The basic plot of the play follows the adventures of three Victorian women explorers into what they believe to be Terra Incognita, a new, unexplored land. The three are from very different exploration backgrounds but all exhibit their own form of independence. From the world in general and specifically men. The three together discuss many aspects of their pasts in exploring, with Mary and Fanny frequently trying to outdo each other. As the ladies progress on their travels it becomes apparent that they are not on an ordinary journey. Mary reaches the conclusion at the end of the first act that the three of them are in fact traveling forward through time and that, while doing so, they are beginning to absorb knowledge from the future. Alex dubs this phenomenon osmosing and from that point forward in the play, the ladies actively, and often fruitlessly try to osmose what the things they are encountering are, e.g. In the scene where Alex first encounters Cool Whip she takes several guesses at the item's identity: "(''Osmoses'') 'Mo hair'. No. 'Jello mold'. No. (''Tastes'') Noxzema! Yes! Heaven!"

Bart and Milhouse visit a joke shop, and Bart uses superglue to stick novelty props to his face. Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa plan a trip to the Springsonian Museum so they can see the Egyptian Treasures of Isis exhibit and the Orb of Isis. However, when Bart comes home and shows off his face props which he is now unable to remove, Marge is forced to take him to the hospital and is therefore unable to drive Lisa to the exhibit. She also forbids Lisa to take the bus alone, since it is too dangerous for her age.

Since this is Lisa's last chance to see the exhibit, she calls Homer to ask him if she can take the bus. When he initially seems uncertain, she tricks him into letting her take the bus by suggesting that she could take a limousine instead. However, Lisa boards the wrong bus; with the unsympathetic bus driver dropping her off in the middle of nowhere. At work, Homer tells Lenny and Carl that he let Lisa ride the bus alone. When they point out the error of his judgment, he leaves work to go look for her. He heads to the museum and ends up in downtown Springfield, where Lisa has hitched a ride to from Cletus. He uses a cherrypicker to get up higher. Homer and Lisa spot each other, but the vehicle's wheels creak backwards and it rolls down a hill. It slides off the edge of a pier at the harbor into a river. Lisa tells the drawbridge operator to close the bridge so Homer can grab on. His head is caught between the two closing halves and he survives with nothing more than a few tire marks across his forehead.

Meanwhile, as Bart is examined by Dr. Hibbert, Hibbert manages to trick Bart into thinking he will give him a series of painful injections in his spine to get the props off his face. Bart sweats heavily in terror, resulting in the props falling off. Hibbert then explains that terror sweat was the key to removing the superglued props; the "weapon" he used is actually a button applicator. When Marge and Bart get home, she forces Bart to apologise to Lisa for ruining her trip; as he talks to her behind her bedroom door, he is unaware that she still is not home.

With Homer and Lisa re-united, he tells her that it is all right to take risks in life. The two decide to go to the museum after all, by illegally entering since it is now closed. While there, Homer accidentally knocks the Orb of Isis onto the floor, where it splits open, revealing it to be a music box that had gone overlooked by scientists and museum staff. Lisa concludes that what her father said about risks was right – until the alarm goes off and guard dogs chase them out of the building.

''Rebecca’s Tale'' continues twenty years after du Maurier's conclusion and begins with the same classic line: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Most of the characters from the original novel have left the area: Maximilian de Winter died in a car accident before this sequel begins and Colonel Julyan has retired to a quiet life at home. None of the other characters from the original novel make significant appearances, although some have brief cameos. While in the original novel, Rebecca was ultimately described as a cruel and wanton woman, in this sequel she is presented as a tormented girl, haunted by her traumatic childhood and deeply sad despite her outward boldness.

Although the connection was unknown to most of Rebecca's acquaintances in adulthood (including her eventual husband Maximilian de Winter), her mother was the younger sister of Maxim's mother. Maxim's father had seduced his young aunt before she was sent away in disgrace to France, potentially making Rebecca Maxim's half-sister as well as his first cousin. However, Rebecca's father was generally understood to be "Black Jack" Devlin, an Irish gambler and speculator.

During Rebecca's early childhood in Brittany, she was raised to believe that Devlin had died while sailing to South Africa, where he was in fact alive and investing in diamond mines. She and her mother were supported by money sent from their relations in England. When she was still a young girl, she was raped by a boy in their French village, teaching her to mistrust, loathe, and manipulate men, but also to be self-sufficient, assertive, and strong in her own right.

At the end, taking partial inspiration from Rebecca's more positive ideals, Ellie Julyan rejects the conventionality of her bucolic country life to pursue her own dreams and ambitions, while Terence Gray reconciles with his own identity and opens himself to love.

On Thanksgiving in 1983, Marty Pascal travels from New York City to McLean, Virginia, to visit his family: mother Mrs. Pascal, younger brother Anthony, and twin sister "Jackie-O". Jackie-O, recently released from a psychiatric hospital, is obsessed with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and emulates her style of dress and hairstyle. Marty surprises his family with news he is engaged; he introduces his fiancée Lesly, a waitress at a doughnut store. Lesly's arrival disrupts the family's gathering, and Jackie-O conspires to break the couple up.

It becomes apparent that Marty and Jackie-O were involved in an incestuous relationship as teenagers. Jackie-O convinces Marty to play their favorite childhood "game", involving using a gun loaded with blanks to re-enact the Kennedy assassination; the "game" serves as foreplay for sex. A horrified Lesly witnesses the encounter and speaks to Anthony, who had tried to warn her of the nature of Marty and Jackie's relationship. He convinces Lesly that he is a virgin and dying of a brain tumor, leading to a brief and awkward sexual encounter.

In the morning, Lesly confronts Marty about what she witnessed. Marty breaks down and begs Lesly to return to New York with him. Jackie-O convinces Marty that she will let him leave if he agrees to play the game one final time. Armed with the gun, Jackie-O recalls the events that led to their absent father's departure; Marty claims that he walked out on the family the day of the Kennedy assassination, but Jackie-O believes that he was shot by Mrs. Pascal and buried in the backyard. Jackie-O fires the gun at Marty, now loaded with real bullets, killing him. Footage of Jackie Kennedy is then shown as Lesly screams. Lesly runs from the house and a flashback of Jackie-O in her costume as a teen is being filmed by Marty as she asks him to “stop it.”

During St. Patrick's Day, Springfield gathers downtown for events, activities, and alcohol. When Bart accidentally gets drunk during the celebration, a prohibitionist movement emerges. The municipal government, wanting to keep the voters during election season, agrees to consider a ban. They discover that alcohol has actually been banned in Springfield for two centuries, and moves to enforce the law, prompting Moe to disguise his bar as a pet shop. However, alcohol still continues to flow into the town, due to the mob and with their bribery of the local law enforcers. With the town becoming impatient with the police's incompetence, Chief Wiggum is replaced by Rex Banner, an officer of the U.S. Treasury Department. Banner blockades the city entrance and buries all of the alcohol in a mass grave at the city dump.

In the meantime, Homer figures out a way to keep Moe's bar operating, by becoming a bootlegger. One night, he and Bart sneak out to the city dump to reclaim the beer that was disposed of when the Prohibition law was enacted, escaping Banner in the process. He then sets up shop in his basement pouring the beer into the finger holes of bowling balls. Using an intricate set of pipes under the Bowl-A-Rama, he bowls the balls into Moe's. Upon discovering it, Marge actually finds it a very good idea, since Homer is actually using his intellectual faculties and that he is making enough money to support the family, although Lisa questions whether Homer should be breaking the law regardless of its intent or unpopularity. The media realizes someone is allowing Springfield's underground alcohol trade to flourish, and they give the still-unknown Homer the nickname, "Beer Baron". Banner's unsuccessful investigation into the Beer Baron's identify sees him miss or overlook blatant clues that he is Homer.

When his supply of liquor runs out, Homer begins to distill his own homemade liquor. However, his stills begin to explode, due to Homer not knowing how to properly make his own alcohol, and he agrees to stop when one of the exploding stills sets him on fire. He is then confronted by a desperate ex-Chief Wiggum, who attempts to mug him with the remains of his non-functional gun (having pawned the chamber and trigger), and both confide their distaste for Banner. In an attempt to rekindle Wiggum's career, Homer allows the former police chief to turn him in, hoping that Wiggum will get his job back by doing what Banner couldn't. After confessing to his crimes in public, Homer, originally believing he would be let off with a light punishment, faces expulsion from the town (and presumably death) by an archaic catapult, showing how anachronistic the law really was. Marge tells everyone that this law and punishment make no sense and it is meaningless to punish Homer, especially for their freedom to drink. When Banner steps up to lecture the town on the reasons why the law must be upheld, he accidentally steps on the catapult; Wiggum then has him catapulted. The town clerk then finds out that the Prohibition law was actually repealed a year after it was enacted, so Homer is released. Mayor Quimby then asks if Homer can become the Beer Baron again and supply the town with alcohol, but Homer tells him that he is retired. Within five minutes, Fat Tony is only too happy to oblige, and Springfield salutes alcohol's qualities as Homer proclaims his undying love of alcohol by saying, "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems." The entire town cheers Homer with beers in hands.

Subtitled "a memoir of a better era", North's book is about being young and having a pet raccoon. ''Rascal'' chronicles young Sterling's loving yet distant relationship with his father, dreamer David Willard North, and the aching loss represented by the death of his mother, Elizabeth Nelson North. (The book also touches on young Sterling's concerns for his older brother Herschel, off fighting in World War I in Europe.) The boy reconnects with society through the unlikely intervention of his pet raccoon, a "ringtailed wonder" charmer. The book begins with the capture of the baby raccoon and follows his growth to a yearling.

The story is also a personal chronicle of the era of change between the (nearly) untouched forest wilderness and agriculture; between the days of the pioneers and the rise of towns; and between horse-drawn transportation and automobiles, among other transitions. The author recounts through the eyes of himself as a boy his observations during expeditions in and around his home town, contrasted with his father's reminiscences of the time "when Wisconsin was still half wilderness when panthers sometimes looked in through the windows, and the whippoorwills called all night long", provide a glimpse of the past, as the original subtitle suggests.

The book has humorous moments. His sister Theo cannot understand Sterling's building of a canoe in the living room and is "startled nearly out of her wits" when Rascal, who had been lying on and blending into Uncle Justus' Amazonian jaguar rug, stands up. Later in the book, Rascal joins him in a pie-eating contest, and they win but are partially disqualified, although his friend, Oscar Sunderland, takes first prize because of it. Rascal also enjoyed riding in his bicycle's basket and helped him sell magazines by creating an animated slideshow.

The book also has serious moments. The author's brother, Herschel, is serving in the military during World War I, and Sterling longs for a word from him. Rascal is confined after he bites Slammy Stillman for snapping him with a rubber band. Later, Sterling catches a mild case of the Spanish flu during the epidemic. (The book states his Aunt Lillie, caring for him during his sickness, said Sterling's mother had wanted him to be a writer, which he achieved.)

Eventually, the problems with Rascal's raids into fields and henhouses become too much; the neighbors' irritation with the boy's pet can no longer be ignored, and Rascal runs the constant peril of being shot. Also, Rascal has become a young adult and, as such, is getting attention from jealous male and interested female raccoons. Sterling travels for hours in the newly completed canoe to release Rascal in the woods at the far side of nearby Lake Koshkonong. One of his biggest regrets is that his brother Herschel won't be back in time to see his pet.

The author's sister, poet and art historian Jessica Nelson North, wasn't particularly pleased with how her brother portrayed her family in ''Rascal'' (but was proud of her brother's achievement, regardless).

An evil genius named Dr. Who creates Mechani-Kong, a robot version of King Kong, to dig for the highly radioactive Element X, found only at the North Pole. Mechani-Kong enters an ice cave and begins to dig into a glacier, but the radiation destroys its brain circuits and the robot shuts down. Who then sets his sights on getting the real Kong to finish the job. Who is taken to task by a female overseer, Madame Piranha, whose country's government is financing the doctor's schemes, and frequently berates him for his failure to get results.

Meanwhile, a submarine commanded by Carl Nelson arrives at Mondo Island, where the legendary King Kong lives. Here, the giant ape gets into an intense fight with a giant dinosaur Gorosaurus and a sea serpent. He falls in love with Lt. Susan Watson (played by Linda Jo Miller) following in the footsteps of Ann Darrow from the 1933 film.

Dr. Who subsequently goes to Mondo Island, abducts Kong, and brings him back to his base at the North Pole. Kong is hypnotized by a flashing light device and fitted with a radio earpiece. Who commands Kong to retrieve Element X from the cave. Problems with the earpiece ensue and Who has to kidnap Susan Watson, the only person who can control Kong.

After Watson and her fellow officers are captured by Who, Madame Piranha unsuccessfully tries to seduce Nelson to bring him over to her side. Eventually Kong escapes and swims all the way to Japan where the climactic battle with Mechani-Kong transpires. The two giants face off at the Tokyo Tower in the finale. Kong prevails and destroys Mechani-Kong and kills Who and his men. Then Kong triumphantly swims back to his island home.

In a London prison in 1872, Dr. Gordon Ramsay (Herbert Rudley) is awaiting execution for the murder of a man named Curry, despite his claims of innocence. He is visited by renowned surgeon Sir Joel Cadman (Basil Rathbone), who offers him a chance to save his life in exchange for assisting Cadman with experiments at his estate. Cadman gives Ramsay a potion that he calls "The Black Sleep," which induces a deathlike state that can lead to actual death if an antidote is not administered in time. The next morning, Ramsay is discovered in his cell, apparently dead, and Cadman takes the body, supposedly for burial, with his assistant Odo (Akim Tamiroff).

When Ramsay is revived at Cadman's estate, he is startled by screams from a young woman named Laurie, who is being attacked by a large man named Mungo (Lon Chaney Jr.). The only person who can control Mungo is Cadman's nurse, Daphne (Phyllis Stanley), who quiets the attacker and leads him away. Later, Cadman and Daphne visit the bedroom of Cadman's wife Angelina (Louanna Gardner), who is comatose from an inoperable brain tumor. Cadman vows that he will find a way to operate on Angelina and save her life. However, when he next meets with Ramsay, Cadman tells him that he is conducting experiments on human brains to help restore creatures like Mungo and his mute servant Casimir (Bela Lugosi) to normal condition. Mungo, it turns out, was actually a Doctor Monroe, one of Ramsay's former teachers, whom Cadman claims he is trying to help through his research.

In a hidden laboratory/operating room in the manor, Ramsay observes Cadman's experiment on a man's brain, with Lucy and Daphne assisting. He is taken aback, though, when he sees cerebral fluid leaking from the subject's exposed brain, indicating that he is still alive. Cadman regards potential brain injury as a necessary risk for the greater good that his experiments will produce, testing different regions of the brain to map their functions. That night, though, Laurie tells Ramsay that she thinks she can trust him and that she is actually Dr. Monroe's daughter. Her father's current state as "Mungo" was caused by an operation by Cadman. When confronted by Ramsay, Cadman admits that he was responsible and says that he is working to reverse and atone for his mistakes, but he does not mention his wife and her condition.

Back in London, Odo has slipped the Black Sleep potion to a woman who knows the truth about the man Curry whom Ramsay was alleged to have killed. When the police arrive looking for her, Odo claims not to know where she is and disposes of the antidote that could revive her. At Cadman's manor, Ramsay and Laurie have concluded that Cadman's last subject was the still-living Curry and seek further evidence. In a hidden dungeon, they find locked cells with other living subjects of Cadman's experiments, all now mad and disfigured. Cadman, Daphne, Mungo, and Casimir capture Ramsay and Laurie but drop the cell keys as they leave.

Cadman reveals Angelina's condition to Ramsay. He had expected to conduct an operation that required a second woman subject, but when he learns that Odo had let the intended victim die, decides to use Laurie instead at Odo's suggestion. Cadman is interrupted, though, by the arrival of police detectives looking for Odo. Meanwhile, Ramsay tries to revive the anesthetized Laurie and manages to drug Mungo while Daphne is out of the room. The nurse herself is confronted by Cadman's victims, who have escaped from the dungeon with the dropped keys. Led by a maniacal preacher named Borg (John Carradine), they cast Daphne into the fireplace, and she flees, screaming and aflame.

Ramsay revives Laurie but Mungo awakens at the same time and attacks her. He is stopped, though, by Borg and the other victims who then turn on Cadman as he enters the room with his comatose wife. Backing away, Cadman falls over stair rail and plunges to his death with Angelina. The police finally arrive with Odo and Casimir in custody, and Ramsay and Laurie depart as a new day breaks.

In 1945, after World War II, United States Army Sgt. Paul Sutton returns to San Francisco to reunite with his wife, Betty, whom he married, following a whirlwind courtship, the day before he departed for the Pacific. The war has left him with emotional scars, and he experiences flashbacks on a regular basis.

Paul's reunion with Betty is strained, especially after he discovers that, although he has written her “almost every day,” she stopped reading his letters after the first few, and keeps the hundreds of unopened envelopes in a footlocker. He is determined to make a go of the marriage, however, and hopes to establish a new career for himself. She insists he continue to sell chocolates door-to-door, and he sets off to Sacramento. En route, he meets fellow train passenger Victoria Aragon, a graduate student whose Mexican-American family owns a vineyard in the Napa Valley. When Victoria is accosted by two men on their bus to Sacramento, Paul intervenes and ends up beating up the men in self-defense. After all three men are kicked off the bus as a result, Paul finds a crying Victoria alone, further down the road. When he learns she is pregnant by her professor, Paul offers to introduce himself to her very traditionalist family as her husband.

Victoria's father, Alberto, is infuriated, not only that she married a man below her social standing, but without his permission as well. Paul's initial plan to quietly slip away and continue on his journey, leaving her family to believe he abandoned her, is derailed when her grandfather, Don Pedro, encourages him to stay and help with the harvest. During the harvest, Paul (an orphan) grows closer to the family and learns the joys that come with their tradition, roots, and way of life. He and Victoria try to ignore their growing attraction and feelings for each other, but with little success. After a couple of days together, she finds the courage to ultimately come clean and reveal the truth to her family, further angering her father.

Paul’s honor prompts him to attempt to salvage his marriage and return home, but when he does he discovers Betty is involved with another man. She has applied for an annulment, to which he happily agrees, and he returns to the Aragon estate to ask Victoria to marry him.

When Paul returns, an argument with an angry and drunk Alberto leads to a disastrous fire which destroys the vineyard. However, Paul remembers one plant that may still have its roots intact, races off to retrieve it, and carries it to the family. The disaster, as well as Paul's bravery and dedication during it, has led to Alberto realizing his errors, and accepting Paul as one of his own, saying the roots of the plant are now officially Paul’s “roots.” Victoria and Paul seal their fate in the presence of the entire Aragon family, and all set out to replant and rebuild with the help of their newest member.

Bart and Milhouse are thrilled to learn a film version of their favorite comic book series, ''Radioactive Man'', is being produced in Springfield. Several Springfield Elementary students audition for the role of Fallout Boy when tryouts are held at their school. After Bart is rejected for being an inch too short, Milhouse is cast as Fallout Boy opposite Rainier Wolfcastle as Radioactive Man. When Milhouse's parents hear their son will play Fallout Boy, they buy expensive products because they expect to "start living in the fast lane" now that their son is a Hollywood movie star.

Disappointed at losing the role, Bart remains Milhouse's friend and confidant. Milhouse sours on the long hours and multiple takes required to shoot the film and disappears during filming of the most expensive scene. Production is suspended while the townspeople search for Milhouse. Bart finds him in his treehouse, where former child star Mickey Rooney unsuccessfully tries to convince Milhouse to finish the film. Deeming Rooney an unsuitable replacement for Milhouse, the bankrupt producers cancel the film and return to Hollywood.

In 1841, a sailor named Ishmael wanders to the New England town of New Bedford, Massachusetts to sign on a whaling ship. In the inn where he is staying for the night, he is forced to share his room with a Pacific Islander and harponeer named Queequeg, whom he befriends after a tense first meeting. The next morning, the two of them hire onto a whaling ship named ''Pequod'', which is commanded by grim Captain Ahab, who is obsessed with hunting and killing a legendary white-skinned whale named Moby Dick, who was responsible for severing Ahab's left leg. Just before their departure, Ishmael and Queequeg encounter a man named Elijah, who delivers an ominous warning about Ahab and that all but one of the crew who follow him will find their deaths on this voyage.

As the ship casts off, and for some time afterwards, Ahab remains unseen until he finally appears to align his crew to the hunt for Moby Dick and sets course for the Bikini Atoll, where the whale is said to dwell. While the crew reaps a fair bounty of oil on their journey, Ahab's obsession with Moby Dick remains foremost in his mind. When the captain of a passing ship, who recently lost his hand to the white whale, informs Ahab of Moby Dick's latest whereabouts near the coast of Madagascar, Ahab immediately breaks off a particularly successful hunt, unsettling his crew, particularly his chief mate Starbuck. Starbuck suggests to his fellow officers Stubb and Flask to wrest command of the ''Pequod'' from Ahab, which the two refuse.

As the ''Pequod'' nears the atoll, a man falls from the ship's mast into the sea and disappears. Right afterwards, the ''Pequod ''is stuck in slack water for days. Casting bones to read his future, Queequeg foresees his death and orders the ship's carpenter to make him a coffin, before he sits down to await his demise. When one of the crew prepares to cut Queequeg's skin for fun, Ishmael rises to his friend's defense, prompting Queequeg to break his death reverie and defend Ishmael. Just then, Moby Dick briefly appears before the ship and escapes before the ''Pequod'' crew can attack him.

After rowing the ship out of the becalmed area, Ahab resumes the hunt. They encounter the ''Rachel'', another whaler from New Bedford, whose captain, Gardiner, asks Ahab to help search for his son, who was carried off by Moby Dick. Ahab refuses his aid and departs. When the ''Pequod'' hits a typhoon, Ahab uses the gale to speed the chase, endangering the ship. Starbuck decides to depose Ahab by force, but relents when in a rare humane moment Ahab reminisces about his self-destructive obsession for revenge.

Right after this conversation, a strange omen portends the fulfillment of Elijah's baleful prophecy, which Ishmael recounts to Ahab. The captain seems affected, but shakes off his doubts when Moby Dick reappears moments later. The ''Pequod'' crew sets out in their boats to bring him down. In the chaotic altercation, Moby Dick destroys Ahab's boat, but Ahab climbs onto the whale's back and stabs him until Moby Dick submerges, entangling Ahab in the harpoon lines on his back and drowning him. Instead of calling off the hunt, Starbuck orders the men to continue. Moby Dick attacks the boats, smashing them and killing the men; he then rams and sinks the ''Pequod'' before disappearing. Ishmael, the only survivor, manages to cling onto Queequeg's coffin until he is found and picked up by the ''Rachel''.

The film opens with Peter Sellers walking up to a director’s chair. An unseen live audience applauds as Peter directs their gaze toward the movie of his life.

In 1950s London, Peter Sellers is a household name as a performer on ''The Goon Show'' but is failing to branch out into film. He returns home to his family after a failed audition but is urged by his controlling mother Peg (Miriam Margolyes) to “bite the hand that feeds you”. A now inspired Peter utilizes his talent for impersonation to disguise himself as the elderly war veteran character he was auditioning for. Once the casting agent (Alison Steadman) has divulged that he’s perfect for the role, Peter reveals himself and is reluctantly given the part.

Peter wins a British Academy Award for ''I'm All Right Jack.'' Peg and Peter's father, Bill (Peter Vaughan), watch their son's acceptance speech but dismissed by Peg, a dejected Bill walks away leading to the first transformation of the film; Peter is now playing his father, and with a heavy Yorkshire accent breaks the fourth wall to tell us about Peter's childhood.

Before the shooting of ''The Millionairess'' has begun, Peter is already besotted with his co-star Sophia Loren (Sonia Aquino), while his marriage to wife Anne (Emily Watson) is becoming strained and his children are subjected to their father's rages and subsequent extravagant gifts as compensation. When Sophia mentions that Peter is too far away in the countryside to take her home, he takes this as a cue to buy a house in the heart of London. To subdue some of the guilt Peter feels about his feelings for Sophia, he hires a decorator, Ted Levy, and insists that his wife and Ted should have drinks together. Peter leaves them and goes to have dinner alone with Sophia, who is surprised that Peter’s wife is not joining them and slowly realises that this is a date. She rejects Peter’s advances and tells him to go home to his family. Peter does so and announces his love for Sophia Loren to Anne and their two children.

Seeing Carlo Ponti (Joseph Long) has come to visit his wife Sophia on set, Sellers distracts himself with Sophia’s stand-in and the two have sex in Peter's Rolls-Royce. Meanwhile, a weary Anne surrenders to quietly spending the night with Ted. Once Peter returns home and realises his wife has left, he wreaks havoc in the house. Anne comes home the morning after to find Peter on the balcony threatening to jump if she leaves. The two argue and Anne walks out. We then see Peter's second transformation, this time in drag as Anne, who is dubbing the breakup to make it look as though they had reconciled.

Peter returns home to Peg’s care to recuperate after the divorce and begins to see Maurice Woodruff (Stephen Fry), a clairvoyant to the stars, hoping to gain some direction; Woodruff's influence leads him to the Pink Panther series.

On a flight to Italy, he sees a pack of Captain Webb matches, which inspires the physical appearance of Inspector Clouseau. Filming of ''The Pink Panther'' begins and his portrayal is a huge success, but Peter is disappointed with the final product and blames Blake Edwards (John Lithgow).

Peter returns to England to find his father on life support, which Peg had been keeping from him. After Bill has stated how proud he is of his son, he passes away. Peter is heartbroken and cannot forgive Peg for not calling him; their close bond is irreversibly severed and Peter leaves.

At The Dorchester Hotel, Peter is taking a woman back to his room but is interrupted by Stanley Kubrick (Stanley Tucci), who has come to persuade Peter to be in his new film, ''Dr. Strangelove.'' Peg comes to visit Peter on-set, but Peter decides to stay in character as the titular scientist to avoid confronting reality. Peg is unsettled and eventually leaves, feeling as though she hadn’t truly seen her son.

While Stanley and Peter are discussing the fourth character he is due to play, Peter grows aggravated about his workload, insisting he won’t play the American bomber pilot. After he storms off, we watch the third change; Peter becomes Stanley, who turns to look at us with the Kubrick stare and tells us that Peter Sellers wasn’t a person, simply a vessel, “but even an empty vessel can become too full”. Peter’s way out of playing Major Kong is by showing up to set with crutches and pretending he had injured himself getting out of a taxi.

Meanwhile, Maurice Woodruff is taking a bribe to convince Peter into doing another Pink Panther film. He informs Peter that a very special partnership involves the initials B.E., meaning Blake Edwards. Peter instead pursues his new neighbour Britt Ekland (Charlize Theron). He asks her to be his date to the cinema where they see Dr Strangelove. They wed just 10 days after meeting.A few of the scenes where Geoffrey Rush as Peter plays other roles, a core storytelling device in the film.While on their honeymoon in Hollywood, Peter inhales amyl nitrites during sex, causing him to have a series of eight heart attacks. He is rushed to the hospital and Peg watches the breaking news of Peter’s critical condition from her home in England being broadcast on “both channels”. During the resuscitation, a dream sequence takes place in Peter's consciousness with his many characters surrounding him, before he notices that he has a ticking bomb attached to his chest. When he wakes, he believes himself to now be invincible. Peter’s next film is ''Casino Royale'', but with his new lease of life he wants to play it straight, much to the dismay of everyone involved. He abandons the film after no one takes him seriously.

Britt informs Peter that she has fallen pregnant, but is met with an unimpressed Peter, who doesn't want more children. However, Britt insists on keeping the baby. Once the baby is born, Peter and Britt’s relationship becomes strained and they fight as the newborn interrupts scenes of ''After The Fox.''

In costume as the blue matador for ''The Bobo,'' Peter receives a call from Peg, where she tells Peter that she’s in hospital and that she needs to see him. However, Peter pretends to be called away and hangs up. The fourth narrative change is Peter becoming Peg, who defends Peter’s behaviour, just as the real Peg always did. As Peg, he climbs into a coffin before reverting back to himself. Peter is distraught at Peg’s funeral and Britt tries to comfort him, but he instead cries on his first wife Anne’s shoulder.

When they get home, Peter antagonizes Britt while she is trying to comfort him. A physical fight ensues and Britt smashes a picture of Peg over Peter’s head. She leaves for good, taking their daughter with her, and Peter is alone with his thoughts, triggering a psychedelic sequence which swiftly takes Peter through the 70's.

During one of their sessions, Maurice Woodruff listens to Peter talk about his obsession with ''Being There,'' a book Peter loves so much that he wants it to be his next film, but Maurice uses the spirit of Peg to persuade Peter to instead do ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'' and a superstitious Peter relents.

At the screening for the film, a drunken Peter gives a speech which becomes more and more uninhibited until he abruptly leaves. Watching his home movies alone, Peter gets a voicemail from his now adult son Michael, who wishes him well with his new pacemaker. Once the recording ends, Peter looks to the table beside him and opens the script for ''Revenge of the Pink Panther.'' In costume as the "old salty Swedish sea dog", Peter collapses in his trailer while an unaware Blake bangs at his door. The fifth and final transformation is Peter into Blake Edwards, who tells us what it’s like to work with the “difficult” but “mesmerizing” Peter Sellers.

The only project Peter never gave up on was ''Being There.'' Scenes of Peter carefully constructing the main character in his home are interspersed with him destroying his own memorabilia, including some of his own home movies. Peter is exasperated that he can’t find the look of Chance, but meditates on the memory of his lowly father. This allows Peter to not rely on a comical accent or costume, but to instead channel his still and simple father.

Peter quietly rewatches scenes from ''Being There,'' proud of something he made. A tired and visibly prematurely ageing Peter walks through the Swiss snow to meet with Blake Edwards, who has the script for ''The Romance of the Pink Panther.'' Instead of entering, Peter hesitates and watches through the window, eventually turning to stand motionless under a streetlight. Blake comes out, confused to find Peter standing perfectly still. They don’t share a word and Blake kisses Peter on the cheek, eventually leaving him alone. Facts about the final years of Sellers' life are shown over the motionless Peter in the snow.

The film finishes with the same version of Peter that we saw at the start. The movie about his life has now ended. He sits in the director’s chair and shrugs, stands up and walks through the film’s set pieces, surrounded by bustling crew, to his trailer and smiles to the camera, “You can’t come in here”.

''Tsukikage Ran'' comprises thirteen self-contained stories. The series follows characters Ran and Meow into a new town, where they encounter some kind of wrongdoing. Every episode climaxes with a sword fight featuring the protagonist, sometimes aided by Meow's martial arts prowess.

''Kaze Hikaru'' takes place in the 1860s in the Japanese historical period known as and revolves around a girl named Tominaga Sei who joins the Mibu-Roshi (Special Police; later known as the Shinsengumi). She disguises herself as a boy by shaving her hair and joins the group using the name Kamiya Seizaburō. Her primary goal is to seek revenge against the Chōshū clan, who are responsible for the murder of her brother and father. Over the course of the series, Sei realizes that she has found a new family within the Shinsengumi troupe.

The film features two men, played by Jakub Goldberg and Henryk Kluba, who emerge from the sea carrying a large wardrobe, which they proceed to carry into a town. Carrying the wardrobe, the two encounter a series of hostile events, including being attacked by a group of youths (one of whom is played by Polanski himself). Finally, they arrive back at a beach and then disappear in the sea.[https://archive.today/20130201132003/http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/two_men_and_a_wardrobe/ Rotten Tomatoes][https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051566/ IMDB]

The episode opens with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and a disembodied Kenny (sharing Cartman's body) playing "''The Lord of the Rings''." Stan's parents have rented the movie ''The Lord of the Rings'' (specifically, ''The Fellowship of the Ring''), and tell Stan, Kyle & Cartman to bring it to Butters' parents, as they had asked to borrow it. Still caught up in their game, the boys see this assignment as a "quest", and set off on their journey. Stan's parents attempt to watch a pornographic movie, but discover Randy mixed it up with the ''Lord of the Rings'' tape, and realize that Butters is now watching it at his house.

The two drive to Butters' house, and come across the boys returning home, having already delivered the tape. Stan's father plays into the boys' imagination and sends them on their greatest quest ever: retrieve the tape, as it "holds an evil power." Excited, the boys eagerly comply and set off toward Butters' house. They arrive and take the tape, but not before discovering that Butters, though not realizing the nature of it, has watched the movie and becomes obsessed with it, even wondering aloud, "What's happenin' down there?" (in reference to his groin) before the other boys arrive. Excluded from the game and denied the video, Butters becomes steadily more insane, and remains secluded in the basement, muttering about his "precious" and generally acting like Sméagol/Gollum. At this point the Marshes, who have grown worried that the boys have not returned, show up. Distraught at Butters' behavior, they assume that the boys now have the tape and are watching it. Contacting the other parents, they inform them that the pornographic movie in question is called "Backdoor Sluts 9", considered by many as 'the most hardcore porno ever made' and go on a desperate search to find their missing children and "put it into context."

Returning home, the boys run into some sixth graders, who look inside the box and realize what the contents are. Although they try to take the tape, the boys are able to escape and decide to take it to the council of the High Elf of Faragon (Clyde). At the council, at which most of the fourth graders are present (in ''The Lord of the Rings'' costumes, except for Kevin Stoley, who is wearing a Star Wars mask), it is decided that to determine the tape's power, they should send one of their own to watch it for a few minutes. Talonguard the Black (Tolkien) is volunteered, and steps inside his house for a moment. He soon comes out, expressionless and dressed in his regular clothes, and announces, without explanation, that he is not playing anymore. Now truly convinced of the tape's power, the council decides the tape must be returned to the Two Towers video store in Conifer "from whence it came", and forms the "Fellowship of ''The Lord of the Rings''", which consists of Stan, Kyle, Cartman (with Kenny), Craig, Jimmy, and Filmore.

The boys avoid a run-in with the sixth graders but their party loses Jimmy, Craig, and the kindergartener. Butters, who has been following them, offers to guide the remaining party members to the store in a thinly veiled attempt to get the tape back. Soon all the boys wind up at the Two Towers, and with the sixth graders in hot pursuit they desperately try to return the tape to the drop box. When Butters refuses to let go of it, Kyle throws him and the tape into the drop box. Angered at losing their movie, the sixth graders, now acting as Ringwraiths, threaten to beat the boys up, but flee when the parents arrive. The parents, having already haphazardly explained to Tolkien what he saw, then go into a long discussion with the astonished boys about sex, touching on such subjects as 69ing and double penetration. The boys, who never actually watched the movie that their parents are so graphically describing, are speechless. The episode ends with a view of Butters, clutching his "precious" among a pile of other returned tapes in the drop box.

Beverly Ross wants to be a radio personality, but has to run the switchboard at a local station. The blustery station owner Mr. Kennedy wants no part of programming the "jive that she loves", preferring the classics. She sends the pompous early-morning personality Vernon Lewis away for a vacation, so she can transform his dull classical-music program into a jive session. She invites suggestions and requests, and is swamped by mail from soldiers. She now devotes her show to the military, and the program becomes a success as "Reveille with Beverly." Much of the film consists of musical numbers, visually representing the records she plays. The thin storyline connecting the songs concerns itself with Beverly and Lewis vying for control of the show, resulting in Beverly constantly leaving and returning to her old job at a record store.

During Grandparents Day at Springfield Elementary School, Grampa embarrasses Bart with his tall tales, straining their relationship. At the retirement home, Grampa receives word that Asa Phelps, one of the men who served under his command in the Army during World War II, has died. Grampa and Mr. Burns are now the only two surviving members of their infantry squad, known as the Flying Hellfish. Unwilling to wait for Grampa's natural death, Burns hires an assassin to kill him. After avoiding several attempts on his life, Grampa seeks refuge at the Simpsons' house. He bunks in Bart's room and explains why Burns wants him dead.

In a flashback, he reveals that the Flying Hellfish discovered several priceless paintings in a German castle during the final days of World War II. To avoid being caught stealing the paintings, the soldiers formed a tontine and locked them in a strongbox which was hidden away; the last surviving member of their group would inherit the collection. Each man was given a key, all of which are needed to trigger a mechanism that reveals where the paintings are hidden.

After Grampa ends his story, Burns breaches Bart's bedroom wall with a cherry-picker and takes Grampa's key by force. After Bart retrieves Burns's and Grampa's keys using a sleight of hand, he and Grampa rush to the Hellfish monument in a local cemetery. After activating the locator mechanism in the monument, they learn that the paintings are hidden at the bottom of a lake. They borrow Ned Flanders's motorboat and head to the location.

Bart retrieves the strongbox during a dive. As he and Grampa open it, Burns arrives and takes the paintings at gunpoint. When Bart calls him a coward and an embarrassment to the Hellfish, Burns kicks him into the empty strongbox, which locks and topples back into the lake. After Grampa dives in and rescues Bart, they chase Burns back to shore, where Grampa overpowers him. Rather than killing Burns, Grampa instead gives him a dishonorable discharge for trying to kill his commanding officer and his grandson and expels him from the tontine.

Before Grampa and Bart can leave with the paintings, several State Department agents arrive. They reveal the U.S. government has tried to find the paintings for 50 years to avoid an international incident with Germany. The agents confiscate the paintings and hand them to a Eurotrash heir of one of the original owners, leaving Bart and Grampa empty-handed. Despite the loss, Grampa is content knowing he has proven to Bart that he is not just a pathetic old man. Having reconciled, they hug. The heir then tells them to “get a room”. Bart gets embarrassed.

A ship, the ''Fair Current'', is sailing from Januli to Pianda when it is attacked by pirates. With the ship on fire, the crew and its two passengers abandon ship. William Escobar finds himself in the same lifeboat as the other passenger, a joyman named Gregor. They make it to shore but are attacked by a magical griffin. Gregor is mortally wounded. While fishing, Aren Cordelaine sees William fighting off the griffin and, trying to help, unintentionally kills the creature with a blast of magic. Before he dies, Gregor gives William a medallion and warns him that the Imperial Consort is in danger. William asks Aren to accompany him home so Aren can learn how to control his powers from the Escobars' court mage Finch. Aren agrees and the two of them set out for Panizo. In the forest near town, they save a woman, Kaelyn Usher, from bandits. She decides to join them. When they reach Panizo, William informs his father of Aren's help as well as Gregor's message. Learning that Prince Farril will be traveling to Antara for his wedding to Princess Aurora, William wants to go to Ticoro and warn him.

William, Aren, and Kaelyn sneak out of Panizo early the next morning and head to Midova, where Aren starts his magical training with Finch. They arrive in Ticoro in the middle of the spring festival and learn that Prince Farril is in the city, though his location is a secret. William, Aren, and Kaelyn meet Kaelyn's friends, Raal and Fellich Marr, head of the church of Henne. They discover where Prince Farril is staying and attempt to warn him, but Lord Caverton and the guards ignore them. They return to their inn, but are awoken in the middle of the night by Caverton's guards, who inform them that Farril has been kidnapped. Having known about it beforehand, William, Aren, and Kaelyn are arrested as the primary suspects.

Raal springs William, Aren, and Kaelyn from prison and informs Kaelyn that wraiths are attacking people in the Ridgewood and her father Garvin has disappeared. Kaelyn leaves with Raal to find her father, promising to meet up with William and Aren when she is done. William and Aren suspect the Shepherds of kidnapping Prince Farril and follow their trail through Ticor and Chuno, eventually learning about their secret headquarters.

Kaelyn and Raal head to Kaelyn's home in the Ridgewood. Following a note from her father, they discover Garvin's magical workshop in a cave. Garvin informs his daughter that the wraiths in the forest are possessing humans and creatures and driving them mad. With Garvin's help, Kaelyn and Raal find and destroy all the wraiths.

William and Aren find Gar Warren, leader of the Shepherds. Warren says that Farril was taken by a traitorous Shepherd magician. Imperial soldiers storm the caverns and Warren escapes. William and Aren follow, but lose him in the tunnels. They discover that Farril has been taken by a band of Chinese mercenaries. Posing as new recruits, they are taken to the cabin where he is held, kept in a magical sleep. After Aren dispels the enchantment, the three of them escape and meet up with Kaelyn and Raal. Raal returns home while William, Aren, Kaelyn, and Farril continue on to Antara.

During the presentation of Prince Farril to the Emperor, a wraith appears out of Farril's body and attacks the Emperor. The Shadows, the Emperor's magicians, fight it off but the creature takes the souls of Farril and Princess Aurora and escapes from the palace. Farril and Aurora are placed in stasis. The Emperor asks William, Aren, and Kaelyn to save Farril and Aurora. Realizing that the attack on the Fair Current was meant for Gregor, they head to Januli to unravel the mystery behind Gregor's death and the assassination attempt on the Emperor.

Tracking down the Fair Current's crew as well as Gregor's mistress, William, Aren, and Kaelyn learn that Gregor spent much of his time in Havesly, the capital of Januli. In Havesly they discover that Gregor was a spy for Lord Caverton, whose entry into the salt trade was driving House Sheffield to the brink of bankruptcy. Desperate to save her family from financial ruin, Selana Sheffield employed pirates, allowing them harbor in Januli by forging her father's signature. Selana planned to kidnap Prince Farril and hold him for ransom, joining the Shepherds to carry it out. Gregor discovered her plans so she arranged to have him killed. William, Aren, and Kaelyn arrive at the Sheffields' castle to find it under attack by pirates. They find Lord Sheffield and Selana, pursued by an assassin named Petrov who is killed by Lord Sheffield. They learn that Petrov was sent by someone named Silver Hawk to cover their tracks by killing Selana and court mage Calvert Bryce. Questioning Selana, William learns that while she was responsible for the pirate attack, she knows nothing about the griffin. Several months earlier, a griffin had been sighted in Januli and Bryce had reportedly disposed of it. Realizing that Bryce sent the griffin to attack Gregor and the wraith to kill the Emperor, William, Aren, and Kaelyn enter the salt mines behind the castle and follow them to Bryce's workshop.

Bryce tells them that he tried to kill the Emperor out of revenge because the Shadows had humiliated him when they forbade his ethereal travel research. He continued anyway, but by traveling to the ethereal world to capture a wraith, Bryce allowed a few to escape into Ramar, where they appeared in the Ridgewood. Selana's plan to kidnap the Consort happened to provide a vessel for the wraith to strike at the Emperor. Before they can learn how to get Farril and Aurora's souls back, Bryce commits suicide. Using Bryce's notes, Aren summons the wraith. The wraith refuses to return the souls so Lord Sheffield and Selana, feeling responsible for the turmoil that has occurred, volunteer to give up their souls instead. The wraith takes the deal in exchange for the promise that humans will never disturb the wraiths again.

Two months later, William, Aren, and Kaelyn reunite in Ticoro for Farril and Aurora's wedding. William has been busy working for his father, Aren has become Finch's apprentice, and Kaelyn has been appointed ambassador to the Grrrlf in Antara. During the ceremony, William and Aren notice the silver hawk on Fellich Marr's staff. William realizes that Marr was Silver Hawk, but due to his political influence and lack of evidence, they are powerless to do anything. With those directly involved (Bryce, Selana, Petrov) in his conspiracy dead, Fellich Marr has little fear of being connected to the attempted murder.

Set in feudal Japan, the ''daimyō'' Kagetora (Enoki) must protect his lands and his people from the ambitions of the warlord Takeda (Tsugawa).

Kagetora is also known as Uesugi Kenshin. In the film, Kagetora must defend his province of Echigo against Takeda Shingen. The famous battles include the Battle of Kawanakajima.

On the last day of school, Lisa realizes how unpopular she is when nobody signs her yearbook. Her disappointment grows when she sees students lining up to get Bart's signature. Ned Flanders offers the Simpsons the use of his beach house for the summer. Marge suggests that Bart bring Milhouse and Lisa invite a friend. Realizing she has no friends, Lisa decides to change her image to gain popularity. She leaves behind her nerdy belongings, since she fears they would make people like her less. At the beach house, Lisa tells Marge she forgot to pack, so she buys new clothes, hoping they will make her look cool to other children. Meanwhile, in preparation for the Fourth of July, Homer purchases an illicit oversized firecracker. However, after burning off most of the fuse whilst lighting it with the stove, he throws it into the dishwasher to contain the explosion, resulting in the kitchen being flooded with dirty water.

Lisa succeeds in making friends by acting detached and hiding her intelligence. Bart grows jealous because Lisa becomes more popular than he is by using some of his own traits and tactics, which fails to win them over. Bart exacts revenge by showing Lisa's yearbook to her new friends, exposing her as a smart overachiever. Lisa runs away in tears. The next day, Bart begins to heckle Lisa at breakfast, and she is angry at him for supposedly ruining her newfound friendships. Later, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Milhouse visit a carnival, where Bart only heckles Lisa more.

After the carnival, Lisa returns to the beach house to find her friends decorating the Simpsons' car with seashells in her honor (much to Homer's horror). They explain that she does not need to fake being cool because they like her for her true self. To make amends with Lisa, Bart gets her new friends (and Milhouse) to sign her yearbook, which he hands to her as the family drive back to Springfield. Lisa happily clutches her yearbook and watches the sun going down.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future where global warming and warfare has left the world struggling, while Japan descended into an economic depression in the 1990s which led to increased crime.

The story centers around Saiga Riki-Oh, blessed with inhuman strength, who, after taking revenge against a yakuza who was responsible for the death of a child who befriended him, ends up in a maximum security prison owned by a private organization. The story follows Riki and his search for his little brother Saiga Nachi, who bears a manji symbol on his right hand and also possesses superhuman strength.

Riki-Oh encounters and battles many deadly opponents with either superhuman strength or martial arts during his travel for avenging his mother and finding his brother.

After Henry Lightcap's third wife storms out of the house and his life, boozing, misanthropic anarchist Lightcap shoots his refrigerator and decides to drive across the country journeying to his childhood home in West Virginia.

Sheen, a studious and inconspicuous member of the Sixth form at Wrykyn, and his friend Drummond, a more popular student and boxer, go to the nearby town. They come across a fight in progress between Wrykyn students and some local boys over the upcoming election for the town's mayor. Drummond joins in the fight to help the Wrykyn side, but Sheen runs away. Drummond disapproves of Sheen running away and shuns Sheen later, but does not reveal to the other students that Sheen fled. However, Stanning, another boxer and Sheen's rival for the in-school Gotford scholarship, saw Sheen run and tells others about it. The students in Sheen's house, Seymour's, believe Sheen disgraced the house with his cowardice, and punish him by acting as if he does not exist. Sheen feels isolated and wants to restore his reputation.

Sheen goes back to the town with the idea of fighting the town hooligans and regaining his honour, but is easily defeated. Joe Bevan, a boxing trainer and former champion, breaks up the fight and saves Sheen from being seriously injured. Impressed with Sheen's determination, Joe suggests that Sheen start training with him to learn boxing. Sheen starts his lessons with Joe at the Blue Boar, an inn up the river Severn. That area of the river has been designated out of bounds for students who live at the school. Sheen secretly goes to the pub using a boat on the river. He is eager to learn from Joe and becomes more confident as he improves. One day while he is at the inn, his boat disappears as a result of the feud between the boys in the school and those in town. Sheen gets help going to and from the pub from Jack Bruce, a modest day-boy at Wrykyn who is still friends with Sheen and drives a car.

Sheen wins the Gotford scholarship, though this does little to impress his house. Seymour's has not had a successful athletic season, so Sheen hopes to win the approval of his house by winning the inter-house boxing competition for Seymour's. Drummond, who is considered the best boxer in the school, contracts mumps and is unable to compete for Seymour's. Sheen writes him a letter asking to take his place. Drummond doubts that Sheen can fight and denies his request, instead choosing Stanning to compete. Stanning wins the competition but then pretends he has a wrist injury so he will not have to compete in the inter-school boxing competition at Aldershot, since he is afraid of the tough competitor from Ripton School. Sheen is disappointed that he did not have the chance to redeem himself in the inter-house competition. Joe Bevan suggests that Sheen instead compete for Wrykyn at Aldershot. Sheen explains his situation to Mr Spence, a sympathetic schoolmaster who is in charge of some of the school sports. Mr Spence is initially concerned that Sheen would be seriously injured at Aldershot, but agrees to let him compete after Sheen demonstrates his skill to O'Hara, an Old Wrykinian and boxer visiting the school. Joe promises to go to Aldershot to give Sheen assistance and encouragement.

Sheen does well at the start of the competition, though he is disappointed Joe is not there. Sheen struggles in the final round against the competitor from Ripton until Joe appears and gives Sheen advice. Sheen wins and returns to Wrykyn. Seymour's holds a sort of court-martial against Sheen largely instigated by Stanning, but the house considers Sheen to be redeemed when they hear the surprising news that Sheen won the boxing competition at Aldershot. It is also pointed out that the house should not listen to Stanning since he is a member of Appleby's, not Seymour's. Mr Spence is obliged to report to the Headmaster that Sheen went out of bounds across the river for boxing training, but explains that Sheen had good reasons and tactfully refrains from mentioning that the training was conducted in a pub. Jack Bruce then tells the Headmaster that Sheen did not cross the river since he drove Sheen by car, so Sheen does not get in trouble for breaking bounds. Sheen is also friends with Drummond again.

Juan Gallardo (Valentino), a village boy born into poverty, grows up to become one of the greatest matadors in Spain. He marries a friend from his childhood, the beautiful and virtuous Carmen (Lee), but after he achieves fame and fortune he finds himself drawn to Doña Sol (Naldi), a wealthy, seductive widow.

They embark on a torrid affair with sadomasochistic overtones, but Juan, feeling guilty over his betrayal of Carmen, tries to free himself of Doña Sol. Furious at being rejected, she exposes their affair to Carmen and Juan's mother, seemingly destroying his marriage. Growing more and more miserable and dissipated, Juan becomes reckless in the arena. He is eventually killed in a bullfight but does manage to reconcile with Carmen moments before he dies.

There is also a subplot involving a local outlaw whose career is paralleled to Juan's throughout the film by the village philosopher: Juan's fatal injury in the bullring comes moments after the outlaw is shot by the police.

Vladimir Dubrovsky (Valentino), a Lieutenant serving in the Imperial Guard of the Russian army, comes to the notice of the Czarina (Louise Dresser) when he rescues Mascha (Vilma Bánky), a beautiful young lady, and her aunt trapped in a runaway stagecoach. He is delighted when the Czarina offers to make him a general, but horrified when she tries to seduce him. He flees and the Czarina puts a price on his head.

Soon afterwards, he receives a letter from his father informing him that the evil nobleman Kyrilla Troekouroff (James A. Marcus) has taken over his lands and is terrorizing the countryside. Hurrying home, Vladimir learns that his father has died. Vowing to avenge his father and help the victimized peasantry, he adopts a black mask and becomes the Black Eagle, a Robin Hood figure. Discovering that Kyrilla is Mascha's father, he takes the place of a tutor who has been sent for from France, but not previously seen by anyone in the household. Vladimir is thus able to become part of Kyrilla's household.

As Vladimir's love for Mascha grows, he becomes more and more reluctant to continue seeking revenge against her father, and the two eventually flee the Troekouroff estate. Vladimir is captured by the Czarina's men, but the Czarina, once determined to have him executed, has a last-minute change of heart, and she allows Vladimir, given a new French name, and Mascha to leave Russia for Paris.

The story begins in 1944 and covers more than 30 years in the lives of four men and their families: Dieter Kolff, a German rocket engineer who worked for the Nazis; Norman Grant, a World War II hero turned U.S. Senator from the fictional Midwestern state of Fremont; Stanley Mott, an aeronautical engineer charged with a top-secret U.S. government mission to rescue Kolff from Peenemünde; and John Pope, a small-town boy turned Naval Aviator who becomes a test pilot and then an astronaut. Randy Claggett, a rambunctious Marine Corps aviator and astronaut, is considered by Michener to be the most important supporting character (the first two parts of the book are entitled "Four Men" and "Four Women"). The lives of the fictional characters interweave with those of historical figures, such as Wernher von Braun and Lyndon Johnson. A group of trainee astronauts are introduced to fly fictional but plausible Project Gemini and Project Apollo missions; the intensive training and jockeying for position among the astronauts forms much of the background of the middle of the novel, reminiscent of a fictional version of Tom Wolfe's ''The Right Stuff'' and the movie as well.

Michener dramatizes the life experiences of these men and their families against the backdrop of the real history of the U.S. space program, depicting their experiences in post-war aviation; the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union; the development of congressional funding for the space program; the early failures in the Gemini program; and the successful moon landings in the Apollo program. In a fictional postscript to history, Michener creates a last, "Apollo 18" launch to further the drama of Pope, Claggett and Linley, America's first black astronaut. This is the only Apollo mission in which the lunar module lands on the far side of the Moon; in order to remain in contact with NASA after landing, while still in lunar orbit the Apollo craft must launch communication satellites that will bounce the lunar module's signals to Earth. An exceptional and unexpected burst of sunspot activity results in the death of Claggett and Linley: the two astronauts are exposed to a lethal level of radiation while out on the lunar surface during a large solar flare. After hastily returning to the Lunar Module, Linley loses consciousness and Claggett attempts an emergency ascent back towards the command module. However he also loses consciousness, and the Lunar Module crashes back onto the lunar surface. Pope, the command module pilot, returns to Earth safely. The mission profile is significantly different from that of the real-world canceled mission that would have been Apollo 18.

