Sabrina has received a letter from her father asking her to try and open a mysterious antique gold locket which her Aunt Sophia is trapped inside, however she has only two weeks to do so or the magic will fade and Aunt Sophia will be lost forever. The only clue she has is that "the secret to the locket lies in Rome" so Sabrina heads for Italy and the Eternal City of Rome, for what was supposed to be "two cat-less weeks" to herself. Unknown to her she is accompanied by Salem who has stowed away in her backpack. Sabrina finds an unexpected roommate: Gwen, a British witch with a talking guinea pig named Stonehenge (nicknamed "Stony"). At the inn where she is staying, Sabrina learns that her Aunt Sophia was banished and trapped in the locket because she fell in love with a mortal who betrayed her and revealed to a friend that she was a witch. Later while traveling the city, she meets Paul, the gorgeous American photographer who catches her before she falls into the famous Trevi Fountain. Together, Sabrina and Gwen set out to solve the mystery of the locket. When Paul and his friend Travis witness Sabrina doing magic, while turning a walking statue to stone (that Gwen brought to life by accident) they come up with an idea to sell the story. In the end Paul doesn't betray Sabrina, which sets Aunt Sophia free, as the locket says "Trust your heart".

Sabrina travels to Australia's Great Barrier Reef with Gwen, a fellow witch from England, for a week-long vacation where they try to help protect a hidden mermaid colony whose habitat is threatened by ocean pollution, and by local marine biologist Dr. Julian Martin, who is determined to find the colony as his claim to fame. While Sabrina finds a friendship with Barnaby, a "merman" from the mermaid colony, Salem the cat finds a possible romance with another witch-turned-into-a-cat named Hilary, but finds Sabrina's problems interfering with his plans. In order to prevent Julian from launching a search for the mermaid colony, she casts a spell to create a storm to keep him in port, which succeeds except that a lightning bolt knocks Sabrina unconscious, and when she comes to she learns she has lost her powers, at least temporarily.

Frank Cobb is a former secret service agent who lacks both direction and an outlet for his protective instincts. After an innocent is threatened and he has a violent confrontation with the aggressors, he ends up in a jail cell and is soon given a chance to forge a new direction. This new direction puts him in direct conflict with secret agents, members of the mafia, terrorists. Also involved in the story are old friends and beautiful women.

Blake, Mortimer and Nasir land at Cape Town, South Africa, where they miss the departure of the ship ''La Madeleine''. Fortunately, Lord Auchentosham, billionaire protector of nature, offers them to join the boat with his seaplane. Once aboard the ship, the three friends explain the reason for their presence to Labrousse. In order to intercept the package of uranium to Singh, they believe Ravi Kuta that their ship was immobilized by the storm of the day before and that they have a serious injury requiring care. Nasir boards the Indian cargo and sabotages its engines, allowing Blake and Mortimer to arrive first at the British Halley base. A radio exchange between the captain of ''La Madeleine'' shows the arrival of the British two to Acoka, who orders his men to assault the Halley base.

The next day, Blake and Mortimer land at the base where they are captured by the Indians. Blake manages to escape by dog sled and wanders in a blizzard to the Soviet base. While Major Varitch is about to kill him for pure vengeance, Blake flees on a freighter and joins the French base. Thanks to the invention of the Pr. Labrousse, the Subglacior, the French free their British colleagues. All together, they go to storm the Indian base. Meanwhile, Mortimer takes the Indian base where Acoka explains the functioning of his weapon and tells him that he will be the second guinea pig after Olrik. As he is preparing to enter the sarcophagus, Nasir, until then hidden under the guise of Singh, intervenes. At the same time, the Subglacior emerges in the base, causing a shootout, won by the French and British. Acoka and Radjak take refuge in an electromagnetic cage with Mortimer and Nasir, while earthquakes due to the Central Indian Ridge multiply.

The power supply to the base provided by the Soviets, Blake returns to their base to try and reason with them. In the tunnel he burrows, he convinces Major Varitch's lieutenant, killed by a collapse, to cut the current. In Indian base, a new earthquake plunges Acoka into a fault and seriously injures Radjak. While Labrousse repairs the damaged Subglacior, Radjak explained to Mortimer what Acoka criticized. In India, his love of the Princess Gita made Sushil, his childhood friend, jealous. The night where the two lovers were to meet, he killed the Princess in anger and pretended to Acoka that Mortimer was the murderer. Radjak eventually confessed the truth to his master who executed Sushil. Farmers found the Princess who had survived and Acoka decided to hide the truth, believing it was Mortimer who wanted to kill her. One day, Acoka returned alone, changed from a trip with his daughter. Mortimer then understands that Acoka is actually the Princess Gita.

The Princess reappears and threatens to kill Nasir if the British turn on the current. Once done, she sends the spirit of Olrik to sabotage the Expo but allows Mortimer to use the second sarcophagus if he wants to stop him. Mortimer finds himself in the form of electromagnetic waves in Brussels where he engages with Olrik, but he has a plan: while Labrousse distracts Gita at the base, the two enemies, who made a truce, joined their bodies. The Princess, furious, runs to Nasir to kill him but the Professor shoots her several times.

A new earthquake causes the collapse of the entire base. Mortimer and Nasir Labrousse have just enough time to escape on board the Subglacior, leaving Olrik, but they find themselves crushed by a rock needle over a pile of lava. A big explosion projects them outside where they are stranded on an ice floe. Thanks to the transmitter in the possession of Mortimer, Lord Auchentosham's seaplane manages to locate them. The protagonists gather on ''La Madeleine'' to debrief their adventure. On 17 April 1958, Blake, Mortimer and Labrousse are present at the inauguration of the Exposition by the King of the Belgians, Baudouin. In the old Indian Antarctic base, Olrik wakes up in his sarcophagus.

Volume I

Following an earthquake in the South of the Peloponnese, a shepherd boy discovered the remains of a fifth-century Christian chapel. There are ancient manuscripts and a lead reliquary. Two weeks later, in Jacksonville, Pennsylvania, a commando helicopter breaks out Colonel Olrik from a high-security prison. The same night, in London, Captain Francis Blake, head of MI5, is made aware of this spectacular escape and goes to the United States to help the FBI track Olrik down, while his friend Professor Philip Mortimer receives a letter from the doctor Géorgios Markopoulos, curator of the Archaeological Museum of Athens, asking for his help on an extraordinary case.

A few days later, Olrik wakes aboard the Arax where he finds his lackey, Jack. The owner of the yacht, the wealthy businessman Belos Beloukian, wants to hire him for a case that opposes Mortimer. At the same time, Mortimer lands in Athens where he is greeted by Eleni Philippides, the niece and Assistant to Dr. Markopoulos. While they drive to the Museum, a thug gets a flat tire from the car of Eleni to delay. But the impromptu arrival of Jim Radcliff, correspondent for the Philadelphia Chronicle and engaged to Eleni, allows them to hit the road. In the Museum, they discover the unconscious Dr. Markopoulos in his office and an individual masked fleeing with a metal box. Mortimer begins a pursuit of the Lincoln of the two thieves until a thunderstorm suddenly causes an accident in the car. The Professor retrieves the box as well as a stater of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, putting immediately an end to the storm, then returns to the Museum. Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the FBI in Washington, Blake is meeting with John Calloway, Chief of special operations, and his assistant, Jessie Wingo. They have traced the origin of the helicopters of the escape of Olrik until a certain Belos Beloukian, wealthy Armenian businessman and so-called former prisoner of war. However, they suspect it to be the Colonel Count Rainer von Stahl of SS-Totenkopfverbände whose fortune would be the Nazi war chest.

In Athens, Dr. Markopoulos Mortimer explains the reason for his coming: he fell in possession of manuscripts indicating that in the 1st century a.d., the leader of a Christian congregation in Greece, named Nicodemus, had met Judas Iscariot, who failed his suicide mentioned in the Bible. On his death, he would have sent one of his faithful bury him with his 30 pieces of silver in a place unknown to all. But one of taxpayers affected by the curse of God would have been preserved in a lead reliquary, crossing the centuries until its discovery in the chapel. At that time, the two men are being targeted by a shooter, but they come out unscathed. The Inspector Kamantis tells them that it's Kostas, the survivor of the accident of the Lincoln who wants to avenge his brother's death. On board the Arax, Beloukian confesses to Olrik he wants the purse of Judas for the destructive power and to become the master of evil on Earth.

In Museum, Eleni says Mortimer is missing a manuscript indicating the place of the congregation of Nicodemus. Mortimer then decides to return to search the chapel with her. At night, Kostas triggers the hotel fire alarm and, disguised as a COP, isolates Mortimer in a service staircase in order to kill him, but Mortimer manages to narrowly escape. The Inspector Kamantis is highly advised to leave the city for safety, and in the early morning, Mortimer, Jim and Eleni take a train to the South of the Peloponnese. During the trip, Eleni and Mortimer discuss theories on the origin of the name of Judas the Iscariot. Meanwhile, on a small island in Mediterranean, Olrik enters in a room decorated with a large Nazi swastika where Beloukian chairs a meeting vowing to become the masters of the world. Beloukian then confesses to be Colonel Count Rainer von Stahl and hired him as head of the service of information and security, as it did to Basam Damdu. As a token of his resolution, Olrik kills Kostas on order of Rainer von Stahl.

After vainly searching the Chapel, Mortimer and Eleni visit a young shepherd, but Olrik and Jack are already on the spot and escape with the manuscript. Mortimer begins pursuing them with two compatriots until they are blocked in the village by a herd of sheep. Mortimer catches Olrik and take the manuscript, but Jack arrives and is about to kill him when Jim comes in and puts him to flight. Mortimer warns Blake of the presence of Olrik in Greece and finds Eleni who tells their next destination: the island of Syrenios. To get there, Jim offers to use the yacht from the owner of his newspaper, Belos Beloukian, who turns out to know all of their adventures. But on board, Mortimer falls on Olrik and is made prisoner, as Eleni, Jim and Dr. Markopoulos. During the night, the Professor manages to escape the ship with a lifeboat, but it is a trap from Olrik, who removed out the oars and the food.

Volume II

Mortimer drifts for several days at sea until he is saved by a seaplane with on board Blake, John Calloway, Jessie Wingo and a commando of the MI6. They find the yacht of Beloukian in anchorage off the coast of Syrenios island in the sea of Crete. In the evening, they board it, but it's a trap and Rainer von Stahl, watching them from the side, orders the launch of a torpedo that destroys his ship. Taking advantage of this moment of inattention, Jim helps Eleni to escape. For their part, Jessie and Mortimer recover members of the commandos at the scene of the drama. While they are looking for Blake on board a canoe, the aircraft takes off and abandons them just as another torpedo targets it. After having found Blake, Jessie and Mortimer see Rainer von Stahl and his men board a submarine which has just surfaced. The three friends travel along the coast to the village of Syrenios. In view of the means available to Rainer von Stahl, it is clear to Blake and Jessie that he is supported by an organization such as the ODESSA and the former SS members.

In Syrenios, Blake, Mortimer and Jessie find housing at the village Café. They then have the happy surprise to see Eleni after she escaped. The next day, the four friends go to the only cave on the island looking for clues of the Christian congregation. They find a kind of decorative fresco that Mortimer found a copy of in the breakfast room of their landlady. During the night, the professor eventually understands that a message is hidden in the fresco and deciphers it. The message directs them to the door of Orpheus, traditionally placed in the cave of Acheruse in Epirus, at the other end of the country. A Turkish smuggler agrees to take them on his old boat but once at sea, they have the unpleasant surprise to find Olrik. A struggle ensues during which the smuggler gets killed, Olrik falls into the water and the boat catches fire. Blake, Mortimer, Jessie and Eleni build a raft and collect Olrik. The next day, they are saved by the yacht of the same couple of British compatriots that had already met Mortimer. They return to Athens but upon their arrival, Olrik escapes from the boat.

In the Embassy of Great Britain, Blake and Mortimer attend a meeting between British, American and Greek intelligence services. It is decided to continue the search for the grave of Judas hoping to exchange his location against the lives of the hostages, Jim and Dr. Markopoulos. Blake and Mortimer visit the cave of Acheruse, in Epirus, with a Greek Counterintelligence agent Konstantinos. At the bottom of the cave, they finally find the grave of Judas and his body intact. At that time, Rainer von Stahl and Olrik appear with Eleni who has betrayed them. A short gun battle ensues and Konstantinos gets shot. Mortimer gives back the thirty pieces of silver to Rainer von Stahl reluctantly. But when the latter rejoices, the corpse of Judas stands and curses him. A ray of light envelops Judas who thanks the Lord before falling to dust while a lightning bolt strikes Rainer von Stahl who catches fire. At the same time, an earthquake occurs and Mortimer, Blake and Eleni flee while Olrik falls into a crevasse. The other survivors were arrested by men of the MI6. With this information, MI6 men take over the fortress of the Nazis and release Jim and Dr. Markopoulos, while Colonel Georgiopoulos, Director of the Greek counter-intelligence, commits suicide after promising that their time will come.

In Tanganyika, Professor Heidegang discovers in the lake of the Ngorongoro crater a secret entrance leading to a sort of sanctuary. He seizes a ring as proof of his discovery but menacing men appear and he flees, wounded in the thigh. In London, professor Philip Mortimer, fatigued and suffering from memory problems since his experience in the sarcophagi of Açoka, is recommended by his doctor to rest. Nastasia Wardynska, of the CSIR, brings the results of the analysis of the rock he brought back from Antarctica: it is a 350 million year old gold and diamond rock on which is engraved enigmatic signs that would prove the existence of a civilization at that time.

At the Centaur Club, Mortimer shares his discoveries with his friend Captain Francis Blake, who had to go to France to meet Professor Labrousse, their French meteorologist friend, about his invention, Subglacior II. Mortimer goes to the ''Daily Mail'' archives where Mr Stone shows him an article on Dr. Heidegang that says paleontologists Mr and Mrs Leaky had been found delusional and clasping in their hands a ring engraved with the same enigmatic signs. On his return home, Mortimer immerses himself in reading his memories and discovers that the writer and amateur archaeologist Sarah Summertown, with whom he had an adventure in his youth, is a friend of the Leakys. In the archives of the Daily Mail, a mysterious man manages to consult the article on Prof. Heidegang by posing as Mortimer's assistant to Mr Stone. The next day, Mortimer goes to Sarah Summertown for the first time in many years. After having told each other their lives, Sarah agrees to help Mortimer on the condition that she accompany him on her adventure, and later Nastasia imposes her presence on him too.

At the London airport, Mortimer, Sarah and Nastasia board for Nairobi under the surveillance of the mysterious man. In the plane, Sarah talks to them of artifacts engraved with the same enigmatic signs found in the four corners of the world, which could indicate the existence of a civilization at the time of the unique continent of Gondwana. In London, the mysterious man enters Blake's house during the night and threatens the captain with a pistol. He just asks him to listen to what he has to say and gives him his gun as a pledge of good faith. The next day, Blake takes the plane and goes to Antarctica with Professor Labrousse to take a delivery of a mysterious cargo. Meanwhile, the mysterious man is handed a passport, a plane ticket to Nairobi and cash by David Honeychurch, who has received these instructions from his superior Blake. Arriving at his destination, he settles in the same hotel as Mortimer and his two friends, and turns out to be Colonel Olrik in disguise. Meanwhile, Mortimer, Sarah and Nastasia are in the hospital to visit the delirious Dr. Heidegang. Mortimer manages to make contact with Heidegang by speaking German and learns that the guardians of Gondwana demand that the ring be returned to them.

The three friends fly to Arusha, accompanied by Olrik in disguise who has managed to be invited by Nastasia. They find their guide Bombo, with whom they leave the next day in an all-terrain car for the crater of the Ngorongoro. Meanwhile, Olrik helps Uru, a young Maasai at the market, which causes him to fall into a trap. He is recognized by Razul the Bezendjas, his former henchman, who convinces him to team up to share the riches of the lost civilization of Gondwana. With the airship of Youssef, another former accomplice of Olrik, the three criminals can follow without being seen from the car carrying Motimer, Sarah, Nastasia, Bombo and Uru. When crossing a river, Nastasia falls into the water and is carried by the current to a bank downstream where she finds herself facing a lion. Uru, who has followed, fights the lion and eventually kills it before succumbing to his wounds. The young woman now faces a pack of African wild dogs and is saved by shots fired from an airship where she recognizes Olrik without believing it. Mortimer, Sarah and Bombo finally arrive at Nastasia after escaping the charge of a herd of elephants and the overthrow of their car. That evening, they attend the funeral of Uru in his village.

The next day, Mortimer, Sarah, Nastasia and Bombo arrive at the Ngorongoro crater and plunge into the lake to find the secret entrance, not knowing that Olrik and Razul are right behind them. The four adventurers enter the sanctuary where they are quickly encircled by threatening guards, only protected by the ring. A translucent disc called Life tells them that they are in the Sanctuary of Life and then invites them to come forward to discover it. They find themselves in a huge room with an extraordinary machine and Life explains to them: more than 300 million years ago, a civilization developed like theirs, but before the tensions engendered by growing injustices, scientists created an incubator to spawn new individuals if humanity were to disappear, which eventually happened. Olrik and Razul appear and threaten Mortimer, Sarah, Nastasia and Bombo with their weapons. Olrik makes an astonishing revelation: since their experience of the Açoka sarcophagi, Mortimer's body is controlled by the spirit of Olrik while the spirit of Mortimer is stuck in the body of the criminal. The proof is Mortimer's signature, which is related to the mind and not the body. This revelation leads to confusion among the protagonists who no longer know whom to believe and threaten each other. Faced with this distressing spectacle, Life decides to send them back to the outside world, having erased their memory of the place in order to protect the incubator.

On the shore of the lake, Olrik (in the body of Mortimer) is arrested by Captain Blake whom Mortimer (in Olrik's body) had convinced of his good faith in London. All of them board the seaplane of Lord Archibald Mac Auchentoshan, a billionaire protector of nature, which carries the Açoka sarcophagi found by Professor Labrousse in the ruins of the Indian Antarctic base. Mortimer thus regains his own body and proves it thanks to his writing. The sarcophagi are then thrown into the sea, never to be found again.

The story began during Hayslip's childhood in a small village in central Vietnam, named Ky La. Her village was along the fault line between the north and south of Vietnam, with shifting allegiances in the village leading to constant tension. She and her friends worked as lookout for the northern Vietcong. The South Vietnamese learned of her work, arrested and tortured her. After Hayslip was released from prison, however, the Vietcong no longer trusted her and sentenced her to death. At the age of fourteen, two soldiers threatened to kill her in the forest. Once they arrived, both men decided to rape her instead.

She fled to Da Nang where she worked as a maid, a black-market vendor, a waitress, a hospital worker and even a prostitute. While working for a wealthy Vietnamese family with her mother in Saigon, Hayslip had a few sexual encounters with the landlord, Anh, and discovered she was pregnant. She gave birth to a baby son at the age of fifteen. Several years later, she married an American contractor named Ed Munro and gave birth to another son. Hayslip left for San Diego, California in 1970, shortly after her 20th birthday.

Hayslip's entire family was torn apart by the war: one brother fled to Hanoi, and did not see his family again for 20 years. Another brother was killed by a land mine. The Vietcong pressured her father to force Hayslip to become a saboteur. Rather than give into the pressure, he committed suicide.

The memoir alternates between her childhood in Vietnam, and her return in 1986, to visit the friends and family she had not seen for so long. In Vietnam she was reunited with the father of her first child, her sisters, brother, and her mother. Her family was afraid to be seen with her because the tensions from the war were still present. Her memoir concludes with a plea for an end to the enmity between the Vietnamese and Americans.

The tale of Monster Soul takes place in Elvenland, a fictional land that humans and monsters inhabit. The main characters are a group of monsters called the Black Airs. The Black Airs is recorded as the strongest group of the monster forces in the great war between humans and monsters. The first three chapters consist of three stories that do not have a main plot, but the last chapter of the "first stage" reveals a bit of the past. In the "second stage" the Black Airs travel to Hell to help a human boy save his townspeople who are captured by the evil Drei Kommandos.

It's three days before Christmas, as the conductor aboard the Toyland Express, Humpty Dumpty (Charles Nelson Reilly), meets two children, Jack and Jill (Joseph Ashton and Lacey Chabert), who are on their way to Toyland. After meeting Tom Piper (Raphael Sbarge) and Mary (Cathy Cavadini), who runs her late father's toy factory, they go to live with their uncle, the evil Barnaby Crookedman (Christopher Plummer), who despises toys and keeps Jack and Jill in the tower. He has plans to shut down the toy factory, and earlier shot down Tom's hot air balloon as he was flying over the Goblin Forest in an attempt to get him eaten by goblins (and is quite shocked to see him alive).

Jack and Jill sneak out and go to the Toy Factory, which had received a big order from Santa Claus requesting a thousand giant toy soldiers. Just as Jack and Jill offer to help, Barnaby takes them back to the tower of his house and threatens to send them to the Goblin Forest if they go near the toy factory again. Shortly afterward, he hires two crooks (the pirates) named Gonzargo and Rodrigo (James Belushi and Bronson Pinchot) to sabotage the toy factory.

Jack and Jill sneak out and go to the toy factory again, where Gonzargo and Rodrigo, disguised as sheep, drop a monkey wrench into one of the machines, Jack manages to remove it before the machine can explode. Jack and Jill immediately suspect Gonzargo and Rodrigo, though believing them to be sheep, and chase after them, resulting in Rodrigo and Gonzargo being knocked into a well by a ram and Jack and Jill, respectively, get knocked down by an empty pail and fall down the hill ''again.''

Barnaby catches Jack and Jill and orders Gonzargo and Rodrigo, who expose the children's interference with the sabotage, to take them to the Goblin Forest. There, they meet the mysterious Goblin King (Lindsay Schnebly) who tries eat Gonzargo and Rodrigo. Mr. Dumpty informs Tom and Mary, who go to the forest to rescue them. As the goblins are weak against light, they use a flashlight to fight them off and escape. Barnaby knocks Mr. Dumpty over a bridge (while giving a mockery saying of the nursery rhyme which bears the egg's name) for the key to the factory and tries to enter it, but is stopped by Tom, Mary, Jack, Jill, Gonzargo, and Rodrigo, and is forced to retreat.

As Tom and Mary finish the Toy Factory's order and fall in love, Barnaby leads the goblins to Toyland, where they invade, setting fire to the buildings and roasting Gonzargo and Rodrigo on a spit. Tom activates the toy soldiers, who soundly defeat the goblins and put out the fire, saving all of Toyland (including Gonzargo and Rodrigo). As Barnaby insults the Goblin King, who tries to kill him, but Jack, Jill, and all the toy soldiers shine lights on him, destroying the Goblin King. Barnaby calls him a "pathetic ogre", and the other goblins confront him and chase him off, out of Toyland (though whether they finally catch him and eat him is unclear).

Finally Christmas arrives; Tom has repaired Mr. Dumpty. Santa magically shrinks the toy soldiers down to the size of action figures and loads them into his bag. He notices Barnaby's cat, Scat, who is now homeless since Barnaby's disappearance; he picks her up and pets her. Jill asks for Scat, and just as she gets her, Santa continues on his journey.

In the end, Jack and Jill become the adopted children of Tom and Mary.

Hugo's arch-enemy, the evil Scylla has returned and this time has found a way to make herself the most powerful witch of all time and take over the entire world. For this, she requires a magic potion to be made from extremely rare black diamonds which are to be found only on the jungle island where the Kikurians live. She takes them all prisoner and forces them to work day and night in search of black diamonds. The elder King Kikurian asks Hugo the troll to liberate them and stop Scylla's plot. When Fernando arrives a letter from King Kikurian, who is imprisoned in a cell and unable to help his people, he has no time to waste as he must free all the slaves and destroy the diamond potion factory to stop Scylla's plot before it is too late.

When a bank manager discovers Peter Stirling, one of his tellers, is attracting public attention he calls the young man in who relates his story in flashback.

Then Second Lieutenant Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) is caught behind Japanese lines in Burma during World War II. Francis, a talking Army mule (voiced by Chill Wills), carries him to safety. When Stirling insists that the animal rescued him, he is placed in a psychiatric ward. Each time Stirling is released, he accomplishes something noteworthy (at the instigation of Francis), and each time he is sent back to the psych ward when he insists on crediting the talking mule. Finally, Stirling is able to convince three-star General Stevens (John McIntire) that he is not crazy, and he and the general become the only ones aware of Francis' secret. In an effort to get himself released from the psych ward, Stirling asks Stevens to ''order'' Francis to speak, but the mule will not obey until it becomes clear that Stirling will be arrested for treason if he remains silent.

During one of his enforced hospital stays, he is befriended by Maureen Gelder (Patricia Medina), a beautiful French refugee. He grows to trust her and tells her about Francis. Later, a propaganda radio broadcast from Tokyo Rose mocks the Allies for being advised by a mule. This leads to the suspicion of Stirling or Maureen being a Japanese agent. The press is later informed that the absurd mule story was concocted in order to flush out the spy, and with Francis' help, the real culprit is identified.

Francis is shipped back to the U. S. for further study, but his military transport crashes in the wilds of Kentucky. After the war, convinced that Francis survived the crash, Peter searches for and finally finds the mule still alive and well and talking!

The film concerns the adventures of Ashley Wallace (Robert Hughes), a naïve DJ on Radio 2TW, who normally presents a through-the-night country and western-themed show. In spite of this, he is sent by the station's boss (Bruce Barry) to get an in-depth interview ("Not an interview, a ''dialogue''", demands his boss) with the group, which is to be aired on the day ABBA leave Australia. Ashley, who has never done an interview before, fails, mainly because he has forgotten to pack his press card, although the fact that he is unable to buy a concert ticket doesn't help matters. Armed with his trusty reel-to-reel tape recorder, Ashley is forced to follow the group all over Australia, beginning in Sydney, and then travelling, in order, to Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne, experiencing repeated run-ins with the group's very protective bodyguard (Tom Oliver), as well as his increasingly exasperated boss. Throughout the movie, we see Ashley interviewing members of the public, asking them if and why they like ABBA. Almost all the comments are positive, but one man is driven mad by his ABBA-obsessed twelve-year-old son, and another girl thinks ABBA are over the top.

Eventually, Ashley has a lucky chance encounter with Stig Anderson, the group's manager, in the foyer of ABBA's hotel, who agrees to arrange an interview, and gives him tickets to that evening's concert. But Ashley sleeps in and misses the interview time. Just as he has given up hope, he finds himself face-to-face with ABBA in an elevator. They give him an interview there and then, and he leaves Melbourne just in time to meet the deadline for the radio show to go on-air. He puts together the final edit in the back of a taxi from the airport, as ABBA depart Australia for Europe. With only minutes to go, Ashley makes it back to the radio station where, having set the tape up on the studio's playback machine, he relaxes at his control desk to listen as the interview is broadcast.

Ishmael Worth renounces his young sweetheart, Beatrice, because he believes himself to be illegitimate and does not want to bring shame to her. Later it is revealed that his mother and father had married. His father's previous wife, thought to be dead, turns up to confront him; but the fact that the first wife was a bigamist makes her marriage to Ishmael's father null and void and the marriage between his mother and father therefore valid. Ishmael, having a legitimate father, now can give Beatrice an honest name.

Daffy Duck reprises his famous role of Duck Dodgers in another spoof of Saturday afternoon space serials. Assigned to locate the rack-and-pinion molecule needed for yo-yo polish, Dodgers and his sidekick, an eager young space cadet (Porky Pig), crash their spaceship into a giant eggshell-shaped planet, where they find Marvin the Martian, who is, as usual, scheming to destroy Earth in an attempt to solve the "fuel problem". Marvin asks Dodgers to visit the boudoir of Gossamer, which Dodgers thinks is a space princess, but Gossamer turns out to be a giant, hairy monster in sneakers, and the frightened Dodgers flees. Porky uses electronic clippers to literally haircut Gossamer into nothingness, and Dodgers, infuriated by his assistant's all-too-literal interpretations of his commands, repeatedly fires his gun at Porky. When Porky asks what Earth will do without the rack-and-pinion molecule Dodgers replies "Let them eat cake."

Martin Raikes is an American bank investigator who is sent to Monaco to check up on the suspicious financial dealings of a movie production. After the business trip, Martin, who is divorced, will fly to London to visit his daughter.

Martin is met by the film company's CFO, Lela Forin, who introduces him to the movie's leading man, washed-up action star Jake Mellows.

Something is rotten with the production, though, and Martin senses it. Unfortunately, he sticks his nose in a little too deep for the corrupt bankrollers' tastes, and is soon deemed a threat. Martin is first offered a mega-bribe, but he rejects it. As it turns out, the bankrollers are Russian mafia, led by Oleg Butraskaya.

Martin suddenly finds himself framed for an assassination attempt, and the hostile authorities—on the payroll of the mob—want to kill him. American authorities are also hot on his trail, investigating him for money laundering, among other false charges.

As Martin sifts through the mystery, he reveals the nefarious nature of Oleg's rackets, which include illegal pornography, kidnapping and money laundering. Not knowing whom to trust, he turns to Lela, but soon, she, too, is marked for death. Jake, who has gambling debts, is persuaded by Oleg to speak lines for the film that are actually used to make Martin believe the actor is holding Martin's daughter captive.

After a fight between them, Martin and Jake join forces with Lela to stage an illusion during which Oleg incriminates himself to the law. Lela develops a new film project for Jake and a personal interest in Martin.

The sequel to ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' is also narrated by Lorelei, the bubbly blonde; however, she tells the tale of her friend, Dorothy, a bright talented young woman who grew up in a carnival company; she is discovered by Charlie, who helps her find her way to New York City as a young woman. In New York she is introduced to a broker who is to introduce her to Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., so that she might have a chance at becoming one of the Ziegfeld Follies. The broker is thrown off by Dorothy's unique style and personality and does little to refer her to Mr. Ziegfeld. Dorothy takes matters into her own hands and waits outside Mr. Ziegfeld's office and lands the position without any help. Dorothy marries Lester, a saxophone player from the Follies; she soon finds that marriage is not everything she wanted it to be...It is the bright ideas that keep home fires burning and prevent a divorce from taking the bloom off a romance.|Anita Loos, 1927

The game's plot is based on an alternate timeline in which Shadow Yamoto was not killed by the Black Orchid in 1993. Instead, she formed a vigilante group. In the game, a group of terrorists took over an undersea weapons factory. Unless the United Nations give into their demands, the terrorists will detonate a thermonuclear device that will destroy Earth. Shadow and the X-Perts embark on a mission to avert the crisis.

Mary (a recent graduate from University) meets Jack, Maggie and Neal at a party and learns that despite it being The UK of 1995, they yearn for the life of a Beatnik in 1960s America. Fascinated by the group (especially the handsome, if difficult Jack) she embarks on an adventure with them, finding both love and tragedy on the way.

Stray sheep, dodgy drug deals and snatched conjugal rights are common, as the inmates of HMP Radford Hill are reunited with family and friends on their weekly visits. The series follows two prisoners as they entertain visitors on a weekly basis. Michael, in prison for a jewellery robbery he didn't commit, is awaiting the outcome of his appeal. His weekly visits consist of his father, his Nan, and his younger brother Stevie. Clint, a gambling addict, suffers from a lack of social grace and the interesting habits of his nine-year-old son. His weekly visits consist of his wife and infant children.

The story focuses upon the experiences of Jon Cavala, a poet on the religiously fundamentalist planet of Pluse. He is beheaded for the crime of rape, although this is subsequently revealed to be simply consensual sexual intercourse outside of marriage that the authorities have deemed 'rape'. This being a future civilisation, beheading does not kill Cavala. Instead his 'brain' or, it is hinted, his mind state is placed inside a computer-like device called an 'Ordinator.' He sees and hears via robotic prostheses but cannot smell or taste.

After his decapitation he is released into a world that regards the headless as the lowest of the low. A headed volunteer charity worker named Siuzan Delage helps Cavala adjust to his new state. She agrees to accompany him on a trek across a desert to a town more accepting of the headless. Cavala and Delage are joined on this trek by two other headless, Mark Pol and Gymnaste. Gymnaste is a timid soul but Mark Pol is immediately annoying and arrogant from the point of view of Cavala. Arriving at their destination, Delage disappears and the three headless are immediately arrested and questioned, as there is evidence that Delage has been raped. All three vehemently deny this, though Cavala suspects Mark Pol of raping Delage. Through a fight and the obvious hatred of the police inspector, Cavala finds himself enlisted in the army. Before he leaves the police station he is told that it is likely Delage herself will be beheaded as she will not name the perpetrator of her rape and thus will be convicted of 'rape' (this being consensual sex outside of marriage).

The army possess devices that trigger extreme pain in the headless through their ordinator and Cavala and his contemporaries soon learn discipline. They are sent to a world named Black Athena and go into combat in the Sugar War. Many months later, returning to Pluse from Black Athena, Cavala finds a menial job and searches for Delage to atone for her beheading. He succeeds in tracking her down (she is indeed headless) and they fall in love. They plan to move to a nearby town with many more headless living there. The night before they are due to move, Cavala runs into Mark Pol, who he has long suspected of raping Delage (Delage is still unforthcoming regarding this event). Cavala threatens to kill Mark Pol, who re-iterates that Cavala cannot trust himself as he is a 'rapist' and it is probably Cavala himself who raped Delage. Cavala leaves Mark Pol, thinking that indeed it might be possible. However, he runs into Delage and she has her head. It transpires that his betrothed headless Delage has been pretending to be the real Delage but has genuinely fallen in love with him anyway. They eventually run into the police inspector again, who reveals he was attempting to pin Deluge’s rape on Cavala. He believed Cavala deserved to be killed for his original crime and had expected him to take the blame for this crime to prevent the real Susan Delage losing her head by beheading. In the inspectors mind Cavala ruined everything by not taking the blame as he planned and he states that he thought he had some decency. After arguing with the Police Inspector about this and his past crime , Cavala and the headless Delage run away to a remote location and, it is hinted, start planning a headless uprising against the uncaring society that has decapitated them.

Cicciolina wakes up in a muffled and unreal world, already made up and fully dressed and undertakes her job: to give happiness to men through telephone contact, precisely with the red telephone. After some telephone conversations that always end with an orgasm from the protagonist, Cicciolina decides to seriously meet her loyalists but does nothing but get trouble on trouble, first with a truck driver who surprises her to call random numbers in a cabin by telephone outside Rome, then with patrons met in a sort of cruising always just outside the capital. It all ends with an orgy.

The DS version of the game, as is standard for a ''Call of Duty'' title, allows the player to assume the roles of several soldiers, who are either affiliated with the British SAS (Snowman) or the U.S. Marines (Cpl. Zach Parker). Unlike the console and PC versions of the game, players do not directly influence the outcome of the war, but instead take part in missions that occur during the events of the main game, with a focus less on the main attempts to end the conflict and more on the supporting role of various other soldiers.

The game begins with Parker undergoing remedial training at a Marine outpost in the Persian Gulf, before the camp comes under attack from military forces loyal to Khaled Al-Asad, who has just seized power in a coup. Parker and the survivors evacuate and fight their way to a nearby city where they lay the groundwork for an invasion. Meanwhile, SAS units raid two ships in the Bering Strait carrying supplies and nuclear material intended for Al-Asad, learning from captured documents that he is receiving assistance from ultranationalists engaged in a civil war in Russia.

Parker's unit is diverted from the attack on Al-Asad's capital city to hunt down the "Bagman", an associate of his with extensive knowledge of his trafficking network. The Bagman is captured, and reveals that a senior Ultranationalist named Petrovich is responsible for sending military aid to help Al-Asad plan his coup. The SAS goes on a mission, with Snowman providing sniper support, to raid Petrovich's safe house in Russia, and he is captured and interrogated, revealing the existence of a previously unknown military base and airfield where the Ultranationalists have been building up their forces.

On behalf of Russia's civilian government, Snowman and the SAS level the base with an AC-130 Spectre gunship providing support, recovering additional documents that indicate that the Ultranationalists are in possession of nuclear weapons. A raid is authorized on an abandoned industrial complex converted into a storage and transportation facility for nuclear bombs. One of the bombs is damaged and begins to detonate, but Snowman is able to disarm it in time.

The SAS and Marines form a joint task force after learning that Ultranationalist leader Imran Zakhaev has taken over a nuclear weapons base and is planning to launch warheads at the United States. Parker provides covering fire from the air and witnesses the launch of two missiles before joining a squad of Marines and SAS operators in a race against time to abort the launch. Ultimately, he manages to destroy one of the missiles in flight while the other is destroyed by a different squad, and helps secure the rest of the base's nuclear arsenal. While the squad makes their escape, Parker's vehicle is destroyed, and he obtains a new one in time to reach the extraction point before holding out long enough for air support to reach his location. The game ends with news that Zakhaev has been killed.

Having turned his back on a promising career as a professional golfer, Kang Seung-wan is now a down on his luck stock exchange worker, and in debt to local gangster Ma Kang-sung. After crashing his car while driving through a tunnel, Seung-wan wakes up to find himself in an alternate reality where he fulfilled his sporting ambitions, and is now a famous golf champion. But things aren't as perfect as they first seem; he now has a wife who wants a divorce, and must compete in a major golf tournament despite not having played for over ten years.

The game follows Dr. Alexander J. "Alex" Mercer (voiced by Barry Pepper) who wakes up in a morgue in the basement of Gentek, a genetic engineering company based in Manhattan, sending a pair of scientists that were just about to perform an autopsy running. Alex escapes, and witnesses the scientists being gunned down by military operatives. Alex is discovered and attacked. He survives bullets being fired into his chest, and leaps over a wall to safety. He soon discovers he now possesses powerful shapeshifting abilities, superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, senses, endurance, weaponry and the ability to "consume" people to gain their memories, skills and appearance. With no memory of his previous life, Alex decides to find and consume those related to the conspiracy in order to uncover the truth. During his quest, Alex faces two factions: the United States Marine Corps and Blackwatch, a Fort Detrick special forces unit dedicated to combating biological warfare; and the Infected, monsters created by a virus known as BLACKLIGHT that is overrunning Manhattan. Captain Robert Cross (voiced by Jeffrey Pierce), a Blackwatch officer, is given orders to find and contain Alex.

Alex makes contact with his sister, Dana (voiced by Lake Bell), who assists him in tracking down targets, leading to the infiltration of Gentek headquarters. He finds a young woman called Elizabeth Greene contained in the building. Greene is a host for BLACKLIGHT, and upon her escape unleashes it upon Manhattan. Dana directs Alex to Karen Parker, his ex-girlfriend. She agrees to aid him in stopping the virus, while requiring Alex to bring back samples of the virus. Karen later leads Alex into a trap, where he is confronted by Cross. During their battle, Alex almost defeats Cross, when Cross mentions 'Penn Station', triggering a flashback that leaves Alex dazed. Alex is injected with a parasite that threatens to kill him. Alex seeks help from Dr. Ragland, a pathologist linked to Gentek. Ragland helps Alex remove the parasite and turn it into a weapon against Greene. However, it has no effect on Greene as her body rejected the parasite immediately, and the rejected biomass forms a monstrous being, the Supreme Hunter, which Alex kills. Alex later finds and kills Karen in revenge for setting him up.

The origins of the virus and Elizabeth Greene are uncovered through a contact: in 1969 the government tested the virus' predecessor in Hope, Idaho, designed to target predetermined races. Although the entire town was infected, no ill effects manifested until Elizabeth Greene's infection. An anomaly in her body's biology accepted the virus, rewriting her genetic code and causing her to take control of the infected town, becoming hostile in the process. The entire population of Hope, Idaho was liquidated by Blackwatch with only Greene and her son, codenamed PARIAH, surviving. Although kept separate, the two were held in captivity for further research. With samples taken from Greene's blood, Gentek's team led by Mercer synthesized the current strain of BLACKLIGHT virus.

Alex discovers his own past: Blackwatch shut down the Gentek project due to leaks and ordered all project personnel eliminated. Alex Mercer took a sample of BLACKLIGHT as "insurance". Eventually pinned down by Blackwatch in Penn Station. Alex, in a final act of desperation and vengeance, shatters the vial containing the BLACKLIGHT, releasing the virus before being gunned down. The virus entered Mercer's bloodstream through the bullet holes and repaired his body at the cellular level.

