Haruna Nagashima gave her all to softball in middle school, now that she has made her high school debut, she has decided to give her all for a new goal: getting a boyfriend and falling in love. However, she has one small problem—since she never paid any attention to fashion or trends in middle school, she has no idea how to go about attracting her yet-to-be-found love. But a chance encounter with the popular Yoh Komiyama provides her with the opportunity she needs. If he coaches her in how to become attractive, surely she can find herself a boyfriend. He agrees to coach Haruna after her great persistence but on one condition: she mustn't fall in love with him. However she does end up falling in love with him and Yoh reciprocated those feelings back. Throughout their relationship they have to overcome several obstacles, such as the return of Yoh's ex-girlfriend, Haruna's several male admirers and a stalker who is very keen on breaking them up as she believes Haruna is not adequate. Although despite the obstacles, they are still deeply in love each other. In the final chapter Yoh had to move in order to attend university and they are still happily maintaining their long distance relationship he did so.

The series follows Yurara Tsukinowa, a teenage girl who has been able to see spirits and sense what they feel since she was a child. Yurara is protected from evil spirits by a beautiful guardian spirit, the ghost of an ancestress after whom she was named; when she is in the presence of a dangerous spirit, Yurara transforms in appearance and personality to that of her guardian, though she considers herself the same person in both forms. In her guardian spirit form, Yurara has the knowledge of how to use her spiritual powers to dispel spirits and send them on to their afterlife. Her personality also becomes bolder and serious, albeit a little bit violent sometimes.

At the start of the series, when Yurara enters high school, she meets two handsome boys in her new class, Mei Tendo and Yako Hoshino. The popular Mei can use "demon fire", which is able to burn spirits, while taciturn Yako has the power to place protective barriers with water. In their presence and with the increased number of spirits attracted to the trio, Yurara finds herself transforming into her guardian form more and more often. Her guardian spirit tells the ghost of Yurara's grandfather that she can only stay with Yurara until she learns to use her powers on her own.

As the series progresses, Yurara in her normal form finds herself attracted to Mei despite being irritated by his habit of flirting with any girl he can. When Mei and Yurara begin going out, however, Yurara realizes that in her guardian form she likes Yako more—and he in turn is attracted to her guardian spirit form. Seeing that the conflict between her two selves is tearing her apart with guilt, Mei asks Yako to give up Yurara, and when Yako refuses, Mei breaks up with her. Yurara's guardian spirit realizes this only saddens Yurara more and separates herself from Yurara, then engineers a situation where Yurara must use her powers on her own to rescue a depressed Mei. Her task complete, the guardian spirit says farewell to Yurara.

The film tells the story of record producer Joe Meek, the songwriter-producer behind the 1960s hits "Have I the Right?", "Just Like Eddie" and "Johnny Remember Me". The film charts Meek's initial success with the multi-million selling record, "Telstar", his homosexuality, which was illegal in the UK at the time, and his struggles with debt, paranoia and depression, which culminated in the killing of his landlady Violet Shenton and himself, on 3 February 1967.

The novel is set on year 2016 Earth, with several interstellar ships being launched by the US and the EU in the hopes of finding habitable worlds to alleviate the overpopulation of Earth, only to find that while inhabitable worlds exists aplenty, they are all taken by a Commonwealth of alien races. This device allows the author to explain why his colonists are sent to the one world available, devoid of any life form because of its unexplainable lack of metals.

Zahn describes briefly the conflicts between the military and civilian parts of the Astra expedition, the latter further divided between scientists and colonists, then introduces the main device of the novel – the planet itself somehow absorbs the metal, leading to equipment literally vanishing into the ground. Soon after the disappearance, what was thought to be a dormant volcano launches into orbit a cable of an unknown material, which turns out to be superconductive, of great tensile strength and with the ability to atomically bond with anything it touches. From this fact the author derives the novel's title: Astra is actually the "Spinneret" of this cable. What once was a resource-less dirtball soon becomes the most popular factory in the galaxy, with several alien races, the UN and the United States all jockeying for rights to the cable, with the colonists stuck in between. Looming over this tableau lies the question of who the Spinners were – or are, why they disappeared, and what they could have used such huge amounts of cable for.

In the final chapters, an Astra expedition on a newly recovered Spinner craft discovers the Spinner world – englobed in a Dyson sphere of Cable material, designed to project the same spectrum of a red giant. The scientists conclude that the Spinners, involved in a war with some other now-extinct race, had decided to disguise their home star in the unsuccessful attempt not to be found and destroyed. The Spinners' world becomes the new Earth population outlet, with the proceedings of Cable sales bootstrapping its economy.

The alien races depicted by Timothy Zahn are the ctencri, shrewd merchants not unlike ''Star Trek'''s Ferengi; the rooshrike with their warrior code of honour; the m'zarch, a foolhardy race bent on war for war's sake, reminiscent of Klingons; the pom, a marine race resembling dolphins; the orspham; and the whissst, a race whose whole culture is based upon humour and practical jokes.

A group of students run a website devoted to the girls who work at their local Burger King. When Ko-bong falls head over heels with new girl Hyo-jin, he promptly posts some pictures of her on the internet, and before long she becomes something of a local celebrity. However, little does he realize that his would-be girlfriend is in fact a North Korean spy who is trying to keep a low profile.

Dr. Eric Norris remains wracked with guilt after a terrible tragedy that cost him his family, and when he learns that an alien parasite is not only growing inside him but shares his DNA, he develops a fiercely paternal bond with the creature. The alien "might regenerate into a surrogate son to replace his own child who was lost years earlier." Koenig plays the antagonist, a scientific research institute administrator who dislikes Norris because he had been mutually in love with Norris's wife, who died; he blames Norris for his own now bleak life and enjoys insulting him. Norris, new love interest Amanda, and attorney Howard Ellis must defend the new child, Benjamin, from being imprisoned by government forces or, worse, destroyed. The courtroom trial covers such issues as habeas corpus and miscegenation.

At first horrified by the growth within him, Eric Norris comes to love the child that he "gives birth to" and names Benjamin. When a court trial begins to take Benjamin away from him, all sorts of arguments are raised about the real meaning of the word "alien." A disturbed man, Emil (Andrew Koenig, Walter Koenig's son), brings a gun into the courtroom and shoots Benjamin, to the loss of all concerned.

Ruby catches small-time crook Jeff Hart (Reynolds) trying to steal a rare book. Instead of turning him in she accepts a date with him. Bookstore manager John Harman (Brent) reprimands his attractive young clerk Ruby Bruce (Dors) for being late to work. When Harman later tries to kiss Ruby she tells Hart who forces Ruby to blackmail Harman. When he refuses to pay off, Jeff tells Ruby to write a letter to Harman's sick wife, which causes her death from a heart attack. Dazed by the tragedy, Harman gives Ruby £300 when she renews her demands. Jeff catches Ruby hiding part of the money, kills her and hides her body in a packing case. Harman discovers Ruby's body and, thinking he will be accused, flees in panic. He enlists the help of his secretary Stella (Chapman) who helps him hunt for clues. When Stella stumbles on Hart alone she is nearly killed by him but Harman arrives in time to save her. The police arrest Hart.

In continuation of the events of ''The Gunslinger Born'', Roland Deschain and his ka-tet, Alain Johns and Cuthbert Allgood, are on the run from the Hambry posse, hoping to return to Gilead with Farson's prize, the evil seeing sphere known as Maerlyn's Grapefruit. The young gunslingers argue over Roland's insistence on carrying Susan Delgado's body to give it a proper burial, and during this, Roland shoots the Grapefruit. It transmogrifies into an enormous eyeball with tentacles that attach to Roland, drawing out his consciousness and into the sphere's dream-like realm, called End-World. There he encounters the spirits of the deceased Big Coffin Hunters. Alain and Cuthbert continue fleeing, carrying the unconscious Roland with them, barely escaping their pursuers via a dangerous river.

Meanwhile, a hapless, mentally challenged child named Sheemie, the village idiot of Hambry, and a friend of Roland, comes across a military control center called a Dogan (featured in the novel ''Wolves of the Calla''), where his presence reactivates a long-dormant robot. The robot appears to electrocute Sheemie, filling him with energy in order to "experiment" on him. This act gives Sheemie the gift of telepathy, teleportation and rapid healing.

In the dream-like realm of End-World, Marten Broadcloak taunts Roland with the assertion that it is he whose machinations led to Roland's situation, and will lead to his eventual death. Alain and Cuthbert cross a dilapidated bridge with Roland's lifeless body, though at the cost of Cuthbert's horse, whom Bert is forced to euthanize, before destroying the bridge to elude the posse.

In End-World, Roland encounters a future version of himself as an adult. Broadcloak further taunts the young Roland with the assertion that his adult self killed his friends, and now walks alone on an endless path to the Dark Tower. Alain tries to reach Roland's mind with his psychic abilities, and is drawn into the realm, while Cuthbert fends off wolves from their camp. Alain is eventually ejected from the Grapefruit. Roland's body awakens, but apparently without the benefit of Roland's consciousness, and kills one of the wolves with its bare hands. Alain is again pulled briefly into the Grapefruit, from which he is again ejected after challenging Marten. As he reappears before Bert and the again-lifeless Roland, the trio are now confronted by a group of wolves. In fending off the wolves, Alain repeatedly shoots Sheemie, who has appeared at their camp. However, his wounds are instantly healed, and he also heals Alain's injuries. He then looks deep into the Grapefruit, and after mounting his mule, enters it.

In End-World, Marten delivers Roland to his master, the Crimson King, who tells Roland that they are both descended from Arthur Eld, and therefore, are akin to cousins. The Crimson King wants Roland to help him open the Dark Tower in order to destroy the many worlds spun from it, and restore the King's rightful kingdom of disorder and chaos, which he will rule with Roland. When Roland rebuffs his offer, the King tortures Roland with his magic, but is thwarted by Sheemie, who forces Roland out of the Grapefruit. Sheemie's whereabouts are unknown after this.

The trio return home to Gilead, where Roland's father, Steven, and the rest of the townsfolk are elated at their return, having been informed by agents of Farson that they had perished. Roland does not inform his father about the Grapefruit, which he keeps to himself. Alain and Cuthbert keep the secret out of loyalty, but fear that Roland is a changed man for his experiences, and that the young man they knew when they first set out to Hambry is lost to them.

The manager of a company (played by Nikola Simić) gets in trouble when he cannot pay his workers. Billions were spent on a football stadium which is now empty, and the bank did not approve requests for credit for the seemingly meaningless investments. Maybe the stadium will get filled during a concert by a popular singer Lepa Brena (played by herself).

The film begins with off-screen narration over black-and-white historical footage of the World War II Burma campaign, including mention of all nationalities of Allied forces who participated. The film then segues into color as Lt. Stockton's platoon moves through the jungle toward their first objective, the Japanese-held town of Walawbum. After Stockton radios Gen. Merrill that they are nearing their goal, the brigade carries out a successful raid.

Afterwards, General Joseph Stilwell arrives in Walawbum to order Merrill to take the railroad center of Shaduzup, and ultimately the strategic airstrip at Myitkyina. With reluctance, Merrill summons Stockton to brief him on their next mission, and the unit continues their march through hellish swamps before taking Shaduzup from the enemy.

The brigade continues the mission up steep mountains for several days and nights before digging in just outside the now-besieged Myitkyina. As night falls, the unit endures a massive artillery barrage. The next morning brings a Japanese banzai attack, which Merrill's men successfully repel. Then, while desperately rallying what is left of his unit to move on to the base at Myitkyina, the general suddenly collapses from a heart attack. The men, led by Stockton, slowly rise up and trudge onward toward Myitkyina as an incredulous "Doc" cradles Merrill in his arms. In fact, Doc's off-screen narration is heard next as he relates that Myitkyina was indeed taken.

The film opens on Edward Malone, a junior reporter looking for an adventurous assignment. Malone is sent to interview Professor Challenger, an explorer and researcher who believes he is on the trail of the "lost world," a mysterious place in Central Africa. Challenger has a picture of a cliff and a strange beast resembling a pterodactyl that is his only evidence of the place.

The British scientific community finds his claims laughable. After receiving funding from the family of Jenny Nielson, a wildlife photographer and the daughter of a rich American contributor to the sciences, the "scientific community" agrees to organise an exploratory expedition under the leadership of the antagonistic Professor Summerlee. Summerlee agrees to Malone and Nielson coming on the expedition, but refuses to allow Challenger to be part of the expedition. With obvious reluctance, Challenger gives Summerlee a "map" to be opened at a road-end village in Africa at a particular date and time. The expedition departs. A newsboy associate of Malone named Jim stows away on the trip.

The expedition arrives in Africa where they are joined by a female guide named Malu and a Portuguese called Gomez. Summerlee opens the map from Challenger, finding it blank, at which point Challenger appears from nowhere leaving Summerlee no option but to accept his guidance on the exhibition. Under Challenger's guidance they find the cliff in the picture and reach the top, but Gomez (who turns out to be the brother of a Portuguese who was killed on Challenger's first journey here) strands them with no way back down. Exploring the Lost World to find another way home, the team finds dinosaurs, from a pair of Anatotitan to a pterodactyl rookery.

Jim, Malone, and Malu narrowly avoid being eaten by a dinosaur (presumably a Herrerasaurus), only to find that their camp was attacked and the rest of the team is gone. The three discover a gathering of native tribesmen (painted with symbolic skeletons) who regularly sacrifice humans off a cliff to the carnivorous dinosaurs. While the 'skeleton men' sacrifice a man to a ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'', Malone distracts the tribe while the other explorers and captured natives escape, and they retreat to the safety of a second tribe nearby (who use clothes, not paint). During these events, Summerlee notes some oddities about the "ritual" vegetation necklaces that the sacrifices (themselves) were dressed in. The second tribe's members, through Malu's translation, tell the explorers about a time long ago when the shamans of their tribe convinced some to worship the carnivorous dinosaurs, splitting the tribe in two.

Summerlee deduces that the vegetation necklaces placed on the sacrifices provided some necessary nutrient or immunisation to the dinosaurs which had protected these dinosaurs from the extinction that the rest of the dinosaurs suffered globally (this being a theory Summerlee had espoused previously). The expedition team uses their modern knowledge and research to benefit the tribe with irrigation and horticultural benefits, to produce the antidote to a prehistoric plague. The skeleton tribe's leader is killed, and the two tribes reunite. The chief shows the team a hidden cave that will lead them back to their world, and has them promise that they will come back if they are ever needed.

Returning to the river, the team is ambushed by Gomez. Gomez is shot and wounded, but instead of killing him, Challenger leaves him behind, saying, "Let the jungle have him." Malu stays in Africa, and the others return home. The Royal Zoological Society in London rules that Challenger and Summerlee have insufficient evidence of their tale, until Jim reveals that he brought back a baby pterodactyl. The team is celebrated for their achievements, but when Malone, Jenny, and Jim discover the pterodactyl (named Percival), is unhappy being kept in a zoo, they release him, allowing him to fly back to the "lost world".

After being initiated and growing up together, troubled natural born leader Botj (Sean Mununggurr), conservative and traditionalist Lorrpu (John Sebastian) and football loving ladies' man Milika (Nathan Daniels) are transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

Botj, who has recently been released from prison, decides to break into the local store to get cigarettes and he convinces Lorrpu and Milika to join him. Lorrpu and Milika decide to return home, but Botj remains and gets high by sniffing petrol. He makes his way to the Women's Community Centre, where he lights a smoke, but as he does this, the petrol ignites and the building is burnt down.

The boys find themselves on the wrong side of both black and white law. Determined to help Botj avoid imprisonment, Lorrpu and Milika trek with him from their home in north-eastern Arnhem Land through the wilderness and treacherous escarpment country to Darwin to plead his case before Dawu (Nungki Yunupingu), a Yolngu elder. On their journey they draw upon the ancient bush knowledge they were taught as boys, the street instinct of their leader, Botj, and consequently gain new respect for themselves, and the land they come from.

In Darwin, Lorrpu tries to convince Dawu that Botj is rehabilitated, but Dawu does not believe him. Botj fears he may be turned over to the police, so he leaves the group and attempts to find his father. When he finds his father, his father is so intoxicated that he is unable to recognize Botj. Following this, Botj turns to sniffing petrol once again and while under its effects, he falls to his death from a bridge. His body is discovered by Lorrpu and Milika later that day.

Lorrpu and Milika return to their original home and their old lives. For Lorrpu, the journey has been a rite of passage, and through it he has been able to gain the acceptance of his elders.

Medraut, the illegitimate son of Artos the king, returns from his travels in Africa and elsewhere to watch over his younger half-brother, Lleu. Though Medraut, a child of incest, can never be High King, Artos knows that Medraut is a far better statesman and fighter than his younger brother; thus, Artos gives Medraut the task of making Lleu fit to be High King, promising Medraut the position of Regent in return.

Medraut doesn't know if he loves or hates his brother; even from the beginning, he is disgusted by Lleu's naïve, careless use of power and jealous of Lleu's easy claim to Artos's affection. Their relationship intensifies when Medraut's lessons begin to stick, and Lleu starts to seem a suitable High King. Matters are further complicated by the entrance of Medraut's mother Morgause, whose disturbing similarities to Medraut are revealed even as she tries to slowly poison Lleu. Expecting Medraut's tacit approval of the poisoning, Morgause is unhappily surprised when Medraut protects Lleu and reveals Morgause's treachery to Artos. Artos banishes Morgause from the castle, and Morgause vows to erode Medraut's loyalty to Lleu.

At first, Morgause's vow seems an empty threat. But while Lleu becomes more and more competent, an accident strips Medraut of his power and (he thinks) his father's affections. Resentment simmers between Medraut and Lleu, and by the time Morgause visits again, Medraut barely needs a catalyst. He kidnaps Lleu, intending to turn him over to Morgause, who in turn, plans to trade Lleu's life for the throne. But when Lleu steals Medraut's weapons and attempts to escape, the brothers are put in a unique situation; Medraut is ill and weaponless, Lleu is completely lost, and both are stranded in the middle of the woods. Medraut, struggling with regret as well as with his own envious desire to break Lleu's spirit, proposes a sadistic bargain; if Lleu can stay awake and alert for five days straight, Medraut will betray Morgause and lead him back to Camlan. Lleu agrees to the bargain, but as Lleu begins to hallucinate from lack of sleep, Medraut realizes that nothing his brother has said or done should have pushed him to this extreme.

The book ends with Medraut carrying Lleu back to Camlan, where Lleu, in turn, invokes his power as High King to save Medraut from being punished as a traitor.

Noi runs a rural bar and guesthouse called the Paradise Hotel. He tends bar and arm wrestles any challengers. The hotel, which has only one room, already has a guest, a man named Chana.

Chana is annoyed that the hotel plays host to various musical groups, including a 'Professor' who sings European opera, another man who practises the trombone, a Peking opera troupe, a Filipina ballad singer, a brass band and unwanted displays of "buffalo boxing" all of which take their toll on his nerves and peace of mind.

A young woman named Riam arrives and attempts to check in, only to be told that the one room is already occupied.

The reasons for Chana's stay at the hotel are mysterious, and Riam is equally enigmatic, stating her age at 65 years old, saying she has a dozen children and is an opium trader.

Chana turns out to be the accountant of a large company, who comes to the attention of some strong-arm thugs who have their eyes on the substantial payroll delivery he is about to oversee. For some reason, both he and Riam are rather good shots, which may come in useful...

An all-powerful sorcerer, Hissah Zuhl (Jeremy Kemp) rules Conan's homeland of Cimmeria with an iron fist through magical arts, trickery, and threats. He is responsible for the death of Conan's parents, and he is recurrent as the always just barely thwarted mastermind enemy. Conan and an army of warriors rebel and fight to free Cimmeria from the demonic tyrant and his minions. In his travels, Conan battles mythical creatures that roam the land. The hero has been chosen by the gods to fight evil, and he has been informed by Crom that he is destined to be a king.

Conan wants revenge against Hissah Zuhl (in all episodes the enemy has a primary role and also has a servant, a skeleton with clairvoyant powers), that seeks to kill the hero. The weapons that the sorcerer uses are an endless horde of warriors, as well as vassal wizards and princes under Zuhl's control.

Conan lived in Cimmeria with his parents throughout his childhood. While out with his grandfather one night on a trek, "fiery tears" or meteors dropped from the skies. Conan collected them and brought them back to his family. Conan's father, the village blacksmith, used the ore from the meteors to forge Star Metal and used it to create various tools and weapons that would never rust or break or dull. He sold them, but his finest work, a magnificent sword, he kept for Conan. It was laid in a crypt and covered over with a heavy stone slab. Conan's father told his son that only when he was "man enough" (i.e., strong enough) to push off the stone slab, could he rightfully claim the sword.

Meanwhile, the evil Serpent Man wizard Wrath-Amon learned of Star Metal and that in addition to its strength that it possessed the power to open portals between dimensions. He thus sought Star Metal to release his deity Set from "the Abyss" to which he long ago had been banished by the combined powers of virtually every living wizard then on Earth for trying to enslave the human race. As part of his search, Wrath-Amon sought out Conan's family. Conan's father told Wrath-Amon that he had sold all of the Star Metal, but the wizard refused to believe it. The wizard was right for aside from the sword, it was revealed in a later episode that Conan's father had hidden pieces of Star Metal with other villagers. Wrath-Amon used the spell of living stone upon Conan's family.

Conan by then had gone to claim his Star Metal sword to attack Wrath-Amon and his followers. When the Star Metal sword got near Wrath-Amon, it disrupted his magic and showed his reptilian face. To this, he said "Those who see the true face of Wrath-Amon must perish!" (this scene is similar to one in the film). Having chased away the wizard, Conan then turned to his family and swore in the name of their god Crom to find a way of releasing them from the spell.

Conan's adventures thus begin as he searches Hyboria looking for a way to cure his family and free the land from Wrath-Amon's rule. Wrath-Amon's henchmen are also shapeshifting Serpent Men. When Conan's Star Metal sword is close enough to them, it broke the spell that disguised them and revealed their true form to be Serpent Men. When Star Metal made contact with the Serpent Men, it banishes them to the Abyss with Set. Spies and agents of Set and Stygia, many of them also Serpent Men, were present in many cities, nations and tribes throughout the land in the age of Conan.

As compared with the original Conan stories and the Marvel Comics such as ''King Conan'', ''Conan Saga'', ''Conan the Barbarian'' and ''Conan the King'', the cartoon Conan displays a higher degree of modern morality. While the original Conan is a thief, a killer, and a philanderer, the cartoon Conan has more in common with sword-wielding children's cartoon characters such as He-Man. At one point, he refuses to join a pirate crew on the grounds that it is wrong to steal, he refuses to strike unarmed or defeated opponents. He is a kind and caring character, albeit a little naive, who stands up for his friends and what he sees to be right and is very respectable. The show also reduced the violence of the original to levels deemed suitable for the younger target audience, deliberately making the Serpent Men "banished" with any touch of the heroes' weapons rather than actually struck.

A sadistic Latin teacher, nicknamed "Caligula" by his long-suffering students, rules his classroom at a Stockholm school like his kingdom. He is exceptionally hard on the diligent Jan-Erik, one of his students. One night Jan-Erik is returning home and finds an intoxicated young woman crying on the street. He recognizes her as Bertha, the clerk in a tobacco store near the school, and he walks her home. Bertha has a taste for men and liquor, and Jan-Erik spends most of the night on her bedside. He becomes very involved with her, and his schoolwork suffers. Bertha also has an older man whom she fears, although she will not reveal his name. It transpires that he is Caligula, and he learns of his student's involvement. He makes life harder still for Jan-Erik, and forces Bertha to do his will by threatening to suspend Jan-Erik. But Caligula is too violent with Bertha, and one day, Jan-Erik arrives to find her dead. He finds Caligula hiding in a corner, and calls the police. With no proof, however, Caligula is soon released, and quickly arranges for the expulsion of Jan-Erik, who accuses Caligula of murder, and finally strikes him in front of the principal of the school. He then goes to stay in Bertha's apartment. The principal of the school comes to the apartment, and offers his assistance in helping Jan-Erik back on track. Caligula comes to the apartment after the principal has left, seeking some sort of forgiveness, but Jan-Erik rejects him and instead walks out into the day to a view that overlooks the whole city.

Terroll Lessor, a computer genius in an unpleasant job, decides to use his skills against reprehensible parts of society. Along with his girlfriend, played by Ali Larter, he gains embarrassing information on people whom he believes to be immoral and exposes this information to the public. This garners the attention of police and people who wish him harm, and results in copy-cat crimes by others who admire him.

When a wacky squadron of World War II soldiers are mistakenly teleported to present day California, Fred must convince the police and his family that he is not losing his mind and that the future of the world is in danger.

Minnesota college students Jessica, Yvonne, Marky and Sack are at a party when an ex-girlfriend of Marky's slips a bottle of "Angel's Kiss" into their drinks. Angel's Kiss turns out to be an experimental medium for liquid data storage. Shortly afterwards, a friend of the four students, Nick Philo, turns up in their dorm. After a bizarre series of events, all five come to realize that "Nick", though possessing a physical body, is not real at all, but is a creation of their minds under the influence of Angel's Kiss.

The five are then abducted by the United States government, the creators of Angel's Kiss, who are now extremely interested in its potential for weapons research as well as data storage. Jessie leads her friends on a breakout of the installation at which they are being held captive, but falls into an entire vat of Angel's Kiss in the process; she emerges transformed in some unknown manner. On the run in the open country, Marky and Yvonne are shot and killed by the soldiers pursuing them. Nick dives into a rural reservoir, and his body dissolves, apparently contaminating all the local drinking water with Angel's Kiss. Jessie ultimately escapes but, returning to her old life, finds herself constantly drinking tap water, in the hope of recreating at least part of the reality of Nick's existence.

Luis, an unmarried, middle-aged, Barcelona businessman, carries out his mother's dying wish to be buried in the family crypt in Segovia. He has her bones exhumed from a pantheon in Barcelona and heads by car to the Castilian city. In the middle of a lonely road, he stops and gets out of the car, recalling the same landscape at a moment in his childhood when he was being brought up to spend part of his summer vacation with his maternal grandmother in Segovia during the fateful summer of 1936. He sees his parents before him, trying to soothe him after a bout of carsickness. Just days before they were to pick him up, a military uprising cut Segovia off from the Republican part of Spain and Luis found himself trapped in the menacing environment of his mother's Nationalist relatives for the duration of the war.

After this first remembrance of his carsickness, Luis continues his journey. Arriving in Segovia, he makes contact with his aunt Pilar and his cousin Angélica, his sweetheart during his Segovian captivity. Angélica is now married to Anselmo, a successful businessman, and has a daughter of her own, also named Angélica, who is just about the age her mother was when she and Luis were sweethearts. The reunion rekindles old memories for Luis.

In these remembrances, the past is not merely evoked, but reenacted with Luis literally entering a time warp. Characters Luis has met in the present appear to him playing the role of relatives he remembers thirty-six years earlier. The child Angélica of 1973, plays the role of her own mother, Luis's cousin Angelica, as he thinks he remembers her from 1936; Anselmo is imagined as Angélica's fascist father. When Luis recalls scenes from his childhood, he walks into them as the middle-aged man he is.

Luis and Angélica meet in the attic, where they discover Luis's old elementary school books and have a kiss in the rooftop, rekindling briefly their closeness. Reading his old school books, he remembers when he was during the war in a religious school in which a little boy is killed by shards of flying glass. The older Luis sits in his schoolroom listening to a priest tell a horror story about a little student, killed in an air raid, who may or may not be eternally damned depending on whether or not the boy had "given in to temptation" the morning he was killed. After his evocation of the school bombing, Luis has an emotional encounter with his cousin Angélica in which she speaks to him of her failed marriage. She intimates a reawakening of the affection she once had for Luis. However, this reinforces Luis's determination to leave Segovia finally. After saying goodbye to his adult relatives, he goes for a bike ride with Angélica's daughter, which triggers his memory of his thwarted escape with his cousin through Nationalist lines in an effort to rejoin his parents. They were promptly stopped by Falangist soldiers and forcedly returned to his uncle's house to be punished. His uncle whips him with a belt. In the next room, Angélica's mother is combing her hair; a tear rolls down one of her cheeks.

Antonio Cano, 45 years old, is an important businessman who was severely injured in a car accident. Because of this, he is temporarily paralyzed and suffers memory loss. His family, friends and business associates all try to recreate scenes from his life in order to revive his memory which, little by little, does begin to return. Each day Antonio is placed in his beautiful garden where he relives many memories, both real and imagined.

The name is a reference to the Hieronymus Bosch painting ''The Garden of Earthly Delights''.

In a small provincial town, a group of "pious" women who are fond of ostentatiously practicing charity organize a Christmas campaign under the motto "Feed a poor man at your table." In order to support the initiative, the sponsorship of a pot brand is sought and a group of second-rate artists who have come expressly from the capital and are received enthusiastically at the train station are invited. The humanitarian day is completed with a colorful parade, a public auction of the guests and a dramatic radio broadcast.

The person in charge of organizing this lavish chain of events is Quintanilla, who has hired Plácido for the occasion, a poor man who must utilize the motorcycle car that he has just acquired and has not yet begun to pay on. The hectic activity in which Plácido is involved prevents him from paying on time the first payment on the vehicle, which expires that same night. From that moment, Placido tries by all means to find a solution to his problem because his vehicle is what he uses to earn a living. However, he is taken from one place to another, involved in a series of unexpected incidents, including a comedy of errors involving an elderly beggar with heart problems.

The film is a race against time to get the money paid before the deadline expires. Berlanga's social satire pokes fun at rich people trying to soothe their consciences by helping a poor person for one day. Along the way we see their disgust at being near the poor, debates over whether it's better to choose a street person or an elderly poor person, and showing off "their" poor person to their friends as though they were a possession. Berlanga also pokes fun at actors more concerned about photo ops appearing to show them as charitable than actually being charitable.

The film tells the story of a group of comedians. It is a story about their loves and heartbreaks and their desires and frustrations.

Throughout the journey, their work is interspersed with love, family financial problems, and the hunger to triumph a dream. The central character, Carlos Galván, is the son of the first actor and director of the company, don Arturo, and he's the father of Carlito, a kid who does not want to be a comic. Carlos Galván takes refuge in a fantasy world.

Giulietta and Romeo's young love is strongly opposed by their two families, the Capuletis and the Montecchis. Their feelings are intensely passionate, but they inevitably meet a tragic fate.

Changes from the Shakespeare story

Mercuzio is an omniscient character, who sings the overture and guides the meeting of Romeo and Giulietta during the party at Capuleti's home. The role of Tebaldo is circumscribed to the quarrels among the family clans. He has a scanty character and grazes madness. Lord Capuleti's role is expanded. The roles of Lady Capuleti and Lady Montecchi are eliminated.

Giulietta dies because of a heartbreak, instead of by the dagger. Padre Lorenzo is the character that indirectly decides the fate of Romeo and Giulietta driving them during the second act. At the end he will cry over the deaths together with the two fathers.

Exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929, Leon Trotsky travels from Turkey to France to Norway, before arriving in Mexico in January 1937. The film begins in Mexico City in 1940, during a May Day celebration. Trotsky has not escaped the attention of the Soviet dictator of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, who sends out an assassin named Frank Jacson. The killer decides to infiltrate Trotsky's house by befriending one of the young communists in Trotsky's circle.

Daffy Duck, indulging in his comic book fandom in a sequence reminiscent of his earlier film ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery'', is reading a scary comic book called "Hideous Tales" (issue #176). The comic's "Noseman" story ends in a cliffhanger involving Smogzilla, and Daffy rifles his bookcase looking for the next issue ("It's a veritable collector's item!"). While doing so however, a monster clock falls and beans Daffy, knocking him out.

In his dream, Daffy finds himself as the featured act in a nightclub where the customers are classic movie monsters consisting of Count Dracula and his brides, Frankenstein's monster and his bride, Larry Talbot, Imhotep's mummy form, the Gill-man, the Fly, Medusa, Leatherface, the Invisible Man, the Headless Horseman, a cyclops, a slime monster, a two-headed man, some skeletons, and some unidentified monsters as well as Alfred E. Neuman. Daffy appears unable to sing, but there was a bottle of "Eau de Tormé" in Daffy's dressing room, which makes him sing like Mel Tormé. After drinking the spray's entire contents for maximum effect, he sings "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" to the room with a ghost named "Ghouley" playing the piano. The monsters love the song.

Then he goes around the room, greeting the patrons. But his good-natured ribbing of Smogzilla doesn't go over well with the giant lizard when Daffy quips things like "Say, Smog baby, leveled any major cities lately?", "You know, Smogzilla's just like any unemployed actor, except when he pounds the pavement, it registers a ten on the Richter scale!", "Oh, what's the matter? The public not buying those cheap special effects anymore?" Smogzilla then eats Daffy.

Daffy wakes up to find himself stuck in a wastebasket, along with the comic he was looking for (''Hideous Tales'' issue #177) with "Smogzilla" on the cover. Daffy scoffs and Smogzilla on the cover comes to life saying "You were expecting maybe Calvin Coolidge?"

Larry Martin (O'Toole) is a ''Newsweek'' reporter, secretly working for the CIA as he travels around the globe tasked, along with Israeli intelligence, to work for the release of five wealthy girls kidnapped by the anti-Israel terrorist Palestinian Liberation Army from the yacht ''Rosebud''. Martin must contend with the girls' fathers, all of whom are wealthy, connected and concerned. Sloat (Attenborough), the extremist head of Black September, is connected with the kidnappings, and is subsequently hunted down after his plans for a centralized global terrorist network are uncovered.

Four episodes in the life of doctor Edward Trenbow: In 1918 Trenbow is treating shell-shocked soldiers from the front. In the 1920s he works as a psychiatrist at the Sydney insane asylum and becomes involved in experiments in Freudian psychiatry, which bring him to the attention of a Royal Commission. In the 1930s he works as a doctor in a small country town and becomes involved in a fight against the New Guard. In 1939 he is working in Sydney as a psychiatrist and tries to defend a German psychiatrist who is being interned as a member of the Australia First Movement.

''Great Kings' War'' begins near the end of the colder than usual "Winter of Wolves" which has followed the war between Hostigos and its neighbours and the founding of Hos-Hostigos. While Great King Kalvan of Hos-Hostigos (formerly Corporal Calvin Morrison, Pennsylvania State Police) leads wolf and bandit hunts throughout his realm, the archpriests of Styphon's House plot their next move against Kalvan. As spring arrives Kalvan learns through the work of his intelligence officers Klestreus and Skranga that, in addition to the threat from Styphon's House, he must also face the armies of King Kaiphranos of Hos-Harphax, who seeks to regain the princedoms lost to Kalvan the previous year.

To meet this two-fronted war Kalvan sends his father-in-law Ptosphes, Prince of Old Hostigos, as well as Princes Balthar of Beshta and Sarrask of Sask to meet the Holy Host of Styphon's House under Grand Master Soton in Beshta while he personally invades Hos-Harphax in the hope of capturing Harphax City and ending the reign of King Kaiphranos.

Kalvan's campaign goes very well and he decimates the Harphaxi forces in the Battle of Chothros Heights, killing Crown Prince Philesteus of Hos-Harphax. Kalvan is preparing to press his advantage when he receives news that Ptosphes has been defeated by the Holy Host at Tenabra Town because of the treachery of Balthar of Beshta.

Kalvan immediately abandons his plans and rushes to reinforce Ptosphes and defend Hostigos from the Holy Host at the climactic Battle of Phyrax a few miles from Kalvan's artillery foundry and the new University of Hostigos. With both sides taking extreme casualties during the day-long battle the forces of Hostigos manage to repel the Holy Host and send Soton back to Styphon's House disgraced in defeat. In the immediate aftermath Kalvan receives news that his wife Queen Rylla has been safely delivered of a healthy daughter, Princess Demia.

Afterward Kalvan sends Ptosphes north to fight Great King Demistophon of Hos-Agrys who has invaded Hos-Hostigos believing it to be defenceless where he defeats them in multiple small battles. Meanwhile, Kalvan invades Beshta and besieges Tarr-Beshta using siege tactics from his own timeline and executes Balthar for treason and seizes the miserly prince's massive treasury. The story ends with Kalvan happily reunited with Rylla and his new daughter for a peaceful winter while he prepares for the next year's battles.

A group of friends are marooned on an uncharted island after their sailboat crashes. They quickly become aware they are not alone, as they find themselves being killed off by a group of ancient humanoid creatures resembling humans and baboons. Liz, the sole survivor after having been captured, flees and is covered in multiple plants' sap as she barrels through the jungle, so when cornered by the Alpha of the pack she realizes the creatures are blind, hunting by smell and sound, which allows her to elude him by standing perfectly still while the plant sap obscures her scent. Later discovering that the creatures raided her friends' camp and stole their only life raft, she covers her entire body in the sap and sneaks into their lair. Setting off all her remaining flares when unable to remain hidden, she makes her escape and is caught by the Alpha in a clearing. Finding a machete left behind by one of the victims from a previous generation, she beheads the Alpha and is allowed to leave by the other creatures who acknowledge her as the new Alpha.

Fernando Galindo, a bank clerk, persuades his colleagues to rob the bank where they work in revenge for manager's dismissal and poor employment conditions. They decide to fake a robbery similar to those featured in films. Despite their careful preparation, the plan fails because a band of real robbers burst into the bank the same day they had planned to carry out their raid.

Chaokun Charoenkesa, the owner of a shop that sells hair-loss treatments, wants to pay back his debt of kindness to a friend, whose formula is responsible for the Chaokun's prosperity. So he arranges for his good-for-nothing son, Manas, to marry Sugar, the daughter of his dear friend.

In a large house in the middle of a little Spanish town live Venancio and Paquita, the retarded brother and sister of Ignacia, who bullies them continuously. Suspecting that she has a visitor after dark, they start snooping and one night she turns on them in fury. As she is throttling Paquita, Venancio brains her with a bottle and the two hide the body. After leaving town in the dark by taxi, they are then found dead on a beach.

The house is put up for sale and the owner of the bar next door has to empty the vats where he was storing his wine. When at the bottom of one is found the corpse of Ignacia, her secret lover Fernando admits all to the examining magistrate. He was a member of the band that played in the bar in the evenings and used to slip into Ignacia's house after work. When he found her dead, he helped Venancio and Paquita dispose of the body. Then he took them away to the sea, where he gave them knockout drops so that he could escape with Ignacia's money. Unfortunately, his dose was too powerful.

Ana, a young foreign governess, arrives to an isolated country estate in arid region of Castile, near Madrid. She has come to take charge of three little girls whose mother, Luchy, greets Ana upon arrival. While Ana is unpacking, José, an uncle of the girls, introduces himself as the voice of order and authority in the family. In case Ana runs into any problem she must go to him, he explains.

A family dinner that evening allows Ana to meet her eccentric employers. The family consists of three middle age brothers (José, Juan and Fernando), their ailing mother, Mama; Luchy, Juan’s wife, and the couple’s three daughters: Carlota, Victoria and Natalia. At night, Natalia wakes up screaming after a nightmare. Juan, the father of the three girls, lusting over Ana, takes advantage of the situation to enter her bedroom. Firmly but politely, she rejects his sexual advances. Dominated by an uncontrollable sex drive, the rejected Juan looks for consolation with Amparo, one of the maids.

Surprisingly, Ana starts receiving erotic letters signed by a secret admirer who desires to be with her. They are delivered with rare postage from distance places each of them increasingly closer. José explains to Ana that he has not only opened and read those letters, but that he knows who has been sending them. Juan, he tells her, has been writing those letters using the family valuable collection of stamps to deceive her. José has set up a small museum of military dress in his study and he offers Ana his protection and some economical compensation if she takes care of the uniforms.

Fernando, the most subdued of the three brothers, has moved out of the main house to establish his residence in a nearby cave where he practices mystical incantations in an effort to levitate. Fernando intrigues Ana the most. She is both appalled by him and attracted to his way of life, as if understanding why he wants to escape from the world.

Between bouts of epilepsy and gout, Mama remains the protectress of the family unit. When she and Ana engage in direct dialogue, the old dowager gives Ana a bit of the background of the three sons as she shows the governess their childhood clothing she has saved for years. “ You must be understanding with them” mama tells her, as Ana becomes interested in the absurdity of what has been happening.

Ana now actively leads the three brothers on, playing to the fantasy life of each of the three men, at times, outwardly mocking them. Recruited to help José with his museum when he shots a flying bird to scare her, Ana is bemused and gives him a medal as a reward.

Juan is so obsessed with Ana that at one point he sneaks into her bedroom to brush his teeth with her toothbrush. She is bemused by his antics. To embarrass him she makes him open and read out loud one of the letters. Later on she kisses him and asks him if he is willing to leave his wife for her. When he says yes, she scares him with calling his wife.

Only with Fernando does Ana develop a more intimate, although still platonic relationship. The entire family goes to see Fernando at his cave. They are worried because he has refused to eat. Jose’s forces some food into his mouth, that later Ana retrieves, realizing that he has not swallowed it. The three girls looking for a missing doll find it finally buried in mud and with the hair cut off. The girls blamed the wolves. Ana reports the incident to Juan who explains that Fernando, who has fetish for hair, is the culprit.

The presence of Ana becomes disturbing in that house to the extent that Luchy, Juan’s wife, wants to kill herself. When it becomes apparent that Ana has been leading her sons on sowing doubts in their thinking and endangering the unity of the family, mama orders that she be dismissed. The three brothers waylay her on the road as she leaves the state. The three assault Anna. Forcing her to the ground, Fernando cuts off her hair; Juan rapes her; and José takes a pistol to her head and shoots her. The final freeze-frame is of Ana’s agonized face in gruesome close up.

Norman Pitkin (Norman Wisdom) works at Scotland Yard as a car cleaner, but dreams of becoming a policeman as his late father was. The police reject his request to join the force, but later recruit him to work undercover in disguise. He has turned out to be the double twin of a suspected jewel thief, an Italian crime boss in London. In addition to his criminal activities, this man is a ladies' hairdresser.

Norman disguises himself as the suspect and gains entry to his salon. Once inside, after some inevitable mishaps, he manages to find the stolen goods, knock out the suspect, wrap him up in a curtain/wall rug, and bring him to justice.

As a reward, he is offered a permanent position in the police and marries his love, the ex-girlfriend of the man he brought to justice (whom he had rescued earlier in the film when she was attempting to commit suicide by jumping in the river).

Ana is married to Antonio. They arrive at the country house in Spain where she worked as a nanny many years earlier, for the 100th birthday of the family matriarch. In their reunion, she finds that Jose died three years ago; Juan left his wife Luchy; Fernando is still living with his mother and unsuccessfully trying to fly a hang glider; and the three little girls are grown-up. Further, she discovers that the dysfunctional family is completely broken, and Luchy in embezzling mother's money. When Juan arrives for the celebration, he plots with Fernando and Luchy to kill the mother to get the inheritance. Meanwhile, Antonio has a brief affair with Natalia.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079517/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl Plot Summary – IMDb]

On a secluded farmhouse in Castile and León, Luis is reunited with his estranged daughter, Elisa after a 20-year separation. On the farmhouse, Luis writes what appears at times to be both an autobiography and a novel. The book is played out, with memories of the past, such as when Luis walked out on his family and is mixed with fantasies about Elisa's adult life as well as her failed marriage.Canby, Vincent. ''Film: "Elisa, Vida Mia", pp. 8. The New York Times. 11 March 1983. Retrieved on 30 July 2011

As described in a film publication, Frank Beresford (Burleigh) and Clara Borstwick (Hume) have married against the wishes of her father, Sir John Borstwick (Bourchier). Immediately following the marriage, Lillian Leeson (Albanesi), to whom Frank had formerly been married, appears with the intent to blackmail. Frank had told Clara of the former marriage and had believed that Lillian was dead. Frank goes to Paris to find a former friend that he believed to be dead who was a former husband of Lillian. He recognizes Dave Leeson (Kerr) and they return to England. Dave frustrates the attempt by Lillian to spoil Frank's happiness, and there is a reconciliation with Clara.

A poor orphan girl, Nien, is on the run after stealing some food that a wealthy man had purchased to feed some dogs. She takes refuge with a singing garbage collector named Choo, who hides Nien in his garbage cart while the wealthy man and a policeman search for the girl.

Choo then takes Nien back to his humble shack and gives her shelter. The pair fall in love, but their romance is cut short when he is drafted into the army and sent off to war. For a time, Nien takes over Choo's job as garbage collector, until she is adopted by a wealthy woman, who treats Nien as the daughter she never had.

Choo comes back from the war, blinded by an explosion, Nien, while experiencing unimagined luxuries, is tortured by the conflict between her newfound wealthy lifestyle and her simple life with Choo.

Anne, now a middle-aged woman, is troubled by recent events in her life. Her husband, Gilbert, has been killed overseas while a medical doctor during World War II (an event that did not happen in the books). Her two daughters are preoccupied with their own families, and her adopted son Dominic has yet to return from the war. When a long-hidden secret is discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, Anne retreats into her memories to relive her troubled early years prior to arriving as an orphan at Green Gables, and being adopted by the Cuthberts.

The impact of this difficult period has a far-reaching effect on this older woman, once she discovers the truth about her real parents. She begins a delicate search for her birth-father. It is a journey through a past fraught with danger, uncertainty, heartache, and joy. In the parade of humanity Anne encounters, she also faces the root of her desire to find true "kindred spirits," and an imagination to use her talents as a writer to inspire others.

Bugs is cooking carrots on a rotisserie and singing a parody of the song "It's Magic" (from the 1948 Warner Bros. film ''Romance on the High Seas''). Yosemite Sam is hunting and, when he smells carrots cooking, knows he must be close to a rabbit. In a breaking the fourth wall moment, a patron in the movie theater leaves his seat and passes in front of the screen. Sam points his shotgun at him and orders him back to his seat. Sam then issues a warning to the rest of the audience. He reaches Bugs' hole and Bugs, thinking that Sam's nose is a carrot, flavours it, yanks it, and Sam, into his hole and bites the nose.

Sam jumps above ground, sticks the gun down the hole and commands Bugs to come out. Bugs emerges from Sam's gun and says, "What's up Doc?", to which Sam replies, "Your time is up, rabbit!" and demands he remove himself from the gun. Bugs refuses so Sam releases a gun shell, which Bugs is inside of. He says to Bugs, "Now start prayin', cuz I'm a-blowin' ya to smithereenies at the count of ten!" Bugs quickly chews bubble gum and sticks it into the gun. The gun backfires, surrounds Sam with a bubble and Bugs blows him down a cliff. As Sam is blowing his way back up, Bugs bursts the bubble with a pin. After a very "sticky" situation, Sam digs around the hole with Bugs in it, puts him in a sieve and proceeds to filter Bugs out. He then takes Bugs, by gunpoint, to his cabin - "Now, ya carrot-chewin' coyote, git a-goin'!".

