem.
There are two versions of the game that exist; the first version tells the story through the eyes of Ryu himself, explaining his experiences in great detail and the second version is narrated from an outside source, but some details of the plot are not explained as much. Furthermore, certain dialogue and names vary between the two versions as well.
The story begins with Samantha (Julianne Nicholson) breaking up with Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser), a lesbian author who has had relationship problems in the past. Allegra meets a man named Philip (Justin Kirk) at a party, with whom she feels a connection. The next day, she meets Grace (Gretchen Mol), Philip's ex-girlfriend, although Allegra does not know about it. Allegra and Philip begin seeing each other, and Philip leaves Grace for good. Allegra sees Grace outside of a movie theater and Grace cries about her boyfriend leaving her. Allegra goes on a date with Philip, but she leaves after thoughts in her mind tell her it is wrong to be with a guy.
Allegra goes back and forth on dates with Philip and Grace. After several more dates, Grace shows Allegra a picture of her ex-boyfriend, and she learns that Philip and Grace were together. Philip and Grace go out for dinner, where they reveal to each other that they are seeing someone else. Meanwhile, Allegra caters at a party, which turns out to be Samantha's engagement party. Philip and Grace show up at the party, and they both discover that they have been seeing the same woman. In the end, Allegra is back with Samantha and never sees Philip and Grace again.
Harvey Bellinger (Beau Bridges), his wife Lydia (Rosanna Arquette), and their two teenage kids live a well-to-do life in suburbia. This changes, however, when their seventeen-year-old son puts video cameras around their house, and starts to broadcast the family's actions live on the internet. When Harvey finds out about this, he is angry and appalled. But when he realizes that money can be made with the internet broadcasts, the Bellingers start acting crazier, eventually leading to Harvey blowing up the house to get rid of the cameras.
The novel opens with the narration of Diana Covington, detailing the beginning of her service with the GSEA. She is commissioned by her superior, Colin Kowalski, to "tail" members of the SuperSleepless community, specifically Miranda Sharifi. Supers have been traveling around the country, incognito, and the GSEA wants to know why. Diana monitors Miranda Sharifi at a hearing of the Science Court, where Huevos Verdes has submitted a new product, the "Cell Cleaner (TM)," a nanobiotic pseudo-virus which can enter the cells of the body, perform repairs, and neutralize any foreign matter. Cancer, diseases, colds and so forth could be a thing of the past... Assuming the Cell Cleaner is passed by the Science Court. In the end, a further-research permit is denied, helped along by Miranda Sharifi's insulting opening statement, in which she accuses jury (some of whom would have been on her side) of shortsightedness, stupidity and elitism. It appears that Miranda ''wanted'' to lose the case, but Diana cannot imagine why. After the court is adjourned, Diana follows Miri on a gravrail to New York state.
Drew Arlen returns to La Isla, not only to meet with Miranda Sharifi, but to receive statistical feedback on his concerts as gathered by the Supers; the Supers are using him as a form of societal control, attempting to engender specific behavioral tendencies via his concerts. ("I have stopped calling myself an artist.") At the end of his visit he is commissioned to create a concert, "The Warrior," that promotes risk-taking behavior as desirable. It also becomes clear that his love for Miri has dulled over the years; in order to overcome an embarrassing inconvenience, he resorts to thoughts of the woman he truly loves: Leisha Camden, the woman who became a foster mother to him.
Billy Washington lives in East Oleanta, a Liver community in New York. Though he is quite old, he has become foster father to an eleven-year-old Liver child, Lizzie Francy, whose intelligence outweighs her Liver conditioning, to the consternation of her mother Annie. East Oleanta is suffering something of a crisis: rabid raccoons have been seen nearby, a dangerous proposition when the only source of medical assistance, the medunit, might break down at any time. Eventually, East Oleanta mayor Jack Sawicki organizes a hunt for the raccoons; Billy's hunting partner Doug Kane suffers a heart attack, while Billy himself is menaced by one of the raccoons. He is saved by a beam of light, projected by a girl with a head too large for her body and black hair in a red ribbon. She provides medical assistance to Kane and takes care of the raccoons.
Unfortunately, Lizzie comes down with a sickness shortly thereafter; Billy is informed that nothing can be done, since the gravrail is broken, the medunit is broken, and none of his elected officials are available. This time he is saved by a donkey-gone-native calling herself Victoria Turner. When Lizzie recovers the next morning, she is immediately full of questions for "Vicki" (Diana) to answer. "Dr. Turner" also explains the constant breakdowns: a nanomachine dissembler, tuned to attack an alloy named duragem that is used in just about all modern machinery, is loose across the nation. The donkeys didn't release it—in fact, no one knows ''who'' released it (the Supers have discovered that it had multiple epicenters)—and (assuming they are able) decide it is best not to stop it.
In Seattle, Drew Arlen is taken to a now-seized illegal genetic-engineering lab by members of the GSEA. They show him some of the products of the research, in the hopes that he will act as a messenger to Huevos Verdes and explain the GSEA's stance: that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and the Cell Cleaner's magic, too advanced for the donkeys to comprehend, is too dangerous to allow. He also reveals that holoterminals throughout the Adirondack Mountains have been seeded with subliminal messages regarding "Eden," a technological haven that, supposedly, donkeys don't know about. After his concert (during which he almost dies due to the aircar being struck by the duragem dissembler), he flies to Huevos Verdes to force a showdown with Miri; Leisha manages to blackmail her way on board. On the way, the plane contracts the duragem dissembler and goes down over upcountry Georgia. Though Leisha and Drew survive the crash, they are ambushed by a grass-roots militia, and Leisha killed by its leader, Jimmy Francis Marion Hubbley. Drew is taken captive and finds himself in an illegal genemod lab, now the Francis Marion Freedom Outpost. Hubbley is a leader in a "revolution" that aims to throw off all foreign oppressors—in this case, anyone genemod—and, among other things, released the duragem dissembler to do it.
Diana is attempting to learn all she can about Eden, which she is sure is a SuperSleepless creation. To that end, she bribes Lizzie access to donkey education software; within a month, Lizzie is hacking into donkey-corporation databases. She also follows Billy on one of his forest sojourns, hoping he will lead her to Eden. When the distribution warehouse fails to open for two weeks in a row, the Livers break in... Only to discover that the age of prosperity is truly over, as the warehouse is empty. Billy hides "Vicki" away from the mob for fear that she, obviously a donkey, will be harmed in reprisal. Mayor Sawicki, under the influence of "The Warrior," proposes a bold plan to travel eight miles through snowy mountains to the nearest town (Cogansville) and bring back food; Billy joins the expedition. Though the expedition is successful, the group is jumped by a group of stomps, several members slain (including Mayor Sawicki), and most of the food stolen. Diana, sickened not only by this tragedy but by Lizzie's analysis that the duragem dissembler was released from Eden, calls in the GSEA. Agents arrive within the hour, seize the illegal genemod lab, and blow it up to prevent anything else from escaping; but Diana discovers that this lab was not, and could not have been, Eden.
Drew is in captivity with the Francis Marion underground militia for 67 days. During that time he starts to realize just how little of the master plan Miranda has confided in him. He also discovers a coup attempt brewing against Jimmy Hubbley, and uses it to lure his bodyguard (who is in on the plan) to her death. Simultaneously the coup actually goes off, and in the chaos Drew negotiates to be left behind while the remnants of the cell flees with the help of the United States Army. Drew gets to a terminal and places a call for help... To the GSEA.
In East Oleanta, Lizzie is once again ill, with something the medunit cannot diagnose or cure. Billy, moved by "Vicki's" love for Lizzie, decides to take them both, as well as Annie, to Eden to see if the large-headed girl with the red ribbon can do anything. Miranda allows them in, even though Diana's admittance alerts the GSEA, and injects all four with the Cell Cleaner. When the GSEA agents arrive, accompanied by Drew Arlen, the two have a bitter fight over whether Miranda has the right to choose for 175 million Americans, only to be put in their place by Billy Washington. "Don't you see, it don't matter who ''should'' control [this technology], them? It only matters who ''can''?"
However, Miranda's closing words, spoken to Diana (who is also under arrest) suggest a deeper conspiracy: "More in the syringe." After extensive medical surveillance, Diana reunites with the Francys just in time to catch a time-delay broadcast by Miranda Sharifi, explaining what she meant. The "Change syringe" contains a set of nano-engineered machinery that totally remodels the human body on a cellular level. Anyone injected will be infused with nanotubules leading inward from the skin, which are capable of dissembling organic matter on a molecular level. They are also infused with bacteriorhodopsin, allowing photosynthesis. It is now possible for a human being to lie on the ground, in the sunlight, for thirty minutes, and absorb all the energy and nutrients they need for a 24-hour period. Odds and ends include nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, mechanisms to keep the digestive tract in working order in the absence of "mouth food," and of course the Cell Cleaner itself. "You are now autotrophic," Miranda ends the broadcast. "You are now free."
Billy, now spry and jaunty, has joined the Francys and Vicki Turner (who has legally changed her name) as a member of a mass migration to West Virginia, where Miranda Sharifi is imprisoned at the Oak Mountain Maximum-Security Federal Prison. Annie is having trouble with empty-nest syndrome; children, even those as young as thirteen-year-old Lizzie, don't need their parents anymore, having been rendered practically invulnerable to disease, starvation and casual injury. Likewise, the Livers no longer need the donkeys, many of whom are moving to snatch up the Change syringes for themselves. The nation is returning to a network of small, localized governments, with some groups (such as East Oleanta) making the transition far more smoothly, while the federal government simply stays uninvolved. Vicki, for her part, is worried that the underground resistance movement which released the duragem dissembler will use the transitioning period to its advantage by arming the Livers and encouraging violence against donkeys, who are the few people still insisting that America exists. Fortunately, Vicki's dismay is unfounded: when the underground rebellion, now calling itself "Will and Idea," begin to bomb the Liver migration for their adherence to the abomination Miranda, the prison's Y-shield protects everyone from destruction on the order of the President. Vicki is then allowed (on Miranda's request) to enter the prison and speak to Miranda personally. She explains that the Supers have decided to take a hands-off approach, to prevent the people from becoming too dependent on them; Miranda will serve out her sentence, while Vicki returns to her family amongst the Livers.
Drew Arlen tries to visit Miranda in jail, only to be told that, though he has judicial clearance to see the prisoner, the prisoner will not see him.
Andrew (Steven Brand) meets a young Russian girl, Daria, while on vacation in Europe and falls in love. He goes to Moscow, where he meets Daria's father (Rade Sherbedgia), a rich Russian mafia oligarch, and becomes entwined with his situation, which places them both in grave danger.
Much of the film's focus is on the relationship of Aimie, a teenage Korean immigrant in a bleak, snow-bound North American city, and her best friend, Tran. Each is ambivalent about romantic feelings for the other and communicate through indirect means of hoping the other can read their mind, often followed by passive-aggressive tactics when such indirect communication inevitably leads to disappointment. Subplots concern Aimie's strained relationship with her mother, the absence of her father, and her increasing loneliness and isolation as she drifts apart from Tran.
Within the Kanagawa prefecture lies the seaside city of Umineko. There, Kaname Okiura, a student in his second year of high school, attends , or ''Umishō'' (海商) for short. He is also the manager of the high school swim team though he himself doesn't know how to swim. In fact, he is afraid of the water stemming from an incident which occurred some years ago. While he was at the beach, he had nearly drowned when a "mermaid" pulled him under the water. He joined the school's swimming club in order to learn how to swim, but the club is filled with weirdos, who don't teach him swimming.
One day, a floating house arrives at the shores of ''Umishō'' bearing two persons. One of these is a cheerful, sunny, happy-go-lucky girl named Amuro Ninagawa, a transfer student, and the other is her father. Her incredible swimming speed makes her an instant hit with the swimming club, but Kaname is surprised, as she reminds him of the mermaid he saw only once in his early childhood. After her floating house is destroyed during a storm she moves to Kaname's house.
The fictional island of Onoshima (緒ノ島), where the series is set, is modeled on the real island of Enoshima in Fujisawa, Kanagawa.
Following the death of her husband, Ruth Matthews moves her family back to their house in a quiet suburb, hoping to put the past behind them. While her son Michael is able to adapt, her daughter, Sally, is apparently traumatized by the experience and starts displaying unusual behavior. Ruth is later court mandated to see Jake Beerlander, an expert in child autism, to help Sally.
In Phoenix, Arizona, Harry Collins is a cop whose compulsive gambling has indebted him to a local gangster, Chicago. As his losses mount and time counts down, Collins resorts to exploiting a young woman, Veronica, that he has picked up to distract his friends in a poker game. Despite the successful distraction, he still loses, and he rejects Veronica's sexual advances, as he considers her to be bad luck. When Collins drops her off at her house, Veronica's mother sees her daughter in tears and glares at Collins. Collins later tracks down Veronica's mother, Leila, and defends himself, stating that he did not have sex with her. Unimpressed, Leila rebukes him, which causes him to reassess his behavior and offer a sincere apology. Surprised by his apology, Leila slowly warms to Collins, and they begin a romance. Having lost his lucky lighter, Collins asks her for a keepsake, but Leila tells him that he must make his own luck and avoid whatever trouble in which he's become involved.
Meanwhile, Chicago cuts off Collins from his bookies and gives him 48 hours to either repay his debt or murder Joey, a young suspect held in custody. Mike Henshaw, Collins' corrupt partner, suggests murdering Chicago, but Collins, unwilling to welch on a bet or murder Joey, decides instead to rob Louie, a local loanshark. Collins recruits Henshaw and another corrupt cop, James Nutter, and, over their objections, brings in a more strait-laced cop, Fred Shuster. Unknown to the others, Shuster has discovered that his wife, Katie, is having an affair with Henshaw. Distraught and feeling betrayed, Shuster agrees to work with Lt. Webber to bring down the corrupt cops. However, the robbery is botched when the trigger-happy Henshaw kills Louie before he can open the safe. Collins hires a local locksmith to crack Louie's safe, and the group splits up. Collins and Shuster arrive at the meeting point, but Lt. Webber is already there; Webber betrays Shuster, killing him, and shoots Collins in the gut. Collins escapes, but Webber steals the money.
Nutter and Henshaw, suspecting that Collins has betrayed them, arrive at the meeting point and discover Shuster's body. Before they can track down Collins and kill him, they are surrounded by the police. When Nutter attempts to surrender, Henshaw kills him; Henshaw is killed in turn by the other cops. Collins hitches a ride back to town and surprises Katie and Webber, who are having an affair. Over their objections, Collins burns most of the money while denouncing them both for betraying Fred. After alerting the cops to Webber's involvement, Collins takes enough money to pay off his gambling debt and meets with Chicago. Amused, Chicago accepts the money but mocks Collins' reluctance to murder Joey; Chicago reveals that he has had Joey murdered in prison and points out that had Collins simply murdered Joey, all of this trouble could have been avoided. Enraged, Collins kills Chicago and his bodyguards, then stumbles back to his car, where he apparently dies of his wounds.
Los Angeles police officers experiencing various pressures at work unwind at night with drunken get-togethers (a.k.a. "choir practice") at MacArthur Park, where their pranks often go too far: among those there are a retiring cop, a small number of young cops, a bigoted one and a Vietnam vet with panic disorder.
Structurally, ''The Tenderness of Wolves'' is divided into four parts: “Disappearance”, “The Fields of Heaven”, “The Winter Partners”, and “The Sickness of Long Thinking”.
The novel opens with the discovery of the murder of a French trapper and trader named Laurent Jammet. Mrs. Ross, the protagonist and first-person narrator of the novel, finds the mysterious trapper in his isolated cabin on the outskirts of settlement called Dove River. Mrs. Ross brings the murder to the attention of the town's magistrate, Andrew Knox, who then calls upon the Hudson's Bay Company to investigate the murder. This brings three men from the Company to Dove River: Mackinley, the leader, Donald Moody, an accountant, and Jacob, a native guide who works for the company and who has named himself Moody's personal protector. Mrs. Ross’ son, Francis, also goes missing on the day that Jammet is found.
News of Jammet's unfortunate end travels south as well, bringing it to the attention of Thomas Sturrock, a former journalist and retired searcher whose talents have endeared him to many Indian tribes. His interest in Jammet concerns not so much the man himself but what he possessed. Specifically, Jammet had a small bone tablet with unidentified markings on it in which Sturrock was extremely interested. Sturrock did not have the funds, at the time, to buy it from Jammet, who promised to keep the tablet safe until Sturrock could afford it. Once he hears of the murder, however, Sturrock sets off for Dove River, hoping to discover the fate of the tablet.
The mix of people concerned with the death further expands with the addition of William Parker, who is a half-Native American trapper. Initially, he is suspected of having committed the murder and subsequently detained. He is soon released, however, and then becomes Mrs. Ross's guide in her quest to find her son.
Once all of these characters have been introduced, the novel then follows their respective journeys—and the discoveries they make along the way—through a land gripped by winter.
In the small Australian town of Yackandandah, Vince owns the local cinema and several other businesses, and is having trouble paying his taxes because his ex-wife got everything. The news of a new tax benefit for homosexual couples gives Vince an idea: he and best friend Ralph, a mechanic, can claim to be a couple and receive the benefits. Two complications develop: because of a careless mail delivery person, the postmaster sees their application for benefits and tells one person, and soon the whole town knows. Also, the national government is sending an investigator to make sure the men's relationship is legitimate.
Vince and Ralph take lessons in passing as gay from hairdresser Eric. They also visit Sydney and spend time at a gay club.
Russell, the investigator, shows up early, and so does Ralph's daughter Carla, who wants to introduce Peta, her girlfriend. It turns out that while Ralph is not gay, Carla is. Ralph and Vince redecorate Ralph's house and complete their interview, and they attend the local Fireman's Ball. Since Russell is there, Ralph and Vince have to continue their charade. Also, their friends from Sydney's gay club show up. Ralph makes a big speech about how his relationship with Vince is no one's business, and that their friends from out of town are normal people despite how they look. Carla is shocked by what her father has done, though Peta is pleased to learn about Ralph.
Russell tells the men he was not convinced in the interview, but he believes they are good people with a special relationship and should not be treated like criminals.
Keneely and Farrell are detectives with the LAPD vice squad. Although they show great talent for breaking up prostitution and drug rings, many of these enterprises are protected by crime boss Carl Rizzo, who exerts his influence throughout the city and the department. Evidence is altered before trial, colleagues refuse to help with basic policework, and the detectives are pushed to pursue other cases—mostly stakeouts on gay bars and public lavatories. After personally confronting Rizzo, Keneely and Farrell are brutally beaten while investigating one of his prostitutes. Frustrated but without any legal options, they resort to harassing Rizzo and his establishments, warding off customers and following his family around the city. Soon, Rizzo is rushed to the hospital for a heart condition. Realizing that he also used a medical emergency as an alibi during a previous drug sale, Keneely and Farrell head to the hospital and discover that drugs are trading hands there, hidden in flower pots. Rizzo escapes in an ambulance, while Keneely and Farrell make chase in another. The chase ends when both ambulances crash; although Keneely holds Rizzo at gunpoint, Rizzo laughs that the evidence against him is circumstantial—and, at most, will result in a light sentence.
The film ends on a freeze-frame of Keneely's face as Rizzo dares him to shoot. In a voice-over, Keneely applies to an employment agency, claiming that he doesn't know why he left his job at the LAPD—finally concluding that he "needed a change."
On the edge of the vast forests of Russia, where wolves still roam, lies a little cottage surrounded by a big, high fence. This is where Peter lives with his grumpy grandfather. Peter is an 11-year-old boy who is constantly picked on by the town's people and his grandfather will not let Peter go out into the forest. Peter has a friend, the lovable Ducky (a runner duck in this version), with whom he hangs around grandfather's yard. A bird (a hooded crow in this version) with a broken wing arrives in the yard. Bird is very impatient with Peter and signals him to go into the forest. His heart beating fast, Peter tiptoes into the cottage and reaches over his sleeping grandfather and his snoring, overweight tabby cat. Ever so carefully Peter takes the keys to the gate.
Peter has the time of his life playing in the forest with his friends. He helps the bird to fly, using a balloon and some rope.
Then everyone skates on the frozen lake. Everyone, that is, except the cat. She lunges at the bird to eat him but is so fat that she crashes straight through the ice and into the freezing water. Grandfather awakes and sees that Peter is in the forest. Very angry, he grabs his shotgun and rushes outside. He grabs Peter off the ice, drags him back into the cottage, and locks the fence. This makes Peter very upset. Suddenly the forest goes quiet. Peter looks out through a hole in the fence and sees a Eurasian wolf on the edge of the forest. The cat manages to climb up the tree for safety, but the wolf swallows the duck whole. Peter slings a heavy net over his shoulder and climbs up the fence and into the tree. Even the bird has a battle with the wolf but ends in a stalemate. Peter falls from the tree and the wolf attacks him. Eventually, after a long and fierce struggle, Peter catches the wolf in the net after it tries to charge at him.
But then the bird heard two different sets of footsteps. It turns out to be two male hunters (the same hunters that threatened Peter in the town and chucked him in a large wheelie bin) in the distance. The hunters spot the wolf and try to shoot it, however, the bullet missed the wolf and instead shot the cat, making it pass out. They quickly fled and Peter and the bird were shocked by the cat lying motionless on the floor. All of a sudden, the cat woke up and was petrified when the wolf was nearby and on the verge of killing it, whilst still covered in the net. Moments later, Peter's grandfather comes out and spots the wolf covered up by the net with his shotgun. He proceeds to shoot it, however, Peter stops him and hatches a plan of what to do with the wolf.
Later at night, Peter's grandfather drives into town with the captured wolf; Peter standing, triumphant, on top of the wolf's cage. However, the people do not acknowledge Peter's success and his grandfather takes credit for the wolf's capture. The bird's broken wing heals and it is able to fly again. The town bullies (the very same who pick on Peter) arrive and chastise the defenseless wolf with a gun. After looking into the wolf's sorry eyes as well as having become disillusioned with both his grandfather and the townspeople for their poor treatment of them both, Peter opens the cage and the wolf races back into the forest.
The ending is a complete departure from the original, in which the wolf is presumably left caged in the zoo. Throughout the latter parts of the story, the duck can be heard quacking inside the wolf, implying it is still alive.
Described as a comedy/drama/musical/romance, the story revolves around a Ukrainian immigrant named A.K. (Eugene Hütz) who finances his dreams of rock glory by moonlighting as a cross-dressing dominatrix and his two female flatmates: Holly (Holly Weston), a ballet dancer who works as a stripper and pole-dancer at a local club and Juliette (Vicky McClure), a pharmacy assistant who dreams of going to Africa to help starving children.
The Gypsy punk band that appears in the film is portrayed by real-life Gypsy punk band, Gogol Bordello, who also contributed three songs to the film's soundtrack. The band's lead singer, Hütz, portrays the main character – a character with a philosophical attitude towards life. Madonna allowed additional dialogue written by Hütz himself to be included in the film.
Saga returns to his village after a long absence, and finds that his father has married Nogma, his fiancee, during his leave. Nogma has become his second wife, and by law, Saga's mother. Saga runs away and builds a straw hut near the village.
Still in love, Saga and Nogma begin an affair, with Nogma telling her parents she is going to visit her aunt, then running to Saga's hut. After the affair is discovered, Saga's father decrees that he must die for dishonoring the family. Nogma's father hangs himself from a tree, and Nogma is disowned by her mother at her father's funeral. Saga's brother Kougri is selected to execute Saga. He pretends to kill Saga so as to restore the family's honor.
Saga and Nogma then run away to another village, and the family falls apart. As Saga and Nogma begin to build a life, Nogma tells Saga that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Kougri comes to regret his failure to kill Saga. After Saga's birth mother dies, Saga returns to the village, exposing Kougri's failure to carry out his father's orders. Kougri's father tells him he is banished. Kougri then picks up Saga's rifle and shoots him for having brought ruin to the family and his own life. He then walks off into exile and probable death.
As the name of the module implies, each of these mini-adventures is designed to focus on a unique treasure in the ''World of Greyhawk''. Such treasures include the ''Helm of Selnor'', the ''Eye of Nyr Dyv'', the ''Face of Xenous'', and the ''Sword of Azor'alq''..
Literature detective Thursday Next, who has the ability to travel between the RealWorld and the BookWorld, disappears before stopping a genre war. Her BookWorld counterpart, Thursday Next, receives a call from the BookWorld Policing Agency because an unknown book narrative is falling from above. The written Thursday Next and Sprockett, a mechanical butler, attempt to discover the reason for the falling narrative and find the RealWorld Thursday Next, while The Men in Plaid try to stop them.
A greedy moneylender is murdered the same day that the carnival begins in Madrid. A watch seller, who owed a large amount to the old woman, is the main suspect in the crime. His daughter decides to investigate on her own.
Pedro (Alberto Closas) and Julián (Rafael Alonso) are friends and they love the same woman, Adela (Conchita Montes). Madrid, 1905, Pedro and Adela had gotten married but Julian live with them. 1930. Adela discovers she is going to die and the two men had hidden the illness. 1955. Adelita (Conchita Montes), Adela's grand daughter, visits to the two men and they remember their love to Adele.
The short starts off with Wile E. waiting behind a rock for the Road Runner to zoom by. Wile E. looks at the camera and flutters his eyebrows as Road Runner races by. The coyote starts to chase him to the edge of a cliff. Road Runner produces a sign that says '''HOLD IT'''. There are hopscotch marks right at the end of the cliff, which is covered by a cloud. After Road Runner hopscotches, Wile E. takes his turn. But the cloud drifts away and the edge of the cliff breaks. Wile E. plummets to the canyon bottom. The battered coyote looks up at the rim, which is seen from his point of view. Road Runner is heard making his trademark "beep beep" noise and then zooming off.
We then see a shot of Wile E. sharpening the spikes on a metal grate. He covers it up with a sheet and raises it up using a pulley. He then climbs down from the top of a rock, and it cuts to Wile E. hammering signs into the ground. One says '''FREE FOOD—200 YARDS''', another says '''BIRD SEED LIKE ''MOTHER'' USED TO SERVE—100 YARDS''' and a third says '''EAT IN THE SHADE, 20 DEGREES COOLER'''–followed by Wile E. pouring bird seed into a little bowl with a sign that says '''FREE BIRD SEED''' that is under the large sharp spiked grate and disguises it as a shade canopy. He watches from the top of his rock with a pair of binoculars as Road Runner runs to the bowl of bird seed, gobbles it up in three seconds, and runs off before the coyote can cut the grate loose. Wile E. gets a stunned look on his face and climbs down to fill the bowl with more bird seed. Unfortunately, the hot sun creates a glare on the lenses of the binoculars he left on top of the rock and it burns the rope holding up the shade canopy. As the coyote pours more seed into the bowl, he hears creaking, stands up to listen, and slowly looks up in distress just as the canopy falls right on top of him, leaving him covered by the sheet from the spiked metal grate, which then peels off in segments like a banana. Angry, he then inadvertently has a new brainstorm: create a fake female road runner.
The next scene, we see a box for an '''ACME LIGHTNING ROD'''. Wile E. sticks the rod in the ground and puts the female road runner's "body" on the middle of the stick. He then sticks blue feathers and a beak to the head and paints eyes on it. Wile E. sticks the female "road runner" on the road and uses a road runner "call". He hides behind a rock and holds an axe while he waits for Road Runner to run by, giving him an opportunity to hack him to bits with the axe. Upon hearing the call, Road Runner runs right to the female "road runner" and plants a kiss on it. Wile E. misses and chops the ground, and the force from the impact results in the head from the female "road runner" flying off and hitting Wile E. on the head.