On the human side, various subplots run through the novel, contrasting the "official" heroism of NASA with the human fallibilities of the cast—the difficulties the Kolffs face in integrating into American society; Norman Grant's initial embrace of the space program and his abandonment of it as it no longer serves his political aims, while his unstable wife and their daughter fall in with a highly intelligent but cynical cult leader calling himself Leopold Strabismus, who exploits first the UFO craze and then an anti-scientific creationist agenda to increase his wealth; Randy Claggett's womanizing; the contrast between Stanley and Rachel Mott's ordered, rational existence and their troubled relationship with their sons, and John Pope's unusual yet supportive relationship with his lawyer wife Penny.

Pope retires from NASA and becomes a respected professor of astronomy, his wife Penny is elected to the Senate, and Mott is consulted on "Grand Tour" uncrewed missions to the outer solar system, as well as the development of the Space Shuttle. The novel ends with a NASA workshop on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, at which Strabismus drops the creationist/fundamentalist persona he has adopted and joins in the intellectual debate on the inevitability of life elsewhere in the Universe.

Like Gray's ''Poor Things'' the novel takes the form of documentation written by the characters themselves in order to record their experiences for posterity: a Prologue and notes (which make up almost a third of the total text) by "the hero's mother", and the central portion of the book, which is a third person narrative written by its protagonist, Wat Dryhope. Wat finds himself dissatisfied with the lack of purpose in a life in which everything is provided by powerplants, bypassing any need for manual labour. He develops an unhealthy interest in the ancient history of twentieth-century wars and dictatorships when men's struggles had a purpose, leaving himself vulnerable to exploitation to a plot to destroy his world's way of life.

Category:1994 British novels Category:Novels by Alasdair Gray Category:Novels set in the Scottish Borders Category:Novels based on plays Category:Canongate Books books

Jean Valjean is an ex-convict struggling to redeem himself, but his attempts are continually ruined by the intrusion of Javert. Javert is a cruel, ruthless police inspector who has dedicated his life to pursuing Valjean, whose only crime was stealing a loaf of bread, for which he received 5 years in jail. He serves an additional 14 years for escape attempts.

The film, like the novel, features numerous other characters and subplots, such as Fantine, a woman forced into prostitution to pay two cruel innkeepers, the Thénardiers, for looking after her daughter Cosette, and the story of the revolutionaries, including Marius, a young man who falls in love later on in the film with the now-adult Cosette.

After an unusually long stretch in the OR, Hawkeye and Trapper argue, and decide that they need some R&R. Unfortunately, Henry is leaving for a few days, leaving Frank—who is unlikely to let them have R&R for any reason—in charge.

Hawkeye decides to pretend to be insane to try to get a few days off despite Frank's prejudice. He rejects a proposition from an attractive nurse, eats a plate of ostensibly human liver in full surgical garb, and reacts violently when Frank touches the plate. Trapper tells Frank that Hawkeye is losing it, and that he (Trapper) should take him to Tokyo for R&R.

Uncertain about whether they are serious or if it is an elaborate act, Margaret calls in a psychiatrist friend, Capt. Philip Sherman (Stuart Margolin), to assess Hawkeye's emotional state. After Hawkeye tells Sherman that he is in love with Frank, Sherman declares him to be insane. When Henry returns and learns of Sherman's finding, he argues that Hawkeye was merely trying to get R&R, but Sherman insists that Hawkeye needs to be committed to a hospital in Tokyo.

Hawkeye, upon hearing this, confesses he simply wanted a holiday from the war, but Sherman, who has designs on Margaret, insists that he be sent for treatment. Hawkeye concocts with Radar an elaborate plan to foil Sherman, Margaret and Frank's plan to get Hawkeye out of the unit. Radar talks to Sherman and plants ideas in his mind that Margaret, who has rebuffed all of Sherman's past advances, has the hots for him. Meanwhile, Trapper switches signs on Margaret's tent, leading Sherman to believe it is the VIP tent. After Sherman returns and settles in Margaret's cot, Trapper switches the signs back. When Margaret comes back and starts undressing, Sherman excitedly launches himself at her and drags her onto the cot. Margaret screams out and various members of the camp rush in, making it appear that Sherman was attempting to rape Margaret. Sherman flees the unit that night and Hawkeye is allowed to stay. He and Trapper are granted a week's R&R, but just as they are about to leave, a wave of fresh casualties ruins their plans.Wittebols, pp. 161-166

In ''Earth 2150'', the three factions of the United Civilised States (UCS), the Eurasian Dynasty (ED) and the Lunar Corporation (LC) raced to build starships and evacuate the Earth before it became uninhabitable. All three factions succeeded and sent ships to Mars, but the UCS colony ship inexplicably disappeared en route. Both the ED and LC set about the difficult and lengthy task of terraforming Mars independently of one another, and also set up outposts on the outer planets and moons.

In ''Earth 2160'', the player initially takes the perspective of Major Michael Falkner of the ED forces. Falkner completes various missions for his ED superiors, largely against the LC, until he is sent to investigate a biological research operation that has gone silent. Upon reaching it an insectoid alien race is found, which then becomes the primary antagonist. At the end of the ED campaign, Falkner is betrayed by his superiors, who fear his idealism and imprison him.

The game then shifts to the perspective of Commander Heldin Ariah, an LC commander who has gone rogue, and the player begins commanding LC units. The aliens are revealed to be the "Morphidians", and that the scientist who was studying them, Van Troff, has biologically altered himself to become their leader in an attempt to conquer the solar system. Ariah frees Falkner from imprisonment, and they discover the lost UCS colony ship the ''Phoenix'' and ally with its artificial intelligence.

The player then switches to controlling UCS units. The player discovers an interstellar gateway and explores another solar system with a habitable planet, "Eden". They discover the origin of the Morphidians - they were constructed by a race called "The Builders" as a bioweapon. After some time opposing the aliens, they ambush Falkner, capturing and subverting him.

The player then switches to the perspective of Falkner, biologically altered by Van Troff to serve him, commanding Morphidian units against his former allies. After several successes, Falkner is commanded to kill unarmed civilians, and he refuses, breaking Van Troff's control. Falkner turns his Morphidian units against Van Troff, and with the assistance of Ariah and the ''Phoenix's'' AI kills him and ends the threat to humanity.

In the beginning of the plot, Victor feels that Sieg was responsible for the death of his lover—and Sieg's friend—Siela Riviere, three years ago (prior to the events in the story which take place in the mentioned time); and has the intent on bringing Sieg into a pure pandemonium that Victor himself has prepared as retribution, not only for the sins of Sieg alone, but for the sins of the whole world —referring to this Armageddon as the “Purification of the World”: whereupon he plans to use relentless hordes of hideous monsters to cleanse the world of sinners by obtaining the "Three Sacred Glyphs" and releasing Azrail.

During his quest, Sieg encounters a member of the "Maidens of the Silver" fighting a monster alone after other Maidens are killed. With Sieg's help, Arcia Rinslet, the sole survivor, manages to escape death. At first, Arcia mentions that the Maidens were in tough pursuit of Victor; thus, when she learns that Sieg is also searching for the same person, she decides to tag along. Later, it is revealed that Arcia has held a grudge against Victor for the murder of her brother. Sieg never tells Arcia why he pursues Victor, even though he does say the two knew each other from before. Because of this lack of trust, Arcia briefly loses her faith in Sieg and sets off to find Victor alone. Sieg eventually catches up and subsequently teams up with her once more after he consoles her.

Sieg and Arcia meet Victor several times: each time to have a little more of Victor's plan revealed, but unable to stop him from obtaining the Three Sacred Glyphs. Soon, Sieg and Arcia finally meet Victor in the “Hall of Chaos”, the place where Azrail has been sealed. Victor decides to “punish” Sieg first: by killing Arcia—forcing her to do it with her own gun after gaining control of her body—since it seems that she is close to Sieg. The murder fails, unbeknownst to Sieg, who lashes out and attacks Victor because he believes Arcia to be dead. After subduing Victor, Sieg learns that Arcia survived the shot, only to find that Victor has not been fully defeated.

Surrounded in black aura, Victor attacks Sieg once again, but Arcia steps in between Sieg and Victor with her arms outstretched. Instead of killing her, Victor stops abruptly and regains control; a flashback then reveals the truth of the past: Three years before, Sieg, Victor and Siela were instructed by the Order to reseal the demon Azrail—discovering that the Order actually planned to use Azrail's power for world dominance, but realized that it was too powerful to contain. The demon resisted and decided that, instead of being banished once more, it would possess a human: Siela; Victor tried to protect Siela, but was possessed instead. In his uncontrollable rampage, he almost killed Sieg, but Siela stopped the final blow, and Victor drove his sword straight through, piercing her chest. When he came back to his senses, he believed Sieg had committed the murder. Siela's dying words to Sieg, beforehand, were “Take care of Delacroix…”—this being the reason why Sieg can't directly kill his friend.

Back in the present time, Victor decides to end his own life, much to Sieg's dismay—the only way to break Azrail's seal is to kill the person who last created the seal or perform a secret ritual sacrifice described in the forbidden book, the Apocrypha of Yzarc. Victor breaks the seal by sacrificing himself. Azrail is then released and fights Sieg, not only in its own diabolical form, but also re-spawned in the figure of a darkened, corrupted Siela to intimidate him. However, Sieg prevails.

After all the chaos, Sieg mounts a tribute to Victor and Siela, and mourns over the loss of his two best friends, but Arcia cheers him up.

Around Christmas, a United States Supreme Court Justice commits suicide, for which no explanation or context is given. Shortly thereafter, the body of Elizabeth Quinn, a file clerk at the Justice Department, is found floating in the Potomac River, and Carl Wayne Anderson (Liam Neeson), a homeless, deaf Vietnam veteran, is arrested for the crime, based almost entirely on the fact that he was seen sleeping in Quinn's car the night of her murder. Kathleen Riley (Cher) is the beleaguered D.C. public defender assigned to represent Anderson.

The car was abandoned in a desolate K Street parking lot. Anderson, it is eventually revealed, found the car unlocked and was looking for a warm place to sleep since it was the dead of winter. But since he was homeless, had no alibi, and was also found in possession of Quinn's wallet, he was arrested for her murder.

Riley finds it difficult to communicate with Anderson. Over time, she begins to penetrate his hard exterior and he tries to cooperate with her efforts to mount his defense.

Riley approves an agribusiness lobbyist who normally works on Capitol Hill, Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid), as a member of the jury despite his attempt to be excused. Sanger begins investigating the details of the murder, eventually teaming up with Riley beyond the observation of the trial's suspicious judge.

Sanger also keeps busy in his work as a lobbyist, including efforts to win passage of a bill by seducing a Congresswoman.

As Riley's investigation, with Sanger's unethical assistance, intensifies, they begin to focus on Deputy Attorney General Paul Gray (Philip Bosco). Figuring that a key found on the victim's body has something to do with the Justice Department (where Quinn worked), Riley and Sanger break into the file department there late one night and try to find what the key unlocks. They find a file cabinet containing trial transcripts from federal cases from 1968 that Quinn was in the process of transcribing.

The trial is conducted by the stern Judge Matthew Helms (John Mahoney). Helms is rumored to be the president's nominee for a seat on the prestigious United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He begins to suspect that Riley is collaborating with Sanger, which would be a disbarrable offense of jury tampering, but has no proof.

In a law library, Riley and Sanger narrowly avoid being caught by Helms, who sequesters the jury to avoid any possible further contact between them.

Riley and Sanger suspect that Quinn stumbled onto something and look for any case that might have an impropriety. Fixing a case requires the participation of both the prosecutor and the trial judge. Riley and Sanger think they will find evidence that Gray was the prosecutor on a rigged 1968 case, which would be his motive to murder Quinn if she approached him about what she found.

Riley goes back to Quinn's car (still impounded where it was found in a government parking lot) and finds an audiotape the police did not uncover in their half-hearted investigation. The tape is the one made by the Supreme Court justice who committed suicide. In it, he confesses to conspiring to fix a case in 1968 (with a politically influential defendant) in return for an appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Riley assumes Gray was the prosecutor on that case and goes back to the courthouse to retrieve the case book that will confirm it. She is pursued and attacked by a disguised, unidentified person. Sanger, having managed to escape sequestration by creating a diversion with a fire alarm, helps Riley, and she manages to slice the right wrist of her assailant, who then flees.

Gray shows up in the courtroom, to Judge Helms's surprise. Riley surprisingly announces that she wants Judge Helms to take the stand as a witness. An irate Helms says Riley cannot make him testify. Riley reveals that it was Helms, not Gray, who was the prosecutor in the fixed case of 1968. In exchange for fixing the case, Helms was nominated to the District Court. Seventeen years later, Quinn inadvertently discovered the case fixing. At the same time, Helms learned he was a likely nominee for the Court of Appeals. Quinn approached the Supreme Court justice, who responded by committing suicide. When she approached Helms, however, he murdered her. As the judge angrily bangs his gavel during Riley's accusation, his right wrist begins to bleed from where Riley slashed him the night before, confirming his identity as the killer.

Riley ends up reinvigorated in her job and in a relationship with Sanger.

Pittsburgh homicide detective Thomas Hardy turns in his partner and cousin, Jimmy Detillo, for using excessive force, which in turn causes him to become alienated by the majority of his fellow officers. Thomas and his father Vincent are en route to the Policemen's Ball when a call comes in indicating a serial killer, the Polish Hill Strangler, who Tommy believes is a police officer, has been spotted driving in downtown Pittsburgh. As Tom and Vince pursue the killer's car, the vehicles collide and both roll down an embankment. When Tom regains consciousness, he learns his father has been shot dead and the killer has escaped. Police arrest a criminal named Douglas Kesser as the Strangler. Later, Jimmy jumps off the 31st Street Bridge; his body is never found.

Two years later, an alcoholic Tom has been reassigned to the River Rescue Squad. Called to the scene of a body dump, Tom finds the victim is an ex-girlfriend. He is assigned a new partner, Jo Christman, who learns from District Attorney Frank Morris that Tom had been demoted after telling a television reporter that he believed the Strangler was a policeman. After a nurse is abducted, Tom receives a phone call similar to the ones left by the Strangler. Detective Eddie Eiler, who hates Tom for turning in Jimmy, states on TV the murder was committed by a copycat. Tom is met with strong opposition by his uncle, Captain Nick Detillo, after suggesting the Strangler is back. Tom steals the Strangler file from the precinct in order to conduct an unauthorized investigation. Soon after, the body of another of Tom's ex-girlfriends is found.

Tom is invited to the Policemen's Ball by Jo, as she is not familiar with any other officers and is developing romantic feelings for him. A brawl occurs there between Tom and the hostile officers in attendance, but Jo intervenes and takes him home. Later that same night, the two engage in a heated confrontation after Jo pours Tom's whiskey down the sink in an attempt to prevent him from drinking. Tom pleads for her to leave, but is shocked when Jo refuses and declares that she will spend the night. Though initially hesitant, Tom eventually succumbs to Jo and they have sex. At one point during the lovemaking, Jo gazes at Tom in amazement as he lies on top of her, both unaware that they are being watched by someone outside.

The next morning on river patrol, Tom stares fixedly at Jo and smiles while she directs their routes. His happiness is short-lived however, when they stumble upon someone dumping what appears to be a wrapped body off a bridge. Tom destroys the suspect's car with a flare gun, but the unidentified individual escapes on foot. Divers retrieve the bundle only to find it to be merely a bunch of rugs, which leads to Tom and Jo being humiliated by their peers. Later that night while in bed, the lovers share their suspicions that the killer purposely dumped the rugs in the river to discredit them. As their discussion moves towards the future, Jo confesses to Tom that she was previously married and now has a four-year-old daughter. This news doesn't cause Tom to think any differently of their relationship, and they make love again.

Meanwhile, Eiler informs Nick he suspects Tom of the murders. Nick discloses that Tom has been under scrutiny by Internal Affairs. During a court hearing to have Tom removed from the force, it is revealed that Jo's real name is Emily Harper, a Pennsylvania State Police investigator probing Tom for evidence of misconduct. Emily perjures herself and Tom goes free.

Emily is kidnapped from her apartment just as Tom finds the body of another victim (this time a coworker from River Rescue) outside his houseboat. Thinking that Jimmy's brother Danny has been committing the murders out of revenge, Tom heads upriver to the Detillo family cabin. Just as Danny arrives, someone from behind tases Tom unconscious. Tom awakens to find himself, Danny, and Emily handcuffed to chairs. The killer turns out to be none other than Jimmy, who survived the fall into the river. Jimmy is about to kill Emily when Nick suddenly walks in and tells his son to turn himself in. Jimmy instead forces Nick to reveal that he accidentally killed Vince when Jimmy took off.

Jimmy shoots Nick and fights with Danny, giving Tom a chance to free himself. As the police close in, Jimmy flees in Tom's motorboat with Tom in pursuit. The two get into a scuffle in which Tom kills Jimmy by tasering him in the mouth. The final scene shows Tom, who has been reinstated as a detective, visiting his father's grave with Emily and her daughter Sarah at his side.

Cover of ''Porterhouse Blue'' paperback by Pan For the first time in five hundred years, the master of Porterhouse fails to name his successor on his deathbed before dying. He succumbs to a ''Porterhouse Blue'' - a stroke brought about by overindulgence in the college's legendary cuisine. Sir Godber Evans is appointed as his successor. Sir Godber, egged on by his zealous wife, Lady Mary, announces sweeping changes to the centuries of college tradition, much to the concern of Skullion and the Fellows, who plan a counter-attack on the proposed contraceptive machines, women students, and canteen.

Meanwhile, the only research graduate student in the college, Zipser, visits the hard-of-hearing Chaplain and explains his fixation for Mrs Biggs, his middle-aged, large-breasted bedder. As the Chaplain is hard of hearing he requires Zipser to use a megaphone. To his intense embarrassment Zipser is overheard by members of the college who gather outside to listen. Mrs Biggs is not within earshot, but nevertheless has sensed that something is up from Zipser's awkward behaviour around her every time she comes to clean his room and especially when she teases him sexually, such as when she asks him to help take off her bright red PVC raincoat in the tight confines of the "gyp".

While Sir Godber congratulates himself on having defeated the traditionalists, investigative journalist Cornelius Carrington is brought in on the pretext of helping both parties, while secretly having his own agenda.

Meanwhile, having been advised to pick up a foreign student, so as to avoid his lust for Mrs Biggs, after a series of frustrating attempts to buy condoms Zipser drunkenly acquires two large boxes. Concerned that he has technically stolen them, he tries many ways to get rid of them and eventually inflates them with gas from the gas fire in his room and floats them up the chimney, without realising that some have become stuck in the chimney while the rest have floated down into the college court. Fearing for the good name of college, Skullion spends the night bursting the inflated condoms.

Mrs Biggs has decided to reciprocate Zipser's passion, and sneaks up to Zipser's room in the middle of the night and wakes him up. To his amazement she undresses and, despite his protests, promptly enters his bed and lies on top of him. Unfortunately, while undressing, she has lit the gas fire, which takes a short while to ignite the inflated condoms stuck in the chimney, causing an explosion that demolishes the Bull Tower and kills her and Zipser in their moment of passion.

Skullion refuses to open the main gates of college to let the fire engines in and continues to burst the inflated condoms; partly as a consequence he is fired. However, when he visits his bank he discovers his nest egg of shares inherited from a previous master is worth a fortune. He takes his revenge by giving a shocking revelatory interview on Carrington's live television show. Skullion pleads with Sir Godber to be reinstated, but is refused so, in anger, he pushes Sir Godber, causing him to fall and sustain a mortal injury. Skullion quickly leaves before two senior academics find the dying Sir Godber who whispers them one word: 'Skullion'. They agree that, in accordance with college tradition, Skullion has been named the new Master of Porterhouse.

When Skullion is visited by the college officials with the good news, he thinks they have found out his involvement with Sir Godber's death and whilst they are telling him about his great promotion it causes in him a debilitating ''Porterhouse Blue'', and he suffers paralysis. Nonetheless, he is installed as the Master and his shares are sold for rebuilding the Bull Tower, so Porterhouse's traditions are firmly re-established.

Sérgio is left at the age of eleven on the doorsteps of the Ateneu by his father and enters the school for the first time. It immediately becomes clear the sexual references by the headmaster's statement to Sérgio's father in the beginning of the book: "You should see a coiffeur, and cut this blondy hair of yours. You know, the pretty boys in this school, don't go along very well". After, he is eventually approached by two older students—Sanches and Bento Alves—who try to engage into a homosexual relationship with him, but he does not accept the proposal. Sérgio then approaches a rebellious boy named Franco in order to avoid their company. Since Franco is constantly disciplined by the headmaster, Sérgio cuts his friendship with the boy, out of fear of facing the same fate. He then meets a boy named Egbert and becomes very close to him; their relationship does not develop beyond friendship mostly due to the sexual and emotional feelings Sérgio nourishes for the school's nurse—Dona Ema. Towards the end of the book, a student sets fire to the Ateneu, burning the whole structure down. The fire is a metaphor which represents the end of a chapter in Sérgio's life, as he progresses towards maturity.

Pierre Glendinning Jr. is the 19-year-old heir to the manor at Saddle Meadows in upstate New York. Pierre is engaged to the blonde Lucy Tartan in a match approved by his domineering mother, who controls the estate since the death of his father, Pierre Sr. When he encounters the dark and mysterious Isabel Banford, he hears from her the claim that she is his half-sister, the illegitimate and orphaned child of his father and a European refugee. Pierre reacts to the story and to his magnetic attraction to Isabel by devising a remarkable scheme to preserve his father's name, spare his mother's grief, and give Isabel her proper share of the estate.

He announces to his mother that he is married; she promptly throws him out of the house. He and Isabel then depart for New York City, accompanied by a disgraced young woman, Delly Ulver. During their stagecoach journey, Pierre finds and reads a fragment of a treatise on "Chronometricals and Horologicals" on the differences between absolute and relative virtue by one Plotinus Plinlimmon. In the city, Pierre counts on the hospitality of his friend and cousin Glendinning Stanley, but is surprised when Glen refuses to recognize him. The trio (Pierre, Isabel, and Delly) find rooms in a former church converted to apartments, the Church of the Apostles, now populated by impecunious artists, writers, spiritualists, and philosophers, including the mysterious Plinlimmon. Pierre attempts to earn money by writing a book, encouraged by his juvenile successes as a writer.

He learns that his mother has died and has left the Saddle Meadows estate to Glen Stanley, who is now engaged to marry Lucy Tartan. Suddenly, however, Lucy shows up at the Apostles, determined to share Pierre's life and lot, despite his apparent marriage to Isabel. Pierre and the three women live there together as best they can, while their scant money runs out. Pierre's writing does not go well — having been "Timonized" by his experiences, the darker truths he has come to recognize cannot be reconciled with the light and innocent literature the market seeks. Unable to write, he has a vision in a trance of an earth-bound stone giant Enceladus and his assault on the heavenly Mount of Titans. Beset by debts, by fears of the threats of Glen Stanley and Lucy's brother, by the rejection of his book by its contracted publishers, by fears of his own incestuous passion for Isabel, and finally by doubts of the truth of Isabel's story, Pierre guns down Glen Stanley at rush hour on Broadway, and is taken to jail in The Tombs. Isabel and Lucy visit him, and Lucy dies of shock when Isabel addresses Pierre as her brother. Pierre then seizes upon the secret poison vial that Isabel carries and drinks it, and Isabel finishes the remainder, leaving three corpses as the novel ends.

When the Springfield gay pride parade passes by the Simpsons' house, Santa's Little Helper becomes tempted when one of the gay dogs flirts with him. Uncomfortable, Homer drags his family to the Springfield Googolplex. After growing impatient at several previews and public service announcements preceding the film, Homer flies into a rampage and demands the movie start. Wielding oversized Kit Kat bars, the ushers chase Homer from the cinema. While Homer is fleeing, his head collides with the fist of a large metal statue of boxer Drederick Tatum.

At Springfield General Hospital, Dr. Hibbert wires Homer's broken jaw shut, leaving him unable to speak or eat solid food. Homer is forced to listen to his family, which pleases them, especially Marge. Since Homer is so well-behaved, Marge risks attending the annual formal event at the country club. When Homer's jaw wires are removed the next day, he and Marge appear on ''Afternoon Yak'' to discuss his transformation. With the help of the show's hosts, Marge pleads with Homer to abandon his "reckless ways" and stay well-behaved. Despite the temptation of an upcoming demolition derby, Homer behaves for Marge's sake.

Five weeks later, Marge — bored with the sudden peace and quiet — enters the demolition derby. When Homer wakes and finds Marge gone, he heads to the derby with the kids to stop her. At first Marge enjoys the derby, but things soon get too dangerous for her. Since he has given up recklessness, Homer has no idea how to save her. Bart has an idea: he orders a can of beer from a vendor. After Homer drinks the beer the way Popeye eats spinach for a burst of energy, he rescues Marge. She makes him promise not to make her the live wire of the family.

Four million children, including those from Mr. Garrison's class, are scheduled to play "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" at the televised Worldwide Recorder Concert in Oklahoma City led by Yoko Ono and Kenny G, but a flood causes the concert to be relocated to Little Rock, Mr. Garrison's hometown. This causes him considerable anxiety (as he confesses to Mr. Mackey) for he had "sexual molestation issues" with his father in the past.

In Arkansas, the boys encounter a hostile group of kids from New York City, also there for the concert, who call them "queefs". At first, the boys do not understand what ''queef'' means; assuming the New York kids had made the word up, the boys try to get back at them by making up their own word: mung, which as it turns out, is a real word meaning "the stuff that comes out when you push down on a pregnant woman's stomach". Even the other South Park kids know this word, leading to the four being jeered by both the New Yorkers and their own classmates.

Meanwhile, Mr. Garrison has confronted his father about the issues of sexual molestation; however, the issue was not that his dad had molested him, but rather that he felt neglected because his father had ''not'' molested him. When Mr. Mackey finds out about this, he fears Mr. Garrison is so distraught about the issue that he could actually die if Mr. Garrison Sr. does not molest him.

On the night before the concert, the boys want to find a way to get back at the New York kids, and when Cartman succeeds in his efforts to discover the legendary "brown noise", a sound made with the recorder that causes the listener to lose control of their bowels and "crap their pants", the boys plan to trick the New York kids into playing it. However, by accident, the altered sheet music for the concert is discovered by the organizer of the concert and is photocopied and redistributed to everyone. Later that night, Mr. Garrison is assaulted in the middle of the night by a mysterious stranger, and he sets off for the concert happy to have sorted things out with his father. After he leaves, Kenny G exits a closet and refuses $100 from Mr. Garrison's father, revealing that Kenny G is actually the one who molested Mr. Garrison that night.

During the concert, the boys discover that everyone is playing the altered sheet music containing the brown note, and they race to stop the concert. But they are too late and the note is played, and with the power of four million recorders behind it, everyone in the world ends up defecating in their pants, whether they are watching the broadcast or otherwise. Some, e.g. Kenny, soil themselves to death (although, at the end of episode, Kenny is seen, alive and healthy, in the bus with the other kids). On the way back to the bus, Mr. Mackey briefly explains to the boys what a queef is, describing it as "a vaginal expulsion of gas, m'kay." Shortly after the incident, the New York kids show up again, but they become very impressed by the boys' prank and take back the negative feelings directed at them. Afterwards, Mr. Garrison is passionately kissed by Kenny G before leaving and thanks him, noting that he kisses just like his father, and the class then leaves and drives off into the stars.

John and Mickey Lubitch conceive a child. After multiple previous miscarriages and the death of their first son (who was born without a functioning immune system), Mickey fears the likelihood that something gravely wrong could happen to their child. John assures her that the odds of their next child being born with the same condition are low.

The pregnancy results in the birth of a live baby boy, whom they name Tod. Tod's immune system also does not function properly, meaning that contact with unfiltered air may kill him. John and Mickey are told he may have to live out his entire life in incubator-like conditions. After a strenuous four years of Tod living in the hospital, Mickey convinces John to find a way to bring Tod home. He lives with his parents in Houston, Texas. He is restricted to staying in his room all his life where he eats, learns, reads, and exercises, while being protected from the outside world by various coverings.

As Tod grows, he wishes to see more of the outside world and meet regular people his age. He is enrolled at the local school after being equipped with suitable protective clothing, similar in style to a space suit. He falls in love with his next door neighbor, Gina Biggs, and he must decide between following his heart and facing near-certain death, or remaining in his protective bubble forever. In the end, after having a discussion with his doctor who tells him he has built up some immunities which may possibly be enough to survive the real world, he steps outside his house, unprotected, and he and Gina ride off on her horse.

During the war against D'Hara, a young woman meets with Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, Wizard of the First Order, so that she can force him to pay a debt of bones he owes her and save her child. In so doing, she initiates the series of events leading up to the end of the war with D'Hara and the division of the Westlands, Midlands, and D'Hara by the boundaries.

When Siddalee and Vivi Walker, an utterly original mother-daughter team, get into a savage fight over a New York Times article that refers to Vivi as a "tap-dancing child abuser," the fall-out is felt from Louisiana to New York to Seattle. Siddalee, a successful theatre director with a huge hit on her hands, panics and postpones her upcoming wedding to her lover and friend Connor McGill. But Vivi's intrepid gang of life-long girlfriends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together.

In 1932, Vivi and the Ya-Yas were disqualified from a Shirley Temple Look-Alike Contest for unladylike behavior. Sixty years later, they're "bucking seventy," and still making waves. They persuade Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of girlhood mementos entitled "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."

Sidda retreats to a cabin on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, tormented by fear and uncertainty about the future, and intent on discovering a key to the tangle of anger and tenderness she feels toward her mother. But the album reveals more questions than answers, and leads Sidda to encounter the unknowable mystery of life and the legacy of imperfect love.

With passion and a rare gift for language, Rebecca Wells moves from present to past, unraveling Vivi's life, her enduring friendships with the Ya-Yas, and the resulting reverberations on Siddalee. The collective power of the Ya-Yas, each of them totally individual and authentic, permeates this story of a tribe of Louisiana wild women impossible to tame.

Anthropologist and professor Bergen McKee comes to the Navajo Reservation to research tales of witches and visit his college friend, Joe Leaphorn. Leaphorn is a Navajo Tribal Police lieutenant. A young man, Luis Horseman, thinking he had killed a man in a fight, drops out of sight. His victim survives, so Leaphorn spreads the word at a trading post to entice Luis to come in. At the trading post, McKee and Leaphorn see a tall Navajo man buying a new hat. He tells them his old one was stolen, but, curiously, the expensive silver concho hatband on it was not stolen. Leaphorn says aloud, "Otherwise we'll go in there and get him", which the stranger hears. The next morning, the body of Luis is found near Ganado, Arizona; he had been suffocated with sand after being killed elsewhere. Leaphorn rues his statement, feeling it led to this murder. McKee and his colleague, J. R. Canfield, begin a joint field trip in the Lukachukai Mountains, the canyons of the west slope. They expect to meet Ellen Leon in Many Ruins canyon, as she seeks her fiancé, Dr. Hall. In the meantime, McKee also begins interviewing reservation residents, hoping to learn details about the Navajo witch. From Horseman's aunt Old Woman Gray Rocks he learns the Navajo Wolf is believed to be an outsider from another place.

The Tsosie family hosts a Navajo Enemy Way ceremony to deal with depredation of their livestock, which Joe Leaphorn attends. He meets Billy Nez, brother to Luis Horseman. Billy found the hat used as a symbolic scalp of the troublesome witch. The reason the witch is thought to be a stranger, Leaphorn learns, is that the Tsosie boys had found his camp, parked too far from water, and a local man would have known where the water was. Leaphorn finds the tracks of Billy and the man where Billy had taken the hat and realizes Billy will come to kill the man himself. He sets out to stop that.

Neither Canfield nor his vehicle are at the campsite that evening. Instead, there is a note saying he will return; oddly, he signed the note John, when his name is Jeremy. McKee sleeps outside, waking on hearing unexpected sounds. He moves away from the campsite, to listen. A man wearing a wolf skin and holding an automatic weapon walks into the campsite, then into the tent to read papers there. He calls out McKee's name but McKee keeps silent and the man walks away. In the morning, McKee looks for Miss Leon so they can both drive out quickly. The man in the night left McKee's vehicle inoperable. During the night, McKee slips on the rocks, injuring his right hand painfully. They drive away, escaping the trap being set by the Navajo. McKee finds Canfield's vehicle, and sees his dead body inside it, but does not tell Miss Leon. Not fully grasping their danger, Miss Leon wants to get help for McKee. As they argue, the Navajo returns, with his weapon. He wants McKee to write a letter like the one Canfield left him. McKee's strategy is not to write the letter.

The tall Navajo sees that McKee cannot write until his hand heals. He takes the pair to an Anasazi pueblo, where his right hand is treated. Eddie, partner to the Navajo, is there, also armed. Left alone in the pueblo, Miss Leon apologizes to McKee for misunderstanding their situation.

Waking in the night, McKee finds a Hopi Kachina in the petroglyph on the wall. He begins digging for the escape exit that Hopis always had to keep from being boxed-in by their enemies. He finds it, and sets a plan in motion for the return of Eddie and George. Miss Leon exits one way, while McKee uses old hand and footholds to reach the level where Eddie is. Eddie shoots Ellen, and then seeks McKee. Eddie falls over the cliff edge into the crevasse, dying from the fall. McKee tends Ellen and seeks Hall for help. He follows electric cable to a side canyon. The Navajo shoots him in the back from a distance. McKee cuts off the insulation and uses it to make a catapult with a sapling, to throw a sharpened pine stake, right into George the Navajo, whose gun sight obscured his view. McKee picks up the Navajo's skin and gun, walking for help. Billy Nez appears with his rifle, and tells McKee to stop. McKee tells him that he is a teacher. They reach Hall at his truck, tell him about Ellen. Hall tells Billy Nez to give up his rifle, while McKee says not to do that. Leaphorn arrives at the scene, telling Billy Nez to hold onto his rifle. Leaphorn already found Ellen Leon, seeing the smoky signal fire she set.

McKee wakes in the hospital two days later, confessing his two killings to Leaphorn. Ellen Leon recovers from her wounds. Joe Leaphorn tells McKee that Hall killed himself right in front of him, after McKee fainted from loss of blood. Hall was collecting radar data about missiles under test from a federal facility, hoping to sell his information for a huge fee. George, the Navajo from Los Angeles, and Eddie worked for him, keeping people away from his work. From the federal perspective, George and Eddie did not exist; Dr. Canfield and Hall were killed in a car accident, which injured Ellen Leon and McKee. Still recovering, McKee gets a long note from Ellen Leon.

In 1986, the Soviet Navy submarine ''K-219'' performs a Crazy Ivan, and USS ''Aurora'' collides with her, causing a rupture of the seal on one of its ballistic missile tubes. The leaking seawater causes a corrosive reaction which floods the sub with toxic gas. The corrosive reaction starts a fire that floods the sub with more toxic gas, and smoke.

The captain surfaces the boat and moves the crew out to the deck, and attempts to vent the sub. The chief engineer informs the captain that the fire may cook off the nukes and cause a nuclear explosion. The launch doors are opened on the sub to vent smoke.

''Aurora'' ascertains that a fire is aboard ''K-219'', and informs the Pentagon. The Pentagon, fearing radiological contamination of the Eastern Seaboard, orders ''Aurora'' to prepare to sink ''K-219''. The fact that the launch doors are open on the SLBMs causes consternation in Washington D.C., with calls for the immediate sinking of the sub, should it appear to be preparing to launch.

The captain of ''K-219'' prepares a bold plan to dive with the launch doors open, to flood the missile bay and quench the fires. As the captain dives the sub, ''Aurora'' prepares to fire, assuming ''K-219'' is setting about to launch its missiles. After a brief but heated argument the U.S. commander is convinced to wait before launching and realises that the Soviet sub is diving, rather than launching its SLBMs.

''K-219'''s tactic works, and the sub resurfaces with the fires out. A new crisis develops: Both nuclear reactors are overheating, and the cooling rods must be lowered manually by two crew members who have only limited oxygen left. The rods are lowered, and both reactors are shut down, averting disaster, but one crew member remains locked inside the reactor room, running out of oxygen. With seawater flooding the submarine, the captain of ''K-219'' decides to abandon ship. Throughout the crisis, Washington insists that no information on the possibility of nuclear fallout along the eastern American coastline be leaked to the Governors and no evacuation plans be activated to protect the population, in order not to derail the forthcoming Reykjavik Summit between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Capt. Britanov and his surviving crew members return safely to Moscow with some crew decorated and he being dismissed from the navy. The Reykjavik Summit takes place as planned.

The film's postscript details that as a legacy almost a decade after the end of the Cold War, fifty one nuclear warheads and seven nuclear reactors from nuclear submarines litter the North Atlantic ocean floor.

'''Chapter One''': This chapter is plotless, serving more as a basic description of the Land of Mo, or "The Beautiful Valley". It explains that everyone in Mo is happy, and that the people never need to work, because everything they could desire grows on the trees, including items such as clothes. Nobody ages and the King and Queen of Mo have a lot of children. In ''A New Wonderland'', the author mentions planning to move there himself, but this was omitted from subsequent editions.

King Mo fights the Purple Dragon '''Chapter Two''': The King of Mo goes to fight the Purple Dragon, which has just eaten all of the caramels in the land. The Purple Dragon bites off his head and the King is forced to go home headless. The King tries to make the best of it, but the Queen complains that she cannot kiss him anymore, so he issues an edict saying that whoever can make him a new head will get to marry one of the princesses. After two failures, a durable head is made out of wood by a wood-chopper. The Purple Dragon finds the wood-chopper and bites his head off, replacing it with the King's head. When the wood-chopper appears in court, he switches heads with the King, so that the King has his own head again and the wood-chopper has a wooden head he made. The King then tries to fulfill his promise, but the princesses refuse to marry a wooden-headed man. The wood-chopper then confronts the Purple Dragon, who tries its head-biting technique again, only to get its teeth stuck in the wooden head, thus letting the wood-chopper get his own head back so he can marry a princess.

'''Chapter Three''': The Monarch meets a dog who is a curiosity because there are no dogs in Mo. However, his majesty loses his temper and ends up kicking the dog who literally gets bent out of shape until he resumes his natural form again.

'''Chapter Four''': Prince Zingle, the oldest Prince, is upset because the King will not let him milk the Ice Cream Cow. Urged by the Purple Dragon, Zingle pushes his father down a large hole so he will become the King. The Monarch escapes from the hole and punishes Zingle by abandoning him on the Fruit Cake Island on the Root Beer River, an island made of fruit cake. After a while, Prince Zingle gets such a furious stomachache from eating nothing but fruit cake that he repents.

'''Chapter Five''': The King celebrates his birthday (which he does several times a year) by throwing a huge celebration, during which he entertains everyone with items from a magical casket. Everyone goes ice-skating on a lake of sugar-syrup. The sugar-syrup cracks and Princess Truella, Prince Jollikin, and Nuphsed sink to the bottom. The King gets them out by fishing for them, baiting the line with a kiss for Truella and a laugh for Jollikin. But when it comes to getting Nuphsed, no one knows what he likes best, so they consult the Wise Donkey. The Wise Donkey suggests that they use an apple, knowing that it won't work. When it doesn't work, the Wise Donkey eats the apple and tells them to use a kind word. They do, and it works.

'''Chapter Six''': King Scowleyow, who lives in a nearby country, hates the people of Mo, and has his people build a giant man out of cast iron, designed to destroy Mo. They wind up the Cast-Iron Man and he walks towards Mo, but trips on the dog. Prince Thinkabit figures out how to get rid of the Cast-Iron Man: he tickles the Cast-Iron Man to get him on his back, then he pushes a pin in the Cast-Iron Man to get him to stand up again, but now the Cast-Iron Man is facing the other way, so he goes to King Scowleyow's kingdom and destroys it instead. The Cast-Iron Man eventually gets stuck in the mud at the bottom of the ocean and is never heard from again.

'''Chapter Seven''': A boy named Timtom falls in love with Princess Pattycake, the most beautiful princess, who unfortunately has a bad temper and tries to beat anyone who talks to her. He journeys to see the Sorceress Maëtta to get her help, and along the way, he meets a bird, a rabbit, and a spider who agree to help him in return for gifts from Maëtta. Timtom gets a pill for getting rid of Pattycake's temper and the gifts for the animals, but they are stolen by a Sly Fox. Timtom manages to recover the gifts, thus pleasing the animals. He then goes to Pattycake and feeds her the pill. She loses her temper and then agrees to marry him.

'''Chapter Eight''': A horrible monster called a Gigaboo comes to Mo and starts destroying things. Prince Jollikin fights the Gigaboo, and has his head, arms and legs cut off. Prince Jollikin manages to put himself back together, although at first he could only find his legs and head. He then saves the day by killing the Gigaboo.

'''Chapter Nine''': There is an evil wizard in Mo who is a midget and very sensitive about his height, so he tries to make a potion to increase his height. One of the ingredients of the potion is the big toe of a princess, so he steals the toe from Princess Truella. Truella gives chase, overcoming the obstacles the Wizard throws at her, and eventually kills the Wizard and recovers her toe.

'''Chapter Ten''': The Duchess Bredenbutta falls asleep on her boat while it floats down the Root Beer River, and so she gets too close to the waterfall at the end of the river and falls down. She ends up in Turvyland, where everything is opposite of the way it should be. With some help from a local named Upsydoun, she manages to get back to her home.

'''Chapter Eleven''': The King's animal crackers, which are real animals, fight amongst each other, putting the King in a bad mood. So when Prince Fiddlecumdoo asks to leave Mo, the King consents, although it is a bad idea. Prince Fiddlecumdoo leaves and meets a friendly giant named Hartilaf. Hartilaf's wife accidentally runs the prince through a clothes-wringer and Prince Fiddlecumdoo returns home, completely flat. They use an air pump to get him back to normal.

'''Chapter Twelve''': This chapter anticipates the novel ''Planet of the Apes'' by more than sixty years. Prince Zingle builds a large kite, which flies into the air, taking Zingle with it, eventually landing in the Land of the Civilized Monkeys, where monkeys act like humans. The monkeys do not speak English (but rather, they speak Monkey) and have never seen a human before. So they think Zingle is a dangerous animal and lock him in the zoo, where all of the monkeys come to see him, including two professors who believe that Zingle may be the missing link. Prince Zingle manages to escape and get back home.

'''Chapter Thirteen''': The King's plum-pudding has been stolen, so he asks his wise men who did it. The wise men blame the fox, who is captured. The fox explains that he did not do it, as he was busy curing his family's sore throats by taking out the throats and turning them inside-out, then drying them in the sun. The wise men then blame the bullfrog, who is also captured. The bullfrog explains that he did not do it, as he and his wife were busy trying to save their tadpoles, who were eaten by a large fish. The wise men then blame the Yellow Hen, who is also captured. She explains that she did not do it, as her last batch of eggs accidentally produced a Hawk, not a chicken, and the Hawk took her away to a different country, and she spent the last nine days returning to Mo. The King, furious at the wise men for being wrong three times, has them put into a meat-grinder, so that they are mixed into one wise man, who tells the King that the Purple Dragon stole the plum-pudding.

'''Chapter Fourteen''': The King holds a council of war to figure out how to destroy the Purple Dragon once and for all. They decide that, since the Purple Dragon cannot be killed, they can try to rip out its teeth to make it harmless. They build a giant pair of forceps and clamp it to one of the Purple Dragon's teeth, but it winds its tail around a pillar to stop the people from pulling his tooth out. As it turns out, its tooth cannot be removed, even though the people run all the way to the other side of the valley with the forceps. Instead, the Purple Dragon is stretched all the way across the valley; it's stretched so thin that it's "no larger around than a piece of twine". Prince Fiddlecumdoo decides to cut the dragon into strings, some of which he decides to use for his violin, while he stores the rest in the royal warehouse for anyone to take and use. Though it's technically still alive, the Purple Dragon is now nothing more than two pieces of matter: "one tied to a tree in the mountains and the other fastened to a post of the castle". With the Purple Dragon gone, the King gives a feast to his people to celebrate the end of its reign of terror on their land.

Dan Thorn (Louis Wolheim) is a divisional boss on the Milwaukee Railroad, based in Miles City, Montana. The film opens with a landslide across the track and Thorn dispatching, then accompanying, a repair crew to clear it. Several hobos are lounging nearby and are put to work helping the crew. Thorn discovers that one of the hobos, Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong), is a former railroad engineer who lost his job over insubordination. Thorn finds he likes the man and demands that he better his life by returning to work for the railroad. Doyle repeatedly refuses even as he starts the work, but Thorn is a hard man to say no to, and Doyle is hired.

Thorn is engaged to Mary Ryan (Jean Arthur), but his job leaves him unable to give her much time or attention. When an engineer's wife dies, Thorn spends time with the man to keep him from getting drunk and endangering his railroad job. This leaves Thorn unable to attend a social event, so he asks Doyle to go with Mary instead. Afterwards, the two are using a railway bridge to walk home when a fast train approaches. Doyle whisks Mary into a trackside refuge and kisses her as the train rushes by.

Mary still cares for Thorn, but she falls in love with Doyle. Finally he persuades her to run away to Chicago with him and get married. But as they walk along the tracks toward the station, Doyle's foot becomes trapped in a railroad switch as it is remotely reset for the train. At this point Thorn approaches and threatens Doyle over Mary, but when he realizes the man is trapped, he manages to pull Doyle clear of the switch at the last moment. Doyle is safe but Thorn is hit by the train and seriously injured.

The local doctor says Thorn will die unless he can be taken to Chicago for brain surgery within 5 hours, which would require a new speed record for the trip. Doyle volunteers to drive a special train and is able to accomplish the feat. Thorn is saved.

Two weeks later, Thorn is taken back to Miles City by train, conscious but depressed. At the station, Mary is the first to board, and promises to return to him. But Thorn says that during his enforced rest he has come to realize that he is already married—to the railroad. He frees her to marry Doyle with his blessing. Then, overhearing railwaymen outside speaking as if he is done for, he shouts at them to get back to work. They do, and his depression lifts.

A gang of career criminals, modeled on the real life Tri-State Gang, are terrorizing and robbing banks and payrolls in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. The gang's leader, George, is a stone cold killer who does not distinguish between armed guards and any of the group's molls that cross him. The film starts with comments from then-governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland about how crime doesn't pay.

By film's end all five of the gang members and two of their three molls are depicted as dead, with the last moll arrested while impersonating a reporter during an attempt to aid George and Bobby in killing a moll who could incriminate them all.

Slim, a farmer from southeastern Ohio, becomes fascinated by a crew of linemen erecting transmission towers across his uncle and aunt's property. He asks Pop (J. Farrell MacDonald) for a job, but there are no openings. When a man is fired, however, Red (Pat O'Brien), Pop's best lineman, takes a liking to Slim and persuades Pop to give him a chance as a "grunt", an assistant on the ground who sends up tools and parts. Red and Stumpy (Stuart Erwin), another grunt, teach Slim what he needs to know.

Slim wins the respect of Red and Pop when he spots cheating during a poker game and pitches in during the ensuing brawl. When hungover lineman Wyatt Ranstead falls and is killed, Slim is promoted to lineman. The company sends a vice president to investigate the death. To save Pop's job, Red deliberately antagonizes the executive and is fired. Slim gets himself dismissed out of loyalty, and the two go on the road.

They head to Chicago to see Red's girlfriend, Cally (Margaret Lindsay) a nurse. The three set out to have a good time (though Red insists on paying for everything). Slim finds himself falling for Cally, and she for him. When Red's money runs out, he and Slim head off to New Mexico for work.

Red knows and dislikes one of their fellow linemen, Wilcox (Joe Sawyer). When Red is later offered the job of foreman at another camp, he initially turns it down, but changes his mind when Slim offers to be his "straw boss" (assistant). Wilcox, who had been hoping for the promotion himself, tries to sabotage Red's rope, but Slim stops him. Later, on the ground, Wilcox pulls out a knife and stabs Slim. While Slim is recovering in the hospital, Cally comes to nurse him. They admit they love each other and tell Red they are going to get married. When Slim is offered stable, safe maintenance work, Cally accepts for him. Slim, however, refuses to give up his dangerous profession, and when Pop sends for Red, goes with him.

They arrive during a terrible blizzard, and are called out to a substation to restore power, even though there are "hot" wires all around. Red and another man fall to their deaths when a rope breaks in a block and tackle while pulling up a transmission line. Cally joins Slim and once again tries to talk him out of line work. When Slim heads back out into the snow to complete the job, Cally accepts his decision, telling him, "I'll be waiting for you."

Mike Reilly is an NYPD detective who is called to the scene of a mysterious death in the subway system. The victim, Polidori, exhibits bleeding from his eyes and other orifices and, by the frozen look on his face, appears to have seen something horrifying before being hit by a train. Department of Health researcher Terry Huston is intrigued by the find as well, particularly when several more victims show up with identical symptoms.

When a contagious virus is ruled out, Terry and Mike team up to discover what might be killing these people. Initially they are unable to find anything to connect the deaths together; after some more digging for clues, they eventually discover that all of the victims' computers crashed shortly before their passings. They send each of the victims' hard drives to Mike's friend, Denise Stone, who is a forensic specialist.

Denise discovers that all of the victims had visited a website called Feardotcom.com, which depicts voyeuristic torture murder. Upon looking at the site herself, Denise is subjected to various sights and sounds of torture that eventually drive her insane, resulting in her falling to her death from her apartment window.

Mike feels guilty, thinking that he should have never gotten Denise involved in the case. Terry figures out that people who visit the website die within 48 hours, apparently from what they feared most in their lives. Despite such dangerous knowledge, both she and Mike visit the site in order to figure out what is happening.

As they begin to experience paranoia and hallucinations (like the deceased), including that of a young girl and her inflatable ball, they race against time to figure out if any of it has any connection to an extremely vicious serial killer, Alistair Pratt, who has been eluding Mike and the FBI for years.

It is revealed that Feardotcom is, in fact, a ghost site made by one of Pratt's first victims, who is seeking revenge because people watched her being tortured and murdered. She was tortured by Pratt for 48 hours before she begged him to kill her, which explains why the victims have 48 hours to live. Mike and Terry track down Pratt and release the spirit of the murdered girl from the website, which kills Pratt. However, Mike is also killed by Pratt.

The ending scene shows Terry lying in her bed with her cat. The phone rings but she hears no one on the line, only online static. She hangs up and hugs the cat.

A young adult from New York is on his way to California for a business meeting when he runs into trouble with some local hoodlums in Kingman who shoot at his car and try to run him off the road. He hooks up with a hitchhiker who is also passing through town, who turns out to be a former rock and roll musician, and the two attempt to set things right in the town, culminating in their entry in an automobile race from Kingman to Oatman and back.

Huey Walker (Dennis Hopper) is a hippie and a former New Left radical (in the vein of Abbie Hoffman) who has been on the run from the law for 20 years for something he did not do, disconnecting Spiro Agnew's train car in Spokane, Washington. John Buckner (Kiefer Sutherland) is an FBI agent who is set to transport Walker back to Spokane for trial.

Their journey forces them to cross paths with a corrupt Sheriff Hightower and the two end up fleeing for their lives. As the story progresses, it is revealed that Buckner was raised on a communal farm and that his given name is Free. As Buckner learns to reconcile his past with his present, Walker does as well.

While reporting a story from India, Patrick Wallingford, a New York television journalist, has his left hand eaten by a lion. Millions of TV viewers witness the accident, and Patrick achieves instant notoriety as "the lion guy".

In Boston, a renowned hand surgeon, Dr. Nicholas M. Zajac, awaits the opportunity to perform the nation's first hand transplant. After watching video of Patrick, Dr. Zajac contacts the journalist and pledges to find a suitable hand donor for him.

Doris Clausen, a married woman in Wisconsin, wants to give Patrick Wallingford her husband's left hand—that is, after her husband dies. When her husband later dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Doris immediately rushes the hand to Boston. In the waiting room before the procedure, Doris has sex with Patrick, explaining that she had always wanted to have a child but was unable to with her late husband. The hand is then successfully attached by Dr. Zajac, with unorthodox visitation rights for the hand granted to Doris.

Patrick quickly falls in love with Doris, who has his baby, Otto Clausen Junior. Doris, however, will not return Patrick's love, and only allows him to touch her intimately with her late husband's hand, now Patrick's.

Mark Watson (Howell) is the pampered son of a rich family who is about to attend Harvard Law School along with his best friend Gordon (Gross). Unfortunately, his father's neurotic psychiatrist talks his patient into having more fun for himself instead of spending money on his son. Faced with the prospect of having to pay for law school by himself, Mark decides to apply for a scholarship, but the only suitable one is for African-Americans only. He decides to cheat by using tanning pills in a larger dose than prescribed to appear as an African-American. Watson then sets out for Harvard, naïvely believing that black people have no problems at all in American society.

However, once immersed in a black student's life, Mark finds out prejudice and racism truly exists. He meets a young African-American student named Sarah Walker (Chong), whom he first only flirts with; gradually, however, he genuinely falls in love with her. In passing, she mentions that he received the scholarship she was in the running for at the last minute. Due to this, she not only has to handle her classes but work as a waitress to support herself and her young son George.

Slowly, Mark begins to regret his deed since he has landed in jail under suspicion of stealing his own car, been the subject of stereotypes of black men and pursued by his landlord's daughter and classmate Whitney (Melora Hardin) simply because he's not white.

After a chaotic day in which Sarah, his parents (who are not aware of his double life) and Whitney all make surprise visits at the same time, he drops the charade and publicly reveals himself to be white. Most people he has come into contact with realize this makes sense, but Sarah is furious.