Bugs is hanging on a wall while Sam puts wood in the oven. After Bugs manages a few annoyances for Sam concerning his hat, he is obliged to go into the oven. He exits it several times and takes back in some items: a fan, a pitcher of water ("Hot in there"), chairs, and party favors. He empties ashtrays into Sam's hat and asks him to see if he can 'scare up a few more'. Sam gets mad. The next time Bugs pops from the stove (covered with lipstick), he tells Sam there is a party going on and invites him in. Sam spruces himself up a bit and enters the oven. Bugs comes out and starts putting more wood in the fire, but begins having regrets about having fooled Sam. When he takes a look inside, Bugs suddenly realizes that the oven is actually hosting a real party (a live-action clip from ''Romance on the High Seas''), hears Sam wildly celebrating, and dives in himself. As the cartoon ends, he pokes his head from the oven door (now wearing a hat and waving party favors) and exclaims, "I don't ask questions, I just have fun!"

The action takes place in what is now Paris. A mysterious stranger predicts the outbreak of the plague. Several citizens complain because a mirror-inverted 4, visible from afar, was painted on their door. Commissioner Adamsberg worked on the cases and made the acquaintance of the retired historian Hervé Decambrais, who helped interpret the symbol.

The prophecy seems to come true. The first corpse with black marks on the skin is soon found. The plague is also called "The Black Death". The young man lived behind an apartment door without the horror symbol. It quickly becomes clear why. The mirror-inverted 4 was used in the Middle Ages to protect against the deadly infectious disease. At the same time, a public reader regularly receives mysterious messages which Hervé interprets as announcements of a plague epidemic. The sign on the doors is always provided with CLT, an archaeologist interviewed by Adamsberg recognizes this abbreviation and identifies it as cito longe tarde, in Latin "flee quickly and far and do not return too soon".

Adamsberg's colleague is bitten by fleas found in an envelope in the dead man's apartment. While the laboratory analysis of these parasites is in progress - cultivation takes six days - more and more victims are found. But then the laboratory doctor can refute the suspicion of plague. Curare, an arrow poison, paralyzed the diaphragm and lungs of the victims in a matter of seconds. All corpses had a puncture site in the neck.

The police investigations are now so advanced that a biographical connection between the victims - so far there are five - has been found. They all worked for a pharmaceutical company in the Congo at the same time. The list of employees includes another French. Roubaud, the last survivor, reports to the investigating police officers how he and his colleagues at the time killed the head of the pharmaceutical company because he discovered their rampant drug business in the Congo.

François Heller-Devile left a son. This - now grown up to a young man - is suspected of avenging the death of his father together with his grandmother Clémentine. As a 12-year-old, Damas watched the murder disguised as an accident. According to her psychotic belief, Clémentine breeds rats in her basement that are infected with the plague. She is obsessed with the subject of "plague". She had sent the rodent fleas in envelopes to the six murderers of her son. Damas, who has also had psychological problems since his father's death, marked the doors of those who were not to be attacked by the pathogen at night, i.e. the neighbors of the later victims. In fact, the two of them by no means spread the plague.

Damas ’half-sister Marie is the real murderer. She knew Damas' desire for revenge and injected the victims with the poison. She used charcoal to draw black spots on the victims' skin to simulate plague as the cause of death. Bitter about her fate - unloved and rejected by her father - she sought after her father's fortune, which now belongs to Damas. Clémentine is admitted to psychiatry, Damas receives a 5-year prison sentence.

Seni, a club owner, is under pressure by a rival, Wan, to pay an outstanding loan. Upon hearing that he has a long-lost brother named Sema, Seni sends his loyal lieutenants, Tom and Pon, to visit Sema, only to find that Sema has died. Seni decides that he can use the situation to his advantage, and buries Sema's body in a forest.

Seni and Tom orchestrate the death of Wan, by setting fire to Wan's car, pushing it off a cliff and framing Wan's assistant Sin, also dead, for the murder. Seni then assumes the identity of his dead brother, free and clear of debts and Wan's meddling.

Tom, meanwhile, has fallen in love with Phrae, a widowed mother who has worn black silk since her husband died two years before. Seni sees Phrae as a threat to his scheme and orders Tom to stop seeing her. Wan further plots to use Tom to psychologically manipulate Phrae.

Phrae then leaves Tom, shaves her head and enters a Buddhist temple. Tom tries to stand up to his boss, with disastrous consequences.

Rhapsody travels with Ashe to deliver a dragon's claw, long ago hidden among the treasures of Ylorc, for fear of the dragon's wreaking vengeance upon those who would keep her claw from her. On the journey, Ashe and Rhapsody develop a degree of comfort with one another, punctuated by arguments. Upon their arrival, Rhapsody finds the dragon surprisingly friendly, and she stays for several days before departing. Meanwhile, in the halls of Ylorc, Grunthor and Achmed discover a hidden tunnel, leading to the Loritorium: the unfinished masterpiece of Ylorc's builder, centuries past. To their surprise, Gruthor and Achmed are confronted by a Dhracian as they investigate: one of the last of a near-legendary race, to which Achmed owes half his heritage. The Dhracian, who calls herself the Grandmother, instructs Achmed and Grunthor to return with Rhapsody.

Rhapsody, after leaving the dragon's cave, travels to Tyrian, the forest home to the Lirin, so that she can meet and train with the former bearer of her elemental blade, Daystar Clarion. While in training, she sees a horrific vision of the world engulfed in blood after the death of the Patriarch, leader of one of the two major human religions. Rhapsody journeys to Sepulvarta, home of the Patriarch, and successfully defends the Patriarch against an attack by a F'Dor demon and his minion, the Rakshas. She then travels back to Ylorc, where Grunthor and Achmed lead her to the Grandmother. The Grandmother tells them of the Dhracian colony that had lived in the mountains of Ylorc for centuries, destroyed by the same saboteur who murdered the inhabitants of the Loritorium. She also shows them the treasure the Dhracian colony was founded to protect: the sleeping Child of Earth, whose second rib can be used as a key to open the Vault of the Underworld imprisoning most of the F'Dor. The Child of Earth's sleep is restless, rocked with prophetic nightmares, but Rhapsody is unable to help.

After finally figuring out Ashe's secret, Rhapsody summons Ashe to her underground home in Ylorc with a carefully crafted song. Once he arrives, Rhapsody explains her realizations: Ashe is Gwydion, long believed dead after he failed in an attack on the F'Dor and had part of his soul torn out in the process. Gwydion was secretly resurrected by the power of the star which once adorned Daystar Clarion's hilt, however, awakening his dragon side in the process, and had wandered the land in secrecy for the decades following the attack. The lost piece of his soul was used to create the Rakshas, which wreaked havoc with Ashe's appearance. Ashe and Rhapsody become lovers, causing Jo (Rhapsody's adopted sister) no end of jealousy. The Rakshas uses this to trick Jo - pretending to be Ashe, he has sex with her, bringing her partially under the control of the F'Dor in the process. In an attempt to reclaim the stolen piece of Ashe's soul, Rhapsody sets out with Grunthor and Achmed to destroy the Rakshas. The demonically-influenced Jo nearly kills Achmed at the end of the battle, forcing Rhapsody to kill her to save Achmed, and subsequently battle to save her soul from the clutching vine of the F'Dor.

Some days later, Ashe and Rhapsody meet again for a night of revelations. Ashe locks the memory of the night in a pearl, expecting the only thing said to be of his father, Llauron, concocted to use Rhapsody in a bid for power. In the course of the discussion, Ashe and Rhapsody learn to their surprise that they are (respectively) Sam and Emily, who loved one another one and a half millennia ago (It's complicated.) They get married, but Rhapsody agrees that she will have to forget it all so that Llauron's selfish plot can succeed. Then a tree root that the Rakshas corrupted attacks the Child of Earth, attempting to seize it (and thereby gain the key to the Underworld), but Grunthor, forewarned by a dream, manages to get Rhapsody and Achmed into position soon enough to avert the threat. Then they realize that the Rakshas conceived children with demon-tainted blood, who Rhapsody resolves to rescue.

Johnson Whittaker, a black cadet at West Point, is attacked by three fellow students. The school administrators court-martial Whittaker in the mistaken belief that he staged his own attack, supposedly to avoid a philosophy exam.

The assault on him by fellow cadets quickly makes its way into the press and gained widespread attention. Richard Greener is the Harvard alumnus lawyer who defends Whittaker at his trial and, since he is also black, has also personally experienced racism. Greener's partner, Daniel Chamberlain, does not share his determination but rather has a different agenda – acquiring fame.

The trial begins and the two lawyers are at odds with one another. The prosecutor, Major Asa Bird Gardiner, cross-examines Whittaker, who manages to evade his tactics. On the day the verdict is to be delivered, the officer whose vote they had hoped would be favorable does not show up in court. The other four officers find Whittaker guilty of assaulting himself so as not to participate in the exam.

The film closes in later years, with Whittaker being interviewed by a reporter. Whittaker tells him that he went on to become a school principal, while Greener is now retired. He also informs the reporter that Chamberlain later went on to defend lynching. "People will sometimes do anything to gather fame", states Whittaker, to which the reporter replies, "I wonder what hidden agenda he was carrying". The film ends with the reporter telephoning the newspaper and telling them to hold the first page; he has a great story.

The episode starts with Jack Miller (Daniel Gillies), an American lawyer working in Tokyo, suffering from extreme nightmares about a childhood event in which his younger brother Sean (Ethan Amis) had died at sea. While trying to retrieve his baseball cap, which had been blown over the side of their rowing boat, Sean tipped the vessel over, throwing himself and Jack (Thomas Jones) into the water; and despite Jack's attempts to help him, Sean panicked and drowned. Since then Jack has been suffering from survivor's guilt because he feels his efforts to save Sean were only half-hearted.

Jack has fallen in love with Yuri (Yoshino Kimura), the wife of his most valued client, Eiji Saito (Ryo Ishibashi). Despite his deep-rooted fear of the sea, he reluctantly accepts Eiji's invitation to join the couple for a day trip on the Tokyo Bay because Eiji allegedly has to work out a difficult legal matter with him; but it is gradually hinted that Eiji has become aware of Jack and Yuri's affair and is intending to kill them both. During the trip, Eiji's increasingly erratic behavior begins to worry Jack and Yuri, and finally Yuri reveals that Eiji had married her after his first wife, an emotionally unstable rich woman, had mysteriously disappeared.

When the boat's screw stalls, Eiji dives down to unblock it. But instead of seaweed, he finds it tangled with hair, which suddenly snares and apparently drowns him. Yuri wants to leave him there, assuming he's dead. Jack, however, wants to try to save him and is appalled that Yuri doesn't want to help. Suddenly, Eiji reappears, soaked and alive. Things become strange when they can't seem to get hold of any of the other boats in the area, despite being in range, and the only voice coming from the radio is Sean's, calling Jack's name. When Eiji tries to kill Yuri, Yuri and Jack realize that Eiji is possessed by the vengeful spirit of Eiji's first wife, Naomi (Miho Ninagawa), who blames Yuri for her death.

Eiji knocks Jack out and imprisons Yuri in the bathroom. Jack is forced to fight a possessed Eiji and defeats him by stabbing him. Eiji falls apart and stumbles overboard. Jack hears Yuri crying out for help, but is stopped by Eiji's severed arm; and as he struggles with the limb, the bathroom of the boat begins to fill with water. As she is about to drown, Yuri receives a vision about what happened to Naomi: She had confronted Eiji, who told his wife that he had only married her for her inheritance. Naomi refused to let him divorce her or take her money; so Eiji killed her and dumped her body overboard, namely at the exact place he had stopped their boat on this trip.

Jack manages to free Yuri from her deathtrap, but they can't call for help because the radio has been destroyed. Yuri is suddenly possessed by Naomi and attacks Jack. Jack tries to slay Naomi with a hatchet, when Sean's spirit suddenly appears and stays his hand, revealing it to be a cruel illusion created by Naomi to trick Jack into killing Yuri. Pursued by Naomi, Yuri convinces Jack to overcome his fear and jump overboard. As the boat disappears in the distance, Yuri believes they have escaped, and she and Jack embrace in relief. Naomi reappears, trying to drag Yuri underwater; but Sean intervenes once again and takes the vengeful Naomi back to the bottom of the sea. The story ends with Jack now married to Yuri, finally free of his past with the knowledge that Sean has never blamed him for his death.

On August 23, 2029, asteroid 99942 Apophis collides with Earth, destroying human civilization and turning the world into a wasteland. Survivors come together to form settlements around oases and other practical or habitable locations, while the wastes are plagued by various bandits clans, and mutants, who attack all normal humans in a voracious horde.

In 2135, former U.S. Marine Lieutenant Nicholas Raine emerges from an underground shelter called an Ark, 106 years after being put into stasis. These underground shelters are the direct result of the Eden Project, a massive international undertaking in which hundreds of Arks, containing cryogenic pods, were sealed under the surface of the Earth to preserve enough of the human population to rebuild civilization after the asteroid collision. The Eden Project was far less successful than hoped, as Raine's Ark, in particular, was heavily damaged, with all of its other residents dead and equipment destroyed, and he wakes up alone with no specific goal in mind.

Raine enters the surface, where he is immediately attacked by bandits but is saved by Dan Hagar (voiced by John Goodman), a local wasteland settler who brings Raine to his settlement. Hagar informs him that a powerful technologically advanced organization known as the Authority, which considers itself the one true government of the wasteland, is hunting for Ark survivors for an unknown purpose. Raine briefly aids Hagar's settlement and others in the local area by completing a few small jobs, and during this time it is revealed that the nanotrites injected into Raine's blood before he was sent into hibernation have granted him superhuman abilities to help him survive the harsh environment, but have made him valuable to the Authority. Hagar believes Raine's continued presence is too dangerous for the settlement and sends him to the nearby town of Wellspring instead.

In Wellspring, Raine helps the town with various problems such as fighting off bandits, mutants, and ferrying supplies. Eventually, he comes into contact with Dr. Kvasir, an elderly scientist who previously worked for the Authority, who tells Raine about the inhumane experiments they were responsible for, such as the creation of the mutants. Kvasir puts him into contact with the Resistance, an armed anti-Authority group, where he is tasked with rescuing their leader, Captain Marshall, who has recently been imprisoned by the Authority. Raine again attracts attention from the Authority, forcing him to flee Wellspring and join the Resistance at their headquarters in Subway Town, where he earns the trust of the town and its tyrannical mayor, Redstone. He also learns what had happened in the past century from Captain Marshall, who is an Ark survivor himself. General Martin Cross, who was in charge of the Eden Project, sabotaged the operation shortly before 99942 Apophis struck the Earth by ensuring that only the Arks with people loyal to him were opened on schedule, with this first wave of Ark survivors eventually forming the Authority. The remaining Arks were supposed to stay underground forever in hibernation, including Raine's Ark, which surfaced only because its systems were damaged and it automatically rose to protect any surviving inhabitants.

With the Authority beginning to forcefully expand its influence on the wasteland settlements, the Resistance is forced to act with the help of Raine who can recover data that shows the location of every Ark on the planet. Captain Marshall plans to use this data to activate all the Arks and form an army that can defeat the Authority, but the only way to do this is to transmit the data from Capital Prime, the main headquarters for the Authority. Alone, Raine fights his way through Capital Prime to transmit the Ark activation code, and the game concludes with all the remaining Arks simultaneously becoming active and surfacing.

Taking advantage of the “latest advances” in performance technology, the boys have upgraded their acting to digital. Using this technology, they are able to immediately jump to any routine, or fast forward through the boring bits. Unfortunately, the remote control has gone missing. Tensions arise when their newly hired roadie clashes with David — he points out that there is no need for any roadie, as there are no props or scenery to move. The situation worsens when their show controller Tina starts playing mind games with Shane.

Larry Tyne and his wife Lynn return home one evening to find that their teenage daughter Jeannie is not there. (Viewers know she is attending an audition, clips from which, with upcoming artistes like Carly Simon and Kathy Bates, recur throughout the film). The Tynes ring the Divitos, with whose daughter Jeannie is supposed to be, but the Divitos' daughter claims she doesn't know where Jeannie is. Enlisting their friends Tony and Margot, the two men search the neighbourhood bars while the women stay by the phone and gossip about sex. When the men return home drunk, Jeannie reappears, only to vanish again. Next day, Larry goes into the city to search for her. In the street he meets Ann Lockston, a parent who's also searching for a missing daughter, and Ann tells Larry about a self-help group for parents in their predicament.

The police from upstate call the Tynes to say their daughter's been arrested 300 miles away, for stealing. The two rush to see her, only to find that it is the Divitos' girl in custody, having given the police a false name. On the trip back home, they stop off at a hotel, where Ike & Tina Turner are performing. A drunk Lynn is followed back to their room by an amorous stranger, unaware that Larry is already asleep in the bed. After the stranger disappears, Lynn tries out some of the tips Margot had confided to her earlier.

Later, back in the city, Larry and Lynn attend a formal dinner for the self-help group. Afterwards, marijuana joints are handed round, and a young man named Schiavelli instructs the parents on how to smoke them. Happily high, Larry and Lynn take Ann and her husband Ben back to their home for more drinks and a game of strip poker. As the group gets more inebriated, a naked Larry jumps on top of the table to sing "Libiamo ne' lieti calici". At this point, Jeannie reappears and the guests hastily leave.

When Jeannie admits to having been with a boy, Larry suggests she brings him home for dinner soon. When he appears, he proves to be an intelligent and wealthy musician. However, he declines to play for them, upon which Larry entertains the four with "Stranger in Paradise".

Keaton plays an American soldier during World War II who escapes from an airplane crash over the Pacific Ocean. He is adrift for a long period and his face becomes covered in a scraggly beard. He arrives on a beach, believing he has landed in Japan, but he is actually in Mexico. He wanders into a fishing village and is promptly arrested under the mistaken belief that he is a wanted serial killer who marries and murders women (also known as a "bluebeard"). Keaton and another prisoner (Angel Garasa) are put in the custody of an aeronautics scientist who is planning to launch a manned rocket into outer space. The two prisoners, along with the scientist's assistant (Virginia Seret) are blasted into space, but their craft lands in an isolated portion of Mexico instead. They mistake a beekeeper wearing protective headgear as an alien, while the beekeeper believes the trio (who are wearing wizard robes) are aliens. The prisoners and the scientist's assistant are apprehended by the local police, and the matter is quickly settled. Keaton and his cellmate receive pardons and are free to go on their way.Kline, Jim. "The Complete Films of Buster Keaton." Pages 190-191.Citadel Press, 1993.

Rochel (who is an Orthodox Jew) and Nasira (who is a Muslim originally from Syria) are young women who are just beginning as teachers in New York's public school system. As Rochel is a teacher for the visually impaired, she meets Nasira (who teaches the fourth grade) as the aid for Eddie (one of Nasira's students). They bond while working together on Eddie's assignments, realizing that they share a lot in common. They also both fight against the stereotypes directed towards them, particularly from Principal Jacoby and Rochel's family.

Both Nasira and Rochel are going through the process of an arranged marriage. Nasira is initially introduced to an older man (a friend of her father), whom she rejects. Her parents then introduce her to a young man her own age whom she likes. The system is different for Rochel, however, who is introduced to young men through the local Shadchan. While Nasira's parents ultimately listened to her frustrations and interests, Rochel's Shadchan only introduces Rochel to young men who fit the Shadchan's set of expectations (while ignoring what Rochel wants). After a few disastrous introductions, Rochel announces that she is stopping the process. She then temporarily leaves home to discuss the matter with her cousin (who has left the Orthodox tradition).

Ultimately, through an accidental meeting with friends of her brother (including an Orthodox Jewish young man), it is Nasira who helps Rochel find someone she likes. The film ends with Nasira and Rochel both married, sitting in the park with their babies in their strollers, talking about their husbands and married life.

Adela is a 43-year-old spinster who lives alone in an isolated northern provincial Spanish village. She spends her days sewing and doing charity work. Never feeling particularly attracted to men, she is waited upon in her home by her faithful maid, Isabel (whom she affectionately calls Isabelita), who adores her.

One day, the local bank manager starts to court Adela and sets his sights on marriage. Adela, repulsed by his physical overtures, consults the local priest and confesses that, while she has never been physical with a woman, feels "embarrassed" around them. On his advice, she resolves to consult a doctor. After a row, Adela fires Isabel; upon seeing her doctor, Adela is informed that she is not a woman after all, but a man. The former Adela moves to Madrid and takes on a new masculine identity, "Juan".

After trying to obtain income with no identity card, Juan runs into Isabel, working as a waitress in a local coffee shop. Soon, Juan begins using his sewing skills (the only skill he has) to bring in a small income and enable him to obtain a work permit. Soon, he falls in love with Isabel, who reciprocates his feelings. However, out of fear, he resists consummating their relationship. Finally, they successfully make love; afterwards, he says that one day he will tell her something "very important"; Isabelita surprises him by responding, "There is no need, señorita", showing that she already knew his secret.

In a small village near Salamanca, Alejandro, a rich 60-year-old widower falls in love with Goyita, a 13-year-old girl.

José and Elena were friends. They share everything, except for some unfinished business: sex. Now, with the return of democracy to the country, both have remained friends, but married to other people, and now become lovers. José is involved in politics.

In the days leading up to World War II, Katie O'Hara (Ginger Rogers), an American burlesque performer masquerading as American socialite "Katherine Butt-Smith", pronounced byüt-smith, is about to marry Austrian Baron Von Luber (Walter Slezak). Foreign correspondent Pat O'Toole (Cary Grant) suspects Von Luber of being a Nazi sympathizer and tries unsuccessfully to get information from Katie by deceit, but is warned off by Von Luber.

Undaunted, O'Toole follows the couple to Prague, where O'Hara and Von Luber marry. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Von Lubers travel to Warsaw, where the Baron sells arms to Polish General Borelski (Albert Bassermann). O'Toole warns the General of the dangers of trusting in Von Luber. When the General tries the weapons he finds out he has been sold duds and plans to notify his government. When the Germans invade Poland, the weapons prove to be defective. Von Luber is arrested on suspicion but warns his young bride not to worry because no one will be able to bear witness against him. Soon after, the General is assassinated along with a young Nazi the Baron has chosen to sacrifice. While the Baron is in jail O'Hara and O'Toole decide to flee the country. However, O'Hara has given her passport to her Jewish maid Anna, so that the woman and her two children may escape the country. O'Hara and O'Toole escape to Norway, Holland, Belgium and Paris, all of which sequentially fall to the Germans with the clandestine help of Von Luber.

In Paris, O'Hara and O'Toole go to have new passports made. They meet Gaston Le Blanc (Albert Dekker), an American counterintelligence agent posing as a photographer. LeBlanc persuades O'Hara to return to the Baron and work as a spy. Von Luber becomes suspicious due to O'Hara's persistent questioning. O'Toole agrees to broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda after the Baron threatens to turn O'Hara over to the Gestapo. O'Toole is then contacted by American counterintelligence who ask him to accept the offer and betray the Baron. When O'Hara is found with LeBlanc, who is shot by two Nazi agents, she is placed under house arrest. Anna finds her in the hotel and aids in her escape. O'Toole goes on the air, but after O'Hara shows up at the studio, he cleverly manages to make it look as if the Baron is trying to overthrow Hitler. Von Luber is arrested, and Pat and Katie sneak away.

They board a ship for America, but Katie later runs into Von Luber on board; the Baron was able to talk his way out of his troubles. Now he is on his way to the United States to continue his subversive activities. They struggle and Von Luber falls overboard. O'Hara tells O'Toole and hesitantly he agrees to tell the Captain. The Captain turns the ship around to search for Von Luber, but when O'Hara says that Von Luber cannot swim, the Captain happily turns the ship back towards America.

Steelbeak has recruited some of St. Canard's dangerous criminals to help to build an ultimate crime weapon. As a result, S.H.U.S.H. requires the help of Darkwing Duck to stop them. There are few clues, except a picture of the criminals looking at stolen artwork. Darkwing must bring Steelbeak to justice by scouring the city to find jigsaw puzzle pieces that reveal the villain's location.

Madrid, Roberto Orbea (''José Sacristán'') is a member of a Spanish left party. He is married to Carmen (''María Luisa San José''), and he has been elected as Deputy in the first democratic elections in Spain. But his enemies, the fascist, know his double life. Roberto likes boys, and they hire Juanito (José Luis Alonso) to seduce the politician. They fall in love.

In the summer of 1936, the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, a bourgeois family with many children, spending their holiday near Barcelona, tries to remain neutral between the Republicans and the supporters of General Francisco Franco. But the war change the lives of all.

The title character is a rebellious little boy who is accidentally drafted into the United States Army. No matter which adult he tells, "I'm only four", they all fail to notice his age. Eventually, the harshness of army life makes Munroe cry, which causes the general to realize that he really ''is'' a little boy. He is discharged and becomes a hero...and whenever he misbehaves, Munroe is reminded of his stint in the army.

Munro's voice is provided by Gene Deitch's young son Seth Deitch (later a writer and artist in his own right), while Deitch's wife Marie Deitch does the female voices.

A small Spanish town decides to follow the example of Fátima, Lourdes and other places that have progressed thanks to religious apparitions, and its "living forces" decide to invent a miracle to promote their spa. For this, five local characters (the mayor, the teacher, the doctor, the landowner and the owner of the spa) decide to make the town believe in the appearance of a saint, in order to revitalize the visits to the town and the sale of the thermal waters of the dilapidated spa.

Once one of them has been chosen to play San Dimas, due to his resemblance to the figure of the town saint himself, they manage to deceive Mauro, the town fool, from the reality of the town with a (disastrous) fireworks and light show. appearance. At first hardly anyone believes Mauro's words, but when the following Thursday they put on the same show again in the presence of a particularly pious woman from the town, many people begin to wonder if there isn't some truth to the matter. The following Thursday the people go to the land where the previous apparitions had taken place, but everything (music, lights and the "actor" himself in charge of playing Saint Dimas) fails spectacularly and the people return to their homes disenchanted, except for Mauro, who waits for the miracle with outstretched arms.

Soon after, a mysterious character appears in the town who seems to be aware of all the machinations hatched by fraudsters. The character, who introduces himself as a magician, claims to be able to bring the fraud to fruition. Using a mirror from the top of the bell tower, he "heavenly" illuminates the figure of San Dimas. He then convinces the group to pretend to be sick and, with the complicity of the doctor, pretend to recover by drinking the waters of the spa. Strangely, other villagers are actually cured by drinking the spring waters. Soon a real fever to obtain water from the miraculous spring breaks out. When the forgers repent and confess what happened, no one listens to them, since everyone is more busy going to the spring in search of a remedy for their ills. Finally they go to the room where the foreigner is staying, but the only thing they find is a letter where it is said that the figure of San Dimas of the town does not look anything like reality and a photo of the real San Dimas is attached, which is the mysterious stranger.

Somewhere in the jungle a little girl (Erika Faraon) is sick. Everybody in the tribe is really worried, especially her father K'in (Jorge Reynoso) and her mother (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez). The witchdoctor cannot heal her and gets drunk. The witchdoctor, called Kayum (Adalberto Martínez) throws out a kind of omen/incantation while being completely wasted. It produces a huge thunderstorm with plenty of lightning bolts. It affects the weather in New York, where Roger Briggs (Tom Conti) is performing surgery. The lights go in and out, but he finally finishes it well. The lightning also affects Jean (Teri Garr), who is at a party, enjoying her new-found freedom after her divorce from her hard-working and wealthy husband.

A robbery goes awry. One of the robbers is left stranded and, during his attempt to run away from the police, he causes a multiple car accident. Jean's car ends up at the inner-shop side of a window shop, and Roger's car is barely working. Jean doesn't want to be left to her own devices, so she enters Roger's car. Roger can't stand his ex-wife, and his car is his and only his, especially because it's the only thing which his divorce has granted him. The rest of things went to Jean, his ex-wife.

The robber, Juan, (Paul Rodríguez) gets into Roger's car. He pulls out a gun and kidnaps Jean and Roger, who is driving. He takes them to his home, ties them down and imprisons them within a closet. Jean and Roger succeed on releasing themselves, although they are fighting and verbally abusing each other all the time. They leave the closet, pass through the open door of a room where Juan's relatives are also arguing and try to leave. However, when they enter another room, a hidden police officer fights Roger.

The police were about to break into the criminals' nest. Roger's fight with the police officer cause the police to start shooting like crazy. Juan runs away again, kidnapping Jean and Roger again, and Roger is driving again. The police run after them, shooting wildly. Juan gets frantic because Jean and Roger keep on arguing all the time. There is a moment when Jean tries to jump free but Roger convinces her not to.

A prostitute (Barbara Whinnery) has just rejected a client. One of her heels gets stuck on the pavement. She leaves it there when she hears the police cars suddenly approaching her. The broken heel causes one of the police cars to swerve violently and a shot to go the wrong way. The police car crashes into a bank and is eventually driven to a halt in front of two bank robbers (Alejandro Bracho and Carlos Vendrell) who are caught red-handed trying to blow up the safe of the bank. The shot causes a cash machine to malfunction and release all its money on the head of the tramp (Eduardo Lugo) who was sleeping underneath, who in consequence becomes a rich man.

Harry (Christopher Lloyd) was preparing the plane to take off the following day. As the police arrive shooting, he has to take off with Juan, Jean and Roger getting in the plane in a messy way. Juan gets wounded in an arm and Roger takes care of him. Juan, Jean and Roger seem to become friendly. Jean gets hold of the shotgun, but it's unloaded.

Harry's plane is old-fashioned, rusty, and many instruments don't work well. Juan and Harry jump the plane with their chutes. Harry jumps on top of some Mexican police officers, and Harry says that a man and a woman dressed to the nines kidnapped him. That rings a bell with the Mexican police officers.

Roger tries to drive the plane. He and his ex-wife end up talking about what caused their marriage to fail. At that moment, Roger says that he's "getting the hang of it" -meaning flying the plane- and they both laugh. Both engines die away, and they can't help but laugh about it. They have to go up to avoid a mountain, which causes a rock to fall away. That rock causes a landslide, which will kill a Mexican criminal (Mario Arreola) who had tied a young husband down and was about to rape the young wife.

They take off, and Jean panics when she thinks that Roger is dead. However, he is not, and even pulls her leg off. Jean gets angry and wants to walk through the desert. They find the skeleton of somebody who died in the desert. They walk up to Gomez (Paco Morayta) and his fellow police officer (José Chávez) who are desperate. The Mexican police officers can't understand how the criminals they were looking for had the stamina to survive the landcrash and leave unharmed on their feet. Trapping the two American runaways was going to be their road to success. At that moment, Roger and Jean appear, and try to ask for help.

Gomez and his associate put them in their police car and take them to the police station. Jean and Roger ask the judge (Jorge Russek) to be taken to the embassy, but nobody listens to them. As Jean is a lawyer, she explains the story. They are put into a cell, where they argue some more. Finally, Roger admits that he was worried about Jean, and that was why he got angry when she appeared so late after work nonchalantly, and that was why he broke some bric-a-brac at home - which was the last drop for Jean and pushed her to apply for the divorce.

The judge tells them that the American embassy has already been contacted. They will be freed at the end of the week if the embassy checks their backgrounds. Meanwhile, Juan and Harry were plotting to rob the bank of the Mexican town. However, Juan is already drunk, but the bartender (Víctor Alcocer Gómez) serves him some more. There, he overhears -when Gomez and his mate are celebrating that the Americans are in gaol- that Jean and Roger are at the local prison. Juan tells Harry that there's a change of plans, and they use the dynamite to blow up one of the walls of the prison.

Juan and Harry take Roger and Jean to the derelict boat which is waiting for them to sail away. Captain Irvine (Roger Cudney) betrays them and the police arrive. Juan and Harry are left to shoot the police off, and Jean and Roger end up in the boat floating away. The sea storm makes them wet and pushes the boat towards the sea. Inside the boat, Jean and Roger wake up cold, tired, wet, but they talk some more and this time they kiss.

Roger tries to control the boat, but it's impossible. He gets thrown overboard by the huge waves. Below, Jean gets knocked unconscious, and Roger's doctor bag is kept close to her.

The boat reaches shore. Some sailors pick unconscious Jean up. She is taken care of by a missionary (Ken Hixon), who finds Roger's surgery tools very useful. Jean is well again, but worried about Roger, who couldn't be found.

Roger arrived in the jungle. He is woken up by a coconut hitting him on his belly on the shore of some beach. He initiates a search for Jean, but falls into a hunting trap. The tribe from the beginning of the film takes him to the sick daughter, where the witchdoctor has been tied down until he gets sober again. He is released now that Roger is there. Roger tends to the little girl, but he can't do anything until he's got some surgical instruments. He tries to mimic that the girl needs to be taken to hospital.

The tribe finally understands, and they take the girl to the closest missionary post on a hand-made hammock. The missionary is there because he told a little boy (Roberto Sosa) that Jean's rescue was not a miracle. A rock falling from the helicopter which was taking Jean out of there started a car which crashed into the mission and tore it to pieces. When Roger comes in with the little girl, the missionary man is being tended to as well. He helps Roger perform emergency surgery on the spot. Later on, the returning helicopter will take the little girl to a real hospital.

There, an interpreter (Marie Butler), announces to the family of the girl that she'll be all right. Roger leaves the hospital.

Riding in a taxi, Roger tries to convince the embassy to look for Jean, stating that if he has survived, she may have too. Meanwhile, Jean tries to convince the embassy to look for Roger for the same reason as she is also riding in a taxi. Juan and Harry blow up a bank trying to rob it. The ensuing chaos causes Roger and Jean's cars to collide. Jean and Roger kiss and a few days later they get married again.

Near-sighted Mr. Magoo goes to see a movie but instead mistakes the airport across the street for the theater and takes a seat on a departing airplane. This cartoon makes reference to the 3-D movies that briefly became popular around the time of the release of this short as Magoo comments on the apparent realism of his movie experience ("it's like I can actually feel the plane taking off!") The man in the seat next to Magoo turns out to be a bank robber who flees without his briefcase (full of stolen money) when he sees a policeman talking with the stewardess. Magoo politely tries to find the robber so he can return his briefcase, stepping out into what he believes is the theater lobby (actually the wing of the plane). After startling many of the other passengers due to his apparent lack of concern of the danger to his life as he wanders on the outside of the plane, the pilot opens up the cargo bay door so Magoo can get back inside. Promptly finding the robber, Magoo returns his briefcase and keys the policeman onto the identity of the robber. After the plane lands, Magoo comments to the stewardess that he thoroughly enjoyed watching his first 3-D movie. The only thing that bothered Magoo was that there was no cartoon before the movie. The closing gag is a particularly sly one as Magoo describes himself when describing his favorite cartoon character (the narcissist).

Joe Gower is a likable librarian who glides around his job on roller skates. He has a strict boss, Mr. Pepper, and a good friend who's a cop, Abe Washington.

A mistake he makes inadvertently messes up Washington's undercover work. Joe now owes him a favor, but is unprepared for what Washington wants. A police charity event needs officers to dress in drag, but because Washington wants no part of that, he asks Joe to take his place.

A reluctant Joe decides to go through with the audition, expecting to be so bad that he won't be cast in the show. When he goes there and meets an attractive policewoman, Rachel Wareham, it changes everything. Joe not only does the show, he continues to keep from Rachel the fact that he's not a real cop.

As luck would have it, Joe finds himself in the midst of actual crimes. He encounters criminals, like bank robber Mickey, and is caught in a crossfire as to which would be worse, being exposed as someone impersonating a police officer or being shot by a crook.

''Le Masque''

A masked young dandy goes to an ornate dance hall, where he finds a young woman to be his dance partner. When he faints from the exertion, a doctor is called. He discovers that the dandy's mask hides his aged appearance. The doctor takes the old man home to his patient wife. She explains that her husband Ambroise used to attract the ladies who frequented the hairdresser salon where he worked, but in the space of two years, he lost his looks. He goes out in disguise in an attempt to recapture his youth.

''La Maison Tellier''

Julia Tellier, the well-respected madam of a small-town brothel, takes her girls on an outing to her brother's village to attend the First Communion of her niece. Her regular patrons are taken aback when they discover the brothel closed without explanation that Saturday night. One finally discovers a sign explaining the reason and is relieved. At the village, everyone is very impressed by the group of elegant ladies who have appeared to support the girl at her First Communion. The prostitutes are moved to tears by the ceremony, as is the rest of the congregation. Julia's brother Joseph becomes infatuated with Rosa, one of her workers, and promises to visit next month.

''Le Modèle''

A painter falls in love with his model. Things are idyllic at first, but after living together for a while, they begin to quarrel constantly. Finally, he moves in with his friend. She eventually finds him, but he wants no more to do with her. He ignores her threat to jump from a window, and is so guilt-ridden when she does so immediately that he marries her.

In New Orleans, a whip-wielding ringmaster announces to the crowd the “attraction of the century” and “the most interesting predator” of his circus: the former royal mistress Maria Dolorès Porriz y Montez, Countess von Landsfeld, known as Lola Montez. She is carried richly adorned into the circus ring to receive questions from the audience. Each question costs 25 cents, which are not intended as a payment for Lola Montez, as the ringmaster announces, since they will be donated by her to a correctional home for fallen women. The crowd shouts questions to Lola Montez about her waist size and her affairs, but the ringmaster answers them humorously. A parade of lovers begins, where the circus performers represent the number of Lola Montez' lovers. The question of whether the Countess von Landsfeld still remembers them leads Lola Montez to a first flashback of her affair with the composer Franz Liszt.

The affair with Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt and Lola Montez are on their way to Rome in a carriage, but the composer, who writes pieces for Lola Montez to which she dances in front of an audience, notices that their carriage is followed by another. He reckons to be a mere lover, since Lola Montez will go on board the other carriage as soon as she wants to leave him. Both of them spend the night in an inn and Liszt wants to prevent Lola from leaving. He tears up the just finished farewell waltz and secretly tries to leave the common room, but Lola Montez catches him and they spend one last night together. The next morning they part ways and Lola Montez reads up the torn notes, where Liszt says that she at least remains faithful to his music.

Childhood and youth

The ringmaster announces a change of scene and costume, as they will now deal with the childhood and youth of Lola Montez. A flashback shows the young Lola boarding a ship to Paris with her mother. While her mother shares a cabin with her lover, Lieutenant James, Lola Montez has to sleep in the dormitory with other girls. Once in Paris, her mother wants her to marry an old baron who was the family's banker. To avoid this fate, she escapes with Lieutenant James, who confesses his love to her, and they get married.

At the beginning of the second act in the circus, the ringmaster claims that the marriage was happy, but a flashback shows that after five years Lola Montez is actually fleeing from her violent, constantly drunk and cheating husband. This is followed by the further life of Lola Montez, depicted in the ring by elaborate tableaux vivants and acted scenes. Lola Montez makes her debut as a dancer in Madrid, is kidnapped by a rich Russian, whose love she rejected, and is freed by the intervention of the French ambassador. During these performances, a doctor talks with the director of the circus, who is still disguised as a clown and counting the daily profits. The doctor warns him that Lola's heart is weak and that she should take care of herself.

Lola tells now her story herself. She danced in Vienna at and was in love with the Kapellmeister. A short flashback shows how she found out on stage that he was married. She slapped the Kapellmeister while he was conducting the orchestra and then exposed him in front of his wife. At that time, the ringmaster visited her and offered her a contract with the circus, which she refused.

In the circus, while the number of her lovers is read out, ranging from Richard Wagner to Frédéric Chopin, from Count von Lichtenfeld to the Grand Duke of Hesse, Lola Montez swings higher and higher up on a trapeze until she stands on the top platform. This is when the flashback of her life in Bavaria begins.

Lola Montez and Ludwig I of Bavaria

Lola Montez meets a student hiking in the snowy mountains, who is offered a ride in her carriage if he shows her the way to Munich. Here Lola wants to make a career as a dancer, but she is not hired. Shortly before her departure, she begins an affair with Ferdinand von Freiberg, through whom she hopes to get in touch with King Ludwig I. She receives an audience with the king and complains about the lack of opportunities to perform. She clears any doubts about her body by tearing open her bodice in front of Ludwig I ("I have grown very well, do you want to see?"). The king arranges for her to appear as a dancer in the National Theatre, after which she wants to leave. He keeps her at court by commissioning a portrait of her, the completion of which he keeps delaying. She becomes his mistress, but also interferes more and more in politics. During the March Revolution of 1848, the citizens rebel against Lola Montez, who finally flees over the border to Austria at night with the help of the student she met on the way to Munich. She rejects the possibility of a simple life as the student's wife because something has broken in her and she can no longer love.

Finale

The ringmaster announces that Lola Montez had finally remembered his offer to work together and came to the circus. She has been performing here every day for four months, ending her show by jumping from the top platform onto a padded mat without a net. The doctor asks the ringmaster to keep the net this time, but the ringmaster fears to disappoint the audience and removes the net. The jump shot from Montez' point of view leaves the final outcome open, but at the end she is seen sitting in an animal cage. The male spectators queue in front of the cage to kiss Lola Montez' hand for a dollar. The ringmaster confesses to Lola Montez that he could not exist without her. She replies resignedly: "Life goes on."

''Tessa'' is the story of Tessa, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl who has a vivacious imagination but is, in spite of this, a loner. There is a crime or a riddle to solve in that novel, which is typical of Margit Sandemo. The story begins when a burglar makes a wrong phone number. He inadvertently calls Tessa and tells her about his upcoming crime. Tessa plans to check his intentions.

Category:1997 novels Category:Norwegian crime novels Category:Novels by Margit Sandemo

In Vienna during the late Imperial era, a love affair between a young lieutenant and a musician's daughter ends tragically when the lieutenant is killed in a duel, and the girl commits suicide.

In April 1987, two North Americans disappeared in the West Australian desert on a 4WD holiday. They were never seen alive again. Their abandoned vehicles and unused supplies were found in sand dunes near an Aboriginal sacred site less than an hour away from the closest town. Two years later, in May 1989, the two men were both found dead of natural causes, on the same day, 1,000 miles apart back in North America.

Twenty years after the original incident, 3 couples who set out on a surfing trip are lured into the same desert area, by a strange local whose master needs fresh victims to consume. Preconceived assumptions about friendship, undiscovered sexual liaisons, and false leadership come apart as the three couples realize that the vacation is over.

In 1660, Charles Stuart (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), deposed as king of England by Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads, is in exile in the Netherlands with a few loyalists, awaiting the right opportunity to return. Whilst bartering in a local marketplace, he meets Katie (Rita Corday), a Dutch farm owner and flower seller.

When unrest in England presents both opportunity and danger, Charles's chief advisor, Sir Edward Hyde (Nigel Bruce), recommends he hide somewhere, neither too close for Roundhead assassins to find him, nor too far for news to reach him of further developments. Charles, without revealing his royal identity, persuades Katie to take him on as a farm hand. The two soon fall in love.

During his stay, Charles encounters an actor named Dick Pinner (Robert Coote) who is posing as him; the imposter stays at Katie's inn. Shortly afterward, there arrives another guest, Countess Anbella de Courteuil (María Montez), an old lover of Charles's and an emissary from King Louis of France. She presents Charles with a gift from Louis, a music box. Knowing that Katie owes 3000 guilders to her cousin, Jan (Otto Waldis), Charles has the music box sold and pays off the debt without her knowledge. Katie becomes jealous of Anbella and dismisses Charles. However, when she learns of his generosity from a gracious, departing Anbella, she takes him back.

Meanwhile, English Colonel Ingram (Henry Daniell) has been given the mission of assassinating the king. He tracks Charles to his hiding place. Charles escapes from Ingram's men, but they follow Katie and trap him in a windmill. After a sword fight, he kills Ingram, and his followers come to the rescue. Sir Edward informs him that Parliament has offered him back his throne. To take the crown, however, Charles has to leave Katie; Charles resists the idea, but Sir Edward reminds him of his duty, and Katie of what he can do for his people, and the two star-crossed lovers sadly part.

The film's original ending, preferred by Ophüls, was a bit longer than the one shown in the United States. The shorter version ends with Charles leaving for England, while the longer has a further scene in which two courtiers casually discuss a plaque that is erected to his stay.

Myrto / Ektora / Lefteri / Ioulia

Ein erfolgreicher Herzchirurg und unsere dynamische Geschäftsentwicklung Frau genießen die persönliche und familiäre Abschluss mit ihrer Tochter. Alles scheint in ihrem Leben wunderbar bis zu dem Augenblick, dass die Frau Ex-Mann setzt es als sein Ziel, ihr Leben zu zerstören. Myrto und Ektora und genießen das Leben, aber nicht für lange, als Ioulia es darauf anlegt ihre Ehe zu zerstören. Ektora hat eine Affäre mit seiner alten Flamme, und sie stellt sicher, dass Myrto darüber schriftlich erfährt,in einem lebendigen Tagebuch stehen Einzelheiten der Affäre, nachdem es vorbei ist. Aus diesem Grund und der Tatsache, dass Myrto auch gefangen Hector betrügt sie mit Stella, eine Bardame aus Mykonos, sie sich scheiden und einen Teil ihre eigenen Wege. Myrto erfüllen Lefteri, ein Mann um 10 Jahre jünger ist als sie und sie fallen in Liebe, aber sie zögert, sich zu verpflichten, ihn nicht wegen seiner Vergangenheit zu verurteilen, sondern der Altersunterschied. In der Nacht vor ihrer Hochzeit mit Lefteri, hat eine Affäre mit Myrto Ektora trotz dieser, Myrto und Lefteri noch als Myrto heiraten im Klaren, dass er nur mit ihr ins Bett, weil er sich nicht von billigen Lefteri in der Nähe seiner Tochter. Ektora hatte auch eine Affäre mit seiner Sekretärin in Planung sie zu heiraten, nachdem sie schwanger war, aber sie brachen die Verbindungen, als sie eine Fehlgeburt erlitt. Darüber hinaus Ioulia später schnitt sich auf eine giftige gemein, dass sie von der Hüfte abwärts gelähmt für 6 Monate, ging sie im Ausland für die Behandlung, und nicht aus, da zu hören war.

Antigoni and Vera

Myrto's and Stefano's youngest child Antigoni was taken by her best friend, Vera, 15 years ago, when Antigoni was 4 years old after Antigoni wondered off during a fight between Myrto and her now first husband, Stefanos. Vera was also having a 20-year affair with Stefanos during Myrto's and Stefanos's marriage; she marries Stefanos early in the first season. Soon after, Antigoni returns and despises her biological parents as she was led to believe by Vera that they treated her badly. When she realises that her parents truly love her, and missed her deeply, the secret of her kidnapping is exposes and she is ostracized by the family. Antigoni defends her saying that she is the only mother she has ever known, however Myrto and Vera's friendship is ruined forever. Later in the season, Antigoni marries Alexandros, Stefanos's henchman against her parents will, whom she only met months before their marriage. He is a golddigger, and Vera encouraged him to marry Antigoni as she is seeking revenge on Stefanos for ignoring her after the secret of the kidnapping is exposed. Vera is persistent with Stefanos refusing to let him push her out of his life and trying to make their marriage work.