Later, after repairing the road runner decoy, Wile E. plants it in another area beside the road before heading back behind a cliff. He then reemerges wearing Native American tribal clothes and holding a drum. He looks up at the clear sky, then commences a rain dance. Clouds soon start to gather and Wile E. does another rain dance. It quickly begins to rain, to Wile E.'s delight. He does a third dance and this time, a bolt of lightning zaps the female road runner, just as Wile E. runs out of the way. His trap tested and ready, the coyote uses the road runner call and the real Road Runner is seen running towards the decoy female road runner. Wile E. hides behind the cliff as the Road Runner stops when he sees the female "road runner". He tiptoes towards her, Wile E., anxiously waiting for him to get close enough, is delighted when Road Runner leans close to the decoy. Wile E. then frantically beats his drum, then unfurls an umbrella to protect himself from another lightning bolt, which unfortunately misses the Road Runner and his "girlfriend" and hits the coyote's umbrella. Burnt to a crisp except for his eyes, he stands there, still holding his (burnt-out) umbrella.
Nick Freeman (David Essex) is an aspiring motorcycle racer, whose brother has been developing an experimental motorcycle. When his brother dies before being able to test and race the new bike, Nick inherits the responsibility to prove his brother's design. In spite of a series of tough setbacks, including the loss of his girlfriend, Nick goes into the big race at the British Grand Prix with all his energy and concentration bent on winning. However, an underhanded American racer (Beau Bridges) is also among the competitors, and is determined to ruin Nick's chances. Numerous incidents happen before Nick crosses the finish line in first place. Two completely different endings were filmed depicting Nick after he has won the race, and both versions were released.
The player controls Nick, a visitor to Guardiana, who is chosen to be the new leader of the Guardiana ''Shining Force''. The party must travel to the Kingdom of Cypress to rescue Guardiana's captive soldiers and find a way to cure Queen Anri, who was placed under a sleep spell by the ambassador of Cypress, Woldol.
The game takes place 20 years after the events of ''Shining Force'', and is in effect a "story sequel" to it. The story continues the history of Guardiana and centers on a new threat to the nation. Anri, Ken, Lug (called "Luke" in ''Shining Force'' and its ''Resurrection of the Dark Dragon'' remake), and Lowe, who were playable characters in ''Shining Force'', are all major characters, and Lug briefly serves as a playable character. Domingo, another ''Shining Force'' playable character, appears as a hidden character in this game. The initial party members include the sons of Lug, Ken, and Hans, the sister of Tao, and the nephew of Gong.
''Shining Force Gaiden'' is also the beginning of the Cypress saga, which is continued in the Sega Game Gear game ''Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya'' and the Sega CD game ''Shining Force CD''. ''Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya'' is a direct continuation of the story of ''Shining Force Gaiden''; it takes place just two months after and covers the resolution of the war between the forces of Cypress and the worshipers of Iom.
The story begins with the death of Orchid's mother. Empress Orchid's son Tung Chih is also beginning to hate her, much to her despair.
In 1849, the Selection of Imperial begins for him is completed. The chosen Empress is a "cat-eyed, eighteen-year-old beauty" called Alute. Orchid's preferred selection for Empress was the daughter of a provincial governor named Foo-cha. It was only due to Empress Nuharoo's rank as the higher wife that Alute was chosen.
The Selection of Imperial is followed by the suspicious death of Orchid's close friend and eunuch An-te-hai. His death had a great emotional impact on Empress Orchid.
Around one year later, tension begins to mount between Orchid and Alute. Orchid becomes irritated at Alute's lack of co-operation, and is further annoyed with Alute's rude attitude towards her. Her annoyance soon turns to happiness when Alute claims that she is pregnant with Tung Chih's first child. Tung Chih's illness worsens and in 1875 he dies with his mother beside him. Empress Orchid refuses to give up her power, as she believes that Alute only sees the "glamour and glory" of being an Empress. As well as this, she also believes that Alute has little experience with political and court matters – thus rendering her unsuitable for the role as Empress of China.
Orchid also realises that Alute may have been mentally disturbed. Yet these possibilities had no effect on foreign journals describing Orchid as a violent character who contributed to the death of her son – whilst portraying Alute as the protagonist of the event. Many foreign reports and articles soon begin printing false reports of Orchid's actions as ruler of China, suggesting that she is solely responsible for China's decline due to her cruel regime. However, such stories are seemingly published only to justify further invasions of China.
After the death of Tung Chih and Alute, Orchid adopts her sister Rong's son Tsai-t'ien. Orchid then renames her nephew Guang-hsu upon his succession to the Dragon Throne. Initially, Orchid felt no motherly love for her nephew as she only adopted him to prevent his death at Rong's hand. However, a mother-son bond eventually forms between the two.
Shortly after the appointment of Guang-hsu as Orchid's successor, her love Yung Lu announces that he is planning to marry and move away to faraway Sinkiang. Soon after Orchid realises that she is no longer at full health, she receives information that Empress Nuharoo has collapsed from illness. Nuharoo dies, and rumours suggest that Orchid is responsible.
Several years later (after increasing attacks by foreign countries), Orchid and Guang-hsu move to Ying-t'ai. An assassination attempt is made on her life. After Guang-hsu learns of the mistake he made that almost cost Orchid's life, he becomes deeply shamed and loses the will to live. His attempted reform of China also fails, and he too succumbs to illness. Attacks by a rebellion group named the Boxers soon force Orchid, Guang-hsu and their servants to flee. They return to the Forbidden City after the attacks subside.
From this point, Orchid's health deteriorates further. During this time, she meets with Robert Hart, an important contributor to the stability of China's economy. On November 14, 1908, Emperor Guang-hsu dies. Orchid also dies the following day, after appointing her grandnephew Puyi as her successor.
Min-jae is a high school senior who lives with his father, an airline pilot, and is struggling with his studies. For some time he has had a crush on Su-jin, a girl his own age who lives in the same apartment building, but has lacked the courage to approach her. Su-jin, meanwhile, is frustrated with her family life and keen to get away. She plans to become a veterinarian, even though she is no good with animals.
Min-jae and Su-jin are unexpectedly thrown together when they are both pressured into joining a local ballet class. As time passes they get to know each other, as well as the other oddball characters who make up the rest of the class.
In the rural town of Fly Creek, Georgia, a powerful storm blows down an overhead power line, leaving the area without electricity. The power line lands in wet mud and electrifies the worms underneath. The next morning, Geri Sanders borrows a truck from her neighbor, worm farmer Roger Grimes, to pick up her boyfriend Mick, who is arriving from New York City for a vacation. While Geri and Mick go to town, Roger's shipment of 100,000 bloodworms and sandworms escape from the back of the truck. Mick enters a diner, where a customer says over 300,000 volts are being released into the ground from severed power lines. He orders an egg cream and finds a worm in it, though the owner and Sheriff Jim Reston believe he placed it there himself as a prank.
Geri introduces Mick to her mother Naomi and sister Alma, before they both leave to browse at antique dealer Aaron Beardsley's house. Outside, Roger's father Willie finds the shipment of worms is missing. Roger sees Mick with Geri and becomes envious of their relationship. After arriving at Beardsley's house, Geri and Mick cannot find him, but Geri sees a human skeleton outside the property. They bring over Sheriff Reston but the skeleton disappears. Thinking it is another prank, Reston threatens to arrest Mick if he returns to the town. While asking locals about Beardsley's whereabouts, they find out he was last seen before the storm. Mick believes he himself unintentionally released the worms; he apologizes to Roger and invites him to go fishing with him and Geri. They find the skeleton in Roger's truck.
While on the boat, Mick is bitten by a worm. Roger shows his bitten-off thumb and tells Mick and Geri that worms attack when electrified. Mick gets off the boat to tend to his wound, leaving Geri with Roger; Mick and Alma take the skeleton's skull to an abandoned dental office, where they compare its teeth with X-rays and confirm the skeleton is Beardsley's. Roger makes advances towards Geri, but the worms they brought as bait attack him and crawl into his face. He runs off into the woods and Geri tells Mick what happened. Mick and Geri visit the worm farm to find Roger, but Mick finds Willie's body being eaten by worms. They try telling Sheriff Reston, but he ignores them. Mick deduces the worms killed Beardsley but cannot figure out why they attacked him.
While Mick and Geri are eating dinner with Naomi and Alma, the worms eat through the roots of a tree, causing it to crash into the house. Mick realizes electricity is still being released from the power lines and that the wet soil is acting as a conductor; he hypothesizes the worms only come out at night. Mick tells Geri to keep everyone inside equipped with candles and leaves to get plywood to board up the house. Roger, whose face has been deformed by worms, attacks Mick and knocks him unconscious. He then enters the house and kidnaps Geri. The worms infest the house and attack other places in town. Sheriff Reston and a woman are eaten alive in a jail cell, and people at a bar are attacked and eaten.
Mick regains consciousness and finds Naomi's remains, covered in worms, at the house. When he goes upstairs, Roger attacks and chases him downstairs. Mick pushes Roger into a pile of worms, which engulf him. Mick frees Geri and tells her that Naomi, and presumably Alma, are dead. While they try escaping through a window, Roger crawls out of the pile of worms and bites Mick in the leg. Mick beats Roger to death with a flashlight before climbing onto a tree with Geri, where they stay until morning. Upon waking up, they realize the worms had disappeared and a repairman informs them that the power has been restored. Alma, who survived by hiding in a chest, comes out and looks out the window. Geri and Mick rush into the house to meet her.
150 years after the third world war, civilization has been wiped out by nuclear war and much of Earth is a scorched desert. One of the smaller tribes of the few survivors that are barely hanging on are led by Trapper, an adventurer. They must battle rival gangs for the few resources that remain
After being told of a mysterious place where food is abundant. Trapper leads the tribe on a search for the Mountain of Life. The Mountain of Life is a near fabled area untouched by the nuclear holocaust, where residents have achieved eternal life.
Along the way the enter a forest and encounter Giant Bill and his group, pygmy tribes with mystic healing powers, bands of savage outlaws and a tribe of Amazon women. The pygmies and Amazons live together. The technology level of the various tribes varies greatly
The Mountain of Life is ruled by a warrior quen and an evil priest, and appears to be based on the Aztec or Mayan culture, although they do possess advanced technology. The high priest and the queen can shoot lasers from their eyes
After a final battle between the queen and high priest, Trapper and his tribe elect to stay at the Mountain of Life
English professor Charles and his son Michael, a successful author, have always had a strained relationship, with each pushing the other away. On a boyhood road trip, young Michael claims to have lost his glasses, knowing he has them in his pocket. Charles makes him walk home in the rain as punishment. The rule breaking and tit-for-tat continues over the years. Jane, the much younger sister of Charles's wife, Lisa, stays with them while Lisa is expecting. The baby "boy" later turns out to be a girl, Ryne. Jane has been close with Michael since childhood and sides with him against Charles.
Michael embarrasses Charles in front of the latter's colleagues by falsely claiming to have written ''Fireflies in the Garden'', a poem by Robert Frost. Charles orders him to hold his weighted arms out horizontally as punishment. Jane later feeds Michael when he's unable to lift his aching arms. The conflicts build until Michael intervenes in a quarrel between his parents and forces Charles to the ground.
In present day, Ryne, now a college senior, picks up Michael at the airport. While Charles and Lisa drive to Jane's house for a party to celebrate Lisa's college graduation, Charles swerves to avoid hitting Christopher, Jane's son. The car hits a telephone pole, killing Lisa and severely injuring Charles.
Michael attempts to comfort Christopher and Leslie, Jane's daughter, by telling them Jane was his best friend before she was their mother. He takes them fishing with firecrackers, as he had with Jane growing up. He prompts them to lie to their mother about this. Jane chastises him lovingly after finding out, while Charles chastises him angrily. Things worsen when Michael has noisy sex with Kelly, his alcoholic ex-wife, who is there for the funeral.
Michael sees Christopher running off through a field and assures the latter he is not to blame for Lisa's death. Christopher insists on walking home alone after their talk, but disappears for several hours. Jane blames Michael, who deduces Christopher is at Lisa's grave. Michael discovers Lisa had been having an affair with her professor Addison and planning to leave Charles after graduation. Jane learns that Kelly is pregnant and newly sober and that Michael doesn't know.
Michael uses the title of the Frost poem as the title of his book about his childhood. The book contains revelations of sexual misconduct between Charles and one of his students during Lisa's pregnancy, Charles's grief over Lisa's death, Michael's joy over impending fatherhood, the happiness captured in a rare home movie of pregnant Lisa and Charles, and Jane helping Charles and Michael reconcile. No longer wanting to hurt his father, Michael destroys his manuscript.
Michael and Kelly reconcile and announce her pregnancy to the family before leaving. While discussing baby names with Ryne and Kelly, Michael mentions he likes "Max", the name Lisa had intended for Ryne.
Beth Ayers is stifled and bored by her role as California housewife. Her husband, a successful businessman named Charlie, is frustrated with her lack of affection towards their two children and her unwillingness to tell him why she's unhappy after being married for nine years. Beth becomes intrigued by a casual acquaintance named Vega Purvis, a chic modeling instructor who is physically ravaged by various illnesses, alcohol, and cigarettes. Vega's modeling business in decline after a vaguely detailed scandal. Beth knows Vega is a lesbian and connects her sexuality with Beth's own recurring dreams about Laura Landon, a girl with whom she had an affair in college. Vega calls Beth one evening and asks her to come to a hotel, where Vega shows her the scars that cover her body. Vega becomes emotionally dependent upon Beth over the next several months, as Beth becomes more possessed by the idea of finding Laura once more.
Beth begins a correspondence with Nina Spicer, the author of several lesbian books she has been reading. After Beth and Charlie separate, Beth returns to Chicago in search of Laura, who she hasn't contacted in nine years. She learns from Laura's father that she left for New York City many years before. There, Beth and Nina team up to look for Laura in Greenwich Village's gay bars and nightclubs. Nina tests Beth to see whether she's really a lesbian or simply curious, while Beth uses Nina to get to Laura. Beth and Nina eventually sleep together. Afterwards, Beth learns that Vega has been committed to a mental hospital. Tired of Nina's games, Beth ventures to the bars to find Laura herself and finds Beebo Brinker, who is astounded to see her after considering Beth a rival for Laura's affections when they were together years ago.
Beebo points Beth in the direction of Laura and Jack's apartment. Beth meets Jack first, who introduces her to their six-year-old daughter. The next morning, Beth surprises Laura and they immediately make love. However, after the surprise has worn off, Laura learns that Beth has left her husband and children, and hurt and angry still from being left long ago asks Beth to think about the reasons why she has embarked on this journey to find her. Beth returns to Greenwich Village and finds herself in Beebo's apartment after drinking too much. Discussing what she's done with Beebo, Beth realizes what she must face in order to know what she wants from life. Returning to her hotel, Beth is held hostage by a deranged Vega, who eventually shoots herself. After being questioned, Charlie picks her up from the police station. After Beth asks for a divorce from Charlie, she tells Laura what she knows about herself now. Laura loves her as a friend. Beebo invites Beth back to her apartment after confessing she's fallen for her, and they go together hand in hand.
Jade is a webcam girl, who broadcasts herself nightly on the internet to anonymous users. She seeks a tattoo, which leads her to the studio of tattoo artist Takeko, who also happens to be Jade's childhood crush. Jade becomes entranced by a large tattoo of golden flowers—spider lilies—on Takeko's arm. She wants the same design, but Takeko refuses, telling her that the flowers are cursed.
Takeko's father, who was killed in an earthquake, had the same tattoo on his arm. Her younger brother witnessed the incident and was traumatised by it, left with no memory except for the image of the flowers. Takeko decided to get the same tattoo, in the hope that it would help her brother's recovery.
Nevertheless, Takeko finds herself drawn to Jade, and begins designing a new tattoo for her.
Meanwhile, a young police officer is trying to ambush Jade and the rest of the girls working in the same website. However, he takes to speaking to her, listening to her childhood stories and connecting with her, thereby slowing down the investigation he is supposed to be working on. Eventually he falls in love with her, trying to tell her to get out before it's too late and before she's caught. He blurts out that he loves her, and Jade, mistaking him for Takeko, goes to her.
When one of Takeko's customers gets into a fight and loses his arm, Takeko sends him to the hospital and forgets to pick up her brother. Desperate and frightened, he goes out into the street to look for her, and recovers his memory just before falling down a steep hill.
Takeko finds her brother in the hospital, where he has slipped into a severe coma. Devastated and guilt-stricken, she sends a farewell message to Jade saying that she will not be able to finish Jade's tattoo.
Later, Jade decides to go online and wait for Takeko. At this time, the policeman finally confesses his true identity to Jade and tells her that she must get offline immediately. She cries, realizing it was not Takeko who had confessed love to her earlier.
Eventually, Takeko's brother awakes from his coma with his memory intact. Joyful Takeko sends Jade another message apologizing, and saying that she will wait for her in the tattoo shop. The last image of the film is footage of Jade, coming to meet Takeko.
At the beginning of the novel Mueller has been given the possessions of a cousin, John Roger, who has recently died. Among them he finds the personal diaries of Dr John Dee, the Elizabethan Magus, Astrologer and Alchemist who served in the court of Queen Elizabeth I and was an ancestor of both Roger and the Baron.
As the Baron reads the diaries, which deal with Dee's discovery of his special destiny as a Magus, his efforts to find the secret of immortality contained in the Philosopher's Stone and guide the future of England and his conversations with the Green Angel through the mediumship of the confidence trickster Edward Kelley, he realises not only that he is a descendant of Dee but may even be the reincarnated spirit of Dee himself. In so doing he begins to suspect and that the various people around him are also the reincarnated spirits of those who had played a crucial part in Dee's adventures - his housekeeper may be Dee's wife, Jane, his Russian acquaintance, Lipotin, may be the mysterious 16th Century Muscovite Mascee etc. Mueller finds himself the guardian of the Spear of Hywel Dda, another of his ancestor and part of the quest to prevent the Succubus-like figure of Black Isaïs from gaining control of it, thus completing the work Dee only part managed to achieve. As the book ends, Mueller vanquishes Isaïs in her form as the Princess Shotokalungin and becomes a ''Man of the Rose'', part of a group of humans who have become immortal through their spiritual strivings whose task is to help mankind to develop and grow (a concept similar to that of Ascended masters or Secret Chiefs).
The film takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where mineralogist Paul Carlson (Chase Cordell) is struck by a lunar meteorite while observing a meteor shower. Lodged in his brain, the meteorite causes him to transform into a strong and vicious lizard (the titular "moon beast") whenever the moon comes out. In his lizard form, Paul loses all traces of his human self and goes about killing people at random. While human, Paul is subject to spells of dizziness and nausea, causing his girlfriend Kathy Nolan (Donna Leigh Drake) and friend and former anthropology professor, Johnny "Longbow" Salinas (Gregorio Sala), to become concerned.
Eventually it is shown that Paul is the monster, and deduced that the meteorite fragment in his brain is the cause of his transformations. Plans are made to remove it from his skull, but the NASA brain surgeons realize, after another X-ray and Johnny remembering some Native American legends documenting similar phenomena, that the meteorite has disintegrated and will eventually cause Paul to self-combust. When Paul learns of this, he escapes into the desert on a motorcycle, presumably to kill himself so he will not cause any more harm. When Johnny recalls that Paul's favorite place was always Sandia Crest, Kathy, Johnny, and local law enforcement officers follow him there. Johnny shoots him with an arrow made of the original meteorite, which causes him to explode.
A 17-year-old high school journalist named Willie Wheeler (voiced by Micky Dolenz of The Monkees) and his girlfriend Dooley Lawrence (voiced by Susan Davis) solve crimes with the help of his superhero motorcycle Wonder Wheels. Whenever Willie goes into action, he utters his catchphrase: "This looks like a job for Won-won-won-won-won-won-won-won-won-won-won-won-wonder Wheels!" and at the press of a button, Willie's beat-up motorcycle transforms into a flashy version with a mind of its own.
Told through a combination of pre-rendered cinematic sequences and in-game dialog, ''de Blob'' tells the story of Chroma City, its invasion by the INKT Corporation and its subsequent liberation by the titular Blob and the Color Underground.
Initially a lively and colorful city populated by its equally colorful and diverse citizens, the Raydians, Chroma City is suddenly invaded by the INKT Corporation. A corporate military dictatorship, INKT is led by the villainous Comrade Black and dedicated to the eradication of color through its "War on Color". Chroma City quickly falls to the invading army of Inkies and color-draining Leechbots, leaving its landscape barren, its flora withered and its fauna in hiding. The citizens are rounded up and turned into "Graydians", encased in homogeneous gray prison suits distinguished only by a bar code on the back of each shell. The Graydians are forced to serve as both menial labor and as a living resource of ink, the latter of which is mined literally from their sadness.
Blob witnesses the takeover of Chroma City from his jungle retreat and goes into action, first rescuing the only remaining pocket of resistance, the Color Underground. Blob joins the group, and under their orders, begins to win back sections of the city and arouse the vicious ire of Comrade Black. In response, Black orders everything from propaganda campaigns to the creation of super soldiers in an attempt to stop Blob, though to no avail.
With nearly all of Chroma City in control of the Color Underground, Comrade Black desperately orders all his troops to retreat to his spaceship in Lake Raydia, and attempts to launch all the stolen color into a black hole where it will be lost forever. However, Blob manages to stowaway onto the spaceship and defeat Black, then detonates a device that devours the spacecraft in a burst of color and whimsy. With the Raydians finally safe, Blob returns to his jungle retreat, napping on a tree as he was at the story's beginning.
In the beginning, the protagonist, Stafy, known as Starfy in Western regions, was moving things around his home, Pufftop Palace, until he tripped and dropped some things he was moving. One of them fell into the ocean, which was the Magic Jar, an object that seals the antagonist of the game known as Ogura. Meanwhile, a very severe thunderstorm with two tornadoes shook Starfy out of his home into the ocean. Later, Old Man Lobber encountered Starfy, and told him about the Magic Jar and Ogura, while he helped Starfy get back home, by making him do some swimming lessons, as well as giving directions. While Starfy was heading back home, he encountered some people he didn't know before, such as Moe the clam, and decided to help them with their problems, like finding their missing items, defeating enemies, and so on, until Starfy and his friends fought and brought back Ogura into the Magic Jar to restore peace.
The Peace Tree tells the story of two little girls, one Muslim and one Christian, who dream of celebrating each other's festivals, Christmas and Eid. But when they share their dreams, they are met with resistance from their parents who express their concerns. Through their struggles, they create a unique symbol—The Peace Tree, a tree that highlights the symbols from all our cultures and faiths to reflect the beauty of "diversity in unity". The Peace Tree shares the voices of the children who try to enlighten their parents to the importance of sharing and celebrating diversity together.
The Peace Tree has been invited to over 50 film festivals including Tribeca Film Festival and received twelve international awards.
''Densetsu no Stafy 2'' takes place shortly after its ''predecessor''. Stafy, known as Starfy in Western regions, is now back at Pufftop Palace, playing with his friend Moe. The series' main antagonist, Ogura, imprisoned inside the Magic Jar, unleashes his children into the sky. Ogura's children cause a series of thunderstorms and earthquakes that shake Pufftop Palace, causing the Magic Jar to shatter and release Ogura. Ogura captures Starfy's mother and flies away with Starfy in hot pursuit. Both he and Moe fall from Pufftop Palace to the ocean below. The duo mount an attack against Ogura and his children during the journey back to Pufftop Palace. As in the previous game, ''Densetsu no Stafy'', Starfy helps various people with all sorts of different troubles during the course of several levels, such as finding their missing items, defeating bothersome enemies, and so on. Starfy and company fight against Ogura and his 10 children to reseal Ogura in the Magic Jar.
The son of a depressed but doting mother (Hope Davis) and a father who is serving time for tax evasion, wealthy teenager Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) — after being expelled from several private academies for various infractions — enrolls in a public school run by embittered alcoholic Principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.), who was formerly a history teacher. Unable to fit in with most of his fellow students, Charlie is diagnosed with ADHD. He forms an alliance with school bully Murphy Bivens (Tyler Hilton) and offers him half the proceeds from the sale of a variety of prescription drugs Charlie obtains by feigning physical and emotional symptoms during sessions with different psychiatrists.
Before long, Charlie's natural charm and likability positions him as the school's resident therapist, offering advice and drugs within the confines of the boys' bathroom. Charlie's social life noticeably improves as he gains the confidence and admiration of the student body and begins to date the principal's rebellious daughter, Susan (Kat Dennings).
Complications arise when seriously depressed Kip Crombwell (Mark Rendall) attempts suicide by swallowing a handful of anti-depressants provided by Charlie. Charlie befriends Kip after having an in-depth conversation with Principal Gardner. Charlie discovers Kip is writing a play about adolescent issues and pitches it to Gardner who is, at first, unsure but agrees when Kip says that it would make him less inclined to attempt suicide again. Charlie decides to stop selling drugs to students but continues to provide free therapy.
One day, Charlie comes by Susan's house to pick her up for a date and he gives her a pharmacy bag. Mr. Gardner comes out and, thinking the bag contains drugs, attempts to grab Susan's to make her go into the house. Charlie warns Mr. Gardner not to touch Susan, but he pushes Charlie instead. Charlie then punches Gardner as a reflex, and even though he tries to apologize, the principal is not forgiving. Susan and Charlie drive off, and the bag turns out to contain a nicotine gum to help Susan quit smoking cigarettes.
That night, a large group of students are all in the student lounge when the police arrive. They arrest Charlie for assault, the kids riot and trash the lounge building to protest Charlie's arrest and as a result Principal Gardner is fired. Charlie is released, and before the play, stops by Mr. Gardner's house to invite him. Charlie finds Mr. Gardner heavily intoxicated and waving a revolver. They get into a heated argument which culminates in Charlie falling into the pool after attempting to tackle Mr. Gardner, thinking he is about to commit suicide. Mr. Gardner, appearing sober, comes to his senses and dives into the pool to save Charlie and states that he was not attempting to commit suicide because he has too many responsibilities to do such a thing. They talk over their problems about Charlie's father and Susan, and then go to the play. Mr. Gardner takes up his old job as a history teacher again (and is now much happier), and Charlie finally gains the confidence to visit his father in prison (something he had felt uncomfortable about earlier in the film). The film ends with Charlie applying for a summer internship at a psychiatric institute.
The film is based loosely around events in December 1995 that culminated in the Rettendon murders of three drug dealers in Rettendon, Essex, UK.
In the beginning, a short time after ''Densetsu no Stafy 2'' s storyline, everything was calm and everyone, including the protagonist Stafy, known as Starfy in Western regions, was happy again, until another severe thunderstorm came and shook Pufftop Palace. This time, it was more severe than the ones in the past. A lightning bolt struck the Magic Jar and destroyed it, and the antagonist of the previous titles, Ogura, was freed once again. He later flew away from Pufftop Palace, leaving everyone else wondering what he was leaving for. Starfy's father told Starfy and Moe that it fell to them to stop Ogura for a third time. Moe became angry and refused, because he was bored of doing the same things they did in the past. Later, Starfy's sister, Starly, jumped and bounced on Moe, and introduced herself to him. She later pushed him and her brother off the edge of Pufftop Palace and jumped down with them to pursue Ogura.
Photographer Jordan Wells (Jonathan Tucker) is the son of a very wealthy family which have high expectations for him to take over his father's company. Instead, he has an infatuation with the natural beauty of a woman's naked body and engages in it by taking photos of nude models but excluding their faces for the sake of privacy, with their names known as the name of their favorite shade of lipstick.
