From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth" is the story of Marvin, a child who lives in a lunar colony. One day, his father (who is also the head scientist) drives him across the surface to see a glimpse of Earth, glowing with lethal radiation. Marvin recalls that Earth was made uninhabitable in a nuclear war. The colony is the last vestige of mankind, but without a goal to strive for, the colony (and mankind) will die. The ultimate goal of the colony will be to one day reclaim Earth, for mankind had developed to a point where the best of it could put its seed far enough away from where it had evolved, and away from the reach of development's harm, so that the cradle of humanity could be restored. It took individual effort to attain the colony when it almost failed, and individual effort to maintain the colony when it barely survived, and provided confidence that in the distant future the colony would restore mankind's cradle. ===== When the story begins in Book One, Iroh is accompanying the banished Prince Zuko in his quest to capture the Avatar, a superhuman whose task to maintain world order makes him a threat to the Fire Nation's campaign of conquest. Having learnt of the plan of Zhao, a Fire National admiral, to kill the moon spirit to take away the Water Tribes' power of waterbending, disrupting the natural order, Iroh attacks Zhao and is named a traitor. During Book Two, he and his nephew are now fugitives from the Fire Nation. After being gravely wounded by his niece Azula and cared for by his nephew, Iroh teaches Zuko a Waterbending-inspired technique of redirecting lightning, which can be generated by an advanced form of firebending which Zuko, with his unfocused mind, has been unable to master, but which his sister and competitor to the throne, easily commands, being a firebending prodigy. Iroh eventually takes refuge in Ba Sing Se, where he and Zuko operate a tea- house. Iroh is dismayed when Azula convinces her brother to betray them and is arrested while covering Aang and his friends' escape from the conquered city. In Book Three, held in a Fire Nation prison, Iroh fakes despair while preparing himself for the solar eclipse, during which Firebending does not work. Once the eclipse begins, Iroh escapes his cell, being a formidable opponent even without the use of firebending. In the series finale, Iroh has called the White Lotus to free Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation—fulfilling his childhood vision, but as a liberator, not a conqueror. After the war ends, Iroh is offered the Firelord’s throne, but he asks Zuko to be crowned instead. Soon after Zuko's coronation as Firelord, Iroh returns to Ba Sing Se to operate his tea shop; the final scenes of the series take place in that shop. In the comic book sequel The Promise, Iroh offers Aang and Zuko advice on dealing with the Harmony Restoration Movement, a movement that aims to expel members of the Fire Nation ethnic group from Earth Kingdom territory; he also invents bubble tea. In the comic book The Search, Iroh becomes acting Firelord while Zuko travels to locate his mother Ursa. Bored with his new title, he uses his authority to declare a National Tea Appreciation Day. In the sequel series The Legend of Korra, Iroh is revealed to have used a form of astral projection at the time of his death to become a resident of the Spirit World. In the episode "A New Spiritual Age", Iroh comes to the aid of Aang's successor as Avatar, Korra, who is trapped unprepared deep in the Spirit World. In the episode "Darkness Falls", having known them in life, Iroh encounters Aang's children Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi when they enter the Spirit World and provides them with hints as to the location of the spirit of Tenzin's daughter Jinora. Korra again encounters Iroh in "The Ultimatum," when she enters the Spirit World in search of the anarchist terrorist Zaheer. Korra explains to Iroh that she is confused and doesn't know how to deal with the threat Zaheer poses to both the newly reformed Air Nation and the world. Iroh suggests that Korra seek Zuko's counsel, as Aang once did. Zuko's grandson is named Iroh in honor of his great-granduncle, and is a general of the United Forces, the armed services of the United Republic of Nations, a multi-ethnic nation founded by Aang and Zuko out of territories that were disputed between the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom after the end of the Hundred Years War. ===== In 1995, Lyla Novacek is a cellist studying at the Juilliard School and living under the strict rule of her father. Louis Connelly is the lead singer of an Irish rock band. They meet and have a one-night stand, but are unable to maintain contact. Lyla discovers that is she is pregnant. Following an argument with her overbearing father over her unborn baby, she is struck by a car, forcing her to give birth prematurely. While Lyla is unconscious, her father puts the baby boy up for adoption, telling Lyla that her son died. Eleven years later, the baby is living in a boys' orphanage under the name Evan Taylor, where he is assigned to a social worker named Richard Jeffries. Evan is a musical genius and displays savant-like abilities and perfect pitch, which often causes him to be bullied. Convinced that his parents will find him, Evan runs away to New York City, "following the music" in the hope it will lead him to his family. He finds a boy named Arthur busking in Washington Square Park and follows Arthur to his home in a condemned theatre, where Evan is introduced to “Wizard” Wallace, an arrogant and aggressive vagrant and musician who teaches homeless and runaway children to be street performers. Evan tries playing Wizard's prize guitar, Roxanne (a Gibson J150ec), Evan is so good that Wizard gives him his old spot in Washington Square Park, along with the guitar, which was also Arthur's. He gives Evan the stage name "August Rush" and tries to market him to clubs. Seeing the posters that Jeffries has placed for the runaway Evan, Wizard destroys all the ones he finds, hoping to keep Evan for his own gain. Louis now lives in San Francisco as an agent, while Lyla is a music teacher in Chicago. Louis reconnects with his brothers and decides to try to find Lyla. Lyla is called to her father's deathbed, where he confesses that her son is alive, causing Lyla to abandon her dying father and immediately start looking for her son. On arriving at Lyla's apartment in Chicago, Louis talks to one of her neighbors, who mistakenly tells Louis she is on her honeymoon. Despairing, he ends up in New York, where he gets his band back together. After Jeffries meets Wizard and Arthur on the street and becomes suspicious, the police raid the derelict theatre in which Wizard and his "children" are living. Evan manages to evade the police and remembers Wizard’s advice to never reveal his real name to anyone. Evan (now "August") takes refuge in a church, where he befriends a little girl named Hope, who introduces him to the piano and written music. Hope brings August and his abilities to the attention of the parish pastor, who takes August to Juilliard, where he once again impresses the faculty. A rhapsody takes shape from August's notes and homework. In New York, Lyla goes to Jeffries' office, and Jeffries identifies Evan/August as her son. While looking for him, she takes up the cello again and accepts an offer to perform with the Philharmonic at a series of concerts in Central Park. August is selected to perform the rhapsody he has been composing at the same concert. However, Wizard interrupts the rehearsal and claiming to be his father, manages to pull August out of the school. On the day of the concert, August is back in his spot in Washington Square, while Wizard makes plans to smuggle him around the country to play. He meets Louis, and unaware of their blood relationship, they have an impromptu guitar duet. August tells him of his dilemma, and Louis encourages him to go. That evening, with help from Arthur, August escapes from Wizard through the subway and heads for his concert. Louis, after his own performance with his reunited band, sees Lyla's name on one of the banners and also heads for the park. Jeffries finds a misplaced flyer for "August Rush" with a picture, and also heads for the concert. August arrives in time to conduct his rhapsody, which attracts both Lyla and Louis to the audience, where they are reunited. August finishes his rhapsody and as he turns to discover his parents, he smiles knowing that he has been right all along. ===== "Dangerous Diana" Medford (Crawford) is outwardly flamboyant and popular but inwardly virtuous and idealistic, patronizing her parents by telling them not to stay out late. Her friend Ann chases boys for their money and is as amoral as her mother. Diana and Ann are both attracted to Ben Blaine (Brown). He takes Diana's flirtatious behavior with other boys as a sign of lack of interest in him and marries Ann, who has lied about her virtues. Bea, a mutual friend of Diana and Ann, also meets and marries a wealthy suitor who loves her but is haunted by her past. Diana becomes distraught for a while about the marriage of her friends with questionable pasts. She decides to go away and Bea throws a party for her, which Ben declined to attend and made Ann decline as well. The same evening Ann hopes to meet up with her lover, Freddie, telling her husband she is going to see her sick mom. When her mom calls and Ben realizes Ann has lied to him yet again they get into an argument and Ann storms out to meet Freddie. Now alone, Ben decides to stop by the party where he and Diana realize their love for each other. Meanwhile, a drunk Ann follows Freddie into the party only to find Ben and Diana. She makes a drunken scene in which both Diana and Ben leave the party declaring their love but saying their goodbyes to each other. Bea's husband comes home to find Bea trying to get a drunken Ann home. As Ann is mocking cleaning ladies and her life (as her mom did), she stumbles and falls to her death down a flight of stairs. Headlines show Diana returning home after a lengthy time away and she and Ben are free to unite. ===== ===== Set in 1960s to 1970s, the novel tells of Patrick "Pussy" Braden's escape from the fictional Irish town of Tyreelin and a drunk foster mother, to find himself and the biological mother who gave him away. Bad luck surrounds him until he finds temporary contentment with a married politician who acts as a sugar daddy. The latter is killed by either the IRA or the Ulster Defence Volunteers, leaving Braden alone once again. He moves to London, becomes a prostitute in Piccadilly Circus, and later is arrested on suspicion of an IRA bombing, only to be released a few days later. He later embarks on a search to find his mother. ===== Many of the ten (10) short stories contained within Mondo Desperado observe the odd and dysfunctional aspects of humanity. McCabe's short stories include recurring themes which challenge traditionally respected figures within Irish culture - priests, schoolteachers and nurses. The novel utilizes black humour and McCabe's language is a distorted yet authentic idiom, described by one reviewer as "a souped-up Blarney". The Bursted Priest tells the story of how a young man, Declan Coyningham, deemed the holiest boy in town, is blown up by his schoolmates. The Forbidden Love of Noreen Tiernan involves an intern nurse, Noreen, working in London who becomes involuntarily embroiled in a homoerotic affair with her roommate. ===== The book focuses on the life of Gullytown homeboy Pat McNab, the village idiot. The alternately adoring and criticizing attention by his mother, Maimie and the total abusiveness of his father finally send him over the edge. He responds by ridding Ireland of "germs," however, in this case, the "germs" are people. He kills both his father and mother, his neighbors and local visitors to the village. His list includes four-legged "germs" as he kills several donkeys. He then digs his mother up from her grave after the removal of each succeeding "germ". The title "Emerald Germs of Ireland" is similar to Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy which often brings up a music book titled "Emerald Gems of Ireland". Category:2001 Irish novels Category:Novels by Patrick McCabe Category:Picador (imprint) books Category:Novels set in Ireland ===== Security guards Chuck and Bobby hear a sound coming from Howard County Bank and Trust and find a floor polisher that Ernest is trying to turn on for operation - he works as a night custodian at the bank - and dreams that he would be a clerk, but he ends up making a mess in the bank and he becomes magnetic from a mishap after being electrocuted. The next day, bank president Oscar Pendlesmythe's assistant, Charlotte Sparrow requires him to clean up his disastrous mess and asks Ernest out to dinner to give him advice. Ernest takes a bath at home in a tumble dry washing machine and uses a blow dryer with a wind-tunnel force for his evening dinner with Charlotte in a restaurant. He later receives in the mail a summons to jury duty in court and tells the two watchmen about it. During the trial Dracup Maximum Security Prison convict Rubin Bartlett who is tried for killing a fellow prisoner notices that death row inmate Felix Nash is a dead ringer for Ernest. Rubin's lawyer convinces the jury to tour the prison, where Ernest is kidnapped by Nash and another inmate named Lyle and forced to switch places with Nash. Ernest also does not know that he is in prison when he comes to. While having lunch, a guard tells them to stand up and be quiet, when he notices Ernest is making a lot of noise, which almost sends him into the cell. Ernest tries a first attempt to tell one of the prison guards that he is Ernest, not Nash, but the guard calls him "Mr. Funny Man" and throws him into the cell right in front of Lyle who pushes him back while the first attempt fails. When he pushes him near the prison bars, he tells a prison guard that he was beaten up (and accidentally slamming the guard's head on the bars). A prison guard tells Ernest that he will be sent to the hole, which makes Ernest realize he is in jail. He has numerous misadventures in prison (especially when trying to escape, e.g., when he attempts to fashion a gun out of soap and his scheme is revealed when the gun goes limp) until he is sent to the electric chair by the prison warden a death sentence which was originally for Nash. The electrocution fails, and he is transformed into a type of superhuman, with the ability to shoot lightning bolts from his hands, which shocks other jail members. Ernest escapes from the prison and makes his way home, only to discover that his Pee-wee Herman-like décor has been replaced by a slick Lounge Lizard style of decorating. He exclaims, "I've been vandalized - by Elvis!" Ernest then goes to the bank, in his old clothes, only to find that Nash has assumed his identity and is in the process of robbing the bank and is holding Chuck and Charlotte hostage. During the ensuing battle between the two of them he gets electrocuted yet again when Nash throws him against an electric cage that the bank had rigged to drop from the ceiling to catch robbers. Now Ernest has become polarized and gained the ability to fly. He uses his super powers to fly through the skylight of the bank with a bomb that Nash had attached to the vault which leads to a spectacular mid-air explosion. Everyone especially Chuck thinks that Ernest has been killed, Pendlesmythe discredits Ernest to the police at the bank, but Charlotte argues on his behalf, and Nash sticks everyone up until Ernest falls through the skylight and lands on Nash, which leads the warden and the guards to find out Ernest was right all along. Ernest tiredly declares, "I came, I saw, I got blowed up" and then passes out. ===== The film depicts five individuals living on a small platform floating in space. These men are all identical apart from a number at the back of their coats: 23, 35, 51, 75, and 77. Whenever one of them moves, the platform tilts and the others must move as well to ensure that the platform does not tip over. They all move out to the edge of the platform, take out fishing rods, and cast their lines over the edge. The one numbered 51 reels in a large, heavy box while the others scramble to the opposite side of the platform. One by one, the individuals inspect the box: it has a wind-up key that causes the box to play music. As each man in turn moves to inspect the box, the platform becomes unstable, prompting each of the group to converge in the center to keep the platform from tipping over. The man with the number 75 attempts to tip the box over the edge, but number 51 counterbalances the platform to prevent it. These two scuffle briefly, causing the box to slide to number 23, who tap dances to the tune as the others look on. 75 moves away from the center of gravity, tipping the platform and causing the box to slide toward him, but 23 sits on top of the box and moves with it. The added weight moves the box to the very edge of the platform. The others rearrange themselves to bring the box back to the center. Riding the box as it slides from side to side, 23 pushes 35 off the platform as the former slides to the very edge. The others rearrange themselves again to compensate for the loss of mass. 51 trips and falls over. 75 shoves 77 to the ground as he avoids the careening 23. 77 scrambles to the opposite edge as 23 moves with the box again. 23 kicks 75 off the platform, unbalancing the platform and causing 77 to fall over the edge also. 23 gets off the box, approaches 51 and kicks him over the edge. Now alone, 23 turns around to look at the box, which is perched on the edge farthest from him. Without the others, 23 has to maintain the balance on his own, keeping the box out of reach. One step back and he falls, one step forward and the box falls. He can only watch as the box slowly winds down and plays its music, which 23 is unable to hear.1990 Balance: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive ===== Art critic and forgery expert George Steele (O'Brien) is stopped by a policeman as he breaks into the Manhattan Museum. He claims that he was in a train wreck. Police Lieutenant Cochrane (Wallace Ford), however, finds no recent wreck. Steele, unsure himself what happened, relates the bizarre events leading up to the present. A flashback ensues: Museum director Barton (Erskine Sanford) reprimands staff member Steele over the sensational style of his public lectures and is annoyed that he wants to demonstrate a forgery detection method by X-raying a masterpiece that was recently exhibited, Dürer's Adoration of the Kings. Afterward, while having a drink with girlfriend and magazine writer Terry Cordell (Trevor), Steele receives an urgent telephone call informing him that his mother has been taken to a hospital. He rushes to Grand Central Station and catches the last train. About 40 minutes later, Steele watches helplessly as another train crashes head on with his. Cochrane reveals that Steele's mother was never taken to the hospital. Anxious to avoid a scandal, Barton pleads with Cochrane not to arrest the man. Stevenson, the curator and Steele's friend, and Dr. Lowell (Ray Collins), a member of the museum's board of directors, vouch for Steele's character. In private, Traybin (Marshall), an art expert with Scotland Yard investigating the suspicious loss of a Gainsborough painting, tells Cochrane he wants Steele freed, with detectives discreetly following him, as he is uncertain if Steele is involved. Steele is released, but is fired by Barton at the direction of the museum board because of his alleged mental instability. Steele sets out to re-enact the train ride, hoping to find out what is going on. He learns that a drunk was taken off at the next station by two men and believes the supposed drunk was actually himself. He informs Stevenson of his discovery. Steele begins to suspect that the Gainsborough supposedly lost in a fire at sea was actually a fake. Later, Stevenson calls Steele to tell him he has discovered that the fire was not an accident and to meet him in the museum vault that night. When Steele arrives, however, he finds Stevenson dead. Seen standing over the body by an employee, he flees. Although both Traybin and Terry plead with him to turn himself in, Steele is determined to exonerate himself. He coerces Barton to meet him and confirms that the Gainsborough "lost" was indeed a forgery and was destroyed to conceal the existence and theft of the original. Steele follows Barton to a party given by a museum board member, where he learns by eavesdropping from the fire escape that the shipment of the Dürer painting to London has been unexpectedly advanced. Steele sneaks aboard the ship, where he finds a fire burning in the bonded cargo hold. He removes the painting from its frame to save it, only to discover he has been locked in. The ship's crew arrives to put out the fire, followed by Traybin and Cochcrane, who spots Steele. Steele escapes with the painting from the ship by shinnying down the hawser mooring the ship to the dock, where Terry picks him up in her car. Terry persuades Mary, Barton's secretary, to arrange for Steele to X-ray the painting, which he confirms is a copy. However, as Terry, Mary, and he are leaving, he is knocked out and Mary pulls a gun on Terry. Terry and the punchy Steele are taken to the estate of Dr. Lowell, who is behind the thefts and forgeries. He explains to Terry that as a frustrated art lover, he could never have acquired such fabulous works legitimately. Before killing them as the only witnesses to his scheme, Lowell uses narcosynthesis on Steele to assure himself that Steele did not tell the police, the technique he also used to make Steele believe he was in a train wreck. Lowell waits for a passing scheduled train to mask the sound of gunshots, but Traybin and Cochrane intervene, shooting Lowell just before he can kill Steele. Traybin had been waiting outside the entire time, waiting to determine where the stolen art is concealed. To save herself from being charged as an accessory to Stevenson's murder, Mary shows them the location. ===== Jake Farris (Dolly Parton), a down home country singer stuck in a long-term contract performing at "The Rhinestone", a sleazy urban cowboy nightclub in New York City, boasts to the club's manager, Freddie (Ron Leibman), that she can make anybody into a country sensation, insisting that she can turn any normal guy into a country singer in just two weeks. Freddie accepts Jake's bet, putting up the remainder of Jake's contract (if she wins the bet, the contract becomes void; if she loses, another five years will be added). He then ups the ante: if Jake loses, she must also sleep with him. The problem is that Freddie can select the man, and he selects an obnoxious New York City cabbie named Nick Martinelli (Sylvester Stallone). Nick not only has no musical talent whatsoever, he claims to hate country music "worse than liver". Realizing she is stuck with Nick, she takes him back to her home in Tennessee to teach him how to walk, talk and behave like a real Country star. While there, he has to put up with Jake's constant nagging and berating him about his behavior, the culture-shock of not knowing anything about the South, and Jake's ex-fiancée Barnett Kale who befriends Nick, then turns on him when he realizes that he and Jake have developed feelings for one another. It all leads to Nick performing a song at The Rhinestone where the crowd is a crazed group of hecklers and are "out for blood." After Nick's first attempt to sing bombs, he turns to the band and says, "Okay guys, let's pick up the beat" and the band begins playing the song in a more Rock n' Roll version and he wins the crowd over. In the end, Jake gets her contract back and she and Nick begin to sing another song with the implication that they will continue their budding relationship together. ===== The structure of the film consists of several subplots which all revolve around an intertwined cast of characters. The film begins by introducing Richard (John Hawkes), a shoe salesman and recently separated father of two. After being thrown out by his wife Pam (JoNell Kennedy), he gets an apartment of his own to share with his children, Peter (Miles Thompson) and Robby (Brandon Ratcliff). He meets Christine (Miranda July), a senior-cab driver and amateur video artist, while she takes her client to shop for shoes, and the two develop a fledgling romantic relationship. Robby, six years old, and his 14-year-old brother, Peter, have a joint online chat which he later depicts in another chat session as "))<>((", an emoticon that means "pooping back and forth, forever." This piques the interest of the woman at the other end and she suggests a real life meeting. When Robby and the woman meet at a park, she realizes he's a child and kisses him and walks away. Two of Richard's teenaged neighbors, Heather (Natasha Slayton) and Rebecca (Najarra Townsend), develop a playful relationship with a much older neighbor Andrew (Brad William Henke) who works in the shoe store with Richard. He does not say much, but he keeps leaving signs on his window about what he would do to each of them. As a result of this relationship, Heather and Rebecca ask Peter if they can practice oral sex on him, so that he can tell them which of the two does it better; so they do. He says both were exactly the same. The daughter of a neighbor peeks in the window, sees what is happening, and quickly leaves. Heather and Rebecca later come to the neighbor's house intending to have sex with him as practice, but he appears afraid when he sees them through his window and he pretends not to be home. Meanwhile, Christine's work is rejected by a contemporary art museum, but then later accepted by the curator, who turns out to be the woman who was instant messaging with the brothers. The plots come together in the end, with Peter developing a friendship with the daughter of a neighbor, having been introduced to the hope chest that she has, Christine and Richard displaying a show of mutual acceptance of their attraction to each other, and, as a final plot device, Robby finding that the noise he had awoken to early every morning was that of an early-rising businessman tapping a quarter on a street sign pole. When asked why he is doing it, he stops and turns around, saying "just passing the time", and gives Robby the quarter. When his bus drives away and Robby tries it out himself, the sun heightens with each tap, time literally passing as he does it. ===== Krusty the Clown is persuaded by Bart Simpson to appear at a comedy festival organized by Jay Leno. His old-fashioned and outdated material fails to impress the audience when compared with the more trendy comedians also appearing. After reading a critical review of his act in the press, Krusty decides to go on a "bender to end all benders" and a montage sequence shows him getting drunk. After Bart finds him passed out on Ned Flanders' lawn, he enlists the help of Leno to clean him up. Krusty holds a press conference to announce his retirement and in short order launches into a bitter tirade against modern-day comedians. The audience finds Krusty's rant hysterically funny and he subsequently announces his return to comedy. Krusty is inspired to return to doing low-key events, where he structures a new image for himself as a stand-up comedian who tells the truth, criticizes commercialism, and refuses to sell out to corporate America. He also changes his appearance, sporting a dark sweater and tying his hair in a ponytail. Observing his newfound popularity, two marketing executives try to persuade Krusty to endorse a new sport utility vehicle called the Canyonero. Although he tries to resist, he eventually succumbs to the lure of money. After promoting the Canyonero at a comedy performance in Moe's Tavern, he is booed off stage by the patrons. He finally admits to himself that comedy is not in his blood and selling out is. The episode ends with an extended advertisement for the Canyonero, as Krusty and Bart leave Moe Szyslak's tavern in Krusty's new SUV. ===== ZX Spectrum version The game is set in the near future, where a team of scientists have developed two robotic aircraft carriers to colonise an archipelago of sixty four islands. Unfortunately, the more advanced carrier falls into the hands of a terrorist organization, and they plan to conquer the archipelago for their own evil ends. It is the player's job to use the less advanced carrier to colonise the islands and destroy the enemy carrier. ===== The game begins with Reed, Sue, and Johnny on a roof lying helpless after being knocked unconscious by a blast from Doctor Doom. Sue is the first to recover, so when she sits up and turns around, Dr. Doom is preparing to fire an electric blast at them. Sue holds it off with her force field and calls Ben Grimm for help. Then it cuts away to Ben, who is recovering in the transformation chamber after having his rocklike exterior genetically removed from him. As he contemplates why the circumstances have led to this, he remembers the period when all of this happens. This is when it reverts to the beginning of the movie: Reed signs the pact, they go into space, and Ben gets the samples ready. In space, they are hit by a cosmic storm which alters their DNA and gives them superpowers. If it hadn't been for Victor, they might never have arrived back to Earth and into his medical compound, where they recovered. When Ben discovers that he has become a monster-like figure, he deserts the other three and heads home. Ben runs on a rampage to try to calm himself. This brings the army to New York under the control of a deep, dark, sinister figure who is yet to be revealed and they try to get Ben under control. However, after Ben and the other three rescue a fire truck from falling off the Brooklyn Bridge, the forces lay off and watch the Fantastic Four to see if they become hostile. Reed attempts to find another power source, but is interrupted by a call for help. It seems that strange creatures have invaded Grand Central Station and the police seem to have no effect against them. The Fantastic Four stop the creatures from invading the city and face their leader, the Mole Man and his mighty pet. Because of the utter destruction caused by their fight with this giant monster, the city is in a mess and Victor blames Reed for all this mess. With Ben in hand, Reed sets out to identify their mutation and possibly cure them of it. He constructs a machine with Victor's help which will use cosmic rays to reverse the signal being sent through their bodies by the mutation. He then turns to sources to power this machine and identifies a cosmic meteor that landed in the jungle of southern Mexico. They travel to Tikal to retrieve this meteor when they encounter Diablo, who desires to have this meteor so he can harness its power to conquer the world. The Fantastic Four defeat him and bring the meteor back, but its power is insufficient to power the machine. Later, Victor invites Sue to the opening of his Egyptian wing in the museum that night. While they are there, Alicia Masters is kidnapped by the mummy creatures who have come to life by the Puppet Master, which throws Ben into an outrage. Reed intends to disable the security system to free her, but they have to deal with animated mummies and dinosaurs. They free Alicia but end up destroying half the museum while repelling the reanimated creatures, which infuriates Victor to no end. In his last attempt to alleviate his anger towards them, he has a conversation with Sue in which he attempts to find out why she continues to stay with Reed. She says she can't abandon them because they're her family now, which prompts Victor to send Doombots after them to destroy them after they finish their meeting. The four have a massive battle in Times Square, which they nearly demolish with the help of the VDI Mechs, prompting Nick Fury, to take them to the Vault prison for their safe keeping. They arrive there and are quarantined until Dragon Man decides to break out and cause utter chaos. The Fantastic Four's security systems are deactivated and they try to restore order. They are successful in their mission so when they reach the entrance at the top of the prison, they encounter Fury who agrees to release them on one condition: that they find out what happened to his laboratory. When they arrive, they discover it has been taken over by mutated plants and insectoid creatures and they must destroy the station after obtaining the power source they need to finish powering Reed's transformation chamber. This proves to be successful and the machine is powered up to its maximum. With this knowledge, Victor travels to the Baxter Building with the intent to defeat the Fantastic Four. He sets Reed's security systems against them and lures Ben to the transformation chamber where he steals his power. The remaining three fight against an enhanced Dr. Doom but his power is too great and they are defeated. Ben, however, feels terrible for leaving his friends just because he wanted to look normal again, so he decides to re-enter the transformation chamber and turn back into the Thing. Dr. Doom is about to destroy them when Ben busts out onto the roof and savagely attacks him, allowing his teammates to recover. They fall to the street and the other three join them there to finish Doom once and for all. ===== In present day, two tour groups are simultaneously visiting a statue of Benjamin Franklin. The human tour group in front of the statue discusses Franklin's life and achievements, while the leader of a mouse tour group which is standing at the top of Franklin's hat reveals the contributions of a mouse named Amos to Franklin's career. In 1745, Amos, the eldest of twenty-six siblings living in the Christ Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania decides to leave his family - thus relieving them of another mouse (mouth) to feed - and find work somewhere. After no luck, and while trying to take shelter from a freezing and snowy night, Amos befriends Benjamin Franklin in his printing shop. Eventually Amos aids in Franklin's publishing, inventing, and political career. Amongst Amos' contributions were making bifocals, inspiring Franklin to build the Franklin stove and suggesting how to fix a major problem with it, and encouraging Franklin to print an event-oriented newspaper which Amos names the Pennsylvania Gazette. After Ben's experiments with electricity endanger Amos' life, especially in Ben's kite experiment, Amos leaves Ben, ignoring Ben's pleas for him to return, and moves back in with his family. Years later, Franklin is sent to England as part of a colonial attempt to reason with the king. But the mission is a failure. Franklin tells the crowd when he gets off a boat that "The King was unreasonable. He wouldn't listen." Amos, hearing this and seeing the confusion and anger of the colonists—realizes that he could help, but he initially refuses. Amos and Franklin finally resolve their disagreements in the midst of the American Revolution, and Amos and Franklin play a key role aiding Thomas Jefferson with the drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence. ===== The film features three men who each only believe in one thing: one in Good, one in Truth, and one in Beauty. They cast themselves onto a small island where they sit next to each other. Many days pass, and they begin to express themselves. It starts in small ways, simply making noise. The three start to annoy each other, and they stop. As more time passes, however, they begin to express their ideas. Truth is first. He sits in yoga positions and begins to project shapes, such as suns, lotus flowers and four almond-shaped eyes. These eyes move around in strange patterns before becoming part of a four-eyed demon who dances for a moment, then explodes. A pinball bounces between many pairs of eyes, building up speed before landing on Truth's head, which causes him to visualize an expanding shape, and reveals itself to be a huge, beautiful flower. The shape collapses, which stuns Truth out of his trance, much to his embarrassment. Beauty performs ballet and transforms into a Nubian figure. He morphs into calligraphy-like shapes before changing to his normal shape, but in a white robe. He begins to play a flute, flowers growing around him as he plays faster and faster before he becomes one himself. A Greek statue of a woman appears. The William Tell Overture begins to play, and a tall man and a short man carrying a frame walk up to the statue and "capture" it inside it, removing its head and base. They walk on as the Overture plays, but the picture soon splits in half, since the men walk at different speeds. Confused, they put it back together after several odd attempts, and soon climb a long staircase with it. They climb high up into the sky into an art gallery, where it's placed with hundreds of identical pictures, except for one. This picture shows a scene where a small head, in profile, sees an object and begins to talk happily about it, his speaking expressed by a cello playing. Another man comes next to him, facing him, and sees the object as well. He discusses it with him, but the two heads soon begin arguing harshly. A pillar grows out from under the left head, making him sit above the other. He responds by growing another column underneath him, and the two heads quickly try to one-up each other, their columns growing and their arguing becoming worse. Soon, they can't go any higher, and push themselves into each other, forming a babbling head in front-view. The scene zooms out to show dozens of these heads on high columns, chattering away. Beauty's vision ends here, and he bows to the other two. Good expresses himself next, kissing the other two and dancing. He transforms into a figure with a robe, begins to make noises like a pipe organ, then transforms into a church-like structure with an onion dome. Small black figures go through a door at his base, and turn white as they go through it. He transforms into a warrior with a huge sword and shield, blood running down his sword, before changing back to his old shape. A beautiful woman approaches and tries to seduce him, but he pushes her away. Another figure offers him wine, but he flattens him with a hammer, then transforms into a futuristic warrior with a ray gun. A large heart comes out of the ray gun and shatters, breaking his meditation. He looks at them, embarrassed. More time passes, and Beauty starts to express himself again, changing into the Nubian figure with a harp, playing a repetitive tune and swishing his long hair. This annoys Good, who responds by gathering smaller figures to join hands around him and playing the same tune back at him. Truth, hovering overhead, is annoyed at both of them. After trying to outdo each other, they all abruptly change back. Soon, though, Beauty is at it again, and Good responds by forming into a warrior with a blunderbuss and a small army gathers around him. Initially concerned, Beauty responds by changing into the Nubian figure with a fencing foil. Good attempts to shoot him, but Beauty dodges his shots and skewers his army (after a long dance) and starts playing them like his harp, which infuriates Good. Truth hovers above, angry at the both of them, and after a sporadic fit, a snake coils around him, possibly representing the caduceus. After this, they all change back, but Good and Beauty are plotting against each other. Good raises his fist, which grows and grows until it hovers over him and flattens him, possibly representing punishment for thinking evil thoughts. Good grows into a huge monster, ten times the size of the other two, but each time he does, the fist bears down on him again. In response, Beauty turns back into the figure, this time with a bow and arrow, and shoots the fist, to Good's alarm. A drop of blood falls on Good, which sends him into a rage as Beauty cockily plays his tune on his bow. He changes into the monster, grabs Beauty, throws him against the ground and kicks him. He pulls off his hair and throws it back at him, which causes Beauty to lose his temper, and he transforms into a similar monster to fight Good. Good and Beauty approach each other with daggers and soon run into each other. They get tangled up, and soon start to resemble a bull. Up above, tangled in the Caduceus, Truth is angry at them. He puts on a lab coat, and the Caduceus transforms into a chemistry coil. Good and Beauty soon appear to transform into a machine, tank treads, nuts and rivets appearing across their bodies, much to Truth's dismay. He walks over to a chalkboard and begins to write formulas on it. As he does, it grows and grows, and eventually takes on the shape of a giant nuclear bomb, 100 times his size, pointed down at them. He doesn't notice it initially until it begins to tick. The ticking builds and builds as the three look on, terrified. It soon explodes, and the three men change back. Horrified by this vision, they immediately leave the island. ===== In 19th century Vienna, Tom and Johann Mouse live in the house of composer Johann Strauss. Whenever Strauss plays the piano, Johann comes out of his hole to dance to the music, and Tom would repeatedly try to catch him with no success. One day, Tom realizes that the key to catching Johann would be through music, so he begins teaching himself how to play the piano using Strauss' written tutorial, "How to Play the Waltz in Six Easy Lessons." As Tom plays the piano, he is able to lure out and capture Johann, but his playing is immediately praised by the house servants, and so he lets go of Johann and happily continues his performance. Tom's piano playing and Johann's dancing spread by word-of-mouth across Vienna, eventually reaching the Emperor of Austria. Tom and Johann are then commanded to perform at the palace before the emperor. Tom and Johann perform with vigor and delight at the palace, but Tom eventually succumbs to his instincts and tries to chase after Johann, only to fail once again. ===== Emperor Frederick IV of House Corrino is desperate for the harvesting of the valuable drug melange (also known as "the spice"), found only on the planet Arrakis, to pay off all of his debt incurred on internecine wars with family members. To achieve this, he now offers the sole governorship of Arrakis to whichever of the three Houses (Atreides, Harkonnen, and the non-canon Ordos) delivers the most spice for him. War begins as deputations from all three Houses arrive on Arrakis. The player is a military commander from a House of their choice. In the first few missions the objectives are to establish successfully a base on an unoccupied territory of Arrakis, to harvest spice, and to defeat intruders. Later, when the three Houses divide Arrakis among them, the player has to assault and capture enemy territories. When the player dominates Arrakis on the world map, the two other enemy factions ally against their common enemy. The ultimate final showdown is the battle between the player's House against three enemy sides, among them Frederick's forces the Sardaukar (an unplayable elite force whose heavy infantry are particularly powerful). The introductory, mission briefing and endgame cutscenes are different for each House, in keeping with their very disparate world views. The weaponry and units also vary from house to house. ===== When a vicious dog chases Bart, he takes refuge in the garden of a house belonging to former Western actor Buck McCoy. After Buck shows Bart a trick to calm the dog, Bart starts to hero-worship him. Naturally, Homer learns about Bart's new idol and demands he worship him instead. To help revive Buck's career, Bart lands him a job on Krusty the Clown's show. Buck gets drunk and makes a fool of himself on the air. Seeing how crushed Bart is, Marge and Homer help Buck overcome his alcoholism by cleaning his house and enrolling him in an Alcoholics Anonymous program. Despite making progress, Buck fails to restore Bart's hero-worship. When Homer sees a news report about a robbery at the Bank of Springfield, he convinces Buck to foil the robbery and become a hero. Buck subdues the bank robbers and again becomes a hero in Bart's eyes. After acknowledging everything Homer has done, Bart declares him a hero too. As the episode ends, Bart is again chased by the vicious dog. ===== The episode begins with the Simpson family visiting Grampa after his retirement home mistakenly reports his death. An old woman named Zelda moves into his retirement home in place of the actual deceased resident. Grampa is determined to win her love over Zack, another resident who owns and drives a minivan. After renewing his driver's license, Grampa convinces Homer to let him borrow the car to romance her. Although he impresses Zelda, Homer and Marge think she is a hoochie and only likes Grampa because he can drive. After he crashes Homer's car in a drag race with a rival seniors gang, Homer becomes furious with Grampa and takes his keys away, forbidding him to drive ever again. Zelda informs Grampa that she got them tickets to a theater in Branson, Missouri, but when he tells her he does not have a car, she leaves with Zack and his minivan. Grampa steals Marge's car and takes Bart with him on the road to Branson to win back Zelda. When realizing that Grandpa and Bart are heading to Branson, Homer, Marge, Lisa, and Maggie take a bus there. At the theater, Grampa calls out to Zelda from on-stage, but then denounces her in front of everyone, who then chant to her a hoochie, forcing her to leave the stage. Grampa then reconciles with Homer. ===== During World War II, Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Lawrence (Richard Widmark), a strict disciplinarian, is put in charge of Underwater Demolition Team 4 after its former leader, Lt. Cmdr. Jack Cassidy, is killed in action. The unit's men are distrustful of the professionally aloof Lawrence, and the relationship immediately takes a turn for the worse when they brawl with sailors aboard their transport ship. The ship's captain, Lt. Cmdr. Pete Vincent (Gary Merrill), understands the natural resentment the elite UDT men feel over the death of Cassidy, which they have transferred to Lawrence, and offers to go easy on the team at captain's mast. The "by-the-book" Lawrence, however, elects to hold his own mast and disciplines the entire team just before a dangerous reconnaissance mission to ascertain the safest landing beach during an upcoming invasion of a Japanese-held island. Lawrence is scornfully perceived as afraid when he splits up the platoon and puts team executive officer Lt. Klinger in charge of a diversion to the more dangerous beach, where the main landing is scheduled. During the mission, Lawrence cuts his leg on coral, and the diversionary section's pick-up boat receives a direct hit from artillery during pick-up operations, killing Klinger and most of his men. Lawrence sees that two frogmen, including Chief Jake Flannigan (Dana Andrews), are still in the water, but rather than risk loss of the information already gathered, orders a rescue boat launched and continues back to the transport. The rescue succeeds in recovering the two swimmers, but Lawrence's apparently cowardly action increases the unit's ill will toward him. An embittered Flannigan and some of the others request transfer to another unit, but Lawrence insists that they first complete the next day's mission to clear the new landing site for the invasion. The next morning, Lawrence, who is sick with coral poisoning, does not reveal his illness when he puts Flannigan in charge of the mission and stays behind. Convinced now that Lawrence is a coward, the men angrily but efficiently complete their task, although "Pappy" Creighton (Jeffrey Hunter), whose brother is a U.S. Marine, sneaks onto the beach with Flannigan to leave a sign "welcoming" the Marines. Creighton is shot after the prank, but Flannigan tows him to the pick-up boat. Back on the ship, Creighton is put in traction because of the bullets in his spine, and Flannigan confesses to Lawrence that the prank caused Creighton's injuries. Lawrence furiously upbraids Flannigan for giving in to the prank, and soon all of the men request transfers. While Lawrence is discussing the transfer requests with Vincent, a torpedo hits the ship but does not detonate. Lawrence volunteers to disarm the torpedo, which has lodged in the sick bay next to Creighton's bed, and with Flannigan's help, succeeds. Soon after, Lawrence receives orders to blow up a Japanese submarine pen, and tells the men that although it will be their last mission together, he is proud to have served with them. Although Flannigan voices disdain that Lawrence will again dodge dangerous duty, Lawrence leads the mission, which is discovered when one of the men accidentally trips a signal wire. Japanese sentries shoot at the men as they plant the charges, and Lawrence is stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a Japanese diver. He orders Flannigan to leave him behind, but Flannigan tows him to safety. The mission is a success, and soon Lawrence is recuperating beside Creighton. Finally won over by Lawrence's bravery, the men show their acceptance of him by asking him to sign the portrait they have drawn of Cassidy to present to his widow. ===== Sir Charles Cartwright hosts a dinner party at his home in Cornwall. His guests include: Hercule Poirot; Dr Bartholomew Strange; Lady Mary Lytton Gore, and her daughter Hermione; Captain Dacres and his wife Cynthia; Muriel Wills; Oliver Manders; Mr Satterthwaite; and Reverend Babbington and his wife. When Babbington suddenly dies after sipping one of the cocktails being served, Cartwright believes it was murder. An investigation finds no poison in his glass. After his funeral, Poirot travels to Monte Carlo, where he is met with news from Satterthwaite and Cartwright that Dr Strange is dead. While holding a dinner party at his home in Yorkshire, Strange suddenly died after drinking a glass of port wine. The coroner rules he was poisoned with nicotine, despite there being no trace of it in his glass. With the exception of the three men, Strange's guests are the same ones who attended Cartwright's party. Due to the similarities, Babbington's body is exhumed, whereupon police find he died from the same cause. Both Satterthwaite and Cartwright return to England to investigate the murders. They learn that prior to the party, Strange had sent his usual butler away for two months. A temporary replacement he hired named Ellis has since disappeared. Satterthwaite and Cartwright later find evidence showing that Ellis hoped to blackmail someone, while a serving maid recalls that Ellis acted strangely for a butler. When Wills is interviewed, she recalls noticing something odd at the party, and that Ellis has a birthmark on one hand. Some time later, Wills disappears. When Poirot returns to London to offer counsel on the case, he receives a telegram from Mrs De Rushbridger, a female patient at Strange's sanatorium in Yorkshire, who arrived on the day Strange died. Poirot and Satterthwaite go to meet her, only to find that she had been murdered with nicotine before their arrival. The poison had been concealed in some chocolates she had received anonymously. Learning that Cartwright's servant, Miss Milray, is hastily heading to Cornwall, Poirot follows her to find out why. Upon his return, Poirot assembles everyone, and denounces Sir Charles Cartwright as the killer. Cartwright wants to marry Hermione, but already has a wife who resides in a lunatic asylum. As he cannot divorce her under British law, he decided to conceal this knowledge by murdering Dr Strange, the only witness to this marriage. After his party, Cartwright convinced Strange to let him assume the role of his butler, and then secretly poisoned him during his party. He left false evidence to suggest the motive was blackmail, and travelled to Monte Carlo the day after to establish his alibi. The first murder was a dress rehearsal for the second: Cartwright wished to test if he could switch the glass containing the poison. The murder of Mrs De Rushbridger was purely to create a false lead. Poirot reveals that the nicotine poison came from distilling equipment Cartwright hid near his Cornwall residence; it was found by him, when Miss Milray went to destroy it. His suspicions about Cartwright were based on a few facts. Strange didn't drink the poisoned cocktail because he disliked cocktails, while Cartwright ensured Hermione didn't drink it; he didn't care who else amongst his guests drank it. Mrs De Rushbridger's telegram to Poirot was sent by Cartwright himself. Milray knows he is the murderer; her actions showed she sought to protect him. Wills also suspected him when she spoke up about Ellis; Poirot hid her away before Cartwright could murder her. Cartwright flees, but Poirot doesn't expect him to get far. Hermione is paired up with Manders. In the aftermath of the investigation, Satterthwaite remarks how he could have drunk the poisoned cocktail, to which Poirot remarks there was an even more terrible possibility: "It might have been me". ===== Bobby Jones is playing golf with Dr Thomas in the Welsh seaside town of Marchbolt. Seeking the golf ball he hit over the cliff edge, he sees a man lying below. The doctor says the man is fatally injured and seeks help. Bobby stays with the man, who briefly regains consciousness, says "Why didn't they ask Evans?", and then dies. Bobby finds a photograph of a beautiful woman in the man's coat pocket, but no identification. Roger Bassington-ffrench, a stranger wearing plus fours, offers to stay with the body so Bobby can play the organ at his father's church. The dead man is identified as Alex Pritchard by his sister, Amelia Cayman, at the inquest. She is said to be the woman in the photograph; Bobby wonders how such a beautiful girl could become such a coarse older woman. After the inquest, Mrs Cayman and her husband want to know if Pritchard had any last words. Bobby says that he did not. Later, when talking with his friend Frankie (Lady Frances Derwent), Bobby remembers that Pritchard did have last words and writes to the Caymans to tell them. Bobby receives and rejects an unexpected job offer from a firm in Buenos Aires. Soon afterwards Bobby nearly dies after drinking from a poisoned bottle of beer. The local police do not pursue this. Frankie thinks Bobby is targeted for murder. Bobby agrees when he sees the issue of the local paper with the photograph used to find Pritchard's sister. Bobby sees that it is not the one he found in the dead man's pocket. He and Frankie realise that Bassington-ffrench swapped the photographs and that Mrs Cayman is not related to the dead man at all. Bobby and Frankie search for Bassington-ffrench. They trace him to Merroway Court in Hampshire, owned by Roger's brother and sister-in-law, Henry and Sylvia. They stage a car accident outside the house with the help of a doctor friend so that Frankie, feigning injury, will be invited to stay to recover. Frankie produces a newspaper cutting about the mysterious dead man; Sylvia remarks that he looks like Alan Carstairs, a traveller and big-game hunter who was a friend of John Savage, a millionaire who had killed himself after learning he had terminal cancer. Frankie meets two neighbours of the Bassington-ffrenches – Dr Nicholson and his younger wife, Moira. Dr Nicholson runs a local sanatorium. Frankie gets Bobby to investigate the establishment. On the grounds at night, Bobby encounters a girl who says that she fears for her life; she is the original of the photograph that Bobby found in the dead man's pocket. Several days later, Moira Nicholson turns up at the local inn where Bobby stays in his disguise as Frankie's chauffeur. She says her husband is trying to kill her and says she knew Alan Carstairs before her marriage to the doctor. Bobby introduces her to Frankie. Moira suggests they ask Roger if he took the photograph from the body of the dead man. Roger admits that he took the photo, recognising Moira and wanting to avoid scandal for her. Frankie leaves after Henry is found dead in his home, an apparent suicide. Interested in the will of the late John Savage, Frankie consults her family's solicitor in London and learns that Carstairs consulted him too. Savage was staying with Mr and Mrs Templeton when he became convinced he had cancer, although one specialist told him he was perfectly well. When he died by suicide, his will left seven hundred thousand pounds to the Templetons, who have apparently since left England. Carstairs was on their trail when he was killed. Bobby is kidnapped and Frankie is lured to the same isolated cottage by Roger. They manage to turn the tables on him with the timely arrival of Badger Beadon and find a drugged Moira in the house. When the police arrive, Roger has escaped. Bobby and Frankie trace the witnesses to the signing of John Savage's will. They are the former cook and gardener of Mr and Mrs Templeton. Mr Templeton is also known as Mr Leo Cayman. The cook says that Gladys, the parlourmaid, was not asked to witness the will, made the night before Savage died. Frankie realises that the cook and gardener did not see Mr Savage before the signing, while the parlourmaid did and would have realised that it was Roger in the "deathbed" who wrote the will and not Mr Savage. The parlourmaid is Gladys Evans, hence the reason for Carstairs' question, "Why didn't they ask Evans?" Tracing the parlourmaid, they discover she is now the married housekeeper at Bobby's home. Carstairs was trying to find her. Returning to Wales, they find Moira, who claims she is being followed by Roger and has come to them for help. Frankie is not deceived and spoils Moira's attempt to poison their coffee. Moira was Mrs Templeton and is Roger's co-conspirator. Moira then attempts to shoot Frankie and Bobby in the café when she is exposed, but is overpowered and arrested. Several weeks later, Frankie receives a letter from Roger, posted from South America, in which he confesses to murdering Carstairs, murdering his brother, and conspiring in all of Moira's past crimes. Bobby and Frankie realise they are in love and become engaged. ===== Nurse Amy Leatheran arrives at an archaeological dig near Hassanieh, Iraq, to assist the Swedish- American archaeologist, Dr Eric Leidner, in caring for his wife Louise. During her initial days, Amy learns that Louise was married before to a German named Frederick Bosner. Fifteen years ago, during the Great War, Bosner was arrested for being a spy within the US State Department, and sentenced to death; he escaped his sentence, but died later in a train crash. Louise reveals that Bosner had a younger brother-in-law, and that she received letters from him whenever she became attracted to other men; these stopped when she married Leidner three years ago, until recently. A week later, Louise is found dead in the bedroom of a house near her husband's dig site that the couple are using. She had been struck on the head with a large blunt object, per Dr Giles Reilly's examination of the body. The initial investigation by the police, led by Captain Maitland, is unable to find the murder weapon, yet he assumes the murder was committed by someone on the dig. Reilly learns that his friend Hercule Poirot is travelling in Iraq, and so contacts him for help. When Poirot arrives, he notes that the bedroom has only one point of entry, that the only window in the room was shut and barred, and that a rug near a washstand has blood on it. Anne Johnson, a colleague of Leidner, claims she heard a cry, yet is unsure about it. Reilly's daughter Sheila remarks that the victim had the attention of every man, yet no obvious subject emerges from among the team. Poirot takes interest in the story Louise told Nurse Leatheran about her first husband; he wonders if Bosner or his brother-in-law are among the team. Poirot is also intrigued to find that the letters Louise received were in her handwriting. Following Louise's funeral, Nurse Leatheran meets with Miss Johnson on the house's roof, who claims she knows how someone could have entered unseen; she does not elaborate on this further. That night, Miss Johnson unwittingly drinks a glass of hydrochloric acid. It had been substituted for her usual glass of water on her nightstand. Amy comes across her, and hears her mention "window" before she dies. The nurse does not believe Miss Johnson has committed suicide, and wonders if she was hinting to how the acid was switched for the water. After spending a day sending telegrams, Poirot brings everyone together and reveals that both women were murdered by Dr Erich Leidner, who is in reality Frederick Bosner. The real Leidner died in the train crash 15 years ago - when Bosner came across his body and found his face disfigured, he switched their identities so as to escape the authorities. Bosner was deeply possessive of Louise. To discourage her from forming relationships with other men, he sent her letters which he carefully wrote out in her handwriting. The letters stopped after he married her twelve years later, when she no longer recognised him. When Louise became attracted to his friend Richard Carey, Bosner decided to murder her to ensure no one else could have her. On the day of the murder, Bosner, on the rooftop, attracted her to the window with a mask he had used to scare her on previous nights. Once she stuck her head out to investigate, he dropped a quern on her, which he then pulled back to the roof via a rope he had tied to it. On the pretence of checking on her, he shut the bedroom window, while moving the body and the rug beneath it to where they were later found. He then used Amy as part of his alibi to divert suspicion from himself. Miss Johnson was murdered because she realised how Louise was killed. In the aftermath of his investigations, the police arrest two men at Beyrouth, whom Poirot discovered had been stealing precious artifacts from the dig: Raoul Menier, disguised as Father Lavigny, a well-reputed epigraphist who was not well known by the archaeologists; and Ali Yusuf, a known associate of Menier. Menier was replacing the stolen artifacts with near-perfect copies. Sheila marries David Emmott, while Nurse Leatheran returns to England. ===== Emily Arundell, a wealthy spinster, writes to Hercule Poirot on the belief she has been the victim of attempted murder after a fall in her home in Berkshire. However, her family and household believe she actually fell by accident, after tripping over a ball left by her fox terrier Bob. When Poirot receives the letter, he learns she has already died; her doctor, Dr. Grainger, states her death was from chronic liver problems. A new will she made while recovering from her earlier fall bequeaths her vast fortune and home to her companion, Miss Minnie Lawson. Seeking to investigate Emily's belief someone wanted to murder her, Poirot, accompanied by his friend Arthur Hastings, notes that under her previous will, her nephew Charles Arundell would have inherited, along with her nieces Theresa Arundell and Bella Tanios. All three wish to contest the will, but do not pursue this course of action. Visiting the house on the pretence of buying it, Poirot discovers a nail covered with varnish at the top of the stairs, deducing a string had been tied to it. Through Emily's last words, he concludes that Bob had been out all night and that she had therefore fallen down the stairs as a result of a tripwire, and that there is a chance Emily was indeed murdered. Her family thus become suspects in that matter. In his investigations, Poirot learns that during a seance held in Emily's home, a luminous aura was noticed coming from her mouth when she spoke. Visiting Lawson at her home, he learns that she saw someone moving about on the night of Emily's fall, who wore a brooch with the initials "TA", while Lawson's gardener recalls Charles inquiring about his arsenic-based weed killer and is surprised to find the bottle containing it to be nearly empty. Bella later leaves her husband Jacob, on the implication he bullies her, taking the children with her. After Lawson helps to hide them in a hotel, Poirot moves her to another on fear of a second murder; before he does he gives her a summary of Emily's death. The next day, Bella is found dead from an overdose of a sleeping medication. Poirot soon brings together Lawson and Emily's surviving family, whereupon he reveals that Bella was the murderer. She had hated her husband, never truly loving him, and sought to separate from him and keep her children in England. As she had no means to do so, she decided to kill Emily in order to inherit her portion of her wealth. When her first attempt with the tripwire failed, she decided to switch one of her aunt's capsules for her liver troubles, with one filled with elemental phosphorus, knowing that her death from the poison would mimic the symptoms of liver failure. The aura witnessed by those attending the seance was because of the poison Emily had unknowingly taken. When she found out her aunt changed her will, and that Poirot had discovered the cause of her death, Bella found herself in far worse quandary. She thus relinquished her children back to their father, before committing suicide; the medication was originally intended to be used in murdering Jacob. Poirot reveals that Lawson saw Bella on the night of Emily's fall, though in a mirror; the brooch's initials were reversed from that of "AT" - Arabella Tanios. The arsenic was stolen by Theresa, who intended to use it, but could not bear to do so in the end. A small sum of cash that went missing was later discovered to have been stolen by Charles; he was aware his aunt had changed her will, before her death. Knowing Emily wished for no scandal, Poirot honours this, while Lawson decides to share her inheritance with Theresa, Charles, and Bella's children. Meanwhile, Poirot and Hastings find themselves returning home with Bob joining them. ===== The film revolves around two love stories. Pran (Raj Kapoor) and Reshma (Nargis) and Gopal (Prem Nath) and Neela (Nimmi). Two friends with opposite personalities, the rich but sensitive Pran and the womanizing Gopal both have affairs with two mountain girls while holidaying in the valley of Kashmir. While Pran and Reshma's love is true and reciprocated, Gopal is a womanizing villain, who disregards the faithful Neela (Nimmi) and condemns her to wait faithfully for his return with the barsaat (rainy season). Many plot intrigues follow through with Pran and Reshma facing many trials on the path to true love, including parental opposition, accidents, and an attempted forced marriage of Reshma to an uncouth fisherman. The couple are finally reunited. Gopal on the other hand finally becomes a reformed character and rushes to claim the ever-faithful Neela who has been pining away, only to arrive to find his true love dead. The film ends with Gopal lighting Neela's funeral pyre as the rains finally come. ===== Multi-millionaire Simeon Lee, frail in his old age, unexpectedly invites his family to gather at his home for Christmas. The gesture is met with suspicion by the guests. Simeon is not given to warm family sentiment, and the family are not on good terms, in particular, with the black sheep of the family, Harry. Simeon also searched out his orphaned, Spanish-born granddaughter, Pilar Estravados, to live in his house. None have met their late sister Jennifer's daughter before; she proves to be delightful. Simeon is intent on playing a cruel game with his family's emotions. Stephen Farr, a surprise guest, arrives on Christmas Eve. He is the son of Simeon's former partner in the diamond mines, welcomed warmly by Simeon. Simeon calls his family together that afternoon, to hear him on the telephone with his attorney, saying he wants to update his will after Christmas. This incomplete information stirs up negative feelings among his sons and their wives. After dinner on Christmas Eve, the sounds of crashing of furniture and a hideous scream are heard by several, who rush to Simeon's room. When they get to his door, they find it locked and have to break it down. The sight revealed includes heavy furniture overturned, crockery smashed, and Simeon dead, his throat slit, in a great pool of blood, a grisly and shocking sight. The local police superintendent is already at the front door, before anyone could call the police. Superintendent Sugden notices Pilar pick up something from the floor. He insists that she give the small bit of rubber and a small object made of wood to him. Sugden explains that he is at the house by prior arrangement with the victim, who confided to him the theft of a substantial quantity of uncut diamonds from his safe. Poirot accompanies Colonel Johnson to investigate this murder. The murder generates many questions. How was the victim killed inside a locked room? Was the murder connected to the theft of the diamonds? And what is the significance of the small triangle of rubber and the peg first noticed by Pilar? Poirot's investigation explores the victim's methodical and vengeful nature and the way these characteristics come out in his sons, and observes physical traits as well. Each son, and perhaps one of the wives, appears as a suspect to the investigators. When the butler mentions his confusion about the identities of the house guests, Poirot realises that the four sons of Simeon's marriage may not be Simeon's only sons present in the home. Poirot finds the uncut diamonds mixed in with the stones of a decorative outdoor garden, which takes theft away as a motive. The family lawyer reads Simeon's will, which leaves half to son Alfred, who runs the business, and the other half to be split among his other children. This leaves Pilar with nothing, as her mother died a year earlier, and his granddaughter is not specifically named. Alfred, David and Harry agree to pool their inheritances and make a share for Pilar. This warm gesture, based on what is just, as Lydia tells her, upsets Pilar, and she refuses it. The final major clue comes from Pilar. She and Stephen are playing with balloons and one bursts; she mentions that the pieces are like what she found on the floor after Simeon Lee was killed. Poirot warns her to be "on her guard", as she knows more than she realises. Soon she is almost killed in another murder attempt, of a stone cannonball perched above her bedroom door. A cable comes from South Africa reporting that the son of Simeon’s partner was dead; Stephen Farr admits his name is Stephen Grant, and he is in England to meet his father, from Simeon's last trip to South Africa, five years after his marriage in England. After that, Pilar reveals the story of the death of the real Pilar as the two crossed Spain during its civil war, and her own plan to arrive in England in her stead. With this knowledge, Sugden tries to blame the murder on Pilar. Then Poirot takes over and explains the crime. Poirot reveals that Sugden was another illegitimate child of Simeon, from an affair with a local girl. Sugden hated the man who abandoned his mother, paying her off. Sugden planned his revenge carefully and murdered his father hours before he set off the noisy sound effects. David is relieved of his years of anger toward his father for mistreating his mother. Stephen takes Pilar, now Conchita Lopez, to South Africa, to marry her. Lydia will invite them to a proper English Christmas. ===== Lucía, a children's book writer, is travelling to Brazil with her husband on vacation, when her husband disappears after going to the airport bathroom. She later learns that he was kidnapped by a group called the People Workers Party that wants 20 million pesos from her. Her husband frantically tells her to find the money in his aunt's safe deposit box. With the help of her neighbours, a Spanish Civil War veteran, and a young musician, Lucía sets out to find his kidnappers. She eventually discovers the truth about his disappearance after learning from the police that her husband is accused of being part of an elaborate embezzlement scam from within the Treasury Department of the government and may have possibly faked his kidnapping. ===== 375 years ago, twin brothers Oswulf and Eldamar built a castle in a large valley in the Dragonspine Mountains and the town of Verdigris was founded below the castle. The town prospered under the guidance of the brothers. Oswulf was a paladin and Eldamar was a mage. As Eldamar became older, his obsession for immortality grew and he began studying how to become a lich. Oswulf tried to stop his brother, but failed. Eldamar became a lich known as the Dreadlord. A horrified Oswulf could not bear to kill his own brother. He sought the help of a band of adventurers known as the Silver Blades to help contain the Dreadlord. The Dreadlord was certain that these adventurers were called upon to slay him and he began gathering armies of evil creatures to aid him. The town was overrun by monsters and the inhabitants abandoned it. With the help of the Silver Blades, they succeeded in driving the monsters out of the town and back to the castle. Oswulf was still determined not to kill his own brother, however. The Silver Blades set out to research a spell and when cast, it encased the entire valley in a glacier. Everything inside became frozen, but was still alive. Oswulf sacrificed himself so his spirit could guard the castle. A few of the Dreadlord's followers were beyond the glacier's effects and began attempts to get through the ice, but failed. 