From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== Clover is primarily about a young girl called , whose name was stated to be derived from the Chinese word for four (sì) since she is a "4-leaf Clover". In the futuristic world that she inhabits, the military conducted a search for gifted children nicknamed "Clovers", who seemingly have the magical ability to manipulate technology. Demonstrations of their powers include teleportation and summoning weapons from thin air. Classified according to how powerful they are, the children were then tattooed with a symbol of the Clover Project, with the number of leaves on the Clover indicating their power. To date, Sue is the only "4-leaf Clover" discovered. Along with other "Clovers", Sue was imprisoned to prevent her contact with other humans, as the government feared that she might develop feelings and be used as a weapon to jeopardize the country's national security. Being isolated from the rest of mankind, Sue craves for company, and as for her only wish, she asks to visit "Fairy Park." Her escort is Kazuhiko, an ex-military soldier who has been forced to undertake the task. It is later revealed that Kazuhiko and Sue are connected through Kazuhiko's deceased lover, . ===== Soul Food, told through the eyes of 11-year-old Ahmad (Hammond), follows the trials of the Joseph family, a close-knit Chicago family that gets together to have Sunday dinner every week, with plenty of soul food to go around. Mother (Big Mama) Joe (Hall) has three daughters, who each have had varying success in life: oldest daughter Teri (Williams) has become a successful lawyer, but has a strained relationship with younger sister Maxine (Fox), who stole and eventually married Teri's former boyfriend, Kenny (Sams). Teri is currently married to Miles (Beach), a lawyer who quits his job to pursue his dream of being an R&B; musician, which Teri doesn't support. Youngest daughter Robin (Long)—nicknamed "Bird"—has just opened a barbershop/beauty parlor, and married Lem (Phifer), an ex-convict. Life becomes complicated when Mother Joe, the diabetic but wise and caring matriarch of the family and the glue that holds it together, suffers a debilitating stroke during an operation to amputate her leg and slips into a coma, dying shortly after sharing a last word of advice with Ahmad when she awakens five weeks later. Without her guidance, the family begins to fall apart in the interm. Teri takes in her troubled cousin Faith (Ravera), who bonds with Miles over a love of the arts. They two have an affair and are caught having sex by Teri, which later leads to a near-violent confrontation at Kenny and Maxine's anniversary party when she furiously comes after the two with a knife. Meanwhile, Lem cannot find a job due to his criminal record, so Bird makes an uneasy deal with her former boyfriend Simuel St. James (Mel Jackson) to get Lem a job. This creates tension between Lem and Bird when he finds out, and in one of their arguments, Teri overhears and mistakenly believes Lem was physically threatening her sister. Teri hires her cousin Blimp to teach Lem a lesson, but when the two men fight, which ends with Lem pulling a gun, the police become involved and Lem is arrested on assault and illegal gun possession charges. Realizing her mistake, Teri calls in a few favors to have Lem released and later apologizes to him. Kenny and Maxine refuse to live within their means and constantly borrow money from Teri without paying it back, which causes even more tension between the sisters. It comes to a head when, after Teri decides to sell the Joseph family home rather than get stuck with most of her mother's hospital bills, Maxine and Bird file an injunction to stop the sale, setting the stage for a major legal battle within the family. Throughout all this, Ahmad, Kenny and Maxine's oldest child, becomes worried about the state of his extended family and, following Big Mama's passing, conspires to find a way to bring them all back together. Ahmad tells his relatives about a stash of money that Big Mama had hidden away some time ago but everyone dismisses him, believing it to be a myth. However, Ahmad manages to get everyone together for another Sunday dinner by promising them the whereabouts of the money. The dinner is uneasy as everyone starts confronting their issues, and eventually they come to realize there is no money. Maxine chastises her son for lying, but Ahmad says tearfully that it was the only way to get everyone back together again, citing it as Big Mama's dying wish. As Maxine comforts her son, the kitchen accidentally catches on fire, and they all work together to try and to put it out. Just as they finish putting the fire out, Uncle Pete, Big Mama's brother, comes down with his television and drops it to reveal the money that Big Mama had hidden away. Things start to go well for the family. Miles still comes by for Sunday dinner even though he and Teri are divorcing, Lem and Bird are expecting their first child, Teri and Maxine have made peace and the former opts to not sell the family house, Faith is finally becoming part of the family again and Uncle Pete who never came out of his room, starts to join the family. ===== The first William Howland did not return home to Tennessee on his way back from the War of 1812. Instead, he settled on a hill in rural Mississippi, overlooking a small river. He was later killed in an Indian raid, but since then, a descendant of William Howland, most often a male named William, lived in the house and dominated affairs in Madison City and Wade County, which sprang up around Howland's original settlement. The fifth William Howland was the last man bearing the name to live in the house. His wife died young, leaving him with a young daughter, Abigail, and an infant son, William, who died just a year after his mother. Abigail married an English professor who abandoned her with a child, also named Abigail, when he went off to fight in World War II. When she died, William Howland was left to take care of his granddaughter Abigail. He also brought Margaret, a new African American housekeeper to the house to live with him. Throughout the county, she was known as his mistress and the mother of his other children. What no one knew, however, was that William had secretly married Margaret to ensure that the children were legitimate. Once their children came of age, William Howland and Margaret sent them north so that they could pursue lives as Whites. The secret of the marriage came out only after the younger Abigail was married to John Tolliver, an up-and-coming politician, who was running for governor. In the turbulent racist atmosphere of the South, Tolliver aligned himself with the Klan and came out with racist statements against Blacks. This infuriated Robert Howland, the eldest son of William and Margaret, who was living in obscurity in Seattle. He released the news to the story of his origins to the press, crippling Tolliver's campaign. Tolliver, who regarded Abigail as a trophy wife, declared that their marriage was over and headed north to his family. Both William Howland and Margaret are dead, but a mob gathered to vent its anger about the mixed marriage on Abigail and the Howland house. They kill the livestock and set fire to the barn, but Abigail succeeds in driving them away from the house with her grandfather's shotguns. At the end of the book, Abigail takes her revenge on the people of Madison City. Over the past generations, her family had come to own most of the county, making her one of the richest people in the state. Over the course of a single day, she takes revenge on the locals for betraying her grandfather by shutting down the hotel and bringing most of the local economy to ruin. Once she has done that, she places a call to Robert, with the intention of informing his new family that his mother was Black. ===== Bass' future Earth is an environment in which the sum of the biota serves as its food chain. Human science has created the four-toed Nebish, a pallid, short-lived and highly programmable humanoid who has had the elements that do not facilitate an underground Hive existence (aggression, curiosity, etc.) bred out of it. The five-toed humans (called buckeyes) wander the biofarms that keep the trillions of Earth's Nebish population fed. All animals other than man are extinct, so meat comes from other humans (and the occasional rat). The conflict between the Hives and the roving bands of five-toed original Humans, who are reduced to savagery and hunted like vermin by Hive Security, forms the backdrop of this novel. The story begins as Old Man Moon and his dog Dan wander the fields. They are genetic experiments with their biological clocks stopped. They encounter Toothpick, a companion cyber from the days when technology was more advanced before the hive decline. Toothpick urges Moon to pick him up, but Moon doesnt like cybers-they work for the Hive. Toothpick promises food and when he makes good on his promise that an electrical storm will short circuit the agromecks from reporting his pilfering of the gardens, Moon considers Toothpick's offer of companionship. Toothpick explains he is a companion cyber, and when he promises new teeth for Moon and Dan, Moon agrees and the three set off on Toothpick's unstated mission. Something strange is happening, as the primitive buckeyes are showing signs of a purpose whose goal is unclear and probably dangerous to the balance of the Hive. There seems to be a third party stirring the pot, campaigning in a relentlessly successful battle with the computer minds that keep this "brave new world" in balance. Agendas beyond the ken of their protagonists begin to come into play, and an epic battle between the Four- and the Five-toed is looming. ===== It is 1896 in the French Algerian Sahara. Two officers, André de Saint-Avit and Jean Morhange investigate the disappearance of their fellow officers. While doing so, they are drugged and kidnapped by a Tarqui warrior, the procurer for the monstrous Queen Antinea. Antinea, descendant of the rulers of Atlantis, has a cave wall with 120 niches carved into it, one for each of her lovers. Only 53 have been filled; when all 120 have been filled, Antinea will sit atop a throne in the center of the cave and rest forever. Saint-Avit is unable to resist Antinea's charms. By her will, he murders the asexual Morhange. Ultimately, he is able to escape and get out of the desert alive. ===== The player explores the Southlands of Quendor somewhat aimlessly at first. Soon, however, a task is bestowed by the Implementors, a group of godlike creatures jokingly based on Infocom's game designers. The Coconut of Quendor, an incredibly powerful artifact that embodies the whole of Magic, has fallen into the claws of an unspeakably foul beast: an Ur-grue. Rumoured to be the spirits of fallen Implementors, Ur-Grues can surround themselves in a sphere of darkness that only sunlight can pierce. The player must recover the Coconut from this monster's grasp or face the unthinkable consequences. ===== Oliver Barrett IV is emotionally devastated by the death of his young wife, Jenny, who succumbed to leukemia. As he tries to lose himself in his work as a lawyer, the long hours do not ease his pain, especially when he finds that his views conflict with those of the senior partners at the firm. Oliver's inconsolable grief begins to alienate those around him, at least until he finds new love with Marcie Bonwit, the wealthy and beautiful heiress to the Bonwit Teller fortune. Despite his affection for her, Oliver finds it difficult to leave the memory of Jenny behind, which causes many problems in their relationship, even as he concurrently begins a reconciliation with his autocratic father. Though Oliver and Marcie eventually part, Oliver and his father reconcile when both men discover surprising things they never knew about each other and Oliver finally joins Barrett Enterprises. ===== The USS Enterprise travels to Eminiar VII, bringing Ambassador Robert Fox to establish diplomatic relations. Little is known about Eminiar VII, beyond the fact that they have been at war with a neighboring planet, Vendikar. Nearing Eminiar VII, the Enterprise receives a message from the planet warning them not to approach, but Ambassador Fox orders Captain Kirk to proceed. Kirk, First Officer Spock, and additional security personnel beam down to the planet, where they are met by representatives Mea 3 and Anan 7. During a supposed attack by Vendikar, Anan 7 explains that the war is conducted as a computer simulation, and that the Enterprise has been "destroyed" in the attack. The two planets have a treaty, according to which they have to kill the "victims" of every simulated attack. The crew are thereby expected to report to Eminiar's disintegration chambers for execution, and Kirk's party is taken captive. Spock telepathically plants a suggestion in their jailer's mind, allowing them to escape. Anan 7 uses a voice duplicator to imitate Kirk's voice and order the crew to transport down. Scotty, suspicious, has the ship's computer analyze the message and confirms it is fake. He orders shields raised. When the crew fails to transport down, Eminiar fires upon them, but the attack is deflected by the shields. Anan 7 then contacts the Enterprise, claiming the attack was due to a malfunction. Ambassador Fox, deciding to believe Anan, beams down and is taken to a disintegration chamber along with Mea 3, who was also "killed" in the war simulation. Spock and the security officers rescue them. Kirk confronts Anan 7 but is overpowered by guards and taken to the Eminian council chamber. When Anan 7 opens a channel to the Enterprise, Kirk orders Scotty to execute General Order 24 before being cut off. Kirk explains that he just ordered the ship to destroy everything on the planet within two hours. Panic ensues, which Kirk takes advantage of to disarm the guards. After Spock arrives, Kirk destroys the war simulation computers. Anan 7 condemns Kirk's actions, arguing that it is unalterable nature to fight wars, so without the simulation they have no alternative but to fight a real war. Kirk instead believes that the only reason the war with Vendikar has gone on so long is because the simulation insulated both societies from the horrors of war and gave them little reason to end it. He convinces Anan 7 to call a ceasefire and begin peace negotiations, and Fox agrees to act as a neutral mediator between the planets. ===== While oceanographer Steve Zissou is working on his latest documentary at sea, his best friend and chief diver, Esteban du Plantier, is eaten by a 10-meter-long, luminescently- spotted creature Zissou describes as a "jaguar shark." Fictional marine animals like the crayon ponyfish and sugar crab also appear as props throughout the film. For his next project, Zissou is determined to document the shark's destruction. The crew aboard Zissou's aging research vessel Belafonte includes his estranged wife Eleanor, chief strategist and financial backer; Pelé dos Santos, a safety expert and Brazilian guitarist who sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese; and Klaus Daimler, the German first mate who views Zissou and Esteban as father figures. Minor crew members include Vikram Ray, cameraman; Bobby Ogata, frogman; Vladimir Wolodarsky, physicist and soundtrack composer; Renzo Pietro, sound man; and Anne-Marie Sakowitz, a script girl who is often seen topless. Also included is a recent group of unpaid interns from the University of North Alaska. However, the "Team Zissou" venture has hit a decline; they have not released a successful documentary in nine years. Ned Plimpton is a longtime Zissou fan whose mother has recently died, and he believes that Zissou is his father. After they meet at Zissou's latest premiere, Ned takes annual leave from his job as an airline pilot in Kentucky to join his crew. As Oseary Drakoulias, Zissou's producer, can not find anyone to finance their latest documentary, Ned offers his inheritance. Eleanor feels her husband is taking advantage of Ned and leaves. A pregnant reporter, Jane Winslett-Richardson, comes to chronicle the voyage. Both Ned and Zissou are attracted to Jane, and a competition develops between them. Klaus becomes jealous of the attention Zissou pays to Ned. On their mission to find the jaguar shark, the Belafonte steals tracking equipment from a remote station owned by Alistair Hennessey, a more successful oceanographer and Zissou's nemesis. They then sail into unprotected waters and are attacked by Filipino pirates, who steal Ned's money and kidnap Bill Ubell, a "bond company stooge" assigned to the project. They are then rescued by Hennessey and towed to Port-au-Patois. Sakowitz, along with all but one of the interns, jumps ship once they reach port. Zissou convinces Eleanor to rejoin the Belafonte, and then leads the crew on a rescue mission. They track Bill to an abandoned hotel on a remote island, saving him along with Hennessey, whom the pirates have also kidnapped. Ned and Zissou then make one last search for the shark in the ship's helicopter, but the aircraft malfunctions and they crash. Ned dies from his injuries and is buried at sea. Prior to Ned's death, Eleanor revealed to Jane that Zissou is sterile, therefore Ned could not have been his son. Zissou finally tracks down the shark in a submersible but he decides not to kill it, both because of its beauty and not having any more dynamite. At the premiere of the finished documentary (which is dedicated to Ned), Zissou receives a standing ovation while waiting outside the theater for the premiere to finish. The crew returns triumphantly to the ship the next day. ===== After two years in prison for selling prescription drugs, Tom More, a Louisiana psychiatrist and lapsed Catholic, comes home to his virtually defunct practice and marriage. He notices that people in his town are different, many of his patients have a strange speech to them. Many faculties are dulled but some are enhanced, particularly memory and sexual appetite. Teaming up with his cousin Lucy, an epidemiologist who also has an independent mind, they discover that the authorities, a consortium of scientists, have been running secret trials on the population of the town. Through the addition of sodium ions to the water supply, the active population is gradually being made more chimpanzee-like, while the inactive, the old and the sick, are being euthanized. To Tom's particular disgust, the leaders of the trials are found to engage in sexual abuse of children, for which he takes his revenge by forcing them to drink high concentrations of sodium and so that they regress to apes. A parallel plot involves a Catholic priest, Father Smith, who like Tom has hit rock bottom and almost totally failed in his calling. Together, with difficulty, the two men rediscover the hope hidden in their shaky Catholic faith. ===== Agents Craig Stirling, Sharron Macready and Richard Barrett work for a United Nations law enforcement organization called 'Nemesis', based in Geneva. Barrett is a codebreaker, Stirling a pilot, and Macready a recently widowed scientist and doctor. During their first mission as a team, their plane crashes in the Himalayas. They are rescued by an advanced civilization living secretly in the mountains of Tibet, who save their lives, granting them enhanced abilities, including extrasensory powers to communicate with one another over distances (telepathy) and to foresee events (precognition), enhanced versions of the ordinary five senses, and intellectual and physical abilities reaching the fullest extent of human capabilities. Many stories feature unusual villains, such as fascist regimes from unspecified South American countries, Nazis (a common theme of ITC 1960s and 1970s TV, in part owing to both the writers and the domestic audience having been of the war generation) or the Chinese. The villains' schemes often threaten world peace; Nemesis' brief is international, so the agents deal with threats transcending national interests. The main characters have to learn the use of their new powers as they go along, keeping what they discover secret from friend and foe alike. Each episode begins with a close-up shot of a map, showing the region in which the story is to take place, followed by a teaser sometimes prefaced by stock footage; this is followed by the title sequence. Immediately following that is a post-title vignette, in which one or more of the Champions demonstrates exceptional mental or physical abilities, often astonishing or humiliating others. In one example Stirling participates in a sharpshooting contest. In another, Macready's car is blocked in, two laughing passing drunks try to lift it out but she goes round to the other side and pulls it out of the parking space one-handed. Paradoxically, the narration during these often-public demonstrations usually mentions the need to keep the powers a secret. The only other series regular is the Champions' boss, Tremayne. He does not know that his agents have special abilities, although he does ask innocent questions about just how on their missions they managed to carry out certain tasks about which their reports were vague. ===== In 1803, William Buckley is a young member of a working-class farming family in Cheshire. Along with the rest of his community he participates in ancient folk rituals which exist alongside, and encompass, the local Christian church. An epileptic, William is prone to dreams and visions, seeing patterns in his hallucinations (some of which he does not recognise). At the same time, William is being taught to read by the young son of the local land-owning family, Edward, who has an interest in spreading literacy among the working class and who sees him as both friend and test subject. Both men have a close relationship with William’s fiancée, Esther. Edward’s father, Sir John Stanley, sees both working-class literacy and community rituals as threats to property, order and hierarchy. Outlawing the rituals under property laws, he ensures that William is convicted on a trumped-up charge of trespass. William is taken to London for punishment, vowing to Esther that he will return to her. Accompanied by assorted convicts (who, like him, are from disadvantaged working-class groups including Cockneys and Irish labourers) he is then transported to Australia. On arrival at the Australian settlement, William becomes part of an escape attempt of which he is the only survivor and the only successful escapee. Given the opportunity to return, he determines to remain a free man in the wilderness, no longer trusting his own society’s values (including its promises and punishments). After wandering for days, surviving wildfires and privations, he eventually collapses from exhaustion in the outback on the grave of an Aboriginal shaman. He is discovered by aborigines of the Beingalite people, who regard him as the reincarnation of their shaman Murrangurk, an idea reinforced by William's epilepsy. William learns the language and ways of the Beingalite, and discovers that he fits perfectly the role of their healer and holy man. Taking Murrangurk’s name, he spends the next thirty years of his life as an adopted Beingalite and eventually becomes a “feather-foot” - arbitrating in disputes, reinforcing and carrying out Aboriginal justice, and performing the rituals of walking and storytelling which maintain story and reality (the Dreaming). The inexplicable patterns which William saw in his youthful hallucinations are revealed as being Aboriginal in nature, and become an integral part of his day-to-day life. Many years later, in the 1830s (when William/Murrangurk is a Beingalite tribal elder in his late forties or early fifties) he intervenes to prevent the slaughter of a group of newly arrived English soldiers and re- encounters members of his original culture for the first time in thirty years. Still hoping to return home and grant his long-standing promise to Esther, he becomes a translator and peace-broker between the Aboriginal tribes and the British sheep-farming interests led by John Batman. Although suspicious both of Batman and the culture he represents, William/Murrangurk carries out his task, reasoning that the incursive white culture cannot be stopped and must be accommodated, although he hopes that the resulting new society will be inclusive. For his work on behalf of the settlers, he is granted a governmental pardon, freeing him to return to British society. Still unsure of his position, he does not do so immediately, remaining as Murrangurk and maintaining his rituals. The aims and attitudes of the white settlers and the Aborigines soon prove incompatible. Under increasing material and cultural pressure, the Beingalite slaughter the settlement’s sheep, which they consider to be destructive to the land. In reprisal, most of the Beingalite are then themselves massacred and defiled by Batman’s settlers, with the remnants of the tribe (mainly old people and young children) being forcibly subjected and Europeanised. William/Murrangurk realizes that his efforts have failed, and that his life among the Beingalites has been destroyed along with their culture. He participates in one last spirit ritual in which he sees Bungil, the ultimate Beingalite ancestor. Bungil tells William/Murrangurk that the Beingalite Dreaming has been taken from its shattered present and preserved: it is now William's role to take the Dreaming back to his own home and to leave it there for another person to take up later. As a token of the task, Bungil gives William a ritual woomera (spear-thrower). Back in his native Cheshire, William finds the landmarks and practices of community ritual destroyed or marginalised by growing land enclosure, expanding agriculture and a greater degree of social control. He re-encounters Edward Stanley, now a vicar presiding over a local school in which the local children are taught literacy but also meekness. Despite Edward's compromises and failures - and evident lack of spiritual understanding - William acknowledges his former friend's "velvet true heart" and gives him the woomera. William also finds Esther – long-since married to someone else and the mother of a young man who works as a weaver, selling to the growing local market towns. Esther has named her son after William, but it is strongly implied that his actual father is Edward. Though heartbroken, William accepts these events as part of "the Dance." Bidding Esther goodbye for the last time, he leaves to ritually walk the landscapes of his home as he once walked the landscapes of Australia. In doing so, he senses continuance concealed beneath the changes, and is somewhat comforted. His walk ends in the church, in which he now sees the patterns of native English, native Australian and mystical Christianity all layered together. Taking off his clothes and painting his body with clay, he once again puts on the aspect of an Aboriginal shaman. Performing a spirit dance inside the church, he unites the patterns of his own life and its two cultures. ===== The film is set in 1917, with World War I in the background, and revolves around two English cartographers, the pompous George Garrad and his junior, Reginald Anson. They arrive at the fictional Welsh village of Ffynnon Garw ( "Rough Fountain" or "Rough Spring" in Welsh) to measure its "mountain" - only to cause outrage when they conclude that it is only a hill because it is slightly short of the required height of 1000 feet (305 m). The villagers, aided and abetted by wily local, Morgan the Goat, and the Reverend Mr Jones who, after initially opposing the scheme, grasps its symbolism in restoring the community's war-damaged self-esteem, conspire to delay the cartographers' departure while they build an earth mound on top of the hill and make it high enough to be considered a mountain. ===== Wealthy philanthropist Philip Stevens is having invited guests flown in his luxurious privately-owned Boeing 747-100, Stevens's Flight 23, to his Palm Beach, Florida estate. Aboard are his estranged adult daughter and her young son. Priceless artwork from Stevens's private collection destined for his new museum is also on the jetliner. The collection has motivated a group of thieves led by co-pilot Bob Chambers to hijack the aircraft. Mid-flight, Captain Don Gallagher is lured from the cockpit and rendered unconscious. A sleeping gas secretly installed pre-flight is released into the cabin, knocking out unprotected crew and passengers. Chambers, flying to a small deserted island to offload the art treasures, drops the plane below radar range causing Stevens' Flight 23 to "disappear" in the Bermuda Triangle. Descending to virtual wave-top altitude, Flight 23 heads into a fog bank, reducing visibility. Minutes later, a large offshore drilling platform emerges from the haze, and Flight 23 is headed straight for it. Chambers attempts to avert a collision, but the wing clips the structure's tower, igniting an engine. Chambers extinguishes the fire but a sudden loss of airspeed threatens to stall the airplane. As he struggles to maintain control, the passengers begin waking up to the unfolding disaster. Chambers is unable to maintain his airspeed; the plane stalls and crashes into the water, floating momentarily before quietly slipping below the surface. The plane settles in relatively shallow water that is above the plane's crush depth, though water pressure gradually compromises the fuselage. Many passengers are injured, some seriously. Chambers, the only surviving hijacker, reveals the plane is two hundred miles off course, meaning search and rescue efforts will be focused in the wrong area. As a search for the missing plane is launched, veteran aeronautics expert Joe Patroni joins the rescue operation as a technical adviser, joined by the jet's owner, Philip Stevens. Meanwhile, the trapped crew can only contact rescuers by getting a signal buoy to the surface. Captain Gallagher and a professional diver and passenger, Martin Wallace, enter the main cargo preparing to swim to the surface using air masks. The hatch suddenly blows open, killing Wallace. Gallagher barely makes it to the surface and activates the emergency beacon. The signal is detected and a rescue operation is launched. Meanwhile, the plane's fuselage is steadily leaking. The Navy dispatches a sub-recovery ship, the USS Cayuga, the destroyer USS Agerholm, and a flotilla of other vessels to the crash site, rescuing Gallagher. Guided by Gallagher, Navy divers rig the plane with balloons and inflate them, slowly raising the aircraft, which could split apart. Just before the plane reaches the surface, a balloon breaks loose and pressure is reduced to stabilize the aircraft. A cargo hold door inside the plane bursts open and seawater swamps the cabin; Chambers, pinned under a sofa, drowns. Emily’s injured friend Dorothy dies from her injuries, Wallace's widow, Karen and a stewardess drown. With time running out, air pressure is increased, raising the plane to the surface. All survivors are quickly evacuated. Captain Gallagher and Stevens's assistant, Eve, get trapped inside and escape through the upper deck. All buoyancy is lost and the 747 slips under the waves. ===== The untested infantrymen of C Company, 18th Infantry, U.S. Army, board trucks to travel to the front for the first time. Lt. Bill Walker allows war correspondent Ernie Pyle, himself a rookie to combat, to hitch a ride with the company. Ernie surprises