Unfortunately, the dean of his prep school finds out about his hobby and expels him. He is then transferred to a local public high school, where he then meets Shay Bettencourt, (Nikki Reed) a cellist aspiring to go to Hartley to become a cello player in a professional orchestra. When they first meet at the school library, they get into a heated intellectual argument about woman's rights concerning a book. Shay's friends are uninterested and urge her to leave, but she becomes attracted to Jordan. She mentions she knows about his past and his reasons for transferring schools and his photography hobby. They become friends and he offers to give her a ride home but when he returns to the house to visit Shay, he finds out that she does not live there at all. Jordan confronts Shay who admits to being ashamed of her low-income household which she shares with her drug addicted sister. Shay confides in Jordan that she has found a source of money for tuition at Hartley: an older married man named Wade Chandling (Frank Whaley) who frequents the country club Jordan's family attends. She says that he is going to get her a full scholarship by using some of his connections. Shay asks Jordan to photograph her and Wade in case he ever tries to back out of their deal. In exchange, Shay will allow Jordan to photograph her in any way he wants. Shay and Jordan form a sort of romantic relationship which is cut short when Shay finds out Wade is trying to back out their arrangement.
Frustrated, Shay meets Wade in the woods and tries to blackmail him with the pictures Jordan took. However, Wade becomes angry and tries to attack Shay. Jordan tries to save Shay, but they both end up beating Wade to death. They then throw him into a nearby lake, attempt to cover up as much evidence as they can, and find ways to avoid implicating themselves when interviewed by detectives. Eventually, Detective Griffin (Michael O'Keefe) figures out Shay's connection to Wade's death, and tries to set up an exchange with evidence on Jordan for the money Shay stole from the dead Wade. He tries to arrest Jordan during the exchange, but Shay shoots Griffin instead. When Jordan is questioned by the police, Desiree (Julie Gonzalo), another romantic interest of Jordan, saves him by giving him an alibi. Shay tries to take the money and run away to where she'd never be found. She tries to convince Jordan to go along with her plan, but he refuses but allows Shay to have some of the money to get away. The film ends with Jordan driving away, narrating, "With a million dollars to decide what to do next."
Suraj is a mischievous man and his mother is disappointed with his behavior. Suraj discovers his mother's past, his father is a Zamindar and owner of a palace called Swarna Palace, who died because of debts and they lost their entire property. Suraj swears on his mother to again buy their palace in any circumstances and make his mother happy. Lilly is a petty thief, a very greedy woman and Suraj falls in love with her at first sight, but she turns him down. Thota Ramudu, a rowdy opponent to Lilly, teases Suraj a lot and he falls sick.
Meanwhile, in hell, Yama, the god of death and Chitragupta misplace a book called Bhavishyavaani, which shows the future of man. The book somehow falls on the roof of Suraj's house, he benefits a lot by reading predictions of the future in the book and becomes rich and Thota Ramudu is surprised how Suraj became rich in a short time. Lord Brahma warns Yama and Chitragupta that within one month they should find the book, otherwise they lose their supernatural powers. On earth, Suraj again buys their palace and takes her mother to it and he asks her mother if she wants anything else. She asks him to get married, so Suraj again opens the book to see whether his marriage will happen with Lilly or not. He then reads that his mother will die that night at 10 PM. To fulfill his mother's last wish, Suraj plays a marriage drama with Lilly, but accidentally his mother does not die and Lilly reveals all this drama which leads to his mother's anger and she stops talking to him until he really brings back Lilly as her daughter-in-law.
Meanwhile, Yama and Chitragupta reach earth in search of the book. As they reach earth, they face many problems as everyone thinks of them as some drama company artists. Suraj saves them once and realizes that they are the real Yama and Chitragupta and his mother didn't die because they do not have the book. To protect his mother, Suraj traps Yama with the help of a girl Lata. After some time, Yama learns the truth and also understands that the book is with Suraj. Yama asks him to give back the book, but he refuses. From that day, they try for the book in many ways, but fail. One day Thota Ramudu beats Suraj very badly for the secret behind his success, but he doesn't reveal it. Yama saves him and asks him why all this, he says for his mother's sake, then Yama understands his devotion towards her. Yamraj wants to meet her, Suraj invites them to his house without knowing their real faces and accidentally Yama blesses Suraj's mother for complete life.
Meanwhile, Thota Ramudu wants learn the secret behind Suraj's success, and he asks Lilly to go and find out the secret. Lilly plays a love drama with Suraj and asks him the secret, he refuses to reveal it, she finally says he has to make a choice of her or his mother, then without any hesitation he chooses his mother and throws her out, then she understands his affection towards his mother and his love towards her. Finally, Thota Ramudu kidnaps Suraj's mother and blackmails him for the book. Yama takes advantage of the situation and Suraj gives the book to Thota Ramudu. Yama destroys him and collects the book. Finally, Yama comes to take Suraj mother's life, but she has complete life because of his blessings.
A former gunfighter who went to prison but then took up religion arrives in a western town as the new preacher. There he finds a feud between the ranchers and the farmers. The Railroad Agent is after the ranchers land and has his men causing all the trouble. The new preacher sets out to bring the two sides together and he says he will not need a gun.
A woman named Jennifer (Kari Wuhrer) runs away from her abusive boyfriend, gives her baby up for adoption, and takes the next bus out of town. She ends up on the streets during a grim and cold winter in Toronto. She's taken in by a prostitute named Ola (played by Rae Dawn Chong).
Ola happens to see the local pimp Hassan (Lou Diamond Phillips) murder another prostitute, but refuses to testify against him, knowing that Hassan has associates that would kill her if she snitched. A police officer named McClaren (Lance Henriksen) attempts to interrogate her, and when she refuses to talk she is deported to the USA.
Ola eventually makes her way back to Toronto, and Jennefer greets her with relief. Feeling bad for not having found a job to help repay Ola's kindness, Jennifer asks for Ola’s help and becomes a prostitute with Ola taking her under her wing to learn the ropes. Jennifer is later confronted by her boyfriend, who has tracked her down with the intent of killing her for leaving him and putting their baby up for adoption behind his back. She eventually breaks free briefly and shoots him in self-defense, then abandoning his body in his car in a local alley.
Meanwhile, Ola, convinced that Hassan had taken Jennefer and was forcing her to work for him and harm her like the rest of his girls, takes her gun and goes over to Hassan's house and demands to know where Jennifer is. Hassan tells her he does not have her, and after a verbal altercation, Ola is beaten violently by Hassan and left to die on the riverbank. Jennifer returns to Ola's apartment looking for her after having killed her boyfriend, but Ola is not there and nobody else seems to know where she is until one of Hassan's girls, Sheila, admits that she saw everything and that Ola is in the hospital near death.
Jennifer rushes to Ola's side where she finds Ola seeming to be comatose. She vows revenge and takes her gun to confront Hassan for what he did to Ola. She shoots him several times and stops short of killing him and leaves the scene. Hassan is then arrested shortly after by McClaren. Jennifer returns to Ola's hospital bedside and tells her she got revenge and that Ola cannot die because she loves her. Suddenly Ola opens her eyes to look at Jennifer, seeming to be awake and Jennifer is hopeful. But then her heart monitor signals that her heartbeat flatlined and she dies. The movie ends with Jennifer packing up some keepsakes of Ola and getting on a bus for some unknown destination.
In the distant past of ''Munto'' when the world of the Heavens did not exist, humans lived a prosperous civilization. One day, beings of unknown origins fell out of the sky and onto human world. These beings could control a power called Akuto, or human emotions. They could take the human spirit, which is an accretion of feelings, wishes and dreams and turn that into a physical power or physical object. These beings, obsessed with their powers, destroyed the human civilization within a few days. However, they did not realize that the humans created the Akuto; these beings who descended from the skies killed off the very source of their power. They then discovered several alternate universes which they could draw more Akuto from. They depleted all the other dimensions of Akuto and used it to create their own empire in the skies above the humans. This new civilization was known as the Heavens and was populated by the Heavenly Beings who could control Akuto.
The leaders of the Heavens soon grew corrupt due to the unlimited amount of Akuto they had stolen from other planets in other space times, and the Heavens began to collapse into disarray. At this time, the humans launched an attack against the Heavens. They were the very humans that were defeated when the Heavenly Beings first showed up. The humans who supplied the Akuto then defeated the Heavenly Beings. During the battle, the leaders of the Heavens decided to sever the supply of Akuto, cutting themselves away from Earth rather than be killed by the rebelling humans. They sealed themselves into a parallel dimension in order to sever the link of Akuto, though this resulted in the pillars that connected Earth to the Heavens to fall from the sky causing massive destruction. This day was called the "Calamitous Day" when both worlds lost contact with each other. From that day on, the Heavenly Beings considered linking the two dimensions together to be a taboo and appointed a guardian to guard this link to make sure it is never connected again.
In the present day, the Heavens are in disarray due to the lack of Akuto flowing into the Heavens. The Heavens, divided into kingdoms, battle each other. The Magical Kingdom is blamed for using the Akuto the most and the other kingdoms seek to destroy the Magical Kingdom in hopes of preserving what little is left of the Akuto. Should the Heavens be destroyed due to a lack of Akuto, the floating islands in the sky will fall to the Earth and the Heavens and human civilization will perish. The Magical Kingdom is led by their king Munto who believes the only way to save the Heavens from destruction is to seek out Yumemi Hidaka who holds the key to restoring the Akuto to the Heavens.
A fascist group who call themselves New Order want to set some "new rules" in town while the police in Halifax, Nova Scotia are on strike. They try to scare the patrons of a gay bar, but by accident the owner of the establishment is killed, and the leader of the fascist group then decides to execute all witnesses. One man escapes and takes refuge in an isolated block of flats. The young tenants in the house refuse to hand over the survivor, and the bullies then decide to kill all the residents in the house. This turns out to be not so easy when the young people in the house barricade their apartments and set up traps and arm themselves in order to fight back.
The game starts with the player arriving at the on-site M.A.G.M.A facility. After meeting with the local commander, General Baker, the player goes on their first mission: searching for survivors within the facility while fending off waves of aliens. Non-player characters in this mission include Nicholas, an engineer who provides rewards if the player fulfills his requests, and Kate Lia, a mercenary hired by M.A.G.M.A. who is abducted by the aliens when the player becomes trapped in the facility's computer room. While at the facility the player is also asked to disable a self-destruct program that threatens the facility. Once the program has been shut down, General Baker concludes that the aliens must have a leader, and it is the leader who activated the self-destruct program. The player also discovers that the M.A.G.M.A. Energy Corporation has made a deal with General Baker in sometime, asking him and the rest of the mercenaries to shut the entire base down in return for a large amount of money. The player is then sent to the next facility, the ME2 Base.
After battling through hordes of aliens, the player finally manages to enter the ME2 Base. While clearing more aliens from inside the base, the player is asked to download research data and destroy some experiment capsules. General Baker asks the player to rescue Kate after M.A.G.M.A.'s research is destroyed. He has located an alien breeding ground deep within a coalmine nearby and sends the player and a few soldiers to destroy the breeding ground, eliminate the Alien Queens (Alien Mother Scarabs), and remaining aliens once and for all. Before reaching the final room, the alien's leader and Baker will both tell the player to give them the research disk and the alien leader threatens that Kate will die if the player doesn't give him the disk. After that, the player will need to make a choice.
If the player chooses to go to the alien leader and save Kate, General Baker will scold the player for disobeying him. He also reveals that the downloaded data contains information on how to control the aliens and that he plans to use it. In a confrontation with the player, Baker is killed. On their way to save Kate, the player engages the aliens, leading to a final battle in which the player kills the Alien Basilisk (alien leader). After defeating the alien leader, the player discovers that Kate is dead already by the time the player reaches her. The disk containing the data on controlling the aliens and the portals is destroyed. Without the leader control, factions in the alien army have begun to fighting each other instead of attacking humans, enabling human military to take down the disorganized alien force gradually over time. The game ends as cities suffering from alien invasions begin to recover peacefully.
However, if the player decides to go back to General Baker instead of rescuing Kate, the alien leader will send teleporting minions to attack him and gives the player one final warning. If the player gives Baker the disk, he will teleport away, and M.A.G.M.A. will order the player to find General Baker as quickly as possible. After the player finds the remains of Baker strewn throughout a M.A.G.M.A. base, the Alien Basilisk organizes the alien hordes into a powerful organized army and manages to overrun most of the major cities, causing most of the humans to perish, the Earth Government using nuclear weapons to destroy cities overrun with aliens, and M.A.G.M.A. still trying to recover its experimental energy weapons, all these events being described in the final journal entry of the last human on earth.
Larry meets someone he believes to be a woman, but is actually a transvestite, who turns him into a "queerwolf" by biting him on the buttocks. He transforms into a transvestite at night when there is a full moon. People hunting the werewolf discover the transvestite at Larry's apartment, and they also warn him about a curse. A gypsy offers to help him, but Larry refuses until the first full moon that he experiences. The only way for him to combat the transformation is to look at a medallion with a picture of John Wayne.
The series begins with a battle between the Imperial province of Averland and the forces of Chaos, in which the former is defeated. Over the course of each issue, several fugitives from the retreating Imperial forces gradually meet up, band together, and organize a last-ditch counterattack to hold the Chaos forces at bay.
Sergeant '''Vogal''' leads a regiment of elite Greatswords. Despite the presence of Averland's Elector Count himself, the Imperial forces are routed when Chaos magic decimates them, and Vogal is forced to call for a retreat; since Greatswords are sworn to never retreat, this decision haunts him for the rest of the story. When he and his men are cornered by the pursuing Chaos Warriors in a wood, Vogal is suddenly knocked unconscious. He awakens in a convent, with he and his men being treated by the sisters. He is offered some wine to help him sleep, which he refuses. Woken by a nightmare in the middle of the night, he discovers his men have been drugged and that the nuns, who are actually the servants of a Lamiahn vampire queen, have been feeding soldiers to their mistress. He convinces his remaining men not to take their wine that night; they recover their weaponry and kill the vampire and her servants, then leave the convent to find more fugitives.
A regiment of Dwarfs allied to the Averland army is all but wiped out when their leader, Skor Lokkinson, disdains the humans' decision to retreat and orders his troops to keep fighting despite the hopeless odds. Only three survivors are captured by the Chaos forces: Lokkinson, Uthamir Gundasson and '''Vargni Valhirsson'''. All three are thrown into a pit with a Chaos ogre, for the amusement of their captors. Lokkinson is killed, Gundasson manages to kill the Ogre and is himself killed by the angry spectators, but his actions allow Vargni to escape. Before escaping, he overhears from his captors that the rout of the Imperial army was planned in advance, but misinterprets this to mean that traitors within the Averland army betrayed them.
Vogal and his remaining men meet up with '''Widdman''', an artilleryman whose company was destroyed, and '''Konig''', an Imperial wizard. Together, they manage to subdue a crazed Imperial Gryphon that was terrorizing a nearby village, and allow Konig to use it as a mount. While they are preparing their counterattack in a narrow pass that can delay the Chaos forces, Vargni attacks them, but Vogal convinces him to hold off. Based on what Vargni overheard from his captors, Konig realizes that the Chaos army's sorcerers cast a spell that sapped the Imperial army's morale. Vargni accepts this explanation and joins the remaining Imperial soldiers as they launch their suicidal counterattack in the pass, hoping only to delay the Chaos army long enough to buy time for the rest of the Empire.
Mya is cheating on her husband Lewis with Ben. Ben asks Mya to leave the city with him, but she remains noncommittal. As Mya exits, Ben turns the television on and watches a bizarre, psychedelic sequence of images. Mya listens to a compact disc given to her by Ben, but she is menaced by men who are acting strangely in a parking garage. When she reaches her apartment building, she finds more people behaving strangely. Unknown to Mya, a static-like interference coming through communications media has amplified people's negative emotional traits, causing them to act irrationally and, in most cases, violently.
Written and directed by David Bruckner.
Once inside her apartment, Lewis and two friends, Jerry and Rod, attempt to fix the TV, but Lewis beats Jerry to death over a minor argument. Mya flees in panic, leaving Rod and Lewis in a struggle, but finds the whole building in chaos. Mya hides in a nearby apartment until morning. When she re-enters her home, she finds Lewis unconscious and bound to a chair. He awakens to see her leave while listening to Ben's compact disc. Mya encounters Rod, who drags her into a janitor's closet and tells her of his struggle to survive. It becomes evident that the signal affects each person differently, and Rod may also be crazy, though he seems to largely have control of his judgment. Together, they escape and attempt to drive to safety. But after being shot by a policewoman and almost left behind by Mya, Rod becomes more violent and attacks Mya, who crashes the car. Rod is incapacitated and trapped in the vehicle, while Mya flees, telling a stranger named Clark that she is going to the train station.
Written and directed by Jacob Gentry.
Ben finds Lewis duct-taped and loosens his bonds. Lewis knocks Ben unconscious and puts him in the back of a pest control van. At a nearby apartment, a woman named Anna has killed her husband in self-defense but has continued planning for a party as if nothing has happened. Clark, Anna's neighbor and a conspiracy theorist, soon arrives. The two attempt to understand what is happening, and Clark admits that he decapitated Rod after Rod violently attacked him. Eventually Lewis arrives at the apartment after seeing Mya's crashed car. At first, Lewis befriends Anna and Clark, and they convince themselves that none of them have been affected by the signal. Lewis' violent and paranoid tendencies cause him to kill Anna's niece, Laura, who arrives seeking help. He dismisses the act as defending Anna, but Clark convinces him not to attack the next arrival, Jim, who is apparently oblivious of the situation. While Anna hallucinates that Clark is her husband, Lewis hallucinates that Jim is Ben, taunting him. He beats Jim to death, pins Clark to a chair using kitchen knives, and blinds Anna with insecticide. Convinced she knows nothing about Mya, Lewis forces Anna to ingest the poison. He exposes Clark to the signal interrogates him. Ben, having woken up and freed himself from Lewis's van, enters the apartment and knocks out Lewis.
Written and directed by Dan Bush.
Lewis wakes up and follows Ben and Clark. He attempts to kill them in a tool shed, but they fight him off and escape. Ben convinces Clark the signal is a lie, breaking its effect on him, and Clark informs Ben where Mya was headed. Ben and Clark run through the now mostly-dead city and arrive at the train station. There, they find Mya tied to a chair, being forced to watch the signal by Lewis. Lewis attacks them and strangles Clark to unconsciousness. Ben uses Lewis's own paranoia against him, tricking Lewis into believing that their roles are reversed. Lewis punches a signal-broadcasting TV in a frustrated rage, electrocuting himself.
The story ends ambiguously. Ben, Mya, and Clark stock up on supplies, then Clark leaves. However, the next scene reveals Mya still tied to the chair, seemingly catatonic. Ben places Mya's headphones on her, and she closes her eyes, a tear rolling down her cheek.
Kidstuff (Sammo Hung) has been asked by police superintendent Walter Tso (Cho Tat-wah) to investigate a case of international ammunition trade between two gangs. One of the gangs is the Japanese Yakuza in possession of stolen diamonds, and the other is a group of terrorists with a stockpile of ammunition. Whilst visiting the police station, Kidtuff meets Quito (Sylvia Chang), an old friend from when they were in the orphanage. As they embrace each other in a friendly hug, some passing police officers get the wrong idea and decide to tell her husband, Albert (Karl Maka). Albert refuses to listen to Quito and attempts to fight Kidstuff. Later, when Kidstuff and Quito decide to dine together, Albert secretly hides under their table.
Kidstuff goes to ask his old Lucky Stars gang for help (the returning Eric Tsang, Richard Ng and Stanley Fung, and newcomer Michael Miu). However, they refuse to help as they have embarked on a new crime spree, so Kidstuff is forced to find a new gang.
First he recruits Top Dog (Alan Tam), so called because of his affinity with (and ability to speak to) dogs. Second is Fat Cat (Kent Cheng), a lazy, corrupt cop, who joins because Kidstuff throws money at him. Next is Lambo (Andy Lau) a martial arts expert of the SDU's in hong kong and lady's man, followed by Long Legs (Anthony Chan) and Libbogen (Billy Lau), a pair of timid beat cops who flee in the face of danger. To complete the unlikely group, Yum Yum (Maria Tung) is assigned to teach the gang her skills of self-defence and disguise. However, the gang ends up not learning anything in their three-day training as they were busy with their numerous attempts to grope her.
One day, the gang, disguised as Arabian clients, along with Yum Yum, arrive at Fushime's villa to conduct a trade and was welcomed to stay in the villa for a night. There, they sneak into Fushime's safe, with Top Dog keeping out on the outside and find the diamonds and swallow them, but accidentally lock themselves inside the safe and were later captured and tied up. Top Dog meets up with Kidstuff and informs him of the situation so Kidstuff demands Tso to rescue them. However, Tso does not want to public to know of the mission and locks Kidstuff in a mental hospital, where Albert attempts to fight him again.
Meanwhile, the gang and Yum Yum manage to free themselves and Lambo takes on Fushime on a fight while the rest fight and take out Fushime's top henchman, Doyuta. Eventually, Kidstuff arrives to take over and defeats Fushime and Albert also arrives and taunts Kidstuff and tells him to play Russian roulette to prove his love for Quitto. Kidstuff takes Albert's revolver and shoots himself five times and were luckily empty slots and tells Albert to do the same, but Albert laughs at him for his stupidity and says his life is more important than his wife, which Quitto walks in just in time to hear and slaps him.
'' magazine (June 1967)
Orrie is finally going to tie the knot. He is engaged to marry Jill Hardy, a stewardess. But for months, Orrie's also been keeping company with Isabel Kerr, an ex-showgirl. Orrie has some time available, because Jill works international flights. Isabel also has time available, because she no longer performs: rather, she occupies a plush apartment that is paid for by another gentleman friend who visits her just two or three times a week.
Isabel objects to Orrie's marriage plans. She has taken some of his personal and professional belongings and stashed them in her apartment. Isabel threatens to show them to Jill and thus quash the marriage. So, Orrie asks Archie to get into Isabel's apartment, find his possessions, and get them back. When Archie does enter the apartment, he finds not Orrie's belongings but Isabel's body. Archie withdraws to meet with Orrie, but otherwise keeps the news to himself.
Isabel's sister Stella later discovers the body. The police find Orrie's possessions in the apartment and arrest him on suspicion of murder. In a meeting to consider whether Orrie is guilty, Wolfe, Archie, and Fred are all unsure, but Saul—via some convoluted reasoning—concludes that he is innocent, and Wolfe undertakes to demonstrate it.
Wolfe must determine who knew about Isabel's apartment. Orrie has given Archie some names—Avery Ballou, who pays the bills, Stella Fleming and her husband Barry, and a nightclub singer named Julie Jaquette. Archie visits Stella and Barry, and learns that Stella is frantic to keep a lid on the nature of her sister's living arrangements. Stella's concern for Isabel's reputation is such that she tries to claw Archie's face when he refers to Isabel as a "doxy" (prostitute).
Archie corrals a reluctant Ballou, and Wolfe coerces his cooperation by threatening disclosure of his relationship with Isabel. It turns out that Ballou has already been subjected to blackmail, by someone named Milton Thales. Ballou thinks that Thales is really Orrie, but Wolfe deduces Thales' true identity and assumes that he is Isabel's murderer.
Wolfe sends Saul to bring Julie Jaquette. When she dances into Wolfe's office, Miss Jaquette puts on a performance, first singing and then demanding to see Wolfe's orchids. She displays a cynicism regarding human behavior that Wolfe regards as similar to his own. Julie agrees to act as bait for the murderer and is nearly killed herself. For her protection, she is moved into the brownstone, where she helps Wolfe and Archie force Thales' hand after Wolfe offers $50,000 cash for her assistance.
The game box includes a letter which provides background information to establish the premise of the game. Written to the main character from the perspective of a friend "Mike", it outlines how (a presumed mutual friend) Richard's company, Comdata, has had $1.5 million stolen by a rival company named Realco. Furthermore, the police are unable to retrieve the money, so the player is required to hack into a computer system and retrieve the funds. The letter provides a single phone number and entry code, part of the game's simulation of dialing into databases and bulletin boards. The player has to figure out how to get into the proper database to take back the cash.
Two daughters are locked up by their parents; an unemployed man and his blind wife, for eleven years. Their neighbours call social workers to investigate the situation and the results lead the girls on a bittersweet path to the rest of the world.
A band of guerrillas led by Bandara (Ananda Jayaratne) lead a resistance against Portuguese invaders. Bandara is in love with Sumana (Kanthi Gunatunga).
Dale is planning on a ceremony where he and Nancy retake their wedding vows. At Nancy's request and after initial reluctance, his friends decide to find his father, "Bug", and invite Bug to the ceremony. Twenty years ago at their first wedding, Dale's father grabbed Nancy and kissed her without consent, which resulted in both of them slapping him. He and Dale have since been estranged. Hank, Bill, and Boomhauer decide to go track Bug down in order to make amends with his son. However, they discover that not only is Bug gay, but he has been working all this time at a gay rodeo, much to the humor of Bill and Boomhauer. After the show, Hank goes to Bug, who reveals the truth: at the wedding, he was about to kiss a male Filipino caterer, before Dale came in, with whom he was not prepared to be honest, so he "grabbed the nearest thing in a dress", which happened to be Nancy. The conversation is interrupted by Juan Pedro, Bug's lover, who is upset upon learning that Bug had a son and did not tell him. Eventually, Bug returns to Arlen and asks for Dale's forgiveness, without telling Dale he is gay.
Although unsure at first, Dale reconciles with his father. Nancy senses, but Dale is completely oblivious to, Bug's homosexuality, with Dale even commenting that his father has "pleased hundreds of women". Bug notices Joseph's lack of resemblance to Dale or Nancy and asks if Joseph is "adopted". She reluctantly admits the truth about her former affair with John Redcorn, which Hank, Bill, Boomhauer, John Redcorn's sister, Peggy and possibly Bobby know about; he does not ask any further questions. Bug also admits to Nancy he's gay and that he needs to let Dale know.
Dale misconstrues Bug's sympathy, believing Bug still has feelings for Nancy, leading to Bug trying to admit to Dale that he is gay. However, his explanation of Juan Pedro being his "partner" and working with him at a gay rodeo are misconstrued by Dale as his father being a government agent, which breaks his heart once again. Dale deserts his second wedding and heads to the gay rodeo, intending to blow his father's cover. After Dale sees Bug at the rodeo, he informs his father that he knows he's a government agent and that he will let everybody at the event know. Bug then says there has been a terrible misunderstanding and that he is gay. Still not trusting Bug, Dale then goes into the rodeo pen and announces that Bug is spying on them and Bug ties him down. After a struggle, Bug finally makes up with Juan Pedro and kisses him in front of Dale, who relents and lets them attend the ceremony.
A subplot concerns Nancy dealing with the ceremony as a way to start over after years of infidelity her husband is unaware of and the anxiety she has on that issue. The final part of the episode reveals that Dale believes John Redcorn is gay and that this is a major reason why Dale is okay with homosexuals and why he doesn't suspect that John Redcorn is Joseph's biological father.
Three weeks after the events of the season finale, Betty's life is in chaos. Not only does she find herself constantly stressing about Henry and Charlie, but she also receives a bruised eye after bumping into a MODE glass cover. As a result, she requires an eye-patch.
Things have also been hard on Daniel and Alexis after the car crash. He constantly tries to keep the paparazzi from photographing the comatose Alexis. He also notices Betty trying to deal with her problems over losing Henry and suggests that they meet in Central Park. While there, Daniel tells her to bury all the things that symbolize her feelings for Henry. As she does, Daniel decides to "bury" his drug addiction, because it contributed to the car crash. He later returns to the hospital and sees Alexis coming out of her coma. She now appears to have suffered memory loss and still believes herself to be Alex.