15 years ago, they formed a group known as the Black Circle and succeeded in breaking the spell. The glacier began to melt. As the ice melted, many miners noticed the old mines of Verdigris were once again accessible and founded the town of New Verdigris. The mines contained vast amounts of gems. As the miners descended to the lower levels, monsters that had been frozen for over 300 years began to emerge and once again took over the mines. In desperation, the miners took all their gems to the Well of Knowledge, which is said to grant wishes and provide information for those who dropped treasure into it. The party was then summoned to the town of New Verdigris by the Well of Knowledge at the wish of the townspeople. They need the party to protect them from the monsters and so begins the story of the Secret of the Silver Blades. The party's objective is to adventure through the mountain region near Verdigris, entering areas such as the ruins of Old Verdigris, the Well of Knowledge, the mines, the crevasses, and eventually to the Dreadlord's castle. The party will face off against an evil group of humans called the Black Circle, many kinds of monsters in the mines and crevasses, and finally against the lich the Dreadlord himself. ===== Kumar (Amitabh Bachchan), an artist by profession is in love with Asha (Yogeeta Bali). Asha wins a trip to Ooty in a dance competition, and falls in love with a wealthy tea plantation owner, Rajeshwar (Navin Nischol). When Kumar finds out, he goes to Asha's uncle, Ashok Verma (Om Prakash) and demands Asha's hand in marriage. When he refuses, Kumar plots to kill him. The manner in which Kumar plans and executes the murder is regarded as an immensely brilliant and engaging sequence. Kumar boards and exits various modes of transportation to avoid any possibilities of suspicion by creating an alibi. He finally kills Ashok Verma and frames Rajeshwar in the hope of winning Asha's love. But Asha still loves Rajeshwar, and believes in his innocence. She makes a promise to Kumar to stay with him forever, if he could get Rajeshwar released from his death sentence. Kumar realises that Rajeshwar will always remain Asha's love. He writes down his confession giving details of execution of his plan of murder, gives it to Rajeshwar and commits suicide. ===== During Prince Pompadore of Pumperdink's eighteenth birthday celebration, his birthday cake explodes, revealing a magic scroll, a magic mirror, and a doorknob. The scroll warns the prince that if he doesn't wed a "proper princess" within seven days, his entire kingdom will disappear. The prince, along with the kingdom's wise elephant Kabumpo, set off on an adventure to the Emerald City so Pompa can marry Princess Ozma, the only "proper princess" the Elegant Elephant can think of as worthy of his prince.Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; pp. 115, 151-2, 166. Meanwhile, Ruggedo the Gnome King (Thompson "corrected" Baum's spelling of "Nome") finds Glegg's Box of Mixed Magic while tunnelling under the Emerald City. After he brings a wooden doll, Peg Amy, to life, and makes Wag the rabbitWho's Who in Oz, pp. 145, 157-8, 234-5. the size of a man, Ruggedo turns himself into a giant. This means that Ozma's palace gets stuck on his head, and in a panic he runs off to Ev with it. After many adventures in the strange lands of Rith Metic, the Illumi Nation, and the Soup Sea, Pompadore and Kabumpo arrive in the Emerald City to find Ozma missing. They set off to find her and eventually meet up with Wag and Peg Amy. The group reaches the edge of the Deadly Desert and is hijacked by the Runaway Country, a conscious, talking, mobile piece of land. It carries them over the desert to Ev. Eventually, Peg Amy is revealed to be the princess of Sun Top Mountain (she was turned into a tree by the evil magician J. Glegg when she refused to marry him, then Cap'n Bill took part of the tree and carved her into a wooden doll for Trot), and Pompadore marries her. ===== The owner of a liquor store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City finds a case of cheap acidic booze ("Tenafly Viper") in his basement. It is more than 60 years old and has gone bad, but he decides to sell it to the local hobos anyway. Unfortunately, anyone who drinks the Viper melts away in a hideous fashion. At the same time, two homeless brothers find different ways to cope with homelessness while they make their residence in a local junkyard while one employee, a female cashier and clerk, frequently tends to both of them. Meanwhile, an overzealous cop (Bill Chepil) is trying to get to the bottom of all the deaths, all the while trying to end the tyranny of a deranged Vietnam veteran named Bronson (Vic Noto), who has made his self-proclaimed "kingdom" at the junkyard with a group of homeless vets under his command as his personal henchmen. The film is littered with darkly comedic deaths and injuries. It also contains the notorious "severed privates" scene where a group of homeless people play catch with the severed genital of one of their number, as he futilely attempts to recover it. ===== The game has no overarching story as such; each puzzle shows a small section of Hazard Park, an amusement park with woeful disdain for its customers. Completing the puzzles in a particular section displays the fate of the unfortunate guests at a given ride, attraction, or location for that particular section. One puzzle in the game has Cliff Johnson describing the discovery of Elmer McCurdy. ===== Naive but good natured young man Albert Hockenberry (Baldwin) arrives in Washington, D.C., with plans to work for his late father's army buddy Harold (Gail), owner of the run-down District of Columbia Cab company. Aware of the sorry state of his business and from the growing competition from the popular Emerald Cab Company, Harold wants to clean it up but doesn't have the financial means to do so. Complicating matters is the motley group of cab drivers that he has working for him. They all see driving as a dead-end job while they wait for better lives, until Albert inspires them to work as a team. A valuable violin is found in one of the cabs, earning Harold and his wife a $10,000 reward as owners of the cab. Harold wants to share the money with the drivers and let them invest in the cab company as partners. However, his greedy wife Myrna picks up the reward money and tosses Harold and Albert's belongings out of the house. The cabbies are not happy about losing their share of the reward, so Albert decides to donate $6,063 of his own money to the cab company and convinces the drivers to stay and make something of the company and themselves. The cabbies completely overhaul the entire business, and the revitalized company soon supplants Emerald Cab as the most popular in the city. Later on, the cabbies work together to rescue Albert and a diplomat's two children after they're kidnapped. The movie ends with a parade in D.C. Cab's honor. ===== John Michael ("Chip") Hardesty (James Stewart) narrates the story of a murder, seen in a flashback. Young Jack Graham (Nick Adams) takes out life insurance on his mother and plants a bomb in her luggage for a flight that she was taking from Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon, November 1, 1955.The film changes some details, including the flight and the number of people killed. It also makes it appear that his sole motivation was money, the $37,500 life insurance policy; Graham's true motive was revenge for the way his mother had treated him as a small child. Next we see Hardesty as he recounts his history as an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation during a lecture. The lecture becomes the narration of flashbacks as he tells of his life as an agent combating various crimes and criminals, including the Ku Klux Klan, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger. Then he recounts his first involvement as a government clerk in Knoxville, Tennessee in May 1924, and his proposal to a librarian, Lucy Ann Ballard (Vera Miles). Ballard loves Hardesty but wants to change him. They marry with the idea that Hardesty will resign from the FBI and start practicing law. On his way to Washington D.C. his partner, Sam Crandall (Murray Hamilton), tries to talk him out of resigning. Then listening to the new director, J. Edgar Hoover, he becomes inspired to stay. He meets Lucy Ann for a shrimp dinner at Herzog's Seafood Restaurant and tries to evade her questions about his resignation, but she soon tells Chip that she is pregnant, and she, still trying to change him, allows him stay in the bureau, "for a year". The next day Chip is sent to the South to investigate the Ku Klux Klan. He is moved around until he is sent to Ute City, Wade County, Oklahoma (The real case was in Osage County, the Osage Indian murders, between 1921 and 1923) to investigate a series of murders of Native Americans who had oil rich mineral rights and land. Jurisdictionally speaking, the FBI does not usually investigate murders, but in this case it got involved because one of the murders was committed on US Federal Government land. The FBI forensics labaratory ties the doctored wills and life insurance policies of the murder victims to a local banker, Dwight McCutcheon (in real life a rancher, William "King of Osage" Hale; played by Fay Roope), with the typewriter that he used. Lucy Ann has a miscarriage during this time. On June 17, 1933 three FBI agents were escorting Frank "Jelly" Nash from a train to a car outside the Union Station in Kansas City when they were ambushed and all were killed in what is now called the Kansas City Massacre. The Kansas City Massacre changed the FBI; prior to this event the agency did not have authority to carry firearms (although many agents did) and make arrests, but a year later Congress gave the FBI statutory authority to carry guns and make arrests. Hardesty and Crandall are very excited by the Weyburn Bill (the right for agents to carry firearms), calling it "a real Christmas present", but Lucy Ann does not like the idea at all."People & Events: The Rise of the FBI". – | "Primary Sources: Some Anti-Dillinger Laws". – American Experience. – PBS. – Retrieved: 2008-07-04 After receiving a tip, Hardesty and Crandall head to Spider Lake, Wisconsin on April 22, 1934, but after barking dogs alerted the gangsters they scattered. They then head to a nearby country store to call the Chicago office. When they get there they find two men sitting in a car, with Baby Face Nelson (William Phipps), holding them hostage. Nelson comes up shooting, mortally wounding Crandall. (The real incident did occur on April 22, Baby Face Nelson, was hiding out with John Dillinger, but it was at the Little Bohemia Lodge just outside Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, the two agents were Special Agents J. C. Newman and W. Carter Baum, Baum is the agent killed in the shootout. With them was also a local constable not shown in the film. Nelson was holding two hostages in a house, and when the car came up, Nelson, wanting to take the vehicle, rushed forward shouting for the occupants to get out, but then opened fire on the car shooting all three lawmen). The film then quickly recounts Hardesty's (fictional) involvement in the capture and/or deaths of numerous infamous mobsters of the day including Dillinger, "Pretty Boy" Floyd, "Baby Face" Nelson, and Machine Gun Kelly (who coined the popular term "G-Men" during his arrest, shouting "Don't Shoot G-Men, Don't Shoot" upon being apprehended.) With the US entry into the World War II, enemy aliens (Americans of Japanese, German, and Italian descent) are quickly rounded up by the FBI and sent to "concentration camps", and although none of them were spies, the film argues that it was a necessary act to prevent possible espionage and collaboration with the Axis powers. The ranks of the "bureau" are quickly doubled from about 2500 to more than 5000 agents. One of those aspiring new agents is the deceased Sam's son George who is constantly frustrated and worried that he will never live up to his father's reputation, but a romance is clearly budding between the young man and Chip's oldest daughter. While dancing in the backyard, the party is suddenly interrupted by Chip's only son who plays the Marine Hymn on the phonograph before announcing his enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps. Soon afterwards, George completes his FBI training and is sent off to a secret mission abroad, meanwhile the now ageing and white-haired Chip is sent by the FBI to relieve the duties of three agents in an unspecified South American country after their identities had been compromised (the CIA did not yet exist at the time, and U.S. wartime covert activities in Latin America were directed by the FBI's Special Intelligence Service). The third of the agents is revealed to be young George who has been intercepting various secret enemy radio messages. As local authorities move in to arrest the trio, George intercepts one last message, reporting an illegal shipment of platinum to Buenos Aires before destroying all of the radio equipment with a detonator, and the codebook with a lantern. The film then cuts to the first anniversary celebration of George and Chip's daughter in the United States. As the celebration continues, Chip and Lucy suddenly receive a telegram at the door, informing them of their son's death in the Battle of Iwo Jima. The last investigation, "50-Cent Clue", involves an espionage case of a New York City clothes cleaners finding a hollow half- dollar with microfilm inside. The microfilm contains a series of numbers, which the FBI tries to decipher. (The real case involved a nickel, not a half- dollar, and took four years to unfold, not the short matter of days in the film. On June 22, 1953, a newspaper boy, collecting for the Brooklyn Eagle, was paid with a nickel that didn't sound and feel right to him. But it wasn't until a Soviet KGB agent, Reino Häyhänen, wanted to defect in May, 1957, would the FBI be able to link the nickel to KGB agents, including Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher (aka Rudolph Ivanovich Abel) in the Hollow Nickel Case. The deciphered message in the nickel turned out to be worthless, a personal message to Häyhänen from the KGB in Moscow welcoming him to the U.S. and instructing him on getting set up). The film then ends with the conclusion of Hardesty's speech to his fellow FBI agents, walking out of the building he is greeted by his family, including his own grandson wearing an old hat that sang the tune of Yankee Doodle; the same hat that Chip had bought for his own children decades ago near the beginning of his career. Chip says, "I guess I'll never understand how one little family can collect so much junk," and drives away. Various scenes are then shown, depicting the family driving past various DC landmarks such as the Washington Monument, the White House, and the Lincoln Memorial. The Marine Corps War Memorial is shown last while their hymn is played in the background before the dedication to the FBI and the words "The End" are shown. ===== Squidward Tentacles gets a call from his former high school classmate and rival, Squilliam Fancyson, who is very successful and has succeeded in everything in which Squidward has failed, such as music. Squilliam reveals to Squidward that he has become the leader of a band and that they are supposed to play at the Bubble Bowl, but he will be busy at that time and will not be able to attend. Squilliam derisively suggests that Squidward's band should substitute for his at the Bubble Bowl, believing that Squidward does not have one. However, to impress Squilliam, Squidward defiantly insists that he does in fact have a band and accepts the offer. He assembles a large marching band composed of various Bikini Bottom residents, including SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, Mrs. Puff, Larry, Plankton, and Mr. Krabs. During their one week of training, the band performs consistently poorly and fails to improve at all. The week starts when Patrick and Sandy get into a brawl. On the second day, while practicing a march, two flag twirlers spin their flags too fast (per Squidward's demand), causing them to fly into the air and crash into a blimp. On the third day, Squidward checks on Plankton's harmonica solo, but Plankton becomes exhausted and collapses from running back and forth between the holes, since the harmonica is too big for him. On the last day of practice, Squidward (theorizing that "people talk loud when they try to act smart") says if everyone plays loudly, they will be good. However, they take his theory a bit too literally; they play so loudly and horribly bad that they break the windows of the building. The band members start insulting and blaming each other for their poor performance as Squidward tries to bring down the tension but fails as the whole band gets into a huge brawl. After the brawl, band class ends, and everyone instantly calms down and starts filing out of the building; before they can leave, a grieving Squidward appears outside expressing his disappointment in all of them and goes home in distress over his failure. However, SpongeBob convinces the other band members to go through with the performance for Squidward's sake, and he takes command of their training. On the day of the concert, when Squilliam shows up at the stadium in order to see Squidward fail, Squidward claims that his band died in a marching accident. However, Squidward's band shows up at the last minute, and he is forced to go through with the performance. They enter a large glass dome complete with human fans. Squidward cringes in fear as he conducts the band, assuming that the performance will be a disaster, but the band is tremendously successful, playing a rock ballad song called "Sweet Victory" (with SpongeBob's lead vocals provided by the song's actual singer, David Glen Eisley). Squilliam enters a state of shock and faints, leaving Squidward to celebrate triumphantly as he leaps into the air. ===== The short begins with Scrat (Chris Wedge) after escaping the migration, returning to a huge tree, hollowed out and filled to the brim with acorns. There is one more empty spot in the middle of the acorns where Scrat tries to stuff the last acorn he brought with him (he first tries to put it in the same way he had done in the opening of the first film, but he seems to remember what would happen if he did, so he gently screws it in instead). However, it pops back out when his back is turned and after two more tries at getting it in place—both with the same result—Scrat gets frustrated and stomps it into place, unwittingly causing all the acorns to fall out of a hole in the tree. The avalanche of acorns sends Scrat sliding down the side of a mountain. The acorns and Scrat then go into free fall. A short musical scene follows (to the tune of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Waltz), with Scrat collecting acorns as he falls. Eventually Scrat collects and forms a 3-D sphere with the acorns, but then (with Scrat on top of it) it tilts upside down so Scrat and the acorns finally land hard on the icy land down below. There is one lone acorn left in the atmosphere (presumably the one he was trying to stuff into the tree). Scrat, stuck in the snow, is only able to free his arms before the acorn impacts right between his eyes with the force of a rifle bullet. The extreme force with which the acorn hits the ground results in a great big earthquake, shaping the Earth's continents (probably Pangaea) into their present-day form and trapping Scrat on the original spot from the center of the impact. When Scrat digs out the acorn, he finds it has been charred and thus crumbled into ash. Disappointed and defeated, he turns to the camera, sighs and puts on the remaining acorn cap as a beret. ===== Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) is a widower and college history professor at George Washington University with a 10-year-old son named Grant (Spencer Treat Clark). One day, Michael encounters a boy, Brady (Mason Gamble), stumbling in the middle of a road in his neighborhood with horrific injuries to his hands. Michael takes him to hospital and meets the boy's parents Oliver (Tim Robbins) and Cheryl Lang (Joan Cusack), discovering they are his neighbors. They soon become friends, and their sons join the Discoverers, a Boy Scouts-style group. Actions of the Langs arouse latent suspicion in Michael. Michael sees blueprints in the Langs' house which are not for the building project Oliver, a structural engineer, claims, and a wrongly delivered letter suggests he lied about where he attended college. When Michael laments the FBI's lack of contrition after his wife Leah (Laura Poe), an FBI agent, was killed in the line of duty, Oliver states that the government should be punished for its mistakes. Michael's girlfriend, Brooke (Hope Davis), and Leah's former FBI partner, Whit Carver (Robert Gossett), dismiss Michael's concerns as paranoia. Michael takes his college class on a field trip to the site of the standoff in which his wife was killed, and passionately excoriates the FBI for failing to sufficiently investigate the besieged family, and for provoking the standoff. Michael's students appear uneasy. Oliver tells Michael that Grant wishes someone could be punished for his mother's death, which again rouses Michael's suspicion. He discovers in archives that Oliver's real name is William Fenimore, and that he tried to blow up a post office in Kansas at age 16. He is seen by Oliver, who later confronts and berates him. Oliver states that he sought revenge on the government for causing his father's suicide, that he was imprisoned, and admits to changing his identity to hide his past from his children. Michael appears to let the matter drop. However, a few days later, Brooke sees Oliver swap cars with a stranger in a parking lot, and follows him to a delivery depot where a number of metal boxes are exchanged. From a payphone, she leaves Michael a message that his suspicions may have been correct, but is discovered by Cheryl. Michael learns of Brooke's (off-screen) death on the news, where it appears she died in a car crash. The next day, Michael inadvertently discovers that messages left on his answering machine had been erased. Again suspecting foul play, Michael phones Whit about Oliver/William and asks him to check FBI records, and records of calls to his home. Michael visits the father of the late Dean Scobee, accused of blowing up a federal building in St. Louis, from where the Langs had moved. Dr. Scobee is certain his son was innocent since 10 children died in the bombing. Michael becomes convinced Dean was set up when he sees him in a photo with Brady, with whom Grant is on a Discoverer field trip, and rushes in a panic to retrieve him. Troop leaders tell him that Grant was taken home with Brady. Michael confronts Oliver at his home, where he confirms that his group killed Brooke. The next day Whit accosts Michael, stating the FBI discovered nothing suspicious about Oliver/William or his acquaintances, and says that Michael's 'missing' telephone message was from a payphone. The following morning, Michael slips out of his house, rents a car under a false name, drives to the payphone where Brooke made the phone call, and sees a passing delivery vehicle. He follows it to its depot, where he sees some men he recognizes from Oliver's house, and from Discoverer photographs, loading metal boxes into the van. Michael follows the van and is shocked to see Grant at the window. Oliver intercepts Michael's car and beats him, promising to kill Grant. Oliver expounds on his group's anti-government mission, and their current target: the FBI. Michael overpowers Oliver and drives to FBI headquarters, calling Whit to warn him. Michael sees a delivery van at the gate to the FBI building and illegally pursues it into the secure parking garage, but discovers that it is a different van and is empty. Whit tells Michael that he is the only unauthorized person in the building. Michael rushes back to his own car, discovering a bomb in the trunk seconds before it detonates. The blast partially collapses the FBI headquarters, as Oliver watches from a distance. A montage of news clips, which portray Michael as a lonewolf terrorist seeking revenge on the FBI for Leah's death, show that the Langs have successfully framed him. Statements from Michael's students (one of whom is a conspirator) support the official story, giving accounts of his erratic and paranoid behavior and implying that he held a dangerous grudge against the FBI. Grant, now orphaned, moves in with relatives, tragically unaware of his father's innocence. In the final scene, Oliver and Cheryl have put their house up for sale and prepare to move to another suburban neighborhood where they will plan their next terrorist attack, as well as look for another fall guy to take the blame for their group's actions as they did with Michael Faraday and many others before him. ===== In 2009, humans make contact with their first extraterrestrials. The signal comes from beyond Neptune and even Pluto, on 1999 ZX, a celestial body between comet and planet in size, out in the Kuiper belt at 35 AU from the Sun. Twenty years later they send a scientific team to this small, ice-bound planetoid in the farthest reaches of the solar system in the Oort cloud. This cold, dark planetoid ends up being a strange world indeed. There is only a thin hydrogen atmosphere, almost vacuum, and the average temperature is some 30 K (-243 °C, -406 °F), where only hydrogen, helium, and neon are gaseous in state and nearly everything else is a solid. Yet on this icy, frozen world, life manages to thrive: the keracks, which are no bigger than a few centimeters in length resemble "large one-eyed prawns dressed in elaborate clothing". The keracks, despite their small size, have built rather small cities and developed a complex society on their planetoid which they dubbed "Ice". They have a collectivistic hive-like society with a rich culture suggesting that of England in the time of King Arthur. The human visitors' first contact is the female kerack Merlene, wizard of the kerack city of Camalor. The humans themselves, being too hot and large, are unsuited for direct contact with the natives on this chilly world. So, instead, they have built "telebots" through which they can communicate with Merlene and the other keracks. Merlene develops a fondness for conversing with the humans and eventually the humans and the keracks get to learn much about each other's worlds and cultures. The humans also teach Merlene more about science and technology which would hopefully advance the kerack race. The human scientists also uncover mysteries about the energy source of the keracks, who secrete an internal pellet of uranium and moderate its decay with a boron-rich carapace to provide internal warmth. Whenever a kerack dies its pellet is taken to be stockpiled by the colony's queen. The scientists discover the tragic conclusion of the kerack life cycle almost too late to save Merlene; when a kerack colony accumulated a large enough stockpile the queen would instinctively arrange it in such a way as to trigger a nuclear explosion, blasting kerack spores off of the Kuiper belt object to colonize other objects in the belt. Since the kerack colony is exploded in the process no living kerack had known of their fate. The book concludes with Merlene going traveling to warn other colonies of the consequences of their expanding stockpiles. ===== The novel tells the struggle and survival of an abused wife named Paula Spencer. It is narrated by the victim. The title comes from an incident narrated in the book, where Paula's husband asks her how she received a bruise he was responsible for, and she replies that she "walked into a door." A sequel, Paula Spencer, was published in 2006. The narrative blends her recounting of the circumstances of her childhood, courtship and wedding day, with reflections on those events. The gathering drama is linked to the increasing awareness of moving towards a climax, which is on the one hand the outbreak of violence in her marriage, and on the other hand the violent death of her husband. ===== Running with Scissors covers the period of Burroughs' adolescent years, beginning at age 12 after a brief overview of his life as a child. Burroughs spends his early childhood in a clean and orderly home, obsessing over his clothes, hair, accessories, and having great potential, with his parents constantly fighting in the background. When his parents separate and his mother begins to second-guess her sexuality, Burroughs is sent to live with his mother's psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, who lives in a rundown Victorian house in Northampton, Massachusetts. Finch lives with his "legal" wife, Agnes, as well as his biological and adopted children and some of his own patients. Rules are practically nonexistent and children of all ages do whatever they please, such as having sex, smoking cigarettes and cannabis, and rebelling against authority figures. Finch feels that, at age 13, children should be in charge of their own lives. However, the dysfunctional issues that occur in the Finch family are outdone by the psychotic episodes frequently experienced by Burroughs' mother. The Finch house is a parallel universe to the home Burroughs came from. It is filthy, with cockroaches roaming around the uncleaned dishes, Christmas trees left up year-round, stairs up which Burroughs is afraid to walk because he thinks that they will collapse under him, and nothing off limits. Eventually, Finch comes to believe that God is communicating with him through his feces and develops a form of divination to try and decipher these messages. When Hope, Finch's second oldest daughter, believes her cat is dying, she keeps it in a laundry basket for four days until it dies: "Hope said Freud died of kitty leukemia and old age, I thought it was because Freud was stuck under a laundry basket with no food or water for 4 days." Burroughs' mother is shown as emotionally drained, excessive, self-centered, and ultimately incapable of being a parent. She has a sexual relationship with a local minister's wife, which is revealed to Burroughs when he accidentally walks in on them when he skips school. When this relationship ends, Burroughs' mother starts another with an affluent African-American woman. This relationship is tumultuous and unstable. At one point, they have a mental patient named Cesar live at their house after another of his mother's breakdowns as his "dad". Cesar attempts to rape Burroughs while he is sleeping, but is unsuccessful (when Cesar goes to live with the Finches later in the book, he pays one of the Finches' daughters for sex and is then forced from the home). His mother's biggest psychotic episode happens when she and Dorothy (her partner) move everything out of their house and attack Burroughs when he tries to intervene. This later ends with a "road trip" and events leading to Burroughs' mother being restrained on a bed. Burroughs tells Dr. Finch's adopted 33-year-old son, Neil Bookman, that he is gay. From the age of 13 to 15, Burroughs has an intense and open sexual relationship with Bookman, which begins when Bookman forces the young boy to perform oral sex on him. Neither his mother nor any member of the Finch family is bothered by their relationship. Burroughs begins to enjoy exacting power over Bookman by threatening to charge him with statutory rape. Bookman is obsessed with the young boy, even though Burroughs has problems with their relationship (going in phases of needing the affection of Bookman to wanting to humiliate or get away from him) which only infatuates Bookman more. Bookman eventually leaves Northampton for New York City and is never heard from again by Burroughs or the Finches, even after they try everything in their power to find him. Burroughs forms a close relationship with Finch's daughter, Natalie, who is one year older than he is, even though he dislikes her at the beginning of the book. They do everything together, from finding jobs to running behind a waterfall to demolishing the kitchen ceiling. They finally leave the Finch household together. At the end of the book, when Burroughs is living in his own apartment with Natalie, he is asked to choose between his mother and Finch when she accuses the doctor of raping her in a motel to cure her of one of her psychotic episodes. He still considers Finch's family and his mother to be his family, and he cannot bring himself to choose sides, although he is fairly certain that Finch did rape his mother. Quoted from the book, Burroughs states: "So it came to this: Was I a turd-reading Finch? Or was I my crazy mother's son? In the end, I decided that I was neither." ===== Set in Dublin before and during the 1916 Easter Rising, At Swim, Two Boys tells the love story of two young Irish men: Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle. Jim goes to school on a scholarship (for which he is looked down upon) – he is quiet, studious, thoughtful, and naïve. In contrast, Doyler is outspoken, rebellious, brave, and affectionate. Doyler might once have received a scholarship, like Jim, but Doyler withdrew from school to find work and support his impoverished family, leading the pair to grow apart. They have an additional connection through their fathers, who served in the army together during the Boer War, and were once best friends. ===== Daryl Poynter is a successful but self-destructive Philadelphia real estate salesman who is addicted to cocaine. He embezzles $92,000 of his company's money from an escrow account and then loses $52,000 to his addiction and the stock market. Waking up one morning next to a girl who suffered a heart attack from a cocaine overdose, he tries to cover up the drug use, but the police make it clear that they know what happened. There is also the matter of the company's money. Daryl goes to the airport to try to flee the country but his credit card is declined and he has no cash. His colleague Martin also refuses to put him up for a couple of weeks. Daryl then learns of a drug rehabilitation program on the radio which lasts about a month and which guarantees anonymity. He checks in, figuring he can hide out there. And he pretends his withdrawal is more severe. While in rehab he meets Craig, a tough but supportive drug rehabilitation counselor. With great difficulty, Craig helps Daryl to realize he is an addict and that his life is complete chaos. He says to him, "The best way to break old habits is to make new ones." At a 12-step meeting, Daryl meets the older, reformed addict Richard Dirks (M. Emmet Walsh) who will act as his sponsor. Richard eventually encourages Daryl to confess at work what he's done with the money. He is promptly fired. Daryl becomes attracted to a fellow patient, a woman named Charlie Standers. She is a steel foundry worker who is addicted to alcohol and cocaine. Charlie is involved in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Lenny, a fellow addict to whom Charlie acts as a codependent. Daryl falls in love with Charlie and urges her to leave Lenny. He finally succeeds, only to witness Lenny's manipulative way of winning her back. Daryl tries to remain in Charlie's life to help her stay sober. After another fight with Lenny, she leaves the house, attempts to get cigarettes (and perhaps return to Daryl) and is killed in a car accident. In despair, Daryl also feels a strong temptation to return to drugs. He visits Richard, who talks him out of it. Near the story's end, Daryl, confused but hopeful and reborn, accepts his 30 Day Sobriety Chip in front of an audience of fellow members, as he tells his story. The film ends with a distorted shot of cars taking off into the night. ===== On a lonely highway, Jim Grayam spots a car stopped on the tracks of a railroad crossing. Inside he finds a sleeping or unconscious woman with the car doors locked. Unable to wake her, Grayam smashes a window and drives the car to safety just ahead of a speeding train. Identifying her from a driver's license as Lorrie Benson, the wife of Beverly Hills millionaire Cort Benson, he drives her to their mansion. Grayam is a systems analyst for Benson Industries, widely admired throughout the company for his intelligence. When she wakes up, Lorrie makes it clear that she had parked the car on the tracks on purpose, a suicide attempt, and resents Grayam for saving her. Grayam declines a $1,000 reward. Impressed that he didn't rescue her for his own advancement, the hard-drinking and wild-partying Lorrie recruits him for a scavenger hunt, then begins a romantic affair with him. When the relationship turns serious, Cort Benson begins to sully Grayam's reputation at work, making it appear the valued employee is having a nervous breakdown, similar to one from his youth. Dr. Elizabeth Larstadt, a therapist, is asked to examine Grayam and finds him to have a volatile personality. Lorrie wants to leave her husband, but Cort makes it clear he won't permit her to take their young child. Grayam hatches a diabolical plot. He will kill Cort, but not before studying how to give the appearance of insanity, so that he will be sentenced to a psychiatric institution rather than to the gas chamber for murder. The scheme works. Dr. Larstadt's testimony lands Grayam in a sanitarium rather than a prison cell. Grayam's intention is to gradually prove to doctors that he is safe to be released back into society. In the weeks to come, however, the other inmates' behavior drives Grayam slowly out of his mind. And when he finally is visited by Lorrie, he discovers to his horror that she now has another man in her life. A desperate Grayam plans to escape. He confides in Dr. Larstadt, now believing her to be the only one who truly understands him, and even professes his love for her. The doctor, however, is only making sure that she was correct in her assessment that Grayam is unbalanced. Hospital security guards carry him away. ===== In the American release, an introduction states that a war had destroyed the human race, leading to the creation of humanoid animals. Mok, an aging yet legendary rock musician, is on the search for a very special voice that can unleash a powerful demon from another dimension, his dwindling popularity driving him to destroy the world in vengeance and immortalize himself in the process. After travelling around the world looking for the right voice, he returns to his hometown of Ohmtown, a remote, storm-ravaged village famous for its unique power plant. Meanwhile, at a nightclub, Omar, Angel, Dizzy and Stretch perform in a small rock band. As Angel performs her romantic ballad to a mostly empty audience, Mok hears her sing; he realizes that Angel has the voice he needs when a ring he is wearing reacts to her voice. Mok invites Angel and the band to his mansion outside of town, where the band is formally introduced to him and his assistants, the "Rollerskating Schlepper Brothers" Toad, Sleazy and Zip. Mok incapacitates Omar and Stretch with hypnotic "Edison Balls" as he takes Angel on a stroll through his garden and tries to convince her to join him. Although Angel is unaware of Mok's true intentions, she refuses to abandon her band. Unwilling to admit defeat, Mok kidnaps her and takes his blimp to Nuke York, where his summoning, disguised as a concert, will be performed. Following their ejection from Mok's mansion, the band find out what happened to Angel and they follow the blimp in a stolen police car. Before they reach Nuke York, they are arrested by a border guard. Meanwhile, Angel attempts to escape with the unwitting help of Cinderella, the sister of the Schleppers. While sneaking through the ventilation system, Angel overhears Mok confirming his plans with his computer. At this time, the computer informs Mok that the only way to stop the demon is with "One voice, one heart, one song", but when Mok asks who can do this, the computer replies that there is "no one". Angel and Cindy escape the building and head to the zero-gravity dance club "Club 666", unaware that the Schleppers are following them. Dizzy's aunt bails out Omar and his friends, and tells them of the club. Angel and Cindy are intercepted and taken back to Mok's apartment, and the band tries to follow. Omar eventually bumps into Mok, who uses an impersonator to fool Omar into thinking that Angel has fallen for Mok. To manipulate Angel, Mok captures the band and tortures them with a giant Edison Ball to force her to agree with his demands. He also brainwashes them to ensure that they stay out of the way. The Nuke York concert turns out to be a disaster due to a power failure. Because the invocation requires a titanic amount of electricity, Mok relocates the summoning to Ohmtown, whose power plant has enough energy, though Zip expresses childlike doubts about whether their actions are good or evil. During the concert, a power surge causes overloads all over the city. The shock also brings Omar and his friends out of their hypnosis. Stretch finds a poster advertising Mok and Angel's concert and Dizzy sticks with him to save her. After confessing that Omar saw Mok and Angel together, Stretch tries to remind him it's all mind games. Omar, still believing Mok's earlier deception, refuses to help Dizzy and Stretch stop the concert. They go without him in a stolen police car, but crash at the concert too late, as Mok forces Angel to sing and open a portal to the demon's dimension. A massive demonic entity emerges from the portal and begins wreaking havoc on all those present. But Omar has a change of heart and arrives to free Angel from her electronic shackles before the demon can turn on her. When the demon attacks Omar, Zip seemingly sacrifices himself to save Omar's life. Angel tries singing to banish the demon, but her lone voice only pushes him back. But Omar joins in harmony with Angel, and thus the creature is weakened and driven back into its own dimension. Mok is thrown into the portal by the vengeful Toad, and as he is sealed away, he realizes that "no one" did not mean that the demon could not be stopped; it meant instead that "no one voice" could, acting alone; two voices and two hearts singing as one were needed for the counter-spell. The audience believes the confrontation to have been part of the concert's theatrics, and the band continues their song in triumph. ===== Karsten Bernick is the dominant businessman in a small coastal town in Norway, with interests in shipping and shipbuilding in a long-established family firm. Now he is planning his most ambitious project yet, backing a railway which will connect the town to the main line and open a fertile valley which he has been secretly buying up. Suddenly his past explodes on him. Johan Tønnesen, his wife's younger brother, comes back from America to the town he ran away from 15 years ago. At the time it was thought he had run off with money from the Bernick family business and with the urge to avoid scandal because he was having an affair with an actress. But none of this was true. He left town to take the blame for Bernick, who was the one who had actually been having the affair and was nearly caught with the actress. There was no money to take since at the time the Bernick firm had been almost bankrupt. With Tønnesen comes his half-sister Lona (whom Ibsen is said to have modelled after Norwegian feminist Aasta Hansteen), who once loved and was loved by Bernick. He rejected her and married his current wife for money so that he could rebuild the family business. In the years since Tønnesen left, the town has built ever greater rumours of his wickedness, helped by Bernick's studious refusal to give any indication of the truth. This mixture only needs a spark to explode and it gets one when Tønnesen falls in love with Dina Dorf, a young girl who is the daughter of the actress involved in the scandal of 15 years ago and who now lives as a charity case in the Bernick household. He demands that Bernick tell the girl the truth. Bernick refuses. Tønnesen says he will go back to the US to clear up his affairs and then come back to town to marry Dina. Bernick sees his chance to get out of his mess. His yard is repairing an American ship, the Indian Girl, which is dangerously unseaworthy. He orders his yard foreman to finish the work by the next day, even if it means sending the ship and its crew to certain death because he wants Tønnesen to die on board. That way he will be free of any danger in the future. Things do not work out like that. Tønnesen runs off with Dina on board another ship which is safe, leaving word that he will be back. And Bernick's young son stows away on the Indian Girl, seemingly heading for certain death. Bernick discovers that his plot has gone disastrously wrong on the night the people of the town have lined up to honour him for his contribution to the city. It is all set up for a tragic conclusion, but suddenly Ibsen pulls back from the brink. The yard foreman gets an attack of conscience and rows out to stop the Indian Girl from heading to sea and death; Bernick's son is brought back safely by his mother; and Bernick addresses the community, tells them most of the truth and gets away with it. His wife greets the news that he only married her for money as a sign there is now hope for their marriage. ===== Once-wealthy string magnate Rudolf Smuntz (William Hickey) dies, and he leaves his factory to his two sons, the well-meaning and optimistic Lars (Lee Evans), and venal cynic Ernest "Ernie" (Nathan Lane), who has ignored the family business to become a chef. When Lars refuses a buyout from a cord company called Zeppco, his money- hungry wife April (Vicki Lewis) throws him out. Meanwhile, at Ernie's restaurant, the mayor is dining and suffers a fatal heart attack when he accidentally eats a cockroach, getting the restaurant closed down. With nowhere left to go, the two brothers take refuge in a property their father left them, an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town. While attempting to sleep, the two are bothered by a mouse and, when investigating him, find blueprints of the house. The two discover from the blueprints that the property was the final design of famed architect Charles Lyle LaRue and would be worth a fortune if properly restored. Ernie and Lars decide to restore the property and auction it to recover their lives. During the renovations the two destroy the mouse's home, prompting the mouse to take revenge and sabotage their construction efforts. Conventional methods to get rid of the mouse fail as he repeatedly outwits the brothers. They resort to increasingly drastic methods to remove the mouse, including buying a psychotic cat named "Catzilla", whom the mouse drops down a dumbwaiter to his defeat, and then hiring an eccentric exterminator named Caesar (Christopher Walken). Meanwhile, the two brothers discover the house has an unpaid mortgage on it they cannot pay off and, because of their inability to pay the string factory's workers, the workers go on strike. Ernie learns about Zeppco's offer to buy the factory and secretly plans to accept the deal. While Caesar is working, Lars goes to the string factory to make enough string to pay off the mortgage, in the process getting stripped completely naked, and is met by April who learned about the house's worth and takes him back. Ernie's attempt to meet with Zeppco's representatives fails when he is hit by a bus while trying to impress two Belgian hair models, Ingrid (Debra Christofferson) and Hilde (Camilla Søeberg). Lars informs him that April has given them the money to pay off the mortgage, but the two return to the house to find it further destroyed and Caesar traumatized from the mouse dragging him through the house by his truck winch. The brothers resume their crusade against the mouse, accidentally destroying part of the floor with a bug bomb Caesar left behind, and then turn on each other when they overhear a voicemail exposing Ernie's attempt to secretly sell the factory and Lars previously turning down their offer. During their argument Ernie ducks from an orange thrown by Lars, which hits and stuns the mouse. The two cannot bring themselves to finish him off, and they seal him in a box mailed to Cuba. The brothers reconcile and finish their renovations. The night of the auction, Lars discovers the mouse's box, returned due to insufficient postage and with a hole gnawed out of it (as Lars forgot to weigh the mouse). As the auction progresses, the brothers attempt to flush out the mouse by feeding a garden hose into the wall, causing the house to explosively flood and then collapse as the buyers flee. April leaves with a wealthy bidder and the brothers take solace in the assurance the mouse must have perished in the collapse. The brothers sleep the night in the factory, unaware the mouse has followed them. Witnessing their sorry state, the mouse activates the factory's machinery and drops a chunk of cheese into it, producing a ball of string cheese. Inspired, the brothers renovate the factory to focus on producing string cheese, with Lars running the factory while getting a new girlfriend, Ernie as his chef, and the mouse as their taste tester for new flavors. ===== Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is busted out of a sheriff's jail by a couple of government agents under Governor Johnson (Charles Trowbridge) and Commissioner of Internal Affairs Emerson (Stanley Andrews). Johnson and Emerson wish to hire her to uncover white traitors illegally selling guns to an Indian tribe near Buffalo Flats, one of the frontier areas; because the agents they previously sent to investigate have turned up dead, they feel they need a new approach and have conceived a plan to use Jane, both as a woman and skilled gunfighter. In return for her services, Johnson and Emerson offer her a full pardon for her past crimes. The plan is for Jane to meet in Port Deerfield with Jim Hunter, another government agent, pose with him as a married couple, and join a settler's trek to the area where the gun running is taking place. However, the mastermind behind the gun smuggling is revealed to be Jasper Martin (Jackie Searl), Johnson's secretary. Jane finds Hunter dead and herself hounded by assassins. Evading an attempt on her life, she hitches a ride with Peter "Painless" Potter (Bob Hope), a travelling dentist fleeing town following one of his habitual blunders, and marries him to maintain her cover and to coerce him into joining the wagon train. The gun smugglers also join, to ensure delivery of a stash of dynamite and to track the federal agent sent to thwart them, believing Potter is their target. After Potter mistakenly leads part of the wagon train into Indian territory, and while they are taking a rest at a log cabin, the are attacked by the Indians. Locked out, Potter hides inside a barrel and shoots wildly while Jane secretly takes out several Indians from inside. Potter is credited with this achievement, reinforcing the smugglers' assumptions. After arriving in Buffalo Flats, Jane meets with her contact, Hank Billings (Clem Bevans), and tasks him to find out where the dynamite will be delivered. Meanwhile, the smugglers concoct a plan which results in Potter incurring the wrath of Big Joe, a bad-tempered gunslinger (Jeff York). When this clash leads to a duel, Jane initially plans to allow Potter to be killed, to throw off the smugglers, but instead ends up aiding him again because she wants to use him as a decoy and because she has begun to fall in love with him. The same night, Billings reports to Jane that the conspirators have hidden the dynamite in the undertaker's shop, then dies from an arrow in his back. Jane manages to manipulate Potter into going to the undertaker's to scope out who comes to pick up the dynamite; she prepares to follow in his wake, but both are captured by the smugglers and taken to the Indians' camp, where Johnson has arrived with the rest of his weapons shipment. In order to punish Potter for killing their braves, the medicine man (Henry Brandon) prepares to have Potter ripped apart by two bent-down trees; however, the contraption instead catapults Potter into the forest, leading to the medicine man being banished. While returning to the camp to free Jane, Potter comes upon the medicine man, knocks him out and takes his clothes as a disguise. Not knowing about the medicine man's banishment, Potter prepares to free Jane from the stake when the tribesmen close in on him. Taking a powder flask, Potter strays through the camp, laying a trail that eventually ignites and blows up some of the smuggled weapons. In the confusion, Jane and Potter escape in Potter's wagon, which is loaded with the dynamite, with the Indians and smugglers on their tail. After Potter drops a lit dynamite stick, he and Jane abandon the wagon just as the smugglers reach it and get themselves blown up. With the mission accomplished, Jane and Potter embark on their honeymoon for real. As the film ends, Jane (in Potter's stead) falls victim to one of the film's running gags. ===== The story takes the form of a monologue by Asterion. He begins by suggesting that certain defamatory claims--that he is arrogant, or misanthropic, or mad--are untrue. Asterion describes his house in detail: that it has no locked doors; that it has many corridors and rooms, pools and courtyards. He explains his hermetic ways by recounting how once, when he left his house, the commoners were so agitated that he now does not go out, believing that his royal blood sets him apart (after all, he is the child of a queen). Asterion explains how he spends his days in solitude: running through the corridors; pretending to sleep; and sometimes pretending that "the other Asterion" has come to visit, and giving him a tour of the house. Asterion goes into detail about the infinitude of his house, comparing it to the universe. He also suggests that perhaps he created the world and has forgotten about it. Finally he makes mention of other people, nine men, who come every nine years "so that I may deliver them from evil", and whose bodies he leaves in the empty rooms to distinguish one from another. Asterion speculates about his own death, and eagerly awaits the coming of his "redeemer", who will take him away from his infinite house. The story ends with a line from Theseus--"Would you believe it, Ariadne? The Minotaur scarcely defended himself."