Once the charade is over, Mark speaks to his professor (Jones). He has learned more than he bargained for, admitting that he still doesn't know what it is like to be black because he could have changed back to being white at any time.

Because Mark must forfeit his scholarship, his father agrees to loan him the money for school, but with exorbitant interest. He goes to Sarah and begs for another chance, to which she agrees after Mark stands up for her and George when two male students tell a racist joke in front of them.

The game takes place in the final months of the 2-year gap presented in the opening of ''Jak II'' (and the aftermath of ''The Precursor Legacy''), between the moment when Jak is taken prisoner by the Krimzon Guard and the time in which Daxter finally rescues him from the Krimzon Guard Fortress. The introduction shows Jak being captured, while Daxter manages to escape. Almost two years later (having no luck with rescuing Jak), Daxter has forgotten all about finding his friend. An old man named Osmo, whom Daxter meets, hires Daxter as an exterminator working in various parts of Haven City, and occasionally its environs, to exterminate bug-like Metal Heads referred to in-game as 'Metal Bugs'. During his adventures, Daxter meets a mysterious woman named Taryn who, despite being less than impressed by Daxter's interest in her, occasionally helps him.

After completing a number of missions for Osmo, Daxter sees Jak in a Prison Zoomer and attempts to chase after it. After being cornered by some Krimzon Guards (who had noticed Daxter's pursuit), Daxter is rescued by Osmo's son Ximon, who assists him with several more missions including one to Baron Praxis' palace where Daxter steals a map of the Fortress, the prison where Jak is being held. After returning to the extermination shop, an arthropod sidekick that Daxter acquired earlier is killed by Kaeden, a bitter man who seemingly wants to steal Osmo's shop, but, in actuality, is working for Kor, the Metal Head leader.

When Daxter tries to stop Kaeden from escaping the shop, Kaeden suddenly blows up the shop with a bomb he placed in the shop earlier. Daxter and Osmo survive, and Daxter promises to stop Kaeden, but only after he rescues Jak. Daxter infiltrates the Fortress and finds Kaeden, who reveals himself to be a giant Metal Bug. Daxter manages to defeat Kaeden, who tries to warn him that Kor is waiting outside for them, and then uses a hover platform to begin searching for Jak within the Fortress, leading into the opening cutscene from ''Jak II''. After this, the game cuts to a point later in the timeline at Daxter's Naughty Ottsel Bar, where he is recounting the story to Jak, Keira, Samos, Tess, and Taryn.

The story revolves around Sam, a dignified, former music hall artist who now works with his elderly trained dog Bella, busking in the West End of London. He lives in a run down goods yard alongside a derelict canal in Nine Elms. Two young children, Liz and Mark, stumble upon his yard whilst out walking. He chases them away, but his manner attracts their attention and, despite his best efforts, they later follow him as he goes off to work pushing his dog and all his busking paraphernalia in an Edwardian pram. Liz and Mark live nearby with their parents, Chrissie and Bob, and baby brother James in a drab, cramped basement flat. Bob works at the local gasworks and the family are desperate to move to a new Council flat. When they're out of school, their mother has little time for Liz and Mark and they find their own adventures together on the streets.

Begrudgingly, Sam develops a relationship with the children as they tag along. Having mentioned it in passing, he agrees to take them to visit the Hyde Park pet cemetery, where he anticipates Bella will be buried someday after an elaborate funeral, the next day on his way to the West End. They also discuss visiting the new flats. During the following day, it becomes clear that Bella is increasingly frail and Sam is worried about her. At the new flats, he tells them how his wife died ten years previously and how his seven grown up children are now scattered all over the world. He has found human beings unreliable throughout his life and “only dogs can be depended upon”. Bella is his best friend and, although getting a new flat was all very well, getting a dog was more important. Between them, they conclude the family needs a dog and, having established the children would look after it properly, Sam agrees to help them get one.

The following afternoon, he takes them to Battersea Dogs Home where, posing as their grandfather, he helps them choose a dog. However, Sam is astounded and angry when the home tell him they can only take the dog if it is paid for. The children and Sam leave the home bitterly disappointed and, having admonished the children for telling lies as “he wasn’t their grandfather”, Sam tells them they will have to ask their mum and dad for the money and leaves, humiliated. The children return home despondent and are further discouraged when their mum seems unsympathetic to the idea of getting a dog. The children resolve to try to save the money to get it anyway and make money doing odd jobs. When they next see Sam, he is crotchety, and Bella is very ill. Sam offers to pay them to baby-sit Bella while he is working and having haggled about the fee, they agree.

The following day they resolve to visit their dad at work to see if he will give them the balance to pay for their dog, but he tells them he needs to save everything he can if he is to have a hope of getting the flat. They return to Sam who, reluctant to concede that Bella's condition is terminal, agrees to give them the balance they need as an advance for more baby-sitting duties. Next day, they learn they have got the new flat and, together with Sam, collect their dog which they name Battersea. They return home later to be told they should not have bought the dog. They discover that the new flat is in Nine Elms, not the flats they had seen with Sam in Westminster, and that dogs are not allowed. The children run off to Sam's, where they find Sam drunk and in mourning for Bella. They try to give Battersea to Sam, but he rejects it and, when they talk of the majestic funeral for Bella, he laughs and tells them she will go in the dustcart. He leaves and, after tying Battersea to his table, the children take Bella's body, and at night sneak into the cemetery at Hyde Park and bury it there. They hide when their dad and Sam arrive outside the cemetery with Battersea, but fall asleep as the two talk into the night about life, death, dogs and children. When they awake the following morning Dad is overjoyed to see them and they leave Battersea with Sam.

The show follows the adventures of the title character, Pac-Man, his wife Pepper Pac-Man (Ms. Pac-Man), their child Pac-Baby, their dog Chomp-Chomp and their cat Sour Puss. The family lives in Pac-Land, a place in which the geography and architecture seem to revolve primarily around sphere-like shapes. Most episodes of the series center around the ongoing battle between the Pac family and their only known enemies, the Ghost Monsters: Blinky, Inky, Pinky, Clyde, and Sue. They work for Mezmaron, whose sole mission is to locate and control the source of "Power Pellets", which serve as the primary food and power source for the city, and also is the ''deus ex machina'' in virtually every episode. The second (and final) season later introduces Super-Pac and Pac-Man's teenage cousin P.J.

Three kittens, denied milk as punishment for losing their mittens after playing out in the snow, sail up into the Milky Way in a basket lifted by three helium balloons. Their space flight takes them past the Moon, the planet Mars, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper, until they reach their destination: the Milky Way.

Once in the Milky Way, they find it a land of natural milk springs and gushers. The kittens proceed to happily gorge themselves on milk, until they get into trouble and risk falling back down to Earth. However, it is then revealed that the whole event was just a fabric of their imaginations. Their mother then comes in to their bedroom to invite them down for supper. The kittens rush excitedly into the kitchen, only to be sickened to see that their supper is milk.

Madariaga "The Centaur" (Pomeroy Cannon), a harsh but popular Argentine landowner, has a German son-in-law, Karl von Hartrott, whom he dislikes and a French one, Marcelo Desnoyers, whose family he openly favors. He is particularly fond of his grandson, Julio (Rudolph Valentino), with whom he often carouses at seedy dives in the Boca district of Buenos Aires. In one of those bars, the movie's famous tango sequence occurs. A man and a woman (Beatrice Dominguez) are dancing the tango. Julio strides up and asks to cut in. The woman stares at Julio alluringly. The man brushes him off, and they resume dancing. Julio then challenges the man, strikes him, and knocks him into some tables and out of the scene. Julio and the woman then dance a dramatic version of the tango that brings cheers from the people in the establishment. After the dance, the woman sits on Julio's lap. Madariaga then drunkingly slides to the floor. The woman laughs at Madariaga. Julio casts her aside in scorn and helps his grandfather home.

Sometime later, Madariaga dies. The extended family breaks up, one half returning to Germany and the other to France.

In Paris, Julio enjoys a somewhat shiftless life as a would-be artist and sensation at the local tea dances. He falls in love with Marguerite Laurier (Alice Terry), the unhappy and much younger wife by an arranged marriage of Etienne Laurier, a friend of Julio's father. The affair is discovered, and Marguerite's husband agrees to give her a divorce to avoid a scandal. It seems as if Julio and Marguerite will be able to marry, but both end up getting caught up in the start of the Great War.

Marguerite becomes a nurse in Lourdes. The bravery of Etienne is reported, and he is blinded in battle. Etienne happens to end up at the hospital at which she works, and Marguerite attends to him there. Julio travels to Lourdes to see Marguerite but sees her taking care of Etienne. Julio, ashamed of his wastrel life, enlists in the French Army.

In the meantime, the German Army overruns Marcelo's Marne valley castle at the First Battle of the Marne. Marcelo is forced to host a German general and staff in the castle. One of Marcelo's three German nephews is among the staff and tries to protect him, but Marcelo is arrested after a mêlée involving an officer's assault of a woman. Marcelo is to be executed in the morning, but his life is spared when the French Army counterattacks during the "Miracle of the Marne". The castle is destroyed by the French counterattack.

Four years later, Julio has survived and become renowned for his bravery in the trenches at the front. During a mission in no man's land, he encounters his last surviving German cousin. Moments later, they are both killed by a shell. Back in Paris, Marguerite considers abandoning the blinded Etienne, but Julio's ghost guides her to continue her care for him.

The ending scene shows Marcelo Desnoyers mourning over his son's grave. The man who lived upstairs from Julio watches over him. Marcelo asks him, "Did you know my son?" The man, with a remorseful expression, lifts his arms, forming the shape of a cross with his body, and says, "I knew them all!" He then points to the sky and shows Marcelo the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding away into the clouds. Then, the man assures him that "Peace has come—but the Four Horsemen will still ravage humanity—stirring unrest in the world—until all hatred is dead and only love reigns in the heart of mankind."

Two policemen, Bob "Uncle Bob" Hodges, a respected LAPD officer and Vietnam veteran, and rookie officer Danny McGavin have just been teamed together in the C.R.A.S.H. unit that patrols Northwest L.A., East L.A. and South Central L.A.

The older cop is appreciated on the local streets. He is diplomatic on the surface, preaching "rapport" to gang members to encourage them to offer help when it is truly needed. Uncle Bob recognizes that every action cops take is scrutinized by the people they are trying to help. Hodges explains his view on policing to his young partner with a joke about bulls and cows.

Although the pair bond quickly, life lessons are seemingly lost on the aggressive, cavalier McGavin, whose stunts soon bring him notoriety among the gang members and the people, such as attacking a graffiti artist by spraying his eyes with the paint can. McGavin wrecks their first unmarked car during a pursuit. Its replacement is vivid yellow, resulting in McGavin being nicknamed "Pac-Man" by officers and gang members alike.

McGavin has a short lived romance with a waitress named Louisa who, like the offended Hodges, feels the weight of the Pac-Man persona. Amidst the strain of these relationships, the murder of a Bloods gang member escalates tension between two other street gangs. A series of seemingly random incidents culminates with the two partners in the middle of the Crips, Bloods and Hispanic barrio war.

The 21st Street Gang, led by a criminal named Frog, attempts to negotiate a peace similar to Hodges and steer clear of the melee. To protect his partner, Hodges unwittingly exposes Frog as his source on the Crips leader Rocket's scheme to kill McGavin. Each group attempts to right the wrongs against their respective crews as police strive to prevent the hit and stand their authority over the fall out.

In the end, the unit moves in on the would-be last crew standing—the 21st Street Gang. While arresting Frog, Hodges is fatally wounded by a 21st Street Gang gunman, nicknamed “Bird”, trying to do the hit on McGavin. With medics en route, McGavin comforts Hodges and breaks down with regret as the elder partner falls into delirium and dies.

Sometime later, a more reserved McGavin has a rookie partner, a black cop who grew up in the neighborhood where they patrol and sports an attitude like the "Pac-Man". McGavin tells him the same joke about the bulls that Hodges taught him, and the younger officer reciprocates in the same way as the young McGavin. The film ends with McGavin considering the cycle as the pair drive on and continue their patrol.

In ''Raiden III'', the Crystals have begun another invasion of Earth. VCD deploys a new model of the Fighting Thunder, the ME-02, to stop the Crystals and save the Earth. The game's ending sequence shows the player's Fighting Thunder craft landing on the wreck of another Fighting Thunder craft, transforming into a Fairy.

''On Blue's Waters''

As the book opens, the narrator, apparently Horn, is the Rajan of Gaon on Blue, acting as a sort of judge and mayor. He is attempting to set down how his adventure began: he was approached by the leaders of New Viron, who had received a letter from the "Men of PAJAROCU", a distant city, stating that they had a working lander and would be returning to the Whorl. Horn was asked to find them and go with them, in search of Caldé Silk, who (it was hoped) would bring order to the lawlessness and chaos of New Viron. In pursuit of this quest, he set off in a small boat toward the western continent he called Shadelow, joined, eventually, by Seawrack, Babbie, Sinew, and Krait. That narrative thread ends when he has reached Pajarocu and boarded the lander.

In alternating chapters, more or less, the Rajan of Gaon describes his current situation: the war his city is fighting against Han, a nearby city, his de facto imprisonment in Gaon, and his extensive dealings with inhumi and a critical secret he learned about them. He eventually escapes from Gaon with the help of one of his concubines, Evensong, and ends the first book in the wilderness.

''In Green's Jungles''

The book opens as the narrator is approaching the city of Blanko, where he is taken in by Inclito and his family. Small mysteries are related and solved in stories shared by the members of the household, and the narrator (now called Incanto, to conceal his identity) elliptically relates his tragic adventures on Green after the Pajarocu lander was diverted there. It is during these stories that he first discovers a strange thing: the inhumi, when he is near, can send spirits to distant places in (near) physical form, just as the Vanished People apparently can. In this way, Incanto and his companions explore Green and the original Red Sun Whorl.

Blanko, too, is swept up in war, and Incanto again aids them in their fight, discovering that his son Hide, who does not recognize him, is fighting alongside them while searching the world for his missing father. When the book ends, he, Hide, and his new "daughter" Jahlee (an inhuma) have left Blanko, and are on the road back to New Viron; the ending of the parallel story on Green is left uncertain.

''Return to the Whorl''

''Return to the Whorl'' alternates between the narrator's first-person adventures on his way home and a third-person account of his travels on the Whorl, which he visited after Green. This third-person story is ostensibly penned by Hide, Hoof, Daisy, and Vadsig. Near the end, there is a section written by Hoof alone, and the very last pages are written by Daisy.

On the Whorl, the Long Sun has been blown out temporarily, and the world is in near-total darkness. The narrator encounters Pig and Hound, and with them travels to the ruins of Blood's mansion (where Mucor appears to them), and then to Old Viron. In the Caldé's Palace, he finds Maytera Marble's half-finished daughter Olivine, who donates one of her eyes for her mother; the narrator will eventually echo this gift by donating one of his own to Pig at the West Pole. The leadership of Old Viron, threatened by his reappearance, arranges with Hari Mau of Gaon to have him returned to Blue — at which point the narrative connects with the opening of ''On Blue's Waters''.

For much of the first-person account, the narrator is imprisoned on Blue in a town called Dorp on trumped-up charges, and must use his various powers to foment a revolution against the unjust judges who rule the town. In the course of this effort, he again visits the Red Sun Whorl, where he meets a young Severian and inspires him to write a book. Once free, he returns to Lizard and New Viron, where the final riddle of his identity is solved, and helps defend against a massive attack of inhumi during Hide's wedding. When the book ends, he and his companions (Nettle, Seawrack, Oreb, and Marble) have apparently returned finally to the Whorl, which then departs for the stars.

As she clears out her old bedroom, Polly discovers that below her memories, in which she led an entirely normal and unremarkable life, there is a second set of memories, which are rather unusual.

As Polly thinks back to this "second set" of memories, the point where they seem to diverge is when she stumbled into a funeral in an old mansion, Hunsdon House, when she was ten and playing with her best friend, Nina. There, she was approached by a man named Thomas Lynn who took her back outside and kept her company. He takes her back inside to help him select six pictures from a large pile, his share of the estate of the deceased; one of them is a photograph called "Fire and Hemlock" (hence the name of the novel), which he gave to her. He then takes her back to her grandmother's house, where she is living.

Over the following years Tom and Polly continue a friendship largely through correspondence, with occasional visits. Tom sends her books and letters with stories in them, many of which tie into the general theme of his predicament. Together, the two come up with stories about a hero named Tan Coul and his assistant Hero, who are Mr. Lynn's and Polly's alter egos, respectively. These stories all eventually come true, after a fashion. For instance, after discussing Tan Coul's horse, they encounter an identical horse disrupting traffic in the streets of London, having escaped from a nearby circus. An invented town and hardware store later turn out to be real, the proprietor being the spitting image of Tom, and ''his'' nephew Leslie falling into the story much later as a possible victim of Laurel's. Tom and Polly's story features three other heroes; later on, Tom gives Polly a photograph of all the members of his orchestra, and asks her to identify them. She immediately finds the other three heroes. These three are exactly the ones with whom Tom was considering setting up an independent string quartet.

All the while, Polly encounters members of Tom's ex-wife's family, all of whom seem to be threatening her and trying to break off her relationship with Tom. These include Seb, who is a few years older than Polly. Polly understands the threats as Laurel (Tom's ex-wife) having some sort of power over him. Tom refuses to talk about it.

This friendship develops against the background of Polly's growing up in her own disintegrating family life: her father Reg leaves, and a new lodger moves in and begins a relationship with her mother, Ivy. When Ivy sends her to live with her father in Bristol, it soon becomes apparent that she was not wanted there, her father having neither told his girlfriend that she was coming nor that she was supposed to live with them permanently. Eventually Polly moves in with her grandmother, who acts as a strong, fierce, strict anchor in her life.

As Polly turns sixteen, she realises that she has always loved Tom, but when she is rejected by him (in part because of their age difference, but also for her own safety, as she later discovers) she sets out to discover the secret of his relationship with the sinister Laurel that is somehow connected to all the supernatural events that happen to Tom and her. To do this, she performs voodoo-like ceremony, and it partly succeeds – she is summoned to Hunsdon House, where it all started. Laurel is there, but humiliates Polly and tells her (untruthfully) that Tom is dying of cancer, and wants to be left alone by her. Mortified, Polly agrees to forget him, and leaves. Her second set of memories ends here.

Three years later, sitting in front of the picture (that she now realizes was a gift from Tom) Polly decides to start investigating, and finds out that all memory of Tom has been erased from her life, and that he has been eradicated from the memories of anyone who should have known him. As well as this, other people that she met in connection with Tom have no idea who she is, her friend Nina believes that Polly stopped talking to her years ago, and friends that she met through Tom have apparently never met her. She becomes frustrated, and is determined to find Tom, the man she knew and still loves.

In this she is aided by reading two ballads, Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer, which help her figure out the truth. In reality, Tom has entered into a deal with the so-called Queen of the Fairies – Laurel. The time has now come when he must give his life to prolong that of her husband, the sinister Morton Leroy, the King of the Fairies.

Using the information in the ballads as an instruction, she arrives at the ceremony over which Laurel is presiding, and manages to outwit her and secure Tom's life, and, depending on the way you interpret the strange happenings of the ending, his love.

Cooler watches as his younger brother Frieza destroys the Saiyan home world. His henchmen prepare to destroy a space pod fleeing the doomed planet that is transporting a Saiyan infant to Earth; but Cooler allows it to go, accounting that it is Frieza's responsibility. More than twenty years later, this Saiyan, Goku, defeats Frieza. After learning of his brother's death, Cooler takes his men – Salza, Neiz, and Dore, on a mission to reclaim his family's honor. On Earth, Cooler's forces ambush Goku and his friends while they are on a camping trip. Goku is badly wounded when he protects Gohan from an energy blast launched by Cooler.

Krillin and Oolong find shelter in a cave with Goku, while Gohan travels to obtain the magic Senzu beans that can heal his father. Cooler orders his men to completely obliterate the forest, believing Goku is in hiding. After obtaining the beans, Gohan is ambushed by Cooler's men before Piccolo arrives to save him. Piccolo kills 'Dore and Neiz, but Cooler arrives and impales him with an energy beam. Salza manages to track Gohan to the cave and destroys the beans. However, Gohan successfully heals Goku with a spare one. Krillin and Gohan are quickly defeated by Salza but Goku soon emerges. Cooler taunts Goku by further injuring Piccolo. Goku incapacitates Salza and attacks Cooler.

After Goku proves to be a worthy opponent, Cooler reveals that he discovered a new transformation above Frieza's capabilities. Goku is pummeled by Cooler, who boasts and mocks him. However, after seeing a bird die from wounds inflicted by their fight, Goku reflects on the well-being of his loved ones. Goku retrieves the deceased bird and transforms into his Super Saiyan form, using his energy to revive it.

Cooler finds himself grossly outclassed by Super Saiyan Goku. Cooler powers up an enormous energy sphere and launches the attack with the hopes to destroy Goku and the Earth along with him. Goku manages to resist and overpower the attack; he sends it hurdling toward Cooler who is launched into space and collides with the sun. As he is incinerated, Cooler realizes that Goku was the Saiyan infant he spared decades ago. As he laments over his mistake, he is disintegrated.

Goku, drained after his victory, is found by his loved ones. They celebrate and search for Piccolo when Salza reappears and prepares to kill them. However, Salza is unexpectedly killed by Piccolo. Gohan yells out for Piccolo who is nowhere to be seen. Piccolo, having recovered, drinks some water and gazes skyward.

Harlan B. Hollis struggles to stay alive when a jealous public relations manager hires a team of assassins to kill him. The manager, also Hollis' brother-in-law, resents Hollis for making the movie ''Gone in 60 Seconds'', which is premiering at the Cinerama Dome.

The film starts with the head hitman Frank Spyros answering a pay phone and getting instructions from a then unknown person to go ahead with a hit on Hollis as he drives to the James Dean Festival in Cholame, California. The same unknown person plays a video highlighting Hollis's life. He ejects the video and crumples up a publicity shot of Hollis.

Later, Hollis is shown a picture found in the burned wreckage of one of the air covers' planes. Hollis identifies it as an unreleased publicity shot, indicating someone from inside of his own company is trying to kill him.

With the aid of the Goodyear Blimp, he travels to the Cinerama Dome, where the premiere is being held. He discovers the mystery man to be Fox, who subsequently slips off the edge of the theater roof. Clark's crew find the bomb in the limo, throw it into a parking lot, and it explodes, blowing up several cars in the process.

At the end of the film, Hollis gives his daughter Kelly a new 1982 Pontiac Trans Am for her birthday

The Montelli family, an Italian American family formed by Anthony Montelli and his wife, Dolores, move into the house of their dreams with their children, Sonny, Patricia, Mark, and Janice ("Jan"). Things go well at first, but everything changes after discovering a tunnel in the basement leading into the house from an unknown place.

An evil presence is shown to be lurking within, unknown to the family. Unusual and paranormal activities occur, such as unknown forces banging on the door at night when nobody is outside and an ugly demonic message painted on the wall of Janice's room. For the latter, Anthony blames and beats his children, Jan and Mark, then beats Dolores for intervening, resulting in a fight between the entire family. Concerned by these developments, Dolores tries to have the local Catholic priest, Father Frank Adamsky, bless the house, but an argument breaks out within the family shortly after Adamsky arrives. After Anthony shouts and hits the younger children, Adamsky tries to intervene but Anthony rudely orders him to leave. To Dolores' mortification, Adamsky leaves, disgusted at Anthony's behavior. He finds his car door open and the Bible on the passenger seat torn to pieces. The situation inside the home continues to deteriorate; Anthony is shown to be strict, abusive, sacrilegious towards the Catholic faith, violent towards his family, and forcing his wife to have sex with him against her will. Dolores tries to keep things together for the youngest children. Also, Sonny and Patricia are revealed to have started to have sexual feelings for each other due to mutual attraction that neither can act on.

The family goes to church with Anthony, so he can apologize for being rude to Adamsky. Sonny stays at home, claiming to feel unwell. He soon hears an alarming noise and goes downstairs to get his father's gun. He hears demonic laughter and follows it to the tunnel in the basement. The unseen presence pursues a frightened Sonny to his room, and he then falls victim to demonic possession. Now possessed, Sonny approaches Patricia to play a game with him. They pretend he is a famous photographer and she is his nude model. Patricia agrees to pose naked, and the pair end up having incestuous sex. Patricia is then seen at confession, confessing the act and telling the priest that he does it to "hurt God" but not quite revealing who the culprit is.

Sonny becomes more sinister and demonic, as his face starts contorting demonically. Startled, he tries to keep his family away but is unsuccessful due to the demon's influence. On Sonny's birthday, he isolates himself from his birthday party, calls Patricia, and she goes to check on him. She tells him she does not feel guilty about what they have been doing, but due to his demonic phases and his body's gradual demonic contortions, Sonny sends her away, using foul language. Patricia runs away crying, and she tries to tell Adamsky that she thinks Sonny is possessed, but he does not respond. Later that night, the evil spirit tells Sonny to "kill them all." Sonny goes and gets his father's rifle and shoots his parents, Jan, Mark, and Patricia, after hunting her down.

The next day the cops arrive, pick up the bodies, and Sonny is arrested. He lies and says he does not recall killing his family. Adamsky then realizes that Sonny is possessed and asks the bishops if he can perform an exorcism on him, but they refuse, not believing him. He takes it upon himself to perform an exorcism without the support of the Catholic Church. After freeing him from police custody, he takes Sonny to church. Sonny attacks him and escapes after seeing the crosses on the doors. Adamsky runs after Sonny, traces him to the house, and performs the exorcism, releasing Sonny's soul. As the cops arrive, Adamsky asks Father Tom to take Sonny away from him. Tom takes Sonny outside, where the police arrest him and take him back into custody. It is revealed that the demon has transferred itself into Adamsky. Father Adamsky's fate and his whereabouts are left unknown, and eventually, the house is put up for sale.

Set in the 23rd century, ''Bujingai'' begins 100 years after an accident involving an environmentally-friendly energy source annihilated 70 percent of the world's population and all of its government. Those who survived found themselves with special abilities harnessed through the energies of the Earth itself, which they honed into a discipline of magic and swordplay. A mysterious and powerful human exile, Lau Wong, returns to the planet to battle his former friend and training partner Rei Jenron, who has been possessed by an evil spirit. Rei has kidnapped the soul of his once-beloved Yohfa and opened numerous portals, allowing demons to overtake the Asian city of Bujingai. Lau stands as the only one capable of stopping Rei and the demons threatening the world's remaining population.

In the distant past, the Guardian of the Milky Way galaxy named Lanancuras began to harbor a desire for more power. Because of his connection to the galaxy, he was able to absorb parts of planets and add them to his strength. As a result, he began invading the worlds he was assigned to protect. In the wake of his destruction, a following of creatures from across the galaxy pledged allegiance to Lanancuras and became known as the Kadrians. Taking notice of his ever-growing power and followers, the other Celestial Guardians confronted him; however, he had become too powerful, and they were defeated. Unable to subdue Lanancuras, the Celestial Guardians each gave up a part of their power and combined it into a single new Guardian, Mushra. In a final desperate attempt, they used Mushra's core by transforming it into a powerful card with which to seal Lanancuras in a prison. The prison was created from the remains of planets that had suffered under Lanancuras' tyranny. Because planets are themselves large beings, their combined strength (along with the power of the card) was able to restrain him. Thus Lanancuras was successfully sealed in a large meteorite.

The meteorite was sent off into the galaxy to be sealed forever. Meanwhile, the way Lanancuras had increased his strength had consequences on the planets of the Milky Way On Earth, around the 22nd century, it was in the shape of a virus that merged with human DNA and destroyed the humans that way. In order to eliminate the virus, scientists worked on combining human DNA with the DNA of animals and other creatures immune to the effects. They succeeded and created a sentient race known as Enterrans (a race of engineered Earthlings) which are based on humans, insects, reptiles, birds, sea creatures, wild beasts, and phantom beasts. Eventually, a cure was found and the human race survived.

However, due to Lanancuras' influence, the Enterrans fought their human creators as well as the robots that worked with the humans, driving the human race to a near extinction state. Luckily, a scientist named Dr. Daigo Tatsuro placed his 4-year-old daughter Yakumo in a sleep chamber in hopes that she would save the human race and find the human sanctuary Shinzo and bring peace back to Earth which was then renamed to Enterra. When the meteor that Lanancuras was imprisoned in struck Earth during the earlier parts of the Human-Enterran War, its fragment had struck an infant Yakumo giving her abilities that she would later discover.

First season (episodes 1–21)

Upon waking up 300 years later at the age of 17, Yakumo Tatsuro stumbled upon her soon to be companion Mushra while he is strung above a waterfall for impersonating a king. After Yakumo rescues Mushra, they soon run into their other companions Sago and Kutal.

Mushra, Sago and Kutal are then shown to be Hyper-Enterrans, Enterrans who can transform into stronger powered-up versions of themselves; these forms allow them to fight the various Enterrans that come after them. Throughout the first season the main characters fight a collection of Enterrans known as the Seven Enterran Generals, and various independent Enterrans where these Enterrans were either minions of the Seven Enterran Generals or bounty hunters that target Yakumo for the bounty on her head. Each of these Generals rules a region that the gang travels through, which have different types of Enterrans, such as King Daku's land having a majority insect based Enterrans. The defeated Enterrans become En-Cards, which are card-like structures that can be used to increase power in both Enterrans and several machines such as Yakumo's sentient vehicle Hakuba.

Second season (22–32)

When the timeline was altered due to events caused by Rusephine removing Mushrambo from the past. The Human-Enterran war never occurred with the two species eventually settling their differences and peacefully coexisting. The ultimate cause of the Enterran genocide during the war in the original timeline was revealed. The Kadrians had devised a plan to free their master: they believed that crashing the meteor into Earth would destroy the seal, thus allowing Lanancuras to escape. The Guardians eventually discovered this plan, but it was too late. With the meteorite already redirected and heading towards Earth, the Guardians held a vow that they would not directly intervene. They reasoned it was the duty of the planet and its inhabitants to defeat Lanancuras. In a stroke of luck, the Kadrians' plan was not a complete success. At impact, the seal holding Lanancuras merely ripped due to the impact; therefore, the Kadrian King was still trapped by the planetary pieces.

In the first timeline, Lanancuras used up a lot of energy to influence the Human-Enterran War when his meteor struck Earth, therefore remaining completely dormant. As this there weren't means to cause the war in the second, he was energized and about to break free from his imprisonment there.

Two eight-year-old Little League teammates, Neil McCormick and Brian Lackey, both experience life-altering events during the summer of 1981 in Hutchinson, Kansas. Neil, the son of an irresponsible single mother and already discovering his own homosexuality, is sexually abused by the Little League coach, who leaves town after that summer. Brian, whose parents are often neglectful or busy working, only remembers that it started to rain during a game. The next thing he remembers is being in the crawl space of his house with a bloody nose, having no memory of the intervening five hours.

Neil views the coach's abuse as love, and develops an attraction to older men. He begins prostituting himself at the age of 15, and continues doing so three years later when he moves to New York City, where his best friend, Wendy Peterson, now lives. In New York, Neil has an emotional encounter with a client, Zeke, who is dying from AIDS and (instead of sex) only wants to feel another person's touch. Afterward, Neil begins withdrawing from prostitution and takes a job at a sandwich shop with assistance and encouragement from Wendy.

Brian suffers from chronic nosebleeds, blackouts, and bedwetting for years after coming to in the crawl space. He also has recurring dreams about being touched by a strange, bluish hand, which eventually lead Brian to suspect he may have been abducted by aliens. Another boy wearing the same Little League uniform begins to appear in these dreams later on. At 18, Brian meets a woman named Avalyn Friesen, who also believes she was abducted by aliens. They start to form a friendship, but when she makes sexual advances toward him, he panics and refuses to speak to her again.

Brian sees a photo of his Little League team as he tries to untangle his confused memories, recognizing a young Neil as the other boy from his dreams. Meanwhile, after a client brutally rapes and beats him, Neil returns to Hutchinson to spend Christmas with his mother. There, Neil and Brian meet for the first time in over a decade. After breaking into the house that was previously rented by the Little League coach, Neil tells Brian what happened that night: the coach offered to drive Brian home with Neil after a baseball game was rained out, as Brian did not have a ride. Instead, they all went to the coach's house, where the coach performed sex acts on the boys and made them perform sex acts on each other. At one point, Brian collapsed face-first onto the floor, giving him a bloody nose, while a porch light caused the atmosphere to have an eerie blue color. Having finally learned the truth, Brian breaks down crying and is comforted by Neil as Christmas carolers sing “Silent Night".

''The Three Treasures'' retells the story of the Yamato Takeru legend, and features a recounting of the great battle between Susanoo and the legendary dragon Orochi.

''Keitai Denjū Telefang''

The games take place in the year 2020 and there are special mobile phones equipped with a unique antenna called D-Shot which allows teleportation through "antenna trees". A 10-year-old boy named Shigeki finds one of these phones and is accidentally transported with another boy, Matsukiyo, to another world when he loses a baseball near an "antenna tree".

This world is full of fantasy creatures called ''Denjū'', who all own a D-Shot and use them to call their friends to help them compete in battles. These phone battles are also known as Telefang. Shigeki becomes a T-Fanger and travels the ''Denjū'' world, trying to learn more about it. At the same time, he gets wrapped up in several plots involving evil ''Denjū'' as well as other humans, who may or may not be T-Fangers.

''Keitai Denjū Telefang 2''

The games follow the story of Kyō, a blue-haired 10-year-old T-Fanger who travels to the ''Denjū'' world to look for his missing father. His friend Midori accompanies him on the journey. During his adventure, he encounters a ''Denjū'' named Diablos, who is killing off the "antenna trees" as he is not happy with the fact that humans are entering the ''Denjū'' world.

After Diablos kills all but one "antenna tree", that tree becomes the only gate between the two worlds. Kyō has to prevent Diablos from killing that last "antenna tree", or Kyō will be stuck in the ''Denjū'' world forever.

Annie Laird (Demi Moore) is a sculptor who lives in New York with her son Oliver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt); she works a day job as a data entry clerk. Annie is selected to be a juror in the trial of mafia boss Louie Boffano (Tony Lo Bianco), who is accused of ordering the murder of Salvatore Riggio.

Mark Cordell (Alec Baldwin) buys some of Annie's artwork and then wines and dines her before she discovers he is better known as "The Teacher", Boffano's enforcer and the actual perpetrator of Riggio's murder. Mark tells Annie to persuade the jury to acquit Boffano, or she and Oliver will die.

A frightened Annie convinces the jury to acquit Boffano. After the trial, Boffano questions whether Annie should "disappear", seeing her as a loose end. Mark convinces Boffano otherwise. Mark goes after Annie's friend Juliet (Anne Heche). After having sex with her, Mark reveals himself to be Annie's stalker. He pulls a gun and forces Juliet to take a fatal drug overdose. Mark boasts of Juliet's murder to Eddie (James Gandolfini), who also works for Boffano but unlike Mark, is sympathetic to Annie as he is a parent himself.

To ensure her son's safety, Annie hides Oliver in the village of T'ui Cuch, Guatemala. The prosecutor, who figured out Annie was threatened, wants Annie to turn state's witness so they can go after Mark, who now plans to take over Boffano's empire.

Annie convinces the prosecutor to let her wear a wire in a scheduled meeting with Mark. Annie removes the wire and gives it to Eddie, insinuating she and Mark are now a couple. Annie then succeeds in getting Mark to incriminate himself in a boastful rant about his ambitions, which she tapes on a hidden tape recorder. She uses the tape to tip off Boffano, who schedules a meeting with Mark.

Boffano's plan backfires when Mark kills both Boffano and his son Joseph (Michael Rispoli), along with their henchmen. He also slashes Eddie's throat. Mark, furious at Annie's betrayal, calls her, revealing his intention to travel to Guatemala to kill Oliver.

Annie travels to Guatemala where there is a showdown with Mark. He chases Oliver into a structure, where locals shoot Mark. Annie, also armed with a pistol, fires six more shots, making sure Mark is dead after he tries to shoot Annie with a gun pulled from his ankle holster. Oliver is unharmed.

The movie opens in 1909 (though Pat Garrett was killed in 1908), near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Garrett is riding with men working for the Santa Fe Ring, when he is ambushed and coldly killed by his associates, including one John W. Poe.

In 1881 in Old Fort Sumner, New Mexico, William H. Bonney, known as Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson), is passing the time with friends shooting chickens for fun. An old friend of Billy's, Pat Garrett (James Coburn), rides into town with Deputy Sheriff J. W. Bell (Matt Clark) and joins the diversion. Later, over drinks, Garrett informs Billy that the electorate want him out of the country, and that in five days, when he becomes Sheriff of Lincoln County, he will make Billy leave.

Six days later, Garrett and his deputies surround the small farmhouse where Billy and his gang are holed up. In the ensuing gun battle, Charlie Bowdre (Charles Martin Smith) and several other men on both sides are killed, and Billy is taken prisoner. As Billy awaits his execution in the Lincoln County Jail for the killing of Buckshot Roberts, he is taunted and beaten by self-righteous Deputy Sheriff Bob Olinger (R. G. Armstrong) while the hangman's gallows are being built nearby. Garrett warns Olinger not to taunt Billy again or he will be fired and sent back to Texas; then, Garrett leaves town to collect taxes leaving his two deputies to guard Billy. Olinger again argues with Billy but after J. W. Bell intervenes, Olinger leaves to get a drink. Billy finds a gun hidden for him in the outhouse and shoots Bell in the back. He then retrieves Olinger's shotgun loaded with "sixteen thin dimes" and shoots Olinger dead in the street, saying, "Keep the change, Bob." Billy leaves town.

After Garrett returns to Lincoln and recruits a new deputy sheriff named Alamosa Bill Kermit (Jack Elam), he rides to Santa Fe to meet with Governor Lew Wallace (Jason Robards), who introduces him to a pair of powerful men from the Santa Fe Ring. They offer a thousand dollars for the capture of Billy the Kid, with five hundred dollars upfront. Garrett rejects the money saying they can pay him in full when Billy is brought in and warns them that he will be successful as long as another cattle war is not started. Meanwhile, Billy returns to his gang at Old Fort Sumner, where he decides to lie back for a few days. He is confronted by three strangers looking to kill him; all three are killed in the subsequent shootout, helped by another stranger called Alias (Bob Dylan), who kills one of the men with a knife through the neck. Alias had witnessed Billy's escape from the Lincoln County Jail.

Garrett meets up with Sheriff Colin Baker (Slim Pickens), hoping he can provide information on Billy's whereabouts. Baker and his wife (Katy Jurado) go with Garrett to arrest some of Billy's old gang. In a gunfight, the gang members including Black Harris (L. Q. Jones) are killed and Baker is mortally wounded. Baker's wife comforts the dying lawman as he waits to die by a river. Later that evening, Garrett watches a barge floating down a river with a man shooting bottles in the water. Garrett and the two face off briefly from a distance before lowering their rifles.

Garrett is joined by a glory-seeking John W. Poe (John Beck), who works for the Santa Fe Ring. The two ride southwest to meet John Chisum (Barry Sullivan), a powerful cattle baron, who informs them that Billy has been rustling his cattle again and killed some of his men; Billy once worked for him and claimed that Chisum owes him $500 of back salary. Anticipating Garrett's arrival in Old Fort Sumner, Billy's friend Paco (Emilio Fernández) and his family leave for Mexico, soon followed by Billy. Along the way, Billy stops at the Horrell Trading Post, which is owned by an old friend. By chance, Horrell (Gene Evans) is hosting Garrett's new deputy, Alamosa Bill. After they finish eating, Billy and Alamosa step outside for a duel at ten paces, with Billy shooting Alamosa dead. Meanwhile, Garrett and Poe arrive at a saloon. Garrett tells Poe to ride on without him and that Garrett will pick him up in Roswell in five or six days. Three members of Billy's gang come into the saloon. After taunting Holly (Richard Bright) and getting him drunk, Garrett shoots him dead after he pulls a knife. He tells Alias to give Billy a message that they had "a little drink together".

Garrett rides to Roswell ahead of Poe to gather more clues on Billy's whereabouts. Garrett beats up a prostitute named Ruthie Lee (Rutanya Alda) and learns from her that Billy is in Fort Sumner. Poe arrives in Roswell to find Garrett naked and in bed with several prostitutes, and confirms that Billy is in Fort Sumner. Garrett recruits an old friend he helped become a sheriff and along with Poe rides to Fort Sumner to find Billy. Later that night Billy and his girlfriend, the daughter of Pete Maxwell, have sex as Garrett and his two deputies arrive. Billy goes to get some meat and, after seeing Garrett's deputies (who are both afraid to shoot the Kid), backs into a bedroom where Garrett shoots him. Garrett angrily hits Poe for attempting to cut off Billy's trigger finger. He stays on the porch until morning, when the townspeople of Fort Sumner, having heard the news of his death, gather to see Billy's lifeless body. Garrett mounts his horse and rides out of town, with a small boy throwing stones at him.

The Republican Party of Springfield decide to make caring for the environment a felony offense; the resulting pollution causes an acid rainfall, destroying the Simpsons' TV antenna and prompting them to stay inside and play a game of Monopoly to pass the time. When it is revealed that Bart has been cheating by using Lego bricks as hotel pieces, Bart threatens Lisa and Homer assaults him. Marge and Lisa try to pry them apart. Despite her inability to talk, Maggie calls the police on her family before taking hold of Marge and attempting to pull her off Homer. With help from an edible taffy-like substance and a robot, the entire Simpson family is arrested for causing a domestic disturbance.

After a short time in jail, they are released by a social worker named Gabriel, whom Homer continuously dismisses as an angel sent from Heaven. Gabriel moves in with the family to help them be functional again. After observing the family's quirks, Gabriel takes the family to a forest and diagnoses the family's problems accordingly: Marge tries to prove her self-worth to the family by medicating them with food, Bart is addicted to doing crazy stunts for attention, Lisa has a savior complex brought on by her ill-fated attempts to do good for the family, and Homer is simply a drunken buffoon. Gabriel then sets up a challenge to teach the Simpsons the importance of teamwork by setting up a picnic basket in a tree. The object is for the family to work together as a team to get it down, but when Gabriel mentions that there is beer, Homer foolishly uses the family car to knock the tree down, trapping Gabriel in the process. After a harrowing rescue involving Bart driving the car and Homer nearly becoming prey for wild predators, the Simpsons succeed and Gabriel congratulates them on working together as a family and becoming functional during their drive home.

Before the family can call it a day, they arrive home and find Amber and Ginger waiting in their driveway, causing Gabriel to storm off in disgust. Amber shows Marge and the kids video footage of a drunk Homer marrying her in Vegas, while Ginger is next door with the widowed Ned Flanders. Homer tries to get his marriage to Amber annulled by the court, but Judge Constance Harm refuses, stating that Homer married Amber in Nevada (where bigamy is legal) and the marriage still stands, since Homer never officially divorced Amber. Marge is so angry that she banishes Homer, who takes up residence in Bart's treehouse with Amber, who attempts to seduce him by making him sandwiches, arousing Marge's jealousy. Amber also unsuccessfully tries to bond with Bart and Lisa, who resent her for destroying their family. Homer still loves Marge and refuses to sleep with Amber, so he tries to sleep in Santa's Little Helper's kennel, but ends up getting its doorway stuck to his head and spends the rest of the night trying to get it off, as Marge watches from the window and begins to have a change of heart. The next day, Marge finds Homer asleep amid the broken remains of the doghouse, and asks him to come inside to talk with her, although she is still angry at him over what he did.

While Amber is lounging in a kiddie pool, she overhears Homer and Marge arguing about her, with Homer ultimately announcing that he is leaving Marge and the kids. Homer then invites Amber to Moe's for a night of drinking, while Marge and the kids eavesdrop from outside. The next day, a hungover Amber discovers that she is now married to Grampa Simpson, and the Simpsons have video evidence of the event about her vowing to forsake all other husbands when married to Grampa. Amber and Ginger, who is fed up with Ned and the Flanders' "goody-goody" nature, hurriedly drive back to Vegas. The family celebrates their victory through sticking together, while Grampa, at first despondent over Amber leaving him, contentedly resigns himself to the loss of his recollection of his marriage as a result of his senility.

Most of the dreams are concerned with mundane affairs: talking to his friends Ian Sommerville, Allen Ginsberg and Brion Gysin; protecting his cats; trying to get sex, drugs or something to eat. There are flying dreams, erotic suitcase-packing dreams, dreams of being bullied by men in uniforms. There are references to strange drugs such as "Jade" and "Bogomolets Anti-Human Serum 125." In addition, there are other segments which seem unconcerned with dreams at all, such as a chapter where Burroughs instructs the reader on how to create botulism. There is a place he refers to as the Land of the Dead, which, like Interzone, seems to be a conglomeration of many cities: Tangiers, London, Paris, and others.

Category:1995 novels Category:Novels by William S. Burroughs Category:Viking Press books

Written as a dark, comic fable, the story concerns an advertising executive, Harry Joy, who briefly 'dies' of a heart attack. On being resuscitated, he realizes that the life he has previously drifted amiably through is in fact Hell – literally so to Harry. His wife is unfaithful, while his son is selling drugs, and his daughter is a communist selling herself to buy them. In one of the novel's more shocking scenes, glimpsed through a window, incest occurs.

Redemption comes in the form of Honey Barbara – a pantheist, healer and prostitute. In the words of the book's blurb "Honey is to Harry as Isis is to Osiris. Together they conquer Hell and retire to the forest where their children inherit the legend of paradise regained." But Harry must die for a second time to be truly saved.

The book takes the form of an impressionistic, possibly somewhat fictionalised, account of Carey's brief stay, and of his attempts to gather his required material. During his time in Sydney, around the 2000 Olympic Games, he badgered his friends with a battered tape recorder, to get them to give their own stories and impressions of the city. Carey wishes to structure the book around the elements of earth, wind, fire and water, and his friends, sometimes reluctantly, oblige. One tells of his attempts to rescue his home from a bushfire, and another of a near death experience during the disastrous 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

Meanwhile, Carey's own narrative digresses into history and anecdote, touching on Sydney's uneasy race relations and a horrific recurring dream involving the Harbour Bridge, and culminating in a dramatic late night incident in a rooftop squat.

Carey finishes the book by stating "A metropolis is, by definition, inexhaustible, and by the time I departed, thirty days later, Sydney was as unknowable to me as it had been on that clear April morning when I arrived."

When Hendra was 14, he had an affair with a married woman. When her husband, a devout Catholic, discovered them in each other's arms, he took Hendra on a trip to Quarr Abbey, a monastery on the Isle of Wight off the coast of England. Hendra, expecting to be disciplined, was surprised when a "cartoonish" monk, Father Joseph Warrilow, instead treated him kindly. Hendra fell in love with Quarr and decided to become a monk.

When Hendra reached the age of eighteen and could legally begin his time at Quarr, Father Joe found out that Hendra had received a scholarship to Cambridge University, and he urged Hendra to first attend college and obtain a degree before he could be admitted to the monastery.

While at Cambridge, Hendra attended a theatrical revue called ''Beyond the Fringe''. The brilliant performance by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller had such an impact on him that his life set off on a totally different course. In his words, "I went into that theater a monk. I came out a satirist. Save the world through prayer? I don't think so. I'm going to save it through laughter." In spite of his decision not to become a monk, he continued to visit Father Joe for more than 40 years, until Father Joe's death on April 27, 1998.

Two Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents are killed while trying to intercept a briefcase exchange taking place in a United Nations parking garage in New York City. The murders are caught on a security camera, but the criminal escapes with top secret information.

Months later, tow truck driver Mark Warren is arrested for an illegal weapons possession charge following a vehicular collision in Chicago. Through a fingerprint check, the police determine that he is actually federal fugitive Mark Roberts, wanted for a homicide. That night, Roberts boards a prisoner transport aircraft back to New York via Memphis, sharing the flight with Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard, who is escorting prisoners unrelated to Roberts' case. Roberts thwarts an assassination attempt by a Chinese prisoner with an improvised firearm, but the bullet blows a window that depressurizes the cabin, killing the prisoner and another marshal. The pilots attempt an emergency landing but the damaged plane crashes into the Ohio River in southern Illinois. With the plane sinking, Gerard assists in rescuing fellow marshals and officers while they retrieve the surviving prisoners, but discovers Roberts has escaped. Eight hours later, DSS Special Agent John Royce is assigned to join Gerard's team and other officers to hunt Roberts, much to Gerard's reluctance to his potential in assistance.

Roberts flees to New York City after escaping a near death encounter with law enforcement in which Gerard and his team cornered him in a swampland in Kentucky. Once in New York, he secures money, weapons and fake identification from a former fellow US Marine of Force Recon. Roberts begins conducting surveillance on a Chinese diplomat named Xiang Chen. In Chicago, Gerard and the Marshals pursue several leads, including Roberts' girlfriend Marie Bineaux as well as the airplane mechanic who hid the zip gun, whom the Marshals find murdered by Chen. Gerard and his colleagues manage to access surveillance footage of the murders in the parking garage and realize that Roberts acted in self-defense and was wearing gloves; thus he wouldn't have been identified by fingerprints at the scene as was earlier claimed. Confronted with the evidence, DSS Director Bertram Lamb admits to Gerard and his senior supervisor that Mark Roberts is in fact Mark Sheridan, a former CIA Special Activities Division operative and a former Force Recon Marine, that seemingly went rogue during an investigation to uncover a mole within the U.S. State Department that had been selling classified intelligence to the Chinese government. Chen was the contact delivering the money to Sheridan for the information and when DSS agents tried to apprehend him, Sheridan killed them in self-defense and fled the scene.

Eventually, Gerard and his team catch up with Sheridan in Queens Hill Cemetery where he meets with, and threatens to expose, DSS Special Agent Frank Barrows as one of the conspirators who framed him. Chen tries to assassinate Sheridan as he leaves the cemetery, but inadvertently kills Barrows instead. Sheridan escapes to a nearby retirement home followed by Gerard, Royce and Deputy Marshal Noah Newman. Meanwhile, Chen is caught and detained by Deputy Marshals Savannah Cooper and Bob Biggs. At the senior care facility, Newman overhears a physical struggle and walks into a room where he witnesses Royce holding Sheridan at gunpoint. Royce suddenly shoots Newman with his gun and later lies to his associates, claiming Sheridan shot Newman. Sheridan escapes by swinging from the building onto the roof of a passing train. Newman dies of his gunshot wounds en route to the hospital.

After retrieving fingerprints from an abandoned vehicle at a marine loading dock, Gerard tracks down Sheridan on a freighter ship bound for Canada. During a scuffle between Sheridan and Gerard aboard the vessel, Royce shoots Sheridan, injuring him. Sheridan is later taken into custody. Gerard begins to suspect Royce may be the mole when he notices the firearm that shot Newman had its serial number filed off (in an attempt to hide it), was actually Royce's own gun earlier. Left alone to guard Sheridan's hospital room, Royce wakes Sheridan up to murder him, but Gerard steps in, confronts and kills Royce first. After leaving the hospital, Sheridan's charges are dropped as he is exonerated and released. Gerard and his team depart to drink a toast to Newman.

The young narrator, not content with the confines of the ordinary alphabet, reports on additional letters beyond Z, with a fantastic creature corresponding to each new letter. For example, the letter "FLOOB" is the first letter in Floob-Boober-Bab-Boober-Bubs, which have large buoyant heads and float serenely in the water.

In order, the letters, followed by the creatures for which the letters are the first letter when spelling their names, are YUZZ (Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz), WUM (Wumbus), UM (Umbus), HUMPF (Humpf-Humpf-a-Dumpfer), FUDDLE (Miss Fuddle-dee-Duddle), GLIKK (Glikker), NUH (Nutches), SNEE (Sneedle), QUAN (Quandary), THNAD (Thnadners), SPAZZ (Spazzim), FLOOB (Floob-Boober-Bab-Boober-Bubs), ZATZ (Zatz-it), JOGG (Jogg-oons), FLUNN (Flunnel), ITCH (Itch-a-pods), YEKK (Yekko), VROO (Vrooms), and HI! (High Gargel-orum).

The book ends with an unnamed letter that is substantially more complicated than those with names. A list of all the additional letters is shown at the end.

Joe Norson lives with his wife and her parents in New York City; he has lost his gas station job and found work as a part-time mail carrier. Because he wants the best for his expectant wife Ellen, Joe rationalizes stealing what he thinks is $200 from a lawyer's office on his route. He discovers that he's actually stolen $30,000 from Victor Backett, a corrupt attorney. Backett has framed wealthy broker/patsy Emil Lorrison in a sex scandal, then extorted the money from him with the help of Lucille "Lucky" Colner and ex-con and accomplice Georgie Garsell.

From the start, Joe begins to panic. He explains his newfound wealth to Ellen as a lucrative out-of-town job, then disguises the money as a package and leaves it with bartender Nick Drumman. In the meantime, Lucille's body is found in the East River, strangled, and Captain Walter Anderson of the New York Police Department investigates the murder. Both Lorrison and Backett are interviewed, their names having been found in Lucille's "love diary." After the birth of his child, Joe decides to try to return his ill-gotten gain, but Backett suspects a trap and refuses the offer. Backett instead sends Garsell and a taxi driver to grab Joe and recover the cash. Joe is able to escape after they discover that Drumman has substituted a nightgown in the package and gone into hiding with the money.