Walker and the rest of the men by deciding to go with them all the way to the front lines. Just getting to the front through the rain and mud is an arduous task, but the diminutive, forty-two-year-old Ernie manages to keep up. Ernie gets to know the men whose paths he will cross and write about again and again in the next year: * Private Robert "Wingless" Murphy, a good-natured man who was rejected by the Air Corps for being too tall; * Private Dondaro, an Italian-American from Brooklyn whose mind is always on women and conniving to be with one; * Sergeant Warnicki, who misses the young son ("Junior") he has never seen; * Private Mew, from Brownsville, Texas, who has no family back home but finds one in the outfit, exemplified by his naming beneficiaries for his G.I. life insurance among them. Their "baptism of fire" is at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, a bloody chaotic defeat. Ernie is present at battalion headquarters when Lieutenant Walker arrives as a runner for his company commander; Walker has already become an always tired, seemingly emotionless, and grimy soldier. Ernie and the company go their separate ways, but months later he seeks them out, confessing that, as the first outfit he ever covered, they are in his mind the best outfit in the army. He finds them on a road in Italy, about to attack a German-held town, just as the soldiers are elated or disappointed at "mail call": letters for Murphy and Dondaro, a package with a phonograph record of his son's voice for Warnicki, but nothing for now Captain Walker. Ernie finds that Company C has become very proficient at killing without remorse. In house-to-house combat, they capture the town. Fatigue, however, is an always present but never conquerable enemy. When arrangements are made for Wingless Murphy to marry "Red", his Army nurse fiancée, in the town they have just captured, Ernie is recruited to give the bride away, but can barely keep awake. The company advances to a position in front of Monte Cassino, but, unable to advance, they are soon reduced to a life of living in caves dug in the ground, enduring persistent rain and mud, conducting endless patrols and subjected to savage artillery barrages. When his men are forced to eat cold rations for Christmas dinner, Walker obtains turkey and cranberry sauce for them from a rear echelon supply lieutenant at gunpoint. Casualties are heavy: young replacements are quickly killed before they can learn the tricks of survival in combat (which Walker confesses to Ernie makes him feel like a murderer), Walker is always short of lieutenants, and the veterans lose men, including Wingless Murphy. After a night patrol to capture a prisoner, Warnicki suffers a nervous breakdown when, finally hearing his son's voice on the record, his pent up frustrations at the war are released. Walker sadly directs the others to subdue the hysterical sergeant and sends him to the infirmary. Ernie returns to the correspondents' quarters to write a piece on Murphy's death and is told by his fellow reporters that he has won the Pulitzer Prize for his combat reporting. Ernie again catches up with the outfit on the side of the road to Rome after Cassino has finally been taken. He greets Mew and a few of the old hands, but the pleasant reunion is interrupted when a string of mules is led into their midst, each carrying the dead body of a G.I. to be gently placed on the ground. A final mule, led by Dondaro, bears the body of Captain Walker. One by one, the old hands reluctantly come forth to express their grief in the presence of Walker's corpse. > "Then the first man squatted down, and he reached down and took the dead > hand, and he sat there for a full five minutes, holding the dead hand in his > own and looking intently into the dead face, and he never uttered a sound > all the time he sat there. And finally he put the hand down, and then > reached up and gently straightened the points of the captain’s shirt collar, > and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the > wound. And then he got up and walked away down the road, all alone."Ernie > Pyle, "The Death of Captain Waskow", Indiana University School of Journalism Ernie joins the company as it goes down the road, narrating its conclusion: "For those beneath the wooden crosses, there is nothing we can do, except perhaps to pause and murmur, 'Thanks pal, thanks.'" ===== The USS Enterprise is tracking a path of mass insanity that has affected several planets, causing the collapse of their civilizations. They approach Deneva, a Federation colony where Captain Kirk's brother, Sam, has been stationed along with Sam's wife Aurelan and son, Peter. On entering the system, they witness a ship dive into the local sun, its pilot raving incoherently about being "free" before the ship is destroyed. Transporting to Deneva's main city, Kirk, First Officer Spock, Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy and a security detail find the town quiet. A group of men armed with clubs try to warn the landing party away, and then attack. Kirk has the men stunned, but McCoy finds that their brains are still being violently stimulated. The party locates the Kirk family home; Sam is dead (played by William Shatner), while Aurelan (Joan Swift) acts irrationally before passing out and Peter (Craig Hundley) is comatose. Kirk and McCoy return with the survivors to Enterprise, where McCoy finds they are suffering from a condition similar to that of their attackers. McCoy gives both painkillers, and Aurelan wakes briefly to tell Kirk of horrible "things" spreading from planet to planet, using others' bodies to build ships. Kirk returns to the planet and joins Spock in search for these entities. They find a number of single-celled creatures attached to the walls and ceiling of one building. The creatures fly, and attempt to attack the humans; the landing party finds they are nearly immune to phaser fire. One makes contact with Spock before Kirk can pry it off, and Spock falls in pain. They transport back to the Enterprise, and McCoy determines that the creature has injected some of its tissue into Spock's spinal column; it will be impossible to remove surgically. When Spock regains consciousness, he attempts to take control of the ship but McCoy sedates him in time. Later, Spock apologizes to Kirk and asserts that his mental discipline can control the pain, but that he must return to the surface to acquire a specimen to study. Kirk and McCoy agree, and Spock, on return to the colony, is able to stun a creature. Returning to the Enterprise, Spock determines that the creatures are part of a hive mind, and apparently indestructible. They recall the ship pilot that claimed he was free before diving into the sun, and suspect the sun's properties may harm the creatures. Despite numerous tests, Spock and McCoy fail to find a solution. Kirk holds a senior staff meeting, asserting they must find a solution before the creatures reach the next inhabited planet, holding over a million people; a solution that doesn't kill the hosts. While using a computer, he realizes that they have not tried visible light as a means to defeat the creatures. An initial test of blinding light results in the death of the specimen in sick bay. Spock then volunteers to be exposed to an intense beam of light, without eye protection, to prove that a creature infecting a host can be killed. Though the test is successful, Spock is now blind. Analysis of the initial test shows that only ultraviolet light was necessary to kill the creature. The Enterprise floods the colony with ultraviolet light from an array of satellites, killing the creatures on the planet and purging the parasites from the survivors. As the Enterprise prepares to leave orbit, Spock reveals that his Vulcan inner eyelids had prevented permanent blindness and that he can see again. ===== Chaplin's character attempts to convince a passerby (director Henry Lehrman) to give him money. Chaplin is then shown flirting with a woman and proposes to her, which she accepts. Lehrman enters to present the woman with flowers and a ring, which the woman refuses citing she's engaged. Lerhman sees Chaplin and a slapstick fight between the two ensues. Later, Lehrman's character takes a photograph of an automobile accident; Chaplin's character steals the camera whilst the journalist is helping a trapped motorist and rushes back to the paper with it to claim the photograph as his own. A short pursuit with the Keystone Kops follows. ===== Lifehouse has three variations in its storyline: ===== The beautiful Margaret Odell, famous Broadway beauty and ex-Follies girl known as "The Canary", is found murdered in her apartment. She has a number of men in her life, ranging from high society to gangsters, and more than one man visited her apartment on the night she dies. It is Philo Vance's characteristic erudition that leads him to a key clue that allows him to penetrate a very clever alibi and reveal the killer. "The strangeness, the daring, the seeming impenetrability of the crime marked it as one of the most singular and astonishing cases in New York's police annals; and had it not been for Philo Vance's participation in its solution, I firmly believe it would have remained one of the great unsolved mysteries of this country."Van Dine, S. S. (1927). The Canary Murder Case, New York: Scribner's. ===== Philo Vance takes a hand when, one evening, a daughter of the Greene family is shot to death and another one is wounded. The family comprises two sons and three daughters (the youngest, Ada, is adopted) under the rule of their mother, a bedridden invalid who spends her days feeling sorry for herself and cursing her ungrateful children. The family is required to live in the Greene mansion under the terms of their father's will. The German cook seems strangely attached to the adopted daughter; other hangers-on include the mother's physician, who is courting Sibella Greene, and the enigmatic butler. Later, the two Greene brothers and the mother are killed and the only family left are the two surviving daughters, jaunty modern Sibella and shy Ada, against whom two murder attempts have been made. The murders are complicated by sets of mysterious footprints appearing in the snow, which seem to have been made in an impossible way and by the suggestion that the paralyzed mother has been seen walking in the halls. Philo Vance reduces the facts of the case to just under a hundred paragraphs, sets them in order, and solves the case. ===== The story involves a series of murders taking place in a wealthy neighborhood of New York City. The first murder, of a Mr. Joseph Cochrane Robin, who is found pierced by an arrow, is accompanied by a note signed "The Bishop", with an extract from the nursery rhyme, "Who Killed Cock Robin". This crime takes place at the home of an elderly physicist with a beautiful young ward and a private archery range. District Attorney Markham finds the circumstances so unusual that he asks his friend Philo Vance to advise upon the psychological aspects of the crime. Further murders connected with the physicist's family and neighbours are accompanied with similar extracts from Mother Goose, such as the case of Johnny Sprigg, "who was shot through the middle of his wig, wig, wig." Midway through the book, an elderly woman confesses to the crimes, but this possibility is discounted by the police for physical reasons and by Philo Vance for psychological ones. Vance and the police luckily discover the kidnapping and confinement of a little Miss Moffatt before the child suffocates in the closet in which she has been locked. Vance finally realizes the significance of one character's pointed reference to The Pretenders, a play written by Henrik Ibsen; Bishop Arnesson of Oslo was a prominent character in the play. Vance arranges a spectacular finale in which the criminal is poisoned by a glass of liqueur which that person prepared for another suspect. ===== One of the Coe brothers is found dead in his bedroom, locked from the inside, and the other brother is found the next morning dead in the downstairs closet. There is also the clue of a wounded Doberman Pinscher, a mysteriously broken piece of priceless Chinese porcelain, and a cast of suspicious family members, servants and associates. Philo Vance solves the case based on his knowledge of dog breeding, Chinese porcelain and the annals of remarkable antique crimes. ===== A member of the wealthy Kenting family is kidnapped, and Philo Vance's suspicions lead him to the victim's home, the "Purple House" on New York's 86th Street. A mysterious ransom note and the family collection of gems both play a part in the plot, which ends with the murderer's suicide with the connivance of Vance. "To be sure, the motive for the crime, or, I should say, crimes, was the sordid one of monetary gain ... through Vance's determination and fearlessness, through his keen insight into human nature and his amazing flair for the ramifications of human psychology, he was able to penetrate beyond the seemingly conclusive manifestations of the case."Page 2, Van Dine, S. S. (1936). The Kidnap Murder Case, (1948), first paperback edition, New York: Bantam #300. ===== Bouvard et Pécuchet, 1899 Bouvard et Pécuchet details the adventures of two Parisian copy-clerks, François Denys Bartholomée Bouvard and Juste Romain Cyrille Pécuchet, of the same age and nearly identical temperament. They meet one hot summer day in 1838 by the canal Saint-Martin and form an instant, symbiotic friendship. When Bouvard inherits a sizable fortune, the two decide to move to the countryside. They find a property near the town of Chavignolles in Normandy, between Caen and Falaise, and west of Rouen. Their search for intellectual stimulation leads them, over the course of years, to flounder through almost every branch of knowledge.With the notable exception of mathematics, as pointed out by Raymond Queneau Flaubert uses their quest to expose the hidden weaknesses of the sciences and arts, as nearly every project Bouvard and Pécuchet set their minds on comes to grief. Their endeavours are interleaved with the story of their deteriorating relations with the local villagers; and the Revolution of 1848 is the occasion for much despondent discussion. The manuscript breaks off near the end of the novel. According to one set of Flaubert's notes, the townsfolk, enraged by Bouvard and Pécuchet's antics, try to force them out of the area, or have them committed. Disgusted with the world in general, Bouvard and Pécuchet ultimately decide to "return to copying as before" (copier comme autrefois), giving up their intellectual blundering. The work ends with their eager preparations to construct a two-seated desk on which to write. This was originally intended to be followed by a large sample of what they copy out: possibly a sottisier (anthology of stupid quotations), the Dictionary of Received Ideas (encyclopedia of commonplace notions), or a combination of both. ===== The film opens in 35,000 B.C., in what will become North Texas. Two cavemen hunters encounter a large extraterrestrial life form in a cave, which kills one and infects the other with a black oil-like substance. In 1998, in the same area, a boy falls into a hole and is also infected by a black substance which seeps from the ground. Firefighters who enter the hole to rescue him do not come out. A team of men wearing hazmat suits arrive and extract the bodies of the boy and the firefighters. Meanwhile, FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, while investigating a bomb threat against a federal building in Dallas, discover the bomb in a building across the street. As the building is evacuated, Special Agent in Charge Darius Michaud remains, ostensibly to disarm the bomb. However, he simply waits for the bomb to detonate. Mulder and Scully are later chastised because, in addition to Michaud, four other people were in the building during the bombing. That evening Mulder is accosted by a paranoid doctor, Alvin Kurtzweil, who explains that the "victims" were already dead, and that the bombing was staged to cover up how they died. At the hospital morgue, Scully is able to examine one of the victims, finding evidence of an alien virus. Meanwhile, the Cigarette Smoking Man goes to Texas, where Dr. Ben Bronschweig shows him one of the lost firefighters, who has an alien organism residing inside his body. He orders Bronschweig to administer a vaccine to it, but to burn the body if it fails. Later, the alien organism unexpectedly gestates and kills Bronschweig. Mulder and Scully travel to the crime scene in Texas, where they find the site has been hastily turned into a new playground and encounter the boys whose friend fell into the hole. Following their direction, the pair follow some white gasoline tankers to a large cornfield surrounding two glowing domes. Inside the domes, grates in the floor open and swarms of bees fly out. The agents flee, chased by black helicopters, but manage to escape. After returning to Washington, D.C., Scully attends a performance hearing, after which she is transferred. Mulder is devastated to lose his partner. The two are about to share a kiss when Scully is stung by a bee which had lodged itself under her shirt collar; she quickly falls unconscious while Mulder calls paramedics, but the driver of the ambulance shoots Mulder and whisks Scully away. Mulder, not severely injured, slips out of hospital with the help of The Lone Gunmen and FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner. He then meets a former adversary, the Well-Manicured Man, who gives him Scully's location, along with a vaccine against the virus that has infected her. As Mulder leaves, the Well-Manicured Man kills himself in a car bomb, before his betrayal of The Syndicate is discovered. Mulder finds Scully underground in Antarctica, in a large facility containing many humans in ice-like enclosures. He breaks Scully's confinement and uses the vaccine to revive her, but this disrupts the facility and cocooned aliens begin trying to escape. Just after the agents escape to the surface, a huge alien vessel emerges from beneath the ice and travels into the sky. Mulder watches it disappear into the distance as Scully regains consciousness. Some time later, Scully attends a hearing, where her testimony is disregarded and the evidence covered up. She hands over the only remaining proof of their ordeal, the bee that stung her, noting that the FBI is not currently capable of investigating this evidence. Outside, Mulder reads an article that has covered up the domes and crop field in Texas; Scully informs Mulder that she is willing to continue working with him. At another crop outpost in Tunisia, the Cigarette Smoking Man warns Conrad Strughold that Mulder remains a threat, as he explains what Mulder has found out about the virus. He then hands him a telegram revealing that the X-files unit has been re-opened. ===== A middle-aged farm woman walks through her village and gazes down a country road. A voiceover reveals that her son was killed in the war and buried in a foreign land. On the Eastern Front, nineteen-year-old Private Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov) single-handedly destroys two attacking German tanks, more out of self- preservation than bravery. His commanding general wants to give him a decoration, but Alyosha asks instead for a leave to see his mother and to repair the leaking roof of their home. He is given six days. During his journey, he sees the devastation the war has wrought on the country and meets various people. When the jeep Alyosha is riding gets stuck in the mud, Private Pavlov helps push it out. As Alyosha will be passing through his home city, Pavlov persuades him to take a present to Pavlov's wife. Pavlov's sergeant reluctantly parts with two bars of soap, the entire supply for their platoon. At the train station, Alyosha helpfully carries the suitcase of Vasya, a soldier discharged because he has lost a leg. Vasya does not want to go home, as he would be a burden to his wife, and their relationship had already been troubled. However, he changes his mind and is welcomed with open arms by the loving woman. When he attempts to board a freight car of an army supply train, Alyosha is stopped by Gavrilkin, a sentry. However, a bribe of a can of beef eases Gavrilkin's fear of his lieutenant, a "beast". Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko) later sneaks aboard as well, but when she sees him, she becomes frightened and tries to jump off the speeding train. Alyosha stops her from risking her life. She tells him she is going to see her fiancé, a pilot who is recuperating in a hospital. As the days pass, she loses her fear and mistrust of him. Gavrilkin spots the civilian stowaway, forcing Alyosha to bribe him anew. When the lieutenant discovers the unauthorized passengers, he lets them remain aboard and even makes Gavrilkin return the bribe. At one stop, Alyosha gets out to fetch some water, but the train leaves without him. Frantic, he gets a lift to the next station from an old woman truck driver. He is too late; the train has already departed. However, Shura got off and is waiting for him. The couple then go to see Pavlov's wife. They discover that she is living with another man and leave. Alyosha returns, takes back the soap he had given her, and gives it instead to Pavlov's invalid father. When they finally part, Shura confesses she lied; there was no fiancé, only an aunt. Alyosha realizes too late, after his train departs, that when Shura said she had no one, she was telling him that she loves him. His train is stopped by a blown- up bridge and set on fire by German bombers. With time running out, Alyosha rafts across the river and persuades another truck driver to give him a ride to his rural village, Sosnovka. He gets to see his mother only for a few minutes before having to make his way back to his unit. His mother vows to wait for him. The voiceover tells us that while he could have gone far in life if he had lived, he will always be remembered simply as a Russian soldier. ===== Nineteen-year-old Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko) is living in an apartment complex in Warsaw with his godmother—staying in her son's room while he's away. Raised in an orphanage, the shy Tomek has few friends and works as a postal clerk. Tomek has been spying on a beautiful older woman, Magda (Grażyna Szapolowska), who lives in an adjacent apartment complex. Using a telescope, he watches her every night performing mundane tasks, working on her artwork, and entertaining men. To get closer to her, he slips fake postal notices in her mailbox for a nonexistent money order at his post office. He also calls her anonymously to hear her voice. Tomek's obsession is focused more on her everyday activities rather than her sex life; when he sees her becoming sexual with men, he trains the telescope away and does not watch. Tomek learns there is a problem with the milk deliveries for Magda's apartment complex, so he takes the delivery job to be closer to her. One night he sees her return home after breaking up with her latest boyfriend, spilling a bottle of milk, and then weeping over another failed relationship. Later, Tomek asks his godmother, "Why do people cry?" After receiving another fake postal notice, Magda has a confrontation with the postmistress who accuses her of extortion. When Magda walks away upset, Tomek follows her and admits that he has been leaving the fake postal notices, that he saw her crying, and that he's been watching her. That night, Magda arranges her bed so that Tomek can see her with another boyfriend. When they're in bed, she tells him that they're being watched by someone across the way. The boyfriend rushes down to the street, calls out to Tomek who comes downstairs, and then punches him in the face for peeping. The next day, while delivering milk to Magda, Tomek admits that he loves her and that he expects nothing in return. Overwhelmed by his feelings, Tomek rushes up to the roof of the building, and then returns to Magda's apartment and asks her for a date—and she accepts. An elated Tomek races through the courtyard with his milk cart. During their date at a cafe, Magda learns that Tomek has been watching her for a year and that he stole letters mailed to her by an old boyfriend. At first, she's upset, but then she dismisses it saying, "What does it matter." In response to his earlier declaration of love, she tells him that love doesn't exist—only sex. She shows him how to caress her hands the way lovers do. Later that night at her apartment, after she showers and changes into a short bathrobe, he gives her a small gift, but she says she's not a good person and doesn't deserve gifts. Crouching in front of him, she guides his hands onto her thighs and he has an orgasm. Magda says, "Love ... that's all it is." After Tomek rushes out of her apartment embarrassed and upset, Magda feels guilty and tries to communicate to him at her window—gesturing for him to call her and holding up a sign that reads, "Come back. Sorry." But there is no response. Back in his apartment, Tomek cuts his wrists with a razor blade. Later, Magda comes to Tomek's apartment to return the coat he left behind and learns from his godmother that he tried to kill himself and was taken to a hospital. Magda tells her, "I think I hurt him." Tomek's godmother shows her Tomek's room and his telescope and tells her, "He's fallen in love with you." When asked if he's "fallen for the wrong woman," Magda responds, "Yes." In the coming days, Magda is unable to find Tomek—she is clearly worried and concerned about his wellbeing. One night, she receives a phone call, and thinking it is Tomek, she acknowledges that he was right about love (the call is actually from someone with phone trouble). After days of waiting and watching Tomek's window with her small binoculars, she finally sees he's returned. Magda goes to Tomek's apartment and his godmother shows her to his room where she sees Tomek sleeping, his wrists still bandaged. The godmother prevents her from getting too close to him—even preventing her from touching his bandaged wrist. Noticing the telescope, Magda looks through it toward her own apartment and imagines what Tomek must have seen that night, watching her come home, spilling the milk, and weeping over another failed relationship. Then she closes her eyes and imagines Tomek in her apartment with her, reaching out to comfort her—and she smiles. ===== EverQuest II is set five hundred years after the events of The Planes of Power storyline of the original EverQuest game in an alternate universe. According to The book of Zebuxoruk during the events The Planes of Power many gods were killed. In an effort to undo this, Druzzil Ro cast a spell to reverse time to stop their deaths and prevent the freeing of Zebuxoruk. What happened instead was a new universe was created. In one universe Druzzil Ro succeeded and the events of plane of time never happened. In the Everquest 2 universe, the spell failed. This meant the death of many of the gods along with the freeing of Zebuxoruk remained. Zebuxoruk himself, although free in this universe was not fully separated from his counterpart in the other universe and was left in a confused and dazed state as he was aware of both universes and in both at the same time. The gods withdrew from the world due to the deaths of too many gods at the end of the plane of time left all of them weak. The gods would need time to recover at the cost of their much of planes. (Some ceased to exist such as the Plane of Sky, while others were just shards of their former existence) The gods also needed to stop the organized mortal incursions into their planes. To do this, the gods chose npcs to be their avatars and then retreated to their planes removing their direct influence on Norrath after setting in motion several events. On Norrath itself, Dark Elves and the Orcs destroyed much of Faydwer; while the Ogres, Goblins, Orcs, and Giants ravaged Antonica. Transport and communication to the moon Luclin were cut off. The storyline says that 100 years ago, the continent of Antonica was ripped apart into smaller islands, which are now called the Shattered Lands. The oceans became impassible, preventing contact between the continents of Norrath. Fifteen years ago, the moon Luclin exploded, and parts of the shattered moon remain in the sky. EverQuest II is set in what is called the "Age of Destiny" on the world of Norrath, 500 years later than the setting of the original EverQuest. The game world has been drastically affected by several cataclysms (see Story, above) since the original EverQuest. The planes have closed, the gods temporarily left, and the moon Luclin has been destroyed (and partially rained onto the face of Norrath). Remnants from the original EverQuests Norrath can be found throughout the Shattered Lands. Players can ride trained griffons on predetermined routes over the Shattered Lands, or acquire a horse, flying carpet, warg, rhino or a floating disk so that they can travel more swiftly throughout much of the game world. ===== Three siblings, Ben, Tom, and Melinda Potter (better known as Lindy), meet Professor Savant while visiting the zoo one rainy day. On Halloween, Lindy gets dared by her brother to knock on the spookiest house on the block for a quarter, which happens to belong to the Professor, and the three become more acquainted with him. After a second meeting, they begin spending time at the Professor's house, where he introduces them to games of concentration and observation. He reveals that there is a magic land called Whangdoodleland that can only be reached through the imagination, and that he is training them to accompany him there. Whangdoodleland is the home of the last Whangdoodle that lived in the world. Once the Whangdoodle, and other creatures that are now considered imaginary, lived in our world. However, fearing that people were losing their imaginations in the pursuit of power and greed, the Whangdoodle created a magic and peaceful world over which he reigns. The professor and the children explore this world. Each time the children return, they venture farther and farther into Whangdoodleland, intending to reach the palace where the Last Whangdoodle resides. However, the Whangdoodle's Prime Minister, the "Oily Prock", does not want them to disturb His Highness, and sets up a number of traps, both in Whangdoodleland and the real world to prevent this meeting. He enlists the marvelous and funny creatures of the land in his effort, including the High Behind Splintercat, the Sidewinders, the Oinck, the Gazooks, the Tree Squeaks, and the Swamp Gaboons. The children use their imaginations, intelligence, and the friendship of another denizen, the Whiffle Bird, to outwit the traps. The kids at last meet the last Whangdoodle. It turns out he wants a female Whangdoodle to be his queen, so he won't be lonely, and Professor Savant's knowledge and talents have the ability to grant the Whangdoodle just that. That is, if the Professor can figure out exactly how to do it. Category:1974 American novels Category:American children's novels Category:Harper & Row books Category:Children's fantasy novels Category:1974 children's books ===== The story is divided into three parts: ===== The film is about two orphans - Mac Ramsey (Ivan Sergei) and Li Ann Tsei (Sandrine Holt) who have spent their life living with the Tang family - a ruthless Chinese organized crime syndicate. Mac and Li Ann were taken in by the Tang Godfather (Robert Ito) and have formed a close friendship with his son Michael (Michael Wong). When they grow up, Li Ann is betrothed to Michael, but falls in love with Mac so the two scheme to steal money from the Tang family and run off to start a new life. During the heist, Mac is arrested and Li Ann flees to Canada. 