--revealing with those words to the reader that Asterion is indeed the Cretan Minotaur. As in many of his stories, Borges looks at a popular story through a different lens, shedding light on other possible interpretations of the events. In the vein of Edgar Allan Poe he starts with the monologue of a socially unusual character and at the end adds an unexpected twist to the story. ===== The story is told in flashback from Death Row as Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) relates to a group of reporters the events that lead to his murder conviction. Ronnie's a San Francisco baby photographer who dreams about being a real private detective like his office neighbor Sam McCloud (Alan Ladd). One day, he is mistaken for a detective by mysterious lady in distress Carlotta Montay (Dorothy Lamour), who claims that her wheelchair-bound husband was kidnapped at the pier as they arrived from overseas. A sinister figure (Lorre) listens at the office door. Carlotta gives Ronnie her address, a coded map, and a $5,000 ring as payment, telling him that no one must know he's a detective. Ronnie hides the map in the cups next to his office water cooler. He then drives to the address, which is a mansion down the Peninsula. Kismet (Peter Lorre) greets him at the door, lifting his handgun. Carlotta tells Ronnie that the missing man is her uncle, not her husband. He entered the country on some secret mission, she says. The mansion belongs to Major Montague, Carlotta says, her uncle's former partner. Major Montague enters the room and tells Carlotta she has a phone call. When Carlotta leaves, Montague tells Ronnie that he had Kismet follow Ronnie from his office; he knows that Ronnie is a private detective. He tells Ronnie that Carlotta is mentally ill and introduces him to a wheelchair-bound man in the next room as Carlotta's uncle, who obviously hasn't been kidnapped. Ronnie tells Montague that Carlotta had given him a map to hold. Carlotta re-enters the room and, alone with Ronnie, tells him that the call was from her uncle, who told her he was safe, but was forced to call. She suspects Montague, because he lied to Ronnie about her. He returns her ring, confused about whether Montague or Carlotta's telling the truth. Eventually, he believes her, and Carlotta tells him to guard the map with his life. As Ronnie leaves, he finds that his handgun is missing. He climbs a tree and sees the gang conferring through a window before the shade is pulled. He sees "Uncle" stand up from the wheelchair and walk around the room. Ronnie snaps a photo of "Uncle" through the keyhole as evidence. Kismet, who's followed him, throws a knife at him. Ronnie runs to his car, roaring down the mansion driveway. The others chase him by car and shoot out one of his tires. Ronnie runs into an apartment building and intercoms himself in by saying that he is "Joe." Many women buzz him in, and he loses his tail. Back at his office, Ronnie develops the keyhole photo showing the "Uncle" walking about. Kismet has followed him and, as Ronnie is calling the police, slugs him over the head. Kismet burns the photo and what he thinks is the negative. When Ronnie comes to, the prior day's customer arrives to pick up her baby's photograph; Ronnie gives her what he thinks is her baby's negative. Ronnie summons the police and drives back to the mansion with them. The mansion is deserted, and Kismet poses as the gardener for the owners, who are out of the country. The police apologize to Kismet for the interruption. (This scene would be repeated years later by Alfred Hitchcock in his film "North By Northwest" with Cary Grant.) Montague gives Kismet Carlotta's ring with a note attached to leave as a 'clue' for Ronnie to discover. Ronnie returns to the mansion and finds the clue, which is a card for the Seacliffe Lodge in Carmel. Ronnie drives to the Lodge, which is really a sanitarium. After a bizarre golf match with an inmate and an imaginary golf ball, Ronnie is captured by the Montague gang and locked in a room at the sanitarium. Carlotta is also prisoner there. Montague explains that Carlotta's uncle had turned down his offer to buy mineral rights. Carlotta's real uncle is then wheeled into the room to prove he is unhurt. He asks Carlotta to light his cigarette, puts it out, and then returns it to her. When Ronnie refuses to reveal the whereabouts of the coded map, Kismet slugs him. Carlotta lies, saying that the map is at the Ferry Building, about an hour away. Montague sends a stooge to the Ferry Building to retrieve the map. In her room, Carlotta unwraps the cigarette from her uncle. Inside is a paper note, saying to see "James Collins", a scientist. Ronnie and Carlotta are able to knock out a nurse and flee. At his office, Ronnie returns the map to Carlotta. They call Collins' office and arrange to meet him at a restaurant that night. Unfortunately, Montague's stooge has followed them and overhears the arrangement. Ronnie and Carlotta meet Collins and show him the map. Collins says that he made it, and it depicts cryolite deposits from which uranium can be mined. He says that Carlotta's uncle had scheduled an important meeting with the government at the Pilgrim Hotel in Washington. Collins pockets the map, and Ronnie drives him to the police station so he can testify. As Ronnie parks, Kismet, who's hiding in the back seat with Ronnie's gun, shoots Collins and steals the map from his pocket. Ronnie and the dead Collins are spotted by the police, and Ronnie flees the scene, now wanted for Collins' murder. Carlotta and a disguised Ronnie fly to Washington and go to the Pilgrim Hotel. They answer a help wanted ad, applying as a bellboy and a maid. In the Montague gang's suite, they record the gang's confessions on a recording machine, including Kismet's confession that he murdered Collins. But, when the police are called, Kismet switches the records and throws the incriminating record out the window. Montague tells the police that Ronnie is wanted for the Collins murder in San Francisco. Ronnie is arrested and taken away; the gang still has the map and Carlotta's real uncle. The flashback ends. Ronnie is on death row, cursing Carlotta for disappearing and not testifying at his murder trial. When the prison warden comes to get Ronnie from his death row cell, Ronnie faints. When he comes to, Carlotta is there and tells him that he is a free man. Ronnie had mistakenly given the keyhole photo negative to his customer. The photo from that negative revealed the "uncle" as an impostor. Carlotta said that a detective took that lead, capturing the gang, and "the rest was routine". Ronnie is cleared, and Carlotta's uncle is safe. The warden tells the executioner that the execution was cancelled. The executioner (Bing Crosby) curses and walks away. Ronnie and Carlotta embrace. ===== The story is about two struggling mouse musicians, Daniel and Jan. When they are fired from their latest gig (their music is deemed too old- fashioned and not with the times), Daniel goes to pawn his guitar in order to buy groceries. Jan wanders off on her own and encounters a shifty reptilian character in a white suit who introduces himself as "B.L. Zebub", a record producer. He and his weasel assistant, Weez Weezel, offer her fame and fortune in exchange for signing a contract in her own blood. Jan does not read the fine print and trusts B.L., signing herself over to his record production company. Little does she suspect that B.L. is none other than the devil himself, and at midnight at the height of her fame he will return to collect her soul. To assist her, Weez conjures three band members from thin air, a rabbit (Rabbit Delight), a beaver (Boom Boom Beaver), and a praying mantis (Pray Mantis). As the lead singer of "Funky Jan and the Animal Kingdom", Jan is soon the most popular rock star on the planet, while the oblivious Daniel is left out in the cold. But when B.L. comes for her soul and she realizes what she has done, a distraught Jan goes to Daniel for help. A trial is held in the woods that night over Jan's soul, with Weez as the judge and Daniel acting as Jan's attorney. As an additional stipend, the Devil states that should Daniel lose the trial, his soul, as well as Jan's, will be taken as payment. At first, the trial seems hopeless, considering Daniel has no education as a lawyer and cannot present even the beginnings of a reasonable argument to release Jan. Having nothing else to offer, Daniel begins to sing a heartfelt song. Jan joins in, as do her three heretofore unhelpful band members. The other animals watching the trial begin to sing and clap along to the tune and so do the jury of three lost souls. An enraged devil attempts to summon forth demons to stop the heroes, but the spirits he conjures also fall prey to the sway of Daniel's music. A frustrated devil finally leaves, returning to Hell and taking Weez and all of his other minions with him. The two mice embrace one another as the film ends. ===== After losing her family farm to the bank, local beauty pageant winner Rene (Felicity Mason), decides to leave the small town of Berkeley. A number of strange meteorites are seen falling nearby, turning the local inhabitants into zombies. Rene and other survivors hide in the home of gun nut and alien abductee Marion (Mungo McKay). Marion has a large cache of guns and a basement fallout shelter, but he never had a chance to stock it with food or water. The group ventures outside to scavenge, but encounter the zombies. Marion shoots one in the head and discovers that such is the way to keep the creatures down. They abandon the house, going to the garage to get Marion's van. They try to flee, only to find a huge barrier surrounding the entire town, which Marion blames on the aliens that had taken him. There is also a slightly acidic rain that falls at very regular intervals and the group is careful not to get wet. Later, they are confronted by glowing, hooded figures. One by one, the group is either killed or pulled up into the clouds until only Rene is left. The aliens stop her and she is sprayed with the rain-like chemical, which turns out to be a cure for the infection. The aliens are actually there to keep the zombie infection from spreading. The "abducted" are floating in suspended animation above the clouds to keep them safe. Their job done, the aliens leave, unaware that Wayne (Rob Jenkins), presumed dead, managed to escape by plane and will spread the infection after they left. The townspeople are rushed to the hospital to treat the injured. Unfortunately, Wayne transforms into a zombie, first infecting Marion and then spreading the plague once again. The film ends at Rene's farm where the survivors are staying. The final shot is of the farm with a fenced- in area nearby, containing the zombified residents of Berkeley. Rene stands guard with a four barreled shotgun and a gas mask, waiting for the return of the aliens. ===== The film begins in a parking lot in which a teenage filmmaker named Eric is attempting to document the faux-gangsta lifestyle enjoyed by Allison Lang and her boyfriend Toby's gang of white upper-class teenagers living in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. A brawl ensues between Toby's gang and another gang, which ends with both sides fleeing just before police arrive. Later that night, Toby's gang goes to a party at Eric's house, and Allison's relationship with Toby as well as her other friends Emily and Sam is further revealed. At the end of the party, Allison performs a blowjob on her boyfriend. The next day, Allison meets with her father, Stuart, at work to discuss family problems, the awkward conversation revealing the virtually non-existent relationship Allison has with her parents. Afterwards, she and her friends drive downtown into East LA, intent on buying marijuana, eventually encountering Mexican drug dealer Hector and his crew. Toby and Hector make a deal, but Toby believes that Hector did not sell him enough for what he paid, and attempts to confront Hector, who pulls a gun on him, humiliating him in front of his friends. Allison persuades Hector to leave Toby alone. The next night, Allison and her girlfriends return to the location of the drug deal. There, she and her friends once again meet up with Hector and his crew, who invite them to a party at his house. Before they leave, Hector informs Allison of a motel where his crew regularly party, and invites her to stop by if she wishes. The next day, Eric continues his film project at Allison's home, with Allison turning his interview of her into a bizarre mind-game. That evening, Allison meets up with Hector again in a store, and he shows her around his neighborhood, while talking about his family and lifestyle. His guided tour abruptly ends when the police arrive in force, ostensibly on a drug bust. Allison winds up being arrested with the other present gang members, but – save for an argument with her parents and Toby – is let off the hook. The experience only serves to increase Allison's fascination with the inner-city lifestyle. The night after her release, Allison and Emily agree to head downtown the next evening to hang out with Hector's crew. The two meet up with Hector and his gang at a motel, and a night of partying and drinking results in Allison and Emily asking Hector if they can join his crew. Hector informs them of their initiation; to join the gang, the two must roll a dice; the number they roll corresponds to the number of gang members they must have sex with. Allison rolls a one, Emily rolls a three. Hector and Allison pair off, but Allison has second thoughts and refuses to have sex with him, and is thrown out of the room by the gang when she tries to get Emily to leave with her. Emily eagerly engages in sex with Hector, but as she does so, one of Hector’s fellow gang members rape her anally. When Allison storms the room and screams at the men to stop, they flee the room, leaving the two distraught women. The next day, Allison returns to the motel and confronts Hector over the previous night, but he responds by saying he didn't do anything wrong, that he only did what she and Emily asked him to do. At that moment, a woman shows up at the door, surprising Allison, much to the amusement of Hector, who mocks Allison for thinking he had feelings for her, and calling her a poser who only knows how to play games and nothing about the realities of gang life. The same day, Emily is shown at a police station, accusing Hector and his crew of gang rape. Allison is brought in for questioning, but claims to know nothing about a rape. Hector is subsequently arrested, and members of his crew vow to seek out and silence Allison and Emily, but wind up getting lost in Bel-Air. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang are shown posing with guns in front of Eric and his video camera, making clear their intent on seeking revenge on Hector's crew. Eric later shows Allison the footage, and Allison subsequently calls Toby and makes an ill-fated attempt to convince him that there was no rape and what he is doing is foolish. Allison informs Emily of what Toby plans to do, and reveals to Emily's parents the events at the motel. This initially upsets Emily to the point of nearly attempting suicide, but eventually the two reconcile. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang arrive at Hector's motel and bust in violently, but only succeed in frightening a group of Latino women and a baby. Toby tries to work up the nerve to shoot them, but, consumed by their desperate pleas to not hurt the baby, realizes he can't and storms out. On their drive home, the gang passes the SUV containing the members of Hector's crew that had been looking for Allison and Emily. The two gangs exchange looks, and the screen subsequently fades to black. After a few seconds the sounds of tires squealing, people shouting and gunfire are heard. Eric concludes his film with Allison saying that teens will be teens, but if adults are willing to reach out to them to connect and give them even just a small amount of insight, it's like they suddenly know everything. ===== Liza Winthrop first meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a rainy day. The two become fast friends, although they come from different backgrounds and have differing levels of confidence. Liza is the student body president at her private school, Foster Academy, where she is studying hard to get into MIT and become an architect. She lives with her parents and younger brother in the upscale neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, where most residents are professionals. While at school, Liza fails to stop a friend and classmate, Sally Jarrell, from running her amateur ear-piercing business in the school basement, causing Liza and Sally to be reprimanded by the headmistress, Mrs. Poindexter. Annie goes to a public school and lives with her parents—a bookkeeper and a cabdriver—and grandmother in a lower-income part of Manhattan. Although Annie is not sure if she will be accepted, she hopes to attend the University of California, Berkeley to develop her talent as a singer. While they have different histories and goals in life, the two girls do share a close friendship that quickly grows into love. Liza's school is struggling to remain open and she finds herself having to defend a student, her friend Sally, in a school trial in front of the student body. This results in a three-day school suspension for Liza and helps to bring Liza and Annie closer together as they both deal with the struggles encountered by many high school students. The suspension and the partly concomitant Thanksgiving break give the girls time to become closer and lead to their first kiss. Annie admits that she has thought that she may be gay. Liza soon realizes that although she has always considered herself different, she has not considered her sexual orientation until falling in love with Annie. When two of Liza's female teachers (who live together), Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer, go on vacation during spring break, she volunteers for the job of taking care of their home and feeding their cats. The two girls stay at the house together, but in an unexpected turn of events a Foster Academy administrator discovers Liza and Annie together. Liza is forced to tell her family about her relationship with Annie, and the headmistress of her school, Mrs. Poindexter, organizes a meeting of the school's board of trustees in order to expel Liza. The board rules in favor of Liza staying at Foster, and she is allowed to keep her position as student president. However, the two teachers, Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer, who in the process are discovered to be gay, are fired, as a result of Sally's wrongful testimony about their influence on Liza. After their initial shock at discovering the girls together, the teachers are very supportive and go out of their way to reassure Liza not to worry about their dismissal, but both her family's response and those from fellow students end up pushing Liza to leave Annie. The girls go their separate ways to colleges on different coasts. In a happily ever after, Liza's reevaluation of her relationship while at college and her corresponding acceptance of her sexual orientation allow the two girls to reunite. The book is framed and narrated by Liza's thoughts as she attempts to write Annie a letter, in response to the many letters Annie has sent her. This narration comes right before the winter break of both their colleges' and Liza is unable to write or mail the letter she had been working on. Instead she calls Annie, and the two reconcile and decide to meet together before going home for winter break. ===== Cathy joins a motorcycle gang. Steed investigates an atomic plant which appears to be causing mechanical failure within a 2 mile radius. The gang and Cathy mention to Steed that the bikes also failed and mention two old sisters, Cynthia and Ermyntrude Peck, living in an old watermill, who warn the gang away from the area and threaten to cast a spell on them. Steed organizes a rally cross at night with a £25 prize. The two old ladies in hearing the noisy bikes then appear to do something with a jamming device which makes the bikes fail and again make reference to their witchcraft. The sisters catch a large mouse and put it in a bag as Steed arrives to visit them, claiming to be an "inspector of the National Distrust" and inspects the place. Steed meets with the operator of the atomic plant who mentions that he believes the sisters to be the daughters of a late nuclear scientist of considerable renown. The daughters investigate the "National Distrust" in their directories and realize Steed is a spy. Steed revisits and battles with an assailant outside the mill and discovers the body of the atomic plant operator. Later, Dave, a gang member, tells Cathy that he has investigated the mill and has discovered the lock on one of the side doors is faulty which gives Steed and Cathy a chance to investigate whilst the sisters are at church. As Steed is about to leave the bar to visit the mill he is chatted up by a woman who offers him a whisky and drugs it and asks why he is interested in the old mill. Steed detects that it has been drugged, pours it behind his back and pretends to be knocked out, and then departs when the woman leaves the room. Cathy and Dave arrives at the mill first and enter and discover the jamming device. At that moment "Dave" removes his helmet and is discovered to be an imposter. Dave is later found tied up in the barn in which the motorcycle gang have been partying. The woman who attempted to drug Steed arrives with another accomplice and when the sisters return it appears that it is a gang attempting to steal their secret jamming system. Steed arrives as Cathy fends off the gang who flee leaving a distraught Cynthia who has to come to terms with the gang taking her "mousestrap" which she had spent all her life perfecting, only to then find the trap subdues the leader of the gang as he attempts to leave and is returned safely to her. ===== Danny Haley (Charlton Heston) is one of the owners of an illegal bookie joint.The police raid his establishment even though he pays the police for protection. Danny hangs out at the Sammy Cafe where he listens to singer Fran Garlan ( Lizabeth Scott ). Fran is in love with Danny but Danny tells her that he can't commit to a relationship and she is just a girlfriend. Later that evening, at the Sammy Cafe, Danny meets businessman and Air Force veteran Arthur Winant( Don Defore ), who is in town to buy some equipment for a sports club. When Winant opens his wallet to pay for his drinks Danny notices a check for $5,000 in his wallet. Danny then casually hints at the possibility of playing some poker, to which Arthur gladly agrees. The game is held in the now closed bookie joint and includes Danny's pals, Soldier ( Harry Morgan ), Barney ( Ed Begley ) and Augie ( Jack Webb ). During the game Winant talks about his older brother Sidney ( Mike Mazurki ) who is coming to meet him late the next evening. Barney and Augie let Arthur win $325. The next evening, Barney and Augie cheat Arthur out of all his money including the $5,000 company check. The next day, Danny buys a newspaper and sees that Winant was found hanged in his hotel room. Fearing that they would attract attention from the police, Danny tells his friends that they should wait a few days to cash Winant’s check. Barney is the most nervous of the group. He tells the others that he thinks someone is following him. Later that night Barney, now openly afraid, calls Danny and says someone is after him. Danny tells him to go to sleep. But the next morning Barney is found hanged in his apartment Police Captain Garvey ( Dean Jagger ) interviews Danny and Augie in his office. He tells them that he knows that there is a connection between Winant’s death and the poker game that they organized. Captain Garvey also tells them that Winant left a letter for his brother Sidney. He informs them that Sidney is a dangerous criminal and likely to avenge his brother's death and that Barney was probably killed by Sidney. Danny and Augie deny any connection with Winant’s death. Danny and Augie decide to try and find Sydney before he finds them. They decide to go to Los Angeles where Danny will try to get information about Sidney from Winant's widow Victoria ( Viveca Lindfors ). Danny, posing an insurance agent, tells Victoria that he needs to find Sidney because he is the beneficiary of Winant's life insurance policy, and that Victoria will be the beneficiary if Danny can't find Sidney. He tells her that he needs a picture of Sidney in order to confirm his identity. Victoria has destroyed all the pictures she had of Sidney and is afraid of him calling him a psychopath. Danny spends a romantic evening with Victoria and after returning home, kisses her. Unable to hide the truth anymore, he confesses who he really is, after which an angry Victoria chases him out of the house. Danny tries to give her Winant’s check, but she won't take it. Returning to his motel, Danny finds Augie's body hanging from the shower in his room. The police arrest Danny after the hotel manager tells them that he heard both men having a loud argument the day before. Captain Garvey arrives in Los Angeles and, believing Danny to be innocent, manages to persuade his Los Angeles colleagues to release Danny, provided that he immediately leaves the city. Danny knows that the police are letting him go in order to use him as bait to catch the real killer Sydney. Danny decides to go to Las Vegas when he learns that Soldier has moved there and found a job in a casino. Danny arrives and Soldier gets him a job as a croupier in his casino. Fran comes to Las Vegas too and Soldier finds her a job as the singer in the same casino's lounge. After work one day Danny goes to a nearby casino to plays craps. He has a run of luck and builds his small stake into more than $10,000. While he is out playing Victoria calls the casino where Danny works, but Fran takes the call. Victoria tells Fran that Sidney has found out that Danny is in Las Vegas and is on his way there. Fran finds Danny and tells him what Victoria told her. Danny asks Fran to send the money he won to Victoria the next morning if anything happens to him. Believing that Danny is in love with Victoria, Fran decides to leave for Chicago. After driving around for a while and feeling that he was being followed, Danny goes back to his motel room. He sits there prepared with a gun in his hand, waiting for Sidney's attack. Sidney comes out from the bathroom and catches Danny by surprise and after a struggle starts to choke Danny. But Captain Garvey and his men, who were following Danny all along, burst into the room and shoot Sidney. The next morning at the airport Fran is walking towards her plane to Chicago. At the last moment, Danny comes running to the plane and tells Fran that he loves her. They kiss and turn around to walk back together into the airport. ===== The show chronicles the adventures of Sabrina Spellman (played by Melissa Joan Hart), a girl who discovers on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch. As a novice witch, her spells often go awry. Her aunts Hilda and Zelda Spellman (played by Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, respectively, until 2002) counsel her on the proper use of her magic and give her moral advice. Additionally, Hilda and Zelda must take care of Salem Saberhagen (voiced by Nick Bakay), a witch, turned into a cat for trying to take over the world. Sabrina's basic premise and "genial loopiness" earned the show comparisons to the 1960s television series Bewitched. The show included contemporary pop cultural references, with Sabrina often saying she liked Britney Spears and No Doubt. It also mentioned human history alongside witches, such as the Salem witch hunt, which Zelda tells Sabrina was not a hunt for real witches. Hilda mentions to Sabrina in Episode 1 that "For two months a bunny ruled all of England" causing the witches council to turn back time, as if to say mortals are ignorant at the most. One episode also suggests that Jerry Springer is a witch when he hosts The Jerry Springer Show in the other realm. Whereas the comic book series , animated series was set in the fictional Greendale, the TV show was set in the fictional Boston suburb of Westbridge, Massachusetts. Ultimately, the show covered a span of seven years over seven seasons, though each season was not a year. ===== The narrator, at first male, explains various events from his early childhood, living with a traveling family who finally settle in Ottawa, Ontario. He goes on to explain events from his years in private school (including his parents' death), until he graduates and travels to Portugal, where he, on his eighteenth birthday, wakes up as a female. Surprisingly unfazed by her transformation, the narrator concludes her trip and begins university back in the fictional Roetown. She begins writing, and keeps travel in her life, eventually visiting such places as Spain and Thailand, to name a few. She shares romances with a select few — males and females alike. Eventually she gets published, and after graduating, moves to Montreal, where she gets a job as a waitress while continuing to write. At her job she meets Tito, her final love. But as the novel is nearing a conclusion, she is suddenly raped by a vicious neighbour in her secluded apartment and her body reverts to being a male again. ===== American Intelligence officials learn that Soviet spies have begun exploring a remote region of the Alaskan Territory in search of answers to the worldwide reports of "flying saucers". A wealthy American playboy, Mike Trent (Mikel Conrad), who was raised in that remote region, is recruited by intelligence officer Hank Thorn (Russell Hicks) to assist a Secret Service agent in exploring that area to discover what the Soviets may have found. To his pleasant surprise, Mike discovers the agent is an attractive woman named Vee Langley (Pat Garrison); they set off together and slowly become mutually attracted to each other. Their cover story is that Mike is suffering from a nervous breakdown and she is his private nurse. At Mike's family's wilderness lodge, they are met by a foreign-accented caretaker named Hans (Hantz von Teuffen), new to the job. Mike is very skeptical of the flying saucer reports until he spots one flying over the lodge. Assorted complications ensue until Mike and Vee finally discover that Hans is one of the Soviet agents who is trying to acquire the flying saucer. It turns out that the saucer is an invention of American scientist Dr. Laughton (Roy Engel). But Turner (Denver Pyle), Laughton's assistant, is a communist sympathizer and has other ideas; he tries to make a deal to sell the saucer to the Soviets for one million dollars. Mike's trip to Juneau to see old friends, including Matt Mitchell (Frank Darrien), is ill-advised; when Vee tracks him down he is in the company of a bar girl, named Nanette (Virginia Hewitt). Matt gets mixed up with the Soviet agents who are trying to obtain control of the saucer. When he tries to strike a bargain with ring leader Colonel Marikoff (Lester Sharpe), at the spy's headquarters, Matt is knocked unconscious. He is able to escape and seeks out Mike, but they are attacked by the Soviets, who kill Matt. Before he dies, however, Matt reveals the location of the saucer: Twin Lakes. Mike rents an aircraft and flies to where the saucer is hidden at an isolated cabin. After flying back to his lodge, he tries to find Vee, who has tried to spirit Lawton away; the trio are captured by the turncoat Taylor and a group of Soviet agents. The Soviets lead their prisoners through a secret tunnel hidden under the glacier; an avalanche begins and wipes them out. Mike, Vee, and Lawton escape the tunnel just in time to see Turner fly off in the saucer; it suddenly explodes in mid-air, due to a time bomb that Lawton had planted on board for such an eventuality. Their mission now accomplished, Mike and Vee embrace and kiss. ===== In Yo! Noid, wild creatures led by Mr. Green are running amok around New York City. As they cause havoc, the Mayor of New York decides to call upon the Noid to stop his evil duplicate, save everyone, and give him a massive pizza reward. ===== Teenage science genius Paul Conway (Matthew Laborteaux) and his single mother Jeannie (Anne Twomey) move into their new house in the town of Welling. He soon becomes friends with newspaper delivery boy Tom Toomey (Michael Sharrett). Living next door to Paul is Samantha Pringle (Kristy Swanson) and her abusive, alcoholic father Harry (Richard Marcus). Paul built a robot named BB (Charles Fleischer), which occasionally displays autonomous behavior, such as being protective of Paul. Paul, Jeannie, and BB meet Paul's professor, Dr. Johanson (Russ Marin), at Polytech, a prestigious university where Paul has a scholarship. One day, Tom, Paul and BB stop at the house of reclusive harridan Elvira Parker (Anne Ramsey), who threatens the boys with a shotgun and expresses instant dislike for BB. Walking away, the trio then encounter a motorcycle gang led by bully Carl (Andrew Roperto). When Carl intimidates Paul, BB assaults him. Another day, while playing basketball, BB accidentally tosses the ball onto Elvira's porch. She takes the ball away from them refuses to give it back, with BB's glowing red over her hostile attitude. On Halloween night, Tom decides to pull a prank on Elvira with the help of Paul, Samantha and BB. BB unlocks her gate and Samantha rings her doorbell. When alarms go off, they hide in a shrubbery nearby. When Elvira sees BB standing near her porch, she shoots him with her shotgun, destroying him and devastating Paul. On Thanksgiving, Paul and Samantha share their first kiss. Samantha returns home late at night, outraging her father, who slaps her and pushes her down the stairs. At the hospital, Paul learns that Samantha is brain-dead and will be on life support for 24 hours before the plug is pulled. As BB's microchip can interface with the human brain, Paul decides to use it to revive Samantha with Tom's help. The boys enter the hospital using a key taken from Tom's father, who works there as a security guard. After Tom deactivates the power from the basement, Paul takes Samantha to his lab. He inserts the microchip into Samantha's brain and takes her back to his house, hiding her in the shed. After he activates the microchip, Samantha "wakes up", but her mannerisms are completely mechanical, suggesting BB is in control of her body. In the middle of the night, Paul finds Samantha staring at the window, looking at her father, and he deactivates her. The next morning, Paul finds Samantha gone. When Harry finds the cellar door open and goes downstairs, Samantha attacks him, breaks his wrist and snaps his neck. Paul finds Samantha, and Harry's corpse, in the cellar. Horrified, he hides the body, takes Samantha back to his home and locks her in his bedroom. At night, Samantha breaks into Elvira's house and corners her by throwing her to the wall of her living room. As Elvira screams in horror, Samantha kills her by exploding her head with the basketball she stole from Tom. When Tom learns of Samantha's rampage, he gets into a fight with Paul and threatens to call the police. Still being protective of Paul, Samantha jumps out the attic window and attacks Tom, with Paul and Jeannie intervening. Trying to get her under control, Paul slaps Samantha, resulting in her strangling him. Samantha, quickly coming to her senses, then lets him go and runs away. As Paul goes after her, he again encounters Carl, who gets into a fight with him. Samantha goes back for Paul, grabs Carl and kills him by throwing him at an incoming police car. She runs back to Paul's shed, where Paul comforts her and realizes she's regaining some of her humanity. However, the police arrive with their guns aimed at Samantha, who yells out Paul's name in her human voice. She runs towards him, trying to protect him, but Sergeant Volchek (Lee Paul), thinking she's trying to attack him, shoots her. She says Paul's name one more time before dying in his arms. Later at the morgue, Paul tries to steal Samantha's body once more. Suddenly, Samantha grabs Paul's neck and her face rips apart, revealing a terrifying variant of BB's head. Her skin strips away, revealing half-robotic bones underneath. With a robotic voice, Samantha tells him to come with her. When a horrified Paul screams and refuses to do so, she snaps his neck, killing him. ===== The film opens with Martin playing catch with his older brother Pete, who has severe learning difficulties and has been sent to live in a special boarding school in London, by their mother. Martin is the only remaining figure in Pete's family life; their father died years ago and their mother has a new life with her new husband, a wealthy banker. Martin expresses concern for his brother's well-being to the school's physician, who is comfortable with Pete's situation, though he makes it clear that Pete cannot be expected to live much longer. After the title sequence, Martin is shown in a toy store, gazing at Susan, who purchases a toy. As she leaves, Martin follows after having pocketed a toy duck. Two store detectives ask them to return to the manager's office. The detectives assert that Martin and Susan were working together to allow Martin to steal a toy. Susan assures them she has never met Martin. When questioned by the manager, Martin presents himself as mentally challenged, and calls himself "Georgie". Apparently now disbelieving in a link between them, the manager asks Susan for her address, and Martin appears to make a mental note when she offers it. Sympathetic to him, Susan pays for the toy. Implying that this was a misunderstanding, the manager lets them leave. Martin returns home and finds his parents arguing in the parlor, over his lack of interest in life. Despite the apparent course of events in the toy shop, they have come to hear of the duck. There is allusion to some perverse behaviour he has exhibited, though this is not elaborated upon. In his room, now behaving as "Georgie", he rocks in a rocking chair while smiling meekly in the mirror and caressing a stuffed animal. The camera pans down to reveal that the rocking motion of the chair is smashing a photo of his stepfather. The next day, Martin goes to Susan's house and waits for her to return. She arrives with a young Indian man named Shashee. He drops off Susan, who thanks him; she goes to the library, where she keeps an after- school job. Martin approaches Susan who immediately recognises him as "Georgie". He tells her that he followed her, and pays her back for the toy. Before he leaves, Martin, as Georgie, gets Susan to lend him a book about animals. Martin has a heated conversation with his stepfather, who insists he travel to Australia. Martin refuses and returns to his room. Martin stares in the mirror, bare-chested, and caresses himself. He removes the rest of his clothes as the camera reveals a stack of male bodybuilding magazines on his dresser. He then smashes the mirror in apparent frustration or anger. Martin sets in motion a plan to leave home, pretend to go to France and then go on to live with Susan. Martin leaves his family and shows up late at Susan's mother's house, where she rents rooms. Presenting himself as Georgie, he gains sympathy both from Susan and her mother and they let him stay. The plot unravels with Martin's duplicitous nature clashing against his desires to win Susan's heart. He wants her to accept him as a lover, but cannot reveal that he is in fact Martin, as he is worried she will shun him. Meanwhile, Martin uses his new-found identity to his advantage to seek out revenge on his stepfather, who believes he is in France. This series of decisions leads Martin down the path of self-destruction. One night, Martin sneaks out of Susan's house after stealing a pair of scissors, and stabs his stepfather to death in the garage of his home after his stepfather comes home from a dinner party. The police investigate the next day and focus their attention to finding Martin for questioning. A few days later, Martin invites himself to tag along with Susan who is going for a swim at a country lake where Martin attempts to kiss her until she refuses his advances, making her uncomfortable and suspicious about him. At home a little later, Susan searches Martin's room while cleaning it, and discovers several books hidden in Martin's drawer that a person with learning difficulties would not read or understand, as well as a book titled Know Yourself from Your Handwriting, in which signatures in the blank pages read 'Martin Durnley'. At this point, Susan begins investigating Martin, first by talking with his mother, and realizes that Martin and Georgie are one and the same after seeing a photograph of Martin at the house. Next, Susan visits Shashee at a hospital where he works as a resident to question him about split personalities, and suspects that Martin may be not mentally challenged but a narcissistic sociopath. At Susan's house, Martin begins losing mental control over himself as he rightly suspects that Susan may know who he really is. When Susan's neglected and unsuspecting mother attempts to sexually arouse Martin, he kills her by hacking her apart with a hatchet in the backyard wood shed (off-camera). When Susan arrives home, Martin holds her captive in his room after finally revealing his true persona. He forces Susan to undress so he can sexually fondle her, while Susan's mother's body is found in the woodshed by Gerry Henderson, one of the "paying guests", who calls the police just at the time that Shashee learns the truth about Martin and also calls the police from the hospital and races to the house to rescue Susan. The police arrive at Susan's house where they finally subdue and arrest Martin just when he appears that he is going to kill her. They burst into Susan's room as three shots are heard, but Martin had fired at his reflection in the mirror. As Martin is taken away he claims that he is Georgie and had killed Martin. Susan is unharmed but badly shaken. The final shot shows Martin, now confined in a cell at a local mental hospital, ranting over his lost love Susan. ===== Dr. Richard Talbot, unhappy with the dull routine of his married life, begins an affair with nightclub singer Nora Prentiss. Feeling unable to ask his wife for a divorce, he fakes his own death by substituting a dead man's body for his own. He and Nora then move from San Francisco to New York, where Nora continues her singing career. Meanwhile, Talbot drinks heavily and becomes increasingly paranoid and reclusive as he learns that his death is under investigation. After a fight with Nora's nightclub boss, Talbot crashes his car and his face is badly scarred. The police, not realizing that the man is Talbot, arrest him for Talbot's murder. Guilty about the suffering he caused his family and feeling he has no future, Talbot convinces Prentiss to keep his secret, allowing him to be convicted and executed. ===== The father escaped the Soviet invasion of Budapest and now runs a Hungarian restaurant that is not doing well financially. The younger of his two sons is gay and struggling with coming out. His dad disowns him when he finally does. The older son is involved in the counterculture, gets kicked out of college, buys a motorcycle, starts dating a Maoist, and is also disowned by his father. The older of the sons runs afoul of an outlaw motorcycle club; the younger of the two sons gets drafted but is rejected because of his homosexuality. The older one joins his younger brother in a gay rights protest. Major events of the year such as the assassination of Martin Luther King and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy are interspersed throughout the plot and depicted in the film using stock footage. ===== Sea Rim City Police Homicide Detective Keith J. Snyder had a problem which involved his previous partner, Wesley Simmons, so he was assigned, as a disciplinary measure, to be a bodyguard for several VIPs who were key to the inauguration of a new horror-themed casino, the Desert Moon. The problems began when a fire broke out and a mysterious black liquid started to pour out of the fire sprinklers, turning the vast majority of the people into vampires that proceeded to devour the remaining survivors. Now Keith must find his way out of the casino and also try save as many people as he can. ===== During the Depression era in the Midwest, con man Bill Starbuck acts as a rainmaker, but is chased out of town after town. One day, he arrives in a drought-ridden rural town in Kansas and shows up at the door of spinsterish Lizzie Curry and the rest of the Curry clan. Lizzie keeps house for her father, H.C., and two brothers on the family cattle ranch. As their farm languishes under the devastating drought, Lizzie's family worries about her marriage prospects more than about their dying cattle. Prior to Starbuck's arrival, Lizzie was expecting Sheriff File, for whom she harbors a secret yen, though he declined the family's invitation to dinner. Starbuck promises to bring rain in exchange for money.http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm BLS Inflation Calculator Against Lizzie's protests, H.C. goes for the deal out of desperation for rain even though he thinks Starbuck is a con. Starbuck is exposed, but the Curry clan stands up for him, leading to both Starbuck and File finally declaring for Lizzie. In the end, Lizzie gets her man, and of course, it rains. ===== ===== Teddy (Johnathon Schaech) is a New York bird smuggler who goes to Australia to replace a flock of escaped birds after a deal goes awry. While there, he has a wild liaison with a quirky, sexually ravenous girl, Angie (Susie Porter), who after a brief courtship knocks him unconscious and kidnaps him. When he awakes he finds himself "married" to her - not legally - and stranded in Woop Woop, a desolate, dilapidated town hidden within a crater- like rock formation in Aboriginal territory. The residents are people who lived there at an asbestos mining camp before the land was handed over to the Aborigines; following a tragedy in 1979, Woop Woop was abandoned and literally "erased" from the Australian map. Not content with the deal given to them by the mining company (from Fremantle), they opted to return to their old lives in Woop Woop. At first they repopulated themselves incestuously, which caused wide mental instability. A rule was then enacted ("Rule #3") which bans residents from sleeping with their relatives. Since then, outsiders like Teddy have been occasionally kidnapped to keep Woop Woop populated. Their only export is dog food made from road-killed kangaroos. The town is run by Angie's father, Daddy-O (Rod Taylor), in an authoritarian manner that he disguises as communal (he and the other town elders keep the best luxuries for themselves in secret while doling out only the usual canned pineapple and sub-par tobacco to the others). The only entertainment available to the residents are old Rodgers & Hammerstein films and soundtracks, the latter of which they play constantly. These are presumably left over from the town's last official contact with the civilised world. After witnessing another kidnapping, 'Midget' the local hairdresser, is shot to death by Daddy-O during an attempted escape, Teddy soon realizes he will be trapped in Woop Woop for life unless he finds a way out for himself. Initially, he repairs his VW van which had been vandalized by the locals, only to have it vandalised again by Daddy-O. The Australian Cattle Dog that he adopts is shot as part of 'Dog Day.' He befriends a couple of locals, including the scruffy, affable Duffy, and Krystal, Angie's sister, who help him to confront Daddy-O's iron-fisted reign, and to arrange an escape plan. Duffy, reprimanded by Daddy-O for breaking 'Rule #3,' nonetheless elects to stay in Woop Woop, while Teddy, Krystal, and Krystal's pet cockatoo escape. ===== Samir (Salman Khan) is a very successful doctor: He not only looks after his patients' maladies, but he also looks after his female patients' hearts. Most women fall for him and his irresistible charms. The only person who has not fallen for him is his dutiful nurse Naina (Sushmita Sen). Whenever a girl gets too close to Samir and starts talking about marriage, he sends her off by telling her he is already married. However, one day, he meets Sonia (Katrina Kaif), a beautiful young woman and Samir are smitten. He lies to her about having a wife, but the marriage is failing. When she learns of his 'wife', she wants to meet her. Samir introduces Naina, as well as her niece and nephew, as his wife and children. Samir then arranges a fake divorce from his fake wife with the help of his best friend, lawyer Vicky (Arshad Warsi) who, despite having a steady girlfriend (Isha Koppikar), frequently flirts with Naina. To complicate things further, Samir's mother (Beena Kak) suddenly appears and doesn't want her son get divorced from Naina (when he isn't married to her in the first place). And then, there is Sonia's neighbour Pyare (Sohail Khan), who does not want Sonia to marry Samir: He wants Sonia for his own and she seems to like him, too. The web of lies around everyone grows thicker and thicker, but finally, Samir is able to persuade Sonia to marry him. But before the altar, she makes him realize that she isn't the right wife for him; he is in love with Naina who has proved her love since she played along, pretending to be his wife. Samir agrees and rushes to the airport because Naina wants to escape to Canada, while Sonia marries Pyare. At the airport, Samir arrives in time: He convinces Naina to stay and she agrees. ===== The Master depicts the American-born writer Henry James in the final years of the 19th century. The eleven chapters of the novel are labelled from January 1895 to October 1899 and follow the writer from his failure in the London theatre, with the play Guy Domville, to his seclusion in the town of Rye, East Sussex, where in the following years he rapidly produced several masterpieces. The novel starts with a portrait of Henry as a public figure who feels humiliated in an unexpected way, not just in the public side of his writing career but also in a more personal way, in which all the precautions he had taken to carry on with his life as he wished it to be, come to a crisis. Henry resolves to reduce his public life by buying a house in Rye and there he nurses his loneliness and is haunted by all the consequences his need to maintain a protected space in which to live and write has generated all through his life. He's in his fifties and he's very much aware of how he had to refuse the company of his ill sister, whom he adored, at some point, how he chose to stay away from his country and his family, how he felt to turn cold with a writer friend he had been very close to previously and becomes a bachelor with an unresolved sexuality, certainly close to homosexuality, living in a house with servants in the South of England and a daily visit of the stenographer to whom he dictates. The portrait of Henry, a man appalled by the Oscar Wilde case while repressing his self and his sexuality, shows a complex and ambiguous man. He copes with life by exerting control over how much he would reveal, even to himself, and choosing to be a writer in order to achieve precisely that. ===== ===== The play is set in 1780s England. Frank Humber proposes marriage to the widow Mrs. Peverel, whose son is tutored by Guy Domville. The tutor Domville is planning to become a Catholic priest but learns that he is the last of his family. He starts to believe that it is his duty to marry and carry on the family line. When Mrs. Peverel rejects Humber's proposal, Frank suspects she may be in love with Domville. Guy is later about to wed Mary Brasier, but she really loves Lieutenant George Round. Once he understands the situation, Guy refuses to go through with the marriage and instead helps Mary and George elope. Domville also realizes that Frank Humber and Mrs. Peverel are in love, and commends them to each other. He will enter the priesthood, as he previously planned. ===== The film begins with a tunnel collapse at the world-famous (but fictitious) Sonderditch gold mine outside Johannesburg, in a scene that establishes the courage of Slater and his chief miner, 'Big King', and the bond of trust between them. This is contrasted with the contempt with which some other white racist managers treat the black miners. It is soon revealed that the collapse was no accident, but part of a plan by a London-based criminal syndicate, which includes the previous general manager who is killed in the abortive first attempt and the mine-owner's son-in-law and director manager Manfred Steyner, to destroy the mine so that the foreign syndicate members can profit from share-dealing and raising the price of gold on world markets. This will be done by drilling through a deep underground greenstone wall or 'dyke' which is all that prevents an adjacent reservoir of water from flooding the mine. The mine's general manager, an accomplice in the plot, was killed in the tunnel collapse. Steyner then interviews Slater, who at this stage is underground manager, for the now vacant post of general manager, although the mine owner/chairman of the board Hurry Hirschfeld (Ray Milland) has the next regular man in seniority in mind as another candidate. At this point during his initial interview, Slater first meets Steyner's wife Terry at their luxurious mansion home and is attracted to her, but she does not at first return his interest. However, Steyner arranges for them to meet again, in the hope that Terry will influence her grandfather, the mine owner/board chairman, an old curmudgeon whom she lovingly calls "Poppsie", in Slater's favour. The plan works, with two consequences: Slater becomes general manager, and he and Terry start a love affair. Slater, unaware of the criminal plan, agrees to carry out the drilling but is cautious enough to plant a safety charge that will block the tunnel in case of a water leak. Steyner soon finds out that Slater is having an affair with his wife, but allows it to continue because it will keep Slater away from the mine, so that the safety charge can be disabled without his knowledge. While Slater and Terry are holidaying together over a warm Christmas, the final breach is made in the underground dyke and a wall of an ocean of water roars into the interconnected mazes of tunnels and shafts and the mine begins to flood, trapping a thousand workers. Slater hears of the disaster on the radio news, and flies with Terry in her small private plane back to the mine making a hair-raising emergency landing on the mine access road. There is a tense scene in which Slater and Big King descend the mine, amidst rising flood waters, to repair and reconnect the electrical line to the explosive safety charge that will seal the 'dyke' hole. They succeed, but only because Big King sacrifices his own life to detonate the charge, letting Slater fall injured into a rubber boat in the flooded tunnel and escape. Meanwhile, Steyner is murdered by Marais, one of his accomplices, running him down with his Rolls-Royce limousine while they are observing the mine rescue operations from a nearby towering rubble slag debris hill after they hear on the radio station news reports of Slater's set explosive charge sealing the dyke hole and saving the mine, that their plan has unravelled. Marais then also goes over the steep hill's edge after hitting his boss, tumbling down, crashing as the car explodes, killing himself. This conveniently leaves Terry free to continue her relationship with Slater, as grandfather Chairman Hirschfeld tells him again as he is loaded into an ambulance – "Slater, you're a maniac"!! with a smile of accepted satisfaction within a wreath of cigar smoke as the film ends. ===== Each episode begins with Alice facing different problems and consulting with her cat Dinah. In order to find the answers she needs to get through a situation, she goes through her mirror that takes her to Wonderland where she partakes in strange adventures with its inhabitants that revolve around the situation that she is dealing with at home. Whenever they sing, everyone stops what they're doing and dance during the song. ===== Van Van Dorn (Crosby) owns a summit ("High Tor") overlooking the Hudson River in New York. Van Dorn is under pressure to sell his real estate, and, at the same time, is having doubts about his impending marriage to Judith (Olson). Judith leaves him because she feels that he should sell High Tor, as the profits would provide for their future. A freak rock slide traps Van Dorn and the real estate agents on High Tor; as Van searches for help, he meets the spirit of a Dutch girl by the name of Lisa (Andrews). Lisa and the spirits of Dutch sailors have inhabited High Tor for over 300 years since they were killed in a shipwreck. Lisa then falls in love with Van. Songs include "Once Upon a Long Ago", a duet for Crosby and Andrews, "Sad is the Life of a Sailor's Wife", a solo for Andrews, and "When You're in Love". ===== On their way back from whitewater rafting with her friends Juno and Beth; Sarah, along with her husband Paul and their daughter Jessica, are involved in a car accident when Paul is distracted. Paul and Jessica are killed, but Sarah survives. One year later, Sarah, Juno, and Beth, as well as friends Sam, Rebecca, and newcomer Holly are reunited at a cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina for a spelunking adventure. The next day, they hike up to a cave entrance and descend. While in the cave, Juno apologizes to Sarah for not being there for her after the accident, but Sarah is distant. After the group moves through a narrow passage, it collapses behind them, trapping them. After a heated discussion, Juno admits that she has led the group into an unknown cave system instead of the fully explored cave system that they had originally planned to visit, and so rescue is therefore impossible. She then tells Sarah that this is in the hopes of restoring their relationship. As the group presses forward with hopes of finding an exit, they discover aged climbing equipment and a cave painting that suggests an exit exists. Holly, thinking she sees sunlight, runs ahead, but falls down a hole and breaks her leg. As the others help Holly, Sarah wanders off and observes a pale, humanoid creature drinking at a pool before it scampers away. Later, the group comes across a den of animal bones and is suddenly attacked by a creature known as a "crawler." Holly is killed when a crawler attacks and bites through her throat. Afraid, Sarah runs and falls down a hole, where she is knocked unconscious. Juno, trying to prevent Holly's body from being dragged away, kills a crawler with her pickaxe but then, startled and in shock, accidentally strikes Beth through the neck. Beth collapses with Juno's pendant in her hand and begs Juno not to leave her, but a traumatized Juno flees. Sarah awakens to find herself in a den of human and animal carcasses, witnessing Holly's body being mauled and eaten by a group of crawlers. Juno discovers cave markings that point to a specific path through the caves. Juno locates Sam and Rebecca, the former of which informs the group the crawlers are blind and rely on sound to hunt. Juno tells them about the markings she discovered, but she will not leave without Sarah. Meanwhile, Sarah encounters Beth, who tells her that Juno wounded then abandoned her. Beth gives her Juno's pendant, which Sarah recognizes as a gift from Paul, and realizes that Juno had an affair with Paul before his death. Beth begs Sarah to euthanize her, which Sarah reluctantly does by bashing her head in with a rock. Sarah then encounters a group of crawlers and manages to kill them all, falling into a blood-filled pond in the process and emerging covered in blood. Elsewhere, Juno, Sam and Rebecca are pursued by a large group of crawlers. The group reaches a chasm and Sam tries to climb across, but she encounters a crawler scaling the ceiling. The crawler attacks and rips her throat out, but Sam stabs it before bleeding to death in front of Juno and Rebecca. Rebecca is then dragged away and eaten alive as Juno escapes. Juno encounters Sarah and lies to her about seeing Beth die. After defeating a group of crawlers close to the exit, Sarah confronts Juno, revealing the pendant and her knowledge of Beth as well as the affair with Paul. Sarah then strikes Juno in the leg with a pickaxe and leaves her to die as a rabid swarm of crawlers approaches. Juno is last heard screaming as Sarah escapes. US ending: Sarah falls down a hole and is knocked unconscious. She awakens, clambers up a slope covered in bones, and escapes the cave. After pausing to recover her strength, Sarah runs to her vehicle and speeds off. She pulls over to the side of the road and breaks down in tears. After a truck passes her, she opens the window, leans out, and vomits. Upon re-entering the car, she sees a hallucination of Juno sitting next to her and screams. UK ending: Sarah awakens in the cave after her hallucination of her escape. She sits up to see Jessica sitting across from her holding a birthday cake. She smiles at this. The cake's fire is shown to actually be her torch. The camera slowly backs out as the crawlers are heard closing in on Sarah, revealing that she dreamt of her escape and that she is still trapped in the cave. ===== Set in the year 2548, it has been 300 years since Earth lost contact with the colony ship Ozymandias, en route to a2. Somehow, the ship has reappeared near Jupiter. A team called S.O.A.R. (Special Operations And Reconnaissance) is sent aboard the probe ship Seyfert to investigate. As the Seyfert sends out a shuttle to investigate the ship, its weapons suddenly activate. A beam destroys the Seyfert and then the shuttle, killing nearly everyone except for Patrick Tyler, Sonya Hart, Commander Jacob Ranshaw, and McCoy. Patrick and Sonya reunite on the exterior of the ship and gain access. The ship's interior is derelict, although there is still power. McCoy boards as well but is killed by a large Tyrannosaurus- like creature which chases the team. The T. rex is then attacked, mauled and killed by a swarm of eel-like mutants. After fighting his way through the ship's storage areas, Patrick meets a survivor, a girl named Caren Velázquez. After meeting her, she runs away in fear. Patrick spots Caren once again, looking at a picture frame of her father, Dr. Miguel Velázquez. Patrick learns she has been on her own for 300 years. Sonya discovers that MTHR - the ship's control system - is creating the dinosaur-like creatures from the DNA of animals in storage as a replacement for the human crew. When Patrick tells them that he is shutting MTHR down, Caren opens the door and runs away. As Caren and the team hurry out of the experimental laboratory, they are attacked by a mutant Ankylosaurus known as a Regulus. Jacob sacrifices himself to kill the mutant by setting off his grenades at the creature's mouth. At this point, it is revealed that Caren is an android. Later, the same beast reappears, revealing that Jacob's sacrifice is for naught. With no choice, Patrick has to put the Regulus to rest. Caren manages to repair the ship, saving Patrick from succumbing to the broken environmental systems. Patrick returns to the Energy Core to restart it, but the room is severely damaged when a mutant Spinosaurus crashes through the wall, filling the area with water coolant. After fighting off the creature, the team runs to the MTHR sector as the core begins to go into meltdown. As they arrive at the sector, the MTHR and Engine Sectors detach from the Front Deck, Shaft and Energy Sectors, which are destroyed by the meltdown. The Engines soon activate an emergency system and Warp Jump to Earth. Patrick meets MTHR and questions her. He then tries to stop MTHR's main computer but she opens another hatch releasing the Spinosaurus the second time. Upon defeating the creature, Patrick tries to stop MTHR sending the dinosaurs to Earth and fights her, eventually destroying her system, which has disastrous effects on the ship, causing it to activate the self-destruct sequence. MTHR's last words are "I just wanted to complete my mission." Patrick is reunited with Sonya and Caren as they try to escape the ship via an escape shuttle, but they are attacked by the "Cebalrai", a two-headed Giganotosaurus. The beast jumps onto the platform and chases the trio down to the bottom of the platform. As Patrick runs, the Cebalrai slams its left head into him and tosses him into the wall, making him unable to reach his gun. Caren lures the creature toward her. Patrick tries to stop her, but a stomp of the Cebalrai's paw causes the platform Caren and the monster are standing on to collapse. Both Caren and the Cebalrai fall into the abyss - much to Patrick's dismay. After defeating another T. rex, Patrick and Sonya are able to escape before the ship self-destructs. But the Cebalrai, being able to survive in a vacuum, was able to get on the top of the shuttle. Patrick gets on top of the shuttle himself to destroy the "genetic freak" in a final battle. Midway through the battle, the Cebalrai grows a third head, and Patrick is forced to use a "Final Wasp," which weakens the creature and sends it flying into space. ===== During the 1920s, before the 1944 California prison reform, Warden Ben Rickey (Ted De Corsia) rules Folsom Prison with a ruthless hand. He believes that prisons should be used for punishment, rather than rehabilitation to reduce the incidence of repeated returns to jail (recidivism). His methods are violent, torturous, and intended to beat the prisoners into submission. Chuck Daniels (Steve Cochran), one of the toughest inmates, and his group of followers are intent on escaping. However, after an attempt which is thwarted by Rickey, a riot ensues resulting in the deaths of two officers and a few prisoners. Rickey, with his iron fist, doles out severe and cruel punishments to all prisoners connected to the incident. In response to increasing violence, and the warden's inhumane treatment, the prison's board of directors hire an assistant, Mark Benson (David Brian), as captain of the guards. He believes that the inmates, despite their serious crimes, deserve to be treated better and given an opportunity to change by being educated on how to live on the outside, prior to release, in order to increase their chances of becoming productive members of society. Benson makes many changes to the regimen including serving meat, allowing inmates to talk during meal times, and promoting rehabilitation programs such as employment help. He also changes the way the guards do their jobs as well, by expecting them to come to work clean, behave in a professional way, and discontinue the senseless beatings that cause trouble. These changes go against the wishes of the warden and Benson eventually leaves his post as captain of the guards. With Benson gone, Warden Rickey reverts all of the reforms and the inmates retaliate with yet another escape attempt. A riot erupts in which many are fatally wounded. ===== The plot follows the members of Public Security Section 9, mainly consisting of Major Motoko Kusanagi, Chief Aramaki, Batou, Togusa, Ishikawa, Saito, and a nameless male, the Rookie, controlled by the player. The game's story is told using mission briefings and animated cutscenes. After the terrorist organization known as the Human Liberation Front claims responsibility for blowing up the Megatech Body Corporation building, Section 9 is sent to resolve the situation. Section 9 is able to trace the terrorists' communications and find their location in the bay area; however, it is a trap. Chief Aramaki later announces that the leader of the Human Liberation Front is a mercenary known as Zebra 27. Ishikawa then reports that the Energy Ministry is interested in files relating to Zebra; Aramaki orders further investigation. The Rookie's skill is put to the test, leading chase missions and surviving an ambush. Eventually, the Human Liberation Front's secret base is discovered in Aeropolis II tower by following the enemy supply line, along with the terrorists' intentions of using a nuclear reactor. Ishikawa informs Aramaki that an official of the Energy Ministry named Sawamura has been in contact with Zebra and is connected to Megatech Body Corporation. While conducting the raid on the enemy's base, the reactor begins to overload. In order to shut it down, squad leader Motoko Kusanagi attempts to remove the protective barrier from an access point nearby, as the rest of the team search for the other building's control room. After disarming the reactor, Kusanagi locates the leader on top of the tower. Batou and Togusa encounter obstacles that prevent them from moving to the top, leaving the Rookie as the only available member. Once he reaches the top, he engages the leader in combat and defeats him in a free fall battle off of the tower. After the mission, it is revealed that Sawamura planned to collect bribes from Megatech in exchange for covering up a defect in the nuclear reactor, which was going to explode, and presenting it as a terrorist attack; however, Zebra seized the reactor to take it over and wanted to extort money from Sawamura. Kusanagi declares the entire experience as at least good training for the Rookie and acknowledges the Rookie's cleverness, but criticizes the overdependence on the Fuchikoma. ===== Tom and Gerry Jeffers (Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert) are a married couple in New York City who are down on their luck financially, which is pushing the marriage to an end. But there is a deeper problem with their relationship, just hinted at under the opening credits in the prologue, and only disclosed at the end. The couple remain married from 1937 until 1942, when this story begins. Gerry decides that Tom would be better off if they split up. She packs her bags; takes some money offered to her by the Wienie King (Robert Dudley), a strange but rich little man who is thinking of renting the Jeffers' apartment; and boards a train for Palm Beach, Florida. There she plans to get a divorce and meet a wealthy second husband who can help Tom. On the train, she meets the eccentric John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallée), one of the richest men in the world. Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert, stars of The Palm Beach Story, from the trailer for the film Because of an encounter with the wild and drunken millionaire members of the Ale and Quail hunting club, Gerry loses all her luggage; after making do with clothing scrounged from other passengers, she is forced to accept Hackensacker's extravagant charity. They leave the train and go on a shopping spree for everything from lingerie to jewelry – Hackensacker minutely noting the cost of everything in a little notebook, which he never bothers to add up – and make the remainder of the trip to Palm Beach on Hackensacker's yacht named The Erl King (a Sturges joke on the Hackensacker family business, oil). Tom follows Gerry to Palm Beach by air, also with the impromptu financial assistance of the Wienie King. When Tom meets Hackensacker, Gerry introduces him as her brother, Captain McGlue. Soon, Hackensacker falls for Gerry, while his often-married, man-hungry sister, Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor), chases Tom, although her last lover, Toto (Sig Arno), is still following her around. To help further his suit with Gerry, Hackensacker agrees to invest in Tom's scheme to build an airport suspended over a city by wires. Tom finally persuades Gerry to give their marriage another chance, and they confess their masquerade to their disappointed suitors. Even though he is disappointed, Hackensacker intends to go through with his investment in the suspended airport, since he thinks it is a good business deal and he never lets anything get in the way of business. Then, when Tom and Gerry reveal that they met because they are both identical twins – a fact which explains the opening sequence of the film – Hackensacker and his sister are elated. The final scene shows Hackensacker and Gerry's twin sister, and the Princess and Tom's twin brother, getting married, with Gerry and Tom standing as Maid of Honor and Best Man for both. The film ends where it began after the prologue, with the words "And they lived happily ever after...or did they?" on title cards. ===== Players assume the role of Mr. Diaz, a synthetic human hybrid created by aliens. In the game's introduction, he turns on his masters when he kills a synthetic human intended to replace the President's bodyguard, Johnny Slater. Diaz finds himself in a massive underground installation created by the aliens under Manhattan. As the game progresses, it is revealed that the player is actually assuming the role of Slater, who was disguised as Diaz by the Gargatuans. The Gargatuans are an alien race around three feet tall who, after being betrayed by a member of their species who awoke from hypersleep and piloted the ship to Earth, are forced to help said traitor with his genetic experiments. The alien creates clones and hybrids (a genetic mix of human and Gargatuan DNA, resulting in extra-powerful creatures) and intends to conquer the earth through a replacement of its leaders, beginning with the United States. A few Gargatuans have escaped the traitor, and conduct an underground resistance in the woodwork. They found Johnny after he had been cloned and disguised him as Diaz, who they incapacitated and kept unconscious. Johnny regains his memories, which were blocked while he was disguised. The player then must travel even further down the bunker in the hopes of stopping the aliens from replacing the president with a clone and by request of the Gargatuans to defeat the traitor. Johnny's personal motive to help him stay focused is that he must make it back in time to meet his girlfriend under the Christmas tree on the White House lawn. Enemies included clones (unremarkable creations, created mainly for menial labor), agents (resemble the public perception of the secret service, men in black suits with sunglasses), mutants (genetic experiments that resulted in vicious creatures, presumably for military), robots (mostly humanoid, but some were straight-out mechs), and hybrids. One hybrid, created to replace the Secretary of Defense (or possibly State), is Johnny's antagonist for much of the game, before a final showdown wherein the alien creature explains much of the plot. ===== The film retells the story of the Trojan War in 1100 B.C., albeit with some major changes from the Iliad's storyline; Paris of Troy (Jacques Sernas) sails to Sparta to secure a peace treaty between the two powerful city-states. His ship is forced to return to Troy in a storm after he has been swept overboard on the shore of Sparta. Paris is found by Helen, queen of Sparta (Rossana Podestà) with whom he falls in love. He goes to the palace where he finds Helen's husband, king Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis), Agamemnon (Robert Douglas), Odysseus (Torin Thatcher), Achilles (Stanley Baker) and many other Greek kings debating whether to go to war with Troy. Menelaus, who is denied by Helen, sees that his wife and Paris are in love and, pretending friendship, plots Paris' death. Warned by Helen, Paris flees and, after they are both nearly caught by the Spartans, takes Helen with him to Troy. Under the pretense of helping Menelaus regain his honor, the Greeks unite, and the siege of Troy begins. Much blood is shed in the long ordeal, with the Trojans blaming their plight on Paris and Helen until it turns out that the Greeks are solely after Troy's riches, not Helen. The siege culminates in Greek victory through the ruse of the legendary Trojan Horse. While trying to flee, Helen and Paris are cornered by Menelaus. Paris faces the Spartan king in single combat, but just as he wins the upper hand he is stabbed from behind, denying him a fair trial by arms. Helen is forced to return with Menelaus, but she is serene in the knowledge that in death she will be reunited with Paris in Elysium. ===== Clark Griswold works in the food preservative industry, and has invented a long-life food preservative, earning him a large bonus check from Frank Shirley. To celebrate, he announces to his family that he is taking them on vacation. Part of the reason for the trip is for Clark and Ellen to renew their wedding vows. Excitement wanes, however, when Clark says they are headed to Las Vegas. His wife, Ellen, and teenage daughter, Audrey, have their doubts, as Las Vegas is not known for its family-friendly atmosphere, while teenage son Rusty appears to be more enthusiastic. Upon arriving in Vegas, the family embarks upon a series of misadventures. The Griswolds attend a Siegfried & Roy show, and they also visit Cousin Eddie, the husband of Ellen's cousin Catherine. Eddie and his family now live in the desert just north of Las Vegas, on what used to be a hydrogen-bomb test site. While on a group tour of the Hoover Dam led by guide Arty, Clark leaves the group after accidentally creating a leak in the dam's inside walkways, and is forced to climb the scaffolding to the very top of the dam to get out, because his cries for help cannot be heard over the roaring water. The next night, they are surprised to find tickets to a Wayne Newton concert have been delivered to their hotel room, along with a dress for Ellen. They go to the concert, only to realize that Newton had sent the dress. While singing, he brings Ellen up on stage to sing with him, and visits at their table. The next day, the family agrees to an "alone day" and are left to their own devices. Clark goes to a casino and becomes addicted to gambling, usually losing to a snide blackjack dealer named Marty, who enjoys Clark's humiliation. Rusty gets a fake ID from a Frank Sinatra look-alike and becomes a winning high roller, taking on the pseudonym Nick Pappagiorgio. Audrey starts hanging out with Eddie's free-spirited and gorgeous exotic dancer daughter Vicki and her friends. Ellen begins spending time with Wayne Newton, who has feelings for her. Clark gambles away the family's $22,600 bank account, leading a furious Ellen and the kids to desert him. Rusty goes off gambling for cars, and wins four, while Audrey goes to a strip club with Vicki and gets a job as a go-go dancer. Eddie — who has money buried in his front yard — tries to come to Clark's rescue in return for everything the Griswolds have done for him and his family over the years. Clark and Eddie go to a local casino to get their money back, but Clark ends up gambling away Eddie's money too, causing him to reevaluate his behavior. Clark then realizes he no longer cares about getting his money back, but needs to get his family back. Clark then gathers up his family from around Vegas and they gamble their last two dollars on a game of keno. They sit next to an elderly man who compliments Clark on his family, and hints that he has been lonely all of his life. Out of sympathy, Clark tells the man to consider himself part of the Griswold family for the night. The man happily accepts Clark's offer, and both parties begin the game. At first, the Griswolds are optimistic, but as they realize they have already lost the game, they sit together in silence. Suddenly, the man next to them ecstatically declares that he has won the game. In his burst of joy, he suddenly begins to slip in and out of consciousness while Ellen sends Rusty for help. He revives long enough to whisper a message to Clark, before dropping his winning ticket and lapsing one final time. Clark, confused, tells Ellen that the man said "take the ticket". When the casino security guards and paramedics arrive, they declare the man officially dead. They tell the Griswolds his name was Mr. Ellis. As Mr. Ellis is carried away, a janitor approaches with a carpet cleaner, heading straight for the winning ticket on the floor. Though it appears Clark is going to allow it to be lost, at the last second, he slides the ticket out of the carpet cleaner's path. With their newfound winnings, Clark and Ellen renew their wedding vows. Afterwards, Clark gives Eddie $5,000 to repay his kindness. They all drive home in the four cars Rusty won on the slot machines: a red Dodge Viper, a maroon Ford Mustang, a black Hummer H1, and a white Ford Aspire. ===== Artist Reno Miller (Abel Ferrara) and his girlfriend Carol enter a small Catholic church, where he approaches an elderly bearded man (revealed as Reno's estranged derelict father) kneeling at the pulpit. The derelict seizes Reno's hand, causing him and Carol to flee from the church, unknown to him that the derelict contained a paper with Reno's information, requesting a meeting with him. Reno denies knowing who the derelict was. Later, at his apartment, Reno receives a large Con-Ed electricity bill, the phone bill and cannot pay his rent. He shares an apartment with Carol, a former flight attendant, and her drug-addicted lover Pamela, in a derelict- filled neighbourhood in Union Square. Reno visits Dalton, an art gallery owner, and tells him that he is currently painting a masterpiece. Reno asks for a week's extension and a loan of $500 to cover the rent; however, Dalton refuses, saying that he has already lent enough money to Reno. However, if Reno finishes a satisfactory painting in one week, Dalton will buy it for the necessary amount. The following day, a No Wave band named the Roosters begin practising their music in a nearby apartment, in which the music makes Reno unnerved and frustrated. At 2:00 in the morning, Reno becomes more agitated from the Roosters' music while painting. After seeing his own image saturated in blood, Reno walks the streets in the dark. He sees an elderly derelict sleeping in a garbage-strewn alley, where he grabs the bum and begins ranting. Reno ducks with the bum into the alley where they see a small group of teenage gang members chasing another homeless bum down the street. When the gang members are gone from sight, Reno drops the bum to the ground and walks away, vowing that he will not end up like a derelict. The next day, Reno complains about the Roosters to their landlord. However, the landlord refuses to act because the music does not bother him. He gives Reno a skinned rabbit for dinner, but instead demands the rent money. Reno takes the rabbit home and repeatedly stabs it while preparing it. During a brief reprieve from the music, Reno mentally hears voices calling his name and sees an image of an eyeless Carol. That night, Reno leaves outside and armed with a power drill connected to a portable battery pack. He discovers another derelict inside an abandoned building and brutally kills him. The following evening, Reno, Carol and Pamela see Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters at a nightclub. As the Roosters play, Reno becomes irritated by the music and crowd and leaves while Carol and Pamela dance and kiss. An over-the-shoulder shot from the murderer's perspective as Reno approaches Dalton to kill him with the drill. Reno returns to his apartment, grabs his drill and goes out on a killing spree. Throughout the night, Reno kills a number of homeless bums all over the city before returning home to sleep. Later, Tony visits Reno's apartment and asks Reno to paint a portrait of him, in which Tony agrees to pose for Reno's demand of $500 rent bill. As Reno paints, Tony poses by playing his guitar and kissing Pamela. A derelict in a nearby alley (upset by the noise) is later attacked and killed by Reno. Afterwards, Reno completes his painting, where he then wakes and notifies Pamela and Carol. The next day, Reno and Carol show the painting to Dalton who leaves after declaring it "unacceptable" and Carol yells at Reno for sitting with a blank facial expression, resulting her leaving Reno for her ex-husband Stephen by the next morning. That evening, Reno calls Dalton and invites him to see another painting. When Dalton arrives as the Roosters are practising, a dressed-up Reno kills him with his drill. After visiting the Roosters, Pamela returns to the apartment where, upon the discovery of Dalton's body inside, she flees into the hallway before Reno grabs her. Pamela's fate is left ambiguous. Across town, Carol is back with Stephen at his apartment. She takes a shower while Stephen prepares tea. Reno enters the apartment, kills Stephen, and then hides his body behind a kitchen counter. Carol, exiting from her shower, walks to the bedroom where Reno hides under the bed covers. She turns off the lights, gets into bed, and tells Stephen to "come here..."; The film suddenly ends, leaving Carol's ultimate fate unknown. ===== On his return to England after his overseas job in the police, Luke Fitzwilliam shares a London-bound train carriage with Lavinia Pinkerton. She talks with him about her reason to travel to Scotland Yard, hoping for agreement. She plans to report a serial killer in her village and tells him who was killed and who will next be killed. Amy Gibbs, Tommy Pierce and Harry Carter have been killed, and Dr John Humbleby will be the next victim. This woman reminds him of a favorite aunt, so he replies politely and recalls what she said. He reads of Miss Pinkerton's death the next day, and then of the death of Dr Humbleby, who has died of septicaemia. Luke will not let this rest, and he travels to the village, Wychwood under Ashe. He poses as one finding material for a book on beliefs in witchcraft and superstition, as he investigates. He stays at the home of Gordon Whitfield, claiming to be a cousin of Bridget Conway, Whitfield's fiancée, and the cousin of his own good friend. He and Conway receive the assistance of Honoria Waynflete, a woman whom they believe may know the person behind the deaths. He talks with villagers to learn the stories of the recent murders, including Mr Abbot, the solicitor who fired Tommy Pierce from his service; the Reverend Mr Wake, local preacher; Mr Ellsworthy, an antique shop owner who appears to be mentally unstable, and Dr Thomas, Humbleby's younger partner. People in the village view the deaths as accidents. Amy Gibbs died after confusing her cough remedy with hat paint in the dark, Tommy Pierce died from falling off the library roof while cleaning the windows, Harry Carter fell from a bridge while drunk and drowned in the mud, and Humbleby died from a cut that became infected. Luke learns that Mrs Lydia Horton was another victim of these accidents—she was recovering from acute gastritis and was getting better before she had a sudden relapse and died. Luke believes Ellsworthy to be the killer because of his mental instability. Seeing Ellsworthy return home with blood on his hands adds to this image. Later on in that day, Luke and Miss Waynflete witness Whitfield arguing with his chauffeur, Rivers, who had taken Whitfield's Rolls-Royce for a joyride. Luke finds Rivers dead, hit by a decorative stone. Luke and Bridget realise that they are in love with each other, and Bridget tells Gordon of her decision to break off the engagement. Speaking with Luke, Gordon makes an odd statement. He claims that God kills people that do him harm, dispensing divine justice upon wrongdoers. Whitfield mentions that Mrs Horton had argued with him, Tommy Pierce did mocking impressions of him, Harry Carter shouted at him while drunk, Amy Gibbs was impertinent to him, Humbleby disagreed with him on the village water supply, and Rivers used his car without permission and then spoke disrespectfully to him; and all of them died soon afterwards. Whitfield predicts that Luke and Bridget, having wronged him, will soon meet their fates too. Luke changes his mind about who is responsible for the deaths, considering Whitfield as the murderer. He consults Miss Waynflete, who confirms his suspicions, and tells him of how she knew he was insane: when they were younger, Waynflete and Whitfield had been engaged to be married. But one evening, Whitfield killed the bird that she kept as a pet, with the appearance that he enjoyed doing it. She ended their engagement. Luke and Bridget decide that Bridget will leave Whitfield's estate to stay at Honoria Waynflete's house. Luke collects their luggage and prepares to leave, while Bridget and Honoria take a walk in the woods. Honoria reveals herself to be the murderer. During her engagement to Whitfield, Honoria had killed her own pet bird after it bit her, which prompted Gordon to abandon the engagement. She vowed revenge on Gordon, and decided to set him up for crimes he did not commit. She encouraged him in the belief that God exacted immediate retribution from those who disrespected him. Honoria poisoned the tea for Lydia Horton, while encouraging others to believe the problem was in the grapes sent by Whitfield. Honoria killed Amy by swapping the bottles around in the night and locking the door from the outside using pincers. She killed Carter by pushing him off the bridge on the day he had a row with Whitfield, and she likewise pushed Tommy Pierce out of the window while he was working. Whitfield had been the one to assign Tommy to this job. Honoria sees that Lavinia Pinkerton realised she is the killer, and that Humbleby would be her next victim. Honoria follows Lavinia into London and then pushes her in front of a passing car. Honoria frames Whitfield by telling a witness that she saw the registration number of Whitfield's Rolls- Royce. After inviting Humbleby round to her house, she cut his hand with scissors. She then applied a dressing to the wound, a dressing with pus seeping from her cat's ear; Humbleby dies a few days later from blood infection. After witnessing Rivers being sacked, Honoria hits him with a sandbag and caves his skull in with the stone pineapple. Honoria drugs Bridget's tea and takes her into the woods, where the two of them began talking. Bridget does not drink the tea and is ready for what comes. Honoria reveals a knife covered in Whitfield's fingerprints, and informs Bridget that she will kill her and leave the knife at the scene. Further, Honoria arranges for Whitfield to be seen walking alone through the area where Bridget's body will be. Instead, Bridget fights with Honoria. Luke realises that Honoria is the murderer and rescues Bridget. Bridget and Luke leave the village to live together as a married couple. ===== The maid at Gossington Hall wakes Mrs Bantry by saying, “There is a body in the library!” Dolly Bantry then wakes her husband, Colonel Arthur Bantry to go downstairs. He finds the dead body of a young woman on the hearth rug in the library, dressed up and with platinum blonde hair. The Colonel calls the police, and Mrs Bantry calls her old friend, Miss Marple. The police investigators include Colonel Melchett and Inspector Slack. Trying to identify this dead young woman, Melchett heads to the nearby cottage of Basil Blake, but Dinah Lee, a platinum blonde, arrives while Colonel Melchett is present, very much alive. Dr Haydock’s autopsy reveals that the young woman, healthy but not fully matured, died between 10 pm and 12 midnight the previous evening, had been drugged and then strangled, and was not molested. Miss Marple notices that the appearance of this girl is not right, from her fingernails to her old dress. She shares this with Dolly. Hotel guest Conway Jefferson reports Ruby Keene, an 18-year-old dancer at the Majestic Hotel in Danemouth as missing. Josie Turner, employee at the hotel, identifies the body as her cousin Ruby. Guests saw Ruby as late as 11 pm dancing with George Bartlett, but Ruby did not appear for her dance demonstration at midnight. Conway tells police he has revised his will to favour Ruby, until the legal adoption is completed. Dolly and Miss Marple move to the Majestic to investigate further. Conway calls Sir Henry Clithering to join the investigation; Sir Henry sees Miss Marple at the hotel and in turn invites her to investigate. Conway made large financial settlements for his children at the time each married. Then his wife, son and daughter were killed in an aeroplane crash eight years earlier. The three grieving survivors, Son-in-law Mark, daughter-in-law Adelaide, and Conway, made up a household. They were playing bridge that evening with Josie. Police rule out the son-in-law and daughter-in-law, thinking each one is well set financially. But both are short of money, as Slack’s investigation and Adelaide’s conversation with Dolly reveal. Bartlett's burned-out car is found with a charred corpse inside. From one shoe and one button, the corpse is identified as 16-year-old Girl Guide Pamela Reeves, reported missing by her parents the night before. The police ask Miss Marple to interview the other girls at the Guides event, and ask Sir Henry to question Conway's valet, Edwards. Miss Marple learns from friend Florence that Pamela had been approached by a film producer and offered a screen test that evening, which was why she did not go directly home. Edwards reports that he saw a snapshot of Basil Blake fall out of Ruby's handbag while she was with Conway, which points to Blake. Slack had already found the hearth rug from the Blake home dumped. Miss Marple knows who the murderer is, and seeks proof of her deduction. She visits Dinah Lee; Basil returns home, and he reveals how he found the corpse on the hearth rug around midnight when he came home rather drunk after a party. He moved the corpse to the Bantry home, not liking Bantry much. He did not kill the girl. The police arrest him. Back at the hotel, Miss Marple asks the Bantrys to find a marriage record at Somerset House. She asks Sir Henry to approach Conway; he agrees to tell Mark and Adelaide that he will change his will the next day, leaving his money to a hostel in London. Sir Henry alerts the police, and shows the marriage record for Mark and Josie. At 3 am, an intruder, Josie Turner, enters Conway’s bedroom, and is caught in the act by the police before she can harm Conway with the syringe filled with digitalin. Miss Marple explains her process to Conway and the police. The body in the library was Pamela Reeves, made up to look like more or less like Ruby, with her bitten fingernails a jarring note. Ruby was the one burned in the car. Thus the alibis at the hotel were useless. Miss Marple did not believe the identification by Josie (“people are far too trusting for this wicked world”) and sensed a plan gone awry. She suspected that Mark and Josie were married. Besides wanting Conway dead, upon learning that Conway planned to adopt Ruby, they made the double murder plan. Mark lured Pamela to the hotel for the fictitious screen test. Josie dressed her, dyed her hair and made her up to resemble Ruby, then drugged her. During the bridge play, Mark took a break, taking Pamela’s body to Blake's hearth rug, where he strangled her with her belt. Just before midnight, when Ruby went up to change for the exhibition dance, Josie followed her and killed her by injection or a blow. After the midnight dance, she took Ruby, dressed in Pamela’s clothes, in Bartlett's car to the quarry where she set fire to the car. During the police interrogation, Mark breaks down and confesses all the details. Adelaide says she has agreed to marry her long-time suitor, Hugo, which pleases Conway. His new will settles cash on Adelaide and leaves the rest to her son Peter. ===== While walking home from work, Thana, a mute seamstress in New York City's Garment District, is raped at gunpoint in an alley by a mysterious, masked attacker. She survives and makes her way back to her apartment, where she encounters a burglar and is raped a second time. Thana—her name an allusion to Greek god of death Thanatos—hits this second assailant with a small red glass apple, then bludgeons him to death with an iron, and carries his body to the bathtub. She goes to work the next day, and after encountering working with an iron, watching her boss Albert rip a shirt off a mannequin, she goes into shock state, which worries her co-workers. However, when she looks at the trash bin at her office, she decides to dismember the burglar's corpse and throw the parts away in various locations of the city. After being sent home, she dismembers the burglar's body, then keeps his .45 caliber pistol, puts the pieces into plastic garbage bags, and then stores them in her fridge. After cleaning her bathtub, she decides to take a shower, but as she strips, she begins to hallucinate the first attacker in the mirror grabbing her breast. This puts her into shock, and she notices that organs and body fluids from the burglar are overflowing in the drain. Her nosy neighbor, an old, recently widowed woman named Mrs. Nasone who is the landlady and owns a small dog named Phil, also starts to notice her odd behavior. On her walk home from work the next day, Thana is noticed by a leering young man on the street while she is disposing of one of the bagged body parts; thinking that she accidentally dropped the bag, he retrieves it, frightening her. He chases her through the alleys of the city and, fearing another sexual assault, she fatally shoots him when she is cornered by him. The event furthers her impulse for vengeance. While running home from the incident, the landlady Mrs. Nasone notices she ran up the stairs violently and started throwing up. She insists in calling a doctor for Thana, and Mrs. Nasone's dog, Phil, starts to become attracted to her fridge. Thana escorts her out of her apartment while still in shock. As the limbs start to bring the attention of the media, Albert brings her into his office and notices she hasn't been sewing enough and hasn't been feeling well lately. He decides to invite her to a Halloween party that he is throwing for work, and tells her that there will be "many boys there [her] age" while stroking her neck. She responds to him in writing, saying "I'll try". As Thana's vengeance increases, she starts regularly targeting and killing several men, such as a fashion photographer, a pimp who assaults a prostitute because of debt, several members of a gang, a Saudi Arabian businessman and his limousine driver, and even drives a recently dumped salesman to suicide after her gun jams. Her boss, Albert, notices her ditching work after going to dinner with her co-workers, resulting in her co-workers having to finish her work. However, she promises to go to the party with him in exchange for staying out of trouble for her absence. Thana notices that Mrs. Nasone's dog, Phil, is attracted to the smell of the burglar's dismembered limbs. Thana takes Phil for a walk then ties him to a post in the park. She leaves a note saying that Phil ran away but will probably find his way back home soon. With Albert, Thana attends the costume party dressed as a nun with red lipstick. Meanwhile, Mrs. Nasone enters Thana's apartment and finds the burglar's dismembered head. She jumps to the conclusion that Thana killed her dog, and tells police that she is at a party with her co-workers. At the party, Albert takes Thana upstairs in private and tries to seduce her. In revenge for his borderline-sexual behavior towards her in the past, she shoots him. The party stops and her co-workers run upstairs to Thana, but quickly realize that she is the murderer when she steps out of the room with her pistol. Thana then begins a shooting spree, targeting many of the men present. Her co-worker Laurie picks up the knife from the cake table and stabs Thana in the back. Thana turns around and points the gun at Laurie, but hesitates; she screams in pain, "Sister!" then falls to the ground and dies. After the party massacre, Mrs. Nasone is seen crying in memorial for her husband and her dog Phil. But outside her apartment door, Phil has returned and is shown running up the stairs and scratching at the door. ===== The show revolves around two different lifestyles that clashed repeatedly. On one side of the tracks was the wealthy Malibu crowd, and on the other was the more working-class gang of "the Valley". When Zack (Tony Lucca) from the Valley meets Chloe (Keri Russell) from the Malibu beachfront, they fall in love; but no one thinks it is a good idea but the two of them. After their "love-at- first-sight" meeting, Zach is transferred to Chloe's school along with his friends (due to an earthquake). The remainder of the episodes dealt with the clashing of the two groups. ===== Chris Hunter (Ann Sheridan) stabs a man in her home one night while her husband Bob is out of town. The dead man's name is Tanner and she claims not to know him and to have acted in self-defense. Art shop owner, Martin Barrow (Steven Geray), contacts Chris' lawyer and good friend Larry Hannaford (Lew Ayres). Barrow shows Hannaford a bust of Chris Hunter's head, signed by Tanner, and attempts blackmail. It turns out Tanner had been a sculptor, and it is now evident to Hannaford that Chris has lied about never knowing the man she killed. After learning about the bust, Chris goes to Barrow to try to take possession of it. But, Barrow has taken the piece to Tanner's wife (Marta Mitrovich), who is now convinced Chris had an affair with her husband and wants Chris punished for murder. Barrow convinces her to create more anguish for Chris by relaying this information to Bob Hunter (Zachary Scott), thinking also that the wronged husband would pay to avoid scandal. When Bob learns about the affair and sees the bust, he confronts Chris at home. After she admits to having an affair with Tanner while Bob was away during the war, he demands a divorce. Chris is charged with murder and tried. Hannaford persuades the jury that while Chris was indeed guilty of adultery, she truly did stab Tanner in self-defense. Hannaford then convinces Bob, who has softened a bit on the idea of divorce after a long talk with his cousin, Paula, and Chris to at least consider trying to save their marriage, rather than rushing into a divorce. ===== Mabel Stanley (Kristy McNichol) is an introverted and bookish teenage girl from the United States in a seaside community in Australia as an exchange student. She attends a local pirate festival featuring a swordplay demonstration led by a young curly- haired instructor and fellow American (Christopher Atkins), who then invites her for a ride on his boat. She is duped by her exchange family sisters, Edith (Kate Ferguson), Kate (Rhonda Burchmore), and Isabel (Catherine Lynch), into missing the launch, so she rents a small sailboat to give chase. A sudden storm throws her overboard, and she washes up on a beach. She subsequently dreams an adventure that takes place a century before. In this fantasy sequence, the swordplay instructor is now named Frederic, a young apprentice of the Pirates of Penzance, celebrating his 21st birthday on a pirate vessel. Frederic refuses an invitation from the Pirate King (Ted Hamilton), his adoptive father, to become a full pirate, as his birth parents were murdered by their contemporaries. Frederic swears to avenge their deaths and is forced off of the ship on a small boat. Adrift, Frederic spies Mabel and her older sisters on a nearby island and swims to shore to greet them. In a reversal of roles, Mabel is a confident, assertive, and courageous young woman, while her sisters are prim, proper and conservative. Frederic quickly falls for Mabel and proposes marriage, but local custom requires the elder sisters to marry first. Soon, Frederic's old mates come ashore, also looking for women and kidnap Mabel's sisters. Major-General Stanley (Bill Kerr), Mabel's father, arrives and convinces the Pirate King to free his daughters and leave in peace. The pirates anchor their ship just outside the harbour instead of actually leaving. Mabel wants Frederic to gain favour with her father so they can marry, so she plots to recover the family treasure stolen years earlier by the pirates. Unfortunately, the treasure was lost at sea, but the location where it lies was tattooed as a map on the Pirate King's back. Mabel successfully tricks the Pirate King into revealing his tattoo while Frederic sketches a copy. After Mabel manages to escape from him, she and Fredrick, who has sabotaged the pirate's ship, leap over board and swim for safety. The pirate's open fire on them, but the ship partially sinks, enabling them to escape. The next day, Mabel and Frederic recover the stolen treasure and present it to her father. The Major-General is underwhelmed as he believes the treasure will simply be stolen again once the pirates realise it is missing. Mabel dispatches Frederic to raise an army for protection, but the Pirate King interferes. The ship nurse, Ruth, convinces them to stop fighting, reminding the Pirate King of Frederic's apprenticeship contract. Frederic's birthday is 29 February, and he is dismayed to see that the contract specifies his twenty- first birthday, rather than his twenty-first year. As his birthday occurs every four years, Frederic has celebrated only five birthdays and is still bound by contract to remain with the pirates. That night, the pirates raid the Stanley estate, and the Pirate King orders their execution. Mabel demands a "happy ending" – admitting for the first time that she believes this all to be a dream. Everyone – even the pirates – cheers their approval, leaving the Pirate King disappointed and shocked. Mabel then confronts her father, but the Major-General is steadfast that the marriage custom remains in effect. Mabel quickly pairs each of her older sisters with a pirate, and she also pairs the Pirate King to Ruth. With Mabel and Frederic now free to marry, the fantasy sequence ends in song and dance. Mabel awakens back on the beach to discover that she is wearing the wedding ring that Frederic had given her in her dream. At that moment, the handsome swordplay instructor arrives and lifts her to her feet. He passionately kisses Mabel, who is still shaken by her dream. She asks if his name is Frederic. He assures her that he isn't who she imagines him to be, but then carries her off to marry her, thus giving Mabel her happy ending in reality as well. ===== New York dilettante Philo Vance decides to assist the police in investigating the death of another man-about-town because he finds the psychological aspects of the crime of interest, and feels that they would be beyond the capacities of the police, even those of his friend District Attorney Markham. Vance investigates the circumstances under which the body was found and reconstructs the crime sufficiently to determine that the murderer is five feet, ten and a half inches in height. Together, Vance and Markham investigate Benson's business associates and romantic interests until Vance manages to pierce the murderer's alibi for the time of the murder and force a confession. ===== Hannah Greenbaum, a first-year literature student, meets Michael Gonen, a doctoral student in geology, by chance in her Hebrew University building. They date briefly and then marry, though their backgrounds and personalities could not be more dissimilar. They rent a small apartment in the Mekor Barukh neighborhood populated by religious Jews unlike themselves. Michael's aunts and other elderly acquaintances pop in and out of their lives, but Hannah is largely on her own as Michael pursues his degree. While Michael runs his life in a calm, methodical, unemotional manner, Hannah feels increasingly hemmed in by sameness and routine. She begins to escape into private fantasies – some featuring the heroes of her favorite childhood books, like Jules Verne's Michael Strogoff and Captain Nemo – and others based on her own dreams of being an exciting Sephardi woman named Yvonne Azulai, of being raped by strangers, of being a cold princess who commands others to go into battle for her. Two recurrent figures in her fantasies are Arab twin boys with whom she used to play as a child. Michael finally realizes how deeply she has sunken when she has a nervous breakdown one winter day before he is called up to serve in the 1956 Sinai campaign, and orders her to stay in bed until the doctor comes. But he cannot satisfy Hannah's unfulfilled sexual needs and her daydreams and nightmares continue, forcing her downward into a vortex of lust and fantasy. Hannah also finds it difficult to love their child, Yair, who is as pragmatic and non-relationship-oriented as his father. When Hannah finally conceives another child, Michael is no longer hers, having been seduced by an old college friend who constantly asks him to help her write her papers. The novel ends with Hannah still married, but for all intents and purposes estranged from Michael. ===== The plot is very close to the original play and 1928 movie. Racketeer and mobster Nick Scanlon (Ryan) has managed to buy several of the local government and law-enforcement officials of a large midwestern American city. However, he can't seem to touch the incorruptible police captain Tom McQuigg (Mitchum), who refuses all attempts at bribery. The city's prosecuting attorney, Welch (Collins), and a state police detective, Turk (Conrad), are crooked and make McQuigg's job as an honest officer nearly impossible. McQuigg persuades a sexy nightclub singer Irene Hayes (Scott) to testify against Scanlon, which makes her marked for death from the mob. McQuigg not only wants to nail Scanlon, but also stop all the mob corruption in the city – without getting himself or his witness killed. A bomb explodes near McQuigg's home, frightening his wife, Mary. Honest cop Bob Johnson is helpful to McQuigg, as is reporter Dave Ames, who has a romantic interest in Irene. At the police precinct one night, Scanlon walks in alone demanding to see Irene, who is being held in protective custody, and kills Johnson in cold blood. After a car chase, Scanlon is arrested. McQuigg ignores the gangster's lawyer, ripping up his writ of habeas corpus. McQuigg has the gun that killed Johnson, which has Scanlon's fingerprints on it. Welch and Turk make a phone call to Scanlon's unseen mob boss for instructions. They end up telling Scanlon he must remain locked up until after the next election, angering the gangster, who threatens to tell all. Welch and Turk then gesture toward a window and silently coax Scanlon to make a run for it. Scanlon gets his hands on the murder weapon, but it's been emptied of bullets by McQuigg, who had foreseen everything Scanlon would try. Scanlon is shot dead by Turk, who then is taken into a room with Welch by investigators bringing subpoenas. Irene leaves with Dave, indicating her interest in him. McQuigg goes home with his wife after a long day, aware that tomorrow will probably be just as busy. ===== Ever since his loved and lovely assistant Velda has gone missing, private detective Mike Hammer has been drinking steadily. For seven years he hasn't been on a case, but that changes when his former pal from the police, Capt. Pat Chambers, asks his assistance on a job. Capt. Chambers and Hammer were both in love with Velda leading to an end of their friendship. A senator has been murdered and Velda has disappeared. Hammer is needed to talk with Richie Cole, a dying sailor who refuses to speak with anybody else. According to federal agent Art Rickerby, not only has Richie been shot by the same gun recently used to kill a politician, he is actually an undercover federal agent. Hammer's investigation leads to Laura Knapp, the late senator's widow. She is beautiful and she is seductive, but Hammer does not trust her. He learns that they are all caught up in the fallout from a network of spies operating during WWII. Now a killer nicknamed the "dragon" is trying to silence people who had some information about the spying. At the end Hammer manages to find and kill the "dragon". He confronts Laura with the his suspicions about her involvement . Laura fires a shotgun that Hammer had rigged to backfire in order to test her loyalty and Hammer gets his answer. It is not clear if Velda is still alive. ===== Chance Buckman is the head of a Houston–based oil well firefighting outfit. With a team that includes Joe Horn, Greg Parker, and George Harris, Chance travels around the world putting out blazes at well heads from industrial accident, explosion or terrorist attack. Chance enjoys the thrills, but longs for ex- wife Madelyn. She divorced him 20 years earlier, taking their daughter Letitia with her, because Madelyn could not bear to see her husband risk his life. Though they love each other, Madelyn could not deal with her terror that Chance might burn to death in a fire. While extinguishing a burning wellhead, Chance suffers a near-fatal accident when he is crushed by a bulldozer blade. Against his wishes, his daughter Letitia (Tish) visits him in the hospital, summoned by his old friend and former firefighting partner Jack Lomax and fetched by Greg Parker in The Buckman Company's corporate jet. She also pursues Greg Parker to a well fire in Louisiana. (Greg has a notorious reputation for using fires to pick up women. Generally, any woman he takes to a fire ends up in bed with him.) In the case of Buckman's spitfire of a daughter, however, after considerable initial friction Greg and Tish fall in love and marry five days after their first meeting. In spite of Greg's reputation, Buckman comes to trust his daughter's choice and accepts Greg into the family. Madelyn, projecting her own fears onto her daughter, though gracious is rather less accepting, despite her liking for Greg. Greg suspects that his new father-in-law is growing increasingly protective of him after the marriage in an effort to protect his daughter from heartbreak should her new husband be harmed or killed. Tish wishes to see the fires that her husband and father fight, something that neither man encourages. Her father relents and allows her to accompany Greg into the field. Chance, trying to re-unite with his ex-wife, leaves The Buckman Company to accept an executive position with his old friend Jack Lomax on the board of directors of Lomax Oil as a way to win her back. Chance gives his company to his son-in-law as a "wedding present", although Greg's pride compels him to tell Buckman he "doesn't want any gifts" and that he will "pay twice what it's worth." Greg and Tish begin traveling the world to put out oil fires. Soon the older couple announce that they will remarry, to the delight of Tish. Madelyn is happy to see her husband in a safe job, but before too long Chance becomes bored with corporate life and longs to be back in the field. As Jack Lomax earlier told Tish, "Your father is the best there is at what he does. No man can walk away from that." Greg encounters problems with a fire in Venezuela: five oil wells in a tight line burning all at once, further compounded by guerrillas who are trying to undermine the operation. He asks Chance to return and help fight the fire. Chance does so without hesitation. Buckman goes to Venezuela in a Texas Air National Guard transport full of firefighting gear, unaware that Madelyn and Tish have followed him to Caracas. Madelyn uses Jack Lomax's influence with the President of Venezuela to get herself and Tish to the oilfield where the fire is burning. Madelyn declares "This is it for me," in the sense that it will either make or break her ability to deal with the fires once and for all, fully aware that her relationship with Chance is on the line. The Hellfighters put out the fires with the help of the Venezuelan Army while under attack by rebel warplanes that strafe the oilfield. Madelyn explodes in anger at what she perceives as the Venezuelans' inability to protect the team from the unexpected air raid, railing at the Venezuelan army and civil officials for allowing the guerrillas to get close enough to attack. Chance pulls her away during her tirade. She snaps, "Damned if I understand your attitude!", to which he replies, "It's very simple — you'll do." When Greg asks Tish for her take on it, she just smiles and says, "I think we ought to get her a tin hat," referring to the bright red hardhats with The Buckman Company logo worn by the Hellfighters. ===== ===== The film features several different storylines, all of which intersect periodically throughout the film. The film begins with a brief prologue. We see a young girl in a white room standing near a wall. She crouches near the wall, then stands. Then we see individual children each making a gesture in sign language for a single word. These alternate with the first girl shaking her head. The words include, for instance, Alone, Hiding place, Bad Conscience, Sad, Imprisoned. {All of these words might be understood as reflecting ideas that form part of the following film.} After the title is shown, the film's opening scene features a brief encounter with four of the main characters: Anne Laurent (Juliette Binoche) is an actress working in Paris, and she walks briefly with her boyfriend's younger brother Jean. After they part, Jean throws a piece of garbage at Maria, a homeless woman sitting on the side of the road. Amadou, the child of Malian immigrants, witnesses this and confronts Jean. The two fight, and eventually Amadou and Maria are both taken to a police station for questioning. Amadou is released presumably shortly after, though we learn that he was held, beaten and shamed, but Maria is deported to her native Romania and she reconnects with her family there. ===== Giles prepares to take all of the Potentials – except Kennedy, who's sick with the flu – on a trip to the desert to meet the First Slayer. Buffy goes to check on Spike, who's chained in the basement. They chat about the girls being gone and Spike's decision to stay chained up until they know the First Evil is through with him. Suddenly, Spike begins to writhe in pain as his chip fires without provocation. Buffy talks with Willow in the kitchen about Spike's chip and what little they actually know about it. Willow then goes upstairs to bring Kennedy some tea. When Willow walks into the room, she finds that Kennedy is not actually sick, and is instead dressed for a "mission" which she says requires Willow's assistance. The mission turns out to be drinks at The Bronze. Back in the basement, Buffy checks on Spike again and they talk about the potential causes of the chip's glitches. Buffy realizes that she is going to have to contact the people who implanted the chip in the first place: The Initiative. Buffy tries, but fails, to reach Riley Finn on the telephone; Spike's chip continues to fire at random intervals. Willow and Kennedy finish their drinks and then return to Revello Drive. Back in their room, Kennedy gives Willow an end-of-date kiss, with a surprising effect: Willow takes on the appearance of Warren Mears. Panicking, Willow rushes downstairs; on seeing her, the others recoil, partly because they know that the First Evil has appeared to Andrew as Warren. Buffy hits "Warren", showing that "he" cannot be the First (who is incorporeal). When Willow threatens to tell some embarrassing old stories about Xander, the gang provisionally accept her claim. Willow goes off to try to break the spell; Kennedy tags along. Spike's chip fires again. Buffy and Spike go to the Initiative's abandoned base to look for the painkilling drugs that were used on Spike during his captivity there three years before, when the chip was implanted, and for documentation on the chip. Robson, a Watcher, telephones Buffy's house from England and reports that Giles may have been killed by a Bringer (as seen in the ending of "Sleeper"). The Scoobies become alarmed when none of them can remember seeing Giles touch anything since his return; no one has hugged him, nor seen him carry anything, and he is not driving the car to the desert. Xander, Anya, Dawn, and Andrew all go to the desert to find Giles and, in the case of danger, stop him from hurting the Potentials. Willow and Kennedy go to meet with the Wiccan group at the University of California-Sunnydale, which now includes Amy. Willow tries to run away as she realizes she's not just looking like Warren, she's becoming him. Kennedy tries to follow, but Willow puts up a magical barrier to keep her away. Buffy and Spike wander through the remains of the Initiative, finding many dead soldiers and demons ("Primeval"). Inside the Initiative, Buffy and Spike are attacked by a demon. During the fray, Buffy is wounded by the demon and when Spike tries to help, his chip fires and renders him ineffectual. The demon grabs Spike and drags him off into the darkness. Kennedy returns to the lecture hall to find Amy packing up supplies; the rest of the group is gone. Amy comments on Kennedy's concern for Willow, and draws Kennedy's suspicion when she mentions that Kennedy is a Potential, a fact that neither Kennedy or Willow had mentioned. Willow, increasingly dominated by the Warren persona, goes to buy a gun, of the same model that killed Tara and wounded Buffy ("Seeing Red"). Out in the desert, Giles is tackled to the ground by Xander and the others. They are all pleased to find that he has a solid form and thus is not the First Evil – nor dead. Back at the abandoned Initiative facility, Buffy battles with and finally kills the demon that attacked her and Spike. As she crouches down by Spike to see if he is okay, lights turn on, revealing a group of soldiers. Their leader explains that Riley received Buffy's message, and they are there to help Spike. An examination confirms that Spike's chip is killing him. It is up to Buffy to decide whether to repair the chip or remove it. Kennedy confronts Amy, accusing her of causing the "Warren" problem. Amy reveals that she put a hex on Willow, whose effect is determined by the victim's subconscious. She did it because Willow murdered a man and remained beloved – crowning Amy's envy of Willow's relatively easy successes in magic. Amy then teleports Kennedy to the backyard of Buffy's house, where Willow/Warren starts to reenact his attack on Buffy that resulted in Tara's death, but Kennedy talks Willow down. Willow tearfully explains that when Kennedy kissed her she let go of Tara's memory for a moment, making her truly dead. Then Kennedy kisses Willow again, and the spell ends. The two go into the house together. ===== Park City, Utah is in the midst of the Sundance Film Festival. Sundance's founder, Robert Redford, has decided that Park City has become too commercialized by the annual migration of the Hollywood jet set, so he decides to move the festival to South Park, Colorado. The Sundance Festival relocates to South Park, which is immediately deluged by Hollywood tourists. In school, Mr. Garrison gives the students an assignment to see one independent film during the festival and write a report on it. Chef sets up a sales stand at the festival for his fudge cookie recipes. At night, as Kyle uses the restroom, he hears Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo calling to him from the toilet. Kyle persuades Stan, Cartman, and Kenny to help him find Mr. Hankey; they enter the sewer system to look for him. They soon find Mr. Hankey, who tells Kyle that the influx of all the Hollywood tourists, with their health-food diets, has disrupted the ecosystem of the sewer, which has made him deathly ill. Kyle and the others appear before a film's showing, and Kyle pleads with the Hollywood visitors to understand that their presence is causing the death of his friend Mr. Hankey. However, they all think Kyle is trying to pitch a script, and they offer film deals. One agent approaches Cartman to buy the rights to Kyle's story; he readily agrees. A film is produced overnight, starring Tom Hanks as Kyle and a monkey as Mr. Hankey. The South Park locals are beginning to tire of the festival, seeing that it is causing the town to become overrun with commercialism and Hollywood kitsch. However, Redford plans to sue the whole the town if they go through with ending the festival; he then reveals to his wife, Phyllis, that he will make all small towns overrun with Hollywood culture, since he cannot escape it, so he wants to inflict it on everyone else. By this time, Cartman realizes he's been cheated out by the agent and only receives three dollars from the two million dollars the Mr. Hankey movie made and Stan promptly calls Cartman a sell-out; not to be outdone, Cartman then starts selling shirts of Tom Hanks with the monkey-version of Mr. Hankey. Kyle tries to show Mr. Hankey to the crowd, but Mr. Hankey is pale and near death. Chef feeds Mr. Hankey one of his Chocolate Salty Balls, causing him to return to life. Stan, Kyle, Chef, and Mr. Hankey approach Redford as he is on a podium to announce the return of the film festival the next year. After he ignores their pleas to relocate the festival, Mr. Hankey makes a passionate speech about film festivals - instead of catering to the glamor of Hollywood, they should focus more on giving new- coming filmmakers a chance and actually enjoy the films. Infuriated, Redford throws Mr. Hankey against a wall, killing him; Chef revitalizes Mr. Hankey once again. He then causes the sewers to erupt over South Park, causing Redford and Phyllis' car to fill with feces, drowning them, and all the tourists flee the town. With the town saved (albeit covered in excrement), the boys reflect on Mr. Hankey's message and admit that while a few independent films are great, "most of them suck ass." As for Cartman, he feels that being a sell-out was positive for him because he wouldn't hang out with "poor-ass losers" like his friends and leaves with the money he earned selling shirts. ===== Lady Tressilian is now confined to her bed, and still invites guests to her seaside home at Gull's Point during the summer. Tennis star Nevile Strange, former ward of Lady Tressilian's deceased husband, incurs her displeasure. He proposes to bring both his new wife, Kay, and his former wife, Audrey, to visit at the same time – a change from past years. Lady Tressilian grudgingly agrees to this set of incompatible guests. Staying in hotels nearby are Kay’s friend, Ted; a long time family friend, Thomas Royde, home after a long stretch working overseas and still faithfully waiting on the sidelines for Audrey; and Mr Treves, an old solicitor and long time friend of the Tressilians. The dinner party is uncomfortable, as Lady Tressilian had predicted. That night, Mr Treves told a story of an old case, where a child killed another child with an arrow, which was ruled an accident. The child was given a new name and a fresh start, despite a local man having seen the child practising assiduously with a bow and arrow. Mr Treves remembers the case and the child as a result of a distinctive physical feature which he does not reveal. The next morning, Treves is found dead in his hotel room and his death is attributed to heart failure from climbing up the stairs to his room the previous night, greatly upsetting Lady Tressilian. Thomas and Ted are mystified, as they saw a note stating that the lift was out of order when they walked Treves back. They learn from hotel staff that the lift was in working order that night. His death is ruled to be from natural causes. Lady Tressilian is brutally murdered in her bed, and her maid drugged. Her heirs are Nevile and Audrey. Evidence suggests Nevile Strange as the murderer. One of his golf clubs that was found at the scene with his fingerprints on it. Nevile's quarrel with Lady Tressilian was overheard as well. However when the maid wakes up, she tells Superintendent Battle that she saw Lady Tressilian alive after Nevile's visit to her room, before he left for Easterhead Bay to find Ted. The evidence then points to Audrey: a bloodied glove belonging to her is found in the ivy next to her window together with the real murder weapon. It was fashioned from the handle of a tennis racket and the metal ball from the fireplace fender in Audrey’s room. Mary Aldin relates the story narrated by Mr Treves, and his claim that he could recognize that child with certainty; Battle is certain that the lift sign was placed in order to silence Mr Treves. Angus MacWhirter is standing at the cliff where, a year earlier, he had attempted suicide, when Audrey attempts to run off the same cliff. He grabs her before she can jump. She confesses her fear, and he promises that she will be safe. The local cleaners inadvertently give MacWhirter an uncleaned jacket belonging to someone else. Though he is not one of the party at Gull’s House, he is aware of the progress of the investigation, well reported in the local newspapers. He realizes why the jacket has stains in a certain odd pattern. He visits Gull’s Point, and requests for Mary Aldin's help to find a rope in the house. They find a large damp rope in an otherwise dusty attic, and she locks the door until the police come. Battle arrests Audrey on the evidence and her ready admission of guilt. However, Battle's daughter had previously confessed to a theft she did not commit due to overwhelming pressure, and so he suspects that Audrey is in a similar situation. MacWhirter meets Battle and tells him what he has learned about this case, including his observation of a man swimming across the creek on the night of the brutal murder, and climbing into the house on a rope. Then, Thomas reveals that Audrey had ended their marriage, not Nevile, as she had grown afraid of him. She was about to marry Adrian Royde, Thomas' brother, when Adrian was killed in a road accident. With the parties on a motor launch, Battle uses this information to force a confession from Nevile Strange. He was the mastermind behind all the events and circumstances that should have converged into "zero" – the hanging of his first wife for the murder of Lady Tressilian. Nevile may have been behind two other deaths (Mr Treves and Adrian Royde) but there is insufficient evidence to prosecute. With his confession, the rope, and the ruse with the bell pull explained, Battle charges him with the murder of Lady Tressilian. Audrey seeks out MacWhirter to thank him, and they decide to marry. They will travel to Chile where he begins his new job. Audrey expects that Thomas will come to realize that he really wants to marry Mary Aldin instead. ===== One year earlier on 2 November, seven people sat down to dinner at the restaurant "Luxembourg". One, Rosemary Barton, never got up. The coroner ruled her death suicide due to post-flu depression. Six months later, her husband George receives anonymous letters saying that Rosemary was murdered. George investigates and decides to repeat the dinner at the same restaurant, with