Joe looks for Drumman, but Garsell finds the bartender first, strangles him, and recovers the money. Joe confesses the original theft to Ellen, who urges him to turn himself in, but he finds himself a suspect in Drumman's murder. He tries to track down the source of the money to clear himself, even as Captain Anderson methodically pursues both men as suspects—Garsell for Lucille and Joe for Drumman. Joe locates Garsell's girlfriend, singer Harriet Sinton (Jean Hagen), but she betrays him to Garsell. Garsell plans to murder Joe and strangles Harriet to eliminate her as a witness. Captain Anderson is hot on their heels and a chase ensues through the early morning streets of New York. Garsell's partner, the taxi driver, tries to surrender to the police, so Garsell shoots him and forces Joe to drive. Joe deliberately crashes the taxi to end the nightmare. Garsell climbs out of the wreckage and dies in an exchange of gunfire with the police. Ellen arrives, and finds Joe seriously but not mortally injured; she embraces him before the police load him into an ambulance.

Centuries ago, four immortal heroes were gathered together to serve the emperor. He trusted their advice, but sought their immortality, and so his six great advisors used this against him, and tricked him into crucifying the heroes on a great tree at the bottom of the world. Afterwards the emperor regretted this act, and yet committed six other sorrows before he was killed by his trusted advisors. However, before his death he undid his first great sorrow and released his loyal heroes from the tree. Mysteriously set free, the heroes now must set out to destroy the emperor's twisted advisors, transformed into monstrous creatures by stealing the heroes immortality, and set right the emperor's six other sorrows. If the ancient heroes cannot undo the emperor's deeds on their own, his mad plans may tear apart the world. The heroes set out to destroy the emperor, but there are some complications and all their powers are taken away, from there, it is up to the player to gain the powers back and destroy the emperor.

Will Lockhart delivers supplies from Laramie to Coronado, an isolated western town. He immediately ends up tangling with the Waggomans, influential owners of the massive Barb Ranch. Lockhart is quietly searching for information about someone who sold repeating rifles to the Apaches; his brother, a green Army lieutenant, was one of many soldiers killed in an Apache attack on a far reach of the Barb Ranch.

Patriarch Alec Waggoman is haunted by dreams of a stranger who intends to kill his adult son, Dave. He is also gradually losing his eyesight and cannot count on the immature and vicious Dave.

Lockhart is told by Barbara Waggoman, Alec's niece, that he can collect salt for free and haul it away for freight but Dave Waggoman accuses him of stealing, shoots twelve of Lockhart's mules and burns his three wagons. Lockhart returns to town, engaging first Dave and then ranch foreman Vic Hansbro in a fistfight. Alec shows up and offers Lockhart restitution for his lost property. Sheriff Tom Quigby suggests that Lockhart then leave town to avoid trouble.

Lockhart continues searching for the gun runner. Local drunk Chris Boldt tells him that he may know something, but is killed soon after being seen with Lockhart, actually trying to stab him to death, leading Sheriff Quigby to briefly arrest Lockhart.

Vic considers himself a second son to Alec and is engaged to marry Barbara. Alec depends on and respects Vic, but holds him responsible for the damage Dave caused to Lockhart's property and threatens to take it out of Vic's pay.

Dave starts a gunfight and is shot in the hand by Lockhart. Lockhart is overpowered, and Dave shoots him through the hand with Lockhart's own gun.

Afterwards, Vic rides after Dave and catches him trying to contact the Apaches to deliver 200 repeating rifles for which the Apaches have paid Vic and Dave in advance. Vic is forced to shoot and kill Dave in self-defense, and then lets Alec believe that Lockhart was responsible.

Lockhart takes refuge with a rival rancher, Kate Canady, who wishes she and Waggoman, her long-ago fiancé before he married Dave's future mother, could declare a truce.

Alec goes over some old bills and finds a bill for wire fence that is very overpriced. He suspects that it conceals a rifle purchase and sets out to discover for himself if Dave was both stealing from him and selling rifles to the Apaches. Vic is unable to talk him out of it, so just before they reach the wagon, the two scuffle and Alec is accidentally pushed off his horse and down a hill. Assuming the old man is dead, Vic rides away.

Lockhart finds Alec alive and takes him to Kate to tend to his wounds. When he regains consciousness, Alec is able to tell Lockhart about Dave and Vic and the rifles. Lockhart finds Vic using a smoke signal to call for the Apaches to come for their rifles. Lockhart forces Vic to help him push the wagon off the hilltop and destroy the rifles, then finds he is unable to gun Vic down in cold blood and tells him to get away from him, which he eventually does. Vic rides away, but is intercepted and killed by the Apaches.

Alec and Kate plan to get married. Barbara intends to leave Coronado and head back east. As Lockhart leaves town, he tells Barbara she will be passing through Laramie on the way and to ask anyone where to find Captain Lockhart, confirming that he is an officer in the U.S. Cavalry.

'''''Scenario 1''''' features Synbios, a young lord from the Republic of Aspinia. Aspinia was once a part of the Empire of Destonia, but seceded after a war of independence spearheaded by some of the more democratic-minded nobles. They opposed Emperor Domaric's totalitarian policies, which disenfranchised a large number of people, creating a huge disparity between the wealthy and the poor. Tensions remained between Aspinia and Destonia after the secession, marked by occasional border disputes.

As the game begins, Synbios is part of a military force representing Aspinia at a peace conference in the neutral city of Saraband. Due to manipulation by outside forces - later discovered to be connected with a religious cult known as the "Bulzome Sect" - full-scale war breaks out again between Aspinia and Destonia. The majority of the game's storyline covers this conflict as well as Synbios and his team's fight against the Bulzome sect. Throughout the game Synbios has periodic encounters with Medion, Destonia's youngest prince, who also recognizes the truth behind the war. Although on opposite sides of the war, the two work together to identify the real threat. Medion's role is portrayed in more detail in Scenario 2.

'''''Scenario 2''''' features Medion, Prince of Destonia, and youngest of three sons of Emperor Domaric. Although loyal to his father and his country, he senses that there are other forces at work beneath the tensions between Aspinia and Destonia. He attends the conference in Saraband on behalf of Destonia, along with his brothers Arrawnt and Mageron. As discovered in Scenario 1, much of this influence comes from the Bulzome sect, as well as collaborating separatist factions within both Destonia and Aspinia. Medion works parallel to Synbios of Aspinia, often disposing of rogue Aspinian elements to spare Synbios's force from fighting against its own countrymen. At the end of the game, Medion is forced to battle with Synbios' force when Julian steps in to stop them.

'''''Scenario 3''''' stars Julian, a mercenary who appears as a secondary character in both Scenario 1 and Scenario 2. He is for all intents and purposes the true main character of Shining Force III. His initial motivation as the story begins is to track down and kill Galm, one of, if not the, most powerful member of the Vandals, a powerful race of beings that existed over 1,000 years ago. Julian believes that Galm killed his father and is seeking revenge. This story arc is first introduced in an earlier Shining game, Shining the Holy Ark, in which Julian appears as a young boy who asks the party to search for his missing father.

Julian joins Synbios in the midst of his quest in Scenario 1, but after an encounter with Galm, he is tossed over a waterfall at the suspension bridge and believed by Synbios' army to be dead. He reappears in Scenario 2, apparently washing ashore at the site of a battle between Medion's army and the Bulzome Sect. Knowing the sect's ties to the Vandals, Julian agrees to fight alongside Medion. As it becomes clear that the sect is trying to kill Gracia, a child intended to become the next Innovator (A Shining Series figure equatable to a god), Julian takes on the task of protecting him and helping him realize his destiny.

Scenario 3 starts about 60% through scenario 2's story, and focuses primarily on battles against the Bulzome Sect and their allies in both Aspinia and Destonia. While scenarios 1 & 2 happen at roughly the same time, much of scenario 3 takes place after both, but there is some "overlap". Eventually Julian leads a three-party coalition consisting of the armies of both Synbios and Medion, to engage in the final conflict against Bulzome, a powerful Vandal long sealed in another dimension, and the true orchestrator of the conflict.

The plot revolves around private investigator, Nick Slaughter, an ex-DEA agent, who after arriving in the fictional resort town of Key Mariah, Florida, and setting up a detective agency there, meets up with local tourist agent, beautiful Sylvie Girard, to solve a variety of different cases.

Lisa, a homeless woman, asks the audience for some change. Songwriter Gordon Schwinn works at his piano to meet a deadline, irritated because he must write a song about spring for children's television host Mr. Bungee, who dresses as a frog ("Frogs Have So Much Spring (The Spring Song)"). Gordon takes a break from writing The Spring Song to meet his best friend Rhoda at a restaurant, where the waitress, who is a fan of Mr. Bungee, informs Gordon and Rhoda of the specials at the restaurant, including "Calamari". During lunch, he clutches his head and falls face first into his meal. Rhoda calls an ambulance ("911 Emergency") and Gordon is taken to the hospital. Gordon's greatest fear is dying with his greatest songs still inside him ("I Have so Many Songs"), to which he ponders about what makes a song (“Heart and Music”). Gordon's mother, Mimi, arrives and insists that ("Mother's Gonna Make Things Fine"). A neurosurgeon, Dr. Jafar Berensteiner, explains that there's ("Trouble in His Brain") and that an MRI is necessary.

Gordon snaps at Mimi for underestimating his condition and not listening to the Doctor, to which a hallucination of Mr. Bungee appears, telling Gordon to "Be Polite To Everyone", and Gordon tells it to leave. Gordon daydreams about his boyfriend Roger, who is on his way to the hospital from a "Sailing" trip. The nurses, sadistic Nancy D. and compassionate Richard, are introduced. Nancy D. requests a "Family History", prompting Gordon to ponder why he only inherited the bad traits from his parents ("Gordon's Law of Genetics"). He reflects on his father's abandonment ("And They're Off"). "Roger Arrives" and spends some time with Gordon, who tells him to "Just Go". Richard enters to give Gordon a sponge bath in preparation for his “MRI Tomorrow”. During the sponge bath, Richard complains that he is "Poor, Unsuccessful, and Fat". Gordon hallucinates and sees Mr. Bungee, who continually bullies him. Gordon is visited by a minister, who tries to impose his Protestant beliefs on Gordon, who is Jewish. Gordon asks him to leave, and goes to sleep.

Gordon is woken by Nancy, who informs him that it's “MRI Day”. To cope with his claustrophobia, he thinks about a past sailing trip with Roger ("Sitting Becalmed in the Lee of Cuttyhunk"). Dr. Berensteiner tells Gordon that he has an arteriovenous malformation, and needs a "Craniotomy". Nancy D. informs him of the risks - if he doesn't go through with the operation, he could die, however, if Dr. Berensteiner is not exact with his surgery, he could also die. Gordon, given the choice by the Doctor, decides to go through with the operation, and Roger offers to sleep with Gordon that night ("An Invitation to Sleep In My Arms"). Rhoda arrives with news that Mr. Bungee needs a new song by the next morning, so Gordon declines Roger's offer and decides to write instead. He then hallucinates about Lisa, who he encountered earlier on his way to lunch with Rhoda. Lisa implores the audience for "Change", both physical money and social change. Gordon presents his new song, "Yes", to Mr. Bungee, who hates it, storming off to leave Gordon dejected "In the Middle of the Room". Mimi cleans Gordon's apartment, and in a rage, throws out all of his books ("Throw It Out"). Gordon waits anxiously as his surgery is delayed ("In the Middle of the Room (Part 2)"). Then the operation commences.

Roger, distraught about the surgery, encounters Lisa, who consoles him ("A Really Lousy Day in the Universe"). In a coma, Gordon hallucinates a surreal mini-opera featuring people from his life ("Brain Dead", "Whenever I Dream", "Eating Myself Up Alive", "The Music Still Plays On"), concluding with a friendly Mr. Bungee telling Gordon “Don’t Give In”, leading him back to consciousness. Dr. Berensteiner celebrates the successful surgery ("Craniotomy (Reprise)"). Gordon and Roger fool around in the hospital shower, much to Richard's dismay ("You Boys Are Gonna Get Me In Such Trouble"). Gordon expresses his new appreciation for life ("Sailing (Reprise)").

Months later, Gordon has recovered and is enjoying a new, more fulfilled life with Roger. They run into Lisa, who is selling Gordon's books that Mimi threw out. Gordon and Roger ask for them back, but she refuses ("The Homeless Lady's Revenge"). She flees, leaving Gordon furious, but Roger calms him down ("Time"). Gordon has apparently overcome his fear of dying with his greatest songs inside him ("Time and Music"). With his life at last in balance, he is able to write again and finishes the spring song ("I Feel so Much Spring").

Kate Bosworth (Bette Davis) is a sincere, demure artist who misses her boat to an island off New England, where she intends to meet her twin sister Patricia (also Davis) and her cousin Freddie (Charlie Ruggles). She persuades Bill Emerson (Glenn Ford) to take her home in his boat. Later, their relationship grows while she paints a portrait of Eben Folger (Walter Brennan), the old lighthouse keeper, and Kate falls very much in love.

Her sister Pat, a flamboyant, man-hungry manipulator, fools Bill when she first meets him by pretending to be Kate. Pat then pursues him on a trip out of town, and when they return, they announce to Kate their intention to marry.

A heartbroken Kate focuses on her work with a rude but very talented artist named Karnock (Dane Clark), but rejects his romantic overtures. Bill eventually goes to Chile, allowing Kate to spend some time with her sister, whom she hasn't seen since the marriage. When the two go sailing, a sudden storm washes Pat overboard and she drowns, her sister inadvertently seizing her wedding ring while trying to save her. Kate passes out and is washed ashore in the boat. When she regains consciousness, she is mistaken for Pat.

Bill is about to return, so Kate decides to assume her late sister's identity. To her surprise, she learns that Bill is angry at Pat for her many affairs and in no mood to continue the marriage. Cousin Freddie has guessed the truth and insists that Kate must reveal to Bill her real identity. When she does, Bill realizes that Kate is the one he truly loves.

Coming off the heels of the "Assault on Weapon Plus" storyline, Jean Grey, Beast, and Emma Frost leave the X-Mansion while Xorn forces the newest member of the "Special Class", Dust, to attack Professor X and destroy Cerebra. Confronting Xavier, Xorn imprisons Dust in a jar to keep her from helping the professor, and then removes his mask, to reveal that he is Magneto in disguise.

Magneto, enjoying the lack of progress Xavier has made in improving mutantkind's lot since his "death" (partly due to his manipulations), has begun to teach his militant anti-human philosophy to the Special Class while indulging in the mutant-power enhancing drug Kick, supplied to him by his helper, Esme of the Stepford Cuckoos. He also reveals that he (Magneto) has been responsible for restoring Xavier's mobility via reprogramming the nanite Sentinels inserted into Xavier's body by Cassandra Nova and shuts them down and places the once more crippled Xavier in a glass tank, in a state of suspended animation. Magneto, surrounded by his followers and original Brotherhood member Toad, takes over New York City. Magneto lays waste to the city and engages in multiple acts of mass murder, killing thousands of humans trapped in the city. Magneto also reveals his grand scheme: reversing Earth's magnetic field and remake the planet as "Planet X" in which mutants, the possessors of the "X-gene", ruled over ordinary humans.

Meanwhile, in space, Jean Grey and Wolverine are stranded on Asteroid M as Magneto has sent it hurling into the sun just as the two recognize the base. Wanting to end her suffering, Wolverine stabs Jean. Her seeming death allows her to be connect with the Phoenix Force, though in full control over her powers this time, and escape with Logan back to Earth. They rescue Beast and Emma Frost, whose jetcraft was destroyed by Magneto, stranding the two at sea on the wreckage of the ship. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Fantomex organize a resistance group with help from the remaining Stepford Cuckoos, and are joined by Beak, who rejects Magneto when the latter, in part due to his drug addiction and loss of sanity, starts killing humans by the hundreds.

In the final showdown, Xavier is freed and the New X-Men unite to fight Magneto. As Magneto murders Esme, Cyclops tells the grieving Emma that he's decided upon which woman (Jean or Emma) he loves but is interrupted by Magneto's attack and responds in kind, destroying his helmet as Fantomex frees Xavier. Desperate for protection against Xavier's telepathy, Magneto grabs his "Xorn" mask and puts it on. Having realized that Xorn is Magneto or at least believes himself to be Magneto, the X-Men attempt to unbalance him by calling him Xorn as they attack, complete with them begging "Xorn" to tell them why "he" betrayed the X-Men.

Magneto, whose sanity is slipping due to excessive "Kick" usage, begins to rant furiously that he is not Xorn, but Magneto as a crowd of Magneto's supporters gather alongside Xavier and Jean Grey. Jean orders Magneto to address his angry army, who are furious at Magneto for the way that he has failed to address the lack of food and water for his makeshift army of Manhattan mutants since taking over the island. Magneto (who removes the "Xorn" mask) tries to calm them down, but the crowd doesn't recognize him due to his optic-blast-damaged face. At that point Xavier explains that Magneto, with his murderous rampage, has lost all credibility with the masses. Xavier admits that in death, Magneto had finally gained legitimacy amongst humans and mutants alike as a true figure for change in society but that his return and the mass murders he committed had caused the world to label Magneto as a fraud. Xavier opines that the days of him and Magneto as the sole ideologies of mutantkind was over and that it was time for mutantkind to come up with their own opinions and theories of their place in the world.

Magneto falls over and Jean Grey approaches him, only to be hit by a lethal electro-magnetic pulse. As Jean falls to the ground dying, Magneto (putting the Xorn helmet back on) defiantly cries out for someone to kill him; Magneto would rather be dead than judged by the mutant masses as a fraud. Wolverine, now berserk at the sight of Jean dying, uses his claws to decapitate Magneto.

Dying, Jean is held tightly by Cyclops as the two reconcile. With her dying breath, Jean begs Cyclops to move on with his life and not waste his remaining days mourning her, as she tells Scott, "All I ever do is die on you..."

The final pages of the issue cut to 150 years into the future, where a "Phoenix Egg" is found on the moon by an astronaut, offering a segue into the final arc of Morrison's X-Men run, the future based "Here Comes Tomorrow".

''Dawn of Mana'' opens on the fictional island of Illusia, a place where the giant Mana Tree lies dormant. Much of the story takes place on Fa'Diel, a continent composed of the five nations of Jadd, Topple, Ishe, Wendell, and Lorimar. At the start of the game Ritzia, a Maiden in charge of tending to the Tree, and Keldric, her knight and the player-controlled character, have left their village to find Ritzia's missing pet. While they are out, Illusia is attacked by King Stroud of Lorimar. The pair rush to the Tree of Mana, thinking that Stroud intends to attack the legendary beast that lies sleeping underneath its roots. While searching for the beast, Keldric finds a seed of the Tree, which attaches to his arm and can transform into a slingshot, a whip, or a sword. They also find Faye, a spirit child, who can cast magic and joins them. When they reach the center of the labyrinth of roots, Stroud's men catch up to them; they had been searching for Ritzia, not the beast. Stroud intends to open a portal to Mavolia, a land of darkness sealed away for centuries, and believes Ritzia is part of the key as a Maiden had been a part of opening the portal before. Stroud leaves with Ritzia to find the rest of the key, and Keldric and Faye chase after them.

Keldric and Faye, with the help of the great beast, Flammie, force the Lorimarian army to leave the village. They chase after Stroud, catching up to him at the coast. There they free Ritzia, only to be attacked by Stroud, wielding the other part of the key—the Sword of Mana. Keldric is thrown off of Stroud's airship, and the Lorimarians invade Illusia again. Stroud opens the portal, and a wave of dark energy is released, transforming the Tree, turning the people of Illusia into monsters called Grimlies, and releasing dark monsters from Mavolia. Keldric and Faye flee, and head for Fa'Diel.

A year of wandering later, the dark energy has begun to affect other countries in Fa'Diel. Keldric discovers in Jadd that Ritzia plans to release the Mavolian energy to cover the whole world. He and Faye journey back to Illusia, only to discover Ritzia seemingly possessed and saying that it is their destiny to rule the world. After she runs away, Keldric meets a masked stranger who tells him that he was the one to close the portal centuries ago, sealing up the Maiden who had opened it, Anise, inside. He also reveals that Stroud is Keldric's older brother. When Keldric and Faye reach the portal, they find Stroud and Ritzia fighting. Stroud is trying to prevent Ritzia, possessed by Anise, from destroying the world, but is being mutated by the dark energy. Keldric defeats the mutated Stroud, and then fights Ritzia. Realizing that the only way to close the portal is to defeat Anise, he is forced to kill Ritzia along with her. The spirits of Ritzia and Faye then merge with the Tree of Mana, the portal is sealed, and Illusia is restored.

During what is effectively a prequel , Fletch has only been at the News-Tribune as a junior reporter for a short time and Frank (his editor) is losing respect for his new employee. Frank moves Fletch to a different section of the newspaper more than once, but Fletch continues to cause trouble. When Fletch is to run the story of local lawyer Donald Habeck, who requests an interview in order to announce that he is giving 5 million dollars to a local museum, the lawyer turns up dead in the News-Tribune parking lot.

Unsurprisingly Frank takes Fletch off the story and gives it to an experienced reporter who has been with the paper for years. Fletch is now charged with investigating a whorehouse—which he does. However, he is not about to give up on the Habeck story, the circumstances of which seem mighty suspicious, especially when Fletch starts to suspect that the legal firm Habeck worked for is one of the most crooked firms around.

Set three years before the events of the first ''Ninja Gaiden'' (NES), the player controls Ryu Hayabusa, who must save New York City from the forces of Emperor Garuda, a servant of Jaquio. Garuda's minions include the cyborg "Spider", kickboxer Gregory and his manager Jack, former military commander Colonel Allen, and the Japanese nobleman .

In Los Angeles, California, down-and-out barfly Henry Chinaski becomes a substitute mail carrier; he quits for a while and lives on his winnings at the race track, then becomes a mail clerk. Chinaski drifts from place to place, surviving through booze and women, with his biting sense of humor and a cynical view of the world.

The album details, in a series of vignettes, the story of John, a Vietnam vet and boxer, and his "kind of white trash" girlfriend Caroline, who meet at the Virginia State Fair in the 1970s, where John is boxing an exhibition round. They get the idea that they can escape their problems by running off together and travelling across the United States. However, their relationship begins to fray as John's addiction to alcohol comes to light. In Vegas, John leaves Caroline to try to get help ("Goodbye Caroline") but resists treatment ("I Can't Get My Head Around It") and finally Caroline gives up on trying to help John ("I Can't Help You Anymore"). However, the album's final song indicates that everything works out somehow, although much later. "It's a character study and a relationship study," Mann says.

On a peaceful day on Planet Popstar, Kirby is enjoying fishing with his friend Gooey. Suddenly, a mysterious dark cloud begins to loom over the sky, breaking Popstar's rings in the process and reaching over the distant corners of the world. Coo quickly tells Kirby that Popstar is in trouble, and they soon set off to protect the world once again.

Two endings exist for the game, based on whether the player has collected all the Heart Stars. If the player has not collected all the stars, Kirby and his friends fight King Dedede, who is possessed by Dark Matter. Once Dedede is defeated once, Dark Matter begins to reveal himself, and Kirby must fight Dedede for a second consecutive time. After Dark Matter is defeated, Kirby and Gooey set off on the journey home, only to pause hesitantly at several points along the way. At the end of the credits, the camera pans up to focus on a huge, shadowed orb with one massive red eye. This mysterious figure is Zero, the ultimate leader of the Dark Matter Army.

If the player has collected all the stars, the player proceeds to fight Dedede as normal. However, Dark Matter then emerges and flies into the atmosphere, with Kirby in hot pursuit, armed with a weapon called the Love-Love Stick, assembled from all the Heart Stars he collected during his journey. After a climactic battle with Dark Matter, Zero himself emerges, leading to a long and difficult battle. After Zero is defeated, peace is finally restored to the universe.

A title card states that Eveready has escaped "a band of Hoary Amazens [sic]" with "his treasure", ending on a desert island. Eveready is sleeping and awakens to two flies buzzing around the head of his erect penis. He shoots at them, causing the penis to briefly detach and hide. After re-attaching it, he looks around with binoculars, and spies dogs, snakes, and birds having sex, then a woman masturbating with a dildo. He goes to her, first using a wheel to support his penis, then using it as a third leg.

The woman invites Eveready to fondle her breast. After licking and squeezing it, it squirts milk into his mouth, which he welcomes. Her labia reaches out to kiss the head of Eveready's penis. He attempts to penetrate her vagina, but is unable to because it is blocked: he removes an alarm clock and a shoe before he can do so. The penis is suddenly snapped by a crab, and it pulls out and flees, with the crab clinging to it by its claw. Eveready runs after the penis, which finally rids itself of the crab by ejaculating on it, and reattaches itself to him.

Eveready sees a woman covered up to her shoulders by a big pile of sand. He "buries" his penis into the pile of sand, which falls away, revealing that he has actually anally penetrated an old man who was having sex with the woman under the sand. Eveready runs away, but his penis is stuck inside the old man, dragging him along behind. With some effort, he pulls the penis out, then pounds the bent organ back into shape.

Eveready comes to a man having sex with a donkey, and challenges him to a sword fight using their penises. He wins by biting the other man's shaft, which goes limp. The donkey invites Eveready to take over, but jumps out of the way as he leaps to penetrate her, causing him to land on a cactus instead, embedding spines in his penis, which he must extract.

"Discouraged and disheartened", Eveready notices a lumber fence with a cow on the other side of it. He puts his penis through a hole in the fence, and the cow eagerly licks it, to his pleasure.

''The King of Fighters '95'' marks the beginning of a story arc that later became known as the "Orochi Saga". However, the only elements from the Orochi Saga known in this game is the introduction of Kyo's rival, Iori Yagami, and Rugal's use of the snake demon Orochi power.

Rugal Bernstein, thought to have perished in an explosion in the previous game, had in fact survived and sent out invitations to the teams from the previous game signed simply ‘R'. Only one of the previous teams failed to attend the new tournament: the American Sports Team, now replaced by the "Rival Team" consisting of Iori Yagami, Billy Kane (from ''Fatal Fury: King of Fighters''), and Eiji Kisaragi (from ''Art of Fighting 2''). Saisyu Kusanagi, Kyo's father, appears as a fighter for the first time (having made a non-playable cameo in ''KOF '94'') as a computer-controlled sub-boss character. After defeating Saisyu in the arcade mode, it is revealed that Saisyu was being brainwashed and that Rugal will fight once again as a boss character, but as an enhanced version named "Omega Rugal".

The story follows an unnamed narrator who reads a story about a man who died after accidentally sucking a needle down his throat. He rages at the gullibility of humanity for believing such a hoax. He vows never to fall for such odd stories. Just then, a strange-looking creature made of a keg and wine bottles appears. The creature announces in a heavy accent that he is the Angel of the Odd — and that he is responsible for causing such strange events.

The man, unconvinced, drives the angel away and takes an alcohol-induced nap. Instead of a 20-minute nap, he wakes up two hours later, having missed an appointment to renew his fire insurance. Ironically, his house has caught fire and his only escape is out a window using a ladder the crowd below has provided for him. As he steps down, a hog brushes against the ladder, causing the narrator to fall and fracture his arm.

Later, the narrator's attempts at wooing a rich woman to be his wife end in failure when she realizes he is wearing a wig which he must wear since the fire in his apartment singed off his hair. Then, he tries to woo another woman who also leaves him, scoffing at him for ignoring her as she passes. In reality, a particle had gotten into his eye, momentarily blinding him, just as she passed.

Finally, the narrator decides his ill fortune is cause for him to end his life. He decides to commit suicide by drowning himself in a river after removing his clothes ("for there is no reason why we cannot die as we were born", he says). However, a crow runs off with "the most indispensable portion" of his clothes and the man chases after it. As he is running, he runs off a cliff. However, he grabs on to the long rope of a hot air balloon as it happens to be floating by. The Angel of the Odd reappears to him and makes him admit that the bizarre really can happen. The narrator agrees, but is unable to physically perform the pledge that the Angel of the Odd demands because of his fractured arm. The Angel then cuts the rope and the man falls down onto his newly-rebuilt house through the chimney and into the dining room. The man then realizes this was his punishment. "Thus revenged himself the Angel of the Odd."

A few years after the defeat of Gnasty Gnorc, Spyro the Dragon and his dragonfly partner, Sparx, having had enough with the continuous raining in Artisans, decide to take a vacation to Dragon Shores. Upon going through the portal, however, Spyro instead ends up in Glimmer, one of the many realms of the fantasy land of Avalar, having been summoned there by Elora the Faun, Hunter the Cheetah, and the Professor. They explain that one week prior, they were experimenting with a large portal device when they inadvertently summoned an angry, iron-fisted warlock known as Ripto, along with his minions Crush and Gulp. Pleased to find himself in a world without dragons, whom he views as pests, Ripto decided to conquer Avalar, prompting Elora and the others to deactivate the portal by scattering the mystical orbs powering it all across the realm. As Ripto and his henchmen leave to retrieve the orbs, Elora gets the idea to summon a dragon to fight against him, thus leading to Spyro's situation. After getting stranded in Avalar as a result of Ripto destroying the portal he came in through, Spyro agrees to help fight against him.

During his quest, Spyro must travel through the various realms of Avalar and help the inhabitants with certain problems they are facing in order to receive their realm's talisman, which Spyro must use to undo Ripto's tyranny. He must also collect the orbs scattered across Avalar to empower portals and other various devices or spells, as well as gems to pay off the sleazy elitist bear, Moneybags for certain favors. Hunter the Cheetah helps out Spyro on certain missions with his athletic abilities, and the Professor does the same using his intellect.

After collecting six talismans in Summer Forest, Spyro fights and defeats Crush, forcing Ripto and Gulp to retreat. The young dragon chases them to Autumn Plains, where he collects eight more talismans and vanquishes Gulp. Upon which, Ripto seemingly falls to his demise, and Elora and her friends repay Spyro by returning to Winter Tundra and reactivating the portal device to send him to Dragon Shores. However, Ripto reveals to be alive and steals the power crystal that was meant to power the portal, using it to create a new magic scepter (since Gulp ate the original in the intro). After collecting enough orbs, Spyro is able to confront Ripto and the warlock ironically perishes in a lake of lava which he himself created. With peace returned to Avalar, Elora and the others return all the gems Moneybags had extorted from Spyro and fix the portal device, allowing Spyro to take his long-awaited vacation to Dragon Shores.

The game's epilogue, which is unlocked by completing the Skill Points list in the Guidebook, reveals what happened to various friends and enemies that Spyro encountered in Avalar, such as Spyro and Elora missing their chance to kiss, Crush being taught by the Professor how to spell, and a list of dummied enemies that didn't make it into the game. In the end, Spyro returns to the Dragon Realm, with Hunter joining him, setting the stage for the next game.

The game opens in the land of the dragons, where Spyro and his kin are celebrating the "Year of the Dragon", an event that occurs every twelve years when new dragon eggs are brought to the realm. During the celebration, the Sorceress' apprentice Bianca invades the Dragon Realms with an army of rhino-based creatures called Rhynocs and steals all of the Dragon eggs. The Sorceress spreads the eggs throughout several worlds, split up into four home realms: Sunrise Spring, Midday Garden, Evening Lake, and Midnight Mountain. Spyro, Sparx, and Spyro's friend Hunter are sent down a hole to find the thieves and recover the dragon eggs.

Spyro emerges in the Forgotten Realms—lands once inhabited by the dragons, and where magic has been disappearing since their departure. These worlds are under the iron-fisted reign of the Sorceress and her Rhynoc army. Spyro meets with Shiela the Kangaroo, Sergeant Byrd the Penguin, Bentley the Yeti, and Agent 9 the Monkey who help him on his quest. Spyro travels through each world, acquiring aid from the local inhabitants and rescuing the dragon eggs. It is revealed that the Sorceress banished the dragons, not realizing they were the source of magic, and wants to use the baby dragons' wings to concoct a spell that can grant her immortality. Once Bianca learns this, she turns against the Sorceress and helps Spyro defeat her. After the credits, the player can continue to find dragon eggs and gems to unlock the true ending, defeating the Sorceress once more for the final dragon egg. Spyro returns all of the baby dragons to the Dragon Realms. Along the journey to help Spyro recover the eggs, Hunter forms a crush on Bianca, and they begin a relationship, with Spyro and Sparx looking on in dismay.

Secretary of State Vince Hadden brings in Gabriel Logan, Lian Xing, and Lawrence Mujari to testify in Congress about their relationship to the Agency. He believes all three to be guilty, and questions them after they assassinate Shi-Hao from a hotel in Japan. The three do not realize that Hadden is involved in the conspiracy, and is looking for scapegoats.

Gabe begins by describing the first Syphon Filter investigation. He and Lian went to Costa Rica to find missing Agent Ellis. When they arrive, the two see that Erich Rhoemer has ordered Ellis killed, but Gabe must continue his mission and identify what Rhoemer was doing at the drug plantation. Gabe chases Rhoemer onto an airplane despite his Agency superior Edward Benton denying him permission. Gabe did not know back then that Benton and the Agency controlled Rhoemer, who escaped from the plane.

Mujari testifies next, and tells Hadden how he once worked for a resistance during the Apartheid era in South Africa. At the Pugari Gold Mine, he discovered that mining slaves had caught a deadly plague and the mine owners were covering it up. Mujari retrieved samples and gave them to Teresa Lipan.

When it's Lian's turn to testify, she details her first encounter with Gabe during the Soviet–Afghan War and her role in the Costa Rica operation. Meanwhile, Gabe goes to Ireland with MI6 agent Maggie Powers in an effort to scuttle a shipment of Syphon Filter, denying possession to the consortium and the local IRA cell. On board the S.S. ''Lorelei'', Gabe plants several explosives and finds a document that will point to a virus test site in Australia. He also looks for any information on the mysterious arms consortium that controls the Agency. Gabe uncovers a mole in MI6, Nigel Cummings, who is aiding them. He kills Nigel and secures the last viral transport on the docks. The ''Lorelei'' is sunk with all hands lost.

Back in Washington, D.C., Gabe talks about his first meeting with Benton during the Soviet-Afghan conflict. Benton claimed to be a CIA agent transporting weapons to Afghans rebelling against the Soviets, but when Gabe and Ellis escorted the convoy, the Afghans attacked them. Gabe reaches Kabul and meets Lian, who sets up the diversion. However, a tank gets in their way, so Gabe destroys it. He learns that Benton was supplying arms to the Soviets, and was really an Agency operative.

As Hadden questions Gabe, Lian teams up with Maggie to abduct Dr. Elsa Weissenger from the Australian test site. Elsa is ready to betray the conspirators since Aramov left her behind, and she has Lian assemble a vaccine for aborigines held captive by Commander Silvers. Silvers plans to kill the test subjects, so Lian kills him first. When she returns to Elsa, Lian finds her gone.

Hadden accuses Gabe of lying and corruption. He believes Gabe murdered Teresa, but Teresa surprises him by appearing herself. Agency operative Jason Chance had only injured her, not killed. She describes her first meeting with Gabe during her time as an officer with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. A group of NSA agents headed by Colonel Silvers were posing as FBI to eradicate a private militia that had recovered data from a government satellite. Gabe, as an Agency operative, saved her life, and helped her when she rescued the wife and son of the militia leader. She left the ATF and joined the Agency.

Teresa faked her death to find the people behind the Agency. Her investigations into Aramov yielded a connection to Hadden himself. Before Gabe can apprehend him, Mara kills Hadden. She and several consortium terrorists take over the Senate building, but Gabe prevents her from detonating any explosives. He chases her onto a train full of hostages, and wounds her.

In a post-credits cutscene, Mara escapes despite being incarcerated. Gabe decides to find her, but for now the Syphon Filter crisis appears to be over with the death of Hadden. Gabe will become the new Agency director, and free it from corruption. Little does he know that an operation is ongoing near the S.S. ''Lorelei's'' wreck site. People are recovering the viral crates, and Mara is heard laughing, setting the stage for ''Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain''.

Following the events of ''The Last Revelation'', Lara Croft is presumed dead, buried under the collapsed Great Pyramid of Giza. At Lara's home of Croft Manor, three former friends and associates—Lara's butler Winston, the family priest Father Patrick Dunstan and Lara's history teacher Charles Kane—reminisce over some of Lara's early exploits following a memorial service.

The first story follows Lara's quest through the catacombs of Rome in search of the Philosopher's stone. She is pursued by Larson Conway and Pierre DuPont, adversaries she would later encounter during the events of ''Tomb Raider''. The second story, recounted by Kane, sees Lara hunting the Spear of Destiny, lost on the ocean floor since World War II. Infiltrating Zapadnaya Litsa, she smuggles herself aboard a Russian Naval submarine commanded by Admiral Yarofev and his Mafia handler Sergei Mikhailov, who also seeks the Spear. Lara recovers the Spear, but she is ambushed by Mikhailov. The Spear's power is unleashed, killing Mikhailov, damaging the submarine and wounding Yarofev. Lara leaves in an escape pod, but Yarofev remains behind as the Spear destroys the submarine.

The third story, told by Dunstan, follows a teenage Lara when she secretly follows Dunstan to an island haunted by demonic forces. Lara confronts several apparitions and monsters which inhabit the island, including a horse-riding humanoid demon called Vladimir Kaleta who was trapped in a prison of running water by the island's former monastic community. Dunstan is taken hostage by Kaleta, who forces Lara to block the river imprisoning him. Using a book discovered in the ruined monastery's library, Lara says Kaleta's demon name "Verdelet", taking control of him and banishing him from Earth. The fourth story, related by Winston, shows Lara infiltrating the New York corporate headquarters of her former mentor Werner Von Croy to retrieve the Iris, the pursuit of which first caused the schism between Lara and Von Croy.

Their stories completed, the three toast Lara. In parallel to these events, Von Croy digs through the rubble of the Great Pyramid in a desperate attempt to find her. He finally discovers Lara's backpack among the ruins of the Great Pyramid but no sign of her body: he declares "We've found her!", presuming that Lara is alive.

''The Last Revelation'' opens with a flashback to a teenage Lara Croft in 1984, when she and her mentor Werner Von Croy are exploring a section of Angkor Wat for an artefact called the Iris. Upon discovering the Iris, Von Croy's haste to retrieve it triggers a trap, forcing Lara to escape without him. In the game's present of late 1999, Lara is in Egypt exploring the Tomb of Set, where the titular god of chaos is said to be imprisoned. She finds the legendary Amulet of Horus within the tomb, and escapes with it after being betrayed by her guide, who is working for Von Croy. Writing on the Amulet reveals that Lara's actions have released Set. Guided by her friend Jean-Yves, Lara explores ruins beneath Karnak and enters the tomb of Semerkhet, human ally to Set's rival Horus.

Having foreseen Lara's actions, Semerkhet left instructions for summoning Horus into the world at the turn of the millennium by cladding a stone statue of the god in his Armour and empowering it with the Amulet. While at Karnak, Von Croy ambushes Lara and steals the Amulet. Reaching Alexandria, Lara and Jean-Yves race against Von Croy's minions to retrieve the Armour of Horus from the buried ruins of Cleopatra's palace, while Set's forces move in to guard ancient sites. While Lara recovers the Armour of Horus, Von Croy kidnaps Jean-Yves and holds him for ransom in Cairo, asking for the Armour in exchange. On his way to Cairo, Von Croy is possessed by Set.

Lara arrives to find Cairo overrun by Set's forces. With help from the Egyptian Army sergeant Azizas, Lara gathers triggers for a truckload of explosives to kill a giant serpent blocking the path into the Citadel of Saladin. Azizas sacrifices himself driving the truck into the serpent. Lara rescues Jean-Yves, then pursues Von Croy into the Crusader vaults beneath the Citadel to retrieve the tablet containing Set's binding incantation. While Set offers Lara a chance to be his ally, Lara refuses and retrieves the Amulet. Beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza, Lara begins summoning Horus, but Set disrupts the ritual and attacks Lara. Lara escapes, using the Amulet to trap Set beneath the pyramid. Exhausted and injured as the temple crumbles, Lara meets Von Croy waiting outside. Unsure about whether he is himself, Lara does not take his hand as she hangs from a ledge, and Von Croy is forced to run as the temple collapses, leaving Lara's fate uncertain.

Characters

Ten returning characters from previous ''Crash'' titles star in ''Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex'' along with five new characters. The protagonist of the series, Crash Bandicoot, is a genetically enhanced eastern barred bandicoot who must defeat the antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and his new superweapon. Coco Bandicoot, Crash's younger sister, is a highly intelligent computer expert with an interest in Hong Kong martial arts films, having developed a highly masterful ability of martial arts from being self taught Aku Aku is an omnipotent witch doctor mask who guides and aids Crash and Coco in stopping the plans of Doctor Neo Cortex. Pura, Coco's pet tiger cub, serves a very minor role and appears only in the introduction of the game.Instruction Booklet, p. 16.

The main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist who created Crash Bandicoot among other characters and now seeks Crash's elimination along with world domination. The controlling force behind Cortex's plots for conquering the world is Uka Uka, the twin brother of Aku Aku. Four recurring villains from the series serve minor roles in the game: Dr. N. Gin, Cortex's main assistant; Dr. Nefarious Tropy, a scientist who specialises in time travel; Tiny Tiger, a hulking and ferocious thylacine; and Dingodile, a dingo-crocodile hybrid armed with a flamethrower.Instruction Booklet, p. 17.

Five new characters in the series make their appearance in ''The Wrath of Cortex'', of which the most important is Dr. Cortex's genetically enhanced superweapon Crunch Bandicoot, a bionic bandicoot created for the purpose of destroying Crash Bandicoot. Acting as Crunch's power source are the Elementals, a group of evil masks who control the elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. The Elementals consist of Rok-Ko, a temperamental and rock-headed earthbending mask who controls earthquakes and landslides, Wa-Wa, a waterbending mask who controls thunderstorms and floods, Py-Ro, an easily perturbed firebending mask who controls volcano eruptions, and Lo-Lo, a joke-cracking airbending mask who controls tornadoes.Instruction Booklet, p. 18.

Story

Outraged by their poor "track record for spreading evil", Uka Uka orders Dr. Neo Cortex, Tiny Tiger, Dingodile, Dr. Nefarious Tropy and Dr. N. Gin to devise a plan to eliminate Crash Bandicoot. Cortex reluctantly comes forward with the announcement of a previously secret "genetically enhanced superweapon of unbelievable strength", but reveals that it is missing a power source. Uka Uka then suggests using the Elementals, a group of renegade masks who had elemental power over earth, water, fire and air, and were used to ravage the globe. The Elementals caused earthquakes, floods, and an Ice Age many centuries ago until they were imprisoned by the ancients with the aid of special Crystals that put the masks in a state of hibernation. Cortex deduces that if they awaken the Elementals and harness their destructive power, they can bring his secret weapon to life and eliminate Crash Bandicoot forever.

Back on Earth, the world is suddenly terrorised by severe natural disasters, leading Aku Aku to realize that Uka Uka has released the Elementals. Aku Aku returns to Crash and Coco Bandicoot and alerts them of the current situation, disclosing that the only way to stop the Elementals is to imprison them once more with the Crystals, which have been scattered across the Earth. Using Coco's new Virtual Reality Hub System, Crash and Coco travel the world and gather the Crystals, fending off attacks from Cortex's superweapon, Crunch Bandicoot, and the Elementals along the way. However, by the time the Crystals have been gathered and the Elementals have been put in their hibernation state, Crunch's elemental powers have reached maximum capacity, forcing Crash to battle Crunch at full power in Cortex's space station. However, despite this, Crash defeats Crunch, which releases him from Cortex's control. Infuriated by this failure, Uka Uka attacks Cortex with a fireball, only to have it hit a vital part of the space station, which causes a chain reaction that results in the space station's self-destruction. Crash, Aku Aku, and Crunch escape and return to the Bandicoot home on Coco's space fighter ship, while Cortex and Uka Uka deploy an escape pod and end up landing somewhere in Antarctica, where Uka Uka furiously chases Cortex around a small ice floe.

Setting

''Dynasty Warriors 3'' is set across ancient China in the Three Kingdoms era. The game begins at the fall of the Han dynasty shortly after the death of the Emperor Ling when the leader of the Way of Peace, Zhang Jiao, led an uprising against the Empire.

Chinese history and often exaggerates characters and their personalities. For example, Lu Bu is portrayed as a virtually unbeatable, violent maniac. Most of the events and stages are reported to have occurred in the Three Kingdoms era during the struggle of power. The three kingdoms primarily involved, Shu, Wu and Wei, each sought power enough to overthrow the other two and unify China under their rule. Although the story in ''Dynasty Warriors'' is not perfect in the sense that it does not accurately follow the historical events, it has been changed to make the game more playable and less repetitive. For example, a number of the characters in the game died in the time frame that the game is set, but they still appear in later stages. The game features environments resembling that of ancient China and various items from the era such as fairy wine and dim sum.

It also touches on mysticism as some characters (Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Pang Tong) have either magical elements in their attacks or completely magical attacks.

Stages

Many of the stages are recreations of notable battles present historically or from the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', while original creations became more common with the newer installments.

Characters

''* Denotes new characters to the series''
'''''Bold''' denotes default characters''

The characters in ''Dynasty Warriors 3'' are based around real and semi-fictional characters from ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' and that era, where some characters personalities and traits have been exaggerated and where some remain fairly true to the novel. Females of that era did not participate in any of the battles but there are a number of female playable characters in the game (Diao Chan, Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, Zhen Ji, Sun Shang Xiang, Zhu Rong, Nu Wa). Zhu Rong and Nu Wa are exceptions as Zhu Rong was said to be the only female to have fought in that era and Nu Wa's character is fictional and based on ancient myth.

The story is set in the late sixteenth century when Japan was in the midst of a long period of civil wars. While some seek to unite Japan in order to bring peace, there are others who encourage conflict in order to bring more power to themselves. Akakage, Aokage, and Shirokage are all good ninjas working for those who seek peace and unity and battling against evil ninjas and their daikaiju (giant monsters).

Aka-Kage, made by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, is a ninja who wears a red-and-black costume and a stylized red mask. His adventures take place in Feudal Japan, where he and his ninja sidekicks Aokage (青影^? a little boy) and Shirokage (白影^?an old man) fight evil warlords, wizards, and daikaiju using high-tech gadgets (a blatant oddity in a period setting).

When a gang of evil pigs known as the Tom-Tom Gang begin stealing time from World B1Q64, it becomes temporally unstable to the extent that the Time Sweepers decide that it is safer for all worlds if the supply of time to World B1Q64 be halted, suspending it and its inhabitants indefinitely. When Blinx receives a message from a young princess, trapped within the doomed world, Blinx proceeds to the room in which the portal leading to World B1Q64 is kept. Although the rest of the Time Factory staff are against it, Blinx dives into the portal moments before it closes. He then travels to several parts of the world, fighting the time monsters, and recovering the resulting crystals in a desperate attempt to save World B1Q64.

After a long journey, he manages to catch up with the Tom-Toms and the princess in Momentopolis. He follows them towards the stadium, which is surrounded by a large number time crystals. Suddenly, light emerges in the centre of the stadium's platform, causing the Tom-Tom Gang and the Princess to freeze, and circle the light, along with the rest of the time crystals. The combination of time crystals, Princess, and Tom-Toms creates the final time monster: the Chronohorn, which can use Time Controls as well. Before Blinx can fight it, the Chronohorn rewinds time, and forces Blinx to fight four previous bosses (all of which are the ameliorated versions of the ones that you fight in rounds 1, 2, 3 and 5). After he defeats them all again, he fights the Chronohorn, wins and saves the sleeping princess while letting the Tom-Toms escape.

With the Tom-Toms gone, and time beginning to flow in World B1Q64 again, Blinx is content that his mission is complete. As the princess Lena wakes up on the bench she was placed on, Blinx reluctantly says goodbye and leaves. The princess tries to follow him, but he jumps into a portal and ends up back in the Time Factory to be welcomed by applause from the other Time Sweepers. An announcement from the Mother Computer explains that World B1Q64 will not be cut off from the Time Factory, and Blinx is congratulated by the CEO, the Operator and the Third Administrator of the Time Factory. After the credits roll, the player sees a message written by the princess (her real name, Princess Lena, is revealed at this point). The message says that Lena has the time crystals that Blinx collected, and that she will use them for the most important thing of all. Using the time crystals, she rewinds time to when Blinx is about to leave. Before he jumps in the portal again, she wakes up, gives Blinx a hug, and thanks him.

Darcy Deeton is a twelve-year-old girl who loves her older brother, David. After becoming jealous when he falls in love with Jayne Evans, Darcy inadvertently leads David to his death in a car accident. The Deetons decide to donate David's most important organ, his heart. Darcy is so guilt-ridden about his death that she is determined to find the person who has his heart so she can find some closure. Darcy embarks on a wild adventure with her best friend, Sam. She goes on a journey with Sam and finds the recipient of David's heart, Winston Pawling.

After the events of ''Bloody Roar 3'', Xion, who is possessed by the Unborn, an evil spirit, attacks the dragon temple, awakening the dragon. The dragon is a weapon of Gaia, the Earth's will, and is supposed to awaken in the presence of evil. However, if freed too long, it can inadvertently destroy the world itself. The dragon is successfully resealed by the temple's head miko at the cost of her life, leaving the late miko's sister, Mana, to watch over the seal in Ryoho, the temple's priest and the vessel of the dragon. Other than attacking the temple, Xion also stabs a woman named Nagi, imbuing her with his power as well as that of Gaia's, making her both his lifesaver and enemy.

A year later, the dragon is about to break free again, causing disturbances among the zoanthropes triggering earthquakes. Each of the zoanthropes investigate and eventually find the source in the dragon temple. In some cases, Ryoho and Mana invite them to help strengthen the seal, while others come on their own accord. In most of the characters' endings, Mana manages to seal the dragon and Ryoho comes out alive. In Nagi's ending, in addition to sealing the dragon and saving Ryoho, she kills Xion and the Unborn. In Xion's ending, the Unborn is killed, but not before murdering Ryoho and the dragon. In Reiji's ending, the confrontation at the temple ends with him murdering Ryoho and the dragon.

This next saga takes place after the ending of the original ''Fatal Fury'', where Geese Howard meets his demise on 13 August 1991 by getting jump kicked from a high rise by the new and undefeated champion of the "King of Fighters" tournament "Terry Bogard", during a final fight to the death between the two in Geese's Tower. During the next year in 1992, a muscle-bound, mysterious nobleman becomes the sponsor of the new K.O.F. competition. This time, the rules are now changed such as being one-on-one per fight, and the tournament went from being several Southtown-only street fights to being a series of worldwide combat circuits with fighters both veterans and newcomers from around the globe competing with ambitions of their own, as well as befriending each other. As the single-player mode progresses, the mysterious challenger begins defeating the participants from the first ''Fatal Fury'' game, searching for the man responsible for defeating Geese.

In Saint Paul, Minnesota, the long-running live radio variety show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' prepares for its final broadcast, unbeknown to the listening audience. The radio station's new parent company has scheduled the show's home, the storied Fitzgerald Theater, for demolition, and dispatched "the Axeman" to judge whether to save the show.

In between musical acts, and under the watchful eye of PI Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), the show's denizens mingle and reminisce, including: the singing Johnson Girls, Yolanda (Meryl Streep), her sister Rhonda (Lily Tomlin), and daughter Lola (Lindsay Lohan); cowboy duo Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly); pregnant PA Molly (Maya Rudolph); the Stage Manager, Makeup Lady, and Sound Effects Man (real life Radio Acting Co. members Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith); and the show's creator and host, Garrison Keillor (often called "GK").

The show is visited by an otherworldly "Dangerous Woman" (Virginia Madsen) in a white trench coat revealed to be Lois Peterson, a listener who died in a car accident while listening to a past broadcast, now returned as the angel Asphodel; she lends comfort to the cast and crew for the show's ending and the death of the elderly Chuck Akers (L. Q. Jones) backstage.

The Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones) arrives and swiftly declares the show too old-fashioned to keep on the air. Asphodel escorts him from the theater to an untimely demise, but the show is still canceled.

Years later, the former cast reunites at Mickey's Diner with plans for a farewell tour. Their lively conversation pauses as Asphodel enters the diner.

Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny decide to play detective; they go around the town solving minor "crimes" for a dollar. They first investigate the disappearance of a pie left sitting on the windowsill of an elderly couple's home. After examining the scene of the crime, they come to the conclusion (based on no evidence at all) that the husband planned to murder and dismember his wife to have the pie for himself; however, before he could go through with the plan, the pie had already been eaten by their dog, where the boys found it. Horrified by their outrageous accusations, the couple hurriedly send them away, but not before giving them the dollar they had promised.

The boys' next case involves the recovery of a little girl's stolen doll. After bringing Butters in for "questioning" and ordering him produce a semen sample, they get a tip-off that Bill and Fosse have the doll. They manage to recover the doll from them, despite the interference of another group of kids playing FBI who attempt to assert jurisdictional privilege and take over the case.

The successful recovery gets the boys recognized by the Park County PD, and they are made Junior Detectives. However, Lieutenant Dawson, the department's head detective, immediately orders them to bust a meth lab, complaining that that mayor has been pressuring the department to take care of it. Ignorant as to the nature of a meth lab and naive to any danger, Stan knocks on the door of the lab and simply calls out, "Uh, police. Open up." The criminals open fire at the "police," but end up killing themselves, destroying the lab, and causing a great deal of property damage to the surrounding area.