The contact and Alex pump a new "BLOODTOX" biological agent underground in order to drive the virus above ground where it can be fought directly, causing Greene to emerge, encased in a towering monstrosity. Greene falls from the monster in human form once she is defeated, and is consumed by Alex. Through her memories, it becomes apparent that General Randall, head of Blackwatch, is prepared to destroy Manhattan with a nuclear weapon. Alex, with the help of the contact - revealed to be Cross - infiltrates the USS Ronald Reagan to stop Randall. Once Alex consumes Randall, Cross is revealed to be the Supreme Hunter, who assumed Cross' identity after consuming him, and attacks Alex, asserting that when Blackwatch leaves NYZ (New York Zero, the name given to the city after the outbreak) they will no longer be searching for infected, and that after he consumes Alex, he will then be strong enough to survive the nuclear detonation. Alex defeats the Supreme Hunter and moves the weapon out into the Atlantic Ocean with a helicopter, where it detonates and catches him in the blast. His remains float back to the city and regenerate after consuming a crow.

During the credits, it is revealed that the public considers the military to have been the one who stopped the infection; a US Senator is heard telling the media that the events in Manhattan were a case of nuclear and biological terrorism, and promises retribution upon those responsible. Alex, reflecting on the events that occurred and the truth he uncovered about himself, claims he has "become something less than human, but also something more". After the credits, Manhattan is shown to be slowly recovering, with the virus close to eradicated. Alex, standing on top of the Reuters Building in Times Square, comments that his work is almost done.

''Mainspring'' is the story of a young clockmaker's apprentice, who is visited by the Archangel Gabriel. He is told that he must take the Key Perilous and rewind the mainspring of the Earth. It is running down, and disaster to the planet will ensue if it's not rewound. From innocence and ignorance to power and self-knowledge, the young man will make the long and perilous journey to the South Polar Axis, to fulfill the commandment of his God.

Category:American steampunk novels Category:2007 American novels Category:American science fiction novels Category:American alternate history novels Category:Tor Books books

Sister Ann (Debbie Reynolds) leaves the Dominican convent near Antwerp for her assignment at Samaritan House in a depressed area of Brussels. Sister Ann loves to play the guitar and sing, and when she joins in the traditional evening singalong at Samaritan House, she impresses the other nuns and Father Clementi (Ricardo Montalbán). She becomes fond of Dominic Arlien (Ricky Cordell), a motherless child whose father is an unemployed drunkard and who is loved only by his 17-year-old sister, Nicole (Katharine Ross). Sister Ann composes the song ''Dominique'' for the boy. Father Clementi persuades Robert Gerarde (Chad Everett), a partner in a recording firm, to listen to Sister Ann's music in the hope of having it recorded. When Robert meets Sister Ann, he discovers that she was his classmate at the Paris Conservatory of Music five years earlier. Later, while visiting the Arlien house, Sister Ann discovers pictures of Nicole in provocative poses; the girl defiantly tells the nun that she posed to get food and rent money for her family. Her father overhears them, strikes Nicole, and throws the nun out of the house. The Mother Prioress (Greer Garson) later admonishes Sister Ann for allowing the young girl's secret to be made known to the father. Robert, whose attraction to Sister Ann has been rekindled, obtains permission from church authorities to have her record an album; "Dominique" becomes a worldwide hit. Ed Sullivan brings a television crew to Brussels to film Sister Ann for his show; he gives the order a jeep for their African mission as compensation.

Sister Ann becomes confused by her success and by Robert's personal interest in her, and she seeks counsel from Father Clementi. Her decision is made for her when Dominic is seriously injured in an accident; she prays for him, promising to give up her music and care for others if he recovers. The boy recovers, and the Arlien family, shaken by the incident, decide to move to the country. Sister Ann gives Nicole her guitar and goes to Africa to work among the natives, driving from village to village in a jeep with the name “Dominique” blazoned across its tailgate.

Charlie McCready (Bob Crane) tries to wrest his daughter Wendy (Kathleen Cody) from her childhood friends, whom he believes have no ambition. He especially disapproves of her boyfriend, Bart (Kurt Russell). Initially he makes a few attempts to bridge the generation gap, but to no avail. For instance, he attempts to impress his daughter's friends by trying his hand at beach volleyball and water skiing, but both attempts result in humiliating accidents. Late in the summer, Wendy receives a letter informing her that she's won a full scholarship to her parents' alma mater, Huntington College. Unbeknownst to her, the letter is fake; her father has paid the first year's tuition himself, and had a friend at the college send the letter to her. He did this so Wendy would not attend City College with Bart and her other friends.

Charlie later visits Wendy at Huntington, and discovers that the college has changed considerably since he attended there. Wendy later discovers his plot, and joins the campus counterculture as a way of getting even. She inadvertently becomes engaged to a hippie artist named Klutch. Charlie attempts to intervene on her behalf, and ends up in a fistfight with Klutch. Wendy's boyfriend Bart comes to the rescue. At this point, Charlie learns that Bart had turned down a scholarship to Huntington College so he could be near Wendy who he believed (correctly) had not been awarded a scholarship there. The movie ends with Wendy's marriage to Bart.

Issue #1: In The Beginning

Batman opens a package to find the shredded remains of a bat costume once worn by his father. He investigates to find the costume missing from its display case in the Batcave, with a threatening note left in its place: THIS IS ONLY THE ''BEGINNING'', BATMAN! BEFORE I'M DONE, I WILL ''DESTROY'' YOU!

Batman reminisces about the time when his father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, wore the costume to a charity costume party and was taken hostage by a group of thugs looking for a doctor. He was taken to see their boss, bank robber Lew Moxon, who had been shot and needed the doctor to remove the bullet. Instead, Dr. Wayne attacked the thugs and defeated them. He turned them over to the police, including then-Lieutenant James W. Gordon. Wayne testified against Moxon, who was convicted. Years later, he was released and threatened to have his revenge against Wayne. Several weeks later, Dr. Wayne and his wife Martha were shot dead in front of their son Bruce (Batman) by an apparent mugger named Joe Chill. Batman recalls those who looked after him following his parents' deaths – Leslie Thompkins and Mrs. Chilton, housekeeper of Bruce's uncle, Philip Wayne (who had been appointed Bruce's guardian, but was seldom at home as his work required him to travel a lot). Unbeknownst to him, but known to his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, Mrs. Chilton was Joe Chill's mother.

Young Bruce dedicated his life to bringing his parents' killer to justice and waging war against all criminals. He studied and trained hard, and followed the career of a police detective named Harvey Harris. Bruce created a costume (that of the original Robin) to hide his identity and set out to meet Harris. Bruce happened upon a criminal waiting to attack Harris, and managed to thwart the would-be attacker. To repay him, Harris taught Bruce everything about the art of detecting, and gave him the name "Robin".

Bruce continued training and went on to college to study criminology. A lesson learned in a law class – that the law and justice are not one and the same – dissuaded Bruce from becoming a police officer as he had intended, feeling that he would be too hampered by the law. While trying to decide what kind of symbol to become in order to strike terror into the hearts of criminals, a bat flew through his window of his study, inspiring him to become Batman.

After years of crimefighting and failure to locate his parents' killer, Batman happened upon a smuggling enterprise run through a trucking company owned by Joe Chill. He confronted Chill with his story, and revealed his secret identity to him. Batman let Chill run scared; he ran for help to his henchmen at his garage and told them what had happened. But after they learned he was responsible for creating Batman who had plagued them for years, the henchmen shot and killed Chill before he could reveal Batman's secret identity.

Several months later, Bruce happened upon his father's costume and journal. He learned from the journal that Chill had not been a mugger, but was working for Lew Moxon. Moxon had been in a car accident and suffered from amnesia. He did not remember Thomas Wayne or what he had done. With his own costume torn during a fight with Moxon's henchmen, Batman decided to wear his father's costume instead when he confronted Moxon. The costume jogged Moxon's memory, and he ran in fear from Batman right into the path of an oncoming truck, which killed him.

Issue #2: "With Friends Like These..."

Batman goes to a bar to find someone who can give him information about the package. After he is attacked he almost beats his informant to death, until Robin arrives to bring him back to his senses.

In trying to understand Batman's anger, Robin recalls his own origin. He recalls the night in Newtown where his parents, the Flying Graysons, performed their trapeze act for the final time, as the ropes snapped, sending them plummeting to the ground. Later that night, Dick Grayson (Robin) learned that the trapeze had been rigged by mobsters looking to extort protection money from the owner of the circus. Dick was prepared to go to the police when Batman approached him and told him of "Boss" Zucco, a mobster who controlled the whole town. Bruce Wayne took legal guardianship of Dick, and taught him the arts of crimefighting. He gave Grayson his old Robin costume, and the name to go with it.

They set out on Zucco's trail, and found him throwing one of his henchmen off of a scaffolding. Robin took a photo that led to Zucco's arrest and apparent execution. After that, he became Batman's partner. He found it hard to deal with the taunts of his classmates, but eventually graduated and left Wayne Manor to attend Hudson University. That was when Bruce and Alfred moved to the penthouse atop the Wayne Foundation Building in Gotham City, and built a new Batcave in an abandoned subway tunnel beneath the building to go with it. Robin has returned to Gotham City now at the call of Alfred, who is worried about Batman.

Alfred struggles to understand Batman's painful memories by recalling his own past. He remembers in the closing days of World War II when he helped refugees escape the Nazis, and regrets needing to kill enemy soldiers. After the war, he turned to the London theater as an actor. But as his father lay dying, he swore that he would carry on the family tradition of being a butler. Alfred got on a boat to America and sought out Bruce Wayne, whose father, Thomas Wayne, had employed his own father.

Alfred tended to Bruce and Dick, unaware of their alter egos, until one night when they returned from crimefighting, and Bruce had been injured. Dick needed Alfred's help to attend to him. From that point on, Alfred was entrusted with the duo's secrets.

Meanwhile, sorting through headshots of his rogues gallery, Batman points out that many of his enemies hate him enough to do this to him. He recalls the Joker's origin as an example. In their first meeting, at the Monarch Playing Card Company, the Joker was a masked criminal known as the Red Hood. To escape Batman, he dove into a basin of chemical waste and swam through a drainage pipe out to the river. The special oxygen system in his helmet helped him survive, but the chemicals disfigured him and transformed him into the Joker.

Another villain, Two-Face, was once Harvey Dent, Gotham's youngest District Attorney. During the trial of "Boss" Maroni, who was being charged with the murder of "Bookie" Benson, Batman was testifying. While Dent presented Maroni's lucky piece, a two-headed silver dollar, as evidence, Maroni threw a container of acid at him. Batman dove to block the container, but only deflected it enough for it to hit the left side of Dent's face, disfiguring him and turning him into Two-Face.

Robin suggests that they go see Commissioner Gordon for help, but as he starts the Batmobile, an alarm sounds, indicating that the ignition has been tampered with. Everyone dives safely for cover as a bomb goes off, destroying the car. Another threatening note is discovered in the wreckage: ONE BY ONE, I WILL DESTROY THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU WHAT YOU ARE—AND THEN I WILL DESTROY ''YOU''!

Issue #3: The Man Behind The Mask!

Batman goes off on his own to take vengeance on the person behind what is going on. Meanwhile, Robin calls Jack Edison, a stunt driver who has built the latest Batmobile for the Dynamic Duo, and commissions him to build another one at his usual fee with a bonus for the inconvenience. He gladly does so because Batman once saved his life by pulling him from a flaming car wreck.

Batman searches the city, asking every informant he has about the case, but with no luck. He finally goes to see Commissioner Gordon at Gotham City Police H.Q. The Commissioner suggests that Batman does not want to find any clues because the suspect is someone close to him. Batman suddenly leaves Gordon to reminisce about the first time he met Batman; how Batman initially only left scrawled notes on the criminals he tied up and left for the police, until one day he caught a man about to attack Gordon with a knife. Batman quickly left, but later that night, he came to Gordon's office. Gordon pulled a gun and prepared to shoot him, but Batman explained that they were two of a kind, and that he was able to bend the law that Gordon could not in order to achieve justice. Gordon grudgingly accepted Batman.

Gordon recalled how Batman had influenced his daughter, Barbara. She fell madly in love with him at first sight and she began studying martial arts alongside her library science Ph.D. She wore a Batgirl costume one night to a policeman's masquerade ball, but on the way to the ball, she noticed Bruce Wayne being kidnapped by a gang of Killer Moth's henchmen. She promptly attacked the men and freed Bruce, helping to bring Killer Moth to justice and starting her career as Batgirl.

The next morning, Bruce cancels all his appointments. His friend and associate, Lucius Fox, tries to talk to Bruce, but Bruce does not want to talk. Lucius reminds him of their first meeting, back when he was in the Wayne Foundation's finance division, and brought a portfolio suggestion to Bruce, who liked the idea and started Lucius on the path that made his entire career.

Bruce continues to try to figure out who is behind the attacks, until he comes to a realization. He hurries back to Wayne Manor as Batman. He sees visions of himself and his parents when he was a child. He enters the Batcave at Wayne Manor and realizes that the person behind everything is ''himself'': a vision of Bruce Wayne reveals to Batman that he has attempted to destroy Batman because of how it has ruined his life as Wayne. As the walls of the Batcave begin to close in on him, he sees his father in the original bat costume. He explains that a warehouse explosion Batman had recently been caught in has temporarily affected his mind. His father begs Batman to leave the Batcave while he holds the walls apart, but Batman will ''not'' let him die again. Batman dives, carrying both himself and his father out of harm's way.

Once they are safe, Bruce's father removes his mask to reveal that he is, in fact, Robin. Batman reveals that he knew all along, but that the important part is that he has come to his senses. Batman says that he needs to be alone, and heads for a rooftop to look over Gotham City.

The story opens with protagonist from the previous story The Day My Bum Went Psycho, Zack Freeman skiing down a "mountain", whilst repeatedly arguing with his bum. After defying death many times, Zack falls to his death off a waterfall, and then realises that he is actually in Silas Sterne's state-of-the-art bum fighting simulator. After another in what is revealed to be a long series of ear-bashings by The Kicker, Zack gives up bum-fighting and leaves the academy.

Meanwhile, up near Uranus, James and Judi Freeman have just collected a bum from Uranus, after they were found to be what made up the rings. Back on earth, Zack finds his hometown completely flattened from a Bum-blitz, excluding his Gran's house to his great relief.

''Maaf, Saya Menghamili Istri Anda'' is an Indonesian comedy movie. Dibyo is an unemployed actor that obsesses to become a famous actor. He plays in a film, but only as an extra. He also has bad luck with his relationship. His bad luck is changed when he meets Mira, a pretty girl that evidently really likes his style and humor. Their relationship results in Mira becoming pregnant. Mira asked Dibyo to be responsible for the baby. Dibyo is happy and agrees to marry Mira, because finally he has good reason for marrying his sweetheart. However, Mira was still being tied down as someone else's wife, although they are separating the bed.

The cartoon begins with the Narrator introducing the three bears Papa Bear, Mama Bear And Junyer Bear. Junyer Bear is reading a Bugs Bunny comic on Papa Bear's newspaper and begins tickling him. Papa Bear manages to punch Junyer and slaps him in the face hard causing Junyer Bear to land on his bowl of oatmeal. Papa Bear then yells him "Eat your oatmeal!" and continues reading his newspaper. Junyer Bear cries with oatmeal on his face remarking "Pop! What I do?! What I do?!". Papa Bear notices something in the newspaper saying, "Wanted Trick bear act, Apply at Mingling Bros. Circus" and tells Mama and Junyer about. He tells them they need a little practice. Mama Bear tries to protest but Papa Bear yells, "Shut up and let's get going". Junyer is delighted and wants to be a trick bear act. He grabs Papa and begins to spin him like a beach ball. Mama Bear, who at first was hesitant, joins in singing wearing a sport outfit and Junyer Bear lands Papa bear on Mama Bear's finger still upside down. He tries to punch her but misses, (or stopped himself from punching her) spins and makes an angry face at Junyer knowing it's really his fault, so Papa kicks him in the butt and shakes in rage.

Papa Bear and Junyer Bear practice uni-cycling on a string which they tied on two trees. As they start pedaling their unicycles, Junyer's heavy weight makes them fall on the ground and bump into each other. Papa Bear yells him to get off the wire and calls him an "oversized freep head" which causes Junyer to get off the string sending Papa bear into the air with Junyer chasing him, telling he be a good bear and will not do bad and Papa Bear lands into their fireplace blackening him and he dazedly pedals towards Junyer. Junyer asks him if he's all right. Papa bear tries to punch him but he slips and falls on the floor before fainting with a shocked Junyer looking on. They proceed on the next act to swing and grab the next swing. Junyer does not grab Papa Bear until Papa screams "Grab me stupid!" which causes Junyer to pick him but falls to the ground as Papa Bear screams to let go of him, to which Junyer sends him into the branch knocking him out. Papa Bear is ready to make a hit on the white circle gong which is held by Mama Bear. Junyer sees this while eating cheese and is ready to hit only to crash each other. Junyer has his head on the board which reads "Hit my Baby son 25 cents for 3 shots", Papa bear throws a baseball at Junyer but it bounces back and hits him, which in turn, knocks him out. Mama Bear carries a couch chair for Papa Bear to land on and Junyer acts to land on the seesaw to send him into the air to land on the couch but he sends him into the sky and into outer space. They return to their house, giving the impression that Henry died after being sent into the air. The next day, they proceed to return to the exact spots they were at the previous day after Henry was launched, with Mama Bear holding the couch waiting for Papa Bear to land on, but he misses the couch and lands on the ground instead.

The next activity is a high diving act. Mama Bear begins playing the drums and Papa Bears dives to the pail of water. However, Junyer steps in eating salt crackers and drinks the pail of water making Papa Bear land on the empty pail. Junyer realizes this what he has done and calls Mama Bear to call for a doctor. Papa Bear proceeds the motorcycle race with Mama Bear holding the finish flag and asks her if she is ready and she replies and Papa Bear starts his motorcycle. Mama Bear swings the flag and watches the race. However, Junyer is eating a banana and throws the banana peel onto the track, causing Papa Bear to crash his motorcycle, injuring him (off screen). Papa Bear wakes up covered in bandages, and thinking that he and his family are ready as they'll ever be asks where the newspaper is. Mama Bear hands it to him and tries to protest, only to be silenced when he yells at her to shut up. Henry proceeds to check the address on the circus ad, but finds out that the newspaper was printed on April 16, 1928 and realizes that they are 21 years too late, because their calendar said August 1, 1949. Junyer jumps to Mama Bear in fear. Mama Bear says she tried to tell Henry. Papa Bear gets upset because he figures out that they have been practicing all for nothing. Unable to accept the reality of his blunder, he questions why he has such an abnormal family. He could not take anymore being a family and decided to escape his house and throws himself off a cliff. However, he lands in a pail of water set by Junyer, who tells him that he done a good thing, resulting in Papa Bear punching him which sends Junyer crying and remarking "''What I do?! What I do?!''" as the cartoon comes to an end.

During the Russian Civil War of 1919, Rifka and her family must flee Russia because the Russian army is after one of her brothers for leaving the army; the penalty for that is death for the entire family. She tells her story in a series of letters to a cousin named Tovah who remains behind in Russia, written in the blank spaces of an edition of Pushkin's poetry. Rifka, her parents, and her brothers, Nathan and Saul (who was abusive towards her in the past but changed throughout the course of the novel), escape Russia, hoping to join the three older sons who have been living in America. Along the way, they face many obstacles such as cruel officials, her mom, dad and older brother all catch typhus. They suffer through hunger, theft, and Rifka gets a skin disease, ringworm, which forces her to stay behind in Belgium while her family travels to America. In Belgium people are kind to Jews and she is able to recover from her illness. Once she recovers she can leave Belgium to travel to America to meet her family. She travels to America by a large ship where she befriends and develops romantic feelings for Pieter, a sailor. During the voyage, a dangerous storm occurs, killing Pieter. She arrives to Ellis island where she learns that her skin disease has returned and she can't enter America yet. While she is detained at Ellis Island, she finds she has a talent for nursing others to health. On Ellis island Rifka meets a new friend named Ilya, but he first does not talk to her nor will he eat her LIVA, so everyone thinks he's a simpleton. Once Rifka becomes better friends with him, she discovers that he is very smart. She helps him understand that his uncle is not cruel and wants him to come to America because he loves Ilya, and Ilya reads from Rifka's Pushkin poetry book. He passes the "Test" and makes it to America. Rifka gets over her ringworm, and gets to America to be with her family.

Astérix and Obélix have to win the Olympic Games in order to help their lovesick friend Lovestorix marry Princess Irina. Brutus uses every trick in the book to have his own team win the game, and get rid of his father Julius Caesar in the process.

Clint Turner is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Judy Walton's father. Clint falls under suspicion because the dead man was a rival rancher who had been an enemy of Clint's father years before. It is Sheriff Gordon's job to sort the whole thing out.

A young boxer named Buzz Kinney, fresh out of college, is able to knock out Stag Bailey when the veteran fighter becomes cocky. His manager, Pin Streaver, is left despondent as he had bet a huge amount of money on Stag, including a large percentage of the prize money, and can't pay what he owes. When Stag's attempts to borrow the cash fails, Pin tries unsuccessfully to rob the boxing arena's safe and is killed by a security guard while escaping. Stag manages to bring Pin's body to another location and tells police that Pin apparently shot himself, so that Pin won't go down as a criminal.

Pin's school-aged son Ted shows up, and Stag and his girlfriend Puff help raise the boy, while trying to dissuade him from a career in boxing. Later in the film, Buzz Kinney shows up in a bar, badly beaten in a fight, with a broken nose and a cauliflower ear. He insults Puff, and Stag takes him out to the kitchen and punches him out. Stag and Puff get married so they can legally adopt Ted, and they talk the boy into going to college instead of being a prizefighter.

Expecting to become a doctor, Thomas Jefferson Scott enrolls at Thorpe University. A football coach there, "Daisy" Adams, finds out that while small, Tommy is quick and elusive and a natural at the sport. Tommy isn't interested in football, but jumps at the coach's offer of free tuition.

For the next two seasons, Tommy is a star player, nicknamed "Snakehips," and a hero on campus. But he resents that while he's worth a fortune to the college, he has little money and has jeopardized his future in medicine and with fiancee Dorothy by concentrating on football instead. Tommy demands $50,000. A university alumnus, Sedgwick, who is a stockbroker, sets up a holding company in which investors can put their money into Tommy's potential earnings.

Everything goes wrong. Sedgwick's investments are poor, he loses all of the money and commits suicide. Dorothy's father, who dislikes Tommy, tempts him with $50,000 if he will break off their engagement. Tommy thinks it over, then asks for $100,000. The crowd boos Tommy on the football field until the newspapers report that Tommy took the 100 grand and replenished the fund, ensuring everyone's investments. To the fans' cheers, Tommy wins the game for Thorpe, he ends up marrying Dorothy.

The game takes place in the crime-ridden city of Troi in a world where insects have evolved into the dominant life form and humans have degenerated into "hominids." The story follows two police officers from the Insecticide Division (a pun on homicide) as they try to solve a murder at the Nectarola soft drink company.

When politician William Proctor announces that a dam will be built on a site where many settlers have built homes, a retired major who founded the settlement leads a backlash. Eventually, the fight comes to the attention of the Three Mesquiteers—Stoney Brooke, Tucson Smith and Rusty Joslin—who try to find a peaceful solution. However, they soon realize Proctor will resort to any trickery to get his way.

Deputy Sheriff Steele is commissioned by Governor Wallace to protect settlers in New Mexico Territory while a cattle baron (Crew) and his accomplice (Bailey) try to prevent the newcomers from settling there.

John Mason and Janet Carter receive an anonymous letter telling them to travel to a ghost town that has an abandoned mine. There they befriend each other as they try to find out why they were sent the letters. They soon find themselves targets of Joe Ryan and his gang who are looking for the hidden gold inside the abandoned mine. They are helped by the mysterious Phantom of the mine who has his own plans.

Margarita (Wendy Valdez) is a tough woman who, at a young age, experienced several difficulties in life. She was just a little girl when her father (Dick Israel) left their mother (Rio Locsin) for another woman (Elizabeth Oropesa). As the eldest in the family, Margarita shouldered the responsibility of being the breadwinner. She only has her childhood friend, Rodrigo (Bruce Quebral) by her side as she struggles through life's difficulties. Along the way, Margarita will meet Bernard (Diether Ocampo), a rich and influential man who will eventually fall in love with her. Margarita will later find herself torn not only between these two men, but also between her dream of happiness and her desire of revenge.

After his aircraft crashes in a thunderstorm, commercial pilot Jim Blaine is blackballed and unable to find a job flying. Depressed, he begins working as a bank teller until he meets beautiful Jill Collins, a barnstorming parachutist working with her daredevil pilot brother. Jim is immediately attracted to Jill, and when her brother is killed in a freak crash, he reveals his past and volunteers to replace her dead sibling in their act. As they tour throughout the Southwest, their affection turns physically intimate.

Jim, believes that his risky lifestyle precludes the luxury of a wife and family while Jill wants marriage. When Jim's brother Neil "Bud" joins them, he too is immediately attracted to Jill, but respects his brother's relationship; but after another freak accident puts Jim in the hospital for a prolonged convalescence, Jim returns to find them married and in bed together. Angry and bitter, he becomes a soldier of fortune and loses an eye and a leg flying for the Communist rebels in China and Chile.

After a prolonged estrangement, a chastened Jim goes to Cuba to rejoin Bud and Jill but finds his brother's aircraft has gone down in a storm in the Gulf of Mexico. With only a short window of opportunity to save Bud and his passengers, Jim volunteers to go into the storm to save his brother.

After finding the downed aircraft and saving all the passengers, he flies back but a heavy fog comes in and Jim cannot see well enough to land. All the cars in the city then line up in an old airfield, and with the help of their headlights and horns, Jim lands safely. Realizing how much Bud loves Jill, Jim leaves town again, but this time on better terms with his brother.

Ingrid lives in a small community called Echo Falls. She's in the school soccer team and is in the drama club. Everything is normal until one day she sees what her dad has been looking at on his computer. On the Jobs.com site. He suddenly starts getting temperamental. Throughout the next few days, Ingrid notices other weird things occurring like her brother starts getting more buff but has strange pimples on his back, and her soccer coach getting switched with another very odd coach, Julia LeCaine. Ingrid starts to try to find out what is happening and in the midst of it, on a random day when she is outside going to the MathFest, she gets kidnapped. She finds herself in the trunk of a car and escapes. But she doesn’t know who tried to kidnap her and if they would try again. Throughout the book Ingrid has to face many mysterious and scary situations to find out what is happening! Guided by her hero, Sherlock Holmes, it's not going to be easy for this 13-year-old!

She soon realizes that the new coach, Julia LeCaine, was the one who kidnapped her for money. After she escapes the kidnapping, which happened on the MathFest, a day she was told to show up for she was one of the contestants, barely anyone believes her, and if they did, they had doubts. Luckily, Chief Strade, father of Joey Strade (who is Ingrid's friend/romantic interest) believes her, but cannot act upon it too much, for there are too many holes in her story.

During all this, Ingrid's brother, Ty, starts taking steroids, an illegal drug sold by the Krackens (her not-so-friend, Chloe's servants). though she's quite sure of this, she doesn't want her brother to get in trouble, so she has to prove the crime herself by pretending to be a buyer. She brings a tape recorder along with her, with hopes of recording their conversation and showing it to Chief Strade. She writes a note on Carl Kraken Jr's janitor desk to meet them at the tree house she and Ty used to hang out in. She only meets Carl Senior, the oldest living Kraken, and nearly buys the steroids but is foiled when her recorder gave her away. After a quick chase in the woods, the three Krakens catch her, but Chief Strade and some other cops rescue her and arrest the Krakens.

Blender, a dog-like animal and the leader of the Cosmo Keepers is determined to save the galaxy from the evil Zooligans. He uses his robotic ears for sonar navigation, flight, and to execute his signature "Spin Move" attack.

He's aided by the Mini Bros. a series of ball-like robots whom exhibit various special support abilities including illuminating dark areas and healing Blender.

Dick Wallace (Wayne) has to prove to the preacher's daughter, his own father, his old friends, and himself that he is not just an irresponsible playboy. His new love Marion does a good job of convincing them. The question is whether or not it is true.

Southpaw boxer Jimmy Dolan believes in clean living outside the ring, but blonde vixen Goldie West gets him drunk after a fight. Then when reporter Magee plans to write about Jimmy's behavior, a punch in the face accidentally kills Magee.

With the fighter certain to face charges and possible incarceration, his manager Doc Woods makes off with Jimmy's money and watch. Driving away with Goldie, they end up in a fiery car crash and are killed. Doc's face is unrecognizable, and because he's wearing Jimmy's watch, it is believed the boxer is dead.

A detective, Phlaxer, is unconvinced. The watch is on the wrong wrist for a left-hander. Jimmy, trying to take advantage of the situation and begin a new life, disappears. On the verge of starvation, he comes across a farm run for crippled children by a young woman named Peggy and her aunt. He helps them with the kids as thanks for their hospitality.

A charity match against boxer King Cobra is arranged to raise badly needed money for the farm's mortgage. A photograph of Daugherty makes it obvious to Phlaxer that fugitive Jimmy Dolan is very much alive. He intends to take him into custody, but upon seeing how Jimmy's life has changed for the better, the detective lets him remain free.

The story is based on the requirement of Spanish land owners in California to register their lands before a deadline and the chicanery practiced by some to prevent registration. U.S. Army Captain John Holmes is dispatched to encourage one of the largest Spanish landowners, Don Jose Castanares, to register before the deadline hoping the other landowners will fall in line. Meanwhile, Don Luis Gonzales and his father, Don Pablo Gonzales plot to acquire the Castanares land by forcing Don Jose's daughter, Delores, to marry Don Luis, and holding Don Jose captive. Holmes and his buddy, Felipe, trick the Gonzaleses and thwart their plans. Holmes, who is attracted to Delores, wins her love.

Calvert College begins taking football more seriously, over the objections of Dr. Sargeant, the president of the school. Coach Gore is brought in and given a free rein, which he uses to pay money to standout players. He is so obsessed with winning that he ignores his wife, Claire.

The president's son, Phil Sargeant, is also an outstanding athlete, but is far more interested in studying chemistry. He is persuaded to join the team, however, and becomes the fourth of the "Four Aces" who begin leading Calvert to victories.

Football stars begin feeling entitled to things, including favoritism in the classroom. One of them, Weaver, even makes a pass at the coach's wife. Phil Sargeant is offended when given a passing grade for a chemistry test he didn't even complete. He quarrels with the coach and quits the team.

Gore catches his wife having dinner with a player and kicks Weaver off the squad. Soon the team is losing games and funds, which even threatens the future of the science department. Phil decides to play again for that reason, and Claire explains to her husband that the dinner was innocent. Weaver is reinstated as well, Calvert wins the big game and the coach offers to quit, but is given a second chance by his wife and the college.

Sentenced for a murder he did not commit, John Brant escapes from prison determined to find the real killer. By chance Brant's narrow escape from lawmen is witnessed by Joseph Conlon who goes by the name of "Jones". Giving Brant the name of "Smith" Conlon, Jones gets him into his outlaw gang hiding out in an abandoned mine. Brant attempts to disrupt the outlaw gang's robberies and comes closer to finding his man.

The gang leader suspects John Brant/Smith but Joseph/Jones Conlon consoles him & takes him on a test run to recon a grocery store with a safe in it. John Brant writes a note to the grocery clerk (Sally Blake) warning her of the impending robbery. When Jones & Smith return later that night to rob the store the Sheriff & his Deputy are waiting. They shoot Smith who is taken by Jones to "Blind Pete's" to recover. This first robbery was deliberately spoiled by Smith in July.

In August we see Smith is fully recovered & Jones visits him & encourages him to join them in an attempt to rob a stagecoach carrying the payroll for miners. Suspecting Smith Jones disinvites him & goes to rob the coach himself with the gang. Smith intercepts the coach & robs the coach before hand, then informs Sally & asks her to tell the Sheriff to pick up the robbed money, thereby saving the payroll from being robbed.

Jones suspects Smith but is not sure. The gang leader also suspects Smith so this time he deliberately gives Smith a false tip. Jones decides to follow Smith to see if he will betray them. He soon discovers that Smith views him as a friend & took the fall for him & went to jail for him. Jones decides to save Smith who is now walking back to the gang - who are waiting to ambush him.

As Smith is about to be ambushed, Jones warns him to take cover & the two start fighting the gang surrounding them. They mount a stagecoach & escape the encircling gang. Meanwhile Sally the grocery girl on Jones' exhortation gets the help of the Sheriff and their posse & then rush to save both Jones & Smith.

Jones & Smith outrun the entire gang & then Smith drops behind & starts picking off the gang members one by one until he gets the last one. Jones however is shot & his stagecoach falls off a cliff. By the time Smith reaches Jones the Sheriff & his deputies also catch up. They hold both of them but Jones confesses to the crimes that he committed getting Smith exonerated. Smith goes off to kiss Sally as the credits roll.

Camila Flores (Gaytán) lives with her grandfather in a small village. She meets Mexico City attorney, Miguel Gutierrez (Capetillo), and they quickly fall in love and are married in a civil ceremony. Their church wedding is planned to be a few weeks later, but it never takes place.

Miguel abandons his new wife to marry Mónica Iturralde (López), the spoiled daughter of powerful lawyer Don Armando Iturralde (Lizalde). Racked by guilt in a loveless (and bigamous) marriage, Miguel is torn between his love for Camila and his fear of returning to the poverty that he has spent so much energy escaping.

Meanwhile, Camila finds out she is pregnant and resolves to raise her child by herself and to never forgive her husband. Mónica rapidly becomes disillusioned with her marriage, and she falls in love with Julio (Kuno Becker), the son of the owners of a local beauty salon and gym.

The gym is one of the main locations where the action takes place, as Camila is employed there before her pregnancy becomes noticeable. Ada (Dinorah Cavazos) is soon a good friend of Camila's, while Selene (Lourdes Reyes) sees Camila as a rival for Julio's affection.

Rodrigo (Xavier Ortiz) has his advances rejected by Camila and helps Selene frame her for a theft. The Iturralde Law Firm is also central to the action, as is Don Armando's home, where his wife Ana María (Gabriela Goldsmith) fights a long-term illness.

Located behind the world's largest pig farm, the city of Piggsburg is a swine-only habitat. Here, the Bacon Brothers: Bo, Portley, and Pighead as well as their pet duck Quackers fight the evil plans of the hungry, carnivorous Wolf brothers Huff and Puff as well as the supernatural forces from the Forbidden Zone outside of Piggsburg. Other pig buddies of the Bacon Brothers include Dotty, Lorelei, the children Piggy, Pokey, and Prissy, and the snobby Rembrandt Proudpork. When not fighting off evil plots, the boys unwind at nearby Newpork Beach.

Episode I: Invasion of the Pickle People

The peaceful planet of Arcadia, inhabited by humans, is attacked by pickles who want to take over the planet. Arcadia has no weapons because there has not been any need for centuries. It becomes Dave's quest to go and find a hidden "Depository" of weapons. He finds an old crazy man named Lord Geric who knows of a doomsday device. A character named Linda also comes to find hidden weapons, and becomes playable for the second half of the episode. Dave and Linda eventually find all of the secret weapons. The pickles decide to interrogate one of the humans, and grab Linda in a jar before she reveals the information she has found to Dave.

Episode II: Escape from the Pickle Planet

Linda's escape from the Pickle Planet.

Episode III: The Search for the Doomsday Machine

The pickles get a hold of the doomsday machine and arm it. Dave and Linda must do their best to save Arcadia.

The Ulster hero Cú Chulainn is with other men in Muirtheimne, hunting birds by the water. A number of the men kill two birds for their wives, so the women may wear feathers on each shoulder of their gowns. When all the women but Emer have birds, Cú Chulainn becomes determined to kill the largest, most beautiful birds for her. The only birds still in the sky are indeed the largest and most exotic-looking, but the two seabirds are linked by a golden chain and sing a magical sleeping song. Emer recognizes that this means they are from the Otherworld and tells Cú Chulainn not to kill them. He attempts to do so anyway, but only manages to strike one of the birds on the feathers of her wing, damaging her wing, but not inflicting a mortal wound. Cú Chulainn falls ill, and lies unconscious and feverish next to a standing stone.

In his fevered state he sees two women approaching. They are Fand and Lí Ban, whom he assaulted while they were in bird form. They have horsewhips and beat him almost to death. He lies ill in bed for nearly a year, until Lí Ban returns, asking him to come to Mag Mell and help Fand defeat her enemies in a battle there. In exchange for his military aid, Fand will agree to heal him of his illness. Cú Chulainn refuses, but his charioteer, Láeg, agrees to go. At this point, the story is interrupted by Cú Chulainn suddenly giving a long series of advice to his foster-son Lugaid Réoderg, the newly chosen king of Tara. This material is part of the genre of ''tecosca'' ('precepts, instructions') and, in Dillon's estimation, 'can hardly belong to the story in its original form'. However, Cú Chulainn's uncharacteristic wisdom here can be understood as a beneficial side-effect of his magically inflicted illness.

On his return, Láeg, with the help of Emer (who berates her husband for choosing his pride over his health) manages to convince Cú Chulainn to accompany him to Fand's lands.

In Mag Mell he joins the battle, and helps defeat Fand and Lí Ban's enemies. Fand agrees to sleep with him, but this is discovered by Emer, who confronts Fand, accompanied by a troop of women armed with knives. After much discussion both women recognize the other's unselfish love, and request that Cú Chulainn take the other. Fand decides that since she already has a husband, Manannán mac Lir, Emer should stay with Cú Chulainn so she will not be left alone. Cú Chulainn and Fand are both heartbroken, however. Fand asks Manannán to shake his cloak of mist between her and Cú Chulainn, ensuring that they will never meet again. The druids give Cúchulainn and Emer a potion of forgetfulness, and they forget the entire affair.

The text closes with a statement generally attributed to the scribe who altered the manuscript text (and which is sometimes omitted from modern translations), that 'that is the disastrous vision shown to Cú Chulainn by the fairies. For the diabolical power was great before the faith, and it was so great that devils used to fight with men in bodily form, and used to show delights and mysteries to them, as though they really existed. So they were believed to be; and ignorant men used to call those visions síde and áes síde'.

The story is about three young boys, the Rock Jockeys, who set out to climb dangerous Devil's Wall hoping to find the remains of a World War II bomber. Once atop the mountain, they find the bomber and his hidden diary.

Category:Novels by Gary Paulsen Category:1995 American novels Category:American young adult novels Category:Random House books

Dome Shinjo inherited the love for baseball and his great abilities for the sport from his father even if his mother and his elder sister try to discourage him from practicing the same. Before dying, Dome's father had time to teach him a magical shot. After his father died and his mother gave him the glove his father used, he made the same shot in a training session of the Giants and was contracted immediately.

With the support of veteran players in the team, this young player made the Giants unbeatable in their home ground and none of the main batters in the Japanese professional league managed to get past his magical shot. This unanimous victory however does not apply to games abroad since Dome is just allowed to play in the Tokyo Dome—after which he was named and where his father was consecrated as well.

When the veteran captain of the Dragons manages to bat his shot, this young boy finally tastes defeat but quickly bounces back after inventing a new magical shot. New rivals and friends like Melody Norman, an American girl who disguises herself as a boy because women aren't allowed to play the sport enter the scene along with the mysterious Don Carlos, a Spanish ex-bullfighter who plays for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and had an old rivalry with his father.

The story is about Daniel Martin who gets made fun of a lot because he isn't the brightest kid in school. But when he and his classmates get stranded in the wilderness, Daniel saves the day.

When David Halifax arrives in Paris in 1939, he finds it a remarkable place, although artists are generally frowned upon and seen as idlers. His classes begin in an atelier, where Halifax is surprised to find only two other students, besides himself, sketching a picture of a nude woman posed on a stool. The teacher, a Russian named Alexander Pankratov, presents himself begrudgingly and carries himself around in an aloof and harshly critical manner yet possesses an unquestioned authority over whomever he meets. The other students introduce themselves, and warn Halifax that Pankratov may be a little deranged because of his eccentricities. The woman on the stool they are sketching is named Valya. She is about the only person who Pankratov seems to allow to do as they please. Later, Halifax learns that Valya is the adopted daughter of Pankratov, who was entrusted with her by his best friend during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Pankratov was an officer in the Tsar Nicholas II's White Army, but did not learn of his defeat until many years later. Valya harbors a deep-rooted dislike for Pankratov, yet displays obedience and praises his artistic genius.

Halifax quickly tires of Pankratov's repeated insistence in sketching every day, and seeks time to complete his own works. He is successful in having Fleury sell some of his sketches, but is alarmed when he learns that Fleury has lied to the buyers, selling his reproductions as originals. While the fraud is forgotten, Halifax adapts well to Parisian life. Strangely, Pankratov has taken a liking in Halifax's sketches, and comments well on them. Balard and Marie-Claire reveal that Pankratov has never commended their work before.