Pavlos and Christina

Pavlos is Myrto's and Stefano's second child, and serves as the comic relief during this season. His relationship with Christina changes significantly throughout the season. It begins with her having complete control, but when Pavlos reverses the power he cheats on her with Ekctora's secretary's cousin. However, she moves back to London to continue with her studies and Pavlos and Christina are reunited at the end of the season.

Renos and Martha

Renos is Myrto's and Stefano's eldest son, at the start of the first season, he is having an affair with his childhood flame, Martha. She is married to Andreas, living in Mykonos in a loveless marriage, that she only went through with because she believed that her son, Panayioti was his. A paternity test is done and it is realised that Renos is the father of the child, and Martha and Renos officially become a couple. Within months they marry and Renos pressures Martha to make the move to Athens with her child. She reluctantly accepts, and Renos buys a new house which he tours with his son and his father, Stefanos. Panayioti falls off a third storey balcony during the tour and dies. Martha leaves Renos blaming him for the accident, she soon makes plans to move away from him and his family and make a new start. Shortly before she leaves she realises that she is still in love with Renos but decides to move forward with the leave as it will be the only way to leave behind the death of her son, during her farewell party her psychotic ex-husband sets a bomb, in the season finale all the core-characters are in the vicinity of the accident except Hector and Myrtle who run towards the house wondering if anyone has survived.

Category:2005 Greek television seasons Category:2006 Greek television seasons

Chief Inspector Masters receives a note that reads "There will be ten teacups at number 4, Berwick Terrace, W. 8, on Wednesday, July 31, at 5 p.m. precisely. The presence of the Metropolitan Police Is respectfully requested." The note troubles Masters because, two years earlier, he received a similar note that was ignored requesting that the police go to a different location. On the previous occasion a man named William Dartley was found shot dead, in a room with ten very expensive teacups (patterned with a peacock feather motif). The house where Dartley was found had no furnishings in any room, except for the room where his body was found.

Masters takes the note to Sir Henry Merrivale, who assumes that Dartley was murdered over the teacups but realizes that that doesn't make sense, because the murderer brought the cups. H.M. then focuses on the second note, finding out that 4 Berwick Terrace is also an empty house. Inspector Masters reports that the day before some furniture was delivered to the house, and he responds by having the house guarded and having a police officer posted outside the newly-furnished room at all times.

Masters discovers that a room in the house, a strongroom on the top floor, is going to be a meeting place for a man named Vance Keating and an unknown man or organization. Although Keating doesn't want police protection, Detective-Sergeant Pollard guards the door. At 5 p.m., two gunshots are heard. Pollard rushes into the room where he finds Keating shot dead, with a gun lying beside him. There is a thick layer of dust on the carpet that reveals only Pollard's and Keating's footprints. Pollard notices the window is open, and runs to it, noting that Sergeant Hollis stands directly under the window. Pollard suggests that the killer jumped out the window, to which Hollis's reply is "No one came out this window."

An aggressive lion named Caesar escapes from a traveling circus owned and managed by Nick Coster, but is cornered in a grocery store by clerk Matt Varney. Seeing that Matt has become an instant celebrity with the town's residents, Nick hires the farm boy to work with his current lion tamer, Hoffman the Great. Nick finds Hoffman drunk and passed out before he is to perform, so Nick convinces Matt to take Hoffman's place. When Matt does well, Nick fires Hoffman (and keeps his lions, as he owes Nick a lot of money).

At a bar in the city, Matt tries to apologize to Hoffman for taking over his job. Hoffman follows Matt back to the circus and goads him into a fight. Hoffman is badly injured by Caesar after he is pushed up next to the lion's cage. Nick's girlfriend, Flo Lorraine, a fortune teller at the circus, drives Matt to Nick's farm to hid him from the police, despite knowing that Nick is adamant about keeping circus people away from his family because he feels the former are beneath the latter. Unknown to Flo, Nick's younger sister Mary has graduated and has come home. While Matt is recovering from his injuries, he and Flo fall in love. When Nick returns from a business trip, Flo tells him about Matt. Nick goes to the farm and orders Matt to leave with him and to never see Mary again. Matt reluctantly agrees.

During a break between shows, Matt becomes increasingly worried that he cannot contact Mary because of his promise to Nick. Flo believes that Matt is in love with her, but she becomes heartbroken when Matt tells her that he is in love with Mary. Flo then persuades Matt to ignore Nick's order. Once Nick returns from another trip, he learns that Matt is back at the farm. He arrives there, and, during an argument, he slaps Mary for being disrespectful. Matt then slugs him.

After their fight, Nick plans to have Matt killed in the lion cage. He convinces Matt to perform with Caesar in order to build his reputation as a lion tamer. He then gives Matt an unloaded lion tamer's gun. As Matt is in the cage, Flo and Mary arrive at the circus. Matt uses his skills against Caesar, but is fighting a losing battle, as the unloaded gun has no effect in scaring the lion. Nick is persuaded by Mary to go into the cage to rescue Matt. He distracts the lion away from Matt, but is subsequently attacked and killed by the lion.

''About a Girl'' centers around Amy Ryan, a college student who moves into a house off-campus when her dorm room turns out to be unacceptable. However, her new roommates are four guys. Things are not always smooth as she tries to either adjust to or change their habits and wrestles with her unrequited attraction to one of them.

As a tribute to the importance of radio in the mid-20th century, three stories are told whose central axis is the listeners: some contestants who for 3,000 pesetas have to come to the studio dressed as an Eskimo, a thief who answers a call from a phone in the house where he is stealing and a school teacher who participates in a contest to get money to cure a child in his town. The stories are linked through the love story of an announcer and his fiancée and through snippets of the lives of real characters from the time of the film. The copla singer Gracia Montes appears in the film singing a popular song from Andalusia: La Romera. That singer would become one of the fundamental pillars of the copla and flamenco in Spain in the future. Other celebrities of the time that appear in the film are the bullfighter Rafael Gómez Ortega 'el Gallo' and the soccer player Luis Molowny. Years later, Sáenz de Heredia would direct Historias de la Televisión, a sort of sequel to Historias de la Radio set in television.

Castile, 19th Century. Judge Joaquín Zarco (''Rafael Durán'') travel in a stagecoach with a beautiful woman, Blanca (''Amparo Rivelles''). It is Carnavile. They fall in love but she disappears...

Life in the Arizona Territory in early 1861 is hard, but Phoebe Titus, the only American woman in the pioneering community of Tucson, is up to the challenge. She catches the eye of Peter Muncie, a handsome young man with a wagon train passing through on the way to California. He begins courting her but tells her that he is not ready to settle down in one spot. Phoebe offers him a job heading a new freight company that she has just formed with store owner Solomon Warner, but Peter is determined to see California and promises to return when his wanderlust is satisfied.

A dandy named Jefferson Carteret appears just as the Civil War breaks out. He helps Phoebe persuade wavering residents to remain after the Union garrison pulls out, leaving them without protection against the Indians. Carteret pretends to be Phoebe's friend, but coerces her competitor Lazarus Ward into making him a secret partner.

Carteret and Ward try to destroy Phoebe's business and bribe Indian chief Mano with guns to attack her wagons. The Confederates gain the temporary allegiance of the community by sending troops, but they are soon recalled east. Union troops of the California Column, including Peter as a sergeant, return in April 1862 just as Tucson's situation becomes desperate. Peter helps Phoebe secure a lucrative army freight contract, but Carteret has Ward slander her to the Union commander, claiming that she supplied ammunition for the departed Confederates. Peter and Phoebe extract the truth from Ward at gunpoint and regain the contract. Soon after, Peter's enlistment expires.

Phoebe persuades Peter to travel to Nebraska to buy cattle for the ranch that she has always dreamed of owning. She has already purchased a great deal of land cheaply from those who moved away because of the Indian troubles. However, the $15,000 paid her by the army is stolen by Carteret's men disguised as Mexican bandits. Carteret offers to make her a loan, with her business and land as security, and she accepts. Six months later, Carteret tells Phoebe that her loan will come due the next day.

However, Peter is half a day away with their herd. Carteret coaxes the Indians to attack, but Peter and his men are able to fight them off. Peter extracts a confession from one of Carteret's men, but Carteret kills the henchman after he shoots Ward. The town celebrates as Phoebe and Peter get married. When Peter goes to settle accounts with Carteret, shots are heard, and Phoebe takes her slightly wounded new husband home.

The story of Queen Joanna of Castile, known as "Juana la loca," and her husband Philip I of Castile, also known as "Philip the handsome."

Stéphanie, a transgender sex worker (Stéphanie Michelini) travels from Paris to a small town to care for her sick mother. She is joined by her two flatmates, an Algerian hustler, Jamal and a Russian soldier on AWOL, Mikhail. Both men fall in love with Stéphanie and she decides to have a relationship with them both.

In 1770, William Pitt the Elder gives a speech in Parliament strongly advising against war with the American colonies, and then advises his second son, a young man also named William Pitt, to avoid seeking fame through war. Years later, the ministry of Charles James Fox and Lord North falls. Pitt the Younger is only 24, unpopular due to his opposition to the war in America and with a reputation as a reformer, and with no majority in the House of Commons. However, despite all this, King George III summons him and asks him to form a government.

Pitt tries to gain Fox's support, but is rebuffed. He is ridiculed in Parliament, but despite having no majority, refuses to resign. He is even subject to a night ambush, but noted boxers Dan Mendoza and Gentleman Jackson help drive the assailants away. Reassured by the boxers' claims of strong support for him amongst the general public, Pitt calls an election on a platform of peace and prosperity, which gives him a majority. Against Fox's constant opposition, he then institutes reforms and strengthens the Royal Navy, whilst intermittently events in Napoleon Bonaparte's childhood and military training are shown.

The French Revolution erupts and France invades Belgium. With France and Britain both nominally committed to Dutch neutrality, Talleyrand fails to convince Pitt into an alliance with France or at least pro-French neutrality and a French invasion of the Dutch Republic soon afterwards triggers a British declaration of war. Public opinion turns against the war as early successes turn to defeats such as the Siege of Toulon, won by Napoleon's artillery knowledge, but even when Britain's continental allies fall Pitt refuses to sue for peace.

Pitt's friend William Wilberforce continues to support peace negotiations and abstains from a vote on the matter. Via an American intermediary Melvill, Talleyrand sends word to Pitt that French moderates are willing to make peace, but before Pitt can exploit this Napoleon seizes power in France. Learning of this during one of his regular visits to Walmer Castle, Pitt realises Napoleon's desire for world domination and commits himself totally to the arduous struggle ahead, sacrificing even his hopes for marriage to Eleanor Eden. He also discovers that he has neglected his personal finances and is now deeply in debt, though these debts are soon paid off by an unknown friend.

He institutes a bold but risky strategy, going on the offensive in the Mediterranean, and chooses Horatio Nelson over more senior admirals to lead the naval squadron assigned the task. Napoleon sails from Toulon to invade Egypt while Nelson's blockading ships are scattered by a gale. Meanwhile, Pitt collapses from overwork and is warned by his doctor about his health. Nelson finds and destroys the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. The people cheer Pitt, but the war continues until Napoleon personally writes to George III, superficially to suggest peace negotiations but in fact to exacerbate pro- and anti-war divisions in Britain. Pitt is forced to resign, just before receiving news of Eleanor's impending wedding. A peace treaty is signed, giving Napoleon time to build up his armies and his fleet, whilst Addington's administration naively hopes for a lasting peace and neglects Britain's defences.

Napoleon gathers his forces on the French coast facing England and popular opinion thrusts Pitt into replacing Addington, despite his doctor's warnings. He gains the support of the king and even of Fox as he rearms Britain and institutes a system of fencibles and militia for home defence. The decisive British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar puts an end to the invasion threat, though in a speech at the Guildhall Pitt states that victory has been achieved not just by him but the whole nation, also predicting that Britain will go on to save Europe.

Coal miners, led by Robert "Bob" Fenwick, go on strike, refusing to work in a particular section of the mine due to the great danger of flooding, despite their own union supporting Neptune Colliery's owner, Richard Barras. Tensions rise as the strikers go hungry. Finally, some of them break into a butcher's shop and loot it. Bob Fenwick tries to stop it, but ends up being arrested himself. The miners give in and go back to work. Bob's son "Davey" wins a scholarship and moves away to attend school.

While studying, Davey runs into an old friend, Joe Gowlan, now a bookmaker and philanderer. They go to a restaurant together with one of Gowlan's girlfriends, Jenny Sunley, the daughter of Gowlan's landlady. She tries to make Gowlan jealous by pretending to be smitten with Davey, but he is not taken in. He obtains a much better job from Stanley Millington through the influence of Millington's wife Laura. In the process he desserts Jenny who easily courts Davey, getting him to abandon his university career for a teaching job.

Jenny is dissatisfied with her life as home-maker on Davey’s low wages and is profligate. Davey has unconventional modern teaching methods which are not appreciated by his seniors and he is sacked. While tutoring Barras’s son he finds Gowlan making a secret deal with Barras to mine in the dangerous section of the pit. Outraged he tries to persuade the Trade Union to call a strike but his motives are questioned after it becomes known that Gowlan has renewed acquaintance with Jenny.

The new contract proceeds and disaster strikes at the mine.

Candy and her gay friend Jon are owners of a financially troubled art gallery in Peoria, Illinois. After exhausting their savings, they concoct a devious scheme in order to save the gallery in this screwball comedy.

They team up with a hunky con artist, the mob and a lesbian porn queen, but at the end little is left standing but their friendship.

At age ten, Martin is living in Cahors with Jeanine, his hairdresser mother and her taxi-driver lover, Said. Martin is the illegitimate child of a successful business man, Victor Sauvagnac. Against the child’s wishes his mother sends Martin to live with his father, whom until then he does not know. Victor is married and has three sons older than Martin. The move is not a happy one and quickly Martin finds himself in conflict with his brash, cold father.

Ten years later, just after his twentieth birthday, Martin flees his home following his father's death. He disappears wandering across the country side and tries unsuccessfully to drown himself. Martin emerges weeks later at his half-brother Benjamin’s apartment in Paris. Benjamin is a struggling actor sharing living arrangements with his best friend Alice, a violinist in a local quintet that specializes in tango music. More outgoing than his younger brother, Benjamin, who is gay, has a close platonic relationship with Alice. Martin finds success quickly–within weeks he is a highly sought-after model. Alice is nervous and brittle, harboring her own private grief, the tragic death at age eleven of her gifted sister. At first Alice resents Martin's presence in the apartment and she is cold towards him. Though Alice does not like the brooding Martin much, he becomes obsessed with her and starts surreptitiously following her. Alice discovers it and confronts him. She is gradually captivated by his attentions, and the two begin a passionate love affair.

Leaving Benjamin behind, Alice accompanies Martin to Granada, Spain, on a modeling shoot. Their happiness is brief. During the trip Martin's behavior becomes erratic and he becomes more and more self-obsessed. When Alice reveals she is pregnant, his decline continues. Martin suffers a nervous breakdown and falls into coma. The doctors determine that his condition is psychosomatic. In an effort to restore his health, Alice rents a cabin by the sea in Spain’s south coast. Martin swims for hours each night, but remains withdrawn. He is haunted by his father’s death.

A flashback recounts the period preceding Victor Sauvagnac’s death. His relationship with his sons was problematic: the aimless and withdrawn Martin failed to please him; Benjamin irritated him and a reunion about the prospects of the family's business ended up in a fist fight between François and Frédéric, the two eldest siblings. Martin celebrates his 20th birthday with Benjamin, who comes from Paris for the occasion. Their reunion is interrupted by a phone call from François who commits suicide hanging himself in the family's factory. When Martin decides to leave for Paris an argument erupts and Martin pushes his father downs the stairs killing him. Unable to deal with what he has just done, Martin runs away.

After Martin reveals that he caused his father's death, unable to bear the guilt and pain any longer, he commits himself to a mental institution. Alice, following Martin’s wishes, travels to Cahors to talk to the Sauvagnac family. She befriends Martin's mother, but Lucie, Victor’s widow, is unsympathetic. Frédéric Sauvagnac, who is the town's major, is openly hostile. Benjamin comes to town in an effort to stop Alice interfering in his family affairs. However they two reconcile. Eventually Lucie decides to tell the authorities about Martin’s culpability in her husband’s death. Martin confesses his crime, surrenders to the authorities and goes to prison. Alice decides to have her baby. She appears playing her violin in a wedding. Martin is in prison but, in a letter to Alice, he seems to be finally at peace with himself.

Wealthy young heiress Ann Carrington and her best friend Gail Richards are riding in a speeding taxi driven by Bob, along the coast. A figure dressed all in black, with covered face and hat, aims a rifle with the telescopic sight crosshairs focused on the cab from a distance and shoots out the rear tire. The taxi flips over on its side at the very edge of a cliff, inches away from having fallen into crashing ocean waves below. Bob, the taxi driver, extracts his passengers from the vehicle and leaves them at the side of the road so he can walk back to a garage they passed back down the road to seek help.

Ann and Gail try hitchhiking and get passed by the first car. Gail raises Ann's skirt to expose her leg when a second car passes, and the driver ends up leaving the road and crashing into a tree. Next, they block the road by sitting on their suitcases in the middle of the road so the next car is forced to stop. In the sports car is banker Cosmo Topper and his chauffeur, Eddie. The two girls brazenly load their luggage and climb into the car. They insist on being driven to Ann's destination, the Carrington mansion. The back seat of the car is loaded with luggage and Ann, so Gail volunteers to ride sitting on Cosmo's lap, ignoring his protests.

As they drive past Topper's house, Mrs. Clara Topper is out front with her maid and waves to the approaching car. She is surprised to see her husband drive past with a young blonde sitting on his lap, and distraughtly concludes he is having an adventure. The girls are dropped off at the stately cliff top mansion next door to Topper's residence, where they are received by three creepy staff members, butler Rama, housekeeper Lillian, and another unnamed staff member.

Ann is directed to the study to see her father by the housekeeper, but her friend Gail is to stay behind. Ann is then intercepted by the creepy Dr. Jeris. Dr. Jeris warns Ann that her father, Henry Carrington, is in poor health and takes her to meet her father, who is sitting in a chair with a blanket over his legs. In the conversation we find out that Ann has been raised in the East at her mother's request. Ann has no memories of her father, as they have been separated since her mother and Carrington's business partner died in a cave while inspecting a company mine. Ann's father also reveals that the next day would be Ann's twenty-first birthday and, according to her mother's will, she is to come into full control of the family fortune.

After leaving her father, Ann and Gail are to be shown upstairs to their rooms. Gail is waiting on the stairs, and as Ann crosses the main hall, a giant chandelier breaks loose from the ceiling. Ann escapes harm because Gail screams in time for Ann to stop and just barely be missed by the chandelier. The girls continue on to their rooms. The first room is Gail's and it is decorated in an Oriental motif. Gail is unimpressed, as they have just returned from living in the East. Ann is then taken to her bedroom which is spectacularly decorated. Gail discovers the rooms are adjoining, and she makes such a fuss about how beautiful the room is that Ann insists that they trade, so Gail sleeps in what was supposed to be Ann's room.

In the middle of the night, a secret panel opens in the bedroom and the masked figure dressed all in black enters the bedroom and opens the windows. Gail is knifed to death as she gets up to shut the window, having been mistaken for Ann.

Gail's ghost separates from her body. Ghost-Gail walks out the window and goes down the road to the Topper's house to find someone who can help solve her murder. She finds Topper and convinces him to come to the Carrington mansion by threatening to create a scandal with his suspicious wife if he doesn't. Topper calls Eddie the chauffeur to get the car ready. Eddie grumbles and protests, but he does drive Topper back to mansion. Eddie is unaware of the ghost and experiences a number of puzzles as doors open and shut, cushions depress, voices are heard, footprints appear on the snowy walkways, and so on. Eventually he gets so scared that he runs away and drives back to the Toppers' house and starts packing to leave. Mrs. Topper finds him and asks where Cosmo is, and then demands to be driven to the house next door to find him. Eddie says he's had it and wants to go back to work for his former employer, Mr. Benny, but Mrs. Topper bullies him into driving her and Emily the maid to the Carringtons'.

Meantime, Topper, with the guidance of Ghost-Gail, finds the dead body of Gail, and goes downstairs to phone the police, but the phone doesn't work. Dr. Jeris, armed with a pistol, and the three staff members discover him, surround him, and keep him confined. He insists on going up to the bedroom to show them the body, but when they arrive, Gail's body is gone. The doctor and Mr. Carrington treat him as a lunatic. When Ann comes into the room, Topper tries to explain, but the housekeeper finds a note that Gail apparently wrote, saying she has left.

At this point, Mrs. Topper, her maid Emily, and Eddie arrive and insist Topper is in the house,, and they push their way in to look for him. By this time it is nearly daylight and Bob the taxi driver shows up at the house to collect his unpaid fare. Ann, who is wondering what happened to Gail, becomes frightened and asks Bob to stick around and escort her up to her room to get the fare. They go up to the bedroom, where Bob volunteers to wait outside the room. While Ann is in the room, the black dressed assassin appears, but Ann sees him in the mirror, screams, and Bob responds in time to see the black figure escape through the window.

In the following sequences, there are many comings and goings with people disappearing and reappearing by way of concealed stairways and hallways reachable by moving or rotating wall panels. Mrs. Topper uses the phone and calls the police to report her missing husband and innocently mentions there has also been a murder. Soon police detective Roberts, with a squad of cops, comes in and starts asking questions. He gets confused by the conflicting answers and by tricks that Ghost-Gail plays from time to time.

Ghost-Gail has Topper hide in the kitchen's walk-in refrigerator. Eventually Topper is found by his wife and the bulk of the characters end up in the kitchen. Ghost-Gail steals a pistol from police detective Roberts’ pocket. Ghost-Gail forces it on Topper and manipulates him to get everyone else into the refrigerator and lock them in. Ghost-Gail and Topper then proceed to look for her body to prove the murder. Eventually Bob breaks the window in the door and gets everyone out of the refrigerator. Ann is kidnapped by the figure in black and is ultimately rescued by Bob, with assistance from Ghost-Gail.

Lillian the housekeeper is eventually proved to be the writer of Gail's note. She decides to start talking to say she was in on some of the deceptions but had nothing to do with the murder. The lights go out suddenly and Lillian disappears. It turns out there is a secret chain in the fireplace that, when pulled, makes the chair in the center of the room tilt backwards and dump the occupant down a vertical shaft to a water-filled cave below the mansion.

Eventually, the threads come together. Topper and Ghost-Gail manage to get her body back from a small ship a short distance offshore from the water cave. The body is returned to the mansion and, despite the comic total confusion of the detective, Topper states that the killer must have been the person who was standing nearest the fireplace when Lillian was about to talk, and that person was none other than . . . Mr. Carrington!

Mr. Carrington escapes, gets in a car, and drives off. Ghost-Gail gets into Topper's sports car and goes in pursuit. Eddie is in the back seat, terrified that the car is being driven at top speed on winding roads with an invisible driver. Mr. Carrington, being followed in hot pursuit, eventually loses control, and his car leaves the road and crashes into a tree. He dies and becomes a ghost himself. Before anyone else arrives, Ghost-Gail browbeats Ghost-Carrington into writing a letter to Ann, confessing that he is not her father, but her father's business partner. Her father died in the mine together with Ann's mother, and he has been impersonating Carrington in order to kill Ann and keep the fortune for himself.

Ghost-Gail gives the letter to Topper when the other characters arrive at the crash scene, and Topper hands it to Ann. Clara Topper sees that Cosmo was mostly telling the truth about his adventures with the two young ladies, and Bob and Ann comfort each other. Eddie quits, and Clara convinces the maid Emily to drive the Toppers home. Ghost-Gail thanks Eddie for the help, then Ghost-Carrington apologizes for dumping him in the water. This scares Eddie, who runs so fast he passes the Toppers' car.

To gain entry to Heaven, ghost Marion Kerby (Constance Bennett) has to do some good on earth. That means reuniting a divorcing couple, Cosmo (Roland Young) and Clara Topper (Billie Burke). To be fair, Marion played a part in their troubles: Clara mistakenly thought Marion was Cosmo's mistress. Making peace between the pair will mean accompanying Cosmo on a trip to the French Riviera and employing plenty of otherworldly tricks, with the help of a canine spirit named Mr. Atlas.

When their mother Sally remarries, Caspar and Johnny Brent dislike their new stepfather, Jack McIntyre, though their younger sister, Gwinny, is less judgmental. Jack brings two sons of his own, Douglas and Malcolm, with him and the two sets of siblings do not get along. Tensions are increased by the small house in which the seven live. Jack himself proves to be prone to harsh comments, and Johnny soon dubs him "the Ogre".

The Ogre buys chemistry sets, one each for Johnny and Malcolm. It is not too long before the children discover that some of the chemicals have magical properties. Douglas and Malcolm discover this after Johnny accidentally makes Gwinny fly, and a race begins between the two groups to find out which chemicals are magic. Caspar, Johnny, and Gwinny go flying, but the effect wears off away from home. Douglas has had to visit the mysterious store the chemistry sets came from to find out the antidote for a chemical which has turned Malcolm small, and they are able to attract his attention. He assists them in getting home, but the effect wears off again as they approach, which leaves Douglas stranded outside the house. Douglas (the oldest of the boys, perhaps fifteen) is caught by the Ogre, who assumes he has been sneaking out, and strikes him. The Ogre also strikes Johnny and Malcolm later in the book.

The other chemicals can do interesting things too, and the misadventures forge a bond among the children, as well as a common front against the Ogre. One chemical causes Malcolm's mind to enter Caspar's body, and vice versa. they spend a miserable day in each other's place before Douglas detects the substitution and figures out how to switch them back; the experience causes them to understand each other a little better.

The poor relations between the Ogre and the children cause bitter arguments between him and Sally, which culminates in her departure (it is later learned that she intends to send for the children as soon as she has a new place of her own). The Ogre lies about why Sally has left, pretending things are fine between them. This leads the children to assume, thinking the worst of him, that the Ogre has done away with Sally.

Fearing that the Ogre has killed her mother, and upset about his actions, Gwinny decides to kill the Ogre by baking him a cake filled with poison. She includes chemicals from the set, which, after she leaves it for the Ogre, turn the cake invisible. When Gwinny sees the cake "gone", and hears the Ogre making noises in his sleep, she assumes her scheme succeeded and is filled with remorse. She awakens the snoring Ogre, and confesses that she has poisoned him. However, she realises, the cake has not been eaten, but is simply invisible because of the chemicals. The Ogre assumes that much of this is childish nightmares, and talks to her for a while before sending her to bed, promising the girl that he will work on trying to understand the children better.

Johnny's attempt on the Ogre's life is less subtle. He has also discovered invisibility, and uses it to try to kill the Ogre with a falling vacuum cleaner. The children realise Johnny has gone too far and save the Ogre's life, though he does not fully realise his danger. Johnny also tries to make it look like the Ogre has killed him and disposed of his body, but his attempt is frustrated by Caspar and Douglas. The Ogre does realise Johnny is not to be seen, and Caspar claims he has run away to a distant aunt. The Ogre has Caspar get in the car with the stated intent of driving to the aunt's house where Johnny has supposedly gone.

It turns out that the Ogre has taken Caspar to question him, since Caspar, as the Ogre puts it, is the worst liar he knows. The Ogre clearly heard Johnny's voice in the house, and knows he could not have run away. Caspar soon tells all, from the magic chemistry sets to Johnny's attempt on the Ogre's life. The Ogre is convinced by one of Caspar's fingers, which Johnny's experiments have turned partially invisible. At the end of the talk they also understand each other a bit better, and the Ogre realises the effect his behaviour is having. The two drive home to find Johnny slowly regaining visibility – he is being forced outside into the rain by the others, as water is the antidote to that chemical. The Ogre takes Johnny for a long talk behind closed doors, at the end of which the Ogre looks tired and Johnny looks smug.

Sally is located at a relative's home, and she is persuaded to return. The Ogre then returns the chemistry sets to the mysterious store from which they came. After the Ogre and the children clean the house, and following one more adventure at the supermarket with chemicals the children held back, Sally returns. But there is one more chemical, and this turns base metal into gold. This generates enough gold that allows them to buy a larger house, and the tensions dissipate. The children run wild in the new house as they realise the Ogre's bark is worse than his bite.

Jack, Steve and Goat are East End London "spivs" (British slang for a black marketeer) who spend their days wheeling and dealing whenever and wherever they can. But not until they are landed with the juicy payoff they have been waiting for, involving a shady character who calls himself Villa, do they realize the trouble they have got into. After opening a truck door they discover they were not smuggling merchandise, rather they were smuggling people. The people run out of the cargo area. Jack is mad at Steve for not checking. Then suddenly they discover two small Albanian children a girl and a boy. Now they are in even more trouble.

Issue 1: Empire Dreams

In 1898, one year after her encounter with Dracula, Mina Murray has divorced her husband and now works for the British government. She meets with MI5 agent Campion Bond (the grandfather of James Bond), who gives her the task of gathering selected members for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a secret task force whose job it will be to protect the British Empire from potential threats. Captain Nemo escorts Mina to Egypt, where she finds a heavily intoxicated Allan Quatermain in an opium den. Two Arab men enter the den and attempt to rape Mina, but Allan intervenes and kills one of them. As the other man rushes off to tell the authorities, Mina drags Allan through the busy streets towards the docks, where Nemo's submarine, the ''Nautilus'', emerges from the sea. Nemo fends off the Egyptian police with a harpoon gun, and Allan is brought on board the ''Nautilus'' to recover from his opium addiction.

For their next assignment, the League travel to Paris and meet with C. Auguste Dupin to investigate a recent string of violent murders. Mina poses as a prostitute to lure the killer into a trap, but is kidnapped. Allan and Dupin trace the killer to his apartment and find Mina, but are attacked by a large monster.

Issue 2: Ghosts & Miracles

After a brief fight, Allan forces the monster out of the apartment window, and the fall renders it unconscious. Once on the ''Nautilus'', the monster transforms into a frail, terrified man with no memory of recent events. The man is Dr Henry Jekyll, while the monster is his alter ego Mr. Hyde. Mina bids farewell to Dupin, and the ''Nautilus'' leaves Paris. When the League return to London, Bond sets them their next task: going undercover at a girls' school to investigate three separate cases of sexless conception.

Mina, Allan and Nemo visit the school undercover and meet the dominatrix headmistress, Rosa Coote. The girls believe they have been impregnated by the Holy Spirit, and the league stay the night for their investigation. Late at night, Mina catches an unseen force sexually assaulting one of the girls, Pollyanna, and throws a tin of paint over it, making the entity partly visible. The League successfully apprehend the "Holy Spirit", which is actually Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man, and take him to their new headquarters within the secret annexe of the British Museum. Bond promises Griffin that if he agrees to work for them, he will be granted a pardon for his past crimes and MI5 will research a cure for Griffin's invisibility.

Issue 3: Mysteries of the East

With the League fully assembled, Bond gives them the task of recovering a stolen supply of Cavorite from a crime lord referred to as "The Doctor" (an alias for Fu Manchu, which name the comic was not allowed to use, for trademark reasons). He explains that Britain was secretly planning a moon landing to coincide with the turn of the 20th century celebrations, supervised by Professor Selwyn Cavor and using Cavorite to power and levitate heavier-than-air machines.

The League are dispatched to London's Limehouse district in order to learn more about The Doctor. Mina and Griffin question Quong Lee (a storyteller from books by Thomas Burke), who reveals that The Doctor is indeed operating within the area, but only gives them information in the form of a cryptic riddle: "The waters lap beneath the heavenly bridge. The dragon sleeps below it. My advice to you: do not awaken it". Although Griffin is sceptical, Mina concludes that The Doctor's activities must be taking place beneath Rotherhithe Bridge.

Meanwhile, Allan and Dr Jekyll enter The Doctor's lair, where they spy on him carving Chinese symbols into a man's flesh with acid. The league re-group on the ''Nautilus'' and organise their evidence. Mina believes The Doctor has stolen the Cavorite for some nefarious purpose, and suspects that he is building an aerial war machine in the unfinished Rotherhithe Tunnel. She and Allan return to the Limehouse district to investigate activity around the abandoned Rotherhithe Tunnel, and eventually find a large cavern where The Doctor's airship (the "dragon" from Quong Lee's riddle) is being constructed.

Issue 4: Gods of Annihilation

Allan and Mina infiltrate The Doctor's lair, but are caught by a guard. An unnoticed Griffin kills the guard and Allan disguises himself in his uniform, planning to get inside the airship and steal back the Cavorite. Griffin meets with Jekyll and tells him to create a distraction. Jekyll turns into Mr Hyde and starts slaughtering the guards, while Allan and Mina sneak into the ship, locate the Cavorite engine and steal it. They reunite with Hyde and Griffin in an underwater glass tunnel, but are cornered by more guards. To escape, Allan shoots a hole in the glass and Mina activates the Cavorite, propelling them upwards through the cascading water. The Doctor's lair is flooded, the ship is destroyed, and the ''Nautilus'' rescues the league as they fall back down into the Thames.

Bond congratulates the league on their success, and leaves the ''Nautilus'' with the Cavorite, telling them he will take it back to his superior M. A suspicious Griffin follows Bond back to the Military Intelligence Headquarters, and discovers that M is in fact criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty.

Issue 5: "Some Deep, Organizing Power..."

A flashback shows the climax of Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "The Final Problem", in which Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty have their final confrontation atop the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. However, Moriarty survives his fall into the water below (though his spine and right arm are broken and heal in a deformed state), and is rescued by Campion Bond and Colonel Sebastian Moran. His criminal empire is in fact a front created by British Intelligence, which Moriarty now controls along with London's West end criminal underworld, while The Doctor controls the East.

Moriarty has built his own aerial warship, which he can now power with the Cavorite. Griffin returns to the ''Nautilus'' and informs the league of what he's discovered, and that Moriarty plans to bomb London's East end and destroy what remains of The Doctor's criminal empire.

Issue 6: The Day of Be-With-Us

Moriarty launches his airship and starts to bomb the East end of London. While the Doctor sends armed boarders to the airship on gliders, the League boards the ''Victoria'', a hot-air balloon Nemo had stored on the ''Nautilus'', and anchor it to the airship. While Mr Hyde and Nemo attack the crew, Mina and Allan ascend to the top deck where Moriarty is waiting for them. Allan guns down the guards, but Moriarty shoots him in the shoulder and prepares to kill him. Mina smashes the Cavorite engine's container with a monkey wrench, and Moriarty rushes toward the device, grabs onto it, and is propelled into the night sky. The League leave the airship in the ''Victoria'', and are once again rescued by the ''Nautilus'', this time manned by Nemo's first mate Ishmael (the narrator from Moby-Dick).

The story ends with Mycroft Holmes (the brother of Sherlock Holmes) becoming the new director of British Intelligence, congratulating the League for their work, and telling them to remain in London should there be further need for them in the future. Meanwhile, Martian ships fall from the sky and descend on Woking, setting in motion the second volume.

Issue 1: Phases of Deimos

On the planet Mars, John Carter and Gullivar Jones have assembled an alliance of Martian races to combat an invading race of non-Martian aliens called "Molluscs" (the aliens from H.G. Wells' ''The War of the Worlds''). After a fierce battle, the Martian alliance successfully force the Molluscs off Mars. As they leave, however, Carter worries they may be going to Earth.

On Earth, in the year 1898, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (consisting of Allan Quatermain, Dr Henry Jekyll, Mina Murray, Captain Nemo and Hawley Griffin) arrive in Horsell Common, where a Mollusc spaceship lies at the centre of an impact crater.

Issue 2: People of Other Lands

The League meet with MI5 Agent Campion Bond, and debate about what the mysterious craft is and where it came from. A tentacled alien emerges from the craft, and a group of men carrying a white flag descend into the crater to make peace with it, only to be incinerated by a powerful heat-ray from the craft. As the heat-ray kills the onlookers gathered around the crater's edge, Dr Jekyll turns into Mr Hyde, who threatens the alien with violent death. Mina manages to calm Hyde down, and the League retreat to the nearby Bleak House Inn.

Later that day, the British armed forces arrive in the area, and Griffin sees another spaceship falling from the sky towards Woking. Mina checks on Hyde, and they have a compassionate conversation about their friendship, which is something Hyde does not feel he shares with the other League members. However, he politely asks Mina to leave, believing he will kill her at the slightest provocation. Meanwhile, Griffin returns to the crater on his own and encounters the aliens. Communicating with them by drawing pictures on the ground, he tells them he wishes to be their ally.

Issue 3: And the Dawn Comes Up Like Thunder

The next morning, the League leave the inn and hear the military shelling another spaceship that has landed in Surrey. Most of the army division is incinerated by the alien's heat-ray, which also destroys the inn. A coach arrives to take the League back to London, but on the way, Mina starts to fear not every League member will survive this mission. At their headquarters in the British Museum, Mycroft Holmes tasks the League with researching Mars and returning to Horsell to observe the alien's behaviour. Bond gives Mina secret military plans and tells her to study them, as well as find out all she can about Mars. Allan, Hyde and Nemo set off back to Horsell, leaving Mina on her own and unprotected at the headquarters. Griffin stays behind and hides under cover of invisibility, and once Mina is alone he fiercely assaults her, then flees with the military plans.

During their reconnaissance, Allan, Hyde and Nemo encounter a Tripod, an enormous three-legged war machine, and set off back to London to warn British Intelligence. Upon returning to the museum, Hyde finds Mina lying beaten and unconscious on the floor, and realises what has happened. After Mina recovers from her attack, Mycroft sends her and Allan on a new mission: they travel to the South Downs to find a scientist who may be able to help stop the invasion.

Issue 4: All Creatures Great and Small

While Mina and Allan are away, Captain Nemo and Mr Hyde patrol the Thames in the ''Nautilus'' and fend off the oncoming Tripods. The advanced technology aboard the ''Nautilus'' proves to be an even match for the Tripods, and Nemo orders his crew to bring the wreckage of a destroyed Tripod on board so they can study the alien technology.

While investigating the South Downs countryside, Mina and Allan meet a man called Teddy Prendrick (the protagonist of H.G. Wells' ''The Island of Dr. Moreau''). He is insane and gives them little information, but does mention a "devil doctor", whom they suspect could be the scientist they are looking for. Despite Prendrick's warnings, Mina and Allan continue to search the countryside, retiring to a country inn at the end of the day, where they end up having sex. Awakening afterwards, Allan notices horrific scars on Mina's neck (which were left by Count Dracula) and is shocked at the sight. Back in London, Griffin approaches the aliens again and tells them they have to "do something to the river" to stop the ''Nautilus''.

Issue 5: Red in Tooth and Claw

The next day, the aliens fill the Thames with red weed, draining all the water and immobilising the ''Nautilus''. Hyde refuses to wait until Nemo's crew have cleared the red weed and goes back to headquarters. In South Downs, Mina and Allan are searching for the scientist in a forest. Mina is angry at Allan for how he reacted to her scars, but he explains he was not repulsed by them, they merely reminded him of his second wife, Stella, who was similarly scarred in a fire. They have sex again by a tree, but are confronted by a bear-like creature capable of speech and dressed in tattered human clothes. Joined by other talking animals, the bear takes them to the hideout of Dr Moreau, who has relocated to the countryside and continues to create human-animal hybrids (humorously, all of Dr Moreau's hybrids resemble anthropomorphic animal characters from children's fiction, including Puss in Boots, Mother Goose, and Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad from ''The Wind in the Willows''). Mina explains MI5 has asked for something called "H-142", and while Moreau is seemingly disturbed by this request, he obliges nonetheless.

In London, Hyde waits at the headquarters for Griffin to reappear. When he does, still trying to hide through invisibility, Hyde reveals that he has infrared vision, and has therefore always been able to see Griffin. He savagely beats Griffin and rapes him, leaving the "Invisible Man" to die in agony. Later that evening, Hyde has dinner with Nemo and the League's coachman at the headquarters, but blood stains slowly appear on his clothes and the tablecloth, and Nemo finds Griffin's dead body, now visible again. He is horrified and prepares to kill Hyde, but the coachman urges him to stand down, as Hyde's great strength may be useful against the aliens, and he grudgingly agrees.

Issue 6: "You Should See Me Dance the Polka..."

Mina and Allan bid farewell to Dr Moreau at a train station, and return to London by train with the cargo crate carrying H-142 (which they assume is another hybrid animal). They are met by Bond and agents wearing gas masks, and proceed to London Bridge, where Nemo and Hyde are waiting for them. Bond explains that every bridge in the city except London Bridge has been made impassable in a bid to slow the alien advance, and as he leaves with H-142's crate, the aliens destroy the last of London's defences and gather all their forces for their final push into the city.

Hyde agrees to distract the Tripods while H-142 is delivered, but before he goes he bids Mina a fond farewell and asks for a kiss, which she graciously agrees to. He joyfully dances out onto the bridge toward an oncoming Tripod, singing See Me Dance the Polka (which was featured in the Spencer Tracy adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde). While his skin is burned off by a heat-ray, he survives, topples the Tripod and starts eating the alien inside. The other Tripods combine their heat-rays and kill Hyde, but the fallen Tripod blocks the bridge, stranding them on the South Bank. Military Intelligence fire a cannon, delivering H-142 to the aliens. Bond reveals while H-142 is one of Moreau's hybrids, it is actually a hybrid bacterium made from a mixture of anthrax and streptococcus, and the government will say, officially, the aliens died of the common cold and any remaining humans were killed by the aliens. As the bacterium starts to kill the aliens, and clearly the remaining people in the city, Nemo is outraged by this reckless use of biological weaponry, resigning from the League and leaving in the ''Nautilus''.

One month later, Mina and Allan are walking through Serpentine Park (which Allan mentions is going to be renamed "Hyde Park" in honour of Hyde's sacrifice). Mina says recent events have left her deeply unsettled, so she is going to stay at Coradine, a ladies' commune in Scotland. She leaves, and the story ends with Allan sitting alone on a park bench.

In 740 AD, in England, the mighty magician Merlin has three apprentices; Balthazar Blake, Veronica Gorloisen and Maxim Horvath. Horvath betrays his master by joining forces with the evil sorceress Morgana le Fay. Morgana mortally wounds Merlin before Veronica is able to rip Morgana's soul from her body and absorbs it into her own. As Morgana attempts to kill Veronica by possessing her from within, Balthazar stops her by imprisoning Morgana and Veronica in the "Grimhold", a magic prison in the shape of a nesting doll. Before dying, Merlin gives Balthazar a dragon figurine that will identify the Prime Merlinean, Merlin's descendant and the only one able to defeat Morgana. While he searches for his descendant throughout history, Balthazar imprisons Morganians, sorcerers who try to release Morgana, including Horvath, into successive layers on the Grimhold.

In 2000, in New York City, the Prime Merlinean is revealed to be 10-year-old Dave Stutler, who encounters Balthazar in his Manhattan antique store, after straying from his school field trip. When Balthazar gives Dave Merlin's dragon figurine, the statue comes to life and wraps itself around the boy's finger to form a ring. When Balthazar goes to retrieve a book meant to teach magic, Dave accidentally opens the Grimhold, releasing the imprisoned Horvath. While battling for possession of the Grimhold, Balthazar and Horvath are imprisoned in an ancient Chinese urn with a ten-year lock curse. Dave is then ridiculed by his classmates when he claims he saw magic, only to find the shop empty. He is faced with severe bullying, and is misdiagnosed with hallucination caused by a "glucose imbalance", whilst nevertheless keeping the ring.

Ten years later, Dave, now 20 years old, is a physics student at New York University, and meets his childhood crush Becky. He immediately becomes smitten with her, and repairs the transmitting mast of the radio station she works at after it is struck by lightning. The ten-year imprisonment curse of the urn ends, releasing Horvath and Balthazar. Horvath pursues Dave and the Grimhold. Balthazar rescues Dave, riding an animated steel eagle adapted from a Chrysler Building gargoyle. Dave initially refuses to help Balthazar, having been under psychiatric care since their first meeting, until Balthazar agrees to leave after finding the Grimhold. They track the Grimhold to Chinatown, where Horvath has released the next Morganian, Sun Lok. Dave defeats Sun Lok, and Balthazar retrieves the Grimhold. Dave changes his mind, deciding that he likes magic after all, and agrees to become Balthazar's apprentice. He also becomes romantically involved with Becky against Balthazar's wishes and advice, impressing her by playing the OneRepublic song "Secrets" with the Tesla coils he has been experimenting with.

Horvath enlists a youthful Morganian, celebrity magician Drake Stone to get back the Grimhold. They attempt to kill Dave, but Balthazar saves him. Cued by Horvath, Dave demands to know the truth about Balthazar's quest. Balthazar reveals that Morgana is trapped in the Grimhold with Veronica. Morgana, if freed, would cast a spell called "The Rising", which would revive sorcerers from the dead and enslave mankind. As Prime Merlinian, Dave will become powerful enough to cast spells without his ring (a focus, which for any other magician is the only way to channel their magic), and is the only one who can stop her. Despite Balthazar's disdain of his relationship with Becky, Dave convinces to allow him to meet her for a date. Dave tries to use magic to clean his lab, but loses control of his animated cleaning mops, which forces him to cancel his date with Becky. He is saved because of Balthazar's intervention and, disillusioned, decides to give up on magic, until Becky unknowingly changes his mind. He returns to his underground subway lab, just as Drake and Horvath try to kill Balthazar and steal the Grimhold. Horvath, having no more use for Drake, casts a parasite spell and steals Drake's magic and his ring.

Horvath releases the witch Abigail Williams, uses her to kidnap Becky at the radio station, then steals her magic and pendant focus. He threatens to kill Becky, therefore forcing Dave to surrender the Grimhold and his ring. Balthazar goes after Horvath in Battery Park, sure that Dave, without his ring, will be killed. Horvath releases Morgana, who begins the Rising Spell while Horvath animates the Charging Bull sculpture and commands it to attack Balthazar. Dave arrives and stuns Horvath with a Tesla coil tied to Balthazar's car while Balthazar's eagle flies away with the bull. Becky disrupts the Rising Spell, stunning Morgana. Balthazar takes Morgana, body and soul, from Veronica into himself, but Morgana escapes and tries to incinerate them. Dave attempts to stop her without his ring and succeeds, proving that he is the Prime Merlinean. Morgana shoots plasma bolts at the three and overwhelming Balthazar and Veronica's shield spells, kills Balthazar when he bodily intercepts a bolt meant for Veronica. Dave makes another, larger Tesla coil out of the square's lamp posts and power lines to overwhelm her and then fires a plasma barrage, which finally destroys her. He revives Balthazar by restarting his heart with plasma shocks, and Balthazar reunites with Veronica. Dave and Becky kiss, and fly to France for breakfast on Balthazar's eagle.

In a post-credits scene, Horvath retrieves his hat from Balthazar's shop.