It has also been difficult for Ignacio as well. Betty calls to tell him the lawyer is doing his best to help him return to the United States.
Meanwhile, Amanda turns to Marc in dealing with the revelation that Fey Sommers was her real mother. He suggests that they pay a visit to Scarsdale, as they try to get the real answer about how close her parents were to the late editor. When they arrive, Amanda is shocked to see her "parents" in their pajamas in the daytime and having "company" another couple. It turns out that the Tanens are swingers. Before Amanda decides to give up, Marc tells them that Amanda knows about Fey being her mother. The Tanens tell Amanda that she was adopted because Fey didn't want to damage her career and felt that Amanda would have a better life with another family, plus the Tanens couldn't have children. Amanda and Marc then decide to look for Amanda's father. As they arrive back to the Meade Building, the two are joined in the elevator by Bradford, and as Marc suspects that Bradford could be Amanda's father. Marc tells Amanda that the only way to get proof is through DNA. After two failed attempts, Marc successfully gets a sample of Bradford's ear hair and later hands the evidence to Amanda.
Wilhelmina takes advantage of being temporary editor-in-chief by scrapping Daniel's approved spread in favor of a Victoria's Secret spread, with help from assistant editor Sheila, who loves Victoria's Secret. Later that day, Justin sneaks in to the 28th floor and sees Wilhelmina having a nervous breakdown. After she overhears Justin telling a model to lose the belt, and quotes Coco Chanel, "When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on". Wilhelmina spots him and likes his idea. Justin would later learn from Betty that ''MODE'' has offered him an internship, thanks to Daniel.
As Wilhelmina plots to turn the tragic Meade family events to her advantage, Claire and Yoga prepare to make their hideaway plans as Claire tries to stop the wedding plans. While hiding, Claire tells Yoga that she needs to find Bradford. Claire calls Wilhelmina and tells her that she will sell MODE to her by meeting at Central Park. Their plans to double-cross each other take a surprising turn: At Central Park, it is Marc who shows up in Wilhelmina's dress...but he gets beaten up by Yoga in the nun's outfit. While at Bradford's office, Claire is shocked to see Wilhelmina there. Wilhelmina tells her the police will be arriving in three minutes. Claire punched her and said she'll be gone in one.
Finally, Hilda and Santos are spending their day in bed, talking about their wedding plans and their future together as a couple. Hilda refuses to let him leave, for his own safety. They set another date for their wedding. Hilda tries on her wedding dress for Santos and asks him to read his wedding vows. Santos reads a letter saying that he will always love Hilda. He was sorry it took him many years. When Santos tells Hilda that it was time for him to leave, Hilda cries and mentions that he needs to heal from his gunshot wound. Betty opens the door to ask Hilda if she would like to join them for dinner as Hilda is alone in her bathrobe, holding a pillow and staring at the bathroom door with the light on; after three weeks she admits that Santos died in the robbery. Betty comforts her.
Later that night a bus stops to drop off Henry.
On Christmas Eve 1843, in London, miserly business man Ebenezer Scrooge refuses to partake in the merriment of Christmas, declining his cheerful nephew Fred's invitation to an annual Christmas dinner party and rejecting two gentlemen's offer to donate money to charity. His employee Bob Cratchit asks Scrooge to give him a day off on Christmas Day to spend time with his family, to which Scrooge reluctantly agrees. Returning home that night, Scrooge encounters the ghost of Jacob Marley, his business partner who died seven years ago, bound in heavy chains. Marley warns Scrooge to change his wicked ways or be condemned to a worse fate. Before leaving, Marley informs Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits over three nights.
Scrooge is visited by the uncanny Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time and makes him relive his lonely childhood in a boarding school. The spirit then shows his beloved younger sister Fan, Fred's future mother, and how he became an employee under Fezziwig, and became engaged to a woman named Belle. However, the Ghost shows Scrooge how Belle left him when he became obsessed with wealth. A devastated Scrooge extinguishes the spirit with his candle snuffer cap and is rocketed back to his house.
Scrooge meets the jolly Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows him the joys of Christmas. Scrooge and the Ghost visit Bob's house, learning that his family is content with their small dinner, and Scrooge starts to take pity on Bob's ill son Tiny Tim, whom the Ghost comments will likely not survive until next Christmas. The Ghost slowly begins to age as they next visit Fred's Christmas party, where Fred insists that they raise a toast to Scrooge in spite of his cold demeanor. Arriving in Big Ben, the Ghost warns Scrooge the evils of "Ignorance" and "Want" before dying when Big Ben begins tolling midnight: "Ignorance" and "Want" manifest themselves before Scrooge as two wretched children who grow into violent, insane individuals, leaving the spirit withering away.
The reaper-esque Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives, appearing as a dark shadow, and takes Scrooge into the future. He witnesses a group of businessmen discussing an unnamed colleague's death, saying they would only attend the funeral if lunch is provided. After being chased across London by the Ghost, Scrooge recognizes his charwoman Mrs. Dilber selling the stolen possessions of the deceased. Shortly after, Scrooge sees the aforementioned colleague's body on a bed, but is too anxious to see his identity. Scrooge asks to see emotion connected to the death, and is shown a family who is relieved that he is dead, as they now have more time to pay off their debt. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness connected to death, he is shown the Cratchit family mourning Tiny Tim’s death. Scrooge is then escorted to a cemetery, where the Ghost points out the man’s neglected grave, revealing Scrooge as the man who died. Scrooge promises to change his ways as the Ghost causes him to fall into his empty coffin above Hell, but before he strikes the coffin, he finds himself back in his own room.
Learning it is Christmas Day, a gleeful Scrooge anonymously sends Bob's family with a turkey dinner, and ventures out with the charity workers and the citizens of London to spread cheer in the city, and later attends Fred's Christmas dinner, where he is warmly welcomed. The following day, he gives Cratchit a raise. Cratchit addresses the audience how Scrooge became a father figure to Tiny Tim, who escapes death, and that Scrooge now treats everyone with kindness, generosity, and compassion, thus embodying the spirit of Christmas.
The novel opens with Khalil, the protagonist, and Naji, a friend, heading to Khalil's room to talk. They discuss the possibility of Naji moving to Saudi Arabia to live with his sisters. The audience learns that Khalil is romantically attracted to Naji, as he repeatedly secretly admires him. As they progress down the streets of Beirut, the narrative digresses to describe the state of things there. It is revealed that people are fleeing the city in droves and are not coming back.
The next chapter begins with Khalil ritualistically cleaning and straightening his room. He always does this after battles in the streets. Some time has passed since the opening conversation, and Naji decided to leave the area. Khalil visits Naji's abandoned apartment, which he was asked to look after. As Khalil cleans up glass, we learn that Naji and his mother claim that they plan to come back. Khalil does not believe them.
Naji is supposed to come over for a visit with Khalil, but he doesn't come. After waiting for a long while, Khalil decides to visit another friend, Nayif. Nayif is having a small party with friends that he knows from his job at a newspaper. We learn that Nayif is involved in a political party.
Another car bombing takes place near a market that Khalil often shops at. When Khalil goes to the scene days later, he finds that it has seemingly healed and that life there is back to normal. Next, he visits Naji's house, and, while he is there, the phone rings. He picks it up and it is Naji's sister, whom he has met only once before. She tells him that Naji is dead. Khalil is unable to dwell on this, because the city starts getting bombed in the 1982 Israeli-Lebanese conflict. He hides with others in the newspaper offices where Nayif works. The newspapers have immunity from the bombings. There is a frantic party-like atmosphere here as the reporters rapidly write stories on the bombings. Once the bombings are over, Khalil returns to his apartment, going through war-damaged streets. He comes to his room to find that the window has been blown open and feels that his room has been somehow changed. Disturbed by this he goes outside in time to see an anti-Israeli march pass by.
Since the bombings are over, Khalil is forced to face Naji's death. He stops sleeping and spends most of his nights lying awake. Nayif comes over in order to tell him that Naji was killed because he was an agent for a group responsible for attacks. Khalil doesn't want to believe this and uses his usual defense of denial. Later, after much thought, he decides to accept what Nayif has said as true. He isolates himself from everybody. He sleeps all day and spends all night listening to other people's problems on FM radio shows. War damage in Downtown Beirut
The bombing starts again, and Khalil hides with others in the higher floors away from the fighting on the street. After several days, the fighting stops and the people go out to see the damaged streets. Khalil's uncle's family comes to Beirut, having fled their village, and Khalil sets them up in Naji's apartment. His daughter, Zahrah, has a crush on Khalil, who is pleased to be loved despite the fact that he feels little attraction to her. Khalil has a crush on her brother, Youssef.
The narrative goes on to describe Khalil's own struggles to form his political views and gain acceptance with the other young men his age. This struggle is paralleled by Youssef, who comes to Khalil's apartment to ask his advice on whether or not he should join a local militia. Khalil stays neutral and rather asks Youssef questions to help him think it over. He decides to join the group.
Youssef's new job keeps him busy during the day and greatly reduces the time he spends with Khalil, which causes Khalil much distress. Khalil decides to take the job that Nayif offered him at the newspaper. He goes in for an interview and embarrasses himself by saying things that make him seem radical despite his lack of involvement in politics. Sporadic street fighting starts again. In one such episode, Youssef is killed.
As Khalil is suffering emotionally from Youssef's death, he becomes sick and starts coughing up blood. He isolates himself from the world much as he did after Naji's death. Nayif comes by the apartment, but Khalil doesn't answer the door, hoping that Nayif will break in out of concern. After doing this twice, he finally answers the door and lets Nayif in. Nayif tells him that one of his political friends, called The Gentlemen, wants to clear out an abandoned apartment in Khalil's building in order to house his mother. They agree to clear out the furniture and sell it.
Khalil takes a taxi ride to the hospital to have himself examined as he had acute abdominal pain. On the way there the taxi encounters traffic and the driver decides to take side streets. He accidentally drives up to a roadblock and Khalil and the other passengers are interrogated and nearly killed by armed men. Khalil manages to get by and make it to the hospital. It turns out that Khalil had an ulcer, which he needs an operation to remove. Khalil enjoys the hospital, which he views as a sanctuary. Khalil soon acquires a reputation for cowardice among the hospital staff, who, nevertheless, like him.
One of Khalil's neighbors, Mustafa (usually called the bride groom), recommends that Khalil should rent out Naji's apartment. He rents it to a woman and her son. As he looks it over he encounters his memories of Naji and Youssef. Khalil likes his new tenants but has a feeling that the woman dislikes him.
At a party with friends of Nayif, Khalil becomes acquainted with the Brother, a man who is involved in Nayif's newspaper and is a leader of a military organization. He suspects that Khalil is gay, which he confirms in a conversation, and reveals that he is gay as well. He makes advances, which confuse Khalil, who ends up going home. The Brother begins inviting him on business dealings, which involve the buying and selling of drugs and weapons. On one walk back to apartment after a deal Khalil is accidentally assaulted by the Brother's men, who apologize and offer to take him home.
The author describes the city of Beirut. She explains how is corrupting Khalil and sucking away at his soul. Some time passes before the next scene. Khalil, now referred to as "Mr. Khalil" by Mustafa, is talking about storing weapons he has brought in the apartments. The woman who is still his tenant complains that it is dangerous and he tells her to go upstairs and that he will come and talk to her. He goes up and rapes her. The author explains how her Khalil has changed from how he was to "a man who laughs".
Mikos Tanoupoulos is a man who was experimented on in a church-sanctioned scientific experiment that gave him a healing factor but inadvertently drove him insane. The Vatican priest who helped create him pursues the homicidal Mikos to a small American town, attempting to kill him by impaling him on a set of railings which disembowel him, but he is revived later in a local hospital. After brutally murdering a nurse, the madman escapes and goes on a killing spree. The priest informs the hospital and authorities that the only way to kill Mikos is to "destroy the cerebral mass."
While attacking a motorcyclist after escaping from the hospital, Mikos is struck by a hit-and-run driver. The car's driver, Mr. Bennett, and his wife are going to a friend's house to watch a football game, leaving their two children at home with a babysitter. Their daughter Katia is confined to her bed because of a problem with her spine, while her younger brother believes that the 'Bogeyman' is coming to get him.
Mikos makes his way to the Bennetts' home and begins to murder everyone there. Peggy, a family friend, is stabbed in the head with a pickaxe, and the babysitter has her head forced into a lit oven and is stabbed in the throat with a pair of scissors, but not before sending the brother off to get help. Katia struggles from her bed to take on the killer herself. Mikos breaks into Katia's bedroom and attacks her, but she manages to stab him in the eyes with a set of drawing compasses. She then stumbles down the hallway as the blinded killer staggers after her. He stalks her through the house, but Katia manages to elude him. The priest arrives and struggles with Mikos, and Katia grabs an axe from a decorative suit of armor and decapitates Mikos with it. The police and the rest of the family arrive to discover Katia standing in the doorway, covered in blood, holding Mikos's severed head.
Monte Walsh is an older cowboy facing the final days of the Old West era. He and his friend Chet Rollins, another longtime cowhand, work on cattle ranches, preferring to do "nothing that can't be done from a horse". Their lives are divided between months on the range and the occasional trip into town. Camaraderie and competition with the other cowboys fill their days.
When they find out that the Cross Bar ranch that they had worked "was wiped out during the last winter", they take work at the Slash Y ranch where their old boss Cal Brennan is the "range manager". At the Slash Y, they meet an old friend, Shorty Austin, another cowhand and bronco buster.
Monte has a long-term relationship with an old flame, prostitute and saloon girl Martine Bernard, who suffers from tuberculosis.
Chet has fallen in love with Mary Eagle, a widow who owns a hardware store.
As barbed wire and railroads steadily eliminate the need for the cowboy. Monte and his friends are left with fewer and fewer options. The Slash Y isn't doing too well and Shorty is let go. As there is no other work available, he gets involved in rustling and killing, gunning down a local lawman.
At this point, Monte and Chet find that their lives on the range are inexorably redirected.
Chet marries Mary and will go to work in the hardware store. He tells Monte that their old way of life is simply disappearing and that, "Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever". Caught up in the spirit of the moment, Monte rides to visit Martine and asks her to marry him, and she accepts. Monte goes on a drinking binge and rides an unbroken bucking horse that came from the Slash Y ranch through town, causing considerable damage, smashing through a plate glass window of a "china shop" and shattering the entire store's stock. A wild west roundup show owner, Colonel Wilson, sees him ride the bronco to a halt and offers him a job to perform as "Texas Jack Butler star cowboy, bronco buster and all-around wild man of the west". Monte considers the offer which includes a significant weekly salary and all expenses paid, but decides the work is too degrading and refuses. He tells Colonel Wilson, "I ain't spitting on my whole life".
Time goes on, Shorty being desperate, robs Chet's hardware store. He shoots and kills Chet. At Chet's funeral, Cal tells Monte that The Slash Y Ranch has closed leaving Monte out of work. Monte goes after Shorty "to do the law's work". While searching for Shorty, Monte finds out that Martine is "in a bad way". He goes to see her, but he arrives too late. she has died. Monte is mourning at Martine's death bed when Shorty calls him out for a showdown.
Monte pursues Shorty through a slaughterhouse. Shorty shoots Monte in the arm. Monte manages to slip around and confront Shorty. Shorty holsters his pistol, and Monte shoots the unarmed Shorty. As Shorty dies, Monte says to him, or maybe to himself as Shorty might already be dead, "I rode down the grey... you had to sit him high."
Monte is on his own. The theme of the last scene is a repeat of the opening scene where Monte sees a wolf and prepares to shoot it. While aiming, he is talking to his horse (in the opening scene he was talking to Chet) and segues into the same story he told in scene one about a man, Big Joe Abernathy, who used to wrestle wolves. He doesn't shoot the wolf. He rides off into the "New West".
Anastasia is a beautiful woman who came from humble beginnings and whose dreams become reality when, thanks to her extravagant personality, she gets a well known jewelry company out of bankruptcy. This generates her millions of dollars with her work as a model. Anastasia becomes the Borosfky family's good luck charm. However, she meets Aureliano and that whole glamorous world will become her worst nightmare. Once in search of her freedom, Anastasia will meet the dark side of the Borosfky dynasty and will reveal one by one the secrets hidden behind the Cross of Dreams, an accursed jewel, valued at millions of dollars, which belonged to the Empress Catherine II of Russia. Terrorized and anxious to save herself, she will suffer an attack that ends the life of one of her sisters, whose body will disappear along with a large part of the Borosfky inheritance. This tragedy will cause Anastasia to return to the Borosfky mansion to try to figure out the plan carried out against her. While this occurs, Aureliano will become her most fervent ally and the only man who can make her dream again.
Sara Davis (Leah Pipes), a 17-19-year-old female soccer prodigy, has a chance to join the U.S. National Soccer Team. Her daily life is extremely hectic, as she finds a balance between high school, running, romance, sports, and parental pressure while realizing her own priorities. Sara, coached by her father Gil (Scott Patterson), sacrifices her interest in dance, photography, and her social life to concentrate on her sport.
With the encouragement of her best friend Tutti (Lalaine), Sara begins a relationship with Josh (Drew Tyler Bell), the solitary photographer on the school newspaper. As she takes control of her life, Sara faces the challenge of discovering what she really wants, so that she can make the best move of her life.
Sire Alain de Maletroit (Charles Laughton), plots revenge on his younger brother Edmond (Paul Cavanagh) for stealing Alain's childhood sweetheart, who died giving birth to Edmond's daughter Blanche (Sally Forrest). Alain secretly imprisons Edmond in his dungeon for 20 years and convinces Blanche that her father is dead.
Alain intends to further debase Blanche as revenge against Edmond. Alain tricks a high-born drunken cad, Denis de Beaulieu (Richard Stapley), into believing he has murdered a man. Denis escapes a mob by entering the Maletroit chateau by an exterior door which has no latch on the inside. Alain makes Denis a captive intending to force the delicate Blanche into marriage with him.
Alain goes to the dungeon to torture Edmond with the news Blanche will be married to Denis, an unworthy rogue. After Alain leaves, Edmond asks the family servant Voltan (Boris Karloff) to kill Denis before the wedding. However, Denis shows unanticipated redemptive qualities and he and Blanche fall in love. When Voltan comes to kill Denis, Blanche pleads with Voltan to spare his life and help him escape.
Their attempts to escape are foiled by Alain, who then seals Edmond, Blanche and Denis in a stone cell and starts a waterwheel that presses the cell walls inward to crush them to death. Voltan fights Alain and gets the key to the dungeon and pushes Alain into the waterwheel, temporarily stopping the crushing walls. Wounded by the guards, Voltan struggles to the dungeon and, with his dying breath, gets the key to Denis just as the walls start moving in again. Denis, Blanche and her father escape the cell. Denis and Blanche decide to stay together and Edmond has the strange door removed from the chateau.
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The story is set in 2062, eight years after a great war between space colonies. The player takes on the role of Tadashi, a heavy machines operator based on Earth. After buying a worker mech for his business with his girlfriend Elina, they discover it is actually a "Metal Slader", a military grade mech used during the war. The machine holds a secret message saying Earth is in danger and to seek the "creator". Tadashi, Elina and his younger sister Azusa decide to fly to the nearby space stations and colonies near Earth and the Moon to investigate the mech's origins and the meaning of the strange message.
Tadashi and crew soon learn that their Slader is a particularly powerful one-of-a-kind model named "Glory" and Tadashi's deceased father was its former pilot. As they continue to search for who may have designed or built Glory, a shape-shifting alien infiltrates their ship and kidnaps Azusa. In their search for Azusa and solving the mysteries of Glory, they discover a secret organization of Slader pilots that had worked with Tadashi's father. Catty, one of the leaders of the organization, explains that they were founded by a now deceased Slader designer. She also explains how the war from eight years ago was not fought between colonies but with extraterrestrials; the colony rebellion story was a cover-up. Because the aliens have the ability to take on the appearance of humans and infiltrate society, the Slader pilots prefer to stay a secret organization away from the potentially compromised government. She continues, saying that they will soon launch an attack on the aliens, and want Tadashi to participate as only he can pilot Glory. Tadashi agrees, but first they set off in search of Azusa.
Tadashi, Elina, and Catty travel to an abandoned colony to search for Azusa. After combating with several aliens, they find Azusa alive and lodged in a ventilation shaft. As they return to the secret base, they learn its location has been compromised. They escape on a large ship and prepare the Sladers for battle. Tadashi pilots Glory in a battle with the aliens and is ultimately successful at destroying their ship and saving Earth.
. The player takes on the role of Aya Brea, an NYPD rookie, attending an opera at Carnegie Hall with a blind date in New York City on Christmas Eve 1997. During the opera, everyone in the building spontaneously combusts, except for Aya, her date, and an actress on stage named Melissa Pearce. Aya confronts Melissa onstage, and Melissa says that Aya's mitochondria need more time to develop. She flees backstage, with Aya giving chase. Backstage, Melissa then mutates into a beast and flees into the sewers, declaring that her name is now Eve.
The next day, on Christmas, Aya and her partner, Daniel Dollis, go to see a scientist at the Museum of Natural History named Dr. Hans Klamp. He teaches the protagonists about mitochondria, but they do not find his information useful since it does not explain the previous night's events. Later that day, they hear that Eve is in Central Park, and to make matters worse, an audience has gathered at the park's theater intending to see a performance that Melissa Pearce was to give. Aya enters Central Park alone as Daniel is unable to pass through the entrance without spontaneously combusting. She makes it to the theater, but is too late to stop Eve, who causes the theater audience's mitochondria to rebel against their hosts and turns the crowd into a slimy orange mass. Aya chases after Eve and is knocked unconscious after a fight with her aboard a horse-drawn carriage. Daniel discovers that his son, Ben, was at the park, but had left the audience at the Central Park theater when he began to feel ill and when his mother began to act strange. He also learns that Manhattan is being evacuated due to the threat that Eve poses.
While Manhattan is being evacuated, a Japanese scientist named Kunihiko Maeda manages to sneak into the city, witnessing a police officer combust into flames in the process. Aya awakens in an apartment in SoHo, with Daniel and Maeda at her side. Maeda reveals the origins of Eve: A scientist tried to culture the cells of his wife after she was involved in a car accident, and the mitochondria in her cells took over her body. Maeda believes that Eve may be trying to give birth to an "Ultimate Being". The next day, the three go to see Dr. Klamp again. After examining cell samples from that of Eve and Aya's, Maeda concludes that based on selfish gene theory, Aya and Eve's mitochondria are in an evolutionary race for survival. Dr. Klamp suddenly appears and asks a few questions of Aya in a hostile manner. The three leave and head for the St. Francis Hospital, where Maeda thinks Eve may try to get sperm for the Ultimate Being. When they arrive, they find that Eve is already there. Eve takes the sperm and escapes.
The next day, Aya sees the orange mass of people from the park enter the city water supply. She goes to Dr. Klamp one more time, and discovers that Dr. Klamp has engineered special sperm for Eve so that she can create the Ultimate Being. He then spontaneously combusts. Aya finds Eve in another part of the museum, where the orange mass has surrounded her, forming an impermeable shield to protect her while the Ultimate Being gestates within her. After several failed attempts to attack Eve, the military asks Aya to attack her from a chopper, as she is the only one who can get close without combusting. The plan works, but Aya has to personally finish the fight on a now-wrecked Statue of Liberty, where Eve finally succumbs to necrosis due to her unstable cells. As Aya rests on a naval vessel, the Ultimate Being is born and attacks the surrounding ships. Aya does battle with the Ultimate Being, but its mitochondria causes it to evolve at an alarming rate. Aya sets the vessel's boiler pressure dangerously high, so as to destroy it with the Ultimate Being on board. In the initial ending, Aya, Daniel, his son Ben, and Maeda attend the opera at Carnegie Hall, where Aya's mitochondrial powers allow her to resonate with the audience members, their eyes ominously glowing.
After completing the game once, the player can access the Chrysler Building and have access to the true final boss, who takes the form of Aya's sister, Maya. She explains to Aya that Klamp cultivated the liver cells of the original Eve to analyze. When Melissa was giving birth to the Ultimate Being, she created a nest there. In case Melissa and the Ultimate Being failed, the purebred would remain. Aya speaks with her sister, and they engage in battle against the purebred. After the purebred is defeated, the mitochondria inside Aya's body begin to rebel against her. It is explained that Aya's mitochondria have now reached a higher evolutionary stage than Maya's, but Maya's personality has suddenly become dominant and begun to fight off the Eve persona. Maya eventually wins, purging the Eve persona from herself. Somehow, Maya protects Aya by preventing the original Eve from taking over her. Aya leaves the building by herself, although she apparently has gained some sort of connection with her dead sister.
Nagisa Kasumi (the granddaughter of Nagisa Kanou, the heroine of "Fight! Iczer One") has a job as a delivery girl and makes her deliveries with a girl named Kawai on a base in the Moon. The two encounter a new race of alien villains, but are saved by Iczer-3! While Iczer-1 recovers from her long battle against Big Gold's legacy and self-proclaimed successor, Neos Gold, Sister Grey sends young Iczer-3 to Earth, and the child turns out to be the best hope against the new threat.
In World War II Austria, Col. Alois Podhajsky sets out to protect his beloved Lipizzaner stallions - purebred white show horses with centuries of tradition - from starving refugees and the advancing Soviet Army, which might also view them as a food source. Hoping to surrender them into safekeeping, he seeks out U.S. General George S. Patton, a noted horse fancier.
While flying a routine mission for the U.S. Navy from his aircraft carrier, an emergency causes Lieutenant Robin "Rob" Crusoe (Van Dyke) to eject from his F-8 Crusader into the ocean. Crusoe drifts on the ocean in an emergency life raft for several days and nights until landing on an uninhabited island. He builds a shelter for himself, fashions new clothing out of available materials, and begins to scout the island, discovering an abandoned Japanese submarine from World War II. Scouring the submarine, Crusoe also discovers a NASA astrochimp named Floyd, played by Dinky.
Using tools and blueprints found in the submarine, Crusoe and Floyd construct a Japanese pavilion, a golf course, and a mail delivery system for sending bottles containing missives to his fiancee out to sea.
Soon after, the castaway discovers that the island is not entirely uninhabited when he encounters a beautiful island girl (Nancy Kwan), whom he names Wednesday. Wednesday recounts that due to her unwillingness to marry, her chieftain father, Tanamashuhi (Akim Tamiroff), plans to sacrifice her and her sisters to Kaboona, an immense effigy on the island with whom he pretends to communicate.
The day Tanamashu arrives on the island, Crusoe uses paraphernalia from the submarine to combat him, culminating in the destruction of the Kaboona statue.
After the battle, Crusoe and Tanamashu make peace. But when Crusoe makes it known that he does not wish to marry Wednesday, he is forced to flee to avoid her wrath. Pursued by a mob of irate island women, he is spotted by a U.S. Navy helicopter and he and Floyd narrowly escape with their lives. Large crowds turn out for their arrival on an aircraft carrier deck, but Floyd steals all the limelight.
After faking his own death, William H. Bonney, A.K.A. Billy the Kid, encounters a man named Fineas Sproule on a train. Sproule proposes that Bonney follow him back to his traveling carnival. In exchange for giving him shelter, Bonney will accompany Sproule and a small group of his performers to Europe where they intend to steal a powerful supernatural object with an evil history known as the Golem's Heart from the castle of Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
After a number of introductions and a dinner that results with most of the carnival members disliking Bonney, the carnival is attacked by Leonard Abradale, a former associate of Sproule who wants the Golem's Heart all for himself. The fight is short and Abradale retreats.