18 months later, Mac is released into the charge of a menacing woman known only as the Director (Jennifer Dale) who takes him to Canada to work for her crime-fighting team. He soon realizes he will be working with Li Ann and her former cop boyfriend Victor (Nicholas Lea). ===== School Rumble is a romantic shōnen comedy revolving around the daily lives of the students of Class 2-C at the fictional Yagami High School, along with their friends and families. The main female protagonist is Tenma Tsukamoto, an unremarkable second-year high school student who secretly admires her eccentric, enigmatic, nice-guy classmate, Oji Karasuma. Tenma struggles to confess her feelings to Karasuma. He remains oblivious to her interest, instead seeking fulfillment by indulging in curry. The main male protagonist, delinquent Kenji Harima, similarly yearns for Tenma, attending school solely to be near her. Like Tenma, Harima has difficulty declaring his love, and whenever he summons the courage to do so, circumstances conspire against him. Harima complicates the love triangle through constant bumbling, and misunderstandings among the students aggravate the situation. Harima becomes involved with Tenma's close friend, Eri Sawachika, after the pair are thrown together in mutually embarrassing situations. Later in the series, he develops a friendship with Tenma's younger sister, Yakumo Tsukamoto, who becomes Harima's assistant on a manga he writes. The plots of Harima's stories portray a Harima-like hero fighting to save a Tenma-like damsel in various historical or fantastical situations, usually in battle against an obvious facsimile of Karasuma. After the hero saves the heroine, she always falls in love with him. Yakumo's relationship with Harima causes problems with Class 2-C's student representative, Haruki Hanai, who has a crush on Yakumo, with the sisters' shared surname causing Harima and Hanai to misinterpret the object of each others' respective infatuations.Japanese often address each other by their surname unless they are in a close relationship, such as with a long time friend, relative, or spouse. Although Harima manages to engineer romantic encounters with Tenma, her relationship with Karasuma nevertheless progresses, and Harima's bonds with Eri and Yakumo grow stronger. Eventually Tenma musters the courage to confess her love, but shortly after Karasuma loses his memory. His amnesia gives a purpose to Tenma's life; she concentrates on her studies to become a doctor and help Karasuma. Although School Rumble focuses on Harima and Tenma, the series explores a number of supporting characters. These include Tenma's friends Mikoto Suo, who runs a kenpo dojo where her childhood friend, Hanai, trains, and Akira Takano, a mysterious and uncannily perceptive girl. As the story progresses, more major characters are introduced into the relationship web. School Rumble Z, the "parallel comedy", ends with Class 2-C's graduation ceremony. At this point most of the plot-lines are settled, but there is no clear resolution for the main protagonists. Karasuma still suffers from memory loss, and although Harima attends the ceremony with Eri, their relationship status remains the same. There is a scene in the last chapter which could either be an imagination from Max or a flashforward, which shows Harima and Eri visiting Karasuma and the Tsukamoto sisters together, with Eri carrying a child in her arms. ===== A university professor named Dr. Robert Bolton and his partner Dr. Luther Paradigm create a machine known as the "gene-slammer" which is capable of changing aquatic animals into anthropomorphic hybrids by combining their DNA. In his attempt to prevent Paradigm from using this machine for personal power, Bolton is transformed into an unseen monstrosity, but escapes. Later, Paradigm gives Bolton's four sons John, Bobby, Coop, and Clint the likeness of four different sharks. When Dr. Paradigm captures their friend Bends, the resulting "Street Sharks" rescue him and the resulting battle causes Paradigm to be combined with piranha DNA (for which he is often nicknamed "Dr. Piranoid" by other characters). In subsequent episodes, Dr. Paradigm creates a variety of mutant animals to destroy the Street Sharks while attempting to persuade the inhabitants of their native metropolis of Fission City to imprison them. Of these mutant animals, a few sided with the Sharks themselves: namely Rox, Moby Lick, Mantaman, and El Swordo. The final few episodes introduced the Dino Vengers: a group of extraterrestrial dinosaurs allied with the Street Sharks against their own rivals in the Raptor Gang. When Dr. Paradigm wanted to get a sample of the Raptors' DNA to improve himself, they trick him by giving him iguana DNA which transforms him into "Dr. Iguanazoid" leading to him working with the Raptors where they will reward him by correcting the DNA mistake they gave him. In the end, Paradigm is captured and imprisoned while the Raptor Gang leaves Earth. The Dino Vengers later had their own series called Extreme Dinosaurs where they and the Raptors had different backgrounds. ===== ===== Tashi began his training as a Buddhist monk at the age of five. Twenty years later, he emerges from a three- year solitary meditation, for which he is awarded the degree of khenpo by the rinpoche. When Tashi begins to have wet dreams, his relationships at the temple become strained. On an official visit, he stays with a farmer and meets Pema, the farmer's daughter. He leaves monastic life, returning to the farm, where he joins the migrant workers for the harvest. After another encounter with Pema, they marry. They later have a son, Karma. The ex-lama becomes a farmer and landowner, becoming financially successful by bringing the harvest to the city instead of selling to the local merchant Dawa, who cheats the local farmers. This puts him at odds with Jamayang, Pema's former fiancee and local stonemason, who resents Tashi for damaging the long-standing relationship between the people of the valley and Dawa. Tashi is at odds with his sexuality and an attraction to Sujata, a migrant worker who returns to the farm to labor each year. While Pema goes to the city to sell their harvest, he and Sujata have sex. He's told that this was something Sujata and Pema have talked about for years. His friend from his time as a lama comes to visit, and informs Tashi that their mentor, Apo, has died. Racked with guilt over his infidelity and the death of Apo, Tashi leaves the farm to return to the monastery. ===== The titular Mindhunters are a group of young FBI students who are undergoing training as profilers. Their instructor, experienced profiler Jake Harris (Val Kilmer), employs a highly realistic training approach by assigning the group variants of real investigations, including elaborate sets, props, and FBI actors to play out each scenario. The students include Bobby (Eion Bailey), a young man with a talent for fixing things; Vince (Clifton Collins Jr.), a wheelchair-using ex- cop who goes nowhere without his gun; Nicole (Patricia Velásquez), a smoker who is attempting to quit; Sara (Kathryn Morris), a talented but insecure profiler who is terrified of drowning; Rafe (Will Kemp), a very intelligent, caffeine-powered British investigator; Lucas (Jonny Lee Miller), a supposedly fearless man whose parents were killed when he was a child; and J.D. (Christian Slater), their leader and Nicole's lover. Nearing the end of their training, the group's over-all morale is high, though Vince discovers that neither he, nor Sara, will make the rank of "Profiler" after secretly reading their training evaluations. The group travels with their instructor to a small island off the coast of North Carolina to complete their final training exercise. At the last minute, they are joined by Gabe (LL Cool J, listed as James Todd Smith), an outside observer who has requested to see Harris's teaching methods in action. The island, used by the Navy to train for hostage rescue and outbreak scenarios, has an existing "population" of target dummies, vehicles on mechanical rails, and small town storefronts. Similar to their earlier training scenarios, Harris plans on using the town for their final exam, tracking a serial killer calling himself, "the puppeteer." The team settles down for the evening and practice their profiling skills on each other and Gabe, who reveals that he is also a skilled profiler in his own right. Sara and Lucas briefly bond over losses in their families; Sara reveals that her sister was murdered and drowned, creating her persistent fear of water, while Lucas shares that his parents died when he was 10. The two resolve to use the scenario to confront their personal fears. The following morning, during the initial investigation of the "puppeteer" scenario, J.D. dies after triggering a clock mechanism that causes a tank of liquid nitrogen (mislabelled as helium) to freeze him instantly. Convinced that J.D.'s death is neither accidental, nor part of the training simulation, the group heads to the dock to leave the island, but the boat explodes when Lucas triggers a laser tripwire. After returning to base, the group realizes that broken watches and clocks found at each scene point to the fact that there is a real serial killer on the island, who has co-opted the training exercise and is now hunting them down. The killer's M.O. indicates that he or she plans to kill someone at a time designated by the broken clocks. After a thorough search of the island reveals no other personnel, the group concludes that the killer is one of them. At first, suspicions seem to point to Gabe, as Lucas found maps and documents of the island; however, before the group finishes confronting him, they each pass out, realizing that their coffee was drugged. They awaken to discover that the killer murdered Rafe while they were unconscious, draining his blood and leaving his severed head on an upper shelf, and suspicions again return to Gabe. He temporarily deflects these suspicions when he saves Vince from another trap involving broken water pipes and lights electrocuting the water. However, Bobby is killed by a secondary trap when he goes to turn off the water, just after discussing the engineering expertise needed to set this up. Sara, meanwhile, deduces that the traps are based on their strengths, talents, and weaknesses; the remaining profilers elect to stick together, to keep an eye on each other. After more clues are discovered, suspicion shifts to Sara, who insists that she's being framed. Nicole, suspicious that the killer is among the group, leaves to be alone, but she becomes the next to die after she smokes a cigarette laced with acid. Unexpectedly, the island's speakers begin to broadcast a taunting message from Harris, making them realize that he did not leave the island, though he led the profilers to believe that he had; convinced that Harris has been the killer all along, the remaining profilers search for him. Vince refuses to join the search party and stays behind at the lab. Sara, Gabe and Lucas find Harris and two other FBI agents next to him, all dead; Harris has been strung up to wires from the ceiling as a sort of marionette, just like the fake "puppeteer" crime scene that they were to investigate. The three turn on each other after triggering another trap, and Lucas is shot during the ensuing gun battle. Vince finds himself trapped in a freezer after he tries to reload his empty gun, but he escapes and then dies when his gun backfires on him in the elevator. Sara finds Vince's body, but she is ambushed by Gabe, and the two struggle physically and mentally to profile the other, each believing the other person is the killer. Gabe manages to overpower Sara but is then attacked by Lucas, and the two of them get into a protracted fight. Sara eventually recovers and hits Gabe over the head with a fire extinguisher. Lucas reveals that he had been wearing a bulletproof vest, allowing him to survive getting shot on the street. With Gabe subdued, he expresses doubt that there's enough evidence to prove that Gabe was the killer. Sara, however, reveals that she found a way to get one step ahead of the killer. Knowing that the killer was relying on timed mechanisms and remotes, as well as enjoying watching their anxiety under pressure, she changed one of the clocks to appear slow by fifteen minutes, and covered it in a powder that glows phosphorescently under blacklight. Reasoning that the killer would not be able to resist setting the clock to the correct time, she grabs a black light to scan Gabe's hands and reveal him as the killer. Sara instead finds the marking powder on Lucas' hands instead of Gabe's. Lucas confesses that his parents did not die in an accident, but that he killed them. Struggling ever since to find more thrilling targets to kill, he joined the FBI and planned to kill his brilliant fellow profilers, the only people he thought would be "worthy prey." Lucas tries to drown Sara, but she manages to kick him into the water. The two both manage to recover their weapons underwater, but Sara manages to shoot Lucas first. Lucas recovers and begins to taunt her about the evidence he planted blaming her, but Gabe comes to her rescue. In a last desperate effort, Lucas attempts to regain his weapon, forcing Sara to kill him, shooting him in the head. The following day, Gabe and Sara flag down a U.S. Navy helicopter to leave the island, determining that they've sufficiently secured the scene. ===== ; Characters * Fanny Cavendish – Cavendish Family Matriarch * Julie Cavendish – Fanny's daughter * Tony Cavendish – Fanny's son * Gwen Cavendish – Fanny's granddaughter * Herbert Dean – Fanny's brother * Kitty Dean – Fanny's sister-in-law * Oscar Wolfe – Cavendish Family's Long-time Agent * Gilbert Marshall – Julie's Love Interest * Perry Stewart – Gwen's Fiancee The story is a parody of the Barrymore family of actors, with particular aim taken at John Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. The character Tony Cavendish, a heavy-drinking womanizer, represents John Barrymore. Julie Cavendish is the prima donna Broadway star Ethel Barrymore. Ethel Barrymore was offended and her critical comments were quoted by the press; however John Barrymore saw the production in Los Angeles and was amused, and congratulated Fredric March on his performance as Tony Cavendish. (Otto Kruger had played the role on Broadway.) ===== Kathryn West, a glamorous American widow, arrives in Italy several weeks after the death of her older, extremely wealthy husband. With the help of Brian, her lawyer, Kathryn moves into a luxurious villa and proceeds to lead a lonely, uneventful existence until one day, a handsome young man named Peter Donovan shows up at the front gate, looking for tools so that he can fix his sports car. Kathryn lets him stay the night, and the next thing she knows, she is madly making love to him in the shower. Peter eventually moves in and is soon joined by a free spirit who he introduces as Eva, his sister. Kathryn enjoys their company and partying with them - until she begins to suspect that Peter and Eva are not what they seem to be, after catching them in bed together. Their relationship turns into a threesome, and when she begins to rebel against them, they keep her a prisoner in the house, doping her up with booze and pills, and depriving her of sleep by continuously playing a maddening pop song ("Anytime"). Kathryn suspects that they are setting her up as a "suicide" for some nefarious reason. ===== The novel is set in Britain in three parts, taking place in 1983, 1986 and 1987. The story surrounds the young gay protagonist, Nick Guest. Nick is middle-class and from the fictional market town of Barwick in Northamptonshire; he has graduated from Worcester College, Oxford with a First in English and is to begin postgraduate studies at University College London. Many of the significant characters in the novel are Nick's male contemporaries from Oxford. The book explores the tension between Nick's intimate relationship with the Fedden family, in whose parties and holidays he participates, and the realities of his sexuality and gay life, which the Feddens accept only to the extent of never mentioning it. It explores themes of hypocrisy, homosexuality, madness and privilege, with the emerging AIDS crisis forming a backdrop to the book's conclusion. ===== ===== Although much of the story is a sort of "travelogue" exploring the Smoke Ring and the technology used in the unique environment, The Smoke Ring does spend more time on story and character development than The Integral Trees. One of the drivers for the story follows the latest operator of "the silver suit", the Citizen's Tree's working spacesuit. Few are capable of operating the suit due to its size; due to the lack of gravity, most humans in the Smoke Ring grow too tall to fit into it. The job goes to the occasionally born "dwarves" who tend to develop into humans of Earth- normal height and build. A major sub-plot develops around the latest silver suit operator's attempts to infiltrate The Admiralty to gain information, and The Admiralty's near obsession with capturing the Citizen's Tree's spacesuit. ===== The film follows the adventures of Murat (Arkın) and Ali (Akkaya), whose spaceships crash on a desert planet following a battle, shown by using footage from Star Wars as well as Soviet and American space program newsreel clips. While hiking across the desert, they speculate that the planet is inhabited only by women. Ali does his wolf whistle, which he uses on attractive women. However, he blows the wrong whistle and they are attacked by skeletons on horseback, which they defeat in hand-to-hand combat. The main villain soon shows up and captures the heroes, bringing them to his gladiatorial arena so they can fight. The villain tells them he is actually from Earth and is a 1,000-year-old wizard. He tried to defeat Earth, but was always repelled by a "shield of concentrated human brain molecules", which looks like the Death Star. The only way he can bypass this impenetrable defense is to use a human brain against it. The heroes escape and hide in a cave full of refugees who already fled the villain's tyrannical rule. Murat develops a romantic connection with the only woman there (Uçar), who looks after the children. (The implied romance is shown through many long eye-contacts and smiles from the girl, but nothing more.) Zombies of the dark lord attack the cave and turn several of the children into zombies, their blood used to renew the evil wizard's immortality. The three then flee the cave and find a local bar, lifted directly from Star Wars (the Mos Eisley cantina). The two men quickly get into a bar brawl, but the villain suddenly appears and captures them again. The wizard separates the men and tries to convince them to join him. He sends his queen to seduce Ali, while he orders Murat to be brought before him. He offers Murat the chance to rule over the earth and stars if he joins him. He possesses the power of Earth's ancestry in the form of a golden brain, and all he needs to conquer Earth is a real human brain. After Murat declines, the wizard shows that he has the woman and child in captivity. Enraged, Murat fights the wizard's monsters and skeleton guardians. Meanwhile, monsters attack Ali when he is about to kiss the queen. He defeats the monsters and joins Murat's fight. They are both disabled by laser-armed guards and then unsuccessfully tortured by the wizard. Finally, the wizard pits Murat against a giant monster in the arena. Murat defeats the monster and flees, taking the woman and the child with him. Ali is left in captivity. Murat finds out about a sword made by "the 13th clan," who melted a mountain thousands of "space years" ago. Murat later finds this sword, shaped like a lightning bolt, in a cave defended by two golden ninjas. He takes the sword after dispatching the guards in an uncharacteristically short fight. Renewed by the sword's power, Murat goes to free his friend from the sorcerer's dungeon. However, Ali becomes envious of the sword, knocks out Murat and takes both the sword and the golden brain. The wizard then uses trickery and deceit to make Ali hand over the artifacts. Having touched these items, the wizard now has increased powers and traps Murat, Ali, the woman and the child. Ali is killed in a foolish attempt to escape. Grief-stricken, Murat decides to melt down the golden sword and the golden human brain and forge them into a pair of gauntlets and boots. Equipped with magical gloves and super-jumping boots, he searches for the sorcerer to avenge his friend's death. After fighting numerous monsters and skeletons, he comes face-to-face with his nemesis and karate chops him in half. He then leaves the planet for Earth in a ship that greatly resembles the Millennium Falcon. ===== The novel takes place in a distant future in which diverse human societies have developed on some 6,000 planets. Many of these worlds are shared with intelligent nonhumans, although only one alien species (the mysterious Xlv) also possesses faster-than-light travel. In an attempt to find a stable defense against the phenomenon known as Cultural Fugue (a process where "socioeconomic pressures [reach] a point of technological recomplication and perturbation where the population completely destroys all life across the planetary surface"), many human worlds have aligned themselves with one of two broad factions: the Sygn, which promotes and celebrates social diversity, and the Family, which promotes adherence to an idealized norm of human relations modeled on the nuclear family. The story opens on the planet Rhyonon. Korga, a tall, misfit youth, undergoes the Radical Anxiety Termination, or RAT, procedure, a form of psychosurgery which makes him a passive slave, after which he is known as Rat Korga. After he has lived under a number of masters, Rat Korga's world is destroyed by a conflagration. This is later explained to be the result of Cultural Fugue, though the explanation is open to dispute, especially since Xlv spacecraft were present in the Rhyonon system when the disaster occurred. Because he was deep inside a mine shaft at the time of the disaster, Rat Korga survives (though badly injured), the only known being ever to survive Cultural Fugue. Rat Korga serves as a reminder of the possibility of Cultural Fugue and the destruction of a planet, which is part of what makes him so appealing to the inhabitants of Velm. The action then moves to Velm, a Sygn-aligned world that humanity shares with its native three-sexed intelligent species, the evelm, and where sexual relationships take many forms — monogamous, promiscuous, anonymous, and interspecies. Resident Marq Dyeth, an "industrial diplomat" who helps manage the transfer of technology between different societies, is informed that Rat Korga is his perfect sexual match by an associate in the powerful and mysterious Web, an organization that manages information flows between worlds. Equipping him with a prosthesis (the rings of Vondramach Okk, a tyrant who once ruled ten planets and employed of one of Marq's ancestors) that restores the initiative he lost due to the RAT procedure, the Web sends Rat Korga to Velm under the pretext that he is a student, and he and Marq begin a romantic and sexual affair. They go on an unusual hunting expedition and return to a dinner party which becomes chaotic due to the disruptive presence of visitors from a Family world and intense planetwide interest in Korga. Soon after, Rat Korga is forced to leave Velm and be permanently separated from Marq (their pairing having been an alien cultural experiment) because their interaction was creating a threat of Cultural Fugue. ===== Joey, now earning substantial money after landing a role on Days of Our Lives, gives Chandler a gaudy gold bracelet as thanks for paying for head shots and food in the past. Chandler mocks it when it scares off a potential date, upsetting Joey when he overhears. Chandler promises to never take it off again but discovers it slipped off his wrist at some point and is now missing. He buys a replacement, but the original is found shortly afterwards at Central Perk. He gives one to Joey, repairing their friendship. Monica struggles to find a job after being fired. After a disastrous restaurant interview where the manager has a food play fetish, she relents to Ross' prodding to ask for money from their parents Jack and Judy, who have visited the apartment to bring boxes of her possessions. Though Judy is disappointed she was fired, Jack encourages her to use her savings from her bank account and assures her that they will be there to lend money to her whenever she needs it. Despite this encouragement, Ross ends up writing her a check. Ross continues to seek forgiveness from Rachel after insulting her, but she tells him that they as a couple will never happen. Whilst looking through the box her parents brought, Monica finds a video of her and Rachel getting ready for their senior prom. The friends decide to watch the video, although Ross objects to everyone seeing the tape. On the video, Rachel's date, Chip Matthews, has not arrived, and Monica refuses to go to the prom without her. Judy convinces Ross to wear Jack's tuxedo and take Rachel to the prom himself. Ross reluctantly agrees, but by the time he is dressed and ready to go, Chip has arrived and the girls leave. The video ends with Ross looking disappointed and dejected. Rachel, touched by Ross's gesture, gets up and passionately kisses Ross, forgiving him for what happened between them. Monica later watches the video alone which features her and Jack dancing before the prom. It suddenly cuts to Jack and Judy in bed, which disgusts her. ===== The novel is set in central Ireland c. 1914–16. Garradrimna is a tiny village where everyone is interested in everyone else's business and wishes them to fail. Twenty years before the events of the book, Nan Byrne has a relationship with a local man, Henry Shannon, hoping to marry him for his wealth. She falls pregnant but Henry refuses to marry her. After a miscarriage, the baby is buried at the bottom of the garden. Henry marries another woman and later dies, while Nan emigrates to England and marries Ned Brennan. They later move back to Garradrimna, where the villagers rejoice in telling Ned about his wife's past. Ned is now an alcoholic, brought low by the humiliation of his wife's past promiscuity. He makes a little as a labourer, whereas Nan works every day at sewing to support their only child, John, studying in England to become a Catholic priest. However, she has become as cruel, petty and jealous as the rest of Garradrimna, and connives with the postmistress to sabotage Myles Shannon's chance at romance with an English girl, to get revenge on the Shannon family for rejecting her. John returns to Garradrimna for a holiday, where he befriends Ulick Shannon (son of Henry) and falls for Rebecca Kerr, a schoolteacher. Ulick and Rebecca have a relationship, however, and when Rebecca becomes pregnant she is disgraced and expelled from the village. Ulick abandons her and John murders him, weighting the body with lead and hiding it in the lake. Rebecca leaves for Dublin and an uncertain future. An old gossip informs Nan and John that she was there the night Nan gave birth to Henry's child — in reality, the child was born alive and was given to Henry and his wife — who they raised as their son, Ulick Shannon. ===== Tony a wealthy young Londoner who says he is part of a scheme to build cities in Brazil, moves into his new house and hires Hugo Barrett as his manservant. Initially, Barrett appears to take easily to his new job, and he and Tony form a quiet bond, retaining their social roles. Relationships begin shifting, however, with the introduction of Susan, Tony's girlfriend, who is suspicious of Barrett. She wants Tony to dismiss his serrvant, but he refuses. Barrett introduces his lover Vera, whom he pretends is his sister, into Tony's household as a maidservant. Barrett gets Vera to seduce Tony who, when he eventually catches them together in his bedroom, dismisses them in a rage. Susan, who is present, leaves the house in disgust when she realises what has been going on. But Tony had become reliant on Barrett and now lives in drunken squalor and will not answer the phone when Susan rings him. Finally he encounters Barrett in a pub and allows himself to be persuaded to have his servant back. Gradually the two reverse roles, with Barrett becoming more domineering and Tony retreating into infantalism. In the final scene, Susan finds Tony totally dependent on Barrett, who keeps him supplied with alcohol and fills the house with prostitutes. She strikes Barrett across the face as she leaves and he helps her on with her coat. ===== Architect Leo Waters' life is in trouble, and in order to have some sense of control, he attempts to lord over the other members of his family. His career appears to be going nowhere; his wife Julia is a bored housewife who spends her time tending to the luxurious modern house he has designed for them, their son Martin drops out of college and has no interest in taking up his father's dream of also becoming an architect, and their daughter Christina has entered her mid-teens and her father has started staring at her maturing body in an unfatherly way. Tonya Neely is a black community organizer who lives in the high-rise public housing Leo designed several years before. Her own son committed suicide and her eldest daughter just sits at home all day, while her youngest daughter has managed to get a scholarship at a fancy school in a middle-class neighborhood where she lives with a wealthy black family, and feels ashamed of her background and even her own mother. Many of the residents in the housing block want the projects razed, but the local gangs are content to control the blocks where they sell drugs. One day, Tonya turns up at one of the lectures Leo gives at the local university's school of architecture – where he comes across as a jaded teacher – to confront him over his work and to ask him to sign her petition calling for their demolition. He initially defends his own work, but later comes up with his own idea of how to improve the housing blocks by the addition of glass and artwork. Tonya arrives at his house to see the scheme but is appalled at his approach, especially as he has not even bothered to visit the area to see how it has failed. His wife turns to support Tonya. Martin had been sitting in the lecture hall when Tonya confronted his father and becomes intrigued enough to visit the area, and begins a friendship with a black boy, Shawn, who turns out to be a gay prostitute and who initially thinks Martin has come to the area to pick up men. They end up having sex, anyway. In the meantime, Christina has realized that her own father has started looking at her maturing body too closely: she wishes to escape his overbearing control yet also seek affirmation of her own maturity, for which she puts herself at risk by going to a bar, getting