Following this incident, Dawson chews the boys out for 'getting careless'. Meanwhile, other detectives mock the boys, and it is revealed that many of the cops on the force are corrupt. After a confrontation in the locker room, Kyle and Cartman admit they no longer want to "play Detective" and suggest they return to playing laundromat owners. Stan passionately counters that he wasn't happy playing laundromat and wants his play time to "mean something." The boys agree not to quit, and rededicate themselves to the force.

The boys are next sent to a strip club owned by Gino, the leader of Colorado's largest drug cartel, which operated the original meth lab. Gino and the cartel members quickly discover that the boys are undercover cops, and another intense shoot-out ensues. Once again, despite their only weapons being finger guns and yelling "bang bang," the boys remain unharmed while nearly all of the criminals are shot or killed, while outside Lieutenant Dawson starts chewing members of the FBI out for arriving and taking over the situation.

Three cops show up to give the boys backup, but it is revealed that two of them, Murphy and Jenkins, are working with Gino. They shoot Hopkins, the one good cop who earlier defended the boys, though he survives. Murphy and Jenkins turn on Gino and kill him, so that they can take his share of the money. However, Murphy then kills Jenkins, claiming that he was untrustworthy. Turning to the boys, Murphy announces that the only person he now cannot trust is himself, and commits suicide. The rest of the force arrives, and the boys are credited by Dawson with cleaning up the police force and are offered positions as full detectives. The boys, however, find the reality of detective work more intense than what they envisioned, and decide to go back to playing laundromat instead.

As they play in Cartman's basement, Butters emerges from the bathroom and proudly announces that he was finally able to produce a semen sample by imagining Stan's mom's breasts. The boys inform him that they aren't playing detective anymore, and no longer need a semen sample. Cartman, though, offers Butters to have his pants cleaned for $4.95.

First Class passengers include a May–December couple, multi-millionaire John Jacob Astor IV (David Janssen) and his new wife Madeleine Talmage Force (Beverly Ross); their friend, Molly Brown (Cloris Leachman); another pair of honeymooners, Daniel and Mary Marvin (Jerry Houser and Deborah Fallender); and Benjamin Guggenheim (John Moffatt), returning to his wife and children after a scandalous affair.

One plot line relates the tentative shipboard romance of two schoolteachers, Lawrence Beesley (David Warner, later appearing in the James Cameron 1997 film ''Titanic'') and the fictional Leigh Goodwin (Susan Saint James).

In steerage, the plot focuses on the experiences of eight Irish immigrants, who are first depicted approaching the ship from a tender in the harbor of Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland. These characters, all based on real people, include Katie Gilnagh (played by Shevaun Bryers), Kate Mullens, Mary Agatha Glynn, Bridget Bradley, Daniel Buckley, Jim Farrell, Martin Gallagher, and David Chartens. During the voyage, Martin Gallagher falls for an unnamed "Irish beauty."

The cast also includes Helen Mirren in a small role (as Mary Sloan, a real-life surviving ''Titanic'' stewardess) early in her career.

The boys have found a joint that has been left behind by the high schoolers. They are afraid, because according to commercials you die when you touch it and marijuana causes terrorism. Stan is not afraid and throws away the joint.

That night, in the middle of a thunderstorm, a man claiming to be an older version of Stan appears at the Marsh family's door. This future Stan has spent time in juvenile hall, used large amounts of drugs and alcohol, which Stan decides must have begun when he first touched the marijuana cigarette. He is convinced that the only way to safeguard his future is for his present self to avoid drugs and alcohol, do well in school, and stay motivated in life. Stan even asks Butters to tutor him. While the two boys are talking, Stan discovers that Butters also has a slovenly "Future Self" living with him.

Stan finds the whole situation suspicious, and the two find an employee card in the "future" Stan's personal effects labelled "Motivation Corp." leading them to finding out it is where parents hire actors to pose as their children's future self to make them avoid drugs and alcohol. Stan is appalled at the way these parents have all deceived their kids and he and Butters decide to look in the phone book to find a place to run away to. However, they discover a "Parental Revenge Center" hotline with guaranteed results, which is run by Cartman who agrees to help the two. However, Cartman's revenge plan for both boys involves going to both of their houses to smear all of the walls with feces. Butters is delighted by this offer and gladly accepts it, while Stan believes that it isn't adequate payback. Cartman then tries to convince Stan by taking it up a notch and offering to kill his parents and slice them into pieces. Stan refuses this offer as well, and decides to worm the truth out of his parents himself in order to force them to acknowledge that they lied to him.

Stan tries to get the truth out of his parents by pretending to cut off his own hand so that his "future self's" hand would also come off as a way of seeing if he really is Stan's future self, but Randy improvises by deliberately cutting off the actor's hand after doing so. Though Stan reveals that he didn't actually cut his hand off at all, Randy ends up pretending that the actor's hand has never been cut off while trying to attach it back on him, causing Stan to storm out of his home in frustration. Meanwhile, the Parental Revenge Agency does its job at Butters' house as Cartman and a group of Hispanic child workers smear feces all over the living room and bedroom of the Stotch household. Upon returning home, Chris and Linda actually acknowledge that they deserve it for lying and finally tell the truth about the "future self" thing and apologize to Butters, to Stan's shock.

Randy and Sharon arrive and continue blatantly lying to Stan, insisting that more future selves must be coming back in time to the present, which finally causes Stan to snap and tell them that he knows all about Motivation Corp., and that he was trying to get them to admit they lied to him. Randy and Sharon come to the realization that if they just keep lying to him, he might not ever trust them again; Randy finally apologizes to Stan and gives him the whole truth about drug abuse, saying that it probably won't kill him or fund terrorism but still may ruin his future. Stan adds he really wishes they had just told him that in the first place instead of lying to him. The Stotches and Marshes then all agree that what Motivation Corp. does is wrong, and hires Cartman to smear their walls with feces. At that point, Stan thanks Cartman, saying that he really came through.

Cartman says that the whole experience has taught him that he should think about his own future and start taking better care of himself. Moments later, a thin and handsome man, claiming to be Cartman's future self, shows up and tells Cartman that this was the turning point in his life. From this day forward, he turns his life around, and will become the famous CEO of a time-traveling company. Cartman is not convinced, believing it to be yet another Motivation Corp. actor and immediately changes his mind, vowing to do "whatever I want!" from then on, which includes eating unhealthy and doing drugs. As it turns out, the man ''is'' Cartman's future self and due to his past self's vow almost immediately transforms into a dirty, morbidly obese mechanic. Future Cartman then exclaims, "Oh, goddamn it!"

1842 revised edition

Taras Bulba's two sons, Ostap and Andriy, return home from an Orthodox seminary in Kiev. Ostap is the more adventurous, whereas Andriy has deeply romantic feelings of an introvert. While in Kiev, he fell in love with a young Polish noble girl, the daughter of the Governor of Kowno, but after a couple of meetings (edging into her house and in church), he stopped seeing her when her family returned home. Taras Bulba gives his sons the opportunity to go to war. They reach the Cossack camp at the Zaporozhian Sich, where there is much merrymaking. Taras attempts to rouse the Cossacks to go into battle. He rallies them to replace the existing Hetman when the Hetman is reluctant to break the peace treaty.

They soon have the opportunity to fight the Poles, who rule all Ukraine west of the Dnieper River. The Poles, led by their ultra-Catholic king, are accused of atrocities against Orthodox Christians, in which they are aided by Jews. After killing many of the Jewish merchants at the Sich, the Cossacks set off on a campaign against the Poles. They besiege Dubno Castle where, surrounded by the Cossacks and short of supplies, the inhabitants begin to starve. One night a Tatar woman comes to Andriy and rouses him. He finds her face familiar and then recalls she is the servant of the Polish girl he was in love with. She advises him that all are starving inside the walls. He accompanies her through a secret passage starting in the marsh that goes into the monastery inside the city walls. Andriy brings loaves of bread with him for the starving girl and her mother. He is horrified by what he sees and in a fury of love, forsakes his heritage for the Polish girl.

Meanwhile, several companies of Polish soldiers march into Dubno to relieve the siege, and destroy a regiment of Cossacks. A number of battles ensue. Taras learns of his son's betrayal from Yankel the Jew, whom he saved earlier in the story. During one of the final battles, he sees Andriy riding in Polish garb from the castle and has his men draw him to the woods, where he takes him off his horse. Taras bitterly scolds his son, telling him "I gave you life, I will take it", and shoots him dead.

Taras and Ostap continue fighting the Poles. Ostap is captured while his father is knocked out. When Taras regains consciousness he learns that his son was taken prisoner by the Poles. Yankel agrees to take Taras to Warsaw, where Ostap is held captive, hiding Taras in a cartload of bricks. Once in Warsaw, a group of Jews help Yankel dress Taras as a German count. They go into the prison to see Ostap, but Taras unwittingly reveals himself as a Cossack, and only escapes by use of a great bribe. Instead, they attend the execution the following day. During the execution, Ostap does not make a single sound, even while being broken on the wheel, but, disheartened as he nears death, he calls aloud on his father, unaware of his presence. Taras answers him from the crowd, thus giving himself away, but manages to escape.

Taras returns home to find all of his old Cossack friends dead and younger Cossacks in their place. He goes to war again. The new Hetman wishes to make peace with the Poles, which Taras is strongly against, warning that the Poles are treacherous and will not honour their words. Failing to convince the Hetman, Taras takes his regiment away to continue the assault independently. As Taras predicted, once the new Hetman agrees to a truce, the Poles betray him and kill a number of Cossacks. Taras and his men continue to fight and are finally caught in a ruined fortress, where they battle until the last man is defeated.

Taras is nailed and tied to a tree and set aflame. Even in this state, he calls out to his men to continue the fight, claiming that a new Tsar is coming who will rule the earth. The story ends with Cossacks on the Dniester River recalling the great feats of Taras and his unwavering Cossack spirit.

Differences from 1835 edition

For reasons that are currently disputed, the 1842 edition was expanded by three chapters and included Russian nationalist themes. Potential reasons include a necessity to stay in line with the official tsarist ideology, as well as the author's changing political and aesthetic views (later manifested in ''Dead Souls'' and ''Selected Passages from Correspondence with his Friends''). The changes included three new chapters and a new ending (in the 1835 edition, the protagonist is not burned at the stake by the Poles).

In 1989, Josey Aimes flees from her abusive husband back to her hometown in northern Minnesota with her children, Sammy and Karen, and moves in with her parents, Alice and Hank. Hank is ashamed of Josey, who had Sammy as a teenager by an unknown father, and believes Josey is promiscuous. While working a job washing hair, Josey reconnects with an old acquaintance, Glory Dodge, who works at the local iron mine and suggests Josey do the same, as a job there pays six times more than what Josey's making now. Josey's pursuit of and securing the job further strains her relationship with Hank, who also works at the mine and believes women shouldn't be working there, so she and her children move in with Glory and her husband, Kyle.

Josey quickly befriends several other female workers at the mine and soon realizes the women are constant targets for sexual harassment and humiliation by most of their male co-workers, who, like Hank, believe the women are taking jobs more appropriate for men. The union in real life was USW, and did nothing to stop it. Josey in particular is targeted by Bobby Sharp, her ex-boyfriend from high school. Josey tries to talk to her supervisor, Arlen Pavich, about the problem, but he refuses to take her concerns seriously. The women experience additional harassment and even abuse in retaliation, and Bobby spreads rumors that Josey attempted to seduce him, leading his wife to publicly berate and humiliate Josey at Sammy's hockey game. Sammy begins to resent the way the townspeople treat them and comes to believe the gossip about his mother's alleged promiscuity.

Josey takes her concerns to the mine's owner, Don Pearson, but despite his previous assurances that he is there to help, she arrives to find that he has invited Pavich to the meeting, along with several other executives and offers to accept her resignation immediately. She refuses, and after Pearson implies he believes the rumors about her promiscuity, leaves devastated. Later, after being sexually assaulted by Bobby at work, she resigns and asks Bill White, a lawyer friend of Kyle and Glory, to help her file a lawsuit against the company. Bill advises her to recruit other women to form a class action lawsuit, which would be the first of its kind. The female miners, however, fear losing their jobs and facing additional harassment, so Josey attempts to go ahead with the case alone. She also discovers that Glory has Lou Gehrig's Disease, and her health is declining rapidly.

Alice and Hank argue over Josey's lawsuit, and when Hank still refuses to forgive his daughter, Alice leaves him. At a union meeting, Josey attempts to address the miners and explain her reasons for suing the mine, but they constantly interrupt and insult her, leading Hank to stand up for his daughter and reprimand his co-workers for their treatment of Josey and all the women at the mine. He and Alice then reconcile. In court, the mining company's attorney attempts to hold Josey's sexual history against her, based on Bobby's testimony that Sammy is the result of a consensual sexual relationship between Josey and her high school teacher, Paul Lattavansky. Josey then reveals that after school one day, where she and Bobby had been serving detention together after being caught kissing, she was raped by Lattavansky, which led to her becoming pregnant with Sammy. Hank attacks the teacher in question and Bill gets a recess after Josey storms out of the courtroom.

Sammy still refuses to believe his mother and runs away, until Kyle urges him to reconsider, and he and Josey embrace after having a talk.

Bill cross-examines Bobby and gets him to admit he witnessed Paul rape Josey, but was too scared to do anything about it. Glory, who has come to the court in her wheelchair and is unable to speak, has Kyle read a letter saying she stands with Josey, though still not enough to qualify for a class action suit. After a pause, many other women stand, followed by family members and even several male miners who didn't harass the female ones. The mining company is forced to pay the women for their suffering and establish a landmark sexual harassment policy at the workplace.

The game has two separate storylines; those being the one described in the official playing manual included with the CD-ROM copy and the one which is found on the 3D Realms/Apogee website and portrayed in the game itself.

On 19 May 1983 at approximately 10:48 p.m, Diane Downs, drives to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield, Oregon with a gunshot wound to her arm. She claims that an unknown assailant attempted to carjack her and shot her three children: Karen, 8, Shauna, 7, and Robby, 3. Her eldest daughter Karen was suffering a temporary loss of speech due to a stroke after the shooting, but recovers sufficiently to serve as a witness in court against her mother; Diane's son is paralyzed due to the gunshot. She was eventually tried and convicted of murder and attempted murder. During the trial, the prosecution plays Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" to demonstrate to the jury Diane's choice of song used to motivate her to kill.

Diane Downs is sentenced to life in prison, and her two surviving children are adopted by the prosecutor Frank Joziak and his wife, Lola.

An arrogant wealthy woman named Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti is vacationing on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea with friends—swimming, sunbathing, and talking incessantly about the virtues of her class and the worthlessness of the political left. Her nonstop political monologue infuriates one of the deckhands, Gennarino, a dedicated communist who manages to restrain his opinions to avoid losing his good job. Despite her humiliating insults, Gennarino agrees to take her out on a dinghy late in the evening to see the rest of her friends who have gone ahead without her. On their way, the outboard motor gives out, leaving them stranded in the middle of the sea with no land in sight.

After a night at sea, Gennarino manages to get the motor running again, but has no idea where they are. Eventually they spot an island and head toward it, destroying their dinghy in the process. On land, they discover that there is no one else on the island. Accustomed to having everything done for her, Raffaella begins ordering Gennarino about, but he snaps, refusing to assist her any longer. Raffaella reacts with a string of insults, but he gives as good as he gets, and they split up to explore the island on their own.

Gennarino is soon catching and cooking lobsters. Gradually their roles become reversed. While she has to rely on him for food, Gennarino wants her to be his slave, convinced that women are born to serve men. He even forces her to endure the indignity of washing his underwear. When she reacts in angry defiance, he slaps her around. Gennarino starts to rape her, but then changes his mind, deciding that it would be more satisfying if she gave herself to him willingly. Later that evening, Raffaella does approach him, and both willingly engage in passionate sex. He wants her to fall in love with him, and she becomes subservient to him. Eventually they spot a ship, and although they are both reluctant to disrupt their newfound paradise, they signal the ship and are rescued.

After returning home, they soon revert to their former lives and social roles—she once again embracing the upper-class lifestyle of her friends; he returning to a life of a lower-class worker and husband. Abandoned by the object of his desires, Gennarino returns defeated to his sad life and loveless marriage—far removed from an idyllic island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Late one night, near Billings, Montana, a gas tanker is driving by when a meteoroid suddenly hits in front of the truck. The driver attempts to swerve out of the way, but loses control and overturns and the tanker explodes, causing a massive fire.

The next morning, the fire is burning out of control and it is reported that the tanker was hit by a lightning bolt. With the area evacuated, FEMA Director Jack Wallach (Michael Biehn), and a colleague, Adam Marquez (Carlos Gómez) are flying via helicopter over the area, inspecting the fire, when they notice that two people are still in the area. It's a man on the roof of his house, trying to save it, despite his wife's protests. Jack and Adam land and take the woman aboard. Her husband starts to suffer from smoke inhalation when Jack manages to get him aboard the helicopter. Jack just barely manages to escape as a propane tank causes a massive explosion and destroys the home.

Later that evening, at the National Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, Dr. Lily McKee (Annabella Sciorra), the Observatory's director, is observing a comet which is going to pass by Earth on the 4th of July. Later on, when she goes home and looks at some photos, she sees what she believes are asteroids.

The next day, she informs Jack and Adam of the possibility of an impact and calls them in. She tells them of two asteroids: Helios and Eros, whose orbits have been disrupted by the comet and may hit the Earth. Helios would hit with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs and generate temperatures five times hotter than the Sun in the area of impact. Everything within a 150-mile radius would be destroyed and the impact would also spray molten rock another 70 miles.

Eros is four miles across and would cause a global ecological disaster if it did indeed hit. Then, Max Jenson (Brian Hill), one of Lily's assistants, informs Lily, Jack and Adam that Helios is getting closer to the Earth and that the observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii had picked up some smaller asteroids that the National Observatory cannot see and they believe that a small one hit Montana. Jack and Adam realize that the fire was indeed caused by an asteroid impact. Lily and Max check Helios' trajectory and realize that it will indeed hit the Earth.

Their numbers show that Helios will hit the Kansas City area within 48 hours. They inform the President and he orders that the city be evacuated. Ultimately, a fragment of Helios strikes a dam in the Kansas City area, causing flooding in the city. Wallach, who drives into the city to rescue two stranded firefighters and a drunk driver who struck their vehicle, gets caught in the flood. He and the firefighters survive, but the drunk driver dies. Wallach is then informed by McKee that Eros is, in fact, going to impact Earth.

The United States military attempts to destroy Eros using special lasers mounted on three jet fighter aircraft, but one of the lasers is damaged when the jet carrying it takes off through a hurricane. After making some last-minute adjustments, the lasers on the other two aircraft are used to seemingly destroy Eros. It is discovered that the mission was only partially successful. Instead of destroying the asteroid, the lasers broke it into many small yet deadly pieces.

The largest piece and several smaller fragments of Eros hit Dallas, Texas, where Lily's son and father are. The city is devastated by the impacts. Lily desperately searches the city for her father and son, who survive the blast and aftershocks. Her father ends up trapped and hurt in the ruins of the hospital where he worked, while her son Elliot wanders off trying to find help. Meanwhile, Adam is shot and killed by a refugee while addressing an evacuation camp. After a search, Lily locates her father and with the help of nearby firemen, rescues him, but goes on to try to rescue Elliot. After searching the ruined city, she finally locates Elliot in a large impact crater. Jack arrives to help in a helicopter and rescues Elliot. The four return to base where they watch the comet pass by Earth, and are relieved it won't return to cause trouble for another 4,000 years.

The game is based around the quest of three brothers to retrieve the talisman stolen by the forces of evil and return it to their home village, Tambry, in the country of Holm. The player begins as Julian, the eldest of the three brothers; if unsuccessful with this character, the player then takes control of Philip, the next oldest, then finally the youngest of the three, Kevin. In addition to recovering the talisman, which is kept by an evil necromancer, the player must complete a number of other tasks which ultimately prove vital to the quest - save the king's daughter, gain the aid of a sea turtle, and kill an evil witch in her castle - and gather a number of artefacts which enable access to the strange dimension in which the necromancer resides.

All of Springfield celebrates the arrival of the New Year except for Ned Flanders, who instead focuses on filing his tax returns. A few months later, as all of Springfield rushes to send out their returns just before midnight on April 15, Homer realizes he did not file his. He rushes and provides false information before delivering it to the post office. However, at the IRS the somewhat spherical package containing Homer's tax returns bounces into a “Severe Audit” bin, and the government arrests him for tax fraud. To avoid prison, Homer agrees to help Agent Johnson of the FBI. With a hidden microphone under his shirt, Homer uncovers that his coworker Charlie is leading a militia planning to assault all government officials, and has him arrested by the FBI for conspiracy.

Impressed, Johnson reveals to Homer that in 1945, President Harry S. Truman printed a one trillion-dollar bill to help reconstruct post-war Western Europe and enlisted Montgomery Burns to transport the bill. However, it never arrived and the FBI suspects Burns still has it with him. Homer is sent in to investigate. At the Burns estate, Homer searches for the bill before Burns, who believes Homer is a reporter from ''Collier's'' magazine, reveals that he keeps it in his wallet. Johnson and Agent Miller burst in and arrest Burns, who, insisting he's innocent, protests that the government oppresses the average American. Moved by Burns' speech, Homer knocks out the FBI agents and frees Burns.

The two men go to Smithers, who suggests they leave the country. Burns takes Smithers and Homer in his old plane, setting off to find an island and start a new country. The three land in Cuba and appear before Fidel Castro. Burns tries to buy the island, but Castro foils his plan when he asks to see the trillion-dollar bill and then refuses to give it back. Later, Burns, Smithers, and Homer are on a makeshift raft. Smithers asks whether Burns will be facing jail time; Burns replies that, if it is a crime to love one's country or steal a trillion dollars or bribe a jury, he is guilty.

Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson are the (unnamed) proprietors of an escort agency, ''Dreamytime Escorts''. Mayall's character is devious, low-minded, calculating and stupid; Edmondson's merely very stupid.

Unusually, rather than providing businessmen with female companionship, the activities of their escort agency essentially involve the pair swooping on unsuspecting foreigners who call them, and forcing them to take part in a drinking binge at their expense. The two are alcohol-obsessed; when their home-brewed beer (which takes a mere two days to brew and has a head made from washing-up liquid) is not available, they steal from the delivery lorries pulling up at the off-licence downstairs: Edmondson's character dives out of the window into a large builders' bucket and is hauled back up by Mayall.

Their next-door neighbour is Mr. Jolly, a psychopathic contract killer played by Peter Cook. Jolly's ''modus operandi'' is to hack his victims to death with a meat cleaver while playing classic Tom Jones tunes from the 1960s to drown their cries.

Heimi Henderson, who owns the off-licence downstairs, has refused demands for protection money by Mr. Lovebucket, an effete gangster played by Peter Richardson whose abiding love is his Citroën DS car.

Mayall and Edmondson intercept a request intended for Mr. Jolly to "take out" the radio presenter and game show host Nicholas Parsons, who appears as himself. Parsons is due to open Henderson's off-licence, and Lovebucket wants to put a stop to it. Misinterpreting the request, they spend an evening with Parsons, who stays in their company because he believes them to be competition winners, the real ones having been pushed off the road by the Dreamytime Escorts' van in an earlier scene. The two are confronted the following morning by Lovebucket, who wants to know what they've done with the money provided with the contract (which they have used to buy 1574 large gin and tonics). Lovebucket insists that they complete the contract.

The two return to Parsons's house armed with a gun, chainsaw and grenades but fail to kill him as he leaves by helicopter to the off-licence to open it. They chase after the helicopter with Lovebucket and his gang pursuing them but crash their van into a skip. Parsons reaches the off-licence but cannot find Henderson so he goes upstairs and meets Mr. Jolly and is presumably killed by him.

Mayall and Edmondson got into their office and start packing their suitcases to go and live in Rio but see into Jolly's office and watch him talking to Lovebucket. Some of the gang members go into their office only to find it empty as the two have escaped through the window into the off-licence where they are told by Henderson that Parsons is opening it, much to their excitement. Shortly after Henderson overhears the two talking about killing Parsons, causing Mayall to shoot him dead, but tricks Edmondson into thinking he did it. Edmondson decides to have a drink but instead takes a bottle of explosive tonic water from a shelf causing an explosion in the off-licence.

It is revealed during the credits that the two survived and are walking along a canal where Mayall knocks Edmondson into it before walking off with Edmondson swimming after him.

Abby McClure (Doris Day) is a widow with three sons who runs the lumberyard that her husband owned. Her matchmaking sister Maxine (Pat Carroll) tricks her into calling widower Jake Iverson (Brian Keith) and inviting him to the business dinner party Abby is having that night. Not interested in the trouble his sexy, adultery-minded neighbor Cleo (Elaine Devry) is trying to get him into, Jake arrives at Abby's and is bored by all of the matchmaking dialogue. Jake makes up an excuse to leave, but later runs into Abby at an all-night supermarket. Embarrassed by being caught in a fib, Jake meets Abby at a local drive-in run by the wise-cracking Herbie (George Carlin) and the two stay out until 2 a.m. A romance develops, much to the chagrin of Jake's teenage daughter Stacey (Barbara Hershey) and Abby's three sons, Flip, Mitch and Jason (John Findlater, Jimmy Bracken, and Richard Steele). The children make certain that neither Jake nor Abby can be comfortable at the other's home, so the pair wind up more than once at the drive-in, before finally falling in love. Fed up with the situation, they elope, not telling their children that they have married until the next day when the children discover them in bed together.

From then on, Abby's sons fight with Iverson's daughter Stacey; while Flip and Stacey both are hostile to the idea of a step-parent; and even Abby's sheepdog and Jake's poodle are incompatible. Neither's house is large enough for the family of six—not including Abby's live-in maid, Molly (Alice Ghostley)--so they borrow a camper and use it as a bedroom while they move into Abby's house and eventually put Jake's up for sale.

The morning after a bedtime argument, Abby drives off in the camper in a rage; Jake is dumped out clad only in boxers and clutching a teddy bear. After running through the neighborhood, he gets Herbie to lend him some clothes and drive him back to his house. Once Abby discovers what has happened, she returns only to find Jake gone. She is joined by a band of hippies she meets when she reaches the drive-in. When the camper collides with a livestock truck carrying chickens, Abby and the hippies are arrested. Hearing of the accident, Jake and the children rush to her rescue, colliding with the same chicken truck. The angry driver assaults Jake and the children (and pets) unite in his defense. At the station-house the parents and children are joyfully reconciled, and the family finally buys a huge two-story house big enough for a family of six, a maid, and two dogs.

In New York City, a young pizza delivery boy named Keno inadvertently encounters burglars on his route and tries to stop them. The burglars attack Keno, who proves to be a skilled martial artist, but he is soon overwhelmed before the arrival of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They vanish after rescuing Keno, tying the burglars up, and taking the pizza he was delivering, leaving behind the money to pay for it.

Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael, along with their master Splinter, are currently living with April O'Neil while looking for a new place to live following the events of their last adventure. Splinter wants to remain in the shadows, while Raphael thinks they should live out in the open. At a junkyard where the remnants of The Foot and The Shredder's second-in-command Tatsu are hiding out, they are met by their master, who has been disfigured by his previous defeat and vows revenge on the turtles.

April interviews Professor Jordan Perry of Techno Global Research Industries (TGRI) about a possible toxic waste leak. He assures her that everything is fine, but their scientists secretly discover dandelions which have been mutated by the leak. Freddy, a spy for the Foot posing as April's cameraman, discovers this and reports it to his master, who decides to have Perry interrogated. Back at April's apartment, Splinter reveals to her and the turtles that the canister of mutagen (dubbed "Ooze" by the turtles) which mutated them 15 years prior was created by TGRI, and they too decide to talk to Perry. The Foot gets to Perry first and kidnaps him, salvaging the last canister of ooze in the process. The turtles attempt to get the canister back, but ultimately fail. Afterward, Keno gets into April's apartment under the guise of delivering pizza and discovers Splinter and the turtles.

At the Shredder's hideout, Perry is forced to use the remaining ooze on a wolf and a snapping turtle, which mutate into Tokka and Rahzar. With the imminent threat to April's safety by the Foot, the turtles start to actively look for a new home. After an argument with Leonardo, Raphael breaks off from the group, while Michelangelo discovers an abandoned subway station and deems it a perfect hideout. Raphael and Keno defy Splinter's orders and implant Keno into the Foot Clan to find their hideout. However, they are caught and Raphael is captured, while Keno escapes to warn the others. When they come, they are ambushed by the Shredder and the Foot; Splinter saves the group, but leaves as they face Tokka and Rahzar, who prove too strong to defeat. Donatello finds a bound and gagged Perry after being tossed into a building by Tokka, and the five of them make a tactical retreat. Once back in their hideout, Perry explains that the creation of the ooze was an accident, disheartening Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael, who saw a higher purpose for their existence.

The Shredder unleashes Tokka and Rahzar into a nearby neighborhood to cause damage. The next day, Freddy sends a message to April that Tokka and Rahzar will be released into Central Park if the turtles don't meet the Foot Clan at the construction site. Perry develops an antidote to the mutations, but it must be ingested to work. When the turtles confront the Foot at the site, they try using donuts to trick Tokka and Rahzar into eating the antidote. They discover the trick and brutally attack, throwing Raphael into a public dance club where Vanilla Ice is performing. A big fight ensues among hundreds of witnesses and eventually the turtles revert Tokka and Rahzar back to their natural state. The turtles fight with Shredder on the dock, who has transformed into a Super Shredder after consuming the last of the ooze. The heavily-mutated Super Shredder is too strong for the Turtles to fight, but is defeated when he rips the dock apart in his rampage, causing it to collapse onto him.

In a press release, April reads a note from Perry, thanking the turtles for saving him. When they return home, the turtles deny being seen by the humans, but Splinter holds up the evening's newspaper on which they are front-page news. He then orders the four of them to do 10 flips as punishment.

Raghunath is a wealthy district judge. He convicts Jagga, son of a criminal, of rape with thin evidence. He believes that "good people are born to good people, and criminals are born to criminals." Jagga later escapes and kidnaps the judge's wife Leela for revenge. When he finds out that she has just become pregnant, he releases her after four days and plans a different kind of revenge. People suspect her faithfulness to her husband and the judge throws her out of the house, rejecting her pleas that the child is his.

Leela gives birth to Raj on the streets and they live in poverty. Raj befriends Rita in school. He is removed from the school rolls while trying to maintain a job as a shoeshine and Rita moves to another city. Jagga convinces Raj to steal in order to save his starving mother. Raj grows up into a skilled criminal, going in and out of jail, and working for Jagga's gang. Leela thinks that he is a businessman. Raj never forgets Rita, keeping her birthday picture in his home.

For a bank robbery, Jagga asks Raj to steal an automobile. He snatches a woman's purse when she steps out of the car, but finds no keys. He pretends to pursue the thief in order to ward off any suspicion and returns the purse to the woman, who is charmed by his personality and apparent selflessness. Later, when Raj successfully steals a car, he hides from the police in a mansion where he meets the same woman. Seeing the same birthday picture, Raj realises that she is his school friend Rita. He tells Rita he's a thief but his figurative statements makes her think he is a finance professional. Rita, now studying law, is a ward of the judge who is suspicious when he hears that Raj doesn't know who his father is. Raj and Rita fall in love.Worrying that Rita will not accept him due to his thievery, Raj starts working at a factory. He's fired him when the manager finds out that he was a thief.

Rita invites him to her birthday party. Raj goes back to Jagga for a money loan so that he can buy a gift for her. Jagga mocks his attempts to reform and asks him to commit more crimes. Raj refuses but later steals a necklace from a man on the street, not knowing the man was the Judge. At Rita's birthday, when Raj gives her a necklace without a case and the Judge gives her a case without a necklace, she realises that Raj is indeed a thief. Rita goes to Raj's mother and learns his whole life story. She decides that Raj is not bad, but was forced into committing crimes by bad influence and the desperation of living in poverty. Raj is ashamed, still believing he is no good for her, but she forgives him.

Raj goes to the Judge to ask if he can marry Rita, but the Judge turns him away. Meanwhile, Jagga and the gang commit the bank robbery, but it goes wrong and they have to run from the police. Jagga hides in Raj's house, where Leela recognizes him and he attacks her. Raj enters and fights him off, killing Jagga in self-defense. Raj goes on trial for Jagga's death with Raghunath as the judge. When Leela goes to the courthouse to provide her eyewitness account, she sees Raghunath and chases after him but is struck by a car. Rita collects the testimony from Leela in the hospital, and later Raj is allowed to visit her. Leela tells Raj that the judge is his father and asks her son to forgive him. But Raj becomes angrier at the judge for making him and his mother suffer. He escapes from jail and tries to kill the judge for revenge, but is stopped by Rita. Rita defends Raj in the trial for assault, who reveals the father-son relationship. Raj chooses not to defend his actions and says that he is a bad man. He asks the court not to think of him, but the millions of other children who grow up in poverty and end up turning to crime because high society does not care about them. While he awaits his verdict, Raj is visited by Judge Raghunath, who finally accepts that Raj is his son and tearfully asks for forgiveness. In the end, Raj is spared execution but sentenced to 3 years in prison for his crime. He promises that after getting released, he will reform himself for Rita, who promises to wait for him.

Like the previous novel, ''Hammerhead Ranch Motel'' begins ''in media res'', with two murders and one apparent suicide, the events leading up to which are eventually explored in the remainder of the novel.

Serge A. Storms succeeds in tracking down the car with the briefcase containing $5 million in the trunk, and steals it while its drivers, Sean and David, have gotten out of the car to watch the progress of a wildfire. Later, he checks into the Hammerhead Ranch Motel in Tampa Bay to lay low, but his car is stolen by a trio of car thieves. The Motel's owner is a gangster named Zargoza (who legally changed his name from Harvey Fiddlebottom). Over the next few days, the briefcase changes hands several times, from the car thieves to the petty criminals who overheard the thieves bragging about finding it, to a pair of hapless college students hired by the thieves to drive their car across the state, to Zargoza's sometime-partners, the reckless Diaz Boys, and finally Zargoza himself.

Several of these handlers are tracked down and killed, either by Serge or the Diaz Boys, but only Serge follows the trail to Zargoza. After determining that the briefcase is no longer in the trunk of the car, Serge drives it to the top of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, torches it with a Molotov cocktail, then leaps from the bridge with a parachute and dressed in a Santa Claus outfit (the act mistakenly seen as a suicide in the prologue). On the same night, one of the college students plunges to his death after being interrogated by the Diaz Boys, onto the glass roof of the Florida Aquarium.

The gruesome nature of the recent deaths drives Zargoza nearly insane from paranoia, and he changes the hiding place of the briefcase several times. Deciding that a more subtle approach is required with Zargoza, Serge partners with a Don Johnson-impersonator named Lenny Lipowicz, who owns a real moon rock from a 1970s space mission. The two befriend Zargoza and the trio spend several weeks touring Florida tourist attractions, with Serge waiting for Zargoza to let slip where the briefcase is.

Three subplots intersect with the main story and lead up to the novel's climax: City and Country, two young women from Alabama, are on the run after a girl accidentally stabbed herself to death in their presence, with the steak knife she was snorting cocaine from. Believing themselves suspect in the woman's death, City and Country steal her car and flee to Florida, where they meet Serge and Lenny, quickly becoming addicted to Lenny's pot and Serge's bottomless supply of Florida history and trivia. Aristotle "Art" Tweed is falsely diagnosed with a terminal illness (a practical joke by the bored teenage daughter of an employee at his local hospital) and, after meeting a Hemingway impersonator named Jethro Maddox, decides to redeem himself by killing the worst bully he can find. At first he targets "Boris the Hateful Piece of Sh*", a Tampa shock jock leading the public outcry in favor of Florida's newest anti-immigration legislation, but Serge kills Boris first after the latter's lewd advances against City and Country. Meanwhile, the hospital's insurer hires a private investigator named Paul to track down Art and inform him about the hoax. The crew of an Air Force C-130 Hercules based at Keesler Air Force Base tracks the development and progress of Hurricane Rolando-berto in the Gulf of Mexico. The Air Force's attempt to liaise with the local media goes disastrously wrong when anchorman Blaine Crease, riding in the plane over the hurricane's eye, insists on pitching a cylindrical weather sensor out of an open hatchway while being filmed, which causes his network's beloved mascot, "Toto the Dancing Weatherdog" to leap after the "stick" and out the hatchway to plummet to his death.

When the hurricane unexpectedly changes direction and makes landfall at Tampa, all the characters are trapped inside the Hammerhead Ranch Motel. Zargoza's "fall guy", a washed-up rock musician named C.C. Flag, believing that he's about to be arrested for his complicity in Zargoza's crimes, takes a young boy hostage, but Art saves the boy and both Flag and the local community's xenophobic mayor, Malcolm Kefauver, are blown out to sea by the hurricane. Serge and Zargoza finally confront each other over the money, but Zargoza is distracted when Jethro, whose participation in "The Flying Hemingway"'s skydiving stunt left him stranded in a tree, crashes through the Motel's roof. Country protects Serge by shooting Zargoza, who dies before Serge can convince him to confess where the money is hidden. Art learns the truth from Paul and is befriended by the attractive single mother of the boy whose life he saved.

Watching the post-hurricane news, Serge sees the briefcase in the possession of Paul, leaving Tampa with Jethro, who happened to witness (from his tree perch) Zargoza hiding the briefcase for the last time. Serge frees Lenny from a local chain gang and, with City and Country in tow, takes off after the money once again.

Johnny Vegas

Several of Dorsey's novels features one or more failed attempts by his recurring character, Johnny Vegas, to finally lose his virginity. In this novel, Johnny has traded in the Cigarette boat he was using in ''Florida Roadkill'', and instead trolls for available women in a Porsche convertible. He succeeds in luring an aspiring model, who gives her name as "If" into his car, and is about to have sex with her on the passenger seat, while the car is parked at the top of a bridge, only to be interrupted when she notices Serge torching his car and jumping from the bridge, an act mistaken by all the onlookers for a suicide. To cap off his failure, while they are watching from the bridge rail, a semi truck flattens his Porsche. He picks up a spokesmodel in South Beach and, in order to be absolutely sure of success, drives her to a motel in Everglades City, only to be interrupted by a rash of wildfires that forces them to evacuate, in spite of his fervent wish to remain and complete his conquest. Johnny rents a room at the Hammerhead Ranch Motel for himself and his latest date, but she is so terrified by the noise of the hurricane that she locks herself in the bathroom. The novel's epilogue features three separate failures by Johnny: Johnny is hiking in a park with an avid bird-watcher, when he mistakenly insults her by comparing her unfavorably to girls with tattoos, not knowing she has one; Johnny unexpectedly gets another chance with If, who asks him to be her date for a local broadcast journalism awards banquet, with a promise of sex after she wins; the evening is ruined when a disgruntled former state safety employee who witnessed Serge's jump from the bridge shoots at the copy editor who composed the headline that led to his firing. **Johnny is so frustrated that he beats up the gunman on camera; later he is picked up in a bar by a statuesque blonde who thinks he's a hero and offers to sleep with him, but (based on her reference to the film ''The Crying Game'' and the fact that Johnny's "losing streak" remains unbroken in the following novels) is hinted to actually be a man in drag.

Category:2000 American novels Category:Novels by Tim Dorsey Category:Novels set in hotels Category:Novels set in Florida Category:HarperCollins books

The year is 1996. At long last, Serge A. Storms has been captured. He is committed to the psychiatric hospital at Chattahoochee, where he patiently tries to explain his views. Serge grows tired of this diversion, however, and escapes once more. His newest obsession involves investigating the circumstances surrounding his grandfather's death forty years earlier, when he allegedly committed suicide by wandering into the ocean at a Miami beach. Serge's grandfather, who passed on many of his habits and interests (as well as his mental instability) to his grandson, may have been involved with a lucrative jewel theft shortly before his disappearance, however, so his friends are understandably reluctant to talk.

The novel then skips forward eight years and over the previous novels in the series to 2004, where Serge is living with his friend Lenny and Lenny's mother while planning a phantasmagoric array of projects, the biggest of which is still to solve the matter of his grandfather's supposed suicide. To finance his quest, Serge and Lenny start up a unique tour service highlighting the "lesser known" side of Florida's tourism industry. During one of his tours, a group of drunken convention attendees accidentally kidnap and kill a mob boss. The mobster in question just happens to be one that Serge personally insulted a few days earlier, incurring the wrath of both the mob and the FBI. Serge decides to keep close tabs on the salesmen for their own protection, not letting them leave his sight. Somehow, he also finds the time to publicly embarrass the Castro regime of Cuba and the United States government at the same time.

Tagging along in Serge's deathmarch/tour are Lenny, a newspaper columnist from New York City, a friend of Serge's grandfather's named Chi Chi, and City and Country, a pair of dim-witted women that Serge ditched at the beginning of ''The Stingray Shuffle'', in 1998.

The book takes place mainly in the Florida Keys, where Serge heads to "reinvent himself". After flirting with becoming the next Jimmy Buffett (undaunted by a total lack of musical talent), he finally decides to marry. All he has to do is find the right woman. Given Serge's personality (a mixture of bizarre topic-hopping as his attention drifts and his penchant for brutal honesty), this proves quite a challenge. And somehow, he's picked up a legion of devoted followers continually begging him for pearls of wisdom.

After briefly courting a few unwilling prospects, he falls in love at first sight with Molly, a new hire at the local library. She initially seems to be stereotypically meek and prim, but is won over when she inadvertently watches Serge beat a man to death for insulting her. She agrees to his hastily scheduled wedding (held during an underwater concert) and quickly proves to be more than a match for Serge's formidable libido. He is quickly baffled by the intricacies of a "normal" relationship, however, and his bride resents all the time he spends with his dim-bulb pal Coleman. Arguments and cold silences follow. With all of this frustration, Serge barely notices the brown Duster following him or the repeated attempts on his life.

Meanwhile, the regulars at the No Name Pub are vexed by Gaskin Fussels, an obnoxious rich loudmouth who flies down to the Keys every weekend to "whoop it up". They ignore him as best they can until Fussels, obliviously following a half-joking suggestion, steals and accidentally destroys a prized possession of the local viciously psychotic drug lord obsessed with the movie ''Scarface''.

Simultaneously, downtrodden waitress Anna discovers that her abusive husband has been murdered, along with her brother and his wife. She flees for her life, trying to decide whom to trust and how to free herself from the trouble in which she suddenly finds herself. She finds an ally, and later a lover, in Jerry, the desperate-to-be-liked bartender at the No Name Pub.

Gus is a deputy in a small police station. Gus can't escape his mocking nickname of Serpico or the humiliations his ex-wife heaped on him, both of which his partner Walter is happy to mention. Suddenly the fax starts spitting out bulletins about possible serial killers headed their way and dangerous cars to be on the lookout for.

A slimy ex-CEO, recently tried for improprieties that robbed thousands of people of their retirement funds (in an apparent reference to the Enron scandal), decides to spread a little "goodwill" around the Keys. But he is obviously buying people's support before announcing his plans to obscure some of Florida's most beautiful shoreline with condominiums. Legally, he should have lost nearly all his wealth, but thanks to the quasi-legal dealings of his equally slimy lawyers, he is still spending other people's money and living the good life.

In the end, of course, very few people are who they seem and identities are unmasked as all the plot threads come crashing together. Molly is a serial killer even more deranged than Serge, Fussels is a fed investigating Jerry (who is actually "Scarface"), and Anna and Gus find themselves in possession of a solid gold boat anchor worth millions.

In the not-too-distant future, the Cold War threatens to turn into a fighting war. Colonization of Mars seems to be mankind's only hope of surviving certain Armageddon. To facilitate this, the American government begins a cyborg program to create a being capable of surviving the harsh Martian environment: Man Plus. After the death of the first candidate, due to the project supervisors forgetting to enhance his brain's ability to process sensory input to cope with the new stimuli he is receiving, Roger Torraway becomes the heart of the program.

To survive in the thin Martian atmosphere, Roger Torraway's body must be replaced with an artificial one. At every step he becomes more and more disconnected from humanity, unable to feel things in his new body. It is only after arriving on Mars that his new body begins to make sense to him. It is perfectly adapted to this new world and he becomes perfectly separated from his old world and from humanity.

The success of the Martian mission spurs similar cyborg programs in other spacefaring nations. It is revealed that the computer networks of Earth have become sentient and that ensuring humanity's survival will guarantee theirs as well. In the end, the network is puzzled; something has distorted their extrapolations, the same way they influenced humanity.

The album's storyline is loosely based on the legend of Rennes-le-Château.

It begins with a dirge-like monologue:

"''Upon the Cross he did not die, they tortured him, but he survived. Smuggled across the open sea, to Southern France, tranquility. There he married Magdalene, and founded another dynasty. A church was built upon a hill, to serve all of the gods at will''." ("Upon the Cross")

One night centuries later, a weary traveler becomes lost in the woods, in an area ominously called "The Devil's Hide", despite being familiar with the place. Unfortunately, he and his horse are soon surrounded by hungry wolves, watching from the forest ("The Trees Have Eyes"). Suddenly, a she-wolf with shining blue eyes appears, making all other wolves back away. Instinctively trusting this wolf, the traveler follows her to a small church at the bottom of a hill. Upon seeing it for the first time, the traveler notices a dark inscription on the door: "THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE." ("Follow the Wolf")

The traveler enters the church, the titular House of God, in which everything starts to change from decrepitude to great opulence, full of food and drink. The wolf transforms into a beautiful woman and introduces herself as "Angel", promising to love the traveler forever. The traveler falls in love with Angel at first sight, and the two make love to each other frequently in the church ("House of God"). However, within days the traveler begins noticing small, odd behaviors from Angel, including her kissing a small, black statue of a sinister devil "sitting by the altar". He also mentions seeing two distinct pulpits, both depicting demonic images ("Black Devil").

Time passes. One day, while he is with Angel in the confession booth, she breaks down in tears and tells him her dramatic fate: a year prior to meeting the traveler, Angel was contracted by supernatural forces to guard the church; she reverts into her wolf form any time she leaves the grounds of the church and can only take human form within the building. Worse, Angel has one year to find a replacement for herself as guardian of the House of God. If she is successful, Angel will be freed from her contract and be permitted to leave the church as a normal woman once again, but with no memory of her time there. However, if she cannot find someone to take her place, she will die at the year's end, which will happen within one week. In sorrow, out of love for her, the traveler signs the pact in order to save Angel's life, allowing her to be free even though she won't remember him ("The Pact", "Goodbye").

After her departure, the traveler nearly loses his mind out of heartache and isolation. The monotony of each day and the knowledge of being trapped for eternity unhinges him, and in his desperation he starts to destroy any mirror he can find around the church ("Just a Shadow", "Help!"). The traveler then witnesses the opening of a hidden trapdoor beneath the altar leading to the catacombs. Compelled by forces he cannot explain, the traveler descends ("Passage to Hell"). Following a mysterious light to a subterranean chamber, he encounters a crumbling statue of the Virgin Mary and breaks it open. Inside he discovers the mummified remains of a crucified, glowing corpse bearing "a crown of thorns". Hearing an unearthly roar, in horror, the traveler realizes that this is the body of Jesus Christ and flees back up into the church ("Catacomb").

Upon his re-emergence, the traveler is followed by what he describes as a myriad of winds and lights; "contorted faces and bodies". Claiming to be unconcerned with living or dying anymore, the traveler questions these entities, who inform him that he has learned "the lie, the lie about the Cross". While they tauntingly will not reveal why they are keeping the corpse of Jesus, the Entities state that they are the forces behind the ideals of God and Satan. The Entities survive on the beliefs inspired by the eternal battle between Good and Evil, though the Entities themselves are far higher beings beyond these concepts. They advise the traveler to simply "live [his] life the best [he] can, and leave the rest to [the Entities]", but after these revelations he loses his faith completely and denounces God. Now knowing what he perceives to be the truth of the world, the traveler cannot accept what he has learned and hangs himself in desperation and pain. As he leaps, he yells out, "THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE", the inscription on the door of the House of God ("This Place is Terrible").

The plot correlates with that of the original ''Abigail'', and the listener discovers that she is actually the half-sister of O'Brian (the mysterious leader of the Black Horsemen from the original album), and is kept alive by his intervention (the Horsemen having originally planned to nail her into a coffin with silver spikes to prevent her emerging again). The year is 1863, and Abigail has just turned 18 years old. While out walking in the forest, she is caught in a storm that takes her by surprise, causing her to lose her way and stumble upon the LaFey Mansion, the gates to which are locked tight. Certain that she will succumb to the elements, Abigail is surprised to see "Little One", the ghost of the original Abigail from 1777, unlock the gates and disappear into the house. Abigail enters the mansion and is greeted by Jonathan's imposing and shaven-headed servant, Brandon Henry. It is revealed that Jonathan did not die after he fell down the stairs, but uses a wheelchair part-time and must walk with a cane. He has not moved on from Miriam's death and now calls himself Count de LaFey. He greets Abigail, calling her Miriam and believing she is his beloved, who died while giving birth to Abigail. He coaxes Abigail into sleeping with him in his bed, where he rapes her in an attempt to "produce an heir". Abigail, fueled with vengeance, goes to the crypt to see her past incarnation. Brandon Henry, who had warned her to never go into the crypt, finds her there; Abigail takes a sharp necklace from the mummified baby's neck (the same one from ''The Eye'') and slits his throat. She puts broken glass in Jonathan's food, beats him with his cane while he chokes on his own blood, and then sets him on fire, the flames finally killing him. The fire spreads from Jonathan to the window-curtains and finally to Abigail's dress, and she and the mansion are consumed by the flames. As the fire cannot reach the basement, and is therefore unable to destroy the crypt, the spirit of Little One is unable to pass on and is bound forever to the world of the living, crying out for her mother.

The album opens at the end of the story, with the narrator giving a monologue as he is "hanging" from a wall, snow falling in the night outside. He reminisces about his life before his current predicament, giving small hints as to the horrors he was forced to witness and be subjected to ("Midnight").

The story shifts back eighteen years prior, to a nighttime puppet show in Budapest during Christmas. This particular puppet show is well known for both its life-sized, "grotesque" puppets, and the Puppet Master's inexplicable ability to make them dance without strings in the show's finale. The narrator, one of the audience members, is disturbed by the thought that one of the puppets, the Little Drummer Boy, looked at him as though it were "alive." He also notices the puppet is bleeding ("The Puppet Master").

At the conclusion of the show, the narrator meets Victoria, a young lady who shares his sentiments about the puppet show. The two feel that the show was "magic," which the narrator claims to also see in Victoria's eyes. The two talk and learn more about one another, culminating in the narrator kissing her. The couple begins a life together. However, a year later Victoria fails to return home after going to see another puppet show, and the fearful narrator sets out in the night to find her ("Magic").

In his search for Victoria, the narrator notices Emerencia, the Puppet Master's obese wife, emerge from the theater's cellar with a knife, a sack and a cart. Curious, he follows her. To his horror he witnesses Emerencia brutally murder a homeless man, taking his body back with her to the theater. She is careful not to let any blood spill from the corpse, keeping the knife inside her victim's body. Noticing that the door has remained open, the narrator attempts to follow Emerencia down into the cellar but is knocked unconscious by an unseen assailant ("Emerencia").

The narrator awakens on the floor of the cellar, tied up and surrounded by puppets. His eyes adjusting to the dark, he comes to the realization that the puppets are indeed made from human bodies. Upon scrutinizing one of them, he is devastated to find that one of the puppets has the exact same blue eyes as his beloved Victoria, confirming his worst fears ("Blue Eyes").

The Puppet Master and Emerencia then enter the cellar and begin performing a demonic ritual to convert the narrator into another puppet. First, the Puppet Master speaks an incantation to subdue the narrator's mind, but the frightened narrator "kicks" a shelf, knocking down and breaking a jar, the contents of which are revealed to be human blood. This infuriates the Puppet Master, but the ritual continues. The narrator's soul is taken from him, while his eyes are given "eternal life" due to his untimely breaking of the blood-filled jar ("The Ritual").

He then finds himself strapped to a hospital bed for the second and final part of the ritual. The Puppet Master and his wife stand in front of him with a scalpel. The Puppet Master leans over him and says: "First your eyes... then your skin... we will make you feel born again," and starts to cut out his eyes. The Puppet Master uses an instrument to pull the eyeballs out of their sockets, cutting through the nerves holding the eyes in place. The Puppet Master then puts the eyeballs into a puppet's eye sockets, completing the work. The new puppet is placed on a shelf with the others, while the rest of the narrator's body is disposed of ("No More Me").

The narrator, in his new puppet form, can see and feel, but is otherwise unable to move and cannot sleep. He and Victoria, who is placed on a shelf across from him, can still "communicate with [their] eyes," questioning why they were subjected to this horror. The couple are given injections of blood, which gives them mobility under the Puppet Master's direction, who affectionately refers to them as his "children." After the injections successfully reanimate them for the first time, they are put back on their shelves in the cellar ("Blood to Walk").

The Puppet Master continues to train the narrator and Victoria for his upcoming puppet shows. The injections of blood last a maximum of an hour before their effects wear off; the narrator describes the hellish process as an unending cycle of living and dying, over and over. One night, the Puppet Master decides to try to have Victoria dance without strings, in spite of her fearful protests. As a result, Victoria knocks into the shelves of blood and breaks six of the jars. As punishment, the Puppet Master declares that she must be sent away to another puppet theater in Berlin ("Darkness").