the same guests, plus an actress who looks like his late wife meant to arrive late and startle out a confession. The actress does not arrive and George dies at the table – poisoned, like his wife, by cyanide in his champagne. His death might have been judged as suicide, but George shared his concerns and some of his plan with his friend Colonel Race. As per their uncle's will, if Rosemary died childless her inherited fortune passed to her younger sister Iris, now a wealthy girl. If Iris dies unmarried, the money would pass to her only relative, her aunt Lucilla Drake. Mrs Drake is a decent person but has a rotter of a son, Victor. During the investigation it becomes clear that the intended victim was Iris. Colonel Race and Iris's suitor, Anthony Browne, realise that Ruth Lessing, George's trusted secretary, had fallen for Victor a year earlier. The wrong person dies because of Iris's evening bag and the toast to her, the conjuring trick that saves her life. After the entertainment, George proposes a toast to Iris, when all sip champagne except her, being toasted. When the group leaves the table to dance, Iris drops her bag; a young waiter, retrieving it, misplaces it at the seat adjacent hers. When the group returns to the table, Iris sits one seat askew due to the misplaced bag. George sits at Iris's original seat and drinks the poisoned champagne. When this plot fails, Ruth attempts to run Iris over with a car. Colonel Race, together with the police and Anthony Browne, unravel the truth in time to save Iris from Ruth. Her last attempt at killing Iris is to knock her unconscious in her bedroom, then turn on the fireplace gas, and leave the house. Anthony and Colonel Race rescue Iris in the nick of time. The anonymous letters to George were sent by Ruth, who then encouraged him to re- stage the dinner at the Luxembourg so that Victor and Ruth could kill Iris, as they killed Rosemary. To support a decision of suicide, Ruth had planted a packet of cyanide in Iris's bag, which packet dropped to the floor when she pulled her handkerchief out, without touching it (no fingerprint). Victor acted as a waiter, to drop the poison in the champagne during the show. He was taken at New York at the request of the police. ===== In 2004 Department Q, a Ministry of Defence department originally created in the 1940s to combat Nazi occult warfare, is privatised by the British government. The Department, by then consisting only of the crusty paranormal historian Dr Jonathan Brand and his assistant Jennifer Simmons, is bought by Ethan Kostabi, a reclusive multi-millionaire 1970s pop star. Kostabi announces that he has contracted their services as part of a new private ghost-busting outfit, to be known as Caballistics, Inc., and introduces them to their teammates, freelance occult investigators Hannah Chapter and Lawrence Verse. Even before the official press release for the new company can be sent out, the team is called to deal with a major paranormal infestation on the London Underground, where they meet the fifth member of the team, the powerful and seemingly evil Solomon Ravne. The team go on to investigate various paranormal phenomena, suffering from internal conflicts and divided loyalties, and all the while it is suggested that Kostabi has some ultimate plan in mind for the team beyond that which any of them expect. Caballistics, Inc. has an extremely dark tone. Several recurring characters have been unexpectedly killed off, and there is a degree of brutality unusual for a British comic magazine. Early in the series, Simmons was possessed by a powerful demon, a state that continues to this day. More recently, Brand, usually identified by fans as the 'good' member of the team, was pushed under a Tube train by another member, Mikey Ness. Events within the team came to a head when - after three years of intrigue and suspicion - they were eventually pushed into confrontation with their erstwhile employer. At least three members of the team were killed in the ensuing battle in addition to Kostabi himself, with only Ravne and Simmons known to have walked away unharmed. With the ultimate fates of the only two other members being left highly ambiguous, this effectively marked the end of the organisation. Besides an epilogue, "Nativity", in late 2007, the remaining plot threads would be taken up in a spin-off series, Absalom, beginning in 2011, and followed characters that had previously appeared in minor supporting roles in Caballistics, Inc. Caballistics contains many overt references to both Doctor Who and Quatermass. The strip also contains many passing references to other cult television, film and literary mythologies alongside various religious traditions. Among the many mentions are Gnosticism, Kabbalah, the Rosicrucians, the Tetragrammaton, Opus Dei, Zoroastrianism, the Illuminati, paranormal warfare in World War II, the Thule Society, Aleister Crowley, Faust, Grant Morrison's Zenith, Delta Green, The Omen, The Exorcist and references to the works of Clive Barker, Robert W. Chambers, Roger Corman, William Hope Hodgson, Shaun Hutson, H. P. Lovecraft, Palo Mayombe, Kim Newman, Edgar Allan Poe and Hammer studios. ===== Orphan Phillip "Pip" Pirrip (Anthony Wager) lives with his shrewish older sister and her kind-hearted blacksmith husband, Joe Gargery (Bernard Miles). One day, Pip runs into an escaped convict, Abel Magwitch (Finlay Currie), who intimidates the boy into getting him some food and a file for his chains. Magwitch is caught when he attacks a hated fellow escapee, and is taken back to the prison ship. Miss Havisham (Martita Hunt), an eccentric rich spinster, arranges to have Pip come to her mansion regularly to provide her with company and to play with her adopted daughter, a cruel but beautiful teenage girl, Estella (Jean Simmons). Estella mocks Pip's coarse manners at every opportunity, but Pip quickly falls in love with her. The visits come to an end when Pip turns 14 and begins his apprenticeship as a blacksmith. Estella also leaves, for France, to learn to become a lady. Six years later Miss Havisham's lawyer, Mr. Jaggers (Francis L. Sullivan), visits Pip (played as adult by John Mills) to tell him that a mysterious benefactor has offered to transform him into a gentleman, one with "great expectations"; Pip assumes it is Miss Havisham. He is taken to London, where Mr. Jaggers arranges for Pip to stay with Herbert Pocket (played as an adult by Alec Guinness), who will teach him how to behave like a gentleman. From Herbert, Pip learns that Miss Havisham was left at the altar many years ago; she is determined to avenge herself against all men, and Estella is her instrument to break men's hearts. After Pip turns 21, Joe Gargery comes to visit him, bringing a request from Miss Havisham to visit her. There he is delighted to be reunited with Estella (played as an adult by Valerie Hobson), who tells him, "You must know, Pip, I have no heart." Estella and Pip spend much time together. She confesses to Pip that despite flirting with the wealthy but unpopular Bentley Drummle, she has absolutely no feelings for him. Pip suddenly receives another visitor from the past, Magwitch, who reveals that he is Pip's patron, having escaped again and made a fortune sheep-farming in New South Wales. Jaggers is his lawyer, aware that Magwitch is in London and at risk of arrest but formally representing him by correspondence in Australia. Pip had always imagined that Miss Havisham, another Jaggers client, was responsible for his good fortune. Growing suspicious of Drummle's overtures towards Estella, Pip visits Estella at the old woman's house, where she tells him that she is going to marry Drummle. Pip confronts Miss Havisham, saying "I am as unhappy as you could have ever meant me to be." Miss Havisham, finally realising what she has done, begs his forgiveness. Pip leaves, but when she stands up to follow him, a piece of flaming wood from the fireplace rolls out and ignites Miss Havisham's dress. Her screams alert Pip, who runs back to save her, but fails. After being warned that an old enemy (the other escapee at the beginning of the film) has learned that Magwitch is in London, Pip and Herbert prepare to smuggle the old man onto a packet ship leaving England, on which Pip is to accompany him. Pip, Herbert and Magwitch row out to the ship but are intercepted by waiting police, tipped off by Magwitch's enemy. Magwitch is injured in a struggle with his nemesis, who is pushed down to his death by the ship's paddlewheels, and captured, then sentenced to death. Magwitch had spoken to Pip of his lost daughter, and Pip's suspicion that she is Estella is confirmed by Jaggers. Pip visits Magwitch, now dying on death row, and tells him of her fate, and that he, Pip, is in love with her; Magwitch passes away, a contented man. Stricken by illness and with his expectations gone, Pip is taken home and nursed back to health by Joe Gargery. He revisits Miss Havisham's deserted house, where he finds Estella. Her plans for the future have also gone awry, as Drummle had broken off their engagement after Mr. Jaggers informed him of her true parentage. Learning that Estella plans to live in seclusion in the house, which she has inherited, Pip proceeds to tear down the curtains and force open the boarded-up windows; for the first time in years sunlight illuminates the room, revealing cobwebs, dust, and decay. Pip tells Estella that he has never stopped loving her. After hesitating, she embraces him and they leave the house together. ===== Coco Chavez and Junior Armstrong are two small-time criminals who make money at blackmail and sex scams. They attempt to break into the big time by kidnapping a computer genius and holding him for a $4 million ransom. To help them, they enlist Lizard Browning and Ruben Rubenbauer who provide firepower and technology. However, during the kidnapping, they accidentally kill the young wife of Louisiana Senator Hornbeck. Racked by guilt, Coco and the group are pursued by veteran Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Sadie Hawkins and grizzled New Orleans detective David Friedman. The two combative officers enjoy showing up one another during their investigation, as well as commiserate about their jobs and personal foibles. Coco and Junior also have to deal with henchmen hired by the Senator to get revenge on the group. As the plot unfolds, it appears that the murder may not have been entirely accidental. Detective Friedman's suspicions are raised when Senator Hornbeck threatens the detectives instead of offering assistance. On the cusp of getting away with a nearly flawless crime, the group faces betrayal from within. ===== In 1905 on the North West Frontier of British India, a maharajah asks British Army Captain Scott to take his young son, Prince Kishan, to Haserabad and then send him to Delhi to protect him from an uprising. Accompanying them is the prince's governess, an American widow named Mrs. Wyatt. They leave as the rebels storm the palace and kill the prince's father. This makes his five year old son the leader of the Hindu population in the region. On arrival at Haserabad, Captain Scott sees that many local Hindus and Europeans are leaving on the last train to Kalapur. The Muslim rebels soon close in and take control of the outer wall and gate beside the railway yard. The British governor tells Scott that he must take the young prince to Kalapur for his safety. In the railyard, the British captain discovers the "Empress of India", an old railway engine cared for by its driver Gupta. They calculate that it will manage the journey if limited to pulling a single carriage. Early the next morning, Captain Scott quietly loads the passengers onto the old train. They include Mrs. Wyatt, Prince Kishan, arms dealer Mr. Peters, British expatriate Mr. Bridie, Lady Windham (the governor's wife), two British Indian Army NCOs, and Dutch journalist Mr. Peter van Leyden (Herbert Lom). The Empress quietly freewheels down a gradient and out of the yard, but when her whistle is accidentally sounded, Gupta fires the engine and crashes her through the outer gate. The enemy fire on them and chase them but cannot keep up with the train. Later that morning, the train encounters an abandoned train at a remote station. This is the refugee train which preceded them out of Haserabad. Everyone on board has been massacred (presumably by the rebels). Despite being told not to by Captain Scott, Mrs. Wyatt leaves the Empress and finds one survivor, a baby concealed by his mother's body. The next morning, the train must stop because a portion of the track has been blown up. Mrs. Wyatt spots the signaling flashes of a heliograph atop a mountain summit, and everyone quickly realises that the Muslim rebels are sitting in ambush in the surrounding hills. With track repairs barely finished by Captain Scott, the train gets away under a hail of gunfire. Gupta is wounded but survives. Later that day, while stopping to refill the engine's water tank, Scott walks into the pump house to find Van Leyden allowing Prince Kishan to stand dangerously close to the pump's rapidly spinning flywheel. In the evening Van Leyden refuses alcohol and the group correctly deduce he is Muslim. He explains this by saying he is half Indonesian. During the night, Mr. Van Leyden again approaches the prince, only to notice Lady Windham watching him. The train reaches a bomb-damaged bridge. There is nothing under one section of rail except the ground far below. Scott has the others carefully cross that section one by one to lighten the train that will follow them. Finally, only Van Leyden and the prince remain behind. Van Leyden seems to deliberately hold the boy back and endanger his life. He falls and Scott grabs his hand, pulling him back to safety. Afterward, Scott accuses Van Leyden of trying to kill the prince, and he places the reporter under arrest. After that, Captain Scott, under Gupta's guidance, carefully maneuvers the train across. Later, while going through a tunnel, Van Leyden uses the opportunity to overpower his guard. He uses a Maxim machine gun to threaten the passengers and now declares his loyalty to the Muslim cause. He is unable to kill Prince Kishnan because the boy is with Captain Scott in the locomotive's cab. Scott returns to the carriage with the young prince after spotting more rebel heliograph signals, but they are saved when the machine gun is knocked off balance by a kick from Mr. Bridie. Scott crawls up the carriage and starts to fight him. The two men end on the roof. At the climax of the fight a shot rings out: Mrs. Wyatt has shot Van Leyden with one of the rifles. He falls off and dies as the Muslim rebels ride up on horses. The Muslim rebels chase the train on horseback but are thwarted when the Empress enters a two-mile-long hillside tunnel. On the other side, the train reaches the safety of Kalapur to strains of The Eton Boating Song. At the station, young Prince Kishan is met by his Hindu entourage, while Gupta is taken to hospital, and Lady Windham is informed that her husband, the governor, is safe. On learning Prince Kishan may yet fight the British, as his father instructed him, Scott quotes Kipling ("Be thankful you're livin', and trust to your luck, And march to your front like a soldier") before he and Mrs. Wyatt leave together. ===== Finn is the alias of Paul. In Third World War it is established that Paul was once a soldier in the British Army stationed in Northern Ireland, but he deserted to become Finn, an eco-terrorist fighting to save the planet from multi-national corporations. Third World War starts as a relatively down-to- earth story set in 2000, with very little in the way of fantasy or science fiction but that changes as Finn becomes more prominent. In the eponymous strip in 2000 AD it emerges that the leaders of the corporations are in fact a secret society of powerful aliens called Newts. In this strip Finn is a Cornish mini-cab driver by day, and a white witch fighting the aliens by night. He uses military equipment alongside magical items such as the Hand of Glory. ===== For over three years, Tom Winters (Cary Grant) has been separated from his wife and their three children: David (Petersen), Elizabeth (Gibson), and Robert (Herbert). The film begins as he returns home from Europe following his wife's death. The children want to stay in the country with their mother's wealthy parents and her sister Carolyn (Hyer), but Tom takes them to Washington, D.C., where he works in the US State Department. The children resent their father, who spends the days giving them historical tours of the Washington sites. One evening, Winters takes the children to a classical outdoor concert, which clearly bores the children. We see Cinzia (Sophia Loren) for the first time watching the orchestra from the side wing. Cinzia then argues with her father backstage before escaping through a window onto the lake behind. She takes a rowing boat where Robert suddenly materializes, having also run away. They go to a funfair on the other side of the lake. Robert has money for pizza but Cinzia does not, she cheats him out of a slice by "showing him how to eat it correctly" She then compensates for this by winning him a harmonica on one of the side shows. She is enchanted by little "Roberto" and his harmonica. When she brings him back home, Tom offers her a job as a maid, unaware she is the daughter of a famous Italian orchestra conductor. Due to her love for the children she accepts. Carolyn offers Tom and the children her old guest house. This is to be moved on a trailer to a new location. However, while the guest house is being towed down the road, it hits Tom's car, just as it straddles a railtrack. No-one listens to the children pointing out the bigger problem and the guest house is struck by a train. The tow-truck driver, Angelo Donatello (Guardino), feels guilty, and sells Tom his leaky, run-down, old houseboat. Once moved in, Tom discovers that Cinzia is unable to cook, do laundry, or even make coffee. Carolyn and others incorrectly assume that Cinzia's relationship with Tom is sexual, while Cinzia innocently wins the affection of Tom and the children. Meanwhile, Tom spends his evenings with Carolyn (who has left her husband), who is secretly in love with him. On the 4th of July, she tries to embarrass Cinzia by selecting a gaudy dress for Tom to buy for her, but Cinzia transforms it into an elegant evening gown. She looks so beautiful in the gown that Angelo, a confirmed womanizer, cancels a date with her, in fear of falling in love and proposing to her. That evening, Carolyn arrives at the boat with Captain Alan Wilson (Murray Hamilton) and his wife. Alan, who is somewhat drunk, jokes about Cinzia's living arrangement with Tom and slaps her on the behind as she serves drinks. She calls him an ill-mannered lout and throws a drink in his face before going to her room to cry. Tom asks Alan to leave the boat, but Carolyn takes Alan's side, following which Tom asks all three guests to leave. David cheers Cinzia up, and they make plans to go fishing, but Tom ruins David's plans by inviting Cinzia to the country club dance. Once there, Tom reconciles with Carolyn, and they agree to get married. As he dances with Cinzia, he finally realizes he is in love with her, but she learns of the proposal, becomes upset, and runs away. Tom catches her and breaks it off with Carolyn. A little while later, David unhappily finds Tom and Cinzia passionately kissing in a rowboat. The movement of the rowboat rings a bell in David's room and he covers his ears. The children do not want Tom to marry Cinzia. David calls her ugly, Robert rejects her as a mother figure, and Elizabeth wants to continue sleeping in Tom's bed with him. Discouraged by this, Cinzia returns to her father, Maestro Zaccardi, but Tom follows her and she accepts Tom's wedding proposal. The wedding takes place on the houseboat. Carolyn serves as maid of honour. The children initially refuse to participate in the ceremony, but as it begins, Elizabeth and David join Tom and Cinzia at the altar, and Robert joins them, playing "Here Comes the Bride" on his harmonica. ===== Father Lambert (Wyrley Birch), a priest, is shot dead on a Bridgeport, Connecticut street at night. The police, led by Chief Robinson (Lee J. Cobb), fail to immediately find the murderer. It soon becomes a political hot potato, with the police accused of incompetence, and the city's reform-minded administration comes under attack. Robinson and the prosecutor Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) come under severe pressure by political leaders to find the killer or bring in outside help. After strenuous efforts yield nothing, a vagrant ex-serviceman, John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), is apprehended and identified in a lineup. Pushed by politicians, the press, and the public, the police need someone to bring to trial. Waldron is interrogated for two days by police until, deprived of sleep, he confesses. The evidence seems solid, and a gun in his possession is believed to be the gun that was used in the shooting. Harvey, however, is not convinced. He questions Waldron, investigates the evidence and the witnesses. Harvey then risks his reputation and incurs the wrath of the police and the public in proposing that the defendant is innocent, while he and his wife (Jane Wyatt) are also being threatened by a businessman named Harris (Ed Begley). In court, even though he is the prosecutor, Harvey lays out the flaws in the case before the judge, and indicates he intends to dismiss the charges. The judge suspects Harvey's motives; Harvey's relationship with Chief Robinson is strained; and a mob unsuccessfully attempts to impose their own justice on Waldron. A sub-plot involving Paul Harris and a property under consideration for sale to the city—at a price Harris desperately needs to keep himself afloat—also has a prominent place in the film. Harris tries to blackmail Harvey by threatening to destroy his wife, a planning committee member, unless he supports the sale and sits idle, allowing Waldron to be convicted. At a preliminary hearing, Harvey once again presents evidence that would lead to Waldron's exoneration. When a reporter gets wind of the double-dealing and threatens Harris with exposure, Harris commits suicide in the courtroom. The film ends with a narration that the murder was never solved, and the real Henry Harvey was Homer Cummings who rose to the position of U.S. Attorney General. ===== Gideon Bell, owner of the Favre Emeralds, receives a letter stating that the emeralds will be stolen at midnight by "the Bat", and that police will not be able to stop the robbery. The Bat, a figure dressed as a bat, murders Gideon and steals the emeralds. The Bat leaves a bat-shaped note for the chief of police to inform him that he will be traveling to the country. The Bat travels by car to a mansion built by Courtleigh Fleming, the president of the Oakdale Bank, who has recently been found dead in Colorado. The mansion is being rented for the summer by writer Cornelia Van Gorder, whose maid, Lizzie Allen, sets up a bear trap to catch the Bat. Richard Fleming, Courtleigh's spendthrift nephew, wishes to lease the mansion, and plans with Dr. H. E. Wells to frighten Van Gorder away. The newspaper reports that Brooks Bailey, a cashier at Oakdale Bank, has robbed the bank of $200,000 and has disappeared. Van Gorder's niece, Miss Dale Ogden, arrives with a supposed new gardener. Van Gorder asks the gardener about his knowledge on alopecia, urticaria, and rubeola, and he answers as if the terms referred to plants rather than medical conditions. On the staircase, Richard is shot, and Miss Dale manages to snatch part of a blueprint of the house from his pocket. Detective Moletti accuses her of trying to find a supposed hidden room in the mansion that should be shown on the blueprint. Detective Anderson arrives, and the group gets a call from the house phone in the garage, which sounds like groans of distress. A circular light shines on the wall, with the shadow of a bat in its center, but after investigating, the group finds that the shape was caused by a miller moth on a car headlight. Dr. Wells has Miss Dale recreate Richard's murder, and she notes that she tucked the blueprint in a Parker House roll on a tray, but the blueprint is now gone. The new gardener is revealed to be Brooks Bailey, and Anderson attempts to arrest him for robbery, murder, and impersonation, but Miss Dale stops him, revealing that she and Brooks are engaged. Dr. Wells searches for the hidden room by knocking on walls, which causes the others to investigate the sound, leading them to a ballroom which is supposedly haunted. The candles in the ballroom go out when lit, and a shape appears to float towards Anderson and Lizzie, but it turns out to be the Japanese butler Billy carrying a lamp. After being confronted by Moletti, Dr. Wells knocks Moletti unconscious by striking his head, and he hides Moletti's body in another room. A beaten man enters the house, and Anderson finds that he has no identification on his person. Billy sees a mysterious figure wearing a hat, and as he leaves to tell the others, the Bat's shadow passes by the door. The Bat sets up a system of wires that attach to a light switch. Outside, Brooks sees the figure in the hat crossing the roof, and realizes that it is the supposedly dead Courtleigh Fleming. Miss Dale finds the hidden room, located behind a fireplace. The Bat confronts her, demanding the combination to the safe in the hidden room, but she escapes. Dr. Wells is accused of helping the Bat, and the Bat is soon captured and held at gunpoint. However, the Bat activates the wire system, turning off the lights and allowing himself to escape. The Bat flees outside but his leg is caught in the bear trap placed earlier by Lizzie. The others find him and remove his mask, revealing him to be Moletti. The beaten, unknown man announces that he is the true Detective Moletti, and that the man underneath the Bat's mask was merely an impersonator of Moletti. ===== James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith) and Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) travel in Africa on a quest for the legendary elephant burial grounds and their ivory. They are joined by Parker's daughter Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan). Holt is attracted to Jane, and tries somewhat ineffectively to protect her from the jungle's dangers. He notably fails to prevent her abduction by the jungle's guardian, the mysterious Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and his ape allies. The experience is terrifying to Jane at first, but as their relationship develops, she finds herself happy: "Not a bit afraid, not a bit sorry." As she returns to her father, her feelings are brought to a test. She wants Tarzan to come with her to London, and to be part of her world. But Tarzan turns his back on her and returns to the jungle. Her father tells her that is where Tarzan belongs, she cries, "No dad, he belongs to me." The expedition is captured by a tribe of aggressive dwarfs. Jane sends Tarzan's ape friend Cheeta (Jiggs) for help, bringing Tarzan to their rescue. During the rescue, Tarzan summons elephants and they escape from the dwarf's stronghold, although Jane's father dies from wounds just as they reach the elephant graveyard. Jane decides to stay in the jungle with Tarzan and in the final scene, to the music of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, the happy couple appear on a rock, Jane holding Cheeta like a baby. ===== The Hostage depicts the events leading up to the planned execution of an 18-year-old IRA member in a Belfast jail, accused of killing a Royal Ulster Constabulary policeman. Like the protagonist of The Quare Fellow, the audience never sees him. The action of the play is set in a very odd house of ill-repute on Nelson Street, Dublin, owned by a former IRA commandant. The hostage of the title is Leslie Williams, a young and innocent Cockney British Army soldier taken hostage at the border with Northern Ireland and held in the brothel, brought among the vibrant but desperately unorthodox combination of prostitutes, revolutionaries and general low characters inhabiting the place. During the course of the play, a love story develops between Leslie and Teresa, a young girl, resident of the house. Both are orphans living foreign to the city they find themselves in, Teresa being from Ballymahon, County Longford. During this Teresa promises never to forget him. The play ends with news of the hanging in Belfast and armed Gardaí raid the brothel. Leslie is killed in the ensuing gunfight, by Garda bullets. In the finale his corpse rises and sings "The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling". ===== In a bleak post-apocalyptic future, most of Earth's water has been placed under containment by the Eco Protectorate, a paramilitary organization, who governs the planet's new order. Orphan children, mostly teenagers, live in orphanages created by the Protectorate, designed to indoctrinate new recruits into their service. The orphans play a rough sport which is a hybrid of lacrosse and roller-hockey. Playing is the only thing that unites them other than the futile attempts of the Protectorate to control them. These orphans are Jason, the group's leader (Jason Patric), Terra (Jami Gertz), Tug (Peter DeLuise), Rabbit (Claude Brooks), Metron (James LeGros), and a young deaf boy named Daniel (Lukas Haas). While hiding in a cave, Daniel finds a mysterious orb with special powers. The orb is an alien intelligence called Bodhi, who miraculously restores Daniel's hearing and has other powers, such as creating rain indoors. Another orphan, Darstar (Adrian Pasdar), takes the orb, hoping that he will be able to use it. He leaves the orphanage on roller skates and Daniel soon follows. The rest of the group chase after Daniel. The E-police learn of Bodhi while chasing the teens and catch Darstar with the sphere. The teens are eventually rescued by a band of older outlaws called the Eco Warriors. They have retired from fighting and are led by Terra's long-lost father, Greentree (Frank Converse). The teens leave the Eco Warriors and using their roller skating skills, break into the Protectorate's high security Water Storage Building. The teens discover the E-Police are trying to destroy Bodhi and they manage to recover the alien, but as soon as they do the sphere dematerializes and destroys the facility, releasing the water back to where it belongs as they rush out. As they all gather on a nearby hillside, Bodhi sparks the first thunderstorm the teens have ever seen and returns to space, but not without leaving a bit of himself behind in each of them. Ultimately, in the closing credits, the orphans are seen swimming together in the newly-restored ocean, Darstar being fully accepted into the group and Jason and Terra sharing a kiss. ===== The film begins with the strains of "Why Can't I Touch It" by Buzzcocks as the camera pans across a rural landscape to the face of a beautiful teenage girl (Susanne Ashley) who is atop a hill surveying the road below. An open-ended truck rolls into view bearing a young man lying on a pile of turnips. This is Pondo Sinatra (Matthew Causey), the star of the story, a 22-year-old virgin burdened with raging hormones, no sex appeal or social skills. He is on his way to his first day at college. Upon arrival, Pondo cannot help but notice that the university is full of attractive and scantily clad females but try as he might he is of no interest to them. The good looking and popular 'Studly' (Timothy Carhart) soon takes him under his wing, as best friend and tries to teach him the ways of seduction but Pondo is without a clue and tries ever more bizarre schemes failing spectacularly with hilarious consequences. Even the local whore house won't help him. Desperate to break what seems to be a curse, Pondo descends into suicidal depression at which point the college's wise janitor named Elbow (Jerry Jones) steps in and gives Pondo some advice in one of the film's most famous scenes. This and a few of the other main scenes are so politically incorrect they would not be allowed in today's more careful cinematic climate. The attempts include a try at poetic seduction. Studley tells Pondo what to say to his vivacious date Natasha (Robin Harlan) via a remote microphone; sending Pondo to buy elegant new clothes (he goes to the Punk store by mistake and leaves looking like Quasimodo); taking massive quantities of drugs (which in reality would be lethal); and activating world's biggest vibrator, the Moby-M5 with disastrous consequences. The M-5 episode provides a pretext for an outrageous scene where two porn store employees discuss strategic arms limitation treaties, using various dildos as props. After one of these dating debacles, Pondo frightens Studley by shouting "I'd sell my soul for a piece of ass!" Meanwhile, the lovely Miranda, (Susanne Ashley), a mysterious girl with supernatural powers who has been observing Pondo's struggles for some time, hears his cry and cryptically acknowledges it. Some time afterward, Pondo accidentally creates a chemical compound that makes him irresistible to women. At first he revels in his new "party animal" prowess; later, exhausted and terrified, he takes to barricading himself in his room to escape the mobs of obsessed women who pursue him everywhere. "I have been greedy," he confesses despairingly to Studley, "I am like King Midas; everything I touch turns to poontang!" The end of the film is tragic- comic with a metaphysical twist concerning the fate of those ruled by lust. The movie is composed of a series of outrageous skits, each one building upon the last in outrageousness. The film is available through MGM Home entertainment on a limited edition series of 80s comedies. ===== Eric Stanton (Andrews), a down-on-his-luck drifter, gets pulled off a bus in the hamlet of Walton because he does not have the $2.25 extra fare to take him to San Francisco. He finds a greasy spoon called Pop's Eats, where Pop (Percy Kilbride) is worried about waitress Stella because she has not shown up for work for days. Ex-New York cop Mark Judd (Bickford) tells him not to worry. Sure enough, the sultry Stella (Darnell) soon returns. Stanton (like the others) is attracted to her but she is unimpressed by his smooth talk and poverty. Stanton cons his way into a job with Professor Madley (John Carradine), a traveling fortune-teller. No one is willing to buy tickets to the "spook act" because an influential local spinster, Clara Mills (Anne Revere), disapproves. Stanton gets to Clara through her inexperienced younger sister June (Faye) and persuades them to attend the performance. Madley stages an entertaining séance, channeling Abraham Mills, the deceased father of Clara and June. Using information secretly dug up by his assistant Joe Ellis (an uncredited Olin Howland), Madley brings up the sisters' financial problems. The two leave quite upset. Stanton gets to know Stella, watching her steal from the cash register and go out with men. Stanton falls in love with her; she makes it clear that she wants a man who is willing to marry her and buy her a home. He is so obsessed that he agrees to her terms. To raise the money, Stanton romances and marries June, planning to divorce her as soon as he can. Clara, who has been victimized by a man of Stanton's type, is unable to prevent their marriage. Stanton cannot stay away from Stella even on his wedding night. Instead of sleeping with his wife, he goes to Stella, who has given up on him. He explains his odd scheme to her. By the time he returns to his wife, she has fallen asleep. The next day, Stella turns up dead. Judd is asked by the local police chief to investigate. He first tries to beat a confession out of Dave Atkins (Bruce Cabot), Stella's latest boyfriend, but Atkins has an airtight alibi. Stanton is also a strong suspect, having been seen quarreling with Stella shortly before her death. Judd tells him not to leave town. Stanton flees to a seedy hotel room in San Francisco with June. He tells her all about his drifter's life of failed schemes. June tells Stanton that she loves him. The next day, June is taken into custody when she goes to the bank to withdraw her money. Stanton returns to Pop's Eats, where Judd is waiting for him. Stanton proves Judd is the killer. Judd found out that Stella had agreed to marry someone else rather than wait for his wife to give him a divorce. Judd pulls out his gun, but Pop wrestles it away, and Judd is arrested. Outside, when June asks Stanton where they are going, he tells her, "Home." ===== Timmy Lea and his brother-in-law Sidney Noggett are working as entertainment officers at Funfrall, a typical British holiday camp. The staff are lazy and inefficient, preferring to laze by the pool rather than organise activities for the holiday campers. A new owner, Mr. Whitemonk, an ex-prison officer, takes over the camp and is determined to install discipline into the staff. He is on the verge of dismissing Timmy and Sidney; however, Sidney's suggestion of organising a beauty contest changes his mind. Producer Michael Klinger was not happy with the script, noting a number of problems that he felt detracted from the quality that set the series apart from its imitators. ===== Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) was abused as a child by his prostitute mother, and as a result, becomes a serial killer who murders young women, scalps them and attaches their hair to mannequins. After he awakens from a nightmare about killing a couple on a beach, he dresses and leaves his apartment towards Manhattan into Times Square. When Frank is randomly invited inside a hotel by a prostitute (Rita Motone), she kisses him before he abruptly strangles and scalps her. He returns home, dresses a mannequin with the dead prostitute's clothing and nails her scalp to its head. Frank tells himself that beauty is a crime punishable by death. Sometime later, he dresses again and takes a collection of weaponry with him, including a double-barrelled shotgun, before leaving. He drives around Brooklyn and the Queens area, where he finds a couple exiting a local disco and parking near the side of the Verrazano Bridge. When the boyfriend (Tom Savini) starts up the vehicle after his date sees Frank spying on them, Frank kills the couple with his shotgun and then adds the woman to his mannequin collection. After seeing his recent crime on television, he talks to himself and the mannequins as he sobs himself to sleep. During the next day in Central Park, Frank follows a photographer named Anna (Caroline Munro) after she takes a photo of him and a little girl riding a bicycle in the distance. At night, Frank sees a nurse (Kelly Piper) leaving the Roosevelt Hospital, where he then stalks her inside the subway station and murders her with a bayonet before adding her to his mannequin collection. Days later, Frank heads to Anna's apartment and is invited inside by Anna after she recognizes him from the photo she took of him. Upon him asking her out to dinner, he later shows her a photo of his mother who died in a car crash years ago. A few days later, Frank is invited by Anna to a studio during a photography session, and she introduces one of her models Rita (Abigail Clayton) to him. After seeing the two talking and holding hands, he steals Rita's necklace and leaves. Later that same night, he arrives at Rita's apartment to give her a necklace, before then attacking her and tying her to the bed. Frank begins talking and addresses her as his mother and stabs her with a switchblade before scalping her for his collection. One night, Frank takes Anna on a date and they stop by a cemetery to visit his mother's grave. While laying some flowers beside the headstone, Frank begins to mourn over one of his early victims and attacks Anna. He chases her around the cemetery, but she hits him in the arm with a shovel before fleeing. He hallucinates his decomposing mother attacking him from the grave. He runs back to his apartment, where he sees his mannequins suddenly coming alive. They mutilate Frank with his weapons before ultimately tearing off his head. The next morning, two police officers break into Frank's apartment and see Frank lying dead on his bed; he has committed suicide. As the officers leave the apartment, Frank's eyes suddenly open. ===== Vinny Durand is a New York City taxi driver who is obsessed with the international cult actress Jana Bates, known as the "queen of horror films". Vinny returns to his apartment where he lives with his mother (played by Joe Spinell's real life mother). He tells her that he leaving to attend the Cannes Film Festival in France hoping to meet Jana Bates and get her to star in his movie to kickstart his career as a film director. But his mother calls it just another one of his "crazy ideas." Vinny arrives in Cannes. He tries to meet Jana several times, but is turned away. Jana is in Cannes to promote her latest horror film Scream in which she has been nominated for Best Actress. Accompanying Jana is her manager and ex-husband Bret Bates, and the film's producer Alan Cunningham, her current beau. Vinny phones Bret, insisting on talking to Jana about his script, but is told only agented scripts are accepted. Shortly afterwards, Jana is at a press conference with Alan when she receives flowers and a note saying, "You've made your last horror film. Goodbye." She goes to see Bret at his hotel room. Entering the bathroom, she finds his bloody stabbed body in the bath. Bret's severed head rolls off into the sink and Jana runs away screaming. When she later returns with the police, the body is gone. Vinny has fantasy scenes of himself being acclaimed as a great director. Meanwhile, he encounters some naked young women bathing at the beach at night and picks up one of their stockings, but is confronted by one of the women who taunts him before running back into the water. The women call him a weirdo and Vinny runs off. Vinny continues following Jana around and filming her with his movie camera. Marty Bernestein runs into Vinny and shrugs him off when Vinny asks him if he is willing to promote his movie. Marty meets with the movie's director Stanley Kline, and his personal assistant Susan Archer, where they reveal that all of them have received the same notes that Jana and Bret received. But when Marty takes his suspicions to the police, they think that Bret's disappearance is another publicity stunt. The next day, Marty gets a letter from Bret to meet him in a theater screening room. When Marty shows up, he is hacked with a hatchet by a hooded figure. While Jana attends more press conferences, Vinny goes to a nightclub where he attacks a stripper after seeing her as Jana. He goes to a local cinema where he watches a gory horror film of Stanley Kline, and runs into him outside the theater. The following day, Susan tells Stanley that she wants to leave Cannes, but he convinces her to stay a while longer. That evening, both of them are killed by the hooded figure atop a building where Stanley is stabbed, and she falls off the building's ledge after getting shot. The killer then takes his movie camera and films all the deaths. Across town in Jana's hotel room, Vinny sneaks in with a bottle of champagne and surprises Jana as she is taking a shower. He asks her to appear in his movie, but she insists he leave immediately, causing Vinny to break down in tears. Angered and upset, Vinny smashes the bottle in the sink and threatens Jana with the bottle's jagged edge. When the doorbell rings, Jana shoves Vinny aside and sprints off. Jana, clad only in her bathroom towel, runs screaming through the hotel lobby being chased by Vinny. The people in the lobby think it is another publicity stunt and applaud. Vinny, caught off guard, stops and smiles for them, allowing Jana to escape, who runs into Alan and a group of reporters outside the hotel. After explaining what happened, Alan tells Jana that he will take her away from the city. The next day, Alan drives Jana to a remote castle in the French countryside where a musician friend of his named Jonathan is staying. Vinny follows them. That evening, Vinny sneaks into the castle, but is chased away by Jana's bodyguards who accidentally kill Jonathan as he tries to stop Vinny. Alan and Jana return to Cannes for the awards ceremony where Vinny sneaks into the festivities dressed as a local policeman. While Jana waits in the back wing of the building, Vinny subdues Jana with chloroform and takes the unconscious actress away in his car back to the castle to film a scene there. Vinny films a scene with him playing Dracula and Jana as a victim. Suddenly, Bret Bates shows up with another camera and a pistol, and congratulates Vinny on setting everything up for him. Bret is revealed to be the killer and the mastermind behind this whole thing, not Vinny. Bret reveals that on the day when Vinny phoned him about his movie proposal, he realized that he had the perfect fall guy to set Vinny up for all the killings and to get even with Jana for leaving him. Vinny throws his cape over Bret, distracting him, and runs. But Bret grabs Jana and taunts Vinny to come out in the open. Outside, Vinny turns on a motorcycle's headlights, blinding Bret, and as Jana steps aside, Vinny murders Bret with a chainsaw, via armless and beheaded. As Alan arrives with the police, Vinny stands before Bret's dead body and screams. The image falls back to reveal that the whole story is a movie that Vinny filmed at the Cannes Film Festival with Jana Bates, and he is now back in New York showing it to his mother in a screening room. His mother tells Vinny that she is finally proud of him for directing and starring in his first movie, but Vinny explains that it will be his last horror film. As Vinny starts to talk to his mother about ideas for his next movie, she interrupts him to ask for a joint. The two share a smoke as the film ends. ===== The novel tells the story of Eamon Redmond, a judge in the Irish High Court of the late twentieth century Ireland. It reconstructs his relationships with his wife and children through his life and the memories of a childhood marked by the death of his father. The County Wexford landscape and the death of the father are the narrative material, which Colm Tóibín would revisit again in The Blackwater Lightship. The novel takes its title from a line from the song "Boolavogue", specifically "a rebel hand set the heather blazing". The novel also plots the development of Fianna Fáil from the austere republicanism and style of Éamon de Valera to the corruption of the Charles Haughey era. It has been said that this novel made Tóibín the heir of John McGahern. Amongst Women, a book by McGahern, has similar atmosphere to this book. Category:1992 Irish novels Category:Novels by Colm Tóibín Category:Novels set in County Wexford ===== A gang of teens escape a drug rehabilitation hospital after committing murder and grand theft auto, led by a man named Luck (Danny Lopes). They drive to a rendezvous point with the demented Reverend Salo (Kreskin) and his depraved wife (Christie Sanford) and their daughter Grace (Lizzy Mahon), who is a GUNWO-addicted slave. When the teens show up, they encounter demonic entities. ===== The story starts off in the aftermath of a particle accelerator experiment. Somehow the experiment has opened some sort of interdimensional rift allowing demons to possess the dead. As the dead come back to life, a zombie plague results. The story's protagonist is Jim Thurmond, a construction worker living in West Virginia. Hiding away in a bomb shelter, which was previously constructed because of a fear of the aftermath of Y2K, Thurmond holds off packs of roving zombies, many of which were his neighbors and one of which is his recently deceased second wife who was pregnant. A distraught Jim laments his situation and worries about his son, Danny, who is living with Jim's first wife in upstate New Jersey. Jim considers suicide when unexpectedly Jim's cellphone rings with a message from his son, Danny. Danny whispers into the phone that he is hiding from the zombies in his mother's attic. Jim's suicidal thoughts turn around into a new purpose - to rescue Danny. Jim packs some supplies from the shelter and heads out into an apocalyptic United States overrun with gruesome sights. Jim fights his way out of the shelter by killing his undead neighbors and even his undead second wife, who taunts him with his unborn daughter. The moment he leaves the shelter, Jim is on the run discovering that the undead possess the ability to think, drive cars, use weapons, and set traps for the living. Meanwhile, a scientist named Baker, who was working on the particle accelerator, is trapped within the confines of his underground workspace. Baker feels as if he is directly responsible for the zombie plague, believing that his experiment is what allowed the demons through to the human world. An old colleague is trapped inside a room, a member of the undead who refers to himself as Ob. The zombie named Ob explains that he comes from somewhere called The Void, which seems to be "Hell." He learns that the zombies are not occupied by their original selves but instead a different evil entity with access to the host body's memories. Baker eventually escapes and finds his life being saved by Worm, a deaf young man whom the grateful Baker takes under his wing. Recent paperback cover Jim eventually meets Martin, a wise elderly black minister. The two join forces to find Danny and soon run into many life-threatening situations such as packs of roving zombies, backwood cannibals seeking extra food and undead wildlife. Among one of their exploits, they run into a father and son in hiding, who help them along the way until tragedy strikes in a double suicide for the two. At the same time, Frankie, a heroin user and prostitute who is trying to hide from a vengeful pimp, narrowly escapes disaster in the Baltimore Zoo begins a trek out of the cities and into the country. Somewhere within Pennsylvania, the National Guard has seized control of the area. Led by the sociopath Colonel Schow, the soldiers abuse their authority by violently drafting people into their slave force, turning women into sexual slaves, and torturing anyone who questions them. Amongst all this chaos a lone private named Skip, who is disgusted with his comrades' behavior, looks to escape. Frankie eventually meets up with Jim and Martin. Together they help Jim reach his destination, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Professor Baker, the scientist responsible for creating the zombie outbreak, finds that Ob is possessing his assistant who had decided to kill himself. Ob is the leader of the demons that are infesting the world and taking over the dead and he demands to be released from the room that Professor Baker has trapped him in. The story also keeps tabs on one of the other scientists in charge of the particle accelerator as he too seeks his destiny in a world full of the undead. In the final chapter all the main characters meet which results in a scene of extreme violence providing a cliffhanger conclusion that raises more questions than answers. The story is continued in the sequel, City of the Dead. ===== ===== The film, although based on fact, is a stylized retelling of the events of August 4, 1892 when the father and step-mother of New England spinster Lizzie Borden were found brutally murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. Public interest in Borden and the murders is exacerbated by her aloof demeanor after the murders, and the public speculate about her involvement when she fails to express emotion at her father and stepmother's funerals. The subsequent incarceration of the prime suspect (Lizzie herself) as well as the coroner's inquest and trial are largely faithfully depicted, using actual testimony. During the trial, various persons testify, including Bridget Sullivan, the Borden's maid from Ireland who was the only other person in the home at the time of the murders. In what may be seen as deviation from the film's docudrama narrative, as Lizzie hears her verdict, flashbacks are shown of her actually committing the murders in the nude and bathing after each death, thus explaining why no blood was ever found on her or her clothes; however, it is left ambiguous whether Lizzie was actually reminiscing about the crimes or simply fantasizing how she herself would have disposed of her victims. When Lizzie returns home after acquittal, her sister Emma asks her point-blank if she killed their parents; Lizzie does not answer. The epilogue states that the killings of Andrew and Abby Borden remain unsolved. ===== Tae-suk (Jae Hee) is a loner who drives around on his motorbike, taping takeout menus over the keyholes of front doors and breaking into apartments where the menus have not been removed. He lives in those apartments while their owners are away, washing their clothes, mending their broken appliances, and taking selfies with their possessions. When he breaks into one large home, he is unaware that he is being watched by an abused housewife and former model Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-yeon). Tae-suk leaves after making eye contact with Sun-hwa, but then returns. He witnesses Sun-hwa's husband Min-gyu abusing her and proceeds to catch his attention by practicing golf in the yard. He buffets Min-gyu with golf balls and then leaves with Sun-hwa. Tae-suk and Sun- hwa begin a silent relationship, moving from one apartment to another, with Tae-suk occasionally practicing hitting golf balls by drilling holes in them, inserted a cord through the holes, and securing the cords with a knot around the bases of tree trunks. In one home, after drinking, they are caught by the returning owners, sleeping in their bed and wearing their pajamas. The male homeowner, a boxer, repeatedly punches Tae-suk. Later, Tae-suk practices hitting a golf ball tied to a tree, and the ball breaks loose from its cord, breaking through the windshield of a nearby car and brutally striking the car's passenger in their head. Tae-suk, awash with guilt, is comforted by Sun- hwa. The next night, Tae-suk and Sun-hwa break into a hanok, where they sit quietly, drink tea, and share a kiss. They later enter an apartment where they discover the dead body of an elderly man. They proceed to give him a proper burial. The following day, the elderly man's son and daughter-in-law arrive at the apartment, and assume that Tae-suk and Sun-hwa killed him. Tae-suk and Sun-hwa are apprehended and interrogated by police, but remain silent. Tae- suk's camera is confiscated, and the owners of the homes seen in the photos on the camera are contacted. The police learn that nothing was stolen from any of the houses, and an investigation reveals that the old man died of lung cancer. Min-gyu arrives to take Sun-hwa home, and bribes the policeman in charge of the investigation to allow him to strike Tae-suk with golf balls. Tae-suk ends up attacking the police officer and is sent to jail. There, he practices golf with an imaginary club and balls and develops his gifts for stealth and concealment, frustrating his jailers by remaining out of sight. Tae-suk is released from prison, and Min-gyu prepares himself in case he returns for Sun- hwa. With his improved stealth, Tae-suk is able to rejoin Sun-hwa in her house, using his skills to evade Min-gyu's detection. Sun-hwa appears to say "I love you" to Min-gyu and embraces him, but kisses Tae-suk over his shoulder. When Min-gyu leaves on a business trip, Sun-hwa and Tae-suk stand together on a scale. Text then appears, reading: "It's hard to tell whether the world we live in is either a reality or a dream." ===== Ginny Grainger (Steenburgen) is the mother of two children, Cal (Robbie Magwood) and Abbie (Elisabeth Harnois). Her husband, Jack (Gary Basaraba), has been out of work since July, and they have to move out of the company house by January 1. Jack fixes bikes as a hobby in the basement and hopes to give one to his children's poor friend, Molly Monaghan, for Christmas. Although he would like to open a bike shop of his own, doing so would use up all their savings, which Ginny sees as a foolish move. In order to make ends meet, she works as a cashier at a grocery store. One night, Abbie goes across the street to the mailbox to send a letter to Santa Claus. After she mails it, Gideon (Harry Dean Stanton), an angel who has been watching the Graingers, retrieves it from the mailbox and returns it to her saying that her mother should mail it. She agrees, and as she's crossing the street to return home, a car barrels down the road towards her. Gideon stops the impending accident and allows Abbie to cross the street without incident. The next day, the Graingers visit Jack's grandfather, Caleb. He gives the children presents: Cal a Christmas book and Abbie a snow globe of the North Pole. That night Gideon visits Abbie in her room only to learn that Ginny did not mail Abbie's letter to Santa Claus. Gideon warns Abbie that some things are going to happen tomorrow and not to be afraid. Meanwhile, Ginny and Jack are in the kitchen talking about their finances. He reiterates his desire to open a bike shop, but she feels that he should find a new job, as the time to start turning a profit from a business would be too long. Frustrated, he storms out of the house to go for a walk. She races after him to try to work things out. Ominously, all the Christmas lights begin turning off all around her, as to show that the last of the Christmas spirit has been drained from her. The next day, Christmas Eve, Ginny gets a ride to work from a friend. While at a gas station, she sees a man named Harry Dickens trying to sell some of his possessions in order to support himself and his son, with little success. She shrugs off the situation and goes on with her day. Meanwhile, Jack, along with the children, goes to the bank to take some money out of their savings to do some Christmas shopping. He tells them to wait in the car, but Abbie leaves to visit Ginny at the grocery store across the street. Abbie informs Ginny that Jack is at the bank which causes her to storm out to stop him, only to have her boss, Herbie Conklin, see her leave and fire her. She returns Abbie to the car and enters the bank only to discover that Harry is holding it up. Jack attempts to quell the situation, but Harry impulsively shoots, and Jack collapses onto the ground. A sobbing Ginny cradles her dead husband on the ground. In a panic, Harry flees the bank and steals Jack's car with Cal and Abbie still inside. Ginny chases after him in his car, but it runs out of gas before she can catch up with him. He comes to a bridge where the police have set up a road block and tries to swerve around it, but skids off the bridge, plummeting to his death into the icy river below. Distraught, Ginny returns home to an empty house and weeps in the bathroom. However, Caleb soon comes to the house to inform her that the kids have been found standing on the side of the road. The police believe that Harry dropped them off before the crash, when in reality Gideon rescued them from the river. When they return home, Ginny informs them that Jack has been murdered by Harry and is never coming home. Later that night, Abbie runs away to the town's Christmas tree in hopes of finding Gideon to ask him to bring back her dad. Gideon tells her that he can't fix things like what has happened to her dad and that the only person who can bring him back is Santa Claus himself. Gideon takes Abbie to the North Pole to meet him. He informs her that he too cannot fix what has happened nor can he bring the Christmas spirit back to Ginny, but Abbie can. He then takes her through his factory (which is run by "ordinary, nice people," not elves) and retrieves an old letter that Ginny had written when she was a child. He tells her that it may hold the key to helping her mother. Gideon returns Abbie to her house and she gives her mother the letter. She reads it and finally realizes the true meaning of Christmas: to celebrate what you have and not what you want. She walks outside to the mailbox and mails Abbie's letter. Just then, all the Christmas lights in the neighborhood come back on, Jack reappears, and Ginny hugs him much to his confusion as he is only returning from his short walk the previous night. The next day, Ginny relives the events of that Christmas Eve with a much different attitude. She gets her boss to concede to let her take the day off so she can spend time with family. At the gas station she buys a camp stove from Harry who thanks her and wishes her a "Merry Christmas". That evening, she attends the tree lighting in the village square, happily joining the participants in singing O Christmas Tree. Later, she writes a check to Jack for the bike shop and the family delivers one to Molly. As she is about to fall asleep, she hears something downstairs and finds Santa putting presents under the tree. He then stops and looks at her and says, "Merry Christmas, Ginny." She smiles and with tear-filled eyes, finally says the words she has been unable to speak for so long: "Merry Christmas!" ===== Xander works to repair the living room window while Dawn, Willow and Anya help clean up and discuss the potential danger that is Spike. Wearing a trench coat like Spike's, Andrew is coached by Warren to continue playing his part in the game. Warren explains that because he can't take corporeal form, Andrew is a crucial player and then he morphs into Jonathan to continue the encouragement. Andrew stresses that he can't kill anymore, but Jonathan doesn't consider that to be a problem. Buffy tries to offer comforting words to Spike while she ties him down to a chair. He instructs her to tie the rope tighter so he can't get free. Principal Wood lectures two students about damaging school property and ultimately threatens the students into repairing their mistake. Dawn drops by his office and informs him that Buffy is sick and unable to attend work. Buffy calls Quentin Travers and asks about Giles, but he's just as clueless as she is. He's with a group of Watchers and informs them that they need to find Giles quickly. Buffy checks on Spike, who's struggling to control his blood lust after tasting so much human blood. He vamps and snaps at her, but remains tied to the chair. Buffy and Willow talk about Spike outside the room and Willow volunteers to get him some animal blood to help ease his cravings. Warren coaches Andrew on killing a pig, but Andrew fails miserably and resorts to going to the butcher shop to get the blood they need. At the butcher shop, Andrew orders an array of meats and pig's blood, but as he's leaving, he runs into Willow and spills his purchases on the ground. Andrew runs from her, but she catches up with him and uses his assumption that she's evil to frighten him. She takes him back to the house with her, pointing out his suspicious behavior and purchase of animal blood to the rest of the group. Xander and Anya interrogate Andrew while he's tied to a chair, but he doesn't have any answers they want to hear. Anya snaps and slaps Andrew before Xander pulls her out of the room. Upstairs, Buffy feeds Spike some of the animal blood as Anya and Xander meet in the bathroom to rave about their 'good cop, bad cop' performance with Andrew. Buffy joins them and although none of them have information yet, they're sure they'll get some soon. Back in the bedroom, Spike is calmed and talks to Buffy about how little he remembers about his killing. She asks about how he got his soul and he tells her about the demon trials. Xander returns to Andrew and changes tactic to politeness. He unties Andrew and offers him water while using Anya's ability to hurt men as a threat. Anya comes charging in and attacks Andrew, intending to beat his knowledge out of him. Buffy leaves Spike momentarily to investigate Andrew's cries for help, but leaves as soon as Anya and Xander assure her they have things under control. When she leaves, the morphing version of Spike appears and starts to talk to the real Spike. Buffy hears Spike singing through the door to her room and when she goes back inside, she finds him acting differently. He claims to be hungry and asks for blood, but as soon as he gets it he breaks free from his chair and knocks Buffy down, leaving her stunned. While Andrew leans against a wall and starts to talk to Anya about what he knows in the next room over, Spike punches through the wall, grabs Andrew from behind, and viciously bites him. Buffy recovers and pulls Spike off