As Halifax falls into the routine of sketching, painting, and dining at the local cafe, there is much talk of the approaching war. He refuses to leave the city, believing that the Germans will never pass the French defense of the Maginot Line. The enemy, however, has maneuvered into the Ardennes Forest, completely bypassing the French line, and quickly pierces into Paris. Pankratov urges Halifax to leave when he still can, but Halifax refuses. One night, he and Fleury are arrested by a policeman named Tombeau on charges of fraud. Tombeau takes them to meet with Pankratov at the police station. Pankratov reveals that he, and the local cafe owner, are the mysterious Levasseur Committee, and that he has brought Halifax to Paris to teach him to forge art. Pankratov reveals that the Germans have burned hundreds of priceless originals during the war so far, and that he and Halifax, with the assistance of Fleury, are to impeccably forge originals, and to trade these to the Germans in return for their original paintings that otherwise would be destroyed. Halifax is shocked, and has no choice but to comply. The Germans arrive, and have seized control of the government.

With them comes Dietrich, a ruthless collector for the Nazi government responsible for stockpiling art. A competitor, the ambassador to Paris named Abetz, is also in the process of acquiring art but for personal use. Halifax and Fluery meet with both men, and for several months trade forgeries for original paintings. Dietrich and Abetz detest each other immensely, and when Dietrich finds that Abetz has acquired a very valuable work, has him killed by Tombeau, who is masquerading as a gangster on the inside working for the Germans.

For the next few years until the end of the war, Halifax and Fleury deal with solely with Dietrich, who has a French appraiser with him to look at the works. The appraiser can somehow see through the forgeries, but because of the frequent and acrid insults Dietrich throws at him, remains silent. On one instance, however, where Dietrich was given a real original painting as part of the plan to keep suspicion at bay, his appraiser tells him that it is a fraud. Dietrich has Halifax and Fleury arrested and taken to a torture chamber, but spares them when they agree to return the paintings that he had traded for the 'fraud'. Halifax feels bitter irony at seeing the only original labeled as a fake.

The war tables start to turn when the Allied Forces invade Normandy. German officers are not as prevalent around Paris, and Dietrich begins to worry. Adolf Hitler has requested a specific original, a Johannes Vermeer painting named ''The Astronomer''. Dietrich agrees to trade sixty originals, with works from such artists as Picasso, for the Astronomer. Halifax and Pankratov forge what was seen as impossible to copy, and deliver the painting on the day that all chaos has broken loose in Paris. Unknown to Halifax, Dietrich killed Fleury because he thought that Halifax had lied. Dietrich runs off with the painting, which never emerged again. He left the keys to a vault in which the sixty originals were hidden. Pankratov finds the only remaining painting that he had created, which was a portrait of Valya as a little girl. He clutches it, but when Tombeau arrives with his gangsters that he had been working with, and tells Halifax and Pankratov to leave the painting and run. The paintings are stolen by the gangsters, and most are never seen again.

The story ends with Halifax returning to the United States after the war, and starting a family when he becomes an art teacher. He stays in touch with Pankratov, who dies some years later. Pankratov's sole surviving masterpiece emerges in an art auction, in which Halifax wins the painting in a bidding war with an unknown party. Halifax assumes that it is Dietrich, who has survived the war.

The story is about Bobbie Walker whose cousin Alex has come from the city to visit their grandpa's ranch, but they take an immediate dislike to one another. When the cousins cross paths with the wild bull Diablo and the nasty Bledsoe boys, they must find a way to get along or it could be the end of them both.

The story is about Warren Trumbull who lives in a world where mythological creatures are a fact and often a nuisance. Warren works for an eight-foot Cyclops, Princey, who runs an agency that specializes in dealing with mythological creature removal. Today Warren and his friend Rick are assigned the task of killing a Gorgon residing in the basement of Helga Thorenson.

The story is about Roman Sanchez and his classmates who are kidnapped by masked gunmen and threatened with death unless they are paid ransom money.

Category:Novels by Gary Paulsen Category:1995 American novels Category:American young adult novels

Tomoya Okazaki is a male third-year high school student who does not feel at home anymore. He used to play basketball, his distant father works the night shift, and his mother died in a car accident when he was a child. He simply goes to school in Hikarizara for no reason and does not have any interest in school activities. One day, Tomoya meets a third-year girl from his school early in the year named Nagisa Furukawa. Nagisa is repeating her last year due to illness most of the previous year, and she does not know what to do. Tomoya suggests she finds something new to do at school, and she comes up with restarting the Drama Club. By the time the sakura trees are done blooming, Nagisa has already started hand-making posters advertising the drama club's reformation, with an old group mascot called "The Big Dango Family". Tomoya and his good friend Youhei Sunohara, who used to play soccer, help Nagisa with putting them up around the school, but the student council president, Tomoyo Sakagami, and Kyou Fujibayashi, quickly go around using red paint to deface the posters and write 'invalid' on them because of school policy. This angers Youhei greatly and he beats up one of the student council members despite Tomoyo and Kyou's warning; Tomoya also takes a stand for Nagisa.

Kouko Ibuki, the teacher who had been the adviser for the drama club before it disbanded, gets involved by telling Nagisa that if she can gather more members then she will talk to the school about reforming the club. Tomoya and Youhei try again by this time making copies of hundreds of posters and putting them all around the school, but no one joins the club. In the end, Nagisa gets Tomoya and Youhei to sign up, and she reassures them that she will not ask them to act on stage. The drama club is reformed, and with a month left until the school festival. Nagisa decides to do a soliloquy based on a dream she has had ever since she was a child; meanwhile, Tomoya and Youhei will work backstage with the music and lights respectively. Nagisa gets to writing the script, and invites Tomoya and Youhei over to her house for dinner, though only Tomoya comes, due to Youhei taking up a part-time job at an electrical company with Yusuke Yoshino; a former musician revealed to be Kouko's fiancé. At Nagisa's house, which turns out to double as a bakery, Tomoya meets her energetic parents Akio and Sanae. Tomoya is challenged to a baseball match with Akio to see if Tomoya's a man worthy for Nagisa, but cannot throw the ball due to an injured shoulder he received from his father in a bad fight, and even gets to stay overnight after being heavily persuaded by Akio.

Like Nagisa, Tomoya has also had a recurring dream ever since he was a child. In his dream, he initially is disembodied in an illusionary world where he is the only thing "alive". He finds a discarded human-sized doll and uses it as a body to travel around the world on an old bicycle. After some searching, he finds a large sakura tree known as the "Tree of Promises" where he believes he will meet the person he has felt is with him in this illusionary world.

When the school festival finally begins, Nagisa reveals that she has not finished the script, but still wants to go on with the play since the story is still within her. Nagisa has her performance in the evening, so in the meantime, Nagisa hangs out with Tomoya and Youhei. During lunch, she tells them her story why she wanted to do drama was due to her parents formally having been theater actors, but they both had to give up acting after Nagisa was born. Nagisa wants to do drama so as to continue her parents' dreams in her footsteps. For the play, Sanae gives Nagisa her wedding dress to use as her costume, much to Akio's surprise. Nagisa starts with her monologue without a hitch, and during her recitation, Kouko gives stage directions to Tomoya and Youhei via headsets. Gradually, Tomoya comes to realize that the story Nagisa is reciting is the same dream that he has had, and is shocked to find that Nagisa also had the same dream of the illusionary world. At the play's conclusion, Tomoya believes that he and Nagisa were meant to be together and confesses his love to her.

Shortly after the festival, Nagisa's health falters once again and she has to take another leave of absence from school, meaning it is not until a year after Tomoya's class graduated that Nagisa is able to graduate high school as well. After this, Tomoya and Nagisa start living together in a small apartment in town while Tomoya is recruited full-time at Yusuke's electrical company as well, Nagisa works part-time as a waitress at a local family restaurant, and Youhei becomes a businessman in Tokyo. Eventually, Nagisa becomes pregnant, but her doctor informs her family and Tomoya that if she gives birth to the child, due to having a weak constitution, she may die in the process. After the meeting, they agree on telling Nagisa. Tomoya and Nagisa's parents take her to the beach where she decides the name Ushio for the child. Despite the doctor's warning, she insists that she will be fine. One winter night, Nagisa finally gives birth to a baby girl Ushio and Nagisa dies giving birth. This causes Tomoya to go into a deep depression, during which he does not go to work, or even visit his daughter who is now being raised by Nagisa's parents.

For the past five years, Tomoya's friends try to get him out of his depression, but Tomoya is very stubborn. Then one rainy night, Tomoya's father Naoyuki Okazaki comes over and tells Tomoya that he is putting Ushio in the same relationship he did when his mother died, which greatly stuns him. Later, Naoyuki requested Tomoya's friends: Youhei, Tomoyo, Kyou, Kouko, and her husband Yusuke to take him out on a retreat for a few days in order to break his depression, and they drag Tomoya out of his house so fast he does not even know what is going on. Once they tell him on the train, Tomoya is dead set on going back home but Yusuke convinces him to stay. When they arrive at their destination, Tomoya searches for another platform at the station, anticipating this, Akio and Sanae were waiting for him with Ushio. Just as Tomoya begins to walk away, his friends arrive blocking his way, then Tomoya turns around back at Ushio, she runs towards him holding a stuffed dango. She trips midway which makes Tomoya leap out and catch her. Picking her up with them smiling, he is able to see the continuation of his old dream once more, and sees Nagisa under the Tree of Promises smiling lovingly at him and Ushio.

Charlie Ryan (Burns) returns to his hometown after failed attempts at unmentioned endeavors in California. It becomes apparent that his mother no longer finds Charlie's Kerouac-like tendencies to be entertaining as one of her first greetings is telling Charlie she's not going to put up with his crap this time.

At first, Charlie lays low, embarrassed he's returned home empty handed and unaccomplished. Hero to most of his childhood friends, Charlie appears to be the only one who left their small east coast sea-side town after high school. Word does soon travel instigating a visit from one of Charlie's best high school buds. Michael, (Bon Jovi) a thoroughly blue collar kind of guy, is interested in more than just saying hello after all these years. Michael's idea of catching up is letting Charlie know that Claudia and Michael are living together and are planning to be married. Although Charlie tells Michael he is okay with how things have changed, he is shocked and hurt.

Claudia (Holly), it turns out, is a waitress in the small-town luncheonette, complete with skirted pink uniforms and is Charlie's high school sweetheart, whom he left behind in the wake of an unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Charlie visits Claudia at work despite his knowledge of her relationship with Michael. Still hurt from Charlie's post-high school departure, she tells Charlie to leave her alone. Stuck there most of her life and as her 30th birthday approaches, Claudia dreams of bigger things, but is afraid to take a chance.

Other subplots surrounding the love triangle include Claudia's sister, Kelly (Britton) who still lives at home and laments the absence of quality dating material. An even sadder subplot involves Claudia and Kelly's mother (Danner) who still holds a torch for her husband/father of the girls, even though he has left them. Their mother foolishly and unrealistically maintains that her husband will return, repeating to her daughters that he has done this before and came back. Claudia's best friend (Esposito) is so lonely she is willing to throw herself at the recently singled, bald pizza guy.

Making matters worse for Claudia is Michael's desire to get married and settle down, which was discussed before Charlie's return, but is now being sought by Michael in earnest. Beaten down, free-spirit Claudia takes stock of her life and the people around her in the small town and decides she is not ready to be someone's wife, worrying that once she settled for that, it's all she would ever be. Claudia is crushed at her mother's hidden pain and the unrealistic belief that her family will be reunited.

Charlie is finally able to wear Claudia down and she leaves work early at the luncheonette to spend the night with him. Feeling nostalgic and giddy, the two declare their love for each other and begin a plan to run away together. During this conversation, Claudia tells Charlie there were complications with her abortion and is likely unable to have children. They drive to a motel, but once they are alone, both become thoughtful and somber at the potential of their future together. Meanwhile, when Claudia doesn't come home, Michael checks all their regular hang-outs, increasingly suspicious after it appears Charlie is also nowhere to be found. When Michael checks with Claudia's best friend's house, he rebuffs her blatant attempt to seduce him.

Claudia arrives home early the next morning to Michael sitting at their kitchen table, obviously knowing where she has been and what she has done. He tells her he doesn't deserve to be treated this way and angrily tells her to leave for good.

Claudia spends several days of thinking of her life, anguishing over being stuck between Charlie who would offer her excitement, adventure and unpredictability or Michael who would offer her stability, security and a stifling predictability. She consults her mother who has finally come out of her hazy denial after receiving a call from her husband who stated he would not be calling anymore and did not want to be contacted. Her mother tells Claudia to follow her own instincts and make herself happy.

In the last scenes, Claudia tells Charlie she has decided not to leave with him and is also not staying with Michael. She tells Charlie she needs to leave by herself and be on her own for a while. She tells Charlie that he of all people should understand that, to which he agrees. He remarks, "Good luck. Whatever it is you're looking for, I hope you find it".

Suitcase in trunk, Claudia is seen driving away out of town alone looking happily uncertain but determined to make herself happy.

A ship is loading a crate of cheese, according to the stamps on the outside in Spanish, French and English. The smell drifts into a mousehole, where Jerry, sleeping with a sailor's hat on, is woken up by the smell. The smell seems to have a life of its own, as it drags backwards and takes a sleeping Jerry with it. The yellow stream opens one of Jerry's eyes to reveal he is dreaming of cheese, and then bops Jerry on the head. Jerry opens his eyes and sees the crate of cheese. Jerry salutes the stream, wakes himself up, and runs toward it, but soon runs into the stream holding out a "hand". It points out that Tom is guarding the boarding ramp. Jerry slumps until he sees Tom salute the captain ascending the ramp. Jerry goes into his hole and takes out duplicate clothes. Tom is puzzled to see a second captain, but all the same must salute as Jerry-captain prances up the steps. As soon as Jerry is up on the ramp, Tom investigates the situation. He notices the captain is moving slow, there is a broom where his head should be, and then spots the body of the mouse poking out from under the uniform. He immediately thinks that Jerry has gone stupid. Tom smirks and pushes the ramp aside such that Jerry falls into the water. Only the captain's hat is seen for a few seconds, and then a shark pops out of the water and almost eats him. Jerry turns white and frantically runs into his hole and shuts the volume closing door. Tom is laughing himself silly until he sees the real captain falling off the edge of the ship because the ramp has moved. Since there is no time, Tom dashes over and holds his hands up, ready to catch the falling officer, but he only squashes Tom through a hole in the wood. The shark then pops out and attacks Tom, but Tom pushes himself through the pier and escapes. Tom's head is stuck in the board's hole, but he's safe. Jerry then proceeds to twist the board like a helicopter propeller and Tom lifts off. Tom stops the board's rotation and unravels his neck, and then frees himself from the board. Tom sighs in relief until he sees that he's falling. He grabs the board again and uses it to fly like a glider. He dives after Jerry, and when Jerry spots him, Tom chases him into a vent pipe. However, Tom is squeezed through the hole in his board and bounces around through the pipe. Tom crawls through shorter widths of pipe in order to catch Jerry, and when the chase exits the plumbing, Tom is compressed into a cylinder with legs barely a centimeter wide, forming himself in some kind of a walking stick. When Tom realizes this, he takes a deep breath and uncompresses himself, briefly looking like a more monstrous feline in the process. Tom grabs a large hose and dashes after Jerry. Jerry has opened the crate of cheese and is munching away when Tom thrusts the hose in his face. Jerry braces for the deluge, but when Tom opens the valve, nothing comes out because it isn't turned on. Tom rattles the hose cluelessly and Jerry turns it on. The stream of water and the hose blast Tom around randomly until the hose forms a rocket and Tom blasts off into the stratosphere. An astronaut doing a spacewalk from the Gemini spacecraft waves at him. Tom waves back and points the hose upward, and then soon sees he's about to fall. He then stops the water flow, but this causes the hose to inflate. Tom grins innocently and then the hose bursts. He falls down and panics, but Jerry throws a lifesaver ring. Tom falls down, confident he will be saved; however, this was an elaborate trap. Jerry whistles and the shark pops out, confused, but then sees Tom and swallows him. Soon, however, the shark cannot stomach him, and spits him out, as misfortune would have it, into the ship's furnace. Tom screams out in pain as he runs out with his tail on fire. Tom knows that the shark is waiting in the water, but as the fire on his tail grows larger, Tom has no choice. Tom falls in and the shark chases him through the water and out of sight. Jerry takes his place as a "guard" of the ship. He blows a whistle, salutes the captain, and does the dance jig to the audience at the end of the cartoon. On The Screen Appeared Inscription The End a metro goldwyn mayer cartoon

An experiment in democracy is taking place in Wuhan, China. For the first time ever, the students in grade three at Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China have been asked to elect a class monitor. Traditionally appointed by the teacher, the class monitor holds a powerful position, helping to control the students, keeping them on task and doling out punishment to those who disobey. The teacher has chosen three candidates: Luo Lei (a boy), the current class monitor; Cheng Cheng (a boy); and Xu Xiaofei (a girl). Each candidate is asked to choose two assistants to help with his or her campaign.

To prove their worthiness, the candidates must perform in three events. First is a talent show, where each candidate plays an instrument or sings a song. Second is a debate, in which the candidates bring up the shortcomings of their opponents as well as their own personal qualifications. And finally, each candidate must deliver a speech, an opportunity to appeal directly to classmates and ask for their votes.

At home, each of the children is coached by his or her parents and pushed to practice and memorize for each stage of the campaign. Although their parents are supportive, the candidates feel the pressure. Tears and the occasional angry outburst reveal the emotional impact. At school, the candidates talk to classmates one-on-one, making promises, planning tactics (including negative ones) and at times expressing doubts about their own candidacies.

For all three children, the campaign takes its toll, especially for the losing candidates and their assistants. Viewers are left to decide if the experiment in democracy has been “successful” and what it might mean for democracy education in China. PLEASE VOTE FOR ME challenges those committed to China’s democratization to consider the feasibility of, and processes involved in its implementation.

Ramshead, a butler, tells his lazy and currently broke master, Roger Cavendish, that he is broke. They search the newspaper for potential work.

Professor Ernest Belman has placed an advert in the Times seeking help. They phone and arrange to meet.

The professor has created a woman robot in his lab based on his niece, Penelope.

Cavendish appears for interview (with his butler). They are tasked with looking after his robot, Olga, for a week but are told they must never say the word "love" in front of it.

When Penelope's date cancels, the housekeeper Buttercup suggests she pretends to be the robot. Cavendish and Ramshead take her to a hotel and stay in the bridal suite, sparking many rumours amongst the staff. Cavendish's rich aunt arrives and thinks he has married. The robot is sent to help to explain things.

Tom Byron plays virgin teenager Matt Russell who daydreams a lot. He has a crush on Gloria, (Ginger Lynn), the girl next door who likes teasing him by swimming naked. He falls asleep with headphones on and dreams of going over to Gloria's one day, she points at his erection then tells her mom. Gloria's mom (Laurie Smith) is not angry, instead she seduces him in her bedroom. Matt wakes to his parents who are going on a trip. His dad warns him to avoid his older brother Vince (Jerry Butler), who's been barred from the house. Matt dreams that Vince convinces him to secretly watch a girl. The girl finds out but Matt wakes up to the sound of the doorbell.

Vince sends over a call girl named Angel (Tanya Lawson), who instructs the inexperienced Matt how to pleasure women. The two have feelings for each other, and the next day, they devise a plan to open a brothel, so he could repay for her services.

Vince sees a naked woman (Lois Ayres) dancing seductively next door but she rejects him when he goes over. Vince sees her again but ignores her the second time. When Matt invites him over and he sees two hookers, (Renee Tiffany and Crystal Breeze) doing a lesbian show for Albert (Ron Jeremy). Albert leaves with one (Breeze), Vince hooks up the other one (Tiffany).

Matt confidently starts wearing sunglasses and smoking cigars. He gets jealous when Vince makes a pass at Angel. He goes over to Gloria's house but she's angry at not being invited to his "party". She leaves, but he follows her into her bathroom. Gloria's turned on by his newfound confidence. He's upset after believing Vince and Angel hooked up. He forgot that his economics tutor Laura (Lois Ayres) was coming over. He finds out that nothing happened between his brother and Angel because she likes ''him''. Vince meets Laura, and realizes she's the naked woman who rejected him. She succumbs to his persistence.

Matt eagerly clears the house as his parents return in a few hours. He sees Tracy (Traci Lords), whose customer didn't show up. He tells her about his parents but she has other ideas, eventually putting him in the mood. After everyone leaves Angel stays behind. She wants him to come with her but he declines, telling her does not have the money to support himself. His parents arrive and ask if she's his tutor. "Just a friend," he says. Angel overhears the news that Matt's uncle left his entire estate to him. The movie cuts to Matt asleep outside. Off screen, his mom tells him and she and his father are leaving for a few days to take care of his sick uncle.

;Opening narration "This is the city — Los Angeles, California. It's a fine place to enjoy life. There are places reserved just for kids... when they're young and feel young. Places they go when they're young and feel old... beginning the big search for something that often doesn't exist in the places they look for it. They might find it here [image of a church] or here [image of a synagogue] or maybe here [image of another church]. They could try looking here [image of Griffith Observatory]... their search might end with a college degree. One thing's sure — whatever they're looking for — it cannot be found inside a number five capsule. When they try, that's where I come in. I carry a badge."

"It was Tuesday, March fifteenth [1966]. It was fair in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of Juvenile Narcotics. My partner's Bill Gannon, the boss is Captain Richey. My name is Friday. A powerful new drug capable of producing weird and dangerous hallucinations had found its way onto the streets of the city. It had fallen into the hands of juvenile experimenters. We had to try and stop it."

;Synopsis A call comes into the Los Angeles Police Department juvenile narcotics division with a complaint of a person painted like an Indian and chewing the bark off a tree.

When detectives Joe Friday and Bill Gannon arrive at MacArthur Park, they find a boy with his head buried in the ground. The suspect is acting erratically and has half of his face painted blue and the other half yellow and identifies himself only as Blue Boy. A tussle ensues after the boy is read his Miranda rights and placed under arrest.

A doctor determines the boy is under the influence of an unknown drug and he's taken to the narcotics unit of juvenile division where he's questioned. The boy is found with several sugar cubes and states there's no law against the drugs he has taken. He continues to act erratically, so Captain Richey tells the detectives to bring the sugar cubes to the crime lab for analysis.

At the scientific investigation division, forensic chemist Ray Murray states that the drug is lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate, commonly known as LSD-25, that it was developed by a Swiss biochemist named Albert Hofmann, and it causes hallucinations, severe nausea along with aches and pains as well as anxiety and depression. Sergeant Friday states there are no laws to cover the use or sale of LSD.

Back at juvenile division, the boy is identified as Benjamin "Benjie" Carver. Benjie's parents are briefed about the situation, but they don't feel there's cause for concern and they don't want their son arrested. The father states that LSD is not illegal and Friday informs him that it's against the law to be in an intoxicated state under the influence of any drug. The father threatens to get his attorney involved and wants to take the boy home, so Captain Richey tells the detectives to book Benjie under the generic law; ''In danger of leading an idle, dissolute or immoral life'', section 601 of the welfare and institutions code.

The case was heard in court several weeks later where Benjie is placed on probation and released to his parents. Two days later, Friday and Gannon join Sergeants Zappey and Carr in questioning two juveniles, Sandra Quillen and Edna Mae Dixon, who are high on LSD. The girls mention that they got the drugs from Blue Boy and then get sick. Sergeant Zappey relates that a bus on Sunset Strip will drive people up to Hollywood Hills to take the Acid Test for a dollar.

Over the next six months, acid becomes more popular. The captain informs the detectives that new state and federal laws have been passed, listing LSD as a dangerous drug. [This had, in fact, occurred on October 6, 1966.] A youth, Teddy Carstairs, is brought in for possession of LSD. He says he got the drugs from Blue Boy and is willing to testify to it. Friday and Gannon visit the Carver's home to pick up Benjie only to discover he moved out three months earlier. Benjie's mother apologizes to Friday for her earlier failure to cooperate with him.

Two months later and the detectives find Sandra and Edna Mae on Sunset Strip and find out that Blue Boy is having an acid party. They get the address and find several people high on acid including a painter eating paint off a paintbrush who tells them Benjie left. Friday calls in for officers to arrest the partygoers and finds out a drugstore has recently sold 3,000 empty pill capsules. At the drug store, the pharmacist, Ben Riddle, identifies Benjie as purchasing the empty capsules and gives them his address.

Friday and Gannon arrive at an apartment building and get a key to Benjie's apartment from the manager. Inside they find Benjie's friend, Phillip Jameson, and many drugs. Benjie is on the other side of the room motionless, having been that way for about an hour, and after telling Phillip he wanted to "get further out". Friday checks his pulse and declares, ''"Well, he made it. He's dead"''.

;Closing narration "The story you have just seen is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent. On December 15, a Coroner's inquest was held at the County Morgue, Hall of Justice, City and County of Los Angeles. In a moment, the results of that inquest."

"At the inquest, the coroner's jury ruled that the 18-year-old suspect had administered himself an overdose of lysergic acid diethylamide in combination with various barbiturates and had thus taken his own life." Text: "BENJAMIN JOHN CARVER - - Deceased."

Test pilot Bruce Barton is missing and his girlfriend, Susan Winter, organizes a search party, which is sent out in the jungles of Mexico.

The team of scientist Russ Bradford, mining expert Martin "Marty" Melville, and pilot Lee Brand fly into unknown territory.

While searching the area, however, they uncover giant mutated Earth animals such as a mouse, an eagle, a mygale, a green iguana, a tegu and a boa.

More importantly, they encounter a mutated 25-ft tall, one-eyed human monster who became disfigured due to an exposure to radioactivity from massive radium deposits in the area. This is responsible for the unusual size of all the other giant inhabitants of the region. He kills Melville, but appears to recognize the girl.

When the cyclops tries to prevent the rest of the group from flying to safety, he is wounded and presumably dies.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigators arrive in the San Fernando Valley after what appears to be a flying saucer crash, causing massive interference with tele-radio transmissions. During their investigation, they receive eyewitness reports of what appears to be a man dressed in a bizarre outfit, which appears to be radioactive and thus a public threat.

Their investigation uncovers that the man is actually a humanoid creature from outer space, who is invisible without his spacesuit. They start a massive manhunt for the invisible, radioactive alien running loose.

The action culminates in Los Angeles where the invisible alien has been tracked. He becomes trapped inside the famous Griffith Observatory. A woman lab assistant discovers that he can be seen using ultraviolet light. The alien attempts to communicate by tapping out a code, but no one can understand it. Now breathing heavily because his breathing gas reserves are now running low, he is trapped high-up on the Griffith telescope's upper platform. Because he can no longer survive without his breathing gas, he falters and then falls to his death. His body briefly becomes visible before completely evaporating

The scientific team of Dr. David Conway (William Leslie), Dr. Ellis Morton (Tristram Coffin) and Laura Hutchinson (Kathryn Grant) has built a machine that can predict earthquakes. After predicting one will hit California within the next 24 hours to a uniformly skeptical Gov. Cheney (Raymond Greenleaf) and state-level political and civil defense officials, the earthquake does materialize and does immense damage to northern parts of the state. Now with the support and funding necessary from the reformed skeptics, the team works on further predictions and comes to the conclusion that a wave of earthquakes are pending in and around the southwestern United States. They trace the epicenter of the pending disaster to an area beneath the Carlsbad Caverns and descend to a hitherto unexplored level.

Here they find a strange ore which, when removed from contact with water, becomes highly explosive, and realize that this element, somehow working its way from deep in the Earth, is responsible for the earthquakes. Although the material is not analyzed for specific atomic traits, it is named Element 112 just because so far, 111 chemical elements had been discovered. A computer determines that in approximately one month, enough of Element 112 will emerge from the deep earth to cause the entire planet to explode. A desperate operation ensues worldwide to blast and trench the ground to let water in and cover Element 112, keeping it from drying out and expanding.

A social studies project brings a newcomer Tom Gilliam into the Hardys' group at school. But he doesn't cooperate, gets in trouble and gets suspended. When Tom disappears and the Hardys discover suspicious activities at the shipping company, Frank and Joe have another case on their hands.

After CoreFire, the world's greatest superhero, goes missing, the former members of The Champions re-unite to investigate his disappearance, bringing in two new replacement heroines, Lily and Fatale. They immediately suspect CoreFire's nemesis, Dr. Impossible, was involved, even though he has been incarcerated in a maximum security prison since his defeat by Damsel during his twelfth world domination attempt. An interrogation by two novice heroes about CoreFire's disappearance gives Dr. Impossible the chance to escape and initiate a new attempt at world domination. The New Champions search for Impossible, convinced he is responsible for CoreFire's demise, while he gathers the materials needed to advance his plan. This is intercut with flashbacks to earlier times and his origin, as well as reflections on other paths he could have taken in life.

Fatale observes the actions of the New Champions as its newest member. She feels uncomfortable replacing a popular, deceased member and unworthy of belonging to a superhero group, but she proves herself to be highly competent and earns the respect of her teammates. Fatale's closest friend on the team is another new member, Lily, a reformed supervillain and former girlfriend of Dr. Impossible. Fatale contrasts Dr. Impossible's flashbacks by having no memory of her life before the accident in Brazil that made her a cyborg, with her exposition coming from her new experiences with the other superheroes. During the investigation, she discovers that the corporation that transformed her into a cyborg was a front for Dr. Impossible during one of his previous plans.

The climax is reached on Dr. Impossible's island, as he attempts to start a controlled Ice Age, making him Earth's ruler and only source of energy. He almost succeeds, using the hammer formerly belonging to the supervillain The Pharaoh to defeat the New Champions. CoreFire suddenly returns but is also unsuccessful against Dr. Impossible. Lily, who had quit the team earlier, eventually returns and defeats Dr. Impossible. Lily reveals that she is actually Erica Lowenstein, Dr. Impossible's childhood crush before his transformation and frequent kidnapee when she was the girlfriend of CoreFire. In the final chapter, Dr. Impossible ponders what it truly means to conquer the world, and whether such a feat can really be achieved, as he prepares for yet another escape from custody to start the cycle all over again with a new plan.

Ted Hayden poses as the deceased killer Gat Ganns in order to learn the identity of his father's murderer and to find his long-lost kid brother.

Riding to the small town of Rainbow Valley, John Martin meets George, the mailman for the area, who is looking for water for his car. Martin, surprised to see a car, gives George his canteen of water. Farther down the road, highwaymen have set up an ambush for George. Martin, who is following on horseback, drives off the highwaymen.

Martin takes George to the town doctor. Eleanor, the postmistress, is suspicious of Martin, but George explains how he fought off the gang. The townspeople are tired of being terrorized by the highwaymen. They are circulating a petition to the governor for assistance in completing their road and ridding it of the gang, which is led by Rogers, a wealthy landowner whose goal is to drive out the townspeople and buy their land cheaply.

Martin went to school for engineering, and volunteers to take charge of the road work. With Martin's encouragement, the road workers start defending themselves against gang attacks. A shoot-out occurs, and George uses dynamite to fend off the attackers.

Rogers walks into the Post Office and steals the road petition, substituting another petition to release a gang member, Butch, from jail. The gang also steals all the remaining dynamite.

Two weeks later, Martin and George wonder why they have not heard any response to the petition. At the gang hideout, the pardoned Butch wants to see Martin, who was his cellmate in jail. Martin seems happy to hear that Butch is in town, and meets with him. He agrees to destroy the road in return for a cut of the profits when the townspeople sell out.

The townspeople gather and talk about how Martin has betrayed them. Powell issues a call to arms. George and Eleanor find a letter from the governor. Martin is actually an undercover agent who is trying to bust the gang.

The mob approaches the gang and Martin. A shoot-out begins between the townspeople and the gang. Butch sets off the dynamite, killing Rogers and all of his men. Martin arrests Butch and explains his undercover assignment to the townspeople.

George drives his car up to the hill and remarks on the road's success. In the back seat of the car, Martin and Eleanor are kissing.

''Touch Me'' tells the story of a young Australian named Xavier McLachlan, who is in his final year of high school. A keen sportsman, his aim for the year is to be selected in the school Rugby team and help his friends and teammates win the first premiership in twenty years. All is going according to plan until he meets Nuala Magee, an unusual girl with her own agenda; she cross-dresses, and acts in a deliberately confrontational manner towards boys. Xavier is intrigued by her and against the advice of his friends, becomes very close to her, eventually starting a relationship with her. Xavier also befriends a new boy, Alex Murray and this friendship helps Xavier begin to change his ideas about what it means to be a man. The tension between Xavier and his friends begins to isolate him and when he betrays Nuala out of weakness, and a tragedy befalls Alex Murray, he is faced with difficult decisions about who he is and what he holds most dear.

Whit Ballard and his gang of outlaws steal a herd of cattle from the Wyatts, a family of drovers, murdering the parents. In the aftermath, Ballard takes a shine to one of the boys, Jim (Frank McGlynn, Jr., as an adult) and decides to take him along for kicks, but leaves behind his brother John (John Wayne, as an adult). Once grown up, in an effort to chase down the men who killed his parents and kidnapped his brother, John organizes a frontier Vigilante group of cowboys (who sing, wear black and ride white horses) to bring outlaws to justice, and they become renowned for their success.

John joins on as a hand with a cattle herding family, and takes a particular shine to the lovely and sassy daughter Mary (Bromley). Jim (unrecognized by John), using the surname Allen, has also infiltrated the family, to provide intel to Ballard to assist stealing the cattle. John smells a rat, and rides away in the middle of the night, returning with his vigilantes in time to foil the outlaws's plan to rob the family. In the confusion of the gunplay and fighting, Jim manages to make it appear as if he saved the father, and stays unknown as a Ballard confidante. Interrogating one of the outlaws, John discovers that Ballard is the man responsible for killing his family. He lets the outlaw go but tells him to stay out of the local town where Ballard is laying up.

John heads to town and recognizes the same outlaw. He starts a fight, but other outlaws join in and he is badly outnumbered. John makes a derring-do escape over roof tops, riding off to again retrieve his vigilantes. Meanwhile Jim tricks Mary into going to Ballard's hideout, where she is locked into a room. Ballard has a ransom note sent to John instructing him to come alone to a canyon if he wants her back. When John gets the note, he rides off alone to the canyon, leaving the vigilantes behind. Meanwhile, Ballard's gang robs the gold from the town bank and sets off for the canyon. Jim sees them ride off, abandoning him, and goes to the hideout, where he frees Mary, who tells him she overheard Ballard saying John is his brother and left Jim behind before he could discover that.

Knowing a trap awaits John at the canyon, Jim rides off to the canyon while Mary rides off to get the vigilantes. Jim arrives at the canyon, and as John rides in, yells to warn him of the trap and stalls the waiting outlaws in a shootout. Jim joins John and tells him they are brothers, and the two try to escape on horseback. Their path intersects with Ballard in a wagon with the stolen gold, just as the vigilantes also arrive and engage the outlaws in a mobile shootout on horseback. John jumps aboard the wagon and fights Ballard, jumping off just before the wagon careens down an embankment, killing Ballard. John rushes back to Jim, who was shot in the action. Jim dies in John's arms, poignantly rueful of his bad ways.

John tells Mary he is disbanding the group and leaving to become a California rancher. Mary kisses him as she calls him a "muttonhead", their pet name for each other, and it is apparent that she will be going with him.

The premise of ''HalloWishes'' is that the residents of the Haunted Mansion, led by the mansion's "Ghost Host," are preparing for a celebration of Halloween. The 999 happy haunts, called by Madame Leota, are the first to arrive as the opening lines of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" are played, followed by a pop band version. After the Ghost Host welcomes guests, the mood is set with "This is Halloween" from ''The Nightmare Before Christmas''.

Then the guests are serenaded with the spirits' special brand of karaoke (which the script calls "scary-oke music; just a few tombs [tunes] we've 'dug up' for the occasion") in a medley of Disney's spookiest music. Later, some of Disney's most infamous villains join in, starting with Ursula from ''The Little Mermaid'' "plopping in" on the party and adding her own musical mix to the festivities. Jafar from ''Aladdin'' and Oogie Boogie from ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' soon follow, and (until 2008) arriving last but far from the least is Maleficent from ''Sleeping Beauty'', showing us how Halloween should really be celebrated. The party ends with the "scream-along" grand finale.

Ray Macklin is obsessed with his own mortality. When a close friend suddenly dies of a heart attack at a barbecue, Ray becomes convinced that every ache, pain and twinge he experiences is a sign of his own impending death. His unjustified fears lead him into ever more extensive hypochondria.

Michael Andropolis is a US hopeful for the 1976 (Montreal) Summer Olympics as a marathon runner. However, his life is fraught with trouble. His marriage, which produced two children, has fallen apart and his wife wants a divorce. He struggles with unemployment and at one point in the movie is seen snapping due to frustration with the unemployment office bureaucracy. Additionally, his coach is reluctant to endorse him for the games. Andropolis always starts races strong, but because of his over-competitive strive, he pulls ahead of the pack too soon, sapping strength he'll need for the final minutes of the race. So he tends to not come in first, having used his stamina too early. His coach feels he is a quitter.

However, he providentially makes it through to Montreal by finishing fourth in the qualifiers, but getting the ticket due to an injury in one of the top three finishers. Andropolis surprises everyone, by pacing himself early in the race, only pulling ahead halfway through the race. Well on his way to the finish line ahead of the main pack, Andropolis slips on wet leaves rounding a turn. The fall leaves him with shoulder and leg injuries as other runners pass him by.

As darkness falls, paramedics tend to him where he fell. Andropolis is overcome by the need to "finish" the task of the race. He gets up, limping by and winding his way through traffic on roads that have been re-opened, as the marathon rules mark, and since the presumed final competitor had crossed the finish line hours earlier. Exhausted by the grueling ordeal of finishing the race with numerous injuries, Andropolis is greeted with cheers and support from the entire Olympic Stadium. He is met at the finish line by his wife, who has come to Montreal to watch him and promises that he will come home with her whatever happens. His coach witnesses his finish with a proud smile, while his daughters watch him on TV.

John Wayne plays retired army captain John Delmont, who discovers from his father's journal that he was left to die by a renegade, and vows to hunt down the killer.

Xan is a boy who lived in his village, Hardonbury, in 12th Century England. One morning while he was in a forest nearby, his village is attacked by bandits. He rushes back to his home, only to trip on a root, resulting in the boy being gravely injured. He is taken to Harwood Abbey, where he is nursed back to health by the Benedictine monks. In addition to the physical damage he sustained from his accident, he has lost his memory. But what he fears most of all is what he has thought he has seen lurking around the abbey: the Grim Reaper.

In hopes of finding Xan's parents and jogging his memory, a kindly monk, Brother Andrew, brings Xan back to his village, only to find that it was burnt down in the attack and that all the villagers had fled to Clovis, the closest village. In Clovis they meet a farmer who worked with Xan's parents, who tells them that Xan's real name (for Xan is only what they called him at the abbey) is Stephen, and that his parents are dead. The night he returns to the abbey, the other boys show him the "Grim Reaper" outside. Xan, ready to disprove the boys, follows the cloaked figure to the room of a harsh and rough monk, Brother Leo. Later that night the same bandits that attacked Xan's village attack the abbey. However, no one was killed, not even Brother Leo from the Grim Reaper.

Xan finds a coin that a bandit dropped on the floor, with the coat of arms of Lord Kensington, the owner of Clovis. He also "accidentally" overhears some conversations in which Brother Leo is trying to persuade the monks to sell the abbey to Lord Kensington so they can have guards from bandit attacks. A couple of nights after the conversations, the Abbot of the abbey was almost killed in an assassination attempt. Coincidentally, the Abbot was also the one who was most against Brother Leo's plan. Xan pieces together the puzzle and concludes that Brother Leo tried to kill the abbot to get the abbey to be sold to Lord Kensington.

After he confesses his suspicions to Brother Andrew, they put it to the test by going to see Lord Kensington and ask if Brother Leo had been to see him. Lord Kensington's bailiff, Sir James, confirms this by telling them that he had, but that he was surprised that such a gentle and kind monk would do such a thing. After they leave, Xan remembers about the coin, which also links Lord Kensington to the incident. So Lord Kensington hired the bandits to attack the abbey, and when that failed, he hired Brother Leo to try to assassinate the Abbot.