The narrator is heartbroken, knowing he will lose Victoria again and is helpless to prevent it. The two converse for the final time as the narrator comforts her. In desperation, the narrator vows to find Victoria, and if he fails, he will be reunited with her in death. The couple declares their love for one another and they tearfully bid each other goodbye ("So Sad (Ghost's Song)").

The Puppet Master puts on his annual Christmas show, with the narrator starring as the new Little Drummer Boy. Without Victoria, the narrator is melancholic and desperate to escape his fate, even as he is forced to perform. In retaliation, he deliberately falls on the stage, breaking his drum and likely ruining the entire show ("Christmas").

Due to his actions during the Christmas performance, the narrator is sold to another shop, where his puppet body is pinned to the wall, a nail driven through its throat. The story returns to the present time, as the narrator describes how, in the eighteen years since he was sold, a rumor has spread that the Puppet Master's son and daughter will be opening a new puppet theater ''for children'', describing how it will "be a bloody mess." The narrator's appearance frightens those who enter the shop, as they sense something amiss with him and notice his eyes following them. The album and story end as the narrator admits he has never found his beloved Victoria, sadly wondering where she is. Unknown to him, Victoria is heard wondering where he may be as well ("Living Dead").

Krona, an exiled Oan, travels across the Multiverse and destroys universes seeking the truth of creation. When he arrives in the Marvel Universe, the Grandmaster—wanting to save his universe—proposes that they play a game. If Krona wins, the Grandmaster will lead him to Galactus, a being in that universe who has witnessed creation. If he loses, Krona has to spare the Grandmaster’s universe. Before choosing the players to participate in this game, Krona demands to swap champions, so the Avengers (the Grandmaster’s longtime adversaries) will represent Krona and the Justice League (from Krona's home universe) will fight for the Grandmaster. This means that the Avengers must '''lose''' the game in order to save their universe.

The Grandmaster informs the Justice League that to save their universe, they have to gather 12 items of power—six from each universe—while his ally Metron tells the Avengers that they have to do the same to prevent their world from being destroyed. The six items from the DC Universe are the Spear of Destiny; the Book of Eternity; the Orb of Ra; the Medusa Mask; the Bell, Jar and Wheel of the Demons Three; and the Green Lantern Power Battery of Kyle Rayner. The six items from the Marvel Universe are the Ultimate Nullifier; the Evil Eye of Avalon; the Wand of Watoomb; the Casket of Ancient Winters; the Cosmic Cube; and the Infinity Gauntlet.

The Justice League travels to the Marvel Universe and are dismayed (especially Superman) by the Avengers' failure to improve their Earth's condition; for instance, the Flash (Wally West) encounters a non-human-looking mutant running away from an anti-mutant mob and the Flash protects him from the mob. Convinced that the Flash is a member of Magneto's Acolytes, the mob attacks him as well. The Flash also discovers that the Speed Force (the source of his powers) does not exist in this universe. When the Avengers visit the DC Universe, they are surprised by the "futuristic" architecture of its Earth's cities and the honors that the Justice League and other native heroes receive for their deeds. As a result, they (mainly Captain America) become convinced that the Justice League are fascists who demand that civilians hero-worship them.

Various Justice League and Avengers members travel across the two universes and fight each other to retrieve the artifacts of power. A final battle for the Cosmic Cube takes place in the Marvel Universe’s Savage Land. After a climactic, back-and-forth battle, Quicksilver claims the Cosmic Cube. At that moment, Krona and the Grandmaster arrive on the scene, with the latter observing and commenting that the score is even at 6–6. Batman and Captain America—who together investigated the cause of the contest and discovered its true nature and stakes—arrive. Captain America purposely throws his shield and knocks the Cube from Quicksilver's hands, allowing Batman to catch it. With Captain America's forfeiture of the Cosmic Cube, the Grandmaster now announces the Justice League as the victors, with the final score now being 7–5. Krona is unwilling to accept defeat, and attacks the Grandmaster, forcing the identity of Galactus from him. He then summons Galactus and tries to extract information about the origin of the universe. The Grandmaster uses the power of the artifacts and merges both universes together before Krona can tear Galactus apart.

Reality is altered such that the Justice League and the Avengers are now longtime allies, regularly traveling between worlds to fight various threats. In addition, long-dead JLA members the Flash (Barry Allen) and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) have reappeared. But the universes are incompatible with one another and begin destroying themselves and each other, with people switching between worlds. One side effect of this is that Superman and Captain America become paranoid, irritable, and short-tempered; their emotions flare to the point where they blame each other for everything that is happening (this is later explained as both heroes being too strongly synchronized to their native universes). The appearance of a spectral Krona helps the heroes remember some of the contest and they find out what is happening to their worlds. The Phantom Stranger appears to lead the heroes to the Grandmaster.

Weakened by Krona's attack, the Grandmaster explains how he brought the universes together to imprison Krona using the 12 items, but Krona is merging the universes further in order to destroy them, hoping to create a new Big Bang, which he can survive and finally learn its mysteries. Before dying, the Grandmaster asks the assembled heroes to stop Krona and restore order. At Captain America's insistence, he reveals various events that had taken place in the separate universes to show the heroes what sorts of worlds they are fighting for. Each team member witnesses the tragedies that had befallen them in their separate universes, such as the death of Barry Allen, Hal Jordan's descent into evil, and the loss of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch's children. Some of the heroes contemplate leaving the universes as they are to prevent the tragedies from happening, but Hal Jordan inspires everyone to work for the good of their worlds.

Krona has trapped the universal avatars of Eternity and Kismet as reality continues to change. He has discovered that a sentience exists in universes and intends to force their spirits out, giving him their secrets. Both teams of heroes reconcile their differences with one another and make plans to stop Krona. Invading Krona's inter-dimensional base, Captain America leads every hero who has ever been a member of the Justice League or the Avengers. Chronal chaos at the base causes an ever-shifting roster of heroes to confront every villain whom the teams have ever fought with the villains having been mentally enthralled by Krona. Even though the chaos and the sheer forces against them (both from Krona and the summoned villains) cause the heroes to fall one by one along the way, Krona is ultimately defeated when the Flash distracts him long enough for Hawkeye to shoot an explosive arrow into the machine he used to keep both worlds merged, after which the Flash takes the items of power—both heroes having been earlier presumed dead in battle. Krona is then sucked into the forming vortex.

The Earths are separated with help from the Spectre (who at this time is Hal Jordan, now restored to his current state) and the universes are returned to their normal states. As the heroes from both universes return to their proper places, they affirm that whether they do too little or too much, they are still heroes who will always fight the good fight. Krona has imploded to form a cosmic egg, which is stored in the JLA Watchtower; Metron states that when the egg hatches, Krona will learn the secrets of its universe's creation by being part of it. Metron and the newly-resurrected Grandmaster discuss how Metron intentionally lured Krona to the Marvel Universe. The Grandmaster says that this is the first game that he has ever played in which all sides won (the Grandmaster by way of the battle between the Justice Leaguers and Avengers, the heroes by saving their universes, and Krona by eventually gaining the answers that he sought).

In ''The Clansman'', Reconstruction was an attempt by Augustus Stoneman, a thinly-veiled reference to Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, to ensure that the Republican Party would stay in power by securing the Southern black vote. Stoneman's hatred for President Johnson stems from Johnson's refusal to disenfranchise Southern whites. His anger towards former slaveholders is intensified after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, when he vows revenge on the South. His programs strip away the land owned by whites, giving it to former slaves. (See Forty acres and a mule.) Men claiming to represent the government confiscate the material wealth of the South, destroying plantation-owning families. Finally, the former slaves are taught that they are superior to their former owners and should rise up against them. These injustices are the impetuses for the creation of the Klan.

Similar to his statements about ''The Leopard's Spots'', Dixon insists in a "To the reader" prologue that the novel is historical:

I have sought to preserve in this romance both the letter and the spirit of this remarkable period. The men who enact the drama of fierce revenge into which I have woven a double love-story are historical figures. I have merely changed their names without taking a liberty with any essential historic fact.

Two god-like Brothers who personify the DC and Marvel Universes each become aware of the other's existence, and challenge one another to a series of duels involving each universe's respective superheroes. The losing universe would cease to exist. The story had an "out of universe" component in that the outcomes of the primary battles were determined by the readers' votes.

Numerous smaller, story-driven skirmishes occur throughout the series, not counted with the primary duels meant to determine the outcome between the Brothers.

There were 11 battles fought between the two universes.

The result of the following six battles were determined by the miniseries' creative team:

'''Aquaman''' (DC) vs. Namor the Sub-Mariner (Marvel). Aquaman won by summoning a whale to leap out of the water and land on top of Namor. Since Namor is pinned and unable to move, he is declared the loser. '''Elektra''' (Marvel) vs. Catwoman (DC). Elektra won by cutting off Catwoman's whip as she hung from a girder on a building under construction, but Catwoman survived by falling into a dumpster filled with sand. '''The Flash''' (DC) vs. Quicksilver (Marvel). The Flash won using superior speed. '''Robin''' (DC) vs. Jubilee (Marvel). Robin won by using his cape as a decoy and then tying up Jubilee. '''The Silver Surfer''' (Marvel) vs. Green Lantern (DC). The Silver Surfer won when both collided with each other and released a huge explosion which knocked out Green Lantern, but left the Silver Surfer unfazed. '''Thor''' (Marvel) vs. Shazam (DC). Thor won when Shazam was forced to change back to his alter ego of Billy Batson. Billy tried to change back, but Thor used Mjolnir to intercept the lightning bolt that would have transformed him back into Shazam; the resulting impact knocked Billy out and sent Thor's hammer flying off into the distance.

The result of the following five battles were determined by the readers' votes:

'''Superman''' (DC) vs. the Hulk (Marvel). After exchanging punches and a burst of heat vision, Superman defeated the Hulk. '''Spider-Man''' (Marvel) vs. Superboy (DC). With the advantage of his spider-sense, Spider-Man won by tying up Superboy with impact webbing and electrocuting him with high voltage, knocking him out. '''Batman''' (DC) vs. Captain America (Marvel). The match ultimately ends in Batman's victory – though both are evenly matched after hours of combat, a sudden flushing of the sewer knocks Captain America off balance as Batman manages to strike him with a batarang. Batman rescues Captain America from certain death via drowning, but Captain America's unconsciousness from nearly drowning causes him to lose. As Batman pulls him out of the sewer, he exclaims, "I lost. And may have doomed an entire universe". '''Wolverine''' (Marvel) vs. Lobo (DC). Wolverine beats Lobo in a brutal barfight, which was largely off-panel. *'''Storm''' (Marvel) vs. Wonder Woman (DC). After Wonder Woman drops Thor's hammer in order to allow the fight to happen as it was intended to, Storm won the battle after repeatedly hitting Wonder Woman with lightning after a brief meleé encounter.

Although the final victor of the fights is Marvel, the new character of Access, a man capable of traversing between the two universes, infuses Batman and Captain America each with fragments of their respective universes before the Spectre and the Living Tribunal attempt to create a compromise by fusing the two universes together. This resulted in the creation of the Amalgam Universe, which sees various amalgamated versions of the heroes and villains acting as though they have been in existence for years.

Access is eventually able to find the Dark Claw and Super-Soldier – versions of Batman and Captain America who have been 'amalgamated' with Wolverine and Superman, respectively – and use the fragments of the original universes in them to return the universes to normal. As the Brothers engage in direct battle, the Spectre and the Living Tribunal attempt to stop the conflict, but Batman and Captain America convince Access to take ''them'' to the conflict as well. Reading the minds of Batman and Captain America as ''they'' try to stop the fight, the Brothers realize that the two men are essentially the Brothers in miniature, each one unique among their worlds, but with no interest in the conflict that the Brothers have engaged in. Realizing the pointlessness of the conflict, the Brothers withdraw and congratulate each other, with both of them saying together "You've done well".

''Mega Man X2'' is set in an ambiguous year during the 22nd century ("21XX") in which the world is populated both by humans and mechanical beings known as "Reploids" (replicant androids). The mass-produced Reploids are based on a complex, humanoid robot dubbed X who was discovered by the archaeologist Dr. Cain in laboratory ruins many months earlier. Created with human-level intelligence and free will, some Reploids have a tendency towards destructive, criminal activity and are subsequently dubbed "Mavericks" by the government. A military force called the "Maverick Hunters" is formed to halt or prevent such activity. The events of the first ''Mega Man X'' game entail the hunter X's fight to stop Sigma, a Maverick overlord bent on the destruction of humanity. X prevails in his mission, but at the cost of his partner Zero's life.

Six months following the incident, X becomes the head of the Maverick Hunters. X tracks a "manufactured Maverick" bearing Sigma's emblem to a Reploid factory, where he launches a full assault. However, despite Sigma's apparent death and X's recent efforts, the Maverick rebellion continues. Three powerful Mavericks—Serges, Agile, and Violen—form a group called the "X-Hunters" and gain control of the North Pole. In the time between Sigma's demise and the trio's sudden uprising, Serges has collected the deceased Zero's bodyparts. After the factory mission, X is assigned to seek and exterminate eight Maverick leaders on a large continent directly south of the North Pole. The X-Hunters contact the Maverick Hunters shortly thereafter and taunt them with Zero's body. The X-Hunters drift among the eight Maverick locations and attempt to lure X out, each one promising the protagonist a piece of Zero if he can defeat them.

The story deviates slightly depending on whether or not the player collects all three of Zero's parts before heading to the X-Hunter fortification in the North Pole. If the player gathers all the parts, Dr. Cain states he will attempt to reassemble and reactivate Zero using his original control chip. If the player does not succeed, X is informed by Dr. Cain that the X-Hunters have attacked Maverick Hunter headquarters and stolen any collected parts and the control chip. Just as X annihilates the last of the X-Hunters, Sigma reveals himself to have been behind the plot. X leaves the exploding compound and tracks Sigma to the Central Computer, one of the eight locations he visited earlier. If the player fails to collect all of Zero's parts, X finds both Sigma and the newly rebuilt Zero waiting for him halfway through the stage. X must then beat Zero in combat. If the player does manage to collect all of the parts, a gray-armored clone of Zero accompanies Sigma instead; the real Zero then appears at X's side and destroys the clone. The outcome of either event has Sigma retreating and Zero creating a passageway in the floor to allow X pursuit. After X defeats Sigma, he reveals to X that his true form exists as a computer virus, and taunts to X that he will return. However, Sigma questions Zero's allegiance with humans, stating that Zero is "the last of the Doctor's creations". X evacuates the facility to rendezvous with Zero outside, and the two watch as the facility self-destructs.

The game revolves around Trikz Lane (Luis Da Silva), a renowned street racer in the L.A. underground scene, who has a lavish lifestyle and a well-known sizable reputation, owning a mansion in Beverly Hills and a large collection of cars. One night, he throws a party in his mansion, while being interviewed by the journalist from Rides magazine, accomplished along with his friend, Ty Malix (Orlando Jones), the duo explain the journalist about how they got started in street racing and won their first ten grand of money using Trikz's car, which is referred to as the "go-kart", a Nissan 240SX (S14). Ty later states that the car will be featured on the next cover for Rides magazine. Soon, the crew from West Coast Customs, Ryan Friedlinghaus, Quinton "Q" Dodson, Michael "Mad Mike" Martin and Dana "Big Dane" Florence approach and greet the duo. The crew then asks Trikz about the modifications for his car before they leave him and Ty to continue the interview. As the crew leaves, Trikz and Ty are later met by a local race promoter, Lidell Rey (Bill Bellamy), who is hosting a major series of street races across L.A., known as the Lidell Rey Street Slam, and is not particularly fond of Trikz. Trikz later tells Lidell that by the end of summer, he would let him pay for his new vacation spot in Maui, Hawaii and has plans to steal Lidell's girlfriend, Lana. Lidell tries to tip the scales against him, telling Trikz that changes are coming before he drops a number of pennies from his hat onto the floor and leaves. As the journalist asked Trikz for the preparation of the upcoming races, Trikz told them that he will be always prepared once he finishes his vacation in Saint Barthélemy for two weeks.

Two weeks later, Trikz and Ty come back home from their vacation, only to find out that their mansion is now in ruins; the whole place is deserted with nothing left inside, the cars that are stored in the garage are missing. The only thing left is Trikz's 240SX abandoned in the driveway. While left entirely curious about the empty mansion, Trikz later sees a tow truck repossessing Ty's Hummer H2. The duo tries to catch up, but are unable to do so. Suddenly, a car pulls over in front of the mansion's front doors and the driver hands over a paper to Trikz before they drive away. Trikz realises that his mansion has been robbed by Lidell, Ty reveals that Lidell used his connections in order to rob Trikz's mansion and steal all of the cars whilst Trikz was on vacation. The duo later plots a plan to get payback against Lidell by entering various street races while recovering the lost cars that have been stashed across Los Angeles.

Bob Morlock, a biomechanical mastermind, is the founder of a massive company called Kanary. Thanks to scientific advances, Morlock is the oldest being in existence. Knowing his time in this universe is nearing an end, he would like to see the Big Bang and the beginning of the universe. Kanary's Clone Consortium branch builds Commander Blood in order to help Morlock achieve his goal. Commander Blood is placed on a high-tech ship, the Ark, and aided by Honk, Blood's onboard computer personality; the ORXX, Blood's biomechanical 'clone'; Olga, Blood's onboard translator; a radio, television set; and other technology.

Colonel Flynn O'Flynn, a hard-drinking American, manipulates British aristocrat Sebastian Oldsmith into helping poach ivory in Tanganyika, which is part of the German-controlled pre-World War I territory of German East Africa. On hearing news that the American has returned to poaching, Herman Fleischer, the local German Commander of the Southern Provinces, relentlessly hunts O'Flynn with his ''Schutztruppe''.

Fleischer has his warship ram and sink O'Flynn's Arab dhow loaded with poached ivory. Sebastian and O'Flynn recuperate at O'Flynn's house where Sebastian meets and falls in love with O'Flynn's daughter, Rosa. They are married and have a daughter together. Sebastian and O'Flynn continue to make trouble for Fleischer by stealing taxes. Fleischer fights back by having his ''Schutztruppe'' attack and raze to the ground O'Flynn's home killing his granddaughter in the process.

O'Flynn, Sebastian and Rosa decide to find and kill Fleischer as revenge for the death of the baby. But when it is discovered that Britain is at war with Germany, Royal Navy officers convince O'Flynn to locate and destroy the German warship, ''SMS Blücher'' which is hiding awaiting repair.

O'Flynn, Sebastian, and Rosa pursue Fleischer, who happens to be on the warship. Eventually they find her in an inlet and plant a bomb on board. O'Flynn sacrifices himself so that Sebastian and Rosa can escape while Fleischer's crew search for the bomb. Fleischer jumps overboard just in time to get away also, but as he comes ashore, Sebastian kills him with a rifle. Sebastian and Rosa then watch the ship as it is ripped apart by more explosions and burns.

Jim Ellison was a US Army Ranger who spent 18 months in the Peruvian jungle after the rest of his unit was killed. He developed hyperacute senses from surviving in the wild, but repressed them when he returned to civilization. His sensory abilities re-manifested five years later, while conducting an extended stakeout in the forest as a detective in the Major Crimes Unit of the Cascade, Washington, police department. He went to a hospital for an examination where he met Blair Sandburg, an anthropologist from Rainier University, whom Ellison initially mistook for a physician. Upon hearing Ellison's story, Sandburg declares that Ellison is a "Sentinel": in ancient tribes, Sentinels used their enhanced senses to protect their village. For Jim, Cascade is his village. Blair had been studying Sentinel mythology for years. While he found many individuals with one or two hyperactive senses, he had never before found a person with all five senses enhanced, a "true" Sentinel.

Blair helps Jim control his senses and joins Jim as a police observer. Their unlikely partnership works, and together they fight crime in the streets of Cascade. The only person aside from Sandburg who knows Jim's secret is his captain and friend, Simon Banks.

Pilot

Jim doesn't believe Blair's explanation about his senses at first. In fact, at their second meeting, Jim throws Blair up against a wall and calls him a "neo-hippie, witch-doctor punk." Nevertheless, Jim's senses are a huge problem, as demonstrated when Blair has to shove Jim and himself under an oncoming garbage truck to save Jim from a zone-out. Jim later introduces Blair to Simon Banks, the chief of Major Crimes, and gets Blair a ninety-day observer's pass so that Blair can help with his senses. The excuse they give is that Blair is Jim's kid cousin, whom he is helping get his doctorate by allowing him to study the police force so he can write a dissertation on the "thin blue line" and the closed society of the police force.

Soon after, Blair's warehouse apartment is blown up by the drug lab next door, and Jim invites Blair to stay with him at his loft apartment at 852 Prospect Ave., apartment 307. Blair temporarily brings with him Larry the Ape, the subject of a short-term sociology study. Although the arrangement is only meant to last a week, Blair stays for years.

Seasons 1–3

On the job, Jim constantly reminds his wayward "partner" to stay in the truck, although Blair rarely listens. Also, Blair is often the victim of kidnapping and abuse by various criminals. Blair also steadily serves to complete Jim's paperwork and soothe Jim's temper. The other detectives at Major Crimes think of him fondly, and Blair has many nicknames: "Chief" from Jim, "Hairboy" from Rafe and Henri, and "Sandy" from Megan Connor.

Season 4

At the end of season three, Blair meets a new sentinel, Ms Alex Barnes (Jeri Ryan), and agrees to help her with her senses. Jim has a "nightmare" (actually a vision) about killing Blair, and is haunted by apparent hallucinations (actually more visions) of Barnes' spirit animal, a spotted panther. However, at this point Blair has not told Jim there's a new Sentinel in town, and Jim is confused over the Sentinel instincts he's experiencing. Unsure of what is going on, Jim throws Blair out of the loft. Alex attacks Blair and kills him. After Blair has been pronounced dead, Jim uses the power of his animal spirit to bring Blair back from the dead. However, he's still haunted by spirit visions of Alex and is unable to control a strange attraction to her, leading to a kiss between them in front of Blair. Jim manages to regain control over his Sentinel urges. Alex, now rendered catatonic after experimenting with a drug meant to increase her sentinel abilities, is confined to a mental institution, and Blair returns to the loft.

The last episode of the series, "'The Sentinel' by Blair Sandburg", shows Blair finally finishing his dissertation. He's promised to allow Jim to read the paper before he turns it in but unfortunately his mother shows up at the loft, snoops on his computer, and e-mails the document to Sid Graham, a big-shot publisher in New York. Sid releases snippets of Blair's Sentinel paper to the press and the general public, who then hound Jim and Blair. To repair his relationship with his friend and fix his wrongdoing, Blair rejects a three million dollar publishing contract at a press conference where he declares his dissertation fraudulent, thus destroying his academic career. At the end of this last episode, Jim and Simon offer Blair a place in Major Crimes as a police officer should he choose to accept it.

1: Very Strange

The film begins with Donald Duck, holding a hunting rifle, passing through a doorway to find that he has entered Mathmagic Land. This "mighty strange" fantasy land contains trees with square roots, a stream flowing with numbers, and a walking pencil that plays tic-tac-toe. A geometric bird recites (almost perfectly) the first 15 digits of pi. Donald soon hears the voice of the unseen "True Spirit of Adventure" (Paul Frees), who will guide him on his journey through "the wonderland of mathematics".

2: The Time Of Pythagoras

Donald is initially not interested in exploring Mathmagic Land, believing that math is just for "eggheads". When "Mr. Spirit" suggests a connection between math and music, though, Donald is intrigued. First, Donald discovers the relationships between octaves and string length which develop the musical scale of today. Next, Donald finds himself in ancient Greece, where Pythagoras and his contemporaries are discovering these same relationships. Pythagoras (on the harp), a flute player, and a double bass player hold a "jam session" which Donald joins after a few moments using a vase as a bongo drum. Pythagoras' mathematical discoveries are, as the Spirit explains, the basis of today's music, and that music would not exist without "eggheads". The segment ends with a sequence of live action musicians playing both jazz and classical music and Pythagoras' pals fading away.

3: The Golden Rectangle

After shaking hands with Pythagoras, who then vanishes, Donald finds on his hand a pentagram, the symbol of the secret Pythagorean society. The Spirit then shows Donald how the mysterious golden section appears in the pentagram. Next, the pentagram is shown to contain the pattern for constructing golden rectangles many times over. According to the Spirit, the golden rectangle has influenced both ancient and modern cultures in many ways. Donald then learns how the golden rectangle appears in many ancient buildings, such as the Parthenon and the Notre Dame cathedral. Paintings such as the ''Mona Lisa'' and various sculptures such as the Venus de Milo contain several golden rectangles. The use of the golden rectangle is found in modern architecture, such as the United Nations building in New York City. Modern painters have also rediscovered the magic of the golden rectangles.

4: Mathematical Forms In Nature

The Spirit shows Donald how the golden rectangle and pentagram are related to the human body and nature, respectively. The human body contains the "ideal proportions" of the golden section; Donald, overinterpreting the Spirit's advice, tries to make his own body fit such a proportion, but his efforts are to no avail; he ends up "all pent up in a pentagon". The pentagram and pentagon are then shown to be found in many flowers and animals, such as the petunia, the star jasmine, the starfish, the waxflower, and with the help of the inside of a nautilus shell, the Spirit explains that the magic proportions of the golden section are often found in the spirals of nature's designs, quoting Pythagoras: "Everything is arranged according to number and mathematical shape".

5: Mathematics in Games

Donald then learns that mathematics applies not only to nature, architecture, and music, but also to games that are played on geometrical surfaces, including chess, baseball, American football, basketball, hopscotch, and three-cushion billiard. Donald even volunteers the game Tiddlywinks, but the Spirit does not pursue this option. Themes of Lewis Carroll's ''Through the Looking-Glass'' are scattered throughout the chess scene; Carroll himself was both a writer and a mathematician. The extended billiards scene, which features a non-speaking live actor, shows the calculations involved in the game's "diamond system", and Donald finally learns how to do the calculations, though he ends up making it tough for himself, spectacularly hitting ten cushions in a single shot nonetheless.

6: Mathematical Thinking

The Spirit then asks Donald to play a mental game, but he finds Donald's mind to be too cluttered with "Antiquated Ideas", "Bungling", "False Concepts", "Superstitions", and "Confusion". After some mental house-cleaning, Donald plays with a circle and a triangle in his mind, he spins them to make them respectively into a sphere and a cone, and then he discovers useful inventions such as the wheel, train, magnifying glass, drill, spring, propeller, and telescope. Donald then discovers that pentagrams can be drawn inside each other indefinitely. Therefore, numbers provide an avenue to consider the infinite. The Spirit states that scientific knowledge and technological advances are unlimited, and the key to unlocking the doors of the future is mathematics. By the end of the film, Donald understands and appreciates the value of mathematics. The film closes with a quotation from Galileo Galilei: "Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe".

After watching ''Cirque Du Cheville'' (a "Cirque du Soleil" parody) and liking the performance of quintuplets from the show in particular, the boys hope to make a new performance artist style circus. The boys, however, think Kenny needs to learn how to sing first. Meanwhile, the Romanian contorting quintuplets from the show, along with their grandmother, try to escape from the Romanian government hoping to bring them back. The five end up at the Marsh house, asking for shelter. Meanwhile, Kenny learns to sing opera through a fictional ''For Dummies'' installment, which features "Con te partirò" by Andrea Bocelli. At the Marsh house, Grandpa Marsh and the quints' grandmother (using her own contortion skills) have sex.

The next morning, a shocked Randy finds the grandmother dead (after a night with Grandpa Marsh). After telling the quints, and with some persuasion from Cartman, Stan, and Kyle (who hope to use the quints for their circus, in which their performance is to do some contortions wearing only underpants with the Quints doing their performance), Stan's parents let the quints stay with them. The boys then decide to show the quints how great America is, taking them to, among other things, a sheep-shearing contest and a shopping mall, hoping they'll stay and do their circus. Meanwhile, the Romanian government seek Janet Reno to help get the quints back. Also, seeking to get to Romania for opera lessons, Kenny sings the aria "La donna è mobile" from Verdi's ''Rigoletto'' for money in order to acquire transport for him and his mother. In Romania, Kenny proves to be a successful opera singer while after his mother realizes that the small amount of money that she brought from the US provides them with two months of food and housing due to the massive cost of living difference between Romania and the United States, the two decide to stay. Back in the US, the Marsh house is surrounded by protesters, hoping to let the quints stay. Reno dresses as the Easter Bunny and armed with a gun and an Easter Egg-shaped tear gas canister, captures the quints. Stan, Kyle and Cartman, who don't want to lose their circus, enlist the help of the protesters outside to get the quints back.

A large amount of violence starts between the protesters and government soldiers, which is stopped by the quints after they tell off all the groups on their shortcomings: their father for acting like he missed them when he in fact walked out on them five years ago, the Romanian Leaders for caring nothing about them and only wanted to make America look stupid, the protesters for having nothing better to do, and the boys (whom they consider the worst of all) for their ignorance about Romanian culture, arrogant assumptions about America's superiority, and only wanting to use the girls to perform in their circus. They then get in Oprah Winfrey's limousine for an upcoming press tour and tell everyone to "Kiss our little white Romanian asses".

Meanwhile, the exact opposite of the quints' situation is occurring with Kenny in Romania. With Romanians protesting outside his house to let him stay, American soldiers invade the house and Kenny is inadvertently killed by the U.S. government, who had hoped to bring him back alive.

After escaping from a military prison, rogue Air Force General Lawrence Dell and accomplices Powell, Garvas, and Hoxey infiltrate a Montana ICBM complex that Dell helped design. Their goal is to gain control over its nine Titan nuclear missiles. The infiltration does not go as planned, as the impulsive Hoxey guns down an Air Force guard for trying to answer a ringing phone. Dell then shoots and kills Hoxey. The three then make direct contact with the US government (avoiding any media attention) and demand a $10 million ransom and that the President go on national television and make public the contents of a top-secret document.

The document, which is unknown to the current president but not to certain members of his cabinet, contains conclusive proof that the US government knew there was no realistic hope of winning the Vietnam War but continued fighting for the sole purpose of demonstrating to the Soviet Union their unwavering commitment to defeating Communism.

Meanwhile, Dell and his two remaining men remove the security countermeasures to the launch control system and gain full control over the complex.

While the President and his Cabinet debate the practical, personal, and ethical aspects of agreeing to the demands, they also authorize the military to send an elite team led by General MacKenzie to penetrate the ICBM complex and incinerate its command center with a low-yield tactical nuclear device. Just as the device is about to be set, the commando team accidentally trips an alarm, alerting Dell to their operation. A furious Dell responds by initiating the launch sequence for all nine missiles. As the military and President Stevens watch the underground missile silo launch covers begin to open, they agree to call off the attempt and the launch is aborted with mere seconds to spare. During this time, the captive Air Force guards attempt to overpower Dell and his men, resulting in the death of Garvas and another guard.

Eventually, the President agrees to meet the demands, which include allowing himself to be taken hostage and used as a human shield while Dell and Powell make their escape from the complex. As the president leaves the White House, he asks the Secretary of Defense to release the document should he be killed in the process. US Air Force snipers take aim and shoot both Dell and Powell, but also accidentally shoot the President, who with his dying breath asks the Secretary of Defense if he will release the document. The Secretary cannot bring himself to answer.

At dinner, wealthy black CEO Thaddeus Thomas discusses white people and claims they are "genetically inferior" because their children grow up without fathers.

Trying to improve himself, white candy factory worker Louis Pinnock offers to deliver a package to Thomas after his shift. Pinnock is let into the property by a white servant at the security gate point in front of the Thomas residence and accidentally views Thomas's wife naked through the window. Thomas notices and complains to the VP at the factory, during a dinner engagement at his house, that he would prefer a different delivery man instead of a "Peeping Tom". Although Thomas does not suggest any form of punishment towards Pinnock, the VP "gets the message" and immediately fires Pinnock. Pinnock returns to the Thomas residence in an attempt to discuss the misunderstanding with Thomas, but because Thomas is in an important business meeting, he refuses and sends a message to Pinnock that he apologizes, but there is nothing that he can do to help him. Pinnock begs for two minutes of his time, but is turned away.

Without any education or advanced skills, Pinnock finds difficulty getting a job and is unable to support his family. The Pinnock family are awakened one early morning by the police and the landlord to enforce eviction; the family struggles to gather their important belongings as they vacate the premises. Pinnock's mother-in-law scolds him for failing as a man; she says there is not enough room for him at her house where his wife and two children are going.

Pinnock's truck breaks down and he is forced to walk. At night, Pinnock is apprehended by the police who mistake him for a bank robber because "he fit the description". The people inside a bar come outside and shout at the police, demanding that they leave Pinnock alone. The people throw the bottle at the police. Pinnock is beaten by the police but they are chased away by the angry mob.

In a quest for justice, Pinnock kidnaps Thomas at gunpoint and demands a large sum of money that he believes is owed him for losing his job. After multiple failed attempts to withdraw the money, Pinnock holds Thomas hostage for the weekend and takes him through the ghetto where he lives. Thomas, however, remains unsympathetic to Pinnock and calls him a failure who blames the world for his problems. But Pinnock takes Thomas through the ghetto anyway into an abandoned building and Thomas alternates between enjoying some of the staples of ghetto life and having his eyes open to this world's racism. Thomas has a heart attack and Pinnock does CPR on Thomas and does not respond, Pinnock drives the truck, but the truck breaks down on the street. Pinnock shoots the store windows to get the police's attention to aid Thomas in his breathing problems but is mistakenly shot and killed because the police assume he is armed.

The chastened CEO visits Pinnock's grieving widow and offers her the money that Louis requested. She refuses it, and when Thomas awkwardly asks if she wants more, she bluntly says "How much would ever be enough?" and closes the door in his face.

Nicky Marotta (Robin Johnson) and Pamela Pearl (Trini Alvarado) are two teenage girls who meet in the New York Neurological Hospital, where both are being examined for mental illness. Pamela is depressed and insecure, and neglected and exploited by her father, David Pearl (Peter Coffield), a prominent and wealthy commissioner running a campaign to "clean up" Times Square. Nicky is a tough-talking street kid with musical aspirations, sent to the hospital for an evaluation after an altercation with police. Sharing a room, the brash Nicky and shy Pamela become friends. Nicky admires Pamela's poetic spirit; Pamela admires Nicky's forthright attitude and resents the condescending way in which the doctors treat her. Nicky is released from the hospital and later returns, ostensibly for an appointment with her social worker, Rosie Washington (Anna Maria Horsford), but really to break Pamela out. Both girls escape the hospital, steal an ambulance, and hide out in abandoned warehouse on the Chelsea Piers, making a pact to scream out each other's names in times of trouble.

There is a citywide search for Pamela after David reports her missing and accuses Nicky of kidnapping her, claiming Pamela needs medical attention. Meanwhile, the girls try to eke out a living by engaging in card games, petty theft, odd jobs, and scavenging. Radio DJ Johnny LaGuardia (Tim Curry), who broadcasts from a penthouse studio overlooking Times Square, realizes that David's missing daughter is the same "Zombie Girl" who sent him letters, telling him how sad and insecure she feels. LaGuardia, who resents David's "Reclaim Rebuild Restore" campaign to gentrify Times Square, uses his radio station, WJAD, to reach out to Nicky and Pamela. The girls start writing songs together and form an underground punk rock band, named The Sleez Sisters, with the help of LaGuardia, who sees them as an opportunity to undermine David. When an open letter to Pamela from Rosie is printed in the newspaper (with the help of David), calling Nicky troubled and dangerous, the girls perform a defiant Sleez Sisters song live on WJAD, making them even more famous. As an act of further rebellion, Nicky and Pamela throw TVs off a series of rooftops in the city.

Pamela and Nicky eventually have a falling out when they realize that their lives are on divergent paths. Pamela is content with her newfound sense of identity and wants to return home. Nicky wants to continue with The Sleez Sisters and becomes jealous of Pamela's relationship with LaGuardia. One night, she accuses LaGuardia of exploiting Pamela and herself, and throws LaGuardia and Pamela out of the warehouse hideout. Nicky then has a breakdown, wrecking her home and destroying the journal she shared with Pamela. After a failed attempt to drown herself, Nicky drunkenly breaks into WJAD and demands that LaGuardia put her on the air (but, unknown to Nicky, he never does). Midway through her song, Nicky breaks down and asks Pamela for help, shouting out her name. A sympathetic LaGuardia takes Pamela to Nicky. Pamela, breaking ties with LaGuardia, takes Nicky to David's office, located in the middle of Times Square. Pamela calls all the local radio stations, announcing an impromptu, and illegal, midnight show in Times Square on the rooftop of a grindhouse on 42nd Street. A message is sent to the fans of The Sleez Sisters, inviting them to attend the concert. Nicky says "If they treat you like garbage, put on a garbage bag. If they treat you like a bandit, black out your eyes!" Girls across the city heed Nicky's call and board buses and subways to converge in Times Square.

In a garbage-bag costume and bandit-mask-style makeup, Nicky sings on the marquee roof above a crowd of cheering fans, also in garbage bags with "bandit" makeup. With the police approaching from behind, Nicky jumps off the edge of the marquee and into a blanket held taut by a group of fans. Camouflaged in the crowd, Nicky manages to evade capture by the police. Pamela watches her friend vanish into the night.

Harvard educated Dr. David Lowell's (Collins) research is carried out in the canyon country of southern Utah and must be conducted at the same time Halley's Comet is passing over the earth. Lowell is trying to find a safe, cheap energy source using the sound waves the comet generates.

Lowell leased the land from the Pilgrim Corporation. However, the Pilgrim Corporation decides the same canyon would be better used as a remote place to illegally dump nuclear waste. Pilgrim's CEO (Nicholas Pryor) arranges for Lowell to be thrown off his land and destroys his laboratory.

Lowell spends the rest of the film committing sabotage against the company and trying to recover his land, assisted by the daughter of Pilgrim's CEO (Janet Julian) as well as unlikely help from a hit-man sympathetic to Lowell's cause (Bo Svenson). Brook Alistair (Lance Henriksen), hired by the Pilgrim Corporation, attempts to stop Lowell.

Art professor and mountaineer Jonathan Hemlock is a retired government assassin called on to return to work for two more "sanctions", a euphemism for officially approved killings. During his career with a secret government agency called "C2", Hemlock amassed a private collection of 21 rare masterpiece paintings, paid for from his previous sanctions. The director of C2, Dragon, is an albino ex-Nazi confined to semi-darkness and kept alive by blood transfusions. Dragon wants Hemlock to kill two men responsible for the death of another government agent, code name Wormwood. Insisting he is retired, Hemlock refuses until Dragon threatens to expose Hemlock's art collection to the Internal Revenue Service. Hemlock agrees, and travels to Zurich, where he carries out the first sanction for $20,000, twice his usual fee ( ), and a letter guaranteeing no trouble from the IRS.

Returning from Europe, Hemlock meets C2 courier Jemima Brown, who seduces him, and while he is asleep, steals his money and IRS exemption letter. Dragon agrees to return them if Hemlock completes the second sanction. Hemlock is reluctant, but agrees when he learns that the C2 agent killed, Wormwood, was in fact his old friend Henri Baq. Hemlock is an ex-Green Beret, and Baq and he had served together during the Vietnam War, where Baq saved his life. Dragon agrees to pay him $100,000 ( ) plus expenses, and tells him the target is a member of an international mountain-climbing team that will soon attempt an ascent of the north face of the Eiger mountain in Switzerland. Hemlock will be the American member of the team, and must kill one of the climbers—Dragon is unsure of the target's identity other than the man walks with a limp.

Hemlock travels to Arizona to train at a climbing school run by a friend, Ben Bowman, who whips him back into shape with the help of an attractive Native American woman named George. Hemlock also encounters an enemy, Miles Mellough, a former ally from the military, who years before had betrayed him in Southeast Asia. Mellough somehow knows a great deal of what Hemlock is planning. He tries to kill Hemlock by hiring George to seduce and drug him, but Hemlock survives. Later, Hemlock lures Mellough and his bodyguard into the desert, shoots and kills the bodyguard, and leaves Mellough to die in the sun.

Hemlock travels to Switzerland with Bowman, the "ground man" or supervisor of the climb, and meets the other members of the climbing party at the Hotel Bellevue des Alpes at Kleine Scheidegg. The headstrong and condescending German member, Karl Freytag, presents his proposed route up the mountain, and the team agrees that he will lead the party. The following morning, the men begin their ascent of the Eiger north face, but soon the weather conditions become poor. The French climber is struck by falling rocks and later dies. With Hemlock now leading, the surviving members retreat towards a tunnel window that connects to the Eigerwand railway station, carrying the dead climber between them. At the last moment, Freytag and the Austrian, Anderl Meyer, fall to their deaths. Hemlock is saved, dangling alone a few metres from the tunnel window.

Bowman and a rescue crew make their way through the Eiger to the tunnel window, where they attempt to throw a rope to Hemlock. Hemlock notices Bowman is limping, a sign that identifies him as Hemlock's target. Hemlock says, "You're limping, Ben," reluctant to trust that Bowman will rescue him. Bowman throws him the rope, and Hemlock attaches it, then reluctantly cuts his own rope. He falls onto Bowman's rope, and is pulled into the tunnel to safety. On the train back to Kleine Scheidegg, Bowman admits he became involved with "the other side" years earlier, but claims he had no idea that Henri Baq would be killed. Bowman explains he had become involved with Miles Mellough, to whom he was indebted for getting George (who is actually Bowman's daughter) off drugs.

Back at Kleine Scheidegg, Bowman approaches Hemlock, looking to mend his relationship with the assassin. Hemlock takes a phone call from Dragon, who is convinced that—since C2 was never able to positively ID the target—Hemlock killed all three of the other climbers intentionally to ensure he completed the job. Hemlock tells Bowman that C2 believes the target died on the mountain, and that no reason exists to tell them otherwise. After Bowman leaves, Jemima Brown joins Hemlock and wonders if Dragon was correct.

High school outcast Marty Rantzen is seduced by popular girl Carol in the women's locker room. This is revealed as a prank as several students appear and mock Marty's naked body. Led by troublemaker Skip, the students physically abuse Marty before the coach intervenes. Later, two of the students feign remorse and offer Marty marijuana laced with something to make him sick. Skip messes with Marty's science project, accidentally setting off a chain of events ending with Marty being doused with nitric acid, disfiguring him.

Carol meets Skip and the others at their high school reunion ten years later. They find they were the only ones invited, with the school long-vacant and in disrepair. They decide to break in and party, and unbeknownst to them, the school's caretaker is killed by a man wearing a jester mask, the same one Skip wore during the shower prank. Soon the friends begin dying in a variety of ways – Ted's stomach explodes upon drinking an acid-laced beer, Shirley is melted with acid while taking a bath, Carl is impaled while trying to escape in a car, Susan is killed off-screen, Joe is eviscerated by tractor blades, Stella and Frank are electrocuted while having sex, and Nancy is drowned in a cesspit. Skip is hanged by a noose but escapes.

The jester chases Carol throughout the school, and in her panic, she accidentally kills Skip with an axe to the face. Finally, the jester kills Carol with a javelin in the locker room where the initial prank occurred. Removing his mask, the jester is revealed as Marty, who revels in his revenge before he hallucinates and gets attacked by the spirits of the people he just slaughtered and passes out.

Marty wakes up in a hospital where he's recovering, with bandages on his face. A nurse walks in and comments that Marty's skin graft operation was successful. An alarm in his room is activated, and his doctor comes into the room to assist. Just as he does this, Marty switches places with the nurse, killing her. He turns around and then kills the doctor who has entered the room. Marty then rips off the new skin grafted to his face and stares into the camera maniacally as the movie ends.

This is the story of a raven, considered by ornithologists to be the most intelligent of birds, who through its antics disrupts a family, even to causing enough problems that the town finally decides to put the bird on trial for its life. The tale is told in retrospect during that trial by the young girl who owns it.

For the past 33 years Jeremiah Hill (Roger Hewlett) has lived alone, with no contact with the outside world, and he intends to keep it that way. Jeremiah's mother (Tracy Scoggins) had always warned him not to associate with the outside world, and her brutal rape and killing right before his eyes taught him a lesson he intends never to forget; and those who enter his world will pay a deadly price. As Lehman (Mario Lopez) and his five friends from Los Angeles start their weekend camping trip they run into Tyler Trout (Gary Busey) and Floyd Fryed (Rance Howard) who represent the gateway into this distorted world that they are about to enter. These things just don't happen in the small mountain town of Sheriff Talmidge (Bo Hopkins) and Deputy Kevin Gordon (Stephen Saux). By stumbling upon this lonely cabin in the woods, the men have shattered 33 years of solitude in Jeremiah's world. Soon their weekend trip of hiking and camping will become a nightmare of survival.

In a 1950s American suburb, young Gregory Tudor witnesses his local ice cream man, known as the "Ice Cream King", murdered in a drive-by shooting. In the present, Gregory has taken over the "King's" business, calling himself the Ice Cream Prince, and using the man's truck and parlor. Unbeknownst to the public, Gregory uses the dilapidated parlor as a sort of laboratory, where he produces his concoctions, filled with insects and dismembered human pieces.

One night, Gregory kills a dog belonging to Nurse Wharton, his landlord and an orderly who treated him for his childhood trauma. The same night, Roger, a neighborhood boy, goes missing. The other children, having witnessed Gregory's creepy personality, suspect him of kidnapping Roger, but the police and Wharton do not. Three of the kids, Johnny, Heather and Tuna, agree to search for Roger themselves. Soon after, another boy known as Small Paul disappears.

Initially unable to prove that Gregory is dangerous, the kids have a difficult time getting the police to pursue their claims. Meanwhile, Gregory has recurring flashbacks to his abusive treatment at the Wishing Well Sanatorium. As the kids dig deeper, they discover that Gregory kidnapped Roger and Small Paul, and imprisons them in a cage at the parlor. However, Small Paul shows a macabre interest in the experiments, so Gregory takes him under his wing.

Two detectives investigate the Wishing Well, which turns out to be an unregulated free-for-all; the unstable patients roam freely and cause chaos, while the doctors and administrators are insane themselves. Escaping, the police now believe the children, and prepare to search for Roger and Small Paul. Gregory kidnaps Tuna, and Heather enlists the help of Tuna's older brother Jacob to investigate, but Gregory kills Jacob and Jacob's girlfriend. Small Paul baits Gregory by holding a photo of the Ice Cream King over his face, and leads him into the main mixer, where Gregory is dismembered.

Roger and Tuna are reunited with their friends, who reveal that Small Paul has been sent to therapy. The final scene shows Small Paul alone in a darkened room, silently churning an ice cream bucket, his face twisted into an evil leer just like Gregory's.

Prologue

A creepy-looking coroner introduces three different horror tales involving his current work on cadavers in "body bags".

"The Gas Station"

Anne is a young college student who arrives for her first shift working at an all-night filling station near Haddonfield, Illinois (a reference to the setting of Carpenter's two ''Halloween'' films). The leaving worker, Bill, reminds her that a serial killer has broken out of a mental hospital, and cautions her not to leave the booth at the station without the keys because the door locks automatically. After Bill leaves, Anne is alone and the tension mounts as she deals with various late-night customers seeking to buy gas for a quick fill-up, purchase cigarettes or just use the restroom key, unsure whether any of them might be the escaped maniac. A homeless transient asks to use the restroom, and when a partying couple arrives, she asks the man to check on the bum. He says he is sleeping. After the couple leaves, Annie goes inside the men's restroom, only to find an elaborately grotesque drawing on an evil looking entity carrying beheaded people in the restroom and then the dead body of the homeless man sitting in a pickup truck on the lift in one of the garage bays. She makes a phone call for help which results in her realization that "Bill", the attending worker she met earlier, is in fact the escaped killer, who has killed the real Bill and is killing numerous passers-by. She finds the real Bill's dead body in one of the lockers. Serial killer "Bill" then reappears and attempts to kill Anne with a machete, breaking into the locked booth by smashing out the glass with a sledgehammer and then chasing her around the deserted garage. Just as he is about to kill her, a customer named Pete returns, having forgotten his credit card, and he wrestles the killer, giving Anne time to crush the maniac under the vehicle lift.

"Hair"

Richard Coberts is a middle-aged businessman who is very self-conscious about his thinning hair. This obsession has caused a rift between him and his long-suffering girlfriend Megan. Richard answers a television ad about a "miracle" hair transplant procedure, pays a visit to the office, and meets the shady Dr. Lock, who agrees to give Richard a solution to make his hair grow back. The next day, Richard wakes up and removes the bandage around his head, and is overjoyed to find that he has a full head of hair. But soon he becomes increasingly sick and fatigued, and finds his hair continuing to grow and, additionally, growing out of parts of his body, where hair does not normally grow. Trying to cut a hair off his mouth, he finds that it "screams", and, examining it under a magnifying glass, sees that it's alive and resembles a tiny serpent. He goes back to Dr. Lock for an explanation, but finds himself a prisoner as Dr. Lock explains that he and his entire staff are aliens from another planet, seeking out narcissistic human beings and planting seeds of "hair" to take over their bodies for consumption as part of their plan to spread their essence to Earth. Soon after this reveal, according to the coroner, he jumps off of the building on top of a moving car and then dragged by a moving train.

"Eye"

Brent Matthews is a baseball player whose life and career take a turn for the worse when he gets into a serious car accident in which his right eye is damaged. Unwilling to admit that his career is over, he jumps at the chance to undergo an experimental surgical procedure to replace his eye with one from a recently deceased person. But soon after the surgery he begins to see things out of his new eye that others cannot see, and begins having nightmares of killing women and having sex with them. Brent seeks out the doctor who operated on him, and the doctor tells him that the donor of his new eye was John Randle, a recently executed serial killer and necrophile who killed several young women, and then had sex with their dead bodies. Brent becomes convinced that the spirit of the dead killer is taking over his body so that he can resume killing women. He flees back to his house and tells his skeptical wife, Cathy, about what is happening. Just then the spirit of the killer emerges and attempts to kill Cathy as well. Cathy fights back, subduing him long enough for Brent to re-emerge. Realizing that it is only a matter of time before the killer emerges again, Brent stabs his donated eye with garden scissors, severing his link with the killer, but then bleeds to death.

Epilogue

The coroner is finishing telling his last tale when he hears a noise from outside the morgue. He crawls back inside a body bag, revealing that he himself is a living cadaver. The noise is shown to be the walking of two other morgue workers; soon they begin to go to work on his "John Doe" corpse.

Philip (David Naughton) and Alexandria (India Allen) are a married couple that have decided to spend their vacation at a friend's house in the Arizona desert. Their marriage has hit a rough patch due to Philip's work, which has monopolized his time and left Alexandra feeling lonely. Additionally, Alex is encouraged to cheat on her husband by a close friend, which she considers. She's further dismayed when she finds that Philip is still too busy to pay attention to her and pushes him to go to a night bar.

Once there the two quickly run into some trouble with a biker, but are saved from harm by Randall (Gary Hudson) and Maggie (Michelle Moffett). They give the two a ride to a trailer park, unaware that Randall is there to get revenge against his ex-girlfriend Celeste (Kathy Shower), who sent him to jail, and that Maggie is a prostitute that Randall has brought along by force. Randall manages to break into the trailer, which terrifies Celeste. Despite his assurances that he is not there to harm her, Randall forces Maggie to kill Celeste.

The following morning the two arrive at Alexandria and Philip's vacation home, as Randall had promised to help Philip look for plants for his job. The two men leave to look for plants, only for Randall to push Philip off a cliff. Believing the man to be dead, Randall drives off, unaware that Philip survived and has begun walking back in order to rescue his wife. Meanwhile, back at the house, Alexandria has grown increasingly suspicious that Maggie is a wanted criminal, and at one point tries to call the police, but is interrupted by Maggie. When Randall returns without Philip, Alexandria, driven by a desire to survive and a desire to have an extramarital affair with a dangerous, sexy man, tries to turn the couple against one another by having sex with them both. After having sex with Randall, and realizing she really enjoyed it, Alexandra attempts to run away with him, but to no avail.

On his way back to the house, Philip finds his way to Celeste's trailer park and discovers her dead body. Soon after, he is found by the town's Sheriff Brenner (Paul Gleason), who takes Philip back to the vacation house after hearing his story. They arrive at the house and sneak into it in an attempt to save Alexandria. Maggie, who has decided that she is no longer going to follow Randall, is accidentally shot by the sheriff, who is then killed by Randall. Randall then tries to chase after Alexandria, only for her to later turn the tables on him and shoot him. Finally safe, Philip and Alexandria embrace.

When Davros is revived and asked by the head of an Earth corporation to use his great genius to work for good ends, the Kaled scientist seems to be playing along. The Sixth Doctor arrives and insists that Davros cannot be trusted, that he is "one of – no, actually, ''the'' most evil being this galaxy has ever produced!" Forced however to work alongside his nemesis, on projects such as famine relief, the Doctor seeks to uncover Davros before he can put new schemes to create a powerbase into effect.

Ashtray, Tray for short, is sent to the inner city to live with his father. Tray gets an education about life on the streets from his psychotic, gun-toting cousin Loc Dog, pot-smoking foul-mouthed Grandma, underage Pops, and gang members Preach and Crazy Legs. At a picnic, Tray falls for the infamous Dashiki, who has seven kids, much to the distaste of ex-convict Toothpick, who happens to be her ex-boyfriend. When Ashtray and Loc Dog head out to buy some snacks, Toothpick and his crew, Al Dog and Sam, confront Ashtray and hold him at gunpoint until Loc Dog threatens them with a missile mounted in the back of his truck, whereupon Toothpick and his gang flee the scene.