Chapters 1-2: Penrod and his friends are playing their version of war games, but one "prisoner" is forgotten and his place of captivity may prove embarrassing. Chapters 3-4: Penrod and Sam learn the hard way about the dangers of playing with real and loaded guns. Chapters 5-6: The local boys form their own "secret society", but Georgie Bassett, "The Best Boy in Town" (and therefore not popular with the other boys) wants to become a member and the grown-ups are insistent about it. Chapters 7-9: Penrod and Sam find a stray horse and decide to keep him for any possible reward. Chapters 10-11: Penrod's mother goes overboard when she thinks he's sick. Chapters 12-14: Penrod's dog Duke's fight with an extremely vicious cat leads the boys to start their own motion picture project to be set in a jungle. Chapters 15-16: A school assignment concerning "a letter to a friend" proves embarrassing to Penrod when he uses a letter from his sister to her boyfriend (without reading it himself first). Chapter 17: After his sister embarrasses him in church, Penrod tries to find a way to get even. Chapters 18-20: When Penrod can't find anything to keep himself occupied, an overheard conversation leads to a creation that is destined to get him into trouble. Chapters 21-22: Penrod's ambition to become a horn player leads to the involvement of a valuable antique. *Chapters 23-24: It's Amy "Baby" Rennsdale's ninth birthday, and Penrod and Sam are invited, but the inclusion of a practical joker among the party guests leads not only to a catastrophe but also to a wonderful revelation.

Allan Quatermain, following his "death", returns to his friend, Lady Ragnall, to partake of the taduki drug she has (both are from the Allan Quatermain novels of H. Rider Haggard's—referenced as an author who has written about Quatermain). Quatermain takes the drug and enters into a dream-world, encountering the equally lost John Carter (from Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Barsoom'' novels) and his grandnephew, Randolph Carter (from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos). Strange creatures begin to attack them but they are saved by the arrival of a pulsing electric machine piloted by a man known only as the Time Traveller (from H. G. Wells' ''The Time Machine'').

They arrive at the Sphinx from ''The Time Machine'', and the Time Traveller explains that they are there because creatures from beyond the universe are invading creation through a hole in space-time. They are attacked by albino creatures known as both Morlocks (from ''The Time Machine'') and Mi-go (from the Cthulhu Mythos). Quatermain beats them off as the time machine takes off, but one clings on and damages the ship. Destabilized, the time machine is drawn towards a "chrono-crystal aleph" (from Jorge Luis Borges's "The Aleph") and the riders all see visions from their pasts and futures.

Quatermain sees his first meeting with Mina Murray from the first ''League'' issue; a sojourn with Sir Henry Curtis; the final battle against Professor Moriarty's ship from the end of the first ''League'' volume; Mr. Hyde's destruction of a Martian Tripod from the end of the second ''League'' volume; and he, Randolph, and Mina's encounter with a Lovecraftian monster as related in ''The New Traveller's Almanac''. Randolph sees a vision of Arkham. John Carter sees a vision of him fighting a Green Martian and winning Dejah Thoris as she rides a Greater Thoat mount (from the ''Barsoom'' novels). What, if anything, the Time Traveller sees is not mentioned.

Randolph and John soon disappear to their visions upon realizing that they are not bound to their realm, leaving only Quatermain to help the Time Traveller against their enemy. However, Quatermain's body becomes possessed by Ithaqua (the Cthulhu Mythos' incarnation of the Wendigo) and Quatermain returns to his realm to intervene. Lady Ragnall dies of shock before her African servant, Marisa, is able to free Quatermain using her tribe's precautions against the Great Old Ones. Appalled, Marisa flees the burning manor, taking the taduki with her.

Despondent at the loss of his friend and his drug, Quatermain spends the next few years drifting, eventually ending in Cairo. The story ends with him looking up from his drugged stupor into Mina Murray's face (as occurred in the ''League'' issue 1 and as he foresaw in his vision) as he is unwillingly—but fatefully—recruited into the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

A nuclear war breaks out, expending the world's entire nuclear arsenal, except for one missile. Two children, Philip Chandler (John Stockwell) and Marlowe Hammer (Michael Dudikoff), are left in a fallout shelter cut into the side of a wooded mountain. The pair grow up in the shelter, with 1950s detective fiction and swing music as the guiding force in their learning. On April 1, 2001 (as noted by title card), Marlowe succeeds in digging out the cave entrance. The pair give each other haircuts, dress in suits, and go to rejoin the world.

Philip narrates their adventure on their first day out:

My name's Philip, and this is going to be a yarn about me and my pal, Marlowe. About the day we got out of this shelter and went off into the post-nuclear world. Now, as excited as we were about leaving the shelter, it was still a joint that held fond memories. I mean, it was the only world we'd ever known. Where I practiced my magic, Marlowe, his dancing; where we both dreamed of becoming private eyes, just like the ones we'd read about.

Marlowe hopes to find their fathers, but Philip is disgruntled that they never returned, and presumes that they are dead. The mountain is now devoid of trees. The first people they find are a trio of radiation-burned "mutants" chasing a beautiful woman, Miles Archer (Lisa Blount). They rescue Miles, who kisses Marlowe as a distraction and steals his gun. This backfires, as she drops the activation keys to the last nuclear missile. Miles leaves, and the pair are immediately attacked by a biker gang of bald women in red wigs. Afterwards the boys discover the activation keys, which bears their fathers' names. This excites Marlowe, but disturbs Philip.

They rescue another young woman, Rusty Mars (Michele Little), from a group of armed children Philip nicknames "disco mutants". She takes a liking to Philip, and leads the two of them to Edge City which is plagued by gang warfare. Rusty takes them to a dance club, where they are captured by cannibals. They want the nuclear keys, and to eat the young men, a rarity of uncontaminated meat. Although Rusty helps them escape and apologises, Philip doesn't trust her. Just after they part ways the pair meets up with a friend of Miles' who also wants the keys. After he is dispatched Miles shows up and takes them to her hideout. There she tells them about the purpose of the keys. Miles then threatens to kill them, but they escape.

Rusty has followed them to the hideout, but is attacked by the child gangsters. The pair chase them away, but Philip still doesn't trust her. He wants to shoot her, but is out of bullets. After Rusty apologises again for lying to him and originally handing him over to the cannibals he says, "That was a million years ago, and I got a short memory. In fact, I don't even remember who you are".

The pair resolves to rid the city of the gangs and keep the keys. They go to an abandoned warehouse, using themselves as bait, in the hopes that the gangs will kill each other before killing them. For the most part, the plan works. However, the bosses of the child-gangsters are in fact Philip and Marlowe's fathers. Before he dies, Philip's father tells him that the past does not matter. In the end, the only gangster left standing is Miles, who has the keys. She shoots at them, and misses, but startles Marlowe into shooting and killing her.

The film ends with Philip letting go of the angst which he had nursed for 15 years. He adopts Marlowe's "silver-lining look on life". The two demonstrate Marlowe's tap-inspired "post-nuke shuffle" to the crowds of the city. In the closing narration, Philip explains that they plan to set up shop as detectives, but that first he will find Rusty and see if he can repair his relationship with her. Of the keys, he says that he and Marlowe hid them in a secret location, because "you never know, in a tight jam a nuclear missile just might come in handy".

In 1848, Hornblower, now 72, is enjoying a comfortable retirement on his country estate at Smallbridge, Kent. Recently promoted to the well-paid but honorary rank of Admiral of the Fleet, he reflects that life as a country gentleman is pleasant and secure but dull. Hornblower is still married to Lady Barbara, and his sailor-servant Brown still attends him, although now as a butler. The fear of financial insecurity that has haunted Hornblower throughout his career is now lifted and he is now able to consider further subsidising his son Richard's expenses as a colonel in the Guards.

Late one stormy night, a well-dressed Frenchman, claiming to be Napoleon, arrives at the front door of Hornblower's mansion. Perceived by Hornblower as speaking a mix of sanity and nonsense, the visitor had been travelling by rail to Dover to take ship for France. However a landslip has delayed the train near Smallbridge Park, and he is urgently seeking assistance to complete his journey. Barbara is favourably impressed with the man's charming manners and persuades her husband to provide a carriage, although Hornblower remains convinced that the Frenchman is a lunatic.

A month later, the Hornblowers find that their caller really was a Napoleon—Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I, and the future Emperor Napoleon III. He was on his way to Paris to contest the office of President of France. After winning the election, the Prince-President confers on Hornblower the insignia of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and presents a sapphire to Barbara in gratitude for their timely aid.

College history professor Michael Burgess (Alan Alda) is about to have his fact-based historical novel about the American Revolution turned into a Hollywood motion picture. Set to star the egotistical Lothario Elliott James (Michael Caine) (who is portraying Banastre Tarleton in the film) and the seemingly sweet Method actress Faith Healy (Michelle Pfeiffer), the production will be filmed in the fictional small college town of Sayeville, North Carolina where Burgess teaches.

Michael's excitement is squelched by his increasing exasperation as the novel is changed by a low-brow scriptwriter (Bob Hoskins) and a condescending director (Saul Rubinek) into a steamy tale of lust and betrayal, complete with nudity and distortions of historical fact.

While Michael navigates on-set politics, he is distracted by his mother Cecilia (Lillian Gish) and her delusions, including the belief that she is being poisoned and that the Devil lives in her kitchen. He has been trying unsuccessfully to convince his girlfriend Gretchen (Lise Hilboldt) to move in with him. He falls for Faith and begins an affair with her, believing her to be like the character she is portraying in the film.

When Gretchen finds out, she begins welcoming the advances of Elliott James. The married actor is not only flirting with Gretchen but also pursuing the Mayor's wife (Lois Chiles). He humiliates Michael repeatedly in bouts of fencing. Elliott's wife (Linda Thorson) arrives on the set, complicating matters further.

Michael becomes disillusioned when he realizes that Faith is not at all like her film character, and he is disgusted by the Hollywood process. When extras from a local Revolutionary War reenactor company are bullied and mocked by the film crew, Michael persuades them to turn the tables on their tormentors. He deliberately sabotages the historically inaccurate film by injecting a little accuracy and a lot of chaos.

The locals use explosives during a horribly inaccurate recreation of the Battle of Cowpens and destroy a prop building before the director is ready with the shot. Michael, who had previously been lectured by the arrogant director that audiences want defiance of authority, destruction of property and nudity, reveals how he has undermined the production. He tells the extras to celebrate the battle by dancing naked before the camera.

By the time of the film's premiere in town, the Hollywood people are long gone and Michael and Gretchen are back together. They arrive to the screening with Gretchen very much pregnant. Michael can only respond with a strained look when he is asked by a Hollywood reporter how it feels "to see history come alive".

Philandering Hollywood writer Charlie Sorrel (Harry Madden) is shot and killed by Hungarian film producer Sir Leopold Sartori (Walter Matthau) when he is caught fooling around with Leopold's wife, Rusty (Laura Devon). Charlie's best and only friend, novelist George Tracy (Tony Curtis), arrives at Charlie's Malibu beach house for the memorial service, after an exhausting series of flights from Paris that have left him broke. There are only three people there, Charlie's agent and two ex-girlfriends. George does his best to eulogize his friend but there is little to be said in favor of Charlie, whose final bad joke on George is making him executor of his estate — which is a mess of debts and unpaid taxes.

Soon after the guests leave, an exhausted George is awakened by a knock at the terrace door and the appearance of Bruce Minton III (Pat Boone) assisting a petite blonde woman (Debbie Reynolds) swathed in a huge brown overcoat. Bruce came to her aid when he found her dazed and wandering on the road, completely naked. She does not remember much, but she recognized Charlie's house as they drove past it and it made her feel safe. Bruce rushes off to a dinner engagement, leaving a sleep-deprived George to cope with the delirious woman. The next morning, George awakes to her screams. It all comes back to her: She is Charlie, reincarnated as a woman. After getting over the shock, she convinces George of her identity by telling him about a dirty trick that she had recently played on him as a man. George realizes that this must be a case of karmic retribution for all of the women Charlie has used and betrayed.

All manner of complications arise as Charlie decides to take advantage of the situation. George helps her by establishing her as Charlie's widow, figuring out their finances — they are both broke — and boosting her morale. From the beginning, Charlie finds herself subject to a whole new set of emotions and sensations. Her masculine mannerisms begin to fade, partly because Charlie is a consummate actor, but also because the change is more than skin deep. At one point, she bursts into uncontrollable tears. George comforts her as he would comfort a weeping girl, wiping her tears and stroking her hair to calm her down, and then pulls back, disturbed at the tenderness.

Although Charlie has changed her gender, she is unable to change her ways: she decides to solve her money problems by using her intimate knowledge for blackmail and by marrying Bruce for money. The plans fall apart when Bruce, on the verge of passing out, reveals the depth of his love for her. Charlie takes pity on him and slips the engagement ring into his hand.

Eventually, in a grim role reversal that she recognizes all too well when it happens, Charlie ends up being chased around the house by Leopold, who cheerfully spouts amorous nonsense but is, in fact, intent on rape. Rusty arrives, gun in hand, and just as Charlie climbs onto the terrace railing to jump, Rusty shoots her; she plunges into the ocean below. George, who has arrived in the midst of the mélée, leaps after Charlie, but there is no sign of a body. After lecturing the Sartoris for their actions, George orders them to leave and never tell anyone about it. The couple reconcile and Leopold promises eternal gratitude to George.

George is asleep in a chair; the sound of a woman's voice calling "Charlie" over and over again wakes him. This time there are two beings on the terrace — a woman (Debbie Reynolds) and her Great Dane, Charlie. George quickly establishes her bona fides as a real person, Virginia Mason. She takes one look at him and decides he needs food. She commands Charlie to sit and stay. Virginia and George talk in the kitchen; it is clearly love at first sight. The dog goes into the living room, to the bookcase, to Charlie's secret cache of vodka (behind ''War and Peace''). The bottle falls and breaks; Charlie laps a bit from the floor and looking heavenward, begins to howl.

In the mysterious metropolis of Rain City, a former policeman, Hawk, is out of prison after serving eight years on a murder rap. He returns to his former hangout, Wanda's Cafe, run by his former love, Wanda.

New arrivals in town are the down on his luck: Coop, his naive wife Georgia and their baby boy, Spike. In desperate need of money, Coop goes to work for a gangster, Solo, but he isn't very good at his job.

Hawk, meanwhile, begins to develop a protective and even romantic attachment to Georgia, who is hired by Wanda to be a waitress. Coop runs afoul of the mob boss in town, Hilly Blue, leading to a wild shootout at Hilly's unique mansion.

'''''Stardate 41153.2:''' It is a time of conflict; all major races are at war. Diplomacy is dead, age-old alliances forgotten and galactic borders ignored as each race battle for supremacy. Powerful fleets prowl the galaxy, establishing outposts, vanquishing indigenous and enemy fleets alike, in the pursuit of the ultimate prize : the capture of all homeworlds and galactic domination.''

Lynn Hollister, a bucolic lawyer takes on big-city corruption. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician Boss Thomas "Tom" Cameron is actually a crook. Hollister is in love with the politician's daughter, Sabra.

Yankee lawyer John Reynolds and Southern Belle Julie Mirbeau meet and fall in love on a riverboat going to New Orleans in the Gay Nineties. Upon arrival they are met by Julie's father who runs the popular Louisiana State Lottery Company and Reynold's Aunt Blanche who is a key figure in the anti-lottery forces hoping Reynolds, as State's Attorney, will end the lottery.

Reynolds is invited to the Mirbeau mansion, where Julie and her father explain that not only are the people of New Orleans fun loving gamblers, but the lottery funds many charitable institutions such as hospitals and levees for the river.

Unknown to General Mirbeau is his assistant Blackie's protection rackets and murders of lottery winners through his army of thugs led by Cuffy Brown. The lottery forces also have information sources in the State's Attorney's office that reveals every move Reynolds has planned to raid illegal activities as well as corrupting judges and other officials through their brothels.

The battle between the two forces escalates, leading to a climax of lightning striking and destroying a courthouse where a trial is going on and a break in the levees during torrential rains that flood the city.

Social climber Jenny Blake owns the casino steamboat ''Memphis Belle'', together with the influential Jack Morgan. Most of the customers are from the upper class, but they have little respect for Jenny and her - in their opinion - vulgar occupation. Jack is secretly in love with Jenny. To show her what it really is she aspires to, he arranges for her to be made queen of the Mardi Gras festivities. This angers the upper crust of society, and she is mocked in public. However, she does not give up.

She decides to use one of the old plantation owners, Alan Alderson, to fulfill her dream. Alan is burdened with debt and manages to lose his plantation, "The Shadows", gambling at the casino. Jenny offers to forgive his debts if he marries her. Alan agrees, and Jenny secures a respectable position in society.

Jack is devastated by Jenny's marriage, and does not try to save the ''Memphis Belle'' when it catches fire. Everyone in Alan's family has a hard time accepting Jenny, except his aunt Katherine, who is suffering from mental illness.

Jack goes on to sabotage the relationship between Jenny and Alan. He is helped by Alan's aunt Julia. Julia starts off with insinuations that Jenny has an improper relation with Jack and goes on to try to ruin a ball Jenny is hosting. Jack saves Jenny and the ball by using his political influence to make the guests attend, even though Julia has tried to keep them away. Jenny is almost killed when Julia goes on to let her ride in a carriage pulled by a blind horse.

Jenny retaliates by ordering Julia to leave the plantation. The infuriated Julia then mixes a poisoned drink meant for Jenny, but Alan beats her to it and dies from drinking it. Jenny is accused of murdering her husband and put on trial. Aunt Katherine is the only person who knows that Julia mixed the drink, but she is forced by her sister to testify against Jenny in court.

Jenny is convicted of murder, but Katherine soon confesses that it was Julia who mixed the drink, and a few years earlier also killed Katherine's fiancé in a fit of jealousy. Jenny is cleared of all charges. She meets Jack and they start working together again. She finally gives up her dream to climb the social ladder and accepts Jack's proposal to marry him.

Three of her suitors protest when Molly J. Truesdale, on a whim, boards a bus in New York City to find out what life in the American West is like.

Molly goes to a rodeo, where a bucking bronco tosses rider Duke Hudkins right into her lap. Duke buys her a beer afterward and then Molly brings him luck while gambling, but his partner Waco warns her that Duke is not the right guy for her.

In a campfire, more worried about his horse than about her, Duke discovers his horse Sammy's blanket has been borrowed by Molly and is furious with her when Sammy catches cold. Giving up, Molly goes home to New York and her waiting suitors, who are astounded when a tall cowboy suddenly shows up and carries Molly away.

In a small, isolated village on the West side of England, seven-year-old Brydie White is running with a playmate, Julian, who trips and falls. He is accidentally killed by his father's loaded shotgun that he was playing with. Brydie is injured with a wound to her head causing some brain damage.

Ten years later, Brydie (Hayley Mills) can remember the boy but cannot remember the accident. She regularly visits Julian's grave but is not sure why she does. She has an argument with the old gravedigger who aggressively tells her that her dog is not allowed in the graveyard. She is rescued by a young man (Ian McShane) whom the old man calls a "gypo" and a "tinker".

Her mother (Annette Crosbie, in her first film role) is a sad and lonely person who drinks heavily and is a dysfunctional mother. Brydie is a tomboy with a fascination for death and dead animals, and spends her time climbing trees and being a nuisance to the adults in the small village where she lives. She spends much of her time with the local children and tells them that all dead things should be buried, including animals. They agree to go round the village collecting up all the dead animals they can find and plan to bury them all in the graveyard that night.

It becomes apparent that some of the adults, especially the dead boy's father who blames Brydie for his death and has never forgiven her for it, are convinced that Brydie is a bad influence on the other children, that something should be done to discipline her and agree that her mother is not a good role model and to be looked down upon. Their negative attitude and behaviour are compounded by their disapproval that her mother was not married to Brydie's late father. The Vicar wakes the next morning to find his graveyard full of little graves the children have made to bury the animals and tries to explain to Brydie that because they have no souls, they cannot be buried on consecrated ground but understanding her simplicity and good intentions asks Julian's father if he would give a small corner of his land to the children to have their own animal graveyard. However, the father is embittered and he confronts her, accusing her of murdering Julian. Horrified and scared that it might be true, she runs in a fit of hysteria and falls in the river where she is rescued by the gypsy boy, Roibin. When he carries her into the nearby gypsy camp, his grandmother says "you can't keep away from women, can you?".

The gypsy's do not want her there, knowing that it will only bring trouble and Roibin has a reputation for trouble but seeing the fevered state of Brydie, the Grandmother takes her in and, begrudgingly, nurses her well. During the weeks Brydie is away, her mum drinks more heavily, distraught over Brydie's disappearance. She has a heart attack and dies. The Police interview the gypsies but they deny knowledge of the girl. When police dogs are brought in they lead police to the river edge and the worst is feared.

As Brydie recovers, she and Roibin become close and he helps her to face and talk about what happened with Julian. He asks her to stay with him and the gypsies when they move on. She says that she couldn't leave her mother and needs to go home. He pledges his love for her and they kiss in a meadow. The village children find them there and tell her that her mother died during her absence. Upset, she decides to go to see her mother's grave and realising that she has nothing to stay home for, promises to return to Roibin. He teaches her how to read sticks that will tell her which direction the gypsies will have gone if they leave before she gets back. She shares a final kiss with Roibin and leaves with the children.

The children run to tell the Vicar that Brydie is at her mothers grave and he gathers her up and takes her to his house promising to look after her. Brydie insists that she must return to Roibin as she has nothing to stay for and the Vicar promises to tell Roibin to come and collect Brydie in the morning as she is still unwell, exhausted and needs a good nights sleep. Relieved, Brydie falls asleep while the Vicar asks the gravedigger to go the gypsy camp and tell Roibin to come and get Brydie in the morning.

He goes but tells the gypsies to leave immediately as they are unwanted and threatens to call the Police to arrest them for kidnapping Brydie. They are angry at this and begin to pack up straight away. Roibin tries to make the gypsies stay until Brydie returns so that she can go with them but they attack him, blaming him for this unwanted trouble, they do not want her with them and Roibin is beaten up.

By late morning, the vicar is convinced that Roibin is not coming and agrees with his wife that Brydie will probably be institutionalised. Brydie convinces the Vicar that Roibin loves her and shows him a special token that Roibin made for her of their hair intertwined into an eternal ring. The vicar and Brydie (and her dog) go to the campsite and find it abandoned "like they were never here" (apart from piles of rubbish and debris). Brydie finds and follows a series of directional marker sticks left by Roibin at junctions. The Vicar follows her to make sure she is safe. She is just beginning to think that she has lost the trail when she hears the barking of another dog and sees a solitary gypsy caravan in a field. Knowing that it is Roibin, she runs to it. The vicar watches as Roibin runs to greet Brydie knowing that this is the right life and future for her.

Sean King, financially hard-pressed and trying to help his professional and platonic partner Michelle Maxwell, is forced to seek an assignment from his ex-girlfriend Joan Dillinger, a fellow ex-Secret Service agent who runs her own private investigation agency.

Joan gives him a case based at a laboratory, investigating the murder of a scientist, Monk Turing. During his investigations, he stumbles on Camp Peary, the CIA training facility which leads him to a more complicated investigation, on which he works together with Michelle, who has attempted suicide after a psychological breakdown. He encounters Turing's autistic daughter, Viggie Turing, who is also extraordinary talented, but is willing to trust only Michelle, and hates Horatio, the psychologist who is treating both her and Michelle.

Eventually, Sean and Michelle solve the case, but not before being tortured by their enemies. Sean gains a treasure, but generously shares it with others even though he is in financial difficulties.

The action is set in 1875. Wayne stars as John Devlin (John Wayne), a professional gambler who has married Sandra (Vera Ralston), daughter of railroad millionaire Marko Poli (Hugo Haas). John and Sandra flee her father's anger and go to Fargo in Dakota Territory, where Sandra thinks they can cash in on a land boom. But on the trip west, they are swindled out of their stake ($20,000 Sandra swiped from her father). In a desperate attempt to get back their money, Devlin enters into a heated range battle against the outlaws led by Bender.

Bender steals their money & uses it to attempt to buy the properties of the landowners in Fargo, Dakota. Devlin tries to prevent it but cannot. So he offers to buy the land contracts with the threat that he can ask Sandi's father to pass through another town which will mean Bender's purchase will be useless.

Right as Bender hands the lands over to Devlin an agent of Mr. Poli arrives with a secret intent to buy the lands. Bender finds out & Devlin runs away with the contract giving it to one of the settlers. As soon as Devlin leaves the house Bender's men enter & take away the contract & murder the settler.

When Devlin returns to town he is greeted by Bender who attempts to frame & hang him. Right then a group of settlers arrive on horseback with the lands of the settlers burning in the background.

Devlin goes looking for Bender & his second in command. As Bender is packing to skip town the second in command kills him & steals his money.

Devlin tackles the second in command & as they are about to leave for California Sandy (Devlin's wife) tells him that she gave the money she had to the boat captain to help him buy a new boat (since he ran aground the other boat when carrying them to Fargo).

Johnny Munroe (John Wayne) travels to South America to build a mountain railroad tunnel for Frederick Alexander (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), a wealthy industrialist. Complications arise when Alexander insists upon a shorter, more dangerous passage and when his daughter Maura (Laraine Day) develops a romantic interest with Johnny.

The show began with a castmember reciting an opening spiel regarding the nature of the show : ''“Today, you are going to see a movie on the history of cinema spanning from silent films to today's modern films.”'' The movie started playing a montage of early black-and-white films. After a few moments, a cell phone ring was heard, and a man in the front rows answered it. He eluded the castmember and walked on the stage while talking.

Meanwhile, the love scene on screen between a Prince and a Princess was interrupted by this man's noisy conversation. The angered Prince attempted to stop him, but was unable to reach him due to the movie screen. He then enlisted the help of a nearby Magician to silence him. This Magician executed a magic trick which made the man disappear from the stage in a plume of smoke, and reappear inside the movie (here portrayed by Martin Short). Short's character (known as "George") seemed unable to recover from his surprise, and the Prince corrected him by punching him in the face. As the Prince and the Magician left, the Princess (called "Marguerite"), portrayed by Julie Delpy, comforted poor George. Yet, the Prince, seeing this, started chasing after him with a sword.

George escaped via a window to suddenly find out he was on the ledge of a high building with Harold Lloyd, in the scene of the clock tower from the ''Safety Last!''. George found a fire escape and eventually made it to the ground. Just as he thought he was safe, a pie was thrown at his face. He could see that many others in the street, including Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy, were engaged in throwing pies at one another. George got into the action, and discovered he can talk, meaning he had left silent movies.

Then, after angering an armed man by throwing a pie at him, George was backed down against a wall by a group of gangsters, in the scene from ''Angels with Dirty Faces''. Before he was shot, two men appeared behind the gangsters, distracting them and allowing him to escape. However, George's escape was too noisy, and alerted the gangsters, who started shooting at him. Clips here included scenes from ''Some Like It Hot''. George then crashed through a window. At this point, he had left the realm of black-and-white films.

As George stood up, he realized he was part of scenes from the movies ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' and ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'', with bandits standing before him. As George's phone rang, the scene used Sergio Leone's method of extreme close-ups to build up a shootout. George reached for the phone and the shootout started using footage from multiple westerns, including ''The Magnificent Seven''. In his attempt to escape the gunfire, George dropped his phone, and then sought refuge in a nearby shed filled with TNT and other explosives. A cowboy then shot a crate of TNT, and sent George flying into the air.

George came blasting out of a chimney on the rooftops of London, thrust into the universe of ''Mary Poppins''. He was then immediately sucked into the song ''"Step In Time"''. Meanwhile, Maguerite had been following George, whom she fell in love with, and arrived in the scene of the shootout. She could only find George's phone on the ground. The film cut back to George walking down a street during pouring rain (from ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg''). There, he met Marguerite, who handed his phone back. Then, they called a taxi, but George was sucked down a puddle he jumped into. Marguerite attempted to follow him, but is unable to.

George had now dived underwater, coming across the Red October submarine from ''The Hunt for Red October'' (Marko Ramius was startled to see George through the periscope). George also met the divers from ''The Big Blue''. Then, as he swam away, he encountered Pinocchio, who attempted to warn him about a large whale. Suddenly, Monstro awakened and chased both George and Pinocchio.

Upon reaching the surface, George saw the Titanic approaching him. He got helped out onto the bow by a lookout, only to see the ship hitting the iceberg. As passengers started running to the escape boats, George heard Jack Dawson calling for his life, and reached the corridor of doors to find him. He opened random doors, each one revealing someone else behind. The scenes included John Cleese from ''A Fish Called Wanda'', Inspector Clouseau from ''The Pink Panther'', Hannibal Lecter from ''The Silence of the Lambs'', Sully from ''Monsters, Inc.'', and Linda Blair from ''The Exorcist''. Then, as the water was flooding the corridor, and right before George met his demise, the wall he stood against opens up and he was grabbed.

George was now aboard the Death Star. He was quickly grabbed by a stormtrooper, who took him to a hidden corner, just in time to elude Darth Vader walking down the corridor. This helpful stormtrooper was then revealed to be Marguerite. Yet, real stormtroopers started chasing them through the space station, and to escape, they re-enacted the scene where Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker used the wire to traverse the chasm.

As they landed on the other side, they were in a medieval setting. A nearby Knight noticed George and Marguerite, and walked over to them. George begged for his help to get back to the other side of the screen in the real world. However, havoc broke loose. Armies descended and a battle ensued between knights. Kevin Costner as Robin Hood shot an arrow toward Marguerite, but she was saved by George jumping on its way to stop it. The arrow had clearly punctured his heart, and the fighting stops. As the Knight removed it, he found out that it had actually stabbed George's cell phone. Scared by its ringtone, the Knight crushed it. Then, he walked to the top of the hill and lightning struck his sword. He threw it toward the screen, breaking it open and creating a portal allowing George to travel back to the Theater. He does so, but the portal closed before Marguerite crosses it. Finally, the Magician returned and created a door for George to walk through. George then decided to go back into screen, and the movie ended with a loving embrace between them, complemented by a montage of famous on-screen kisses. The show closed with George and Marguerite skipping toward the Emerald City from ''The Wizard of Oz''

Halfway through 2013, some scenes (when George opened doors in the ''Titanic'', and during the 'kissing' scene at the end) have been replaced by scenes from newer movies such as: ''Ratatouille'', ''Toy Story 3'', ''The Incredibles'' and ''The Chronicles of Narnia''.

Advertising executive Mickey Briggs is given 48 hours by his boss, Sutton, to come up with a campaign for client Luxemberg Beer and save the company from ruin. Mickey neglects his wife, Janice, who once had been a "Miss Luxemberg" in a successful ad campaign featuring various attractive models.

Janice has just discovered she is expecting a baby, but is unable to inform Mickey, who is too distracted by work. Even when they find time to go to a movie, John Wayne is on screen, being considerate to his screen wife (Angie Dickinson), which makes Janice weepy but Mickey finds unrealistic.

It does give Mickey an idea, however, for a campaign in which "Miss Luxemberg" is now "Mrs. Luxemberg", enjoying family bliss. Sutton loves it, then rejects all the applicants until he decides that Janice herself must return to be "Mrs. Luxemberg". Film footage of their real life is shot without Janice's knowledge.

All goes terribly wrong, with Janice instead suing Mickey for divorce and Sutton's company for $100,000. After flirting with Mickey's wife, best pal Bob Sanders breaks the news that she's pregnant, which makes Mickey try harder to win her back. On a cruise and in love again, the couple is startled to spot John Wayne on board, arguing with his wife.

As Bo (Birger Malmsten) returns home from military service, he flashes back to an episode in his childhood where he ran away from home and fell in with a band of performers. One of the performers has a daughter, a blind girl, and seeking to impress her Bo steals a locomotive. The train crashes and the girl is killed. This is first of many intrusions of death into Bo's life.

We also see him dealing with his dying uncle and the body of a German soldier that has washed ashore. This is contrasted with life, as represented by his young lover Eva (Eva Stilberg) and eventually their son. In a Hitchcockian digression, Bo hallucinates killing his friend Göran (Stig Olin) to be with his alluring wife (Eva Dahlbeck).

Bo and Eva escape to a remote island whose only other occupant is a widowed farmer. Eva goes into labor early and Bo and the farmer must fight the current to row her to a hospital. In a montage superimposed over Bo's rowing, we see images from throughout the film, seeming to suggest a struggle between life and death that is going on his mind. Upon his son's birth, Bo feels a resolution to his search for meaning in a cruel world.

Michael Logan and his wife, Jennie, are trying to salvage their marriage after Jennie finds out about Michael's infidelity. They move into an old Victorian house in rural New England. In the attic, Jennie, who is a Victorian at heart, finds an authentic Victorian white dress under a protective cover, thick with dust. The dress is intact except for one small tear at the shoulder.

After having the dress repaired, Jennie decides to wear it and admires herself in the mirror in the attic. She develops an excruciating headache, and the room swirls around her. When the headache ceases, she finds herself still up in the attic and in the dress, but the attic is now an artist's studio, complete with Victorian decor. She hears a woman scream and a man's voice downstairs yelling, "Pamela." Terrified, Jennie shuts her eyes and finds herself back in the present.

At first she assumes she was dreaming or hallucinating, yet Jennie experiences further similar episodes. She decides to learn more about her new house and goes to the local historical museum, where an elderly curator named Mrs. Bates explains to her that the house belonged to artist David Reynolds in the year 1899. She explains how David claimed to have seen the ghost of his dead wife several times and called out to her, but she disappeared each time. David died under mysterious circumstances on the night of the turn of the century. Legend has it that he was murdered during a duel, or that the woman he loved killed him, but no-one knows for certain. Also at the museum is a painting that Mrs. Bates says is a portrait of David's wife Pamela. Mrs. Bates remarks on the woman's striking resemblance to Jennie.

Intrigued, Jennie keeps going back and forth between the two worlds by wearing the antique dress. When David first sees her again, he mistakes her for Pamela but quickly learns that it isn't her when Jennie introduces herself. Jennie realizes that what David mistook for his wife's ghostly appearances were really Jennie appearing in and out of time. When Jennie confides in her husband Michael, he doesn't believe she is really time-traveling and thinks that she is going crazy. He urges her to go see a psychiatrist, Dr. Erica Lauren.

Mrs. Bates takes Jennie to see "Aunt Betty", an extremely old woman who was alive at the time of David's murder. However, she is unable to shed any light on the situation.

Jennie and David fall in love in 1899, but David's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Harrington, is also in love with him. However, her father disapproves of David and blames him for Pamela's accidental death. During their time together, David reveals to Jennie that he is working on a portrait, which turns out to be the same one that Jennie saw in the museum in the present and is in fact a portrait of Jennie, not Pamela.

Pamela's father later challenges David to a duel on the night of the turn of the century, the night that David died.

In the present, Jennie tries to find out how she can prevent David's death. Michael gives her a locket which she promises to always wear. Mrs. Bates later calls Jennie and says that "Aunt Betty" wants to make a death bed confession. "Aunt Betty" reveals that she is really Elizabeth and that she was responsible for David's murder. During the duel, Elizabeth was hiding with a gun which she used to shoot David.

Jennie rushes to save David in the past but she is confronted by Michael, who suspects her of inventing the entire delusion to cover up for an ordinary affair with someone in their time. He tries to prevent her from going up to the attic, in the process ripping the shoulder of Jennie's dress, and bringing it back to the state in which it was originally found. He chases her up the stairs, but she manages to block his path by locking the door. Jennie escapes into the past world to stop the duel and try to save David's life. Jennie spots Elizabeth, but appears to be shot when she tries to prevent the murder.

In the present, Michael manages to break into the attic, but he is too late. He discovers the lifeless body of Jennie lying on the bed. He grieves her death and she is later buried.

Later, as Michael is preparing to move, the movers stumble onto a number of paintings in the attic. He goes through them, only to see that they are of his wife, wearing the locket he gave her and showing the life she led in the past with David. They include a portrait of Jennie on a ship, her holding a child in a room in Paris, and Jennie in old age. Michael remembers everything Jennie said, and begins to cry, finally realizing that his wife was right the entire time.

The war against the ''Arume'' is set from 2000 to 2008, ending with the aliens winning the conflict. In 2009 the aliens take control of the Japanese government, which sets the backstory for the ''Blue Drop'' storylines.

Manga

The decisive factor in the ''Arume'''s victory is the use of biological weapons and a modified version of an alien toy called . Along the years, the remnants of this weaponry have become dangerous creatures which the government (run by the aliens) has to deal with. This is the main premise of the original ''Blue Drop'' manga, which is set around a thousand years after the war. The military uses an experimental vaccine that gives human children special abilities for a determined period of time. During this time the military forces them to confront the weapon remnants, an action that usually ends up in the children's death. Most of the chapters follow the conflict between the military and the resistance, which tries to save those who have been given the vaccine, as well as the relationships between the people involved. In addition, the story introduces the aliens' traits and behavior. All of them have blue eyes and their blood turns milky white when it touches air, but their main characteristic lies in their gender: they are all female, and their sexual orientation is homosexual.

The aliens' sexual behaviour is dealt with even more prominently (and explicitly) in the ''Blue Drop: Tenshi no Bokura'' manga, which shows its consequences upon the human social structure. These chapters show that the aliens have a private street wherein men are not allowed to enter. There they have bars for lesbian group sex among humans and aliens. The men end up with their own similar street, with boys cross-dressing to take the place of girls, whom the aliens have drawn away. This manga also deals with the first experiments done on human beings by the aliens; specifically experiments concerning sex change. Set one year after the war, it focuses in the relationship between Shōta, a normal high-school student, and Kenzō, Shōta's former-male best friend who has been turned into a girl by the aliens.

Anime

Unlike both manga stories, the ''Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku'' anime series is set before the war. The storyline starts in 1999, with Mari Wakatake transferring to a girl's dormitory school called . Mari's background hides a traumatic past: five years before her arrival at Kaihō, all the inhabitants of the island where she lived died in one night. Mari was the only survivor, but lost all her memories prior that point. At the Academy, Mari meets Hagino Senkōji, the school idol and class rep. Although Hagino is introduced as a calm and collected person, when she touches Mari's hand she panics and attempts to strangle Mari. From then on, Mari is torn between anger and attraction towards Hagino, who pretends as if nothing had happened. Unknown to Mari, Hagino is actually the commander of an alien battleship called ''Blue'', which is the vanguard of the invasion to Earth. The incident on the island where Mari lived occurred when the crew of the ship and the island's inhabitants killed each other. ''Blue'' was seriously damaged and hidden, and Hagino blended into human society and continued her reconnaissance.

The story focuses on the relationship between Mari and Hagino; as Mari begins to come out of her shell, Hagino, who has been living a double life, gradually begins to have doubts about her mission. While the invasion and war draw closer unnoticed, they begin to understand each other.

A young British bohemian (Eric Barclay), who lives in Paris, marries a stage dancer (Lili Damita). He persuades her to give up her stage career, and they take a cottage in the country. She accepts an invitation from her former manager (Georges Treville) to attend a party. She performs a dance at the party. She quarrels with her husband, but starts searching for him in the countryside on a stormy night. As a result, she catches pneumonia and nearly dies. After being nursed back to health by her husband, she decides to give up the stage for good.

The book concerns three adopted sisters, Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil. Each of the girls is discovered as a baby by Matthew Brown (Great-Uncle-Matthew, known as "Gum"), an elderly, absentminded palaeontologist and professor, during his world travels, and sent home to his practical great niece, Sylvia and her childhood nanny, Nana who live in London, England.

Gum embarks upon an expedition of many years and arranges for money to support the family while he is gone. Gum does not return in the promised five years and the money is almost gone. As they have no way to contact or track him down, Sylvia and Nana take in boarders to make ends meet, including Mr. Simpson and his wife, Dr. Jakes and Dr. Smith, a pair of tutors who take over the children's schooling after Sylvia can no longer afford their school fees because of The Great Depression and must pull them out of Cromwell House. Boarder Theo Dane, an impractical dance teacher, arranges for the children to begin classes at the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training.

Pauline finds she has a talent and passion for acting while Petrova hates acting and dancing. Posy has a real talent for dancing. When she is about six, Madame Fidolia, a famous and retired Russian dancer, gives Posy private lessons, something she has never done before. As the children mature, they take on some of the responsibility of supporting the household. Much of the drama comes from the friction between the sisters and from balancing their desire to help support the family financially against the laws limiting the amount of time they may spend on stage. When Pauline is picked for a lead part in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' after performing in ''The Blue Bird'', the early success goes to her head, because of which the producer replaces her with her understudy (although only for a single performance, not permanently as portrayed in the 2007 film). Through this, Pauline learns enough humility to balance her talent, and goes on to play many successful lead parts.

Posy is developing into a brilliant ballet dancer. She also clashes with her sisters, as she is so focused on dancing that she is insensitive about anything that gets in her way. Petrova is not interested in the performing arts and has little talent for it but must keep attending classes and performing to help support the family. However, she holds onto her own dream of flying aircraft.

The book ends with Pauline going off to Hollywood to make a film, accompanied by Sylvia. Posy is going to a ballet school in Prague, accompanied by Nana. Petrova wonders what will become of her, as she is still too young to live on her own and doesn't want to dance or act. At this moment, Gum arrives. He has been away so long that he doesn't realize who the three girls are at first, but after recognising that they are the three babies he left all those years ago, he decides he will take Petrova under his wing and help her achieve her dream.

A practical young orphan, Sylvia Brown, and her stern nurse Nana come to live at her uncle Gum's house in London, England after her parents die tragically. Gum is a paleontologist and is reluctant to take his niece in, but relents when he learns he is her only living relative. Gum is away a lot on travels collecting fossils, but he sends Sylvia letters and presents and she learns to love him.

Years later, Sylvia is now grown up and still living with Gum and Nana. Gum brings her back an orphaned baby girl, who has been rescued from RMS ''Titanic'' after her parents drown when the ship hit an iceberg. He names her Pauline Fossil and legally adopts her. When Pauline is two years old, Gum adopts another orphan that he found, a Russian baby girl called Petrova. Petrova's biological parents are tragically killed. In 1923, Gum adopts a third baby, Posy, with ballet shoes that her mother owned and necklaces for the three girls. In a letter Gum explains that Posy's father died and her mother doesn't have time to care for her daughter. He also left some money in the bank for Sylvia, enough to last her five years. That is the last the family hears of him.

During The Great Depression, Pauline and Petrova go to school at Cromwell House, but Sylvia can't afford to send Posy. As Gum's money runs out, Sylvia has to take out Pauline and Petrova out of school. When the money runs out completely, she takes in four boarders to live in the house: Theo Dane, an impractical dance teacher; John Simpson, who works with cars; and Dr. Smith and Dr. Jakes, who are retired academics.

Pauline, Petrova and Posy are inspired by the professors to "put their names in the history books" by giving service to their country. They vow to do that, and repeat the vow every Christmas and birthday.

Theo tells Sylvia to let the girls train at The Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training, a stage school. Sylvia and Nana refuse, but after talking with Theo, Dr. Smith, and Dr. Jakes, Sylvia reluctantly agrees to let the girls get trained to earn a living. Meanwhile, Dr. Smith and Dr. Jakes start to teach Pauline, Petrova, and Posy. The girls become very busy. Soon Pauline is old enough to act on stage and audition for the role of Alice in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. She loans Gum's necklaces to Mr. Simpson for money for a frock to wear, and will pay him back with her wages. Pauline gets the part, and does very well as Alice. She gives thirty shillings to Sylvia for housekeeping money. But the role goes to Pauline's head and she's rude to Winifred, her understudy. Pauline ends up losing her temper at Mr. French, the director, and since she's been rude, Pauline is kicked out of the play and the role goes to Winifred.

Posy, noticed by Madame Fidolia, the owner of the school, is very talented at ballet. Madame Fidolia now teaches her classical ballet only. However, Petrova hates dancing and would much rather work with cars and fly planes. She and Mr. Simpson become very good friends. Sylvia starts to fall in love with Mr. Simpson. She has bad lungs and her health starts worsening. Petrova is worried for her.

Petrova and Pauline audition for roles as fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Petrova does very badly, but she is engaged since nobody else auditions for her role. Pauline is engaged too. Petrova does not do well at the rehearsals, and is almost sacked. She doesn't like acting but does it for the money. When ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' comes off, Pauline wants to audition with Petrova for another play, but Petrova warns her to stop making her go on stage.

The girls and Sylvia go camping. Mr. Simpson comes to tell them that Pauline will be auditioning for a movie, ''Charles In Exile''. She gets the part, but finds film acting difficult and doesn't initially like it. After the filming, Pauline and Petrova play in a pantomime of Cinderella. Even with the money from the film and play, Sylvia can't afford to keep their house, and decides to sell it.

Posy is brought to see Valentin Manoff's ballet by Madame Fidolia. Posy wants to go to his ballet school in Czechoslovakia. Madame has a stroke and is paralysed, and Posy is devastated. ''Charles In Exile'' is a hit, and Pauline has been discovered. She is offered a contract for five years in Hollywood, but she isn't sure that she should take it.

Posy runs away to Manoff's ballet. She dances for him and he wants to teach her. Pauline signs the contract so that Posy can go to Czechoslovakia with Nana, and Sylvia will go to Hollywood with her. Unexpectedly, Gum comes back safe and sound. He agrees to teach Petrova to fly planes. The movie ends with Pauline and Posy vowing to get Petrova into the history books, while Petrova flies over Sylvia and Mr. Simpson's wedding.

Each book is a parody of a different Greek myth starring Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. The books are never identical to the original myth, as they always put Hades in a positive light and claim that the original myths, made by Zeus, are fictional. The traditional hero of the myth, such as Theseus or Hercules, is usually portrayed in such a way that makes them seem a less of a hero, as Hades is forced to help the hero complete their quest. There are other differences between the original myth and the myth in the book as well, while these are often humorous or given a modern twist. For example, Elysium (a Greek version of Heaven) is portrayed as a perpetual rock concert, while in the Asphodel Meadows (a kind of middle ground afterlife), spirits are forced to write out a spelling list.

Opening in a point of view shot, a murderer looks around the city of Amsterdam at night through the canals. He sneaks into a Chinese restaurant's backdoor and steals a butcher knife while the cooks aren't looking. The killer finds his first victim in a local prostitute who, after refusing advances from a cab driver, gets thrown out of the cab. A bag lady watches from a distance as the killer plunges the knife into the hooker and drags her back into the water. The next morning, a tour boat on the canal collides with the body of the prostitute, who has been hung on one of the small bridges. As the tourists scream, the body drags on the top of the boat until an opening shows her bloodied body and face.

Assigned to the case is detective Eric Visser, a hard-boiled detective who is raising his 13-year-old daughter Anneke after a split from his ex. He spends an hour in a bath, comes home late from work, and tends to drink now and again. Nevertheless, Eric is praised as one of the best detectives on the force. His partner, Vermeer, meets Eric at the site where the body was found with fellow cop Potter attempting to get through to the baglady, who tells Eric that it was a monster who killed the prostitute and that it came out of the water.

That night, two environmentalists are taking water samples in an ongoing investigation against a nearby chemical plant. However, when the killer emerges, one of the men is taken underwater and when his partner attempts to grab the anchor, he is horrified to find the man's head on the anchor. Scared, the surviving environmentalist swims to the nearby shore and calls for help when he sees a truck pass by. As the truck driver comes out from a distance, the killer grabs the environmentalist and drags him back into the water.