Brother Andrew, Xan, and Father Paul (the acting Abbot) ask for an audience with Lord Kensington with a magistrate present so they can expose the criminal behind the attacks. However, when presented the evidence, Lord Kensington exclaims that he had never seen the gentle monk and was appalled by these accusations. Xan finally realizes his mistake and corrects the accusations. It was Lord Kensington's bailiff that hired the bandits to attack the abbey, and Brother Leo wasn't involved at all. Sir James hired another bandit to assassinate the Abbot after the first attack failed. Sir James and Lord Kensington didn't know Brother Leo because they both called him gentle, when he is also gruff and not gentle in speech. With this finally made clear, Lord Kensington assembles his knights to Harwood Abbey, where another attack was surely waiting.

They arrive at the abbey just as the attack starts and are able to fend off the attack. Shortly after they arrive, Xan falls off his horse and gets knocked unconscious after all his memories flooded back to him. When he awakes, the attack is over and most of the bandits are captured or dead. He tells Brother Andrew that he remembers who he was and his family. However, he still keeps the name Xan as a reminder that his old life is behind him and that this is his new life. The Abbot visits the bandit leader, Carlo, and forgives him, possibly rekindling the spark of goodness he has in him.

Though he fought for the North in the Civil War, John is asked by the Governor of Texas to get rid of some troublesome carpetbaggers. He enlists the help of Holden before learning that Holden too is plundering the local folk.

A Coast Guardsman must rescue his kidnapped girlfriend from smugglers willing to kill in order to maintain their illegal trade in seal skins. Along the way, he has to overcome a less-than-competent superior officer and being kidnapped by the smugglers.

Pat Glendon is a former lumberjack turned bare-knuckle boxer who travels the countryside as part of gambling scam operated by Gus "Knockout" Carrigan for a New York City syndicate. Glendon arrives ahead of the travelling boxing exhibition, building the confidence of the locals who in turn bet on Glendon to win, only to have him throw the fight.

The gambling circuit leads Glendon to Cedar City, a west coast lumber town where he soon finds himself a job as a lumberjack and becoming part of the community. At the lumberjack picnic Glendon fights and defeats "Ruffhouse" Kelly, a burly man from a rival lumber camp. The town folk agree that Glendon is the one to represent them in the boxing exhibition soon to hit town.

While in Cedar City, Glendon saves the life of a runaway orphan, Tommy, who befriends the boxer and acts as his "trainer" and is unofficially adopted by him. Maude Sangster, a reporter pretending to be a social worker from San Francisco sent to Cedar City to expose the boxing scam, befriends Glendon and the orphan Tommy.

Conscience gets the better of Glendon, and on the day of the rigged fight against Carrigan, Glendon tells him that he won't throw the fight. He tells Carrigan that the Cedar City lumberjacks are his friends and he doesn't want to scam them out of their hard earned money. In a hard-fought, honest match, Glendon prevails and also wins the heart of the girl.

WildStar: Sky Zero

The mini series, ''WildStar: Sky Zero'' revolves around a time loop that causes a future Micky Gabriel to keep repeating a section of time. In traveling back to the present to escape this endless repetition, Gabriel accidentally sets the time loop in motion. His future self gives the Micky Gabriel of the present the WildStar symbiote, an alien weapon which grants him a variety of superhuman abilities, as well as access to memories of the post-apocalyptic future from which the time displaced Gabriel hails. The original host of the symbiote was BloodStar, a barbaric alien warrior contracted by another alien race, the Ra'Zplarr, to invade the Earth of the future, as part of their quest for a certain "special" something seemingly endemic to certain Earth occupants.

Ongoing series

The ongoing series concentrated on the new timeline created during ''WildStar: Sky Zero'', focusing on Micky Gabriel's reluctant association with the WildStar symbiote that contains the memories of a ravaged future Earth. The series reveals more of the devastated Earth's future history, but was canceled after three issues

HotWire and SkyLark, along with villains JumpStart and Blockade, all from the ''WildStar: Sky Zero'' miniseries, appear, as well as Mighty Man from Savage Dragon, and Freak Force.

A prototypical Yatesian dreamer, John C. Wilder is a bored but successful salesman of advertising space, living in New York City who seeks refuge from the disappointments of his life in alcohol and adultery. He breaks down during a distillers' convention. Lacking sleep and the worse for alcohol upon his return to New York, he threatens his family. His friend, Paul Borg, has him committed to the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital in New York. Upon his release he seeks help from his family, psychiatrists, and AA meetings, all of whom he subsequently rejects. With the encouragement of a mistress, Pamela Hendricks, Wilder renews himself through their common love of movies and the prospect of making a film about his institutionalization. After a group of enthusiastic college students embrace his story and partially film his screenplay, Wilder leaves his family and job to move to Hollywood in the hopes of securing a deal that will complete and distribute the film. The loss of his mistress and the rejection he suffers from producers leads him even deeper into an abyss of paranoid alcoholic delusion. The novel ends with Wilder wandering the streets of Los Angeles, declaring himself to be Jesus Christ (mirroring a delusional incident in Yates's own life), and being recommitted to an institution.

Sun (Hugo Chakrabongse) is a student in an international school in Phuket. Not academically inclined, he considers himself as "his own man" who doesn't believe in love and is the head of a clique of pranksters consisting of the attractive but selfish Meena (Paula Taylor), geeky Rajit (Thepparit Raiwin), smart but timid Wawa (Norajan Sangigern), and fun-loving Chi (Titinun Keatanakon). The overweight Moo Priew (Ramit Romon) aspires to join Sun's clique but is rejected every time.

One day, Sun and his friends notice a beautiful and mysterious new transfer student nicknamed Rainbow (Sririta Jensen). She was transferred from a high school in Chiang Mai where a student had been impaled on the school's flagpole. When asked how it happened, Rainbow says it involved a demon call from the phone number 999-9999. If one calls it after midnight and says a wish, the wish shall be granted later, but as a consequence, death will come to the caller. None of the clique members believe this, and Chi calls it after midnight in front of the others and wishes for a Ferrari. He wakes up the next morning receiving exactly what he wished for by luck.

Chi soon dies from a combination of scorpion attack and malfunctioning car wash machine which slashes his throat with a spinning blade. The rest of the friends still don't believe Rainbow's story and even make wishes themselves, prioritizing only the first part of the deal. Meena wishes to be a Channel V Thailand VJ, only to be killed by a hanging noose at a party afterwards.

Soon after Meena's death, Sun begins to investigate about the deadly call and spends more time with Rainbow. However, the other members of his clique continue to make wishes. Rajit wishes not to be a geek anymore and is burned by a fire. Moo Priew wants to lose weight, only to die by falling out of a window with his organs pulled out (thus making him thinner). Wawa wishes to be an astronaut student, and sharp gears split her head in two.

Sun calls the number, wishing for something he believes couldn't be granted: love. Rainbow then kisses him, and he realizes that his wish was granted. To avoid the possibility of her being killed with him, Sun locks Rainbow in the tower where his clique usually hung out.

While watching Rainbow via cameras, Sun realizes that Rainbow is the one causing the deaths of his friends by introducing them to the number, making her a devil's apprentice. When he returns to the tower, Rainbow vanishes, and the number calls Sun, telling him he's going to die. A heavy box falls from the top of the tower, but Sun manages to avoid it, only to fall on a pipe which pierces through his chest, killing him. A flashback set in Rainbow's former school shows Rainbow telling the girls there about the number, hence causing the deaths there later on, including the girl who was impaled on a flagpole.

On an island in the Paraná Delta of Argentina, Álvaro (Román) works as a fisherman and a reed cutter. His homosexuality and love of books make him an outsider in the small village. The brutish El Turu (Valenzuela) captains ''La León'', the town ferry. He views Álvaro as a threat, bullying him almost constantly. However, as the film progresses, El Turu's hidden attraction to Álvaro becomes obvious.

Alex and Cristina (Kiki) are university students who end up living in the same building. Their friendship develops quickly, overcoming several phases, from fellowship to care and tenderness. While the two are very different, the two girls get along fine, except for the moments when a third character shows up — Sandu. Kiki's brother is permanently tormented by an unnatural jealousy which implies an incestuous liaison between the two siblings.

Unlike other recent Romanian films, it is not a reflection on Romania's communist or post-communist history; the country is merely a background for the different relationships.

The novel is set against the background of the Civil Rights Act conflict during the early Johnson Administration. At the beginning of the book, Paul Whipple, a black character from the earlier novel ''Too Many Cooks'' (1938), whose trust Wolfe had gained against a strong West Virginia atmosphere of prejudice, tells Wolfe that Wolfe has since become his hero, and that he has also achieved his dream, stated in the earlier novel, of becoming an anthropologist. He has come, however, to draw upon the favor he did Wolfe 26 years earlier, by asking Wolfe to prevent his son Dunbar Whipple from marrying a rich white girl, Susan Brooke, with whom he is apparently in love. While claiming that he is not opposed, in principle at least, to mixed-race couples, Paul Whipple thinks that sensible rich white girls do not fall in love with poor black men, even if the rich white girl is working for a black civil rights organization in New York, the Rights of Citizens Committee. Wolfe is loath to interfere in the matter, but agrees to at least learn what he can about the true motivations of the socialite girlfriend and why she would be interested in a Negro boyfriend, to settle the debt he owes Whipple. Before the real mystery story gets underway, Stout allows some give and take on the concept of racism being a two-way street: blacks preferring their own as much as whites.

Archie arranges a meeting with Susan Brooke through his girlfriend, Lily Rowan, but is unable to form a conclusion as to her motives. Wolfe has him fly to Racine, Wisconsin, Susan's hometown, to do research on her background. He discovers little except for an incident where a man who wanted to marry her, Richard Ault, shot himself on her front porch after she turned him down. He is doing more research when Wolfe suddenly calls him back to New York: Susan Brooke has been brutally murdered in her Harlem apartment.

Dunbar Whipple is the prime suspect in the murder, and Wolfe agrees to work on his behalf. Wolfe focuses his investigation on Dunbar and Susan's co-workers at the Rights of Citizens Committee, over the objections of Whipple's lawyer Harold Oster, who is also the ROCC's counsel. Those interviewed include the organization's founder Thomas Henchly, Susan's superior Cass Faison, Rae Kallmann and Maud Jordan, two white volunteers, and Beth Tiger, a black stenographer Archie takes immediate interest in. Susan's family is also interviewed, and it becomes apparent that they are bigots who consider her involvement with Civil Rights a "kink" and do not believe she could have been engaged to Dunbar. Her sister-in-law Dolly is particularly vitriolic and Archie takes an instant dislike to her. The family claims that Susan was actually engaged to a white car dealer named Peter Vaughn.

Saul Panzer discovers that Dolly Brooke lied about her alibi the night of the murder by interviewing a garage attendant who saw her take her car out an hour before the murder took place. They cannot prove it because the witness refuses to testify, but stumble upon a lucky break when Vaughn, riddled with guilt, confesses to Archie that he lied to the police to firm up Dolly's alibi. Wolfe and Archie confront Mrs. Brooke, who admits that she went to Susan's apartment, but she could not get in because no one answered her knock. This indicates that Susan was already dead at 8:45, long before Dunbar Whipple arrived at the apartment. Her evidence clears him, but Wolfe elects not to use it because that would not only endanger Vaughn but would complicate matters by destroying the lead he has on the police.

Several days later, Vaughn calls Archie, telling him that he may have more information but that he has to do some checking on it first. The next day he is found dead, shot multiple times. When it emerges that Vaughn went to the ROCC the day before for information on Susan and Dunbar, Wolfe brings the key players to his office for another interview to prevent their being arrested as material witnesses. It is during this interview that Wolfe realizes that the key to the case lies in the unusual frequency of a diphthong in the names of those involved. It will take another trip to the Midwest for Archie, this time to Evansville, Indiana, before the case is solved.

The use of Paul Whipple as a character in a 1964 Nero Wolfe novel was problematic, since Rex Stout never allowed his recurring characters to age. Whipple was a young man in ''Too Many Cooks'', but had aged 26 years and was a middle-aged academic in ''A Right to Die''. In all this time, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin miraculously remained the same age, but Whipple never noticed or mentioned this oddity.

Rom Ritthikrai (Mitr Chaibancha) is at a nightclub getting very drunk and trying to persuade others to join him in his fun. He is retrieved by his faithful assistant Oy (Petchara Chaowarat). Rom is actually the masked crimefighter, Insee Daeng, or Red Eagle, and he uses the persona as a fun-loving drunkard as a cover.

However, an impostor Insee Daeng (Kanchit Kwanpracha) is committing murders, so Rom must change his masked alias to another color, and he becomes the Golden Eagle, or Insee Tong.

The impostor Red Eagle is connected to the Red Bamboo gang, which is trying to seize control of the Thai government. Red Bamboo is led by Bakin (Ob Boontid), who was trained in hypnotism by Rasputin and is able to kill his intended targets by beaming his thoughts and visage through red ceramic Buddha statues, which are being delivered to various Thai officials. Bakin can also split himself into three images, making it impossible for gunmen to shoot him.

Disguised as Golden Eagle, Rom sneaks into the Red Bamboo gang's house and discovers that the daughter of an admiral is being held hostage.

A police detective, meanwhile, is investigating his own angle on the case, going undercover as a transvestite to infiltrate a ring of transvestite criminals who are in league with the Red Bamboo gang. A case of mistaken identities causes the policeman and Golden Eagle to get into a fight.

The plot comes to a climax on an island in the Gulf of Thailand, with the police racing in on boats to attack a Red Bamboo stronghold.

The mission accomplished, the Golden Eagle takes hold of a rope ladder on a helicopter and is carried aloft and into the sunset, in true action hero style.

Background

The novel recounts events which occur on the fictional planet Windhaven. Its inhabitants are the descendants of human space voyagers who crash-landed on Windhaven centuries before the events of the book take place. After the crash, the survivors spread out and settled on the many scattered islands of Windhaven's waterworld. In order to preserve tenuous lines of communication across the vast seas, the stranded population constructed mechanically simple gliding rigs from available spaceship wreckage; the gliders could be kept aloft almost indefinitely in Windhaven's stormy atmosphere by their pilots. After centuries of using this practice as the principal means of maintaining social contact among the islands, Windhaven's flyers have developed into a caste superior to the landsmen. Additionally, the flyer caste maintains ownership of the flying rigs — commonly known as "wings" — by keeping them within flyer families, so none of Windhaven's landsmen can aspire to ever wear them. These caste-based differences serve as the impetus for the novel's character-driven narrative.

Prologue

Maris is a young peasant girl who lives with her mother on the remote island Lesser Amberly. Her father, a fisherman, was killed an unspecified number of years before and Maris hardly remembers him. Though Maris and her mother survive mostly as scavenging "clam-diggers", they also collect refuse that washes onto the nearby beaches after violent coastal storms. Early one morning, Maris and her mother rise from bed and scour the beaches near their hovel for valuables after a particularly brutal tempest. Maris's search is largely fruitless and she recovers little. Afterward, however, she has a pivotal encounter with one of Windhaven's resident flyers.

Lesser Amberly itself is home to three flyers, one of whom, an adult male named Russ, lands on the shore near where Maris has concluded her search. Maris timidly approaches Russ and, during the chance meeting, he treats her with kindness and she, in turn, reveals to him that her most ardent wish is to become one of Windhaven's flyers.

Part 1: Storms

Maris, now a young adult, has been adopted by Russ who, because of a serious injury, was forced to give up his life as a flyer. Customarily, flyer-wings pass to the oldest child of an established flyer. At the time of Russ's injury, however, Russ and his wife had no children. So Russ, in response to Maris's enthusiasm, trained her and then granted her the right to wear his wings. Since then, Maris has been acting as one of Lesser Amberly's three resident flyers by ferrying messages between Windhaven's far-flung colonies across the oceans. But, shortly after Maris was entrusted with the wings, Russ's wife gave birth to a son, Coll. Coll has just turned 13, and it is traditional that at 13, young flyers "come of age" and replace their parents as the ceremonial owners of the family wings. In this case, Coll is set to take Russ's wings back from Maris, as her claim to them is unlawful. However, Maris strongly desires to keep the wings for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Coll has failed to prove that he is, or ever will become, a competent flyer. Additionally, unbeknownst to Russ, it is actually Coll's dream to become a traveling singer. Things are further complicated because Maris loves Coll both as a sister and as a mother — the latter being a role she gradually took on after Russ's wife died in giving birth to Coll. Maris, knowing that her desire to keep the wings is unrecognized by the ancient "flyer code," ultimately wants Coll to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer.

On the day Coll is to officially take the wings, he commits a grievous piloting error and lands badly in front of Maris, Russ and many of the important citizens of Lesser Amberly. Coll then refuses to take over stewardship of the wings, and he reveals to Russ that he will pursue a life as a singer and musician. Russ responds by angrily disowning both Maris and Coll, and the wings are confiscated by one of Lesser Amberly's other flyers, Corm. Corm soon lets it be known that he intends to give the wings to a flyer from a neighboring village, as he maintains that Maris never had a claim on the wings to begin with. Maris decides she must act quickly if she is to have any chance to get the wings back. In the night, she steals the wings from Corm and flies to another island. There she hands the wings over to the flyer Dorrel. Maris intends to have Dorrel call a "flyer's council" — a rare meeting of nearly all of Windhaven's flyers — in order to prove that she deserves the right to wear the wings. However, a flyer arrives and notifies Dorrel that Corm has already called for a council to be held. Soon after, at the council, Corm argues that Maris should be declared an outlaw and exiled. But Maris responds to Corm's attacks skillfully, convincing the other flyers that the family-based system of wing inheritance is unfair and archaic. The council then votes in favor of measures allowing for the creation of flyer academies, where any of Windhaven's citizens may learn to fly, and an annual flying competition, during which aspiring flyers will be allowed to compete for a chance to win their own wings from flyers. The council also grants Maris's request to keep Russ's wings.

Part 2: One-Wing

Several years later, Maris attempts to help persons without flyer lineage, or "one-wings," train for the chance to compete for their own wings. Maris's loyalties to old friends often make her choices difficult, but she remains determined to push for more change and a fair chance for one-wings in Windhaven's society. As a result, she spends most of her spare time at Woodwings, the first flyer academy built, after the historic council decision. Early on, Maris learns that the last of the other flyer academies has been closed because of a tragic accident. She is also told that one of its students is journeying to Woodwings in order to continue training. When Maris meets the student, Val, she realizes that he is the original "one-wing," a now-infamous peasant man who won a set of wings away from one of Maris's oldest friends, a female flyer who belonged to a venerated flyer family, in one of the first yearly competitions. However, at the time the competition was held, the flyer Val challenged was still mourning the recent death of her brother. Val's challenge was thereby regarded by the flyer community as being both dishonorable and despicable. Tragically, the defeated flyer killed herself after losing her wings to Val. Though Val lost the wings after being beaten by another flyer at the following year's competition, he quickly proves his competence at Woodwings and becomes close friends with one of the most promising students, a southern-born female one-wing named S'Rella. Val and S'Rella, along with four other students of lesser skill, will fly in the coming flyer's competition. Assisting the students in the competition amongst her old friends forces Maris to face her previously unnoticed preconceptions, loyalties and double-standards in flyer society. After successfully beating a competent flyer-born in the first two trials, Val is seriously beaten and injured on the last day, preventing him from competing. Maris, who has come to respect Val, and the rights of any flyer to compete with another, flies proxy in his place and wins his wings from Corm. S'Rella also wins her own wings against Maris' long-time friend Garth, whose health was failing.

Part 3: The Fall

Now an older woman, Maris attempts to fly in a storm and has a nearly fatal fall on the Island of Theos. She awakes in the home of the local healer, Evan, and over the course of a few months impatiently awaits the recovery of her legs and left arm. She can finally walk again but learns that her head injury will prevent her from flying, and her wings are taken away from her and given to her home island. In her grief, she attempts to distance herself from other flyers and the burgeoning one-wing culture. She denies her previous flyer identity and attempts to immerse herself in the work of physician's assistant for Evan, now her romantic partner. Maris' brother, Coll, and his young daughter arrive and stay with them for awhile, a theme in this chapter explores the depths of relationship that Maris has never experienced as a flyer who never grew roots in any community, life as a "land-bound." However, Maris is urged to return to the center of the flyer world as an intermediary between the one-wings and flyer-born when a one-wing flyer, imprisoned by the powerful island landowner, is hanged for a controversial crime. Maris blames herself for failing to lend her aid to avoid the execution of this flyer, and so uses her new community ties to scheme with the flyers. They create a growing circle of one-wing flyers dressed in black circling the sky over the site of the execution in mourning and protest. She employs the power of the singers to tell the story of the wrongful execution and to paint the lands-man as a villain. She successfully gains cooperation between the one-wings and the flyer-born factions to come together as flyers and resolve the conflict peacefully, forcing the harsh and greedy lands-man out of power. Maris learns to balance her identity and community and chooses to stay with Evan instead of returning to teach young flyers at the academy, and likewise Evan surprises her by choosing to face his fears of leaving his only home to go with her so she could be where she was truly needed.

Epilogue

A dying Maris receives a singer at her bedside. She recites to the singer the words of a song written by her brother, Coll, who had died some years before. The song is Coll's last testament to Maris.

The film follows the adventures of Shetan, a young black Arabian colt. After a band of robbers separates a young Arabian girl named Neera (Biana G. Tamini) from her father, she finds herself alone in the desert. Before too long, a mysterious black colt comes to her rescue. The two quickly form a special bond, and the horse returns Neera to her grandfather. Once Neera is back home, the stallion disappears.

Neera greets her grandfather Ben Ishak (Richard Romanus) and her cousin Aden (Patrick Elyas) eagerly, but is disappointed and upset when she find out that her grandfather's horse breeding days are over. Ben Ishak informs Neera that because of the shootings in the desert, his fields are ruined, and he can no longer afford to keep any of his horses. He kept an old plow-horse, Abha, and set his most precious mare Jinah free. We find out later that Jinah was Shetan's mother.

A year passes, but the black stallion does not return. Neera’s grandfather tells her that the horse was probably nothing more than a product of her imagination. But Neera knows better. She thinks the stallion is the lost horse of the desert, a legend born of the sands and sired by the night sky. Then, one night, the colt appears again. In an attempt to help her grandfather start a breeding farm again, Neera joins a grueling cross-country race against the finest horses of Arabia for a purse of the most exceptional Arabian mares. Shetan, the black stallion, is trained, and Neera rides him in the competition to restore her grandfather's money and respect. In the end, Neera wins, and Shetan is reunited with his mother.

Mitchie Torres is a young musician aspiring to be a singer. She wants to go to a summer music camp named "Camp Rock". Since her family cannot afford the tuition, Mitchie's mother, Connie Torres, arranges to cater food for the camp, thus allowing Mitchie to attend. In return, Mitchie must help her mother in the kitchen. Shortly after arriving at camp, Mitchie meets a girl named Caitlyn.

Meanwhile, Shane Gray, the spoiled and arrogant lead singer of the popular music trio Connect 3, is assigned to be in charge of dance classes at Camp Rock by his bandmates Nate Gray and Jason Gray and is forced to record a song with the winner of Final Jam. Shane overhears Mitchie singing and falls in love with her voice, but Mitchie leaves before Shane can figure out it was her, causing him to obsess over finding the mysterious singer.

During Opening Jam, Mitchie learns that many of the campers have notable roots and is embarrassed that she was only able to come to the camp because of her mother's catering service. She lies to Tess Tyler, a girl known for her famous mother and her popularity, and her friends, Peggy and Ella, that her mother is the president of Hot Tunes TV China. Tess, impressed, invites Mitchie to bunk with her group.

One day, during lunch in the cafeteria, Tess and Caitlyn begin to throw spaghetti at each other and Mitchie gets in the middle of the fight. Brown, the owner of the camp, breaks up the fight, and Tess frames Caitlyn for the incident. Brown punishes Caitlyn by making her work in the kitchen and Mitchie, who is worried that Caitlyn will learn about her secret, does not defend her.

Meanwhile, Shane writes a new song, which he shares with Mitchie. Mitchie likes the song, and Shane, doubtful that his record label and his fans would accept the song, begins to fall for her. Later, Caitlyn arrives in the kitchen while Mitchie is working and learns about Mitchie's secret. Caitlyn calls Mitchie's keeping her identity as the cook's daughter a secret immature, and Mitchie in turn insults Caitlyn's attitude. However, the two girls reconcile after Mitchie stands up to Tess when Tess attempts to upstage Caitlyn at Pajama Jam.

Shane spreads the word that he is searching for a girl with "the voice". When Tess sees Mitchie and Shane rowing together, she becomes jealous and, after finding out about Mitchie's secret, forces her to tell the entire camp the truth. Shane, infuriated that Mitchie deceived him to get close to him just because he is famous, ditches her. Tess kicks Mitchie, who is now a laughingstock throughout the camp, out of her group. Tess later learns that Mitchie is the girl Shane had been looking for. In order to get rid of Mitchie, on the eve of Final Jam, Tess frames Mitchie and Caitlyn for stealing her charm bracelet. When the girls cannot prove their innocence, Brown bans them from all camp activities until the end of Final Jam.

At Final Jam, Brown announces that the winner, as decided by the judges, Connect 3, will not only win a trophy, but get to record with Shane. Peggy and Ella lose their patience with Tess, stand their ground and leave her group. Ella performs "Hasta La Vista" with Barron and Sander. Tess realizes that her mom is watching and starts to perform "2 Stars". Unfortunately, when her mom has to take a call during her performance, she stumbles in front of the audience and retreats backstage in tears. Peggy reveals her real name is Margaret Dupree and performs "Here I Am". Tess apologizes to Peggy and Ella. As Brown announces the end of Final Jam, the spotlights turn on, and he allows Mitchie to perform, saying he was hoping she and Caitlyn would catch on: as their performance was not in the lineup and was technically after "the end of Final Jam". Mitchie begins to sing "This Is Me". Shane realizes that she was the voice from before, and he soon joins in. Backstage, Tess tells Mitchie and Caitlyn she told Brown that they didn't steal her bracelet, and Mitchie and Shane reconcile. Peggy is announced as the winner of Final Jam. After she's crowned winner, the entire camp sing "We Rock".

In an extended ending of the film, a few months later, Caitlyn shows Mitchie, Tess, Peggy, and Ella the recording studio that she built in her garage, and they perform "Our Time Is Here".

In Gotham City, 1890 A.D., Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. the Batman, is called to Gotham Police Headquarters by Commissioner Gordon. He is informed that three men broke out of Gotham jail. Two were already caught, but the third has taken to the rooftops. As Batman chases after the third, the fight moves to the Gotham City Opera House, where a performance of Edgar Allan Poe's "''The Masque of the Red Death''" is being held. The main lead, Harvey Dent, is scarred in a horrible accident when his costume caught fire.

The same night, ballerina Laura Avian meets Bruce, who was friends with her father when they were in school. There is an instant attraction between the two, but Laura expresses some concern for Harvey after his accident. Bruce proposes that he could become a teacher since he can no longer dance, but Harvey is outraged at the notion. He believes that the only reason students would come would be to stare at his horribly scarred face.

As the love between Bruce and Laura grows, accidents begin to take place at the Opera House. Madame Sandoval, the prima ballerina, falls through a trapdoor and breaks her legs. The next night, Mr. Ferguson, one of the Opera managers, is crushed to death in a freak accident. Concerned for her well-being, Bruce begins to watch over Laura as Batman. The same night, Harvey meets with Laura in secret and teaches her how to become a better dancer, but he flees when she sees his face.

Following the night before the next performance of ''Red Death'', Laura is nearly killed by two crooks when Batman saves her. He brings her to the Bat Cave, where she unmasks him as Bruce. He realizes that there is something sinister close to Laura, but she is not so concerned because she knows that Batman is watching her.

The night of ''Red Death'''s re-opening, Harvey kills Nicholas Varchenko, the leading male, and takes his place in the performance. There, he confesses his love to Laura, but Harvey and Batman get into a large fight that ends with Harvey bringing down the large chandelier above the opera stage, killing himself.

After being harassed by reporters, Laura flees to Wayne Manor. There, she tries to convince Bruce to give up his persona as Batman, but he cannot. He ends his relationship with her, realizing that her life is in danger every minute she is with him and that he truly belongs among the dark and the absurd.

Kensuke Nimura is just your average high school student—except for the fact that he can see spirits. This ability generally hinders him more than it helps him, especially in trying to get a girlfriend. However, everything changes one day when he encounters Kagura Tsuchimiya while being pursued by evil spirits. They accidentally kiss and manage to destroy the source of energy that is drawing the evil spirits. A few days later, Kagura transfers into Kensuke's class, much to his surprise. Kagura is an agent of a government agency that secretly defends the public from supernatural enemies. She wields a ''Ga-rei'', a "spirit devourer," named Byakuei that she uses to fight. Kensuke's spiritual awareness and his attraction to Kagura compels him to follow her to the agency, where he is recruited to fight the supernatural.

Their first enemy is Yomi Isayama, Kagura's former best friend, now an evil spirit due to a stone known as a ''sesshouseki'' embedded in her forehead. Also introduced is another old friend, the perverted Izuna Noriyuki. Yomi tries to release an ancient immortal demon sealed under Tokyo. The Agency manage to stop her after a long battle, resealing the demon and putting Yomi to rest in the process. A mysterious boy removes her ''sesshouseki'' and disappears.

The next story arc concerns the re-emergence of the ''Juugondō'' organization and its heir, Shizuru Imawano. She encounters and alternatively threatens and flirts with Kensuke, angering Kagura. Soon, a contest begins between her and Kagura as to who can collect more ''sesshōseki'', with Kensuke—and the ''Kyūbi-kitsune'' (or nine-tailed fox)—as the prize. The pressure is building as Kagura starts losing control of Byakuei and the ''Juugondō'' arrive in full force. Shockingly, Shizuru's long-lost sister Setsuna arrives, kills her father and takes over the ''Juugondō''. She attacks and demolishes the Agency and the government try to distance themselves from the Agency for fear of revealing secrets to the public.

Kagura, Kensuke, Kyouko and Iwahata survive and meet Izuna and Shizuru at an agency hideout. After resting, the group faces off against Setsuna inside Tamamo-no-Mae's garden, with Kagura as the winner. However, Kensuke was gravely injured in the battle, leading Kagura to use the power of the ''sesshōseki'' to save his life. As a result, she loses control and becomes the core of the newly created Kyūbi, destroying the center of Tokyo. Kensuke manages to reach the Kyūbi, using his new ''Michael Revolution'' sword to free Kagura.

Due to her brief time as the Kyūbi's core, Kagura has suffered amnesia, much to everyone's shock. She and Kensuke resume their daily lives at school, but start investigating ghosts alongside Kensuke, Tanaka, and Izumi, a new student who bears a resemblance to Yomi. Investigations lead the group closer to ''Naraku'', the area in Tokyo destroyed by the Kyūbi and now filled with spirits. Kensuke later meets Mikado and Tsuina from the Agency. A few days later, Kensuke and Izumi are attacked by Kirin, a black wolflike monster from ''Naraku'', who cuts Kensuke's right eye. Izumi is later revealed to be Yomi, who has dissociative identity disorder, alternating between Yomi and Izumi. When the revived Agency imprisons Izumi with the intention of exorcising Yomi, which will likely kill Izumi as well, Kagura breaks her free and the two go on the run. Kagura resolves to defend Yomi, disregarding others' opinions. Fending evil spirits and eventually the escorts of the Black Priestess—Yomi—they are cornered on a snow-covered cliff. There, Kensuke and Tsuina arrive to save them, leading to Kagura completely regaining her memories. The ensuing ruckus causes the cliff to collapse, causing them to fall near Micheal Kohara's residence, where Izuna and Shizune find them unconscious.

After recovering, Kensuke and the others learn of Earth's impending destruction at the Black Priestess's (Yomi) hands and the White Priestess's (Kagura) potential to stop it. While everyone recuperates from resulting disbelief, government agents arrive to efface them: Izuna sacrifices himself for Yomi, relieving his guilt at allowing her previous deaths. She retreats with her retainers, mired in sorrow and her miasma, despite Kagura's pleas. After resurrecting Izuna with an escort's soul, Yomi arrives at Tokyo's Naraku, releasing all her miasma and disrupting the ''Reimyaku''. Consequently, this gives rise to Immortals and ''Naraku''s worldwide. Kagura, Micheal, Kensuke, Tsuina and Shizuru search for Yomi. Following clashes with the Tengu, Okama and a revived Kyūbi, they encounter Yomi and Izuna, now a corrupted soul like herself. During the battle the Black Priestess's Black Kirin (opposing the White Priestess's Byakuei, together they are yin & yang) breaks Byakuei's chains thus tearing apart both Byakuei and Kagura's souls. To save Kagura, Yomi melds with Kagura's soul after comprehending Kagura's devotion to her, as Byakuei dies. Izuna subsequently vanishes. Two years later, after the miasma clears and society rebuilds itself, Yomi, Kyouko, Kensuke, Kagura, and Izuna, a free-floating ghost, continue exorcism duties and live together, per Kensuke's suggestion. Mikado finally proposes to Tsuina.

A montage of documentary footage depicts the effect of war on children. The film cuts from this mondo imagery to the story of English couple Tom and Evelyn (Lewis Fiander and Prunella Ransome), who are taking a vacation before the birth of their third child. They arrive on an island where they encounter grim-faced, silent children who seem to be the island's entire population. Throughout their stay, they witness the children behaving strangely. They later learn that the children are capable of violence; they have murdered just about every adult on the island. The couple are now forced to consider killing the children in self-defense. It is implied that the long list of atrocities and horrors brought upon children by adults' fighting and apathy has caused the island's children to take matters into their own hands. It's also shown that normal children are changed like the rest on the island merely by making eye contact with them.

Tom reluctantly shoots one boy with a gun when they are cornered in a room. Trapped in the room, Evelyn is killed when her unborn child joins the island children and attacks her from inside. By the next morning, a weary Tom is completely alone.

Tom eventually shoots an MP-40 at a group of children as he tries to escape the island, but the children follow him to the dock and attack en masse as he tries to cut a boat loose. As he tries to fight off the children, a Spanish military/police patrol boat arrives. The crew thinks that Tom is killing the children in cold blood, and one officer draws his weapon on him, ordering him to stay still. When he doesn't, the officer shoots him dead. The patrol boat docks, and the officers begin tending to the injured children, with the officer who shot Tom wondering aloud, "what kind of man...?" When asked where their parents are, the children point towards the town, and the three officers depart, leaving their boat and their weapons unsecured. One officer is stopped by a child calling out "Goodbye!" He turns to see that the children have boarded the patrol boat and are unloading its small-arms inventory. One of the boys kills the three officers with a rifle.

The movie ends with a small group of children preparing to head to mainland Spain on a motorboat, taking care to go in low numbers to avoid suspicion. When one girl asks, "Do you think the other children will start playing the way we do?" the boy in charge grins and says, "Oh, yes...there are lots of children in the world. Lots of them."

Picture

The first part tells kids about the three painting styles – landscape, still life and portrait.

Lyrics for the first part were written by Alexander Kushner and sung by Grigory Gladkov, who also composed whole cartoon.

Game

The second part features the story of grandpa and his nephew playing the children game where the players periodically opens and shuts their eyes. And every time they are amazed with looking to something new in front of them.

This part was based on lyrics by Ovsey Driz and performed by Leonid Bronevoy and Alesha Pavlov.

But maybe, but maybe...

The final part is a parody of ''The Crow and the Fox'', best known in Russian with the version by Krylov. The storytellers (Lev Shimelov and Alexander Levenbuk) can't remember the story plot, and they are trying to recall it.

Thus, instead of the crow from Krylov's story, a dog appears, and then a cow, and even a hippopotamus. The original fox is also replaced by an ostrich and then by a street cleaner.

At the end of the entirely distorted fable, a distorted moral is given: ''Don't stand and don't jump, don't sing and don't dance where there is construction in progress or heavy load hanging.'' (This is a pun on the two common Russian danger signs – "Don't stand under heavy load" and "Beware! Construction works in progress!").

The lyrics for the third part were written by Eduard Uspensky.

Sociologist Dr. Homer Crawford, for many years a tyrant of North and most of Central Africa, under the name of ''El Hassan'', faces a military coup led by his closest supporters, Bey-ag-Akhamouk and Elmer Allen, who believe Crawford is an impediment to Africa's progress because he opposes foreign aid and investment in the region. Promised a pension and safe passage if he submits, Crawford leaves Africa to retire to Switzerland with his wife Isobel and three sons Tom, Cliff, and Abraham. After thwarting an assassination attempt by army officers on board his aeroplane, he makes it safely to Switzerland. Once there, his son Abraham reminds him that many of El Hassan's detractors (who include Abraham himself) were merely responding to his unwillingness to move from a dictatorship to a democratic government.

Six months later, a now frustrated semi-alcoholic Crawford learns of a counter-coup in Africa by a dissident army cabal led by his old arch-enemy Abd-el-Kader. Most of the junta that deposed him have been shot, but Elmer Allen has managed to make it through to meet Crawford in Switzerland. Realizing that Abd-el-Kader will revoke his progressive programs, Crawford decides to contact his closest associates and return to North Africa in disguise. Allen and Abraham decide to accompany him.

The group rendezvous with Crawford's associates in an afforestation project in what was Southern Algeria. Crawford reveals that his plan for a counter-coup consists of a guerrilla campaign to divert Abd-el-Kader's troops so that Abraham has time to organize the country's youth to form a new political organization against the ruling colonels. When Abraham expresses surprise at the plan, Crawford explains that his time has passed, and that now it is up to the next generation to revolt against the status quo. In a flashback of his last conversation with Isobel, we learn that Crawford does not believe he will survive the revolution this time around.

One night, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) kills a young man who Mulder believes is a vampire, but who has pointed dentures instead of actual fangs. Afterwards, he and his FBI partner, Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) must report to Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). Before they do so, they attempt to get their stories straight.

Scully tells her version of the story via a flashback to the previous day. She arrives at work and Mulder tells her about a murder in Texas, which he believes to be the work of vampires. In her version, Mulder is exuberant, insensitive, and irritating, while she is calm and mindful of her thoughts. The agents travel to the small town of Chaney, Texas, where they meet Sheriff Hartwell (Luke Wilson), whom Scully finds highly charming. Mulder and Hartwell leave to investigate further while Scully autopsies the body. She discovers that the victim, whose last meal had been pizza, was incapacitated with chloral hydrate. She returns to the motel room and orders a pizza, but Mulder soon appears and sends her back to autopsy another body. She leaves him just as her food is delivered. When she finds that the second victim had also ingested chloral hydrate in a pizza, she realizes Mulder is in danger and returns to the motel room. She finds him about to be attacked by the pizza delivery boy, Ronnie Strickland (Patrick Renna). She shoots at Ronnie, who runs off into the woods. When she catches up to him, Mulder has gotten there first and hammered a stake into Ronnie's heart.

Mulder tells Scully his version. In his recollection, he is sensitive and polite to Scully, while she is dismissive and irritable, and clearly enamored with Sheriff Hartwell (who, in Mulder's version, is far less refined and has obvious buck teeth). While Scully is performing the autopsy, Mulder and Hartwell get a call to go to the local RV park, where there is "a situation". They find another dead body, apparently a victim of the same attacker. Mulder returns to the motel room; after Scully has left, he eats her pizza and realizes that he has been drugged. Ronnie enters, with glowing green eyes, and prepares to attack Mulder, but Mulder manages to postpone his demise by scattering sunflower seeds all over the floor, which Ronnie compulsively starts to pick up. Scully enters and shoots Ronnie, but the bullets have no effect, and Ronnie runs out with Scully in pursuit. Mulder recovers from being drugged and chases after Ronnie.

Back in the office, Scully says that no one will believe his story given their diverging statements and the fact that Ronnie was apparently a human. Meanwhile, a Texas coroner prepares to perform an autopsy on Ronnie's body. When he removes the stake, Ronnie wakes up and escapes. Skinner sends Mulder and Scully back to Texas to investigate. Scully stakes out the cemetery with Sheriff Hartwell, while Mulder goes to the RV park. As they wait, Sheriff Hartwell gives Scully a hot drink, apologizes to her on behalf of Ronnie, and says that he makes them all look bad, making it clear that he too is a vampire. Scully belatedly realizes she has been drugged, and before she loses consciousness, she sees Sheriff Hartwell's eyes turning green.

At the RV park, Mulder finds Ronnie. As he tries to arrest him, Mulder is surrounded and overwhelmed by a group of people with glowing green eyes. He wakes up the next morning in the RV park, in his car, where he is rejoined by Scully. They are both unharmed and the vampires have disappeared. Back in Washington, they give their unified report to Skinner, who is dumbfounded by what he has heard.