Loc Dog and Ashtray are harassed in a Korean store by the owners, and Loc Dog shoots at them when they make a remark about his mother. The two are then confronted by "The Man" (a mysterious white government figure), who kills the Koreans and tosses them his gun to frame them and leaves.

Meanwhile, Ashtray and Loc Dog's Grandma ride to church and another elderly woman disses her, resulting in a breakdancing contest that Grandma wins.

Ashtray visits Dashiki where they engage in sexual intercourse and Dashiki immediately claims he has impregnated her. Feeling like he's not responsible enough to be the father, Dashiki kicks him out. Meanwhile, Toothpick and Al Dog jump a new member into their gang by doing Double Dutch jump rope. Afterwards, Sam confronts Ashtray, Loc Dog, Preach, and Crazy Legs about Ashtray impregnating Dashiki. Loc Dog knocks him out as he, Ashtray and Preach proceed to punch & stomp him, flattening him (literally). The quartet decides to get protection from their friend Old School, who advises them to protect themselves and watch out for each other, until his mother walks out and tells him to clean his bedroom.

Moments later, Toothpick performs a drive-by shooting in revenge for Sam's beating and Crazy Legs is injured. With Crazy Legs hospitalized, Tray decides to confront Dashiki and become a father to their newborn baby. Dashiki agrees to give Tray another chance and they decide to leave the ‘hood as planned.

Ashtray then reads a bedtime story to his Pops (who is too young to go to a party) which causes him to ejaculate before going to sleep. At the party, Loc Dog meets Keisha, whom he then takes to his mail truck for drinks and sex, during which Keisha turns into a demonic monster and attacks Loc Dog, stripping him naked while he tries to run away screaming.

Ashtray and Loc Dog talk about Ashtray's departure as Toothpick and his gang prepare for another drive-by shooting. As Toothpick and Loc Dog clash, Ashtray is shot. As Loc Dog and Toothpick's gang continue to exchange gunfire, Grandma pops out of the dumpster and helps Loc Dog shoot at the Toothpick's car, with both of them shooting Al Dog and Sam, then flattening a tire, causing Toothpick to be flung from the car, landing on a cop car. Preach and Dashiki find Ashtray hurt, and he regains consciousness and kisses Dashiki. A woman finds Toothpick (she turns out to be his mother) and beats him with his shoe for stealing from her in the past. Afterwards, Toothpick and his gang are presumably arrested.

Afterwards, everyone goes their separate ways: Ashtray and Dashiki marry and enjoy their lives, Loc Dog becomes the host of Death Comedy Jam (a parody of Def Comedy Jam) and opens and closes the show with extreme profanity, Preach and his crush settle down together, Crazy Legs becomes a dancer as he had always dreamed, and Grandma is, as Ashtray puts it, "still Grandma" (showing her smoking cannabis).

''The Deep Blue Good-by'' introduces readers to McGee, his place of residence, the ''Busted Flush'' (a houseboat he won in a poker game), and its mooring place, slip F-18 at the Bahia Mar Marina in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In the early chapters we learn that McGee is a bachelor, a man who can be friends with ladies as well as have a passion for them, and a man of principle (although they are somewhat at the mercy of his uncertain emotional condition and his circumstances at the moment; in McGee's own words, "Some of them I'll bend way, way, over, but not break.").

Another feature of the McGee series is the seemingly unending parade of colorful and invariably evil villains whom McGee must contend with in order to make a recovery for his clients. In this first story the antagonist is Junior Allen, a smiling, seemingly friendly man, large, "cat quick", powerful, and pathologically evil. The story begins with a fortune smuggled home after World War II by a soldier who was a native of the Florida Keys. This soldier killed another soldier just prior to his discharge, went on the run back to the Keys, and buried his treasure there. He was later captured by the U.S. Army and sent to a military prison, where he met Junior Allen. Allen discovered vague details about the fortune hidden in the Keys and after his release from prison went there to find it. The story depicts the psychotic behavior of Allen as he evolves from thief to serial rapist to murderer. We see McGee's savvy, guile, and physical prowess as he works methodically to locate Allen and eventually make the recovery. As is thematic in many of the McGee books, however, he pays a heavy price for the successful recovery. Throughout the series, in fact, it is debatable as to whether McGee ever makes a recovery in which the gain outweighs the costs.

The "Deep Blue Good-by" occurs when some of the blue gem stones that McGee is trying to recover are spilled on a boat during a scuffle with Junior Allen and fall to the bottom of the ocean. The title phrase is not used in this book, although all of the book phrases are used starting in his third book, ''A Purple Place for Dying''.

In the end, Travis McGee recovered five gem stones for about $22,668. McGee took $1,668 for expenses and $1,000 as a recovery fee from Cathy Kerr.

Rhino, a brutish and dimwitted enemy of Spider-Man, suffers a mid-life crisis after he attempts to rescue Stella, the beautiful daughter of a mob boss, who coldly informs him after he is hired as a full-time bodyguard on the grounds that he is too stupid to be a serious romantic or business threat. Recalling a recent meeting with the doctors who created his latest suit, he undergoes a brain operation that turns him into a super genius.

With his new intellect, he quickly demonstrates a change in his usual methods, allowing him to defeat Spider-Man, subsequently running away with Stella to start his own crime organization. With his new intellect, he writes a novel, gets a restraining order that prevents Spider-Man from attacking him, sets up a crime syndicate (with the aid of such other criminals as the Mad Thinker, after breaking them out of prison), and even rewrites ''Hamlet''. Unfortunately, it has the side effect of making the subject so intelligent that he is no longer able to fully enjoy life, with Rhino driving Stella away because he finds her too dimwitted to attract his attention. Finally reaching a point where he finds no real meaning in life, Rhino hands Spider-Man, having deduced his identity via an equation he developed that allows him to calculate the secret identities of superheroes, information with which he can bring down Rhino's crime empire. He nearly commits suicide, but at the last minute he comes up with a means of reversing the original operation and restoring his original intellect, even requesting that he be made "a bit stupider than before". He is soon restored to his former stupid but happy self, delightedly crashing through walls.

In 1675, John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester, delivers a prologue of themes of his fondness for drink, his sexual proclivities, and his disdain for his audience.

King Charles II retracts his banishment of the earl as he has need of him in the House of Lords. Back in London, Rochester finds his "Merry Gang" friends, George Etherege and Charles Sackville, in a bawdy house. Rochester encounters on the street the thief Alcock. Impressed by his dishonesty, Rochester hires him as his gentleman. The Merry Gang introduce to Rochester who will be its newest member, 18-year-old Billy Downs. Rochester warns Downs, "Young man, you will die of this company."

The Merry Gang attend a play where the actress Elizabeth Barry is booed off the stage, refusing to participate in a curtain call, and is fired. Rochester is taken with Barry, secures her re-employment with the theatre company, and undertakes to coach her in acting. Barry's acting improves dramatically and she delivers a brilliant performance in her next production. The King approaches Barry to spy on Rochester as to the progress of the intended tribute to the French Ambassador.

Charles, in need of money from France, asks Rochester to write a play in honour of the French Ambassador's visit. The king requests it be a "monument" to his reign. Rochester writes ''Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery'', a scathing satire of the king's reign, which he claims is "a monument to Charles" — just what the king had asked for. The play involves vulgar language, simulated sex acts, and Rochester portraying the king being serviced. At the premiere, the king interrupts the play and on the stage confronts Rochester. Downs is mortally wounded in a sword fight outside the home of a Constable; Rochester backs away from his dying friend, whispering, "I told you."

Hiding from the king in the English countryside and sick with symptoms of syphilis, Rochester peddles phoney gynaecological "treatments" for women, including the selling of "potions" made from Alcock's urine. Rochester's face has become disfigured by syphilitic gummata, which he hides beneath a mask. Charles eventually tracks down Rochester, but decides that the worst punishment possible is to simply "let you be you." Rochester returns to his estate and wife, Elizabeth, admitting to having been constantly for five years under the influence of "the drink." Elizabeth declares her love for him.

Charles' choice of heir, his Roman Catholic brother James, Duke of York, leads to a showdown in Parliament over the Exclusion Bill that would deny James the throne. Rochester uses make-up and a silver nose tip to hide the indications of syphilis as he enters the House of Lords hobbling on two canes. His denunciation in the Lords of the bill ingratiates the appreciation of the king when it is defeated. When Rochester reveals his desire to have wanted Barry as his wife she reveals she never had the desire to be the wife of anyone, she had a daughter by him that he was unaware of, and this daughter is called Elizabeth.

Rochester returns to his estate where he is bedridden in the care of Elizabeth, his mother, a priest summoned to "bring God to him" as she did not want Rochester to die as an atheist, and Alcock. Before he dies, Rochester asks the priest to recite from Book of Isaiah, chapter 53; he also asks his wife to retell the story of how he had abducted her when she was 18 years old and they fell in love. Rochester's death is followed by a scene of Elizabeth Barry playing the role of his wife in ''The Man of Mode'', the play about him written by his friend Etheridge.

The epilogue is Rochester slipping into the darkness of an increasingly fading candlelight, asking "Do you like me now?"

The story of ''Mega Man X3'' is set during the 22nd century (the year "21XX"), in which after Mega Man X2 humans coexist with intelligent robots called "Reploids" (replicant androids). Due to their free will, some Reploids are prone to criminal activity and are said to go "Maverick". Dr. Cain, the inventor of the Reploids, establishes a military taskforce called the "Maverick Hunters" to prevent it. Even after two successful efforts by the Hunters X and Zero to stop a Maverick leader named Sigma from attempting to exterminate the human race, Maverick activity seems to continue. However, the threat of the Mavericks is later neutralized thanks to the technology of the Reploid scientist Dr. Doppler, which prevents the Mavericks from going berserk. The reformed Reploids form a utopia near their new mentor called "Dopple Town". It seemed that all is well until the former Reploids suddenly revert and once again begin causing trouble, even going so far as to attack Hunter headquarters. Doppler is held accountable, and X and Zero are sent out to contain the new threat.

Once the two heroes defeat Doppler and the forces that have sworn allegiance to him, the scientist comes to his senses and realizes all the damage that he has done. He explains that Sigma is alive as a computer virus, and that Doppler was corrupted in order to create a new body for Sigma. X seeks out Sigma, and after an intense battle, the Sigma Virus in its pure form chases X in an attempt to infect and possess him. Once X finds himself at a dead end, one of two things may happen. In one of the game's endings, Zero takes Doppler's true antivirus software and uploads it onto his sabre offscreen. He rushes in to save X just in time and causes Sigma to explode, destroying the lab as they evacuate. However, if Zero is injured during the game, Doppler instead uses his own body as the antivirus and sacrifices himself for the greater good.

) For most of its run, ''Zorro'''s episodes were part of continuing story arcs, each about thirteen episodes long, which made it almost like a serial. The first of these chronicles the arrival of Zorro / Diego to California in 1820 and his battle with the greedy and cruel local Comandante, Captain Enrique Sánchez Monastario. After Monastario's final defeat, in the second storyline, Zorro must uncover and counter the machinations of the evil Magistrado Carlos Galindo, who is part of a plot to rule California. The third story arc concerns the leader of that conspiracy, the shadowy figure of "The Eagle", revealed as vain and insecure José Sebastián de Vargas. It is revealed that the plot to gain control of California is so that he can turn it over to another country, implied to be Russia, for a huge profit. Season one concludes with Vargas' death.

Season two opens with Diego in Monterey, the colonial capital, where privately collected money to bring a supply ship to California is consistently diverted to a gang of bandits. Diego stays to investigate, both as himself and as Zorro, and becomes interested in Ana Maria Verdugo, the daughter of the man organizing the effort. Once Zorro defeats the thieves, he enters into a rivalry with his old friend Ricardo del Amo, a practical joker who is also interested in Ana Maria. Ana Maria, in turn, is in love with Zorro. While in Monterey, Zorro and Sergeant Demetrio López García also get involved in a dispute between the people and a repressive Lieutenant Governor. Diego is on the verge of giving up his mask to marry Ana Maria, but Don Alejandro talks him out of it. Zorro (and Diego) says goodbye to Ana Maria and returns to Los Angeles, where he gets involved in a series of shorter adventures.

In one three-episode story arc, guest-starring Annette Funicello, Zorro must solve the mystery of Anita Cabrillo's father, a man who does not seem to exist. Other storylines late in the series involve Diego's ne'er-do-well uncle (Cesar Romero), a plot against the governor of California, an encounter with an American "mountain man" (Jeff York, reprising a role from ''The Saga of Andy Burnett''), and outwitting a greedy emissary from Spain.

The film is set before, during, and after the Great War in several different parts of France, Austria, and Germany. Jules (Oskar Werner) is a shy writer from Austria who forges a friendship with the more extroverted Frenchman Jim (Henri Serre). They share an interest in the world of the arts and the Bohemian lifestyle. At a slide show, they become entranced with a bust of a goddess and her serene smile and travel to see the ancient statue on an island in the Adriatic Sea.

After encounters with several women, they meet the free-spirited, capricious Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), a doppelgänger for the statue with the serene smile. The three become inseparable. Although she begins a relationship with Jules, both men are affected by her presence and her attitude toward life. Jim continues to be involved with his girlfriend Gilberte, usually seeing her apart from the others. A few days before war is declared, Jules and Catherine move to Austria to get married. Both men serve during the war, on opposing sides; each fears throughout the conflict the potential for facing the other or learning that he might have killed his friend.

After the wartime separation, Jim visits, and later stays with, Jules and Catherine in their chalet in the Black Forest. Jules and Catherine by then have a young daughter, Sabine. Jules confides the tensions in their marriage. He tells Jim that Catherine torments and punishes him at times with numerous affairs, and she once left him and Sabine for three months.

She flirts with and attempts to seduce Jim, who has never forgotten her. Jules, fearful that Catherine might leave him forever, gives his blessing for Jim to marry Catherine so that he may continue to visit them and see her. For a while, the three adults live happily with Sabine in the chalet, until tensions between Jim and Catherine arise because of their inability to have a child.

Jim leaves Catherine and returns to Paris. After several exchanges of letters between Catherine and Jim, they resolve to reunite when she learns that she is pregnant. The reunion does not occur after Jules writes to tell Jim that Catherine suffered a miscarriage.

After a time, Jim runs into Jules in Paris. He learns that Jules and Catherine have returned to France. Catherine tries to win Jim back, but he rebuffs her, saying he is going to marry Gilberte. Furious, she pulls a gun on him, but he wrestles it away and flees. He later encounters Jules and Catherine in a famous (at that time) movie theater, the Studio des Ursulines.

The three of them stop at an outdoor cafe. Catherine asks Jim to get into her car, saying she has something to tell him. She asks Jules to watch them and drives the car off a damaged bridge into the river, killing herself and Jim. Jules is left to bury the ashes of his friends in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery columbarium; Catherine wanted her ashes to be scattered in the wind from a hilltop, but at the time it wasn't legal.

The stories are set mainly in the Berkshire countryside, at the farmhouse home of the children's grandmother, a Scottish-born woman named Mrs Hawthorne. The farm is called Smockfarthing, and is near to an imaginary village called Smockfarthing Wick, which in turn is close to a town called Riverton. Although these names are invented, they are based on real places - Smockfarthing is actually a house called [http://www.stonehillhouse.co.uk Stonehill House], and Riverton is Abingdon. The house is mainly inhabited by John, Mary and their aunt 'Push', as well as their grandmother, and they are all real people - Push is Grace James herself, 'Mrs Hawthorne' is her mother, and John and Mary (or Giovanni and Maria) are her nephew and niece. John and Mary's parents live in Rome, as their father is Italian and works there apparently as a diplomat (his work is described in ''John and Mary Revisit Rome'' as "involving a great deal of travelling about to far-off places") - he is married to John and Mary's mother, Push's sister (their real names were Henry and Elspeth Cavalletti). John and Mary are educated at home by a governess called Miss Rose Brown, although they spend about half their time in Rome, and indeed are bilingual in English and Italian. Smockfarthing carries a full complement of servants, including Mrs. Dyer the cook, Ellen the parlourmaid, Lizzie (whom the children call Lisetta) the maid, and Edie Kittiwake, the nurse. Edie's father Kittiwake looks after the farm with his son Reggie, and they and Mrs. Kittiwake live in a house on the farm called the Round House. Other characters, such as schoolmasters, vicars, postmistresses and so on, crop up in the books from time to time as well.

Although the series covers about thirty years, John and Mary are never allowed to grow up (only from about the ages of four to twelve) and nothing ever changes very much in their surroundings. This leads to situations such as the war and rationing being discussed during the 1940s, and television and washing machines being mentioned in the 1960s. (One can only assume that Grace James wished to appeal to a constantly fresh readership, although children of the 1960s could possibly have found it rather odd that John and Mary would still have a governess and maids running around after them, in that era.)

The John and Mary stories involve the children doing fairly normal and day-to-day things within their environment (mainly the countryside), although James makes sure that they meet unusual people and have adventures along the way. The stories are written in a realistic way and the adventures are the kind of adventures that any children could have under the same circumstances.

''John and Mary's Aunt '' is not about John and Mary at all, but is about James herself and her upbringing as a child in Japan. We learn that she was born in Tokyo and lived there until she was about twelve, although no exact dates are given. She does mention that her father was part of a naval mission and was there as an instructor - this seems to fit in with the time of the 'Douglas Mission' to Japan, which commenced in 1873 (hence the photographs in the book of her and her siblings in Victorian children's clothing).

The books were published by [http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/Publisher:Frederick_Muller_Ltd Frederick Muller] and were illustrated by Mary Gardiner.

Larry Dittmeyer, an unscrupulous real estate developer, explains to his supervisor that almost all the families in his neighborhood — except for the Brady family — have agreed to sell their property as part of a plan to turn the area into a shopping mall.

At the Bradys' house, Mike and Carol are having breakfast prepared by their housekeeper, Alice, while the six children prepare for school. Jan is jealous of her elder, popular sister Marcia. Cindy is tattling about everything she's hearing. Greg is dreaming of becoming a singer (but sings folk songs more appropriate to the seventies). Peter is beginning puberty with his voice starting to break and the numerous titillations he is exposed to, notably sex education and his very attractive teacher Miss Linley. He is also trying to win the affection of the girl he loves, Holly, but his shy and awkward personality prevents him from doing so, or so he thinks. Bobby is excited about his new role as hall monitor at school.

Cindy gives Mike and Carol a tax delinquency notice (which was earlier mistakenly delivered to the Dittmeyers) stating that they face foreclosure on their house if they do not pay $20,000 in back taxes. The two initially ignore the crisis, but when Mike's architectural design (which is exactly the same as their house) is turned down by two potential clients, he tells Carol that they may have to sell the house.

Cindy overhears this and tells her siblings and they look for work to raise money to save the house, but their earnings are nowhere near enough to reach the required sum. Mike manages to sell a Japanese company on one of his dated designs, thereby securing the money, only for Larry to sabotage it by claiming that Mike's last building collapsed.

On the night before the Bradys have to move out, Marcia suggests that they enter a "Search for the Stars" contest, the prize of which is exactly $20,000. Jan, having originally suggested this and been rejected, runs away from home. Cindy sees her leave and tattles, and the whole family goes on a search for her. They use their car's citizens' band radio, and their transmission is heard by Schultzy (Ann B. Davis), a long-haul trucker who picks up Jan and convinces her to return home.

The next day, the children join the "Search for the Stars" contest. Peter finally builds the confidence to stand up to Eric Dittmeyer, Peter's tormentor and Holly's boyfriend. This earns him a kiss from Holly, which gives him a deep masculine voice. The children's dated performance receives a poor audience response compared to the more modern performances of other bands. However, the judges — Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork of The Monkees — vote for them, and they win the contest as a result. The tax bill is paid, and their neighbors withdraw their homes from the market, foiling Larry's plan and securing the neighborhood.

Later, Carol's mother (Florence Henderson) arrives and finally convinces Jan to stop being jealous of Marcia, only for Cindy to start feeling jealous of Jan.

13-year-old Adam Hansen (Matt O'Leary) and his best friend Duffy (Jake Epstein) have some tickets for the Headless Horseman concert, and his sister 16-year-old Chelsea (Laura Vandervoort) has a date with her dreamy boyfriend Peter. The only problem is, they are both grounded: Adam is punished because he did not do his homework, instead making up a story using an article from the magazine ''The Weekly Secret'', and Chelsea because she called Adam a dweeb, which their mother, Lynette (Caroline Rhea), happened to hear. Chelsea and Adam will do whatever it takes to get their mother out of the house, even if it includes a chance meeting with a very mysterious man named Dimitri (Charles Shaughnessy). Everything seems to go according to plan, until their 8-year-old little brother Taylor (Myles Jeffrey) realizes that Dimitri is a vampire.

His brother and sister do not believe Taylor, so he calls Malachi Van Helsing (Robert Carradine), the vampire hunter. The night that their mother goes out with Dimitri, Taylor follows them. Not wanting their mother to come home and extend their punishments, Chelsea and Adam follow Taylor and find him outside the restaurant that Lynette and Dimitri are at. Adam and Taylor make the vampire do the spoon test (a fake test made up by Adam to get Taylor to stop calling Dimitri a vampire). Afterwards, Adam discovers that Taylor's hunch about Dimitri was right when he looks in the mirror and notices Dimitri does not have a reflection. So, along with Chelsea, he sets out to stop Dimitri, who puts their mother in a trance and plans to take her to his mansion. Meanwhile, Malachi Van Helsing arrives and begins to hunt down Dimitri, only to discover that he was being followed by Taylor, who (after learning the spoon test was made up by Adam) had also set out to save his mother from Dimitri.

In the end, Taylor becomes Van Helsing's partner and they arrive to do battle with Dimitri, who has Lynette in a trance, but even together Taylor, Adam, Chelsea and Van Helsing are unable to defeat Dimitri. Dimitri goes to bite a powerless Adam, but he and Chelsea call out to Lynette, breaking her trance (as only true love for someone can break a vampire's trance). She throws Dimitri into his coffin. Van Helsing seals the coffin with silver-plated nails and explains that he plans to send it to a place where it's always sunny. Shortly after Dimitri is sealed up, Van Helsing asks their mother out on a "date", after which Adam, Chelsea and Taylor, believing they have heard the word "date" enough for one night, try to convince her to stay single which is when Lynette confesses, "I date. Just not vampires". Finally, they all decide to go back to the Hansen house for breakfast as the sun is finally rising.

Eve Batiste, a 10-year-old girl, lives in a prosperous Creole-American community in Louisiana with her younger brother Poe and her older sister Cisely in the 1960s. Their parents are Roz and Louis, a well-respected doctor in Louisiana's "colored" community who claims descent from the French aristocrat who founded the town of Eve's Bayou. One night after a raucous party, Eve accidentally witnesses her father having sex with Matty Mereaux, a family friend. However, Cisely, who has a very affectionate relationship with her father, convinces Eve that she misinterpreted an innocent moment. The unreliability of memory and observation remain important themes throughout the film.

The summer quickly becomes a chaotic and stressful one for the Batiste family. Eve's relationship with her parents becomes more strained as she discovers more evidence of her father's serial infidelity. Cisely comes into conflict with both her sister and mother as she enters puberty and tries to navigate the difficult transition to adulthood, particularly with regard to her appearance and sexuality. Roz eventually begins to suspect her husband's infidelity, prompting conflict between the two as well.

Throughout the duration of the film, Eve often seeks refuge with her Aunt Mozelle, who works as a Hoodoo Practitioner with a neighborhood reputation as "The Black Widow". Eve, who also has the Spiritual gift of sight, has a premonitory dream shortly before an accident occurs, claiming Mozelle's third husband.

Mozelle's gift also brings her into direct conflict with Elzora, a fortune teller and possible witch with similar abilities. When asked for a reading by Roz, Elzora implies that an unexpected "solution" to her problem will arise, but to wait and look to her children in the meantime. When Mozelle grudgingly makes a similar request, Elzora forces her to look and address the truth she refuses to see. Meanwhile, Eve, frustrated by her father's infidelity, begins to act out, bringing her into conflict with the other members of her family. Cisely begins to behave strangely as well, isolating herself from the family after experiencing her first period.

Cisely later confides in Eve the secret behind her strange mood. She tells her that one night, after their parents had a vicious argument, Cisely went to comfort her father and he, while drunk, attempted to molest her. Enraged, Eve seeks out Elzora to commission a voodoo spell to put a fatal curse on her father. While on her way to visit the witch, Eve runs into Lenny Mereaux and questions him about his teaching job that keeps him away from home. In the conversation, she alludes to a possible tryst between his wife, Matty, and her father.

When Eve finally arrives to Elzora's home, she finds her to be not as scary as she expected but rather normal instead. While her expectation is to receive a voodoo doll of her father, she is simply told that the curse has been placed per her request. With regret, and in an attempt to save her father, Eve rushes to bring him home after finding him in a bar chatting with Matty Mereaux. At the same time, a drunken Lenny arrives to take Matty home. After a confrontation, Lenny and Matty leave the bar, and Lenny tells Louis that he will kill him if he talks to Matty again. After Louis says goodbye to Matty, Lenny shoots and kills Louis.

After her father's funeral, Eve soon finds a letter which her father wrote to Mozelle, disputing the accusations. In it, he claims that Cisely had come to him that night and kissed him, first as a daughter and then as a lover. In his drunken state, he reacted violently, slapping her and pushing her to the ground, which made her angry with him. Eve confronts Cisely and uses her second sight to discover what really happened. It ends with the sisters holding hands, gazing at the sunset.

Columbia Airlines Flight 409 is a Boeing 747-100 on a red-eye flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, while Scott Freeman is a businessman flying his private Beechcraft Baron to a sales meeting in Boise, Idaho. However, an occluded front has the entire West Coast of the United States socked in, with Columbia 409 and Freeman's Beechcraft both diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport.

Salt Lake air traffic control assigns Columbia 409 to land ahead of Freeman's Beechcraft. As Columbia 409 is about to start its descent, First Officer Urias unlocks himself from his seat to check out a vibration. Just then, Freeman suffers a heart attack and uncontrollably ascends into the approach of Columbia 409. The Beechcraft slams into Columbia 409 just above the co-pilot seat, ripping a hole through which Urias is ejected from the jet, while killing the flight engineer and sending debris that blinds the jet's pilot, Captain Stacy. Stacy is able to engage the autopilot and the altitude hold switch before losing consciousness. Nancy Pryor, the First Stewardess, rushes to the flight deck.

Nancy informs the Salt Lake control tower on the status of the cockpit crew, and that there is no one to fly the plane, while also giving an assessment of the damage. Joe Patroni, Columbia's Vice President of Operations, is apprised of Columbia 409's situation. He seeks the advice of Captain Al Murdock, Columbia's chief flight instructor, who also happens to be Nancy's boyfriend, though their relationship was "on the rocks" at that time.

Patroni and Murdock take the airline's executive jet to Salt Lake. En route, they communicate with Nancy, learning that the autopilot is keeping the aircraft in level flight, but it is inoperable for turns. The jet is heading into the mountains of the Wasatch Range, so Murdock starts to guide Nancy by radio on how to perform the turn when radio communications are interrupted and the Salt Lake tower is unable to restore contact.

Unable to turn, leaking fuel and dodging the mountain peaks, an air-to-air rescue attempt is undertaken from an HH-53 helicopter flown by the US Air Force Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. While a replacement pilot is preparing to be extended on a tether from the helicopter to Columbia 409, Stacy is able to give a cryptic clue regarding the decrease in airspeed during a climb in altitude. Nancy realizes that she must accelerate to be able to climb over the mountains and successfully does so. After Columbia 409 has leveled off, the replacement pilot is released towards the stricken airliner. Just as Nancy is helping him in, the release cord from his harness becomes caught in the jagged metal surrounding the hole in the cockpit. Before he can climb in, his harness is released from the tether and he falls from the aircraft.

The only other person on the helicopter who can land a 747 is Murdock. He is tethered to the helicopter, lowered to the jet, and successfully enters it through the hole in the cockpit. He then lands the plane safely at Salt Lake City International Airport. However, he is forced to make high speed taxiing maneuvers, as a drop in brake pressure hampers his efforts to stop. Once the plane stops, the flight attendants successfully conduct an emergency evacuation of the passengers via the evacuation slides, as Nancy and Murdock reconcile.

Janey Glenn is an army brat whose father Robert has retired from the Army and relocated to Chicago, home of her favorite dance show ''Dance TV''. At her Catholic girls school, she quickly makes a new friend in Lynne Stone, a fellow fan of ''Dance TV''. Although Robert nixes the idea of her going to downtown Chicago to try out for ''Dance TV'', Janey accompanies Lynne to the auditions anyway.

At the auditions, spoiled rich Natalie Sands becomes the enemy when she narrowly misses Lynne while parking her car. Auditions are going well until Lynne's partner is cut (Natalie bribed Lynne's partner to sabotage her). Janey and local high schooler Jeff shine, and are partnered together once they make the finals. He loves to dance, though he feels pressured to attend trade school after graduation, as his father did before him.

Initially, Janey and Jeff butt heads due to their disparate upbringings. Despite his natural ability, he has never taken a class, while she has been taking both gymnastics and dance classes for ten years. Helping them to get off on the wrong foot is also Janey's inability to practice, due to her strict father's rules. Things are further complicated by Natalie's meddling, she discovers Janey skipped choir practice to meet Jeff and calls her father to tell, posing as a Sister.

An excellent opportunity for both girls to get back at Natalie presents itself when Jeff is invited to her coming out party. They make 150 copies of her invitation (provided by Jeff's best friend Drew) and give them to odd characters all over town. Jeff and Drew attend the party, watching the chaos ensue when all of the oddballs with invites show up (as do Lynne, Janey and Jeff's sister Maggie, watching from the window).

Janey and Jeff become close through their rehearsals. One night, he tells her to meet him at a club, not the rehearsal studio. While enjoying some unstructured dance time, Jeff is taken away by a girl who locked her keys in her car. Meanwhile, a large admirer moves in on Janey. On Jeff's return, a fight ensues, Jeff sucker-punches the much larger man, and they run out of the club together. Once at Janey's, she is aglow over her life now: she is in the running to become a ''Dance TV'' regular, has a great best friend, as well as a boyfriend. They finally kiss before she excitedly runs inside.

Given the total wreck the party became, the rivalry with Natalie has intensified. She convinces her father to become more involved in ensuring her win. This is an easy feat, as her father owns the company that Jeff's father works for. One day, Natalie's father, J.P. Sands, corners Jeff and tells him that if Natalie does not win, his father will lose his job. This puts him in a bad mood and he argues with Janey when he arrives at rehearsal. Her mood quickly matches his when she arrives home and, sneaking into the house, she finds that her father has installed a security system. He then grounds her, making it virtually impossible for her to attend the dance contest final the next day.

Meanwhile, Jeff's surly attitude and decreased desire to be in the contest is noticed by his father. When he finally gets his son to talk, he simply asks if he can win the contest. When Jeff answers yes, he is told to do so and not worry about his father's job. However, Janey is still under heavy restrictions and does not know Jeff has changed his mind. However, her little brother brings her a message that Jeff will compete and she employs Lynne to sneak her out of the house.

Once Lynne arrives, Janey cuts the wires to the security system and escapes the guard dog. When they arrive at the station, Janey barely makes the beginning of the show, embracing and kissing Jeff as she arrives. The show begins and the competition is underway. At home, her family turns on the television and sees her dancing. Her father, furious, storms out, heading to the studio. Meanwhile, Jeff's father watches the show from his neighborhood pub, surrounded by friends who are all cheering on Jeff and Janey.

After all of the dancers have performed on the live show, the decision comes back: there is a tie between Janey and Jeff and Natalie and her partner. A dance-off ensues. Natalie goes first and when done, strolls off the stage proudly, believing she has won. But Janey tells Jeff "Let's do it", they do a series of synchronized gymnastics she has taught him over their time together. When the judges deliberate again, the decision is unanimous: Jeff and Janey win.

Natalie is furious and begins to berate her partner over costing her the contest. When she goes to her father to complain, he finally puts his foot down and tells his spoiled daughter to shut up, to her amazement. When Janey spots her father in the studio, she thinks she is in for trouble, but he smiles and shows his enthusiasm at her talent. Miss Dance TV is called to the stage and when she enters, it is none other than Lynne, who has taken the reins when the former Miss Dance TV quit during the show.

Due to her expulsion from school, the deaths of her lover Angel and friend and fellow Slayer Kendra Young, being accused of murder in the latter's death, and being kicked out by her mother, Joyce, Buffy has left Sunnydale and moved to Los Angeles where she works as a diner waitress under her middle name, "Anne". In the diner, Buffy serves Lily and Rickie, a young couple living on the streets, who have just gotten a complementary set of distinctive tattoos. As Buffy walks the street a homeless woman is muttering she is no-one. Later that evening Lily approaches Buffy and reveals that she remembers her from Sunnydale and a time when Lily was known as "Chanterelle". As they talk, a man bumps through and mutters that he is no-one as he walks out into traffic and is nearly hit by a car, only saved by Buffy's quick response. Buffy encounters a man named Ken, who comments on her "lost" state and offers to befriend her.

The next day Lily tells Buffy that Rickie has disappeared. Buffy reluctantly agrees to help find him. In her search, she finds the body of an elderly homeless man with Rickie's tattoo. Buffy reports her findings to Lily, who does not believe that the body could be Rickie's. On the street Lily meets Ken, who claims to know Rickie, so she eagerly goes with him. Buffy interrogates a blood bank worker who has been acting suspiciously, and learns that the woman has been giving Ken the names of healthy homeless people who come in to donate blood.

Back in Sunnydale, Willow, Xander and Oz struggle to cover for Buffy in her Slayer duties, and reluctantly resort to using Cordelia as bait in their next stakeout mission. After returning from an unsuccessful lead on Buffy's location in Oakland, Giles visits Joyce, who is now suffering from agoraphobia after learning of Buffy's Slayer life. Joyce blames Giles for taking her daughter away from her.

Meanwhile, Ken has prepared a hesitant Lily for a "cleansing", which entails stepping into a bath of black oil in the floor. At the door, Buffy attempts to pass herself off as a sinner wanting a new chance, but ends up kicking her way into the building in time to see Lily dragged into the pool. Buffy and Ken wrestle and they both fall in, coming out below in a huge factory. Ken's human mask falls off, revealing him to be a demon. Buffy and Lily are now amongst many other slave laborers of varying ages. Ken tells Buffy and Lily that they are in a hell dimension where time passes very quickly: a hundred years there equals only one day in Los Angeles. Since he only picks people who no one will miss, they will have worked themselves to a used-up death of old age without anyone noticing their absence. He tells Lily that Rickie remembered her, even after he had forgotten his own name. Lily resigns herself to ending up in hell, and accepts her fate passively.

Ken lines the captives up and each one is asked, "Who are you?" and then bludgeoned unless they deny their existence. When it is Buffy's turn, she says her name with pride and a battle ensues until Ken threatens Lily at knifepoint. Ken delivers a speech, but Lily pushes him off the ledge onto a concrete floor. Lily then leads the captives back up through the pool as Buffy dispatches Ken. Once all of the humans are out of the demonic dimension, the pool gateway closes.

Back in her apartment, Buffy packs her bag, ready to return to Sunnydale. She gives Lily her "Anne" identity. On her arrival back at the family home, Buffy is embraced by her relieved mother.

Set in the legendary town of Tombstone, Arizona, the plot centers on former gunslinger Wyatt Earp, who helps the sheriff round up criminals. Earp becomes a lawman after he sees an outlaw accidentally kill a child during a showdown. Earp's brothers and Doc Holliday help him take on the outlaw and his gang. More trouble ensues when the sheriff becomes involved with the gang. Earp manages to get them on robbery charges and the situation finally culminates at the infamous O.K. Corral.

Inspector Zenigata travels to Castle Dracula in Transylvania to confirm the execution of his longtime nemesis Arsène Lupin III; the body he finds is a decoy that is being used by the real Lupin to flee from the castle. Zenigata travels to Egypt, believing that Lupin will raid the Giza Necropolis based on prior thefts of immortality-granting objects. His prediction proves accurate, but Lupin and his colleagues Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII flee with the Philosopher's Stone. The Stone was requested by Lupin's would-be lover, Fujiko Mine, who, having agreed to obtain the Stone for a mysterious client, steals it from Lupin in Paris. The benefactor, who calls himself Mamo, discovers that the Stone is a fake made by Lupin.

In response, Lupin's gang is attacked by Mamo's forces before finding their hideout destroyed by his henchman, Flinch. Jigen and Goemon blame the hideout's destruction on Fujiko, before quarrelling between themselves; Lupin calms the others by promising to abandon his desires for Fujiko. With nowhere else to go, they travel toward the ocean before finding a house with food and water. A wounded Fujiko comes for Lupin, forcing him to go against his promise and causing Jigen and Goemon to abandon them. Fujiko drugs Lupin before Flinch arrives to take them to Mamo. Jigen later returns to find Flinch's plane taking off, but retrieves a clue to its destination. He and Goemon are later interrogated about Mamo by American agents, but are released when they are unable to answer their questions. During the inquiry, they decipher Fujiko's clue, leading them to Mamo's Caribbean island.

Mamo, a mysterious billionaire officially known as Howard Lockewood, tells Lupin that he manipulated him into stealing the Stone as a test, as he is considering granting him and Fujiko immortality in admiration of his skills and her beauty. Lupin, however, is more interested in the Stone, and searches Mamo's island for it. After retrieving the Stone, he and Fujiko are chased by Mamo's henchmen until they stumble across Mamo's lair. Mamo deems Lupin unworthy of eternal life and attempts to visualize his perverted nature to Fujiko, but she refuses to abandon him. The USAF attacks the base, having tracked Jigen and Goemon to the island. Jigen rescues Lupin and Fujiko and seemingly kills Mamo in a shootout, while Goemon duels with Flinch. The altercation damages Goemon's sword, the ''Zantetsuken'', causing him to leave for training purposes.

Zenigata tries to catch the gang, who escape the island with the unconscious Lupin, but fails. He is found by the ICPO chief, who had traveled to Colombia to tell him that he's off the Lupin case and that the situation is bigger than either of them can handle. Zenigata responds by resigning and chasing Lupin as a private citizen.

Lupin, Fujiko and Jigen travel to Colombia, where Lupin theorizes that Mamo may have gained eternal life by continuously cloning himself. They are thrust into a vision by Mamo, who reveals that his cloning technique has kept him alive for ten thousand years, and that he is responsible for virtually every major event in human history. Mamo also explains that he cloned Lupin. He then appears in person to reclaim Fujiko, and a distraught Lupin challenges him to perform a miracle. Mamo responds by setting off an earthquake through the destruction of a nuclear power station.

Inside a temple, Mamo explains to Fujiko that his cloning technique has never been perfected, and that he has degenerated from his original form as a result. He decides that he and Fujiko must repopulate the Earth, and convinces her to push a button to launch nuclear missiles to achieve this end. Lupin arrives, and reveals that he rigged the missiles to explode before they could launch. Frustrated, Mamo takes Fujiko with him to a launching pad and fends Lupin off with lasers. Lupin uses the tip of Goemon's sword (given to him by Jigen earlier) to deflect the lasers, incinerating Mamo.

A rocketship emerges, containing a giant brain that reveals itself to be the original Mamo. Lupin realizes that Mamo had controlled his clones resembling his body just as the rocket launches into space. Lupin and Fujiko escape the rocket's trajectory, but not before Lupin plants an explosive on it. The glass shatters, and Mamo's brain drifts toward the sun. Lupin finds Fujiko in the rubble, where he is captured by Zenigata. Fujiko offers to help Lupin, but the Americans launch a missile attack on Mamo's base. Fujiko is rescued by Jigen, Goemon is on top of a mountain only to say his final words while Lupin and Zenigata, anklecuffed together, escape on foot.

The first three chapters of ''The War in the Air'' expound on details of the life of the novel's hero Bert Smallways and his extended family. They reside in a location called Bun Hill, a fictional, former Kentish village that had become a London suburb.

The chapters introduce Bert's brother Tom, a stolid greengrocer, who views technological progress with apprehension. Also introduced is their aged father, who recalls, with longing, the time when Bun Hill was a quiet village and he had been able to drive the local squire's carriage. The story soon shifts focus to Bert; an unimpressive, unsuccessful, not particularly gifted young man with few ideas about larger things. Bert is far from unintelligent, however and we come to know that Bert has a strong attachment to a young woman named Edna.

When bankruptcy threatens his business one summer, he and his partner abandon their shop and devise a singing act, calling themselves "the Desert Dervishes". They attempt to resolve their misfortunes by staging performances at English sea resorts. As chance would have, their initial performance is interrupted by a certain balloon that lands on the beach before them. The balloon contains a new character: Mr. Butteridge.

Butteridge is famous for his successful invention of an easily maneuverable fixed-wing aircraft, whose secret he has not revealed. We come to know that he intends to sell his secrets to the British government or, if not possible, instead to Germany. We also come to know that prior to Mr. Butteridge's invention, nobody had succeeded in producing a practical, "heavier-than-air" machine—only a few awkward devices of limited utility had been made since (such as the German "Drachenflieger" which had to be towed aloft and released from an airship). Butteridge's invention is considered a major breakthrough. The invention is highly maneuverable, capable of both very fast and very slow flight, and requires only a small area to take off and land—reminiscent of the later autogyro.

Later in the novel, Bert is carried off in Butteridge's balloon and ends up discovering Butteridge's secret plans while he is on board. Bert is clever enough to appraise his situation, and when the balloon is shot down in a secret German "aeronautic park east of Hamburg" Bert tries to sell Mr. Butteridges's invention. However, he has unknowingly stumbled upon the German air fleet just as it is about to launch a surprise attack on the United States. Prince Karl Albert, the author and leader of the plan, decides to take him along for the campaign.

The Prince, world-famous as "the German Alexander" or Napoleon, is a living manifestation of German nationalism and boundless imperial ambitions—his personality as depicted by Wells in some ways resembling that of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Bert's disguise is soon seen through by the Germans, and, after he avoids being thrown overboard by the furious prince, he becomes relegated to the role of a witness to the true horror of war.

The German aerial forces, comprising airships and Drachenfliegers, are mounting their surprise attack on the United States before the Americans can build a large aerial navy; the pretext for the attack is a German demand for the US to abandon the Monroe Doctrine, so as to facilitate German imperial ambitions in South America. The Germans are, however, unaware that the "Confederation of Eastern Asia" (China and Japan) has secretly been building a massive air force. Tensions between Japan and the United States, exacerbated by the issue of American citizenship being denied to Japanese immigrants, leads to war breaking out between the Confederation of Eastern Asia and the US, whereupon the Confederation turns out to possess overwhelmingly strong aerial forces, and the US finds itself fighting a war on two fronts: the Eastern and the Western, in the air as well on sea.

Bert Smallways is present as the Germans first attack an American naval fleet in the Atlantic, utterly obliterating it and proving Dreadnoughts to be obsolete and helpless against aerial bombardment. The Germans then appear over New York City, bomb several key points, and establish that they have the city at their mercy, whereupon the mayor, with the consent of the White House, offers New York's surrender. However, the surrender announcement rouses the population's patriotic fury; local militias rebel and manage to destroy a German airship over Union Square using a concealed artillery piece. Following this, the vengeful prince orders a wholesale destruction, airships moving along Broadway and systematically raining death and destruction on the population below.

Following the destruction of New York, the far inferior American flying machines launch a suicidal attack on the overwhelming German force. They are almost completely obliterated, but cripple the Germans. The prince's flagship is disabled, and is unable to avoid being driven north by gale-force winds, eventually crashlanding in Labrador. Bert becomes an official member of the crew, as they struggle to survive in the freezing wilderness, befriends an English-speaking German junior officer, and for a time feels strong fellowship towards his crew mates. After a week they are picked up by another German airship, and carried directly into the fray of a ferocious new battle.

According to the prince's plans for the attack on the US, simultaneously with the subduing of New York, other German forces had landed at Niagara Falls, summarily evicted all the American population as far as Buffalo, and set to work building a large German airfield on American soil. However, the Asians – who have their own plans of conquest in America, and have already destroyed San Francisco – send their aerial forces over the Rocky Mountains and engage the Germans in battle, seeking to conquer or destroy the Niagara base.

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The Asiatic air fleet is equipped with large numbers of lightweight one-man flying machines called ''Niais'', which appear to be ornithopters, armed with a gun carried by the pilot firing explosive bullets "loaded with oxygen" (i.e. incendiary bullets) for use against the hydrogen-filled airships. The Asians prove overwhelmingly superior, and the German airships are either destroyed or forced to flee, eventually surrendering to the Americans; only a few remain with Prince Karl Albert, who attempts a heroic last stand.

Bert is stranded on Goat Island in the middle of Niagara Falls, where he finds a crashed ''Niais'' and discovers that Prince Karl Albert and a surviving German officer share the island with him. Their clash of personalities eventually culminates in a life-or-death confrontation, and Bert – originally gentle and sickened by bloodshed – overcomes his civilised scruples and kills the prince. Bert then manages to repair the Asian flying machine and escapes from the island on it, crash-landing near Tanooda, New York.

Upon making contact with local Americans, Bert learns that the Asiatic forces have landed "a million men" on the western seaboard. The original German American conflict, which had set off the conflagration, is almost forgotten in the massive conflict with the Asian forces – a conflict carried out with great savagery, neither side taking prisoners. All over the US, Chinese Americans are being lynched and in some places the lynching extends to blacks as well.

Bert learns that the war is going badly for the Americans, who are unable to withstand the superior Asian flying machines; the Americans mourn the loss of the Butteridge machine which might have turned the tide, if its inventor had not died suddenly shortly before the outbreak of war, taking his secret with him. Bert discloses that the plans for Butteridge's flying machine are in his possession, whereupon a local militia leader named Laurier urges him to turn the plans over to the president.

After an adventurous ride through war-ravaged upstate New York they find the president hiding out in "Pinkerville on the Hudson." The president proceeds to have copies printed and distributed widely all over the US, as well as sent to Europe. However, the results are not quite as expected. A decisive Asiatic victory is, indeed, averted – but there is no American or European victory, either. The Butteridge machine is cheap, easy and quick to build, and needs no big fields to take off or land – which mean it can be built and operated not only by national governments, but also by private groups, local militias, and even bandits – a development which tends to break up the war into a vast, incoherent multitude of localised struggles and which accelerates the already-begun process of break-up and disintegration of the world's nations.

While Bert experiences directly the events in America, news about what has happened in the rest of the world (specifically, in his native England) is few and scattered, with newspapers reduced to a single page before finally ceasing publication altogether; still, he hears with great alarm that London had shared the fate of New York.

The omniscient author, whose point of view is that of a future historian documenting the war and its aftermath, reveals information not available to Bert. The German assault on the US had bypassed Germany's European rivals, whose air fleets were considered too puny to constitute a threat, with the intention of totally dominating them once the Americans had been subdued. However, the alarmed United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy pooled their aerial resources into a single strong force, passed through Swiss airspace after destroying that country's own flying machines, and devastated Hamburg and Berlin. The Germans mobilised a counter-attack which destroyed London and Paris, but then, as in America, the feuding Europeans were faced with an enormous attack from Asia.

The Asiatic fleet had attacked a combined Anglo-Indian aerial force, captured the Burmese airfields, Australia, and the Pacific islands. They then struck westwards, capturing the Middle East and South Africa and starting to build airships at Cairo, Damascus and Johannesburg. Moving further northwards, they soon reached Armenia and then defeating the German forces in the Battle of the Carpathians before attacking Western Europe.

A global financial collapse is caused by hostile nations freezing assets, and the end of the credit system. This is referred to as "the Panic," which is followed by "The Purple Death." The War in the Air, the Panic, and the Purple Death bring about "[w]ithin the space of five years" a total collapse of "the whole fabric of civilisation." But Bert Smallways, fixated on his amorous attachment, returns home after many adventures to kill a rival and win the hand of his beloved Edna; they marry and have eleven children. We are assured in the final chapter that "our present world state, orderly, scientific, and secured," would be eventually established, but that future is many decades or centuries off. For the plot's present time, the novel reverts to the ensuing fortunes of the Smallways family as England relapses into a sort of an agricultural barbaric age, Bert Smallways doing very well as a kind of tribal chieftain, occasionally resorting to bloodthirsty acts and his civilized scruples long forgotten.

A washroom attendant, Louis Blore, has won a sweepstakes, and subsequently quits his job. He is in love with the nightclub singer May Daly, but she is in love with Alex Barton. Alex is the brother of her friend Alice, who is in love with Harry Norton. Meanwhile, Alex is unhappily married to Ann. Charley, Louis's replacement, suggests that Louis slip Alex a Mickey Finn. While trying to do so, Louis inadvertently drinks the Mickey Finn, falls asleep, and dreams he is King Louis XV of France, and that May is Madame du Barry.

In his dream, Charley becomes the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) and Harry becomes the captain of the guard, with Ann as Du Barry's lady-in-waiting, and Alex as a peasant who wrote a rude song about The King and Du Barry (the title song: ''Du Barry Was a Lady''). Eventually after various entanglements (including the Dauphin's shooting the King in the posterior with a bow and arrow), Louis wakes up and realises that Alex is the man for May. He uses the last of his winnings to pay for Alex's divorce from Ann, and (with Charley having just quit his job) goes back to being a washroom attendant.

In the Galilean countryside near the city of Nazareth, a young boy and his father own four donkeys. One of the donkeys, Small One, is old and weak, and can no longer adequately do his job of carrying the wood collected by the boy's father. The boy loads Small One with the smallest sticks, and helps him to carry them. One evening, the boy's father says that he has to sell Small One because he can no longer do enough work to cover the cost of his care. The boy, devastated by the news, volunteers to take the donkey to be sold so that he can try to find him a kind master. The father agrees and tells him that he has to sell him for one piece of silver.

The next morning, the boy takes Small One to the market. They are at first tricked into visiting the local tanner by a guard at the city gates. Terrified, they run out of the shop when they discover he only wants the donkey's hide. As they wander the streets looking for a buyer, they encounter several townspeople, shop owners, and merchants, none of whom want to buy. At last, the boy leads Small One onto the stage at a horse auction. The auctioneer has no interest in selling a "scrawny donkey", which causes the boy to insist that Small One is "good enough to be in a king's stable". This prompts the auctioneer and the crowd to laugh and poke fun. When the auctioneer attempts to sit on Small One, shoving the boy out of the way, Small One rouses the strength to buck and kick the auctioneer off him, sending him crashing into the stage and knocking it over.

The boy and Small One run away, and sit at a street corner hopelessly weeping. At this moment, a kind man comes up to the boy and asks if Small One is for sale. He needs a gentle donkey to carry his wife to Bethlehem, insists he will take good care of him, and offers one piece of silver. The boy accepts, says goodbye to Small One, and watches as the couple and Small One leave on their journey as a bright star appears in the sky.

Stan asks his parents for permission to see Cartman's grandma in Nebraska for the holidays but they refuse because this place is far away from South Park. Stan's parents forbid their son to go there and order him to stay with their family for the holidays but he argues with them about it and gets sent to his room without dinner. Angry Stan sneaks out to Cartman's grandma's house just in time to join the other boys. During the drive to Nebraska they see a sign for an appearance of Mr. Hankey at a mall. When they finally arrive, Cartman's relatives are there, all of whom share Cartman's mannerisms. At dinner they meet Cartman's Uncle Howard, live via satellite from the state prison. Later that night the boys hear someone breaking into the house and discover that it is Uncle Howard and another inmate Charlie Manson.

The boys want to go to the mall to see Mr. Hankey, but no one in the family will take them and Cartman is asked to keep an eye on his cousin, Elvin. Manson offers to take the boys to the mall. Kyle and Stan meet a human-sized Mr. Hankey whom Kyle exposes as a fake causing a riot. The boys and Manson escape from the mall but when the riot police recognize Manson, they get into a televised high speed chase with the police. Meanwhile the Marsh family realizes Stan has run away and head out to Nebraska to find him.

Manson arrives at Cartman's grandma's house and together with Uncle Howard proceeds to hold everyone hostage. Stan's parents arrive and Sharon scolds him for disobeying their order to not go to Cartman's grandma's house in Nebraska and for leaving his house without their permission. Stan asks to make an escape with Uncle Howard and Manson but Manson talks to him about the meaning of family which makes him change his mind. Manson and Uncle Howard surrender and sing a holiday-special style song. Stan's parents agree that they were unreasonable when denying him a Christmas with his friends and they will punish him after the holidays. Later as Manson goes to sleep in prison Stan, Kyle and all of the Cartmans appear to sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" to Manson. Afterwards Stan tells Kyle how messed up the events of the episode were.

''Ju Dou'' takes place in the early 20th century in rural China. '''Yang Tianqing''' (Li Baotian) is returning from a trek to sell silk for his adoptive uncle, '''Yang Jinshan''' (Li Wei). Jinshan, whose trade is dyeing fabrics, is known for his cruelty. After Tianqing returns, another worker is fired by Jinshan. While going away this worker informs Tianqing that Jinshan has recently purchased a new wife, having beaten two previous wives to death after they failed to produce a son, the cruel irony being that Jinshan is in fact impotent.