When Eric and Vermeer see the bodies of the environmentalists, he is convinced that there is a serial killer. Eric runs into John, an old friend from the police academy. John works for the river police and we learn that Eric's ex-girlfriend used to date John before Eric stole her from him. When John asks about what happened, John and Eric renew their friendship and are now partners on the case to find the killer.

During a search at a local sporting club, Eric meets Laura, a museum guide as well as Martin Ruysdael, a former diver turned psychiatrist and Laura's doctor/friend. Eric begins to have eyes for Laura and she begins to like him too. Meanwhile, that night, a salvationist and a young woman on a gumboat the next day are the next victims of the killer. As Eric begins to get frustrated with nothing turning up, he and John eventually think they find a suspect in a former chemical plant employee known for his violent outbursts. When the suspect is caught, Eric begins to have doubts. When he sees Laura that night, a skipper at the nearby dock is the killer's next victim with the boat sinking.

John decides to go underwater and investigate the next day. At first, he finds the skipper's body but as he approaches out of the skipper's sunken boat, the killer emerges and a tussle leaves John slashed and killed. Eric arrives to hear the bad news about John. When the killer is located at a marina, a speedboat chase ensues between Eric and the killer. Eric eventually tracks the killer to a local sewer only to be shot at close range in the shoulder with a harpoon gun. When the killer attempts a coup de grâce, Eric shoots the mask before waking up in the hospital.

When Laura goes to her appointment and finds Martin isn't home, she stays but hears a noise in Martin's underwater basement. She finds the broken mask and thinks Martin is the killer. An attempt to call Eric fails when he is still unconscious. When he awakens, the nurse tells him of Laura and both he and Vermeer head to Martin's house. Martin arrives and waits for Laura only to hear a sound in his basement. Laura confronts him and hits him repeatedly with an oar. However, the killer comes out of the water and grabs Laura. Eric arrives in time and shoots the killer. Martin finally confesses that the killer is a childhood friend of him and fellow diver who was shunned by society after a commercial diving job caused him to be disfigured by uranium hexafluoride poisoning. The killer arrives at his home, where he reveals himself and decides to take his own life before the police arrive.

New York City janitor Daryll Deever is an avid fan of television news reporter Toni Sokolow. A wealthy Vietnamese man suspected of criminal connections is murdered in Daryll's office building, and Toni suspects Deever knows something about it.

She keeps after him for information, a pursuit Daryll allows because he is romantically interested in Toni, and a "cat and mouse" game ensues. This convinces the real killers that Daryll does know vital information about the murder, so he and Toni end up with their lives in danger over this false assumption.

After being sacked from his job at a museum, former security guard Sam Baily returns to the place with a shotgun and dynamite and takes his former boss Mrs. Banks and a number of children (at the museum on a school field trip) as hostages. Local television journalist Max Brackett is in the museum using the restroom after an interview with the curator about financial difficulties. He becomes directly involved in the hostage situation, acting as Baily's intermediary to the outside world and the police.

Baily accidentally shoots a friend of his, Cliff, who's still working there as a security guard, sending him to the hospital. He later fires the weapon again, frightening the children and becoming increasingly unstable as he takes caffeine pills to stay awake. Along with the young intern coworker Laurie among the growing media circus outside, Brackett reports the inside story exclusively on television, reviving his career. By being free to come and go, he negotiates with a national network and its star news anchorman, Kevin Hollander, with whom Brackett has an unhappy history.

Baily wants the police to let him return home to his wife and kids, refusing to accept that he's going to jail. Brackett, on the other hand, makes a deal rather than let Hollander have the story, prompting Hollander to publicly accuse Brackett of prolonging the crisis and endangering the children. Laurie then betrays Brackett, proving that, like him, she's willing to do whatever it takes to further her own career.

When his friend Cliff dies, Baily starts to realize he's lost everything. Baily and Brackett allow the situation to worsen until the police finally have had enough, issuing a five-minute ultimatum to Baily for release of the hostages. Baily lets the children and Mrs. Banks go. He also sends out Brackett to try to convince the police to put down their guns so he could personally usher out Baily. But rather than face prison and his wife Baily locks the museum doors on Brackett, who's outside trying to get the police to listen.

Brackett tries to get him to come out, but Baily ignores him. Brackett is unaware that Baily has decided to set off his explosives, committing suicide. The blast knocks Brackett off his feet and into the parking lot, sending debris everywhere. As reporters surround Brackett to ask about Baily, all he can say is, "We killed him," referring to how the media handled the situation.

The film follows an old man from the countryside who goes to Wuhan to search for his missing son, who his dying wife has requested to see one last time. In Wuhan, he meets his daughter, a karaoke bar escort who introduces him to an old police officer who offers to help. It soon becomes apparent to both the father and the policeman that the mobsters running the daughter's karaoke bar and the son's disappearance are linked.

IRS agents send a private eye (Dylan McDermott) to Mexico to recover money laundered by a banker (Jessica Harper) and her sidekick (James Russo).

Lenny Brown (James Woods) is a real-estate hustler looking to strike it rich. He is married to Linda (Sean Young), a paralegal and amateur dancer. The two are poor in money but rich in love. Linda vows to stick with her husband until she "falls off the earth."

After Lenny botches a job interview by being too over zealous, one of the interviewers, Max Sherman (Steven Hill), sees Lenny's talent as a salesman and offers to move he and his wife to California where he and Max will sell lucrative investments in tax shelters.

Everything is suddenly first-class for Lenny and his wife and they enjoy a very lavish lifestyle. However tax laws abruptly change and they find themselves $700,000 in debt.

They become increasingly desperate, worsened by a friend Joel Miller who turns them on to cocaine for "a boost." Lenny and Linda both become addicted. They lose their home, car and jobs. Linda becomes pregnant, but falls and suffers a miscarriage after using cocaine.

Lenny's life unravels rapidly as cocaine addiction gets the better of him. He gets clean temporarily and conceives one last great business opportunity. However due to anxiety his addiction reasserts itself and he irrationally blows the deal in a fit of anger. This culminates in Lenny severely beating Linda and putting her in the hospital. She is protected from Lenny while recovering and finally breaks with him permanently. She later falls for the doctor who is treating her.

As the end credits roll, we see Lenny still using cocaine in his filthy apartment. He has been relating his tale to a visiting New York friend, blaming others for his failures, and is reduced to a babbling shell of himself.

Anna, a young and energetic journalist, receives an obscene call from an unknown caller whom she mistakes for her boyfriend. As a result of this mistake she agrees to meet with the caller at a local bar. When her boyfriend doesn't show she inadvertently witnesses a murder in the women's bathroom. Soon she finds herself drawn into a mystery involving both the killer from the murder she witnessed, as well as the identity of the mysterious caller who continues to phone her and who she shares increasingly more personal conversations with during each subsequent call.

Set in New York City, ''Candy Mountain'' tells the tale of a struggling guitarist named Julius (O'Connor). After he promises a rock star he can find an elusive guitar maker and acquire his valuable products, he sets off on a quest to Canada to find the legendary Elmore Silk (Yulin), in order to strike a deal with him. Along his journey via T-Bird, Volkswagen, and hitchhiking, he experiences a series of encounters and misadventures with those who claim to have known the reclusive Silk. Each encounter provides him with valuable insight into the kind of man Silk is, and his journey is filled with "musicians playing small roles: David Johanson as the star who wants to buy up the guitars, Tom Waits as Elmore's middle-class brother, Joe Strummer as a punk, Dr. John as Elmore's cranky son-in-law, Leon Redbone as one-half of a peculiar Canadian family who enjoy imprisoning passers-by". As he ventures further North, and reaches Canada, he is finally in the presence of the famous guitar maker he had been searching for. Once he meets Silk, he is faced with the realization that financial gain is nothing compared to the development of one's artistic ability.

Stacy has a promiscuous past and, after learning of the AIDS epidemic, she wants to find a man whom she knows is clean. She convinces her childhood friend Melissa to go to a health spa (or resort) for singles so that they can hopefully each find the man of their dreams. As a concierge gift, they receive a basket filled with condoms. At the spa, Stacy meets Nick, a struggling musician whom she is taken with, and also encounters Vinny, a.k.a. the Vin Man, an annoying Italian-American man from New Jersey whom she tries to avoid.

At the resort's International Night, the men and women all take miniature flags of various countries and put them in plunger-shaped hats, then meet the person with the identical national flag. After becoming demoralized by a bad experience at the flag party, Melissa writes a letter that she leaves for Stacy saying she is returning to LA. However, Melissa connects with a spa staff member, Jamie, who has taken an apparent liking to her and yet who is very sweet, respectful and supportive of her. Some days later, when they are intimate, she experiences her very first orgasm. Meanwhile, Stacy finds Melissa's letter to her and, thinking that Melissa has left the resort alone in frustration, immediately returns to LA herself via the 2:00pm bus, not knowing that Melissa has remained at the resort.

Stacy had taken Nick with her back to LA and, once there, falls back into old behavior patterns of being a crutch for men. She lets Nick move in with her to try to get his fledgling music career off the ground. However, Stacy soon realizes that Nick's quirky habits (e.g., not having a checking account or a credit card, carrying all his personal belongings in plastic trash bags), idiosyncratic ways of thinking (not having his life together at this age and stage of life), and his narcissism are things that she cannot adapt to. She realizes that she actually does not really like him or see him as the man she thought he was back at the resort. Upon learning that Melissa is back at the resort and never even left, she hurriedly rents a pink Cadillac and drives all the way back, where she accidentally walks in on Melissa in bed with Jamie. Outside the room, Melissa tells Stacy about Jamie and how they have bonded with one another. Stacy is relieved that Melissa is in good spirits now and is thrilled that she and Jamie have found each other.

Then Stacy tells Melissa that she realizes she made a big mistake with Nick and realizes she has to end it with him. Stacy finds the fortitude within herself to take the drive back to LA to tell Nick that their relationship will not work and that he must leave her apartment and her life. Leaving the resort, she comes across Vinny waiting near the exit with his luggage in tow. He flags her down and begs her to let him in the car so she can drop him off at the nearest bus station. He wants to leave the health resort as well and, without prompting, Vinny promises not to come on to her or do anything else of the sort. Reluctantly, Stacy lets him get into the car with her but, this time, he does not come on to her or act pushy and desperate. Instead, on the drive to the bus station, they speak frankly and candidly with each other about their disappointment with their experience at the health resort. Vinny lets his guard down and speaks plainly about how he really just does not understand the world of male and female relationships and how it all works. He asks Stacy, "How do you do it, this male, female, relationship thing? How do you do it?" Stacy shares that she is in "relationship hell" at the moment, which surprises Vinny (as he is and has been enamored of Stacy thus far, viewing her as a very desirable woman and an all-around winner). When she asks him what he looks for in a woman, she is touched by what he shares with her and gets a new, enlightened view of him (i.e., that there is more to Vinny than the desperate, pathetic, trying-too-hard act she saw in him at the resort). Upon returning to New Jersey and thereafter, Vinny experiences changes in his attitude toward women and how he sees his life moving forward. He keeps in touch with Stacy via handwritten letters, sharing with her the epiphanies he is experiencing and how he is becoming a different person and his life is advancing and improving.

Meanwhile, back in her home, Stacy has confronted Nick and told him their relationship will not work. Nick is taken aback, acts hurt, and defiantly says that he sees himself as on the way to making it big in the music business and way beyond even what she can ever envision and that she will regret her decision. She wishes him the best and he storms out with his belongings. At this point, Stacy is relieved that it has ended and she is determined to take a break from men-at-large for an unspecified span of time to sort things out in her head.

Some time later, Stacy visits Melissa and Jamie, who now live together in their own home. At the end of the evening, Stacy says goodbye to Melissa and Jamie. She walks home by herself, where she finds Vinny waiting for her in a fancy limousine. He has gone into business for himself running a limousine service and owns a whole fleet of limousines. He shares with Stacy that he started driving from his home in New Jersey just to take a drive and, the next thing he knew, he found himself in Chicago, Illinois. He then asked himself, "Vinny, where are you going?" He says he realized that he was driving to see Stacy. He wound up driving all the way from New Jersey to southern California just to see her. Stacy is taken with this and yet, when he asks her if she would like to talk or go someplace together, she initially is hesitant and says to him that it was very late. Vinny, being a gentleman this time (in contrast with their past times together) acts with reserve and respectfully takes her cue. Stacy apparently is moved by this and, seeing how he drove all the way from New Jersey to California just to see her, she calls out to him and says that, if he likes, he can come home with her and she can make him breakfast. He pauses a bit, turns around, and says that he is rather hungry, accepts her invitation, and even offers to be the one who makes breakfast. He says he has a gift for her. He walks over to the limousine, opens the door, reaches in, and presents an adorable Golden Retriever puppy to Stacy. She falls in love with Vinny while the puppy is licking her face. They leave together with the new puppy.

The scene now moves six years ahead and shows Melissa and Jamie ringing the doorbell of Stacy's home for a social gathering. Stacy and Vinny are now married with two small boys and a now-fully grown Golden Retriever. As Vinny is greeting Jamie with his two boys and dog and having a great time with all, Stacy and Melissa are at a distance standing together and looking toward their two significant others. They playfully tease each other as they always have throughout their many years as friends. Stacy says to Melissa, "There's your boyfriend." Melissa replies, "So what, there's yours." Finally, Stacy says to the camera, "Yeah, that's my boyfriend." They have each become content and fulfilled women who have both finally found the man of their dreams. They both smile and hug one another and the film ends.

The film portrays the increasingly desperate efforts of the elderly Mr. Johnson to rid himself of a small yet extremely troublesome yellow cat that will not leave his home. He first tries to leave the cat in the woods only to get lost himself. An attempt to drown it at sea ends in him nearly drowning. He then tries to send the cat away in a hot air balloon, but winds up getting dragged into the sky himself when he cuts the balloon free. For his fourth attempt, Mr. Johnson tries to take it away on a pump trolley, running over many damsels in distress and even a cow tied to the train tracks until he hits a bug crossing the railroad track, causing the trolley to jump the rails and send him plummeting into an abandoned mine where he is attacked by rats, snakes and bats. Not only does the cat find its way back each time, but it becomes increasingly destructive after each attempt until Mr. Johnson finally has enough and tries to blow up the cat with a large pile of dynamite only to blow himself up instead when he accidentally lights his hair on fire. Thinking himself finally rid of the cat, Mr. Johnson's spirit proceeds to tease his foe when his human remains fall on top of it, killing it and releasing all nine of its lives to bedevil Mr. Johnson for all eternity.

''The Day of the Ants'', like its predecessor, has several connected plot lines, some of which take place in the world of humans; others among ants. A year has passed since the time of the first novel. 17 people, including several relatives of Edmond Wells, the pioneer of the deceased inter-species communication, are still trapped under an ant nest. Since a new queen has been in charge in the ant nest, the supplies of food given by the ants to the humans are growing increasingly smaller. Meanwhile, strange murders are happening in the city of Paris, when several producers of insecticides are found dead in peculiar circumstances with no explanation of how the murders were committed. A wolf-fearing police detective and a human-fearing woman, Edmond Wells's daughter, combine their knowledge in order to find out who or what is behind these murders.

In the years of the Great Depression, Lem Tustine is sent to Chicago by his father to sell the family farm's wheat crop. He meets Kate, a waitress who is sick of the endless bustle of the city and has dreams of living in the countryside. The stock market price of wheat starts to drop and Lem hurriedly sells the crop for far less than the bottom line his father had given him.

Meanwhile, Lem has fallen in love with Kate and they marry. They travel back to the countryside, but Lem's father, angry at the disastrous wheat sale, subjects Kate to hostility and physical abuse, mistakenly believing that she is simply after Lem's money. Lem fails to stand up to his father in support of Kate and the relationship appears doomed. Matters are made worse when a group of farm hands arrive to help with the wheat harvest and one of them - Mac - tries to woo Kate away. Lem's father interprets Mac's unwanted attentions as evidence of Kate's wanton nature and swears to break Lem and Kate apart.

When reports of a hurricane destroying the country's wheat crops arrives, Lem's father tries to get the crop in early by working through the night. In an attempt to gain Kate's affections Mac calls a strike to sabotage the harvest. Lem, reading a farewell letter from Kate, realizes that his own lack of action has caused all the misery, and finally responds. He fights with Mac, berates his father and then goes searching for Kate. The workers abandon Mac and return to finish the harvest. Lem and Kate talk and finally agree to try again. Lem's father begs forgiveness from Kate as the film ends.

Sir Svante has five beautiful daughters, but that is pretty much all he has. The emperor's many wars has come at great costs for his people, and Sir Svante's mansion is not much more than a shell. He decides to arrange a big party, inviting all noble bachelors they know. If some of his daughters marry rich men, he will receive sizable dowries, enabling him to restore his mansion to its previous glory. Sir Svante makes an agreement with the mysterious Strelka brothers; two of his daughters, among them the young Svanehvit, barely fourteen, is to marry the brothers and follow them to their country. The Strelka castle has an ominous rumour. There have been numerous unexplained deaths, and some say that one of the brothers killed his first wife.

Category:2000 novels Category:Historical novels Category:Novels by Margit Sandemo Category:Novels set in the Middle Ages

''The Book of Renfield'' works mainly as a companion piece to Stoker's original novel. In some cases, excerpts from the actual book are used but are modified and expanded under the pretense that ''Dracula'' is nonfiction and that Seward's entries were "edited, and in some instances, rewritten by John L. Seward before he provided them for the use of Mr. Bram Stoker, at the request of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Harker". As such, whenever the text from ''Dracula'' is used, it is bolded to differentiate the changes.

The book starts with a man discovered outside the ruins of Carfax Abbey, feasting on a rat, whose only form of identification is a handkerchief that reads "R. M. Renfield". He is taken in to Seward's asylum, where his sessions with the doctor reveal fragments of his tragic past and how he came to be Count Dracula's pawn.

Act 1

'''Prologue''' - In an empty basement of a church “Somewhere in Texas where the country meets the city” a puppet stage is set up. From out of it pops a sock puppet who proceeds to talk about the beginning of mankind, where “we rutted as we chose careless in the night.” Then “some evil bastard” figured out many together could kill larger things, and women figured out more food meant less babies died. So humanity started camping and started making rules about doing bad things. Then “that same motherfucker who invented the group kill” invented the devil. The puppet leaves with a warning to the audience: “When I have acted badly, in order that I may stay around the campfire all I have to do is say…the devil made me do it.”

'''Scene 1''' - In the same church basement, Margery, a recently widowed mother, tries to teach a puppet class with a group of three clearly disinterested teenagers: Jessica, a nerdy and deadbeat young woman; Timothy, a horny and expletive-spouting young man; and Jason, Margery's introverted son. Of the three, only Jason and Jessica have brought their puppets, and Jason is the only one who has finished his––a sock puppet named Tyrone, the same one from the opening monologue. After Margery grows tired of Timothy's interruptions, she sends Jason and Jessica out in order to have a private talk with Timothy. Timothy promptly reveals his sexual infatuation with Margery which she awkwardly and bluntly rejects. Before Timothy can do any more, Pastor Greg, a middle-aged preacher at the church, walks in, cuing Timothy's exit. Pastor Greg, who is clearly infatuated with Margery (though not quite as much as Timothy), invites the puppet class to perform in front of the entire church next Sunday. Margery awkwardly accepts.

'''Scene 2''' - Outside on the playground, Jessica and Jason hang out on the swings. Jason has a rather obvious crush on Jessica, who is fascinated by Jason's constant use of Tyrone. Jason, hoping to impress her, performs an excerpt from "Who's on First?" with Tyrone. When his approach to impressing her resorts to lying that he made the skit up, Tyrone, as if on his own, calls Jessica stupid for not knowing the skit and revealing that Jason thinks she's hot. After a brief moment where Jessica and Jason are considering that this fact is in the air, Tyrone comes to life once more and begins telling Jessica about how Jason “thinks about you,” before Jason finally tears the puppet off. Jessica, embarrassed and more than a little scared, leaves.

'''Scene 3''' - In the car on the way home, Jason tries to tell Margery that he no longer wants to do the puppet class, which she refuses to listen to. It is clear to the audience their relationship has turned dysfunctional since the death of Jason's father from a heart attack earlier in the year. Despite Margery's insistence, Jason refuses to continue with the puppets, demonstrating this by ripping his puppet's head in half. Margery, hysterical, kicks an apologetic Jason out of the car.

'''Scene 4''' - The next day, Margery waits in the puppet classroom for her students, but none appear. Pastor Greg enters and tries to comfort her, and subsequently reveals his lust for her. Margery, who is still dealing with her problems at home, gently rejects him, which he does not take well, leaving her alone. Frustrated, she starts destroying parts of the classroom when Timothy enters with his puppet. After witnessing Margery's destructive rampage, he joins in on her command, their actions becoming increasingly sexual before they give in to their urges and engage in violent intercourse.

'''Scene 5''' - Jason is woken up in the morning by Tyrone, who has been sewn back together and had teeth added to his mouth. Tyrone, angered by Jason tearing him in half, harasses Jason for his dreams of a happy life and hope to live like his dad. Tyrone claims that Jason's father was miserable and ate himself to death because he resented his child. He convinces Jason to return to the church and tell everyone exactly what he thinks of them, and to act rude to Jessica so she will like him. Jason, with little choice, agrees.

'''Scene 6''' - Pastor Greg returns to the classroom to find it in shambles. As Margery and the students enter, she denies any knowledge, though Timothy is insistent on reminding Margery it happened. While waiting for Margery to find her scripts, Tyrone proceeds to threaten Timothy, who gradually becomes aware something odd is going on. Jessica enters, and Tyrone proceeds to bluntly flirt with her. Margery leaves the classroom, prompting Timothy to harass Jessica, causing Tyrone to come to her defense, which Jessica assumes is Jason trying to be nice. However, Tyrone takes it to a whole new level, calling out Timothy for his insecurity and jerkiness, telling him to run off. Timothy, feeling bold, reveals to Jason he had sex with his mother. An enraged Tyrone attacks Timothy, biting off his ear against Jason's own pleas. Margery and Pastor Greg run in to see the commotion, and Margery insists “the devil’s got him.” Tyrone confirms this by causing an overhead lamp to abruptly burn out, and the congregation flees from the classroom, leaving Jason alone with Tyrone.

Act 2

'''Scene 1''' - After sewing Timothy's ear back on, the congregation try to figure out their next move. Margery insists on exorcism and they can all go home, but Jessica and Pastor Greg believe calling the police is the better option. Margery rejects this course of action, worried that they will take Jason away from her. Pastor Greg decides to take it upon himself to confront the boy.

'''Scene 2''' - Back in the basement, Tyrone, apparently with Jason's help, has turned the room into his own personal hell, with graffiti, torn up posters, mutilated stuffed animals, and crucified dolls. After a conversation with Jason, Tyrone refuses to reveal if he really is the devil or not, instead claiming that every action one could easily pin on the devil was really done by Jason, even the lightbulb turning off by itself. Pastor Greg arrives and tries to appeal to Jason by explaining he is trying to help his mother. Tyrone seizes the opportunity to reveal that Margery and Timothy had sex, and a horrified Pastor Greg stumbles out of the classroom back towards his office.

'''Scene 3''' - Timothy finds Margery alone in the office, and despite the pain of having lost his ear, still insists on his love for Margery. Relenting, Margery agrees to sleep with him one more time, but their tryst is interrupted: first by Jessica, who is looking for the keys to Margery's car to get the rest of the puppets; second by Pastor Greg. Upon seeing this, Margery rejects Timothy once more. Angered, he leaves, insisting he will tell everyone about her.

Pastor Greg, disgusted, goes to call the police, claiming he cannot keep Margery around if this is what she does. Margery finally snaps, calling out Pastor Greg for his lame attempt at a come-on, and shouting about Jason not being there for her after her husband's death and instead talking to a puppet. She tears pages out of Pastor Greg's Bible, complaining that not even the church has helped her with her troubles. After finally letting out all her repressed anger, she decides she is better off going to the police. Pastor Greg, however, has another idea.

'''Scene 4''' - Jason and Tyrone are still in the basement, but Jason is starting to grow restless being alone with his puppet. Tyrone's attempt to convince him otherwise is interrupted by Jessica coming in through the window with her puppet, a buxom character complete with button breasts named Jolene. Tyrone and Jolene proceed to engage in (highly vocal) sex. Jessica uses the distraction to finally get through to Jason, and asks him out to homecoming before leaving as Pastor Greg and Margery enter.

Pastor Greg has Margery talk to Jason directly. She tries to apologize for all her actions while talking over Tyrone's name-calling. Eventually, Tyrone grows so angry that he accuses Margery of killing “my father,” which causes Jason to go silent before he, as himself, angrily blames Margery for his father's death and tells her to leave, which she does reluctantly. Pastor Greg leaves with a warning to Jason that he needs to choose whether he or Tyrone gets out of the room.

Jason, alone once again, decides he has had enough of Tyrone's influence, and tries to remove the puppet from his hand. Tyrone, however, attacks his puppeteer, calling him ungrateful for his help. After a lengthy struggle, Jason finally removes the puppet from his hand. Thinking he has defeated the devil, he then grabs a towel and tries to treat the finger that Tyrone bit. However, Tyrone shows up again inside Jason's towel, and once again tries to kill his puppeteer. Jason finally manages to restrain Tyrone to a table and grabs a hammer to try to bludgeon the puppet to death, but Tyrone keeps reviving with each blow. With no other apparent choice, Jason turns the hammer around and prepares to slam the claw of the head straight into his hand. Before he can do this, Margery returns, sees what he's doing, and tries to stop him, resulting in her own hand getting impaled by the claw of the hammer. Jason, horrified by what he has done, runs to help his mother, and Tyrone does not revive when he handles the towel again. As the two leave the basement arm-in-arm for a hospital, Margery insists Jason tell her if Tyrone comes back, and she will be there for him.

'''Epilogue''' - However, Tyrone emerges one last time from the shadows without Jason's help, now much larger and more demented looking than before. He mocks the audience for wanting to see him again, because that's what people want to do with the devil—you want him, and then you want him to go away. This resulted in humanity shifting the blame for their demons by killing the innocent, like sheep, lambs, and babies, before finally settling for killing the sweetest guy: Jesus. And humanity spends the last thousand years solving their problems by putting horns on them and watching their saviors burn. He disappears with one last warning to the audience: “The thing about a savior is you never know where to look. Might just be the place you saw the devil before.”

The stories follow the adventures of '''Lord Zimbabwe''' (Romero), a "walker in the ether", or occult investigator; his friend and collaborator '''Doctor Lilac''' (Freedman), a German scientist who has invented various machines, including a time machine and a teleporter, and who breaks into megalomaniacal ravings at inopportune moments; '''Theremin''' (Peter Donaldson), Zimbabwe's butler, an abusive, murderous, incompetent servant who refuses to carry out any of Zimbabwe's instructions; and '''Schrödinger''', a semi-corporeal cat that exists in a superposition of quantum states of life and death (cf Schrödinger's Cat), and who is sexually attracted to women. Each adventure is initiated by a request by a different woman (all played by Sophie Aldred) for Lord Zimbabwe to help her.

''Silent Light'' begins with a long tracking shot of the sun rising over a beautiful plain. The protagonist Johan, his wife Esther, and their children sit silently saying grace, after which each member of Johan's family departs from their home except for him. Once he is alone, he stops the clock on the wall and breaks down crying. Johan goes to work and discusses with a colleague that he is having an affair with a single woman by the name of Marianne; he makes it clear that his wife knows about the affair. Johan leaves work to meet Marianne in a field, and they begin to kiss. In the next scene, Johan's children are bathing and playing along a riverbank while he and his wife watch. They call one of their children over to bathe her, and as they are doing so, Esther begins to cry.

Johan tells his father about the affair, but when they step outside to discuss it, the scene shows winter. No explanation is provided for the change of season. Johan's affair with Marianne continues; they have sex in a local hotel while Johan's children wait in a van with a stranger - someone whom Marianne seems to know and trust. As Johan is driving in his car with Esther, she confronts him about the affair. She says she is going to vomit and forces him to stop the car. She runs off taking a blue umbrella, telling him not to follow. She breaks down crying along the side of a field, has what the doctor later describes as "coronary trauma," and dies.

At her wake, friends and family are there to provide comfort. Johan visits the body, says his goodbyes, and goes outside for air. Marianne suddenly shows up at the wake and asks if she can spend a moment with Esther's body, which Johan allows. Marianne enters the room, slowly kisses Esther's body on the lips, and drops a tear on her cheek. Esther appears to return to life as Johan's father sets the clock on a nearby wall. Johan breaks down again, before one of his daughters says that "Mum wants to see him." Marianne leaves silently as Johan prepares to enter the room in which Esther waits. The final few minutes of ''Silent Light'' are another tracking shot, with the sun setting.

Eli ("E.J.") Mackernutt Jr. is an 11-year-old boy in Titusville, Florida who wants to travel in space. His best friend Joey helps him to sneak into the nearby Kennedy Space Center. Wearing a hardhat and fake security badge and carrying a toolbox, E.J. slips by the other workers unnoticed.

He hides inside a trash compartment in the command module ''Camelot'' of the Saturn V rocket before the astronauts arrive for the scheduled Apollo flight to the Moon. As they work through the preflight checklist, Mission Control informs them that the spacecraft is overweight by 87 pounds. They cannot explain the discrepancy, but decide that it is not important enough to delay the launch, and the countdown continues. Meanwhile, E.J.'s father Eli Sr. discovers a note from his son telling him of his intentions. Eli and his wife Mary rush to the Kennedy Space Center and insist to the gate staff that their son is on the rocket, but no one believes them.

After the rocket launches on schedule, command module pilot Ben Pelham discovers E.J. Through flashbacks, E.J. tells his story to the astronauts. He and Joey were building a large scale model of a space capsule, and to raise money to build it, they performed work for the elderly Jacob Avril, who owns property adjoining the Kennedy Space Center. Avril's close proximity to the Space Center gives E.J. the idea of stowing away on the upcoming Moon launch.

Charlie Englehardt, the flight director, tells the crew that the mission is scrubbed, but when the world learns about the stowaway, the principal investigator urges that the mission continue because it is the only planned visit to the Rupes Altai. E.J. apologizes for his stunt on live television and asks that his actions not jeopardize the crew's important mission. Englehardt recognizes that E.J. has persuaded the public and US president to continue the mission, and reluctantly gives his consent for the planned Moon landing.

E.J. helps clean the cabin with a vacuum cleaner and performs other chores. Once in lunar orbit, mission commander Rick Lawrence and lunar module pilot Dave Anderson prepare to undock from the command module and descend to the surface. E.J. notices that Pelham is ill, but the astronaut insists that it is just space adaptation syndrome and asks E.J. to say nothing to the others.

Lawrence and Anderson depart in the Lunar Module ''Little Dipper'', but Pelham's condition deteriorates rapidly. With the ground crew's help, E.J. saves Pelham's life with the vacuum cleaner when he throws up inside his helmet. The boy cares for the ailing astronaut and helps locate the lunar module, which has landed far off course. Despite intermittent telemetry, the lunar module is able to return to the command module with a Genesis Rock; without E.J., Pelham would have died and a rendezvous would have been impossible, killing the other astronauts.

On the way back to Earth, a stuck valve bleeds much of the oxygen from the ship. The astronauts remain in their spacesuits, while E.J. must retreat to ''Little Dipper'' until re-entry. Despite the low oxygen and freezing temperatures, E.J. never loses faith in the dream of space travel and keeps himself awake by vividly describing the Earth from space to Englehardt and the astronauts.

Some time later back on Earth, E.J., Joey, and Avril watch the full moon from Avril's property. E.J. remembers Lawrence's words: "Kid, you got us off the Moon. Without you we'd be part of those rocks and rilles down there forever and ever! Now we're going home, and we've got you to thank for that!"

Garfield has fallen asleep in his bed in front of an open refrigerator, dreaming about having an adventure in northern Italy and Switzerland, in which his quest is to find a lasagna factory and the chocolate-egg-laying chicken.

Stan plays a resident of "Home for the Weak-Minded", apparently a lunatic asylum. Stan's particular delusion is that he thinks he's Napoleon. Stan walks the grounds of the cuckoo-hatch sticking his right hand into his shirt and wearing a Napoleon hat. He thinks he's Napoleon, but he gives the salute of the British army.

Stan has his own personal keeper in the asylum: a taller moustached man who wears a kepi so that Stan will think he's a French officer.

Stan gets out and finds some local boys, who eagerly join him in playing soldier. Stan's kepi-wearing keeper pursues him through the film. Stan hijacks a steamroller, and Stan nearly runs down some workers in a road crew.

The surviving footage consists of Stan in various scrapes with a steamroller, ending with him in a straw boater being dragged off to the asylum.

The film offers a portrait of the hierarchical structure, both formal and informal, of a Roman Catholic boys' boarding school. New student Jerry Renault (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) must submit to the bizarre rituals of his peers and the expectations of the school's administration by selling chocolates as a fundraiser. A secret society of students, The Vigils, assigns Jerry the task of refusing to sell chocolates for ten days, an act which draws the ire of the school's clever but cruel and manipulative acting headmaster, Brother Leon (John Glover). However, Jerry continues refusing to participate in the chocolate sale well after the ten days are up, and it becomes apparent that he is acting on his own. When he is pressed for a reason as to why he is refusing to sell the chocolates, Jerry never gives an answer, and seems not to even have one.

The Vigils are drawn into an alliance with Brother Leon to ensure the sale succeeds, as both now have their reputations on the line. Leon needs the sale to succeed so no one will know he overstepped his authority in spending $20,000 of school money on the chocolates, and The Vigils cannot have anyone getting the idea that someone can defy them and get away with it–which is exactly what the students see happening. The Machiavellian and creative Archie Costello, Assigner of The Vigils, summons Jerry to a face-to-face meeting before the secret society and orders him to sell the chocolates. When Jerry still doesn't, Archie orders The Vigils to step up the hazing and bullying to pressure Jerry into giving in. At the same time, he organizes a Vigils-backed publicity campaign at Trinity, under a simple yet brilliant slogan that he presents to the other Vigils: "We'll make selling chocolates popular." Public opinion at Trinity begins to turn against Jerry. He goes from being seen as a rebel hero to the only one not possessing enough school spirit. Roland Goubert, popularly known as "The Goober", quietly joins Jerry in refusing to sell the chocolates, but the 50 boxes he was to sell are sold by other boys and then credited to his name, helping keep up the illusion that every single boy but Jerry is eagerly participating in the sale.

Hounded everywhere he goes, Jerry is cornered on the way home from school by Emile Janza, a strong and brutish boy brought into the harassment campaign by Archie. After being taunted into anger by Emile, Jerry is ambushed by a group of local children and beaten up. Archie calls him soon after, and convinces Jerry that the ambush was all Emile's idea and that Jerry will have a chance to get his revenge if he wants it. Jerry, Emile, Archie, and almost the whole student body of Trinity come out to the school grounds at night, for a boxing match between Emile and Jerry. Each blow will be decided by a boy who has bought a ticket and has written on the ticket who is to throw the punch and in what way. Vigils President John Carter and Secretary Obie Jameson, envious of Archie, have conspired against him and invoke an old tradition among The Vigils: whenever the Assigner orders a student to perform an Assignment, he must draw a marble from a black box. Inside are several white marbles and one black one. After drawing a white marble for Jerry's place, Archie draws the black marble for the first time in his career in The Vigils, meaning he must take Emile Janza's place in the match.

Bitter and resentful, Archie fights in accordance with the rules at first, but soon breaks from the plan and attacks Jerry on his own. Ill-suited to physical confrontations, Archie is quickly beaten by an enraged Jerry whose elation is cut short when he looks out in the cheering crowd and sees The Goober looking on in horror and imagines seeing the image of his disapproving, dead mother while Emile, Carter, Obie, and Brother Leon all watch proudly, congratulating him on his success. Jerry realizes that even though he has won, he has played into the machinations of Leon and The Vigils anyway. His attempted act of rebellion has actually helped Brother Leon and The Vigils get the chocolates sold and remain in control of Trinity. The next day, Obie Jameson, the new Assigner of The Vigils, gleefully gives his first orders to a subdued and humiliated Archie, who has been demoted to Secretary. Obie, possessing none of Archie's creativity, devises crude, simplistic assignments.

The central character is Bernard Chumley, played by Matt Lucas, who was already a regular stand-up character of Lucas' and would go on to be a fixture of ''Little Britain''. In each edition, Sir Bernard and his friend Anthony Rogers would investigate a number of country estates while searching for the Golden Potato, an advertising stunt which would win them a year's supply of Allen's Crisps ("the cheaper crisp!")

Each house is named after a character or actor from ''Grange Hill''. Further popular culture is revisited at the end of episode 5, in which the pair eat snacks on a rollercoaster dressed as scouts, in a similar fashion to a group of scouts in a well-known edition of ''Jim'll Fix It''. David Foxxe, Paul Putner, Rowland Rivron, Rhys Thomas, and Julie T. Wallace appeared throughout the series. The script editor was Barry Cryer.

''Axis'' takes place on the new planet introduced at the end of ''Spin'', a world the Hypotheticals engineered to support human life and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world — and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.

Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years earlier. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometimes-drifter. They come together when showers of cometary dust seed the planet with tiny remnant Hypothetical machines. Soon, this seemingly hospitable world becomes very alien, as the nature of time is once again twisted by entities unknown.

A quasi-religious group of "Fourths" from Earth, led by Dr. Avram Dvali, lives in the desert seeded by falling dust. They've created a child they call Isaac with a Martian upgrade (fatal to adults) that connects him with the Hypotheticals. The Fourth-hunting "Department of Genomic Security" is searching for this group or for a visiting Martian Fourth who disapproves of Isaac's creation.

Jack McKee and Cecil Colson are a couple of young, restless rustlers. Jack has turned his back on his wealthy family and his wife. Cecil is a Native American. Together, more out of boredom than anything else, they have begun rustling cattle, cutting them up with a chainsaw and paying bills with fresh meat in lieu of cash.

Equally bored are wealthy Montana rancher John Brown and his wife, Cora. They once ran a beauty parlor in Schenectady, New York, but now they have bought up most of the land in this corner of Montana. Cora is so bored that she tries to catch the eye of her husband's dim ranch hands, Burt and Curt, but she can't seem to work up much interest on their part.

The rustling of his livestock lights a fire under Brown, who sends Burt and Curt up in a helicopter to try to catch the thieves in the act. Jack and Cecil continue to single out Brown's cattle, even kidnapping his $50,000 prize bull, "Basehart of Bozeman Canyon," for ransom.

Brown decides to call upon Henry Beige, said to be the scourge of rustlers everywhere. A legendary stock detective who once served time on a prison farm for rustling, Beige turns out to be a feeble old fool who doesn't seem to be interested in anything except watching TV and being waited on hand and foot by his beautiful niece, Laura, who is almost sickeningly sweet.

Jack and Cecil are feeling cocky, so much so that when Burt and Curt figure out that they must be the rustlers, Jack and Cecil bribe them into a scheme to steal a semi-truck full of John Brown's cattle.

Curt, however, has fallen head over heels in love with the luscious Laura, even though she still mistakenly calls him Burt. She is nowhere near as innocent as she seems, as she proves in a sexual encounter in the woods. Burt intends to use his rustling profits to take an expensive vacation in Mexico, but Curt has chosen to propose marriage to Laura.

Henry Beige's ineptitude and lack of interest in identifying the rustlers is infuriating to Brown, who angrily fires him. A distressed Laura explains to Curt that she needs to take care of her uncle and therefore will be leaving with him, unable to marry Curt.

Curt decides to help Henry catch the rustlers instead. Henry proceeds to do exactly that, making a show of it before the town's citizens. Burt and Curt are also arrested, Curt coming to realize that Laura's sweetness and love for him were all an act.

Henry Beige comes to Brown to say goodbye, nonchalantly accepting his payment because he says he's in it now simply for the sport. Brown can see now that Henry is shrewd, not doddering at all, and Laura is a sexy, all-business woman, not innocent in any way.

Jack and Cecil end up sent to the Montana State Prison Ranch at Deer Lodge, presumably the same prison where Henry Beige served time in his youth. They spend their days on horseback, seemingly no more or less bored than they had been before. The final scene shows the two rustlers riding under a sign reading "Rancho Deluxe".

Since the beginning of time, Heaven and Hell have fought over Purgatory and the souls trapped inside it. Each side has sent seven warriors: archangels (Arcs) from Heaven, fallen angels (Fallen) from Hell. They must assume human form to enter purgatory. Hell has attained control, transforming purgatory into a dark, seedy city. The last of the seven archangels, Gabriel (Andy Whitfield), endeavors to discover what has become of his comrades and to restore the Light.

Upon Gabriel entering purgatory, four of the seven Fallen—Sammael (Dwaine Stevenson), Asmodeus (Michael Piccirilli), Balan (Brendan Clearkin), and Baliel—gather, and Sammael kills an insubordinate Baliel, so reducing the Fallen's number from seven to six. Meanwhile, Gabriel visits the archangel Michael's apartment, finding it abandoned. He finds a note from Michael in the apartment, saying how hard it is to stay pure in purgatory. While walking through the city, Gabriel receives a vision about the whereabouts of his comrade Uriel (Harry Pavlidis). However, the leader of the Fallen, Sammael, senses Gabriel's presence and sends the Fallen Molloch (Goran D. Kleut) to kill him. Gabriel fights and kills Molloch, then proceeds to the city's outskirts. He finds a dishevelled and alcoholic Uriel hiding in a rundown bus. He explains that the Archangels all assumed human form and became subject to human desires and feelings which weakened them. Cut off from their power, the Archangels were eventually worn down and fell prey to the Fallen who thrived and became stronger the longer they stayed in purgatory. He reveals to Gabriel that this is what eventually led to the downfall of the Arcs sent before him. Uriel warns Gabriel that if they die in purgatory, their own souls will die too, they completely vanish. To encourage and remind Uriel of his identity, Gabriel mortally wounds Uriel, convincing Uriel to heal himself. Though surely aware of Gabriel's presence, Sammael commands the Fallen to wait before taking any action against Gabriel, even though they could defeat Gabriel; Sammael threatens the Fallen if they do anything to Gabriel. Uriel then explains to Gabriel that the Fallen can sense Archangels when they use their powers, and teaches Gabriel to conceal his bright blue angel eyes. Uriel also explains that due to the nature of the evil and darkness that controls purgatory that Gabriel will be cut off from the "source". He also reluctantly tells Gabriel what happened to some of the other five Archangels: Remiel was killed before Uriel arrived; the whereabouts of Ithuriel (Matt Hylton Todd), Raphael (Jack Campbell), and Michael are uncertain, but Raphael is most likely hiding in the East Side of the city and it is thought that Sammael has killed Michael; and Amitiel (Samantha Noble), who now calls herself Jade, was defeated by Sammael, stripped of her wings, and forced to work as a prostitute. Hearing this, Gabriel goes off into the city to search for Amitiel.

Gabriel travels back to the city, and finds the brothel where Amitiel works. He also encounters Asmodeus, the Fallen who runs the brothel. Gabriel rescues Amitiel and kills the Fallen Balan who tries to rape her. He then heals her of the drugs she has been taking to dull the pain of her job. As Gabriel's use of power makes his presence known in purgatory, the Fallen grow weary and impatient of waiting. Amitiel takes Gabriel to the soup kitchen where the Archangel Ithuriel hides. Initially angry at Ithuriel for abandoning his mission of seeking out and destroying the Fallen, Gabriel eventually shows him compassion and understanding. Ithuriel takes Gabriel to the abandoned tunnels beneath the soup kitchen where the gravely wounded Raphael dwells. Gabriel heals Raphael, expending much of his strength. After rebuking Gabriel, Raphael explains that Sammael draws his immense power from the other Fallen. Gabriel proposes to take out the remaining Fallen one by one, before finally facing Sammael. Raphael is unconvinced, as Sammael has already killed the stronger angel Michael.

Gabriel fights and kills the Fallen Ahriman (Kevin Copeland), then returns to Michael's apartment where he sketches a picture of Amitiel. At the same time Gabriel begins his campaign against the Fallen, the Fallen Lilith (Erika Heynatz) kills Uriel, Asmodeus kills Ithuriel, and Sammael kills Raphael. Driven mad by anger, Gabriel's eyes turn bright brown, the colour of the Fallen. He returns to the brothel seeking revenge against Asmodeus, randomly killing anyone he finds behind a hotel room door. He eventually finds Asmodeus and discovers him with his nigh unconscious female sex slave, whom he's been forcibly surgically altering to make her facially identical to himself so as to satisfy his narcissism. Asmodeus uses Gabriel's shock and sympathy toward the girl to his advantage and assaults him. Gabriel gains the advantage in the fight, viciously scars Asmodeus, thus enraging him, and then kills him. Gabriel halts his own imminent fall when he heals and restores the captive young woman and returns her to her original appearance. Shocked by his near fall, Gabriel returns to Amitiel. Amitiel comforts Gabriel and they strip naked before having sex. Gabriel then travels to a nightclub and kills Lilith, injecting her with several full vials of Ahriman's drugs. Gabriel searches for Sammael and is soon attacked and knocked out by the last Fallen Angel. Upon recovering, he chases Sammael to the nightclub's rooftop.

Sammael refuses to fight Gabriel, instead asking him to listen to what he has to say. He explains how he despises being an angel, a being created entirely to serve others. He sees purgatory as a chance to take control of his own destiny and lets Gabriel know that it was him all along keeping Gabriel protected and alive in a city amongst all the Fallen, and asks Gabriel to join him. Refusing his offer, Gabriel unwittingly realises that "Sammael" is actually the Archangel Michael, his closest friend (who had actually killed the real Sammael and assumed his identity). Though Michael was the one responsible for the deaths of the other Archangels, the real Sammael was the one to force Jade to give up her wings. The two Archangels fight, but because Gabriel has used up so much of his strength helping the other Archangels, even with Michael similarly growing weaker, Gabriel proves to be no match for Michael who severely beats him down and ultimately impales Gabriel's chest with a metal pipe. Gabriel admits that during his time as a human he has felt rage and anger, but he has also experienced things that Michael hasn't. An impaled Gabriel embraces Michael, which drives the metal pipe through Michael's chest also, and tells Michael that he forgives him. Both Archangels collapse. Before dying, Michael uses what remains of his strength to save Gabriel's life, healing his wound. Light returns to purgatory.

Kneeling in front of Michael's dead body, Gabriel shouts up at God asking "Is It This That You Wanted?, Is It This You Wanted?". The healed Gabriel moves to the edge of the rooftop, and muses that he needs to understand why all this happened. He outstretches his arms, and lets himself fall. His final words are, "Forgive me... I hope I see you again ..." A post-credits scene shows Gabriel, (wearing different clothing, minus angel wing tattoo and with brown eyes), joining Amitiel and smiling. (The DVD version of the film does not contain the post-credit scene.)