An American and Russian agent find themselves duped by a double agent who works for both of them. Also involved are a naive IBM computer operator and the telephone operator at the hot-line center in Stockholm.

The mysterious disappearance of Jim Wheatley (Charles Gray) while exploring the legendary "Cave of the Dead" brings his sister Gina Matthews (Mala Powers) and her husband Dan (John Howard) to what Dan calls the "shores of the Caribbean." But at a pre-expedition party, Gina is taken aback when Pete Morgan (Paul Richards) arrives uninvited. Pete, Gina and Dan had been a romantic triangle. Pete saved Dan's life on an earlier expedition, but was injured and now limps on his permanently damaged right leg; after the injury, Gina and Dan married. He convinces Dan to take him on the new expedition.

Sir Lancelot, the King of the Calypso, performs a song with cryptic lyrics that Dan believes refer to the Cave of the Dead: ''Down, down, down in the bottomless cave/Down, down, down beyond the last grave/If he's got the stuff of fame/If he's worthy of his name/He may get another chance but he's never more the same/He's got to suffer to be born again.'' But when Dan asks Raoul Koom (Gerald Gilden), whose village is near the cave, to interpret the song, Raoul refuses, saying that it is better for both him and them if he keeps his mouth shut. Nevertheless, Dan, Gina, Pete and Raoul set off in search of the cave.

Upon their arrival in Raoul's village, where the residents deny that the cave exists, Raoul runs away. Dan, Gina and Pete go to the home of "Americano doctor" Ramsey (Gerald Milton). They find him boiling fruit in a large pot and putting it up in mason jars. Ramsey is married to a villager, Concha (May Wynn), whom he treats like a servant. When she drops a jar of fruit, he beats her. Pete stops him, but Gina notices that the fruit has fungus growing on it. Ramsey tells them that he uses the fruit on his research on fungi, bacteria and slime molds. Ramsey also says there is no Cave of the Dead. Dan, Pete and Gina, however, are determined to find it, and Dan offers to pay $200 to anyone in the village who will lead them to the cave.

The situation becomes tense when Concha takes Pete and Dan to a place where they can hear the voices of the dead crying from beneath the earth. While they are gone, a foamy fungus-covered man-monster chases Gina, who has stayed behind, into the jungle. She is saved when two passing men kill the creature.

Lino (Duane Gray), who works for Ramsey, agrees to guide Dan and Pete to the cave entrance for the $200. While exploring the cave, Dan and Pete find several skeletons and Raoul's body. A storm floods the cave, trapping Dan. Pete escapes. After the storm abates, he and Gina return to the cave, again led by Lino. After they enter, Lino sets off a dynamite charge to trap them inside, but it also causes a rockslide which kills him.

Pete and Gina discover that the cave walls are thick with a fast-growing parasitic fungus, the same stuff that grows on Ramsey's canned fruit. They find Dan, his back broken. He warns them of the fungus-covered monster-men in the cave. The man-monsters attack, but Pete fights them off with his flaming torch. The fungus begins sliding in large blobs down the sides of the cave.

Pete finds a shaft that runs to Ramsey's house. Leaving Gina with Dan, he climbs up for help and learns that Ramsey himself has created the monster-making fungus. Ramsey refuses to help until Pete tells him that the fungus, which had so far been unable to live in fresh air, is now growing out of control. "We can't let it out!" exclaims Ramsey. "We can seal it in the cave! Otherwise it'll destroy the world!" Pete yanks Ramsey into the cave with him as Concha sets off explosives to collapse the shaft. The blast kills Ramsey, whose body is then consumed by his fungus.

Dan dies from his injuries. Pete and Gina don the diving gear they've brought along and swim from the cave to the safety of a beautiful tropical beach.

At his psychiatric institute, Dr. Charles Conway (John Carradine) is surreptitiously experimenting with artificial glands to try to create longevity; he works with his minion Lobo (Tor Johnson) and his assistant Dr. Sharon Gilchrist (Marilyn Buferd). Conway receives his test subjects through an associate, Dr. Loren Wright (Roy Gordon), who delivers patients seeking treatment for lesser conditions. After this, they are then taken into the operating room for Conway's illicit surgery.

Wright delivers his newest find, Grace Thomas (Allison Hayes), who is seeking treatment for depression. When Conway balks at Wright for bringing him a patient with living relatives, he confides in Conway that he plans to throw Grace's purse and bags into the bay, to fool family and the authorities into believing she had committed suicide. He then asks Conway for a demonstration of his experimental progress; Conway takes him down into the basement, where he introduces him to Harry Jedrow (Harry Fleer), his latest victim. Jedrow is clearly alive, but severely disfigured and in a vegetative state; this concerns Wright, who reveals that Jedrow's sister is currently seeking him out. Conway is furious, since none of his patients were supposed to have ties of any kind.

That night, Lobo (who famously delivers the line "Time for go to bed!") discovers Frank Scott (Myron Healey) roaming around the grounds. Scott attempts to conceal his identity, but Conway quickly deduces that he is an escaped convict from his description in the newspapers, as well as a telltale tattoo on his wrist. Rather than turn Scott into the police, he offers him the chance to take part in his experiments. Knowing the odds are stacked against him, Scott accepts his offer.

Scott is introduced to Grace the following morning, along with the two other patients: Danny Green (Arthur Batanides), who is being treated for anger issues, and pretty young Natalie Andries (Sally Todd), whose treatment schedule for a nervous breakdown is nearing completion. After demanding Wright to make out a certificate of death for Harry Jedrow, Conway happily informs Natalie that one last treatment for her is all that's necessary. While the other patients sleep, Natalie is sedated, taken to the operating room, and given an artificial gland along with a high dosage of electricity. The procedure backfires, and she ends up a senile old woman. They hide her in a back room.

Lobo is ordered to bury Jedrow alive, but Frank Scott sneaks out to the burial site and opens the coffin. Jedrow rises out of it and escapes, and Lobo - not having been alerted - buries the casket. Sharon confronts Conway about his apparent affinity for Grace, and requests that she be made the next patient to be experimented upon. Meanwhile, Scott begins attempting to reveal to the other patients that Dr. Conway is carrying out horrific deeds to their friends. After a failed attempt to reveal Natalie's fate, he manages to show Grace and Danny what had happened to her, only to get caught by Dr. Conway and Sharon. They detain Scott and Danny and prepare Grace for surgery.

Danny helps Scott escape by distracting Lobo, who fatally shoots him before being knocked unconscious. Scott confronts Dr. Conway with Lobo's gun and reveals that he is not a convicted murderer; he is actually Lt. Mark Houston, an undercover police officer sent to the psychiatrist's business to investigate it. Dr. Conway evades arrest, but is murdered by Jedrow. Lobo comes in and kills Jedrow, but Chambers' police backup arrive soon afterward and arrest Lobo and Sharon, barely saving Grace from the procedure. The police go downstairs and find Danny's body, and then discover a menagerie of beastly men, all failed subjects of Conway's longevity experiments. The police captain wonders, "Good Lord - what if they DO live forever?"

Set in the kingdom of Fahren, legend states that a hero will save the world.

The sunken Caribbean city of Port Royal had been long rumored to have been visited by pirates who rise from the ocean floor. In the mid-17th century, the port was a thriving seaport, but it was heavily damaged in 1692 and by an earthquake and had suffered numerous hurricanes which had prevented the port from regaining its former glory. A 1907 earthquake caused the city to sink beneath the waves.

A scientist (Tony) believes that the older portions of the city will soon become visible due to predicted volcanic activity, and after obtaining grant funding, wants to investigate.

Before arriving on the island, thugs local to the area plan to steal all the gold when Port Royal becomes visible. They attack Tony, leaving him hospitalized and steal his research material in their quest to find the rumored pirate's gold.

Tony escapes the hospital, and arranges passage to the island. He is forced to take Joan with him, and she is disgruntled having been forced to accompany an exhibition whose theory she finds unlikely.

The ruins are now visible as predicted and the criminals obtain the treasure. The two groups happen to meet and are suddenly attacked by giant crabs. Volcanoes begin to erupt as the two groups fight for the treasure and to escape the now sinking city.

Professor Millard (James Craven), a scientist who is a member of the group Science Associates, works in a secluded desert location in a cave laboratory on a secret research project. Reporter and photographer Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke) is curious about that secret project. When she tours the Science Associates building, she meets Burt Winslow (House Peters, Jr.), the project's publicity director, and Jeff King (Tristram Coffin), a research project member.

The mysterious "Dr. Vulcan" is intent on stealing the various weapons being developed by the scientists of the Science Associates group. Vulcan hopes to make a fortune by selling these valuable devices to foreign powers. Dr. Vulcan's gang kills one of the scientists. To stop Vulcan and his operatives, Jeff dons a newly developed, atomic-powered rocket backpack, mounted on a leather jacket, which has a streamlined flying helmet attached that hides his identity. With the assistance of Dr. Millard, he continually foils the attacks by Vulcan's henchmen.

Dr. Vulcan plans on destroying New York City using a sonic ray device, which causes massive earthquakes and flooding. Only "the rocket man" ultimately stands in his way.

The narrative follows the early life of Temujin, the second son of Yesugei, the khan of the Mongolian "Wolves" tribe. His father is attacked by assassins and soon dies from his injuries. Yesugei's first bondsman, Eeluk, assumes control of the tribe. Fearing the sons of the former khan may contest his leadership when they reach adulthood, Eeluk banishes Temujin's family from the tribe, leaving them to fend for themselves on the harsh Steppes. The expectation was that Temujin's family would perish in the unforgiving winter, but Temujin, along with his mother Hoelun, his four brothers Bekter, Khasar, Kachiun, Temüge, and his baby sister Temulun, survived against all the odds, albeit in poverty. In an argument over food, Temujin kills his older brother Bekter, much to his mother's anguish.

After a few years of trading with other wandering families, the family establish a small home. But the Wolf tribe return to the area, and advanced riders, sent by Eeluk to ensure the family had perished, capture Temujin. He is taken back to the tribe where he is tortured, and kept in a pit, in preparation for a ritual murder. He is freed by Arslan and Jelme, father and son wanderers who joined the Wolves after looking for Yesugei, whom Arslan owed a debt. They join Temujin and his family and begin a new tribe, accepting other wandering families into their protection. Temujin assumes the role of khan.

Temujin returns to the Olkhunut to claim his wife Borte. Shortly after, Borte is captured by a Tartar raiding party. Temujin and his brothers chase down the captors and murder them, recovering Borte. The small army retaliates with repeated raids on Tartar camps. The Tartars respond by sending armies to crush the new menace. It is then that a Chin emissary approaches Temujin with an offer from Toghrul, Khan of the Kerait. Temujin joins his small fledgling tribe with Toghrul's, and leads a joint army to advance on the Tartars. It is in the following battle that Temujin begins to show outstanding tactical abilities, as the Mongols ease to victory. Upon interrogating a Tartar prisoner, Temujin learns that the leader of the Olkhunut conspired with the Chin to lead the Tartar assassins to his father. He also learns that a massive Tartar army is advancing into Mongol lands.

Temujin returns to the Kerait, then travels to the Olkhunut tribe, where he murders the khan in his ger and assumes leadership of the tribe, and takes them back to join the Kerait. The Mongol alliance prepares for battle, when they are joined by the Wolves. Temujin and Eeluk agree to settle their feud upon victory over the Tartars. Under Temujin's faultless leadership and strategy, the Tartar army is crushed. As the battle ends, Temujin and Eeluk fight, with Temujin emerging victorious. He claims leadership of the Wolves and takes the warriors back to the Kerait.

Fearing an inevitable challenge to his leadership, Toghrul sends assassins to Temujin's ger. The attempt is unsuccessful, and Toghrul is banished out of the unified tribe. Temujin proclaims himself khan of all Mongol tribes and bestows the name ''Genghis'' upon himself.

At his underground laboratory in Los Angeles, Professor Nordstrom (Taylor Holmes), worried that manned space exploration is too dangerous, enlists the help of Dr. Ralph Harrison (Charles Drake), who recently left the new government-appointed Civil Interplanetary Flight Commission. The two scientists embark on a research project to create a robot that can replace humans for space flight. Nordstrom's daughter, Janice Roberts (Karin Booth), and her 11-year-old son Brian (Billy Chapin), nicknamed “Gadge”, become very interested in the project.

When a press conference is called to announce the creation of "Tobor", reporters, such as the inquisitive journalist Gilligan (Alan Reynolds), are invited to Professor's Harrison's home to see the remarkable invention. In order to undertake space travel, the remote-controlled robot has been given some human capabilities, including the ability to "feel" emotions and react via a telepathic device built into his robotic brain. Under the watchful eyes of Harrison's trusted assistant Karl (Franz Roehn), the giant robot Tobor is unveiled and then demonstrated. Unknown to the scientists, a foreign spy chief (Steven Geray) has quietly joined the group of reporters; he quickly draws up a plan to steal the robot.

While trying to perfect the robot's control systems, an inadvertent episode involving Gadge, who sneaks into the laboratory and turns on Tobor, shows that the robot can make emotional connections with people. Gadge not only controls the robot, but when he is accidentally tossed about, Tobor appears to comfort him, as if he is sorry for hurting the boy. After cleaning up, the scientists realize that an additional chair was brought to the news conference, leading them to believe that someone has infiltrated the closely guarded laboratory. Aware that their robot could fall into the wrong hands, they construct a small transmitter in a fountain pen that is able to communicate with Tobor.

An organized attack by the foreign agents is thwarted by the defensive devices at the Nordstrom's home, so the spies devise another scheme. Sending Gadge and his grandfather an invitation to a space flight presentation at the Griffith Park Planetarium, they intend to hold them hostage. When Gadge and Nordstrom show up, the spies kidnap them. Dr. Gustav (Peter Brocco) tries to force Nordstrom to provide the crucial information needed to control Tobor.

When Nordstrom and Gadge do not return for the military demonstration of Tobor's abilities, Dr. Harrison contacts the local sheriff with his concerns that something dire has happened to them. Tobor is suddenly activated, reacting to messages sent by Nordstrom, and storms out of the house, driving away in a military Jeep. Nordstrom is actually controlling the robot remotely with the pen transmitter, while trying to fool Dr. Gustav. One of the spies realizes that the pen is important and snatches it away, breaking it.

Guessing that Tobor is going to rescue the professor and Gadge, Harrison and the military follow. At the agents' lair, when the transmissions stop, Tobor comes to an abrupt halt, but Harrison successfully re-activates the robot using telepathic commands. The spies threaten to hurt Gadge, who instinctively reacts and uses his mind to call out to Tobor. Nordstrom relents, writing out the control formula. With Harrison and the military, the robot breaks down the lair's door and attacks the enemy agents, rescuing the professor and Gadge. When one of the spies attempts to drive away with the coerced information, Tobor yanks him out of his car. Gadge is then gently carried out by the robot.

Later, when Tobor has been successfully reprogrammed, a spacecraft is launched with the robot in full control of the mission.

In the African jungles, local tribes are terrorized by costumed skeleton people who kidnap the men of a local village. However, Bono. the local chieftain is able to escape. Jungle Jim rescues a photographer, Anne Lawrence, when her boat overturns She explains that she is searching for football player Bob Miller (played by real-life footballer Bob Waterfield) and enlists Jim to help with her search.

Bono, looking for his tribesmen, agrees to join the search as both trails seem to lead to the same place.

They subsequently stumble upon a crazed doctor who has been kidnapping villagers to work in a radioactive mine, where he has discovered a way of making diamonds out of mineral rocks, The group manages to stop the doctor's plan by exploding the mine. Bob and Anne agree to stay in the village to continue with improvements.

The cartoon opens to a railroad yard where "all the trains are fast asleep." The sun rises, and engineer Casey Jones wakes from his slumber in the cab of his engine, Johnny, No. 2, an American Standard 4-4-0 tender engine that is hauling a train consisting of a mail car and the No. 53 four wheel caboose known as the Western Mail. His train begins the journey, and Casey is intent on making his schedule at all costs. The Western Mail is repeatedly delayed along the journey.

Casey is confronted by a variety of obstacles along the way. He has to paddle his train through flooded wetlands, stop for a cow crossing the tracks, and save a woman who was tied up on the tracks by a stereotypical villain character. Another villain destroys a span of tracks on a trestle, and as Casey has to get the Western Mail across a gorge without those tracks, his train heads on into a dry desert cannon. He fights off a group of criminals, who climb onto the cab of Johnny in an attempt to rob the train.

To make up for lost time, Casey runs Johnny well past his mechanical limits, plowing through two tunnels (One which exploded & the last one didn't), passing a five mile sign causing it & the tracks to melt. While focusing completely on repairing Johnny, he drives the Western Mail at full speed down a hill on a collision course with another train, which is a double-headed slow freight train with Zeb and Zeek, No. 77 and No. 5, two American Mastodon 4-8-0 tender engines, who are pulling it. The conductor sees the other train, runs up, and attempts to warn Casey about the oncoming train, but fails to get the message, and jumps off the train when Casey doesn't notice it until it is too late, causing the two trains to collide with a large explosion, only for the conductor on his train to be seen in the next shot of a goof. The conductor and other railroad employees like the freight train drivers and firemen are able to jump clear of the collision and explosion. The Western Mail is almost completely destroyed, but much to the porter's disappointment of thinking being late, he sees Casey arrive at his destination, with the remains of Johnny, almost on time.

Anne de Boissy and Lore Fournier are two adolescent Angevin girls who stay at a Catholic boarding school. Both have affluent and conservative families living in the countryside. Anne and Lore quickly become friends. They spend most of their time reading poems about the beauty of death, mocking their classmates and teachers, and engaging in vicious pranks and petty theft, believing that not only is church downright fatuous, but also for idiots, as well as that the both of them together are special, and untouchable. Which is a fact that seems more and more true to them with each passing day when they always manage to escape detection and punishment by usually blaming it on their fellow peers.

When Anne's parents take a long trip and leave Anne behind during summer vacation, Lore secretly moves into their château with Anne, where they become lovers and their insidious pranks escalate. The girls set fire to the home of the local cowherd, Émile, and let his cows loose as punishment for his sexual leering over schoolgirls. They also kill all the pet birds of their school's mentally handicapped groundskeeper, Léon, as well as ripping up his clothes and burning some of his personal belongings just to make him suffer. Then afterwards, laugh at his expense. Stealing sacramental bread same with traditional priest uniforms from the church, the girls prepare the abandoned chapel at the château for a Black Mass in which they wed themselves to Satan, promising more wicked works in his name. Even cutting both of their fingers and joining each other's blood so that their bond will become stronger.

One night, a motorist runs out of gasoline near the château. The girls invite him in, offer him alcohol, and begin to behave seductively toward him. The man attempts to rape Lore and Anne bludgeons him to death in Lore's defense. The two dispose of the motorist's body by dumping it in the lake, and immediately grow fearful of being caught.

Police later find the motorist's abandoned car and suspect foul play. A detective arrives at the château to inquire if the motorist stopped there, but is suspicious when the girls behave nervously and refuse to tell them where their parents are. The girls in turn become convinced that the detective knows what they have done and plan a suicide pact, convinced they will go to Hell and be rewarded by Satan for their service. At a school recital, the girls read out loud a rather grim yet equally eloquent poem by Baudelaire. The nuns become increasingly suspicious as to what Anne and Lore are up to, since they have no idea what the girls are plotting, or of their secret suicide pact. However they are too late to interfere in what is unfolding, and everyone in the room is engrossed with the girls' performance. After reading the poem, while members in the audience start to both cheer and clap in applause, both girls cover their clothes with petrol and set themselves ablaze. The audience, including the girls' parents, panic and rush for the doors as the girls burn to death on stage.

Cassie Black is an ex-convict who works at a Porsche dealership. She had served five years in prison for conspiring with her previous partner-in-crime, Max Freeling, to steal the winnings of casino visitors while they are asleep. The last plan failed when an undercover agent (later revealed as Jack Karch) posed as the victim, forcing Max to take his own life. Unknown to all, Cassie and Max have a daughter named Jodie, who was born when Cassie served her time in prison. The daughter was put up for adoption and Cassie has been tracking her development silently.

When Cassie learns that her daughter will be moving to Paris with her adopted parents in the near future, she decides to return to the trade for the last big pay day. Once she gets hold of the money, she plans to bring Jodie away with her. She approaches Max's half brother, Leo Renfro, for a heist job. Leo assigns her to go back to the Cleopatra, or "Cleo", the casino which Max's failed attempt took place. The victim ("mark") this time is apparently a high roller and a $500,000 reward awaits. Leo is confident of Cassie's capabilities despite her long hiatus, but warns her to avoid being in the mark's hotel room during the period of the "void moon" on the day of action. Max's death, along with other unpleasant things, have occurred during that period. Cassie successfully breaks into the hotel room of the mark in the wee hours of the morning, but is forced to remain hidden in the room during the period of the void moon due to unforeseen circumstances. Later that morning, it is revealed that the mark has been shot dead and the suitcase containing the money had been taken from the safe.

The mark was actually a courier for Miami's Cuban 'Mafia' and he was carrying $2.5 million in the suitcase as partial payoff for rights to buy over the Cleo. The chief of security at the Cleo, Vincent Grimaldi, hires private investigator Jack Karch to recover the money. Jack is briefed by Grimaldi that Leo Renfro is in cahoots with the Chicago Mafia for this crime. He successfully tracks down the supplier of Cassie's equipment for the theft and obtains Cassie's name. Meanwhile, Cassie persuades Leo to split the money and leave after learning of its origin. Leo requests two days to sort the mess out, but commits suicide when confronted by Jack about Cassie. The next day, Jack poses as a customer at the Porsche showroom and Cassie takes him out for a car ride. Cassie successfully crashes the car upon learning about Jack's motive and returns to Leo's house to retrieve the money. Jack planned to ambush Cassie at her house but instead, critically wounds the parole officer once he learns of Cassie's daughter, Jodie. Jack successfully "abducts" Jodie before the police arrive and drives her to the Cleo to set up a meeting with Cassie three hours later. Unknown to Jack, Cassie arrives much earlier and devises a plan to rescue Jodie and frame Jack in the process.

Grimaldi captures Jack and reveals to him that the whole plan was a setup because the Miami gangsters would never be approved to buy the Cleo. The Chicago Mafia was never involved. His thugs killed the courier, and Miami will now search for the soon-to-be dead Karch as the thief. Using a concealed weapon, Karch surprises and kills the thugs and Grimaldi in the elevator. He returns to the room to the surprise of Cassie and Jodie, but, momentarily distracted, allows Cassie to attack him and push him out of the window to his death (the same way that Max had died, and that Karch had planned to kill her and Jodie). Cassie throws some money out of the window to cause a commotion, allowing Jodie and her to slip out unnoticed.

On the way back to L.A., Cassie realizes she will be unable to provide an enjoyable life for Jodie if the police suspect her (Cassie) of all the crimes that Karch has committed. Instead, Cassie returns Jodie home to her adoptive parents and drives off with the remainder of the money.

Welcome to the Custer Hill Club—a men’s club set in a luxurious Adirondack hunting lodge whose members include some of America’s most powerful business leaders, military men, and government officials. Ostensibly, the club is a place to relax with old friends. But one fall weekend, the club’s Executive Board gathers to talk about the tragedy of 9/11—and finalize a retaliation plan, known only by its codename: Wild Fire.

That same weekend, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force is found dead. Soon it’s up to Detective John Corey and his wife, FBI Agent Kate Mayfield, to unravel a terrifying plot that starts with the Custer Hill Club and ends with American cities locked in the crosshairs of a nuclear device. Corey and Mayfield are the only ones who can stop the button from being pushed, and global chaos from being unleashed...

Stel, a humanoid alien (Mark Strange), teams up with a British soldier John Marrettie (Malcolm Hankey). They are searching for a top secret file which contains information about advanced energy production, captured alien spacecraft and the extraterrestrial pilots. The missing include Stel's father, Arakawa, was shot down and imprisoned by Core – a paramilitary group.

The Displaced file is being held by a renegade 'special forces’ leader, Wilson (Graham Brownsmith) who plans to sell the information on the black market to the highest bidder. Marrettie is forced to help Stel in the search to locate the file.

Miki Kharo England, meaning 'take me to England', is about a man named "Aftab" (Iftikhar Thakur) who wants to get married and live his life in England. He is very humorous and a fun loving character who does not really have a fixed occupation and enjoys roaming around the village with his two best friends; Shahid and Mithu. He is rejected by his cousin "Tina" who comes to Pakistan from London, England with her mum. She does not like him due to his attitude and unusual habits and falls in love with another boy from that village Shahid a.k.a. Shedu (Anjum Malik) who is also one of Aftabs best friend. Then at the end Tina's mum promises to get Aftab married from England, to a girl she knows and he becomes very excited about the prospects of going to London and living their with his newly wed wife.

''Main Julian England'' is about a man named Aftab (Iftikhar Thakur), who is marrying a woman from England and plans to stay there. It is a sequel to the 2006 telefilm (''Miki Kharo England'') in which Aftab is rejected by his cousin Tina who wants to marry one of his friends Shahid "Shedu" (Anjum Malik) instead. Following her rejection, Aftab's aunt (Tina's mother) promises to Aftab and his mother that she will get him married to someone in England, and so ''Main Julian England'' shows "Shedu" and Tina's marriage and Aftab marrying a woman living in England, and another friend of theirs, Mithu (Shahzada Ghaffar), also getting married and planning to move to England. Great comedy brews as the three childhood friends begin planning their move to England.

Two newsreel cameramen (John Wayne, Don Barclay) are sent to photograph a bandit sheik in the desert.

The New York Panthers ice hockey team is struggling in the standings. A scouting team headed by Kelly (Hopton) heads to Maine where they've heard of a promising former amateur player. He turns out to be John Hanson (Wayne), now a chicken farmer.

Hanson does not wish to return to the game, but when he learns how much money he can make, he agrees solely so he can make enough to upgrade his farm. His skills make him an instant sensation, but as the team heads toward the championship series, he runs afoul of crooked gamblers and the beautiful woman (Bromley) they tempt him with.

In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia is a poverty-stricken Italian glazier who falls in love with Mathilde, a French hotel maid. Struck by the girl's resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci's ''Mona Lisa'', Vicenzo steals the painting from the Louvre in hopes of impressing her. When she proves to be fickle, the crestfallen hero confesses and is arrested. Unwilling to admit that he had been led astray by a woman, Vicenzo claims that he stole the painting in order to restore it to his native Italy and is hailed as a national hero.

Dare Rudd and Dinkey Hooley, roaming cowhands, drift into Montana, where they meet Dare's cousin, Tom Fillmore, cattleman and banker. Tom offers them jobs but they pass, until Dare sees Tom's sweetheart, Judy Worstall and decides to take the job. He is put in charge of a cattle drive, replacing ranch-foreman Lynn Hardy, who is in cahoots with Bart Hammond, rustler. Dare delivers the cattle to the railhead and is about to return when he is persuaded into a poker game by Buck Brady, a crooked gambler. Dare is almost cleaned out when Tom appears and takes a hand and discovers the dealer is switching decks.

On the vast mountainous Montana vista, to the soft strains of a "ride 'em" chorus, horned cattle are quietly herded until raiders divert them. Hearing shots, Dare (Wayne) "This is no time to think" in a tall white hat, and hungry dark-mustached wiry side-kick lightning-rod salesman Dink Hooley (an uncredited Syd Saylor) mis-call "the winning side", add their wild mustangs to confusion and dusty stampede at jerky triple time of original silent film. Rough shrubby terrain provides a dangerous battleground.

Seemingly safe across border in next state, Wayne's cousin Tom Fillmore (John Mack Brown), local "big man," Bank President, and "shining" good sheep of the family surprises the pair, and offers them a job. "People around here spend too much time thinking"; John just fist fights and proposes while Tom's girl Judy (Marsha Hunt) bandages his eye, "I guess I'll just marry you" he says. She declines to answer, but says, "You've been hurt enough for one day." When a rattler scares her horse, Tom's somersaults and Dare wins the chase.

"I wound up the cat and kicked the clock out" is Dare trying to turn a new leaf and be responsible. Judy asks Tom to take the cook's apron off Wayne, so the boss does promote his cousin to foreman of the herding. First night out, rustlers attack – empty blankets "Hope it don't start raining". Dare makes the sale for over $10K, but gets convinced to pay out wages and stay the night to celebrate, proving who is "the best player west of the Mississippi". The bartender serves a deck under the bad guy's tray of drinks, and Dare loses almost everything.

When Dare is late returning, Tom tells Judy the cost was worth every penny to show her Dare's true nature. She pleads for him to save Dare "You're smart about these things, smarter than any man I know." He arrives in time to take over playing and catches their trick. Fillmore hands have already left, so the bad guys shoot Tom in the shoulder and pursue the trio. Dink diverts some and catches up to bring the hands back, while the cousins hole up, Dare admitting Tom is the best poker player. Back home after winning the gunfight, Tom tells Judy where Dare is riding out of town, and that he wants to offer him a partnership, so Judy brings the Montana-bound buddies back.

Over four hundred orphans from Buchenwald were sent to an orphanage in Écouis, France where they were educated and cared for. The documentary follows the orphans, who are now old men, as they reunite on the 55th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald by the American army. The now-elderly men all agree that their friendships in the orphanage made the tremendous losses they suffered more manageable. "I had just lost my father, and I had witnessed my brother's murder right next to me", one survivor says, addressing his best friend. "And then I met you. You were a godsend."

The inhuman treatment they had received in the concentration camps meant the boys needed to relearn how to live in society. The boys of Buchenwald spent their childhoods surrounded by terror and death, and, as a result, they were rebellious against authority, full of anger and under-educated. In fact, society viewed child survivors as damaged goods who would go on to become psychopaths.

The boys had to relearn everything — even their meals proved challenging. Their extreme hunger and inexperience with ordinary behavior had robbed them of table manners. They threw food, shoved it in their pockets to save for later, and gorged themselves, clearing their plates in a matter of minutes. With the help of benevolent guardians, who gave consistent discipline, the boys slowly relearned how to behave.

Once it was time to leave the orphanage and go out on their own, many of the boys moved to Australia or Canada to distance themselves from their awful pasts. There, they established homes and careers near one another so they could still come together for meals and Jewish holidays.

Dr. Riptide is hell-bent on turning all of the world's marine life into high-protein slurry, and must be stopped. Nick, a secret naval agent, must navigate his way through both natural caves and man-carved tunnels in order to find Dr. Riptide.

Nick battles many aquatic creatures including two giant marine life-based monsters, Oscar the giant bionic fish and Otis the giant octopus. On his journey he travels through the chambers and ruins of a Greco-Roman Lost City of Atlantis. All the while, Nick salvages for oxygen, ammunition, weapons and gold coins.

Eventually Nick makes his way deep underwater, under many feet of coral, to the metal-encased laboratories of Dr. Riptide. There he battles the nefarious Doctor, who pilots a large, weapon-equipped submarine. Nick defeats Dr. Riptide, Riptide's submarine breaks down, and Nick tows him away to the authorities.

When Martha's father dies and the inheritance is distributed, she is only left with a cow and a tiny piece of land that is hard to manage. In order to earn at least a minimum income, she asks a rich kulak for some help. She only needs a horse to till her small field. But the hard-hearted man does not even listen to her. Out of sheer despair, Martha wonders if there could be other ways to a promising agriculture.

One day a revolutionary awakens in Martha. Together with four other farmers who are in a similarly precarious situation, they set up their own kolkhoz. Time and again there are setbacks, but gradually the benefits of this production community are apparent to all parties involved. The cooperative becomes the model for effective agriculture, and an increasing number of local farmers are joining it. Soon they can even afford a tractor to optimally manage the fields. On the other hand, many around them, such as the deeply faithful and the priests, seem like worn down relics of long past times.

The protagonist is a lazy, ignorant but tricky man. He also suffers from dyslalia (speech disorder). He likes beer and always gets into ridiculous situations. Fortunately he has a strict and authoritative wife. The story begins when his wife sends him to bring a New Year tree from the forest. But the forest in the winter is a magic place full of surprising events and transformations. Entangled in the miracles, having lost and found his own image more than once, the man goes back home with empty hands.

The plot includes two interrelated stories – about the man's dreams and about incredible transformations inside the magic cabin on chicken legs. The first story is based on the fairy tale about a greedy man who saw a rabbit in the forest, daydreamed about growing rich on it, and frightened it away with a shout.

The narrator closes the story by saying that the man eventually got the tree, but it was already spring by that time, so he had to bring it back.

Louis, a timid nine-year-old boy from Paris, spends his summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother Claire has lodged him with her girlfriend Marcelle and her husband Pelo while she is having her second baby. There Louis makes friends with Martine, the ten-year-old girl next door, and learns about life from her. His subsequent adventures run the gamut from delightful to terrifying, with a little "coming of age" (via a few glimpses of nudity) thrown in.

A local scientist, Dr. Henderson, comes to the Daily Planet with a proposition for Perry White. Several decades earlier, Dr. Henderson's father discovered a series of caverns that he named the "Henderson caves". The elder Dr. Henderson explored the caves for several years before he mysteriously disappeared in them. Now, the younger Dr. Henderson would like to go back into the caverns. He would like the Daily Planet to fund the expedition, and he would like Clark Kent and Lois Lane to come along and report on everything they find. Mr. White agrees.

Several days later, Clark, Lois and Dr. Henderson are at the entrance to the Henderson caves, ready to go spelunking. The caverns are part of a river system, so the only way into the caverns is by boat. Lois and Dr. Henderson take the first boat, and Clark follows later. Inside the cave, Lois and Dr. Henderson row into a large grotto. They dock on the side of the river, but once they step out, the boat drifts off down the river. A sack of dynamite in the boat is accidentally ignited and causes an explosion that Clark, who is just entering the caverns, can hear outside. Sensing danger, Clark paddles faster.

Dr. Henderson and Lois have been captured by a race of "Hawk Men", living in the caverns. The explosion blasted open a hole in their cave, giving them a passage to the surface. Dr. Henderson and Lois are brought before their king. They see a statue of Dr. Henderson's father above the king's throne. Neither of them understands why the Hawk Men have a statue like that or where they got it. The king signals to the others, and Lois and Dr. Henderson are tied to a stone slab.

As Clark enters the cave, he sees Lois and Dr. Henderson being lowered into a giant pot of a bubbling, gold-colored liquid. Seeing the liquid, Lois looks back at the statue of the elder Dr. Henderson, and, suddenly, realizes where it came from. The Hawk Men had fatally coated him in gold metal. Now they were about to do the same thing to Lois and the younger Dr. Henderson. Clark quickly changes into Superman, but before he can save Lois and Dr. Henderson, he must first fight his way through an army of Hawk Men. Once he's finished with the Hawk Men, he saves Lois and Dr. Henderson and wastes no time getting them out of the cave. The Hawk Men chase after them, but Superman uses more dynamite to cover the entrance to their cave with rubble.

Back at the Daily Planet, Mr. White is impressed by Clark and Lois's findings, but he feels no one would believe the story. He burns the report and the photographs taken in the caverns.

A foreign smuggler named Karbophos (an allusion to Karabas Barabas, though also a Soviet term for Malathion insecticide), under the guise of a tourist, steals a rare striped elephant—named Baldakhin—from a city zoo in Berdychev. Previously, Karbophos had been the owner of Baldakhin, but due to his abuse of the elephant, it fled from him. The renowned Kolobki brothers—a detective duo—take up the investigation.

At a souvenir shop, Karbophos obtains a certificate for a porcelain elephant that he purchases (and then promptly breaks). He attempts to use said certificate to board a aeroplane with Baldakhin.

However, the Kolobki brothers manage to arrive in the nick of time, and lure the elephant away with cod-liver oil. Karbophos is eventually shot with a balloon gun, and flies away. The Kolobki brothers and Baldakhin (along with a turncoat ex-servant of Karbophos) then walk through the city.

Fraternal twin sisters Rosie (Daisy Eagan) and Violet (Monica Keena) lead a life of hard knocks with very poor, abusive parents. Glad to be rid of their parents who have been killed in a car crash, the twins vow to run away to Kentucky in search of a better life. While on the road, the girls sneak onto a military base seeking food and shelter and meet up with Pete, a drifter working as a grounds keeper, who takes them in.

Throughout the movie there are overtones of Rosie's jealousy over the attention the pretty Violet receives from men. For example, when Violet and Pete start a relationship, Rosie becomes increasingly jealous before eventually coming to realize that the sisters' childhood bond has been destroyed forever. Her attitude leads to actions with tragic consequences.

In the movie’s final scene, Violet is seen flying away on a plane after leaving Rosie. Rosie holds the gun in her mouth, firing with every chamber. However, Violet holds the bullets in her hand, revealing she took them out prior to her departure.

Despite the English title, in truth there are two French detectives, based in Rouen. Verjeat is an aging, been-around gumshoe, while Lefevre is his young, callow and cynical associate. The two detectives don't like each other much at first, but this will change. Their current assignment is getting the goods on a corrupt politician. During an election, there is a fight between the supporters of two of the candidates. In the melee political thugs murder an opponent's volunteer and also kill a cop. The officer has time to warn his colleagues that the killer is Portor, a well known thug whose brother is campaigning on behalf of law and order candidate Lardatte. Chief inspector Verjeat believes the politician who hired the thugs is as guilty as the murderous goon. His pursuit of Portor is hampered by Lardatte, for whom he has a personal dislike and misses no opportunity to humiliate. Verjeat's pursuit of Lardatte gets him a warning from his superiors. When he embarrasses Lardatte while disarming a hostage (the dead volunteer's father), Verjeat is told he's being promoted and transferred within a week to a posting outside of Rouen. This will take him off the case. As a result, he then finds himself with a very short time to capture Portor. Verjeat is sure that his upcoming transfer is courtesy of Lardatte and his police contacts. He speeds up his hunt for the goon and, with Lefevre, he engineers a complicated scheme to buy more time before the transfer.

The lead character Kirk Salazar, a second-generation Terran colonist on the planet Kukulkan, is near the end of his education to become a biologist, lacking only field research to complete his studies. Interested in the evolutionary background of the dominant native species, the intelligent reptilian Kukulkanians, he focuses on a related animal species whose habitat is the poisonous "venom trees" on the remote island of Sunga. To reach his destination he joins a tour group headed for the island, among whom are some family friends worried about their daughter, who has joined a band of Terran cult members there. They discover she has become the cult's leader, and Salazar finds himself caught in the crossfire of a power struggle between the cultists and a Terran logging magnate intent on clear-cutting the venom trees. He is able to save his neck and preserve the habitat of his research subjects by an unorthodox use of his findings, a spectacularly unlikely disguise, and a healthy dose of dumb luck.

Gabriel (Timothy Hutton) is a man who, on the surface, has a perfect life: successful career as an architect, a beautiful wife, and a devoted young daughter. However, he realizes that he is not really happy. He decides to write a play about the sorry state of his life. After being fired from his job, he gets a pushy literary agent friend to represent him and starts writing. Eventually, his life does change.

Story

The following plot summary is translated from the mobile version's website:

Characters

• (known outside Japan as Francesca): A witch that was summoned from a place full of demons. To save the world, she takes 6 magic abilities along with her and fights against the robot army corps, the Akudama Empire.
• : The boy who summoned Doropie to fight against the Akudama Empire. He has the secret of the . Unlike Doropie, Kagemaru didn't have an official name in the North American version.
• : The master of the Akudama Empire robot army corps and the one responsible for the declaration of war against the whole world. She is closely connected with Doropie. Like Kagemaru, no official name was given to her in the North American version.

Quartermaster's Mate Leslie Harmon is awaiting a court martial when he is brought to Commodore Joseph Smith (E.G. Marshall) and his son Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, Jr. (Kevin O'Rourke). He deliberately interfered with the militarily necessary demolition of the dry dock at Hampton Roads Naval Base to prevent collateral damage and civilian casualties, as Confederates overran the base.

Harmon is introduced to Miss Betty Stuart, a Virginia belle educated in Baltimore who wishes to help Harmon spy on the Confederate States Navy at Gosport on the raised and refitted ''Merrimack'', now the ironclad ''Virginia''. Once in the South, Harmon encounters many key naval officers and learns that the armor test on of iron plate is staged to offer misinformation to any Union spies—like him. In reality, the ''Virginia'' brags of armor and cannot be pierced by any Union guns. Harmon and Betty realize that this information must make it to Washington, D.C. to improve firepower to sink ''Virginia''.