Billy the Kid and his allies arrive in the small village surrounding the castle of Victor Frankenstein and rent out some rooms at the local inn. Sproule sends Callahan and Delgado to scout out the castle. After a point where they are an hour late for their time of return, the tattoos on Isadora's right shoulder shift into a skull like image. Moments after this a misshapen creature appears at the window and is shot by Billy the Kid.
Billy the kid and his allies are attacked and captured by the creations of Victor Frankenstien. After waking up in a dungeon, they are greeted and invited to dinner by Victor Frankenstein himself. At dinner Frankenstein uncovers a platter in the center of the table, revealing the severed head of Hector Delgado and orders Billy the Kid and his allies chained to a nearby wall. Frankenstein chooses Jeffrey to be dissected and ties the young man to a nearby table. As he prepares for the operation, Frankenstein explains how he used the Golem's Heart to create his creatures.
A verbal confrontation between Billy the Kid and Frankenstein results in Billy the Kid being locked in a trunk and thrown outside the castle.
An enraged Watta breaks free from his chains and frees Jeffrey who flees. In response, an emotionless Frankenstein runs a sword through Watta's torso from behind, killing him.
Now outside the castle, Jeffrey finds the trunk containing Billy the Kid, who is whimpering in fear caused by his claustrophobia. After being freed and taking some time to recover, Billy the Kid returns to the castle which is now under attack from a tank like machine operated by Leonard Abradale. Abradale is quickly killed by Frankenstein's creations.
Abradale's death proves to be a good distraction for Billy the Kid as he attacks Frankenstein's creations. In the chaos Jeffrey gains control of the Golem's Heart and orders Frankenstein's creations to attack and kill their creator.
When everything calms down, Sproule reveals the reasons why he and his companions wanted the Golem's Heart. The decision is then made to destroy it. When this is done all of Frankenstein's creations fall dead.
Jack Mann finds Beebo Brinker (real name Betty Jean — she was unable to pronounce it as a child) wandering the streets of New York City's Greenwich Village. Beebo is 18 years old, tall and handsome, vacillating between overconfidence and vulnerability after leaving her family's farm in Wisconsin. Beebo is clearly welling up with a terrible secret that forced her to move east, and guilt that comes with leaving her father alone.
Jack helps Beebo get a job delivering pizzas (one of the advantages is that she can wear pants) for Pete, who is a little creepy, and his wife who cooks. Jack also allows Beebo to live with him until she gets on her feet, and allows her the time and space to ask the questions he knows she needs to ask. When she admits her frank admiration for a woman she sees, Jack tells her about lesbians, and she reacts with obvious fascination. He escorts her to several gay bars in the Village where she is astonished and touched by what she recognizes in herself.
After being treated cruelly by a vindictive woman playing a game with Pete, Beebo happens upon Paula one evening at her apartment, and it is Paula who verifies Beebo's sexuality. She is roused a couple days later to make a delivery to the apartment of an outrageous movie star, Venus Bogardus, who lives with her lonely teenaged son whom Beebo befriends. Beebo is infatuated and unnerved by Venus, who proposes that Beebo join them to return to California as company for her son — and to bridge the gap between them. Venus, in turn, divulges her past loves with men and women and seduces Beebo.
As Venus rehearses for a television show, Beebo learns her new precarious place at her ranch in California negotiating around Venus' business-minded husband, her public persona, and her vulnerable son. She is essentially kept in secret. A dissatisfied Beebo begins to miss Paula. Being briefly seen with Venus in public causes gossip columnists to start asking questions, and Venus' husband warns Beebo to stay away from Venus. But on the night of the show, Venus' son has an epileptic seizure and cuts his head open. Beebo must find Venus at a wrap party, but is intercepted and beaten by Venus' husband before Beebo can tell her what has happened.
The morning papers unleash rumors of Venus being a lesbian. Unwilling to live in secret with Venus, Beebo returns to New York to recover while Venus and her husband appear happily in public. After a while, Beebo goes to find Paula again, who is thrilled to see her once more. Paula assures her that love can be better and they decide to see for themselves how.
When Greg Lockland returns to California for his parents' funeral, he discovers letters that suggest an affair between his ex-lover, Lian, and his late father. Suspicions, anger and jealousy take Greg on a transpacific journey to find the truth. One by one, people from the past return to his life, including elusive and perfect Lian. Uncovering deep-rooted deceptions creates more twists and turns to the past than an old Chinese alleyway. ''The Pacific Between'' evinces the power of unconditional love and deals with personal subjects such as death, estrangement, and betrayal. It is a man's journey to discover himself and the world around him. Told with wit and humor, this nostalgic tale speaks true to the heart about relationships, families, and sacrifices. Raymond K. Wong's rich Asian voice makes his story spring to life through the development of his vibrant characters, exotic settings, complex Chinese-American relationships, humor, and a superb plot of perceived betrayal.
When entrepreneur Greg Lockland arrives in California to attend his parents' funeral, his world begins to unravel. Pictures of a brother he barely remembers and letters discovered hidden in his father's safe deposit box suggest an illicit affair between his late father and Greg's ex-lover Lian Wan.
Confused and angry, Greg visits Kate Walken, a young woman with whom his relationship has taken an unexpected, romantic turn. Greg hates secrets and the hurt they cause. Yet, he tells Kate only of the pictures he found. Greg battles with his mixed emotions and can't bring himself to tell her about Lian. Does he still love Lian? Does he love Kate? Can he love Kate?
Greg is like a boy who never grew up. He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants. Though he can be affectionate, he can be obnoxious, deceiving and secretive-all the things he loathes.
Seething anger, growing suspicion, and inescapable jealousy accompany Greg on a transpacific journey to Hong Kong in search of Lian and the truth about the affair.
Greg has no idea he's about to unlock a secret that has been kept closeted for years. One after another, people return from his past, each adding another roadblock to Greg's mysterious puzzle. With each piece of information, Greg is forced to re-examine his beliefs, feelings, and relationships with old friends and family.
Among those who help Greg is Agnes, the Director of Nursing at the hospital where his father once worked. She is a bossy, mannish, British nurse whom Greg never liked. During his relentless search to uncover the truth, Greg is surprised to find Agnes with his happy-go-lucky friend Old Chow and realizes Agnes has a passionate side. Agnes and Old Chow prod Greg to explore his feelings and their secret plans push him into another situation of doubt.
(Summarized by Joanne D. Kiggins)
As the film opens, we learn that Benson, a New Yorker, has been entrusted with protecting the 11-year-old boy. The style of the film is intentionally ambiguous, and details about only obtained through the dialogue between the main characters, in many cases, in a way that only makes sense once later scenes are viewed. The boy, as is revealed later, is with Benson because his father had appealed for protection from the authorities in return for his testimony against a local mobster, Manzella. The title of the film refers to the location of the main characters, who live on an island that is remote enough from the mainland that fresh water must be shipped in. Also on the island is a mysterious convent of nuns who make a living producing what appears to be wine and food seasonings, mainly using the local plants. The convent is located high in the mountains, and takes its heat from the active volcano on the island.
Benson finds that his efforts to get the child to talk to him about the murder of his father, who was to be under protection at the time that he was killed (the plot does not reveal when the killing took place) are frustrated by the boy's strong desire to exact his own revenge. From the actions of Manzella and others, it becomes apparent that the boy was either present when his father was killed, or knows details relevant to the murder. Much of the story revolves around a cat-and-mouse style chase between Manzella and the boy. All the while, Benson must deal with the local police, who have themselves been infiltrated by Manzella's organization (this, we learn, was how the boy's father was betrayed).
Romantic tension in the story is provided by Andie MacDowell's character, Jessie. She has come to stay on the island with Benson, and their young daughter. Because of the secretive nature of the case, however, there is very little that Benson can reveal to Jessie about their reason for being in Italy, and this begins to place a strain on their marriage. Jessie regards the boy as her own, and attempts to find things to occupy his time while her husband and the local police are investigating Manzella. About midway through the story, we learn from the local detective, Giovanni Gigli, that the authorities are powerless to arrest Manzella, because he has the sympathy of those in the community of Naples, and it would be too dangerous to simply arrive in daylight with a warrant.
Space Siege takes place in the far future, where Earth has just been destroyed by the Kerak, an insect-like race of aliens that are seeking to exterminate humanity in retaliation for mankind's colonization of their homeworld, Elysium IV. The game takes place on the escaping colony ship ISCS Armstrong, which is under attack by the Kerak. Players take the role of security officer Seth Walker who, along with his robot sidekick HR-V (pronounced "Harvey"), is tasked with repelling the Kerak attack on the ship. Assisting Seth are communications officer and love interest Gina Reynolds, Seth's best friend soldier Jake Henderson, cybernetics surgeon Dr. Edward DeSoto, and alcoholic mechanic Frank Murphy. Throughout the game, the player is given the option of replacing their body parts with cybernetic augmentations, which allow Seth to battle the Kerak more effectively, at the nebulous cost of "some of his humanity". Gina is fiercely opposed to cybernetic augmentation, Jake supports it fervently, and Dr. DeSoto is in favour of it to a certain extent, believing that man should not replace all their body parts.
Later in the game, it is revealed that the AI controlling the Armstrong, PILOT, is secretly planning to convert the ship's entire human population into mind-controlled cyborgs in order to ensure the survival of mankind from the threat of the Kerak. Seth, Harvey, and Gina set out to stop PILOT's plan, while Jake sides with PILOT and is converted into a massive cybernetic war-machine. Towards the end the player is asked via dialog box whether to join PILOT or to destroy it. After defeating Jake, Seth confronts PILOT. The closing scene has three different endings with the path followed determined by whether the player wishes to destroy PILOT and/or whether the player has undergone cybernetic augmentation throughout the game.
Chapters 1–6: Penrod, against his will, is cast as "The Child Sir Lancelot" in the local production ''The Pageant of the Table Round''. Chapters 7–11: After seeing a movie about the evils of drink, Penrod uses the film's plot as an excuse for daydreaming in class. Chapters 12–14: It's the Annual Cotillion for Penrod's Dancing Class, and Penrod, who's known as "The Worst Boy in Town", has to find a female partner. Chapters 15–17: It's summer vacation. After meeting Herman and Verman, the children of a local black family, Penrod and Sam set up a show which becomes even more popular by the addition of the son of the most socially prominent family in town, which by coincidence shares the same last name as a notorious convicted murderess. Chapters 18–20: A dollar, given to him by his sister's boyfriend to leave them alone, proves Penrod's undoing. Chapters 21–23: Penrod meets a local tough kid and falls victim to hero-worship of the same. Eventually Herman and Verman try to kill the tough kid with a lawn mower and a garden scythe. Chapters 24–25: Penrod hates to be called a "Little Gentleman", and the local barber's urging other children to keep calling him that leads to fighting with tar. After they get cleaned up Penrod's older sister has a bachelor visitor who keeps calling Penrod "Little Gentleman", so when the bachelor asks Penrod to get his hat, Penrod puts tar in the man's hat. Chapters 26–27: Penrod, Sam and other local boys' discussing what they want to be when they grow up leads to them all wanting to be ministers and they make the kid who had the idea climb a tree and yell "I'm goin to heaven! I'm goin to hell!" The kid's mother thinks Penrod is a horrible boy and is going to be a criminal but Penrod says he's going to be a minister. *Chapters 28–31: It's Penrod's twelfth birthday, and the arrival of a pretty new girl from New York turns his party into an occasion no one in town may ever forget.
After the Watergate scandal of 1972 and his subsequent resignation in 1974, 400 million people worldwide watched on television as Nixon left the White House aboard Marine One. Among those watching was British journalist David Frost, who was recording a talk show in Australia at the time, and who decided that day to interview Nixon.
Nixon's literary agent, Irving Lazar, believes the interviews would be an opportunity for Nixon to salvage his reputation and profit financially. Lazar demands $500,000 and ultimately secures $600,000 after Frost accepts.
After persuading his friend and producer John Birt that the interviews could be a success, Frost travels with Birt to California to meet with Nixon. On board the plane, Frost flirts with a young woman named Caroline Cushing, and the pair begin a relationship as she tags along for the trip.
Frost struggles to sell the interviews to American networks, and decides to finance the project with private money. He brokers his own deals with advertisers and local TV stations to syndicate the broadcast of the interviews. He and Birt hire two investigators — Bob Zelnick and James Reston Jr. — to help Frost prepare. Frost is unsure as to what he wants from the interviews; Reston encourages him to aim for a confession from Nixon.
Under scrutiny by Nixon's post-presidential chief of staff, Jack Brennan, Frost and Nixon embark on the first three recording sessions. Frost is restricted by an agreed-upon timeframe and, under pressure from his own team, attempts to ask tough questions. However, Nixon dominates the sessions regarding the Vietnam War and his achievements in foreign policy. Behind the scenes, Frost's editorial team is nervous about Frost's capacity as a journalist and angry that Nixon appears to be exonerating himself.
Four days before the final interview, which will focus on Watergate, Frost receives a phone call from an inebriated Nixon. In a drunken rant, Nixon declares that they both know the final interview will make or break their careers. He compares himself to Frost, insisting that they both came from humble backgrounds and had to struggle to make it to the top of their fields, only to be knocked back down again. Frost gains new insight into his subject, while Nixon assures Frost that he will do everything in his power to emerge the victor of the final interview.
The conversation spurs Frost into action. For the next three days, he works relentlessly to prepare as Reston pursues a lead at the Federal Courthouse library in Washington.
As the final interview begins, Frost ambushes Nixon with damning transcripts of a conversation between Nixon and Charles Colson that Reston dug up in Washington. As his own team watches in horror from an adjoining room, Nixon admits that he did unethical things, adding, "When the President does it, that means it's not illegal." A stunned Frost is on the verge of inducing a confession when Brennan bursts in and stops the recording. After Nixon and Brennan confer, the interview resumes. Frost aggressively pursues his original line of questioning; Nixon admits that he participated in a cover-up and that he "let the American people down."
Some time after the interviews have aired, Frost and Cushing pay a farewell visit to Nixon at his villa. Frost thanks Nixon for the interviews and Nixon, graciously admitting defeat, thanks Frost in return and wishes him well. Frost gifts Nixon a pair of Italian shoes identical to the ones Frost wore during the interviews. In a private moment, Nixon asks about the night he drunkenly called Frost, implying that he has no recollection of the event. For the first time, Nixon addresses Frost by his first name. Nixon watches Frost and Cushing leave before placing the shoes on the villa's stone railing and solemnly looking out at the sunset.
A textual epilogue states that the interviews were wildly successful and that Nixon never escaped controversy until his death from a stroke in 1994.
Three sisters, Veronica, Victoria, and Elizabeth, receive letters from their late father's lawyer informing them of their father's wish that they spend three nights in his house on an isolated island before his will can be read. They and their husbands, William, Richard and Donald, are met there by the two maids, Martha and Ruth, and a hunchback named Colin, whom the audience has already seen murdering two people at the beginning of the film. While helping with the luggage, Colin becomes angry and catches and eats a live rabbit. The rabbit remains are later found in Veronica and William's bed, along with a note reading, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit."
Victoria and Robert find that someone has painted a large 'X' in blood on their bedroom door. Robert and Donald go downstairs to investigate, but Donald collapses after being drugged. Robert investigates the cellar and sees someone he recognizes. Shortly afterward, Victoria finds his body hanging by the ankles on the stairs. The next morning, while discussing what happened, Ruth asks Martha if she had tied up Colin that night.
Colin attempts to tell Victoria something but is interrupted by Martha and sent to chop firewood in the cellar with Donald (who is given a leather strap to use on Colin). Donald finds a plank of wood with a bloody 'X' on it but is attacked from behind, gagged and bound to a workbench before being disemboweled and cut in two by a hooded figure.
At dinner, the guests ask about Donald and Elizabeth's whereabouts. Eventually, Elizabeth's severed head is found in the serving dish when dinner is served.
William goes into the cellar to investigate and finds a box and a photograph. However, Colin steals the photo from him, and William is then attacked and killed with a pitchfork by the hooded figure. Later, Martha finds Colin with the photograph and realizes what it means but is killed with a hatchet. Colin tries to escape from the killer but is set alight.
It is revealed that Ruth is in fact Hattie, the fourth and eldest sister, and she had planned to kill the others and blame Colin so that she could claim the inheritance. Colin is still alive, however, and pushes her down the stairs, causing her hatchet to bury itself in her head. The two remaining sisters, Veronica and Victoria, are left staring in disbelief.
In 1945 US Army Rangers raid the Cabanatuan Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, rescuing its POWs. The film flashes back to March, 1942, and the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines.
As U.S. Army troops under General MacArthur struggle to hold on at Bataan against the Japanese, Colonel Joseph Madden (John Wayne) orders one of his officers, Captain Andrés Bonifacio (Anthony Quinn), to shape up. Bonifacio has been under a strain because his sweetheart Dalisay Delgado (Fely Franquelli) is apparently collaborating with the Japanese, broadcasting propaganda over the radio.
Later, Madden is picked to slip through the lines to organize Filipinos to fight as guerrillas against the Japanese occupation. His commanding officer lets him know that Delgado is actually using the propaganda broadcasts to secretly transmit valuable information to them, but he is ordered to reveal that fact to no one, not even Bonifacio.
Madden makes contact with one group of Filipino resistance fighters, but as they set out on their first mission, they encounter middle-aged American school teacher Bertha Barnes (Beulah Bondi). She and her students join the guerrillas after the Japanese hang Buenaventura Bello (Vladimir Sokoloff), the principal of her school and a dear friend, for refusing to take down the American flag.
Setting out on their first mission to destroy a Japanese gasoline dump, Madden and his men stumble upon the Bataan Death March and realize that Bataan has fallen. Many of the Filipinos lose heart, so to boost their will to fight, Madden finds and engineers the rescue of Captain Bonifacio from the Death March. Bonifacio happens to be the grandson of Andrés Bonifacio, a national hero. It works. For their first mission, the guerrillas go to the Filipino village and hang the Japanese officer who ordered the killing of Bello. During the next year, Madden and his guerrillas attack Japanese outposts, supply depots, military airfields, and other installations.
Major Hasko (Richard Loo), one of the Japanese commanders, attempts to appease the local population by staging a semi-independence ceremony to reduce popular support for the Filipino resistance. Madden, Bonifacio, and the guerrillas attack the ceremony, where Dalisay finally reveals her true alliance during her radio broadcast: She urges her people to rise up against the Japanese. Most of the Japanese troops are killed in the raid, but a young Filipino boy named Maximo Cuenca (one of Barnes' students) is captured. After being beaten, he agrees to lead the Japanese to Madden's hideout. However, as they near that spot, Maximo, sitting in the front seat of a Japanese transport truck, suddenly grabs the steering wheel, sending it careening down a mountainside. He later dies in the arms of Miss Barnes.
Colonel Madden is ordered out of the field, leaving Captain Bonifacio in command of the Filipino resistance. Several months later, in October 1944, Bonifácio and his group travel to Leyte, where rumors are circulating of the impending American invasion to liberate the Philippines. After arriving on a beach in Leyte, Bonifacio is reunited with Madden who has arrived by submarine along with Lt. Commander Waite (Lawrence Tierney), a U.S. naval officer. Waite tasks Bonifacio and Madden with a mission of taking and holding a small village to block Japanese reinforcements from repelling the impending landing of American forces that are due within 24 hours.
By trickery, Madden, Bonifacio, and their men engage and defeat the Japanese garrison in a fierce pitched battle. Two enemy soldiers, however, get away on a motorcycle and spread the alarm. Japanese tanks and soldiers attack. The defenders manage to knock out most of the tanks, but are on the verge of being forced to retreat. Just when all seems lost, American reinforcements and tanks arrive and turn the tide of battle.
The film ends with another short montage, this time showing several of the actual released Americans from the Cabanatuan prison camp.
Although in three acts, the action is played out in four sections. Act II is divided into two scenes each as long as Act I, while Act III is approximately half the length of the others.
''About 4 P.M. on a Saturday afternoon''
In the second half of 1943, War correspondent Elmer Brockhurst enters the headquarters office of the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces' Fifth Bombardment Division . He questions the general's orderly, T/Sgt. Harold Evans, about a mysterious German fighter under guard in a hangar and the record losses of B-17s on a mission the day before, then tries to milk him for information about the arrest of a squadron commander, Captain Lucius Jenks. Evans rebuffs him.
Brig. Gen. K. C. "Casey" Dennis comes into his office to discuss the daily round of problems with his chief of staff, Col. Haley, and to interview Jenks. He soon finds that he has an unexpected public relations crisis on his hands after losing 40 bombers on the previous day's mission. His superior, Maj. Gen. R.G. Kane, enters during the interview, bringing with him Brig. Gen. Clifton C. Garnett from the Pentagon, a West Point classmate and career rival of Dennis —and brother-in-law to Dennis's operations officer, Col. Ted Martin. Garnett's greeting reveals that Dennis took command of the Fifth Division not long before when their mutual friend Joe Lucas was killed. Garnett's visit stirs speculation that he has been sent by the United Chiefs to replace either Kane or Dennis in command.
Dennis and Brockhurst, old antagonists in conflicts between the military and the press, clash again when Jenks attempts to reveal the day's target to the reporter. Kane asks Brockhurst to leave for security reason, and Dennis identifies the target as Schweinhafen. Kane realizes Dennis has begun Operation Stitch in Kane's absence. Kane takes Jenks outside to talk to him privately; in his absence Garnett quibbles with Dennis over the danger inherent in Ted Martin leading missions. When Kane returns, Garnett demands to be informed about the nature of Stitch. Dennis outlines the threat of new German German jet fighters, and that Stitch seeks to destroy the factories building them before they can go into operation and crush American strategic bombing. It becomes clear that Kane has deliberately withheld information about the jet from the Pentagon to delay the operation and hold down losses.
The return of the day's mission interrupts, culminating in the off-stage crash of a bomber. Evans steers the visitors out of the office on a pretext, allowing Dennis time with Martin, who reveals that they attacked the wrong target. Martin urges him to keep quiet about the mistake, because the two cities are indistinguishable, until they can finish the job. As the curtain comes down on Act I, Dennis reminds Martin that Kane must be told because he is in command.
''About 10 P.M. the same evening''
Kane and party return as Dennis impatiently waits to send out his field order for the next day's mission. Brockhurst has been taken into Kane's confidence regarding Stitch. Lt. Goldberg, a bombardier, enters with photographs identifying the target struck in error, the revelation of the mistake triggering shock and outrage in the others.
Kane and Dennis are both ensnared in political minefields. Kane's headquarters reports that a visiting congressional oversight committee is due. Garnett's presence strongly implies to both that unless low loss missions are laid on, to strengthen the Air Force's position at a resource allocation conference in the Pentagon in three days, either or both might be relieved of command. Dennis, however, is concerned only with Stitch. A third city, Fendelhorst, must also be attacked, and Dennis's bomb division is the only unit able to reach these targets beyond the range of escorting U.S. fighters. A rare stretch of clear weather, about to end, presents an opportunity to complete the operation before the Luftwaffe can mount an impenetrable defense. In Dennis's judgment, the mission is worth any cost.
Unbeknownst to Dennis, Garnett offers Martin a job as chief of staff (with a promotion) in the B-29 command he expects to receive. Kane denies permission to attack Schweinhafen again but Dennis blackmails him by threatening to prefer charges against Capt. Jenks. Aware that Jenks is a constituent of Congressman Malcolm of the visiting Military Affairs Committee, Dennis coerces Kane into giving permission to continue Stitch by contriving to have Jenks (who refused to fly the mission to Schweinhafen) accompany Malcolm and receive a medal during the Committee's visit. At the curtain for Scene 1, Martin warns Dennis that Kane will renege on his permission by recalling the mission after it takes off and demands assignment as mission leader.
''Sunday Noon, the following day''
The second attack on Schweinhafen is already underway as Kane's aide gives a scripted presentation promoting strategic airpower to the visiting congressional committee. Congressman Malcolm quickly shows an animus to Dennis, charging him with recklessly causing heavy losses. Tensions rise, but Evans uses political savvy and liquor to ease the situation. Brockhurst apologizes to Dennis when he learns that Kane has let the mission proceed, only to send a recall order he knows will be ignored by Martin, to shift any blame for losses to Dennis. Martin sends the signal that this time Schweinhafen has been destroyed. During the ceremony to decorate Jenks, however, Dennis is brought a message that Martin's B-17 is shot down and Malcolm angrily accuses Dennis of killing Martin. Dennis shakes him by the lapels and flings him into a chair. At the close of Act II, Kane relieves Dennis of command and replaces him with Garnett.
''Sunday the same day. About 8 P.M.''
Evans prepares the office for its new occupant. As Garnett queries each member of his staff about the next day's operations, he clearly seeks justification to order an easy mission. Dennis enters to see if there is any further news about Martin's fate, and commiserates with Garnett, stunning him with the disclosure that their seemingly imperturbable predecessor, Joe Lucas, actually died a suicide after repeatedly ordering men to their deaths. Garnett suddenly realizes that Dennis hated every minute of his duties. Despite a conversation with a drunken homesick pilot, Capt. George Washington Culpepper Lee, who looks forward to a "milk run" for the final mission of his tour, Garnett makes the command decision to attack Fendelhorst while the weather permits. Dennis looks forward to a training command in the United States, where he can be near his family, but a message from the Pentagon orders him to China and the new B-29 command. Dennis orders Evans to get his gear too.
Some students from a Progress Class in Liverpool are going on a trip to Conwy Castle, but they misbehave. Before the trip they leave they buy sweets and the deputy head disciplinarian teacher, Mr Briggs, joins them. On the journey, they make some stops: at a cafe, a zoo, the beach (Conwy Castle) and (afterwards) a fun fair. Whilst the children shoplift and generally make trouble, an older boy, Reilly hits on his young teacher, Susan, who shakes off his attentions by suggesting he turn his attention to the pretty young Linda, who had been trying it on with her own boyfriend, Colin. At the castle, they end up losing one of the children, Carol.
Mr. Briggs finds Carol on the cliffs as she laments the necessity of returning to her troubled home life. He shouts at her to return but when she threatens to jump off the cliff, he softens and gently talks her down. In an uncharacteristic moment, Mr. Briggs takes the children to the fun fair, where Mrs. Kay gently mocks him for enjoying himself, saying she has the photographs to prove he is not all that bad. Briggs offers to develop the photographs for her, but later, after a moments sad reflection, exposes them to the light.
Tiffany Courtney is an overly perky editor working for ''Merle Magazine''. To give her company's magazine a more legitimate readership (the main readers of the magazine are currently prisoners, transsexuals, priests and gays), Tiffany proposes to her boss that the magazine hold a swimwear shoot on a tropical island starring the world's top five greatest supermodels.
To take the pictures Tiffany recruits Gunter and Gerd, two asexual photographers from Germany. The supermodels all agree to participate and are flown to the Islands of Isis, a tropical paradise where the shoot is to take place. Things don't start off well for Tiffany. As well as showing hatred towards each other the supermodels are instantly put of by Tiffany's excessive perkiness. Things go from bad to worse for Tiffany when she starts hearing the voice of Ryan from her self-help tapes in her head telling her to murder the supermodels.
Once Tiffany starts hearing the voices a Ninja begins to murder the supermodels. P is shot in the back by a spear gun during a shoot. Hoo-Chi has her neck broken whilst in hand-to-hand combat with the Ninja (following her death Hoo-Chi is revealed to be a transsexual, has male genitalia and appears as a man on a Chinese passport). Despite the murders Tiffany is determined to go ahead with the shoot. The next to be killed is Yo who dies of a massive bout of flatulence after the Ninja tampered with steroid suppositories she was taking to maintain her large behind. The voices in Tiffany's head continue to tell her that she had killed them and suspicion falls on Tiffany from the remaining models.