In the mountain wilderness of Canada, someone in a cabin writes a letter addressed to "Son" and expresses hopes that they may reconcile. The envelope is addressed to the FBI, and is given to a boy courier for mailing.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) arrives at the Ruskin Dam and finds a number of burned corpses, including those belonging to Quiet Willy and Dmitri. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is found with only minor burns, one of approximately fifty survivors who were found nearby in the woods. Jeffrey Spender arrives looking for his mother, Cassandra (Veronica Cartwright), who is missing. Mulder meets with Scully about the incident, but she does not remember anything. Jeffrey sees Mulder and warns him not to get involved with his mother, who remains missing.

The Well-Manicured Man (John Neville) and other Syndicate Elders watch as their black oil vaccine is administered to Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), which has yet to work. Later, The Well-Manicured Man meets with Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), who is being held captive aboard a Russian freighter. The Well-Manicured Man believes that the Russians possess a functional vaccine to the black oil, or else Krycek would not have infected the boy. With a working vaccine, resistance to the alien Colonists is possible.

A spacecraft crashes at Wiekamp Air Force base in West Virginia, and the surviving Rebel passenger is captured by the military. Mulder shows Scully more photos of the victims and, having found more implants in them, believes the implant in Scully may be able to answer all of their questions. The Syndicate meets over the capture of the Rebel. The Well-Manicured Man informs them of the existence of the Russian vaccine, believing that this makes resistance to the Colonists possible. If the vaccine is ineffective he proposes avoiding handing over the Rebel and instead forming an alliance with the Rebels, but the other Syndicate members believe this would be a suicidal course of action.

Under hypnosis, Scully recalls the Rebels burning her fellow abductees, as well as a Colonist spacecraft killing the Rebels and abducting Cassandra. During a meeting with Walter Skinner, Mulder continues to insist that the events have been orchestrated by the military and not by aliens. Meanwhile, the Russian vaccine seems to have no effect on Marita. The First Elder tells the Well-Manicured Man that they have already decided to turn the Rebel over to the Colonists. Jeffrey shows Scully a video of him talking about aliens while under hypnosis while he was a child, claiming his mother had forced him to make those statements.

Krycek is released and attacks Mulder in his apartment. He claims that a war is raging between the aliens and that the Rebel immolations are meant to halt the impending colonization of Earth. He also claims that the captured Rebel is critical to their plans and must not die. Scully visits Mulder and reveals she has been reconsidering her memories of abduction, while Mulder reveals he is newly taking them seriously as a result of his encounter with Krycek. Mulder and Scully head to Wiekamp Air Force Base, where the Alien Bounty Hunter—who is disguised as Quiet Willy—has come to kill the Rebel. However, Mulder witnesses a second Rebel arriving to seemingly kill the Bounty Hunter and rescue the captured Rebel. The Well-Manicured Man watches as the Russian vaccine is revealed to have been successful on Marita. Mulder is released by the military but is confused by what he saw. At FBI Headquarters, Spender receives the letter from Canada. In Canada we see the boy return the unopened letter to the cabin and the sender is revealed to be The Smoking Man (William B. Davis).Meisler, pp. 187–196

In 1990 in Caledonia, Wisconsin, a man named Edward Skur is shot by a police officer during an eviction and the last word he speaks is "Mulder". Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), at this point working with the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, believes that the man may have had some connection to his father, Bill. Mulder discovers that Skur was reported to have died in 1952. He seeks out Arthur Dales (Darren McGavin), a retired FBI agent who investigated Skur in the 1950s. At first, Dales is reluctant to discuss the case and warns Mulder away. However, Mulder's threat of a subpoena persuades Dales to tell his story.

In a flashback to the 1950s, Dales (Fredric Lane) and his partner Hayes Michel are sent to arrest Skur (Garret Dillahunt) for being a communist. When Dales is told that Skur hanged himself while in custody, he feels guilty and returns to Skur's house to apologize to his wife. While there, he sees Skur alive and tries to recapture him. In the following struggle, an appendage emerges from Skur's mouth. Skur is forced to flee when a neighbor interrupts the fight. Dales' partner Hayes Michel and Roy Cohn warn Dales to change his report about the attack. He does so, but feels guilty about it.

Later, Dales and Michel are called to investigate the death of a German doctor in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The local police deny calling them, and Dales finds a coaster for a bar with "come alone" written on the back. At the bar, Dales meets Bill Mulder, an agent from the State Department. Bill tells him that Skur was experimented on along with two other men, who later killed themselves; that Skur killed the German doctor in revenge for what was done to him and that he will kill Dales and Michel too because Skur believes they are part of the plot. While Michel is being killed, Dales tries to telephone him for warning him but to no avail. Dales then tries to investigate his partner's death but Mr. Cohn covers it up.

A secretary at the FBI office, Dorothy Bahnsen (Jane Perry), helps Dales find a file that mentions Gissing, one of the two other men mentioned by Bill who had committed suicide. She explains that she files all the unsolved cases under X because there is more room under X than U. Gissing's body is still in the morgue and Dales convinces the technician to cut open the body where they find a strange creature has been sewn into Gissing's chest. Dales goes to Skur's wife and tells her what was done to her husband and that he wants to expose the experiments. Skur's wife goes down into the backyard bomb shelter to tell Skur, but he is overcome by his parasite and kills her.

Cohn picks up Dales and takes him to the office of the Director who gives him a speech about patriotism and convinces him to help bring in Skur. They take Dales back to the bar to meet Skur, who attacks Dales. Bill Mulder and the other agent wait outside until they think Dales is dead before rushing in to find that Dales has handcuffed Skur and is still alive.

In 1990, Fox Mulder is dismayed to hear what his father was involved in. He asks Dales how Skur escaped and Dales speculates that someone might have helped Skur escape hoping that the truth of what was done to him may one day be revealed. The episode ends with a final flashback of Bill Mulder driving down a road with Skur and giving Skur the keys to the car and walking away.Meisler, pp. 198–211

A vicious stranger, the "Man from Bodie", terrorizes the small settlement of Hard Times. He kills the only men who stand up to him, town founder Mr. Fee and town undertaker Mr. Hanson, as well as raping and killing Fee's girlfriend Flo. Before he leaves, he burns down the handful of buildings.

Only a few people stay, among them Will Blue. Blue takes in Fee's young orphaned son Jimmy and convinces his woman, Molly, to stay there with them. A few other people arrive. Zar and his four saloon girls settle in to serve the nearby miners. Isaac Maple comes looking for his long-gone storekeeper brother, so Blue persuades him to reopen the general store. A drifter, Leo Jenks, also lazes around town.

Blue tries hard to build a family and a prosperous community but Molly despises him for not standing up against the Man from Bodie, and is obsessed with revenge against him for what he did. They both expect the Man will return in the spring. Molly works on Jenks, a fine shot, and even infects Jimmy with her consuming hatred, getting him a shotgun.

The villain shows up and resumes his terrorizing ways. Molly persuades Jenks to go after him. Jenks kills Zar by mistake and is gunned down. Blue is wounded in the shoulder, but then, the Man runs out of bullets and Blue shoots him several times.

Blue carries the body home to show Molly. When she gingerly approaches, the dying Man revives and grabs her hand. Her panicked yell for help brings Jimmy running with his shotgun. Blue tries to grab the weapon, but it goes off, hitting the Man in the face and killing him. Molly is also hit by the shotgun blast, in the stomach. Just before she dies, she asks Blue to hold her. Later, from her gravesite, Blue and Jimmy see a growing town.

While onboard the space ship Nautilus, an astronaut turns into an Alien-like monster after being infected by alien spores. When the ship crash lands in Florida, the monster goes on a killing rampage.

Lemeza Kosugi, a professor of archaeology, receives a letter from his father Shorn Kosugi, who claims he has discovered the ruins of La-Mulana, supposedly the birthplace of all civilizations and carries the secret treasure of life itself. Following his father's trail, Lemeza comes to the ruins and discovers it is composed of various amalgamations of various ruins and structures from different areas around the globe. Upon further exploration and discovery within the ruins, Lemeza learns the story about how a being known as "the Mother" fell down from the sky and crashed onto the planet. The Mother has sought to return to space where it came from. To this end, she created various "children" which were different races that roamed the planet that she tasked to find a way to send her back to the sky. None of them could figure out a way to accomplish this task, which angered the Mother greatly and would destroy them in her rage, to start over again with a new race.

The people of the seventh generation of children came to the conclusion that it was impossible to bring the Mother back to the sky; it turns out the entire ruins of La Mulana is actually the Mother's body. They decided the best course of action before their race was killed off was to grant the Mother a merciful death. To this end, they made it so that the children of the eighth civilization would grow without knowledge of the Mother so they could have the will and power to accomplish such a task. This eight generation would end up becoming humanity. To accomplish this task, Lemeza has to draw out the Mother's soul and bestow it a physical form to destroy. Through a grueling battle, Lemeza manages to accomplish this before Mother can enact her plan to bring forth the ninth generation. Taking the secret treasure of life after defeating the Mother, Lemeza escapes the crumbling ruins to the surface before it collapses on him. Upon his return to the surface, Shorn surprises him from behind and steals the treasure for his own, leading Lemeza to chase after his father into the coming sunrise.

In Alexandria, Virginia, sixteen-year-old Dara Kernof (Emily Perkins), a mentally and physically disabled girl who uses a wheelchair, somehow manages to leave her house in the middle of the night, soon after her baptism. Her father, Lance (Eric Keenleyside), eventually finds her outside with her arms raised upwards towards a strange figure. Suddenly, lightning flashes and the figure disappears. When Lance reaches Dara, he realizes she is dead and her eyes have been burned out. Eventually, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is contacted by Father McCue (Arnie Walters), who asks if she would be willing to assist the family in figuring out what exactly happened. Soon thereafter, Scully visits the Kernofs and learns that Dara was adopted. Given her severe spinal deformities, Scully is unable to explain how Dara walked, let alone got outside. Lance then tells Scully that he saw a strange figure before her; he confides in her that he thinks the mysterious being was the Devil.

While this is going on, a priest named Father Gregory (Jody Racicot) visits a hospital to visit Dara's twin, Paula Koklos (Perkins), but he is stopped by a social worker named Aaron Starkey (Glenn Morshower). That night, Paula dies mysteriously when a man enters her room. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) soon learns that Paula and Dara were not twins, but rather two of four quadruplets. The agents also learn that Father Gregory was hoping to adopt Paula and they visit the priest. Gregory protests that he is innocent and was simply trying to protect Paula by taking her under his wing. Later, Scully experiences a vision of her daughter Emily (Lauren Diewold).

Mulder soon learns the identity of another sister (Perkins), who is troubled and homeless. With Starkey's help, Mulder finds the girl in a rundown part of the city, but the figure from the beginning of the episode kills her before Mulder can get to her. Mulder discovers Father Gregory at the scene and believes that he is the perpetrator of the crimes. Under questioning by Mulder and Scully, Father Gregory insists that he was attempting to ward off the Devil, who was hoping to claim the girls' souls. He is adamant that the fourth and final sister must be located. Later, when the agents have left the room, Starkey enters and asks for the whereabouts of this last girl. Gregory remains silent and soon begins to burn; it is revealed that Starkey is the Devil.

That night, the figure from the beginning of the episode presents itself to Scully, revealing that it is a Seraph. This seraph had fathered four nephilim (i.e. the disabled quadruplets) and God sent the angel to earth to return the girls to Heaven. The angel is attempting to outmaneuver the Devil, who hopes to use the girls' souls for his own nefarious plots. Scully and Starkey later find the fourth girl, Roberta Dyer (Perkins) at Gregory's church. However, Scully sees that Starkey has a horned shadow, revealing his true origins. As Scully tries to help Roberta escape, the women are confronted by the Seraph. Scully reluctantly lets go of Roberta's hand, after seeing Emily in place of Roberta, and lets Roberta enter Heaven.Meisler, pp. 226–38.

While on vacation Grace, her husband Adam and Grace's younger sister Lee decide to visit a crocodile show. The next day Grace takes a pregnancy test and it is positive but does not tell her husband; they head to "Back Water Barry's" fishing tour on a whim to take a boat ride into the mangrove swamp to try some fishing.

Once they arrive at the docks, their tour guide Barry is not available, but Jim, another guide, offers to take them instead. Jim arms himself with a revolver and they set off. After failing to catch any fish on the usual route, Jim suggests going deeper into the swamps. While in a small clearing, Lee spots something through her camera and alerts Grace, but later finds nothing.

Suddenly, the boat capsizes, dumping the occupants into the water. Jim is killed underwater, and Adam realizes that a crocodile has attacked them. He helps Grace into a nearby tree and searches the water for Lee, who got tangled up in ropes underneath the boat. Grace sees the beast nearby and convinces Adam to come back. Lee frees herself, but the beast swims after her. She manages to climb atop the boat, but the beast thrashes the boat in an attempt to throw her off. Adam and Grace distract it, and it swims away. Realizing they can use the boat's ropes to pull Lee to safety, they attempt to execute this plan, only for the boat to get stuck. A hesitant Lee is forced to swim across and makes it, despite panicking halfway across. The girls suggest waiting for help, but Adam claims no one saw them leave, so Grace tries climbing the trees back to the mainland. However, she is forced to climb back after finding pieces of a corpse. An impatient Adam goes for the boat. He successfully overturns it, but the beast kills him. The girls make numerous attempts to continue his plan, only to be thwarted at every turn, and eventually, the boat floats away out of safe reach.

The next day, they decide to find the boat and the croc confronts them. The beast attacks them, forcing them back to their original tree, though Grace suffers a nasty bite to her thigh in the process. Because of heavy bleeding, her condition worsens over time. A boat comes past and they shout but it cannot hear them due to its propeller. Lee tries once again to reach the boat, and is successful but the croc suddenly attacks leaping into the boat. Lee floats unconscious to a very small island alongside Jim's body. She patches herself up, takes his revolver, but finds the gun jammed with mud so she cleans and unjams it.

She tries to lure the beast in using Jim's detached arm as bait, holding the pistol ready to fire at it. It shows itself and attacks, but her gun jams again. She flees, with the beast close behind. It launches a sneak attack when she stops, but Lee manages to get the gun working and kills it. The threat averted, she makes her way back to Grace, who has died from her injuries. Lee, devastated, mourns her sister as she places her on the boat and paddles out of the mangrove.

Martha and Vasiliki

At the start of the second season months have passed since the tragic explosion at Martha's farewell party. Andreas, who sets a bomb in Martha's house makes a last minute leap into the house upon seeing young Eva's face. He dies instantly while everybody else in the house miraculously survives. We learn that Martha has moved away to Kriti. Her mother, Vasiliki, continues to run the bar that she bought from long-standing friend Dida, at the end of season one. Overwhelmed by all the losses of her family, Vasiliki departs from Mykonos, renting her house to two young employee's at "Antigones Resort" -Nadia and Philippos. She joins Martha in Kriti and disappears from the show altogether. However, Martha was recently seen in flashback sequences when Renos was reflecting on his failed relationships, after he and Fedra broke up. Writers have said she may return to the show sometime next season, but only in a guest role.

Vera and Antigoni

Vera is released from prison in the season première and seeks to foil her estranged husband, Stephanos Doukas, by pretending to have developed a life-threatening cancer leaving her about 6 months to live. She fabricates this story with the help of Antigone and Alexandros, who help her to deceive the entire family by paying a fraudulent doctor to lie about her diagnosis. When the doctor's office disappears the truth is uncovered and uncovers Vera's sadistic plot. She is ostracised by the entire family and commits suicide as a final demonstration. Antigoni, blames her parents Mirto and Stefanos for never accepting Vera into the family, driving her to commit suicide, and leaves Greece and the Doukas family permanently venturing off to London. Her new flame, Philipos, tracks her down in France, where they become united, and he too disappears from the show. However, Antigoni was reintroduced into the show at the end of the second season, having finally gotten over Vera's death and regretting abandoning her family due to her grief. However, it was later seen that the only reason that Antigoni returned was so that she could destroy Alexandros' relationship with newcomer Tania, succeeding temporarily, but the couple later reunited after Antigoni left the country, and Nadia convinced the couple to reunite. Antigoni will probably never return to the show, as her father, disgusted in his daughter's behaviour disinherits her and places the painting of her as a small child back on his wall after she left, because that is the only way that he wants to remember her, after everything that she has done, therefore finally bringing closure to this storyline.

Alexandros and Antigoni, and working his way back into the Doukas family

Alexandros is in hot pursuit of his estranged wife Antigoni. He no longer has the DVD controlling Stephanos and protecting Antigone from incarceration for the shooting down of an innocent lawyer (happened in Season 1). He does not make much progress, but eventually reports to Stephanos that he has made contact with Antigoni and settled his financial claims with her. For a temporary time, he acquires Antigoni's shares in the Doukas' family multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical company. He uses these shares as a way to make amends with Stephanos after willingly disobeying Stephanos' wishes to desert Antigoni. Alexandros proves his loyalty and gains Stephanos trust when he rescues Pavlo from criminals who have kidnapped both him and Christina in an effort to thwart Mirto's testimony at the trial convicting Aphroditi Apergi of the first degree murder of her late husband, Dr. Papadatos. Alexandros has now firmly re-established himself back into Stefanos' family and is dating Tania.

Mirto/Lefteri/Ektora/Aphrodite

Philipos' friend Nadia, has an interest in Mirto's husband Lefteri, and when Mirto and Lefteri break up after she continually refuses to have a child with him, Nadia and Lefteri have sex. However, Lefteri realises that he is still in love with his wife and tells her everything and they soon reunite. Later in the season, Lefteri and Mirto break up several times due to Mirto's very close platonic relationship with her ex-husband Ektora threatening Lefteri. Mirto is also kidnapped part-way through the season by Aphrodite's late-husbands associates so she doesn't reveal the evidence in court that she has to prove that Aphrodite didn't murder her late-husband. They also adopt a seven-year-old boy, Andreas, His birthmother Alexandra who is a drug addict meets Stelios the child's biological father and tells him that they have a son but Stelios wants proof of this so Alexandra kidnaps Andrea and has a DNA test performed on the child to prove paternity. Stelios also arranges for Alexandra to go into rehabilitation to repair her image as a parent then they to fight for custody of the child against adoptive parents Mirto and Lefteri. Ektora's new girlfriend Aphroditi also found the close relationship between Mirto and Ektora threatening, and after being framed for murder by her elderly husband (whom she had stood by despite the lack in physical attraction between them for many years, because she pitied him), making an alliance with her late-husband's son, Angelos, to hide her from Ektora soon after she is released from prison, she flees the country for London. She also defends abandoning Ektora by saying that she had to protect her child from the jailbirds demanding money from her, and also the fact that he said he wouldn't be with her if it wasn't for her being pregnant. Aphroditi is still heard frequently in phone calls, and Ektora has now discovered her rough whereabouts, with the help of Stefanos. Aphrodite recently gave birth in London, informing Angelos by phone. Angelos has fallen in love with Aphroditi and the two have started a romantic relationship. (see section below) Lefteri also beats Andreas' biological mother, Alexandra, after it is almost certain that she will be taking her son back, he also sleeps with an unidentified woman, which has forced Mirto to consider divorce again. He also begins drinking, and hits Mirto while heavily intoxicated after she tells him that she turned to Ektora for support because he is the only person that she can turn to in this difficult time. Mirto and Lefteri divorce. Ektora is currently single, and has become increasingly close to Mirto. This is being noticed by many people around the ex-couple.

Stefanos and Nadia

Stefanos and Nadia grow close in the second half of the season as both of them feel very lonely, they begin a relationship and soon after marry in secret from their friends and family. The fact that they were married was uncovered however when Stefanos and Nadia became entangled in a murder mystery involving Stefanos' sister. However, it turned out that long-time maid, Olga had committed the murder. Stefanos and Nadia however, continue to face problems in their marriage after Nadia begins work at Stefanos' chemical factory, much to the dismay of his son Renos, who has a romantic crush on her. Furthermore, Stefanos reintroduces drug trafficking within his business, and information about this has been caught on tape by Tania and Ari, who were trying to expose these dealings, however Tania regretted it and they stopped, much to Ari's dismay. Ari continued to work behind Tania's back with Angelo, Renos' former friend, who opened a pharmaceutical business with Renos' ex-girlfriend's partner, Constantinos, until Ari was murdered by Angelo for not agreeing with his plans. Stefanos and Nadia remain happily married, and share all their problems with each other, the problems caused with Antigoni's return caused them to come much closer.

Renos/Anna/Fedra love triangle

Renos embarks on a relationship with new character Anna at the beginning of the season, however he soon discovers that he is in love with her sister, Fedra. Both Fedra and Renos realise their love but can't be together as Fedra accidentally fell pregnant with Constantinos in a one-night stand, and they decide to do the right thing and marry, even after the baby is lost. Renos tries to stop Fedra on the day of her wedding but is unsuccessful. Renos breaks up with Anna unable to withstand the relationship with her any longer, soon after Renos and Fedra finally end up together, much to the dismay of Anna and Constantinos. Anna makes it her mission to get back at them by any means possible, and has Fedra raped in front of Renos in an attempt to dismantle their relationship. She succeeds, but Fedra soon discovers that her sister employed the rapists when she finds one of them in her house talking to her sister. Anna then flees town to go and live with her father, while Fedra leaves behind everything that has gone wrong in the past year to start a new life with none other than her ex-husband Konstantinos. New neighbours move in next to Renos, who are taping him, in an attempt to expose his father's drug ring within the family business. They are related to the person who took the blame when Renos was convicted due to his father's drug trafficking earlier this year. Renos took a long time to get over the relationship with Fedra, and now resides in Paris due to complications of Angelo's crimes (see below), but he is still credited and is expected to return to the show next season.

Pavlos/Christina/Ariadni/Manos love square

Pavlos and Christina's relationship becomes much more serious after he is diagnosed with a potentially fatal blood condition, the first time they don't make it to the altar and both decide to not turn up to their wedding. The second time, Christina goes to the wrong church on the day of the wedding, however they finally marry and soon after they marry, a male donor is found for Pavlos' condition and all is well. However, Christina quickly finds herself infatuated with the donor Manos and Pavlos with the donor's girlfriend Ariadni. Myrtle is aware of the affairs that have risen from these infatuations, and is deeply worried about both of the newly-weds. Christina has recently become best friends with the donor's now ex-girlfriend, Ariadni, after the couples engaged in a sort of story similar to a real life wife swap. The 4 people have now split up, with Manos going to Iraq to work on photography, as an attempt to get over his relationships with Ariadni and Christina and Christina and Ariadni avoiding Pavlos to try to get over their relationships with him. Pavlos is constantly seeking relationship advice from Hector and his brother, which provides some of the comic relief in this storyline.

Aphrodite and Angelo relationship and complications

Aphrodite returns to Athens with Angelo, and they begin a relationship. At the end of the season they are planning to move away from the country and get married. However, Angelo murdered one of the people that was monitoring Renos and tried to frame Renos for it, blackmailing him to get Renos' father to stop threatening Angelle's business. Renos fled the country and in an attempt to clear her son's name, Myrtle in collaboration with Stefanos are suspected of hatching a plan to kill Angelo. The reason for this suspicion is that Myrtle invited them to her Birthday cruise which was also for the opening of her new resort in Spetses as a result of finding out about Renos' problems, due to Angelo's crimes. Angelo and Aphrodite thought that they were invited to the cruise by sponsors of Myrtle's resort, however Angelo thought it was Myrtle that invited them and insisted that they didn't go after some thought. Unaware of Angelo's crimes, Aphrodite wants to go the cruise, to prove that she doesn't care what Myrtle and Hector think of her relationship with Angelo. Unable to tell Aphrodite that he killed Ari, Angelo agrees to go to the cruise since he promised that he would go with her. At this time, Aphrodite is still being threatened by Apostolia about the money that she owes her because Apostolia knows about the fake witnesses involved in Aphrodite's court case at the beginning of the season. The season ends with Aphrodite and Angelo boarding the cruise.

Category:2006 Greek television seasons Category:2007 Greek television seasons

''A Gathering of Heroes'' is a prequel, taking place approximately twenty years before the events in ''The Lost Prince'' and ''King Chondos' Ride.'' Istvan Divega, a mercenary and famed swordsman, is approached by a mysterious figure with an urgent request for aid. He joins a band of heroes on a journey to defend the fortress city of Rath Tintallain against a great army that includes sorcerers, goblins, demons and werewolves.

Goblins, demons and worse spill over the Dark Border, attacking Rath Tintallain and the priceless treasure it holds. The Hasturs fear that the fall of Rath Tintallain will bring utter destruction, and summon a gathering of the greatest heroes-elves, dwarves, and mortal men- for a desperate stand. And Istvan DiVega is called to join the fray, fighting shoulder to shoulder with men of legend. They are the last defense against the Shadow.

The film stars Richard Burton as the Rome Gestapo chief Herbert Kappler, who carries out the killings of 335 mostly randomly and hurriedly selected victims in revenge for partisans killing 33 Germans: using a ratio of ten Italian victims for every German. However, they had rounded up five more than expected but continued on with their plan. Meanwhile, the Vatican stands by and issues no condemnation.

An uncommonly naive college student named Nao Kanzaki receives a package containing 100 million yen (about US$1 million) and a note that she is now a contestant in the Liar Game Tournament. In this fictional tournament, contestants are encouraged to cheat and lie to obtain other contestants' money, with the losers forced to bear a debt proportional to their losses. When Nao's first opponent, a trusted former teacher, steals her money, she seeks assistance from a con man named Shinichi Akiyama. Though they manage to defeat him, Nao and Akiyama decide to buy out his debt and advance through different rounds of the Liar Game Tournament against merciless contestants, while at the same time attempting to free their opponents from debt and defeat the Liar Game organization from within.

The film focuses on Benito Freire, a lonely and miserable peddler whose world is dominated by ignorance and superstition. Wandering through various Galicia towns, he regularly suffers from severe attacks of epilepsy. Rumors about him begin to spread throughout the region, rumors that claim that Benito is both a werewolf and possessed by a demonic spirit. As the rumors about him continue to spread, Benito slowly descends into madness.

A young shop assistant named Clara Manni (Lucia Bosé) is selected by movie executive Gianni (Andrea Checchi) for his new film, ''Woman without Destiny''. When test screenings reveal that the public is enamoured with Clara, but less enthusiastic about the film itself, producer Ercole (Gino Cervi) sees an opportunity to take advantage of his actress' shapely presence and spice the film up a bit, with less attention to detail and more overt displays of passion. Clara becomes compromised when she marries Gianni, who becomes jealous over the provocative marketing for her film, and categorically states that he doesn't want her involved with it anymore. She reluctantly agrees, and after requesting a more serious vehicle for her, they set about on a new version of the daunting trial of Joan of Arc, with Gianni in the director's chair. The film is panned when premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and with both their reputations in tatters, Clara is forced to evaluate their marriage and the career that she has embarked upon.

Åsa works part-time with the finances at ICA in the small town Stenfors and hasn't worked full-time for two years. Anders lives with Åsa and plays for the local football club Stenfors BK, which is residing far down in the Swedish league system. They'll be shut down if they get relegated this season. Åsa, who has no friends, gets very little time with the family and feels her life is meaningless; she wants to move to Gothenburg where there are full-time jobs, but Anders wants to stay in Stenfors as he has friends in his team. Åsa wants her and their daughter Sara to have more time with him. She says she's got nothing, but Anders says he does everything he can do for the family. Through the acquisition of former Liverpool F.C. star Duncan Miller as coach and other players, the team manages to avoid relegation. Still, Anders and Åsa decide to move to Gothenburg, after Anders had been forced to sell their television to buy Sara her dream dance shoes.

The title is a reference to Smiths frequently used blog. The book's content is from entries Smith has written about on said blog, from mundane daily activities to a series of writings detailing his friend and frequent featured actor Jason Mewes' heroin addiction. Smith also chronicles the making of and release of his seventh film ''Clerks II'' and describes the filming of his acting roles in ''Catch and Release'' and ''Live Free or Die Hard''.

Running into Various Celebrities

Smith talks about his several encounters with many Hollywood stars, both old and upcoming. Once, during his daughter Harley's elementary school Fairy Tale Breakfast party, he ran into Johnny Depp, still wearing part of his Jack Sparrow makeup, who was in-between filming the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' sequels. He also recollects on the time in which he met Burt Reynolds after "stealing" his donuts. An unlikely meeting with Bruce Willis resulted in Smith getting a major supporting part in Willis' film ''Live Free or Die Hard''. In addition, he mentions a humorous encounter Mewes had at a club during the shoot of ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'' with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, who had recently been cast as Spider-Man.

Meeting My Wife

After realizing it has been seven years to the day they "did it", Smith recounts how he first met his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith. During the promotional tour for his 1999 film ''Dogma'', he was interviewed by Schwalbach ("Jen"), then a reporter for ''USA Today'' at the Independent Spirit Awards. Having half a day to kill before he had to go home, they dined on pizza breadsticks before he left for his flight back to New Jersey. A few months later, he met her again, had a few drinks, and they went back to her apartment where they made love for the first time. At this point, Smith stops and writes, ''"The rest can be seen in An Evening With Kevin Smith,"'' in which he recounts how he was injured in the act of love-making.

The Original Idea For Mallrats

Lasting about nine pages, Smith talks about how he intended to have a much more elaborate opening prologue/credits scene for his sophomore film ''Mallrats''. In this, T.S Quint, goes on a televised game show and loses after babbling for ages and giving the other team the answer to the question. An altercation with the team ensues, and he accidentally punches the show's host after the team captain ducks his head. According to Smith, the studio felt it was too long, ordered it to be cut, and replaced it with a smaller scene taking place at a party instead. However, that scene was later scrapped during post-production. Due to this setback, as well as some other scenes, including a Silent Bob masturbation joke, he was forced to excise from the script, he feels this hurt the movie's chances for a bigger box office reception. As in ''Evening With Kevin Smith'', he revealed that while he removed the masturbation scene, a similar scene took place in a film released four years later: ''There's Something About Mary''.

Me and My Shadow

Of all the entries in the book, this section is the longest and probably most serious subject that Smith deals with: his friendship of Jason Mewes and the latter's massive drug addiction. It details his addiction during the filming of Dogma up to his sobriety.

(Mewes eventually relapsed and Smith hosted a weekly podcast to keep him sober)

Making ''Clerks II''

As in the documentary found on the ''Clerks II'' DVD, Smith recounts the process of the film (his "first" true sequel) being made. Several facts are included: the original 1999 script had Dante and Randal working at a Boardwalk Waterfront Pier, how Matt Damon was supposed to appear in Jason Lee's cameo, and convincing original ''Clerks'' stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson to come back. While O'Halloran was eager to reprise Dante ten years down the road, Anderson was the most difficult to convince to return, but he finally agreed to appear in the film. In addition, Smith details Mewes' embarrassment and reluctance to do a parody of the infamous Buffalo Bill nude-dance scene.

''Clerks II'' release

Smith writes about the reaction ''Clerks II'' got from critics, particularly Joel Siegel. About forty minutes into the film, specifically the scene where Randal orders a donkey show as a going-away present for Dante's bachelor party, Siegel exited the theater rather loudly, allegedly shouting ''"Time to go! This is the first movie I've walked out on in thirty fucking years!"'' Despite this incident, Smith felt that ''"if you can send Joel Siegel screaming from your movie, you've got something good on your hands,"'' because getting a bad review from Siegel (according to Smith, after the review called it "Jerks II") is like ''"a badge of honor."'' However, he admits that he was not hurt by the critic's trashing of the film, but rather the manner in which he left it. He states that had Siegel not left the film, the actual donkey show would have been revealed and been funnier. After mentioning his confrontation with the so-called ''"cum catcher"'' (in reference to his prominent mustache) on ''The Opie and Anthony Show'', he says he has no animosity towards the critic, but that one should never walk out on a film and ruin it for others. For the next few entries of his diary, he reveals that ''Clerks II'' made over thirty million dollars at the domestic box office.

Margaret "Mag" Singer, a wife and mother of seven sons, is on the verge of divorcing her husband Patrick and moving to the city for a life of her own. All of the Singers' sons—except for Simon, the youngest—are grown and live on their own. Suddenly, Mag hears news of a terrorist bombing at a Marine base in the Middle East, where Percival, one of her sons, is stationed. Upon learning the news, the remaining five sons gather at the Singer home, anxiously awaiting updates on Percival. The sons include Alfred, the eldest Singer, who is engaged to Cynthia; Gideon, who feels responsible for Percival's decision to enlist and thus blames himself for Percival's possible death; identical twins Darren and Merle; and Izzy, the second-youngest who followed his father into science.

The film's plot shifts between the Singer family resolving old hurts and wounds and flashbacks to Mag raising her sons. At the end, the family is gathered around the TV nervously waiting for word on Percival. Percival is revealed to be safe, and the family rejoices at the good news and their renewed bonds.

In the city of Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero, Pseudolus is "the lyingest, cheatingest, sloppiest slave in all of Rome", whose only wish is to buy his freedom from his master's parents, the henpecked Senex and his overbearing wife, Domina. When he finds out that his master, Senex's handsome but dim son Hero, has fallen in love with the beautiful Philia (destined to be a courtesan) from the house of Marcus Lycus, next door, Pseudolus makes a deal: he will get the girl for Hero in return for his freedom.

Unfortunately, the virgin has been sold to the great Roman soldier Miles Gloriosus, who even now is on his way from conquering Crete to claim her as his bride. In an attempt to fake out the great Gloriosus and buy enough time to come up with a plan that will give Philia to Hero, Pseudolus and his overseer, Hysterium, stage a sit-down orgy for fourteen. Pseudolus informs the captain that his bride is dead and blackmails Hysterium into masquerading as the corpse of Philia to fool the captain and send him heartbroken away; but things go wrong at every turn.

When the supposedly dead "Philia" suddenly comes back to life after the great Gloriosus announces his intention of cutting "her" heart out as a memorial, a chase across Rome and on into the countryside ensues. Eventually, Miles Gloriosus collars Hero, the real Philia, Hysterium, Marcus Lycus, Pseudolus, and Gymnasia, the silent courtesan fancied by Pseudolus, and brings them back to Rome to untangle the skein of deception and see that justice is done.

In the end Hero gets Philia; Senex's next-door neighbor Erronius learns that Philia and Miles Gloriosus are in fact his long-lost children; Marcus Lycus is spared from execution for breaking a marriage contract; Miles Gloriosus takes the gorgeous Gemini twins as his consorts; and Pseudolus gets his freedom, the beautiful and Amazonian Gymnasia to be his wife, and a dowry of 10,000 minae, compliments of Marcus Lycus.

Set in 1965, Jimmy McMahon (Colm Meaney) is an Irishman living in Liverpool who directs a céilí band of young men who go to a competition of traditional Celtic music in Ireland in County Clare. A native Irish band directed by John Joe McMahon (Bernard Hill) is also present to compete as well, with animosity between Jimmy and John, as they are brothers. The two brothers could not be more different, as they have taken different paths. There are multiple surprises for them as the competition takes place, with a familial twist at the very end.

We start on a flashback of a kid’s past performing as a musician. We then flash forward 40 years to Liverpool where we see Jimmy arrive at the Shamrock performance center. He coaches his musicians on how to best play their songs in the irish manner. We then cut to John Joe performing in a pub in a different lifestyle. We then see Jimmy and his band on the way to a competition and go on the road. John Joe will also compete in the competition and Jimmy has paid to sabotage John Joe to get there late. John Joe and Jimmy are drifting to register in the competition. Both have trouble getting to registration but eventually both arrive at the festival. They both register as it's revealed they are old friends that went on different paths of life. They have a deep competitive and antagonistic spirit. Since John Joe got a ride, Jimmy fires his saboteurs as they failed at their job. Teddy and Alex hang out in the pub and meet a girl.

The competition starts with kids participating first. Teddy takes a liking to the girl and makes more conversation with her. John Joe’s band starts to do their performance. One of John Joe’s associates steals Jimmy’s instrument. Jimmy steals another violin from a kid and begins their performance. John Joe brings it back during the performance to make up for this major mistake. It is revealed Jimmy is the father of Ann and his former lover is not happy on how he treated her. Ann is upset and wants a drink and goes with Teddy. We also learn John and Jimmy are also brothers. They begin a chat in the pub. Ann gets drunk and they go back to her place. Her mom is not happy she’s hanging with Teddy. Her mom reveals she did not marry her father as he was already married so she decided to not tell Ann about him at all due to that. John, Jimmy and Ann’s mother talk in the pub. They wrestle with the past and with Ann seeing Teddy. Later that night everyone gathers as they announce the winner. The winner is Father and his South African band. So it was a surprise to John and Jimmy. Teddy makes Ann a proposal for her to come with the band to Liverpool. Ann wants to but her mom does not recommend it. Ann’s mother eventually accepted it and realized she was wrong to oppose her leaving. Both musicians return to their normal lives and life goes on.

Chapter One

"Last Gleaming" (issue #0)

Bruce Carter III, formerly the World War II-era hero Fighting Yank, is now an elderly man. As he sits quietly in his home, thinking and wrestling with his regrets, he's confronted by an apparition. Carter mistakes the ghost for that of his colonial-era ancestor, a spirit which guided and advised him throughout his WWII adventures. The ghost, shrouded in an American flag, is instead an amalgamation of the spirits of patriots, heroes, and martyrs who fought and died for their country. The apparition has come to accuse Carter of betrayal and warn him of his impending death. Carter flees from The American Spirit (for that is the name of this Dickensian apparition). Through a series of flashback sequences, Fighting Yank's WWII backstory is explored. In a meeting between an unidentified general, Fighting Yank, Green Lama, Black Terror, The Flame, and "Big Blue" (1), it is revealed that Adolf Hitler has come into possession of a mystical object which is the original source of all the world's evil: Pandora's Box (actually an urn) described in the ancient Greek myth. Bruce Carter in his guise as The Fighting Yank, is tasked by the U.S. Government to parachute into Nazi Germany and steal the urn. Pandora's urn introduced evil into the world, but also released hope; while the Axis powers are the representatives of that evil, the 1940s "mystery men" are conversely the embodiment of hope. The mystical creatures released when the urn was opened are visible as physical entities when special goggles (invented by Alan Oppenheimer and other atomic scientists) are worn. Yank puts on the goggles and is immediately attacked by the creatures. After he removes the goggles, Yank's "spirit guide" (the ghost of his colonial-era ancestor, Bruce Carter I) tells him that since hope was the last thing released from the urn the only way to reimprison its evil is to first trap his fellow mystery men within it.

Fighting Yank attempts to convince his allies to enter the urn voluntarily, but they refuse. Carter determines to imprison them one at a time. Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the mystery men are in Kokura, Japan, the intended target of the second atomic bomb. Their purpose is to stop the bombing by obtaining a Japanese surrender. Instead of surrendering, the Japanese army attacks the heroes, resulting in a large-scale battle. The U.S. military, in the mistaken belief that the resulting dust and debris are cloud cover obscuring the city, switch the target city to Nagasaki. Meanwhile, Carter takes advantage of the confusion to trap The Flame within the urn; it was necessary to imprison The Flame first as his power would help the other mystery men survive within the urn.

The Flame is presumed killed, ironically, by the fires of Kokura. The Fighting Yank imprisons Flame Girl after The Flame's memorial service. In the years following World War II, Carter continues to imprison his fellow mystery men, one by one, including the newer heroes which spring up after the war. One of the few heroes to escape this fate is The Green Lama, who returned to Tibet immediately after The Flame's memorial.

Now, in Carter's twilight years, The American Spirit has come to indict Carter for this betrayal. Carter's ancestor arrives to argue with The American Spirit, to convince Carter that he did indeed do the right thing. The patriotic apparition counters with a catalogue of the world's ills which have occurred since the mystery men were imprisoned in the urn: the rise of Dynamic Forces, a mega-corporation that plays on the world's greed and sloth by offering material creature comforts to the masses; a fascist police forces that cows the population and keeps them in line; a zombie army made from the decomposing bodies of America's dead military men, sent to the Middle East to fight on the government's behalf, forced to battle and be reconstructed over and over endlessly, while the soldiers' souls languish in limbo. The American Spirit argues: "How can you say you've done anything to stop or contain evil?...All you've done...is to stop those who might have helped keep this from happening".

Carter makes his decision. He asks The American Spirit what he must do to make amends. The answer lies in Tibet; despite his advanced age, Carter must journey there and seek counsel from The Green Lama, even though Carter suspects that Green Lama will kill him for what he's done.

"The Rumors of My Demise..." (issue #1)

In New York City, atop the Dynamic Forces skyscraper headquarters, Dynamic Man and Dynamic Woman look down upon the city. Godlike, they regard humanity as little more than the ants they appear to be from atop their glass and steel eyrie. As Bruce Carter, the former Fighting Yank, struggles through the snows of Tibet, he is beginning to realize that he has been badly misled by the ghost of his ancestor and namesake, that his ancestor might well be a traitor with his own hidden agenda. Reaching Shangri-La, Carter is greeted by Tsarong, Green Lama's manservant, who takes him to his master. Jethro "Jet" Dumont, the Green Lama, who has apparently not aged since the 1940s, greets Carter warmly. Carter confesses to Lama that he's trapped all of their former allies inside Pandora's Urn, and is surprised by Lama's nonchalance at the revelation.

Lama explains to Carter and The American Spirit that he's discovered the power of the "meta-natural" world. It has provided him with new abilities, one of which he immediately demonstrates. Leafy vines suddenly spring up from the ground and engulf the trio; when the vines peel away, they find themselves in New York City. The American Spirit tells Carter that Pandora's Urn will be found in the possession of Dynamic Man, a former ally who, like the Green Lama, wasn't "chosen" to be trapped in the urn.

At Dynamic Forces headquarters, Carter and Green Lama are ushered into the presence of the Dynamic Family who, like Jet Dumont, have also not aged. Dynamic Man is the caretaker of numerous artifacts, mystical and otherwise, left over from the dark days of World War II. Lama asks if Carter may see the urn. Dynamic Man makes to hand the urn to Carter but deliberately drops it instead. With surprising agility for one so elderly, Carter makes a diving catch. Carter himself breaks the urn open and is surprised when nothing happens. Dynamic Man laughs as he informs the duo that he'd had the urn exorcised, while Dynamic Woman hints that the Family may be something more/other than human. Then the Family members grab Carter and Green Lama and throw them down an elevator shaft, despite the fact that the Lama can fly. The elevator car, its cables cut, hurtles down at them; Lama smashes through it and the heroes exit onto the rooftop. Carter puts on his power cloak and mask to again become The Fighting Yank.

The Dynamic Family attacks the heroes on the rooftop, while hundreds of Dynamic Forces employees rush into the fray. Suddenly another mystery man bursts through the rooftop and comes to the aid of Yank and Lama. He is The Black Terror, who has determined that no one but he should have the privilege of killing The Fighting Yank as revenge for Terror's decades-long imprisonment in the urn. During the fight, Black Terror accidentally punches Dynamic Man too hard and discovers, to everyone's surprise, that Dynamic Man is actually a robot. The robot responds by hurling Black Terror from the rooftop. Cat-like, Black Terror lands on his feet on the sidewalk below, cratering it in the process. The Terror then shakes his fist at the rooftop and howls in rage: "OK, Bruce, Fighting Yank gets a reprieve – I'm not going to kill you until after I kill Dynamic Man!"

"...The Whites of Their Eyes" (issue #2)

Mystery men of the 1940s, released from Pandora's Urn, are popping up all over the globe. A red-and-blue clad, boomerang wielding figure emerges from the fabled sewers of Paris in time to see a street riot in progress.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the Fighting Yank and the Green Lama fight for their lives against the robotic Dynamic Family and their mechanical hordes. The Black Terror claws his way back up the side of the skyscraper and rejoins the fray, but seems just as concerned with the fate of his kid sidekick Tim (Kid Terror) as he does with the struggle at hand. Now that they know their opponents are robots instead of flesh and blood, the heroes battle with furious abandon. With a massive rumbling, huge trees and vines suddenly sprout from the heart of the Dynamic Forces headquarters; the Green Lama is using his meta-natural abilities to transport himself and his allies away from the lopsided fight.

In Paris, the mysterious stranger saves a law enforcement officer from the rioters, taking down a few members of the mob in the process. After their escape it's revealed that the officer is a woman who identifies the mob as a group of terrorists and herself as Justine. The stranger remains ever silent.

Back in Shangri-La after their escape from the Dynamic Family, the heroes discuss what they've experienced. The American Spirit is of the belief that the urn's destruction has released the imprisoned mystery men who are likely to reappear randomly around the globe. The Black Terror continues to threaten Fighting Yank's life, while the ghostly Bruce Carter I continues to try to sway his descendant away from The American Spirit.

War is being waged in the Middle East. The United States has replaced its traditional human soldiers with the F-Troop: the reanimated corpses of soldiers killed in previous wars. The war's goal is to destroy the world's petroleum source, which will prompt industrialized nations to switch to a new synthetic fuel created and monopolized by Dynamic Forces. Not coincidentally, Dynamic Forces also controls the U.S. military and is fighting the war with the undead F-Troop soldiers which are also Dynamic's patented creation. Acting as a pair of thorns in Dynamic's side are the heroes Samson (possessed of superhuman strength and the ability to repel ballistic missiles) and The Scarab (clad in powered stealth armor), who meet and join forces to battle the F-Troop.

The Flame appears in Hollywood, California; disoriented and frantic to find Flame Girl (Linda), he accidentally sets the famous "Hollywood" sign on fire with his flame pistol. In Shangri-La, Black Terror, also frantic to find his old sidekick, argues with The American Spirit and decks Fighting Yank. In New York, the Dynamic Family is unable to destroy the meta-natural greenery that has overrun their skyscraper; they've called on The Crusaders to deal with the returned heroes.

"Proof Through the Night" (issue #3)

Shangri-La is under attack. The Crusaders, a U.S. military strike force (under the control of the Dynamic Family) is flying in ''en masse'' to destroy buildings, kill citizens, and essentially level the city. Led to the scene by Dynamic Forces micro-transmitters which were secretly placed on Black Terror’s uniform, the Crusaders wreak havoc as the vastly outnumbered heroes (Green Lama, Black Terror, and Fighting Yank) struggle to stop them.

In a Middle Eastern bazaar, Samson tells Scarab the tale of how he lost his eyes. Samson was among the heroes who’d gone on a peace mission to Kokura, Japan, a mission gone horribly wrong. Kokura had been slated as the target of the second atomic bomb in 1945, so the costumed mystery men travelled there to convince the Japanese to surrender before the bomb could be dropped. The mission instead became a battle which created so much smoke and dust that the U.S. military switched the bomb's target to Nagasaki instead. Samson flew off from Kokura to intercept the bombing mission. Arriving too late to prevent the bomb’s deployment, Samson is caught in the air burst and the blast literally melts his eyes.

In Paris, the mute mystery man uses a pad and pencil to introduce himself to his new ally Justine, a French law enforcement anti-terrorism operative. On the pad, he writes the word "Devil".

More heroes released from the urn are popping up around the globe. In California, The Flame runs to the seashore, leaving a path of burning devastation in his wake. Placing his flame pistol to his head, he's about to commit suicide when a sudden tidal wave hits the beach and stops him. The wave is caused by his old friend Hydro who has also recently been released from the urn.