Andrew; she knocks Spike out with a powerful kick. Buffy talks to the gang about Spike's strange behavior and based on Buffy's information, Xander concludes that Spike is being manipulated by a posthypnotic trigger, in military style. Buffy instructs the gang to begin researching so they can figure out what they're dealing with. At the high school, Principal Wood leaves his office, but detours through the basement where he finds Jonathan's dead body on top of the symbol. Buffy goes down to the basement to clean up Spike's wounds while he lies chained up to a brick wall. He wakes up and doesn't understand why he has no memory of his actions. Buffy tells him of Xander's trigger theory. Spike orders Buffy to kill him because she and the Scoobies are not prepared to handle the "real" Spike. She denies his request and Spike responds with a theory of his own, that Buffy likes men who hurt her and that's why she's never been able to kill him. She tells him no, that his theory no longer describes her; and that she is not going to kill him because something is controlling him, and because he can be, and now is, a good man. She tells Spike she believes in him. Suddenly, the windows and doors break all over the house as robed figures attack the Scooby Gang. In a deserted location, Principal Wood buries Jonathan's body. The gang fights a vicious battle with the robed figures attacking them. Dawn handles herself pretty well with a couple of them while Buffy chases one upstairs and protects Andrew from being killed. Most of the robed figures are disabled or killed, but they didn't come for Buffy and the gang; they came for Spike. Down in the basement, Buffy and Xander find that Spike's chains are empty and he's nowhere to be seen. Buffy recognizes the faces of the robed figures as harbingers representing The First (first encountered in "Amends") and realizes that's who they're dealing with. The ghosts haunting them, the games being played on them and the impending danger that will come from beneath are all connected to the First Evil. Watchers report to Quentin about the numerous attacks on the Council around the world. Quentin confirms that the First Evil is responsible and orders the Watchers to prepare for their greatest challenge. Seconds later, the Watcher's Council headquarters explodes. In the Sunnydale High School basement, Spike is strapped to circular contraption and the robed figures cut designs into Spike's skin. The First talks to Spike and blames him for this happening to him. The First morphs into Buffy and she talks as she watches the Bringers raise the contraption and Spike up to the ceiling and turn Spike face-first over the seal. Spike's blood falls onto the seal and opens it. As the First explains, an older kind of vampire called a Turok-Han emerges. ===== In 1867, John O'Hanlan and Harley Sullivan are aging cowboys working on open cattle ranges in Texas. John gets a letter from an attorney in Cheyenne, Wyoming that his brother, D.J., left him The Cheyenne Social Club in his will. After making the trek to Cheyenne, John and Harley learn The Cheyenne Social Club is a high-class brothel next to the railroad. John falls into disfavor with both the Club's ladies and the men in Cheyenne when he decides to close the Club. John learns his brother's will had a provision the property would revert to the railroad if the ladies moved. Jenny, the Club's madam, is assaulted by a man named Bannister. John kills Bannister and regains popularity. Bannister's relatives come to Cheyenne for revenge, but John, Harley and Jenny successfully fight them off. When advised that even more of the Bannisters' relatives will soon come to town, John transfers ownership of the property to Jenny and he and Harley return to Texas. ===== On May 19, 1927, after waiting a week for the rain to stop on Long Island, New York, pilot Charles A. "Slim" Lindbergh (James Stewart) tries to sleep in a hotel near Roosevelt Field, before his transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. His friend Frank Mahoney (Bartlett Robinson) guards his hotel room door from reporters. Unable to sleep, Lindbergh reminisces about his time as an airmail pilot. Flying to Chicago in winter, "Slim" lands his old de Havilland biplane at a small airfield to refuel. Despite bad weather, he takes off, unaware that heavy snow has closed the Chicago landing field. Lindbergh bails out in a storm after running out of fuel. Recovering mail from his crashed DH-4, he continues to Chicago by train. A suspender salesman tells him two airmen just died competing for the Orteig Prize for the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris. Lindbergh calls Columbia Aircraft Corporation in New York from a small diner at the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field. Quoted a price of $15,000 ($ today) for a Bellanca high-wing monoplane, "Slim" lobbies St. Louis financiers with a plan to fly the Atlantic in 40 hours in a stripped-down, single-engine aircraft. The backers are excited by Lindbergh's vision and dub the venture Spirit of St. Louis. When the Bellanca deal falls apart because Columbia insists on selecting the pilot, Lindbergh approaches Ryan Aeronautical Company, a small manufacturer in San Diego, California. Frank Mahoney, the company's owner and president, promises to build a suitable monoplane in just 90 days. With Ryan's chief engineer Donald Hall (Arthur Space), a design takes shape. To decrease weight, "Slim" refuses to install a radio or other heavy equipment, even a parachute, and plans to navigate by "dead reckoning". With no autopilot function available, Lindbergh will not be able to sleep during the flight. With the deadline pressing, Ryan workers agree to work around-the-clock, completing the monoplane in just 62 days. Lindbergh flies The Spirit of St. Louis to New York, stopping at Lambert Field (St. Louis Lambert International Airport) on the way to show the aircraft to his investors. He prepares for the flight at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, ensuring that 450 gallons of fuel is on board for the long flight. In the cramped cockpit, which does not allow direct forward view, the magnetic compass must fit above his head; a young woman (Patricia Smith) offers her compact mirror. "Slim" has the mirror stuck to the instrument panel with chewing gum, so he can read the compass. Furtively, Mahoney slips a Saint Christopher medal into a bag of sandwiches on board. As the weather clears, The Spirit trundles down the muddy runway and barely clears electric lines and treetops. An American newspaper's headline reads: "Lindy Is Off!" Every hour, Lindbergh switches fuel tanks to keep the airplane's weight balanced. As Lindbergh flies over Cape Cod, he realizes he has not slept in 28 hours. He recalls past times when he slept on railroad tracks, short bunk beds, and under a windmill. When "Slim" begins to doze, he is awakened by a fly. Over Nova Scotia, he sees a motorcyclist below, remembering his own Harley Davidson motorcycle traded in as partial payment for his first aircraft, a World War I war-surplus Curtiss Jenny. Over the seemingly endless Atlantic, Lindbergh remembers barnstorming across the Midwest in a flying circus. After 18 hours, The Spirits wings and engine begin icing up and the aircraft begins losing altitude. Lindbergh changes course and the ice breaks off in the warmer air and the engine, which has stopped due to icing, is restarted. Back on course, his compasses begin malfunctioning, forcing him to navigate by the stars. By dawn, "Slim" falls asleep, and the monoplane slowly descends in a wide spiral toward the ocean. Sunlight reflecting off the compact's mirror finally awakens him in time to regain flight control. Seeing a seagull, Lindbergh realizes he is close to land. He tries without success to hail a fisherman below. Sighting land, he determines that he has reached Dingle Bay, Ireland. Pulling out a sandwich from the bag, "Slim" discovers the hidden Saint Christopher medal, and hangs it on the instrument panel. Crossing the English Channel and the coast of France, Lindbergh follows the Seine up to Paris as darkness falls. Finally seeing the city lights ahead of him, "Slim" approaches Le Bourget Airfield in the dark, becoming disoriented by panning spotlights aimed into the sky. He glimpses strange movements and lights below, in reality huge crowds of people and traffic in and around Le Bourget. Confused by this chaos, Lindbergh begins his landing approach, quickly becoming panicked. As he goes lower, he whispers "Oh, God, help me!" Landing safely and bringing The Spirit to a full stop, hordes of people rush his aircraft. As flash powder ignites and photos are taken, Lindbergh is carried triumphantly on people's shoulders toward a hangar. Exhausted from no sleep, "Slim" eventually realizes the crowds, numbering 200,000, are cheering for him and his achievement. On returning to New York City, Lindbergh, having now become a national hero, is given a huge ticker tape parade, with four million people lining the parade route. ===== Richie Maxwell is down to his last quarter at a slot machine in Atlantic City, so he asks cousin Evan for two more coins for one more spin — a spin that wins a $400,000 jackpot. The joy of victory is quickly replaced by a fierce disagreement over who deserves what. Richie begins by offering Evan a very small percentage of his winnings. Evan didn't expect anything at first but now he is offended because he provided two-thirds of the money Richie sank into the machine. A bitter feud develops. Richie, a sneaker designer, hogs all the money and quits his job. Evan, a doctor, is so annoyed that, as a prank, he lets Richie believe he is dying. By the time he reveals the joke, Richie has done something drastic. The more rattled Evan gets, the more distracted he becomes at work. And even when the cousins come to a tentative truce, everything backfires on them in events that involve girlfriends, relatives and even the homeless. In the end, Ritchie loses all his money and winds up right back where he started. Despondent, he goes home to perform oral sex on himself—a pastime of his. ===== The main character, Gorō Mutsumi, has no luck at all, not with jobs, nor with his schooling, and especially not with women or girlfriends. That is until the day he meets a fortune teller who informs him that he will have a fateful encounter and adds a spell to his cell phone that allows his guardian angels to appear to him. Gorō does not believe her and walks away as he remembers all of his previous times of bad luck with women. It is then seen that he meets three girls who are waiting for him as he is bathing. They say they are now his guardian angels, sent to earth from the spirit realm. They are the first three of his twelve beloved pets who had died due to Gorō's poor luck, returning to him on earth. He does not find out they are his pets at first. Soon more of his former pets return to him as guardian angels, and each desires to be his favorite. They also have fears from their past lives that they must overcome, and they must learn to live with each other. It is the only way they will stand a chance of helping Gorō turn his life around. These girls however are not the only ones on earth; because of Gorō's own past life, there are strange people out there trying to put a stop to these girls turning his luck around. For their own reasons, these people fear Gorō and desire him out of the way. As the story progresses the girls learn they must protect Gorō not only from his own bad luck but from these other people, without fully understanding either who they are or why they want to harm their beloved master. ===== Before the start of the film, Krishna has set fire to his elder brother's motor-bike as retaliation for being bullied by him. His angry mother has taken him to the nearby Apollo Circus and told him that he can only come home when he earns 500 rupees to pay for the damage. Krishna agrees and starts work for the circus. The film begins as the circus is packing up to move on to its next site. His boss asks him to run an errand but when Krishna returns he finds that the circus has left. Alone, with nowhere to turn, and without the money to repay his mother, he travels to the nearest big city, Bombay. As soon as he arrives, he is robbed of his few possessions. He follows the thieves, befriends them, and ends up in the city's notorious red-light area of Falkland Road, near the Grant Road Railway Station. One of the thieves, Chillum, a drug pusher and addict, helps Krishna to get a job at the Grant Road Tea Stall, and becomes a mentor of sorts to him. Baba, a local drug dealer, employs addicts like Chillum. Baba's wife, Rekha, is a prostitute and they have a little daughter, Manju. Rekha is annoyed that she has to raise her daughter in such an environment. Baba had promised to start a new life elsewhere, but it is a promise which Baba cannot, or will not, fulfill. Krishna gets a new name, "Chaipau", and learns to live with it. His goal is still to raise the money he needs to return home, but soon finds out that saving money in his new surroundings is next to impossible. To make matters worse, he has a crush on a young girl named Sola Saal, who has been recently sold to the brothel. He sets fire to her room and attempts to escape with her, but they are caught. The fire causes Krishna to get a severe beating, while Sola Saal, who is considered valuable since she is still a virgin, denies starting the fire and tearfully tries to resist her enslavement. The madame of the house asks Baba to "tame her," which Baba agrees to do. Meanwhile, Krishna, as well as working at the tea stall, works odd jobs to save some money and help Chillum, who cannot survive without drugs, especially after being sacked by Baba after a disastrous interview with a foreign journalist. Eventually, one of these odd jobs costs Krishna his job at the tea stall. To get more money, Krishna and his pals rob an elderly Parsi man by breaking into his house in broad daylight. Krishna eventually finds out that the money he had saved eventually has been stolen by Chillum for drugs, which he had overdosed on fatally. One night, while returning home from work with friends, Krishna and Manju are apprehended by the police and taken to a juvenile home. Eventually, Krishna escapes and goes back to his world. He finds that a new recruit in Baba's drug business has taken Chillum's place and name. Krishna meets Sola Saal and tries to convince her to run away with him. She reveals that she is charmed by Baba and no longer interested in Krishna; she is driven away to service her first 'client'. Meanwhile, Rekha is told that the authorities will not release their daughter, because the mother is a prostitute. An angry Rekha decides to leave Baba, but Baba beats her in retaliation. She is saved by the timely intervention of Krishna who, in a fit of rage, kills Baba and attempts to run away with Rekha, but they become separated in a parade honoring Ganesh. The film ends with a slow zoom in to Krishna's dejected face, alone and being thrown back to the same reality he started out with in the film. ===== Three women, Mary (Simi Garewal), Marina (Kseniya Ryabinkina), and Meena (Padmini), are each sent a toy clown and invited to the last performance of the famous clown Raju (Raj Kapoor), in his first time on stage in 20 years. The stories of these three women and their relationships with Raju are told through a series of flashbacks during his performance. ===== After ten years of marriage, New York City millionaire socialite couple Brad (Tim Allen) and Caroline Sexton (Kirstie Alley) are miserable and have decided to call it quits. Their marital problems come to a head earlier that evening when Brad turns their 10th anniversary party into a real estate development pitch for a theme park he calls "The Holy Land", modeled after Biblical lore. The pitch turns disastrous when one of the display's special effects catches a guest's (who happens to be a federal judge) dress on fire. At the same time, Brad's accountant, Bob Lachman (Wayne Knight), is stealing the Sextons' millions through mismanagement and filing false tax returns. His money manipulation has caught the attention of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and field agent Frank Hall (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), demands to meet Bob and Brad the following morning to bring the obligations up to date and settle the missing $5,000,000. Bob arrives at the office early the following morning with a file box (likely the incriminating paperwork that could land him in jail), but leaves before Brad arrives. Though he doesn't get out in time, he manages to finally evade Brad and Hall, who has just shown up. Bob made Brad his scapegoat, since all the tax returns that Bob committed fraud are in Brad's name. Hearing a hint from Bob that the Sextons could be fleeing (Brad told him about the Sextons' impending divorce), Hall orders the freezing of all their assets. Brad is unable to access his money through an ATM and Caroline has her credit card destroyed at her table as she's having lunch with some friends. Brad is then informed that his accounts have been frozen, but the bank teller refuses to tell him why. At first, he thinks Caroline is responsible, until he gets Bob on the phone, who tells him that he himself is the cause of their newfound problems, as he's headed for the airport. Gung-ho IRS Inspector Derek Lester (Larry Miller) joins Hall to serve the warrant and bring in the Sextons. As Brad exits the bank (trying to chase down his Jaguar XK8 being towed), Hall and Lester surround him at the Charging Bull on Wall Street. Brad takes out his new satellite phone to answer a call, but the trigger-happy Lester mistakes it for a gun and pulls out his own pistol, shooting it out of Brad's hand, much to Hall's chagrin. Brad flees on foot, steals a cab and happens to pick up Caroline. The Sextons get away from Hall and Lester and the NYPD (who apprehend the agents for reckless pursuit) and leave New York. They crash the cab into a muddy swamp and are forced to spend that night sleeping rough, covered in mud. The next day, they find themselves in Intercourse, Pennsylvania, a small Lancaster County-area community of Old Order Amish. Brad drops in on a conversation and after stealing some clothes, they masquerade as Jacob and Emma Yoder, a family's (also named Yoder) expected cousins from Missouri. Samuel and Levinia (Jay O. Sanders and Megan Cavanagh), along with their sons and daughters, make the pair at home. The pair try to fit in, and while Brad manages to adjust well, the glamorous and spoiled prima donna Caroline, deprived of her cigarettes, fine clothes, makeup, and other creature comforts, throws various childlike tantrums when she and Brad are alone. This gets noticed by Levinia and Samuel, who chalk it up to the pair having marital difficulties. Brad decides to try and relate better to Caroline after a talk from Samuel about how each day, no matter how bleak, is a gift of life from God. Gradually, both learn to fit in through their own abilities. Brad with his knowledge of real estate values, helps Samuel's future son-in-law Henner (John Pyper-Ferguson) buy a plot of land, and Caroline's knowledge of fashion helps their conservative ordnung relax their colorless dress code. The Sextons then rediscover why they fell in love in the first place, largely through their efforts of helping others rather than themselves. As Samuel and Levinia's daughter Rebecca (Carrie Preston) is exchanging vows with Henner, the ceremony is interrupted by police and a drenched Hall and Lester, who crashed into the stolen cab. The Sextons are exposed and hauled back to New York to face trial. Brad's attorney Phil Kleinmann (Michael Lerner) informs them that he found Bob in Zurich and had him extradited back to America. A resisting Bob is then hauled into the courtroom by uniformed officers to face the Sextons. Bob confesses, and while Brad thanks him for saving his (Brad's) and Caroline's marriage, he still punches him in retribution for his actions. Charges against the Sextons are dropped. Brad and Caroline return to the Yoders to make things right, but their pleas for forgiveness seem to fall on deaf ears. As they turn to leave, Samuel informs them that he and Levinia knew the whole time of the ruse. They said they put up with it, because it was planting season and they needed the extra help. Brad offers to give his watch as a present only to be told that the Amish cannot accept gifts, only trades. He then proceeds to trade the watch for Big John, a gargantuan Belgian horse that Brad (as Jacob) tamed largely by dumb luck and some corn. Brad also tells Sam not to "open the back of the watch;" the watch seems to have in it a risque picture, which amuses him. The movie ends with Brad and Caroline driving a 1954 Ford pickup with a horse trailer hauling Big John. It is then revealed that the Sextons traded their 1997 Jaguar for the truck. In the closing credits, Brad contemplates buying the pond, where they crashed the cab and Caroline reveals she is pregnant with the couple's first child. ===== Fong Kwok-wah is a Chinese guerrilla fighter from the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1938, he was fighting with Yamamoto Kazuo, a major of the Imperial Japanese Army, when they were interrupted by Cheung San, the progenitor of all vampires. The two men and a boy named Fuk-sang were bitten by Cheung San and they become vampires. In present-day 1998, Fong lives in Hong Kong under a new name, Fong Tin-yau. His physical appearance has not changed since 60 years ago. He works as a policeman while Fuk-sang lives with him, attends primary school, and pretends to be his son. Fong meets Ma Siu- ling, the heiress to a clan of ghostbusters who have dedicated themselves to ridding the world of evil supernatural beings. Fong gradually becomes embroiled in a love triangle with Ma and Wong Jan-jan, Ma's close friend and confidante. On the other hand, Yamamoto has become the influential boss of a big company, and he commands a small group of vampire followers. Planning to turn every human being into a vampire, Yamamoto unleashes his minions to attack people and spread the "vampire gene". Chaos break out in Hong Kong as vampires multiply and roam the streets freely. At this point, Fong teams up with Ma and his friends to stop Yamamoto and destroy him. However, even after Yamamoto dies, not long later, a magician called Yu-meng Sap-sam resurrects him and controls him to do his bidding. The magician is actually Lo Hau, an evil sorcerer from ancient times who wants to dominate the universe. Once again, Fong, Ma and their allies combine forces to confront Lo Hau and put an end to his wicked ambitions. ===== During the zombie outbreak in Louisville, a military truck is transporting barrels of Trioxin, when one breaks loose and falls into a river without the driver noticing. The next morning, pre-teens Johnny and Billy take a reluctant Jesse Wilson to a cemetery mausoleum for a group initiation with a group of pre-teen bullies. Frightened, Jesse flees into a nearby sewer, where he and the others stumble across the rogue barrel. Upon opening it, they find a corpse inside and running away screaming as the toxic gas contained within begins to leak out. When Jesse says he's going to call the Army from a number on the barrel, the bullies trap him in the derelict mausoleum and leave him. Billy and Johnny return to the barrel and open it, releasing the Trioxin gas that begins to permeate the whole cemetery. A trio of graverobbers; Ed, Joey, and Brenda, arrive via van. Brenda is creeped out by cemeteries and stays behind in the van. Ed and Joey go into the cemetery where they start to loot the tombs in the mausoleum where Jesse is. When they enter it, Jesse is able to break free and run home. Meanwhile, acid rainfall causes the Trioxin to begin seeping into the ground and resuscitating the corpses. Returning home, Jesse is ordered to do his homework by his older sister, Lucy, but sneaks out of the house when a cable repairman, Tom, distracts her. He goes to Billy's house to see him, but he has suddenly fallen ill, so he makes up an excuse and Billy's mother allows him in for a brief visit. Suffering from the effects of Trioxin, Billy warns Jesse not to tell anyone what they've found. Against his friend's wishes, Jesse returns to the sewer to further examine the barrel. Upon seeing a tar-covered zombie, he flees to the cemetery, where the newly resurrected bodies begin to dig their way out of the ground. Meanwhile, Brenda goes to check on her companions and encounters a zombie, but is able to get away. Ed and Joey are still inside the mausoleum when a corpse comes to life. Joey smashes its head with a crowbar, and they flee the building. They are running through a mob of zombies when they run into a hysterical Brenda. Jesse gets home and tries to tell Lucy about the zombie uprising, but she dismisses him and locks him in his room. Elsewhere, Ed, Joey, and Brenda show up at Billy's house to get help but they run away when Billy's dad pulls a shotgun on them. Meanwhile, Jesse starts a fire outside his door to set off the smoke alarms, to distract Lucy so he can escape. Jesse calls the Army and gets through to Colonel Glover, who had helped put down the Louisville outbreak days earlier, but the call gets disconnected. Ed, Joey, and Brenda steal Tom's van but are unable to get through the zombie horde, so they barge into Jesse's house. Joey begins to fall ill from Trioxin exposure. As the zombies close in on the house, the graverobbers attempt to find a getaway car. They manage to break into a doctor's house, where they convince him to let them use his car, and they drive to a hospital emergency room that appears to be deserted. At Billy's house, his condition worsens and his father leaves to get a doctor, but Billy's mother sees him being attacked and eaten by a group of zombies. Fully turned, Billy proceeds to attacks his mother. Elsewhere, Tom, Lucy, and Jesse escape a group of zombies and take the car to look around town. They make it to Lucy and Jesse's grandfather's house and break into his gun safe to get weapons and ammo. They go back to the hospital where Ed and Joey are experiencing symptoms of rigor mortis. Jesse is attacked by a zombie that both he and Tom shot multiple times. Brenda is upset about the diagnosis for Joey, and they try to leave in the car, but Ed follows them and gets in the car. They are stopped at gunpoint by National Guardsman under Glover's command. A fully zombified Ed attacks and kills one of the soldiers, causing his squadmates to flee. Brenda drives away with Joey, leaving Ed behind. Brenda is attacked by a zombified Joey, and unable to kill her former lover she willfully lets him cannibalize her. Fleeing in a stolen ambulance, the survivors come to a roadblock, and the National Guard mistakenly opens fire on them, thinking they are zombies. Realizing that the whole town had been evacuated, Tom thinks of a new strategy to give the zombies what they want, drives them to a meat packing plant. They take a truck and distribute brains out of the back as they drive to a power plant intending to electrocute them all. Billy opens the gate and zombies corner them into the truck. Jesse is attacked by Billy and stabs him with a screwdriver, and then activates the power, killing all of the zombies. Billy walks in, holding the screwdriver, and Jesse pushes his tormenter into a large transformer that falls through the roof. Glover and his men arrive to contain the scene and lead the others away. ===== The First Slayer tells Buffy in a dream that "It is not enough." Anya and Spike are walking when a demon appears, sent by D'Hoffryn to kill Anya. Spike defeats the demon but allows it to live. Principal Wood tells Buffy to go home and concentrate on her "real" job, killing monsters and getting ready to battle the First. Buffy takes him to the house and introduces him to the rest of the crew, including Spike. The tension between Spike and Wood is tangible. Wood gives Buffy a bag that he got from his mother and should have been passed on to Buffy anyway. Chloe commits suicide after the First talks to her all night. Buffy delivers a strong lecture, angering many of the others. She accuses Spike of holding back in fights and rebukes him that he used to be a better fighter before he got his soul back. She calls an emergency and opens the slayer's bag. Inside is a set of shadow figures that trigger a portal. Against the advice of her friends, Buffy jumps in, sending back an enormous demon that beats everybody up and flees. After Spike recovers, he gets his leather coat out of a trunk and tracks down the demon. Fighting with his old swagger, from before he regained his soul, Spike kills the demon after a long, brutal battle. He then drags it back to Buffy's house. On the other side of the portal, Buffy is back in the desert where she once met the First Slayer. There, three African shamans speaking Swahili, tell her she is the last slayer to guard the Hellmouth and try to infuse her with additional essence of the demon that give all the slayers their strength. Buffy refuses the power, telling the men that they were wrong to have created the slayer line in the first place. As a parting gift, one of them touches Buffy's head and gives her a vision (though the viewer does not immediately see what it is). After struggling with the incantation, Willow manages to reopen the portal by sucking energy from Anya and Kennedy. Spike throws the dead demon in, and Buffy returns. Later, she tells Willow about the vision and admits that the First Slayer was right that what they have is not enough. Willow asks Buffy what she saw, and the vision is shown to the viewer: Inside the Hellmouth, the First has an army made up of thousands of Turok-Han vampires. ===== Sherlock Holmes is a fictional creation of Dr. John Watson who serves as the central character in a series of short stories published in The Strand Magazine. Watson uses the character to enable him to solve crimes incognito, so as not to disrupt his career as a doctor. He therefore decides to satisfy public demand to see Holmes in person by hiring unemployed actor Reginald Kincaid to play the part of the hero of his detective stories. Kincaid must rely on direction from Watson, memorizing the doctor's exacting, detailed instructions every step of the way. After a major case, Kincaid oversteps his boundaries with Watson, who fires him. Watson wants to write the character off so as to start a new series about "The Crime Doctor", with Watson himself being recognized as the great detective, but the idea is received coldly. And with a new crime of arson at a paper warehouse to investigate, Watson finds that he is unable to get information on his own. That crime then becomes a link in a major case when the British government seeks the aid of "Holmes" and will accept no one else. The mystery involves the theft of printing plates for £5 banknotes, with the printing supervisor, Peter Giles, having gone missing on the night of the robbery. The counterfeiting of these notes would cause the inevitable collapse of the British Empire's economy. Watson is therefore forced to retrieve "Holmes" from the pub to which he has retired. Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade is jealous of "Holmes". Rather than relying on the regular police, therefore, Watson uses the twelve-year-old street urchin, Wiggins, the leader of a street gang that he calls "Baker Street Irregulars", to keep an eye on people and hunt out evidence. One line of enquiry leads Watson to the printer’s daughter Leslie, whom he and the womanising "Holmes" invite back to their quarters to recover from the shock of false evidence of her father’s death. Watson and “Holmes” discover that Professor Moriarty is the mastermind behind the scheme and disturb him on the docks while receiving a consignment of printing ink. Watson is apparently killed while tracking him, forcing “Holmes” to solve the case on his own. The trail takes him to an abandoned theatre where the forgeries are being printed. There he discovers that Watson is still alive after all and the two team up to defeat Moriarty for good. In the process Leslie is unmasked as an impostor and Moriarty’s spy. When they return to 221B Baker Street, “Holmes” announces to a reception committee of reporters that he is now retiring and gives full credit to the qualities of his partner Watson. For his part Watson assures the public that, far from this being so, the team of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson will continue their detective work from now on as friends. ===== "The Scarlet Citadel" was the second Conan story to be published in Weird Tales magazine and involves an older, wiser Conan as king of Aquilonia. King Conan receives a call for help from Amalrus, the ruler of neighbouring Ophir, who claims that Strabonus, the Emperor of Koth, is threatening his kingdom. When Conan marches into Ophir, with an army of five thousand Aquilonian knights, his planned campaign is revealed to be a trap as the two monarchs are working together to destroy him with the assistance of a Kothian wizard named Tsotha-lanti. The Aquilonian knights are cut to pieces while Conan, having been captured, is imprisoned within a Korshemish dungeon. This dungeon is used by Tsotha-lanti for nefarious experiments, and Conan discovers many of the bizarre horrors during his escape. Eventually, Conan frees Pelias, a former rival wizard of Tsotha-lanti, who helps him escape the dungeon and regain his position as king of Aquilonia. This notably makes Pelias a rare case of a sorcerer who is Conan's ally rather than his enemy (the only other being the witch Zelata in The Hour of the Dragon). The story climaxes with a gigantic battle, where Tsotha-lanti meets a grisly fate at the hands of Pelias. ===== The story is set in the decadent, evil Zamorian city of Arenjun,The name added by L. Sprague de Camp in his introduction to Conan (Lancer, 1967) the City of Thieves.The name given by Howard in a letter to P. Schuyler Miller and John Drury Clark. A callow young Conan, just beginning his career in the civilized regions, is drinking at a rowdy tavern when a Kothian rogue mentions a fabulous jewel known as the "Heart of the Elephant". It is kept in the tower of the evil sorcerer Yara, who has long terrorized the Kingdom of Zamora, most recently having transformed a prince into a spider and crushed the young man underfoot. When Conan interrogates the rogue for more information, the man mocks him and a fight ensues. The candle is knocked over and the tavern is plunged into darkness, but Conan's sword finds his opponent in the dark, and he escapes into the moonlit streets. (The Kothian's death saves a damsel he had planned to kidnap and sell into slavery.) Without further planning, Conan ventures into Yara's garden to steal the jewel, but immediately encounters another intruder, Taurus of Nemedia, the "Prince of Thieves". The cunning Taurus, who is fat but amazingly agile, is impressed by Conan's daring and they agree to work together, with the master thief assuming a patronizing role to the inexperienced young barbarian. After battling lions in the tower gardens, the thieves ascend Yara's spire by grappling hook and rope. On the roof, Taurus enters a treasure chamber, but is ambushed by a lurking giant spider, and killed by three bites in the neck. After a desperate battle, Conan crushes the spider with a chest of gems, then descends in search of his prize, the Heart. Lower in the tower, he discovers a strange "trans-cosmic being" with the body of a man and the oversized head of an elephant. The creature, named Yag-kosha, is a blind and tortured prisoner of Yara. Yag-kosha reveals to Conan the pre- cataclysmic saga of his alien people, their arrival on Earth from the planet Yog, and how he taught Yara the art of magic, only to have his own apprentice betray him; but Conan's intrusion is the perfect opportunity for revenge. Moved to pity by Yag-kosha's plea, Conan, as instructed, grabs the fabled jewel, mercifully kills the elephant-like being, extracts the heart from his corpse, and drips its blood over the Heart of the Elephant. When he sets the blood-infused relic in front of Yara in his sleeping-chamber, the gem's magic shrinks and draws the soceror into the jewel. Inside, a revived Yag-kosha, limbs and wings restored, pursues the screaming Yara as the Heart vanishes. Obeying Yag-kosha's instructions, Conan leaves immediately and emerges empty- handed from the tower at dawn, just as it collapses behind him. He has nothing for his night's work but his sword, loin-cloth, and sandals. ===== Letter from Farnsworth Wright, editor of Weird Tales, to Robert E. Howard "The Phoenix on the Sword" begins with a middle-aged Conan of Cimmeria attempting to govern the turbulent kingdom of Aquilonia. Conan has recently seized the crown of Aquilonia from King Numedides after he strangled the tyrant upon his throne. However, his rule over Aqualonia is nonexistent, as Conan is more suited to swinging his broadsword than signing official documents with a stylus. The citizens of Aquilonia, who originally welcomed Conan as their liberator from Numedides' tyranny, have gradually turned against him due to his foreign Cimmerian blood. They have constructed a statue to Numedides' memory in the temple of Mitra, and priests burn incenses before their slain king, hailing it as the holy effigy of a saintly monarch who was done to death by a red-handed barbarian. Desiring to give the Aquilonian crown to someone of royal blood, a daring band known as the Rebel Four is formed: Volmana, the dwarfish count of Karaban; Gromel, the giant commander of the Black Legion; Dion, the fat baron of Attalus; and Rinaldo, the hare-brained minstrel. The Rebel Four recruit the services of a southern outlaw named Ascalante. However, in secret, Ascalante plans on betraying his employers and claiming the crown for himself. Ascalante has a slave named Thoth-Amon, formerly a powerful Stygian wizard, who has fallen on hard times since he lost a mystical ring. A thief had stolen his ring and left Thoth-Amon defenseless, forcing him to flee from Stygia. Disguised as a camel driver, he was waylaid in Koth by Ascalante's reavers. While the rest of his caravan was slaughtered, Thoth-Amon saved himself by revealing his identity and swearing to serve Ascalante. The story revolves around the conspirator's attempt in assassinating King Conan when he is unprepared and defenseless. However, two unforeseen events ultimately thwart their plan. Conan is forewarned of an impending coup by the arrival of a long-dead sage named Epemitreus, who marks Conan's sword with a mystical phoenix representing Mitra, a Hyborian god. Meanwhile, Thoth-Amon murders Dion and recovers his lost ring of power, then summons a fanged ape-like demon who he wishes to slay Ascalante. Conan slays the three remaining members of the Rebel Four, breaking his sword upon the helm of Gromel and using a battle-axe against the rest of his would-be assassins. Conan hesitates to kill Rinaldo, whose songs once deeply touched the King's heart—a scruple which costs Conan dearly, as Rinaldo manages to stab him before being finally killed. Ascalante, seeing his goal within reach, moves to finish off the wounded king. But before Ascalante can strike, he is set upon and killed by Thoth-Amon's demon, which is then slain by Conan with the shard of his enchanted sword. ===== Robert E. Howard set his story in Hyborian Africa. The Teeth of Gwahlur are legendary jewels, kept within the ancient city of Alkmeenon, in the country of Keshan "which in itself was considered mythical by many northern and western nations". Conan, following rumors of this treasure, journeys into Keshan and offers his services in training the local army against their rival, Punt. However, Thutmekri, a Stygian thief with similar intentions, and his Shemitish partner, Zargheba, also arrive in the country with an offer for a military alliance with another of Punt's neighbors, Zembabwei, with some of the Teeth to seal their pact. The high priest of Keshan, Gorulga, announces that a decision on the matter can only be made after consulting with Yelaya, the mummified oracle of Alkmeenon. This is all the treasure hunters require. Zargheba joins Gorulga in his expedition while Conan travels ahead of them. In the abandoned city, an initial atmosphere of the supernatural gives way to intrigue over the oracle. Zargheba has brought along a Corinthian slave girl, Muriela, to play the role of Yelaya and tell the priests to give all of their jewels to Thutmekri. Conan is at first frightened by the living oracle, but quickly discovers the ruse. Intrigue and mystery follows as the imposter and the body of the genuine oracle switch roles. Gorulga, however, is innocent in this, genuinely attempting to consult his oracle. However, a fourth faction quickly appears. A Pelishti traveller, Bit-Yakin, had visited the valley where Alkmeenon is located centuries ago. When the natives of Keshan visited the site to worship Yelaya as a goddess, Bit-Yakin provided prophecies from a nearby cave. Eventually, he died there; his undying servants buried him as per his instructions and, free of their master's control, brutally slaughtered any priests from Keshan who attempted to visit the city while consulting with Yelaya afterwards. Bit-Yakin's servants, revealed to be large gray-haired apes, kill the survivors of Gorulga's party after they attempt to claim the jewels. Conan manages to acquire a chest containing the jewels, but is forced to abandon his prize so he could rescue Muriela. The two escape together and Conan ends his adventure by outlining a new plan. ===== The story begins in an Argos port where Conan forcefully demands passage aboard a sail barge, the Argus, which is casting off for southern waters to trade beads, silks, sugar and brass-hilted swords to the black kings of Kush. At first, the captain of the barge objects to his demand to travel without paying for the passage, and Conan threatens him and the crew with his drawn sword. But eventually the captain agrees to let Conan stay on board, since "It would be useful to have a fighting man on the voyage" and gradually Conan and the captain, named Tito, become quite friendly. The captain is soon informed that Conan is fleeing the civil authorities of Argos due to a court dispute in which Conan refused to betray the whereabouts of a casual friend to a magistrate and instead drew his sword and killed the magistrate - whereupon he had to swiftly flee. It is emphasized that at this moment Conan was a complete land-lubber, with no previous experience or knowledge of the sea. Upon reaching the pirate-infested waters of Kush, their trade ship is attacked by the infamous reavers led by Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast. Bêlit and her ebony-skinned warriors slaughter the crew of the Argus, who are no match for the ferocious pirates. Conan tries to rally the crew after the captain was killed, and when the fight becomes clearly hopeless he manages to jump aboard the pirate ship, intending to sell his life dearly. Conan kills many of the pirates, fully expecting to be overwhelmed and killed - whereupon Bêlit suddenly orders her crew to step back and spare Conan, being impressed with the Cimmerian's courage and ferocity (and being sexually attracted to him, as she immediately and forthrightly declares). Bêlit offers Conan the chance to sail with her, be her chosen mate, and help lead her fierce warriors. Oddly smitten by this fiery woman, Conan agrees and, for a time, they raid the Black Coast together brutally pillaging coastal towns and instilling fear into the superstitious natives. Soon, the Hyborian legends begin that the she-devil of the sea, Bêlit, has found a mate, Conan, an iron man whose wrath is that of a wounded lion. Survivors of butchered Stygian ships curse the name of Bêlit and her Cimmerian warrior with fierce blue eyes. Sailing up the poisonous waters of the river Zarkheba, Bêlit and Conan encounter ancient ruins in which is found a lost treasure, a winged monstrosity and skulking hyenas that were once men. Despite the bizarre murders of their crew and the various horrors lurking in the jungle, Bêlit and Conan still find time for a thorough theological discussion, comparing Conan's grim god Crom with Bêlit's more ambiguous Semite deities - all of which they discuss in between continuing their sexual romance which is alluded to by Howard as having sadomasochistic undertones. In a moment of passion, Bêlit promises that even death could not keep her from Conan's side, a promise which she must keep far sooner than she expects. Despite her intense love for Conan, Bêlit is soon captivated by a cursed jeweled necklace found among the lost treasure which seemingly instills the wearer with a mix of madness and monomania. In such a twisted mental state, Bêlit issues faulty orders. Given the constant bizarre dangers and her own madness, her crew is soon decimated and Bêlit herself is hanged by the winged monster. Driven to rage and now alone, Conan confronts her supernatural murderer. He is on the verge of being slain when the spirit of Bêlit intervenes. Conan slays the winged horror and leaves the ruins in Bêlit's ship with her corpse. The story closes with Conan giving Bêlit a Viking funeral - setting on fire the ship, with her surrounded by all her treasures - and reflecting upon his loss. ===== The story takes place in Conajohara, a newly established Aquilonian province recently annexed by King Numedides from the Picts. Balthus, a young settler on his way to Fort Tuscelan at the Black River, the province's border to the Pict Lands, encounters Conan in the forest slaying a marsh devil. Accompanying the young man back to the fort, Conan finds the corpse of a merchant left by a Pictish wizard named Zogar Sag and slain by a swamp demon. The fort's commander, Valannus, desperately asks Conan to slay Zogar Sag before he raises the Picts against the whole borderlands, especially since Tuscelan is vastly undermanned after Numedides foolishly decided to withdraw most of its garrison. Taking a hand-picked team of scouts and Balthus, Conan sets off stealthily in his canoe. Illustration by Hugh Doak Rankin published in Weird Tales, 1935 Soon, Balthus is captured and most of Conan's men are slaughtered in an ambush. Balthus and one of the scouts are tied to stakes in a Pictish village, and soon the scout is sacrificed by Zogar Sag to one of his jungle creatures. Before Balthus can meet a similar fate, Conan sets the village on fire, and the two flee into the forest. Conan tells Balthus information on the cult of Jhebbal Sag, now forgotten by most. Once all living creatures worshipped him when men and beasts spoke the same language. Over time, both men and beasts forgot his worship. Zogar Sag has not, however, and can control those few animals and creatures who also remember, sending them on Conan's trail. Conan is able to fend off the pursuing beasts using a symbol he once noticed, and the pair return to the Fort to warn everyone of an impending Pictish assault, but they are too late. The Picts have already surrounded the fort, and a fierce battle is going on. The number of Picts ensures that eventually the fort will be overwhelmed and the defenders slaughtered. The only thing left to do is warn the settlers to flee while the Picts are busy with the fort - otherwise they will be slaughtered, too. The two soldiers go to warn everyone that an army of Picts have crossed the river and are about to attack. They are joined by Slasher, a feral dog formerly owned by a settler who had been slain by the Picts. Balthus is sent on to warn the settlers of an incoming raid, and Conan parts from him to aid a group of fishermen who had gone to gather salt. Balthus warns the women and children to leave their huts and flee. When a band of Picts arrive, who move quicker and might overtake the women, Balthus stays behind to cover their escape. Accompanied by Slasher, he makes his last stand against the coming Pictish raiders, first shooting arrows from concealment and then in a furious face-to-face battle. Both Balthus and Slasher's sacrifice delays the Picts, giving the settlers time to reach safety. Conan manages to warn the salt-gathering party in time, but finds he has been marked for death by the gods of darkness for misusing the symbol of Jhebbal Sag, and is attacked by a demonic creature who tells him that it and Zogar Sag are of one blood. Conan triumphs against the creature, but the fort is lost, and so is the entire province. The story ends in a tavern on the other side of Thunder River, the former boundary between the Pict Lands and Aquilonia. A sole survivor from Tuscelan tells Conan about the courageous act of Balthus and Slasher. He also relates that in the midst of his victory at Tuscelan, Zogar Sag was mysteriously struck dead, sporting the same kind of wounds Conan had inflicted on the swamp demon. Upon hearing of Balthus and Slasher's demise, Conan vows to take the heads of ten Picts to pay for Balthus, along with seven heads for the dog, who was "a better warrior than many a man". As Conan turns back to his drink, the survivor mutters, "Barbarism is the natural state of mankind. Civilization is unnatural; it is a whim of circumstance... And barbarism must always ultimately triumph!" ===== The plot is a loosely based on a melange of motifs from previous Conan short stories, most notably "The Scarlet Citadel", with which its early chapters shares an almost identical storyline: Conan, captured and placed in a monster-infested dungeon, finds an unexpected ally and escapes. Meanwhile, the population of the Aquilonian capital, believing him dead, riots and is ready to accept an alternative King. From here the two diverge: The Scarlet Citadel, a short story, ends with Conan coming back when the rioting just started and making short work of his foes; in the book-length Hour of the Dragon it's much more complicated, Aquilonia has to live under a long and harrowing foreign occupation while Conan goes through a long hazardous quest, before he could finally come back and dispose of his foes. The book begins when Conan is about forty-two, during his reign as the King of Aquilonia, and deals with a plot by a group of conspirators to depose him in favor of Valerius, heir to Conan's predecessor Numedides, whom he had slain to gain the throne. To accomplish this they resort to necromancy, resurrecting Xaltotun, an ancient sorcerer from the forgotten empire of Acheron. With his aid, the Aquilonian army is defeated by the rival kingdom of Nemedia and occupied. Conan, captured, is slated for execution until a sympathetic slave girl, Zenobia, risks her life to free him. Conan's quest to retrieve the Heart of Ahriman in order to defeat the wizard and regain his throne takes him through all the kingdoms of the Hyboria Age. After his eventual triumph, he vows to make Zenobia his queen. ===== The story begins in an unnamed city-state between Zamora and Corinthia during a power struggle between two powerful leaders: Murilo, an aristocrat, and Nabonidus the "Red Priest", a clergyman with a strong power base. After he is delivered a threat by Nabonidus (the ear of a corrupt secretary that worked with Murilo), Murilo learns of Conan's reputation as a mercenary and turns to him for help. Prior to the story's beginning, Conan kills a corrupt priest of Anu, who was both a fence and police informer. However, Conan was arrested after he became intoxicated and a prostitute turned him in. Languishing in a jail cell while awaiting his execution, Conan receives Murilo's visit and is proposed a bargain: in exchange for setting him free and getting him out of Corinthia with a bag of gold, Conan will assassinate Nabonidus. After accepting his offer, Conan is given food and wine by Murilo. However, while he's eating, the jailer who should release Conan when Murilo has left (thus with an alibi) is arrested on unrelated corruption charges (corruption seems to run rampant in the city). Soon, his replacement is flabbergasted to see a prisoner awaiting execution while chomping down on a slice of beef. As he's entering the cell to confiscate it, Conan splits the man's skull with the very bone he was gnawing on and makes his escape. He briefly considers leaving Murilo on his own, but then decides to follow the original plan and keep his word. After taking revenge on the prostitute who turned him in (he slays her new lover and throws the woman into a foul cesspit), Conan sneaks into Nabonidus' trap-filled mansion. However, he finds that Murilo and Nabonidus himself are being held captive by a mysterious third party who took control of Nabonidus' position while impersonating him. This turns out to be Thak, a primitive ape-like creature who Nabonidus had captured as a cub and trained as his personal bodyguard. The three observe Thak, via a series of hidden periscopes, and see that the creature has learned to imitate Nabonidus well enough to activate a toxic pollen trap, which eliminates yet another party of assassins (nationalistic agitators) penetrating the villa. Finally, Conan and the other two men manage to escape from the basement and regain entry into Nabonidus' mansion. Later, Conan defeats Thak in hand-to-hand combat. The Red Priest soon betrays both Conan and Murilo; but, while Nabonidus is gloating over his plans in a monologue, Conan slays him with an expertly hurled stool. The surviving pair leave and go their separate ways. ===== Harold S Delay illustration of the story's "dragon" "Red Nails" begins in the jungles far to the south of any known civilized or barbarian kingdoms. Valeria of the Red Brotherhood is fleeing persecution after she murdered a would-be rapist. She is followed into the wilderness by Conan, a fellow adventurer who wishes for an alliance with Valeria as her lover. Suddenly, Conan's stand-off with Valeria is interrupted by a dragon (actually a dinosaur, although described with the characteristics of a Stegosaurus and Allosaurus) which mauls their horses. Both Conan and Valeria escape the dragon by climbing across an eroded hillside. However, the hillside has no food or water. Soon, Conan recognizes some poisonous fruit growing nearby. Acting quickly, he coats the tip of a spear in poison and pierces the dragon's lower jaw with a well-aimed throw. Although blinded, the enraged beast pursues the two fugitives by their scent. Fortunately, Conan lures the injured beast towards a ravine. The couple emerge from their shelter and journey towards a mysterious walled city, which Conan sighted from the hill. With a lack of grazing livestock or cultivated fields, the city appears deserted. Afterwards, Conan forces open the main gate, long since rusted shut. The couple slowly enter a bizarre twilight world. The city, which is known as Xuchotl, is a massive structure completely enclosed and roofed off by an emerald dome. A single great hallway runs across the entire city. However, no streets or open courtyards are present. The structure consists entirely of four tiers of rooms, chambers, and passageways. Xuchotl, itself, is carved from jade with traces of other exotic materials. The two separate and search the city's empty corridors. Valeria encounters a man named Techotl, who she joins in his feud between two factions which dwell in the once populous city. Soon, Techotl invites Conan and Valeria into the stronghold of his tribe, the Tecuhltli. Eventually, the couple are welcomed by the rulers of Xuchotl, Olmec and Tascela. After a ritual, Olmec reveals the history of his civilization. The city of Xuchotil was built centuries before its current inhabitants arrived. One day, a slave — Tolkemec — betrayed his master and guided the newly arrived invaders into the city while slaying the original inhabitants. The conquerors were led by two brothers, Tecuhltli and Xotalanc, who ruled peacefully over their city. However, a feud developed when Tecuhltli stole Xotalanc's bride during one of their arguments. Meanwhile, Tolkemec betrayed both sides for his own reasons and was exiled to the catacombs. Nails driven into a pillar inside of Olmec's stronghold keeps count the number of slain rivals, and provides the title for this story. After Olmec tells his story, Tascela develops an interest with Valeria. Soon, she has a slave attempt to drug Valeria with a narcotic plant. Valeria manages to capture the slave and interrogates her into revealing who is responsible for such treachery. However, she avoids submission and escapes the city. Valeria's pursuit of the slave is interrupted when Xotalanc's army breaches the stronghold. Eventually, all of Xotalanc's troops are exterminated while Conan, Valeria, Olmec, Tascela, and fifteen Tecuhltli warriors remain alive. When Conan begins an expedition towards Xotalanc's stronghold, Valeria is left behind while her wounds are treated. While Conan is away, Olmec tries to rape Valeria. However, his efforts are thwarted by Tascela. She reveals herself as a sorceress and the stolen bride who originally started the feud. Tascela plans on using Valeria's vitality in restoring her own youth. Meanwhile, Olmec secretly orders for his guards to execute Conan. Conan kills the two warriors and hurries back for Valeria. Returning to Tecuhltli, Conan finds a bruised Olmec inside Tascela's dungeon. After rescuing him, Olmec attempts to betray Conan and is killed. Conan faces off against Tascela who has Valeria chained to an altar. Caught in a steel trap, Conan watches helplessly as Tascela proceeds with her sacrifice of Valeria. Suddenly, Tascela's ceremony is interrupted by Tolkemec who has returned from his exile, wielding an ancient sceptre with destructive magic. Desperate for assistance against her nemesis, Tascela releases Conan. Conan defeats Tolkemec by stealing his sceptre. After freeing herself, Valeria kills Tascela by plunging a dagger into her heart. With the last inhabitants of Xuchotl killed, Conan and Valeria depart from the now-dead city. ===== Despite the warning he received in a suq from an elderly nomad, Conan spends the night at a cheap tavern of Aram Baksh on the edge of Zamboula. As night falls, a black cannibal from Dafar steals into his chamber by a trap door, to drag Conan away and feast on him. Conan realizes that the Darfarian slaves in the city are cannibals who roam the streets at night preying on travelers, while the citizens turn a blind eye and stay locked in their homes. Aram Baksh has made a deal with the cannibals to provide "fresh meat" and profits from the belongings of his ill-fated guests. This night, however, the unfortunate cannibal attempts to creep up on the cat-napping Conan and pays with his life. Realizing his room is a trap, Conan escapes into the Zamboulan streets where he encounters both a naked woman and her deranged fiancé. Conan rescues her from another attack by the roaming cannibals. The woman tells him how she tried to secure her fiancé's affection with a love potion, which instead made a raving lunatic of him. After promising Conan "a reward" for his assistance, the two attempt to murder the treacherous priest responsible for the lover's insanity. The woman is captured in their attempt, and hypnotically forced to exhaust herself dancing before the priest. Conan, after turning tables on the priest's servant, a strangler named Baal-Pteor, rescues the woman and kills the corrupt priest. Right before Conan could claim his payment, the woman reveals herself as Nafertari, mistress of the satrap of Zamboula, Jungir Khan (the insane lover). Taking the antidote to Jungir, Nafertari promises Conan leadership of her guard and vast wealth, and he is dismissed with a bag of gold. Conan then goes to take revenge on Aram Baksh by cutting out Baksh's tongue and slicing off his beard. Mute and unrecognizable, Baksh is tossed over to his hungry cannibal partners to devour (a grim display of Conan's ironic sense of humor). Finally, Conan rides away into the desert with gold and a jeweled magic ring which started the night's intrigues: it turns out Conan had recognized the Khan and his mistress from the beginning, and had shrewdly stolen the ring from the insane Khan during their first encounter. ===== One night in the Nemedian municipality of Numalia, the second largest city of Nemedia, Conan enters a fantastic establishment: a great museum and antique house which citizens call the Temple of Kallian Publico. In the midst of robbing this museum, Conan finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation when the strangled corpse of the temple's owner and curator, Kallian Publico, is found by a night watchman. Though the Cimmerian is the prime suspect, the investigating magistrate, Demetrio, and the prefect of police, Dionus, show remarkable forbearance. The two allow Conan not only to remain free, but also to keep his unsheathed sword while their nervous men search the shadowy premises. It was a combination of Conan's massive physique, the fiery glare in his eyes, and the insistence that he'll disembowel the first person who tried to apprehend him which kept the royal guards at bay. As his on-scene investigation unfolds, the magistrate soon learns from Promero, Publico's clerk, that Publico had received from distant Stygia a strange bowl-like sarcophagus which now lies unsealed, open, and empty. This sarcophagus was said to be a priceless relic found among the darkened tombs far beneath the Stygian pyramids and sent to Caranthes of Hanumar, Priest of Ibis, "because of the love which the sender bore the priest of Ibis". Intercepting this rare item meant for Caranthes, Publico had believed the sarcophagus contained the fabled diadem of the giant-kings whose primordial kin dwelt in that dark southern land before the ancestors of the Stygians arrived. However, the object contained within was never the diadem, but something of a more insidious nature. While the magistrate and his men are baffled when uncovering this aforementioned information, the reader quickly begins to suspect the murderer may have been something other than entirely human and was contained within the now-opened sarcophagus. An inhuman scream forces the police to retreat from the museum, leaving Conan to fend for himself with the roaming "murderer". Soon, Conan eventually locates the culprit whom he hesitantly dispatches with his long sword. ===== Years after moving to Tokyo with her parents, Hinako returns to her hometown in rural Shikoku. She soon learns that her childhood friend, Sayori, died several years ago and that Sayori's mother, a Shinto priestess(?) who used to perform séances and exorcisms, has gone almost insane with grief. After seeing Sayori's yūrei several times during the night, Hinako consults with some local experts on the paranormal and discovers that Sayori's mother has something planned for her daughter. ===== Urban Strike takes place in 2001 (2006 in SNES/Game Gear/Game Boy release) and centers around the antagonist H. R. Malone, a millionaire media mogul, ex- presidential candidate, and fanatic cult leader who promotes a moralistic agenda that will expunge corruption from America and promises that his personal security force will tackle crime. Despite being considered dangerous, Malone's charisma has won him many American followers. As the plot begins, one of Malone's men is revealed to be "Agent Ego" (played by co-Designer, Tony Barnes), a spy for the fictional "Strike C.O.R.E." organization and a former co-pilot from the events of Jungle Strike. Ego reports to his superiors that Malone is planning construction of a superweapon with which to destabilize the U.S. government, and that valuable components are being collected in Hawaii. However, he is unaware that Malone has penetrated his cover, and Ego is killed with a car-bomb. The player character takes the news of Ego's death very personally. The first mission takes place in Hawaii, where the player character intercepts Malone's attempted theft of giant mirrors and sees to the rescue of a plastic surgeon being targeted by assassins. After the mission's completion, the plastic surgeon reveals that he had operated on a horribly deformed burn victim in Washington DC many years ago, who later turned out to be Malone. The plastic surgeon says he was marked for death because he had recently deduced that the man he actually operated on was Carlos Ortega, who was one of the two main antagonists in (and was presumed killed at the end of) Jungle Strike. After further missions in Mexico and San Francisco, Malone finishes the superweapon and fires it at New York City, causing mass destruction and chaos. As the player flies out to control the damage and rescue civilians, Malone fires the weapon twice more, allowing Strike C.O.R.E. to track its location: a facility located near Las Vegas. After infiltrating the facility and capturing Malone, the madman attempts to kill the player by detonating a time-bomb strapped to his chest, but the player drops Malone onto his own superweapon as it detonates, destroying them both at once. ===== An ancient wizard named Thugra Khotan is awoken from his 3,000 year slumber by Shevatas, a Zamoran thief (he doesn't survive the experience). Soon, Thugra remembers his dream of world domination. He assumes the alias of Natohk (The "Veiled One"), assembles an army of desert nomads, and begins his strategy on conquering the Hyborian nations. However, the tiny kingdom of Khoraja - with a mixed Hyborian/Shemite population, culture, and religion - stands in his way. Khoraja is presently ruled by the beautiful Yasmela, sister of the king, who is now a prisoner in neighboring Ophir. In fear of Natohk's potential invasion, Yasmela seeks advice from the long-forgotten god of her ancestors, Mitra. Eventually, Yasmela is told to travel into the streets and offer her kingdom's defenses to the first man she meets. Fortunately, the first man she encounters is Conan the Cimmerian. Conan already has a position in Yasmela's army. Now, he's given full command over Khoraja's royal military, much to the confusion of his more cultured comrades. Conan's efforts are ridiculed by the arrogant officers below him who fall victim to Natohk's magic. Meanwhile, Natohk has made it clear conquering the world isn't the only goal on his agenda: He also desires Queen Yasmela for himself. The story climaxes with an epic battle. Conan defeats Natohk's army and the wizard devises a final attempt in capturing Yasmela. Conan goes after Natohk and confronts him near the ruins of a Stygian temple. ===== Having colonized many worlds in the Spiral Arm, humanity is divided into three branches: the Earth-based Terran Hanseatic League (Hansa) and its subordinate planets, the independent world Theroc with its telepathic green priests, and the Roamers, interplanetary traders who prefer starships and hidden bases to a conventional planet-based civilization. The only other known intelligent species in the galaxy are the Ildirans, an ancient civilization at its peak, and the long-extinct Klikiss, whose planets remain empty but for their unusual ruins. As the novel begins, the Hansa's test of a recently discovered ancient Klikiss technology that can convert gas giant planets into suns is a success. The ignition of the planet Oncier will eventually make its satellite moons into habitable worlds perfect for human colonization, but it has also murdered millions of hydrogues, a previously- unknown race of gas elementals living in the high-pressure core of the planet. Confined in crystalline globe ships, the hydrogues retaliate by systematically destroying several Roamer skymines, floating factories which harvest the hydrogen used to produce the vital stardrive fuel ekti from the atmosphere of gas giants. The powerful warglobes also destroy the moons of Oncier and the scientific space station there before warning the human race to stay away from all gas giants or be destroyed. This ultimatum is punctuated by the murder of the Hansa's puppet king Frederick and everyone in his vicinity. As a lack of ekti will cripple both the human and Ildirian civilizations, and the hydrogues refuse to negotiate or even respond to human overtures of peace, their ultimatum is effectively a declaration of war. The humans and Ildirans mount a defense to protect their interests, but the virtually indestructible hydrogue ships and their lightning and ice weapons seem an unconquerable enemy. Arrogant Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas, the real power behind the Hansa, installs the young Prince Peter as Frederick's successor. Hand-picked by Basil from obscurity and specially trained for his role as Hansa figurehead, the new King Peter is soon at odds with the Chairman, whose governing style seems more to Peter like a self-serving consolidation of power than a means to lead the human population in a meaningful way. Meanwhile, the sudden appearance of the hydrogues complicates matters for Ildiran Mage-Imperator Cyroc'h; he and his predecessors have kept the existence of the hydrogues a secret for millennia as they plotted a means to neutralize the threat should the hydrogues return. Cyroc'h's own heir, Prime Designate Jora'h, has fallen in love with the human green priest Nira Khali, and Cyroc'h soon comes to believe that her telepathic abilities could be of use to his failing hydrogue plan. ===== Five years after the war began, the hydrogues maintain absolute control over the galaxy's gas giant planets. On Earth the government is tightening its grip on rebellious colonies while seeking to dominate the other humans throughout the galaxy, unaware that the seemingly-benign Klikiss robots, left behind when the Klikiss died out, are actually planning the destruction of the human race as they did their parent Klikiss. The Roamer skymines have been abandoned or destroyed, but innovative clans have come up with smash-and-grab tactics to acquire what ekti they can. The worldtrees of Theroc have been revealed as the verdani, ancient rivals of the hydrogues. Though a heartbroken Jora'h believes she is dead, Nira is secretly a captive being used in the clandestine breeding scheme of Mage-Imperator Cyroc'h to create an Ildiran capable of communicating with the hydrogues. So far the best candidate appears to be Osira'h, the secret daughter of Nira and Jora'h. The Hansa begins building military robots (Soldier compies) to fight the war using technology copied from Klikiss robots. Two new races of elemental entities are rediscoveredthe fire-based faeros and aquatic wentalswho join in the war against their ancient enemies, the hydrogues. ===== The elemental war between hydrogues and faeros continues to sweep across the Spiral Arm, extinguishing suns and destroying planets. Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas (and his figurehead King Peter) attempts to unify all branches of the human race to stand together against the threat, even if they must resort to deception and oppression to do so. The Roamer clans and the people of Theroc do not give up their independence easily, however, and Basil's policies soon force the disparate civilizations to forge alliances of their own. Partly as a distraction from their peril and partly as a desperate hope, the Hansa launches an ambitious new colonization program using the network of recently discovered Klikiss transportals, instantaneous gateways that take colonists to many abandoned Klikiss worlds. On the planet Ildira, newly crowned Mage- Imperator Jora'h faces the responsibilities and secrets his predecessors have imposed upon him: a breeding program forced upon a colony of human captives and an uneasy pact with the Klikiss robots that could result in the extinction of the human race. But Jora'h must also survive an open rebellion among the Ildirans unleashed by his own brother Rusa'h, the first in 10,000 years. ===== Ildiran Mage-Imperator Jora'h is preoccupied with the bloody rebellion that his brother Rusa'h has launched across the Ildiran planets, with the help of Jora'h's own first-born son Thor'h. But as the war between the hydrogues and faeros continues, the hydrogues offer the Ildirans peace if they help destroy the humans. On Earth, Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas continues his red-herring war against the Roamer clans. With some of their hidden bases found and destroyed, the wandering Roamers scatter into hiding, trying to keep their culture and government intact, even when faced with enemies from all sides. Speaker Cesca Peroni, leader of the Roamers, finds herself stranded on a small icy outpost where miners have uncovered a hibernating army of Klikiss robots. It soon becomes clear to Cesca that the black robots are anything but benign. ===== With the fate of the Hansa seeming darker than ever, the increasingly desperate and irrational Chairman Basil Wenceslas's punitive treatment of Hansa colonies and free-spirited Roamers, as well as his refusal to aid the burned forest world of Theroc, has made enemies all around. Earth’s own Soldier compies have rebelled thanks to secret programming by the Klikiss robots, taking over most of the Earth Defense Force battleships across the Spiral Arm. Pushed into a corner, Ildiran Mage-Imperator Jora'h has reluctantly agreed to assist the hydrogues in exterminating the human race so that the Ildirans will be spared. Ancient verdani thorny tree battleships arrive after a long journey across the universe to aid Theroc, while the Roamers' plan to seed aquatic planets with wentals to rejuvenate the elemental race comes to fruition. The final hydrogue assault on Earth is put in motion, and with the Hansa's loss of military might and allies, the outlook is grim. ===== The hydrogues have been defeated across the galaxy thanks to the combined efforts of the Earth Defense Forces, the Ildiran Empire, the Roamer clans, the wentals and the verdani. But as the various factions try to recover, Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas intends to brutally crush any resistance to his rule. King Peter and Queen Estarra, having escaped Earth and Basil's plot to kill them and their unborn child, have fled to Theroc and declared a new Confederation. Peter embraces the Roamer clans, denouncing Basil and assuring that the essential Theron green priests across the galaxy will not aid the Hansa until Basil abdicates. An ever-growing number of colony worlds, already devoted to Peter and tired of their treatment by the Hansa, also declare their independence from Basil's government and ally themselves with Peter. Despite several losses in their bid to seize control of the galaxy, the Klikiss robots continue to attack helpless worlds with stolen Earth battleships. They are stunned to come face to face with their ancient enemies the Klikiss, who have returned after 10,000 years intent on reclaiming their former worlds and willing to annihilate anyone who happens to be in the way. Jora'h's brother Rusa'h, thought killed when his rebellion was crushed, returns as an avatar of the faeros, devouring the souls of planet after planet of Ildirans to rejuvenate the weakened fire elementals and destroy Jora'h. ===== At the end of his rope, Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas has alienated all of the other factions in the Spiral Arm in his increasingly myopic and destructive struggle to reconsolidate the power he once held over the human race. With the Ildiran Mage-Imperator his hostage to thwart an Ildiran alliance with King Peter's Confederation, Basil installs a new puppet king of the Hansa: Peter's own brother Rory, thought killed years before. Rusa'h and the faeros have seized control of Ildira and Theroc with much loss of Ildiran and human lives. ===== A few hundred years before the events of Hidden Empire (2002), eleven generation ships had been dispatched from an overpopulated Earth to find new planets to colonize. One of the ships, the Caillié, ultimately stumbles upon the Ildirans, an advanced race capable of faster-than-light travel. The Ildirans help the inhabitants of the Caillié settle the planet Theroc and rescue most of the remaining human ships, then send an envoy to Earth seeking an alliance. Earth is now governed by the wizened King Ben, with Hansa Chairman Malcolm Stannis pulling the strings behind the scenes. ===== Conan and his ally, Natala the Brythunian, are the sole survivors of Prince Almuric's army which swept through the Lands of Shem and the wilderness of Stygia. With a Stygian host on their heels, Almuric's soldiers had cut their way across the kingdom of Kush, only to be annihilated near the edge of Stygia's southern desert. In the resulting conflict, when the Stygians and Kushites surrounded the trapped remnants, Conan sliced his way through the Stygian militia and fled on a camel, with Natala, into the southern desert. For days, the two pushed on, seeking water, until their camel died. Then, they continued on foot. When their canteen is empty, Conan prepares to slay Natala in an act of mercy-killing. However, they spy the distant city of Xuthal. Eventually, Conan and Natala enter Xuthal while pursued by an entrance guard. They soon encounter Thalis, a beautiful Stygian mage, who reveals the history of her fabled city and the existence of Thog. Thog is a monstrous demon from the city-states of ancient Valusia, his current form summoned by the sorcerers of Xuthal from the darkness between the stars. For an ageless time, Thog has haunted the depths of Xuthal in search of living flesh to assuage the continuing manifestation of his body on the physical plane. Thalis falls in love with Conan and, to eliminate her rival, kidnaps Natala in the hopes of sacrificing her to Thog. However, Thalis pauses to strip Natala of her tunic and, with a jewel-handled whip, flagellates the Brythunian. In the middle of this bizarre act, Thog suddenly appears, snatches Thalis, and devours her. The demon returns for Natala, but Conan intervenes and saves her. Conan fights Thog with all his might, but is scarcely harming the demon's supernatural form, while receiving hideous wounds in the coils of its pseudopods and tentacles. However, Conan manages to pierce what he perceives as the "head" of the monster from below and precipitates it down a well. Conan frees Natala, who sets forth to help him, but he's rapidly dying (this is the closest Conan ever gets to death in all of his saga). Fortunately, the Brythunian girl soon brings him a jade goblet full of golden wine, retrieved from a room with a dreaming woman of Xuthal in it. The beverage proves to be a life-giving elixir briefly mentioned by Thalis in a previous conversation, which miraculously heals all of Conan's wounds. Finally, the couple retrieve enough food and water to cross the rest of the desert with. The two depart toward the horizon while Natala jokingly blames Conan for having aroused Thalis' lustful nature and him retorting playfully about women's jealousy. ===== This film picks up the story 15 years after the events of the first film. Drum (Norton) has been born to a white prostitute (Vega), who raises him with her black lesbian lover (Kelly). Drum grows up to be a fighter and is often forced to bare-knuckle-box other slaves for the entertainment of the owners, one of whom is a gay Frenchman named Bernard DeMarigny (Colicos). DeMarigny wants to sleep with Drum, but his advances are rejected by the slave and DeMarigny vows revenge against Drum. Drum and his friend Blaise (Kotto) are eventually sold to plantation owner Hammond Maxwell (Oates) and are both taken to his plantation to work. Regine (Grier) is purchased by Maxwell as well and is taken to the plantation for his own personal desires as a bedwench. After arriving at Maxwell's plantation, Regine is set up in the bedroom above Hammond. Augusta Chauvel (Lewis), Maxwell's fiancé is jealous and has other plans for Regine. Maxwell's daughter Sophie (Smith) wants to sleep with Drum, but he won't for fear of being killed. Sophie also attempts to sleep with Blaise and after being rejected, tells her father that Blaise has raped her, which is a lie. Blaise is put in chains and Maxwell decides that he must be castrated for the alleged rape. Meanwhile, a dinner party has been arranged to celebrate the engagement of Maxwell and Chauvel. DeMarigny has been invited to attend the celebration and the guests end up discussing the best way to castrate a slave at the dinner party. While the party is taking place, Drum frees Blaise from his chains and there ends up being a violent uprising from the slaves at the engagement party. DeMarigny shoots Blaise during the fighting and Drum in turn grabs hold of DeMarigny's privates and rips them off. Both slaves and slavers are killed during the battle, but Maxwell and Chauvel are all saved by Drum. In appreciation for saving his family, Maxwell sets Drum free. ===== The story begins when Olivia, having fled from her captivity in the city of Akif, is finally cornered near a marsh on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Olivia's pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. Suddenly, before Amurath can lay his hands on Olivia, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has witnessed all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There, he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly kills Amurath, as he and Olivia climb aboard a raft while deciding to lie low for a while. Only then does the stranger identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian. Illustration for "Shadows in the Moonlight" on p. 467 of Weird Tales by Hugh Doak Rankin, April 1934 The couple sail towards a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping near ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a bizarre dream where she witnesses a tribe of men being transformed into the statues by a vengeful god, and is convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced by Olivia's fears; he's more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives. Eventually, a pirate ship arrives on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the foliage, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from another pirate's sling. The pirates capture Conan and drag him to the ruins, where they discuss his fate, before passing out drunk. Meanwhile, Olivia narrowly escapes from a dark figure which pursues her close to the ruins. Olivia sneaks past the drunken pirates and frees Conan. Soon, Conan slays the dark figure pursuing Olivia, a giant ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the ape, he hears the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins. The two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of bruised and bewildered pirates appear while asking for his aid in leaving the "devil island". Conan challenges the pirates and they accept him as their new captain. At the end, Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her into a "Queen of the Blue Sea". ===== In "The Devil in Iron", an ancient demon, Khosatral Khel, is awakened on the remote island of Xapur due to the actions of a greedy fisherman. Upon reawakening, Khel resurrects his vast fortress which once dominated the island, including its cyclopean walls, gigantic pythons, and undead citizens. Meanwhile, Conan— a leader of the Vilayet kozaks— is tricked by an evil governor from Turan, Jehungir Agha, into pursuing Princess Octavia to the island of Xapur. Jehungir Agha plans for Conan to fall into a prepared trap on the island. The unforeseen resurrection of Khel and his ancient fortress, however, interrupts Agha's original plan. When Conan arrives on Xapur, he must battle against not only the mercenaries employed by Jehungir Agha, but a giant serpent and the iron-fleshed monstrosity who is Khosatral Khel. ===== This Conan story is set in mythical Hyborian versions of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (Vendhya and Afghulistan respectively). The death of Bunda Chand, emperor of Vendhya, (via a curse channeled through Chand's soul with a lock of his own hair) leads to the ascension of his sister, Devi Yasmina, who vows to exact vengeance on his killers, the Black Seers of Yimsha. Meanwhile, Conan has become chief in a tribe of Afghuli hillmen. Seven of his warriors have been captured by the Vendhyans and Yasmina intends on using the hillmen as collateral to force Conan into killing her enemies. However, Conan infiltrates the fortress where his men are imprisoned and kidnaps Yasmina instead (with the intent of exchanging her for his seven men). Inside his subterranean temple, Yimsha agrees on an alliance with Kerim Shah, a mercenary working for King Yezdigerd of Turan, who had arranged for Bunda Chand's assassination so he could conquer Vendhya in the resulting turmoil. However, a man named Khemsa, who was Kerim Shah's contact with the Black Seers, has fallen in love with the devi's maid Gitara. These two abandon their previous agenda, execute the captured hillmen, and pursue Queen Yasmina to kill her as well. Cover of the first stand-alone book publication of the novella, published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1974. Art by David Ireland Conan escapes into an Afghuli village near Zhaibar Pass and the Himelian Mountains (Hyborian equivalents of Khyber pass and the Himalayas). Yar Afzal, chief of a Wazuli village, is murdered by Khemsa and the natives accuse Conan of killing him. With Yasmina's aid, he manages to escape. Soon, Khemsa catches up with Conan and Yasmina. However, his attack is interrupted by four rakshasas and their master, Yimsha. The wizard throws his former servant down a cliff, kills Gitara, stuns Conan with an ancient spell, and captures Yasmina. Khemsa survives his fall from the cliffside long enough to give Conan a warning and his magic girdle. Soon after, Kerim Shah and a tribe of Irakzais (Orakzai Pashtun people), hired by King Yezdigerd to capture Yasmina, encounter Conan. They join forces to rescue Yasmina, both explaining their private reasons for doing so, and approach the lair of Yimsha. Most of the men are killed in their attempt. However, following Khemsa's advice, Conan succeeds in killing the Black Seers and rescuing Yasmina. As they escape, the two encounter the Turanian army in battle with Conan's tribe of hillmen, who blame him for the death of their captive fellows. Despite their attitude, Conan feels obliged to assist his tribe - but he is also loath to abandon the Devi. His problem is resolved when a Vendhyan army, invading the mountains to rescue their queen, arrives. Together, Conan with his Afghulis and Yasmina with her cavalry, they defeat the Turanian army. Conan leaves with the hillmen and Yasmina returns to her country. Though they are strongly attracted to each other, the affair between Conan and Yasmina never gets beyond some kissing. Their respective roles pull them in opposite directions - she is Queen of Vendhiya, he's leader of nomadic hillmen engaged in constant robbery against Yasmina's domain. In the original Howard stories, they never meet again. In the 1957 novel Return of Conan, Björn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp allow the two rivals in encountering each other again for one night of intensive love-making, many years later - when he is already King of Aquilonia and there is no more a conflict of interest. ===== The story begins with Livia, a soft and civilized woman, being held captive by the Bakalah tribe. They captured Livia and her brother when the two were traveling across a remote jungle, and eventually the natives kill Livia's brother in an act of excruciating torture. Conan appears as the leader of the Bamulas, a rival tribe. He negotiates a possible truce with the Bakalah, and plans for a joint attack on Jihiji. After realizing Conan is white and may feel some kinship towards her, Livia asks him for his assistance against the black tribesmen. When Conan rejects her proposal, Livia offers herself to him as a reward for rescuing her. Keeping his side of the bargain, Conan and his warriors proceed with a surprise attack on the Bakalahs in the middle of their celebratory feast. Soon, he slays their brutal chief by slicing his head off. The resulting carnage pushes the proper and civilized girl to her breaking point. When Livia sees Conan, drenched in blood and walking toward her bamboo hut while carrying the chief's head, she believes he is coming to claim his reward. Frightened, she breaks their agreement by fleeing on horseback into the nearby jungle. After escaping from the village, her horse stumbles and Livia is thrown onto the ground. Unharmed, she descends into a mysterious valley filled with beautiful orchids. The valley is also inhabited by a tribe of brown-skinned women with a lesbian culture. Believing she has found shelter from the blood-soaked "male brutality" of her Cimmerian savior, Livia feels safe around the eerie beauty of her surroundings. Mesmerized by the hallucinogenic scent of a native flower, Livia barely notices she's being led to an altar-like section of the glade, where she is to be sacrificed to a bat-like entity, a "devil from the Outer Dark". Conan, having pursued Livia and heard her cries for help, rushes to her aid. After a brutal fight, Conan drives away the bat-like creature. Conan tells Livia that he regrets the "foul bargain" he made with her and has no intention of forcing her into having sex, which in his view would have been as damnable an action as raping her. Since he believes Livia is not brave enough to survive within the Black Kingdoms, Conan tells her he'll guide her to the Stygian borders where they will send her home to Ophir. Embarrassed by her grateful reaction, he tells Livia she's too soft to be "the proper woman for the war chief of the Bamulas". ===== "The Pool of the Black One", which appeared in Weird Tales magazine a month after "The Slithering Shadow", is a pirate-themed adventure story and occurs in the Western Sea of the Hyborian Age. The story begins with Conan adrift at sea, after escaping from rival pirates in the Barachan Isles. He climbs aboard the Wastrel, a ship belonging to a different pirate order who are bitter rivals of the Barachan ones. After a tense conversation with the captain and his brawl with a Zingaran bully, Conan is begrudgingly accepted as a lowly member of the crew and is allowed to remain on board. The vessel sails to a mysterious island, where the captain hopes to find a legendary treasure and, perhaps, much more. All hands go ashore, including the tyrannical captain and his mistress Sancha. The island seems deceptively inviting, as the crewmembers gorge themselves on sweet fruit - which causes them to fall asleep. While on the island, Conan confronts his captain alone in the jungle and slays him in a vicious duel. However, the mysterious kidnapping of a crew member convinces Conan to travel deeper into the jungle. The island is revealed to be inhabited by a tribe of tall black humanoids (not black as in kushite or zembabweian, but rather jet black with strange golden-glowing eyes and clawed hands) who capture the crew, force one of the pirates into performing an ancient ritual (which involves having him dance and cavort wildly to the tune of a bizarre flute-like instrument with the power to "lay bare the most secret lusts and passions of one's soul"), and proceed to dunk some of Conan's crewmembers in the eponymous pool, which transformed his men into shrunken figures. Thousands of such figures placed across shelves at the side of the pool indicate that the humanoids have been doing this for countless years, and this accounts for many ships which sailed into the west and never returned. Conan rescues the remaining captives, including Sancha, and rallies them to fight against the black humanoids. After a brutal fight, Conan slays the leader of the black humanoids who, before falling dead, utters an ancient formula (the only words ever spoken by the taciturn beings) which triggers a self-destruct device inside the pool. Its sickly and verdant fluids erupt upwards like a geyser and, seemingly broke free of some mystical yoke, proceeds to chase after the surviving pirates, who all scamper wildly towards the Wastrel. Fortunately, the crew manages to raise anchor and set sail literally seconds before the snake-like mass of fluid could touch their ship's hull. Conan warns his crew about the powers of the greenish fluid, leading the way during their rush for the ship and jumping at the helm as soon as the Wastrel departs; bloodied by their battle against the Black Ones and shocked by these supernatural events, the surviving crew readily accept Conan as their new leader. Soon, Conan asserts his authority as captain and claims Sancha as his prize. The story concludes with the Cimmerian dreaming of raiding seaports and of the future plunder he will acquire. ===== "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" is the earliest chronological story by Robert E. Howard in terms of Conan's life. The brief tale is set somewhere in frozen Nordheim, geographically situated north of Conan's homeland, Cimmeria. Conan is depicted by Howard as an young mercenary, traveling among with the golden-haired Aesir in a war party. Shortly before the story begins, a hand-to-hand battle has occurred on an icy plain. Eighty men ("four score") have perished in bloody combat, and Conan alone survives the battlefield where Wulfhere's Aesir "reavers" faced the Vanir "wolves" of Bragi, a Vanir chieftain. Thus, the story opens. Following his fierce battle against the red-haired Vanir, Conan, lying exhausted on a corpse-ridden battlefield, is visited by a beautiful and partially-nude woman identifying herself as "Atali". Upon her bodice, she wears a transparent veil: a wisp of gossamer that wasn't spun by human origin. The mere sight of her strange beauty awakens Conan's lust and, when she repeatedly taunts him, he insanely chases Atali for miles across the snow-covered region while attempting to capture her. Mocking him with each step, Atali lures Conan into an ambush. Undaunted by the snare, Conan slays her hulking twin brothers, two Frost Giants, and captures Atali in his arms. However, Atali calls upon her father, Ymir, to save her. Before Conan is able to ravish her, Atali disappears in a stroke of lightning which seemingly transforms the landscape and renders him unconscious. Later, when his Aesir comrades arrive, Conan believes he simply dreamed the bizarre encounter. Suddenly, Conan realizes he's still gripping onto a translucent veil which served as the sole garment of the Frost-Giant's daughter. The utilization of poetic descriptions throughout this tale is quite strong, and on par with Howard's "Queen of the Black Coast". However, the narrative is often criticized by Howard scholars for not having the more detailed plotting of his superior Conan stories such as "The Black Stranger". Largely, this is because Howard was aiming for a mythological feel, something to which the story is eminently suited. This is the only Conan story in which other characters refer to him as "a southerner". In all the rest of his wanderings, Conan is invariably "a barbarian from the cold north", but for the Aesir and Vanir, Cimmeria is a southern land, a bit less cold than theirs. ===== The story begins with Conan in the Pictish Wilderness, fleeing native warriors who are now hunting him. To escape his pursuers, Conan ascends a nearby crag of rock. Suddenly, he sees the Picts inexplicably abandon their chase and turn back. Soon, Conan realizes this spot must be considered a forbidden place to the Picts. The hill turns out to hold a treasure cave along with the preserved bodies of a pirate captain, Tranicos, and his men. Conan's attempt to remove the treasure proves futile, as a demon of mist appears and attempts to strangle him. He barely escapes with his life, leaving the treasure undisturbed. Coinciding with Conan's attempt at looting the treasure is the main plot of a character named Count Valenso Korzetta, a former nobleman from Zingara. Vanlenso has fled his homeland to escape a demon whom he double- crossed, only to end up on the western shores of the Pictish territory. With his entourage are his niece, the Lady Belesa, and her handmaiden, Tina, along with other soldiers and retainers. The Count is stunned when he learns that a buccaneer, Black Zarono, has also landed on the shores, followed by the pirate Strombanni. Both pirates believe Valenso has traveled to this deserted region in search of the legendary Treasure of Tranicos. The buccaneers are both bitter enemies and bring their feud towards the Count's stronghold. During a meeting one night between the Count, Black Zarono, and Strombanni, Conan surprisingly emerges from behind some drapery. All eyes are on Conan as he enters the room. The men learn from Conan that he, "himself", has discovered the Treasure of Tranicos and would be willing to share the loot with the others, if they help him retrieve it. They reluctantly make a thieves' pact and agree to join Conan, knowing full well that they will kill him once the treasure is in their possession. Conan, on the other hand, has something else in mind for his companions, chiefly trapping them in the treasure vault to have them be killed by the demon, taking the treasure with the crews of both ships, and sailing away. Conan's scheme ultimately fails, and the sailors find themselves trapped by Picts surrounding the rocky crag. The pirates once again declare a truce to combat a common foe. Once the pirates escape the crag, it is a race to the Count's stronghold with the Picts in hot pursuit. The story ends with the defeat of the stronghold by the Picts as well as the deaths of the Count, Strombanni, and Black Zarono. However, Conan himself manages to escape across the fortress wall in the ensuing chaos, carrying both Belesa and Tina with him to safety. Howard's version of the story pointed toward a new piratical career for Conan; one of de Camp's major changes was to make it lead instead into the revolution that would bring the Cimmerian to the throne of Aquilonia. The Counts of Poitain arrive on the isolated shores, looking for Conan to lead them against the despotic King of Aquilonia, Numedides. Tranicos' treasure would be used to finance the rebel army which would transform Conan from a pirate and mercenary into a king. ===== The first film in the trilogy, God Forgives . . . I Don't, ended with Cat and Hutch driving away in a wagon in which they possessed the gold from a train robbery by Bill San Antonio, who had apparently died in a dynamite blast. Ace High begins with Cat and Hutch arriving in El Paso, where they unsuccessfully try to claim the bounty for Bill from his last earthly remains – Bill's boots and hat - even though they have no body or body parts. Failing that, they go to bank manager Harold – whom Bill in the first film disclosed as his partner in setting up the robberies – and announce themselves as Bill. After using physical force they are received and "convince" him (using force) to issue them a cashier's check to be paid out in gold. The banker visits condemned man Cacopoulos, who is to be hanged the next day, and offers to help him escape if he restores the money. That night, the deputy is knifed by two men, who let Cacopoulos out. He takes the dead man's gun and shoots the two, then pours himself a footbath and tests the dead men's boots to find a pair that fit. He then pays a visit to the bank manager and reminds him that he and two others put him in jail for 15 years, and on his release framed him for murder with a stolen knife - the same one that was used to kill the deputy. Consequently, he wants guarantees that he will not be tricked again. Harold throws the knife, but Cacopoulos swings the chair so it strikes the back, then swings back around and shoots the manager, adding that it is guarantee enough. Dressed as a peon on a donkey, Cacopoulos meets Cat and Hutch and robs them. They follow his trail south to Mexico and encounter people to whom he has given money – and a high wire performer Thomas and his assistant that he offered money to. They catch up with him in a village during a fiesta (that he has paid for). While Cat is lured away looking for him elsewhere, Caco, playing a joke on Hutch, appears before him and, in a quieter place, tells him about Harold and the other two ”friends” who shot his horse so he got caught after a bank robbery, and then framed him for murder. He says that he will give back their money, including what he has spent, if Hutch helps him collect his debts with the remaining two. The first one is Paco who is a ”revolutionary” shown presiding over a kangaroo court condemning men to death for ”not fighting for country and freedom.” His men capture Cacopoulos and Hutch, but Cat enlists help from another ”revolutionary”, Canganceiro, by telling him about Cacopoulos´ ”treasure.” Together they defeat Paco's men and Paco is killed by Cacopoulos, who in his wrath forgets to make him give back any money. After some pillaging by his men, Canganceiro starts another kangaroo court that executes people for ”fighting for country and freedom”, and Cacopoulous is jailed until he tells where his treasure is. Caco attempts to escape by lulling the guards to sleep by telling the story of his heritage: his grandfather was a Greek who married a young Cherokee woman, and his father was one of their children, how his father raised his family in a small mining town until he was mysteriously murdered, and how his grandfather, carrying little Caco, had to take his own son's body back to his own tribe. Hutch and Cat then help Cacopoulos escape, but he shoots off their saddles, quoting his grandfather that one partner is too little, and two are too many. They ambush the last two men of the pursuing Canganceiro bunch and take their horses. They now follow Cacopoulos in the opposite direction, encountering dead Canganceiro men along the way, the last ones with their leader just outside Memphis. In Memphis, they find Caco washing dishes in a saloon, together with the acrobat and assistant – because in this town people are only interested in gambling, substantiated by the fact that Cacopoulos has lost all his money while he was looking for Drake, the third ”partner”. Cat and Hutch visit Drake's casino. Hutch loses all his money, while Cat spots the croupier looking at a hole in the ceiling. They put up Hutch to win money in a prizefight, buy weapons and give the rest to Cacopoulos with instructions for him to show up with them in the casino tomorrow. That night, with some acrobatic prowess, Thomas and Cat gain entrance to a room in the attic of the casino where there is a peek-hole down to the roulette table and a voice tube down to a basement room where a magnet can guide the roulette ball. Cat, Thomas and Hutch take positions in the two rooms. Cacopoulos, however, seeks the company of a saloon girl and wakes up in the morning robbed of his cash. He hastily replenishes it by forcibly inviting a bill collector to a card game that Cacopoulos ”wins.” He finally enters the casino, where he repeatedly puts the money on 13 until he breaks the bank with a $360,000 win. Drake and his men arrive and confront Cacopoulos, leading to a showdown. The opposing parties wait for the roulette ball to stop, while the customers lie down on the floor and a Viennese Waltz (suggested by Cacopoulos) is played. Drake's men are shot and he is wounded and taken by the vengeful customers, who realize they have been swindled. Cacopoulos faints from the shoot-out, but only his arm was wounded, and he leaves together with Cat and Hutch. ===== ===== Captain Nolan is an Irish Canadian who catches marine animals to pay off the mortgage on his boat and eventually return to Ireland. Nolan's crew is currently looking for a great white shark for a local aquarium, but a scientist named Ken is targeted by the shark. An orca intervenes and kills the shark, saving Ken's life. This switches Nolan's target to orca. Later while hunting with his crew, Nolan tries to capture what he believes to be a male orca, but mistakenly harpoons a pregnant female. Nolan and his crew get the orca on board, where she subsequently miscarries. The captain hoses the dead fetus overboard as her mate looks on, screaming in anguish. Seeking release for his near-dead mate, the male orca tries to sink the ship. One of Nolan's crew members, Novak, cuts the female off the ship, but the male leaps up and drags him into the sea. The following day, the orca pushes his now-dead mate onto the shore. Al Swain berates Nolan for his actions after finding the dead whale. Nolan denies responsibility, but Swain and the villagers eventually find out his involvement. The villagers insist that he kill the orca, as the whale's presence is causing the fish that are vital to the village's economy to migrate. The orca terrorizes the village by sinking fishing boats in broad daylight and then breaking pipelines, thus destroying the village's fuel reserves. Rachel Bedford, a colleague of Ken's and a whale expert, shows Nolan how similar whales are to humans and tells him that, "If he (the orca) is like a human, what he wants isn't necessarily what he should have." Nolan confesses to Bedford that he empathizes with the whale, as his own wife and unborn child had previously been killed in a car crash caused by a drunk driver. Nolan promises Bedford that he will not fight the whale, but the orca attacks his seafront house where his injured crew member, Annie, is staying. The house starts slipping into the sea, and the whale bites Annie's left leg off. Nolan decides to fight the orca, but with Novak dead, and Annie maimed and unable to help, Nolan and Paul are now the only crew members left to take up pursuit. Bedford and Ken join the pursuit, along with a Native American man, Jacob Umilak, enlisted for his knowledge on orcas. The crew begins to follow the whale after he signals Nolan to follow him. Ken is leaning over the side when the whale surfaces and grabs him with its jaws, killing him. They follow the whale until they reach the Strait of Belle Isle, but when Paul starts to get into a lifeboat, the orca knocks Paul out of the boat and drowns him. The next day, the whale shoves an iceberg into the boat and starts to sink it. Nolan manages to harpoon the whale just as he and Bedford escape from the boat, but Umilak is crushed beneath an avalanche of ice just after sending out an SOS. Nolan and Bedford hide on an iceberg, although Nolan slips onto another. The orca separates the icebergs, trapping Nolan. The whale jumps onto the ice, causing it to tilt and sending Nolan into the water. The whale lifts Nolan up with his tail and throws him onto another iceberg, killing him, while Bedford looks on helplessly. With his revenge complete, the whale swims southward under the ice, while a helicopter is seen coming to rescue Bedford. As the credits begin to roll, the orca is shown swimming beneath the thick Arctic ice and butting his head against it, unsuccessfully attempting to surface for air and presumably dies from drowning. ===== This fictional story is set during The Great Depression and follows the career of Carl (Carlos) Webster, a crack shot, well respected, and mannerful lawman who killed his first criminal at the ripe age of fifteen. The reader follows Carlos' career as he begins a long dance of death with Jack Belmont, an ambitious criminal who wants to become public enemy number one. The story follows other characters like Louly Brown, a woman who loves Carlos, but wants to be known as Pretty Boy Floyd's gal. There's also writer Tony Antonelli, of True Detective magazine, who wants to write like a pro, and wishes Elodie, a gal he likes, wasn't a whore. The novel is full of grade-A action and violence perpetrated through criminals, lawmen, Tommy guns, bank robberies, hot cars, all falling against the backdrop of Prohibition. Carl Webster is presented as the son of Virgil Webster, introduced in Leonard's 1998 novel Cuba Libre. Both men reappear in Leonard's 2007 novel Up In Honey's Room. Real life contemporary bank robbers who make an appearance in the novel include Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson ===== The novel is split into three parts across various settings in Argentina and in Barcelona, and takes place in both domestic and public spaces. ;Part One The Story of the Night opens with a discussion of Richard's mother – her patriotism towards England before her death, and how Richard imagines she would have responded to the Falklands War. Richard experienced a lack of political awareness before the war when the generals were in power, but he recalls one time he was having sex with a dark-haired man and heard a revving sound outside. When Richard asked his partner what the noise was, he responded that the police station opposite were using a car to power cattle rods for torture. Richard attends university during the Dirty War. He befriends Jorge Canetto, the (straight) son of a wealthy family; he teaches Jorge English and develops a crush on him. He eventually confesses to Jorge that he is gay, to Jorge's disapproval. One evening his mother asks him if Jorge is gay and Richard, surprised, reveals his homosexuality to his mother. The novel then flashes back to Richard's childhood. His mother's family immigrated from England to Argentina when she was a child and, as a result, Richard himself felt he was English growing up. After his father's death, he and his mother were left without funds. Richard's aunts and uncles on his father's side were stingy, and provided little money. His mother decided they would stay with her sister (Aunt Matilda) in Molino, but they soon discover that Matilda and her family are very poor. They are put up in a shed by Matilda's tiny cottage. In the following days, Richard's cousin takes him to play with other boys who live on the estate. Three of these boys take Richard to a barn where they all disrobe and masturbate together. Richard develops a crush on one of the boys (Juan), but discovers that there are rules to this "game" after Juan calls him "queer" for trying to kiss him. Eventually his Uncle and mother fall out, and so Richard and his mother move back to Buenos Aires. Back at home his mother finds a job working in a "very refined" hotel, and is given some money by the English community in Buenos Aires to tide her over. Back in the present-day, Richard attends university and his mother works in the hotel. Jorge invites Richard on a three-week visit to Barcelona, a friend of Jorge's had pulled out at the last minute. Whilst there, the two meet up with a group of young Chilean refugees from the Pinochet regime. Elena, one of the two Chilean girls, attaches herself to Jorge, but Jorge prefers the other girl, Maria Jose. Nonetheless, Jorge has sex with Elena every night. As Jorge and Richard are sharing a room, Jorge makes Richard pretend to be asleep whilst they are in the bed next to him. It is revealed that two or three of the Chileans had been arrested and Raul, who had not been very political, had been tortured. Jorge sleeps with Maria Jose and then leaves Barcelona with her for a while. Richard continues to spend time with the Chileans and develops a crush on Raul. Elena gives Richard details about Raul's torture. She says that soon their group will be dispersed and they will have to settle in different places. Jorge and Maria Jose return and spend time alone away from the rest of the group. When it is time for Jorge and Richard to leave, Jorge gives the Chileans a fake address, in case they are arrested again. Jorge is afraid of what might happen if his address was found on them. Richard gives them his real address. They say goodbye and Richard and Jorge return to Argentina. Richard's mother seems much older and frailer than she did before he left for Spain. She begins to hate Argentina and wishes her father had stayed in England. She eventually becomes too incapacitated to work and so Richard gets a job teaching English. She has a stroke and loses her ability to speak. After a while she dies. Richard is emotionally numb for months after her death, but eventually begins to feel sexual desire again. He brings a man he met in the street back to his apartment. He starts to go to a sauna twice a week to meet other gay men. Argentina takes hold of the Malvinas. People treat Richard with a little suspicion due to his being half English, but Richard wholeheartedly supports Argentina. Jorge's father, Senor Canetto, invites Richard to their house for dinner. There are a number of middle-aged army men in attendance, all of whom are Peronists. As negotiations fail and the Falkland war breaks out, Richard often goes to the Canetto's for dinner and to discuss politics and the war. The men at these dinners are certain that Argentina will win but Richard is sceptical. Richard feels a great sense of shame for his country when Britain wins the war. Richard is at these dinners when important political changes happen; when Alfonsin is elected president, when the generals are put on trial etc. Richard discovers that Canetto has political ambitions, and hopes for American funding. Canetto invites Richard to meet some American diplomats. These Americans are hosting receptions and need someone who can talk to them about democratic possibilities, and who can speak both Spanish and English. ;Part 2 He goes to a party where he meets these American diplomats; Susan and Donal Ford. Initially he represents Canetto's interests, Canetto plans to run for president and needs someone who speaks English to convince the diplomats to fund him. Richard finds that he changes into someone new, someone more confident and assured when he talks to them. After this party he meets with Susan privately where they talk intimately; Richard tells her about his parents deaths and his relationship with his father. He goes to dinner with Susan and Donald where they talk politics. Richard says he thinks Argentinians are more concerned with issues like economics, employment and welfare than they are about people disappearing. The three of them begin having drinks and dinner often. They talk about informal things and relax together. Richard begins to hate his teaching job. One day he goes to the sauna and seduces a young man, but this seduction takes a long time so Richard decides not to go to work that day. He and the man have sex, and then Richard goes to a movie alone during his evening classes. He tells the Ford's how he despises his job and Susan offers him a new job looking after a group of American economists. The economists are coming to Argentina to suggest ways the country can reduce spending so that they can pay debts. Richard doesn't go back to his teaching job, after two weeks he is given a cheque and a letter of dismissal. He stays in a hotel with the economists and works with them well. Donald talks to Richard about a potential job working towards the privatisation of the oil industry. Whilst at a dinner with the economists, Richard talks to a friend from university who had also been working with the economists. Richard had been discussing with the Americans how he didn't know anyone who had disappeared and that the disappearances weren't important to his life. His friend from university talks about his girlfriend who he is certain was murdered when she disappeared. Richard returns to his apartment and finds letters from Jorge. Senor Canetto is exasperated and impatient to know whether the Americans will fund him. He meets with Susan and shows her these letters. She suggests that Canetto have a fund-raising party which they will attend to get to know him. She tells him more about the work he will do in the Oil industry. Richard goes to the Canetto's house to tell them Susan's suggestion and he meets Jorge's brother Pablo for the first time Jorge sets up a tennis game – he and Pablo play against Richard and Donald. Donald and Richard begin playing tennis privately. After one game Donald puts his arms around Richard whilst they are both naked and tries to lift him up. When Donald sees that Richard has an erection his suspicion that Richard is gay is confirmed. The Canettos throw their party, but Donald and Susan are unimpressed. Richard decides to go to a new sauna – it is Sunday and his usual one is closed. The new sauna is dingy, with a smell of rot and gay porn playing on a TV. In the changing rooms he runs into Pablo. Richard is desperate to talk to him, but cannot find him after Pablo disappears into the Sauna. Donald and Susan convince Richard to rent an office and become an independent consultant and translator. An oil tycoon, Frederico Arenas, offers Richard a job involving the "transport" of some goods, saying that no-one would question if these goods were called "oil" and transported as oil. Richard refuses his contract. Susan invites Richard for dinner while Donald is away. After dinner she brings him to her room. They both get naked and begin kissing but Richard cannot get an erection. Susan finds out he is gay. They cuddle in bed and Susan tells him that she was complicit in the overthrow in Chile. This upsets Richard as he remembers how Raul was tortured. Frederico Arenas calls Richard again, and Richard refuses his offer again. Susan finds out about a man running for president from La Rioja, his name is Menem. She asks Richard if he thinks Menem has a chance of winning the presidency. Richard flies out to meet her in La Rioja to check him out, and finds her there with Jorge. Jorge is unsubtle about his relationship with Susan, and the way he flaunts their affair echoes back to his actions in Barcelona. When Richard arrives home he agrees to Frederico Arenas's offer and becomes friends with him. Richard also becomes friends with Senor Canetto, who he tells about the oil industry. Canetto introduces Richard to an investment banker who will lend him large sums at a good rate of interest. They both invest in oil. Richard becomes incredibly rich through his investments, and his contract with Arenas. Richard attends dinner with the Canettos and runs into Pablo again. When Jorge and Pablo drive him to the train station after dinner, Pablo unties Richard's shoelaces in a flirty manner. ;Part 3 Part three is shaped around Richard's relationship with Pablo. As this section opens, Richard's infatuation with Pablo grows, but he is still unsure as to whether Pablo reciprocates his feelings. Susan sets Richard up on a date with an American, and he is surprised when Charles (the American) asks him to use a condom during sex due to his fear about aids. He phones Pablo shortly after this encounter and they start dating. Pablo tells Richard the real reason he moved to America to study; the family maid walked in on Pablo having sex with his friend, and shortly afterwards his father pushed for him to go to America. Pablo never asked his father if the maid told him what had happened, but decided he would rather move than ask him. Richard and Pablo fall in love. When Richard takes Pablo to visit his parents grave he thinks that after years of missing them and being alone he is finally content. They spend a weekend in Motevideo together. Whilst there they go to a gay club where they can kiss and slow dance in public without fear of judgement. Richard sublets an upscale marina house from a US diplomat and invites Pablo to share it with him. They move in together, pretending to Pablo's family that he is only moving into the spare room so Richard can save on rent. Pablo has two of his friends from California to stay, Mart and Jack who have been together for twelve years. When Pablo and Richard go to pick them up from the airport they learn that Mart has been treated badly by the airport security after they saw his AIDS medication. The four of them spend time together and Jack tells Richard that Pablo's ex-boyfriend died of aids, something which affected Pablo deeply. They think that Mart might have an infected line and take him to a doctor called Doctor Cawley. Before his friends leave, Pablo takes them and Richard to a restaurant and then to a bath-house where they scout for people to sleep with. Richard is initially reluctant to go to the bathhouse, but ends up enjoying sex with a stranger whilst there. Donald and Susan reveal that they will be leaving Argentina soon. At a tense dinner Donald asks Richard how long Susan and Jorge have been sleeping together, and Richard reveals to Susan that he has been dating Pablo. Susan and Donald have a farewell party. The next day Susan comes to say goodbye to Richard and they part. During this, it becomes clear that Mart is going to die and so Pablo decides to visit San Francisco where he and Jack live. Richard goes to Miami for work, and hooks up with Tom Shaw, a blonde American he'd met a few times during previous trips. Pablo phones Richard once, but then doesn't phone back or respond to any of Richard's calls. When Richard arrives home he sees that Pablo has moved out of their house, and left a note breaking up with him. Richard, devastated by the break-up, arranges to go to Tom Shaw's for the weekend and flies to New York. They do a lot of cocaine and have a lot of sex, but Tom is cold, only interested in physical gratification. Richard falls ill and decides he has to return to Argentina as soon as possible. On the flight home he cannot stop coughing, and is in agonising pain. Richard goes to the Hospital who tell him he has pneumonia. Whilst in the hospital he realises he doesn't have anyone to put as his emergency contact, and gives his dead mother's phone number and information. Doctor Cawley visits him and tells him he has Aids. Upon release from the hospital, he calls Susan and breaks down crying as he tells her of his illness. He moves back into his old apartment, goes back to work, and slowly becomes used to the fact that he is going to die. After his second meeting with Dr Cawley Richard runs into Pablo in the Doctor's waiting room. Pablo reveals that he was diagnosed with Aids during the weekend that Mart died. The pair lean on each other. Pablo has to stay in hospital to treat CMV, an eye disease that can cause blindness, and to have a line put in his chest. Richard visits him every day and when Pablo is released he takes him back to their house. The book ends as with Pablo deciding to live with Richard for a while, in their house by the Marina. ===== Terry-Thomas testifying on the stand during the trial. Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) is a newspaper cartoonist enjoying the comforts of a well-to-do and happy bachelorhood in his urban New York City town house, including his loyal and attentive valet, Charles Firbank (Terry-Thomas). Stanley's comic strip, Bash Brannigan, is a secret-agent thriller characterized by a high level of realism; no matter how outrageous the plot, Stanley will not allow Brannigan to do anything physically impossible or use gadgets that don't exist. He hires actors and sets up elaborate enactments of storylines, playing Brannigan himself, while Charles takes photographs that Stanley will use as visual references when drawing each strip. While attending a bachelor party for his friend Tobey Rawlins (Max Showalter), Stanley becomes very drunk and later marries a beautiful Italian woman (Virna Lisi), who earlier had stepped out of a large cake wearing a whipped cream bikini. An equally drunken judge (Sidney Blackmer) performed the impromptu wedding and the following morning, Stanley wakes up next to his naked wife. He asks his lawyer Harold Lampson (Eddie Mayehoff) to arrange a divorce but Lampson says this is impossible without legal justification. Stanley's new bride is cheerful, affectionate and sexy, but does not speak English. To learn the language, she spends time with Harold's manipulative, hen-pecking wife Edna (Claire Trevor), who speaks Italian. Unfortunately, in the process, she also learns Edna's ways. Charles, who has a policy of not working for married couples, takes a new job with Rawlins, who was jilted by his bride. With his valet now replaced by his wife, Stanley's bathroom fills with beauty products and lingerie and he is kept awake at night by television, which his wife watches to improve her English. Her high-calorie Italian cooking causes his weight to balloon and she announces that her mother will be coming from Rome to live with them. Adjusting to his marital status, Stanley changes his Bash Brannigan comic strip from the exploits of a secret agent to a household comedy, The Brannigans, again drawing from his real life. The comic strip turns Bash into a bumbling idiot and becomes wildly popular with the public. His wife continues to alter Stanley's lifestyle. Increasingly irritated by the restrictions of married life, Stanley calls a meeting of his associates at his all-male health club. When Edna learns of the meeting, she telephones Mrs. Ford and arouses her suspicions about Stanley's activities. Mrs. Ford sneaks into the club, resulting in Stanley being banned for violating its "no women" policy. Stanley concocts a plot in his comic strip to kill Brannigan's wife. He drugs her with "goofballs" and buries her alive in "the goop from the gloppitta-gloppitta machine" at the construction site next to their home, so that Brannigan can resume his career as a secret agent. As always, he enacts the events live before drawing the strip, again with the help of his old valet Charles Firbank. After drugging his wife during a wild cocktail party, Stanley carries her up to bed, then switches to a department-store mannequin to play out the burial in concrete. Mrs. Ford comes to, sees the finished comic strip describing Stanley's murder plan and concludes that her husband does not love her. While Stanley sleeps, she leaves, taking nothing with her. After reading The Brannigans strip in the newspapers and recognizing that Mrs. Ford has disappeared without a trace, the district attorney and police decide that Stanley must have murdered his wife. Stanley is arrested, charged with murder and his comic strips are used as prosecution evidence at the trial. When it appears that a conviction is likely, Stanley takes up his own defense and pleads justifiable homicide, appealing to the all-male jury's frustrations regarding their own wives. He is acquitted unanimously; the men in the courtroom applaud and carry Stanley out on their shoulders. to the consternation of women left sitting inside. When Stanley returns home, accompanied by a joyful Charles, it is immediately clear that his wife has returned and is in their bedroom. His valet reminds him that killing her now would not have any legal consequences; since Stanley has already been acquitted of her murder, trying him again would constitute double jeopardy. In his time without her Stanley came to realize that he loves his wife and when he enters their room he finds her in bed waiting for him. After putting her wedding ring back on her finger, they are reconciled. Charles meets Mrs. Ford's attractive mother; she has come from Rome (her daughter had run home to her) and is in the process of settling in to the Ford household. Like Charles, she has a prominent diastema (a space or gap between two teeth). Charles closes the door to her room so they can share an amorous moment alone. ===== As Nicholas Collini (Desi Arnaz) takes a new job as a civil engineer, his new bride Tacy (Lucille Ball) comes up with an idea to buy a trailer to travel around the USA to various work projects on which Nicky is employed, as well as to save money that would otherwise be spent on a house. Tacy also hopes to haul the trailer themselves to Nicky's new place of work in Colorado, as part of their honeymoon trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains. But the honeymoon trip, as well as happenings leading up to it, rapidly becomes a series of disasters. Shortly after arriving at the trailer show, Tacy and Nicky come across a large trailer home, which Tacy instantly falls in love with. To tow the trailer, the Collinis end up buying a new car and trailer hitch, and the money spent starts to mount up. Early in the trip, after being swamped by friendly trailer park neighbors their first night, Tacy decides to camp back in the woods the next night. But after turning on an old logging road, the trailer falls on its side into the mud during a rainstorm, which Nicky tries to level. The next day, the Collinis go to visit Tacy's relatives. But upon arriving at the home of her aunt and uncle, with other relatives and neighbors who are gathered watching, Nicky accidentally backs the trailer into their hosts' carport, partly destroying it as well as a prized rose bush. As Tacy and Nicky continue traveling, Tacy is determined to make their trailer home, collecting fruits and vegetables to can for winter, as well as rocks to decorate their front patio when they arrive at their ultimate destination in Colorado. Soon Tacy wants to learn how to drive the car, but after being constantly criticized by Nicky about her driving skills, Tacy gets out and jumps in the back, furious. After having another fight that evening over who was sleeping where for the night, they make up again. The following afternoon, Tacy attempts to cook dinner while Nicky drives, hoping to have dinner ready once he parks the trailer at their next stop. It goes awry, as the trailer moves and rocks, causing the dinner to be ruined and Tacy getting severely bruised. Afterwards, Nicky decides to take an offer on the trailer, hoping he and Tacy can move into an actual house. But Tacy is still determined to keep the trailer, and refuses to sell it. That evening, Nicky orders Tacy to get rid of all the rocks and canned foods she has collected before they make a cliffhanging ride on a narrow road through the mountains. But Tacy feels they are throwing away precious memories of their honeymoon, and decides to keep them hidden, so Nicky wouldn't find them. But as Nicky and Tacy drive up and down the mountain, everything Tacy has hidden rolls around inside the trailer, causing a big mess. Finally, when they reach the top of the mountain, the trailer falls over again, weighed down by all of the possessions. In a rage, Nicky takes everything Tacy has collected and throws it off the mountain. Tacy later storms off in a huff. As their marriage deteriorates, Nicky meets up with Tacy as she prepares to sell the trailer and move back home. Nicky attempts to apologize, but doesn't know where to start and instead leaves. As Nicky starts driving off in the pouring rain, Tacy runs to catch up with him. The two finally forgive each other, and tearfully reconcile. ===== In the year 3000, the space salvage ship Mother III happens upon the derelict transport Demeter. Captain Van Helsing (Casper Van Dien) and his crew board the abandoned ship. They explore the bridge and find the corpse of the Demeter's captain, (Udo Kier) tied to a chair and clutching a crucifix. Despite the misgivings of crew, particularly intern Mina Murry (Alexandra Kamp) and vice-captain Aurora (Erika Eleniak), the Captain claims salvage rights and decides to tow the ship back to Earth. As the crew prepares to return, Mother III suddenly uncouples from the Demeter, leaving them stranded with no means of communication. Later, cargo specialist 187 (Coolio) and deckhand Humvee (Tiny Lister) discover a cargo bay full of coffins. 