picked up first by a young student but then ditching him for a truck driver with whom she offers to have sex, which he refuses. Things come to a head when Julia announces that she is leaving Leo. He goes to the housing block and meets Tonya. He agrees to sign her petition, but she informs him that the authorities have already agreed to demolish them. Leo walks to the roof of the block where he unexpectedly bumps into his own son. ===== One day in Tokyo, a yellow Labrador Retriever puppy is born among a litter of five. This puppy is unique, wherein he has a bird-shaped mark on his left side. Following a simple communication test, he is selected to become a guide dog; hence his first parting. After being picked up by dog trainer Satoru Tawada, the puppy is flown to Kyoto to live with Isamu and Mitsuko Nii - a married couple who are "puppy walkers", people who raise guide dogs for a year. There, the couple name him "Quill", after discovering the word in an English-Japanese dictionary. As soon as Quill reaches the age of one, he is handed back to Tawada to undergo guide dog training; this becomes his second parting. At first, Quill has difficulty learning the basic skills, but one day, while tending to another dog, Tawada notices that Quill is excellent in waiting - an important trait in a guide dog. During training, Quill is introduced to Mitsuru Watanabe, a blind journalist who has relied on a white cane since losing his eyesight. Watanabe, at first, is skeptical about using a guide dog, but after walking with Quill for the first time, he realizes that he can travel faster and safer with the dog. Watanabe then undergoes training to work with Quill; most of the training involves learning English-language commands, so as to not confuse Quill when other people around him are talking in Japanese. He fails the final examination after not listening to Quill's warnings on obstacles, but they begin to work more cohesively for Watanabe to obtain his guide dog owner license. Quill moves in with Watanabe's family and works with his master for two years. Then one day, Watanabe is confined to the hospital when his diabetes takes its turn for the worse, resulting in kidney failure. Quill is returned to the training center, where he works as a demonstration dog for two years before finally reuniting with Watanabe. Their walk, however, is their final one, as Watanabe dies a few days later. Quill's third parting occurs after visiting Watanabe's funeral. Quill no longer works as a guide dog; instead, he becomes the center's demonstration dog for seven years before he is reunited with the Nii family. He lives a happy and peaceful life for a year, but one day, while playing at the backyard, he falls off a step and breaks several bones. As they look over a dying Quill throughout the night, the couple thank him and tell him to tell those in heaven who he is. Quill passes away at the age of 12 years, 25 days. ===== To the confusion of Leela and K9, the Fourth Doctor has a covert meeting with aliens before taking his companions to the Citadel at Gallifrey. Once there, he lays claim to the vacant Presidency as his right by Time Lord law - he is the only candidate, as established in the story The Deadly Assassin. While reviewing the presidential suite, he orders it lined with lead. During his induction ceremony, the Crown of Rassilon seems to reject him, and he's injured. Leela is accused of having attacked him, when in fact she tried to help him, and she's banished from the Citadel. Later, in front of the gathered Time Lords, the Doctor greets three figures that materialise within the Citadel, the Vardans, whom he had met before coming to Gallifrey, and addresses them as the Time Lords' new masters. Amid the confusion, the compliant Castellan Kelner kowtows to the Vardans and assists them in taking over, issuing arrests and ordering banishment for any Time Lords that he sees uncooperative. The Doctor confides in Chancellor Borusa, once they're in his lead-lined suite that the Vardans can read their thoughts but the lead blocks this. The Doctor plans to lock the Vardans away in a time lock on their home planet as they are a dangerous race, but needed to take this facade as to determine the location of their homeworld, and banished Leela for her own safety. The Doctor later explains the same to the Citadel guard commander Andred, using a force field from the TARDIS to shield his thoughts, as to gain his help. Meanwhile, Leela has faith that the Doctor's actions are towards a larger goal, and along with the banished Time Lady Rodan, travel across the wastelands of Gallifrey. They meet a group of outsiders that have abandoned Time Lord ways, led by Nesbin. Leela explains the situation at the Citadel, and Nesbin agrees to help, assembling a resistance force to help take the Citadel back. When Kelner and the Vardans accuse the Doctor of being untrustworthy, he offers to show his commitment by dismantling the quantum forcefield that surrounds Gallifrey, which would allow the Vardans' full invasion force to arrive. However, the Doctor tricks them, and only creates a small hole in the forcefield, large enough for K9 to trace the Vardans to their home planet and engage the time lock, causing the Vardans to disappear. The situation seems resolved but moments later, a squad of Sontaran warriors transport into the Citadel. Their leader, Commander Stor, explains they had used the Vardans to help disable the forcefield, and seizes control of the Citadel. While Kelner quickly aligns with the Sontarans, the Doctor, Borusa, and their allies escape, regrouping with Leela, Rodan, Nesbin, and the other outsiders. Leela joins Andred to help defend the Citadel with the combined resistance group and Citadel guards, while Rodan repairs the hole in the forcefield. The Doctor wants the Great Key of Rassilon, but there is no record of it. He deduces that Rassilon gave the key to the first chancellor and that its location has been handed down from chancellor to chancellor ever since. He convinces Borusa to give it to him, which he plans to use to power a Demat Gun, a weapon that erases its target from all of time. Stor learns of this and orders a squad of Sontarans to give chase in the Doctor's TARDIS with assistance from Kelner. The Doctor is able to elude them within the labyrinthine corridors of the TARDIS, and with Rodan and K9's help, constructs the Demat Gun. He goes out into the Citadel to find Stor, who is attempting to destroy the entire galaxy, including Stor and the Sontaran fleet, with a bomb. The Doctor fires the Demat Gun, and the Sontaran invaders disappear, ending the threat. When he awakes, the Doctor remembers nothing of the events, and Borusa calls it the "wisdom of Rassilon", as he can return the key to its hiding place. He then has Kelner arrested for treason and starts the process of rebuilding the Citadel. As the Doctor prepares to leave, Leela announces she plans to stay behind with Andred, as they have found a romantic interest in each other, and K9 also insists he must stay to help Leela. After saying his goodbyes, the Doctor enters the TARDIS, pulls out a large crate labeled "K9 MII", and breaks the fourth wall and grins at the audience. ===== With Darken Rahl defeated, Richard and Kahlan head back to the Mud People to be married. As they wait for their wedding day to approach, they discover three Sisters of Light are pursuing Richard, intending to take him back to the Old World to be trained as a Wizard. Additionally, unbeknownst to Richard and Kahlan, the veil has been torn and the Stone of Tears has entered the world. According to prophecy, the only person who has a chance at closing the veil is the one bonded to the blade, the one born true. After the death of Darken Rahl and planning his wedding to Kahlan, Richard is afflicted by a series of painful headaches. He also learns from Shota that he is the bastard son of Darken Rahl and the grandson (on his mother's side) of Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. Richard gets a visit from three Sisters of the Light (Sisters Grace, Elizabeth and Verna), who inform him that his headaches are caused by the awakening of the gift within him and are fatal and unstoppable, unless he receives magical training. The Sisters tell him that he must go with them and wear a Rada'Han, a magical collar, in order to control his headaches and the gift. They also explain that they will offer him their help three times, and, if he refuses each time, they will not be able to help him ever again. Richard refuses twice, and each time a Sister commits suicide. Seeking guidance on how to repair the veil, Richard and Kahlan request another "gathering"; this involves turning to the "ancestors' spirits" for help. But instead of being able to speak to the spirits, Richard and Kahlan are sent down to the underworld and are placed face-to-face with Darken Rahl. Rahl touches Richard with the Keeper's mark, making him unconscious and lets Kahlan know that Richard is only minutes away from death. As Kahlan desperately tries to save Richard, a glowing spirit emerges, Denna, who tells Kahlan that she has to force Richard into wearing the collar; if he does not, the headaches will kill him and everything will be lost. Denna then takes Richard's mark, and is sent down to the underworld and the Keeper. As the third and final Sister returns, Kahlan tells Richard that he has to put on the collar. When he tries to explain his reluctance, Kahlan makes him believe that the only way to prove his love for her is to wear it. Richard reluctantly agrees to wear the collar and the sister reveals to them that the third reason for wearing the collar is to inflict pain on the wearer. He leaves, telling her merely to find Zedd. Devastated, Richard submits to the remaining Sister, and leaves with her to go to the Palace of Prophets. Richard travels with Sister Verna to the Palace of the Prophets, which is located in the Old World. Along the way, they pass between the Barrier, and Richard is drawn to one of the black towers, and is compelled to collect some of the black sand he finds. Later, he is instructed to execute a captive woman as tribute to pass through tribal land, but refuses and chooses to free the woman instead, who promises to take them through the Baku Ban Mana lands. Despite a promise of safe passage, she forces Richard into a battle with thirty Baka Ban Mana blademasters as their oath dictates. Richard slaughters them by tapping in the Sword of Truth's collective knowledge of blade fighting. Killing them all, he is bound to marry the priestess, and Richard gives her his magic whistle of the Bird Man to attack the neighboring tribes' crops and force a peace between them. Arriving at the Palace of the Prophets, Richard threatens to kill anyone who prevents him from leaving, stating he is a prisoner, not a guest or a student. However, Richard is treated lavishly, and given absurd amounts of gold, which are symbols of his status as a novice wizard, designed to make him not see value in personal wealth. Rather, he uses the money to bribe the entire staff of the Palace to his service, even hiring a brothel on retainer to service the guards. He discovers he is a war wizard: one who has the gift of both additive and subtractive magic. Later, he learns from Nathan Rahl, another wizard in the Palace of the Prophets and Richard's ancient ancestor, that he is the first to be born with such power in three thousand years. It is revealed that the Prelate brought Richard to the Palace to flush out the Sisters of the Dark, a secret society within the Sisters of the Light dedicated to the task of unleashing the Keeper into the world of the living. Kahlan embarks on a long trek back to her home of Aydindril along with three mud people. Along the way, they come across a sacked city, Ebinissia, with the inhabitants' corpses filling the streets and the surrounding countryside. Kahlan and the three mud people race to catch up with a band of some five thousand troops that are trailing the enemy which sacked Ebinissia. She is shocked to realize that these soldiers are all teenagers and entirely undertrained and unprepared to attack the seasoned, well organized and vastly superior enemy forces. She assumes command of the army and organizes a series of guerilla attacks on what she now knows to be The Imperial Order. Victorious, Kahlan returns to Ayndindril, where she stumbles across Zedd and the sorceress Adie, both of whom had their memories deleted earlier. She returns his memory by telling him that Richard is with the Sisters of the Light. Enraged, Zedd tells Kahlan he will have her beheaded for what she has done, and that she has condemned Richard to a thousand years of his literal nightmares. After months at the Palace, Richard escapes after killing several Sisters of the Dark. Knowing he must save the world first, he travels to D'hara. At the Peoples Palace, Richard destroys a spell from a Sister of the Dark by using the black sorcerer's sand to corrupt the spell. He then avoids making a last moment mistake by placing the Stone of Tears on Darken Rahl. Richard returns the Stone of Tears to the underworld and once again defeats the Keeper, he rushes to Aydindril to find Kahlan. Upon finding Kahlan has already been executed, Richard kills all the councillors who sentenced her to death. Finding Kahlan's grave, he realizes that Zedd has cast a death spell to make all believe that Kahlan is dead. Denna's spirit visited the both of them and they were reunited in a place between worlds. ===== In a remote underwater facility, doctors Susan McCallister and Jim Whitlock are doing research on mako sharks to help in the re-activation of dormant human brain cells like those found in Alzheimer's disease patients. After one of the sharks escapes the facility and attempts to attack a boat full of young adults, financial backers send corporate executive Russell Franklin to investigate the facility. Susan and Jim prove their research is working by testing a certain protein complex that was removed from the brain tissue of their largest shark, which bites off Jim's right arm upon awakening in the laboratory. Brenda Kerns, the tower's operator, calls a helicopter to evacuate Jim, but as he is being lifted, the cable jams and it causes Jim to fall into the shark pen. The largest shark grabs the stretcher and pulls the helicopter into the tower, killing Brenda and the pilots, as well as causing massive explosions that severely damage the facility. In the laboratory, Susan, Russell, wrangler Carter Blake, marine biologist Janice Higgins, and engineer Tom Scoggins witness the shark smash the stretcher against the laboratory's main window, which then shatters, drowning Jim and flooding the facility. The group goes to the facility's wet entry, where they plan to take a submersible to escape. Susan confesses to the others that she and Jim genetically engineered the sharks to increase their brain size, as they were not large enough to harvest sufficient amounts of the protein complex; this had the side effect of making them smarter and more deadly. When the group reaches the wet entry, they discover that the submersible has been damaged. While delivering a monologue emphasizing the need for group unity, Russell is dragged into the submersible pool by one of the sharks and devoured. The remaining crew opts to climb up the elevator shaft at the risk of destabilizing the pool. As they climb, explosive tremors cause the ladder to break, and Janice loses her grip and falls into the shark-infested water. Despite Carter's attempt to save her, one of the two remaining sharks drags Janice under, killing and devouring her. In the facility's kitchen, which has been partially flooded, cook Sherman "Preacher" Dudley, whose parrot is devoured in the process, manages to kill the first shark with an explosion. He then makes his way to the elevator shaft, where he encounters Carter, Tom, and Susan. Carter and Tom go to the flooded laboratory to activate a control panel that drains a stairway to the surface, while Susan heads to her room to collect her research material. Carter and Tom reach the control panel, but the largest shark storms in, killing and ripping Tom apart, and sabotaging the controls. In the other room, Susan encounters another shark, and electrocutes it with a power cable, destroying her research in the process. After regrouping, Carter, Susan, and Preacher go to a decompression chamber and swim to the surface. Preacher is grabbed by the last shark, but is released when he stabs the shark in the eye with his crucifix, though he escapes with injuries to his leg. Carter realizes that the sharks made them flood the facility, so they could escape through the weaker mesh fences at the surface. In an effort to distract the shark from escaping to the open sea, Susan cuts herself and dives into the water. Although she manages to distract the shark, she is unable to get out of the water, and is devoured, despite Carter's efforts to save her. While Carter is grabbing hold of the shark's dorsal fin, Preacher shoots the shark with a harpoon, but also pierces Carter's thigh. As the shark breaks through the fence, Carter orders Preacher to connect the trailing wire to a battery, sending an electric current through the wire and to an explosive charge in the harpoon, killing the shark. In the end, Carter reveals that he had managed to free himself in time, and joins Preacher to see a workers' boat en route on the horizon. ===== Terisa Morgan opens the series living a vacant life, supported by her father from afar and volunteering at a mission for lack of anything more purposeful to do with her time. She fills her apartment with mirrors so as to see her reflection, and thus be constantly reassured of her existence. Geraden, an apprentice Imager (magician) from a land called Mordant appears in her apartment, searching for aid against a powerful enemy who has been plaguing Mordant with monsters translated from other worlds. As mirrors are inextricably linked with magic in Mordant, Terisa's home decor convinces him that he has stumbled into the lair of a powerful sorceress. He persuades her to accompany him back to the Castle Orison, where she finds herself embroiled in a morass of intrigue and danger from both the political plotting of a corrupt court and from the frightening magical creatures that appear without warning and can't seem to be defended against. As she soon finds out, the mirrors of this world show anything but what is in front of them; in fact, mirrors are gateways to other worlds (or to a different point in the same world) and could be manipulated in a variety of ways to effect what amounts to magic. Terisa is suddenly the center of attention, a position that she has never before held, which is not easy because Geraden is held in little regard at the castle; so court opinion naturally is divided on whether she should be taken seriously as a potentially powerful ally, threat, or treated as an object of ridicule and proof of Geraden's perceived incompetence. She must deal with the ever-earnest Geraden, the (seemingly) senile King Joyse and his headstrong daughters, the mad Adept Havelock, the inimical Castellan Lebbick, Geraden's mostly-well-meaning brothers, the lascivious Master Eremis and the rest of the disorganized group of Imager masters Geraden belongs to known collectively as the Congery. Unsurprisingly, the story twists and turns, very little is as it seems in Orison and various groups plot to depose King Joyse and take over Mordant. The mysterious rogue Imager is still sending magical creatures to cause destruction seemingly without rhyme or reason; the High King's Monomach, the best swordsmen in the land, appears in Orison by seemingly impossible translations; and Geraden remains firmly convinced that he has not made a mistake and that Terisa definitely is to be Mordant's champion and salvation despite her own doubts, protests, and debilitating passivity. ===== Don Diego Vega (Tyrone Power) is urgently called home by his father. To all outward appearances, he is the foppish son of wealthy ranchero and former Alcalde Don Alejandro Vega (Montagu Love), having returned to California after his military education in Spain. Don Diego is horrified at the way the common people are now mistreated by the corrupt Alcalde, Luis Quintero (J. Edward Bromberg), who had forced his father from the position of Alcalde. Don Diego adopts the guise of El Zorro ("The Fox"), a masked outlaw dressed entirely in black, who becomes the defender of the common people and a champion for justice. In the meantime he romances the Alcalde's beautiful and innocent niece, Lolita (Linda Darnell), whom he grows to love. As part of his plan, Don Diego simultaneously flirts with the Alcalde's wife Inez (Gale Sondergaard), filling her head with tales of Madrid fashion and culture and raising her desire to move there with her corrupt husband, Luis. In both his guises Don Diego must contend with the governor's ablest henchman, the malevolent Captain Esteban Pasquale (Basil Rathbone). He eventually dispatches the Captain in a fast-moving rapier duel-to-the-death, forcing a regime change; Don Diego's plan all along. ===== A colorized lobby card showing a scene from the film, 1920 The Mark of Zorro tells the story of Don Diego Vega, the outwardly foppish son of a wealthy ranchero Don Alejandro in the old Spanish California of the early 19th century. Seeing the mistreatment of the peons by rich landowners and the oppressive colonial government, Don Diego, who is not as effete as he pretends, has taken the identity of the masked Robin Hood-like rogue Señor Zorro ("Mr. Fox"), champion of the people, who appears out of nowhere to protect them from the corrupt administration of Governor Alvarado, his henchman the villainous Captain Juan Ramon and the brutish Sergeant Pedro Gonzales (Noah Beery, Wallace Beery's older half-brother). With his sword flashing and an athletic sense of humor, Zorro scars the faces of evildoers with his mark, "Z". When not in the disguise of Zorro, dueling and rescuing peons, Don Diego courts the beautiful Lolita Pulido with bad magic tricks and worse manners. She cannot stand him. Lolita is also courted by Captain Ramon; and by the dashing Zorro, whom she likes. In the end, when Lolita's family is jailed, Don Diego throws off his masquerade, whips out his sword, wins over the soldiers to his side, forces Governor Alvarado to abdicate, and wins the hand of Lolita, who is delighted to discover that her effeminate suitor, Diego, is actually the dashing hero. ===== Main character Meg Murry is worried about her brother Charles Wallace, a 6-year-old genius bullied at school by the other children. The new principal of the elementary school is the former high school principal, Mr. Jenkins, who often disciplined Meg, and who Meg is sure has a grudge against her whole family. Meg tries to enlist Jenkins's help in protecting her brother, but is unsuccessful. Later, Meg discovers that Charles Wallace has a progressive disease that is leaving him short of breath. Their mother, a microbiologist, suspects it may be a disorder of his mitochondria and his mitochondria's farandolae. (The farandolae are micro-organelles inside mitochondria that exist in the Time Quintet fantasy universe.) One afternoon, Charles Wallace tells Meg of a "drive of dragons" in their back yard, where he and Meg thereupon discover a pile of unusual feathers. Later, Meg has a frightening encounter with a monstrous facsimile of Mr. Jenkins. That night, Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe discover that Charles Wallace's "drive of dragons" is an extraterrestrial "cherubim" named Proginoskes (nicknamed 'Progo' by Meg), under the tutelage of the immense humanoid Blajeny, who recruits the three children to counteract the Echthroi. Meg's first task, on the next day, is to distinguish the real Mr. Jenkins from two Echthroi doubles, by identification of the (potential) goodness in him despite her personal grudge. The protagonists then learn that Echthroi are destroying Charles Wallace's farandolae, and travel inside one of his mitochondria, to persuade a larval farandola, named Sporos, to accept its role as a mature fara, against the urgings of an Echthros. In the process, Meg is nearly annihilated, and Mr. Jenkins is invaded by his Echthros doubles; whereafter Proginoskes sacrifices himself to "fill in" the emptiness of the Echthroi, and Charles Wallace is saved. ===== Paul Bland is a balding wine snob who works at a cheap wine shop, and his attractive wife Mary is a nurse who is routinely groped by hospital patients. They bemoan their status, and dream of opening a restaurant. A loving but exceptionally prudish couple, they sleep in separate beds and disapprove of sex, except for "a little hugging and kissing". When Paul is fired, they are left with barely enough money to get by, and despair that they will ever realize their dream. Their plight is exacerbated by the fact that they live in an apartment building that is a regular site of swinger parties, which they despise. When a drunk swinger wanders into their apartment and tries to rape Mary, Paul hits him on the head with a cast-iron frying pan, unintentionally killing him. Figuring that no one will miss him, they take his money and put his body in the trash incinerator. Later, they kill another swinger in a similar fashion, and realize that they could make money by killing "rich perverts". They get advice on infiltrating the swinger community from one of the building's orgy regulars, Doris the Dominatrix. Mary lures men by promising to satisfy their sexual fetishes, and when they try to have sex with her, the otherwise timid Paul becomes alarmed enough to kill them with the frying pan. The Blands are surprised to learn how efficient their scheme is. After finding a flyer for cheap lock-installation service on their car, they decide – for the safety of Paul's wine collection – to have a new lock installed on their apartment. The locksmith is Raoul Mendoza, who uses the service as a scam which enables him to commit burglary of his customers. Using his own key, he sneaks into the Blands' apartment the following night, and stumbles across the corpse of the Blands' latest victim. Paul confronts Raoul, and with each in a compromising position, they strike a deal: neither will report the other, and Raoul will dispose of the bodies, which he says he can "exchange" for cash for them to split. One night, Mary's client does not show up, so Paul leaves to buy groceries (and a new frying pan, since Mary is "a bit squeamish about cooking with the one we use to kill people"), leaving her alone. However the client arrives late, refuses to accept Mary's protest that he missed his appointment, and tries to rape her. Raoul happens to arrive, and strangles the client. Raoul then offers Mary marijuana and they have sex. Paul subsequently becomes suspicious of Raoul and follows him, discovering that he has been selling the bodies to a dog food company, and – unbeknownst to Paul and Mary – selling the victims' expensive cars and keeping the money. Raoul and Mary have sex again, and he tries to persuade her to run away with him. He tries to run Paul over with a car, who responds by hiring Doris the Dominatrix to use her costuming and role-playing experience help get rid of him. She poses as an immigration agent threatening Raoul – a Mexican immigrant – with deportation, and a public health worker who gives him pills that are secretly saltpeter, to render him sexually impotent. These schemes do not work. The Blands are in danger of losing the property they wish to buy for the restaurant to another buyer. To drum up business quickly, they attend a swingers party in search of victims. Paul loses his temper and hurls a space heater into the hot tub, killing all of the partygoers and enabling Paul and Mary to take all their money and sell the cars themselves. A drunken Raoul breaks into the Blands' apartment and threatens to kill Paul for not sharing the money from the cars, and because he wants Mary for himself. He informs Paul that he and Mary will be getting married, and tells Mary to bring a frying pan to kill Paul. Instead, Mary lures Raoul into the kitchen and kills him. Mary and Paul remember that their real estate agent (who is helping them buy the restaurant) is due to arrive soon for dinner. With no meat in the house and no time to buy any, they cook Raoul and serve him for dinner, describing the dish – which the agent suggests they include on the menu – as "Spanish". The last shot of the film is Paul and Mary smiling in front of their new restaurant, with the caption, "Bon Appétit". ===== US cover of The Long Patrol Tamello De Fformelo Tussock (or Tammo), a young hare who lives at Camp Tussock, longs to be part of the Long Patrol at Salamandastron. However, his father, Cornspurrey De Fformelo Tussock, will not hear of it. He believes that his son is too young to join up. Against her husband's wishes, Tammo's mother, Mem Divinia, prepares for him to leave during the night with Russa Nodrey, a wandering squirrel who is a friend of the family. The two then set off to find the Long Patrol. Along the way, they encounter the ferrets Skulka and Gromal. They do eventually meet up with the Long Patrol, but Russa is killed saving a baby badger, who is named Russano by one of the hares, Rockjaw Grang, in Russa's honour. Meanwhile, Gormad Tunn, the rat leader of the Rapscallion army has been dying from mortal wounds. The Rapscallions are in fear of Cregga Rose Eyes, the ruler of Salamandastron. Tunn's two sons, Byral Fleetclaw and Damug Warfang, fight to the death to determine who will be the new commander of the Rapscallions. Damug kills Byral through treachery and takes over control of the army, which he commands to move inland. At Redwall Abbey, the inhabitants discover that the south wall is mysteriously sinking into the ground. Foremole Diggum and his crew believe the best thing to do is to knock the wall down and re-build it. During the night, a storm brings a tree down on the wall, making the moles' job easier but also leaving the Abbey open to attack. The broken wall reveals a well, which turns out to be part of the ancient castle Kotir. Abbess Tansy, Friar Butty, Shad the Gatekeeper, Giygas, and Craklyn the Recorder investigate below. After a harrowing journey, they find the treasure of Verdauga Greeneyes, the long-dead lord of Kotir. The Long Patrol goes to Redwall, hoping to inform the denizens about the threat posed by Damug. At the abbey, the spirit of Martin the Warrior appears to Tammo, instructing him to go in the company of the hare Midge Manycoats to Damug's camp. Disguised as a vermin seer, Midge advises Damug not to attack the vulnerable abbey directly, but suggests an alternate place and time instead, buying the defenders precious time to prepare themselves. When the hare Rockjaw Grang is killed by the Rapscallions, Cregga's dreams direct her to the ridge where Midge has directed the battle to occur. Meanwhile, the Redwallers have gathered all the allies they can find, and with the Long Patrol, they battle a losing effort against the rat hordes. At a crucial point in the battle when it seems Damug might win, Lady Cregga Rose Eyes appears with the rest of the Salamandastron hares. She seizes Damug and strangles him, but he hacks at her face, blinding her in the process. The hares and Redwallers are eventually victorious, and the treasure brought