The scene shifts to Asia, where a disoriented, amnesiac Masquerade wanders the streets of a town in which the residents have been afflicted by a mysterious plague. There she encounters her former ally and lover V-Man, who is apparently the plague's unwitting source; just after they meet, Masquerade's face breaks out in angry red boils.

Mr. Face and a nameless companion sit drinking in a Mexican cantina. In the 1940s, Mr. Face was just an unpowered adventurer in a fright mask, but his time in the urn has transformed him (as it did many of his fellow mystery men): now his mask causes others to experience their worst fears. As the village's inhabitants run screaming through the streets outside, Mr. Face and his drinking buddy confess their own worst fears. The nameless companion fears falling "off the wagon" back into alcoholism. Mr. Face's fear has already come true: he can’t remove the mask.

In Shangri-La, the fight is going badly for the heroes. The city is dying; snow falls in Shangri-La for the first time in thousands of years. Green Lama's friend and manservant Tsarong is fried by a Crusader ray blast, while another Crusader burns a gaping hole in Fighting Yank's chest (which matches the hole Black Terror punched in the chest of Dynamic Man). Yank's power cloak keeps him alive, but he's left behind as Green Lama uses one of his meta-natural "leaf piles" to transport the heroes back to New York. After the departure Fighting Yank falls face first into the snow as The American Spirit flutters down and covers him like a star-spangled shroud.

"...Undimmed by Human Tears" (issue #4)

Dynamic Forces’ headquarters (and all of New York City) has been overrun by Green Lama's meta-natural foliage. The Dynamic Family abandons New York and relocates to Philadelphia. While there, they see the television coverage of the destruction inadvertently caused by The Flame and Hydro. The recently released heroes are bombarded by media questions (including "Are you a couple?"; it would seem that many things have changed over the sixty years of their imprisonment within Pandora's Urn). Dynamic Man decides to change his strategy for combating the heroes; he will call out the nationwide Police Corp, a fascistic cadre of stormtroopers, and use them to manipulate the media, making martyrs of the Dynamic Family.

Shangri-La has been destroyed. The Crusaders carry the Fighting Yank through the snow, while Yank's spirit guide realizes that he's lost and truly damned.

Green Lama has renamed New York City "New Shangri-La". His meta-natural greenery has taken over the city; huge vines and foliage wrap around the skyscrapers. Unable to remove the Dynamic Family's micro-transmitters from the Black Terror, Green Lama decides to send Black Terror across the globe to gather up the newly released superheroes as they appear and bring them back to New Shangri-La.

In the Middle East, Scarab shows Samson a "Black Cross" facility, where the undead F-Troop soldiers are reconstituted and sent back into battle. The political goal of using these zombie troops is to make war "acceptable" to the masses; Samson recognizes that the soldiers’ souls are thereby trapped and that the F-Troop is an abomination. He charges through the tents and begins the work of destroying the undead soldiers, releasing their souls.

In Tibet, the dying Fighting Yank begins to understand how he was misled by his ancestor; it was never about "doing the right thing" but was instead about releasing Bruce Carter I's soul from the curse it labored under. Inspired by The American Spirit, who reassures Yank that his misguided betrayal of his allies has not damned him, Fighting Yank challenges his Crusader captors to "do their worst".

Events are moving too quickly even for the Dynamic Family. Communications have been cut with their Tibetan Crusader squadron, a Middle Eastern F-Troop unit has been totally destroyed (even beyond the ability to reanimate the corpses), and Black Terror's location is constantly changing as Green Lama sends him around the globe to gather together the reemerging heroes. Dynamic Woman muses: "How could one old man have started this?"

In Paris, the Death Defying 'Devil and Justine's "ad hoc" alliance is strengthened as 'Devil' learns of a terrorist organization called The Claw, and realizes there might be a connection with his old archenemy of the same name. Just then the Black Terror (accompanied by Masquerade and V-Man) arrives to gather up 'Devil'.

Back in California, The Flame and Hydro have given themselves up to the Police Corp, unaware of the organization's stormtrooper tactics. As the Police Corp begin to savagely beat the handcuffed heroes, Pyroman arrives to lend the heroes a hand. It's goes badly for the Corp when Dynamic Boy suddenly appears and lends the Corp a hand.

"Let Slip the Dogs of War" (issue #5)

After wiping out his Crusader captors, the Fighting Yank continues to argue with his ancestor’s spirit; Yank has come to realize that his ancestor advised him to commit a hideous wrong for purely selfish reasons. The ghost says he’s in Hell; Yank merely replies, "Good".

Dynamic Boy ambushes The Flame and Hydro. Pyroman arrives and electrocutes Dynamic Boy, apparently killing him (of course, the reader knows that Dynamic Boy is a robot). Just as the Police Corp prepare to attack the heroes, Black Terror appears in a riot of meta-natural greenery to whisk the trio away to New Shangri-La where they are greeted by the Green Lama (who believes Fighting Yank to be dead).

V-Man, unable to control his new "plague" power, is under quarantine in a plexiglass room. While there, Masquerade comes to visit him; it seems that removing her mask somehow cured her of the plague.

The Dynamic Family makes a televised media circus of Dynamic Boy's funeral. Dynamic Man accuses the superheroes of being "terrorists", while Dynamic Woman calls for the nations of the planet to unite for a war against the "Superpowers".

The Target, another released hero, makes an appearance. The Police Corp attempt to take him down, but his ability to split into three separate beings confuses the fascist troops.

In the Middle East, Black Terror joins with Samson and the Scarab in a brutal battle against F-Troop zombies. Black Terror indicates that the other Superpowers will likely join later in an effort to destroy the F-Troop abomination.

Back in Tibet, the Fighting Yank is slipping fast; only his power cloak is keeping him (barely) alive. Suddenly three arrows slam into the gaping wound in Yank's chest, fired by the Arrow, another hero released from the urn.

Wizard #½: All Part of the Design (issue #½)

In December 2008, Dynamite partnered with ''Wizard Magazine'' to produce a special #½ issue. The story takes place at Dynamic Boy's funeral (between issues #5 and #6 of the first series) and sees Dynamic Man reflecting on the past. Dynamic Man and Dynamic Boy in WWII Germany are admiring what Hitler has accomplished before playing the role of heroes when their super-powered allies arrive. Back in the present, Dynamic Boy emerges from his grave and the next part of the Dynamic Family's plan is revealed.

"...The Perilous Fight" (issue #6)

A flashback sequence shows Bruce Carter I during the American Revolution promising that he'd "be damned" if he failed to deliver a vital message. Stopping for a drink on his journey, Carter is ambushed and killed in the tavern by British soldiers who subsequently find the message he is carrying; Carter is indeed damned as a result. As it later transpires, Carter I's guidance of his descendant and namesake, the Golden Age hero known as The Fighting Yank, is some sort of atonement for his misdeed, but it seems that he's no more competent in death than he was in life. The Arrow's three shots appear to have been accidental, but also seem to be finishing off Yank.

In New Shangri-La, Masquerade visits the quarantined V-Man and informs him that her "possession" power will also allow her to recover from the plague he carries; she can freely enter his "bubble", but V-Man is so consumed with self-pity that he rejects her. More importantly, she informs V-Man that Green Lama intends to use him as a "secret weapon" should the need arise. Lama arrives to round up Masquerade, as the Superpowers are bound for the Middle East to help Samson and Scarab in their battle against the F-Troop.

Scarab, meanwhile, reveals his identity to Samson and tells of how he once sold a scarab-shaped stone he found, used the money to establish a financial empire, and then built the powered armor he now wears.

Dynamic Man appears before the shadowy cabal known as The Supremacy, petitioning them for full membership. Dynamic Forces has been working for The Supremacy, following their orders, but Dynamic Man believes the time has come for him to become a member instead of a pawn. The Supremacy rejects his request, but not before informing him that more F-Troop forces are being dispatched to the Middle East. The ground there is also being sewn with a defoliating treatment that will prevent Green Lama's transportation powers from working; if the Superpowers appear there, they will be trapped.

The Superpowers prepare to leave for the Middle East, but Green Lama first tells the team what they are about to do and what to expect. The world's governments have become corrupt, and the Superpowers will need to operate without them, outside the law if needed. The team will likely be vilified by governments, in the press, and by the public. They vanish, reappearing in the Middle East in time to aid Scarab and Samson in their fight against (and efforts to save the souls of) the F-Troop forces there.

Meanwhile, American Spirit tells the dying Fighting Yank that his friends will die unless he saves them—by taking his ancestor's curse and damnation upon himself.

The Superpowers' battle is going badly. Heavily outnumbered by F-Troop forces (with more being airdropped), the team decides a retreat is in order. But Green Lama has collapsed; when he rises, he appears to have aged a half-century or more.

"...Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof..." (issue #7)

The battle between the Superpowers and F-Troop rages on. As more and more undead soldiers parachute down from the sky, the rapidly aging Green Lama tells Black Terror that "all of them" (the F-Troop) must arrive before Lama will spring a trap on them.

Fighting Yank chooses to accept his ancestor's curse in order to help his endangered teammates. His sole request of the American Spirit is that he would be able to keep his magical cloak so that he would be able to affect the world with more than just his words, a request which was granted. Wrapped in his cloak, the Fighting Yank dies.

As the members of The Supremacy watch remotely, the Superpowers continue to fight for their lives. On the verge of springing their "trap" (a mysterious figure covered in leaves), they suddenly discover that Green Lama is unable to transport them away. In desperation, Lama flies Masquerade up to one of the planes airdropping the F-Troop, where Masquerade uses her "possession" power on the pilot. She learns that The Supremacy has treated the ground with a chemical that neutralizes Lama's meta-natural powers and that they've been lured into a trap. Lama urges the heroes with flight powers to escape, but his teammates refuse to go. As the Superpowers prepare for death (and glory), Fighting Yank (or his spirit) appears; his cloak strengthens Green Lama who is then able to use his meta-natural abilities to transport the team to safety.

The mysterious leafed figure stays behind. Bursting forth from the greenery that protected the other Superpowers from his plague powers, V-Man springs Lama's "trap", walking impervious among the undead F-Troop soldiers and sending them to the final reward that they've previously been denied by Dynamic Forces' blasphemous reanimation technology.

With Green Lama as their spokesman, the Superpowers appear on television to address the public: "The nations of this world have grown corrupt with their own power...It is with this in mind that we shall become a check to balance the corruption of the nations of the world. You may call us terrorists, but we're not. We are Americans. And we are your friends".

The members of The Supremacy watch the broadcast and realize that the Superpowers have just declared war. Unknown to the heroes, one of their number is a Supremacy member: Amon Khadul, The Scarab.

Fighting Yank and Black Terror patch their differences as more heroes, responding to the worldwide broadcast, begin to arrive in New Shangri-La. The first on the scene is The Owl.

Free Comic Book Day Special

In May 2008, there was a Free Comic Book Day special edition of ''Project Superpowers'' released. In the story, which takes place after issue #7 of the first series, the heroes wonder if the Claw is still alive and reflect on ’Devil’s history with him.

Chapter Two Prelude

Released in October 2008 as a teaser to ''Project Superpowers: Chapter Two'', this one-shot showcases a number of drawings of heroes and groups who will presumably be featured in the next chapter. The groups are: "The Inheritors", led by the Boy King and his Giant, and composed of many of the young sidekicks of the heroes, including the Black Terror's sidekick, Tim; "The Patriots", a team of flag-wearing heroes who return to the service of the American government, and are mentioned to come into conflict with the Black Terror; "The Supremacy", a secret cabal who were introduced previously, who include a "President West", and numerous villain characters, plus the Scarab's secret identity; "The Scarlet Sisters", a team-up between Masquerade, the Woman in Red, and Lady Satan; "The Big Shots", a trio composed of Mr. Face, Skyman, and Marvelo, all of whose abilities are hinted to be dangerous and difficult to control; and "The Super-Mysterymen", a group of heroes who are said to have been tracked and captured immediately after the destruction of the urn to be used for an unknown party's purposes. Furthermore, several single heroes were shown, including: Captain Future, Cat-Man (now a partially feline character, called Man-Cat), Burning Eagle (who is constantly aflame), Black Owl (whose body now contains a black hole), Silver Streak, the Ghost, and a newly created hero pair, Truth and Dare, who are said to be inspired by the return of the Superpowers. ''Chapter Two Prelude'' also contains small previews of the ''Black Terror'', ''Death Defying 'Devil'', and ''Masquerade'' mini-series.

Chapter Two

Following the events of Project Superpowers and Black Terror, the members of The Supremacy decide to launch a nuclear assault on New Shangri-La; The Scarab, who is secretly a member of The Supremacy, informs The Superpowers of this, and they invade The Pentagon and abduct U.S. President Gene West (who is a former superhero called Power Nelson) before the attack begins. The Green Lama travels to the Supremacy's headquarters and warns them to leave America alone.

The Inheritors, disturbed by what they see as their adult partners running amok, decide to gather other heroes who've escaped from the Urn of Pandora in order to oppose the Superpowers. They find Cat-Man, who now acts like a feral beast, and The Eagle, who is now constantly burning from within.

Later, Captain Future—who is now possessed by Zeus, who had originally created the Urn—appears in the Caribbean, leading people to engage in drunken orgies with him and attacking anyone who opposes him; two new heroes called Truth and Dare try to fight him, and fail. The Superpowers try to get Captain Future under control, and they also fail. It turns out the Captain is working with The Supremacy, who have The Flame's partner Flame Girl prisoner; he steals her flame powers, and prepares to wage war on the Superpowers.

Meanwhile, Tim the Kid Terror is attacked by Cat-Man, who had broken out of his cage; the other Inheritors don't see that the gash in Tim's face reveals machinery. "Tim" is actually Dynamic Boy, who had killed Tim two months earlier in order to assume his identity.

PROJECT SUPERPOWERS FRACTURED STATES

A whole new series taking place in the future where most of the Project heroes are dead with one man that holds the key in figuring out what causes this

Luther ascends his pulpit, hindered by cramps, in 1525, during the Peasants' Revolt. A wounded knight wheels in a fallen comrade, celebrates Luther's accomplishments but accuses him of abandoning his supporters. Luther denies this, and the knight wipes blood across Luther's white surplice.

The film recaps to the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt in 1506, when Luther becomes a monk. The knight explains Luther sought to protect himself from demons and excelled in the "counsels of perfection" to suppress internal doubt. Luther serves food, cleans latrines, washes dishes, shivers in bed, and paces in prayer, saying, "I am afraid of the darkness and the hole in it ... and there's no bottom to it!" Overwhelmed by his sinfulness, he leaves the stalls of chanting monks and collapses. The knight reports he dealt with doubts by "dropping them" into his bowels, i.e., becoming constipated.

Before the first mass in which he officiates, Brother Weinand tells him his father will attend and, in vesting Luther, has him confess the Apostles' Creed, repeating "the forgiveness of sins", to tell him that "God isn't angry with you. It is you that are angry with him."

Luther imagines Jesus as a fearsome judge on a rainbow with an admonitory sword. In the mass, he appears forgetful. Hans Luther scolds him for failing to honor father and mother when he left law to enter the convent and says he believes Luther is murdering himself. Luther says a vision moved him to promise St. Anne to become a monk and felt closest to his father.

The knight comments: "So the praising ended, and the blasphemy began." Johann Tetzel preaches indulgences with pomp, claiming they would provide forgiveness even if one offered violence to the Virgin Mary. Luther meets his mentor Vicar General Johann von Staupitz who accuses him of resenting authority and making it ridiculous by meticulous observance of monastic rule. Staupitz urges him to critique the church in Latin rather than German to avoid encouraging revolt.

Luther preaches on the eve of All Saints' Day, 1517, recalling he discovered the gospel of justification by faith alone while on the latrine. He declares someone has to "bell the cat," and posts his ''Ninety-five Theses''. Confronted by Tetzel and Thomas Cardinal Cajetan de Vio at Augsburg in 1518, Cajetan warns that, if Luther does not retract his "errors and sermons", Christian unity would fall. Luther refuses, and Cajetan concludes, "That man hates himself, and if he goes to the stake, Tetzel, you can inscribe it: 'he could only love others.'"

Luther burns the pope's bull ''Exsurge Domine'' and has a fit. Praying, he reminds God he is fighting his cause and wonders if God is dead, but concludes God cannot die but only hide.

In the Diet of Worms, Inquisitor Johann Eck confronts Luther, interrupting his "Here I Stand" speech to warn greedy commoners would be incited to revolt if Luther does not recant. Luther refuses, and the knight exults that Luther could have led a successful revolt but disgustedly recounts Luther advocated the rebels' extermination in his ''Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants.'' As Luther declaims this, the emperor and princes leave to repress the revolt.

Luther wanders through a devastated marketplace of slaughtered peasants, responding: "God is the butcher. Address your abuse to him." and references the Sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, concluding God gives life in the face of death.

Confronted by Staupitz, visiting Martin and his wife Katie, Luther admits the peasants had cause but that mobs are irreligious. Staupitz is relieved to hear Luther was unsure at Worms. Luther prays, "Help my unbelief." Luther asserts that passing air in the devil's face wards him off: going from being anal retentive to being anal expulsive shows one has overcome one's doubts and fears. Luther takes Katie's baby into his pulpit and assures him that "the dark isn't quite as thick as all that," that they should hope that Christ will be true to his word, "A little while and you'll not see me, and then again a little and you shall see me" (John 16:16).

Young playboy Willy de la Fuente is in a bind. If he doesn't marry by his rapidly approaching 30th birthday, he'll lose his inheritance—something his mean-spirited grandmother Gertrudis is looking forward to. Despite this, he's not interested in marriage because he believes—thanks to his grandmother's constant attacks on his own self-esteem—that women aren't interested in him for anything else but his money.

Mariana is also in a bind. Her father is in jail after accidentally killing the young man who attempted to rape her, and she desperately needs to come up with the money to hire a lawyer for his defense. And with her father already recovering from one nearly fatal beating, she's running out of time...

Willy finally decides to "audition" his next wife. He puts an ad in the paper searching for a wife—much to Gertrudis' consternation. He then meets Mariana, and they hit it off—at least until he discovers that she only married him for the money, which she will not get if she doesn't remain married to him.

Eventually, the two of them really do fall in love, but Gertrudis will go to any length to tear them apart. Willy's pain is her pleasure.

Bullwinkle receives a letter informing him that his uncle Dewlap has passed on, leaving him a mine located on Mt. Flatten. Rocky and Bullwinkle set out to find it, and soon discover that they're being monitored by not only Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, but their old friend Captain Peter "Wrong Way" Peachfuzz, the new head of G-2. Peachfuzz has been sent to make sure Rocky and Bullwinkle find Mt. Flatten, as its ore, the anti-gravity metal Upsidaisium, is much sought after by the U.S. government. While under the guise of a pair of prospectors, Boris and Natasha manage to help Rocky and Bullwinkle locate Mt. Flatten, which floats high in the air due to the high amount of Upsidaisium within it. Once they reach the mountain, Boris and Natasha are joined by their intimidating superior, Mr. Big, who tells them that Pottsylvania also seeks Upsidaisium as a means to eliminate a traffic problem (by building cars with the anti-gravity ore). Eventually, thanks to Rocky's ingenuity, Mt. Flatten is transported to Washington D.C., and the Upsidaisium is put under lock and key by the government. Unfortunately, Boris attempts to smuggle the precious metal out of the government's reach, even going so far as to disguise himself as a U.S. general. Rocky and Bullwinkle are cornered by Mr. Big, but when they attack him, they find that he's really a very tiny individual. Mr. Big escapes into an Upsidaisium vault, and Boris and Natasha are put under arrest. Seizing a bit of Upsidaisium and using Rocky as a hostage, Mr. Big attempts to escape but is carried into the air by his ill-gotten gains, never to be seen again, resulting in another happy ending for the duo.

In a mining village, it is rumored that Mariana Montenegro Madrigal has a curse, since all the men that fall in love with her suffer a fatal accident sooner or later. Mariana is a romantic young woman who lives with her father, Atilio.

Atilio is the mine owner, a powerful man capable of cruelty when crossed. He hides a dark secret: Mariana is not his daughter and what he feels for her is far from paternal love. Atilio has two sisters: Isabel and Marcia. Isabel, the elder, is kind-hearted, she loves Mariana and has raised her as if she were her own daughter.

Marcia on the other hand is arrogant and vain, dresses in a masculine way and is hard on the miners. She is in reality a step-sister of Isabel. Cold-hearted she has never known what love is until Ignacio Lugo-Navarro Vargas comes to town: a journalist who has come under a false name to search for his roots.

Once he gets to know Mariana, Ignacio knows that he will never be able to love another woman and his feelings are reciprocated. However, Marcia is passionately in love with Ignacio, and is full of jealousy when she discovers that Ignacio and Mariana have married in secret.

Full of fury, she reveals the marriage to her brother, and Atilio is determined to kill Ignacio without knowing that he is sentencing to death his own son, the product of the love he had with Lucrecia, the owner of the village restaurant. Destiny saves Ignacio's life when Atilio is hurt in an accident at the mine.

Mariana discovers that Atilio is not her father and she is more horrified to know that Atilio is in love with her. Desperate and thinking she is really cursed, Mariana flees from the village, pregnant with Ignacio's son. Marcia takes advantage of the situation to marry a man she does not love. She becomes pregnant but after an accidental miscarriage she seduces Ignacio and steals Mariana's son, whom she passes as her own to make Ignacio marry her.

When Mariana fled the village, she had an accident that caused her to have amnesia. Not knowing who she was, Mariana became lost in the wilderness and Maria Lola finds her. Maria Lola feeds her and protects her. She tried a few times to tell Ignacio but he didn't believe her. That is until Atilio's right-hand man, Cumache, found her.

Both Atilio and his aid took Mariana and fled to a nearby island. Atilio tried to convince Mariana that she is his wife and the child is his. Although she did not believe this, Mariana carried out her term and gave birth to her son. Atilio immediately took advantage of her weak state and had his malicious helper Cumache get rid of the newborn.

Cumache, however not being able to kill the child, decided to give him to Marcia. Mariana is discovered by her doctor friend, Camilo, and is taken away from Atilio. Hiding in the casino, Mariana remembers who she is but believes that she lost Ignacio's child. She becomes a worker to Ivan Lugo–Navarro, Ignacio's uncle, in the casino as a hostess.

Here Ignacio and Marcia discover that she is alive. Wanting to be with Mariana, Ignacio begins to search her out and fight for her love. Seeing this and the other hostess, Carol, fight for his attention, Marcia loses it and demands Mariana to stay away, using Ignacio's child as a weapon against her. Marcia even convinces Lucrecia to help her separate Mariana from Ignacio.

Mariana backs away, although deeply in love with Ignacio, and tries to make a life for herself. She convinces Ignacio that she was only using him as a toy to get back at Marcia; since she accomplished it, he was longer appealing to her. Marcia in the end loses the love battle between Ignacio and Mariana.

She seeks out Atilio's help, knowing that he is alive and safe. Atilio, now the owner of the casino, watches over Mariana. He even comes forward and tells her that he is alive. That he wants her as his companion and to help him get back all that was his, the mine and the mansion.

Believing what she thinks is a paternal plea, Mariana agrees to his request. She begins to accompany him and help him take it all back. Marcia becoming more and more furious against Atilio and Mariana, uses the baby against Mariana to torment her of not having her child from Ignacio.

Marcia's plot however come to an end. The baby is discovered to be Mariana's. Atilio also loses out to his obsessive passion for Mariana. Once more, Ignacio and Mariana are reunited and with their son.

Guan Yin (Qi Yuwu) narrated how the Papaya Sisters were born in 1982: Big Papaya (Yeo Yann-Yann) did well in school, while Small Papaya (Mindee Ong) struggled with life and would die of cancer at age 25. One fateful day during the Ghost Festival they began their career as a Getai duo after watching a performance by Chen Jin Lang.

The Papaya Sisters sought performance advice from Aunt Ling's friends Wang Lei, Karen Lim and Kelvin Tan, who asked Aunt Ling (Liu Lingling) to visit her twin sister, the 'Goddess of Getai' (Liu Lingling), for blessings. Aunt Ling revealed that she had been on hiatus from her Getai career for 20 years, before visiting the temple to seek the Goddess. After Ling was wrapped in the Goddess' robe for abusing, the sisters begged the Goddess for talents to perform on stage. The Goddess granted them the voices of the legendary Pearl Sisters along with a magical feather each, with conditions to respect the spirits, getai and people alike, and refrain from speaking vulgarities and having relationships with men.

After their debut performance, Big Papaya's mother (Lim Ru Ping) banished her from the house, having discovered that she was performing at getai even though she was forbidden to. Big Papaya subsequently moved in with Aunt Ling, Guan Yin and Little Papaya. After seeing Chen performing in a wheelchair, the Papaya Sisters started raising funds for Chen's medical fees. The following day, Aunt Ling's friends were reading the newspaper at the Hawker centre. Wang hid the newspaper from Aunt Ling but Aunt Ling demanded to see it: the headline mentioned Chen won the second prize in the 4-Digits lottery before he died last night.

Big Papaya was still depressed since her banishment from her house, and kissed Guan Yin, even though the Goddess had forbidden it. On the fifteenth day, the whole household enjoyed a feast and prayed to the spirits. They performed a song while sharing the Fa gao. Small Papaya was later revealed to be taking steroids (administrated by a doctor) to keep her strength going, but kept this from the rest of the family. In Guan Yin's car, Guan Yin gave a miniature paper flower to Small Papaya and she drew her favourite crescent moon on his palm with the flower in the middle. He clasped her hands but she drew away.

Later, the Sisters were trying new costumes. Small Papaya's dress was very loose and Aunt Ling asked Guan Yin to retake her measurements. Big Papaya and Guan Yin discovered the plaster on Small Papaya's arm from the steroid injection. She asked them to keep her condition from Aunt Ling.

Another getai duo who ironically speak Mandarin poorly (the Durian Sisters (May & Choy)) is introduced. They were intensely jealous of the Papaya Sisters and criticized the performances in the car, but their manager (Steve Lee) comforted them with a strategy to sabotage the Papaya Sisters' future performances, by reaching the stage first and preventing the sisters from performing. After a number of chases between the Sisters to Xian Yi stage, a performance stage featuring Wang Lei, the Papaya Sisters accused the Durian Sisters of cutting the queue. This led to a fight only stopped by their respective managers. Aunt Ling confronted the Durian Sisters' manager and was backed by the stage manager. The Durian Sisters left the site, warning that they would do whatever it took to perform at the Getai.

The following day, Aunt Ling and the Papaya Sisters visited another temple to curse the Durian Sisters through villain hitting. Big Papaya returned home to give her parents money as appreciation, but was rejected by her mother who silently threw the money back at her note by note. Big Papaya's mother did not appreciate her getai career despite her singing talent; Big Papaya's father told her not to worry, before proceeding to persuade her mother, revealing that her mother herself used to be a Getai singer.

At the next Getai performance, the Durian Sisters reached the stage first and attacked the Papaya Sisters with shurikens, accompanied by booing from the audience. Deciding that the Sisters had had enough of chasing and argument, the Durian Sisters issued a challenge to see which duo was the better performer. The challenge would be held on the 30th night at Li Xing stage, with the losing duo permanently retiring from Getai. After the Durian Sisters left the stage, Small Papaya fainted and was admitted to the hospital, and the newspaper reported on the Sisters' feud on the front page.

Aunt Ling, Big Papaya and Guan Yin visited Small Papaya in the hospital. Guan Yin decided to sell his pet chicken to raise funds to pay off medical bills. After Small Papaya was discharged, the Papaya Sisters rehearsed tirelessly for the competition while the Durian Sisters campaigned for public support. Meanwhile Karen spied on the Durian Sisters' set list. The Papaya Sisters visited the Goddess of Getai again for blessings. The Goddess blessed them, and noted the limitation of her power, and how their actions and karma would affect their overall performance. Aunt Ling then talked to the Goddess and it was revealed they were in love with the same man Ah Long, Guan Yin's father, 20 years ago.

On the 30th night, Lin Li hosted the Li Xing stage and the duel, with the results solely decided by the audience. After the Durian Sisters opened with their first performance, Lin noticed the Papaya Sisters were nowhere to be seen. Lim is about to disqualify the Papaya Sisters, but they arrived in the nick of time and began their first performance.

In the second performance, the Durian Sisters revealed that they had kidnapped Karen, forcing her to support their performance. Midway through, while the Durian Sisters attack the Papaya Sisters with lasers shot from their bras, the Papaya Sisters and their entourage fought back with their respective weapons, before performing their second song.

After the third song by the Papaya Sisters, the audience gave an ovation to them. The Durian Sisters appeared to concede defeat before shooting a spirit arrow at the Papaya Sisters. The Papaya Sisters were severely wounded and lay on the ground. As they sing of their relationship, everyone including the Durian Sisters is touched by their sisterly love. Small Papaya was warded in the hospital one last time.

Distraught, Big Papaya begged the Goddess of Getai to save Small Papaya but to no avail. The Sisters embraced each other and sang together for the last time before Small Papaya dies.

Guan Yin narrated that his mother Aunt Ling never laughed since Small Papaya died. Three years later, Big Papaya is still singing getai, now alone but with her mother and the spirit of Small Papaya supporting amongst the audience. Guan Yin ended his narration by mentioning that he looks forward to every seventh month, as that is the only time all three of them can be reunited.

During the credits, Guan Yin looked through the photos that he took, finding a feather. It rose on his breath to the sky where Small Papaya, sitting on a crescent moon, caught it.

Fafhrd is an eighteen-year-old member of the Snow Clan, son of Mor and Nalgron. They live within the plains of the Cold Waste. However, once every year, Fafhrd's tribe journey into Cold Corner, the southernmost region of their land, where they trade with merchants from the south and attend the Show.

Fafhrd, although betrothed to Mara, meets Vlana Lefay, an actress with the Show and is besotted by her. Despite the demands and curses from his mother, alongside her coven, he leaves the Cold Waste to travel with Vlana and see the southern kingdoms for himself.

In 965 AD, Odin, king of Asgard, wages war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim and their leader Laufey, to prevent them from conquering the Nine Realms, starting with Earth. The Asgardian warriors defeat the Frost Giants in Tønsberg, Norway, and seize the source of their power, the Casket of Ancient Winters.

In the present, Odin's son Thor prepares to ascend to the throne of Asgard, but is interrupted when Frost Giants, secretly allowed in by his brother Loki, attempt to retrieve the Casket. Against Odin's order, Thor travels to Jotunheim to confront Laufey, accompanied by Loki, childhood friend Sif and the Warriors Three: Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun. A battle ensues until Odin intervenes to save the Asgardians, destroying the fragile truce between the two races. For Thor's arrogance, Odin strips his son of his godly power and exiles him to Earth as a mortal, accompanied by his hammer Mjölnir, now protected by an enchantment that allows only the worthy to wield it.

Thor lands in New Mexico, where astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster, her assistant Darcy Lewis, and mentor Dr. Erik Selvig find him. The local populace finds Mjolnir, which S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson soon commandeers before forcibly acquiring Foster's data about the wormhole that delivered Thor to Earth. Thor, having discovered Mjölnir's nearby location, seeks to retrieve it from the facility that S.H.I.E.L.D. has constructed, but he finds himself unable to lift it and is captured. With Selvig's help, he is freed and resigns himself to exile on Earth as he develops a romance with Foster.

Loki discovers that he is Laufey's biological son, adopted by Odin after the war ended. Loki confronts Odin, who wearily falls into the deep "Odinsleep" to recover his strength. Loki takes the throne in Odin's stead and offers Laufey the chance to kill Odin and retrieve the Casket. Sif and the Warriors Three, unhappy with Loki's rule, attempt to return Thor from exile, convincing Heimdall, gatekeeper of the Bifröst—the means of traveling between worlds—to allow them passage to Earth. Aware of their plan, Loki sends the Destroyer, a seemingly indestructible automaton, to pursue them and kill Thor. The warriors find Thor, but the Destroyer attacks and defeats them, prompting Thor to offer himself instead. Struck by the Destroyer and near death, Thor proves himself worthy by his sacrifice to wield Mjölnir. The hammer returns to him, restoring his powers and enabling him to defeat the Destroyer. Kissing Foster goodbye and vowing to return, he leaves with his fellow Asgardians to confront Loki.

In Asgard, Loki betrays and kills Laufey, revealing his true plan to use Laufey's attempt on Odin's life as an excuse to destroy Jotunheim with the Bifröst Bridge, thus proving himself worthy to his adoptive father. Thor arrives and fights Loki before destroying the Bifröst Bridge to stop Loki's plan, stranding himself in Asgard. Odin awakens and prevents the brothers from falling into the abyss created in the wake of the bridge's destruction, but Loki allows himself to fall when Odin rejects his pleas for approval. Thor makes amends with Odin, admitting he is not ready to be king; meanwhile, on Earth, Foster and her team search for a way to open a portal to Asgard.

In a post-credits scene, Selvig is taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, where Nick Fury opens a briefcase and asks him to study a mysterious cube-shaped object, which Fury says may hold untold power. An invisible Loki prompts Selvig to agree, and he does.

Set in the fictional small and isolated indigenous village of Manayaycuna ("the town no one can enter" in Quechua) in the Peruvian Andes, the story covers three days in the lives of the villagers and a stranger from Lima. The stranger, Salvador (Carlos de la Torre), is sent by a mining company to evaluate the geology of the area, but must stay in Manyaycuna over the weekend until travel can be provided. Salvador appears to be unwelcome he has arrived at the beginning of ''Tiempo Santo'' ("Holy Time"), a syncretic religious festival spanning Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and is sequestered in a barn by the town's mayor, Cayo. The villagers of Manayaycuna believe that during Holy Time, God, symbolized by an effigy of Christ, is dead and, therefore, nothing is a sin. Cayo is the father of the strangely named Madeinusa (Magaly Solier), a teenage girl who is the eponymous protagonist of the film, and has long been trying to take her virginity. However, Madeinusa has been able to hold him off, promising she will relent during Holy Time.

At the beginning of the weekend, Madeinusa is selected as the festival's Mater Dolorosa, much to her sister Chale's dismay. Madeinusa, desperate to leave the village and go to Lima, where her mother left for many years before, becomes interested in Salvador and has a conversation with him in the family's barn. During the town's night march, Madeinusa loses her virginity to Salvador. When Cayo finds out, he acts intimidatingly to Salvador, but does not physically harm him. Later, the film shows Salvador watching through a crack in the house's wall as Cayo has sex with Madeinusa. Madeinusa begs Salvador to take her with him back to Lima against the backdrop of the high sierra Andean landscape. At the end of the film, Madeinusa slips rat poison into her father's soup, poisoning him. The two sisters place the blame on Salvador and the film ends with Madeinusa sitting in what would be Salvador's spot on the truck back to Lima, suggesting he was killed or imprisoned by the villagers.

Frontiersman Elias "Big Eli" Wakefield (Lancaster) decides to leave 1820s Kentucky and move to Texas with his son "Little Eli" (Donald MacDonald). Along the way, they run into two women who take a liking to the pair, indentured servant Hannah (Dianne Foster), who wants to go with them, and schoolteacher Susie (Diana Lynn), who would rather have Big Eli marry her and settle down. Big Eli has to deal with villainous Stan Bodine (Matthau), who cracks a bullwhip. The film features an appearance by the famed sternwheel riverboat ''Gordon C. Greene'', the same steamboat used in ''Gone with the Wind'' and ''Steamboat Round the Bend''.

''Bows Against the Barons'' takes place during the final months of Robin Hood's life, beginning in early June, and ending in the following year about February. It is largely told from the viewpoint of Dickon, a sixteen-year-old peasant boy from the village of Oxton.

Chapters 1–9

The novel opens by depicting Dickon's hardships as a serf on a baronial manor. The boy being whipped by his bailiff for missing work and harassed by the village priest for not paying tithe. Despite his youth, Dickon has to serve as his family's breadwinner because his father Dick has been conscripted as an archer for the Crusades. His troubles are compounded when the King's deer from nearby Sherwood Forest ravage his garden's. Moved by anger, Dickon kills one of the deer with an arrow. He then flees into Sherwood to avoid the penalties of poaching. Eventually, he meets Alan-a-Dale, who leads him to Robin Hood's band. Proving adept at archery, Dickon is welcomed into their company.

Disguised as a weaver's apprentice, Dickon becomes Robin's messenger to all of Nottingham's rebels. Led by a bridle-smith, Dickon and the populace assemble in the market-place to protest working conditions and demand the release of imprisoned workers. The Sheriff of Nottingham attempts to disperse them, but Robin and his outlaws arrive and overwhelm the Sheriff. In the resulting riot the imprisoned workers are freed. However, mounted soldiers from Nottingham Castle arrive to quash the revolt.

Pursued by a horseman, Dickon escapes through secret passages and reaches the safety of Sherwood, but he is captured by royal foresters and escorted north to be tried for poaching. However, Alan manages to make contact with Dickon, having disguised himself as a blind minstrel and his messages as doggerel. On Alan's instructions, Dickon attempts to delay the foresters' journey. His plans almost go awry when he meets his former master Sir Rolf D'Eyncourt, who has returned from the Crusades and now attempts to reclaim Dickon. Fortunately, the head forester refuses to hand over the boy, insisting on the priority of royal justice. As his journey resumes, Dickon vows revenge when he learns that his father has been killed in battle. When Dickon and the foresters eventually reach a village, the blacksmith and the villagers protest Dickon's captivity. In the ensuing struggle, a forester almost kills Dickon, but Alan arrives in time and saves him. Together, they join the villagers in defeating the foresters.

Later, soldiers are dispatched from Nottingham to punish the villagers, but Robin and his band ambush and defeat them before they reach their destination.

Chapters 10–20

In the meantime, Sir Rolf exploits and oppresses his tenants in his pursuit of wealth and luxury. The outlaws of Sherwood oppose him, stirring up the serfs to resist his tyranny. Allied with neighboring barons, Sir Rolf pens the outlaws in Sherwood and attempts to hunt them down. The outlaws defeat them by hiding in trees and picking off his men from camouflaged positions. As they celebrate their victory, Robin reveals his ultimate goal – the overthrow of all masters and freedom for the people of England.

The outlaws now prepare for an attack on D'Eyncourt Castle, gathering money for their needs. Alan leads Dickon and others to waylay the Abbot of Rufford, disguising themselves as knights and luring him into an ambush. Seeing Dickon's talent for disguises, Robin sends the boy to infiltrate D'Eyncourt Castle and acquire information about its defences. Disguised as a page with bleached hair, Dickon manages to penetrate D'Eyncourt on Christmas, but is betrayed by an undyed lock of hair. Pursued, he hides on the chapel's beams and eventually escapes from the castle, surviving a crossbow shot.

With Dickon's information, the outlaws finally attack D'Eyncourt Castle during winter. Alan leads Dickon and a group of outlaws to infiltrate and capture the castle keep. Taking up positions on its battlements, they pick off D'Eyncourt's defenders with their arrows while Robin launches the main assault on the outer walls. His combined force of outlaws and serfs eventually breaks through and razes the castle. Dickon kills his former bailiff, while Little John kills Sir Rolf.

Heartened by their success, the outlaws attempt to march on Nottingham itself. However, the Earl of Wessex traps them in a pincer movement between Nottingham and Newark and defeats them all. When his ally the Archbishop wonders aloud why the rebels die so willingly on the swords of his soldiers the Earl replies grimly: "because they know that they are going to win - but not in my time".

Alan, Friar Tuck and Will Scarlet are among those killed. Dickon, Robin and Little John survive the battle and flee north with other survivors to Yorkshire, undergoing much hardship on their journey. Dickon almost drowns in a bog. Wounded, Robin takes refuge in Kirklees, whose prioress bleeds him to death to claim a reward from the Earl. Alerted by an arrow shot by Robin from his deathbed, the outlaws reclaim his body and burn down the priory in revenge.

After burying Robin, the outlaw band breaks up. Dickon and Little John are the only ones who remain dedicated to Robin's cause. They depart for the High Peak in Derbyshire, determined to continue Robin's work and fulfill his visionary ideal.

After capturing an important Rif prisoner in an undercover operation, Sergeant Mike Kincaid (Lancaster) is imprisoned himself for striking a lieutenant (Stephen Bekassy) who beats a French woman (Mari Blanchard) with his riding crop for preferring Kincaid to him. Kincaid has a longstanding rivalry with the lieutenant, but the lieutenant is now in command of the company holding the city of Tarfa while the regiment is away. As the ranking officer, the lieutenant uses Kincaid's striking of him to get his revenge.

Kincaid is imprisoned alongside seven military prisoners and the captured Rif who has refused to talk, with the lieutenant refusing food and water to both Kincaid and the Rif. When his two comrades-in-arms who accompanied him on the mission, Corporals Luis Delgado (Gilbert Roland) and Pierre Molier (Kieron Moore), sneak food and water to Kincaid, he shares them with the Rif. To repay Kincaid's kindness and assuage his own guilt for telling the lieutenant about Kincaid's assignation with the Frenchwoman, the tells of an impending attack on Tarfa while the garrison is weak. The Rif believes Kincaid will escape to save himself, but he instead warns the lieutenant.

The experienced Kincaid tells the lieutenant that their only chance is to release him to lead a series of guerrilla hit-and-run attacks to delay the enemy for five days until the regiment returns. The lieutenant agrees, but only if Kincaid will testify that the idea was his. Kincaid agrees to his terms. The only men available for the mission are the seven prisoners, who receive full pardons for their crimes. His two corporals join them, raising their number to ten.

When scouting an enemy camp, the Legionnaires discover two rival tribes have joined forces, making them strong enough to take the city. Using his expertise in disguise and language, Kincaid finds out that the Rif leader, Khalid Hussein (Gerald Mohr), is marrying Mahla (Jody Lawrance) in order to cement an alliance with the other tribe. Kincaid kidnaps her to force the enemy to chase him for the five days.

Mahla begins to fall in love with her handsome captor, as Hussein pursues the Legionnaires across the desert. In the midst of the dangers, the patrol finds a destroyed Legion truck containing a safe that one of the men opens, revealing a large Legion payroll. When Jardine (John Dehner) tries to get away with the payroll, he is shot, but that tells the Rifs where they are.

Kincaid is eventually captured and Mahla freed. She demands that Kincaid be released unharmed or she will not marry Hussein. Hussein reluctantly does so. Kincaid and his men infiltrate the wedding ceremony, and fighting breaks out. Mahla's tribe switches sides, and Hussein is killed.

Michale is a woman in her mid-30s, married with a young son and working in her father's Tel Aviv accounting firm serving religious institutions. She divides her time between her child, her husband, her work and the man with whom she is having an affair. When Michale learns of the sudden death of her lover, her life is shattered.

According to IGN, the game's story would have involved a secret third island – after Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna – where wild dinosaurs roam while others are contained in security areas. The U.S. Government, concerned about dinosaur overpopulation, sends a security team to the island to aid scientists who are studying the animals' behavior. David Vaughn, the main character, is among the security team. A "shadow organization", interested in dinosaur DNA, locates a government insider on the security team and launches an attack, taking full control of the island. Vaughn goes on to explore the island and rescue scientists and other security members.

According to GameSpot, David Vaughn would have been a security officer at the now-closed Jurassic Park, where his job would be to prevent dinosaurs from escaping the island and multiplying. Unknown to Vaughn, his boss and head of security on the island has made a deal with a shadow corporation to supply it with dinosaur DNA, followed by the destruction of the island to give the corporation an edge in DNA research. Vaughn's mission would be to keep the dinosaurs on the island while rescuing his security co-workers.

According to PlanetPS2, the game would have been set on Isla Sorna, with Vaughn as a security design technician.

Adam Harris, a twenty-something college dropout, returns to his hometown, the fictional "Bickleton" in New Jersey, and moves back in with his parents. Lacking real direction in his life, Adam spends his time working at a local deli and hanging out with his equally unambitious friends. Adam soon finds himself unemployed and cut off by his friends.

Adam's life changes dramatically when he accidentally captures a serial rapist named Richard Pope who has just attacked a local girl, Mona Hukley. The new-found attention inspires him to become a vigilante.

The film begins by showing the inevitable outcome of the events of the film: the viewer is shown a scene of a man who is disabled by Alzheimer's disease, set in the year 2010. The story proper then begins by switching back to an earlier stage in the life of the man, Masayuki Saeki in 2004. Masayuki Saeki is a brilliant and successful advertising company executive. Saeki is shown to be a prime example of an ideal Japanese white-collar worker. He is strict, well organized, hard working, devoted to his job, and sets very high standards for himself and his subordinates. However he is soon shocked to realize that he is failing to meet up to his perfect standards. He starts inexplicably forgetting things - appointments, details of his work, and his knowledge of the layout of Tokyo. Following this he is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, to which he reacts with great anger, disbelief and despair. What follows through the rest of the film is a tragic, emotional and very human portrayal of the suffering and the decline of this once powerful, soaring man to that of a pitiful state that resembles a second childhood as the disease wears him down. As the years pass, his memory worsens. He leaves work, and lives at home, where he is cared for by his devoted wife, Emiko. Inevitably, tensions surface between Masayuki and his wife and daughter, and it reaches the point where Emiko's life revolves around taking care of her debilitated husband.

Aging town constable Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster) is tricked into killing an innocent African-American man by powerful rancher Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher), whose hired gun R.L. Davis (Richard Jordan) shot up the hovel where the wrongly accused man and his Indian wife were trapped. Valdez believes it would be a fair gesture to raise $200 for the widow, $100 from Tanner and the rest from others in town.

Tanner is livid at the old man's suggestion. He orders ranch hand El Segundo (Barton Heyman) and his men to tie Valdez to a heavy wooden cross and drive him into the desert. The central pole is so long that Valdez must walk bent over. He finds an oasis blocked by two trees that he repeatedly tries to ram with the ends of the cross. When it finally breaks, the jagged ends are driven into Valdez's back.

Davis finds him and cuts the ropes, freeing the unconscious man. The badly injured Valdez is able to crawl to the ranch of his friend Diego (Frank Silvera), where he is nursed back to health. Unfortunately for Tanner, he has picked on the wrong man: Valdez is a wily, experienced Indian fighter and a marksman with a rifle. He dons his old cavalry uniform and sends Tanner a message via one of the rancher's wounded men (Héctor Elizondo): "Valdez is coming."

Valdez sneaks into the compound and, during the ensuing gun battle and his escape, kidnaps Tanner's woman, Gay Erin (Susan Clark), for whose favors it is rumored that Tanner had her husband killed. With her in restraints, Valdez proceeds to systematically do away with the men Tanner sends after him with his long-range Sharps rifle. The only one he shows mercy to is Davis, after the gunman screams, "I cut you loose! I cut you loose!" and reveals that the cut on the left wrist of Valdez concealed under his glove came when his knife slipped as he cut the ropes off.