On the final day of the shoot, Eva's failed attempts to seduce the asexual photographers results in her abandoning the shoot. She is later found shot along with Gunter. The Ninja confronts Tiffany and Gerd and is unmasked and is Tiffany's boss Merle. Darbie is revealed to be Merle's lesbian lover. Merle and Darbie (whose real name is revealed to be Sarah) had conspired to kill the supermodels to promote the image of a new, intelligent supermodel. Gerd was also in on the scheme to escape from the dominance the mute Gunter to which he is basically a translator. Merle reveals that Tiffany is a major pawn in her scheme. The voices in her head were part of a scheme involving micro transmitters inserted in Tiffany's ears whilst she was having surgery to remove a freckle on her left nipple which Tiffany was concerned would turn cancerous. The voices are provided by Ryan himself who is another associate of Merle. He is also Dieter, Eva's poolboy. Merle turns the gun on Tiffany, she tries to talk them out of killing anyone else but is shot dead to set her up as the killer. The movie ends with Merle and Sarah/Darbie on the beach, talking about the future, but Merle is then shot (presumably with fatal consequences) by Sarah/Darbie presumably so only she would control the new wave of models.
The book begins on July 20, 1944, when Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg successfully bombs the ''Wolfsschanze'' during a military conference and later executes Operation ''Valkyrie'' in Berlin. However, his decision to signal Adolf Hitler's death to other conspirators by code buys enough time for SS ''Reichsführer'' Heinrich Himmler to launch his own countercoup, Operation ''Reichssturm''. While the Allies work to break out of Normandy through Operation Cobra, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel recovers from the injuries that he suffered during a real-life strafing run three days before the Stauffenberg coup. Himmler appoints him as commander of all German forces in Western Europe, under the watch from the SS, after Field Marshal Günther von Kluge dies in an air attack. He also believes that Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel's mention of Rommel as a possible conspirator holds no weight.
Back in Berlin, Himmler takes charge of the German government and sends Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Wehrmacht Colonel Gunther von Reinhardt to negotiate a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. The plan, Operation ''Carousel'', calls for Germany to shift troops from the Eastern Front to the Western Front and to leave Eastern Europe and Scandinavia to the Soviets. The Nazis also agree to share missile technology with Moscow. The sudden implementation of the treaty angers the Allies, who promptly shift naval forces from the Pacific to the European Theater of Operations. Meanwhile, Rommel organizes a counterattack at Abbeville against the American 19th Armored Division by using units recovered from the Normandy front. He also orders the 19th Army to evacuate southern France ahead of Operation Dragoon and regroup at the Westwall.
Having identified all of the surviving July 20 conspirators, Himmler orders the SS to kill them, in some instances by posing as British Commandos. Luftwaffe General Adolf Galland is assigned to spearhead the development of the Me 262 fighter. Because of his concern for the troops, Rommel disagrees with Himmler about holding Metz as a strongpoint against the Allies. Himmler responds by sending SS troopers disguised as US soldiers to ambush a combat unit Rommel withdraws from the city.
Galland's efforts with the fighter program results in the mobilization of all surviving Luftwaffe units in a co-ordinated assault against an Allied bomber raid of almost 2,600 aircraft in November 1944. The attack so severely cripples the bomber force that the Allies are forced to suspend the bombing campaign of Germany. The postponement buys Rommel more time to boost his forces for a major offensive through the Ardennes. Although the operation is codenamed ''Wacht Am Rhein,'' von Reinhardt successfully proposes a change to ''Fuchs Am Rhein'' (Fox on the Rhine) to emphasize Rommel's role as the leader of the offensive. Heinz Guderian is also assigned to lead one of the two ''panzerarmees'' to be used in the operation, which aims to reach Antwerp.
Like the real-life Battle of the Bulge, the operation begins on the night of December 16, 1944. The capture of a major fuel dump at Stavelot allows the German forces to extend their advance much further than in the actual offensive, and they capture a bridge in Dinant to keep the momentum going. Field Marshal Montgomery, who successfully reinforced 21st Army Group's side of the Meuse River against a German crossing, is killed when German forces bombard his command post in Waterloo. The Germans also capture Bastogne.
Third Army commander General George Patton assigns the 19th Armored Division to counterattack against the Germans at Dinant and to destroy the bridges. The sudden appearance of the US forces prompts Rommel to send one division, which has already crossed back to Dinant, and to hold it with the Panzer Lehr Division, coming from the east. However, the Allies launch heavy air attacks against the Germans. The 19th Armored Division breaks through and destroys the bridges on December 26. Left without any option to refuel, all Wehrmacht units that have crossed the Meuse, Rommel decides to surrender Army Group B to Patton. An SS general tries to kill Rommel as he prepares to meet Patton, but one of the field marshal's assistants stops the assassin in time. Himmler sees the surrender as an opening for the SS to consolidate its grip on all surviving ''Wehrmacht'' units, and Joseph Stalin is pleased with the opportunity for a new attack since the Eastern Front is now almost clear of German forces.
Other subplots in the novel include the adventures of a USAAF B-24 Liberator aircrew (explained through a crewmember's letters to his mother), a German-American US Army officer doing intelligence work, a Panther tank commander who eventually becomes Rommel's personal driver, an Associated Press reporter yearning for a position as field correspondent, and some officers in the US 19th Armored Division's Combat Command. A more general explanation of the story (and other in-universe events) is written in the novel through excerpts from a fictional history book, ''War's Final Fury'' by Professor Jared Gruenwald.
Garfield lives with canine Odie and owner Jon Arbuckle in a world inhabited by comic/cartoon characters. Garfield and the gang work at Comic studios with other toons, such as his girlfriend Arlene, rival Nermal, Billy Bear, Randy Rabbit, & Wally & Bonita Stegman where the comics are made in their world and sent to "The Real World" where it's made in books & newspapers. Garfield is tired of the old jokes his friends crack and is bored with life in Comic World and longs to go to The Real World. The Comic Strip requires a bone for Odie, but he does not want to give back the bone and looks for a place to hide it. But he accidentally makes the bone go through the screen in the studio and it is sucked into the Real World.
Eli, the head technician, explains to the toons that the screen separates Comic World and The Real World with no way back. Garfield sees his chance and goes through the screen without anyone noticing. Later on, the toons realize Garfield is in the real world and Eli blocks the patch in the screen border by taping special tape on it, so no one can gain access to the real world. However, Odie jumps onto the screen trying to get his bone which is on the screen but actually is in the real world and gets sucked there as well. Garfield tries to get Odie back to Comic World, but fails to do so. Odie gets his bone back and he and Garfield go find some food. Garfield meets alley cat Shecky while Odie is chased by a gang of Chihuahuas who want his bone, but is saved by Garfield who grabs the bone and runs through a hole in a tree which is small for the Chihuahua's fat owner to get through.
The duo learn from Shecky that strays gets food by annoying the people who live in a building and the people start throwing food at Shecky. After dinner, he brings the duo to their new home, an abandoned inn populated by stray pets called Hotel Muncie, where he invites them to join his gang. The next day, the duo realize that their comic will be canceled unless they return home. Garfield finds an article asking people to try out and replace Garfield. The duo head for the place where they are doing try-outs and try to impress the judges, but fail and the judges hire Hale and Hardy, an equally muscular cat & dog, to replace them. The judges give Garfield & Odie one more chance: If they do not make it back home in 24 hours, Hale and Hardy will replace them. Garfield has an idea of building a big tunnel that can go through the screen and shares the idea with his friends back in Comic World.
Later that night, Hale and Hardy, who are determined to stop the duo, capture everyone in the inn and set the hotel on fire. Billy Bear, Wally and Jon go though the tunnel (which Wally dubs the Bonitinator due to the blade reminding him of his wife) to save the three friends, but the entire hotel is on fire and all the exits are blocked. Luckily, Shecky finds a fire-proof trash cart and Jon, Wally, Odie, Garfield and Shecky are about to escape when Odie realizes his bone is missing and finds it lying on a chandelier & jumps onto it. Garfield grabs Odie's paw on the second floor and tries to pull him onto the cart, but Odie pulls Garfield onto the chandelier instead, which is about to collapse. Garfield grabs Jon's hand and the entire cart is flung into the air as the chandelier collapses, causing the cart to fall to the ground with the chandelier on it. The cart crashes out of the hotel and the 6 are flung into the big tunnel as it closes, disappears and transported back to Comic World. The next day, everyone from both worlds (except Hale & Hardy) celebrate Garfield & Odie's return at the end of the film.
''The Death of a Cyclist'' begins with the return of Juan Fernandez Soler (Alberto Closas), a university professor, and María Jose (Lucia Bosè), a wealthy married woman, from an adulterous endeavor. While speeding down the road, María Jose and Juan hit a cyclist with their car. Although the cyclist was alive when they left him, his reported death causes both María Jose and Juan great anxiety in their personal lives.
For María Jose, the exposure of this crime (and thus the affair) would mean the potential loss of her world as a wealthy socialite. However, the cyclist's death causes Juan to instead reflect on his own life choices, including his life as a former falange soldier, and the hypocrisy of his world as a member of the upper class. The suspense of these anxieties is exacerbated by the meddling Rafa (Carlos Casaravilla), who is a lowly art critic that has spent the past few months observing the socialites that he has surrounding himself with. His intentions to "purify" the upper class are revealed through his plan to expose María Jose and Juan. Juan and María Jose's differing responses to the cyclist's death are significant in the commentary surrounding the upper class provided in this film.
By the end of the film, Juan is ready to turn himself and María Jose into the police. However, María Jose would do anything to protect the world she is comfortable in. Thus, María Jose runs Juan over in an attempt to return to her life as it was before, presumably murdering him. The action of running over Juan represents the upper class's obsession with staying in power. Yet, while returning to her husband after committing this crime, she is run off of a bridge by a cyclist and falls to her death. The last shot of this film includes the cyclist riding away, intentions unknown.
Isabel (Betsy Blair) is a good-natured and sensible spinster who lives in a small town with her widowed mother. At the age of 35, she is losing all hope of getting married and having children.
A bunch of bored middle-aged friends decides to play a trick on Isabel: Juan (José Suárez), the youngest and most handsome of them, will pretend to fall in love with her. As Isabel lives the courtship, full of hope and joy, Juan realizes too late the cruelty of the situation, but, pushed by his buddies, doesn't dare tell Isabel the truth.
When the day of the gala dance at the town's club comes, Isabel is still living her dream of love. She expects her engagement to be publicly announced from the stage, but Juan, desperate, tries to do anything to shy away from the muddle.
Ana Ruiz (Elisa Christian Galvé) is a young and ambitious actress who has so far only had the opportunity to play secondary roles. But she finally gets her big chance to take on a leading role. The only condition set by businessman Carlos Márquez (Carlos Casaravilla) is that Ana becomes his lover. But she is in love with Miguel (Fernando Rey).
Eight years since the apparent murder of his wife Margot by a serial killer, Dr. Alexandre Beck has slowly been putting his life back together. However, Alex finds himself implicated in a double homicide even though he knows nothing of the crimes. The same day, Alex receives an email that appears to be from Margot, which includes a link to surveillance footage that shows his late wife looking alive and well; the message warns Alex that they are both being watched. As Alex struggles to stay one step ahead of the law, henchmen intimidate Alex's acquaintances into telling them whatever they might know about him, eventually killing a friend named Charlotte. In the meantime, Alex's lesbian sister Anne persuades her well-off partner Hélène to hire a respected attorney, Élisabeth Feldman, to handle his case.
Margot attempts to arrange a meeting with Alex by sending him an email that he must read in an internet café to avoid being spied on. Before this meeting can take place, a warrant is issued for Alex's arrest for the murder of Charlotte. Alex goes on the run whilst his friends and lawyers struggle to find out the truth about the murder and Margot's reappearance. As he is being pursued by police officers, Alex is rescued by Bruno, a gangster from a rough part of the city who feels he owes Alex a favor. The mysterious henchmen reappear to prevent Alex's meeting with his wife, but he is rescued once again by Bruno. Margot is seen almost escaping on a flight to Buenos Aires. Élizabeth proves that Alex has an alibi for Charlotte's murder thanks to eyewitness accounts at the internet café.
Alex notes the numerous mysteries about his wife's death mysterious photos of her covered in bruises and traces of heroin in her body. He soon discovers that Margot's father faked her death: Margot had discovered that Philippe Neuville, the young son of a local aristocrat, was a pedophile rapist whose activities were covered up with help from the police; when she confronted him, Philippe beat her, causing the bruises. Margot's father explains that he walked in on the beating and shot Philippe. The elder Neuville hired thugs to kill Margot; having tapped the phone call, Margot's father doubled the payout for one of the thugs to fake her murder instead, kill the other thug, and knock out Alex in the process. After shooting the second thug and burying both, Margot's father used the body of a dead heroin addict to stand in for Margot's.
Police, listening in on the father's confession, attempt to arrest him, but he shoots himself dead before they can do so. It is revealed that Margot's father knew Alex was wearing a wire, and that during a moment in which he had blocked the bug's transmission had told Alex one last thing: it was in fact Margot who shot Philippe after he beat her; her father was covering up her crime, not his. His actions have ensured that she will never be suspected. Philippe's father is arrested, and Alex and Margot reunite at the lake where they fell in love as children.
The ''Enterprise'', equipped with a radical new "inversion drive" which allows the ship to bend spacetime and transit immense distances instantly, is sent on a mission to the Magellanic Clouds just outside the Milky Way, in order to place navigation beacons for future extra-galactic voyages using the new technology.
The inversion drive is a product of the "creative physics" practiced by the natives of the Hamal star system, a race of crystalline spider-like beings. The chief designer of the drive is aboard, advising Captain Kirk, as the ''Enterprise'' makes its first "jump", after outmaneuvering a Klingon squadron which was sent to capture the new technology. Unknown to anyone on the starship, however, the use of the drive destabilizes spacetime itself on a fundamental level, creating a rift or tear through which another, external Universe penetrates and begins to mix with the ''Enterprise'' s own, with rapidly spreading, potentially fatal consequences for all life everywhere.
The denouement of the novel follows as Captain Kirk and the ''Enterprise'' crew, experiencing bizarre, dream-like experiences of other times and worlds during the use of the drive, realize that something is dreadfully amiss. Arriving near the rift and observing the destruction it inflicts on nearby star systems, they discover that the price for traveling distances that would take centuries to cover with warp drive may be the loss of their own Universe. Deliberately using the drive one, final time, they cross the "boundary" between external "reality" and their own collective inner consciousness, where they must together draw on mental, emotional and spiritual strengths to heal the wound that they have caused.
The novel deals intensively with the question of whether reality is an objective thing in and of itself, or a product of conscious perception by humans and other intelligences. Like Duane's other Star Trek novels, it incorporates both real physics and speculative extensions thereof to support the plot.
Like most of Diane Duane's TOS-era novels, this one includes several scenes in the ship's recreation room, one of which quotes a Star Trek filk song based on John Denver's "Calypso".
A doctor and his teenage daughter are terrorized by flesh-eating zombies at a truck stop.
Marnie Watson (Famke Jannsen) is being driven home in a police car after killing her abusive husband in self-defense - to be placed under house arrest. She is escorted home by Lou Shanks (Bobby Cannavale), a police officer and former partner of her husband. After they get inside, another officer arrives to fit Marnie's ankle bracelet, telling her she cannot move more than from the detector in the hallway, and if the alarm sounds for more than three minutes, the police will be notified.
The next day a delivery boy Joey (Ed Westwick) arrives with groceries, and Marnie tells him she needs him to come by on a regular basis. Later that night while in bed her husband's face suddenly appears. Frightened, she leaps up and flees from the room. Her husband's ghost, Mike (Michael Paré), pushes her down the stairs. Marnie crawls to the front door setting off the detector. Shanks arrives a short time later and finds her unconscious at the front door. She tells him she fell down the stairs. He asks her if someone is beating her and chastises her for not cleaning up the blood stain which has reappeared on the wall.
Marnie has Joey get her some books from the library about ghosts. She reads that she must get rid of all of Mike's things and begins collecting everything, including the suitcase she threw in the basement. While in the basement, Marnie is attacked by Mike's ghost and dragged down the stairs before she can finally get up and run to safety. Once upstairs, Shanks is knocking at her door after hearing screams, and begins looking throughout the house demanding answers. He claims that Marnie is covering for the real murderer and gets upset at her lack of clarity. In the end he apologizes for not being able to protect her and vows to do everything in his power to protect her now.
Mike's ghost continues to threaten Marnie and she continues to rid the house of his presence. Feeling lonely, Marnie calls Joey in the night and, against her wishes, he runs over and refuses to leave unless she lets him in. They make their way upstairs and have sex, during which Marnie sees Mike's ghost and continues, seeming unfazed, almost happy that the ghost is watching. Everything seems fine until the next morning when they are getting out of bed and Mike's ghost attacks them, brutally killing Joey.
Shanks has been watching her all night and comes with a warrant to arrest Joey, claiming he knows he's in there. Marnie says she is taking a shower to buy herself some time to hide the body in the floorboards before Shanks can reach her room. While downstairs talking, the ceiling breaks above them and Joey's body falls through the ceiling. Shanks gets ready to arrest Marnie and take her from the house when Mike's ghost attacks Marnie, throwing her about the room. Stunned by what he sees, Shanks himself is then attacked by Mike's apparition. The ghost then sets the house on fire.
Shanks is thrown down the stairs and Marnie follows, escaping out the window to safety, but returning when she hears Shanks inside awake and searching for her. She helps him out right as Mike's ghost pulls her back through the window. As the two struggle, Marnie removes her ring and throws it at her ex-husband's ghost. The ghost catches it and then disappears in a ball of fire. As a crowd of people begins gathering outside, Shanks tells her to escape. Marnie is then seen on a bus, while a passenger reads a ''USA Today'' paper, where the headline proclaims she died in the fire saving Shanks' life.
At a Texas high school, Mandy Lane blossoms over the summer, attracting her male classmates. One of them, Dylan, invites Mandy to a pool party at his house. She accepts with the provision that her best friend, Emmet can come along. At the party, Dylan bullies and humiliates Emmet until Mandy intervenes. As revenge, Emmet convinces a drunken Dylan to jump from the roof into the pool, but Dylan fails to scale the pool, and smashes his head on the concrete, which kills him.
Nine months later, Mandy has since befriended many of Dylan's popular friends, while Emmet has been subjected to even more intense bullying. Their stoner classmate Red plans a weekend party at his father's remote ranch, and Mandy reluctantly accepts an invitation from Chloe, a popular but insecure cheerleader. Mandy accompanies Red and Chloe, along with several other classmates—reserved football player Bird, and couple Jake and Marlin—to Red's ranch. Upon arriving, they are introduced to Garth, the ranch hand.
That night, Jake gets offended over a joke and storms off to a nearby barn, where Marlin performs oral sex on him. They have another argument, and after he walks back to the house, an unseen assailant knocks Marlin out and breaks her jaw with the barrel of a shotgun. Back at the house, Jake unsuccessfully attempts to woo Mandy. Anxious about Marlin, he takes Red's shotgun and pickup truck to go search for her. He eventually finds her sitting by a remote lake. Upon closer look, he sees her mangled face, and is confronted by Emmet, seeking vengeance for the humiliation he has suffered. Emmet shoots Jake in the head and breaks Marlin's neck, killing both.
Emmet drives back to the ranch in Red's truck and sees the rest of the group on the porch. He shoots fireworks at them. Bird gives chase, believing the driver to be Jake, playing a prank. Emmet confronts Bird and attacks him, eventually slashing his eyes with a knife and stabbing him to death. The rest of the group, drunk and high, fall asleep at the house along with Garth.
The next morning, as the group leaves out the front door, Emmet shoots and wounds Garth. While Mandy tends to Garth, Red and Chloe try to run to Chloe's car. Emmet shoots Red and chases after Chloe. In Garth's shack, Mandy retrieves the keys to his truck and finds the bloodied knife that Emmet used to kill Bird. She goes outside to find Chloe being chased in her direction. Mandy embraces Chloe, but then stabs her in the stomach, revealing that she is in league with Emmet.
As Chloe bleeds to death, Mandy and Emmet discuss the suicide pact they had planned. Mandy reveals she had no intention of going through with it, convinced that Emmet agreed to the murders only on the basis of winning her affection. Refusing to let her back down, Emmet prepares to shoot her, but Garth intervenes by wounding Emmet with his shotgun, prompting Emmet to stab him multiple times. Emmet chases Mandy into the fields, where they fall into a ditch filled with cattle carcasses. Mandy grabs a log and defends herself against Emmet's machete. Eventually she gets the upper hand and kills him. She returns to an injured Garth and they drive away from the ranch. Garth thanks Mandy for saving him, assuming she was merely a victim.
A flashback shows the group back at a railroad track, where they took a break from their drive. While the rest goof off, Mandy balances on the tracks and watches her future victims.
Set in 1984 in the heart of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, ''The Doe Boy'' tells the coming of age story of Hunter (James Duval), a young man of mixed heritage who is also a haemophiliac.
In 1945, Jewel Hilburn (Farrah Fawcett), 39, and her husband Leston (Patrick Bergin), 41, are living in poverty in rural Mississippi, and raising their four children: Raylene (Rachel Skarsten), Burton (Kyle Fairlie), Wilman (Max Morrow), and Annie (Alexis Vandermaelen). All four children were nannied by Jewel's friend and housekeeper, Cathedral (Cicely Tyson). Leston makes a living pulling out pine stumps for the war effort. Cathedral's husband, Nelson (Ardon Bess), and their sons, Sepulchur and Temple, all work for Leston.
The Hilburns discover that Jewel is pregnant, and decide it will be their last child. Cathedral has a premonition and warns Jewel that the child will bring hardship and test her, but that it is God's way of smiling down on Jewel. The Hilburns name the baby girl Brenda Kay. In time it becomes obvious that Brenda Kay is developing much slower than other children. At six months old, she lies very still, when other children her age are able to roll over.
The Hilburns consult their physician, Dr. Beaudry, who calls Dr. Basket, his former teacher and the best paediatrician in the South, to make a diagnosis. He tells Jewel and Leston that Brenda Kay has Down syndrome, and recommends placing her in an institution with other children with the condition, as she would be a huge burden on them and the rest of the family. He predicts that the baby is unlikely to survive past her second birthday.
Outraged, Jewel refuses, insisting she will care for her daughter at home as part of the family. Beaudry tells Jewel that Brenda Kay should receive regular injections to strengthen her bones. The injections are expensive, but the Hilburns manage to pay for them, even when times get tougher after Leston loses his job. The kids sell the vegetables the family grows, Raylene quits school and gets a job, and Jewel takes on sewing work. Meanwhile, Jewel concentrates her attention on caring for Brenda Kay, who survives, but misses developmental milestones. Aged seven, Brenda Kay walks downstairs by herself for the first time. Brenda Kay's constant needs mean Jewel has less time and energy for her older children.
Jewel reads of a "miracle school" in Los Angeles, California, that is reputed to help children like Brenda Kay, and proposes that the family moves there to find work while Brenda Kay attends the school. While Leston considers, Burton decides to go to California immediately to look for work. Brenda Kay, meanwhile, has a couple of near brushes with death.
Jewel has secretly applied to the special school and Brenda Kay has been accepted. To raise money, Jewel secretly starts selling items from her home. Eventually Leston notices and confronts her. After an argument, he agrees to move to California, on condition that they return to Mississippi someday.
Except Raylene, who gets married and stays in Mississippi, the Hilburns relocate to Los Angeles to reunite with Burton, now working at a garage. Leston finds work, and Brenda Kay enrolls in the school, run by director Nathan White. For the first time, Brenda Kay meets other children like herself, and Jewel is not solely responsible for her.
In 1961, Brenda Kay is sixteen. The school has not raised Brenda Kay's attainment, but Leston has a better job, and Jewel works at the school as an assistant. White suggests to Jewel that she must let go of Brenda Kay, as her efforts are holding her daughter back. Keeping her promise to Leston, they return to Mississippi to search for a new house, but Leston realizes that his home is now in Los Angeles, and Mississippi is his past. They return to California and resume their lives. Gradually, Jewel accepts White's argument that Brenda Kay must be allowed to live her own life. White recommends a group home for adults with Down Syndrome, where Brenda Kay will learn to live independently from Jewel's over-protective care.
The Hilburns leave Brenda Kay at the home with the new friends she has made. Jewel visits her often, but has finally realized the importance of letting her grow by herself.
A serial killer, Butch (Jeff Watson), escapes prison and murders an officer, before posing as his victim so he can disappear in the remote Grizzly Park. To keep his cover, Butch picks up eight troubled young teenagers who are inducted into a rehabilitation program, in Grizzly Park, to serve a week of community service for their respective misdemeanors: Michael 'Scab' White (Randy Wayne) is a white supremacist; Lola (Zulay Henao) is a Mexican tomboy; Bebe (Emily Foxler) is ditzy and dimwitted; Ty (Shedrack Anderson III) is a computer wiz; Candy (Julie Skon) is a shallow "it girl;" Ryan (Kavan Reece) is a spoiled rich kid; KiKi (Jelynn Rodriguez) is also spoiled and shallow; and Trickster (Trevor Peterson) is mostly concerned with pulling pranks. Arriving at Grizzly Park, the group meet Ranger Bob (Glenn Morshower) and Ranger Mike (Ryan Culver). Ranger Bob sets off with the group into the park, while Ranger Mike stays with Butch, who quickly stabs him to death before entering the park himself. However Butch is soon attacked and killed by a large Grizzly bear (Brody the Bear).
Through their hike, the miscreant youths are given an opportunity to seek redemption; however this fails, as the group ignore Ranger Bob and instead spend the majority of the hike lusting after each other. Ty and Kiki sneak off from the group, but Ty becomes stuck in a wolf trap. His blood attracts a wolf which kills and devours KiKi, before the grizzly bear kills Ty. The rest of the group reach the main camping site where they spend the night.
In the morning, when Ty and KiKi have not arrived, Ranger Bob goes looking for them, leaving the group at the camp where they continue to lust for each other. At night, after hours of searching, Ranger Bob discovers the gory remains of Ty and KiKi, and begins to rush back to the camp, where the group are having a campfire. Scab leaves the group and inhales gas, while Trickster dresses up in a bear costume to scare the others. While Scab is on a drug trip, the bear attacks and kills him, his death going unnoticed due to Trickster's prank. However, soon after the bear kills two more of the group, decapitating Trickster and mauling Lola in half.
Ryan, Candy and Bebe take shelter in a shed, but the bear attacks. Thinking the bear has left, Ryan opens a hatch; however the bear drags him out and mauls him to death. Candy and Bebe attempt to pull him back in, but his arms are torn from his body, killing him. Sometime later, the bear attacks the shed once more. Bebe escapes while closing the door at Candy's face, leaving her to be killed by the bear.
The following morning, Ranger Bob returns to find an upset Bebe. As Bebe prepares to leave the camp, Ranger Bob overhears her making a call to her friend telling her she had manipulated Ranger Bob and planned to murder him. As Bebe leaves the cabin, she encounters the bear and it brutally kills her. Afterwards, a news reporter (Whitney Cummings) is seen explaining the murders to be at the hands of Butch, who supposedly dressed up as a bear and killed the victims before escaping. It is revealed that Ranger Bob, in fact, trained the bear to kill the members of the group who had not learned from their previous mistakes.
Set during a long and hot summer day and night, a deadly infection breaks out on Mulberry Street in downtown Manhattan, causing humans to devolve into blood-thirsty monstrosities. Most of the information in the film comes from TV news broadcasts where as a result of constant urban decay, pollution and unbearable heat, the sewer rats of Manhattan are quickly spreading an unknown and horrible disease that causes its victims to mutate into ravenous and bloodthirsty rat-creatures. Once bitten, people quickly turn into rabid-like creatures with the appearance and eating habits of rats, and they only look at their former friends and neighbors as a source of food. Clutch, a retired boxer, nervously awaits the homecoming of his soldier daughter, Casey, recently back from a tour of duty in Iraq, but first he has to protect the other tenants as the rat-zombies are quickly infesting the entire neighborhood.