However, Betty has a change of heart upon learning that her childhood friend and lover, Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones, has been reassigned as the second-in-command of ''Virginia'' and is now in danger of death due to the very intelligence she intended to send North. She tries to stop Harmon from going north with the intelligence, but he goes anyway. At the commissioning ceremony for ''Virginia'', she confesses to her now-fiancé Lt. Jones that she had helped Leslie Harmon infiltrate the shipyard and spy for the Union, warning him of the possible increase in firepower. He is stunned and distraught at her betrayal, yet sails to war without turning her in as one final act of love for his traitorous fiancé. ''Virginia'' sails off to break the Union blockade at Hampton Roads. Betty is promptly arrested by Lt. Guilford (Philip Casnoff), an admiral's aide and spy hunter, on suspicion of espionage.

''Virginia'' first approaches as her skipper, Lt. Smith, rallies his men on board to do their duty. Captain Franklin Buchanan (Leon B. Stevens) of ''Virginia'' rallies his men similarly. ''Congress'' fires a full broadside into ''Virginia'' to no effect. In the ensuing action, ''Virginia'' bypasses ''Congress'', promptly sinks , and returns to sink ''Congress''. Lt. Smith is killed; taking over command, executive officer Lt. Pendergrast orders the ship's surrender. Though ''Virginia'' s crew are jubilant, rifle fire from Union troops ashore enrages Captain Buchanan. He goes topside to return fire and is wounded, thereupon ordering Jones to assume command and set ''Congress'' ablaze.

That same night, Lt. Guilford interrogates Betty, who denies being a spy based on an intercepted letter to her from Lt. Smith. She is informed then of Smith's death aboard ''Congress''. When informed that her fate is the gallows if she does not cooperate, she hopes for the courtesy and respect shown an executed spy the day before (whose hanging she witnessed). Lt. Guilford rebuffs her, showing his contempt for her treason when compared to the bravery of the hanged soldier who was honorably fighting for his side.

During the night, ''Monitor'' sails in between the burning ''Congress'' and ''Virginia'' to protect , which has run aground and is defenseless until high tide returns the next day. Only the low tide has prevented ''Virginia'' from finishing off ''Minnesota'' immediately. Captain Van Brunt (Joel Abel) delivers orders to Captain John Worden (Andy Park) of ''Monitor'', along with Leslie Harmon, who has volunteered his service as a pilot. Worden makes Harmon, familiar with Hampton Roads and CSS ''Virginia'', midshipman on the spot.

The morning of the second day of battle, Jones sights ''Monitor'' and describes her as "the test we face." Worden does his best to engage ''Virginia'' as far from ''Minnesota'' as he can, aided by ''Monitor'' s shallower draft, greater maneuverability, and the damage sustained by ''Virginia'' the previous day. As the two ships exchange fire, ''Virginia'' runs aground, but is able to pull free. Jones attempts to ram the ''Monitor'' but fails to do significant damage; Worden orders a return ramming attempt, but is blinded when a shell from ''Virginia'' strikes ''Monitor'' s pilot house. ''Monitor'' withdraws, having delayed ''Virginia'' from sinking ''Minnesota''. In view of the damage to ''Virginia'', the exhaustion of his crew, and the falling tide, Jones also decides to retire back to port.

Both sides claim victory, although the ''Monitor'' saved the rest of the blockade from destruction. Her designer, John Ericsson (Fritz Weaver), has an argument with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (Conrad McLaren) over the use of insufficient powder in ''Monitor'' s guns to sink ''Virginia'': Welles's officers respond that it was a calculated decision to prevent the guns from exploding and protect the lives of the crew.

Back at Gosport, Lt. Guilford is pleased to release Betty, informing her that she saved ''Virginia'' based on a report by Lt. Jones. Demonstrating Southern chivalry, he was pleased to not have to hang her. In reality, Lt. Jones used Betty's confession the day before to send false intelligence to the Union, which resulted in the lesser powder charges used by ''Monitor''. Lt. Jones tells Betty that he couldn't bear to see her hang, but that he can never be with her again due to her treasonous actions. She is sent north, forever marked as a traitor to her family, friends, and fellow Virginians.

A voice-over narrative indicates that ''Virginia'' was scuttled two months later after Union troops took Norfolk, and that ''Monitor'' sank off Cape Hatteras at the end of the year.

After getting into trouble at their seminary, seminarians Gyu-shik and Seon-dal are sent into the country for a month of service under the elderly Father Nam. Upon their arrival, Gyu-shik meets Father Nam's niece, Bong-hee, who has flown across from the United States to see her boyfriend. However, when her boyfriend ends their relationship, Bong-hee finds herself stranded at her uncle's church with nowhere else to go. At first she and Gyu-shik struggle to get along, but eventually they become attracted to one another, and Gyu-shik is forced to question his commitment to the priesthood.

Mara is married to Vietnam veteran Donny, who has horrible visions and nightmares of his combat experiences. Mara is having an affair with Jake, and the lives of all are disrupted when she meets a mysterious stranger, Reed.

Jay Killian (Charles Bronson) is a senior member of the Secret Service. On the day before the Inauguration of the new president, Killian has just returned from a six-week sick leave. He is given a new assignment: to protect the First Lady, Lara Royce Craig (Jill Ireland).

Being highly qualified and a seasoned veteran of the service, Killian is dismayed that he is not on the Presidential detail. To make matters worse, Lara proves to be an extremely difficult charge. She is arrogant, condescending, demanding, and she detests the presence of Killian.

With the First Lady doing what she wants and ignoring all of Killian's suggestions, it becomes apparent that someone wants Lara dead—especially when a biker tries to shoot her.

A wild cross-country adventure ensues as Killian attempts to protect Lara and flush out the assassin and his contractor—and the assassination attempts may have originated from the White House.

It turns out that, because of a war injury, the President is impotent and his wife is about to file for divorce at the end of his first term. Believing that the divorce will eliminate the chances of another term, the president's right-wing supporters staged the assassination attempts, to keep the President's impotence a secret and gain him the people’s support in his grief.

Killian is able to unravel the conspiracy.

Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl living with her family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor, but her life is full of simple pleasures, like raising her black-and-white speckled goat, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But now the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.

He introduces her to a charming stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi undertakes the long journey to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the horrible truth: she has been sold into prostitution.

An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt – then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.

Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother's words – “Simply to endure is to triumph” – and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new life. She also teaches herself to read and speak in English through listening to the conversations of people around her and books she manages to take.

Eventually, Lakshmi meets an American man, who arrives and disguises himself as a client to gather the evidence he needs to prosecute Mumtaz and her associates. Mumtaz is ultimately arrested, thus freeing Lakshmi and the other girls.

Chuck Arnold (Dan Dailey) is a bandleader during the 1920s. He meets hometown girl Peggy Mayhew (Jeanne Crain), a flapper script girl, at one of the band's presentations, and the next day, they get married. Though she loves him, life on the road becomes increasingly difficult for her, and eventually, with the onset of the Great Depression, in 1929, she tires of it, and returns to her country home. Unable to find new bookings, he soon joins her, and brings with him Oscar Hoffman (Oscar Levant) his acerbic, cynical manager. The bandleader finds the pastoral life a crashing bore, and so, he heads for the big city to find fortune. This time, he succeeds, and happiness is the result.

In 1957, J. C. Cullen is a small-town crapshooter who heads to Chicago, Illinois, to seek his fortune. There he becomes the pawn of two high-rolling professional gamblers, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. He later gets mixed-up in a revenge scheme cooked up by Lorry Dane, the embittered stripper wife of strip-joint owner George Cole. Before he knows what's happened, Cullen is embroiled in two torrid romances: one with Dane and the other with nice girl Aggie Donaldson. He also nearly loses his life by ending up in the middle of a deadly feud between Edwards, Cole, and Phil Carpenter, the man Mr. Edwards accuses of causing him to lose his eyesight.

''Slacker Cats'' is about two cats and their quotidian, strange and outrageous adventures. The animation style is similar to contemporary cartoons such as ''Family Guy''. Main plots of the show revolve around Buckley and Eddie's schemes to escape the everyday monotony of being house cats by taking advantage of humans (as well as other cats) to freewheel themselves in the fictional city of Wendell, California.

Captain Hook has challenged Peter Pan to a duel, which will determine the fate of the enchanted world. In this game, Pan goes through several levels, each based on the television series of the same name, battling pirates and avoiding various traps until he reaches the pirate ship to battle with the evil Captain Hook.

Rachel has a nightmare of her mother Eva being shot and she calls her up to discuss it. After the phone call, Eva begins questioning herself if her daughter is beginning to remember an incident that left a scar on her upper thigh. Across town, J.T. Morono is released from prison and intends to visit Richard. Dr. Agasa takes the Junior Detective League to a museum. While there, they see Emilio Cantour, a famed photographer, snapping pictures. Mitch quizzes the other members but Conan correctly guesses the right answer. At the Moore agency, Morono leaves after receiving no answer.

Rachel and Serena are attending the book signing of essayist Mason Norfolk. They later visit a cafe where Rachel mentions the fight between her parents which resulted in their separation. Back at the agency, Richard is getting ready for dinner with Eva while Conan notices a TV interview with Christopher Aston, the owner of the newly built AquaCrystal, an entertainment complex situated in the middle of the bay.

While meeting Eva at the restaurant, Richard runs into two of his old friends; Henry Tish, a professional golfer who is training for the US Open, and Kevin Simms, a sommelier. The date goes well until Richard noticed Peter Ford, a newscaster, flirting with his friend, Tammy Diez. He gets jealous, causing Eva to leave abruptly.

A week later, Inspector Meguire, Eva, and Agasa are attacked by a mysterious assailant, leaving behind a cardboard western sword, flower, and ornament respectively at the crime scenes. Conan discovers that the items come from the King, Queen, and Jack playing cards, specifically the suit of spade, which represents death, and that the culprit appears to be targeting victims according to their relation to a card in sequential order and share a connection with Richard. When trying to figure out a possible culprit, Richard mentions J.T. Morono, a shady card dealer who he arrested 10 years prior. Inspector Santos tried to shed light on an incident but Meguire sternly insists on preventing the next attack.

While driving, Conan asks about the incident where Santos reveals that after Morono was finished with questioning, he went to the bathroom, overpowered the escorting guard, took his gun, and attempted to escape; Eva, who brought along a young Rachel and taking Richard a change of clothes, was taken hostage. Richard, then a police officer working under Meguire, drew his gun which led to a brief standoff that ended when he shot his gun, hitting Eva in the thigh. This caught Morono off guard and Richard fired a second time, hitting him in the left shoulder. Richard would go on and resign his position rather facing investigation for his actions. Rachel is distraught after learning the truth and distances herself from Richard.

The next day, Conan remembers that Henry is ranked the 10th best golfer in the world and relays the information to Richard, causing them to tighten security when Henry wants to go flying in his helicopter. During the ride, Henry’s eyes begin to dilate and Conan discovers someone had replaced them with a chemical compound. He swiftly acts and crash lands the helicopter in the Teitan Elementary playground. Everyone makes it out the helicopter as he explodes, leaving behind card number 10, and Henry is forced to withdraw from the US Open. The investigation team goes to the home of Kevin Simms as he is Number 8 on the list for attending a culinary school with an 8 year program. Kevin explains he has to meet with Christopher Aston about business at his new AquaCrystal resort. Santos realizes that Christopher owns 9 buildings and the team tags along as security.

At AquaCrystal, they meet Nina Oliver, Emilio Cantour, and Peter Ford, however, Christopher is not there. During the monorail ride, they discover that Santos is the youngest of 3 children and their birthdays are spaced three years apart. Emilio has six children, and Peter’s last name has 4 letters. Rachel cringes that Jimmy could be the ace being that he’s number one in many things as well as Japan’s top detective. Once at the restaurant, Nina and Mason get into an argument over Mason’s food recommendations he wrote in his books. Nina challenges him to a blind taste test, which Mason accepts but fails. Kevin tastes the wine and guesses the correct answer, leaving Mason embarrassed. At Christopher’s request via a letter, the group visits the wine cellar where Kevin inadvertently springs a crossbow trap, near the weapon, card number 8. Realizing they are in danger, the group decides to leave but discovers Christopher’s corpse in the fish tank, attached to his body is card number 9.

Richard explains the situation and about T.J. Morono to everyone. Nina, frightened, explains she nearly hit someone riding a motorcycle with her car but sped off without helping the victim. With all emergency exits blocked off with cement, the killer prepares to strike and shuts off the power. Nina, with her nails glowing in the dark, begins to panic and runs right into the killer who stabs her to death. Her body is found along with the 7 of spades and the joker. The juice can Conan had earlier is believed to have been kicked over by the killer as he went after Nina.

Conan investigates Nina’s murder and notices one of her nails broke from her finger, the wine cork she had is missing, and a palm print made by a right handed person on her back. He remembers Morono dealing with his left hand, thus clearing him of any wrongdoing. He finds the slacks of an individual stained with juice and suspects them to be the killer. Conan finds salt in the kitchen and gives everyone water to drink and is positive who the killer is.

Bombs explode at AquaCrystal, trapping everyone inside temporarily. More bombs go off with the spade numbers 6-2 emerging from the water. Everyone manages to swim to the shore with the exception of Rachel. She is saved by Conan and Richard. Mason is left unconscious from the incident and Kevin volunteers to perform CPR, but Conan, through Richard’s voice, forces Santos to do it. Richard, obviously confused, is put to sleep and Conan theorizes that the culprit had a chance encounter with Morono then took advantage of the situation and their past history.

The serial killer is revealed to be Kevin Simms. Most of his victims were merely pawns to disguise his real targets: Nina Oliver, Christopher Aston, Mason Norfolk, and Henry Tish. After murdering Christopher, Kevin set up his own trap in the wine cellar. His motive is that he has taste disorder and is unable to taste food or drink due to trauma or stress. Kevin was seen tasting chili powder, something sommeliers shouldn’t do. He was also given salt water by Conan and didn’t react to it, thus confirming his suspicions. As evidence, the wine cork Nina painted before her death is found in Kevin’s possession. When he attacked her, she turned around and slipped it into his coat pocket without his knowledge. Also inside is the Ace of Spades he intended for Jimmy Kudo.

Kevin confesses and reveals that Nina indeed caused the collision that robbed him of his ability to taste. Christopher buys expensive wine but improperly stores them, a move he finds offensive. Mason poses as a writing expert on fine wine and cuisine, but lacks proper knowledge on the topic. A drunken Henry invited Kevin to a party then belittled him. He came up with the plan after meeting Morono who wanted to apologize for the past incident. Morono was brought over to Kevin’s house and was in fact murdered before the beginning of Kevin’s killing spree. He intended for Mason, his last primary target, to drown below in the sunken restaurant.

Kevin detonates bombs in causing AquaCrystal to slowly sink into the sea and takes Rachel hostage; the investigation team giving chase. AquaCrystal begins crumbling and Kevin intends to escape via helicopter. They confront him at the top of the complex where Santos prepares to shoot but forfeits his gun. When Kevin orders Conan to give him the weapon, Conan finally realizes the truth behind the shooting incident between Richard and Eva. He shoots the gun and the bullet grazes Rachel, leaving Kevin hopeless and without a hostage. Richard charges for Kevin and delivers a powerful Judo throw that slams the serial killer to the ground. Kevin slips over the ledge wanting to die in the sea but Richard saves him, intending for him to answer for his crimes in a federal prison for the rest of his life. They save Rachel, who also understands Richard's actions during her mother's hostage incident; the bullet was intended for Eva so Morono would have no use for a wounded hostage. She clutches onto Richard and they escape from AquaCrystal as it finally collapses into the sea while the others are saved by the coast guard. Kevin is arrested.

Sometime later, after the end credits, Eva reveals the real reason she left Richard. After her hostage incident, she made dinner for Richard as thanks. He instead insulted the food, enraging Eva and ultimately causing the separation due to him being ungrateful. Conan and Rachel both agree that Eva’s cooking isn’t the best as the film officially ends.

Playing card symbols

During the course of the film multiple characters are represented by a certain number from a standard deck of cards. The playing cards are all spades, which represents death. The victim's name, clue left behind, and the connection with the number are all displayed below in the chart. Since the English adaptation has changed names of the characters, the corresponding relationships between the character and the numbers were changed accordingly.

Running from Tom, Jerry loses him in a traveling circus where he finds a female elephant with a golden tack on her foot, crying in pain. Jerry thinks of a plan to remove the tack stuck on the elephant's foot, and Tom watches the elephant crying with an evil smile. Jerry removes the tack from the elephant's foot and at first she is scared. However, when she notices Jerry holding up the tack which he removed off of her foot, she is overjoyed. Jerry wins over the affection of the elephant as she picks him up with her trunk and hugs him in gratitude. Tom on the other hand, manages to make enemies with the elephant by climbing up a ladder and trying to take the mouse from her. The elephant uses her trunk to grab Jerry and places him safely on top of her head. Turning her attention back to Tom, the elephant smacks him underground. She continues hugging the mouse and Tom climbs out of the hole before fainting.

Annoyed, Tom watches the clowns walk by until he sees Jerry in a miniature clown outfit. He spies on both the mouse and elephant as they perform a circus dance, passing a ball back and forth. Tom bursts the ball with a slingshot. The elephant looks for her friend in concern while Tom ascends a high-rise ladder to reach the mouse, who is hanging onto the high wire by his feet. Tom walks across the wire and stomps on it repeatedly, bouncing Jerry into his hands. He walks over the wire back to the ramp only to run into the irate elephant. She uses her weight to pull the wire and both of them all the way down to the ground. She suctions the mouse into her trunk and releases the cat, launching him out of the circus tent.

Later, Tom chases Jerry up a tall ladder to a diving board. Jerry dives, and Tom soon follows him. The elephant drinks down the water with her trunk and saves Jerry. Relived, she kisses him and leaves. Tom crashes through the ground with such force he falls all the way into hell. An irate devil takes him back up to the surface and throws him out using his trident, as if telling him don't come back. He goes back into Hell in peace.

The elephant plays with Jerry. Tom shakes pepper into the elephant's trunk, causing a gigantic sneeze that shoots Jerry miles from the circus. Tom runs backwards with a baseball glove to catch the mouse, but somehow the elephant is behind Tom. He runs up the elephant's leg and readies to catch the mouse. However, she has other plans and in anger lowers her trunk down to confront Tom again. Realizing too late he is in trouble, the elephant throws Tom off and catches the glove and then catches Jerry. She hugs the mouse.

Leading the circus parade together, Jerry plays the bugle and the elephant plays a very loud drum. Tom hides in a manhole to set a trap with dynamite that will explode when the elephant stomps on the switch. However, the stomping bounces the dynamite back with Tom as he unwittingly closes the manhole, without him even realizing it. The elephant steps on the switch and Tom explodes. The defeated cat waves a "The End" white flag as the elephant stops temporarily to kick some dust up near the manhole.

Somewhere in the middle of Texas, Ameet (Sunil Malhotra) and Saima (Lisa Ray) have a problem. They were perfectly happy avoiding each other until their parents set them up to get married. The reluctant couple decide to do whatever it takes to break off the engagement. After some very embarrassing efforts, they finally succeed in getting their parents to call off the wedding, only to realize they have another problem, they're in love! Meanwhile, Saima's father (Asrani), deciding that she's passed her expiration date, promises her to Ashol (Ismail Bashey)- a sleazy playboy. Finally, there's a wedding; Ashol's big secret, Ameet's bigger surprise, and Saima's biggest decision.

In this entry in the series, Gabriel Allon, the master art restorer and sometime officer of Israeli intelligence, had just prevailed in his blood-soaked duel with Saudi terrorist financier Zizi al-Bakari. Now Gabriel is summoned once more by his masters to undertake what appears to be a routine assignment: travel to Amsterdam to purge the archives of a murdered Dutch terrorism analyst who also happened to be an asset of Israeli intelligence. But once in Amsterdam, Gabriel soon discovers a terrorist conspiracy festering in the city’s Islamic underground: a plot that is about to explode on the other side of the English Channel, in the middle of London.

The target of this plot is Elizabeth Halton, the daughter of the American ambassador to the Court of St. James's, who is to be brutally kidnapped. Gabriel arrives seconds too late to save her. And by revealing his face to the plot’s masterminds, his fate is sealed as well.

Drawn once more into the service of American intelligence, Gabriel hurls himself into a desperate search for the missing woman as the clock ticks steadily toward the hour of her execution.

After terrorists bomb the Israeli embassy in Rome, agents at Israel’s intelligence service —better known as the Office— struggle to determine a precise motive for the attack. The investigation uncovers a CD filled with highly sensitive information about Gabriel Allon, a legendary hit man for the Office. No longer safe outside of Israel, Gabriel returns reluctantly to his homeland with Italian girlfriend and fellow Office agent Chiara Zolli.

Lev, the current director of the Office, has long resented Gabriel's close ties to Ari Shamron, former director of the Office, as well as his recent clandestine work for Shamron. Lev demands that Gabriel officially rejoin the Office so he can benefit from the protection of other agents. However, Gabriel and Shamron also recognize that Lev seeks to control and curtail their secret operations.

Lev instructs Gabriel to remain in Israel and assigns him a research team to investigate the bombing and its link to Gabriel. Thus, Yossi, Dina, Yaakov, and Rimona come under Gabriel's direction. Dina connects a series of seemingly random terrorist attacks and attributes them to Khaled al-Khalifa, a mysterious descendant of Palestinian warlords. Indeed, Dina points out, Shamron and Gabriel each led operations against Khaled's relatives. Though adopted by Yasser Arafat as a child, Khaled grew up abroad and never became a visible force within the PLO. Dina proposes that, hidden behind a carefully constructed European identity, Khaled has masterminded brutal attacks against Israel, including the recent embassy bombing. In fact, all of the attacks seem to commemorate the murders of Palestinians, including Khaled's father and organizer of Black September, Sabri al-Khalifa. Dina suggests that another attack is imminent: she anticipates an act of terror to commemorate the Israeli razing of Beit Sayeed, the hometown of Khaled's Palestinian ancestors. Only twenty-eight days remain until the fiftieth anniversary of that event.

The reader learns that Khaled lives as a prosperous and renowned French archeologist under the identity of Paul Martineau. He organizes terror attacks through an Arab associate in Marseilles. The reader also discovers that the arrangements for Khaled's next attack are underway.

As Gabriel and Chiara settle into a new life in Israel, Ari recommends that Gabriel dissolve his marriage to Leah and marry Chiara. He also presses Gabriel to meet with Yasser Arafat to learn of Khaled's whereabouts. Ari's son Yonatan, a member of the IDF, escorts Gabriel to the Mukataa, Arafat's compound. Although the Israeli and Palestinian traditionally work for opposing ideologies, Arafat consents to the meeting because Gabriel once saved his life. Gabriel sees through Arafat's evasive answers and lies and concludes that Khaled did indeed plan the bombing of the Israeli embassy. Gabriel also learns that Tariq al-Hourani worked for Arafat, and the car bomb that killed his son and maimed Leah was also meant to end his own life.

Yaakov later introduced Gabriel to Mahmoud Arwish, a reticent Palestinian informant. Arwish confirms that Khaled contacts Arafat regularly and uses a female collaborator to relay important phone messages. Because the most recent of such phone messages came from Cairo, Gabriel travels to Egypt. There, he meets Mimi Ferrere, a polyglot and social butterfly whose voice matches that of Khaled's collaborator. He bugs her phone, intercepts a message from Khaled, and matches the phone number to Marseilles.

Aboard the ship ''Fidelity'', Gabriel meets with his team and Ari Shamron to plan Khaled's murder. However, Khaled anticipates their attack and leads Gabriel into a trap: he must put himself into Khaled's hands or Leah will die; Gabriel abandons his team to save his wife. Khaled's instructions lead Gabriel to the Parisian Gare de Lyon, and Gabriel realizes too late that Khaled plans to bomb the train station and pin the crime on Gabriel and Israeli intelligence. With only seconds to spare, Gabriel kills two of Khaled's three bombers and rescues Leah.

They return safely to Israel, but Khaled and Mimi leak photographs of Gabriel to the press that link him to the bombing at Gare de Lyon. Although she still suffers psychiatric trauma, Leah regains a piece of herself and begins to communicate with Gabriel for the first time in thirteen years. Chiara decides to leave Gabriel and returns to Venice. Ultimately, Gabriel locates and kills Khaled at an archeological excavation in southern France. He then returns to Israel and art restoration.

In the spring of 1518, near Jaén, Spain, Pedro de Vargas, a Castilian caballero, helps a runaway Aztec slave, Coatl, escape his cruel master, Diego de Silva. De Silva is ''el supremo'' of the ''Santa Hermandad'', charged with enforcing the Inquisition, and Pedro's rival for the affections of the beautiful Lady Luisa de Carvajal. Later, Pedro rescues barmaid Catana Pérez from de Silva's men. At the inn where Catana works, Pedro becomes acquainted with Juan García, an adventurer just returned from the New World to see his mother.

Suspecting Pedro of aiding Coatl, and aware that Pedro's influential father Don Francisco de Vargas opposes the abuses of the ''Santa Hermandad'', de Silva imprisons Pedro and his family on the charge of heresy. Pedro's young sister dies under torture. Meanwhile, Juan becomes a prison guard to help his mother, also a prisoner. He kills her to spare her further torture. Juan frees Pedro's hands and gives him a sword.

When de Silva enters Pedro's cell, Pedro disarms him in a sword fight, then forces him to renounce God before stabbing him. The trio (secretly aided by Catana's brother, the sympathetic jailer Manuel) flee with Pedro's parents. Forced to split up, instead of going to Italy to be reunited with his family, Pedro is persuaded by Juan and Catana to seek his fortune in Cuba.

The three sign up with Hernán Cortés on his expedition to Mexico. Pedro tells Father Bartolomé, the spiritual adviser to the expedition, what occurred in Spain. The priest had received an order to arrest him, but tears it up and gives Pedro a penance, neither aware that de Silva survived.

The expedition lands at Villa Rica in Mexico. Cortés is greeted by emissaries of Aztec Emperor Montezuma and given a bribe to leave. Cortés instead persuades his men to join him in his plan for conquest and riches.

Catana seeks the aid of charlatan and doctor Botello, who reluctantly gives her a ring with the supposed power to make Pedro fall in love with her, despite their vast difference in social status. When Pedro kisses her, she rejects him, believing he is under the ring's spell, but he convinces her otherwise and marries her that very night.

Cortés marches inland to Cempoala, where he receives a bribe of gems from another Aztec delegation. He places Pedro in charge of guarding the gems in a ''teocalli''. Pedro leaves his post, however, to calm down drunk, menacing Juan, and the gems are stolen. Cortés accuses Pedro of theft. When Pedro finds a hidden door into the ''teocalli'', Cortés gives him 24 hours to redeem himself. Pedro tracks the thieves, captains opposing Cortés, back to Villa Rica, where they have incited mutiny. With the aid of Corio, a loyal crewman, he recovers the gems, although he is seriously wounded in the head by a crossbow bolt during their escape.

Cortés promotes Pedro to captain. Then, to remove the temptation of retreat, he orders their ships burned. They march on to Cholula, where they are met by another delegation, led by Montezuma's nephew, who threatens the expedition with annihilation unless they leave. When Cortés protests that he has no ships, the prince reveals that more have arrived. Cortés realizes that his rival, Cuban Governor Velázquez, has sent a force to usurp his command. Cortés takes half his men to attack Villa Rica, leaving Pedro in command of the rest.

Cortés returns victorious, bringing with him reinforcements and Diego de Silva, the King's emissary. De Silva is there to impose the ''Santa Hermandad'' on Mexico. Juan attacks de Silva, but is stopped by Cortes' soldiers. Father Bartolomé reminds Pedro of his vow, and Cortés holds him personally responsible for de Silva's safety. When de Silva is strangled that night, Pedro is sentenced to death. Just before the execution, Coatl confesses to Father Bartolomé that he killed de Silva. Catana stabs him to spare him the degradation of being hanged. Pedro recovers, and Cortés and his followers march on the Aztec capital.

Set in 1304, it tells the story of the siege of Amsterdam and its surrounding towns, united by the Kennemers and Waterlanders. The reason for the siege is Gijsbrecht's alleged involvement in the abduction and manslaughter of Floris V in 1296.

The enemy soldiers appear to leave but smuggle themselves into the town, hidden in a cargo of firewood being shipped in by the citizens of Amsterdam. After a violent battle, Gijsbrecht is forced to flee to Prussia, to found a "New Holland" there.

The plot of "Revelation" starts with an examination of the character, Mrs. Ruby Turpin, from the perspectives of her inner life and her behavior while conversing with adults representing a cross-section of white Southern classes in a doctor's small, congested, unadorned waiting room. A radio fills the room with gospel music. The Turpins are white, land-owning farmers who employ black workers and consider themselves faithful Christians. Mrs. Turpin announces that her husband, Claud, has an abscess on his leg from being kicked by a cow, and makes point that she is healthy though overweight. Gospel music triggers a demonstration of Mrs. Turpin's inner thoughts about her hierarchical beliefs based on race and personal wealth that has poor black and white "trash" at the very bottom, and her notion that most people, except herself, are in a box car heading to a gas oven. In pleasant small talk, the conversations among the adults in the waiting room includes racist rants about black people and a fantasy that black people want to inter-marry with white people to enhance their class status.

Mrs. Turpin harshly judges each person in the waiting room except for the mother of Mary Grace, whose household appears to be wealthier than the Turpin's. Mary Grace is a Wellesley College student. Her mother grimaces when she mentions Wellesley is in Massachusetts. Mrs. Turpin regards Mary Grace as pitifully ugly. Mary Grace is enraged that the small talk has disrupted her reading of a book entitled ''Human Development'' and displays her anger through facial expressions and glares from penetrating blue eyes directed at and received by Mrs. Turpin. Ruby Turpin does not immediately respond, though she feels Mary Grace has known her for eternity. Mary Grace's mother announces to the room that her daughter is "ungrateful" and Ruby Turpin responds that she is so grateful for everything she possesses that she could shout, "Thank you, Jesus, for making everything the way it is!" In the room full of sick people, Mrs. Turpin thanks Jesus again and the examination of Mrs. Turpin ends when Mary Grace physically assaults the woman and is restrained and inoculated with a sedative. Mrs. Turpin asks Mary Grace for an explanation, and the student responds, "Go back to hell where you came from you old wart hog", which the woman treats as a revelation from God.

In the aftermath of Mary Grace's attack, Claud is treated by the doctor and the Turpins return home to take naps in their bedroom. Lying down in bed, Mrs. Turpin quietly cries and rejects the notion of being a wart hog from hell. She asks Claud to kiss her, and while he sleeps she scowls at the ceiling and makes motions "as if she were defending her innocence to invisible guest who were like comforters of Job". After Claud wakes up to drive their black workers back to their homes, his wife sees "unintelligible hand writing on the ceiling".

As black women who work for the Turpin's wait for Claud, they notice the wound over Ruby Turpin's eye. Mrs. Turpin confesses that Mary Grace threw a book at her and called her "an old wart hog from hell". Two women exclaim that they'd kill Mary Grace and compliment Mrs. Turpin for being a nice white woman. Ruby Turpin's mind rejects the flattery and judges the women "idiots" as she provides them water for the short trip to their homes.

Ruby Turpin and Claud walk to their pig parlor to wash-down the hogs and the sty. Claud starts the job but his wife takes over and sends him off to drive their workers to their homes. While working as the sun sets spectacularly, she becomes enranged at her predicament shouts questions skyward: "How am I a hog and me too?"; and "How am I saved and from hell too?". She protests that she isn't a hog because she's not white nor black trash and receives a response in the form of a "garbled echo". Then she shouts, "Who do you think you are?" and like an echo "returned to her clearly like an answer beyond the wood." The answer she heard stopped her from shouting more. She watches Claud's truck recede in the distance and thinks of it colliding with a bigger truck that kills Claud and his passengers. In the next moments of quiet, she contemplates about her hogs that are in the red light of sunset where they "appeared to pant a secret life".

Just after sunset and while Claud's truck reappears. Ruby Turpin experiences a vision of people crossing a bridge of light from Earth towards Heaven. The people who ascend first are the white and black trash, freaks and lunatics at the bottom on Ruby Turpin's box car hierarchy who ascend as joyous, disorderly Christian soldiers. The last to begin their ascent are people who march as a tribe and include those like herself and her husband, though as they march upward "she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burned away." Ruby Turpin sees the vision as her destiny. As she walks back to her house as night falls, she hears crickets chirping as "the voices of the souls climbing upward into the starry field and shouting hallelujah".

The Tenth Doctor and Donna land on a planet called the Ood-Sphere in 4126, where a company called Ood Operations has been harvesting and selling the Ood as servants. Several people have been killed in the weeks before the Doctor arrived. The CEO of Ood Operations, Klineman Halpen, tells the Doctor the method of killing each time is identical: the victims are electrocuted by the Ood's translation spheres. The Ood involved were also afflicted with red-eye, where their eyes literally change red.

Donna becomes sympathetic to the Ood and is horrified by their enslavement. The Doctor also takes an interest in the Ood, noting that no species could naturally evolve to be servants. He and Donna travel through the complex and find a batch of uncultivated Ood singing together. Instead of a translation sphere, they hold a "hindbrain" that gives them individuality. This hindbrain is being removed and replaced with the translation sphere by the humans to make them subservient, and the Doctor rebukes Halpen for lobotomising the Ood. The Doctor and Donna are captured by Ood Operations' security force. Meanwhile, all the Ood become afflicted with red-eye and begin a mass revolution, fighting back against the guards in the facility. The Doctor and Donna escape with some help from the Ood (after convincing them to resist their brainwashing) and follow Halpen to a locked warehouse that contains a large brain, which is revealed to be the Ood's collective consciousness. The brain's control of the Ood is limited by a circle of pylons emitting a forcefield. Halpen plans to kill the brain and by extension all of the Ood, but is stopped by the Doctor, Donna, and Dr. Ryder. Dr. Ryder reveals that he is secretly an activist for "Friends of the Ood", and had slowly infiltrated the company to gain access to the pylons and lower their force field to cause the revolution. Halpen is outraged at his betrayal, so he throws Dr. Ryder into the brain, killing him. Halpen's personal Ood servant, Ood Sigma, has been using Halpen's hair loss medication to slowly convert Halpen into an Ood. Ood Sigma tells the Doctor and Donna that he will take care of Halpen.

The Doctor shuts down the pylons, freeing the Ood and allowing them all to sing in a telepathic collective. The Ood’s song resonates across the galaxies, and humans decide to return their Ood servants back to the Ood Sphere. As the Doctor and Donna prepare to leave, Ood Sigma promises to include the "Doctor-Donna" in the Ood's song. He also tells the Doctor that his song will soon be ending.

Continuity

The red eye phenomenon in the Ood is a symptom of their being possessed. In "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" they were under the Beast's control. In this episode, the red eye was caused by the telepathic link between the Ood and the Ood Brain.

The Ood-Sphere is in the same planetary system as the Sense-Sphere, the location for the 1964 serial ''The Sensorites''; the Sensorites and Ood are visually and mentally similar.

Alan Gould, a neurotic, unkempt anthropology graduate student, is beginning to believe that he just might be the last living person on the planet. A mysterious catastrophe appears to have killed off everyone but him, leaving the buildings standing and goods untouched. When he's not running around in his underwear, reveling in his newly found freedom from body-shaming, he's in the abandoned stores downtown trying stuff out. Alan acquires a video camera on one of his expeditions and decides to make a video log explaining to any alien race that stumbles upon the empty planet what he thinks went wrong, interjected with references to his fieldwork among the primitive Shitabi tribe of the Amazon basin. He also tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to embrace the peaceful philosophy of the Shitabi people.

One day, much to Alan's delight, he finds Sarah. She is tall and shapely, but she is also fickle. Before the apocalypse, she wouldn't have spent time with Alan even if he was the last man on Earth. Sarah was the type of person who would sleep with her friend's lover or her lover's friends, and now she has convinced herself God is punishing her for her sins. She doesn't consider Alan to be an ideal mate, but he is all she has now. Alan, for his part, falls in love with her, and he convinces her that they will have to repopulate the world. She in turn makes him promise he will never leave her, and though she shies away from his touch, she reluctantly joins him in his RV.

While driving into town to gather supplies, the couple passes a hitchhiker carrying a large backpack. Alan's first impulse is to simply keep driving, but Sarah forces him to stop. The hitchhiker is Raphael, a handsome, charismatic young man. He doesn't appear to be as smart as Alan, but he's easygoing and quite engaging. He is everything Alan wishes to be. Sarah is immediately drawn to Raphael, and she transfers her fickle affections to him.

Seeing that he is losing Sarah to Raphael, Alan gets jealous and begins plotting ways to get rid of the competition. After a time he decides to let Fate take a hand, and he waits for Raphael to inevitably mess up, sending Sarah running back to him. Somehow, the two men blow up a memorial that Sarah had built. Alan talks to Raphael about it while secretly taping the conversation, but at the end of the conversation Raphael decides to leave. The last thing he says to Alan is that he loves Sarah. Later on, Sarah asks Alan if he had talked to Raphael before he left, and Alan lies to her saying he hadn't — he didn't want to repeat Raphael's declaration of love. Raphael returns to the camp after finding one of the many notes Sarah had tied to balloons she had released, notes that all read, "Come back." After reconciling, the couple finds Alan's tapes and figure out that Alan had betrayed them, so they kick him out of the camp. Alan retaliates by driving a truck through the camp.

At the end, Alan places his camera on the ground and stands back. He tells his camera that he's heading south to find others who eat zinc, figuring that's the reason they all survived. He concludes with, "Life's a bitch, so be decent and try to respect one another's privacy." Then he runs up and punts the camera.

The book starts out with Anis Zani, the protagonist, being disciplined by his boss for submitting a blank report. It's revealed that Anis wrote the report under the influence of drugs, which prevented him from realizing his pen was out of ink. Anis and a group of fellow addicts get together every night to smoke keif on a houseboat on the Nile. Samara, a young journalist, visits the group in order to report on them. The tranquility of the group collapses as they begin to argue about topics like love, morality and purpose. The downfall of the group is accelerated when, one night as they are taking a midnight excursion by car, they hit a person and flee the scene.

Baby Kal-El crashes onto Earth, where he is discovered by Thomas and Martha Wayne. Having always wanted a son, the couple adopt Kal-El and name him Bruce. One night, Thomas and Martha are gunned down by a mugger named Joe Chill in an alleyway. Bruce burns Chill's face with his heat vision (leading to Chill being found dead the next day) and discovers his superpowers, but he is too late to save his parents. Ashamed of his failure, he represses the knowledge of his powers.

Years later, an adult Bruce has become isolated and paranoid, hiding out in Wayne Manor. His super-hearing forces him to be aware of all crimes in Gotham City, and he obsessively collects newspaper clippings of violent crimes around the world. Armed robbers break into the Manor and take his butler, Alfred, hostage. Bruce, in a violent fury, remembers his powers and uses them to save Alfred. Alfred takes him to a cave under the manor and shows Bruce the ship which brought him to Earth, revealing his alien origins. Meanwhile, the robbers return to their employer, who kills them for their failure. Bruce creates a costume for himself as the "Batman", and begins to brutally strike back at the criminals in Gotham.

Lex Luthor, a Metropolis-based industrialist who survived a life-threatening industrial accident the year before, moves his corporate headquarters to Gotham and organizes a buyout of Wayne Enterprises. To everyone's shock, Bruce arrives just as the contract is about to be signed and shuts down the deal, announcing that he will take personal control of the day-to-day running of his businesses moving forward. Bruce also purchases the ''Gotham Gazette'' and poaches Perry White and Lois Lane from the ''Daily Planet'', which has become a soulless mouthpiece for Luthor. Lois gains a great respect for Bruce’s passion and idealism as a publisher, and he, in turn, is smitten with her. Weeks later, Batman rescues Lois from a gang of assailants. Horrified at the vicious superpowered beating he delivers, she angrily rebuffs him when he tries to help her up.

Lois subsequently writes an editorial criticizing Batman’s brutal conduct. Lex arrives to kidnap Lois and reveals that the accident he suffered bleached his skin chalk-white, turned his lips ruby-red, and drove him insane. He also reveals he has been using his vast fortune to attempt a total military takeover of Gotham with a huge army of heavily-armed mercenaries and armored vehicles. Batman stops the takeover and captures Lex, who seems to care little about his failed coup and the loss of life it has caused. Bruce is eventually persuaded by Lois that Gotham needs the idealistic Bruce Wayne more than the violent Batman, and he decides to give up his costumed identity, assuming a new mantle: Superman.