back from Kotir by the Friar Butty is melted down into medals for the creatures that fought in battle. The ridge is named The Ridge of a Thousand after the vermin horde that lost all thousand of their number. In the end, Tammo marries the beautiful Pasque Valerian, the healer of the Long Patrol, and travels to Salamandastron. Cregga remains at Redwall Abbey as the new Badger Mother, and Russano, later on, journeys to Salamandastron, with Russa's hardwood stick as his weapon. He will turn out to be one of the only Badger Lords never to be possessed by the Bloodwrath (the berserk rage Cregga and others suffered from). ===== Netherland opens on protagonist Hans van den Broek, a Dutch financial analyst living in London with his English wife Rachel, but quickly flashes back to the years Hans spent in New York City before and in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. At the beginning of the novel, Hans is preparing to return to Manhattan for the funeral of estranged friend Chuck Ramkissoon, who becomes the central figure of the novel. Chuck, a Trinidadian immigrant, guides Hans into and through the world of The Staten Island Cricket Club, most of whose members are also of West Indian or South Asian descent. Chuck is a charismatic idealist, running multiple (occasionally illegitimate) businesses, and making big, optimistic plans for the future. While Hans is swept along by Chuck’s magnetic ardor for the American dream, Rachel moves back to London under the pretense of safety for their young son and ideological indignation over the American fixation on economic oppression. Though Rachel is a markedly less likeable character than Chuck, Hans eventually, inevitably follows her back to London. He loses touch with his Trinidadian friend who is discovered, years later, simply a body, handcuffed and disposed of in the Gowanus Canal. ===== Mr. Neville (Anthony Higgins), a young, arrogant artist and something of a Byronic hero, is contracted by Mrs. Virginia Herbert (Janet Suzman) to produce a series of twelve landscape drawings of her country house, its outbuildings and gardens, for her absent and estranged husband. Part of the contract is that Mrs. Herbert agrees "to meet Mr. Neville in private and to comply with his requests concerning his pleasure with me". Several sexual encounters between them follow, each indicating reluctance or distress on the part of Mrs Herbert and sexual aggression or insensitivity on the part of Mr Neville. During his stay, Mr. Neville becomes disliked by several of its visitors and inhabitants, especially by Mrs. Herbert's son-in-law, Mr. Talmann (Hugh Fraser). Mrs. Herbert, wearied of meeting Mr. Neville for his pleasure, tries to terminate the contract before the drawings are completed. Neville refuses and continues as before. Then Mrs. Herbert's married but childless daughter, Mrs. Talmann (Anne-Louise Lambert), blackmails him into a second contract in which he agrees to comply with her pleasure, rather than his. Mr Herbert's body is discovered in the moat. Mr. Neville completes his drawings and leaves but returns to make an unlucky thirteenth drawing. In the evening, while Mr. Neville is apparently finishing the final sketch, he is approached by a masked man, obviously Mr. Talmann in disguise, who is then joined by the estate manager and Mrs. Herbert's ex fiancé, Mr. Noyes, neighbour Mr. Seymore and the Poulencs, eccentric local landowner twins. The party accuses Mr. Neville of the murder of Mr. Herbert, for the drawings can be interpreted to suggest more than one illegal act and to implicate more than one person. When he denies the accusation, the group ask Mr. Neville to remove his hat. He agrees mockingly, at which point they hit him on the head, burn out his eyes, club him to death and then throw him into the moat at the place where Mr. Herbert's body was found. ===== Pan Tau makes his first appearance helping a young boy, who is reluctantly attending piano lessons, to overcome his boredom. ===== ===== Pan Tau meets dysfunctional family Urban and decides to bring back Alfonz, Father Urban's brother (and a dead lookalike of Pan Tau), from a lonely island Alfonz has fled to in his adventurous youth for a Robinson-like life. ===== ===== At the very beginning of Shadowgate, the only information the game provides the player is that, > "The last thing that you remember is standing before the wizard Lakmir as he > gestured wildly and chanted in an archaic tongue. Now you find yourself > staring at an entryway which lies at the edge of a forest. The Druid's words > still ring in your ears: “Within the walls of the Castle Shadowgate lies > your quest. If the prophecies hold true, the dreaded Warlock Lord will use > his dark magic to raise the Behemoth, the deadliest of the Titans, from the > depths of the earth. You are the seed of prophecy, the last of the line of > kings, and only you can stop the Warlock Lord from darkening our world > FOREVER. Fare thee well." It is then up to the player to gather more information about the world through examining objects and reading any scrolls or books they come across. While reading some of the in-game books and scrolls are necessary to finish the game, others only provide exposition about the world Shadowgate takes place in. Reading the book Before Shadowgate, the comic book Shadowgate Saga: Raven, and playing the sequels Beyond Shadowgate and Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers reveals more details. ===== When Joseph Mason of Groby Park, Yorkshire, died, he left his estate to his family. A codicil to his will, however, left Orley Farm (near London) to his much younger second wife and infant son. The will and the codicil were in her handwriting, and there were three witnesses, one of whom was no longer alive. A bitterly fought court case confirmed the codicil. Twenty years pass. Lady Mason lives at Orley Farm with her adult son, Lucius. Samuel Dockwrath, a tenant, is asked to leave by Lucius, who wants to try new intensive farming methods. Aggrieved, and knowing of the original case (John Kenneby, one of the codicil witnesses, had been an unsuccessful suitor of his wife Miriam Usbech), Dockwrath investigates and finds a second deed signed by the same witnesses on the same date, though they can remember signing only one. He travels to Groby Park in Yorkshire, where Joseph Mason the younger lives with his comically parsimonious wife, and persuades Mason to have Lady Mason prosecuted for perjury. The prosecution fails, but Lady Mason later confesses privately that she committed the forgery, and is prompted by conscience to give up the estate. There are various subplots. The main one deals with a slowly unfolding romance between Felix Graham (a young and relatively poor barrister without family) and Madeline Staveley, daughter of Judge Stavely of Noningsby. Graham has a long-standing engagement to the penniless Mary Snow, whom he supports and educates while she is being "moulded" to be his wife. Between the Staveleys at Alston and Orley Farm at Hamworth lies the Cleve, where Sir Peregrine Orme lives with his daughter-in- law, Mrs. Orme, and grandson, Peregrine. Sir Peregrine falls in love with Lady Mason and is briefly engaged to her, but she confesses her crime to Sir Peregine, and they call off the match. Meanwhile, Mr. Furnival, another barrister, befriends Lady Mason, arousing the jealousy of his wife. His daughter, Sophia, has a brief relationship with Augustus Stavely and a brief engagement to Lucius Mason. Eventually Furnival and his wife are reconciled, and Sophia's engagement is dropped. Sophia is portrayed as an intelligent woman who writes comically skilful letters. ===== The storyline features members of one of two factions, both capable of time travel, engaged in a long-term conflict called "The Change War". Their method of battle involves changing the outcomes of events throughout history (temporal war). The two opposing groups are nicknamed the Spiders and the Snakes after their respective sponsors. The true forms or identities of the Spiders and the Snakes, how those nicknames were chosen, or whether they are in any way descriptive are all unknown. The narrator of the novel is Greta, a young human female employed at a Recuperation Station where soldiers recover from battles. Greta is an Entertainer: part prostitute, part nurse, part psychotherapist. However, other characters narrate parts of the story in lengthy monologues about their experiences and opinions as they visit the spider-staffed facility. New soldiers, entertainers, and medical staff are recruited by existing Change War participants from various places and times; characters include: Cretan Amazons, Roman legionnaires, eight-tentacled Lunans (natives of a civilization that thrived on Earth's Moon a billion years ago), Hussars, Wehrmacht Landsers, Venusian satyrs (recruited from Venus a billion years in the future), American GIs, and Space Commandos. Soldiers from the armies of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Stalin may find themselves fighting side-by-side or on opposing sides. Likewise, medical staff and entertainers are inducted into the temporal war to provide medical treatment, rest, and relaxation for injured and weary combatants. Within the context of the story, the Universe as we know it runs on the Little Time. The Change War combatants and their facilities (places such as Field Hospitals, Express Rooms, Recuperation Stations, and Entertainment Spots), located within artificially-created bubbles of spacetime outside of the Universe, run on the Big Time. The Big Time is described metaphorically by the narrator as a train traveling through the Little Time's countryside. Combat operations occur when soldiers venture into a time and place in the Little Time on orders from their superiors. Adding to the atmosphere of cynicism about the war's aims and causes is the revelation that one of its effects was to change history and cause an Axis victory in World War II. However devastating this development is to 20th Century humanity, now doomed to live under the worldwide oppressive and genocidal rule of Nazi Germany, in the context of the overall Spider-Snake cosmic conflict, this change was incidental and of only marginal importance. The first few chapters establish the backstory, setting, amazing futuristic technology and characters. The main plot of the novel involves the discovery of a time bomb in the Recuperation Station, and the attempts to defuse the bomb and identify the saboteur, essentially a locked room mystery within a science fiction context. ===== Eric, a sculptor living in the Netherlands, wakes up recalling a disturbing dream. In the following scenes, he is frantically picking up random women from the streets and taking them back to his studio for sex. However, he is clearly distressed about something, and it turns out that this is the aftermath of his relationship with Olga. The movie recounts this relationship. Olga picks him up when he is hitchhiking and they hit it off immediately, both sexually and mentally. Their relationship is opposed by Olga's mother who feels that a Bohemian sculptor who earns little from occasional commissions, is an unsuitable match, although the father is more sympathetic. Nevertheless, they get married, and Olga's family accepts him. They begin living together but Olga starts acting strangely. She goes into a reverie on her production line job and, at a party organised by her family, she flirts with a businessman. Eric slaps her and she leaves him. Eric trashes his studio, destroying anything that reminded him of Olga. This brings the movie to the point where it opened, ending the flashback. Eric is still obsessed with Olga, but sees her only occasionally. She acts more and more outrageously, often in the presence of other men. Her family refuses to let Eric visit her, until he says he has come to arrange a divorce. After a while, Olga marries an American businessman but later returns from the United States to the Netherlands. One day Eric bumps into Olga who is flamboyantly dressed and acting oddly. She collapses and is taken to the hospital, where she is diagnosed as having a brain tumor. Surgical intervention is attempted but could not remove all of it. It becomes clear that she will die. Eric brings her Turkish delight, which is the only thing she will eat, as she is afraid that harder food will break a loose tooth, although it has been fixed. Soon after, she has a seizure and dies. ===== The opening has the dashing Earl of Huntingdon besting his bitter enemy, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, in a joust. Huntingdon then joins King Richard the Lion-Hearted, who is going off to fight in the Crusades and has left his brother, Prince John, as regent. The prince soon emerges as a cruel, treacherous tyrant. Goaded on by Sir Guy, he usurps Richard's throne. When Huntingdon receives a message from Lady Marian Fitzwalter, his love interest, telling him of all that has transpired, he requests permission to return to England. King Richard assumes that the Earl has turned coward and denies him permission. The Earl seeks to leave in spite of this, but is ambushed by Sir Guy and imprisoned as a deserter. Upon escaping from his confines, he returns to England, endangering his life and honor, to oppose Prince John and restore King Richard's throne. He finds himself and his friends outlawed and Marian apparently dead. Huntingdon returns to Nottingham and adopts the name of Robin Hood, acrobatic champion of the oppressed. Leading a band that steals from the rich to give to the poor, including Friar Tuck, Little John, Will Scarlet, and Allan-a-Dale, he labors to set things right through swashbuckling feats and makes life miserable for Prince John and his cohort, the High Sheriff of Nottingham. After rescuing Marian from Prince John's prison and defeating Sir Guy in a final conflict, Robin is captured. The timely reappearance of King Richard returns him to Marian and foils the efforts of Prince John. ===== The Player assumes the role of a cargo pilot whose plane is shot down by a mysterious force while flying over a remote valley in Romania. A helpful village girl named Deirdre Kristoverikh rescues the Player from the crash and takes the Player to her father Kiril, who informs them that their arrival via plane crash marks them as the chosen one who is prophesied to destroy Kairn. Kairn is the local vampire lord who long ago murdered his father and brothers so he could inherit control of the valley. Becoming a vampire, he's used his powers to cut off contact with the outside world. The valley rests in perpetual darkness or as the game's title suggests a “veil of darkness” and the Player moves about the map, learning of new locations from the populace as you assist in various quests. As Kairn has cut off all ways out of the valley, the only way the Player is going to leave is by fulfilling the Prophecy, an ancient curse put upon Kairn by his original source of power, a tome known as the Agrippa. The Player uses the Prophecy scroll as a guide and after bringing aid to many in the village, finally confronts Kairn at his fortress. The Player defeats Kairn by performing a number of tasks that weaken the vampire to the point that a stake in the heart will kill him. Upon the destruction of Kairn, the Player and Deidre head for America via steamer ship. ===== The story is set in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi from 1970 to 1979. Clanton is also the venue for John Grisham's first novel A Time to Kill which was published in 1989. Some of the characters appear in both novels with the same occupation and characteristics. Although A Time to Kill was published 15 years before The Last Juror, it took place in 1985 (on the first page of Chapter 3, it notes the date as Wednesday, May 15), which is a year after Grisham formed the idea for A Time to Kill, his first novel, and began writing it. Therefore the characters who appear in both novels, such as Lucien Wilbanks and Harry Rex Vonner, have matured in A Time to Kill. Harry Rex Vonner also appears in the novel The Summons, published in 2002, as an adviser of the protagonist Ray Atlee. Some references in the book are clearly hinting at things known to readers of A Time to Kill. For example, in 1970 most blacks in Ford County don't take part in elections - taking for granted that since whites are the great majority in the county, no black candidate would have chance of being elected to local office. However, as A Time to Kill makes clear, a decade later a black Sheriff would be duly elected, with the overwhelming support of blacks and whites alike. The novel is divided into three parts. The first covers the trial of Danny Padgitt, the second focuses on Willie adjusting to life in Clanton, and the third includes the main events, the murder of the jurors. ===== Taking place mainly in Bogotá, Colombia, Betty La Fea is essentially a Cinderella comedy about the rise of poor, ugly Betty Pinzón and the fall of rich, handsome Armando Mendoza. Armando is a very incompetent playboy with a scheme to turn a huge profit as the new president of Eco Moda, a clothing manufacturing company. But his scheme is doomed for his faulty mathematics. Because Betty, his secretary (and economics wizard), is enamored with him, she helps Armando deceive the board of directors as he loses money and brings the company to ruin. The story has three movements: 1) Armando's foolish destruction of Eco Moda, 2) Betty's flight from the disgrace and her vacation in Cartagena where she is transformed to a beauty, and 3) Betty returned to Eco Moda, installed as new president. The structure is much like a classical symphony in three movements. The first is sonata-allegro, acted out with very fast velocity, with the irrational idiocy of Armando vs the calm rationality of Betty while she fantasizes romance with Armando in her mind. The second is a slow short movement with much time spent showing parades and the like in Cartagena counterpoised vs. the degradation of disgraced Armando back in Bogotá, while Betty undergoes a transformation from ugly to beautiful. The third is the stabilization of Eco Moda under Betty's presidency ending with the marriage of Betty and Armando with the birth of their baby. Beatriz Aurora Pinzón Solano, (Betty), is an ugly but brilliant economist working as a secretary at a Colombian fashion empire, EcoModa. Betty constantly faces the scorn of Eco Moda's attractive manager-owners but proves herself indispensable to Eco Moda's new president, Armando Mendoza. Though Betty has a master's degree in finance and graduated at the top of her class, she has always been unable to secure a job interview, because, she claims, her ugly photograph ruins her otherwise impressive résumé. After searching unsuccessfully for a job to match her education and experience, she applies for a position as the secretary to the president of Eco Moda, a highly successful, trendy fashion manufacturer/retailer founded by two families, the Mendozas and the Valencias. She sends her résumé to Eco Moda without a photograph, thus securing an interview. Armando Mendoza, who is Eco Moda's new president, is the handsome and stupid (though supposedly educated) son of the company's retiring co- founder Roberto Mendoza. He is engaged to Marcela Valencia (because he needs her vote to be president). Marcela is an Eco Moda executive and daughter of the deceased co-founder, Julio Valencia. Armando is in search of a new secretary and interviews both Betty and Marcela's best friend, named Patricia Fernández, for the same position. He is reluctant to hire Patricia because he knows that Marcela wants her there to spy on him, given his reputation as a womanizer. Armando then interviews Betty. While he notices her "ugliness", he likes the idea that she is well-educated in economics. In order to please Marcela, Armando decides to hire as his new secretaries both Betty, the ugly but brilliant economist, and the very attractive but air-headed Patricia. Since Eco Moda is a fashion company that is primarily concerned with image and beauty, Patricia is seated in the lobby while Betty is seated in a large storage closet located in Armando's office, to not be shown to the public. Nevertheless, Betty continues to prove herself invaluable as she maneuvers effortlessly in the business and finance milieu, earning respect among industry insiders and the secretaries who would become her close friends, lately called El cuartel de las feas (The club of the ugly women). Betty is almost immediately enamored of love with Armando, but keeps her feelings a secret as she fantasizes about a relationship with him. She is thrilled to hear Armando say something like, "You are the woman that I need". Along the way, Eco Moda falls from Armando's incompetent schemes that cause the company to lose millions of dollars, therefore putting the company into financial ruin. Out of loyalty, and love, to Armando, she helps him launch a new business in her name, which can lend money to Eco Moda and then put an embargo on the company to prevent its creditors from foreclosing it and seizing it if Eco Moda fails. The business plan sets up a legal company named Terra Moda, legally owned by Betty. Terra Moda prevents the banks from taking over Eco Moda, because Terra Moda forecloses on Eco Moda before the other creditors. Once the summer fashion line is released, Eco Moda will be secure in their finances, and Terra Moda can be dissolved. However, Armando asks Betty for the second time to cook the books of the company in order to deceive the board by hiding its ruined status, so he may remain in the presidency. Betty reluctantly agrees to help him with this fraud and asks her best friend, Nicolas Mora, to go along with it. Eco Moda's vice president (and Armando's best friend) Mario Calderon is the only other person at the company who knows about the business plan. However, because of how the plan works, Eco Moda has been taken over by legal process by Terra Moda, setting up Betty as the virtual owner. Mario is concerned that Betty plans to keep the company to herself after they suspect she is involved in a romantic relationship with her best friend (Nicolas Mora). He convinces Armando to make her fall in love with him for security. Armando is sure that Betty could never be so devious, but after hearing rumors about the supposedly relationship between Betty and Nicolas, he begins to worry that they will stay with the company and all its fortune. He takes Mario's advice and starts to seduce Betty, even though he is disgusted by the idea. Once the company is back in Armando's hands, he will break up with Betty and fire her. As the weeks pass by, Betty falls more in love with Armando. In turn, Armando starts seeing past the "ugliness" and looks at the beautiful person that Betty is inside. He genuinely begins to fall in love with her, but keeps his feelings a secret from Mario, who constantly teases him about having to kiss the ugly girl. A couple of days before the budget meeting, Betty discovers a letter from Mario to Armando in a blue gift bag, describing details about the deception that is all disguised with chocolates and other things included in the bag. When the bag accidentally falls into her hands, the very curious Betty accidentally discovers the plan and learns of the deception. Not knowing how to react, Betty falls into a deep depression and silently cries in agony. A heart broken Betty is then discovered by Beauty Queen Cecilia Bolocco (as herself), and tries to care for her. She is refused by Betty's sudden hate and envy for beautiful women. After insisting on helping her, Betty opens up and the two of them have a heart to heart conversation. After Cecilia leaves, Betty begins to have hope that the deception is nothing more than a joke after remembering the wonderful moments that she had with Armando. She then makes photocopies of the letter, and asks the secretaries to return the gift bag as if it was never found. When Armando receives a call from Mario, and he retrieves the gift bag, it is confirmed that the deception is indeed not a joke, and Betty wails silently in agony. She is devastated at how Armando could be so cruel and play with her feelings, but first decides to resign from Eco-Moda, but after a lot of thinking, she decides to play along with Armando's game. Betty first makes Armando believe she is losing feelings for him and falling in love with her childhood friend Nicholas. She begins to torment Armando by spending Eco Moda's money on a luxury car and fancy restaurants and then by spending more time with Nicholas, thus making Armando furiously jealous. After a few days of torment, tears, and fist fights (Nicholas and Armando), Betty realizes she is only making her pain worse by playing along with the game and decides to end it. She exposes the truth of the secret business plan to his family at the meeting by presenting the real balance sheet and not the fake one. At that moment, Armando and Mario realize that she has known about their vicious plan the entire time. The families (who are also stockholders) are informed that Eco Moda is in financial ruin and that Betty is its new owner. However, Betty reveals that Terra Moda was only set up to prevent Eco Moda from going bankrupt and that she is handing back full ownership to the stockholders. Roberto Mendoza chastises Betty on her involvement in such a scheme, knowing her to be an honest woman, and she is banned from the building. Before she leaves, Armando confronts her, only to find out how much Betty was humiliated by his deception. He tries to confess his now true feelings for her, but she refuses to listen. As Betty leaves the building, Marcela suspects her as a thief and demands to know what she is hiding inside a black trash bag where she has been keeping all the fake love letters and gifts. Betty has no choice but to reveal the affair between her and Armando. Marcela is devastated and shocked but was told by Betty that their relationship was nothing more than a cruel plan to make sure she doesn't get away with the company. Marcela cancels the wedding and breaks up with Armando. Everyone, including his family, disowns him. Hurt and heartbroken, Betty immediately takes a job as the assistant to a fashion icon who is in charge of the Miss Colombia Pageant. She runs to the airport to catch a flight to Cartagena. She decides to confide the whole truth to her new boss, Catalina Angel, who has also been her guardian angel and close friend throughout her hard times in Eco Moda. Armando is desperate to find Betty, but cannot. He must also deal with the fallout of the business situation Eco Moda is now in. Armando is fired and his father comes out of retirement to take over the presidential duties. The attorney realizes that Betty did not correctly turn over the business back to the stockholders, therefore Betty and Terra Moda are still the rightful owners of the company, thus preventing the bank from seizing control. Knowing that the only way to save the company is to continue with the "business plan" until after the summer fashion line, the stockholders have no choice but to beg Betty to come back and run the company. The only problem is that they can't find her. Meanwhile, Betty is surrounded by all the beautiful pageant ladies and has become fast friends with a gorgeous French photographer (Michel) who would later find interest in her. Catalina helps Betty come out of her shell and slowly helps Betty shed some of her ugliness. First she convinces Betty to accept an advance on her salary so that she can buy clothes that complement her figure better. The next day she takes Betty to a hair stylist and asks them to give her a more modern cut. A few days later she is taken back to the hair stylist to have her unibrow and stache waxed out and she is fixed with make up. Catalina "accidentally" breaks her nerdy glasses and the new pair is much more suited to her face. It seems that Betty has shed her ugliness overnight and looks quite beautiful. But then gets a call from her father saying that she needs to return to finish some business with EcoModa. Reluctantly, she returns home after finishing her work in Cartagena. When she walks into Eco Moda, nobody recognizes her. Everyone is quite shocked at her transformation, for example ,Patricia passing rumors to Marcela ("Marcela! I hate her! She spent Eco Moda's money in facial surgery!"). Thinking that Betty is still spending the company's money after purchasing a Mercedes-Benz (which is the luxury car like the one Patricia had, before it was repossessed and towed away from Patricia), and for the fancy restaurants. Roberto tells Betty about the critical financial situation they are in and asks Betty to help him save the company from going bankrupt. Although hesitant about working at Eco Moda once again, Betty agrees, feeling some unfortunate responsibility as to why they are in that situation. She is to be the new president of Eco Moda until the company can be financially stable again. Months later, the new fashion line is a great success thanks to Betty's business savvy and her idea of modeling her friends (the club of the ugly women, "el club de las feas") instead of the usual, beautiful models. Although Betty appears to be dating Michel, who came to visit her from Cartagena, she is still in love with Armando but does not believe him at all when he confesses his feelings for her. Michel offers Betty to move to Cartagena with her family to work for a chain of restaurants and start a new life once she finishes her job in EcoModa. She is unsure whether to take the offer at first, but later accepts it. Betty tells her friends she is leaving Bogotá and they are all devastated by the news. In fact, she decides to leave earlier than planned in order to forget Armando forever, and by making the club of ugly women photocopy, then hand out a letter to every member of the Board Of Directors, about her resignation from Eco Moda. This puts the company back in danger because it is not yet stable. In order to prevent this, Armando decides to move far away so that Betty can stay and continue as president, without him (considered a nuisance) around. Betty's friends try convincing her to stay, truly believing that Armando has changed, but she refuses to stay and give him a chance. This means that the presidential role would go to Daniel Valencia, another executive and stockholder, who is also Marcela's brother, and Betty and Armando's rude enemy. He would sell the company and save whatever is left of it, therefore causing hundreds of people to be unemployed. When Marcela hears about this, she decides to swallow her pride and resentment and tells Betty the truth about everything that happened when she left for Cartagena, when she talked to Margarita (Armando's mother), and convinced her to not support Daniel as the new president, for fear of liquidating the company. Because of this, Betty realizes that Armando is truly a changed man, and she stops him from leaving. They both stay and run the company together and after a few months, the two eventually marry. But Armando never recovers his leadership role over Eco Moda. The final scene shows everyone staring at Betty and Armando's new-born daughter, who possibly resembles Betty when she was first born. ===== Morgon of Hed and Raederle of An set out to discover who are the shape changers who pursue them, and where is the High One, the source of the land law binding