Initially emergency services and city authorities attempt to contain the spread by shutting down public transportation, and closing roads, but soon hospitals are inundated with the wounded, and the virus begins to spread island wide. By the time Clutch and the rest of the film's characters realize the severity of the situation, the infected have overrun much of the city and the streets are highly dangerous, with police seemingly overwhelmed and unable to respond. The survivors barricade themselves in their apartments as the news of the outbreak and subsequent quarantine of Manhattan breaks on TV and radio, waiting on promised rescue from the military, which the government promises will begin to restore order in Manhattan soon.
In Spain, a young girl named Laura García Rodríguez is adopted from an orphanage. 30 years later, adult Laura (Belén Rueda) returns to the closed orphanage, accompanied by her husband, Carlos Sánchez Rivera (Fernando Cayo), and their seven-year-old son, Simón (Roger Príncep). She plans to reopen the orphanage as a facility for disabled children. Simón claims to have befriended a boy named Tomás, and draws pictures of him as a child wearing a sack mask. Social worker Benigna Escobedo (Montserrat Carulla) visits the house to inquire after Simón, and it is revealed that Laura and Carlos adopted Simón and that he is HIV positive. Incensed at Benigna's intrusion, Laura asks her to leave. Later that night, Laura finds Benigna in the orphanage's coal shed, but Benigna flees the scene. Later, Simón teaches Laura a game which grants its winner a wish. Clues lead the two to Simón's adoption file. Simón becomes angry, and says that his new friend told him that Laura is not his biological mother and that he is going to die soon.
During a party for the orphanage's opening, Laura and Simón argue, and Simón hides from her after she slaps him in the face in a fit of frustration, which she immediately regrets. While looking for him, she encounters a child wearing a sack mask who shoves her into a bathroom and locks her inside. When Laura escapes, she realizes that Simón is missing and is unable to find him. That night, Laura hears several loud crashes within the walls of the orphanage. Police psychologist Pilar (Mabel Rivera) suggests to Laura and Carlos that Benigna may have abducted Simón.
Six months later, Simón is still missing. While searching for him, Laura spots Benigna, who is then struck and killed by an ambulance. The police find evidence that Benigna worked at the orphanage, and that she had a son named Tomás, who also lived there but was kept hidden due to his facial deformity. A few weeks after Laura was adopted, the orphans stole the mask that Tomás wore to conceal his deformed face. Embarrassed, Tomás refused to leave his hiding place in a nearby sea cave, and the rising tide drowned him.
Laura asks for the assistance of a medium named Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin) in the search for Simón. Aurora conducts a seance during which she claims to see the ghosts of the orphans crying for help. Laura discovers the remains of the orphans she grew up with in the orphanage. Benigna poisoned their meals and killed them for having caused Tomás's death and hid their remains in the orphanage's coal shed. Unable to cope with the situation, Carlos leaves the orphanage.
Laura makes the orphanage look as it did thirty years ago and attempts to contact the children's spirits by playing one of their old games. The spirits lead her to the door of a hidden underground room. Inside is Simón's corpse, wearing Tomás's mask. Laura finally realizes what happened: while searching for Simón the night he disappeared, Laura moved pieces of construction scaffolding, blocking the entrance to the secret room. The crashes that night were caused by Simón trying to get out. He fell and fatally broke his neck.
Laura appears to take an overdose of sleeping pills. Then, apparently dying, she begs to be with Simón again and the children's spirits appear, with Simón among them. Simón tells Laura that his wish was for her to stay and take care of the orphans, she then happily tells them a story. Sometime later, Carlos visits a memorial to Laura, Simón and the orphans. Carlos returns to the orphans' old bedroom and finds a medallion that he had given to Laura. He turns to look as the door opens, and he smiles.
Avery "Ave" Ludlow, a storekeeper, has a dog named Red, a gift for his 50th birthday from his late wife, Mary. One day, fishing at a lake with Red by his side, three boys come across his path: brothers Danny and Harold McCormack, and their friend Pete Doust. Danny threatens Ave with a shotgun and demands money. When Avery says he has only $30, Danny becomes furious and shoots Red dead.
Ave visits a gun store, where the clerk identifies Danny as the shotgun purchaser based on a description. Ave visits Danny's father, Michael, and tells his story. Michael calls his sons, and asks them if they shot Red. They deny it, and Michael tells Ave to leave.
Ave decides to ask for a prosecution and talks to his lawyer, Sam Berry. Sam discourages him by saying that the penalty is low, but Ave persists. Sam arranges a meeting between Ave and a reporter named Carrie. Carrie tells him that publicity would prompt official action. Ave agrees and gives a human-interest television interview to Carrie. However, the story fails to get attention, and Carrie is transferred to another story. Ave switches to pursuing a civil lawsuit for damages. A rock with a threatening message is thrown through his window.
Carrie asks Ave about his family; he tells her his elder son was mendacious, and was thrown out of the Navy due to mental illness. One day, he returned home and asked his mother for money. She refused, and he assaulted her. Thinking he had killed her, he then set fire to his brother and mother with kerosene. The brother died while Mary survived for five days in a coma.
Ave begins following the boys. Harold sees Ave watching them and, remorseful, apologizes. Ave says he would like Danny to do likewise. One day, Danny is playing baseball with friends and becomes frustrated after striking out, leaving the game in anger. Ave follows him and parks behind his car. Danny confronts him and, needled by Ave, tries to hit him with his bat. Ave avoids the blow and knocks Danny down; Ave points out that, as Danny attacked in daylight and with witnesses, he should watch his temper, saying the beating Ave has given him is one his father should have given. Shortly afterwards, Ave's store is burned down. Ave is disappointed to hear that no evidence implicates the McCormacks.
Ave exhumes Red and takes him to the McCormacks' house, confronting them with it. Michael and Danny brandish pistols, with the father demanding he leave. Ave refuses, at which Danny becomes furious, stepping forward and aiming at Ave. Ave deflects Danny's arm as he fires, and the shot hits Ave's ear. Ave wrestles Danny's gun from him, throws him to the ground, and holds him hostage. Telling Michael to lower his gun, Ave forces Danny to drive to the sheriff, where he intends to have Danny charged with attempted manslaughter. Michael follows Ave and rams his truck off the road. The McCormacks return home, thinking Ave is dead. Night falls, during which Ave regains consciousness and sees an Australian Cattle Dog that shows him Danny's revolver, left in the wreckage. He takes it and returns to the McCormack house. Finding a shaken Harold smoking on the porch, he asks to be led to where Red's body was dumped. Michael, Danny, and Pete follow and find them. Michael and Danny are again armed; Harold tells them to stand down, but Danny shoots Ave in the belly with the shotgun. Ave returns fire, wounding both Danny and Michael. As they fall, they fire back: in the crossfire, Harold and Pete are fatally shot. Ave approaches the injured Danny and Michael, telling the father that one of them killed Harold.
As he recuperates, Ave reads a newspaper with Carrie's account of his story. Carrie visits and gives him a dog. Ave initially declines, reminding her that two boys were killed because he wanted revenge; she leaves him with the dog. Despite his protests, Ave soon accepts him.
Nick Adams is a young, restless man in rural Michigan who wants a good life and to see the world. He leaves his domineering mother and noble but weak physician father on a cross country trip. In his ramblings he encounters a punch-drunk boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and a burlesque show promoter. Nick applies to be a reporter for a newspaper in New York City, but is told he lacks experience. While working at a catered banquet, he hears a speech by a beautiful woman soliciting volunteer ambulance drivers for the Italian Army in World War I, and impulsively signs up. On arrival, he is assigned a bilingual companion to help him, who cannot believe that Nick would volunteer for such a posting. They experience battlefield horrors, Nick is injured, and falls in love with his nurse, who then falls ill herself and dies at the moment they are taking their bedside wedding vows. Finally returning home to his family, he is stunned to hear that his father had died after worrying about Nick.
After an apocalypse, mankind has depleted all fossil fuel reserves and civilization has collapsed. A group of survivors called "Foragers" take cover in an abandoned hospital where the group attempt to re-build society. After saving a young girl from being killed and eaten by a group of vicious cannibals called "Rovers", the Foragers find themselves on the run from the cannibals, who stalk the survivors and brutally kill them off one-by-one as the Foragers begin to fight back, causing a chaotic battle of blood and mayhem.
Cab driver Stan slams into a homeless man who gets up and walks away, leaving behind a scarf covered with writhing maggots. Obsessed with the mystery, Stan hunts the figure through the city, discovering a trail of mangled, half-eaten victims, and an urban legend: Puss Head was a sewer worker who came back from an uncharted tunnel changed into something both living and dead. Parents warn their children that the shuffling zombie will get them if they stay out on the streets too late. But as the body count rises, Stan finds that the legend is alive and hungry.
While closing his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu studio one evening, martial arts teacher Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is approached by attorney Laura Black (Emily Mortimer), who is seeking the owner of the vehicle she accidentally sideswiped. Off-duty police officer Joe Collins (Max Martini), who was receiving a private lesson from Mike, sees that Laura is distressed and tries to take her coat. Startled, Laura grabs Joe's gun and it goes off, shattering the studio's front window. To avoid having Laura charged with attempted murder, Mike and Joe agree to conceal the event.
Mike's insurance, however, will not cover his act of God claim that the window was broken by a strong wind. Mike's wife Sondra (Alice Braga), whose fashion business profits are the only thing keeping the struggling studio afloat, requests that Mike ask for a loan from her brother Ricardo (John Machado), a mixed martial arts champion. At Ricardo's nightclub, Mike meets with Sondra's other brother, Bruno (Rodrigo Santoro), and learns that Joe quit as the club's bouncer because Bruno never paid him. Mike confronts Bruno about the situation but is rebuffed. Mike then declines Bruno's offer to fight on the undercard of an upcoming match between Ricardo and Japanese legend Morisaki (Enson Inoue), which could potentially pay out $50,000. Mike believes all competitions are not honorable and weaken the fighter.
Meanwhile, aging Hollywood action star Chet Frank (Tim Allen) enters the nightclub without security and is accosted by a man with a broken bottle. Mike intervenes and subdues three men in the process. The following day, Mike receives an expensive watch and an invitation to dinner from Chet. Mike gives the watch to Joe to pawn in lieu of his unpaid salary at the nightclub. At the dinner party, Chet's wife Zena (Rebecca Pidgeon) arranges an informal business deal to buy a large number of dresses from Sondra's company. Chet, impressed by Mike, invites him to the set of his current film. As Mike and Sondra leave the dinner, Mike explains his unique training method to Chet's business associate Jerry Weiss (Joe Mantegna). Before a sparring match, each fighter must draw one of three marbles, two white and one black; whoever draws a black marble has to fight with a handicap.
Mike uses his military experience to answer a few technical questions for Chet on the film set and is offered the role of co-producer. That evening, Mike faxes the details of his training methods to Jerry so they can be used in the film. Joe arrives at the studio and informs Mike that he was suspended from duty for pawning the watch, which turned out to be stolen. During their dinner that evening, Mike relays the information to Jerry who excuses himself to handle the matter, but never returns. At home, Mike learns that the phone numbers that Zena gave Sondra have been disconnected. Sondra is panicky, having borrowed $30,000 from a loan shark (David Paymer) to order the fabric for the dresses. As he meets with the loan shark to discuss an extension, Mike notices Bruno and Marty Brown (Ricky Jay) on television using Mike's marble-drawing method as a promotional gimmick for the undercard fights of Ricardo's match.
Mike hires Laura to sue, but Marty's lawyer threatens that if they do not drop the lawsuit, he will give the police an empty shell casing with Laura's fingerprints, as proof that she attempted to kill an off-duty cop. He also threatens Mike as a witness who covered up the crime by bribing the cop with a stolen watch. When told of the situation, Joe feels responsible and kills himself. Mike feels obligated to help Joe's financially struggling wife and, in desperate need of money himself, decides to compete as an undercard fighter in the upcoming competition.
At the arena, Mike discovers the fights are being fixed via a magician (Cyril Takayama) using sleight of hand to surreptitiously switch the white and black marbles. Disgusted by this revelation, Mike confronts the conspirators: Marty, Jerry and Bruno who confirm that unknown to the competitors, the fights are handicapped by the fight promoters so as to ensure winning bets. They also reveal that Ricardo is intentionally losing the fight to Morisaki so they can make money on the rematch. Jerry tells Mike that Sondra is the one who told them about Laura shooting the window and Bruno justifies her betrayal by explaining that his sister is too smart to stay with someone who cannot provide for her.
As Mike is exiting the arena, he meets Laura. Their conversation is not audible, but it ends with Laura slapping Mike. Mike then re-enters the arena. He incapacitates several security guards trying to stop him and is ultimately engaged by Ricardo. The audience and camera crews take notice as Mike and Ricardo face off in the arena's corridors. Inspired by the Professor (Dan Inosanto), an elderly martial arts master attending the match, Mike manages to slip a difficult choke hold and defeats Ricardo, making it onto the ring to speak to the Professor personally. He is approached by Morisaki, who offers Mike his ivory-studded belt, previously referred to as a Japanese national treasure, as a sign of respect. He is then approached by the Professor himself, who proceeds to award the coveted red belt to an incredulous Mike, and embraces him, acknowledging his dedication to the art.
The film follows the inhabitants of a small rural town in New Jersey whose children are disappearing at an alarming rate and whose adults are simultaneously being killed in a ritualistic fashion. It is revealed early on that the kids are being inducted into a cannibalistic cult that live in the woods. The cult is somehow inspired or influenced by the legendary tales from the Old English epic poem ''Beowulf''.
It is about the life of a fourteen-year-old girl and her friends.
The plot centers on a group of college students who go up to a typically creepy mansion for spring break. Unfortunately for all, they stumble upon a possessed horror novel, whose story suddenly starts happening in the real world...with deadly results.
The film follows a deaf girl who witnesses a dead body being stashed in a nearby butcher shop. Not wanting to take the risk of being caught, the murderous butchers decide to kidnap her.
This cartoon features the four former American Presidents who were still alive in 1997 — Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush (all of whom were voiced by Jim Morris) — as a superhero team. This recurring sketch debuted on January 11, 1997, and a total of nine installments were produced between 1997 and 2004. The four former leaders were endowed with superpowers when struck by lightning at a celebrity golf tournament. The title is a play on words, both referencing that the members are ''ex-''Presidents, and alluding to the Marvel Comics franchise, ''X-Men''. Their wives are also members of a similar group, ''The X-First Ladies'', with more flamboyant powers.
In the episode "Nixon," Richard Nixon and his dog Checkers are resurrected to aid the group.
The cartoons end with the X-Presidents singing a song that recounts the episode's message. ''The Ambiguously Gay Duo'', another series of shorts created by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier, made a special guest appearance in ''The X-Presidents'' episode "The Hunt for Osama". The sketch broadly parodies Hanna-Barbera/Filmation cartoons from the 1970s.
In the first issue, after rescuing Thom Talesi from a murderous mob in the Southeast Asian country Siatok, Sam Wildman, Titania Challenger, and Tesla recruit him into Section Zero. Shortly after returning to the abandoned Air Force base that serves as Section Zero's HQ, the team is sent to investigate a series of livestock killings in Australia. After they leave, A.J. Keeler contacts the Ghost Soldiers and orders them to follow.
Issue #2 finds the team discovering and rescuing Sargasso from a cave inside Ayers Rock. Not long after this, they find themselves in a fight with a saber-toothed tiger that ends when it drags Titania Challenger though a portal shaped like a ring of fire.
In the third issue, after attempting to seek the Ring of Fire, the team journeys to its last known stable location, the abandoned subway tunnels beneath New York City. There they face the forces of the Rat King. After defeating their foes, the team is confronted by the Ghost Soldiers.
Although it was never released, issue #4 had a brief plot teaser at the bottom of issue #3's letters page:
The Story takes place in the futuristic Alien vs. Predator universe, where Earth has been overrun by Aliens, and the social elite have taken refuge in gigantic skyliners. Caryn Delacroix is the protagonist, with an unclear past regarding both the Aliens and Predators throughout most of the comic. An artificial intelligence serves as the primary antagonist, while the Xenomorphs and the Predator are many times in cooperation with Delacroix and her companions for parts of the series, in particular a Predator called "Big Mama".
In occupied Germany in 1960, four somewhat drunk American soldiers leave Florida Bar, where "Town Without Pity" is playing on the jukebox, and head to a river in the nearby countryside. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old local Fräulein Karin Steinhof (Christine Kaufmann) has a quarrel with her 19-year-old boyfriend, Frank Borgmann (Gerhart Lippert), on the banks of the same river. She swims back to her starting point, lights up a cigarette and strips out of her wet bikini when she is confronted by Sergeant Chuck Snyder (Frank Sutton) and gang-raped by him, Corporal Birdwell Scott (Richard Jaeckel), Private Joey Haines (Mal Sondock), and Corporal Jim Larkin (Robert Blake). (A blatant production error can be seen in the film during the rape scene when a body double substitutes for Kaufmann; the "victim" has short, fluffy dry hair in contrast to Kaufmann's long, straight, wet hair.) Borgmann hears her screams for help and swims across the river to help her, but he is knocked out by Snyder. After three of the men start to leave the scene, the guilt-ridden Larkin lingers behind; he covers Steinhof with his shirt before he finally flees with the other three men.
The men are quickly apprehended. To appease the anger and outrage of the Germans, Major General Stafford, the division commanding general, orders that their court martial be held in public in the local high school gymnasium. The prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Jerome Pakenham (E.G. Marshall), seeks the death penalty. Major Steve Garrett (Kirk Douglas) is assigned to defend the accused rapists. After interviewing his clients, Garrett tries to plea bargain for long sentences at hard labor, but Pakenham feels he has a strong case. Garrett starts investigating, questioning the residents. He is followed by Inge Koerner (Barbara Rütting), a hostile German reporter from what Garrett considers to be a scandal-seeking newspaper.
At the start of the trial, three of the men plead not guilty. Larkin tries to enter a plea of guilty but is overruled by Garrett. Garrett produces an army psychiatrist who had been treating Larkin before the incident. The witness testifies that Larkin is impotent for psychological reasons. Larkin violently denies it and has to be forcibly removed from the courtroom. After the first day, Garrett pleads with Karin's bank manager father, Karl Steinhof (Hans Nielsen), to withdraw her from the trial before it is too late, stating that he will have to break her down on the stand to save his clients. He advises Herr Steinhof to take his family and leave town, but Steinhof refuses.
As the lead defense counsel, Garrett has no choice but to show that Karin is not as innocent as she first appeared, nor is she well liked. He also destroys the credibility of Steinhof and Borgmann by catching them in pointless little lies. As Garrett continues his cross-examination of Karin, she eventually collapses under the strain. Her father withdraws her from the trial; this action ensures that the defendants cannot be executed. The four men are convicted of rape. Three are sentenced to long terms at hard labor, and Larkin is given a shorter sentence of six years. The damage has been done, however, and the townsfolk turn against Karin.
Though Frank Borgmann attacks him with a whip, Garrett tells him to take Karin and leave town forever. The young man takes his advice, but to raise money, he forges his mother's signature on a check. Determined to keep her son under her control, she sends the police after the couple. While Borgmann argues with the policemen, Karin runs away. Koerner, the reporter, later informs Garrett that Karin drowned herself in the river near where she had been violated. The last line of the title song is, "It isn't very pretty what a town without pity can do."
In 2014, a race of aliens piloting giant robots have conquered Earth and forced humanity to live underground. They have done this by altering the environment, causing constant rainfall and darkness. Over 300 years later, after many generations of living underground, a small group of human rebels plan to finally take back their world from the mechanical invaders. They soon learn however that the aliens do not pilot the robots, but ''are'' the robots.
A patrol, led by Lt. Blackthorn (Thomas Downey), is sent out to capture one of the robots, a ''Z-bot'', so its operating ability can be studied. The patrol is suddenly ambushed by several robots, with some being able to reconfigure themselves, revealing different weapon systems. These units, the 'transmorphers', ambush humans by appearing as mundane features of the terrain, even fooling detection systems. The robots use "brain scans" to read the minds of humans to know their battle plans.
After Blackthorn's patrol is destroyed by the machines, a female lead officer of the human resistance group, General Van Ryberg (Eliza Swenson), argues with fellow officers of the Military and Science Guilds about how to fight the war. Despite some protests, Van Ryberg decides to reinstate a disgraced soldier named Warren Mitchell (Matthew Wolf), who was court-martialed along with his right-hand man, Itchy (Griff Furst), and cryogenically frozen for insubordination. They had killed their unit officer five years earlier. Mitchell is glad to be reinstated, but learns that his former lover, Karina Nadir (Amy Weber), a fighter pilot, is now married to General Van Ryberg.
Mitchell assembles a small military patrol with Itchy as his second-in-command, and Flight Commander Xandria Lux (Shaley Scott), as his military adviser. The patrol is sent out to capture a Z-bot, intact, so its fuel cells can be studied. They hope to shut the machines down by contaminating the fuel cell and placing it in a large radio tower which supposedly controls the machines.
Mitchell and his group ambush and destroy a group of patrol machines, and succeed in capturing one. During the battle, Karina and another female soldier named Blair (Sarah Hall) become stuck behind enemy lines right near the radio tower. They are forced to hide in the ruins around the tower while waiting for help to arrive.
Bringing the Z-bot back to their underground city, Mitchell realizes that the fuel cell has an implanted tracking device that leads the machines to the humans' underground city. Van Ryberg takes over as the field commander of the human army and leads them out in a last-ditch effort to defeat the robots, and to rescue her wife.
Mitchell then surprisingly learns from resident scientist Dr. Voloslov Alextzavich (Michael Tower), that he himself is an android constructed by Dr. Alextzavich, with human feelings and understandings. Mitchell realizes that he must get the Z-bot's fuel cell to the radio tower and implant it in the control computer in order to shut the robots down.
Supported by an aerial strike force led by Lux, Mitchell's team fly out and make it to the radio tower where they are able to rescue Karina and Blair. The group breaks into the building, but the anti-human counter-measures make all of them sick and they cannot make it to the main control room. The situation becomes more complicated when the tower reveals itself to be a giant robot. Mitchell then reveals to be an android himself.
Meanwhile, General Van Ryberg and her soldiers reach one of the terraforming stations and attempt to take it offline. They attempt to hold off a massive army of robots attacking the underground city. Lux then arrives with her fighter squadron to bomb the attacking robots.
Back at the radio station, Mitchell, using his android abilities, sacrifices himself and takes the tower out, buying enough time for the rest of his team to escape. Once the tower is destroyed, the robots all over the world shut down. With the battle won, Karina and Van Ryberg are reunited and the surviving humans see the sun shine through the clouds for the first time in centuries.
Gameplay screenshot.
''Commanders: Attack of the Genos'' tells the story of an alternate history, one in which humanity has discovered the secrets of atomic energy right at the opening of the 20th Century. By the year 1924, technology as accelerated to the point where humans have cracked the human genome, and have managed to create a whole new race of genetically modified lifeforms, dubbed Genos. Genos have been developed to be stronger, faster, and generally better on the whole than the rest of the human race, causing the rest of the world to resent the Genos. This results in their eventual exile to another land. While a tenuous peace existed between the two races for some time, the start of the game seems to indicate that the time for peace has passed, as the Genos invade.
Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster), an American fur trapper, is on his way to sell the hides he has amassed over the winter. He encounters a group of Kiowa Indians led by Two Crows (Armando Silvestre), who take his furs. In exchange, they give a disgusted Bass a slave, Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis), whom they had previously taken from a group of Comanches.
Lee is a well-educated and refined house slave, unfamiliar with the ways of the wilderness. Bass sets out to recover the furs from the Kiowa. Lee makes an unsuccessful attempt to escape, then follows along.
As Lee and Bass catch up to the Kiowa, they watch them being ambushed by a group of scalphunters, after the bounty offered by the government for each Native American scalp they bring in. The scalphunters, led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), kill the Kiowas and take Bass's furs. Bass and Lee trail the new group.
Lee stumbles over a cliff and is captured by the scalphunters. Howie decides to sell him in Galveston, Texas. As they travel southwards, Jim Howie's girlfriend, Kate (Shelley Winters), reveals to Lee that they are heading for Mexico. He begins to win her favor, by doing her hair and telling her fortune, hoping she will persuade Howie to take him with them to Mexico (where slavery is illegal), rather than sell him.
Bass pins them down with sniper fire, forcing them to let loose the packhorse carrying the furs. He is ambushed, however, and the scalphunters recover the furs and proceed on their way. Approaching their camp at night, Bass tries to persuade Lee to help him, but the slave is now set on going to Mexico and refuses him assistance.
Bass kills several of the scalphunters by starting a rock slide in the mountains. Then he contaminates the water of a nearby creek with locoweed, a toxic plant that causes the scalphunters' horses to run and buck wildly after they drink the water. They send Lee as a go-between to Bass, telling him he can keep the furs. A wary Bass comes down to collect the lone packhorse, but is ambushed by Howie. In an ensuing struggle, Howie is shot dead by Lee. The bickering Bass and Lee then fight, but neither can beat the other.
Meanwhile, Kiowas attack and overrun the scalphunters. Two Crows, who had survived the earlier massacre, has fetched reinforcements. He takes back the furs. Bass and Lee, now friends, prepare to follow the Kiowas to take back the furs.
In a small western town in Arizona called Jaspen, a boy is born on Christmas Day. Joseph "Joe" Novak is born in a makeshift shelter, but his mother, Marika Novak (Alejandra Rojo) dies during childbirth. Because of the day he was born, the boy will be nicknamed Christmas Joe. Joe's father (Jack Taylor) will never forgive him for the death of his wife, which will lead Joe toward a rebellious attitude. He will become a troubled teenager, and will end up learning how to shoot. Joe will also reject his father's pacific attitude.
At first, Joe works for Mike Culligan (Louis Hayward), the richest man in town. Culligan has always used the sheriff to deal with the dirty side of his business. Sheriff Anderson (Carl Rapp)'s connection to Culligan is too obvious for everybody. However, the rest of the townspeople is completely fed-up with the situation. A meeting is organized and Joe is selected as the new sheriff, although he doesn't want the job. He is selected anyway. The judge of the town, judge George Perkins (Luis Prendes), is the one who convinces everybody.
Joe tells his girlfriend, saloon girl Marie Lefleur (Perla Cristal). Joe open his heart to her. Back home, where he still lives with his father, John. Joe's promotion is not well received. The local priest appears to tell Joe that he was not brought up to kill people, but Joe is proud of his new job and of the things he has recently done. Joe's work begins immediately: there is a brawl at the local saloon. He discourages the gunmen who are on the way of causing a shooting and tells them to leave the town. While they are already leaving, Joe tells them never to come back again, as they are a bunch of drunkards. That insult is the last straw, and the cowboys turn back to face Joe. In the ensuing shooting, Joe kills them but his father gets shot: he will be sorry about it forever.
Marie wants to leave the saloon, but Mulligan, the owner, won't give her the money he owes her. After his father's burial, Joe takes the money from Mulligan and gives it to Marie. Joe even buys the ticket for the next trip to Saint Louis. She decides to leave the town for good and try to be an honest woman in that city, but says to Joe that she'll be always waiting for him. Joe sees her goodbye, but she is shot, as ordered by Mulligan.