Upon meeting the wife, '''Ju Dou''' (Gong Li), Tianqing is enamored with her. At night, Jinshan tortures Ju Dou. Tianqing discovers Ju Dou's bathing area and spies on her. He does not know that Ju Dou knows he is there. Although Tianqing watches luridly at first, Ju Dou transforms the meaning of his gaze by exposing her bruises and sobbing, forcing him to see her as a human being rather than just a sexual object.

Soon, the two are unable to control their passion any longer and engage in sex. When Ju Dou discovers she is pregnant with Tianqing's child, she and Tianqing pretend that the child is Jinshan's. Jinshan suffers a stroke that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. After Ju Dou tells him the child is not his, he attempts to kill the child and burn down the house. Tianqing ties up Jinshan and hoists him in a barrel, leaving him dangling helplessly, a bitter bystander to his usurpation. Knowing that society would never accept her infidelity, Ju Dou goes to a nunnery to terminate another pregnancy. Jinshan continues to influence the life of the child he named Tianbai and when the child calls Jinshan "Father," Jinshan accepts this as psychological revenge on his wife and nephew. One day, Jinshan falls into the dye vat and drowns and a funeral is held for him.

Seven years later, Ju Dou and Tianqing still run the dye operation but Tianbai (Zheng Ji'an) is now a rage-filled teenager. Rumors of his parents' infidelities drive him to nearly kill a local gossiper. Ju Dou reveals the truth to her son in a fit of rage. She and Tianqing decide to have one last affair and grow weak after falling asleep in a cellar with little air. Upon discovering his parents resting in the cellar after their tryst, Tianbai drags them out - still weak and unable to awaken - and drowns Tianqing. Ju Dou then burns the mill down as the film ends.

Emperor Tod Spengo (Jon Lovitz), with General Afir (Thalmus Rasulala) at his side, takes over a small planet at the edge of the galaxy populated entirely by idiots, and renames it after himself. He has all the resources of the planet engaged to create his "Super Death Ray Laser" to destroy Earth, thus making Spengo the greatest planet in the Universe. When Spengo peeks at the laser's planned point of impact (a Southern California suburb), he beholds housewife Marge Nelson (Teri Garr) and instantly falls in love. Using his Magnobeam (a giant magnet), he kidnaps Marge and her husband Dick (Jeffrey Jones) on their way to their 20th-anniversary weekend, hoping to make Marge his wife.

Dick and Marge get separated on Spengo: Marge is sent to the lap of luxury, waited on by servants with fish or dog heads, while Dick is thrown into a dungeon. In his cell, Dick meets the rightful king of Spengo, King Raff (Eric Idle), who gives him plans for his son, called the White Bird, leader of a band of rebels out in the desert. In the meantime, Spengo finds that his advances towards Marge are failing, so he tries to read Dick's mind in order to discover the secret to her heart before having him executed. Upon witnessing Dick's devotion to Marge, Spengo's interrogator, Sibor (Wallace Shawn), has a change of heart and helps Dick escape. Despite the stupidity of his captors, Dick is soon discovered and forced down a garbage chute to the sewers, where he encounters a pack of carnivorous mushroom-like creatures called Lub-Lubs and is forced to run for his life.

Dick manages to escape the sewers and steal an escape pod, and winds up crashing in the desert, where he meets the rebels led by King Raff's son, Prince Sirk (Dwier Brown), and daughter, Princess Semage (Kathy Ireland), all of whom dress as 6-foot-tall birds (although such creatures are not naturally found on Spengo). At first, the rebels don't trust Dick, but when Dick reveals that he shared a cell with Raff and that he is on their side, their attitude quickly changes, and Dick rises to the rank of war leader. Using what limited resources he can scrounge up, he devises a plan to sneak back into Spengo's palace and save Marge. In the meantime, General Afir, the only intelligent person among Spengo's forces and resentful of his emperor's antics, believes that Dick and Marge are the key to ending Spengo's rule, so he switches the love serum meant for Marge with water and informs her of his intentions to recover Dick. However, Spengo overhears Afir's plan and has him placed in the barrel of the laser, to die when the weapon is fired at Earth.

While Spengo's wedding with Marge is prepared, a detachment of Spengo's soldiers go into the desert to finish the rebels, but find their camp deserted, and one by one they fall victim to a light grenade (which has "pick me up" engraved on it and disintegrates anyone who picks it up) left on Dick's pallet. Simultaneously, Dick and the rebels approach Spengo's fortress inside a large wooden bust of Spengo, which Spengo has brought into the chapel, and in the midst of the wedding ceremony the rebels emerge from the Trojan bust. As fighting rages in the castle, Spengo retreats to his lab with Marge and prepares to fire the laser at Earth. Dick and Tod clash with swords, but neither gains the upper hand. Marge manages to free herself and helps Dick throw Spengo into the sewers, where he is last seen being cornered by the Lub-Lubs. At the last second, Dick and Marge manage to shut down the laser, saving Afir and the Earth.

With Tod defeated, Raff is reinstated as the rightful king, and he reverses the polarity on the Magnobeam to send Dick and Marge back to Earth. Upon arriving home, Dick and Marge proceed to show their son (Danny Cooksey), daughter (Suzanne Ventulett), and her boyfriend Carl (Michael Stoyanov) slides (including an image of their space journey to Planet Spengo) from what they claim is "Santa Barbara". To end their anniversary, they share drinks on the roof, watching the stars.

Andrew Larabee teaches at a school run by his headmaster father Matthew, a traditional man who disapproves of his son's unconventional methods despite their popularity with the students. Andrew's special interest is archaeology, and he hopes to earn his father's respect through this field of study.

During the school holidays, Andrew bicycles to ancient ruins in Sussex where he believes a statue of Pan (which had been left behind by a Roman legion) can be found. Such a discovery would enable him to publish and subsequently wed Letitia Fairchild, his fiancée of five years, who insists he earn a promotion before she marries him. At the site he encounters the Gallini family traveling circus, which has been ordered to pack up and leave by the local police since the land is now property of dairy farmer Lord Elmwood. The five Gallini brothers and their cousin Selena mistake Andrew for a contractor, and when he tells them he doesn't mind if they remain, the Gallinis halt their "pulling up stakes". Lord Elmwood arrives and threatens to remove both Andrew and the circus, but Andrew realizes he's a former fellow Oxford University student with a checkered romantic past. Chastened by Andrew’s subtle threat of blackmail, Lord Elmwood agrees to give Andrew and the Gallinis a week before he starts construction on the land.

Shortly after he has begun his excavations, Andrew discovers a tunnel on the site and burrows through its ceiling and directly into the middle of the lion act during a performance. His amusingly masterful way with the animals impresses Selena, who tells him he is a born entertainer, and she teaches him to juggle. With ringmaster Antonio suffering from laryngitis, Andrew is coaxed into replacing him at the matinee. Unfortunately, Letitia and Andrew's brother Dudley arrive to check on Andrew's progress and decide to attend the circus, so Andrew is disguised as Antonio. Due to needing a lot of padding to fit into Antonio's clothes, Andrew is given a RAF safety life jacket with a whistle, smoke and emergency flares — all of which cause havoc in mid-speech and marking Andrew as a natural clown.

After the performance, Selena is overcome with jealousy at the sight of Andrew and Letitia together, and later follows Andrew into the tunnel. Andrew does some more digging, inadvertently causing a cave-in which traps both of them overnight. The following morning, Angelina the chimpanzee, who is tied to a stake by a rope, attempts to get a banana which has been thrown to her out of her reach. As Angelina pulls on the rope, the stake moves, causing the earth around it to collapse and revealing Andrew and Selena. When Antonio and his sons discover them, they accuse Andrew of improper behavior with their Selena and, to save the family honor, insist the two wed on the following Saturday.

Angelina the chimpanzee then finds the Pan statue Andrew was seeking and conceals it in her cage. Andrew convinces Selena his obligations at school override their wedding plans and he returns home, where he discovers his father has promoted him and Letitia is ready to accept him as her husband — with their marriage having also been set to take place on the following Saturday. On the night before the ceremony, Selena brings Andrew the statue of Pan which Angelina had given to her.

Because Andrew's class has performed well in their last test, the Headmaster has promised them a treat. However, when the boys choose to go to the Gallini Circus, which is due to arrive, Andrew refuses to take them there. So the boys disappear on the day of the wedding, and Andrew tracks them back to the circus. His father and brothers discover the statue of Pan, and Dudley mentions that a circus was in the field in which Andrew was searching for Pan. Accompanied by Letitia and her father, Andrew's father and brothers follow him to the circus where they find Andrew being chased by the Gallini brothers. When Andrew is confronted by two upset families, he finally clears things up and admits that he loves Selena.

Following the wedding ceremony, Andrew and Dudley leave the church arm-in-arm with Letitia. After the happy couple - Dudley and Letitia - drive away on their honeymoon, Matthew gives his blessing to Andrew, saying that Andrew was carrying on a fine family tradition (one of their ancestors, Thomas Larabee, had been a jester in the court of King James the First). A very happy Andrew then leaves with his bride-to-be Selena and the equally happy members of the Gallini family.

Throughout the 1991–1992 school year, Charlie, the 15-year-old protagonist, begins writing letters about his own life to an unknown recipient addressed, "dear friend". In these letters, he discusses his first year at high school and his struggles with two traumatic experiences: the suicide of his only middle-school friend, Michael Dobson, and the death of his favorite aunt, Helen.

His caring English teacher, who encourages Charlie to call him Bill, notices Charlie's passion for reading and writing, and acts as a mentor by assigning him extracurricular books and reports. Although he is a wallflower, Charlie is befriended by two seniors: Patrick and Sam. Patrick is secretly dating Brad, a football player, and Sam is Patrick's stepsister. Charlie quickly develops a consuming crush on Sam and subsequently admits this to her. It is revealed that Sam was sexually abused as a child, and she kisses Charlie to ensure that his first kiss is from someone who truly loves him.

Similar to his own experience, Charlie witnesses his sister's boyfriend hit her across the face, but she forbids him from telling their parents. He eventually mentions the occurrence to Bill, who tells Charlie's parents about it. Charlie's relationship with his sister rapidly deteriorates and she continues to see her boyfriend against her parents' wishes. Eventually, he discovers that his sister is pregnant and agrees to bring her to an abortion clinic without telling anyone. His sister breaks up with her boyfriend, after which her relationship with Charlie begins to improve significantly.

Charlie is accepted by Sam and Patrick's group of friends and begins experimenting with tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. At a party, Charlie trips on LSD. He cannot control his flashbacks of Aunt Helen, who died in a car crash on her way to buy him a birthday gift. He ends up in the hospital after falling asleep in the snow. At a ''Rocky Horror Picture Show'' performance, Charlie is asked to fill in as Rocky for Sam's boyfriend Craig, who was unable to attend the show that night. Their friend Mary Elizabeth is impressed and asks Charlie to the Sadie Hawkins dance and they enter into a desultory relationship. The relationship ends, however, during a game of truth or dare when Charlie is dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. He kisses Sam, and Mary Elizabeth storms out of the room in response. Following this, Patrick suggests that Charlie stay away from Sam for a while, and the rest of his friendship group shuns him. Without friends to distract Charlie from his thoughts and struggles, his flashbacks of Aunt Helen return.

Patrick and Brad's relationship is discovered by Brad's abusive father, and Brad disappears from school for a few days. Upon returning, Brad is cold and mean toward Patrick, while Patrick attempts to reconnect with him. However, when Brad derogatorily attacks Patrick's sexuality in public, Patrick physically attacks Brad until other football players join in and gang up on Patrick. Charlie joins in the fight to defend Patrick, and breaks it up, regaining the respect of Sam and her friends. Patrick begins spending most of his time with Charlie, and Patrick kisses Charlie impulsively but then apologizes. Charlie is sympathetic because he understands that Patrick is still recovering from his romance with Brad. Soon Patrick sees Brad engaging with a stranger in the park and Patrick is able to move on from the relationship.

As the school year ends, Charlie is anxious about losing his older friends—especially Sam, who is leaving for a summer college-preparatory program and has learned that her boyfriend cheated on her. When Charlie helps her pack, they talk about his feelings for her; she is angry that he never acted on them. They begin to engage sexually, but Charlie suddenly grows inexplicably uncomfortable and stops Sam. Charlie begins to realize that his sexual contact with Sam has stirred up repressed memories of him being molested by his Aunt Helen as a little boy. Charlie shows signs of PTSD from the incident and the revelation of his abuse helps the reader understand his views of relationships and love.

In an epilogue, Charlie is discovered by his parents in a catatonic state and does not show any movement despite being hit reluctantly by his father. After being admitted to a mental hospital, it is revealed that Helen actually sexually abused him when he was young—memories he had unconsciously repressed. This psychological damage explains his flashbacks and derealization phases throughout the book. In two months, Charlie is released, and Sam and Patrick visit him. In the epilogue, Sam, Patrick, and Charlie go through the tunnel again and Charlie stands up and exclaims that he feels infinite.

Charlie eventually comes to terms with his past: "Even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there". Charlie decides to "participate" in life, and his letter-writing ends.

The film stars Don McKellar as Pokey Jones, an orphaned barber in a small town near Thunder Bay, who dreams of becoming a jazz musician. One morning, Jones discovers a frozen corpse (Steve Fall) in his backyard, and soon meets Jackie Bangs (Valerie Buhagiar), a tough and mysterious roadie who claims the dead man is her brother.

Jackie's real intention is to use the body, a vagrant unknown to anyone in town, to smuggle stolen drugs into the United States. She convinces Pokey to use his parents' car, which has not been driven in decades, to drive her to New Orleans to bury her brother. So Jackie and Pokey set out along Highway 61, coffin strapped to the top of the car, and follow Bob Dylan's famous U.S. Highway 61 south through the heart of the United States. They are pursued by Mr. Skin (Earl Pastko), who believes he is Satan and wants to claim the body because the dead man sold Mr. Skin his soul.

Peter Breck is fourth-billed as Mr. Watson, the "stage-mom" father of three girls: Mississippi (Missy), Minnesota (Minnie), and Louisiana (Louise). The film also includes cameo appearances by Tav Falco, Jello Biafra, and Art Bergmann.

The film's soundtrack album includes songs by Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Rita Chiarelli, Nash the Slash, Acid Test, Jellyfishbabies, and Tom Jones. Nash the Slash also composed the film's instrumental score.

In 2001, ''Playback'' named ''Highway 61'' the 15th best Canadian film since 1986. McDonald won "Best Director" honours at both San Sebastián International Film Festival and Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film.

In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner invests his entire life savings in portable bone-density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy improvement over standard X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in Chris's life. While he is able to sell most of them, the time lag between the sales and his growing financial demands enrage his already bitter and alienated wife, Linda, who works as a hotel maid. The economic instability increasingly erodes their marriage, despite caring for Christopher Jr., their soon-to-be five-year-old son.

While Gardner is trying to sell one of the scanners, he meets Jay Twistle, a lead manager and partner for Dean Witter Reynolds, and impresses him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a taxi ride. After Jay leaves, Gardner lacks the money to pay the fare and chooses to run instead, causing the driver to angrily chase him into a BART station. Gardner boards a train but loses one of his scanners in the process. His new relationship with Jay earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. The day before the interview, Gardner grudgingly agrees to paint his apartment to postpone being evicted due to his difficulty in paying the rent. While painting, Gardner is greeted by two policemen at his doorstep, who take him to the station, stating he has to pay for the numerous parking tickets he has accumulated. As part of the sanction, Gardner is ordered to spend the night in jail instead, complicating his schedule for the interview the following day. Gardner arrives at Dean Witter's office on time, albeit still in his shabby clothes. Despite his appearance, he impresses the interviewers and lands a six-month unpaid internship. He would be amongst 20 interns competing for a paid position as a stockbroker.

Gardner's unpaid internship does not please Linda, who eventually leaves for New York, because she might get a job at her sister's boyfriend's new restaurant. After Gardner bluntly tells her that she is incapable of being a single parent, she agrees that Christopher will remain with Chris. Gardner is further set back when the IRS garnishes his bank account for unpaid income taxes, and he and Christopher are evicted. He ends up with less than $22, resulting in them being homeless, and they are forced at one point to stay in a restroom at a BART station. Other days, he and Christopher spend nights at a homeless shelter, in BART, or, if he manages to procure sufficient cash, at a hotel. Later, Gardner finds the bone scanner that he lost in the BART station earlier and, after repairing it, sells it to a physician, thus completing all sales of his scanners.

Disadvantaged by his limited work hours and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the broker position, Gardner develops several ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently, including reaching out to potential high-value customers and defying protocol. One sympathetic prospect, Walter Ribbon, a top-level pension fund manager, even takes Gardner and his son to a San Francisco 49ers game where he befriends some of Walter's friends who are also potential clients. Regardless of his challenges, he never reveals his lowly circumstances to his colleagues, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses, Mr. Frohm, five dollars for cab fare, a sum he cannot afford. Gardner also studies for and aces the stockbroker license exam.

As he concludes his last day of internship, he is summoned to a meeting with the partners. Mr. Frohm notes he is wearing a new shirt, to which Gardner explains he thought it appropriate to dress for the occasion on his last day. Mr. Frohm smiles and says he should wear another one tomorrow, letting him know he has won the coveted full-time position and reimburses him for the previous cab ride. Fighting back tears, Gardner shakes hands with the partners, then rushes to his son's daycare to embrace Christopher. They walk down the street, joking with each other (and are passed by the real Chris Gardner, in a business suit). The epilogue reveals that Gardner went on to form his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm.

Laurel and Hardy are spending a night in with the kids. The fathers are playing checkers and pool, but are constantly distracted by their own incompetence and by their children, who are constantly bullying each other and trying to stay up late. The film begins with Stan and Ollie playing a game of checkers, and Stan Jr. and Ollie Jr. playing with blocks. They smash a vase and are sent to bed. Ollie Jr. is pushed into a full bath and chases Stan Jr. out (leaving the taps and the shower on), but slips on the soap causing part of the ceiling to crash onto the pool table. Stan and Ollie are furious and rush upstairs, only to find their junior versions in bed pretending to be asleep. When both boys ask for a drink of water, Oliver opens the door to the by-now flooded bathroom, and the water gushes out from the bathroom in a torrent, bowling them over in a drenched heap as the film ends.

Players take control of a mercenary that has been contracted to complete a number of strategic military missions. Each mission completed earns the player money, and the more money that is accumulated, the more sophisticated aircraft the player can purchase. Players select from a myriad of fighters and take to the skies to defend a newly independent Republic of Laconia from its many enemies.

The first mission involves a preemptive strike against numerous fighter planes that are planning to bomb the Laconian capital city of Naxos.

The game centers around the Federated Republic of Dzavailar. Ethnic tension and religious debate have caused the Republic to split into independent states. The defenseless Republic of Laconia is in dire need of military support. Rebels from the former Federated Republic of Dzavailar have decided to reunite a territory long divided by ethnic conflict. After years of civil war, Laconia is the only republic left standing and has asked a mercenary defense organization, Airforce Delta, to help keep it from falling to the dreaded unification movement.

As a commissioned lieutenant assigned to the Delta Squadron, the pilot is about to embark on a series of over 20 missions in very hostile territories.

A group of terrorists have stolen the World's Coalition's satellite. The Confidential Mission Force (CMF) sends two of its agents, Howard Gibson and Jean Clifford, to investigate. They first infiltrate a museum, where they find out "Agares" is behind the plot of stealing the satellite. As soon as they grab the disc with the information, one of the Agares leaders prevent them from getting the disc. After they retrieve the disc, they are sent to a train traveling through the mountains. There, they find out that Agares has kidnapped satellite programmer Irina Mikhailova and forced her to reprogram the satellite. Howard and Jean manage to rescue Irina but are stopped by the General, whom they eventually defeat in a fierce firefight. With the help of Irina, CMF locates Agares Headquarters, where the satellite control is being transported to a submarine. Howard and Jean manage to make it through the base and find the Agares Ringleader, who plans to use the satellite to destroy the CMF's headquarters. After being defeated, the leader uses a self-destruct sequence on Agares's base and escapes in a submarine. If the player succeeds in the final quick time event, the two agents manage to use the satellite to destroy the submarine and deep-six the Ringleader. Howard and Jean then escape, thus saving the rest of the CMF from being destroyed.

Fame Douglas, founder and CEO of DOATEC was killed at the end of the 20th century. He was renowned as the sponsor of the legendary Dead or Alive World Combat Championship. After his death, the world began to become chaotic. In the middle of the chaos, it was announced that the second Dead or Alive World Combat Championship will be held.

The purpose and significance of the tournament changed after Douglas' death. The promoter of the second Dead or Alive Championship, who is fond of conflicts and jealous of the strong, is responsible for Douglas's death. The new promoter, Victor Donovan, is more than a corrupt mastermind, but a man of pure evil. His involvement in the tournament began to bring a sense of terror to the world, resulting in the infamous tengu disaster.

Set less than a year later after the original tournament, an evil tengu known as Gohyakumine Bankotsubo, or just Tengu, escapes from the tengu world and threatens the human world's peace and stability. Tengu considers all functions of the human world to be insignificant, and claims that all disasters are nothing more than illusions he has brought about. Kasumi, who won the first tournament was captured by the DOATEC Super-human Development Project and was unwillingly used in the organization's attempt to develop a physical body with superhuman abilities. Kasumi escapes, but her clone "Kasumi X" was created while she was being held captive. Kasumi's brother Hayate, previously injured by Raidou, was also captured and was unwillingly used as a subject of DOATEC's bio-weapon experiment, Epsilon. Modifications were made to Hayate's nervous system, but failed to produce an improvement in the project. As a result, the experiment became a failure.

Ryu Hayabusa (from ''Ninja Gaiden'') enters the tournament vowing to seek and destroy the evil tengu. Though a dangerous, suicidal task for any ordinary man, Hayabusa owes it to himself and to mankind to confront his fate. Hayabusa tries to warn other competitors like Jann Lee about the dangers of the tournament, but finds them unwilling to backdown, so he proceeds to knock them out of the tournament. He later meets a competitor named Ein, who is actually the missing Hayate suffering from amnesia. During their fight, Hayabusa defeats him and restores some semblance of his memory. Eventually, Hayabusa comes face to face with the evil Tengu. He defeats and kills Tengu, winning the tournament.

Seven warriors are challenged to head on a quest to find three powerful elements of Sun, Moon and Stars. Whoever brings the elements to the Potion God will be rewarded the legendary Almighty Potion and all its magical powers.

Seven-year-old Jennie (Heather Miller) has been abandoned by her parents and left in the care of her aunt Bee (Petula Clark) and uncle Jim (John Castle). Jennie is treated poorly by her two elder cousins, and taking her lead from the story ''Peter and Wendy'', she runs away from home with her younger cousin Joe (Christian Henson). She finds shelter in an abandoned London townhouse occupied by a gang of young ruffians, and becomes the equivalent of Wendy, role-playing "mother" to the Lost Boys. An old woman named Edith Forbes (Cathleen Nesbitt, in her final screen performance) befriends the girl.

The show centers around a group of five animal neighbors: Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin. They share a large backyard between their houses. In each episode, they meet in the backyard and imagine themselves on a fantastical adventure. Their adventures span a variety of different genres and settings; many episodes involve visiting different parts of the world, traveling back or forward in time, and using magic or supernatural powers. The characters give themselves different jobs or roles depending on the episode's imaginary setting, such as detectives, knights, or scientists. From the second season onward, many episodes are parodies of action-adventure films such as ''James Bond'', ''Star Trek'', ''Indiana Jones'', and ''Ghostbusters''.

The openings and endings of the episodes follow a similar pattern. The stories begin with the characters in the backyard, introducing themselves and explaining the scenario they are about to imagine. When the Backyardigans finish their adventure, the fantasy sequence fades, restoring the original backyard setting. The characters sing a closing song, then walk inside their houses for a snack and close the door. As the episode ends, at least one character reopens the door and shouts a phrase related to the adventure.

The show follows the format of a stage musical. Each episode is set to a different genre of music and features four songs. The characters sing and dance to the songs with original choreography. The song and dance routines are often used to introduce a character's imaginary role, further the plot, or explain a problem. In addition to singing songs in a new genre each episode, the show's background music changes to match, scoring all of the Backyardigans' actions.

California boarding school student and New York teen Jake Wilkinson has not been home to Larchmont, New York for any holidays following his biological mother's death and his father's remarriage 10 months later. A few days before Christmas Eve, his father offers to give him his vintage 1957 Porsche 356 if he arrives to their home by 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve for Christmas dinner. Initially, Jake had traded in his airline ticket to New York City for two tickets to Cabo San Lucas to take his girlfriend, beautiful Allie Henderson, who is also from New York. When she declines, Jake reconsiders his father's deal and retrades the tickets back to New York. Allie agrees to ride with him.

With his trio of goons, fellow student and notorious school bully Eddie Taffet, Jake's nemesis and rival for Allie's affections, leaves Jake in the desert dressed as Santa Claus as a punishment for not getting an exam cheat sheet (a deal they had that Eddie secretly sabotaged on purpose). While Jake is stuck in the California desert, Eddie ends up giving a reluctant Allie a ride to New York after she thinks Jake bailed on her again.

Jake has only three days to get to Larchmont if he wants the car. He stumbles upon Nolan, a simple-minded thief who is driving stolen kitchen goods to his dealer near New York. A police officer named Max pulls them over in Red Cliff, Colorado for speeding, so Jake lies that Nolan is his elf, Snowpuff, and they're donating the goods to the children's hospital. The officer invites them to accompany him to North Platte, Nebraska to help him win back his wife Marjorie.

Meanwhile, Allie convinces Eddie to stay the night at a novelty hotel in a Bavarian village, the Edelbruck in Amana, Iowa. They are unknowingly standing beneath mistletoe when a news anchor is reporting live. Jake sees them kiss while he's waiting at the bus station in Nebraska and develops a scheme to convince the bus driver to drop him off at the Bavarian village. He obtains a cooler and a slab of meat, writes Allie's name and address on the cooler, and convinces the whole busload that the cooler needs to be delivered to a little girl at the hospital in the Bavarian village for a transplant.

After Allie lets Jake into her and Eddie's room, Eddie walks out of the shower only clad in a towel and Jake assumes he and Allie have slept together. Jake and Allie make up until Jake blurts out that Eddie prevented him from getting home by 6 PM. Upset that Jake cares more about the car than about her, Allie storms onto the bus and takes Jake's seat.

Jake and Eddie drive off. Eddie suddenly becomes jealous realizing that Jake will get Allie ''and'' the Porsche if he makes it home, and throws Jake out of his car somewhere in Wisconsin. Jake decides to enter a Santa Claus race for a chance to win the $1,000 prize to buy an airline ticket to New York. Eddie is arrested after insulting (and possibly doing more to) two police officers dressed as Christmas trees patrolling the race. While registering for the race, Jake meets a nice man named Jeff Wilson, whom he barely beats in the race. But en route to the airport, the taxi driver informs Jake that Jeff is actually the mayor of the town; he usually wins the race every year and uses the prize money to buy food for the impoverished. Jake feels bad and gives the money to the Mayor.

Jake talks to his sister, who arranges for an airline ticket for him from Madison, Wisconsin. A staff for his intended airline doesn't allow Jake board because he has no photographic identification, so he stows away in a dog kennel on a cargo aircraft with a large dog named Ringo. From the airport he hides on a train, tries to hitch a ride in a car, then steals a one-horse open sleigh from the local parade. When he reaches his street, he apologizes to Allie and they make up. Jake rides the sleigh home, arrives at 5:59 PM, and intentionally waits until 6:00 PM to go inside so he isn't in time to get the Porsche. When his father offers it to him anyway, he refuses. He also finally accepts his stepmother. The Wilkinsons and Allie get into the sleigh just as the parade arrives and join the procession.

Stan and Ollie play door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen in California. They end up getting into an escalating feud with grumpy would-be customer James Finlayson. Goaded by their repeated attempts to sell him a Christmas tree, he destroys it with hedge-clippers. Laurel and Hardy retaliate by damaging the man's doorframe with a knife. Finlayson then goes to work on their clothes, and this escalates, with his home and their car being destroyed in the melee (after Finlayson has run out of Christmas trees to mangle). A police officer (Tiny Sandford) steps in to stop the fight (after vases are thrown out and smashed, and one hits him on the foot) and negotiates a peaceful resolution. Stan and Ollie give the homeowner a cigar as a peace offering. However, as the pair make their escape and the homeowner happily lights the gratis smoking-device, it is revealed to be a "trick" cigar rigged with a hidden powder-charge, which promptly explodes in his face.

Mike Enslin is a writer of non-fiction works based on the theme of haunted places: ''Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses'', ''Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Graveyards'', and ''Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Castles''. They prove to be best-sellers, but Enslin feels some guilt at their success, privately acknowledging that he does not believe in the paranormal and supernatural elements he investigates.

Arriving at the Dolphin Hotel on 61st Street in New York City, Enslin is intent on spending the night in the hotel's infamous Room 1408 as part of his research for his next book, ''Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Hotel Rooms''. He is met by the hotel's manager, Mr. Olin, who fills him in on the room's morbid history – 1408 has been responsible for 42 deaths, at least 12 of them suicides, over a span of 68 years. While remarking he does not believe there are ghosts in 1408, Olin insists there is "something" that resides inside, causing terrible things to happen to anyone who stays within its walls for anything but the briefest periods of time. As such, he has striven to keep the room vacant during his tenure as manager, a period of nearly 20 years. Olin also reveals that, due to the superstitious practice of never recognizing the 13th floor (the room is listed as being on the 14th), it is a room cursed by existing on the 13th floor, the room numbers adding up to 13 making it all the worse.

Enslin is secretly affected by Olin's remarks and evidence, but his determination to not appear superstitious and follow through with his research wins out. He demands the right to stay in the room by threatening legal action against the hotel. Olin pleads with Enslin to reconsider, believing that a skeptic would be highly susceptible to the room's powers. At Enslin's continued insistence, Olin reluctantly leads him to 1408, unwilling to accompany him farther than the elevator landing on the 14th floor.

Enslin's problems with Room 1408 begin before he even sets foot through the door; the door itself initially appears to be canted to the left. After looking away and back, the door appears perfectly straight. Then, after looking a third time, it appears to be crooked again, except now to the right. Chalking the experience up to Olin's attempt to manipulate him, he girds himself and enters the room.

Enslin spends 70 minutes in Room 1408, dictating his experience into a handheld tape recorder. Almost immediately, his train of thought takes unwelcome and chaotic turns — he compares it to being "stoned on bad, cheap dope" — and he experiences bizarre visual hallucinations. A breakfast menu on the night-stand changes languages to French, then Russian, then Italian, then a woodcut of a wolf eating a screaming boy's leg. The patterns on the wallpaper seems to shift and warp, and the room's pictures transform into grotesque parodies. Enslin feels his feet sink into the carpet like quicksand, and he hears a nightmarish voice on the room's phone chanting terrifying phrases: "This is nine! Nine! We have killed your friends! Every friend is now dead! This is six! Six!"

The room itself begins to melt, the walls and ceiling warping and bowing inward. Enslin senses a dangerous, otherworldly presence coming for him. In desperation, he sets his "lucky" Hawaiian shirt on fire while wearing it, breaking the room's spell long enough for him to escape. Stumbling out into the hall, another hotel guest douses him with ice. When the other guest looks inside the room and is tempted to enter, Enslin warns him not to, claiming the room is "haunted". The door slams shut.

After his ordeal, Enslin gives up writing altogether. He has acquired various physical and psychological problems stemming from his brief stay in the room. He notes to himself (as Olin expressed earlier) that there are no ghosts in 1408, because ghosts were once merely humans, while the entity he encountered was horrifically inhuman. In the end, Enslin sleeps with his lights on, has removed all his house's phones, and always draws the curtains before dark; he cannot stand the shade of yellow-orange at sunset that reminds him of the light inside Room 1408.

When Fred wins the big prize on the "Make A Deal or Don't" game show, he and Wilma plan a vacation with Barney and Betty to Count Rockula's spooky castle in Rocksylvania which has now been turned into a tourist resort. Unfortunately, during the trip, Fred and Barney accidentally stumble across Rockula's old laboratory, where his unfinished Frankenstone monster sleeps, and forget to close the window when they leave the lab. Lightning subsequently strikes the machines in the lab, and provide Frankenstone with life. Frankenstone awakens Rockula (who has been asleep for the past five hundred years, thus explaining his disappearance) from his secret crypt, and the two scare everyone out of the hotel, except for the Flintstones and the Rubbles, who had gone to bed early due to jet lag.

Rockula and Frankenstone eventually discover the Flintstones and Rubbles, and Rockula mistakes Wilma for his long-lost bride and vows to make her his, even if it means killing Fred. Wilma initially mistakes Rockula for the hotel manager, Mr. Silika, who had dressed up as Rockula, for quite some time until Rockula turns into a bat in front of her. As Fred, Barney and Betty discover Wilma's absence and begin searching for her, Wilma flees and a long cat-and-mouse chase ensues all over the castle. Rockula finds and corners Fred, but is scared off by Barney, wearing a werewolf mask. The couples eventually end up cornered inside the Rubbles' room. Fred challenges Rockula to a fight, using a bat statuette as a weapon, but the statuette turns out to actually be the switch for the trapdoor to Rockula's laboratory, which Rockula and Frankenstone were unknowingly standing on. As Fred raises the statuette to strike, both Rockula and Frankenstone fall through the trapdoor, and the Flintstones and Rubbles escape and return to Bedrock. Wilma invites Betty and Barney to stay for dinner and leaves the three of them in the living room while she goes into the kitchen to cook.

Unbeknownst to them, Rockula has flown (in the form of a bat) all the way from Rocksylvania to Bedrock. Flying through the kitchen window, he begs Wilma to marry him, promising her a life of luxury if she agrees. Winking at Fred, Barney and Betty (watching surreptitiously from the doorway), Wilma agrees to consider marrying Rockula, then immediately begins nagging him about chores, upkeep of the house, and his bad habits. Aghast, Rockula (apparently forgetting that most chores would be left to the servants) changes back into a bat and flies off, claiming to need another 500 years of rest. Barney laughs and lauds Wilma for defeating Rockula by telling him "the real truth about married life".

Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm do not appear in the story; no explanation is given for their absence.

Ford Fairlane is seen sitting on a beach smoking as the film opens. A flashback initiates, showing a roaring crowd at a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado given by fictional popular heavy metal band The Black Plague. Lead singer Bobby Black makes an eccentric entrance down a zip-line from Creation Rock onto the stage and begins performing. Shortly into one of the band's songs, Bobby Black starts gagging and collapses dead on stage.

After the lead singer of The Black Plague is murdered onstage, shock-jock Johnny Crunch, an old friend who came west with Fairlane, hires Ford to track down a mysterious teenage groupie named Zuzu Petals, who may have a connection to Black's death.

Soon after hiring Fairlane, Crunch is electrocuted on the air. The world's hippest detective soon finds himself trading insults with ruthless record executive Julian Grendel, a clueless cop and former disco star, Lt. Amos, a merciless hit man named Smiley and countless ex-girlfriends out for his blood. Aiding and abetting Fairlane is loyal assistant Jazz and a hip record producer at the head of a bizarre lineup of suspects, victims, beautiful women, and a koala as he finds himself hip-deep in the case of his life.

The MacGuffin of the film is three data CDs which, when read simultaneously, detail the illegal dealings of Julian Grendel, who was getting rich from bootlegging his record company's music and murdered Bobby Black when he found out Black had acquired the CDs with the incriminating evidence. Both of Fairlane's beloved possessions, his house and his car, are blown to bits, courtesy of Grendel.

The first disc was with Colleen Sutton, the second with Zuzu Petals, and the third disc was hidden under the star for Art Mooney on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

It is later revealed that Grendel killed Bobby Black and Johnny Crunch, as he considered them both greedy and stupid because they wanted more money for their involvement in pirating CDs to sell to the highest bidder, making Grendel Records and the rest of the music industry corrupt. However, Fairlane kills Grendel by setting him on fire with a flammable alcoholic milkshake and a cigarette. Jazz leaves Fairlane, knowing how ungrateful he is for everything that has happened. Smiley shows up and plans to kill Ford, but not before revealing that he killed his young neighbor's [the Kid's] father. Ford distracts him and kills Smiley with a sleeve pistol. Jazz and Ford decide to reconcile, while the Kid decides to join their detective agency. Ford wins a million-dollar radio contest and buys a yacht. He sails away with Jazz, the Kid and the koala (now in a neck brace). They're all now one big happy family.

After writing a series of articles about a pedophilia scandal, the journalist Ji-won often receives threatening calls on her cell phone. Hence she changes her number and moves to an empty house which is owned by her sister Ho-jung and Ho-jung's husband Chang-hoon. One day, Ho-jung's daughter Young-ju answers an anonymous phone call to Ji-won's new number, then screams and passes out. Days after, Young-ju begins to show a disturbing attraction for her father and jealous rejection towards her mother. Meanwhile Ji-won gets more anonymous calls and sees a long-haired ghost playing Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano. She finds out that her number originally belonged to a missing teenager, Jin-hee, and that its two subsequent owners had died mysteriously in unusual circumstances.

Ji-won visits Jin-hee's mother at their home and finds a diary and a picture of Jin-hee and Jin-hee's best friend, Sang-mi. Ji-won goes to Sang-mi who is now-blind and deaf. Since Sang-mi was haunted by Jin-hee's spirit, she decides to stab her own eyes and ears to make it leave her. She says that before she went missing, Jin-hee was obsessively in love with an older man whom she tried hard to practice "Moonlight Sonata" to impress. However they broke up even though she was pregnant with his child. Ji-won explains to Young-ju's parents that Young-ju could be in danger, but Chang-hoon's refusal to accept it upsets Ji-won. In Ji-won's flashback, it is shown that Ho-jung had been infertile, so Ji-won gave Ho-jung her egg for in vitro fertilisation in order to conceive Young-ju. In this sense, Young-ju is not Ji-won's niece but her biological daughter, whom she loves and cares deeply for.

Ji-won continues her investigation into Jin-hee's diary. In surprise and shock, she learns that Jin-hee's lover was indeed Chang-hoon. He used to cheat on his wife by bringing Jin-hee to the house Ji-won is staying at, but soon after Jin-hee became overly-attached, he, despite her pleas, broke it off, as he never wanted to leave his family. Jin-hee found out she was pregnant and called Chang-hoon repeatedly but he ignored her. Believing that Chang-hoon has something to do with Jin-hee's disappearance (more likely death), Ji-won threatens to tell his wife if he does not cooperate. Young-ju, who is possessed by Jin-hee's ghost, goes to Ji-won's house, in Bang Bae, jumps down the stairs and is hospitalized. Ji-won searches the entire house and finds Jin-hee's dead-body hidden inside one of the walls. At this point, Chang-hoon arrives and sees everything. They run away before getting knocked unconscious by Ho-jung.

Ho-jung confesses that she discovered the affair years ago and confronted Jin-hee. In her denial, Jin-hee fooled herself that Chang-hoon truly loved her, and mocked Ho-jung's infertility. Ho-jung told Jin-hee to abort, which made her mad, resulting in a fight. By accident, Ho-jung pushed Jin-hee down the stairs and killed her. Ho-jung hid Jin-hee's body inside the wall and plastered cement over it. With no regret, Ho-jung claims that aside from being jealous of Jin-hee, she is also jealous of Ji-won, who secretly shares with Ho-jung the motherhood of her daughter. Ho-jung then stages a suicide for Chang-hoon, who has died, making it seem that he was guilty for both Jin-hee and Ji-won's deaths before killing himself in the bathtub.

Ho-jung plans to burn the house down with gasoline. However, Jin-hee's spirit awakens and, in revenge, strangles Ho-jung to death, thus saving Ji-won. The film ends with Ji-won dropping the cursed cell phone into the ocean. After it enters the water, it rings.

Narabedla Ltd. is a corporation that is owned by aliens and run by their human agents. The main character is an accountant who specializes in doing the tax returns of singers, dancers, and other performers. He had been majoring in singing himself, with a minor in accounting, when he comes down with an adult case of mumps. Mumps makes one's glands swell. It can ruin a singing voice by making the glands in the throat swell and it can make a man's testes swell, rendering him impotent.

The main character notices some of his clients disappearing. Their disappearances follow a similar pattern. They are talented, but bad reviews or other kinds of bad luck have prevented them achieving full success. They experience a period of no gigs. They confide in the main character that they have signed mysterious contracts for a long, lucrative tour of private gigs. Then they disappear. What his clients are not aware of is that their tour will be for aliens, on alien planets.

The main character does some amateur detective work. He begins to suspect that the President of the mysterious Narabedla corporation is involved. He gets knocked out and wakes up on an alien planet dozens of light years away from Earth. His imprisonment is quite pleasant. There is a small community of Earth artists, some of whom are perfectly happy spending the rest of their lives performing before appreciative alien audiences. The main character decides that he will try to escape.

Keawe, a poor Native Hawaiian, buys a strange unbreakable bottle from a sad, elderly gentleman who credits the bottle with his fortune. He promises that an imp residing in the bottle will also grant Keawe his every desire.

Of course, there is a catch. The bottle must be sold, for cash, at a loss, i.e. for less than its owner originally paid, and cannot be thrown or given away, or else it will magically return to him. All of these rules must be explained by each seller to each purchaser. If an owner of the bottle dies without having sold it in the prescribed manner, that person's soul will burn for eternity in Hell.

The bottle was said to have been brought to Earth by the Devil and first purchased by Prester John for millions; it was owned by Napoleon and Captain James Cook and accounted for their great successes. By the time of the story the price has diminished to fifty dollars.

Keawe buys the bottle and instantly tests it by wishing his money to be refunded, and by trying to sell it for more than he paid and abandoning it, to test if the story is true. When these all work as described, he realizes the bottle does indeed have unholy power. He wishes for his heart's desire: a big, fancy mansion on a landed estate, and finds his wish granted, but at a price: his beloved uncle and cousins have been killed in a boating accident, leaving Keawe sole heir to his uncle's fortune. Keawe is horrified, but uses the money to build his house. Having all he wants, and being happy, he explains the risks to a friend who buys the bottle from him.

Keawe lives a happy life, but there is something missing. Walking along the beach one night, he meets a beautiful woman, Kokua. They soon fall in love and become engaged. Keawe's happiness is shattered on the night of his betrothal, when he discovers that he has contracted the then-incurable disease of leprosy. He must give up his house and wife, and live in Kalaupapa—a remote community for lepers—unless he can recover the bottle and use it to cure himself.

Keawe begins this quest by attempting to track down the friend to whom he sold the bottle, but the friend has become suddenly wealthy and left Hawaii. Keawe traces the path of the bottle through many buyers and eventually finds a Haole of Beritania Street, Honolulu. The man of European ancestry has both good and bad news for Keawe: (a) he owns the bottle and is very willing to sell, but (b) he had only paid two cents for it. Therefore, if Keawe buys it, he will not be able to resell it.

Keawe decides to buy the bottle anyway, for the price of one cent, and indeed cures himself. Now, however, he is understandably despondent: how can he possibly enjoy life, knowing his doom? His wife mistakes his depression for regret at their marriage, and asks for a divorce. Keawe confesses to her his secret.

His wife suggests they sail, with the bottle, to Tahiti; on that archipelago the colonists of French Polynesia use centimes, a coin worth one fifth of an American cent. This offers a potential recourse for Keawe.

When they arrive, however, the suspicious natives will not touch the cursed bottle. Kokua determines to make a supreme sacrifice to save her husband from his fate. Since, however, she knows he would never sell the bottle to her knowingly, Kokua is forced to bribe an old sailor to buy the bottle for four centimes, with the understanding that she will secretly buy it back for three. Now Keawe is happy, but she carries the curse.

Keawe discovers what his wife has done, and resolves to sacrifice himself for her in the same manner. He arranges for a brutish boatswain to buy the bottle for two centimes, promising he will buy it back for one, thus sealing his doom. However, the drunken sailor refuses to part with it, and is unafraid of the prospect of Hell. "I reckon I'm going anyway," he says.

Keawe returns to his wife, both of them free from the curse, and the reader is encouraged to believe that they live happily ever after.

In ''Zoot Suit'', Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial — when a group of young Mexican-Americans were charged with murder — resulting in the racially fueled Zoot Suit Riots throughout Los Angeles. In the play, Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Hank Leyvas) is a pachuco gangster and his gang, who were unfairly prosecuted, are thrown in jail for a murder they did not commit. The play is set in the barrios of Los Angeles in the early 1940s against the backdrop of the Zoot Suit Riots and World War II. As in the play, Edward James Olmos portrays El Pachuco, an idealized Zoot Suiter, who functions as narrator throughout the story and serves as Henry's conscience.

The plot of the book concerns Yambo (full name: Giambattista Bodoni, just like the typographer Giambattista Bodoni), a 59-year-old Milanese antiquarian book dealer who loses his episodic memory due to a stroke. At the beginning of the novel, he can remember everything he has ever read but does not remember his family, his past, or even his own name. Yambo decides to go to Solara, his childhood home, parts of which he has abandoned following a family tragedy, to see if he can rediscover his lost past. After days of searching through old newspapers, vinyl records, books, magazines and childhood comic books, he is unsuccessful in regaining memories, though he relives the story of his generation and the society in which his dead parents and grandfather lived. Ready to abandon his quest, he discovers a copy of the original First Folio of 1623 among his grandfather's books, the shock of which causes another incident, during which he relives his lost memories of childhood. The final section of the book is, therefore, a literary exploration of the traditional phenomenon whereby a person's life flashes before him or her, as Yambo struggles to regain the one memory he seeks above all others: the face of the girl he loved ever since he was a student.

Umberto Eco includes myriad references to both scholarly and popular culture in the book (notably the ''Flash Gordon'' strips) and has drawn heavily on his own experiences growing up in Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Like other Eco novels, ''The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana'' boasts abundant intertextuality.

The game loosely follows the plot of ''The Phantom Menace'' and begins as two Jedi are sent to negotiate an agreement between the corrupt Trade Federation and the royal government of Naboo. The meeting turns out to be a trap and the two Jedi manage to fight their way through battle droids on the Trade Federation ship. The pair eventually make it to the planet's surface, where they fight through the swamps that eventually lead to the streets of Naboo's capital city, Theed. In the ensuing battle the Jedi are forced to flee with Naboo's Queen Amidala and several trusted members of her court on her starship.

The group arrives on Tatooine, where they hope to acquire parts to repair the Queen's ship. The environment proves hostile, and the Jedi are forced to defend themselves against Tusken Raiders and an attack by a dark-robed assassin while the parts are acquired. The group eventually makes their way to Coruscant, where a group of criminals instigate an attack. The Jedi fight their way through the attackers to see the queen to the Galactic Senate building. Concerned for the welfare of her planet and finding no hope in the apathetic Senate, the Queen and Jedi return to Naboo to liberate the city of Theed from the control of the Trade Federation.

Now allied with the Gungans of Naboo, the two Jedi fight their way through Gungan ruins to the city. They arrive and liberate a pair of droid STAPs. Utilizing the vehicle's limber controls and fast firing weaponry, they fight their way to the royal palace. Upon arriving the Jedi scale the side of the palace, using their force abilities to jump from platform to platform until they ascend to the top. Arriving, they find their progress blocked by the Sith apprentice Darth Maul, who had previously tried to kill them on Tatooine. The Sith engages the two Jedi as they push through the palace's generator complex. The Jedi gain the upper hand and Maul is defeated. The Jedi celebrate their victory with Boss Nass, leader of the Gungans, and Queen Amidala in a large celebration within the city of Theed.

Creek Indian Wars

Two Tennessee wilderness settlers, Davy Crockett and his best friend George Russell (son of Captain William Russell and Agness H. Mccollough), volunteer to fight with General Andrew Jackson and Major Tobias Norton in the Creek War (1813-1814). They return home after a successful battle, to make sure their families have enough provisions for the winter, rejoining a short time later to find the Americans at a stalemate against the Creeks, with Jackson having gone to New Orleans. Against Norton's orders, Crockett and Russell scout for Creek positions, and Russell is captured.

Crockett tracks the Creeks to their camp, where he challenges the remaining Creek chief, Red Stick, to a tomahawk duel for Russell's life. Crockett wins, but agrees to spare Red Stick's life in exchange for his signing the American peace treaty.

Off to Congress

Crockett and Russell head west to scout virgin territory being opened for settlement, planning to send for Davy's family once a cabin has been built. They acquire a claim after beating Bigfoot Mason in a shooting contest. They learn that Mason is running Native Americans off their land in order to resell it, and befriend a family of Cherokee refugees Mason has victimized. Crockett offers to become the magistrate for the area. Crockett defeats Mason in hand-to-hand combat before arresting him and his surviving accomplice (the other one having been shot dead when he tried to shoot Crockett).

Crockett is convinced to run for the state legislature against Amos Thorpe, a corrupt politician in league with men trying to claim Cherokee lands, who is running unopposed. He then receives a letter from his sister-in-law telling him that his wife has died of a fever. Crockett wins the election handily and becomes a popular member of the Tennessee General Assembly. He reunites with Norton and Andrew Jackson, who is running for President of the United States and convinces him to run for the United States House of Representatives.

After he enters Congress, Norton, trying to pass a bill to usurp Native American treaty lands, has Crockett embark on a speaking tour across the eastern United States to distract him, but Russell learns of the bill and brings Crockett back to Washington to argue against it. Crockett tears the bill in half before leaving, ending his political career.

The Alamo

Crockett decides to join the Battle of the Alamo (1836), joined by George Russell. While traveling to San Antonio, they are joined by Thimblerig, a riverboat gambler, and Busted Luck, a Comanche tribesman. Reaching the Alamo, they join its defense, though Colonel James Bowie confides that their supplies are dangerously low. Russell manages to slip through the enemy lines to try to bring back help, only to return empty-handed. The Texan garrison withstands several attacks from Mexican troops before being overcome. George Russell, Thimblerig, Busted Luck, Travis, and a bedridden Colonel Bowie are all killed, leaving Crockett the sole defender standing. Crockett is last seen swinging his rifle against the encroaching Mexicans; the scene then fades to a shot of the Lone Star Flag and Crockett's journal closing on its last entry "March 6, 1836 - Liberty and Independence Forever!", accompanied by a reprise of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".

Abbey includes the following paragraph to introduce this book:

The hero of the story is John Vogelin, a New Mexico rancher whose land is about to be condemned by the United States Air Force, who want to use his land to expand a bombing range. He is the last holdout among the several people whose land the Air Force wants, and he refuses to move. The story of his resistance to being thrown off his land and his death is told through the eyes of his grandson, who is visiting the ranch for the summer.

Many of the other characters in the book refer to Jonathan Troy as the golden boy. He's a senior at the local high school and they call him that because he has everything: Looks, intelligence and talent. But he is not an easy character for the reader to like. We're given an insight into the mind of a teen-age boy, where he holds nearly everyone he meets in contempt—especially his father, Nathaniel, and his favorite teacher, Feathersmith.

The book is written as a series of different events, almost none of them related. Jonathan has had an ongoing relationship with one girl, Etheline. But once he finally succeeds in seducing her, he begins to lose interest, especially when she starts talking about marriage. A chance meeting with a new girl in town, Leafy, gives him new inspiration and he begins pursuit of her.

Abbey also introduces the only major gay character in any of his eight novels, Phillip Feathersmith. Abbey doesn't come right out and say he's gay, but he describes his "fairy-flower" hands, talks about what a pink little fellow he is, and Jonathan calls him "Fairysmith" in his own mind. Feathersmith shows an attraction to Jonathan that is not very subtle.

Most of the story is set in a western Pennsylvania town called Powhattan. It was actually based on the town near where Abbey grew up, Indiana, Pennsylvania. Abbey even uses some of the names of businesses in Indiana in the 1940s for his story. The Blue Star Restaurant becomes the Blue Bell Bar that is the business under the apartment Jonathan Troy shares with his father.

There are many hints of the greatness Abbey would fine tune in his later works, including his love of the desert (Jonathan longs to go there); his deep passion for women and beer; and above all his sense of humor.

One of the memorable characters in the book is Fatgut, a pathological liar who Jonathan seems close to. But for most of the book you figure Jonathan has no friends, mostly because he's too full of himself. You hear his every thought, and it's all very brutally honest.

The key secondary character of the story is Jonathan's father, Nathaniel Troy. He is a Communist living in 1950s America, right about the time of the Red Scare. He receives almost daily threats to his well-being. Jonathan avoids his father as much as possible, living a mostly independent life. But the climax of the story comes when some town drunks decide they're going to make the Communist kiss the American flag.

Another character in the novel is Red Ginter, who would also be a character in The Fool's Progress. In this book, Ginter is the neighborhood bully who has tormented Jonathan most of his life. In the latter book, he's a member of a baseball team who hits the game-winning home run, but then refuses to run the bases.

There was a real person named Earl "Red" Ginter who was part of Abbey's early life and seems to be the inspiration for these characters.

There is no nobility in Jonathan Troy. Having access to his thoughts kills any affection you might be able to muster. He's rude to nearly everyone he meets, especially his father. Once he's made love to Etheline, he looks at her again with fresh perspective and decides he hates her body. And when given an opportunity to stand up for something noble, Jonathan usually turns and heads in the other direction.

One of the techniques Abbey uses in this book is devote a few chapters to printing notices in the local newspaper. It provides a slice of small-town life and in at least one case, relates to the plot.