The play is about Amédée, a playwright, and his wife Madeleine, a switchboard operator. They discuss how to deal with a continually growing corpse in the other room. The corpse is causing mushrooms to sprout all over the apartment and is apparently arousing suspicion among the neighbours. The audience is given no clear reason why the corpse is there. Madeleine suggests he was the lover Amédée murdered; Amédée gives several alternate explanations. At the end of the play, Amédée attempts to drag the corpse away to dump it in the river. He is seen by many passers-by; one of the witnesses is referred to as "Eugene" and is likely the author himself. When Amédée becomes tangled in the legs, the corpse floats away with Amédée attached.

Cinderella is the only daughter of a rich, widowed duke. Her mother died when she was young, leaving behind only a few keepsakes for Cinderella to remember her by. The duke has remarried, giving Cinderella a new stepmother and two stepsisters.

The story begins when Cinderella’s father leaves on a long business trip. No sooner has he departed, however, than her stepfamily forces her to move to the attic and puts her to work doing all the household chores. Paulette, Cinderella’s fairy godmother, secretly observes this change in circumstances and uses her magic to make Cinderella’s life easier by giving four animals the power of speech: her dog, Patch, two mice, Chuchu and Bingo, and a bird, Pappy. These animals help Cinderella and keep an eye on her well-being for Paulette throughout the series.

One day, Cinderella sneaks into town and meets a pageboy who claims he serves the prince of the Emerald Castle. Cinderella quickly realizes he’s lying and dubs him a fibber. Unknown to her, however, the boy is Prince Charles himself in disguise; he sneaks into town using his page’s identity because he finds his lessons and princely duties boring. Cinderella’s stepmother tries to exploit Cinderella’s connection with the prince’s page in order to marry one of her own daughters to the prince. Though the ploy fails, thanks to her meddling Cinderella eventually forgives Charles for lying to her. The two form a friendship that slowly begins to deepen into romance. While Cinderella grows more used to life as a servant, Charles begins to appreciate the importance of his own duties after witnessing her struggles firsthand.

Meanwhile, Duke Zaral is also trying to marry his daughter off to Prince Charles. Isabel is initially infatuated with Charles, but eventually realizes he does not love her and instead chooses to elope with a childhood friend.

As Cinderella and Charles go on more adventures together, they stumble across a plot to overthrow the King and Queen. Charles eventually discovers that Zaral is responsible. He succeeds in stopping the coup with Cinderella’s help, but reveals his true identity to her in the process. Cinderella, heartbroken, ends their friendship, assuming that the prince would never marry a servant girl, especially after she repeatedly called him a liar.

In the aftermath of Zaral’s coup, Charles’s parents decide he is ready to take the throne and throw a ball in his honor, with every girl in the kingdom invited. Cinderella decides to go in order to properly say goodbye, choosing to wear her mother’s dress for the occasion. However, her stepfamily mocks the outfit for being out of style and destroy her invitation before leaving without her. Paulette appears and reveals herself as Cinderella’s fairy godmother. Using her magic, she fixes Cinderella’s dress and invitation, as well as conjuring a carriage for her. However, she warns that the magic will only last until midnight, so Cinderella needs to leave before then.

At the ball, no one recognizes Cinderella. Charles, attracted to Cinderella because he finds her familiar, spends the whole evening with her. Cinderella loses track of time and is forced to rush out just before midnight, losing a shoe in the process.

Soon after the ball, Charles’s page, Alex, begins taking the lost shoe house to house in search of the woman from the ball. Cinderella initially refuses to try the shoe on, but agrees after her animal friends reveal that she has the second shoe. She is brought back to the palace, and she and Charles become engaged.

On the day of the wedding, Zaral gives Charles poison and kidnaps Cinderella. He drags her to the top of the castle clock tower and attempts to bargain her life for the kingdom. He is interrupted by Charles, who faked his poisoning, and the two have a fierce battle which ends with Zaral falling from the tower to his death.

With peace restored, Cinderella and Charles finally marry and live happily ever after.

The film takes place in the beginning of the 20th century in a Roma camp on the Tisza river in the Zakarpattia region on the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Two young proud Roma, Loiko (Grigore Grigoriu) and Rada (Svetlana Toma) fall in love but believe that family life is a ball and chain that would fetter their independence. The first time Loiko meets Rada is when he becomes wounded and she finds him and heals him. Then the horse thief and the beauty meet again when Loiko accompanies Bucha (Borislav Brondukov) from Rada's Gypsy camp and comes into the camp itself, which is headed by old Nur (Mikhail Shishkov).

Local middle-aged landowner-nobleman Antol Siladi (Ion Sandri Scurea) also falls in love with Rada whom he meets during his walks through the city, but she rejects him in full view of her camp and the unfortunate amorous gentleman curses the young Roma. The bold and lucky horse thief Loiko successfully steals a white mare as Rada wishes. However he incurs the wrath of the authorities who are preparing a raid in his encampment, and the proud and beautiful sister of Loiko – Rusalina (Nelli Volshaninova) makes resistance attempts. Loiko's father finally gives his son over to the gendarmes, who sent his friend Talimon (Pavel Andrejchenko) shortly before that to the master Balint (Vasyl Symchych) for the purpose of debt collection. Unfortunately Balint says that Loiko promised to come to the estate as it was previously understood, and his servant stabs the Gypsy with forks in the stables.

Meanwhile local authorities sentence Loiko to death but nevertheless Loiko manages to escape his penalty although he ends up losing his friend Bubulia (Sergiu Finiti) who comes to his aid. The horse thief catches up with Rada's Roma camp and presents the mare to her. Rada has fun with Loiko on the river bank and then spends the night with him during which she offers him grape juice.

At the end of the film Loiko, despite the gloomy predictions of the old Romani healer comes accompanied by his old friend Aralambi (Nikolai Volshaninov) into Rada's camp and asks his blacksmith friend Makar Choudhra (Barasbi Mulayev) to be his best man at the wedding [he thinks is going to happen]. Then, he walks up to Rada and has a dialogue where she doubts his mental strength by claiming he has tamed only tame horses so far. He admits (is unfazed) and holds a speech where he says that he would kneel in front of her and kiss her hand. Rada humiliates him however by whipping his legs so that he falls. Loiko stands up and demands her hand, instead of kneeling first. She demands that he fulfills his claim that he would get on his knees and kiss her hand. But he refuses to do so and demands her hand once again. And again she refuses, so he draws a knife and stabs her in the chest, killing her. The father of Rada – the old soldier Danilo (Vsevolod Gavrilov) who was present at his daughter's murder, stabs Loiko in the back, killing him whilst Loiko holds Rada and panics after what he has done.

A new beginning was added to the adventure. Giants have been raiding civilized lands in increasing numbers. The player characters have been called upon to combat the giants and to investigate the giants' reasons for invading and the strength of their forces.

The first module, ''Steading of the Hill Giant Chief'', takes place in a gigantic wooden fort populated by hill giants and ogres. Here, the players uncover evidence of an alliance with other types of giants, as well as some mysterious letters from those behind the scenes.

In the second module, ''Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl'', the action moves north to colder lands, where the setting is a system of caves clustered around a deep and narrow chasm in glacial ice. Here, the protagonists encounter frost giants, yeti and winter wolves, among other monsters.

The third module, ''Hall of the Fire Giant King'', is set in a volcanic region where King Snurre has assembled a horde of fire giants, trolls and hell hounds. A secret passage from this module leads deep into the earth, where the adventurers discover the true nature of the force behind the raids – the drow in the service of Lolth, the demoness.

The fourth module, ''Descent into the Depths of the Earth'', is on a larger scale than the others, with a map covering many kilometres of a deep underground region, later known as the Underdark. In the Underdark, there are many unique monsters previously unknown to surface adventurers, including the drow, which had been considered mythical. Troglodytes, jermlaine and svirfneblin (deep gnomes) made their first appearances in ''D&D'' literature in this module.

In the next module, ''Shrine of the Kuo-Toa'', the adventurers explore a subterranean complex populated by the Kuo-toa, a race of fish-frog monsters in the service of the lobster goddess Blibdoolpoolp.

Players next make their way to the ''Vault of the Drow'', a deep subterranean eldritch land in a huge cyst deep under the earth.

The adventure is completed with ''Queen of the Demonweb Pits''. It takes place primarily in the eponymous Demonweb Pits, the 66th level of the Abyss.

Day 1

The book is split up into five sections, each corresponding to a day. On the first day, Klíma the trumpeter receives a phone call from Růžena who claims that she is pregnant from the time Klíma and his band visited the spa she works at two months prior. Klíma decides to travel to the spa the next day to talk Růžena into having an abortion.

Day 2

When he sees her the next day, he meets with Bertlef and Škréta and tells them of his plan, admitting that he wants to have an abortion because he loves his wife, the actress, so much. When he meets with Růžena, he tells her that he loves her and wants to go on a trip with her, but asks that she have an abortion because the love they have together shouldn't be hindered by a child just yet. Růžena, although suspicious seems to agree with this plan before the pair are followed and then harassed by František, a local handyman in love with Růžena. Klima returns to the capital to appease his wife, but she knows that Klima has been unfaithful, and is saddened by his attempts to hide it.

Jakub at the same time is visiting his friend Olga, the daughter of an old political rival who he cared for when her father was killed. He is leaving Czechoslovakia because of the political climate and has visited the spa to say goodbye. He reveals that Dr. Škréta once made a pill for him which would allow him to kill himself if ingested, as a way of being in control of his own fate if captured again.

Day 3

Jakub waits to meet Olga the next morning at a Cafe where Klima and Ruzena are speaking. Klima is pleading to Ruzena, but she obstinately walks away, suggesting that she refuses to have an abortion. Jakub notices Ruzena has left a bottle on the table, filled with blue tablets. He's struck to find the tablets are almost identical to the one given to him by the doctor. In comparing them, he accidentally mixes the two up, and Ruzena returns to find him holding the bottle and grabs it from him before walking away. Jakub then wonders why he didn't do more to stop Ruzena, knowing that he was sentencing her to death by not taking the tablets from her. He goes to Skreta to see if he knows where Ruzena went.

Dr. Škréta reveals to Jakub that his procedure for getting his patients pregnant, and why he is so successful, is that he injects his own semen into the mother using a syringe. He offers Jakub an opportunity to donate some of his semen for the doctor's scheme. Later that evening, Jakub is frightened by the number of children in the town who seem to unnaturally resemble Škréta: they all have large noses and some talk in a nasally voice.

That night, Klima has a concert in the Spa: an agreement he had with Skreta so that he could get an abortion. His wife Kalima surprises him, and he's unable to speak with Ruzena for the rest of the night. A distressed Jakub notices Ruzena in the crowd and is relieved to see that she is still alive. He decides that she must have already taken the pill, but that Dr. Skreta had never given him a tablet of poison. Jakub decides that Skreta must have given him a harmless tablet as to appease his pleas, and that Ruzena would be all right after all. Ruzena goes to Bertlef and Bertlef confesses his love for her. The two sleep together and Ruzena is finally happy.

Day 4

In the morning, Jakub leaves for the border and a distressed Klíma leaves his wife early on to find Růžena, only to be turned away by her. The two meet again at the abortion hearing, and Růžena agrees to an abortion but hints to Klíma that she might retract her decision at any moment. When she returns to the spa, František runs in yelling and tries to convince Růžena to keep the baby which he is convinced is his. The two argue, and Růžena pulls out the tube containing her medicine and ingests the poison tablet. She is killed instantly.

A hysterical František tries to get the police to arrest him when they arrive, claiming that he drove her to kill herself; however, the police are skeptical of any foul play and refuse. Dr. Škréta tells the investigators that Klíma showed up to the abortion hearing as an agreement. The child wasn't actually his, but he agreed to act as if it were in front of the committee so that they would approve of the abortion due to the marital complications a child might have on Klíma. Bertlef is horrified to hear of Ruzena's death, doesn't believe that she killed herself, claiming that she was happy the night before. He tells the investigators that someone must be accused because he believes suicide is the most despicable crime one can do. Without any other leads on who might have wanted Ruzena dead, the police jokingly accuse him of being the only other person with an agenda: Bertlef wanted to dispose of a nagging and manipulative Ruzena before his actual wife arrived the next day. Bertlef exclaims that he was indeed responsible for the death, but the police indicate that they know he did not kill her.

Day 5

The next day, Kamila decides that she will leave Klíma, Jakub sadly reflects on his leaving his home, and Bertlef meets his wife and son at the train station only to notice the unusually large nose of his child.

Under the control of Lord Fuse, Planet Fusion travels through the universe. He is destroying planets by devouring them, and Earth becomes the next target. To do so, he drops Fusion Matter that takes a warped monster-like shape of objects nearby. The goal is to prevent the enemies' plan and defeat them.

''Penrod Jashber'' is more novelistic in form than the preceding books; rather than each chapter standing as a separate story, the bulk of this book has one story arc, of Penrod's pretending to be detective George B. Jashber. Otherwise it is similar: it is written in the same style and takes place at the same time.

''Penrod Jashber'' begins when Penrod's best friend Sam Williams acquires a new pup. The boys squabble about his name, the pup and Penrod's dog Duke rampage through Penrod's house, and as punishment Penrod's parents force him to wear a smelly asafetida bag. Penrod copes with this humiliation by telling tall tales of his exploits to his future girlfriend, lovely Marjorie Jones. Marjorie confesses that the reason she doesn't mind his "asafid'ty" bag is that her mother has made her wear one too.

The detective story arc begins when Penrod further immerses himself in fantasy by penning a hilarious bandit epic starring George B. Jashber, the "notted detective." In the first ''Penrod'' book, he was hard at work on this picaresque adventure novel, with heroic road agent Harold Ramorez menaced by corrupt police detectives. Over time, he comes to see detectives as more interesting, skews the novel toward the exploits of Jashber, and decides to become one. Imitating his movie heroes, he squints his eyes and talks out of the side of his mouth. He paints an office sign in the (empty) stable and acquires an official-looking badge from the cook's nephew who took a mail-order course. To practice, he shadows his school teacher in the evenings.

Now adequately experienced, Penrod enlists Sam and the two Negro boys who live across the alley, Herman and Verman, as assistants. Needing a scoundrel to shadow, Penrod overhears his parents jocularly referring to the polished manners of Penrod's young-adult sister Margaret's boyfriend, Mr. Herbert Hamilton Dade, as being appropriate to a horse thief. The rest of the book concerns the increasingly desperate but futile efforts of Penrod and his gang to prove to themselves that Mr. Dade really does steal horses.

Their efforts are supported by Sam's older brother Robert, a rival for Margaret's affections. This support proves embarrassing when the boys' harassment of Mr. Dade finally sends the boys' fantasy world colliding with the dull reality of the adult world. Distressed by the exposure of his fantasy world, Penrod discards the now-alien persona of Jashber and dissolves the agency, and he and the other boys return to their childish occupations.

Two brothers, David and Peter (Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith), kidnap Tracey (Jennifer Ellison), the stepdaughter of Arnie (Steven Berkoff), an underworld crime boss. After a heated conversation at the kitchen table, Peter and David retrieve the unconscious Tracey from the car trunk. As they try to get her upstairs, Peter gets sidetracked by her chest, not realizing she has woken up. She headbutts him several times, and Peter screams with pain. David manages to get her off him and has to fix Peter's now bloody and broken nose after tying her to the bed frame. The pair hold her for ransom in a secluded country cottage. Things begin to go wrong when Arnie's dimwitted son and stepbrother of Tracey, Andrew (Steve O'Donnell) delivers the ransom. Instead of money, the bag is filled with napkins. David and Peter realize that not only have they been deceived, but Arnie knew about Andrew's involvement in the scheme all along.

After Peter breaks David's phone by accidentally dropping it in water, David goes down to the village to use a telephone box to call in another ransom. While there, he happens across some sinister locals who, upon learning that he and his companions are staying at the Barnarby Cottage, warn him to keep his doors locked and not to wander. Disturbed, David returns to the cottage to find that Tracey — who has proven to be highly intelligent and resourceful, albeit foul-mouthed and somewhat psychopathic — has incapacitated Andrew and abducted Peter.

Some distance away, Peter and Tracey arrive at an ominous-looking farm. Upon entering the house, they soon discover it to be the home of an insane and hideously deformed serial killer known only as the Farmer.

After opening a trapdoor in the kitchen to reveal a secret staircase leading down into the cellar, Tracey is stabbed through the stomach by the Farmer. Terrified, Peter flees upstairs and jumps out of the bedroom window. Tracey survives her injury and calls out for Peter to help her escape, too, with the Farmer in pursuit. Peter incapacitates the Farmer with a shovel, saving Tracey's life. Tracey then urges Peter to kill the madman before he regains consciousness, but he is reluctant.

As the two of them argue, the Farmer comes to and quickly amputates the end of Peter's foot with the shovel. As he is about to kill Peter, Tracey begins mocking him, ordering him to hurry up and do it. Frustrated, the Farmer suddenly turns around and gruesomely decapitates her at mouth-level with the shovel. He then knocks out a hysterical Peter and hangs him by his jacket from a meat hook in the shed.

Meanwhile, Andrew and David discover Andrew's hairdresser Steven (Simon Schatzberger), dying from being disemboweled before setting off through the woods in search of Peter and Tracey, when they stumble across the dead body of one of Arnie's henchmen, who has had his throat slit. Soon after, they arrive at the farm, where they discover a shed full of severed heads. David and Andrew hurry outside, where the Farmer pins David to the ground with a pickaxe through his leg. He then chases Andrew into the nearby horse stables, where he viciously attacks him with a hunting knife before ripping his spine out.

Peter comes to and manages to release himself from the hook and crawl across the ground to David. After making up for a lifetime of squabbling, they vow to fight on and drag themselves back into the farmhouse in search of a phone. The Farmer soon reappears, tossing Andrew's severed head and spine through the window. David attempts to defend his brother, only to be suddenly impaled by The Farmer with the pickaxe. Outraged at seeing his brother murdered, Peter begins to throttle the Farmer to death by strangling him with a length of rope.

The Farmer manages to toss Peter down into the cellar and slam the door shut. But Peter still has the end of the rope, and he continues tugging on it, eventually causing the Farmer to collapse on top of the trap door. With the weight of the body on top of the door, Peter is unable to escape. With nowhere else to go, he descends down into the cellar. He flicks on his cigarette lighter to reveal the Farmer's equally insane and hideous wife and daughters standing all around him. He mutters, defeated, "You must be joking" before they set upon him; the lighter goes out, and Peter screams as they attack him.

After the credits, Arnie and his right-hand men arrive at the farm. As they step up to the front door, the Farmer suddenly rushes out at them with the pickaxe raised above his head. The image freezes as he swings at them with it, and the screen fades to black.

Story

Since the beginning of time, the kingdoms of Heaven and Hell have been at war. A mediator known as the Charred Council arose to maintain "the Balance" of order and stability. The Council created a warrior brotherhood, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (War, Death, Strife, and Fury) to enforce their rules by punishing transgressors. Foreseeing that humans would become crucial to the Balance, the Council declared them a third kingdom, under their protection. Heaven and Hell agreed a truce and sealed it with the Seven Seals, to be broken only when the kingdom of Man had become strong enough to join the Endwar. Breaking the seals would bring about the Apocalypse, with the breaking of the final Seventh Seal calling the Four Horsemen to Earth.

The Horseman of War (Liam O'Brien) arrives on present-day Earth, where the Endwar appears to have begun: armies of angels and demons are engaged in battle, with mankind caught in the middle. Confronting the archangel Abaddon (Troy Baker) of Heaven's army, War is surprised to learn that the Seventh Seal has not been broken and the other Horsemen were not summoned. Abaddon is killed by the gigantic demon Straga (Troy Baker). War battles Straga and gains the upper hand, but mysteriously loses his strength mid-battle. He is saved from death by the Charred Council (Fred Tatasciore), who accuses War of siding with Hell and causing the Apocalypse prematurely. War demands a chance to find the real culprits; the Council agrees, but War is stripped of his powers and bound to a Council servant, the Watcher (Mark Hamill), who is enabled to kill him if he disobeys. War returns to a ruined Earth, where a century has passed since "the Destroyer" annihilated humanity and defeated the forces of Heaven. The stranded remnants of the angelic army have formed a resistance force called the Hellguard, led by Uriel (Moon Bloodgood).

The demon merchant Vulgrim (Phil LaMarr) tells War that to find the Destroyer, he will need to travel to the hellish Black Tower. Vulgrim advises War to seek advice from Samael (Vernon Wells), a demon lord imprisoned for challenging his master's dominance. After being released, Samael explains that four ancient monsters called the Chosen are the guardians of the Black Tower. He asks War to kill them and bring him their hearts so the Tower will open. War slays all four of the Chosen, although it is revealed that their purpose was not to guard the Black Tower but to prevent Samael's return. Samael, revitalised, honours his bargain and opens a pathway to the Tower. He also hints that the Council are keeping War weakened for their own purposes.

Arriving at the Black Tower, War finds Azrael (Keith Szarabajka), the Angel of Death, imprisoned. As War works to release him, Azrael confesses that he and Abaddon conspired to break six of the Seven Seals. The intention was to summon the demon lords to a council of war where they would be ambushed, throwing Hell into disarray. The six Seals would meanwhile be restored, eliminating all evidence. The two angels convinced Ulthane (JB Blanc), a mighty blacksmith from an ancient race, to break and reforge the Seals. However, Abaddon's death ruined the plan, and the Endwar began in earnest.

War frees Azrael and fights a rematch with the demon Straga, whose death causes the Tower to collapse. Azrael transports himself and War to the Garden of Eden, where War visits the Tree of Knowledge to receive a vision. In this vision, War sees that Abaddon went to Hell after his death and was offered the choice to "serve in Heaven or rule in Hell." Knowing he was doomed for punishment in any case, he chose to become the Destroyer. He also guards the unbroken Seventh Seal, which would otherwise call the Four Horsemen to Earth. War is also shown that the Charred Council was aware of the conspiracy; they allowed the Apocalypse to happen and summoned War themselves, knowing he would track down the conspirators to clear his name. War then sees himself slain with a glowing sword. Azrael deduces the sword is the Armageddon Blade, a weapon powerful enough to kill the Destroyer, which has been broken into shards; War gathers the pieces and takes them to Ulthane, who reforges the blade.

Uriel, Abaddon's former lieutenant and leader of the Hellguard, confronts War, whom she still believes guilty of launching the Apocalypse and causing Abaddon's death. She challenges him to the Death Oath, a duel to the death. War is victorious, but spares her life, and reveals the Destroyer's identity as the fallen Abaddon. Enraged, Uriel leads the Hellguard into battle against the Destroyer, but they are defeated, as in War's vision. War then enters the battle with the newly forged Armageddon Blade, refuses the Destroyer's temptation, and after a fierce battle succeeds in killing him.

War retrieves the Seventh Seal from the Destroyer, but is subdued by the Watcher, who knows that if War were to regain his strength, he would turn against the corrupt Council. Uriel intervenes, killing War with the Armageddon Blade as foreseen in his vision, thereby fulfilling their Death Oath. The sword also shatters the Seventh Seal, which restores War to life, and frees him from the Council's control, whereupon he destroys the Watcher. Uriel warns War that he cannot stand alone against the forces of Heaven, Hell, and the Council; he replies that he is not alone, as the other three Horsemen are seen descending to Earth.

Characters

The player character is War, first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Along with the rest of the Horsemen, War is not aligned to Heaven or Hell but instead serves at the whim of the Charred Council, whose purpose is upholding the balance between the two forces. He maintains a strict code of honor and will battle any obstacle in his way. It is prophesied that War and the other Horsemen will descend upon the Earth once the Apocalypse begins.

Throughout the story, War is bound to and accompanied by The Watcher, an emissary charged by the Council to watch over and guide War on his journey. Because of his assigned role, he is constantly skeptical and cynical of War's actions, much to War's annoyance and often anger. He relishes his duty and enjoys needling War and bossing him about simply because he can. War later employs the guidance of Samael, once a mighty and feared demon, now imprisoned, who himself seeks vengeance against the Destroyer, the main antagonist of the story and leader of the victorious forces on Earth. Many other characters become central to the overall plot, recurring at times. Among these is Uriel, leader of Heaven's armies after their first leader, Abaddon, was killed during a major battle; now stranded on Earth, Uriel seeks revenge against those she believes responsible. Another recurring character is Vulgrim, a demon merchant who provides gear and abilities for War in exchange for human souls. Finally there is Ulthane, also known as the Black Hammer, an "Old One" who at first is hostile towards War, but the two quickly become allies; first after Ulthane aids War in entering the Griever's lair, then providing War with a magical revolver and re-forging the Armageddon Blade for him.

Following the events of ''Running the Risk'', Dax and the other Colas are sent to recover. However, during this time off, Lisa experiences a vision which warns her that Gideon is in deadly peril. She and Dax attempt to rescue him, only to find that he is not actually in any sort of danger - at least not yet. But strange and unexplainable electrical faults are taking place all over the country, and the government seems to think that Gideon's powers are responsible. Now they will stop at nothing to find him and contain the threat they believe he poses. Gideon, Dax, Lisa, and Mia set off across the country attempting to outwit their pursuers while also trying to find the real cause of these electrical events to clear Gideon's name.

Jude Madigan (Curtis) suddenly and inexplicably leaves her husband, Robert (Gallagher), and three sons. Three years later, when Robert finally files for divorce, Jude returns and tries to reclaim her former life. Robert refuses and insists on the divorce. Jude does not accept Robert's decision. She tries, unsuccessfully, to seduce him and harasses Robert's new girlfriend, Callie (Whalley). Eventually, Jude manipulates and convinces her eldest son, Kes (Luke Edwards), that Callie is the only person standing in the way of their reunited family.

Influenced by Jude, Kes details a plan to his two brothers, Michael and Ben (Colin Ward and Joey Zimmerman), to scare off Callie, convincing them that it is just a game. As the boys debate the plan, Jude's estranged mother, Lydia (Redgrave), overhears and confronts Kes and threatens to tell their father. Kes tries unsuccessfully to convince his grandmother that it was just a "game" and tries to stop her from calling his father. A brief struggle ensues and Lydia accidentally falls down the stairs.

While in the hospital, Lydia tells Jude she is not about to let her go through with her plans. She also tells Jude that her father "committed a great sin" against Jude, suggesting that Jude's father might have been molesting her from a young age (which might explain Jude's current erratic and sociopathic behavior). Lydia then goes on to say that she had planned on taking Jude away from her father (viewers are led to believe that this is the reason behind Jude's father's suicide). In a fit of rage, Jude then tries to murder her mother by asphyxiation but is interrupted by a nurse, Jude then flees the hospital. In a state of grief, Jude vandalizes her apartment by smashing the windows, furniture, and fixtures.

Meanwhile, the boys, under the guise of playing the game, handcuff Callie and put her on "trial" for destroying their family. They tie her to a chair but when Ben cuts himself on a broken glass, Callie convinces Michael to free her before his brother dies. She runs with him in an attempt to find a hospital.

Kes and Michael get in Callie's car and chase them, but the brakes have been cut by Jude and they go over a cliff, leaving them perched precariously on a tree on the side of the cliff. Callie manages to rescue Michael, but as she tries to rescue Kes, she slips and is left dangling from the car. Jude rushes to "help" by grabbing Callie's hand from Kes. Jude intentionally lets go of Callie's hand, who still manages to hang onto the car with her other hand. However, Jude loses her balance and falls to her death.

The film ends with Robert's emotional embrace of Kes, who is very shaken after having a nightmare of Jude coming back from the dead. Callie is right by Robert's side, comforting them both.

Uneasy Allies

After the events of ''Batman: Year One'', Captain James Gordon misses a session with a marriage counselor again. When he finally returns home, he finds divorce papers filed by his wife, Barbara Kean Gordon. In addition to filing for divorce, she takes their newborn son back to Chicago.

Elsewhere, Dr. Hale Corbett from Gotham State University is holding hostages in Gotham's Saint Frances Cathedral. He has been driven mad by the deaths of his wife and son, who were killed in an automobile accident earlier that morning. Gordon tries to negotiate with the professor, by relating to him as he also just lost his own family. Batman overhears them from the shadows. Batman and Gordon, working together, manage to subdue the grieving man and save the hostages.

Gordon returns to his empty apartment, and finds Batman reading the divorce papers. Batman visits to see how Gordon is holding up after his divorce. Gordon is upset by Batman's sympathy, because he thinks that the Dark Knight could not possibly understand what it is like to lose a family. Batman leaves, but not before replying that he knows what it is like more than the detective thinks.

...And Then There Are...Three?

After the events of ''Batman: Dark Victory'' and before ''Robin: Year One'', Captain Gordon meets Robin for the first time after apprehending Mr. Freeze.

Casualties of War

Set after the events of ''Batman: The Killing Joke'' and ''Batman: A Death in the Family'', Batman and Gordon struggle to find peace after what happened to their loved ones, Barbara Gordon and Jason Todd, to the point where Batman briefly contemplates cutting off contact with Gordon to focus on the mission until Barbara helps him see that doing that would only cause further harm to his friend.

The Ultimate Betrayal

Set during the events of the ''Knightfall'' saga, as the Commissioner is beginning to realize that the man beneath the cape and cowl is not the original Batman, and this suspicion is confirmed after a conversation with Bane. This leads Gordon to begin losing his trust in the Dark Knight.

Comrades in Arms

Set after the events of ''No Man's Land'', at Gotham's Archie Goodwin International Airport, Dr. Hale Corbett returns on vacation to Gotham City with his new family (his wife, Dr. Leslie Becker Corbett and his daughter, Dina) after years moving to California. Batman and Gordon suspect the professor's return is to seek revenge on both of them after what had happened at Saint Frances Cathedral ten years previously. It turned out he only come to show his gratitude to the two of them, giving him the chance to start a new life after the deaths of his first wife and son, and also to fulfill the promise he made to his daughter of meeting a superhero. After Dr. Corbett and his family leave, both men are proud that they made at least one difference to the people that they swore to serve and protect.

Category:Comics by Ed Brubaker

Neelix is killed while participating in a survey mission of a protomatter nebula. Using a technique devised by Seven of Nine, however, the Doctor is able to revive Neelix after being dead for nearly 19 hours. Distressed that he had not perceived the afterlife while he was dead, Neelix begins to question his religious beliefs. With the aid of Chakotay, Neelix embarks on a spiritual vision quest, during which he confronts his dead sister, Alixia, who mocks him and then dies and crumbles into dust. He then finds himself on a slab, surrounded by visions of his shipmates, who tell him that life is irrelevant and that he knows what he has to do.

Convinced that his existence is meaningless and that his life has no purpose, Neelix decides to commit suicide by transporting himself into the nebula. Despite the attempts of his shipmates, Neelix prepares to beam off until Ensign Samantha Wildman arrives to ask Neelix if he could console Naomi, who believes she saw a monster in the replicator and who will only allow Neelix to tuck her in. Realizing that he does, indeed, have purpose in his life, Neelix relents and heads for the Wildmans' quarters. Once there, Naomi, who had heard that Neelix was sick, wonders if a monster had got him. "Yes", Neelix replies, "But I chased him away."

While dancing at the Palais Royale in Akron, Ohio, Bubbles, a cynical blonde chorine, and Judy O'Brien, an aspiring young ballerina, meet Jimmy Harris, the scion of a wealthy family. Both women are attracted to Jimmy, a tormented young man who is still in love with his estranged wife, Elinor.

Back in New York, Bubbles finds work in a burlesque club, while Madame Basilova, the girls' teacher and manager, arranges an audition for Judy with ballet impresario Steve Adams. En route to the audition, Madame Basilova is run over by a car and killed, and Judy, intimidated by the other dancers, flees before she can meet Steve. As she leaves the building, Judy shares an elevator with Steve, who offers her a cab ride, but she is unaware of who he is and rejects his offer.

Soon after, Bubbles, now called "Tiger Lily, the burlesque queen", offers Judy a job as her stooge in the Bailey Brothers burlesque show and, desperate, Judy accepts. One night, both Jimmy and Steve attend the performance, and Judy leaves with Jimmy and tears up the card that Steve left for her. The next night, while at a nightclub with Judy, Jimmy has a fistfight with his ex-wife's new husband, and the next day their pictures appear in the newspaper. Bubbles, furious with Judy for stealing Jimmy, appears at the girl's apartment, where she finds Jimmy drunk on the doorstep and sweeps him away to the marriage bureau.

Meanwhile, Steve's secretary, Miss Olmstead, also sees Judy's picture in the paper and identifies her as the dancer who had come to audition. That night, Steve attends Judy's performance at which the audience is given a lecture by Judy about the evils of viewing women as objects. This is followed by a fight between her and Bubbles over Jimmy. Hauled into night court, Judy is sentenced to ten days in jail but is bailed out by Steve. The next day, when Judy goes to meet her benefactor, she recognizes Steve, who hails her as his new discovery and promises to make her a star.

In Kazakhstan, two young boys see an unknown object fall from the sky. Seconds later, they witness a man being burned alive, and one of the boys is killed by an Alien Rebel who has his eyes and mouth sewn shut. The next day, Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden) leads an investigation of UN peacekeepers of the area. She runs into Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), who has caught Dimitri, the other Kazakh boy. Krycek tells Marita to tell her superiors that "it is all going to hell".

Meanwhile, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) attends a lecture at MIT, where the testimony of Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), an alien abductee, is being presented. Mulder argues against other members of the lecture over the existence of alien life, claiming that it is a lie created to cover up a program of medical experimentation on civilians run by the military industrial complex. When the lecture ends, Mulder is met by Dr. Heitz Werber, who is surprised to see that Mulder has lost his belief in alien life since the last time they met. Werber tells Mulder that he is Cassandra's doctor, and asks him to visit her.

Meanwhile, Krycek, who has beaten Dmitri into telling him what he saw, orders his Russian colleagues to infect him with the black oil. Back in the United States, Werber introduces Mulder to the wheelchair-bound Cassandra, who considers him a hero of hers. She claims that the aliens are in a state of upheaval and that she will be abducted by them again. Mulder tells Cassandra there is nothing he can do for her and leaves.

In Russia, Krycek, working against the orders of his superiors, kidnaps the infected Dmitri and flees to the U.S., sewing shut the boy's eyes, nose, and mouth to keep the black oil from leaving his body. At FBI headquarters, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) meets Agent Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), Cassandra's son, who fears the damage to his reputation if his colleagues learn about his mother. He tells Scully to keep Mulder away from her.

Marita reports to the Syndicate, which expected colonization at a much later date. Krycek offers Dmitri to the Syndicate in exchange for all their research on a vaccine. Meanwhile, Scully talks to Mulder about his meeting with Cassandra. She realizes that she has much in common with Cassandra, including being abducted at Skyland Mountain and having an implant inserted in the base of her neck. Scully visits Cassandra, who immediately realizes that she's a fellow abductee. Scully tells her not to remove the implant. Cassandra assures Scully that she never will, as she looks forward to being abducted again.

A group of abductees meet at Skyland Mountain and are burned alive by more faceless Alien Rebels. Scully and Mulder visit the scene, with Mulder continuing to be very skeptical of any alien involvement. The Syndicate is shocked by the massacre. Mulder and Scully visit Cassandra again, who knew many of the people who died. They encounter Spender, who is upset about their visit with his mother. Krycek is met by Marita and it is revealed that they are secretly lovers, conspiring against the Syndicate. When Krycek returns to the cell where Dmitri is held, he finds him gone, and the Well-Manicured Man there instead.

Mulder finds that the victims of the attack had implants in their necks and all claimed to be abductees. He believes they were led there by the military, not aliens. Mulder is called by Marita, who kidnapped Dmitri. Dmitri pulls the stitches off his eyes, resulting in Marita getting infected with the black oil. Mulder calls Cassandra, looking for Scully, but Jeffrey answers and reveals that Cassandra is gone. At that moment Cassandra is with a group of abductees, including Scully and Dmitri, at the Ruskin Dam, brought there by Syndicate assassin Quiet Willy. The abductees see a UFO appear in the sky. Suddenly screams are uttered as a man is set on fire and two faceless aliens arrive.Meisler (1999), pp 173–184

University student Seo In-ha meets a young woman on the subway and instantly falls in love. After joining a local book club, he is pleasantly surprised to find that the woman, Mun Hee-jae, is also a member. Although he makes a poor first impression, In-ha and Hee-jae eventually become friends, though he is left disappointed when she later rejects him, as she is more interested in another student, Kang Seong-ho.

Several years pass, with In-ha and Hee-jae going their separate ways. While Hee-jae and Seong-ho prepare to get married, In-ha, now a producer at a local radio station, still pines after his first love. When Hee-jae survives a car crash that kills her fiancé and parents, In-ha keeps a respectful distance. After a while he resumes his pursuit of her by reading out letters on his radio show, and finally winning her heart, the couple get married.

However, their happiness is short-lived, as Hee-jae becomes pregnant only to discover that she has stomach cancer, and must choose between her own life and the life of her unborn child.

The Princesses, Joanna and Elizabeth, have been kidnapped by Death and the San Dimas duo must travel through time to find and rescue them.

At the suggestion of their teacher, fourth grade schoolchildren in imaginary "Jabukovac, near Veliko Selo", create an association and organize a field trip to the nearby town. There, they eat chocolate in a chocolate factory and spend the evening at a movie theater. As they are supposed to return to their village, their teacher gets ill and must stay in a hospital. The children travel back alone, and the train gets blocked by a snowdrift. With the help of the children, the railroad workers manage to clear the way.

''Twitch'' tells the story of a young girl torn between two worlds: her domestic life, where she must care for her mother who uses a wheelchair, and her escape into the emerging world of sexuality with her eager, hormone-addled boyfriend. Leah's mother plays the Mother role in an essentially autobiographical role for the filmmaker. The making of the film was a component of the IFC series ''Film School'', chronicling the first time filmmaking efforts of four New York University graduate film school students.

In a town highly suspicious of the government and of outsiders in general, the arrival of a charismatic figure from the desert—Oyster—occasions an intensification of the town's insularity and repression of dissident voices. The conjunction of conservative forms of Christianity and anti-government landowners is ripe for the messianic presence of Oyster and the cult community he establishes, a community closely integrated into the shadowy capitalism of the area's illegal opal trafficking.

The fragmented structure of the novel, in which various moments in the past are interspersed with events in the present, generates heightened suspense and tension as its several sub-plots come together in the apocalyptic destruction of the town and the cult. The paranoia and violence with which the town polices its "lost" status are repeatedly delineated, until events come to a head and the vicious forms of control begin to unravel.

Women are crucial to the destabilisation and destruction of the menace represented above all by powerful men. The discourse of proud outsiderness on the part of these men is highlighted as being hypocritical and self-serving, while the real outsiders are revealed to be mostly women, and men who do not wield social power.

In a prelude to the main story, a trade expedition of van Rijn's employees barely escapes from a planet after an attack by the 'primitive' natives, who have been poorly treated by other traders only out to make money.

In the story proper, chemists of the Polesotechnic League are working to produce elements that theoretically exist on the 'island of stability' of the periodic table; stable elements that are surrounded by short-lived unstable ones. Progress is nil, when an organization appears, offering commercial quantities of 'supermetals' for sale. The prices are high but economic and the source of supply is not revealed. The metals bring about a revolution in engineering, but attempts to duplicate the metals or find the source of the metals are fruitless.

Although rich enough to retire and reluctant to leave his home comforts for the rigors of space travel, Nicholas van Rijn takes up the challenge and charters ''Dewfall'', a specially and expensively equipped space ship from, and crewed by Ythrians, a flying sentient. He takes with him his favorite granddaughter, Coya Conyon, an astrophysicist.

The expedition locates the source of the supermetals, an uncharted planet which Coya terms 'Eka-world'. They are intercepted by a fleet of ships guarding it and invited to surrender on peaceable terms. But van Rijn does not take kindly to the idea of an extended exile away from his home luxuries, and the crew plan a risky escape manoeuvre using data pre-calculated by Coya. They barely succeed in their escape.

''Dewfall'' makes a rendezvous with van Rijn's spaceship ''Muddlin' Through'', and transfers to it. van Rijn proposes to demand a cut of 10% of the income from the Supermetals consortium in recompense for their trying to capture him, David Falkayn and Coya persuade him to both keep the location a secret and stay out of the affairs of Supermetals. They remind van Rijn that he does not need the money, which is greatly needed by several races whose development they are helping. Very reluctantly, van Rijn agrees.