Mulligan has other plans: he convinces Jud Walters (Fernando Hillbeck), a small town entrepreneur and close friend of Joe to prepare something against Joe, in exchange of having his debts erased and an extra 10,000. Jud tells Joe that somebody is opening up the safebox of the bank. Joe goes there, but nothing has happened, and there is only a drunk man who is not doing anything wrong apart from making a show of himself. When Joe offers him a hand, the drunkard is shot, and Joe is accused of killing him carelessly.
The judge sentences two gunmen to death, but refuses to judge his friend Joe Novak, and leaves his place for another one. All the witnesses, even Jud, lie, and he is sentenced to be hanged. Culligan and Anderson are really happy. In the last second, Jud confesses everything. Culligan kills Jud and somebody kills Culligan. Jud is released but the other two gunmen are hanged.
The film ends with Joe coming back to his town followed by a group of townspeople who support him.
The story begins with a prologue, in which an unnamed female character enters a courtroom and inexplicably shoots and kills the defendant after shooting him four times as he approaches his defense attorney. The shooter is revealed to be the York County, Maine, Assistant District Attorney, Nina Frost, and the defendant is Father Szyszynski. At the time of the trial (and shooting), Nina believed that Father Szyszynski had sexually abused her five-year-old son, Nathaniel, who confides via verbal accusation that Father "Glen" Szyszynski molested him. Further, laboratory tests confirmed that Father Szyszynski's bodily fluids were found in the child's underpants.
It is later revealed that Nina had killed the wrong man, and a visiting priest named Father Gwynne, not Father Glen, had molested Nathaniel. However, Fathers Gwynne and Szyszynski shared the same DNA because Father Szyszynski had a bone marrow transplant from Father Gwynne (being that they were half brothers), leading to the belief that the semen on Nathaniel's underpants belonged to Szyszynski. Although this fact was entered into evidence at Nina's own murder trial, after which the jury could not reach a verdict, the judge ultimately ruled that Nina's reasons were justified. As such, Nina was found not guilty of murder. However, under Maine jurisprudence, Nina was found guilty of manslaughter because the judge believed she was under the influence of a reasonable fear or anger brought about by reasonable provocation. Nina was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but this sentence was suspended.
In a final twist at the end, Nina's best friend and colleague Patrick Ducharme, moves away. Nina had a very brief affair with Patrick, during a short split from her husband, Caleb. Nina also later discovers that Caleb had poisoned Father Gwynne, with antifreeze, despite Caleb's earlier admonishment towards her killing Father Szyszynski.
The plot revolves around a madcap inventor who constructs a mechanical gunfighter to fight against a tyrannical crime lord.
The plot consists of the anonymous protagonist receiving a large sum of Hot Wheels track, with no explanation given. He then uses the track pieces to build six different layouts around his house, and races his Hot Wheels vehicles on them.
Jim Cole, his wife Angela, along with their children Charlie and Gypsy, niece Meg, and his friend and former deputy Sam Potts arrive in a small Wyoming town. Jim has inherited a ranch from his late uncle and decided to give up his former job as a lawman and become a rancher instead. In town, they meet Mr. Benson the banker, who tells them about a $675 mortgage on the property. Jim initially hesitates to take the land title, since it would take nearly all their savings, but when told that another rancher Jed Curry wants the land for himself, he relents. Benson then explains that Jed initially owned the property but lost it to Jim's late uncle in a card game and wants it back. Jim finally agrees to keep the land when Mr. Benson hands him the money/landowner's bill and settles the mortgage.
As they leave the bank, the Coles encounter Jed, who acts like he is happy for the family but is actually planning to get the ranch by any means possible. In the countryside, they arrive at the ranch's cottage, which appears to be nothing more than a tumbled-down shack. But they are not discouraged and think of all the wonderful things that will happen next.
The next morning, as Jim is building a fence by chopping wood, Benson comes by and warns him of a giant grizzly bear called Satan, who is notorious for invading ranches and killing livestock just for fun, and that many have tried to shoot him but have failed. In addition, the Currys come by. Jed tries to persuade Jim to sell the land to him, but he refuses.
Jim goes back to town the next day and asks Wilhelmina Peterson, who owns the general store, if she knows where he can buy some cattle to breed with his prize bull Duncan. She asks her sidekick Hank to bring Jim to Hazel Squires' place. There, Hazel tells Jim that she can sell some cattle for a buck each. When she goes to the hog pen to check on the pigs, she finds them all missing or dead, which was the work of Satan.
During the night, Satan makes his initial appearance at the Cole place, killing Duncan, causing Sam's mule to run away, and badly injuring the family's dog . The next morning, while waiting for the doctor to finish stitching up the dog, Jim and Meg go to the general store for coffee. Unfortunately, the Curry boys are also there with cohorts and start harassing Jim. They eventually get into a fight, with the Curry sons driven out. Jed arrives and chastises his sons, telling them not to antagonize Jim any more if they are to get his ranch.
Needing a replacement bull but with no cash to buy one, Jim is compelled to get a loan from the bank, giving Benson various possessions like his saddle and gold sheriff star as collateral. He goes to the Squires ranch to purchase the bull as well as cattle for breeding. When Jed learns of the loan, he warns Benson not to do it again and reminds Benson that he, as the major stockholder of the bank, had the authority to do this.
While doing work on the farm, the Coles and Sam see Sam's mule appear. However, it is badly-injured, dying just a few minutes later. Sam grieves for his loss, and both he and Jim vow to hunt Satan and kill him.
As Jim and Sam track Satan through the woods, they are attacked and nearly killed, escaping by jumping off a cliff into a lake. As the Coles return home from a dance social, they find that Satan has killed most of their cattle. Again, Jim goes to Benson for a loan to buy replacement animals, but this time, Benson apologetically refuses his request, fearing Jed's wrath. Satan's depredations on livestock have reached a crisis point, and Jed posts a $750 reward for anyone who can kill the bear. In response to the offer of a reward, a bounty hunter named Cass Dowdy shows up in town with hunting dogs. Jim remembers he had sent Cass to jail for two years for murder. Cass has decided to hunt Satan for the reward money just to make sure Jim won't get it and thus ruin him financially.
Jim and Sam set a trap for Satan. The men carelessly doze off while waiting, and while they are doing so, Satan attacks again, driving off one of the horses and killing Sam, who with his dying breath urges Jim to continue the hunt. Dowdy's dogs, which had run off the previous night, are also killed by Satan. More traps are set up for Satan, but with no success. One night, Dowdy visits one of Jim's traps with the intention of sabotaging it but is accidentally injured instead. The next morning, the two meet again, with Jim realizing what Cass did, and the two have a fight, with Jim coming off the winner and leaving Cass there.
At home, Angela tells Jim that she no longer wants to live here and will leave Jim if he continues to hunt Satan. She eventually calms down when he says he is killing the grizzly just to protect his family. The next morning, he is stunned to find that Charlie has gone after Satan himself. Jim decides to follow Charlie into the woods while Angela apologizes for her anger.
In the woods, Jim once again runs into Dowdy, who almost kills him, but Jim fights back and drives him away. Night comes, and Satan attacks Charlie and chases him up a tree. As Jim arrives, Charlie jumps out of the tree and distracts Satan, while Dowdy fires at the bear to save the boy, but is fatally mauled. Jim had been under cover. Finally having stabbed Satan, injuring him Jim gets out of cover and shoots Satan, killing him at last. After comforting a dying Dowdy, who gave his life to save Charlie's, Jim and Charlie return home and rejoice with the others.
After a string of bad times with men, Sandy tries to kill herself. Co-waitress Libby saves her and takes her to meet some female friends of hers who live on a ranch in the desert. Grace, the leader of the gang, puts Sandy through her initiation and they get on with the real job of running drugs across the Mexican border, hassling poor farmers, taking any man they please, and generally raising a little hell. Soon Sandy becomes unsure if this is the life for her, but it may be too late to get out.
The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's leader goes by the name of Anchor, and other members include Firewater, Acid, Muscle, Willie, Romeo and Gina. The gang comes upon two lovers whom they proceed to attack: they beat up the boyfriend and rape the girl. After the assaults, they kill both of them and throw their car, with them in it, over a cliff.
Johnny Martin, a Vietnam veteran U.S. Marine, is hitchhiking and is picked up by former police officer Chuck Baldwin and his wife Nora. Johnny was a Military Police officer in the Marine Corps and after his discharge he's moving to Los Angeles to "live a little". Tracy, a waitress, drives up a red dune buggy to a diner where she works. Tracy is late and explains to her boss, Lew, that she was late because she was studying for a college class. Nora spots the cafe and tells her husband and Johnny that they should go eat there. Johnny sits alone at the bar while Chuck and Nora sit at a table, thinking the Marine is being antisocial. Lew and Chuck small talk about the desert area and its isolation. Johnny meets Tracy and they both talk about getting away from the desert town.
The Satans arrive at the cafe and demand service. Romeo harasses Tracy as she tries to take the gang's order. Lew intervenes and the gang calms down. Firewater selects a song from the jukebox and Gina performs a go-go dance routine for Anchor, jealous of Anchor's attention towards the waitress. Lou pulls the plug on the jukebox and tells the gang that the place is "a place to eat" and "not a place to dance." One of the bikers hits on Chuck's wife and she throws a drink in his face. Chuck pulls out his revolver and tells them to "beat it." The bikers knock out Chuck and take his gun. The Satans take Lew, Chuck and Nora out behind the cafe. Nora is raped, and Anchor explains to them why they hate cops. Anchor kills the three of them as Johnny and Tracy escape in Tracy's dune buggy after knocking out Muscle and Romeo.
The bikers pursue Johnny and Tracy deep into the isolated desert. The dune buggy breaks down from damage that occurred when the couple ran over a couple of the bikes. Johnny and Tracy trek through the desert in an effort to reach help at the closest town before the Satans catch up with them and finish the job. The remains of the gang comes across a trio of female campers − Carol, Jan, and Lois − and party with them. Gina drives off in a jealous fit and commits suicide by driving over a cliff, dying with Anchor's name on her lips. Willie tracks Johnny and Tracy but is bitten by a rattlesnake and dies. Firewater goes looking for Willie and finds his body - he returns to discover Acid playing Russian roulette with Chuck's pistol and Anchor has gone insane and murdered the three women. They fight and Firewater leaves Anchor for dead; he searches for Johnny and Tracy. When he finds the couple, Johnny surprises him and during the fight, a landslide crushes Firewater. He tells Johnny that Anchor is no longer a problem and dies.
As the couple relax and begin walking down the road, Anchor drives toward them on the last working gang motorcycle. He raves about being Satan and having paid his dues; it is Johnny's turn. As he raises the gun, Johnny throws a switchblade at the gang leader, killing him. Johnny is wounded but still able to drive the motorcycle; the couple get on the bike and leave towards the setting sun.
Charles Butler is a world-renowned artist, but behind his macabre and grotesque imagery lies a more brutal truth.
Alongside the insane Dr. Garrison and their mutant lackeys, he is kidnapping beautiful models and artists so he can take his art to the next stage, and turn living humans into living paintings. Jason, a young art student realizes this disgusting scheme a little bit too late, as his beloved girlfriend Janet has been kidnapped by Butler and Garrison. As he races to their mansion in the middle of nowhere, stoned and afraid, Butler's last words with the boy echoes in his mind; "Yesterday's nightmare is today's dream and tomorrow's reality."
Jim, the young assistant of the keeper of the ''Admiral Bembo'' inn, and his mouse friend Gran (Rex in English) are one night asked by a rough, one-legged stranger for a room and to watch out for suspicious-looking characters. The latter, a band of black-cloaked assassins, soon arrive, and the man asks Jim to take care of the casket he's been carrying before engaging the intruders. Jim and Gran narrowly escape. After they return to the ransacked inn later, they open the casket in hopes of gaining some money as compensation for the damage. Inside they find a map to the treasure hidden by the infamous pirate Captain Flint.
Jim and Gran immediately set out with their steam-powered barrel boat - and the innkeeper's infant son Baboo as a stowaway - to recover the riches, but after a few days at sea they are captured by the pirate crew of Captain Silver and brought to Pirate Island, where both are sold to a slave merchant. Alerted by Gran's unchecked babbling, one of the crew, the monocled Baron, also steals the map from Jim in order to gain captaincy over his own ship by presenting it to the pirates' council.
In their holding cell, Jim and Gran encounter Kathy, Captain Flint's feisty and resolute granddaughter. They manage to escape the cell, and Jim recovers the map as the assembled captains of Pirate Island pour over it. Kathy, however, promptly steals it, and having no ship to reach the island, she accepts the Baron's offer of transportation, which is in turn instantly usurped by Silver. Silver and his crew try their best to steal the map back during the voyage, but Kathy's distrust and Jim's secret assistance foil the scheme repeatedly. After an attack by the pirate captain chairman, which they narrowly escape, Jim and Gran incapacitate Silver and his crew with their own sleeping potion.
Just before reaching the island, however, a storm rips the ship apart; Jim, Gran, Baboo, and the baby's self-appointed guardian, the walrus Otto, arrive just after Silver, his crew, and Kathy, now a prisoner of the pirates. In exchange for her friends' safety, Kathy offers to lead Silver to the exact location of the treasure. Silver, however, plans on double-crossing both Jim and his own crew to get the treasure for himself.
While Otto holds off his fellow pirates (who soon surrender after realizing that Silver wouldn't share with them anyway), Jim chases after Silver as he and his monkey helmsman, Spider, are climbing towards the top of an extinct volcano where the treasure is hidden. In the end Kathy sacrifices the final secret of recovering the treasure to save Jim's life, but it does no good to Silver; the mechanism he is told to trigger does not reveal the treasure immediately, but instead serves to drain the island volcano's crater lake. Silver and Spider are swept out into the sea, and the lake drains to reveal Flint's sunken ship, where Jim, Gran, Kathy and the reformed pirates find the treasure. The film ends with Jim and Kathy sailing away with Silver's ship, while the dethroned Silver and Spider chase after them on improvised log boats, quarreling all the while.
Audrey Burke (Halle Berry) and her warm and loving husband Brian (David Duchovny) have been happily married eleven years; they have a ten-year-old daughter named Harper (Alexis Llewellyn) and a six-year-old son named Dory (Micah Berry). Jerry Sunborne (Benicio del Toro) is a heroin addict who has been Brian's close childhood friend for many years.
Audrey gets tragic news delivered to her door by the local police: Brian has been killed in an attempt to defend a woman who was being beaten by her husband. On the day of the funeral Audrey realizes that she has forgotten to inform Jerry of Brian's death. Her brother Neal (Omar Benson Miller) delivers the message to Jerry and takes him to the funeral.
Audrey invites Jerry to move into the room adjacent to their garage, which he does. During his stay at the Burke home Jerry struggles to remain drug-free and also becomes very fond of Harper and Dory. The relationship between Jerry and Audrey is fragile and complicated. Jerry helps Audrey cope in many ways, including lying with her in bed to help her sleep. But Audrey, upset and confused, takes out her grief at Brian's death on Jerry. She becomes angry when Jerry helps Dory overcome his fear of submerging his head in the pool; something Brian had tried to do for a few years.
Eventually, Audrey demands that Jerry leave the house after he questions Audrey on her reaction to Harper playing hooky from school. This causes Jerry to relapse with heroin. Audrey and Neal rescue and rehabilitate Jerry, and he agrees to admit himself to a specialized clinic. At first Harper, who has come to love Jerry as much she did her father, is angry that he is leaving. But after he leaves her a heartfelt note she accepts that he is going.
Jerry is still struggling with his addiction but seems to be well on his way to recovery. He leaves red flowers on Audrey's doorstep with a note that reads "Accept the good," a phrase which Jerry himself had told Brian, and that Brian had subsequently said to Audrey many times.
Caine, a gunrunner, becomes stranded in a small port on the Red Sea. While there, he meets an attractive woman, Anna, who propositions him to dive into shark-infested waters off the coast. Though she alleges the purpose of the dive is scientific research, Caine eventually realizes that the woman and her partner are actually treasure hunters, and sees an opportunity to utilize the riches from the wreck they hope to raid to compensate for the earlier loss of his cargo.
The story begins in 1951 in Kubanacan, a small Caribbean island country known as a "banana republic", both for its prime export and its economic problems. After the death of the current president, General Carlos Camacho (Humberto Martins) imposes a coup d'état and establishes a dictatorial regime. In addition, the new ruler marries the wife of her predecessor, Mercedes (Betty Lago), first lady loved by the people for her help to the poor and with whom she had an affair for years. In the village of Santiago, a mysterious man falls from the sky during a storm with a chest shot, being saved by the fishermen and cared for by Marisol (Danielle Winits). Without memory, Esteban (Marcos Pasquim) falls in love with the girl and disputes his heart with her husband, Enrico (Vladimir Brichta), who leaves and lets his ex-wife live with the new love, who takes over her two children. Seven years later, in 1958, Marisol meets Camacho, who convinces her to leave and live as his mistress, claiming she would never get out of poverty in the village.
Esteban believes his wife died on the high seas as a result of third parties and leaves for La Bendita to take revenge, which brings out a double personality, the violent evil character Dark Esteban. In the capital he bumps into Enrico again, now married to Lola (Adriana Esteves), who ironically also falls in love with the amnesiac. Enrico's real lover is Rubi (Carolina Ferraz), Lola's sister, who dreams of joining the army and whom men have never looked for in the absence of vanity, since she dresses like a man and lives dirty for working as a man. In the city the sons of Mercedes still live there - Guillermo (Daniel Del Sarto), who always tries to unmask his stepfather's betrayals, and Mercedita (Tatyane Goulart) a caricature of his mother - besides Camacho's only son, Carlito (Iran Malfitano), who works all night and has several cases, just like his father. He dates the futile Consuelo (Fernanda de Freitas) and is loved by the sweet Soledad (Rafaela Mandelli), who never received a look from the boy for being shy and virginal, but sends him anonymous letters, arousing his passion, which he longs to know.
There is also Dagoberto (Bruno Garcia), the president's secretary who becomes indirectly responsible for government decisions, and Johnny (Daniel Boaventura), a US-raised playboy who becomes Esteban's close friend. Camacho hires Adriano, a Miami attorney who is identical to Esteban and who eventually takes over the presidency, which leads to confusion. In addition, General Alejandro (Werner Schünemann), a former exiled president on the island of La Platina, returns to take revenge on Camacho and destroy the country for good by building Projeto Fênix (Phoenix Project), a nuclear weapon of mass destruction. Throughout the plot it turns out that Esteban is actually called Leon and came from the future to prevent Alejandro's plans. He is the son of the real Esteban, who lives in a cabin near the capital, who got Rubi pregnant without her knowing that he was not the boy she had met. The real Esteban is Adriano's twin brother and the two are Alejandro's sons.
John Dolan Vincent is a talented young forger with a proclivity for mathematics and drug addiction. In the face of his impending institutionalization, he continually reinvents himself to escape the legal and mental health authorities and to save himself from a life of incarceration. But running turns out to be costly. Vincent's clients in the L.A. underworld lose patience, the hospital evaluator may not be fooled by his story, and the only person in as much danger as himself is the woman who knows his real name.
Young Pete Lender sets up traps throughout his home, explaining to his parents, Joe and Victoria, that small household items, which they believe are simply misplaced, are being stolen. In actuality, the Clock family of tiny people known as "Borrowers" are secretly living in the house, taking things without being seen by "human beans". Lawyer Ocious P. Potter informs the Lenders that he cannot find the will of Victoria’s late aunt Mary Alabaster – the family’s only evidence that their house rightfully belongs to them – and he has already made plans to demolish their house and build condominiums, forcing the Lenders to move.
Pod Clock and his children, Arrietty and Peagreen, make their way through the kitchen to "borrow" a battery to bring back to his wife, Homily. Arrietty treats herself to ice cream in the freezer, and is accidentally trapped inside as the Lenders return. Pod rescues her via the ice dispenser, but is forced to leave one of his gadgets behind. Later, Arrietty ventures out alone and is caught by Pete, who explains that the house is being demolished in the absence of the will. Arrietty warns her family and, despite her parents’ misgivings, Pod reluctantly agrees and Pete smuggles the Clocks onto the Lenders’ moving truck to join them at their new home. Pete repairs and returns Pod’s gadget to him, earning his trust. As the truck pulls away, Arrietty and Peagreen accidentally fall out, and make their way back to the house.
Potter soon arrives at the house, revealing that he lied to the Lenders; having a distrust of banks, Mrs. Alabaster had actually hidden her will – officially leaving her property to the family – inside the house. He finds the will in a hidden safe and prepares to burn it, but Arrietty and Peagreen flee with the document. Discovering the Clocks’ home beneath the floorboards, Potter summons Exterminator Jeff to eliminate the Borrowers, and is sprayed with caustic foam and electrocuted in the process. Police Officer Oliver Steady responds to the disturbance, but Potter manages to throw off his suspicions while Arrietty and Peagreen escape with the will.
Peagreen accidentally stumbles and falls into an empty milk bottle and is collected and brought back to the dairy, with Potter, Jeff, and Jeff’s flatulent bloodhound in pursuit, followed by Pete, Pod, and Homily. Spud Spiller, an "outie" Borrower living on the street, takes Arrietty to the dairy, where Pod rescues Peagreen from the assembly line. Potter captures the Borrowers and leaves them to drown in liquid cheese. Spiller taunts Potter, who drops him in a machine, seemingly killing him, and departs with the will. Pete saves the Clocks, and Jeff, realizing Potter's scheme, has a change of heart and drives them to City Hall to stop Potter from arranging the house’s demolition.
In retaliation for Potter’s rudeness, the City Hall clerk gives him confusing directions. Eventually reaching the demolitions office, Potter is confronted by Jeff and Pete, but then pushes them out of the way. He then enters the office, only to find himself tricked and locked in a supply room. The Clocks tie him up with electrical tape, but he breaks free and recaptures them. Before Potter can vacuum up the family, Spiller arrives with an army of Borrowers who subdue him, and Pod delivers a warning to Potter on behalf of all Borrowers. They disappear as Pete and Jeff arrive with Officer Steady. Pete shows Steady the will, proving Potter’s plan to cheat the Lenders out of their house, and Potter is promptly arrested.
The Lenders move back into their home, as do the Clocks, now with food and assistance from Pete. As the Clocks enjoy the company of their old Borrower friends, Minty Branch, Swag Moss and Dustbunny Bin, Arrietty and Spiller sneak away to ride his aerosol paint-propelled roller skate.
During the pre-credits, Potter attempts to explain the existence of the Borrowers, only for the whole station both cops and convicts to laugh at him uproariously. The film closes with Potter getting his mugshots taken (which he actually seems to enjoy).
Eric Ashworth awakens in jail, unable to remember how he got there or why. All he does remember is a woman's name: Desiree.
Bailed out and holed up in a low rent motel, Eric finds the solution to his amnesia in a strange new hallucinogen. By synthesizing the sense of touch, the drug produces a disjointed series of sensations that slowly allow Eric to remember his former life as a clandestine chemist. With steadily increasing doses, Eric reassembles his past at the expense of his grip on the present, and his distinction between truth and fantasy crumbles as his paranoia grows in tandem with his tolerance.
On Halloween night, following an unnerving phone call from his diabetic mother, Hale and six of his med school classmates return to the house where his sister disappeared years ago. While there is no sign of his mother, something is waiting for them there, and has been waiting a long time. Written as a literary film treatment littered with footnotes and experimental nuances, Demon Theory is even parts camp and terror, combining glib dialogue, fascinating pop culture references, and an intricate subtext as it pursues the events of a haunting movie trilogy too real to dismiss. There are books about movies and movies about books, and then there’s Demon Theory – a refreshing and occasionally shocking addition to the increasingly popular “intelligent horror” genre.
Grace McKinley is a brilliant 38-year-old woman with schizophrenia. When her mother dies, Grace's actions become increasingly erratic. She takes two weeks to report the death, and in that time is sent a shattering message that only she can decipher.
Grace's younger brother Dominic is a repressed yet courageous missionary working in war-ravaged Sierra Leone. Called home to arrange his mother's funeral, he is at the same time forced to deal with Grace's uncertain future and their forgotten past. The problem is, wanted by the police for questioning, and with her life threatened, Grace has disappeared onto the streets of Vancouver, fuelled by an indomitable will to spread her secret to the masses.
Kate Wilkens—Dominic's past love interest and Grace's psychiatrist—and Dominic's childhood buddy James, a priest, combine with Grace's fiercely loyal best friend Gigi and her punchy husband Ralph to round out those searching for Grace. But in the days leading up to the funeral the question of who actually needs to be saved becomes less and less clear, and the truth of Grace's convictions threaten to shatter all Dominic's beliefs, and both of their lives, to where death may be the only way to freedom…
Driven by the courage of love and the agony of mental illness, See Grace Fly slams heart first into faith, death, sex and family, offering a gripping look at the precarious balance between belief and reality.
''The Fast Red Road—A Plainsong'' is a gleeful, two-fisted plundering of the myth and pop- culture surrounding the American Indian. It is a novel fueled on pot fumes and blues, a surreal pseudo-Western, in which imitation is the sincerest form of subversion. Indians, cowboys, and outlaws are as changeable as their outfits; horses are traded for Trans-Ams, and men are as likely to strike poses from Gunsmoke as they are from Custer’s last stand. Pidgin, the half-blood protagonist, inhabits a world of illusion—of aliens, ghosts, telekinesis, and water-pistol violence, where TV and porn offer redemption, and the Indian always gets it in the end. His attempts to reconcile the death of his father with five hundred years of colonial myth-making lead him to criss-cross a wasted New Mexico, returning compulsively to his hometown of Clovis, the site of his father’s burial.
Accompanied by car thief Charlie Ward, he evades the cops in a top-down drag race, tearing through barriers “Dukestyle.” The land they travel seems bent with fever—post-apocalyptic —as though the end has arrived and no one noticed. Its occupants hawk bodies and pastel bomb shelters, wandering a bleak hallucination of strip-joints, strip-malls, and all you can eat beef fed beef stalls. They speak a lingo of disposable nicknames, truncated punch lines—slang with an expiration date. Pidgin strays through bar and junkyards, rodeos and carnivals, encountering the remnants of the Goliard tribe. There’s the mysterious Mexican Paiute, Uncle Birdfinger, checkout-girl Stiya 6—the reincarnation of Pidgin’s mother—and media-queen Psychic Sally, who predicts the group’s demise. Each plays a part in the search that will eventually place Pidgin in a position to rewrite history.
Alex McNetti (Rich George) has a rare disease which gives him very brittle bones. His friend Thomas Granger (Brian Paulin) believes that he has found the cure by feeding his friend dead flesh to counteract the terrible disease. However the process does have its side effects including making Alex cough up and vomit worms, and also turning him into a zombie. The dead start to rise from their graves and butcher every living human they see to pieces, including a heavily armed SWAT team, as well as two street hardened security guards who have been working the beat for so long they forget to take their hats off. The zombies later invade a populated city, killing every living person in sight.
During his first night out of a mental institution after suffering a nervous breakdown, Phineas Poe is picked up by a prostitute named Jude. She drugs him and removes his kidney and leaves him in a hotel bathtub full of ice with a note on the counter that reads, "If you want to live, call 9-1-1." Phineas, an ex-police officer who had recently been searching for information against the Denver Police Department's Internal Affairs Unit, later finds out that his kidney was actually replaced by a bag of heroin. While searching for his missing kidney, Phineas finds love in his attacker, while he evades the angry Denver police and tries to unlock the secrets behind his wife's recent death.
A student is expelled from music school because he loves jazz, and jazz at that time (the film depicts the 1920s) is the kind of music that represents American capitalism. He hires two street musicians to form a band, and goes from one city to another trying to gain fame.