the realm together. Along the way they are helped by the wizards of the realm, recently released from the bonds in which Ghisteslwchlohm had held them by Morgon, and by the land heirs/rulers. After confronting Ghisteslwchlohm in the city of Lungold, where the wizard once had ruled, Morgon is imprisoned by the shape changers within Erlenstar Mountain, as they do not want to kill him. They, the exiled Earth Masters, need him to reach the High One, who prevents them from exercising full power. He escapes with the help of Raederle and someone who is later revealed to be the High One in disguise. Seeking refuge in the far north, he begins to learn the land law of each kingdom. Once he has partially learned all of the land law does Morgon discover that the High One had journeyed with him as Deth and the wizard Yrth; the High One tells Morgon at the top of Wind Plain that he (Morgon) is the High One's land heir. When the High One is killed by Ghisteslwchlohm, now possessed by the shape changers, with Morgon's three-starred sword, Morgon learns to shape and/or bind the winds to overcome the Earth Masters and bring peace to the land; he truly is the High One's heir. ===== The short story deals with a vague and mild-mannered man who drives into Waterbury, Connecticut, with his wife for their regular weekly shopping and his wife's visit to the beauty parlor. During this time he has five heroic daydream episodes. The first is as a pilot of a U.S. Navy flying boat in a storm, then he is a magnificent surgeon performing a one-of-a-kind surgery, then as a deadly assassin testifying in a courtroom, and then as a Royal Air Force pilot volunteering for a daring, secret suicide mission to bomb an ammunition dump. As the story ends, Mitty imagines himself facing a firing squad, "inscrutable to the last." Each of the fantasies is inspired by some detail of Mitty's mundane surroundings: * The powering up of the "Navy hydroplane" in the opening scene is followed by Mrs. Mitty's complaint that Mitty is "driving too fast". * Mitty's turn as a brilliant surgeon immediately follows his taking off and putting on his gloves as a surgeon dons surgical gloves, and driving past a hospital. * The courtroom drama cliché "Perhaps this will refresh your memory," which begins the third fantasy, follows Mitty's attempt to remember what his wife told him to buy, when he hears a newsboy shouting about "the Waterbury Trial" *Mitty's fourth daydream comes as he waits for his wife and picks up an old copy of Liberty, reading "Can Germany Conquer the World Through the Air?", and envisions himself fighting Germany while volunteering to pilot a plane normally piloted by two people. *The closing firing-squad scene comes when Mitty is standing against a wall, smoking. ===== While an undergraduate at Harvard, John Lang becomes friends with an Islandian fellow-student named Dorn, and decides to learn the Islandian language (of which there are very few speakers outside Islandia). Once he has graduated, his uncle, a prominent businessman, arranges his appointment as American consul to Islandia, based primarily on his ability to speak the language. Gradually John Lang learns that his tacit mission as American consul is to do whatever is necessary to increase American trade opportunities in Islandia. He does not begin this mission right away, preferring to get to know the country and the people first. John Lang meets and becomes infatuated with Dorn's sister, Dorna. They spend some time together alone, which John finds unnerving at first, since they are not chaperoned. When Dorna comes to understand John's feelings, she tells him that she does not love him in return in that way (though he wonders whether she means "cannot", or "will not"). She accepts the marriage proposal of the King instead, a handsome young man who has been courting her for some time. One of the culminations of the plot is the decision by the people of Islandia to reject the demands of the Great Powers for unrestricted trade and immigration, choosing instead to maintain their tradition of isolation. As this political struggle intensifies, John Lang sympathizes with the Islandians, to the great disappointment of many American businessmen who desire new lucrative trade opportunities, including John Lang's uncle. Near the end of the novel, John Lang is allowed to become a citizen of Islandia as a reward for heroism during an attack by a neighboring group. By this point he has fallen in love with an American friend with whom he has maintained steady correspondence. They decide to marry, and when she arrives in Islandia she, too, is granted citizenship. ===== ===== Dr. Friedrich von Kammacher (Olaf Fønss), a surgeon, is devastated after his wife develops a brain disorder and is institutionalized. On the advice of his parents, von Kammacher leaves Denmark to gain some respite from his wife's illness. Von Kammacher travels to Berlin, where he meets a young dancer named Ingigerd Hahlstrom (Ida Orloff) and the doctor becomes fond of her and very interested in her. However she has a large number of admirers and thus Von Kammacher gives up on her. However, while in Paris he sees an advertisement in the paper that she is going to New York with her father and decides to follow her. Von Kammacher buys a first ticket on the same liner as Ingigerd, the SS Roland. Aboard the ship, von Kammacher learns Ingigerd has a boyfriend with her and thus he backs down. Shortly after, he is called to treat a young Russian-Jewish woman with seasickness and they nearly get romantically involved but class stops this from happening. Halfway across the sea the Roland strikes an unseen object which causes massive flooding and dooms the ship. The passengers panic as the ship sinks into the Atlantic. Von Kammacher finds Ingigerd passed out in her cabin from shock and carries her to a lifeboat. He goes back and searches in vain her father but when he can't find him, von Kammacher returns to the lifeboat and holds Ingigerds hand as the lifeboat pulls away. The liner sinks so rapidly that many of the lifeboats are never launched and several passengers are swept into the sea and drowned. By morning, von Kammacher's lifeboat is still floating and ten souls still alive. They are spotted by a cargo liner Hjortholm and saved. Survivors arrive in New York, von Kammacher tries to tell her that he loves her and wants a life with her in New York but she refuses to be tied down by one man. He gives up on her and they go their separate ways. Von Kammacher is impressed by an art gallery and takes an interest in fine art. Through the artistic community, he is introduced to a kind and pleasant sculptor Miss Eva Burns, and they develop a friendship. Dr. Schmidt, who is a friend of von Kammacher, offers him the use of a mountain cabin near Handon, where it is hoped that Friedrich will find some peace and solace. While he is in the mountains, a telegram from Denmark arrives with information that von Kammacher's wife has died. Upon hearing the news, Friedrich falls critically ill. Eva takes it upon herself to tend to him in the mountain cabin. As she nurses him back to health, their relationship blossoms. Happiness returns to Friedrich's life as he realizes Eva will be a good mother for his children. ===== Ramu Gupta (Jimi Mistry), a dance teacher, leaves his native city Delhi, India, to seek his fortune in the United States. He is lured by the exaggerations of his cousin, Vijay, who has already moved to New York City. Vijay's deception is the first of several that drive the plot. Seeking work as an actor, the naïve Ramu unknowingly lands a role in a pornographic film. That evening he accompanies Vijay and his roommates on a catering job at a society birthday party. When the Indian swami hired to address the party falls into drunken oblivion, Ramu takes his place. Lacking a real philosophy, he improvises by repeating advice he had been given by Sharonna (Heather Graham), an adult film actress he met earlier. Lexi (Marisa Tomei), the birthday girl, is so impressed that she promotes him as a New Age sex guru to her friends. Ramu hires Sharonna, ostensibly for advice on how to be an actor in adult films, though what he really wants is more ideas he could use in his new role as the guru of sex. A personal relationship develops between the two, though Sharonna is engaged to a firefighter who thinks she's a school teacher. Complications ensue from these and other deceptions. ===== Alexander Meyerheim (Noël Coward) hires veteran playboy screenwriter, Richard Benson (William Holden) to write a screenplay. Overly immersed in his playboy lifestyle, Benson procrastinates writing the script until two days before the due date. Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn), a temp secretary Benson hired to type the script, arrives at Richard's hotel room, only to discover that little has been written. Richard tells her that Alexander will be by Sunday morning, in two days' time, and that they have that long to write a hundred and thirty- eight page script. Richard and Gabrielle then begin to weave a script together, and Richard is awakened and inspired by the beautiful Gabrielle. They imagine various scenarios for his screenplay, The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower, which is based on their unfolding romance as Gabrielle goes back and forth between thinking Richard is a good man and her budding attraction to him, and her hesitance considering he referred to himself as a "liar and a thief" for taking Meyerheim's money and not delivering the script earlier. The screenplay, with small but inspired and comedic roles for Noël Coward, Tony Curtis, and other famous stars of the era, spoofs the movie industry, actors, studio heads, and itself, and is rife with allusions to the iconic earlier roles of Hepburn and Holden. ===== Alfie Elkins (Jude Law) is a Cockney limo driver and sex addict, who regularly beds beautiful women on one-night stands. In addition to these, he maintains a casual relationship with a single mother named Julie (Marisa Tomei) that he refers to as his "semi-regular-quasi-sort-of-girlfriend thing", and the unhappily married Dorie (Jane Krakowski). At the first inkling that Dorie wants something more than casual sex, he decides to stop contacting her. Alfie wants to go into business with his coworker and best friend, Marlon (Omar Epps), but Marlon is preoccupied with trying to win back his ex- girlfriend, Lonette (Nia Long). Marlon asks Alfie to put in a good word with Lonette. Alfie meets with her at a bar to persuade her to get back together with Marlon - after both becoming intoxicated, they end up having sex on a pool table. Alfie meets with Marlon the next day, terrified that he knows about their indiscretion, but is relieved when Marlon says he and Lonette got back together and surprised when Marlon informs him that he asked Lonette to marry him. Alfie goes to Julie's place for another booty call, but she throws him out after confronting him about his affair with Dorie, which she learned about after finding her panties in her rubbish bin, which Alfie had discarded there earlier after discovering them in his pocket. Later attempting to reconcile by attending her son's birthday, bringing a teddy bear as a gift, Alfie discovers that his actions have led to Julie reconciling with her estranged husband. Alfie later discovers Lonette is pregnant with his child, and (without telling Marlon) they visit a clinic and arrange for her to have an abortion. Soon afterward, Marlon and Lonette unexpectedly move upstate, without even saying goodbye to Alfie. Following repeated failures to achieve an erection with various women, he visits a doctor who tells him he is perfectly healthy, and that his impotence is due to stress. However, the doctor also locates a lump on Alfie's penis that may be cancerous. Alfie immediately has a test run at the clinic and spends a few anxious days awaiting the results. During one of his trips to the hospital, Alfie meets a widower named Joe (Dick Latessa) in the clinic bathroom. Joe imparts some life advice to the depressed Alfie: "Find somebody to love, and live every day like it's your last". Soon afterward, Alfie finds out he doesn't have cancer. Believing he's been given a second chance, Alfie decides to "aim higher" in his love life. To that end, he picks up a beautiful but unstable young woman named Nikki (Sienna Miller), and they quickly embark on a passionate, turbulent relationship. They move in together, but Alfie finds it hard to put up with her mood swings, especially after she goes off her medication. He begins to distance himself from Nikki and sets his sights on an older woman, Liz (Susan Sarandon), a sultry cosmetics mogul, who had inspired him to "aim higher" in the first place. Alfie becomes infatuated with her, but she wants to keep their relationship strictly sexual. Alfie then ends his relationship with Nikki. Alfie runs into Julie in a coffee shop, and realizes that he has genuine feelings for her; to his dismay, however, she's now happy with another person. A trip upstate to visit Marlon and his now-wife, Lonette, who reveals that she never actually went through with the abortion. Alfie also learns that Marlon knows that Alfie is the child's father, but nonetheless decided to stay. Upon seeing Marlon with hurt in his eyes, Alfie leaves and calls Joe, who tells him that he needs to get his life together. Alfie turns to Liz for comfort but is crushed to discover that she has a new man in her life. Alfie demands to know what her new boyfriend has that he doesn't; Liz replies, "he's younger than you". Alfie has a chance meeting with Dorie late one night. He tries to get back into her life, but she says that she wants no part of him. He apologises to her for not calling her and admits that he has trouble expressing his feelings, running from relationships when they become too serious. Dorie wishes Alfie "good luck" with his life. The film ends with Alfie talking to the audience about genuinely changing his ways. ===== Third- generation Korean, Sugihara, is a student at a Japanese high school after graduating from a North Korean junior high school in Japan. His father runs a back-alley shop that specializes in exchanging pachinko-earned goods for cash, which is stereotypically a "common" Zainichi occupation. His father had long supported North Korea, but he obtained South Korean nationality to go sightseeing in Hawaii, which required a South Korean passport. Sugihara’s school days are filled with fights that always result in his victory; he and his delinquent peers fill the rest of their time with all kinds of mischief. His best friend, Jong-Il is a Korean high-school student who had been his classmate in junior high. When Sugihara decided to leave Korean schools for a Japanese high school, their classroom teacher called him a traitor to their homeland. However, Jong-Il supported Sugihara by saying: “We never have had what you call homeland.” One day, Sugihara attends the birthday party of one of his friends and meets a mysterious Japanese girl whose family name is Sakurai (she is reluctant to use her first name). He takes her out on a couple of dates and they gradually become intimate. However, tragedy strikes when Jong-Il is stabbed to death by a Japanese youth at a railway station. Jong-Il mistakenly thought that the youth was about to attack a female Korean student at the station. The boy, who is carrying a knife, attacks and kills Jong-Il. Sakurai comforts Sugihara, and that night they attempt to make love. She freezes in bed, however, when Sugihara confesses that he is Korean. She declares that she is afraid of a non-Japanese male entering her, and Sugihara leaves. In the meantime, Sugihara’s father has been depressed by the news that his younger brother died in North Korea. In an attempt to provoke him, Sugihara blames his father, stating that the second generation of Zainichi, with its sentimentality and powerlessness, has caused the Zainichi much grief and difficulty. They fistfight, and the result is Sugihara's complete defeat. In the wake of the fight, Sugihara finds out that the true reason for his father’s adopting South Korean nationality was that he wanted to make his son’s life easier. Six months later, on Christmas Eve, Sugihara is studying hard in preparation for the college entrance examinations. He is trying to fulfill the wishes of the deceased Jong-Il, who always wanted him to go to a (presumably Japanese) university. Sakurai calls him after a long period of silence between them and asks him to come to the place where they had their first date. In this last scene, they recover mutual affection and leave for some unknown place together in a light snowfall. ===== The main character, Abelard Lindsay, is born in the ancient lunar colony Mare Serenitatis Circumlunar Corporate Republic, into a family of aristocratic Mechanists, but after being sent to the Shaper's Ring Council, he receives specialized and experimental diplomatic training and gives his loyalty to the Shapers' cause. He, his best friend and fellow Shaper protege Philip Constantine and the beautiful and passionate Preservationist Vera Kelland lead an insurgency against the rulers of the republic, who use Mechanist technology to prolong their lives. The three of them influence the younger generation towards the Shapers' cause in their pursuit of Preservationism, a movement devoted to the preservation of Earth-bound human culture. Kelland and Lindsay agree to kill themselves as a political statement, but Lindsay reneges on his suicide pact after Kelland is dead. Constantine attempts to kill Lindsay but instead kills a Mechanist, creating a scandal. Constantine is allowed to remain in the Republic because his knowledge is needed to keep the Republic's environment from self-destructing but Lindsay is exiled to the Mare Tranquilitatis Circumlunar People's Zaibatsu. This lunar colony, which collapsed due to an environmental crisis, has become a refuge for "sundogs", criminals, dissidents and wanderers. There he meets Kitsune, a woman modified by the Shapers to be an ideal prostitute. Apparently a servant of the Geisha Bank, a powerful money center, she in fact rules the bank through the remotely operated body of her now brain-dead predecessor. In his months on the Zaibatsu, Lindsay uses his diplomatic talents to organize a complex fraud involving a fictitious theatrical event and befriends an old Mechanist, Fyodor Ryumin. However, eventually the fraud takes on a life of its own, and the new-formed Kabuki Intrasolar becomes a legitimate artistic and business venture. Lindsay cannot remain to enjoy the profits, though: Constantine has in the meantime overthrown the Corporate Republic's government. Constantine has abandoned Preservationism to become a Shaper militant, and sends an assassin to present a stark choice: become Constantine's pawn or be killed by the assassin. Lindsay manages to escape with a group of Mechanist pirates, in the process aiding Kitsune to take power of the Geisha Bank openly. Lindsay joins a ship called the Red Consensus, which doubles as the nation-state of the Fortuna Miners' Democracy, after the failure of the previously independent asteroid mining Mechanist cartel. The FMD, financed by more wealthy Mechanists cartels, annexes the asteroid Esairs XII, home to the Mavrides family, a small shaper clan. Lindsay meets Nora Mavrides, a fellow diplomat. Nora informs Abelard that the subjects of the diplomatic training are in disgrace due to the high incidence of treason and defection from their ranks. The two of them work to promote peaceful coexistence between the Shaper militants and the Mechanist pirates, but after several months of conflict, espionage, murders and sabotages, open fighting breaks out. Mavrides and Lindsay, now lovers, eventually murder their companions to save one another. Before the asteroid's life-support systems shut down after the battle, the alien Investors arrive. Peace finally comes to the Schismatrix after the aliens arrive. The alien Investors are obsessed with trade and wealth, and at first encourage humanity to focus on business instead of war. Trade flourishes and the Shapers and Mechanists put their differences aside. Lindsay and Mavrides become powerful Shaper leaders, thanks to their early contact with the Investors. The Investor Peace does not last forever, though, and tensions between Shapers and Mechanists eventually start to rise when the Investors play the factions against one another. Ultimately Philip Constantine rises to power and takes control of the Ring Council, ousting Mavride's and Lindsay's pro-détente faction. Lindsay runs away from what he sees as a hopeless battle, but Nora decides to stay in the Rings, where they had built their lives and family, to fight Constantine and his militant government. Lindsay escapes to the Mechanist cartels in the asteroid belt, where Kitsune has again secretly taken power. There Lindsay works ceaselessly for decades to bring about the détente he believes will reunite him with Mavrides. Using a recording of an Investor's ship queen involved in some taboo activities to blackmail the alien, Lindsay contributes to the creation of Czarina-Kluster, neither Shaper nor Mechanist, which quickly becomes one of the richest and most powerful states in the solar system. Lindsay's partner, Wellspring, plans to use the colony to promote his post-humanist ideology, while Lindsay himself seeks to bring Nora to the new colony. However, Constantine discovers Mavride's plan to defect and forces her to kill herself. Consumed with hatred, Lindsay for the first time confronts his former friend directly, arranging a duel with him using an ancient alien artifact called the Arena. While Lindsay wins, the Arena leaves both him and Constantine catatonic. Years after the duel, Lindsay wakes up on his old home, now renamed the Neotenic Cultural Republic. Constantine's militant Shaperism has been replaced by a Preservationist government, dedicated to remaining a cultural preserve where normal, unmodified human life is preserved. As part of the treatment that restored Lindsay's mind, his original Shaper diplomatic training has been removed. Having returned to a Preservationist world, and now restored to a fully human state, Lindsay decides to break with his past and embrace new dreams. He becomes a post-humanist and returns to Czarina-Kluster to work with Wellspring's 'Lifesiders' clique. In the years during Lindsays' catatonia, the expansion of settlements throughout the Solar System has seen an economy in huge surplus; with abundant wealth, expensive and prolonged terraforming efforts are first being considered. While Wellspring seeks to terraform Mars, Lindsay attempts to create an abyssal ecology on Europa. Constantine's Shaper family has been disgraced by Constantine's defeat, and Lindsay manages to convert them to his cause, even Constantine's "daughter" Vera (created from DNA taken from Vera Kelland decades before). As time goes on, eventually Czarina-Kluster, in its turn, faces social collapse. With his Lifesiders faction's research still in its infancy, Lindsay and Vera Constantine secretly break the Interdict and bring back samples of Earth's abyssal life, providing the breakthroughs that make the Europa project a success. As the Lifesiders transform themselves into fish-like forms capable of survival in Europa's oceans, Lindsay visits the now-cured Philip Constantine. Constantine believes that Lindsay will never see Europa, that he will leave in the end rather than see his cause through to fruition, just as he always had. He also reveals that Vera Constantine's DNA comes as much from Lindsay as Vera Kelland. Philip reconciles with Abelard, then commits suicide. When Lindsay returns to Europa, he finds that Philip is right: he cannot bring himself to undergo the transformation. At that moment, an alien Presence, who had followed Vera Constantine since her mission in an alien embassy, reveals itself. The being explains that it has been devoted to exploring and exulting in the variety of experiences of the universe, and invites Lindsay to join it. Lindsay accepts and is transformed into a bodiless form, to explore the infinite mysteries of the universe for eternity. ===== Oddr was the son of Grímr Loðinkinni and the grandson of Ketill Hængr (both of whom have their own sagas) of Hålogaland. When he was an infant, a völva predicted that he would be killed by his own horse Faxi, at the place where he was born, at the age of three hundred (which may very well signify 360, as a hundred by the time was a unit of numbers denoting 120, not 100 - which have been called a petty hundred). In order to undo the prediction, he killed his horse, buried it deep in the ground and left his home intending never to return again. As he was leaving, his father gave him some magic arrows (Gusisnautar) which soon earned him the cognomen arrow. After a voyage to Finnmark, Bjarmaland, Holmgård, Constantinople and Jotunheim, he fought successfully against several Vikings. However, when he encountered the Swedish champion Hjalmar, he met his match. The fight was even and the two warriors not only became friends, but entered sworn brotherhood. The two heroes fought many battles together (for more see Hjalmar), until after the famous battle of Samsø against the sons of Arngrim, Örvar-Oddr had to bring the dead Hjalmar (killed by Angantyr) to Uppsala and his betrothed Ingeborg, the daughter of the Swedish king. Örvar- Oddr travelled in the South fighting against the corsairs of the Mediterranean, he pretended to be baptised in Sicily, was shipwrecked and arrived alone in the Holy Land. While seeking vengeance against Ogmund Tussock for the murder of his blood-brother Thord, Oddr is accompanied by his giant son Vignir. During their voyage, they encounter two large sea-creatures as described by Vignir: :…these were two sea-monsters, one called Sea-Reek, and the other Heather-Back. The Sea-Reek is the biggest monster in the whole ocean. It swallows men and ships, and whales too, and anything else around. It stays underwater for days, then it puts up its mouth and nostrils, and when it does, it never stays on the surface for less than one tide. These creatures later described in an Old Norwegian scientific work Konungs skuggsjá (c. 1250), were to come to be understood as what the Norse regarded as the Kraken. This is seemingly one of the first references to the Kraken. Dressed as an old man, he arrived in Hunaland, where his true identity was soon revealed due to his heroic actions. After defeating the king of Bjalkaland ("pelt country"), who used to pay tribute to the king of Hunaland, he married the princess Silkisif and became the next king. After all this, he became homesick and went back home. Walking over the grave of Faxi, he mocked the old prophecy, but tripped over the skull of a horse from which a snake appeared. The snake bit him and he died. ===== Montgomery Clift in the I Confess film trailer Father Logan (Montgomery Clift) is a devout Catholic priest in Ste. Marie's Church in Quebec City. He employs German immigrants Otto Keller (O.E. Hasse) and his wife Alma (Dolly Haas) as caretaker and housekeeper. Keller also works part-time as a gardener for a shady lawyer called Villette (Ovila Légaré). The film begins late one evening as a man wearing a cassock walks away from Villette's house where Villette lies dead on the floor. Shortly afterward, in the church confessional, Keller confesses to Father Logan that he accidentally killed Villette while trying to rob him. Keller tells his wife about his deed and assures her that the priest will not say anything because he is forbidden from revealing information acquired through confessions. The next morning, Keller goes to Villette's house at his regularly scheduled gardening time and reports Villette's death to the police. Father Logan also goes to the crime scene after hearing Mrs. Keller mention that her husband is there and finds the police there. Logan is interviewed by Inspector Larrue (Karl Malden), who witnesses Logan talking to a woman after he leaves. At the police station, two young girls tell Inspector Larrue they saw a priest leaving Villette's house. This prompts Larrue to call Father Logan in for more questioning, but Logan refuses to provide any information about the murder. Now suspecting Logan, Larrue orders a detective to follow Logan and contacts Crown Prosecutor Robertson (Brian Aherne), who is attending a party hosted by Ruth Grandfort (Anne Baxter), the woman Logan talked to outside of Villette's house, and her husband Pierre (Roger Dann), a member of the Quebec legislature. Ruth overhears Robertson discussing Logan, and Larrue's detective discovers her identity by following her home the next day after she meets with Logan to warn him that he is a suspect. Larrue calls Ruth and Logan in for questioning, and Ruth blurts out the truth, narrating a series of flashbacks: She and Logan fell in love when they were childhood friends, but he went to fight in World War II with the Regina Rifle Regiment and eventually stopped writing to her. She eventually married Pierre, for whom she had been working as secretary. The day after Logan returned from the war, he and Ruth spent the day on a nearby island. A storm forced them to shelter for the night in a gazebo, and Villette found them there in the morning, recognizing Ruth as Mrs. Grandfort. The next time Ruth saw Logan was several years later when he was ordained as a priest. Villette had recently asked Ruth to persuade her husband to help him escape a tax scandal, with the condition that if she refused, he would publicize the night she spent with Logan. She met with Logan on the night of the murder, and Logan agreed to intercede with Villette. Anne Baxter in the I Confess trailer Ruth's meeting with Father Logan occurred between 9 and 11 pm on the night of the murder, but Larrue shows Robinson Villette's autopsy report that indicates that Villette couldn't have died before 11:30 pm. The fact that Ruth and Logan concluded their meeting at 11 pm leaves Logan without an alibi. He also had a solid motive for killing Villette in that Villette was blackmailing Ruth. Knowing he will be arrested, Logan turns himself in the next day at Larrue's office. Keller has planted the bloody cassock among Logan's belongings, and when Logan is tried in court, Keller testifies that he saw Logan enter the church after the murder, acting suspiciously. The jury concludes that Father Logan is not guilty, due to insufficient evidence, but the crowd outside the courthouse mobs Logan as he leaves the court. This upsets Keller's wife to such an extent that she starts to shout that Logan was innocent. Keller, realizing that he's about to be revealed as the murderer, shoots Alma, resulting in her death. He then runs away but is pursued by police officers. Larrue finally realizes that Keller is the murderer, corners him in the grand ballroom of the Château Frontenac, and tricks him into confessing the murder. Keller, suspecting that Father Logan had betrayed him to the police, threatens to shoot Logan. However, Logan prefers peace over violence, and advances into the ballroom to talk with Keller. Immediately followed by police officers, Logan talks with Keller, his main intention being to prevent a ballroom gunfight; but Keller shoots at Logan. A police sharpshooter shoots Keller when Keller tries to shoot Logan; and Keller calls to Father Logan in extremis