Now he has two hostages. While hiding from Tanner's posse, Valdez realizes that Gay Erin knows who killed her husband. Valdez confronts her and she admits that it was she who killed her own husband in order to be with Tanner, not the other way around. He sets her free, but by now Tanner's woman is sympathetic to his cause, feeling guilty because she was the cause of all the deaths so far.

Despite Gay Erin's help, Valdez is finally surrounded and captured. Tanner and his men ride up. The men are ordered to shoot, but R.L. Davis backs off, showing he has no gun, and El Segundo calls his men aside, refusing to obey orders. That leaves Tanner to do his own dirty work—if he can.

Tanner turns out to be a coward one-on-one. Gay makes it clear she will not return to Tanner. Tanner helplessly snarls at Valdez, "I should have had you killed three days ago." He calmly replies, "Or paid the $100."

Whizziwig centres on the adventures of a boy called Ben and his best friend Steve who befriends a small pink alien approximately the size of a rugby ball. Whizziwig has the ability to grant wishes to anyone who uttered the words "I wish..", however wishes had to be made for someone else and would last a maximum of 24 hours. A recurring theme is Ben and Steve trying to deceive their friend into granting their intentional wishes only for the alien to become wise to the scheme.

Ben would keep Whizziwig hidden, often smuggling her into school in his school bag. Many hilarious escapades ensued as the wishes made by unaware students in Whizziwigs earshot would be granted.

''DragonHeart: Fire and Steel'' follows the story of medieval dragonslayer Sir Bowen in his attempt to rid the world of a particularly evil king along with seven evil dragons that have ruled the world (the seven evil dragons never appeared in the movie). On the way, he befriends the last dragon to exist, Draco. Sir Bowen and Draco must join forces to defeat the king's army and rescue a damsel in distress. It drops out some of the movie's plot, but it is still a close match.

Arye and his daughter Itke are musicians, or ''klezmorim'', who became impoverished and were evicted from their home in Kazimierz Dolny. Arie sees no choice but to embark on a career of a travelling band, but fears for the safety of his daughter on the dangerous roads. Itke solves the problem by disguising herself as a boy and adopts the persona of "Yidl", ostensibly Arie's son.

During their voyages, they meet another pair of merrymakers, the father-and-son duo Isaac and Ephraim Kalamutker, with whom they form a quartet and roam through the Polish countryside seeking engagements. "Yidl" falls in love with Ephraim, who is utterly oblivious to the true sex of his companion. The four are hired to perform in the wedding of young Teibele to the old, rich man Zalman Gold. The bride had to cancel her prior engagement with her true love, Yosl Fedlman, for her late father left many unpaid debts. Yidl takes pity on Teibele and the quartet smuggle her out of the party and have her join them as vocalist. To Yidl's dismay, Ephraim is enamored with the young woman. Itke reveals her true self to Isaac, who determines to assist her and leaves to locate Yosl.

When arriving in Warsaw, the group become a success and are hired to perform in a concert. However, personal tensions between the members run high. Efraim signs a contract with a local orchestra. Teibele's lost match finally arrives, and they run off together before the show. Yidl, quite by accident, takes her place and recounts her entire story and love for Efraim in song form. She is applauded and signed on a contract for a career in the United States. Having learned the truth, Efraim abandons his commitments and joins her on the ship to New York.

Cynthia Nelson (Mariette Hartley), a teacher at the local orphanage, talks with a pastor while watching the sun set before getting ready for a fundraising costume party. Cynthia mentions the "Santa Ana winds" which the pastor states are an evil omen. One of the orphans, Tommy (Philip Frame), wanders into the nearby cemetery where he faintly hears a voice ordering "Rise, rise; it is time." Tommy initially dismisses it, but as he stops to rest, vampire women rise from their graves. Seeing this, Tommy tries to escape the cemetery only to run into the clutches of Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), who is waiting for them.

Sometime later, Yorga goes to the orphanage during their costume party and fund raiser. Biting one of the pretty guests, Mitzi (Jesse Welles), outside the event room before going inside and introducing himself to those present, among which is Cynthia whom he becomes infatuated with. When a weakened Mitzi stumbles into the room, he leaves as the others are attending to her. That night, he returns to his manor and a makeshift throne room overlooking several coffins, greeted by Brudda (Edward Walsh), Yorga's hulking facially disfigured valet, and the female vampires from earlier ready to do his bidding. Yorga sends the undead women to Cynthia's house, using mind-control to get Cynthia's family (along with Tommy, who was sleeping over) into the living room before his brides break in and attack them. The family is quickly overrun with Cynthia's mother, father and sister, Ellen (Karen Ericson), fed upon by the undead horde. Tommy is untouched, showcasing he is under Yorga's power while Cynthia herself is subdued, but unharmed and carried by the brides to Yorga's residence where she awakens. Due to Yorga's hypnotic suggestions, she has no memory of the attack. Yorga tells Cynthia that there was a car accident and she was left in his care by her family. He tries to charm the young woman into willingly becoming his bride, though he is warned by his live-in witch that Cynthia will bring his end if he does not kill her or turn her into a vampire soon.

The next morning, Jennifer (Yvonne Wilder), the Nelsons' mute maid, finds the massacre scene and calls the police. However, as she does, Brudda drags the corpses of Cynthia's mother and father to a quicksand pit on Yorga's property, disposing of the physical evidence. By the time the police arrive though, all of the evidence has been mysteriously cleared away, and Tommy claims that nothing has happened. Despite the confusion, David Baldwin (Roger Perry), Cynthia's fiancé, is suspicious about the Nelsons' disappearance. Meanwhile, memories of the attack on her family slowly start to resurface in Cynthia's mind as she stays within Yorga's manor. Jennifer, suspicious about Tommy's involvement with the Nelson's disappearance and his visits to Yorga's mansion, loses her patience and slaps Tommy who stares at her in a vengeful manner. Meanwhile, Yorga goes to claim Mitzi, killing her boyfriend near their boat house before feeding on her once more, this time finishing draining her completely and adding her to his vampiric harem.

Hours later, Ellen's fiancé Jason (David Lampson) is lured to Yorga's mansion by Tommy, on the claim that he found Ellen. Once at the mansion, Tommy disappears, while Jason is reunited with Ellen who has clearly been made into a vampire by Yorga. As she mocks him for "not loving her anymore" and soon starts laughing cruelly at him when he sense something wrong, her fellow brides attack Jason from behind. Jason breaks free, only to run into Count Yorga, who chases Jason down a hall and strangles him. Bruddah tosses Jason's body into the throne/coffin room for the brides, including Ellen and newly vampiric Mitzi, to feed upon.

That evening, Reverend Thomas (Tom Toner) phones Jennifer, but it is revealed she lies dead on her bed with a large knife sticking out of her chest. From her window, Tommy can be seen walking away from the house. After Thomas learns (off camera) of Jennifer's death, David is sure he is correct about the Count's true nature and manages to convince Reverend Thomas and investigating police detectives Lt. Madden (Rudy De Luca) and Sgt. O'Connor (Craig T. Nelson) to join him in a rescue-mission at Yorga's mansion. Reverend Thomas is sent to distract Yorga while Baldwin, Madden and O'Connor sneak in to search the manor, armed with sticks they can cross and hold up to ward off the vampires. Meanwhile, the pastor falls for Yorga's charms and reveals the others' suspicions that he is a vampire, alerting Yorga of danger. Thomas is tricked into walking into the quicksand pit and promptly sinks to his death. Yorga returns to the manor, awakens his brides and unleashes them through the household as he psychically calls Cynthia to him.

Baldwin splits from the detectives to expand the room-by-room search, and upon opening one door discovers Jason's corpse, covered in bloody bite marks with an IV draining remaining blood from his neck into a glass-bottle on the floor beneath him. Later, Baldwin finally finds the half-mind-controlled Cynthia and attempts to escape; however, he is nearly beaten by Brudda. Falling into a suit of armor, Baldwin grabs a metal mace and knocks Brudda out with a violent blow to the face.

Meanwhile, Madden and O'Connor come across Yorga's vampire brides. When the women don't respond to their question and continue tho silently advance on them. the detectives attempt to shoot them point blank, but their bullets prove ineffective as the undead women continue to give chase. In the midst of their escape, they encounter Brudda and managed to shoot him to death. Eventually O'Connor is separated in the brides' throne/coffin room by a shutter and immediately attacked from behind and bitten by the witch (also a vampire) as Madden helplessly listens to O'Connor's death-screams. Madden tries to find a way to him, but he gets lured in by a voice from the shadows (thinking it is Baldwin) and then killed by Tommy who stabs him in the same way he murdered Jennifer.

Baldwin and Cynthia are the only ones left alive, with Yorga supernaturally mocking Baldwin throughout the estate. Yorga seals their exit routes while his brides slowly close in on the two. They duck into a darkened hallway, but when Baldwin turns on the lights, he finds himself confronted by all the brides (including Ellen and Mitzi) with Yorga behind them who calls Cynthia over to his side. Yorga takes her away, preparing to turn her into his new bride while leaving his army of brides to finish off Baldwin. He is about to take her when he hears Baldwin scream his name, who seemingly has escaped the brides. Yorga takes Cynthia and flees to the upper balcony of the estate as Baldwin (who grabs an iron battle-axe from a wall) chases the two. Yorga and Baldwin fight with Baldwin surprisingly seeming stronger than before, however, Yorga gains the advantage. Just as he is about to kill Baldwin via choking, Cynthia's memories of the brides killing her family resurface, causing her to realize Yorga was responsible for their deaths. She strikes Yorga in the chest with Baldwin's battle-axe. With Yorga stunned by the action, Baldwin uses the moment to throw Yorga off the balcony, and he lay motionless on the pavement below, dead.

Cynthia hugs Baldwin, believing the ordeal over. However, she notices something wrong and pulls away. To her horror, she sees that Baldwin's skin has turned pale and bite marks are on his face, revealing that he has transformed into a vampire (having apparently not escaped from the brides unscathed). Cynthia tries to run from him, but Baldwin pulls her back and promptly bites her.

The last shot of the movie is Tommy playing with his ball in front of the orphanage accompanied by a haunting rendition of the song the children sang at the beginning of the film. Though Yorga is dead, his evil lives on as those who know of him are either dead or turned into vampires and will carry out his curse. The film ends with the ominous implication that Cynthia has joined them, Baldwin now their new leader and the surviving vampires are resting within the manor, where they will proceed to spread the vampirisim to the unwitting orphanage and soon to the rest of the town.

Two families separated by deep hatred... A feud that rose a century ago. A vendetta that has lasted a century. Now, an unlawful daughter born twenty years ago from a forbidden love, returns in the midst of the incessant quarrel that has spilled much family blood on both sides. The news fall like a bomb in the village.

Littlefoot has been having nightmares of Grandma Longneck falling to her death, which almost occurred during an earthquake, but Grandma Longneck luckily saved herself before she fell. Grandma Longneck comforts and teaches Littlefoot important life lessons called "Wisdoms". Later on, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Spike, and Petrie meet three yellow-bellied dinosaurs, Loofah, Doofah, and Foobie. They have lost their way while traveling to distant Berry Valley. Loofah, Doofah, and Foobie seem to be too unintelligent to find their way back, so Littlefoot and the others decide to help their new friends whilst sharing Wisdoms along the way.

During the trip, Littlefoot and his friends have been pursued by a quartet of ''Sharpteeth'', led by a ''Sharptooth'' with a scar that goes around his head. They made it to a Watering Hole and meet other yellow bellies. Earlier, Loofah mentioned a so-called "wise one" among the Yellow Bellies but Littlefoot cannot find no sign of him. Littlefoot begins to lead the Yellow Bellies across the Mysterious Beyond to reach the Berry Valley, however, Littlefoot has never been to Berry Valley and worries that he might make unwise decisions while he came to teach the Yellow Bellies how to be wise. His friends reassure him that he should trust in his feelings to let him know what to listen to.

As an intense storm occurs, Littlefoot leads the Yellow Bellies onto a plateau for shelter, but Doofah becomes separated from the group, going the wrong direction. Once the storm ends, Littlefoot and his friends were able to find her and she rejoins the group. The ''Sharpteeth'' attack again, but they were able to defeat them when the Yellow Bellies bounced up and down. After the ''Sharpteeth'' were defeated, they finally made it to Berry Valley. Foobie is revealed to be the "Wise One" all along. Littlefoot and his friends reunite with their family and they return to the Great Valley.

Hannah Montana impatiently waits at the recording studios to start work with her father Robby Stewart. She finally barges in on an occupied studio room and is surprised to find the Jonas Brothers at work. ''Hannah'' and The Band meet each other, both mutually starstruck. But when Robby introduces himself, the Jonas Brothers instantly recognize him as "Robbie Ray," Hannah's song-writing father. The boys soon appear to be more interested in speaking with Robby than with Hannah.

Over the next several days, Robby develops a friendship with the Jonas Brothers and even writes a song for them. ("We Got the Party") Miley becomes jealous and suspects that Robby will enjoy writing for them more than he does writing for Hannah. She and Lilly devise a plan to make the Jonas Brothers lose respect for Robby as a songwriter.

Miley and Lilly dress up as male rockers "Milo" and "Otis," go back to the recording studios, and play their own version of "We Got the Party" in front of the Jonas Brothers. When the brothers claim that Robbie Ray wrote the song for them, Milo (Miley) tells them that he and Otis (Lily) in fact wrote the song and that Robbie Ray stole it from them. The Jonas Brothers apologize and let Milo and Otis have the song, but just then Robby arrives. Miley and Lilly quickly hide and Robby straightens things out with the Jonas Brothers.

Miley later calls the Jonas Brothers (as Hannah) and tells them that she hired Milo and Otis as a prank. Robby assures Miley that he still loves writing songs for Hannah, and that he had a vision about having her collaborate with the Jonas Brothers on a future recording. Later at an evening beach concert, Hannah and the Jonas Brothers perform "We Got the Party" together.

Later Robby and Miley stalk through the recording studios with marshmallow guns looking for the Jonas Brothers. Assuming they are in the studio room, they again barge in, only to find a gospel choir in the middle of recording "When the Saints Go Marching In." As Robby and Miley sheepishly leave the room, they come out and wondered why they weren't there, because they promised they would be. Then, Joe emerges from around the corner and says, "And we always keep our promises!" The other brothers emerge and Miley says, "Duck and cover daddy, it's Return of the Jonai!" before they start their marshmallow war.

Meanwhile Jackson attempts to break the world record of hopping on a pogo stick for 20 hours and 42 minutes. A sporting goods company offers a $5,000 reward to anyone to break the record on their new pogo stick, the Nackamora Extreme. Jackson is forced to share half of his potential earnings with Rico after needing help getting into the bathroom while on the pogo stick. Rico also times Jackson on a stop watch, but fails to tell him when he breaks the record because he wants to see how long he can go. When Jackson finally collapses from exhaustion, he thinks he has failed just minutes short of breaking the record. He is furious with Rico after learning that he hopped four hours beyond the record. He tries to catch Rico, but his legs are too tired out.

Harry is the manager of a tag team of attractive female wrestlers, Iris and Molly. On the road, they all endure a number of indignities, including bad motels, small-time crooks and a mud-wrestling match while trying to reach Reno, Nevada, for a big event at the MGM Grand Hotel.

An atheist merchant/trader, John Garth, is the only human on an alien planet where the native Weskers, intelligent but painstakingly literal-minded amphibians, live in what seem to be utopian conditions. These Weskers have no concepts whatsoever of gods, nor religion, nor sin. Garth has been gradually teaching them the scientific method.

One day Garth is surprised by the arrival of Father Mark, a missionary who is intent on proselytizing to the natives. Despite Garth's best efforts to dissuade him, even at gunpoint, the missionary is intent on "saving souls".

Weeks pass and Father Mark has been instructing the Weskers in catechism in their newly-constructed church, and he has recently finished teaching the Weskers about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Soon afterwards, Itin, the ostensible leader of the Weskers, approaches Garth about the problem of reconciling the empirical truth of the scientific method with the symbolic truth of revealed religion and asks him to come to the church to debate Father Mark. Once at the church, Garth, who had previously made preparations to leave the planet, sees the Bible open to an illustration and orders the missionary to come with him. Not understanding what's wrong, Father Mark refuses; but before Garth can explain, several natives seize the priest and drag him to a hill upon which is planted a cross. In accordance with what Garth taught them about the scientific method, they are experimentally testing the hypothesis that if they crucify the missionary in accordance with what he taught them about the Gospels, he will miraculously rise from the dead three days later and thereby redeem them.

Three days later, after Father Mark has been buried and the hypothesis disproved, Itin asks Garth what went wrong, and arrives at a simple truth: that the Weskers are now murderers.

'''Marco Polo''' is the last of the illustrious Polo family left in Venice, after his father and uncles moved abroad, leaving him and his mother behind. His mother dies when he is seven, and he becomes increasingly unruly as he is raised by family servants like Zia Zulia, and their black slave Michiel. Marco becomes friends with Venice's "boat children", a group of orphans who live on the canals of Venice, and becomes particularly close to Ubaldo and his sister Doris. Marco becomes even more uncontrollable when Zia Zulia and Michiel are caught sleeping together and subsequently run away.

Major League Baseball manager Sparky Smith is fired from his job with the Seattle Mariners. His attitude has gotten him into trouble with George, the owner of the Mariners, and no other teams seem to want any part of him.

The Olympic Games are coming up, however, and a spirit of glasnost exists in the post-Soviet Russia, which is trying to field its first Olympic baseball team. Sparky reluctantly accepts an offer to move to Moscow to coach the players, many of whom don't even know the game's fundamentals. The players are predictably inept at first, but Sparky begins to learn the real joy in baseball is in the effort and the camaraderie.

An exhibition game ultimately is arranged in which Sparky and his young, eager Russians get to play against his old team, the Mariners. Sparky also falls in love with young Russian girl Tanya Belova.

Anya arrives at Lucrece High School on her first day and is hoping to play for one of the sports teams. She first tries to play basketball, but is rejected by the coaches and other students because of her height. Anya then decides to join the soccer team. There, she meets Julia, who is already a member of the team but never gets to play any games, because the school team is one of the best and the coach is worried that having girls on the team would weaken it.

This discrimination inspires Anya to go to the principal of the school, who agrees to let her form her own team with one condition; Her team must have a test match against the school's official team. Anya, with help from her friends, forms a team consisting of the "misfits" of the school. She starts with Luise (commonly called Loo), whom she has known since elementary school, and Felicitas (commonly called Filiz) who is known for her Gothic Lolita style of dress. Filiz's style gets the team noticed, especially when she designs the team uniforms which have a clear Gothic Lolita style: mostly black with a dark maroon stripe down one side and a smaller stripe crossing it along the top. The boys on the team have similar red stripes on their shorts, while the girls wear skirts with the red stripes along with striped stockings with lace. The girls also wear lace collars.

The team eventually attracts 11 members needed to form a team. The side consists of Delia, who acts as the coach of the team and has a close personal relationship with the coach of the official school team (in the third book he is revealed to be her ex-boyfriend); Leon, who Anya has hated since elementary ever since he accidentally killed her hamster; Kevin, a musician known for his temper; Fraternal twins Alexia and Hannes, who joined in support of Anya after she was denied the chance to join the basketball team; Ellis, who is not as strong as the other players; and Olga, who likes Renaissance fashion.

Throughout the graphic novels, there are some unidentified characters in the stories. The group is made up of a small number of students (chiefly a group of three). They are presumed to be from another school, who are interested in facing Anya's team in a match. These characters have been seen watching, taking pictures of, and discussing the fledgling team. Their identities have not yet been revealed.

The books follow the school team, named "Gothic Sports", as they train and try to compete against other school football teams, including their main rivals, Lucrece High School's official team.

After losing her family in a tragic motor accident in California, fifteen-year-old Mary Russell goes to live with her aunt in Sussex, England. Wandering the Sussex Downs in April 1915, she literally runs across fifty-four-year-old Sherlock Holmes, who has retired from his London practice and keeps bees. The two quickly become fast friends, Russell finding in Holmes a kindred spirit and steadfast teacher and Holmes finding in Russell a quick mind and a worthy apprentice in the art of detecting. By the time Russell enters Oxford University in the autumn of 1917, she is well-versed in Holmes's methods of disguise, tracking, and deduction.

At Oxford, Russell reads chemistry and theology, immersing herself in the Bodleian Library and participating on the side in the dramatic society and elaborate pranks. Between terms, Russell solves her first cases as Holmes's apprentice, catching a German spy disguised as a neighbor's butler and apprehending a thief who had burgled the local pub. In August 1918, Holmes is consulted on the kidnapping of Jessica Simpson, the American senator's daughter, and brings Russell, elevating her apprenticeship. The pair journey in disguise as gypsies and trace the missing girl into Wales, where Russell takes initiative in rescuing Jessica, who develops a bond with her. However, Jessica's kidnappers are merely hired hands, and they fail to find the mastermind behind the plot. Russell and Holmes emerge from the case with a stronger sense of partnership, having solidified their mutual trust of each other's instincts.

One afternoon in December, Russell returns to her lodgings to find Holmes, injured from a bomb and having defused another one set at Russell's door. A third fails to kill Dr. Watson. Their mysterious opponent stalks Russell and Holmes by savaging their cab and leaving a puzzling series of slashes on the cab seat. They deduce she is a formidable woman who knows Holmes's methods thoroughly and has infiltrated some of his secure boltholes in London. Faced with a powerful opponent, Holmes elects to frustrate her by leaving England entirely with Russell. The pair set off for Palestine for six weeks on a mission with two of Mycroft's spies (this interlude becomes the focus of King's later novel ''O Jerusalem'').

Upon their return, Russell and Holmes embark on a charade of estrangement from each other, hoping that Holmes's vulnerability will draw their enemy in for the kill. However, playing the part takes a toll on both. They are also under heavy surveillance by the enemy and unable to converse frankly. In May, Russell discovers that the slashes on the cab seat spell MORIARTY in Roman numerals according to Base 8, and connects the case with her missing maths tutor, Patricia Donleavy, who had given her exercises in Base 8. At her lodgings, she finds Holmes, who informs her that their attacker is preparing to strike. The two make for Sussex to set a trap, only to find Donleavy already lying in wait for them. Donleavy reveals herself as the orchestrator of Jessica Simpson's kidnapping and the revenge-seeking daughter of Professor Moriarty, whom Holmes hurled to his death at the Reichenbach Falls. Holmes provokes her to attack him, and Russell intervenes, leading to a struggle in which Donleavy is killed and Russell is heavily injured by the same bullet.

During her long recovery, Russell sinks into depression due to the heavy emotional toll of the estrangement from Holmes as well as Donleavy's betrayal, as a figure of authority she had trusted. A letter from Jessica Simpson provides some catharsis, causing Russell to revive her partnership with Holmes.

Uncle Scrooge catches sight of his two loafer nephews, Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander, from his Money Bin. Although he feels his fortune is secure in the hands of his chosen heirs, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, he feels he should do something for his other nephews, and decides to put them through a test to see what kind of business they would be good at. He calls Donald and Gladstone to his room, passes five thousand dollars to both, and tells them to return in twenty-four hours to report how they've invested it.

Donald tries his wings in the restaurant and industry businesses and with inventions, but his enthusiasm exceeds his common sense, and he quickly squanders his money in failed enterprises. At the same time, Gladstone lies around in a hammock reading comic books while amazing opportunities get dropped into his lap.

The next day, Scrooge is initially pleased at how well Gladstone has done (to Donald's chagrin), but then a clerk pulls Scrooge aside and tells him that all of Gladstone's opportunities have resulted in losses to McDuck Enterprises. Scrooge is chilled, thinking that Gladstone's legendary luck is the one thing that could ruin him forever.

Both nephews receive their own company, though Scrooge has little hope for their success: Donald gets a soda stand, and Gladstone becomes an owner of a comic book publisher.

It has been a year since Nick Prescott became the sheriff of Boone, Texas, and cleaned up the town. Now, he is moving to Dallas so he can be with his FBI agent fiancée Kate Jensen and her 12-year-old daughter Samantha. Currently, Kate is one of the many people working to put away Octavio Perez, the biggest drug kingpin in the central states. When the two main witnesses against Perez are killed by his men in a safe-house, the testimony of Kate and three other investigators, including Lt. Doug Maxwell, becomes the only way to put Perez away.

They are lodged in another safe-house to wait for the trial, but the place is invaded by Perez's men, and two of the agents are executed, leaving Kate and Maxwell alive, but Kate is in critical condition. Nick believes that there is a traitor who is leaking the safe house locations to Perez's men. Nick saves Kate from an attempt on her life at the hospital, and takes Kate and Samantha to his ranch in Boone, where Kate can continue to recover, with Nick's mother Emma helping to watch over her and Nick has some of his friends watching over the ranch to make sure no one gets to Kate, Emma, and Samantha.

After Kate wakes up and is up to walking around, she looks back on when she was shot, and she remembers something that leads her to realize that Maxwell is the traitor. After Maxwell and some of Perez's men kidnap Nick, along with Kate's boss, Marcia Tunney, Perez and his men get the location of the ranch, and leave to go after Kate. Perez's girlfriend Ramona, who has cut off two of Tunney's fingers in order to get information from her, is left behind, and after Nick frees himself, he distracts Ramona long enough for Tunney to kill her.

Nick tells Tunney that he will send her some help, and then he races to the ranch, and he gets there before Perez and his men do. Perez and his men arrive, and gunfire erupts. All of Perez's men are killed, and Kate fatally shoots Perez. Maxwell chases Samantha into the woods, and grabs her. Nick chases Maxwell, and he finds Maxwell holding his gun to Samantha's head. Samantha, who knows Taekwondo, escapes from Maxwell, and Nick kills Maxwell by shooting him twice. Kate recovers, and she and Nick are still together.

Susan Holland is a suburbanite woman who plots to kill her wealthy husband Paul in order to collect his life insurance policy. Through Susan's adulterous lover, Sam Meyers, she hires two incompetent criminals, named Bill and Steve, to kill Paul and make it look like a mugging gone wrong. However, when Bill and Steve show up as expected and shoot Paul outside his car in a parking lot, Paul survives and is taken to the hospital. Undaunted, Susan insists on continuing with her plans to kill Paul by having hiring a biker, named Bob, to carry out the deed while Paul is recovering in the hospital. Bob enlists a former prostitute, named Betty Johnson, to seduce Dr. Chris Stillman, the doctor treating Paul, to have the doctor move Paul to a private hospital room for Bob to isolate and kill Paul.

However, Susan's plan starts to unravel when a suspicious police detective, Detective Scott, begins suspecting her of having a hand in the attempt on Paul's life, and Sam's ex-wife, Penny, learns about the plot and wants in on part of Paul's life insurance money. Both Bill and Steve continue to insist to Susan to pay them for their work anyway despite they failed to kill Paul as planned. All through the film are fantasy sequences from various characters of their fears over being caught or shot by their own accomplices as details of the plan to kill Paul begins to fall apart.

Despite circumstances, Bob does manage to sneak into Paul's hospital room and kills him by smothering him with a pillow and makes a quick getaway. However, the next day, as Susan and Sam are planning to go to the police station to give their statement and pay off Bill and Steve for their work, Detective Scott and several policemen arrive and arrest all of them when security cameras at the hospital captured all of the events leading up to Paul's murder. When Bob arrives at Susan's house and the police move into arrest him, he attempts to run and opens fire at the policemen, but gets shot and killed trying to escape. Steve is shot and killed by a stray bullet in the crossfire. Susan is taken away to jail, while Sam's ex-wife Penny is also arrested due to her knowledge of the plot. Only Betty manages to slip away.

In the final scene, with Susan, Sam, Bill, and Penny all in prison serving their time, and the bodies of Bob, Steve, and Paul at the local morgue, Betty is shown to be living in Las Vegas in the free and clear and working as a casino cocktail waitress. When Dr. Stillman happens to visit the casino with his wife while on vacation, he spots and recognizes Betty working there under her new alias and knows that she had a hand in Paul's murder. But Dr. Stillman, fearing a negative reaction from his wife if she learned about his brief sexual tryst with Betty, pretends not to know who Betty is and lets her go while he continues his holiday in Vegas with his wife.

Lars Lindstrom lives a secluded life in a small Wisconsin town. His mother died when he was born, causing his grief-stricken father to have been a distant parent to Lars and his older brother, Gus. Gus left town as soon as he could support himself, returning only to inherit his half of the household when their father died. As an awkward adult, Lars feels guilt that his birth coincides with his mother's death and he seeks to resolve these conflicting feeling of love and loss.

The inheritance has been divided between the brothers: Lars lives in the converted garage, while Gus and his pregnant wife Karin live in the house proper. Lars is pathologically shy; interacting with or relating to his family or co-workers is very difficult for him. A colleague at his office job, Margo, likes him, but Lars is impervious to Margo’s attempts to be friendly.

One evening, Lars happily announces to Gus and Karin that he has a visitor whom he met via the Internet, a wheelchair-mobile missionary of Brazilian and Danish descent named Bianca. The pair are startled to discover that Bianca is actually a lifelike doll Lars ordered from an adult website. Lars treats the doll as a live human being, asking if Bianca can stay in Gus and Karin's guest room, as she and Lars are religious and do not want scandal about their relationship. Gus and Karin play along with Lars’ delusion, but, concerned about his mental health, also convince Lars to take Bianca with him to Dagmar, a family doctor who is also a psychologist. While Dagmar diagnoses Bianca with low blood pressure, she urges Lars to come in with Bianca for weekly treatments, during which Dagmar will attempt to analyze Lars and get to the root of his behavior. Dagmar explains to Gus and Karin that Lars’ delusion is a manifestation of an underlying problem that needs to be addressed, and that they need to assist with Lars' therapy by continuing to treat Bianca as if she were a real woman. During this time, Margo has begun to date another co-worker, which silently bothers Lars.

Eventually, Lars introduces Bianca as his girlfriend to his co-workers and various townspeople. Sympathetic to Lars, the town inhabitants react to the doll as if she were real, and Bianca soon finds herself involved in volunteer programs, getting a makeover from the local beautician, and working part-time as a model in a clothing store. Due to the town’s acceptance of Bianca, Lars finds himself interacting more with people. When Margo reveals to Lars she has broken up with her boyfriend, Lars agrees to go bowling with her while Bianca attends a school board meeting. The two spend a pleasant evening, though Lars is quick to remind Margo he could never cheat on Bianca. She replies she would never expect that of him and tells him she hopes one day to find a man as faithful as him.

Lars also asks Gus when he knew he had become a man and what being a man means. Gus says he knew it when he began doing the right things for the right reasons, even when it hurt. Gus gives several examples, including their father keeping them and taking care of them, even though he didn't know how. Gus says that he never should have left Lars alone with their father, and he apologizes for being selfish. Their conversation seems to reach Lars and his dependence on Bianca begins to shift.

One morning, Lars discovers Bianca is unresponsive, and she's rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Her prognosis isn't good, and Lars announces Bianca would like to be brought home. News of her illness spreads through town, and everyone whose life has been touched by Bianca brings flowers or food to the Lindstrom home. Gus and Karin suggest Lars and Bianca join them for a visit to the lake. When Gus and Karin make their way back from the hike, they discover a despondent Lars in the lake with a “dying” Bianca, after Lars gave her a farewell kiss. The relationship was never sexual, and was Lars' way to let go of his guilt for his mother's (loved one's) death.

Bianca is given a full-fledged funeral that is well-attended by the townspeople. After Bianca is buried, Lars and Margo linger at the gravesite. Having come to terms with past traumas, ready to accept adult responsibilities, and filled with newfound self-confidence, Lars asks Margo if she would like to take a walk with him, which she happily accepts.

In the city of Pátzcuaro lives Leonora "Nora" Guzmán y Madrigal de Horta (Yadhira Carrillo), a beautiful and naive woman, full of illusions. She is envied by women and desired by men, but she only has eyes for Alfredo de la Mora (Alejandro Ibarra), a poor young singer. Her father, Jacobo (Manuel Ojeda), continuously insists that she marries a rich and important man to get a life of luxury. On his deathbed, Nora promises to do so.

After the death of Jacobo, Nora suffers great dismay when her ambitious and evil stepmother, Isaura (Sylvia Pasquel), sells her to Heriberto Reyes (Antonio Medellín), the richest man in Pátzcuaro. Defending her honor, Nora wounds Heriberto; to avoid a scandal, he does not press charges against her. Pressured by the complaints of the neighbors and the rejection of all the people, Nora decides to commit suicide by jumping into a lake, but is rescued by Arturo Sandoval (Sergio Sendel), an attractive aviator pilot, who falls in love with her.

Soon after, Nora and Isaura go to live in Morelia with the only relative left to Nora, her aunt Alejandra Madrigal de Horta (Margarita Isabel), sister of her late mother. Alejandra is a wealthy high-society woman, greedy and hypocritical, who despises Isaura for considering her to be of a much lower class than her own and who only wants to marry Nora to a rich man to get rid of supporting her as soon as possible. Actually, Alejandra does not love Nora because she is the daughter of her sister Leonora and Jacobo, the man with whom she was always in love.

Alejandra keeps a great secret, many years ago she had a passionate night with Jacobo, which had terrible consequences: Alejandra gave birth to a girl whom she detests and humiliates, Casilda, whom she raised by posing as her goddaughter, to avoid the scandal. Casilda is an ugly and self-conscious girl, who envies Nora for her beauty and the attention that, falsely, Alejandra has for her. Isaura discovers the secret and feeds Casilda's hatred; She is even more upset when Leonardo Muñoz (Alexis Ayala), the handsome young man whom she has always secretly loved, falls deeply in love with Nora, although his love is never reciprocated.

In Morelia, Nora is reunited with Arturo and sleeps with him. Arturo loves her, but must leave when he is offered the job of his dreams: a commercial airline pilot. Arturo promises that he will return in a few months to marry her and Nora is happy, making preparations for their wedding while keeping it a secret from her aunt Alejandra. By chance, Arturo reunites with an old friend, Paulina (Alessandra Rosaldo). After a night of drinking, they discover they have slept together, but the two part due to ineludible obligations.

When Paulina returns to Mexico, she confesses what happened to her fiancé, Juan Carlos Orellana (René Casados), a rich and kind man who runs the magazine where she works as a reporter. Juan Carlos was always deeply envied by one of his closest employees, Sergio Samaniego (Odiseo Bichir), who go crazy through the story. Juan Carlos is comprehensive and insists they should go on with their wedding plans, but Paulina is full of doubts, because she realizes that she's in love with Arturo.

Nora discovers that she's expecting Arturo's child, but before she could tell him, Paulina informs Arturo that she is pregnant. The sense of responsibility forces Arturo to tell Nora what happened. Nora feels betrayed again, so she keeps her pregnancy a secret and decides to devote herself to her unborn child.

Meanwhile, Isaura blackmails Alejandra to tell her secret; then she convinces Casilda to kill Alejandra in order to take her money. Before dying, Alejandra tells the truth to Casilda. Shortly thereafter, Isaura, who only wants to live at the expense of Nora and Casilda, continues to feed the hatred and envy felt by Casilda for Nora. She succeeds when Casilda throws Nora out from her house and then murders Pilar Cansino (Emilia Carranza), a wealthy and kind designer who was willing to help Nora by giving her work as a model and seamstress. Finally, Isaura makes Nora believe that her daughter was stillborn and gives her daughter to Casilda whose baby really died. Thus, Isaura plunges Nora into despair in order to manipulate her at her will.

Completely shattered after the death of her daughter, Nora swears not love again and live with only one purpose in mind: to take advantage of her beauty to ruin men. Turned into a hard woman, Nora lives now only to make a fortune at the cost of whoever and to take revenge on all those who have hurt her; especially Arturo, who she wants to hate, but can not stop loving. She doesn't imagine that Isaura, who pretends to be her friend and still living at her side as her "sweet" stepmother, is really her worst enemy.

Ten years later, Nora becomes a famous and wealthy model, is married to Félix Palacios (Sergio Reynoso), a rich and mature man who adores her, but has mysterious business; however, Nora has not been able to stop thinking about Arturo. Paulina is also a recognized journalist, married to Arturo, who lives with her and Marisa, their daughter, but Paulina is deeply unhappy with Arturo who never loved her and is still deeply in love with Nora. Meanwhile, Arturo has different jobs that all end in failure, without suspecting that it was Nora who made him fired from his jobs.

The fate again brings together the paths of everyone so that they can clarify what happened, but Isaura try by all means that her intrigues are not discovered, she still wants to get more money from Nora and not want to lose her trust.

Arturo begins to work as a driver of Félix and Nora is constantly hiding from him. One day, Paulina hears Isaura saying she switched the girls of Casilda and Nora and she tries to convince Casilda to tell the truth. Leonora arrives and hears them talking. Leonora confronts Isaura and leaves her locked in a room and plans to turn her to the police, but Isaura manages to escape.

Knowing that she's lost, Isaura shows a video to Félix in which Leonora and Arturo are seen kissing, and Felix is about to kill them. Paulina and Casilda make Isaura believe that Felix is about to arrive from his trip to kill Leonora and Arturo, and Paulina records Isaura with a camera confessing everything she has done. In order to take away the video, Isaura stabs Paulina with scissors. Paulina is dying, and asks Casilda to take the video to Félix. Félix arrives from his trip and as he is about to kill Leonora and Arturo, Casilda shows him the video and he lets them go.

On her deathbed, Paulina calls Leonora and Arturo and asks them to reconcile and be happy. Afterward, some men with whom Félix had made dirty businesses surround his house and murder him.

Isaura escapes and asks for help from Casilda, who makes her think she will help her run away. Following the advice of the spirit of her dead mother Alejandra, Casilda decides to ask a truck driver to take her, hides Isaura in the truck and convinces the truck driver to leave the forebay in a deserted place, leaving Isaura to die. Casilda then leaves with the truck driver to an unknown place.

A year later, Leonora and Arturo meet again in a church, and renew their love.

Paul Hogan plays Lightning Jack Kane, a long-sighted Australian outlaw in the American west, with his horse, Mate. After the rest of his gang is killed in a robbery-gone-wrong, Jack survives only to read of the events in the newspaper that he was nothing next to others. Annoyed at not being recognised as an outlaw, Jack attempts a robbery by himself, and ends up taking young mute Ben Doyle (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as a hostage. He later discovers that, tired of never having been treated with respect due to his disability and his race, Ben wishes to join him.

Jack attempts to teach Ben how to fire a gun and rob banks, with his first attempt at "on-the-job" training ending with Ben shooting himself in the foot. Across the course of the training, they pay occasional visits to saloons where Jack shows Ben the truth about adult life, including helping him to lose his virginity. However, the true nature of the saloon visits is for Jack to make contact with showgirl Lana Castel (Beverly D'Angelo), who, unbeknownst to Jack, is madly in love with him.

When Ben's training is complete, the two learn of a bank which is said to have the entire town armed and ready to protect it. Jack sees this as the test he has been waiting for, and together they hatch a plan to rob it. Everything seems to be going smoothly and they are set to begin, until Jack discovers that a rival gang of outlaws is also planning to rob the bank. He is prepared to give up when Ben has a plan of his own.

Ben silently tips off the townspeople, who quickly swarm the bank with the rival outlaws inside. The gang are arrested and the entire town celebrates, allowing Jack and Ben to slip unnoticed into the bank and swiftly strip it clean. Before leaving, Jack jumps into the celebrations, ensuring that his grinning face is seen at the top of the town photo. By the time the true robbery is discovered, the two - and Lana - are gone, with a bounty of thousands on their heads and all of America searching for them - the life that Jack had always wanted.

The viewer is not intended to like nor dislike either character. Zano is meant to be brooding and profound to the point of being sulky, and world-hating and Naima wildly passionate to the point of appearing wanton and unstable; and both far too self-absorbed to care about either one or the other.

The pair travel from France, down through Spain toward Algeria but get lost many times along the way. They work as fruit pickers for a while, allowing for a naughty sex scene in the orchard.

Very little was released publicly regarding the plot of the remake and the extent to which it would be faithful to the original. It was expected that the central focus would be on three teenagers in a family of vampires traveling Route 66 in the late 1980s.

The short story "Paul's Case" is about a young boy who struggles to fit in at home and in school. This story begins with the reader finding out the main character, Paul, has been suspended from high school. He meets with his principal and teachers who complain about Paul's "defiant manner" in class, and the "physical aversion" he exhibits toward his teachers. In the evening, Paul works as a "model" usher for Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh. After helping seat the patrons in his section, he stays for the concert and enjoys the social scene while losing himself in the music. After the concert, Paul follows the soloist and imagines life inside her hotel room. Unfortunately, the reader soon learns that Paul and his father have a poor relationship. Upon returning home very late that night, Paul enters through the basement window to avoid a confrontation with his father. Remaining in the basement, Paul stays awake for the rest of the night, imagining what would happen if his father mistook him for a burglar and shot him. Not only does Paul wonder if his father will recognize him in time, but he also entertains the idea of his father possibly regretting not shooting him when he had the chance to do so.

Paul feels out of place with the people on Cordelia Street because they serve to remind him of his own lackluster life. Although his father considers him a role model for Paul, Paul is unimpressed by a plodding young man who works for an iron company and is married with four children. While Paul longs to be wealthy, cultivated, and powerful, he lacks the stamina and ambition to change his condition. Instead, Paul escapes his monotonous life by visiting Charley Edwards, a young actor. Later on, Paul makes it clear to one of his teachers that his job ushering is more important than his schoolwork, causing his father to prevent him from continuing to work as an usher. He is taken out of school and put to work at an entry-level office job and Charley is compelled to promise not to see Paul again.

Paul takes a train to New York City after stealing a large sum of money from his job that he was supposed to take to the bank. He then buys an expensive wardrobe, rents a room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and explores the city. He also meets a 'wild San Francisco boy, a freshman at Yale, who said he had run down for a "little flyer" over Sunday', who takes Paul on an all-night tour of the city's lively social scene. His few days of impersonating a rich, privileged young man, bring him more contentment than he had ever known, because living a lavish lifestyle is Paul's only hope and dream. However, on the eighth day, after spending most of his money, Paul reads from a Pittsburgh newspaper that his theft has been made public. His father has reimbursed his job and is on his way to New York City to bring Paul back home to Pittsburgh. Paul then reveals that he had bought a gun on his first day in New York City, and briefly considers shooting himself to avoid returning to his old life in Pittsburgh. Eventually, he decides against it and instead commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. Paul made the ultimate decision of taking his own life because the thought of returning to his old lifestyle was too much for him to handle.

Gregorius' parents are aged approximately 11 when he is born and are the orphaned children of a wealthy duke, and his father dies after being sent on a pilgrimage from Europe to Jerusalem to repent of their sins by a wise old man. The same wise old man tells Gregorius' mother to place the child in a box on a small boat and to push the boat out onto the ocean, where God will take care of the child. She dutifully does this, placing 20 pieces of gold in with him, alongside a tablet upon which the details of his sinful birth are recorded. The boat is discovered by two fishermen sent by an abbot to fish on the sea, and upon opening the box when they arrive back on shore, the abbot orders one of the fisherman to raise the child as his son. Aged six, Gregorius begins his education under the abbot's guidance, and as he grows, quickly becomes very clever, strong, and handsome, revealing to all that he cannot merely be the son of a poor fisherman.

In late adolescence he discovers his adoptive family are not his own, and after much debate with the abbot leaves the monastery to pursue a life of chivalric duty as a knight in order to repent of his parents' sin which he discovers when the abbot reveals a tablet to him which relates the story of his birth. Through his knightly prowess wins the hand of the mistress of a besieged city. They marry, and one day as he is out hunting, a maid shows his wife to the room where he has kept the tablet, and from which he always emerges terribly sadly with eyes red from crying. With horror, his wife recognizes the tablet and discovers she is not only his wife, but also his mother and his aunt. Upon hearing of this, Gregorius exiles himself to go and live a humble life in poverty repenting for his sin. He tells his mother to distribute her wealth to the poor and to live a life of poverty as penance for her sins too.

Gregorius asks to be put on a rock in the middle of a lake by a fisherman, who tosses the key to Gregorius' chains (which bind him to the rock) into the lake and tells Gregorius that, should the key ever be rediscovered, he will know that Gregorius is indeed a holy man and has been forgiven by God. Seventeen years later, God tells two elderly clergymen in Rome that the next pope is to be found repenting a grave sin upon a rock in Aquitania. They ride off to find him, and find the lake and the fisherman, who greedily sells them a meal instead of offering them a gift of sustenance. Upon gutting the fish however, he discovers the key to Gregorius' chains and is horrified to have chained a holy man to a rock, even more so because he presumes that after seventeen years, the man must surely be dead. He takes the two men to the rock, where they discover the emaciated Gregorius, who has survived thanks to the Holy Spirit and a trickle of water emerging from the rock. The fisherman throws himself to his knees and laments of his sin, terrified that he is now too old to still have time to properly repent. However, the narration tells us that his grief is so sincere that his soul is saved. He unlocks Gregorius, who goes off with the two men to become pope.

Once in office, he meets his mother, who has done exactly what she was bidden to do by him and led a life of extreme poverty. She does not recognize him, but he tells her who he is, and that they have been forgiven by God, in accordance with the proper repentance they have fulfilled.

In a presidential election set in an alternate 2008, Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) is a dimwitted, jobless, apolitical man from Texico, New Mexico, coaxed by his twelve-year-old daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll) to take more of a serious approach to life. Molly runs the household and sees an opportunity on election day to energize her father.

Frustrated by Bud’s apathy toward voting, Molly sneaks into her local polling place and tries to vote on behalf of Bud. However, because the voting machines are unplugged, the ballot is registered, but no decision is indicated on which candidate receives the vote. As the election is close, Bud's vote becomes critical to allocating New Mexico's electoral college votes.

The popular vote is tied for the two major candidates in New Mexico, leaving Bud to decide the next president of the United States. He gets wooed by both candidates, the incumbent Republican, Andrew Carington Boone (Kelsey Grammer) and the opposing Democrat, Vermont Senator Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper). Both candidates are aided by their respective campaign managers, Martin Fox (Stanley Tucci) and Art Crumb (Nathan Lane).

Bud's actual opinions (or lack thereof) are misinterpreted by the media, causing the candidates to flip-flop on several positions (the Democrats take an anti-abortion and anti-illegal immigration position, while the Republicans take a pro-environmental and pro-gay marriage position). The two candidates are shown to move away from the cynical tactics forced on them by their advisers, and both gain Bud's respect.

In the end, Bud chooses to hold a final debate the day before he is set to recast his ballot. In a written speech, he confesses that he knows little-to-nothing about politics, or for that matter, life, and decides to ask questions people have sent to him in the mail. The film ends with Bud casting his vote as Molly watches with a smile on her face, though for whom he voted is never revealed.

Latiff (Ramli Hassan) is a famous but lonely photographer who was orphaned as a small child. He sets out on an expedition to photograph abandoned houses around Malaysia. On his journey he is haunted by images and sounds that remind him of his traumatic childhood. At one particular house on the island of Penang, Latiff is magically transported back over 50 years to witness the shocking events that occurred there. Through his experience, Latiff comes to understand the significance of the Red Kebaya, a traditional Malay outfit, and the tragic circumstances that led to him being orphaned.