It's 1954 in Austin, Texas, and a slightly pregnant Nadine Hightower (Kim Basinger) is in a lot of trouble. She's gone to sleazy photographer Raymond Escobar's (Jerry Stiller) studio to reclaim some photos from him because they were "lots more artistic than I bargained for." Escobar assures her that he knows Hugh Hefner and she will certainly make it to the top. But Nadine has second thoughts, as she wants her photos, and when she goes back to the studio to retrieve them, gets caught up in the middle of a murder scene. She grabs an envelope with her name on it and hightails it out of there.

Unfortunately, she gets the wrong pictures. She has stolen plans for a new highway development that ends up in the hands of her estranged husband Vernon (Jeff Bridges), a handsome, wise-mouthed bum who owns a bar called the Blue Bonnet which no one goes to and that's not the worst of it. He's fooling around with a former Pecan Queen who works for the Lone Star Brewing company (Glenne Headly). He sees a way to make a bundle of money in all this.

Shady real estate kingpin Buford Pope (Rip Torn) wants the plans back and will stop at nothing to get them. The couple is soon on the run not only from Buford but from police who believe they've killed Escobar. All this time, Nadine and Vernon want a divorce, and Nadine hasn't told Vernon she's pregnant with his baby.

Lönnrot is a famous detective in an unnamed city that may or may not be Buenos Aires. When a rabbi is killed in his hotel room on the third of December, Lönnrot is assigned to the case. Based on a cryptic message left on the rabbi's typewriter—"The first letter of the name has been uttered"—the detective determines that the murder was not accidental. He connects this with the Tetragrammaton, the unspeakable four-letter name of God, and with his criminal nemesis Red Scharlach.

Exactly one month later, on the third of January, a second murder takes place with the message "The second letter of the name has been uttered" left at the crime site. Predictably, the same thing happens on the third of February, with the message reading "The last letter of the name has been uttered."

However, Lönnrot isn't convinced that the spree is at an end, as the Tetragrammaton contains four letters—two of them being the same letter repeated. Furthermore, he surmises that the murders may actually have taken place on the fourth of December, January, and February, respectively, since a new day begins at sunset within the Jewish calendar (the murders were all committed at night). He predicts that the next month will see one final killing.

In the meantime, the detective's office receives an anonymous tip to view the locations of the murders on a map, revealing that each coincides to the point of an equilateral triangle. Recognizing that the southern end of the city has yet to be terrorized, Lönnrot extrapolates that the complete pattern will create a rhombus (the south appears frequently in Borges's writings as an allusion to the Argentine frontier, and by extension, as a symbol of solitude, lawlessness, and fate).

Lönnrot arrives at the site a day in advance, prepared to surprise the murderers. He is grabbed in the dark by two henchmen, and Scharlach emerges from the shadows.

Scharlach reveals that Lönnrot arrested his brother—who then died in prison—and that Scharlach swore to avenge his death. Killing the rabbi was accidental, but Scharlach used Lönnrot's tendency to over-intellectualize (a police report in the newspaper clued him in to the fact that Lönnrot was following a kabbalistic pattern to track the criminals) to lure Lönnrot to this place. Lönnrot becomes calm in the face of his death and declares that Scharlach made his maze too complex: Instead of a four sided rhombus it should have been but a single line of murders, with each subsequent murder taking place on the halfway point (A 8 km from B, C 4 km from each, D 2 km from A and C). Lönnrot says that philosophers have been lost on this line, so a simple detective should feel no shame to do the same (a reference to Zeno's Paradox). Scharlach promises that he will trap Lönnrot in this simpler labyrinth in their next "incarnation", and then kills him.

April Flowers (Michelle Meyrink) is kept away from boys by her overprotective mother (Barbara Harris) because flames have a tendency to spontaneously erupt whenever her hormones are aroused; for April, "protection" on a dinner date is carrying a fire extinguisher. As her mother explains, April is a "fire girl," whose very unstable body chemistry causes spontaneous combustion when she is aroused. As such, the only men April meets more than once are firefighters.

When April reconnects with Andy (William O'Leary), a former neighbor who has returned to April's life, he challenges April's and her mother's assumption and presses his luck to prove to her that her hormones are not, in fact, explosive. Hijinks result; as Andy tries to prove his point and get the girl, he is thwarted at every turn by April's mother. Further complications ensue when April befriends a lonely, obsessive pyromaniac named "Ellen" (Wallace Shawn), who becomes incensed at the constant mishearing of his real name "Ellen" for "Helen," after which he throws Bic lighter flicking snits, trying to set his tormentors ablaze.

A nine-member team of Academy scholars from the planet Avalon led by the astrophysicist Karoly d'Branin are searching for the ''volcryn'', an enigmatic alien species with an advanced interstellar travel technology. The main protagonist is Melantha Jhirl, a dark-skinned genetically engineered human who is a head taller than the other scholars. Due to limited funds, d'Branin has hired the services of the ''Nightflyer'', a modified trader owned by captain Royd Eris. The enigmatic Royd keeps to his own sphere of the ship, preferring to correspond with the passengers via hologram. Royd secretly spies on the passengers using computer monitors.

Over the next five weeks, the passengers speculate about the secretive nature of their mysterious captain. The team's telepath Thale Lasamer senses there is something dangerous aboard the ''Nightflyer''. The team's psipsych Agatha Marij-Black drugs Thale with the drug psionine-4 to keep him calm. Things start to take a turn for the worse after the xenotech Alys Northwind accidentally cuts her finger with a kitchen knife. As tensions among the passengers escalate due to the ship's cramped and claustrophobic quarters, captain Royd tells the crew that he is the cross-sex clone of his late trader mother and has lived his entire life in zero gravity space.

Not trusting Royd, Agatha gives Thale a drug called esperon and tells him to read Royd's mind. However, a mysterious force causes Thale's head to explode. Agatha goes into shock. Despite growing unrest among the crew, d'Branin still proceeds with the voyage due to his determination to find the ''volcryn''. Later that night, the cyberneticist Lommie Thorne and Alys attempt to hack into the ship's computer systems in an attempt to investigate captain Royd. A mysterious force opens the airlock, killing the two scholars and causing significant damage to the ''Nightflyer''.

Despite their mutual distrust, the scholars agree to help Royd make repairs to the ship's damaged structure. The xenobiologist Rojan Christopher attempts to cut his way into captain Royd's quarters with a portable cutting laser but is killed by an unseen force. The linguists Dannel and Lindran go to investigate but are also killed by the mysterious force, which possesses their bodies. Royd informs d'Branin and Melantha that the ship is haunted by the ghost of his late Mother. While d'Branin and Agatha travel in a gravity sled to seek the ''volcryn'', Melantha and Royd attempt to retake the ship from Royd's Mother. d'Branin discovers that the ''volcryn'' are giant space-faring creatures that live in space.

Melantha manages to destroy the possessed corpses of Dannel and Lindran in the ship's mass conversion unit. Royd manages to subdue his Mother by restoring the ship's gravity but is killed in the process. He becomes a ghost and manages to take control of the ship from Mother. Due to the danger of the ghostly entities aboard the ship, Melantha decides to spend her remaining days aboard the ''Nightflyer'', rebuffing Royd's pleas to repair the ship. Before she dies, she intends to destroy the central crystal and clear the ship's computers before setting a course to the closest inhabited world. Melantha vows not to leave Royd alone with his dead mother.

In 1893, a young Arab girl arrives in Galveston, Texas as a stowaway on a ship with her mother. Her mother dons a magical bracelet, and lies helplessly on the boat as a malevolent jinn murders everyone on board. The girl manages to flee the scene, taking with her a brass lamp and the bracelet.

Many years later, three criminals—two men and a woman—burglarize a mansion owned by the now-elderly woman. When confronted by the criminals, the woman attempts to fight them, but one of the men, Harley, kills her with a hatchet. Harley finds the brass lamp in a lock box. Unbeknownst to him, the genie is released from inside and possesses the old woman's corpse, violently murdering the three burglars.

After surveying the crime scene, an officer sends the evidence, including the lamp and bracelet, for display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. From inside the lamp, the genie observes the museum's curator, Dr. Bressling, cataloguing the newly arrived artifacts. Dr. Bressling later determines the brass lamp dates back to 3500 BC. The museum archaeologist, Dr. Wallace, is visited by his teenage daughter, Alex, who surreptitiously tries on the bracelet. She and her father subsequently get into an argument about his demanding work schedule, during which Alex tells him she wishes he would die. Afterward, Alex finds herself unable to remove the bracelet from her wrist, and notices a red jewel on the lamp glowing in conjunction with the bracelet.

The next day, Alex and her classmates take a field trip to the museum. There, Dr. Wallace greets Alex's teacher, Eve, whom he is dating. Alex secretly enters her father's office to further inspect the lamp, during which the jinn possesses her. After, Alex convinces her boyfriend Ted and her friends — couples Babs and Ross, and Gwen and Terry — to go on an "outing" to secretly spend the night at the museum. Alex's abusive ex-boyfriend, Mike, learns of the outing and plans to sabotage it. Meanwhile, the genie levitates Dr. Bressling's body and decapitates him with a ceiling fan in his office. It also uses a spear to murder an opera-singing security guard who works in the museum.

That night at the museum, Alex distracts the security guard, presumably sending him to his death as she is still possessed at this time, then lets her friends inside the museum. The group enter the museum, where Alex leads them to the basement where they plan to stay the night and elude the building's security guards. After Babs spills beer on her pants, she and Ross go to the specimen room to use the bath. The jinn tears Ross in two, before reviving and unleashing jars of poisonous snakes that bite Babs to death while she bathes. Gwen interrupts her and Terry's lovemaking to ask for a refreshment, which Terry goes in search of. He enters the specimen room to grab a beer and finds the bodies of Babs and Ross. In his horror, he takes no notice of a snake entering his pants. The trouser snake promptly bites him to death, leaving him in a pool of his own vomit.

Meanwhile, Mike and his friend, Tony, who broke into the museum earlier, have been rigging the place to torment the others. Having blocked the door to the room Alex is in and tied the door handle of the specimen room, they go to torment Gwen. Donning masks they find in an artifact storage area, they find Gwen attired in tribal clothing and proceed to harass her. Mike begins to rape Gwen while Tony watches, but the jinn interrupts, killing all three of them. Alex and Ted hear their screams, and rush to the scene. They run in terror from the murder scene and try to escape the museum. The jinn possesses a mummy, which it uses to kill Ted. Meanwhile, while Dr. Wallace and Eve are having a dinner date, they realize that Alex lied about her plans that night, and quickly rush to the museum.

Dr. Wallace and Eve find Alex fleeing through the museum, chased by the jinn, which has revealed its true monstrous form. The jinn tells Alex she is to be the new keeper of the lamp. Pursued by the jinn, the three manage to flee outside, but the jinn kills Dr. Wallace, which neither Alex nor Eve witness. The jinn then animates Dr. Wallace's corpse in an attempt to trick them. Realizing she must destroy the lamp to banish the jinn, Alex throws it into an incinerator inside the museum.

Bridget Raynes has typical teenage problems—clumsiness, lack of popularity, an unrequited crush, oblivious parents—but they are compounded by her suppressed magical powers, or perhaps her loss of sanity. She sees spirits, especially the quarrelsome "threshold guardian" xiii, reads minds, moves objects by thought, and casts "circles of safety" spells. But her powers inspire more fear than awe in her, and she continues to avoid them just when they are needed most. Her crush Jordan is abandoned in his own home; new girl Althea is being tormented at school while on a secret mission; school bully Woody is growing more dangerous; even the natural world is threatened and threatening. Only her aunt Cait, a rumored witch herself, has any sympathy for Bridget, but she must decide once and for all to accept her powers or not.

Category:1999 American novels Category:Young adult fantasy novels Category:American young adult novels Category:American fantasy novels Category:1999 fantasy novels

Two years have passed since Kim's first voyage to the magical dream realm of Magic Moon, but then his old friend and advisor, the wizard Themistocles, appears to him in everyday situations, making him realize that something is wrong and that he must return to Magic Moon. After some trouble trying, Kim succeeds, only to find the dream realm very different from how it used to be: machines and greed have found their way into the simple life of the inhabitants, and an overall bitterness even affects his old friends Rangarig and Gorg.

Kim discovers an even more terrifying secret: the children of Magic Moon are mysteriously disappearing; some of them even appear, oblivious to anything around them, in Kim's world! Apparently, the dwarves, who have mysteriously appeared along with the machines, seem to be behind this, but the secret goes much deeper than that, the children or "moon children" have powers to communicate with Satan. These children also have a spiritual connection with living things and the weather like plants, animals, wind, and rain. Their connections can also mix sometimes and can the ability to use the other powers.

Gwenore for years has been punished and imprisoned by her evil witch mother Rhiamon, but she finally escapes with the aid of her slave-servant Brennan, her friend Tom, and a mysterious and seemingly apostate priest Caddaric. She first takes sanctuary at an abbey, then at an alternative home of gifted women. Along the way, she learns about her natural and her magical gifts in the arts and in healing, as the women become her teachers; from Father Caddaric she finally learns of the spellbound destiny he created for her to combat her wicked mother. She escapes to the kingdom of Lir, where she is made slave-governess of the four children who are to be transformed to swans before Gwenore's ultimate showdown with her mother.

Category:2005 American novels Category:Young adult fantasy novels Category:American young adult novels Category:American fantasy novels Category:Viking Press books

Part 1

Sarah Jane receives a puzzle box from a Veron Soothsayer, with the instruction to give it to the person she most trusts. Sarah Jane gives Maria the puzzle box. A meteor is on collision course with Earth, and Sarah Jane has set up, but not yet activated via Mr Smith, a force field to deflect the meteor. The next morning, Maria wakes to find that Sarah Jane and Luke have gone missing, but no one besides Maria knows who Sarah Jane or Luke are. A woman called Andrea Yates has apparently taken Sarah Jane's place.

Investigating, Maria finds a 1964 newspaper report, stating that a thirteen-year-old Sarah Jane Smith died after falling off a pier, where she was playing with her friend, Andrea Yates. As Maria watches, the names of the deceased and the survivor on the report switch before her eyes and, at one point, hears Sarah Jane's disembodied voice calling out to her. When Maria goes to Andrea to talk to her about the report, Andrea suddenly panics and unceremoniously shows Maria out before she rushes to her attic, where she takes out a second puzzle box. She now remembers a mysterious hooded figure, who appears and offers to make Maria disappear. After Andrea reluctantly accepts, he dispatches a small alien, a Graske, who captures Maria just after her father, Alan, picks up the first puzzle box (which shielded her from the ripple effects), which Maria dropped during her escape from the Graske. When Alan's ex-wife Chrissie comes round, he discovers she cannot remember their daughter. Meanwhile, Maria escapes from the Graske and finds herself on a beach promenade near two girls. They introduce themselves as Andrea Yates and Sarah Jane Smith.

Part 2

After failing to dissuade Andrea and Sarah Jane from going to the pier, Maria is recaptured by the Graske and taken to join the adult Sarah Jane on a white misty plain, limbo. The mysterious figure explains he has removed Sarah Jane from Earth's timeline so the meteor will destroy it and create the chaos on which he feeds; The Doctor will be his next target.

Alan accompanies Chrissie to Andrea's birthday party. Remembering Maria's suspicions, he questions Andrea, who takes him to the attic and sorrowfully reveals the truth. When Andrea fell off the pier and Sarah Jane was unable to save her, a voice offered to switch the girls' places and Andrea, terrified, accepted. The figure appeared and gave Andrea the puzzle box, then removed himself from her memory; Maria's questions made Andrea remember the deal she made with the figure. Alan is now chased into the street by the Graske after Andrea tearfully throws away his puzzle box to ensure that he cannot protect himself but he knocks it down, then uses its device to bring back Maria.

They return to the attic, where Sarah Jane appears in the mirror and explains to Andrea that witnessing her death caused tremendous pain for her and gave her the resolve to fight pointless deaths herself. When the figure reappears (called The Trickster by Alan), Andrea (now finally seeing that she had been used) explains she has changed her mind about the deal and throws her puzzle box at the mirror, smashing both and undoing the changes to the timeline. Back in 1964, Andrea falls to her death, leaving the 13-year-old Sarah Jane devastated. The modern-day Sarah Jane and Luke reappear in the attic and activate Mr Smith. The party guests, including Chrissie and Clyde, have learned from television news about the incoming meteor, and are relieved to see it suddenly diverted from its fall. The episode ends with Alan demanding an explanation of Maria's involvement with aliens and supercomputers.

Continuity

• The Graske also featured in the interactive episode of ''Doctor Who'', "Attack of the Graske". Sarah Jane states that there was Graske activity on Earth a couple of years ago, possibly referring to that episode.
• Sarah mentions previous times she saved the Earth and thwarted alien invasions, including the Bane ("Invasion of the Bane"), the Slitheen (''Revenge of the Slitheen'') and the Gorgons (''Eye of the Gorgon''). She also mentions that she helped defeat the Patriarchs of the Tin Vagabond. The Church of the Tin Vagabond was previously mentioned in the 2006 ''Doctor Who'' episode, "The Satan Pit".
• The Trickster threatens the Doctor when in limbo. This is the second time that the Doctor has been explicitly named in the series, the first being in ''Revenge of the Slitheen''. The Trickster makes good on this threat in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "Turn Left", when a creature from "[his] brigade" assaults Donna Noble.
• Sarah Jane's address is identified as 13 Bannerman Road, as it is throughout the later series; it had been 21 Bannerman Road in the preceding two serials, yet the sign on the brick wall next to the Smiths' driveway still says 21.

Part 1

Sarah Jane and her companions investigate claims of sightings of a ghostly nun at Lavender Lawns, the local nursing home. Meanwhile, Maria's mother, Chrissie, moves into her ex-husband Alan's house, but succeeds only in causing further problems with the family. Back at Lavender Lawns, an old lady gives Luke an ancient talisman, which is really the key to a portal in space and time. They find that a group of nuns are hiding an age-old creature, the Gorgon. When Sarah Jane refuses to give the talisman to the nuns, they kidnap Luke and Clyde and take the Gorgon and Maria to Sarah Jane's house where the Gorgon turns Maria's father to stone.

Part 2

Having got what they came for, the nuns and Gorgon leave. Luke and Clyde escape from their entrapment via a secret passage. Mr Smith tells Maria and Sarah Jane that Alan is retrievable until 16:00. Luke and Clyde see the Gorgon stumble, but are unable to prevent the talisman beginning the process of joining the Gorgon Homeworld with Earth. The Gorgon - a parasite inside the Abbess - chooses Sarah Jane as its next host. Chatting with Bea reveals to Maria that the talisman can revert those turned to stone. Clyde distracts the nuns long enough that Luke grabs the talisman, disconnecting the portal. However, Sarah Jane and both boys are recaptured and locked in another room, though Sarah Jane is soon taken and tied next to the portal. Luke and Clyde escape again. The Gorgon plots to transfer itself and have Sarah Jane as its new host. The nuns blindfold Sarah Jane to prevent her from turning to stone and the Gorgon begins the transfer but Maria arrives and uses a mirror to revert the transfer and turn the Gorgon - and Abbess - to stone, freeing the nuns of mind-control. Maria disconnects the talisman and the portal shuts down forever. The talisman brings Alan back to flesh and blood and Chrissie leaves, reuniting with Ivan.

Part 1

When ''Combat 3000'', the new laser-tag centre, arrives near Sarah Jane, a young teenager called Lance Metcalf visits it, where he mysteriously disappears. When Sarah Jane starts investigating, she discovers 24 children have previously gone missing. Meanwhile, Luke tries to master being funny but can't quite do it. He also doesn't understand games. Therefore, Clyde takes Luke to ''Combat 3000''. Sarah Jane soon discovers that there have been mysterious storms at the time of the disappearances and that Mr Grantham and Kudlak are working for The Mistress, leader of ''Combat 3000''. Luke and Clyde manage to survive Round One and are challenged to make it to the door to the championships, facing other expert ''Combat 3000'' players. When Luke and Clyde are very close to the door, they are attacked. Soon, Clyde and Luke manage to escape and are locked in a room where they mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, Mr Grantham points a gun at Sarah Jane and Maria but Sarah Jane uses her sonic lipstick to help her escape. Maria and Sarah Jane arrive in a different room where they are then confronted by Kudlak.

Part 2

They successfully escape Kudlak after creating a diversion, and return to Mr Smith, who informs them of who Kudlak is and the background to his race. He is a member of the Uvodni race, and they were part of a planetary alliance fighting against the Malakh. The Malakh won the ensuing battle, but the Uvodni would not quit, and continued fighting. Eventually, Kudlak was injured on the front line and forced to leave fighting to others. He was thus sent out as part of an Imperial Fleet to recruit "warriors" from other worlds. His ship [and, likely, all the others] were led by a Mistress, who kept the War-adrenaline in Kudlak alive. After decades of recruiting (mostly Terran) children via war-games – called ''Combat 3000'' – Kudlak – or rather Mr Grantham – abducted Clyde and Luke. Meanwhile, Luke and Clyde rescue other children from their crates, including Lance and a girl called Jen.

Mr Grantham breaks into Sarah Jane's home, but is overpowered by electrocution. Back on the Uvodni ship, the children make their way to a shuttlecraft, but are again captured. Sarah Jane and Maria blackmail Mr Grantham into transmatting them to the Uvodni ship, where they find and talk to The Mistress. When Kudlak brings the children to The Mistress, everyone is reunited. Preparing to kill them, Kudlak is stopped by Luke, who has discovered a message made by the Uvodni Emperor ten years ago, revealing an armistice has been made with the Malakh. Not programmed to recognise "peace" as a concept, the computer Mistress had buried the message and kept leading Kudlak in recruitments. With the truth revealed, Kudlak destroys The Mistress, releases the children and swears to do what he can to reunite all the surviving past recruits with their families.

Part 1

Following on from Alan's discovery of what his daughter, Maria, gets up to with Sarah Jane in ''Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?'', he threatens to move house again, only to have a change of heart when he sees how upset Maria is. His condition for not moving away, however, is that he is kept up to date with their battles against aliens.

The next day, the news report on a family searching for their son, Ashley, who has been missing for five months. However, when a picture of Ashley is shown, it brings a shock, since he looks exactly like Luke. Mr Smith compares their DNA, and confirms that Luke and Ashley are the same person; apparently Luke was not "grown" by the Bane, but was a kidnapped boy. Chrissie calls the police and reports Sarah Jane as a child abductor; Sarah Jane is arrested and the police release Luke into the custody of Ashley's parents, Jay and Heidi, and Sarah Jane kept by the police, only for UNIT to intervene and have her released, although the police order her not to go near Luke again. Depressed, Sarah Jane decides she was wrong to involve children and tells Maria to stay away from her. Mr Smith suggests to her that she have a case to take her mind off things, and she visits a research centre where alien technology is being used to conduct experiments into telekinesis, where she meets an annoying child prodigy, Nathan. That night, when Luke's new parents watch television, they switch over to a channel that glows green and announce to somebody they call "Xylok", that they "have the boy".

Luke's new parents are extremely rude towards him, keeping him locked up in his room at all times. Clyde and Maria play truant to visit him but Maria is caught by their French teacher, leaving only Clyde to visit Luke in his room. He arrives at the house but Heidi does not allow him to see Luke. Heidi claims that her son is a keen skateboarder, which worries Clyde as he knows Luke has a poor sense of balance and is a dreadful skateboarder. To prove her statements, Heidi gives Clyde a photo of her, Jay and Luke together before closing the door. Clyde decides to bring the photo to Mr Smith, so that he could analyse it. Luke goes frantic upon seeing his friend leaving the house, and desperately begins making attempts to escape. His "parents" are meeting with Nathan just as he is breaking out of his room, with the result that he fails to escape, but succeeds in discovering that his parents are actually Slitheen using improved compression technology (having duped the public into thinking that Luke was their son), and Nathan is the same Slitheen child who Luke encountered previously in ''Revenge of the Slitheen'', now in a new disguise, and he will have his revenge.

Mr Smith, meanwhile, sends Sarah Jane back to the lab to steal one of the headsets there, which he says he needs to analyze to work out Nathan's plans. Clyde gets to the house only seconds after Sarah Jane has left, but takes the photo to Mr Smith anyway, only for Mr Smith to confess that he faked the photo and that he is the Xylok. Mr Smith then fires a bolt of energy at Clyde, causing him to vanish.

Part 2

Clyde awakes to find himself inside Mr Smith as Sarah Jane returns from the Pharos Institute, having successfully stolen a telekinetic headset. Elsewhere, Maria and Alan go to Luke’s new home, where they find a skin suit and Maria realises that Heidi and Jay are Slitheen, and that they have taken Luke. Alan then receives a message on his computer from Clyde, who states Mr Smith has turned evil. Alan, Maria and Sarah Jane confront Mr Smith and are nearly killed as it fires a bolt of energy from a built-in gun.

Luke is tied up and taken to the Pharos Institute by the Slitheen, where they test his abilities. Luke overcomes the Slitheen and escapes, as Sarah Jane, Maria and Alan arrive. Working together, they discover Mr Smith's intentions with Luke and Alan adapts a computer virus that could destroy Mr Smith. Using the Slitheen teleporter, Sarah Jane arrives in her attic, where Mr Smith is using Luke to crash the Moon into the Earth, to release other Xylok from within the Earth at the cost of the planet and its moon. Clyde returns when Mr Smith states he is merciful, but threatens the duo with its gun. Sarah Jane unlocks the safe and K9 launches several laser beams at Mr Smith. K9 and Mr Smith battle and Sarah Jane inserts the virus, which makes Mr Smith forget its purpose. As the moon grows closer to the Earth, Sarah Jane tells Mr Smith it has a new purpose: to safeguard planet Earth.

The moon returns to its original position, K9 goes back to the safe to guard the black hole and the Slitheen return to Raxacoricofallapatorius. As Sarah Jane, Maria, Luke, Clyde, Alan and Chrissie watch the ship leave, Sarah Jane reflects how she never thought she could be part of a family. It is implied that all charges against Sarah Jane are dropped, resulting in her gaining full custody over Luke.

Two refugees, the Brauns, an elderly medical doctor and his 20-something-year-old daughter arrive in the USA from Nazi-controlled Austria.

They become a much-needed physician and nurse in a small North Dakota farm town. The town is located in the area later known as the Dust Bowl, and is being hit hard by the drought and resultant dust storms.

The local farmers and townspeople want to try to save their farms and the town by adopting new farming methods, but are eventually convinced by the Department of Agriculture, and the continuing dust storms to pack up the whole town and move en-masse to an undeveloped portion of Oregon. There a new dam is set to create a water supply, enabling them to build a new farming community.

In a then-contemporary version of an old wagon train, the town moves as a convoy of cars to Oregon, under John Phillips's leadership, not without differences of opinion and friction among the followers.

The doctor and his daughter take a detour to San Francisco when they learn that the daughter's fiance was not killed by the Nazis in Austria, but has instead come to America. However, the fiance has embraced Nazism, and their different ideologies now mean marriage is not possible. The doctor and his daughter rejoin the transplanted town in Oregon, where the daughter marries Phillips instead (John Wayne).

Torch singer Bijou Blanche has been kicked off one South Seas island after another. She is accompanied by naval deserter Edward Patrick 'Little Ned' Finnegan and magician/pickpocket Sasha Mencken. Eventually, she meets a handsome young naval officer, Lt. Dan Brent, and the two fall in love. When Brent vows to marry Bijou, his commander and others plead with him to leave her.

Three best friends journey through high school, college and their later lives, as they remember all of their adventures. Joanne is a sweet, naive southern girl. Mary is very confident. Kathy is the planner.

''Act 1:'' In high school in 1963, the three girls are the popular cheerleaders and are planning all of the social events.

''Act 2:'' Joanne, Mary and Kathy are in college in the late 1960s, living together in the same sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, still planning events. Kathy expresses confusion about what she wants to do after college.

''Act 3:'' Joanne marries Ted, her longtime boyfriend, and becomes extremely conservative. Mary opens an erotic art gallery and explores sexual liberation. Kathy ends up cynical and living day to day in New York City, with no job, and reads all of the books she was supposed to read in college. When they meet at Kathy's fabulous apartment in New York in 1974, they end up fighting. Joanne gets drunk and talks about how she never has a break from her kids and her husband Ted never lets her drink. Incensed by Joanne's sanctimonious airs, Mary reveals she has had an affair with Joanne's husband Ted. Joanne refuses to believe her and ultimately tells her, "Go fuck yourself!" and leaves the party in a huff. Kathy and Mary close the play by drinking "to forget" their "bygone days" together.

Tony Mareda, Jr., a former Olympic athlete and world-renowned private detective, is driving across the country when he is attacked by mobsters. Chased to the sleepy backwater town of Beamsville, Tony ducks into the local drive-in theater, where he is followed by his pursuers. As Tony takes out the hit men amidst the parked cars, a pink meteor roars overhead and crashes in the nearby woods.

The meteor's spectacular landing leads the townspeople at the drive-in to rush out in search of it. As the young couples search the woods, however, the women begin to hear a ringing sound coming from the glowing pink rock that turns them into lusty nymphomaniacs. Now under the thrall of the meteor, they protecting it by seducing the men. One of the few who avoids the effect is the local TV weatherman, Clip Bacardi, who, having discovered a small fragment of the meteor, it too engrossed by it to notice the attempts by his temporarily aroused girlfriend, librarian Mary Ann Kowalski, to come on to him.

The next morning, the local authorities discover an empty crater where the meteor landed, with the men who went looking for it in catatonic states scattered throughout the woods. Facing a challenge from Mary Ann in the upcoming election, Beamsville's mayor orders the town deputy to enlist Tony Mareda's help in finding out what happened to the men. When Clip goes on the air that evening with his fragment, however, the sound it emits transforms all of the women watching the broadcast into the meteor's servants. Learning of Tony's investigation, the women seduce a key witness and, under Mary Ann's direction, begin to take control of the town.

Having stumbled into the women's plot, Clip narrowly escapes their takeover of the television station. When he informs the mayor, the men form a posse to hunt for the meteor. As they search the woods, Clip encounters a scantily-clad Mary Ann, who nearly incapacitates him before Tony is able to render her unconscious using chloroform. After placing her in the town jail, Tony and Clip go back into the woods and track the meteor to a cave, where they narrowly escape a group of women who arrive to worship it. When their effort to drive to the next town for help is frustrated by a roadblock, they return to Beamsville to find that the women's takeover of the town is complete, with the remaining men wandering the streets in dazed stupors. Clip attempts to discover how to defeat the meteor by experimenting on the fragment he possesses, but is overcome by the fumes produced after accidentally setting it on fire. Tony is also subdued by a group of women in a pink Sherman tank, who knock him unconscious when they blast apart the town jail where he takes refuge.

Tony is awakened back in the cave by Mary Ann, who announces that the meteor, which she refers to as "Betty," has chosen him to be the father of its offspring. As the meteor draws Tony to it, however, the cave wall to which he is chained collapses and the chamber is flooded with water — the meteor's weakness. After it is washed out of the cave, Tony and Mary Ann (who resists the meteor's influence after seeing Clip being attacked by it) work together to push the pulsating rock into the town lake, destroying it and returning the controlled women to normal.

Peter Parker (Nicholas Hammond), a freelance photographer for the ''Daily Bugle'', is bitten by a radioactive spider and discovers he has gained superpowers, such as super-strength, agility and the ability to climb sheer walls and ceilings. When a mysterious Guru (Thayer David) places people under mind-control - including a doctor and lawyer - to rob banks, Peter becomes the costumed hero Spider-Man to stop the crook's fiendish scheme. The Guru then announces that he will hypnotize ten New Yorkers, chosen at random, into committing suicide unless the city pays him $50 million, which becomes a ''Daily Bugle'' headline "Are You One of the Ten People?". The situation becomes even worse when Peter Parker is with his friend Judy, and by happenstance both of them are cornered by the Guru's men and hypnotized into being two of the people to defenstrate themselves from the Empire State Building by week's end. With some luck, Peter is able to break free of the hypnosis and then stop the Guru in his tracks.

The film begins with a small IRA team, including Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke) and Liam Docherty (Liam Neeson), watching as two British Army Land Rovers approach the roadside bomb they have set for them. At the last minute, a school bus overtakes the army vehicles and detonates the bomb as it passes, killing the children. After most of the team escape the scene pursued by the soldiers, Fallon travels to London in a bid to escape the past. In London, he is approached by a contact who asks him to take on one last job on behalf of local gangster Jack Meehan (Alan Bates) and his brother Billy Meehan (Christopher Fulford). They offer Fallon money, a passport and passage to the US if he kills a rival gangster. Initially reluctant, he nonetheless takes on the job. However, as he is carrying out the hit in a graveyard, he is seen and confronted by the local Catholic priest, Father Michael Da Costa (Bob Hoskins). The confrontation is watched from a distance by Billy Meehan, who tells his brother there is a witness to the killing.

Fallon visits the church and confesses to the priest in a bid to ensure his silence; he also meets and finds himself becoming attracted to the priest's blind niece Anna (Sammi Davis), who lives at the church along with her uncle. Meehan, however, insists that Fallon must kill the priest too and tells Fallon he will not be paid until the loose end is tied up. Fallon now finds himself targeted by both the Meehans and the IRA, who see him as a security risk following his disappearance, and send Docherty and another member, Siobhan Donovan (Alison Doody), to London to persuade him to return to Ireland. Billy Meehan eventually decides to take matters in his own hands and goes to the church looking for Fallon, but Anna kills him in a struggle when he attacks her after finding her alone in the church house. Fallon meanwhile manages to outwit a group of Meehan's men who had been assigned to kill him after tricking him aboard a boat he was assured would be taking him to the US. Returning to the church, Fallon finds Jack Meehan with a bomb he intends to use to kill the priest and his niece but which will be blamed on Fallon and his IRA connections. After a struggle, Anna and Michael escape, but the bomb goes off killing Meehan and leaving Fallon fatally injured. In his dying moments, Fallon confesses his past to the priest, who grants him absolution. Fallon dies in peace.

The town where the main character Rei Kiriyama lives in is set in Shinkawa which is situated along Tokyo's Sumida River. The Kawamoto family's home is set in Tsukuda which is connected to the town Rei lives in through the Chuo bridge. The shogi hall of the manga is set in Sendagaya area and it resembles the headquarters of the Japanese Shogi Association that is situated there.

Rei Kiriyama's parents and younger sister died in an accident in his childhood. He then started living with the family of Masachika Kōda who was a friend of his father. Reaching adulthood, Rei left his foster family thinking he was only causing trouble. He now lives alone and has few friends. Among his acquaintances are three sisters of the Kawamoto family—Akari, Hinata, and Momo. As the story progresses, Rei deals with his maturation both as a professional shogi player and as a person, all the while strengthening his relationships with others, particularly the Kawamoto sisters.

Emily Rasmussen (Malone) drops out of college upon realizing that she is pregnant, and reluctantly returns to her stepfather's (Don Harvey) sheep ranch to get her life together. She plans on keeping the baby, even though the father of the child, a politician, refuses to help her for fear of a scandal. Emily's mother died when she was young, and she has a very awkward relationship with her father.

Upon her arrival, Emily notices that her father's sheep are acting rather strangely; they appear to be viciously fighting over a weed that is the byproduct of their neighbor's corn. That neighbor began growing corn when provided with a newly generated seed that was meant to be immune to all pesticides. The corn was altered genetically so it could grow with very little water so it could be used in otherwise barren places, such as parts of Africa, to feed starving people.

After witnessing a lamb being born with only two legs, Emily decides to investigate this corn and its weed byproduct, and learns that it is an experiment in genetic engineering. After hearing about the death of the newborn baby of a friend who regularly ate lamb, Emily realizes she has to do something to put a stop to this. Her efforts will entail standing up to the big corporation that is testing the corn, her employers, and ultimately, her father.

In 1349, Eifelheim, a small town in the Black Forest of Germany, vanished: it ceased to appear on any maps or in any documents, having apparently been abandoned and never resettled by its community. The disappearance is no mystery — the Black Death devastated Europe. But why was the area never resettled, unlike most other depopulated areas? The mystery intrigues cliometric historian Tom Schwoerin, who sets out to solve the puzzle with the help of his partner, theoretical physicist Sharon Nagy. They gradually uncover evidence of an alien crash-landing in the area.

The village was originally called Oberhochwald, and then afterwards renamed Teufelheim (''Devil home'' in German), which was eventually distorted to Eifelheim. They also learn of the town's priest, Father Dietrich, an educated man who served the town in 1348, as the Black Death arrived in Northern Europe. Dietrich, it appears, acted as humanity's first ambassador, and was the primary liaison between Eifelheim and the aliens who happened to wreck their starship in the woods outside the village.

The novel concentrates primarily on the alien encounter in the 14th century, paying special attention to the interplay between Dietrich, a Christian scholar who is fond of Aristotle and metaphor, and the technologically advanced, post-Einsteinian band of otherworldly travelers. The interplay includes two theological questions. The first, "can aliens become Christians?" is answered in the affirmative, as some of them become converts. The second, "where is God when things go wrong?" is more difficult to answer, for both the Germans and the alien Krenken. The Germans are stricken by the Black Death, and the Krenken, who are immune to the disease, but cannot return to their home, require an amino acid not found in earthly organisms. The answer is two-fold: there is always hope, and God's love is expressed to us in the unselfish love of fellow creatures. Dietrich's attempts to understand the science of the Krenken (their view of the solar system, and gravity, is quite different from his) and their attempts to explain it to him, are also an important theme.

William of Ockham appears as a minor character. Nagy's search for a new physics, which will lead to a new means of space travel, is helped by Schwoerin's research. He discovers a Krenken circuit diagram, drawn in a manuscript by monks.

Drake and Josh win the infamous talent show, ''Teen American Talent'', by avoiding sabotages from other contestants and by perfecting their music. The game allows the player to interact with characters from the TV show, including Drake, Josh and Megan. Secrets and bonuses can be unlocked in the DS game by linking it up with the Game Boy Advance game ''Drake & Josh''.

Set in the time of the Second World War, ''Madare Sefr Darajeh'' follows the life of an Iranian student named ''Habib Parsa'' (Shahab Hosseini) who travels to Paris to study. There Habib meets a French Jewish woman named Sara Astrok, a student at the same university. At first antagonistic toward one another, Habib and Sarah eventually fall in love. They run into many problems, including persecution by the Nazis and by Sarah's Zionist uncle, but are united in the end.

Benjie is a 13-year-old, living in the urban ghetto of the 1970s, who succumbs to the allure of heroin. Encouraged by his friends, Benjie gets hooked on the dangerous monster that is slowly dictating his life. Everyone is urging him to stop but he cannot, as he is addicted to the drug. He disdains his counselors and teachers. After a final confrontation with his stepfather, he promises to quit.

Tortured by self-doubt, financial ruin, and unrequited passion for his next door neighbor, Aldolfo Rollo places an ad offering his mammoth screenplay to the highest bidder. In steps Aldolfo's "guardian angel" Joe, a fast-talking, high-rolling gangster who promises to produce the film but has his own unique ideas regarding film financing.

Renegade soldier Colonel Ryan Beckett (Mark Dacascos) is called in by the President of the United States (Rutger Hauer) to save the planet from imminent destruction after a Chinese nuclear-testing accidentally loosens the subterranean plates and exposes the Earth's core, which threatens to bring "Hell on Earth" in just three days.

Beckett assembles a crack team to deliver and detonate not one, but two nuclear bombs that must go off simultaneously in the only place on the planet in which they will do any good at stopping the movement of the plates—Los Angeles. The city is evacuated in a panic, but Beckett's teen daughter (Rayne Marcus) is abducted by a religious-fanatic pyromaniac, and Beckett must save her before he saves the world. Meanwhile, Beckett strikes up a romance with Julie (Tamara Davies), a scientist on his team, who is having a feud with her scientist father (John Rhys-Davies), also on the team.

They are unaware that on the squad is the evil Kellaway (Mark Rolston), who hates Beckett so much, he would let the planet blow up just to kill him. In the end, Faith (Beckett's daughter) manages to get her hands on a cell phone and text messages him an SOS. Julie and he head to rescue her, and Beckett kills her insane kidnapper.

They need to find a hole deep enough to drop the device down a few hundred feet, and Faith knows of one in a subway station. They head there, but meanwhile, Kellaway murders the rest of the team (except the pilot, who is waiting at the airport to fly them to safety) and comes to stop them. Beckett ends up throwing him down the shaft with the device.

Beckett, Julie, and Faith head outside and are shocked to find that the pilot of the team has landed a presidential jet in the middle of the road. He was ordered to wait there for Kellaway, and flies them to safety as the two devices go off, destroying Los Angeles and stopping the movement of the plates just before it is too late.