and dies immediately after asking Logan for forgiveness. ===== Taking place in a medieval European-like fairy tale setting, Princess Knight is the story of Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne of Silverland as women are not eligible to do so. As she is born, her father, the King, announces his baby is a boy instead of a girl. The reason for this is that the next-in-line to the throne, Duke Duralumin is an evil man who would repress the people if his son, Plastic, were to become king. Duralumin and his henchman Baron Nylon often scheme to take over the kingdom and attempts to prove that Sapphire is really a girl. Sapphire can keep the façade because, when she was born, she received the blue heart of a boy as well as the pink heart of a girl. Because of this, God sent Tink, a young angel-in- training, down to Earth to retrieve Sapphire's extra heart. Sapphire would not let Tink remove her boy's heart, however. Sapphire and Tink experience a variety of adventures, including encounters with Satan, a warlock who wants to steal Sapphire's special two-hearted soul and take over the kingdom. However, he is always frustrated by Tink and his fear of angels, and by his own daughter, Hecate, a demonic-shapeshifting witch who at first she appears to be evil like her father, but who covertly helps Sapphire foil her father's plans. Sapphire also dons a Zorro-style mask at night, fighting crime as the Phantom Knight, and gets involved with Franz Charming, the young prince of neighboring Goldland. Their relationship is multi-faceted; Franz is familiar with Sapphire as three entirely different people and has different feelings toward each. He is good friends with Prince Sapphire, in love with the unnamed princess, and despises the Phantom Knight, whom he believes is a rival for the Princess's affection. As the story progresses, Duralumin stages a coup d'état to conquer Silverland, following the orders of Mr. X, a large man clad entirely in boxy red armor and the ruler of the X-Union, a neighboring, proto-fascist federation of nations that wants to conquer the three kingdoms (Silverland, Goldland, and Charcoal-land). The King and Queen are captured, but help Sapphire to flee. Duralumin is about to proclaim his son king and himself as regent when he is assassinated by Nylon, who has been driven near-insane by the Duke's constant abuse. The mentally deranged Nylon proclaims himself and welcomes Mr. X and his armies in Silverland. Mr. X, though, soon makes it clear that he has no intention of letting Nylon rule, even as a puppet monarch, and merely keeps him around as a churlish buffoon. Sapphire and Franz try to prevent the King and Queen from being executed, but they are too late and the King and Queen are dropped in the sea. This culminates in the final battle, as Sapphire heads off to Silverland castle to confront Mr. X with the aid of three magic balls. Given to Sapphire by her parents, the balls represent the three kingdoms and are supposed to save Silverland: they are used at first to ring the kingdom's bells, magically giving to the people the will to fight the invaders. Sapphire has the balls melted to form a magic ax which she uses to rout Mr. X's troops, break up the castle's walls, and confront X himself. Sapphire ends up dueling Mr. X, with the help of Franz, and manages to wound him. Just as the enraged Mr. X is about to chop Sapphire and Franz in half, Tink calls on God for help, and a lightning bolt strikes X. As Sapphire seems to triumph, Mr. X rises from his apparent death and begins smashing the castle with his bare hands, eventually causing it to collapse onto himself. Nylon, who was swaying through the halls like a raving madman, is also crushed to death. Sapphire escapes the collapsing castle and stands triumphant in the sunlight. Tink has been mortally wounded by the castle's breakdown and tells God that he is ready to sacrifice his life should Sapphire's parents be brought back from the dead. God then accepts to bring back the King and Queen to life, as Tink dies. Sapphire and Franz end up getting married. Tink's spirit returns to heaven where he has finally earned his wings. ===== As the book starts off, a coalition of architects, scientists, and doctors known as "The Builders" have built Ember, an isolated, underground city with enough supplies for its inhabitants to survive at least 200 years. The goal is to keep humanity safe from an impending apocalyptic disaster. They handed the first mayor of the city a locked box, holding instructions for the city's inhabitants on how to leave Ember when the time comes, to be passed down from one mayor to the next. After roughly 200 years, the timer on the lock will expire and the box will open to reveal the instructions inside. The box is passed successfully from mayor to mayor, until the seventh mayor who, thinking the box might contain a cure for his deadly cough, takes the box home and tries multiple times to break it open, but fails. He then dies before he can return the box to its rightful place or inform the next mayor of its importance. Approximately two hundred and forty-one years after Ember is established, the city′s supplies are in danger of exhaustion and its hydroelectric generator is in decay, causing the power to go out intermittently. At their graduation ceremony, young people are assigned their jobs by lottery: Lina Mayfleet is assigned the job of "Pipeworks Laborer" and Doon Harrow is given the job of "Messenger". However, both are displeased with their assigned jobs so they exchange their assignments and begin work in their respective positions. It is revealed that the seventh mayor was Lina's great-great grandfather and the box with the timed lock is in the cupboard in their house. By now the timer has finished counting down and the lock has clicked opened. When searching the cupboard, Lina's grandmother finds the box but tosses it aside, not realizing its importance. The opened box is found by Lina's baby sister, Poppy. When Lina comes home, she finds Poppy with torn pieces of paper in her hands and mouth, Poppy has all but destroyed the instructions. Lina saves the scraps of paper, thinking they must be an important message from the Builders of the city, since the message is typed and no one in Ember can write like that. The writing on the message resembles the writing on labels and books left by the builders in the city. Using some glue, Lina reassembles the message as best she can. There are many gaps and some words make no sense like "boat" since no one in Ember has seen or heard of boats. The title of the document is "Instructions for Egres", later revealed to be "Instructions for Egress" or instructions for exit. Lina realizes that the document is instructions on how to leave their dying city. One of the words on the instructions is clearly "Pipeworks", so Lina enlists the help of Doon who is now working at the Pipeworks. The Pipeworks are underneath the city and a large and fast underground river runs through it that provides the hydroelectric power that Ember runs on. After much trial and error, she and Doon decipher the instructions from the builders. The instructions lead to a hidden room built on the side of the river that contains hundreds of boats as well as matches and candles to create portable light, something unknown in the city of Ember. The builders meant for the citizens of Ember to board these boats and be carried down the river into the outside world. Lina's grandmother dies shortly after their discovery, and Lina and Poppy move in with a neighbor, Mrs. Murdo. At work, Doon discovers that the mayor of Ember and a storeroom worker named Looper have been stealing supplies, and he and Lina report the crime to the guards, who unknown to them are also corrupt. Upon following the instructions given in the note, they find the room with boats and candles meant for use in the exodus. On their return to Ember, they learn that the mayor has declared them criminals and there are notices everywhere with their names. Doon and Lina plan to escape Ember in the boats and agree to meet at the Pipeworks at a certain time, but just before, Lina is arrested and taken to the mayor, who plans to throw her in jail. Suddenly, a blackout occurs and allows her to escape without being seen, she meets Doon at the Pipeworks with her sister Poppy in tow. Lina, Doon, and Poppy escape in a boat through the river, its current carrying them forward. When the boat stops, they learn the origin of Ember from a diary left by one of its original colonists. Shortly after they are faced with a very steep climb and emerge onto the surface where they see their city from above and realize for the first time that Ember is underground. They throw a rock with instructions tied to it down to the city in hope that the people of Ember will escape. The novel ends with Mrs. Murdo finding the message on the street. ===== The film is largely plotless; a series of vignettes linked together by interstitial pieces featuring Mr. Mike discussing how upsetting and odd the sequences are. He introduces some of the pieces via voiceover, and some open with no introduction. Sequences include: * Aykroyd displaying his webbed toes which he prodded with a screwdriver to prove they were not make-up. * A church that worships Jack Lord as the one true god (also featuring Dan Aykroyd). * A French restaurant that prides itself on how poorly it treats American patrons. * "Dream Sequence" — a series of surreal film pieces bracketed by large light-up signs reading "Dream Sequence" and "End Dream Sequence" that track towards and away from the camera. One of these is merely performance footage of Klaus Nomi, while another features home movie footage shot by Emily Prager intercut with stop- motion animation. * Jo Jo, The Human Hot Plate — a quick cutaway to performance artist Robert Delford Brown, smiling, undulating and dressed only in a pair of briefs while holding canned spaghetti in his cupped hands. * The presentation of a classified government weapons project, "Laserbra 2000". This piece is the last of a triptych of sequences that chronicle attempts to obtain the classified footage. In the first, the film (secreted in a violin case) is in fact someone's home movies; in the second, the violin case contains a violin. National Lampoon writer Brian McConnachie appears in the footage as a scientist. *Short films made by other directors: ** "Cleavage" by Mitchell Kriegman — closeup of a hand working its way out from (what is implied to be) between a large pair of breasts, feeling around gently, realizing where it was, and working its way back in. ** "Crowd Scene Take One", by Andy Aaron and Ernie Fosselius — purports to be a director guiding background actors for a disaster movie scene. ** "Uncle Si and the Sirens" — anonymously-directed silent-era "nudie-cutie" short found by SNL alumnus Tom Schiller. ===== David (Luke Wilson) is a stoner living in Portland, Oregon. After having previously sold marijuana to a woman named Jennifer (Amy Locane), he is introduced to her friend, the tempestuous Serena (Alicia Witt), who is immediately disliked by his friends, Robert (Jeremy Sisto) and Tony (Andy Dick), a gay couple. Serena develops a liking to David after seeing the artwork he does in his spare time, and encourages him to make a career for himself. After moving into his house, she introduces him to Mary Weiss (Brittany Murphy), the daughter of a local gallery owner who falsely claims to be an art curator. Serena becomes frustrated with David's lack of ambition, and decides to move to New York City with Tommy (Jamie Kennedy), a punk rocker and paranoid heroin addict. Before she leaves, she and David get into a fight, which ends in her burning down his house. In New York, Serena becomes increasingly frustrated with Tommy's paranoid antics. She meets Bobby (Scott Caan) one afternoon in a diner, and he invites her to move in with him in his apartment, which she discovers is actually a squat in the East Village. In Portland, David begins a romance with Mary, and moves in with Robert, Tony, and Jennifer. While hiking with Mary, David runs into his friend Devlin (Jack Black), who is running a spiritual retreat in the woods, where they partake in LSD. While Mary marches through the woods with Devlin, David has a hallucination in which his deceased mother brings him lunch. In New York, Serena and Jennifer attend a party, where Serena is date raped. The following day, she confesses to Jennifer she wants to return to Portland. The two return the next day, but Serena is disheartened soon after when she discovers David and Jennifer having sex. Several days later, David attends a 1980s-themed party with Jennifer, Robert, and Tony, which is busted by police. He flees to the rooftop, where he finds Serena sitting alone. Serena confronts him about him having sex with Jennifer, and he asks her if she's planning on staying in Portland. She tells him she isn't sure, and that she doesn't want to become too comfortable there again. She apologizes for the fire she set at David's house. They kiss, and then witness a UFO floating above them in the sky. ===== ===== Jerry Morgan (Kaye) is a ventriloquist who is having trouble with love: just when his relationship with a woman gets around to marriage, his dummy turns jealous and spoils everything. Jerry's manager Marty threatens to quit unless Jerry sees a psychiatrist, Ilse Nordstrom (Zetterling), who tries to discover the source of his problem. The two of them eventually fall in love. At the same time, Jerry becomes unwittingly intertwined with spies and has to run from the police. In his escape, he finds himself impersonating a British car salesman, trying to demonstrate a new convertible with loads of bells and whistles. Later on, he finds himself on stage in the middle of the performance of an exotic ballet. ===== The film chronicles the early part of the life of Emperor Asoka. It begins with his career as a General in Taxila (modern-day Pakistan) and ends with the bloody conquest of the Kalinga country (modern-day Odisha State) Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, grandfather of Asoka, of the Maurya empire, has decided to embrace Jainism and abdicate the throne of the empire in favour of his son Bindusara. But his grandson, Prince Asoka, claims his sword. The old emperor explains that this sword is evil and the sword demands blood and destruction. A few years later, Prince Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan), now a brave youth, is battling the rebellious chief of Taxila for his Emperor and father. He figures that his elder half-brother Susima Maurya (Ajith Kumar), who also has an eye on the throne of the empire, has deliberately withheld reinforcements from arriving, but defeats the enemy nevertheless. Asoka returns to the capital victorious and confronts Susima. Later, Susima tries to assassinate Asoka while he is bathing. The fight among the princes makes the Emperor unhappy and he orders Empress Dharma (Subhashini Ali) to control her son Asoka. She compels Asoka to temporarily leave the capital to lead the life of a common man. The Prince is disappointed but leaves nonetheless. Asoka, alone and disguised as an ordinary traveller, rides to the south. In his travels, he meets a lovely maiden, Kaurwaki (Kareena Kapoor) and falls in love with her. He also develops a good relationship with her little brother Arya. They are on the run from the Kingdom of Kalinga along with their faithful protector Bheema (Rahul Dev) and are being chased by soldiers of the Kingdom. After saving their lives, Asoka introduces himself as Pawan, hiding his true identity. Kaurwaki and Arya are the Princess and Prince of Kalinga, who fled from their kingdom when the Prime Minister assassinated their parents and took over power. Later, Asoka and Kaurwaki get secretly married. Soon, Asoka is summoned by his mother, who sent a messenger to tell him she has fallen ill and to come to the capital. The Emperor dispatches Asoka to quell a rebellion in Ujjaini. Before marching to the west, Asoka travels to Kalinga to meet Kaurwaki and Arya. Unable to find them, and not knowing they have gone into hiding, he is informed by General Bheema that they were slaughtered. A heartbroken Asoka attempts suicide but is saved by Virat (Danny Denzongpa), who later swears to protect him. Mad with grief and anger, Asoka leads a brutal crackdown in Ujjaini. The assassins sent by Susima injure Asoka in a battle and Virat saves him. He is taken to a Buddhist monastery at Vidisa to recover. There, he meets a Buddhist maiden, Devi (Hrishita Bhatt), who cares for him. Asoka also survives another assassination attempt at Vidisa, this time with the help of Devi. Asoka marries Devi and returns in splendour to Pataliputra. Susima and his brothers are wild with anger from their futile attempts to eliminate Asoka. Emperor Bindusara, who favoured Susima over Asoka, becomes ill and dies. In another vigilante attack, Queen Dharma is stabbed to death by assassins sent by Susima. Angered, Asoka wants to kill Susima but has second thoughts and Susima is killed by Virat when he tries to kill Asoka behind his back and is appointed emperor. A few months later, princess Kaurwaki and prince Arya return to Kalinga with Bheema and have the Prime Minister executed for treason. Asoka declares war on Kalinga, not knowing that Kaurwaki is alive. Kaurwaki still does not know that Asoka is Pawan, and both sides prepare for war. A terrible war is fought in Kalinga. The Maurya army inflicts a crushing defeat on Kalinga. Not content with mere victory, Maurya soldiers butcher everyone in sight. General Bheema is killed after failing to assassinate Asoka realizing that he is Pawan and Kaurwaki is wounded. Asoka later visits the battlefield, where he discovers his horse, who was supposed to be in Kaurwaki's possession. With a surge of hope, he frantically searches for Kaurwaki and finds her. They have a heart-to-heart talk and he apologises deeply for his actions. He is interrupted by Arya, who is dying after being pierced with arrows. With Arya dying in his arms, Asoka suddenly realises that his enemies, his family, and even Arya, are all dead because of him. His grandfather's warning about the sword had been correct. The film ends with Asoka throwing the sword into the water at the same spot as his grandfather, and embracing Buddhism. The final narrative describes how Asoka not only built a large empire but spread Buddhism and the winds of peace throughout the empire. ===== Major Charles 'Copper' Carrington (David Niven), who has a distinguished Second World War record and was awarded the Victoria Cross, is arrested for embezzling £125 from his unit's safe. Other charges include leaving the base and entertaining a woman officer in his room, this being forbidden by the battalion commander Colonel Henniker (Allan Cuthbertson). Appearing in his own defence, Carrington's case at his court-martial is that he took the money openly because of back pay owed him. The Army Paymaster had failed to pay him for expenses during postings in the Far East and his wife Valerie (Margaret Leighton) was pressuring him for money. She lives in another part of the country, and has become ill and suicidal as a result of financial worries. Carrington claims he told his superior, Colonel Henniker, about his decision to remove the money. He transferred £100 of it to his wife's account to give her relief from her financial problems. He then left the base to compete in a major horse race in which he bet the rest of the money on himself, hoping to be able to pay back the cash taken. When he fell from his horse, his friend Captain Alison Graham (Noelle Middleton) tried to return the money, but was denied access to the safe. As for the incident in his room, it is established that Carrington was bed-ridden from his fall and that Graham was visiting him to discuss the embezzlement. She was fully dressed and sitting on a chair when Colonel Henniker stormed in, reminding them that it was against regulations for male and female officers to be together in private quarters. Henniker admits waiting for some time between seeing Graham go to Carrington's room and then entering himself. Henniker is in fact Carrington's enemy, resenting his war record, achievements and popularity at the base. There is an element of sympathy for Carrington's actions and it is pointed out that the Major could be cleared if established that Henniker had forewarned knowledge of his intentions. He thus perjures himself at the court-martial by denying being told by Carrington of his decision to take the money from the safe. Much of Carrington's debts were due anyway to Henniker's constant delays in pursuing the Paymaster to give Carrington the money owed him. Due to her health, Carrington did not intend to call his wife Valerie as a witness, but decides that he will have to when the case goes against him following Henniker's "evidence". She resents the idea of washing their dirty linen in public but finally agrees to turn up. Things go wrong when Valerie becomes suspicious of Carrington's relationship with Captain Graham. Under pressure, Graham admits to Valerie that she had a one-night stand with Carrington when they became stranded in a pub in the middle of a storm. But Carrington then insisted that a full affair would not be fair on anyone and ended it. He and Graham are now just friends. In her evidence, Valerie also perjures herself, denying her husband ever mentioned telling Colonel Henniker he planned to take the money. Carrington produces a letter she wrote to him in which she does mention his argument with Henniker. Carrington intends to only read the parts relevant to his defence, since the letter also contains embarrassing matters about the couple and Valerie's health. But when the judge insists that he and the other officials read it before it is submitted into evidence, Carrington tears it up. The officers who are to determine his fate have seen through the lies told in court and sympathise with Carrington. But the law finds Carrington guilty on all counts, which means dismissal from the service. All the regular soldiers at the base are near-unanimous that it is an unfair decision. One of them, Owen (Victor Maddern), was a Sergeant demoted when loyalty to Carrington resulted in him failing to co-operate with the investigation. His defiance in and out of court on the subject results in him being demoted again to a mere Private. Having made his grievances public, Carrington has decided not to appeal the verdict. His marriage is also over, but, with an attitude typical of him, he puts it down to the fact that Valerie is still in love with her late husband, killed during the war, and the father of her sons. However, in the course of gossiping about the case, a telephonist at the exchange admits overhearing Carrington's phone call with his wife and what was really said. The telephonist's testimony (if heard at the court-martial) would have provided evidence that Valerie was lying under oath. Without Carrington knowing, as he exits the court-martial building, the other soldiers rally around and display their support for him. Moved, he decides to go along with the appeal; and there is the strong possibility that when the telephonist's evidence is heard, the verdict will be quashed and Carrington acquitted. ===== Pamela and Cesareo's respective spouses are having an affair. When they discover this they meet. The initially priggish English lady is slowly seduced by the vibrant Italian. Unfortunately his joie-de-vivre is mainly due to alcohol and she too becomes dependent on it, initiating a decline and fall. ===== The Grudge describes a curse that is born when someone dies in the grip of extreme rage or sorrow. The curse is an entity created where the person died. Those who encounter this supernatural force die, and the curse is reborn repeatedly, passing from victim to victim in an endless, growing chain of horror. The following events are explained in their actual order, however, the film is presented in a nonlinear narrative. In 2001, Kayako Saeki, a housewife living in suburban Tokyo, is in love with college professor Peter Kirk, obsessively writing about him in a diary. Her husband Takeo becomes jealous as he discovers the diary and believes that Kayako is having an affair with another man. Takeo brutally murders her, their young son Toshio, and the pet cat Mar in violent rage. After Takeo hides the bodies in the house, Kayako's ghost hangs him. After receiving a letter from Kayako, Peter visits the Saeki house only to find both her and Takeo's corpses along with Toshio's ghost. Shocked, he flees the scene and commits suicide the next day. The remainder of the Saeki family rise again as ghosts due to the curse, notably Kayako, who appears as an onryō. In 2004, the Williams family from America move into the Saeki house. While Matt is thrilled with the house, his wife Jennifer and dementia-ridden mother Emma feel uncomfortable. Matt and Jennifer are quickly consumed by the curse. Yoko, a care worker, arrives at the house to find Emma alone before she encounters Kayako, who drags her up into the attic. Concerned about Yoko's disappearance, her employer Alex sends another care worker, Karen Davis, to take over the care of Emma. At the house, Karen discovers Toshio sealed up in a wardrobe and later on witnesses Kayako's spirit descending from the ceilings to claim Emma. Alex arrives at the house shortly after and finds Emma dead and Karen in a state of shock. Alex calls the police, with the presence of Detective Nakagawa. In the attic, Nakagawa and his partner Igarashi find Matt and Jennifer's bodies, along with a human's lower jaw. Meanwhile, Matt's sister, Susan, is pursued by Kayako around her office building. At home, Kayako attacks her and she vanishes. While leaving work, Alex is killed by Yoko's jawless corpse. Kayako begins haunting Karen, who informs her boyfriend Doug of the situation. Karen researches the house, eventually confronting Nakagawa, who explains that three of his colleagues investigating the Saeki deaths were all consumed by the curse. That night, Nakagawa carries gasoline into the house in an attempt to burn it down, but is killed by Takeo. After learning that Doug has ventured to the Saeki house to look for her, Karen races there. She finds Doug paralyzed and attempts to flee with him. Kayako crawls down the stairs and latches onto Doug, who dies of shock. As Kayako closes in, Karen sees the gasoline and ignites it. Karen survives and in the hospital, she learns that the house also survived the fire. Visiting Doug's body, Karen realizes that she is still haunted by Kayako. ===== Plump little Phoebe Olcott is a timid but helpful 15-year-old girl, admired by her father's students for her quiet temperament and stubbornness. After her father, a schoolteacher, is killed in action while fighting as an American Patriot (commonly known as Rebels) in the quick revolution, she ends up living with her aunt's family, who happen to be Loyalist. Phoebe continues to hide in the shadows of her cousins Gideon and Anne Robinson until Gideon becomes a British soldier. When he is suddenly found hanged, Phoebe discovers that Gideon was actually a spy and finds a list of names that was entrusted to Gideon and must be delivered to Fort Ticonderoga. She arrives at Fort Ticonderoga too late; the post has been abandoned. Instead, she finds a bear and a cat and meets Jem Morrissay, whose family happens to be one of the names on the list entrusted to Gideon. Phoebe and Jem form an uneasy relationship and she is reunited with her family and several other Loyalist families fleeing to Upper Canada to avoid persecution by the Patriots. During the flight of the Loyalists, they capture Japhet Oram, a Loyalist soldier, and are uncertain if he is a deserter or a rebel spy. The leader of the group insists that the soldier be taken to Canada and hanged. When Phoebe's own convictions, background, and morals clash with the more radical of the Loyalists, she soon finds herself isolated from the rest of the group. She secretly cuts Japhet loose and runs away, but is pursued by Jem. Despite their growing attraction to one another, Phoebe refuses to return to the other Loyalists with Jem. Forced to continue alone, Phoebe begins her dangerous journey to Canada in order to escape the revolution and fulfil Gideon's final mission. ===== The film opens with a Star Wars style text scroll, which tells the main situation: In year 80 AM Anno Mickey Mouse, the mice of Planet X are threatened by humiliation and total apocalypse. The well- organized, fully equipped gangs of evil cats are aiming to wipe out the mouse civilization totally, not caring for the old conventions between mice and cats. But in the last moment, when the mouse leaders are beginning to consider leaving the planet, a new hope rises... The film is a parody of several famous feature films, mainly the James Bond series. The main plot is about a special spy who is sent to the city of "Pokyo" to get the secret plan of a machine which could save the mouse civilization. Of course, the cats don't want this to happen, and send some rat gangsters to stop him, who don't always prove as efficient as their presentation showed. ===== A man, called The Chosen One by the narrator, wanders from town to town to search for the man who killed his family and tried to kill him when he was a baby. In one town, he meets Master Tang, a very ill and slightly deranged sifu, and asks Tang to help him improve his already impressive martial arts ability. Master Tang is skeptical at first, but after seeing The Chosen One's mark (his sentient tongue, which he names Tonguey), he allows him to train at his dojo. The Chosen One is introduced to two other students: Wimp Lo, a young man who was deliberately trained incorrectly as a joke, and Ling, who has romantic feelings for him. While training, The Chosen One shows cartoon-like feats of strength, and Wimp Lo deems him an enemy out of jealousy. Upon learning that Master Pain, the man who killed his parents, has just arrived in town, The Chosen One prepares to confront him. Master Pain draws a crowd and demonstrates his skills. He lets his henchmen hit him repeatedly with Bō staffs all over his body and groin, then subdues them all in one move. Impressed by Master Pain's skills, the town's mayor hires him, and Master Pain randomly changes his name to Betty. The Chosen One attempts to train himself by letting people hit him with bō staffs, but is knocked out after being hit. When he wakes up, a mysterious woman named Whoa warns him not to rush to fight Betty. After flirtily fighting The Chosen One, Whoa flies off into the sky. Ignoring Whoa's advice, The Chosen One sets off to find Betty. He comes across one of Betty's evil companions: Moo Nieu (pronounced "moon you"), a Holstein cow gifted in karate, with a large udder that can squirt milk as a weapon. The Chosen One eventually incapacitates Moo Nieu by milking her until her udder is empty. He sees Betty at a waterfall and confronts him. Master Doe, Ling's Father, shows up and tries to stop the unprepared Chosen One, and is wounded by Betty. The Chosen One takes Master Doe to Master Tang; it turns out they are old friends. However, as Tang massages Doe's wound, it does not close and Doe dies that night. Out of depression, Ling confesses her feelings for The Chosen One. Confused, The Chosen One journeys out to a field and consults the heavens for confidence. Suddenly Mu-Shu Fasa, a large sentient lion, appears in the sky and dispenses advice in a scene parodying a portion of The Lion King. He returns to town and finds that Betty's hostility has expanded to the entire town, and they are killing anyone who may be his allies. He finds Wimp Lo, Ling, Master Tang and even his dog heavily maimed. However, except for Lo, they all survive. After taking Ling and his dog to safety, The Chosen One begins training himself. Discovering Betty's weak points are the pyramid spikes embedded in his chest, The Chosen One makes wooden dummies, embeds similar spikes onto their chests and attempts to pluck them out with his bare hands. His hands are battered and he is exhausted, but after Ling treats his wounds and gives an inspiring speech, he finds himself rejuvenated and successfully pulls off the attack. Meanwhile, Betty is called by the mysterious Evil Council and learns that The Chosen One is alive. The Chosen One confronts Betty at the temple. They fight evenly, until the Evil Council shows up revealing themselves to be French aliens, and gives Betty supernatural powers. Betty viciously beats up The Chosen One, who, in a semi- unconscious state, sees visions of Whoa and Mu-Shu Fasa giving him advice. Mu- Shu instructs him to open his mouth. As soon as he does, Tonguey flies out and attacks and destroys the mother ship, causing the entire Evil Council armada to panic and retreat, leaving Betty vulnerable. The Chosen One eventually rips the pyramid spikes out of Betty's chest, killing him. As The Chosen One returns home with Ling, his tribulations are far from over, as presented in a trailer for a sequel, Kung Pow 2: Tongue of Fury, that immediately follows the final scene. In a post-credits scene, Master Tang, who has been left behind, asks someone to help him from a hungry golden eagle eating his leg. ===== A huge energy field in the shape of a glowing green hand appears and grabs the USS Enterprise, halting its movement. Captain James T. Kirk tries to shake the ship free, but to no avail. A humanoid apparition appears on the bridge viewscreen and addresses the ship's crew. Kirk demands that the ship be set free, but the being responds by tightening its grip, threatening to crush the ship until Kirk agrees to the being's demands that the ship's crew be beamed down to the planet below. Kirk leads a landing party that includes Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish). The team arrives at what appears to be an ancient Greek temple, where they encounter the humanoid who identifies himself as the god Apollo (Michael Forest). He informs the party that he will not allow them to leave, and renders the team's communicators and transporter room nonfunctional. He indicates that he expects the crew of the Enterprise to worship him as their ancestors had done, and in return promises to provide for all their needs and desires. Kirk refuses. Apollo's attention shifts toward Carolyn, angering Mr. Scott, who steps forward to defend her against Apollo's advances. Apollo destroys his weapon and announces he will take Carolyn as his consort. After displaying his power, Apollo appears tired, and vanishes along with Carolyn. Kirk and McCoy speculate that their captor was one of a group of powerful aliens that visited Earth millennia ago and became objects of worship to the ancient Greeks. Having noticed Apollo's apparent fatigue, Kirk decides to try to provoke Apollo in order to test the limits of his power, perhaps weakening him enough to allow the landing party to overcome him. Meanwhile, Carolyn learns that Apollo belonged to a group of travelers, god-like in the sense of having the power of life and death, but unable to exist without love and worship. He is the last of their kind, the others having given up hope that humans might one day turn back to them. Kirk's plan to provoke Apollo is frustrated when Carolyn intervenes to protect the landing party. Apollo instructs Kirk to begin making arrangements for the remaining crew to come down to the planet. Kirk takes Carolyn aside and tells her that she must reject Apollo to save them all from slavery. She reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile, Mr. Spock locates the power source for the force field holding the Enterprise, and finds a way to fire phasers through it. Sorrowfully putting responsibility before her romantic desires, Carolyn lies and tells Apollo her interest in him is purely scientific. Angered and hurt, Apollo calls down thunder and lightning to intimidate her. Kirk orders Spock to fire on the power source. Defeated, Apollo addresses his fellow gods, admitting that there is no room left in the universe for them, and begs to be taken away. He fades to nothing. Carolyn is devastated. Kirk shows some remorse, remarking that humans owe their moral code to the Greek civilization - and thereby, in all likelihood, to Apollo and his kind. ===== ===== The Port Ruppert Mundys of New Jersey lease their stadium to the United States Department of War at the beginning of the 1943 season—to be used as a soldiers' embarkation point—which forces the athletes to play as the league's first permanent road team. The novel's narrator is "Word" Smith, a retired sports columnist who spends 1943 traveling with the Mundys. ===== Taking place ten years after the events of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX follows a new generation of duelists including a young boy named Judai Yuuki (Jaden Yuki) who attends Duel Academia (Duel Academy), a school founded by Seto Kaiba, wherein aspiring duelists train in the field of Duel Monsters. Judai/Jaden makes friends and rivals at the academy and accepts challenges alongside his Elemental Hero deck, which includes the Winged Kuriboh card given to him by Yugi Muto. ===== The Sontarans debuted in this serial, as shown here at the Doctor Who Experience. In the Middle Ages, the bandit Irongron and his aide Bloodaxe, together with their rabble of criminals, find the crashed spaceship of a Sontaran warrior named Linx. The alien claims Earth for his Empire, then sets about repairing his ship, offering Irongron “magic weapons” that will make him a king in return for shelter. They strike a bargain, though Irongron remains suspicious. The Third Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart are investigating the disappearance of several scientists from a top secret scientific research complex. They do not know Linx has used an Osmic Projector to send himself forward to the 20th century and has kidnapped the scientists, then hypnotised them into making repairs on his ship. The Projector only lets him appear in another time for a brief period. While the Doctor investigates, he meets an eccentric scientist called Rubeish, and a young journalist called Sarah Jane Smith, who has infiltrated the complex by masquerading as her aunt. Later that evening Rubeish disappears and the Doctor uses the data he has gathered to pilot the TARDIS back to the Middle Ages, not realising that new companion Sarah has stowed away on board. Irongron has stolen his castle from an absent nobleman, and relations with his neighbours are appalling. Indeed, the mild Lord Edward of Wessex has been provoked into building an alliance against him and, when this is slow in developing, sends his archer Hal on an unsuccessful mission to kill Irongron. Irongron is in a foul mood when a captured Sarah is brought before him. His mood improves when Linx presents him with a robot knight which is then put to the test on a captured Hal. The Doctor shoots the robot control box from Irongron's hands. The ensuing confusion lets both Hal and Sarah flee, and they head for Wessex Castle. Meanwhile, the Doctor has realised both that Sarah is in the time period and has been captured, and also that she previously supposed him to be in league with Irongron. The next morning Irongron and his troops assault the castle using rifles supplied by Linx but the attack is repelled by the Doctor's cunning. The failure further sours the relationship between Linx and Irongron, which has deteriorated since the robot knight fiasco and the point at which the robber saw the Sontaran's true visage beneath his helmet. The Doctor now decides to lead an attack on Irongron's castle, and he and Sarah enter dressed as friars. He makes contact with Rubeish and finds the human scientists in a state of extreme exhaustion. Linx catches the Doctor in the laboratory once more, but this time is rendered immobile when a lucky strike from Rubeish hits his probic vent – a Sontaran refuelling point on the back of their necks which is also their main weakness. Rubeish and the Doctor use the Osmic Projector to send the scientists back to the twentieth century. Sarah now invites herself into Irongron's kitchen, using the opportunity to drug the food, thereby knocking out Irongron's men. A recovered Linx now determines his ship is repaired enough to effect a departure. Once more he encounters the Doctor, and they wrestle in combat. A crazed and half drugged Irongron arrives and accuses Linx of betraying him: the Sontaran responds by killing him. As Linx enters his spherical vessel Hal arrives and shoots him in the probic vent, and the Sontaran warrior falls dead over his controls, triggering the launch mechanism. Knowing the place is about to explode when the shuttle takes off, Bloodaxe awakes and rouses the remaining men and tells them to flee, while the Doctor hurries the last of his allies out of the castle. It explodes moments before the Doctor and Sarah depart in the TARDIS. ===== Following on from The Ark in Space, the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Harry Sullivan teleport down from the Nerva space station to Earth, ostensibly uninhabited. However, the system is not functioning well, and the Doctor begins repairing it. The other two explore the surrounding area, but Harry falls down a crevasse and Sarah goes to seek the Doctor's help. He is nowhere in sight. Roth, an astronaut, finds Sarah. He is obviously distressed, and explains that he has been tortured by an alien that lives in the rocks, together with its patrolling robot. He takes Sarah towards the astronauts' campsite, but refuses to approach it, suspecting the astronaut Vural of collusion with the alien. Three of the astronauts have captured the Doctor. They believe Nerva to be a legend, and tell him in turn that they had picked up a distress signal from Earth. They came to investigate, but their ship was vapourised when they emerged, leaving nine of them stranded. Then they began to vanish one by one. They blame the Doctor for this. Roth appears and the astronauts chase him, while Sarah frees the Doctor. Roth loses the others and meets up with Sarah and the Doctor. The Doctor also falls down a crevasse, and the robot returns, capturing Roth and Sarah and bringing them to the alien's spacecraft. The alien is Field Major Styre of the Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey, who has been experimenting on, and killing, the astronauts. Roth tries to escape but is shot dead by Styre. Styre reports back to his Marshal via a video link. The Marshal is impatient for the intelligence report (without which an invasion of Earth cannot take place), but Styre admits that he has been delayed in his experiments. Styre subjects Sarah to a series of terrifying hallucinations. The Doctor, free from the hole, has reached her and rips off a hallucinogenic device from her forehead, but she falls unconscious. The Doctor, enraged, attacks Styre, but the Sontaran easily fends him off. Styre shoots him unconscious (believing it to be fatal) when he runs away. The robot, having captured the three remaining spacemen, brings them to Styre's ship, where it is revealed that Vural had tried to make a deal with Styre in exchange for his own life. However, Styre intends to experiment on Vural anyway. The Doctor recovers, disables the robot, and meets Sarah and Harry. He confronts Styre, goading him into a hand- to-hand combat. While they fight, Sarah and Harry free the astronauts, and then Harry climbs towards Styre's ship to sabotage it. Styre almost wins the fight, but Vural attacks him, saving the Doctor at the cost of his own life. Styre, now low on energy, heads back towards his ship to recharge, but the sabotage causes it to kill him. The Doctor informs the Marshal that not only has Styre's mission failed, but that the invasion plans are in human hands. This is enough to ward off the invasion, and the three can return to Nerva, or so they think. ===== On August 1, 1999, seven children are transported into the Digital World by Digivices that appeared before them at summer camp, where they befriend several Digimon (Digital Monsters). The kids' Digivices allow their partner Digimon to Digivolve into stronger forms and combat enemies. As the kids explore to find a way home, they learn that they are "DigiDestined", children chosen to save the Digital World. After defeating Devimon, the DigiDestined are contacted by Gennai, who tells them to travel to the Server Continent to retrieve artifacts called Crests, which allows their Digimon partners to Digivolve past their current level. After defeating Etemon, the DigiDestined are tormented by Myotismon, who attempts to prevent them from using the power of Crests. Myotismon searches for the eighth DigiDestined in the human world, and the Digidestined and their Digimon return to the human world also to find the 8th child first. This 8th child is soon found out to be Tai's younger sister, Kari. When Myotismon reveals his true form, Agumon and Gabumon achieve Mega forms through Warp Digivolution to defeat him. When the boundaries between the human and Digital Worlds begin to intersect, the DigiDestined return to the Digital World to face the Dark Masters, who have each taken control of a part of the Digital World. In the midst of their battles, they learn that they were chosen to save the human and Digital Worlds from encountering Digimon in the human world four years ago. However, tension leads to infighting within the group and causes them to temporarily separate. After reflecting, the DigiDestined reunite to defeat Piedmon, the last Dark Master, and confront Apocalymon, who attempts to destroy both worlds. Apocalymon destroys their Crests, but the DigiDestined realize the power of their Crests were inside them all along and use them to defeat him. With the Digital World restored, Tai and his friends leave their Digimon partners behind and return to their normal lives. ===== Paige Morgan is a pre-medical student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Across the Atlantic, Denmark's Crown Prince Edvard prefers to live the life of a playboy, and when with his family often ignores or marginalizes his royal responsibilities. Inspired by a television commercial showing Wisconsin co-eds flashing their breasts, Edvard meets with his parents, King Haraald and Queen Rosalind, and announces his intention to attend college in America—specifically, Wisconsin, and to do so anonymously. The Queen then dispatches Edvard's majordomo, Søren, to chaperone the trip. Arriving at the university, Edvard orders Søren to keep his identity a secret and to call him 'Eddie'. Later at a bar, Eddie sees Paige serving and asks her to take off her shirt, as on TV. Paige angrily drenches Eddie with the drink hose and bouncers escort Eddie from the bar. Though he has apologized, Paige is annoyed when Eddie and she are assigned as lab partners for an organic chemistry class. Since the class is important for Paige's medical school ambitions, she warns Eddie to not get in her way and reprimands him after he sleeps in through one of their lab experiments. Running out of money, Eddie gets a job in the deli section of the bar. Paige reluctantly helps him during his first day, and the two start to mend fences. Although she does well in science, Paige struggles in an English literature class. Eddie uses his earlier education to help Paige gain a better understanding of William Shakespeare, and Paige instructs Edvard in common household chores like laundry. Since Eddie is away from his family and unfamiliar with American holidays, Paige invites him to her parents’ dairy farm for Thanksgiving. Paige's father explains how he struggles to keep the small farm afloat, and Eddie uses his mechanical skills to fine-tune a riding mower for a race, which he wins. A rival racer proves a sore loser and punches Eddie. After the fight that follows, Paige treats his grazes and the two kiss for the first time. Back at school, Eddie and Paige sneak off to the library stacks to pursue a romantic encounter. While there, members of the Danish tabloid press ambush the couple. Once away from the mayhem, Paige learns his real identity and walks away from him through the rain. Just then Eddie is notified by his mother that his father is very ill and she asks him to return. While Paige is questioned at a viva voce panel about Shakespeare, she realizes that she loves Edvard and runs to find him, only to discover that he has already left for Denmark. She follows him there and while being driven round Copenhagen is delayed by a royal parade. Paige leaves her taxi and is recognized from the papers by the crowd, who call Edvard’s attention to her. He mounts her behind him on his horse, hurriedly opens a parliamentary session and takes her to the castle. The queen objects to Edvard's choice, but the king tells him that if he loves Paige, he should marry her. Edvard proposes and Paige accepts. After witnessing him reconcile workers and employers in a parliamentary committee, the queen realizes that Paige has helped him grow up at last and will make a good queen. However, during a palace ball, Paige remembers that she is betraying her ambition to become a doctor working in Third World countries, breaks her engagement and returns home. King Haraald abdicates and the newly crowned Edvard realizes that he too has responsibilities to shoulder. However, he arrives after Paige’s graduation and tells her that she is his choice and he is willing to wait for however long it takes to achieve her dreams. ===== Singer's girlfriend helps him adjust to the new rock'n'roll music. ===== The Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy is based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman. It tells of how a young boy and his dog managed to escape the fate that befell the ship and its crew. Instead, they were given eternal life, the ability to speak in any tongue, and the ability to talk to each other with their thoughts. Ben, the boy, and Ned, the dog, are sent on a mission to help those in need. In The Angel's Command, they meet up with a French buccaneer and try to help him fulfill his dream of returning home. Ben and Ned are beset by challenges, and the last one causes the death of their dear friend. Afterwards, they meet up with two other young people, Dominic and Karay. They help an old count find his lost nephew, Adamo, who is captive to the Razan, a clan of robbers living in the Pyrenees, led by an old witch. Ned, Ben, Karay, and Dominic manage to rescue Adamo. Nevertheless, the boy and his dog must move on, and their story continues. The novel was followed by a sequel in 2006 titled Voyage of Slaves. ===== A fourteen-year-old nameless boy, who at the beginning has no parents and is a mute. He is apparently running away from his life as an abused orphan, and accidentally slips on the Flying Dutchman as a stowaway. He is found, and made to work with the cook, Petros, an antagonistic character who abuses him. Petros names the boy Neb, which is short for Nebuchadnezzar. One day, while the crew is off drinking in the port town of Esbjerg, a dog wanders onto the ship and is befriended by Neb. He names the dog Denmark, after the country he found the dog in. They strike up an immediate friendship. Den hides under sacks until it is safe to come out. The cruel, wild, and fearsome Captain Vanderdecken steers his ship on a long voyage to get emeralds from a dealer across the ocean, supposedly in Asia. The ship sails to the tip of South America, the treacherous Cape Horn, and unsuccessfully attempts to pass three times. After the third attempt, Captain Vanderdecken curses the Lord for smiting him, and an angel descends from heaven and curses the ship to sail the seas for eternity. The angel, however, realizes Nebuchadnezzar and Denmark are pure of heart and not part of the motley, now undead, crew, and has them swept overboard by a great wave. The angel blesses them, telling them to walk the earth forever, wise and forever young, to give kindness and guidance wherever they go. They later wash up on shore and discover that they are able to communicate by thought. They are found and taken in by a kind-hearted shepherd named Luis who grows fond of them, but does not ask about their past. After spending three years with him, Luis dies in a storm trying to save an ewe. The angel appears in a dream telling them that they must move on at the sound of a bell, which they hear jingling on the neck of a sheep walking by. Neb and Den, young but ageless, must leave. The story picks up many years later. Both characters have changed their names (by reversing them); Neb is now Ben and Den is Ned. It is apparent that they have lived with each other for several centuries. One day, they get on a train without knowing where they are going, and end up getting off at the village of Chapelvale. They meet a lady named Mrs. Winn as well as a boy named Alex and a girl named Amy. The children warn them about the Grange Gang, a group of local bullies. The gang leader, Wilf, takes an immediate disliking to Ben. Together, Ben, Ned, Amy, Alex, and Mrs. Winn go on a treasure hunt to save the town, which is about to be converted into a limestone quarry and cement factory. They team up with an old ship's carpenter named Jon (who is at first believed to be a madman), a milkman named Will, and Will's family. They follow a series of clues written by Mrs. Winn's ancestor, who was believed to have been given the deeds to the town. One clue leads to a treasure (which is a Byzantine artifact) and another clue and continues that way until three treasures and clues have been found. The last clue, of course, is the hardest and is the last thing that may show them the location of the deeds to Chapelvale. The deeds to the village are found and Mrs. Winn is able to claim Chapelvale as her property so that it can be saved. However, the angel appears once again and informs Ben and Ned that they must leave Chapelvale and their friends at the sound of a bell. Jon finds a bell in the Almshouse and becomes excited about the discovery. He and Will decide to try the bell out. Ben and Ned run as fast as they can, hoping that if they cannot hear the bell they will not have to leave, but they cannot get away in time. Sadly, they must move on. ===== The first character introduced is a man called Paul Jonas, apparently an infantryman on the Western Front of the First World War. In what he at first believes to be a dream or hallucination, he meets a woman with wings, who gives him a feather. He wakes from the experience to find himself back in the trenches, but realizes the experience was not a dream when he discovers the feather. Two of his comrades, Finch and Mullet, begin to express doubts about his sanity. Eventually, Paul runs off into no-man's land. There, he finds the bird-woman but Finch and Mullet have pursued him, and they have been transformed into monstrous shapes: Mullet is grossly fat and Finch has no eyes. Paul flees in terror and falls through a hole in space. He discovers himself in a place similar to the chess-land in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, where he is caught in the battle between the red and the white, as well as hunted by Finch and Mullet. He escapes with a young boy he met at an inn, whose name is Gally. They find themselves on Mars, which is inhabited by creatures who demand a sacrifice of a princess from the planet Venus each year. He recognizes the chosen woman as the winged woman he met earlier, but he cannot remember when he met her. His memory does not even extend to his time in the chess-land. With the help of other men from Earth, he rescues the princess, then flees from the angry Martians. He sees Mullet and Finch again, however, and tries to escape in a hijacked airship. He loses control of the airship and finds himself in a conservatory with a harp, which shrinks to the size of his palm. Mullet and Finch confront him, demanding that he give them the harp, but he refuses and appears again on the airship, which is hurtling toward the ground. Transported to yet another world, he is rescued from a frozen river by a group of Neanderthals, and a voice comes from the harp, telling him that friends will search for him on the river. The story moves to the late 21st century. The most significant technological change is the wide availability of virtual reality interfaces among all parts of society. The internet has been replaced by "the Net," a vast network of online VR environments. In Durban, a VR programming instructor named Irene "Renie" Sulaweyo is teaching a Kalahari San named !Xabbu how to create such environments, while providing for her family. Her family is made up by her alcoholic father Long Joseph and her ten-year-old brother Stephen. Stephen spends much of his time online and frequently joins his friends in escapades to forbidden areas of the net. When he somehow ends up in a coma after visiting a forbidden club, she and !Xabbu decide to investigate. Inside the club, they discover a number of very unsavoury entertainments, and are very nearly trapped by the managers. Their most bizarre and horrifying discovery is a very powerful hypnotic entity, which Renie nearly dies trying to escape from. Convinced that the club is set up to damage the minds of children, as it has done to Stephen, she resolves to stop the people responsible. She finds an unusual and large piece of code, in the form of a golden diamond, on her machine, and consults her friend and mentor, Dr. Susan van Bleeck, about it. As they examine it, it erupts into an image of a golden city, then disappears. Renie's difficulties multiply, as it becomes clear that her investigations have earned her powerful enemies: she is stood down from her job and unknown persons set fire to her family's apartment complex. Finally, van Bleeck is brutally assaulted and dies after leaving Renie and !Xabbu with three names: Martine Desroubins, Blue Dog Anchorite, and Bolivar Atasco. The first two are hackers that agree to help them find the golden city, which is in a mysterious network called "Otherland", while the third is an anthropologist and archaeologist whose expertise is pre-Columbian Latin America. Blue Dog Anchorite reveals himself to be Murat Sagar Singh, a retired programmer who worked on the security system for Otherland, and whose colleagues on the same project have been dying in unusual circumstances. He also reveals that Otherland was commissioned by a secret organisation called "The Grail Brotherhood", and that Atasco, who oversaw the security project for Otherland, was an important member of that organisation. Renie, !Xabbu, Martine, and Singh plan to break into Otherland; Renie and !Xabbu, along with Long Joseph and van Bleeck's assistant Jeremiah Dako, travel to Wasps' Nest, a mothballed military base in the Drakensberg mountains, where there is equipment allowing Renie and !Xabbu to stay connected to the Net for extended periods. Preparations completed, they hack into Otherland, but Singh is confronted and killed by the security system. He is later found dead in his room from a heart attack. Renie, !Xabbu, and Martine manage to enter Otherland and make their way to the golden city, which is called Temilún. There, they meet the God- King, who reveals himself to be Atasco. In suburban California, a terminally- ill teenager named Orlando Gardiner has become the most celebrated warrior in Middle Country, an online VR MMORPG based on swords-and-sorcery. However, while playing the game, he is distracted by a vision of a golden city and killed by a low-level monster. With the help of his friend, Sam Fredericks, he begins to investigate. Their investigations lead to TreeHouse, an online fringe community, and to Melchior, a code name used by Singh and others. Following the trail, they are mysteriously taken to a beach on a river. Across the river, they can see the golden city. They build a raft to cross the river, but are stopped by the police and taken to the palace of the God-King. On an army base in North Carolina, the young girl Christabel Sorensen becomes friends with Mr. Sellars, a mysterious old man living on the base. She is unaware that he is under house arrest, and her father, a senior military security officer, is in charge of guarding him. She helps him to escape from his house into a network of tunnels lying underneath the base. The Grail Brotherhood emerges as a small number of the world's wealthiest and most powerful people who have formed an exclusive society. Otherland is their private network, where many of them own numerous simulation worlds (others being leased out for very large sums), and they intend to use it for even more mysterious purposes. They meet in a simulation based on ancient Egypt, where their leader, Felix Jongleur, appears as Osiris and obliges other members to present themselves as various Egyptian deities. Jongleur commissions an employee, John Dread, to carry out a task referred to as the "Sky God Project." Dread promises to accomplish his mission, although it is not stated what exactly he must do. Renie, !Xabbu, Martine, Orlando, Fredericks, and four other people in similar situations find themselves imprisoned in a virtual reality world so complex that it rivals reality. There, they meet Atasco and his wife, and learn that Atasco, though formerly a member of the Grail Brotherhood, has been uninvolved for some time (though he has been permitted to retain his simulation world), and is now secretly opposing the Brotherhood's plans. They meet the enigmatic Mr. Sellars, who tells them that the network is somehow built from the minds of catatonic children worldwide, and he calls upon the small group of adventurers to stop the Grail Brotherhood. Before they can get their questions answered, however, the meeting descends into chaos. Unknown to any of those gathered, Dread and a team of expert assassins have attacked the Atascos' island home in Colombia, and Bolivar and his wife are suddenly murdered. Sellars gives the adventurers some brief instructions: they are to search along the river for Paul Jonas, who is at large within Otherland's many simulation worlds, then he too vanishes. Even as the adventurers flee Temilún, Dread, with the help of criminal hacker Dulcie Anwin, hijacks the simulation body of one of their party. The group sails down the river, hoping to find the answers that will enable them to free the children from Otherland's hold. ===== Lord Valentine's Castle is a novel that details the saga of a hero who reestablishes a legitimate government and saves the planet Majipoor from tyranny. ===== Majipoor Chronicles is a collection of 10 stories involving a young man reviewing memory records of other people, as a framing device. ===== Valentine Pontifex is a novel in which the Metamophs try to drive people from their native world Majipoor by spreading ecological problems. =====