187 speculates that the coffins could contain smuggled goods and opens one, only to find sand. Humvee heads back to the bridge while 187 stays to open the other coffins; he is soon mysteriously attacked. The crew rushes to 187's aid, only to find he is now a vampire. Under orders from his "master", 187 vows to kill the entire crew. Aurora, fleeing 187, runs into the "master" (Langley Kirkwood), a vampire named Count Orlock. Aurora makes her way to a recreation room where she reports her encounter with Orlock and reveals his intentions to return to Earth. Upon questioning, she is unable to explain how she escaped Orlock unharmed. Thinking Aurora could be lying, the Captain ties her up and Humvee guards her. Soon, 187 gains entrance and attacks Humvee, who manages to stake him in the heart with a pool cue. Aurora, still tied up, confesses that she is an undercover android cop investigating salvage activities. The Captain and Humvee feel betrayed, but untie her. Searching the ship's database, the Captain and the Professor (Grant Swanby), who uses a wheelchair, discover that the legendary vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing was one of the Captain's ancestors. The Professor believes Orlock will seek revenge against the Captain. The Captain learns how vampires can be stopped and decides to steer the Demeter on a course towards a binary star system. The Captain and Aurora are soon confronted by Orlock. Aurora leaves to rally reinforcements, leaving the Captain to fight Orlock alone. Orlock eventually gains the upper hand and turns the Captain into a vampire. Aurora and Humvee return, only to be attacked by the Captain. Aurora stakes him with another cue stick, but Mina (now a vampire herself) attacks, allowing Orlock to escape. Mina is dispatched by Humvee. The Professor, despairing of his chances of survival, finds Orlock, who promises to free him from his disability in return for aiding Orlock's return to Earth. When Aurora and Humvee return to the bridge, they find the Professor passed out. Aurora stabs him with a cross, revealing that he was a vampire. A furious Orlock tries to enter the bridge, but Humvee and Aurora close the door on him, cutting off his arm in the process. As the Demeter draws closer towards one of the binary stars, Humvee and Aurora confess to each other that neither knows how to pilot the ship. Knowing they are about to die, they take comfort in the fact that Orlock's plan to return to Earth has been foiled. Aurora reveals that she is programmed for sexual pleasure, and it is implied the two spend their final moments having sex. The movie ends with a video segment from the Demeter's Captain Varna, who announces his intention to sacrifice himself and his ship. The Demeter explodes in space, killing Humvee and Aurora, and destroying Orlock. ===== Sixteen-year-old Lynda Mansell lives in a small English seaside town in the early 1950s. She is feisty, outspoken and precocious and tries to shock other people with her histrionic behaviour and vulgar tongue (her favourite insult is "Up yer bum"). Bored with conventional jobs (which she frequently loses) and her town's dull young men, Lynda has her first sexual experience with Dave but after she has slept with one of her father's middle-aged friends, her life changes. She becomes pregnant and her father, a somewhat rigid and conventional man, disowns her. Desperately she tries to seek an illegal abortion but in the end decides to become a mother. ===== Henry Lloyd Moon (Nicholson) is a third-rate outlaw in the late 1860s; a convicted bank robber, horse thief and cattle thief. He is sentenced to be hanged in Longhorn, Texas, to the glee of the locals who gather to watch his execution. A local ordinance dictates that a man condemned of any crime other than murder may be freed, if a lady will marry him and take responsibility for his good behavior. Well aware of the ordinance, many of the townswomen scrutinize Moon as he mounts the gallows. An elderly woman offers to marry him, but dies on the spot immediately. As Moon is dragged back to the gallows, Julia Tate (Steenburgen)—a headstrong, genteel Southern virgin—agrees to marry and take charge of him. She weds Moon, intending only to use him as labor in a secret gold mine under her property. This evolves into a shaky partnership as he gains her trust, then develops into much more. The local sheriff's deputy (Lloyd) repeatedly accuses Moon of stealing "his" girl, although there is no evidence that Julia ever had any interest in the deputy, and it was she who offered marriage to Moon. Moon's old gang complicates matters when they arrive at Julia's home and introduce the teetotalling Julia to intoxicating beverages. They discover that Julia and Moon are successfully mining gold. Moon schemes to betray Julia and steal the gold, but a cave-in at the mine changes the nature of their relationship. ===== Tom Logan is a rustler experiencing hard times. His gang and he are particularly upset by the hanging of a friend of theirs by Braxton, a land baron, who takes the law into his own hands. They decide to seek vengeance against Braxton by killing his foreman Pete Marker and by buying a small property close to Braxton's ranch, then rustling his stock. First the gang, without Logan, rides off across the Missouri River and north of the border to steal horses belonging to the North West Mounted Police. In their absence, Logan plants crops and enters into a relationship with Braxton's aggressive, virginal daughter, Jane. Braxton is incensed with both his rustling problem and his daughter, and sends for Robert E. Lee Clayton, a notorious Irish-American "regulator", who for a price, will take care of rustlers personally. Quickly suspicious of Logan, who does not strike him as a farmer, Clayton dons a variety of disguises and begins to pick off Logan's gang, one by one. Identifying himself under the pseudonym of "Jim Ferguson", he also kills Logan's young friend, Little Tod. Clayton spies on Logan with binoculars and taunts Braxton about his daughter's affair with a horse thief. Braxton attempts to discharge him, but Clayton is determined to finish his job. He kills three more of Logan's partners, Cary, Cy, and Cal. One night after a campfire goes dark with Clayton serenading his horse, Logan slits his throat. He then comes after Braxton, who has been feigning a trance, but at an opportune time pulls a weapon on Logan, but is then shot in the chest and killed. Logan abandons his farm and packs up to leave. He acknowledges to Jane the possibility that they can renew their relationship at another time, another place six months in the future. ===== The Number Two from the earlier episode "The Chimes of Big Ben" (Leo McKern) returns to the Village. He calls his superiors and obtains permission to undertake a dangerous technique called "Degree Absolute" in a final attempt to break Number Six and learn why he resigned from his position as an intelligence agent. Number Six is put into a trance state, causing his mind to regress back to his childhood. He is taken to the "Embryo Room", deep below the Green Dome, filled with various props, as well as a caged room that contains living space and a kitchen. He, Number Two, and the Butler (Angelo Muscat) are subsequently locked into the room via a timer that will unlock the room after one week. Number Two begins to use regressive therapy following Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man, using the various props to enact a series of psychodramas, with Number Two playing the authority figure (e.g., father, headmaster, employer) and Number Six the subject (child, student, employee). Each drama is aimed at trying to make Number Six explain why he resigned. During the first six of these, Number Two finds Number Six has developed an aversion to saying the word "six". Number Two also comes to like and respect Number Six as he learns more about him. On the final day, Number Two enacts the role of military jailer, harshly interrogating Number Six as a prisoner of war. Number Two's efforts seem to have effect as Number Two starts to blather on reasons for resigning, but he becomes concerned when Number Six says he knew too much, including about Number Two. Number Two becomes agitated, and Number Six continues to call him a fool and an idiot. Suddenly, Number Six starts counting down from "six", and by the time he has reached zero, has regained full control of his mind. Already exhausted from his efforts, Number Two is shocked. Now in control, Number Six explains that Degree Absolute, a well- known psychiatric technique, has its risks to the one performing the therapy if they have their own psychological problems. Number Six shows this understanding in a brief role reversal (by asking Number Two "Why don't you resign?"), much to Number Two's delighted amusement. Number Two recovers and joyfully offers Number Six a tour of the Embryo Room. They end at the door timer, finding only five minutes remain before the room unlocks. Number Two becomes scared and pleads with Number Six to tell him why he resigned. Number Six remains quiet as Number Two goes to the kitchen area and pours them both a glass of wine. Number Six suddenly closes the door to the caged area, locking a panicked Number Two inside. The Butler takes the key from Number Two. Number Two paces the caged area while a voice screams "Die, Six, die!", until the timer runs out. Number Two falls over, apparently dead. The door to the Embryo room opens where the Supervisor (Peter Swanwick) waits. He tells Number Six they will need the body and then asks Number Six what he wants. Number Six only replies "Number One", and the Supervisor offers to take him there. He, Number Six, and the Butler depart the room. ===== Alex Gates (Jack Nicholson) is a wine merchant living in Miami who has distanced himself from his alcoholic wife Suzanne (Judy Davis) with his philandering, and from his stepson Jason (Stephen Dorff) with his indifference. Alex is heavily in debt, and hatches a plan to steal a valuable diamond necklace from the house of his clients, the Reese family, where his Cuban mistress Gabriela (Jennifer Lopez) works. He cases the house during a wine delivery with Jason, who works in Alex's business, although not happily. Jason becomes attracted to Gabriela, unaware of her relationship with his father. On the day of the heist, Alex and his British safe-cracker partner Victor (Michael Caine) arrive at the house under the pretense that the Reeses' wine cellar needs repairs, otherwise their wine will be ruined. Gabriela was supposed to let them in, but she was fired the day before. Fortunately, Alex had cultivated a relationship with the security guard and is able to convince him to admit them. Victor sends Alex and the guard off on an errand while he works on the safe, but a second guard becomes suspicious, although Victor is able to complete the job before being discovered. The pair decide that Alex will pawn the necklace in New York City, and he invites Gabriela to go with him. As he is packing, Suzanne chances upon the airline tickets for him and Gabriela and immediately realizes he is having another affair. The two of them get into a physical alteration and she knocks him out. Deciding to leave him, she empties out his suitcase, where he has hidden the necklace, and uses it for her own clothes. Jason walks in and the two of them flee to the Florida Keys. Upon arriving, they discover the necklace, but Suzanne doesn't want to keep it, even after Jason has it appraised, discovering it is worth $1 million. Jason also visits Gabriela back in Miami, giving her the phone number of the place where they are staying. Victor and Alex meet with Jason's friend Henry (Harold Perrineau). Alex assaults Henry in an attempt to learn Jason's whereabouts, but Henry doesn't know anything. The pair contact various jewelers to be on the lookout for the necklace and get a report from the jeweler who gave Jason the appraisal. Arriving in Key Largo, Victor pretends to flirt with Suzanne, but Jason, who has gotten a description of Henry's assailant, realizes who Victor is and after a fight, escapes with his mother in their car. Victor and Alex give chase and cause an accident that kills Suzanne. Although injured, Jason discharges himself from the hospital and returns to Miami to fight with his father, only to find Gabriela in Alex's bed. After a brief argument, they reconcile. Alex returns home to find both Jason and Gabriela there and he accuses them of having sex. Meanwhile, Victor has been following Jason and confronts him alone. Jason convinces him that he has returned the necklace to Alex, although he has done no such thing. Victor then goes to Alex's house. The two of them fight and Victor is killed. Later, Gabriela visits Jason, and he shows her the necklace. The next day, she calls Alex to tell him its location. They arrive at Jason's boat and Alex and Jason fight, during which time Alex is critically injured. Gabriela leaves the necklace with him saying that she doesn't want it. But as she is running away she fingers one of the necklace's diamonds that she has kept. With an ambulance on the way, Alex realizes he has no choice but to dispose of the evidence and throws the necklace into the ocean. ===== Ramdas / Dasan and Vijayan are employed as ill-paid peons. A commerce graduate, and proud of that, Dasan frequently vents his frustration in having to serve lesser qualified superiors and having to settle with lesser than what he feels he deserves in life. Vijayan is his less educated roommate and sole friend. Their relationship is one full of comic tension, with Dasan adopting a superior stance on the account of his education and good looks, which fiercely rattles Vijayan. Several comic situations later in the film borrow from this aspect of their characters. Dasan frequently bosses over Vijayan to do all the household chores. Dasan and Vijayan, hopeful of getting a better job, as soon as the new managing director joins their company, wait for him to take charge. However, one day, on their way to work, they get involved in an unnecessary altercation with an unknown person. Dasan, in order to grab attention from a lady, verbally abuses the person and pushes him into a puddle of rainwater. Vijayan punctures his car tires. But when they reach the workplace, they find out that the person that they had picked the fight with is their new managing director. Both vanish from the workplace and reappear on the next day in disguise; Dasan wearing dark sunglasses and Vijayan wearing a long beard. Both try to convince their supervisor that they were seriously ill the previous day, but they are made to report to the new managing director. They manage to fool him initially and start work but the managing director soon finds out the truth from old office photographs and both get thrown out from work. Being jobless, their landlord convinces them to borrow a loan from a bank to buy two cows. Dasan and Vijayan, upbeat about the new business, start dreaming of a bright future. However, they soon find out that the cows yield very little milk and the business fails. The bank contacts them for defaulting on the loan repayments. To escape, Vijayan sells the cows and arranges for them to go to Dubai (in United Arab Emirates) with whatever money they get. Gafoor is an agent who promises to take them to the Persian Gulf. Gafoor explains to them that his uru (boat) sailing to California will be diverted past the Dubai coast for them. Gafoor also instructs them to wear traditional Arabic clothing thawb to fool the authorities. Dasan and Vijayan once again start dreaming about the bright and luxurious life ahead. On reaching the sea shore, both change into the Arabic attire. Two strangers (Johny and Ajith Kollam) follow Dasan and Vijayan and forcefully exchange their suitcases. Confused, Dasan and Vijayan start exploring the city. They are surprised to see no Arabs in the city and soon find signboards in Tamil. They realize that they have been cheated by Gafoor who has off loaded them in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Dasan and Vijayan check the suitcase and find drugs inside. They contact local police and hand over the suitcase. Meanwhile, the strangers who are actually gang members of Ananthan Nambiar, a smuggler and underworld don, find out that they were mistaken. Ananthan Nambiar believes that those men in Arabic dress were Crime Investigation Department officers in disguise. Dasan and Vijayan with the help of Dasan's friend Balan get jobs at Ananthan Nambiar’s office. Dasan meets his colleague Radha (Shobana) who turns out to be their neighbour as well. But soon Dasan and Vijayan get fired by Ananthan Nambiar who believes that they are undercover officers. On the road again, Vijayan tries to get a chance to act in films. He visits noted film director I. V. Sasi's home and meets Sasi's wife and actress Seema. Dasan starts a small push-cart vegetable business with Radha’s help. A minor romance develops between Dasan and Radha. Meanwhile Ananthan Nambiar hires contract killer Pavanayi to murder Dasan and Vijayan. Pavanayi arrives at Chennai airport with a briefcase containing his ‘tools of trade’. He opens the box and displays various options for killing the targets: a bomb, a gun, a set of arrows and even a traditional Malappuram dagger. Very soon Pavanayi becomes an object of ridicule because of his boasting nature. However, Pavanayi dies while trying to kill Dasan and Vijayan. This irks Ananthan Nambiar even more and makes him all the more paranoid about these two "officers". As the story proceeds to the climax, Dasan and Vijayan are called to a rundown factory by one of their other enemies, Kovai Venkatesan, a well-connected businessman with political aspirations for an ostensible meeting, where he plans to kill them. Dasan and Vijayan find themselves surrounded by Ananthan Nambiar’s gang as well, the latter also having selected the location to finalize a drug deal. However, the both gangs mistake each other as enemies and a mixed fight breaks out. Dasan and Vijayan manage to lock all the others inside the building as the police arrive and arrest everyone. The movie concludes as Dasan and Vijayan gets selected into the Tamil Nadu police as Crime Investigation Department officers and they along with Radha drive away in a jeep. ===== ===== UCLA college student Jonathan Moore (Anthony Edwards) is playing a game called "Gotcha" (popular on mid-1980s college campuses as "Assassin" or "Tag"), wherein the players are all assigned a mock "hit" on another player by use of a harmless paintball, dart, or water gun. Moore and his apartment roommate Manolo (Nick Corri) go on a vacation to Paris, France. After touring some of Paris, in a cafe Moore meets Sasha Banicek (Linda Fiorentino), a Czechoslovakian girl. Jonathan has sex with Sasha, losing his virginity. Jonathan decides to leave Manolo (who is heading to Spain) and go with Sasha to West Berlin to spend more time with her. Jonathan believes that he is in love with Sasha. There, Jonathan and Sasha continue to have sex and even go to an Oktoberfest beer gathering. One night, Sasha tells Jonathan that she has to go to East Berlin to pick up a package, as she works as a courier. One night after arriving in East Berlin, Sasha leaves their hotel room and walks to dark street corner. There, Sasha meets a German man who tells her the location of the pickup of her package. Meanwhile, Sasha was being monitored by a Soviet agent, who was sitting in a car at a distance. During the day, Sasha tells Jonathan that if she gives him a certain message, it means that he must immediately leave East Berlin. At a cafe, Sasha gives Jonathan a package and says that a strudel is inside. A little later, Sasha tells Jonathan to meet her at the butcher shop near their hotel. All of a sudden, a Soviet agent begins to chase after her. She is ordered by the German man to use Jonathan to unknowingly get the package over to West Berlin, so the next time they are together she slips an object into his backpack. Later, Sasha is taken by the Soviet agent and East German secret police. Jonathan goes to Checkpoint Charlie to cross the heavily fortified border into West Berlin. At the East German customs search, Jonathan is stripped of his clothes and his backpack is searched (but the unknown object is not found). Meanwhile, Sasha is stripped and given a cavity search for possible espionage evidence. The Soviet agent arrives at the border crossing to search for Jonathan, who has crossed the border safely before he could be captured. Once in West Berlin, Jonathan feels liberated by the Westernized society. In the hotel, Jonathan receives a message from Sasha to meet him at a specified location. Jonathan finds out that his hotel room was broken into and robbed of his traveler's checks. Soviet agents eventually find Jonathan in West Berlin at the location Sasha gave him, where he meets a woman who asks for the object Sasha gave him, so he gives her the strudel. She tells him that is not the object, but is shot by the Soviets, who chase him throughout a public park. Jumping into a water canal, Jonathan manages to escape from the Soviets and stumbles upon a German rock group headed for Hamburg, who offer him a ride to the airport. The rock group successfully get Jonathan to the airport (using full-face makeup to sneak him past a checkpoint) and Jonathan finally arrives in Los Angeles Tom Bradley International Airport and to his apartment. Soon, a band of Soviet agents also arrive in Los Angeles. Once home, Jonathan stumbles upon a film canister in his backpack - the object planted by Sasha. Jonathan visits his parents and tells them what happened in Germany, but they do not believe any of it and think Jonathan is on drugs. Jonathan decides to call the FBI, who refuse to help him and tell him to call the Central Intelligence Agency for help. He does this, telling them about Sasha and the film. Jonathan returns to find his apartment broken into and looted. The CIA officer tells Jonathan to give them the photo film canister. At the Los Angeles headquarters of the CIA, Jonathan spots Sasha, who looks like she is working there. Jonathan is able to arrange a meeting with Sasha, and uses Manolo's help to separate her from the CIA agents. Sasha admits that she is Cheryl Brewster, a CIA agent originally from Pittsburgh. Out of nowhere, the Soviet agents begin to chase Jonathan and Sasha on the UCLA campus. Jonathan eliminates all the Soviets with a tranquilizer gun which he gets from the campus veterinary sciences building. The Soviets are arrested, the CIA agents thank Jonathan for his (indirect) help in obtaining the film, and Cheryl/Sasha tells him she wants to continue their relationship. After they part, Jonathan talks to a pretty student who rebuffed him at the start of the movie, and she rebuffs him coldly. As she walks away, he aims the tranquilizer pistol and shoots her in the rear. ===== In 2008, mass murderer Jason Voorhees is captured by the United States government and held at the Crystal Lake Research Facility for research. After numerous failed attempts to kill Jason over the following two years, government scientist Rowan LaFontaine suggests putting him in cryogenic stasis. Dr. Wimmer and Sergeant Marcus arrive with soldiers, hoping to further research Jason's ability to heal from lethal wounds, believing it involves rapid cellular regeneration that can be replicated. However, Jason breaks free of his restraints and kills the soldiers and Wimmer. Rowan lures him into a cryogenic pod and activates it, but he ruptures the pod with his machete, stabbing her in the abdomen. Cryogenic fluid spills into the sealed room, freezing them both. 445 years later, Earth has become too polluted to support life and humans have moved to a new planet, Earth Two. On a field trip to Earth, Professor Braithwaite Lowe, his android companion KM-14, his intern Adrienne Thomas, and his students Tsunaron, Janessa, Azrael, Kinsa, Waylander, and Stoney explore the abandoned Crystal Lake Research Facility and find the frozen Jason and Rowan. They bring them aboard their spaceship, the Grendel, and revive Rowan while leaving Jason in the morgue, believing him to be dead. Adrienne is ordered to dissect Jason's body but Rowan warns them of the danger, revealing Jason's nature and superhuman abilities. Lowe, who is in serious debt, calls his financial backer Dieter Perez on a nearby space station Solaris. Perez recognizes Jason's name and notes his body could interest a collector. While Stoney and Kinsa are having sex, Jason awakens and attacks Adrienne, freezing her face with liquid nitrogen before smashing her head to pieces on a counter. Jason takes a machete-shaped surgical tool and makes his way through the ship, killing Stoney in front of Kinsa. Sergeant Brodski leads a group of soldiers to attack Jason. Meanwhile, Jason interrupts a projected holographic game, breaking Azrael's back and bashing in Dallas's skull. He tries to attack Crutch, but Brodski and his soldiers arrive. After Brodski splits up his team, Jason kills them one by one. Lowe orders pilot Lou to dock at Solaris. Jason hacks Lou apart and the ship crashes through Solaris, destroying it and killing everyone aboard, including Perez. He breaks into the lab, reclaims his machete and decapitates Lowe. With the Grendel badly damaged, the remaining survivors head for a functional shuttle, while Tsunaron upgrades KM-14. After crew member Crutch is electrocuted to death by Jason, Kinsa has a panic attack and attempts to escape on her own, but forgets to release the shuttle's fuel line, causing it to crash into the ship's haul and explode. Tsunaron reappears with an upgraded KM-14 who wields a new array of weapons and combat skills to stand a better chance against Jason. After having his right arm, left leg, right ribs, and part of his head blasted off by KM-14, Jason seemingly dies, and his body is knocked into a nanite-equipped medical station. The survivors send a distress call and receive a reply from a patrol shuttle, then set explosive charges to separate the ship's undamaged pontoon from the main section. Meanwhile, the medical station nanites rebuild the still-living Jason, who becomes a cyborg. With his new strength, Jason easily defeats KM-14 by punching her head off. As Tsunaron recovers her still-functioning head, Jason is stopped by Waylander, who sacrifices himself by setting off the charges while the others escape. Jason survives and punches a hole through the hull, causing Janessa to die in the vacuum. A power failure with the docking door forces Brodski to go outside in an EVA suit to fix it. To distract Jason, a hard light holographic simulation of Crystal Lake is created with two virtual teenage girls. After killing them, Jason realizes the deception just as the door is fixed. Still in his EVA suit, Brodski confronts Jason so the rest can escape. As they leave, the pontoon explodes, propelling Jason at high speed towards the survivors; Brodski intercepts Jason's space flight and maneuvers them both towards Earth Two's atmosphere, where they are incinerated on atmospheric entry. Tsunaron, Rowan, and KM-14 escape as Tsunaron assures KM-14 she will have a new body. On Earth Two, a pair of teenagers are by a lake when they see what they believe is a falling star. The teenagers go to investigate as Jason's charred mask sinks to the bottom of the lake. ===== A novice named Viridiana (Silvia Pinal) is about to take her vows when her only living relative, her uncle Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), invites her to visit him. She has met him only once, and is reluctant to comply. Her mother superior pressures her to accept. Don Jaime is a recluse living on a neglected farm with a few servants: Ramona (Margarita Lozano), her daughter Rita, and Moncho. When Don Jaime sees his niece, he is struck by her strong resemblance to his deceased wife. On her last night Viridiana, grateful for her uncle's longtime financial support, reluctantly complies with his odd request for her to don his wife's wedding gown. When Ramona informs her that Don Jaime wants to marry her, she's aghast, and her uncle seems to drop the idea. Ramona secretly drugs Viridiana's drink and Don Jaime carries the unconscious girl to her room intending to rape her, but at the last minute he stops. However, the next morning he lies and tells her that he "took her virginity", so she cannot return to her convent. When she insists that she must go back, he confesses that he lied, leaving her uncertain about what had happened. At the bus stop, the authorities prevent her from leaving. Her uncle has hanged himself, leaving his property to her and his illegitimate son Jorge (Francisco Rabal). Deeply disturbed, Viridiana decides not to return to the convent. Instead, she collects some beggars and installs them in an outbuilding. She devotes herself to feeding and morally educating them. Disgusted, Moncho departs. Jorge moves into the house with his girlfriend Lucia and starts to renovate the rundown place. Lucia, sensing that he lusts after Viridiana like his father did, leaves. Jorge then makes a pass at the willing Ramona. When Viridiana and Jorge leave for a few days to take care of some business, the paupers break into the house. At first, they just want to look around, but faced with such bounty, they degenerate into a drunken, riotous bunch and party to the strains of Handel's Messiah. The beggars pose around the table for a photo in which they resemble the figures in Da Vinci's Last Supper. The rightful owners return earlier than expected and find the house in shambles. The miscreants excuse themselves one by one and leave. Jorge confronts one of them, who pulls a knife. Another beggar strikes his head with a bottle, knocking him out. Viridiana enters the room and hastens to help Jorge who is lying on the floor. The first man grabs her. As Viridiana resists sexual assault, Jorge regains consciousness. He has been tied up, but manages to bribe one beggar to kill the would-be rapist. The police finally arrive. Viridiana is a changed woman and young Rita burns her crown of thorns. Wearing her hair loosely, Viridiana knocks on Jorge's door, but finds Ramona with him in his bedroom. As Ashley Beaumont sings "Shimmy Doll" on the record player, Jorge tells Viridiana that they were only playing cards and urges her to join them: "You know, the first time I saw you, I thought, my cousin and I will end up shuffling the deck together." ===== Homer decides to give Marge a koi pond for their anniversary, but an endangered "Screamapillar" takes refuge in the pond. Bound by law not to disturb it, Homer accidentally injures the loud, unsettling insect larva while reading a bedtime story. While trying to bury the larva to cover up the injury, Homer is arrested and sentenced to two weeks of community service. Homer begins delivering Meals on Wheels to an elderly woman, Mrs. Bellamy, who takes a liking to him. She subtly guilt trips Homer, and later Marge, into becoming her personal servants. When Mrs. Bellamy turns up dead, having been stabbed with a pair of scissors, Homer and Marge are the prime suspects in the murder, even though they witnessed a man with braces leaving the murder scene with Mrs. Bellamy's necklace. The people of Springfield are very suspicious of Homer and Marge, and Chief Wiggum does not believe their story. Finally, during an inspection of the house, Maggie is found with Mrs. Bellamy's stolen necklace, and Wiggum arrests Homer and Marge. Bart, Lisa and Maggie are adopted by Cletus Spuckler, who decides to change their names to "Dingus”, “Squatford Jr.” and “Pamela E. Lee". Despite no lie detector or DNA test being given, both are sentenced to death in the electric chair. In a bid to spare Marge, Homer says that he acted alone, and Marge is released. As Homer is sitting in the electric chair, it is suddenly revealed to him that he is on a new reality TV show, Frame Up that airs on Fox TV. The whole thing was just part of an elaborate hidden camera scheme, the man with the braces is the show's host, and Mrs. Bellamy is guest host Carmen Electra in disguise. Chief Wiggum is annoyed that the police department's time was wasted on what turned out to not even be a real case, but is excited to learn he will be in the show and has them give Eddie and Lou producer credits. Homer and Marge are reunited with the kids, but Homer is infuriated that he had to suffer just so the show could get higher ratings. Electra tries to explain, but Homer ends up staring at her chest. ===== Severus Snape, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, meets with Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother, and her sister Bellatrix Lestrange, Lord Voldemort's faithful supporter. Narcissa expresses concern that her son might not survive a dangerous mission given to him by Voldemort. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa, swearing to assist Draco. Dumbledore picks Harry up from his aunt and uncle's house to escort him to the Burrow, home of Harry's best friend Ron Weasley. They detour to the home of Horace Slughorn, former Potions teacher at Hogwarts, and Harry unwittingly helps persuade Slughorn to teach. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry suspects Draco has become a Death Eater. Using his invisibility cloak, Harry eavesdrops on Draco in his carriage, where he brags to his friends about a mission Voldemort has assigned him. Draco catches Harry in the process, petrifying him and breaking his nose. Nymphadora Tonks finds Harry and escorts him to the castle, where Dumbledore announces that Snape will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, while Slughorn will be Potions master. Finding an old textbook that once belonged to "The Half-Blood Prince", a mysterious individual who excelled at Potions and wrote numerous spells and tips in the book, Harry excels at the subject as well, winning a bottle of Felix Felicis, or "Liquid Luck". Though Harry's success pleases Slughorn, his methods anger Hermione, who distrusts the Prince. Ron and Hermione grow closer, but after learning from his sister Ginny of Hermione's history with Viktor Krum, Ron goes out with Lavender Brown, making Hermione jealous. Harry develops feelings for Ginny, and despite his reluctance to pursue her due to his friendship with Ron, the two later start a relationship with Ron's approval after a Gryffindor Quidditch victory. Draco grows unhinged throughout the year, culminating in a duel with Harry. In the duel, Harry uses an unknown spell from the Prince which nearly kills Draco, although Snape saves him. Meanwhile, to help Harry in his foretold battle with Voldemort, Dumbledore and Harry use Dumbledore's Pensieve to examine memories of people who had met Voldemort before. One of the memories involves Slughorn conversing with a young Tom Riddle at Hogwarts, but it has been tampered with, so Dumbledore asks Harry to obtain the real memory from Slughorn. Harry uses Felix Felicis to retrieve the memory, in which Slughorn tells Riddle about the process of splitting one's soul and hiding it in Horcruxes, making the user virtually immortal. Voldemort created six Horcruxes, which must be destroyed in order to destroy Voldemort himself. Two Horcruxes, Riddle's diary from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and a ring belonging to Voldemort's grandfather, have already been destroyed; four others remain. Near the end of the year, Harry and Dumbledore journey to a cave to retrieve a suspected Horcrux, Slytherin's locket. They find the locket in a potion-filled basin in the middle of an underground lake. As the locket can only be reached by drinking the potion, Dumbledore does so, severely weakening him. After fighting off Inferi hidden in the lake, Harry and Dumbledore take the locket and return to Hogwarts, to find that the Dark Mark has been placed over a school tower. They ascend the tower and are ambushed by Draco, who reveals that his mission from Voldemort is to kill Dumbledore, and has helped Death Eaters get inside Hogwarts. However, Draco cannot go through with it. Snape arrives and kills Dumbledore instead. Harry ignores the battle raging in Hogwarts to pursue Snape, but is defeated by him, who reveals himself to be the Half-Blood Prince before escaping with Draco and the other Death Eaters. After Dumbledore's funeral, Harry breaks up with Ginny, as their relationship puts her in danger. He discovers that the locket is a fake, containing a note from someone named "R. A. B.". Harry announces his intentions to search for Horcruxes the following year rather than return to Hogwarts. ===== The plot is split between the two incarnations of a married couple. The victim of earlier wickedness will seek retribution by being a tormenting wife in the later reincarnation. In the first, set in the Han dynasty, the lascivious actions of Chao Yuan dissipate his family fortune in reckless living and tortures his father and wife until he is murdered. Retribution for his actions is visited upon his reincarnation, Di Xichen, in the early Ming dynasty, who after failing as a scholar becomes a prosperous merchant and is tormented by two shrewish wives, Sujie and Jijie. Xichen suffers for Chao Yuan's crimes. In the final chapters, Xichen is saved from certain death by a monk. He then vows to abstain from killing, chants the Diamond Sutra, and leads a virtuous life with one of his wives until he dies at the age of 85. The author paints this serious family drama against a satirical panorama not only of officials, scholars, and teachers, for whom he has little respect, but cooks, midwives, and doctors. All provide examples of lechery, drunkenness, and love of money, yet each of the characters is given individual personality and particular language. The author makes precise use of proverbs, xiehouyu, and curses in the Shandong style, but also literary poetry, fiction, and writings. One of the author’s techniques is to pair one character against another of the same profession or type. Xichen is made to seem all the more inept, for instance, in contrast to his capable assistant, and his wives all the more ill-tempered in contrast with better women. ===== In the early 1990s, during the intervening period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, MI5 combats the Soviet spies within the United Kingdom while facing their own agents' ineptitude, and the ridicule of the sheer fact that the Soviet Union is no longer a threat; but MI5 knows better and indeed the Soviets are intent on making trouble. In an effort to alleviate their agents' incompetence, MI5 hires local university teacher Peter Chapman, convincing him by getting him sacked from the university, which leaves him no choice. His new bosses, Maurice Drummond and Andrew Maxwell, assign him to the technology division, and he insists on having a codename, to further his identity in the world of spying. The first codenames listed were Panda, then Panther, but those are already in use, they then incorrectly stated that Puma was the next available name before correcting themselves and assigning Peter the next name..."Piglet." Piglet routinely joins the other field agents on missions—mainly to ensure that MI5 gets its equipment back. Peter "Piglet" Chapman must now face down Soviet assassins and double agents while keeping his identity as an MI5 technician secret from everyone else, including his wife Sarah. ===== Servant of the Bones is an account of the creation and subsequent existence of a genie, Azriel. It is a story told as a fireside chat and includes historical accounts of Azriel's life as a displaced Jewish merchant's son in Babylon at the time of its conquest by Cyrus the Persian. There are also glimpses of life in ancient Miletus, in Strasbourg during a pogrom, and New York City of the 1990s. ===== Azriel is telling the story of his transformation into and subsequent existence as an immortal genii who is forced to obey the Master who calls him. Over centuries, Azriel becomes less obedient to the Masters and a warning is placed on the casket of his bones that he is not to be summoned lest his evil be loosed upon the undeserving world. After many centuries of rest, Azriel finds himself awake and in New York City, a dazed witness to the murder of a young woman, Esther Belkin. He becomes inexplicably obsessed with the desire to avenge her death and to find out who called him into the physical world in time to see Esther die but not in time to save her. This quest leads him to the girl's stepfather, Gregory Belkin, who would pay any price to fulfill his messianic dream via his immense worldwide religious organization, the Temple of the Mind of God. As his quest approaches its climax, he risks his supernatural powers to forestall an attempt to destroy the world thus redeeming what was denied him for so long: his own eternal human soul. ===== Set in a shared futuristic universe, the stories' common thread is a genetically-engineered "Unicorn" species created for space travel. Extremely intelligent, with a humanoid appearance, they have difficulty understanding other people and their own emotions. ===== Buffy discusses the removal of Spike's chip with Giles; Giles doesn't believe that it was the right thing to do, while Buffy is convinced that it was. It's also revealed how Giles survived the Bringer attack: when the Bringer approached, Giles heard his shoes squeak (though he claims to the Potentials that it was instinct) and overpowered and killed him. At work, Buffy tries to hunt for clues as to whether Principal Wood is good or evil in his office. When she is about to open a cabinet, Principal Wood finds her in his office and asks her out to dinner. After Buffy leaves, Wood opens the case, displaying a large collection of blade weapons, into which he places a bloody dagger. Back at the house, Buffy expresses mixed feelings about the date, and is unsure over whether she is interested in him. Willow suggests that it would be good for Buffy to "move on." Xander enters and reveals that he too has a date that evening, with a young woman he met at a hardware store. Upstairs, Buffy is getting dressed for dinner when Spike appears in the hallway, and tells Buffy that he feels fine about her having a date with another man, although Buffy tells him he doesn't have to be noble. On Buffy's date, she and Wood are jumped by a group of vampires. Buffy slays most of them, and thinks that Wood has set her up until she sees him take out two of the vampires. At the restaurant, Wood reveals that he is a "freelance" demon hunter, and tells her about his mother -- that she was a Vampire Slayer and was killed when he was four years old, after which he was raised by her Watcher. Buffy is struck by the idea that it is possible for a Slayer to have children. Meanwhile, Xander's date appears to be going well until he learns that she is a demon who has, like other demons, been motivated to work for the First. Throughout the episode, the First again appears to Andrew in the guise of Jonathan, and attempts to get him to kill the potential Slayers staying in the house, using the gun that Willow brought to the house in "The Killer in Me", while she was possessed by Warren. There is a mislead in which the viewers are led to believe that Andrew is successfully persuaded by The First Evil to kill the girls. However, it is revealed that Andrew is committed to helping Buffy and her friends, telling the First "I'm good now." In the second scene with Andrew and the First, Andrew is wearing a wire that Willow has set up and the others are listening to his conversation with the First through Willow's headphones. Andrew shows the First the gun and asks it questions about its intents and potential weaknesses. The First discovers that Andrew is wired and is not pleased, but not before telling Andrew that it isn't time to use Spike yet for the First's purposes, hinting that he will be used in the future. The First appears to Willow, Dawn, Amanda and Kennedy in the guise of a horribly maimed Jonathan, threatening them before disappearing. Immediately after the First leaves, Willow receives a text message with a help code from Xander. Spike offers to go fetch Buffy. He finds her at the restaurant with Wood in a slightly romantic moment, and they all rush out to rescue Xander, driving in Wood's car, the three of them awkwardly together with Spike in the backseat. When they get to the seal beneath the school, they fight and kill the demon woman and find Xander not too badly hurt. They prevent the seal from opening again, but during the course of the fight, Wood finds out that Spike is a vampire and that Buffy cares about him very much, making him uneasy. Back at the house, Spike tells Buffy that as the First has revealed to have plans for him, that might endanger others, he will leave town. Buffy tells Spike not to leave because she isn't ready for him not to be there. In the final scene of the episode, the First shows itself to Wood in the guise of his dead mother (she is the Slayer seen previously during the 1977 flashback in "Fool for Love") and, though it does not say so explicitly, leads him to conclude that it was Spike who killed her. ===== Two Potential Slayers, Rona and Vi, walk alone in the cemetery until Spike knocks Rona out of the way, grabs Vi and leans in for the kill. Buffy and the other Slayers watch and learn from this example and Buffy lectures the girls on how to deal with vampire attacks. Buffy has Spike attack her to continue, but she easily gets the upper hand and pins Spike to the ground, reawakening some of his wounds and some feelings for both of them. In the Summers basement, the Potentials argue about petty things until Buffy gets their attention focused again with a strict reminder about the seriousness of death. They believe the First is taking a brief break from them, but it will come back stronger and better than before. While Dawn watches silently from the stairs, Buffy tries to give the girls another pep talk. At work, Buffy talks with Xander on the phone until a student, Amanda, comes in for counseling. The girl asks about liking a boy who picks on her and seeks Buffy's advice, but Buffy gets a bit distracted with her own similar situation with Spike and rambles about how she's not going to let that problem happen again. Buffy returns home to bickering amongst the Potential Slayers and news from Willow that another Potential Slayer has been found, already in Sunnydale. The Potentials examine weapons and Dawn tries to fit into the group's conversation, but it's a struggle. Spike arrives and then leaves with Buffy and the other girls for some training. Andrew pouts because he's not invited and although silent, Dawn feels left out as well. Willow prepares the ingredients for a spell that will locate the Potential Slayer and surround her with a glowing aura. The spell is performed at the fireplace, but at first it doesn't succeed, just creates a horrible smell. Dawn tries to open a door to air out the room, but the light follows her, knocking her into the door and surrounding her. Dawn starts to freak out at the news that she's the latest Potential Slayer. She's worried that her becoming a slayer would mean her sister would have to die first. Dawn doesn't want to tell Buffy what's going on and goes upstairs to think alone while the rest of the gang debate the pros and cons of the situation and telling Buffy. Dawn overhears the conversation and feeling the weight of their concerns and her potential fate of death, she sneaks out the window. Buffy and Spike take the girls to a demon bar to explain the art of getting information out of the demonic patrons there. They run into Clem and after a brief happy exchange with him, Buffy secretly asks him to scare the overly confident Potentials. His face expands into a mass of snakelike limbs and such, making the girls scream and Spike laugh. While walking alone outside, Dawn runs into Amanda who has a scratch on her head and claims to have been attacked by a vampire. The girl explains that she got away and locked the vampire in one of the classrooms. Having heard rumors about Buffy, Amanda was going to ask for her help, but Dawn volunteers to take care of the problem. Dawn and Amanda break back into the school, but when they reach the classroom, they find the door unlocked and don't see the vampire hiding wedged against the ceiling. The vampire falls as the girls try to leave and it chases them out into the halls until they reach locked doors. Trapped, Dawn turns to a fire extinguisher and when she can't get it to work, she knocks the vampire around with it instead then bolts with Amanda. Buffy and Spike show the girls a crypt and teach them about the living quarters of vampires. While investigating the area, the girls find a dead body, but Buffy shows them that it's a vampire. At the school, Dawn and Amanda hide in a classroom and push a set of drawers against the door while Dawn prepares for a plan of escape. Buffy tosses the vampire around while lecturing the girls about successful fighting and keeping a straight head during battle. Meanwhile, Dawn puts Buffy's lessons to use and acts resourcefully until the vampire pins her to the ground and goes in for the bite. The Bringers then suddenly break in through the windows and grab Amanda instead of Dawn. After beating up the vampire a bit, Buffy drops her stake and along with Spike, she leaves the girls trapped alone with the vampire. Back at the house, Willow, Xander and Anya find that Dawn has bolted and Willow rushes to do a spell to find her before it's too late. Dawn uses the room's chemistry supplies to set the Bringers on fire and escape with Amanda. She realizes that Amanda is the true Potential Slayer and willingly hands over the right and her weapon to Amanda. The frightened teen has a hard time grasping these strange realities Dawn explains, but she doesn't have much time to think about it. Xander arrives at the school with Buffy and Spike as the Bringers attack full force. Amanda keeps the Bringers at bay and stakes the vampire that attacked her earlier while Buffy and Spike finish off the Bringers. As Amanda rambles to Buffy about the strangeness she's dealing with, Dawn reveals that Amanda was standing outside the front door when she was hit by the aura cloud from Willow's spell. Amanda and the other Potential Slayers talk and bond about their successes with fighting the forces of darkness while Dawn secretly watches from the other room. Buffy checks in with Dawn, but she doesn't pick up on Dawn's real problem. While Buffy takes the other girls down to the basement for training, Xander catches on to Dawn's disappointment about not being a Potential. Xander confides in her how hard it is for him to be the powerless member of the gang and he relates to Dawn's pain. He reminds her that she doesn't need to be special with powers, she's "extraordinary" just the way she is. In return, Dawn suggests that he does have a power, his ability to notice what's really going on with the people he loves, despite the barriers. ===== At the airport, Buffy, Dawn, and Xander wait for Willow to get off her plane and talk about how uncomfortable they feel about the situation. The plane clears, but the three don't see Willow. The scene repeats as Willow gets off the plane, but she doesn't see her friends waiting for her. A young man spray paints a wall of a construction site as a demon taunts him from the shadows and then attacks the frightened man. Willow lets herself into the Summers house, which appears to be vacant of her friends. Going up to what used to be her room, but now has been claimed by Buffy, Willow remembers the last time she was in the room. A door closes and Willow begins to investigate, but still her friends are nowhere to be seen. Alone, Willow curls up on the couch. Buffy, Xander, and Dawn return home and after talking about how Willow did leave England, but she had opportunities to divert to a location other than Sunnydale. They hear a noise upstairs and check it out, but find nothing. In the living room, the three talk about the reason for Willow's disappearance. The next morning, Willow walks over to the magic shop and finds Anya cleaning up the magic shop. Anya is very cold to her and Willow feels guilty about everything. They talk a bit and Anya fills Willow in on everyone's activities since she's been gone. Willow checks out Xander's construction site and instead of Xander, she finds a skinned body. At the same time, Xander and Buffy are looking at the body and the familiar sight makes them wonder if Willow is back after all. Unbeknownst to them, a disgusted Willow climbs a ladder to exit the site. Willow walks the halls of Sunnydale High and proceeds down to the basement where she finds Spike acting insanely. He talks to Willow about the dead body, but also carries on a conversation with something else in the room Willow can't see. Buffy and Xander maneuver through the basement and find Spike seemingly talking to himself. Buffy and Xander try to get information from him, but Spike is simultaneously conversing with Willow, so his words make little sense. Spike suspects they can't see each other and that Willow's responsible for it. Buffy and Xander interpret some of Spike's comments to mean that he knows about Willow and they suspect she might have something to do with Spike's unstable condition. Willow goes to Anya at her apartment for help in finding the demon that skinned the man at the construction site. Anya helps Willow cast a spell to locate demons all over Sunnydale. After the spell is complete, Willow asks Anya to teleport to one particular location to a cave just outside the town. But Anya reveals that she can't for non-vengeance business as a result of her recently undoing a spell. Instead, Willow takes the long way and walks there herself. At the Summers house, Dawn immediately begins searching on the computer for demons that skin people. Although Buffy thinks it's a waste of time, Dawn soon finds a demon that meets their specifications named Gnarl. The demon paralyzes its victims with its nails, and then eats strips of skin from the body and drinks the blood. Realizing they need to search for a trail of blood, Buffy decides to recruit Spike to smell the way. He leads them to a cave where the demon can be found. Willow is already there investigating the cave and Gnarl spots her. The rest of the gang enters the cave as well, but they don't see Willow. The demon scratches Dawn's stomach and paralyzes her. Buffy and Xander take Dawn out of the cave and cover up the entrance, unintentionally trapping Willow with Gnarl. Stuck in the cave, Willow listens to the demon taunt her from the shadows. He slices her abdomen with a nail and, thus paralyzed, Willow is helpless against him as he sucks at the wound and starts to slice away slivers of her skin to eat. Buffy and Xander carry a completely paralyzed Dawn into the living room while Buffy researches Gnarl and the way to save Dawn. Anya is called to stay with Dawn while they prepare to return to the cave to kill the demon and save Dawn. Anya talks about seeing Willow and reveals that Willow may be at the cave, whilst she moves a paralysed Dawn into funny poses. Panicked that Willow is trapped in the cave, Buffy grabs Anya to join them at the cave. Once Anya reveals that she knows about Gnarl, Buffy insists she come along. Gnarl continues to eat Willow's skin as he tells her that her friends have abandoned her and she's all alone for him to eat. Buffy arrives and attacks Gnarl while Anya tends to a badly injured Willow who still can't see her friends. While Buffy fights Gnarl, Anya informs Willow that her friends didn't leave her alone. Buffy pokes the demon in the eyes with her thumbs, successfully killing it and ending the paralysis of both Willow and Dawn. Buffy and Xander look where they think Willow is while Anya runs for help, and slowly the spell making them invisible to each other wears off. Willow is relieved to see her friends and glad that they didn't abandon her. In the morning, Willow meditates and uses magic from the earth to re-grow the skin she lost. Buffy stops by and talks with Willow. Willow reveals that her fear of seeing her friends and their judgment of her led to the invisibility problem from which they all were suffering. Buffy confesses that she briefly suspected Willow of the grotesque killing, but Willow doesn't blame her for that. Willow struggles to start meditating again, but she's still weak. Buffy offers her Slayer strength to her friend and joins in the meditation. ===== In the opening, Spike is seen digging a grave and buries the woman he has just killed while he hums a tune. Meanwhile Buffy struggles with the possibility that Spike may have begun killing innocent people and "siring" them as vampires. The Scooby Gang tries to make sense of the strange apparitions of the dead they have been contacted by and wonder whether any or all of the information they gave them was true. Meanwhile, in London, a man and woman are attacked by cloaked men and Giles receives some troubling information. At the Bronze, after staking a vampire who claims he made her, Spike calls Buffy's cell phone from a pay phone and tells her that he is remembering the bad things he has done recently and asks for her help. She agrees to meet with him at a set location. As Spike tries to leave, the duplicate of Spike shows up and tells the real Spike that calling Buffy was not part of the plan, but they'll have to improvise. Spike leads Buffy into a dark basement and tries to show her what he remembers about killing the girls. The fake Spike is there as well, but Buffy can't see him. While the real Spike tries to show Buffy where he buried the bodies, the fake Spike starts to sing the hypnotizing tune. This causes Spike to vamp out and attack Buffy, cutting her arm with a piece of broken glass. As the two battle the bodies of those Spike recently killed rise from the ground beneath them as newly turned vampires. Buffy struggles with the fledglings while the real Spike gets a pep talk from his morphing version about tasting Buffy's blood. As two vampires hold Buffy still, Spike leans down and tastes Buffy's blood from the cut on her arm. It reawakens all of his memories of killing and he falls to the ground, horrified. Buffy finishes off dusting the rest of the vampires and turns her attention to Spike. Tearfully Spike offers to be staked. He is confused, scared and hurting because of the lives he has taken. Buffy realizes something isn't right with Spike and something has been messing with his head. Buffy takes Spike back to her house and tells the gang how she needs to keep him close if she intends to get answers they need. Giles charges into the room in London and finds the dead girl and the nearly dead man that was with her. The man, Robson, warns Giles that something has started and that they need to be gathered. As Giles says he understands, one of the robed figures appears behind him and swings an axe at his head as the episode ends. ===== Dark Willow tries to resist Giles' attack, rebuffing his attempts to help her. He is forced to bind her physically and magically. He informs Buffy and Anya that he has been endowed with power from a powerful coven in England, which sent him to combat Willow. As Buffy and Giles talk, Willow subordinates Anya telepathically, so that Anya breaks Giles's binding spells. She throws down Buffy and resumes her magical duel with Giles. Xander and Dawn continue to protect Jonathan and Andrew. Xander is becoming overwhelmed by guilt over his failure to act when Warren shot Buffy and murdered Tara. In Africa, Spike continues to complete stages of his ordeal. Willow and Giles continue to duel. As she begins to overpower him, Willow also directs a magical attack at Xander, Dawn, and the others, forcing Buffy to leave to protect them. Willow then defeats Giles and drains his magical strength; the power breaks down her emotional shields. Overwhelmed by her pain and all the pain she senses, she announces she will end it by ending the world. Buffy manages to partially block Willow's attack, but she and Dawn are thrown underground while Xander is knocked unconscious. Andrew and Jonathan flee, planning an escape to Mexico. At the Magic Box, Anya comes to and finds a weakened Giles on the ground. He can feel Dark Willow's presence and knows that she's going to end the world. Buffy tries to climb out of the hole by pulling coffins out of the surrounding dirt walls to stack and try to escape on. After Xander comes to, Buffy sends him to find some rope to help them get out. Buffy and Dawn quarrel over Buffy's protective behavior. Anya appears, telling Buffy that Willow is raising a satanic temple of dark magic from underground, and intends to use its artifacts to end the world by draining its life energies. She declares that Willow cannot be stopped by any magical or supernatural powers, and that Giles is likely dying, then teleports away. Xander hears the conversation, and leaves to confront Willow. Willow speaks to Buffy telepathically, telling her she deserves the right to die as a warrior, and raises earth-creatures to battle Buffy and Dawn. Willow begins her final ritual of destruction. Xander confronts her and physically tries to stop her from completing the ritual. She repels him with magic force, but, wounded, he renews his efforts. He reminds Willow of their friendship and that he loves her no matter what. He tells her that if she destroys the world, she kills him as well and that he will stay with her until she does. Willow's emotional barriers collapse, her dark powers drain away, and her physical transformation is undone. She collapses in tears. Giles revives and tells Anya that the magic Willow stole from him overpowered her emotional shields and gave Xander the chance to reach her. Anya is shocked to find that Xander saved the world. Buffy and Dawn reconcile as they clamber out of the pit. In Africa, a severely bruised and bloodied Spike successfully completes his ordeal and demands his promised reward, his greatest desire. Accordingly, his soul is returned to him. ===== Once the lights are turned out at a funeral home, Buffy, Xander and Dawn climb out of caskets. They chat about Buffy's nervousness about her new job and the struggle she may face while trying to balance her Slayer job with her duties as a school counselor. In one of the caskets, the three find a deceased woman that they suspect of being a vampire, and rightfully so, as the woman comes to life and is promptly staked. At the high school the next day, Buffy talks with various students who all have their own problems, including trouble with bullies and violence, anxiety, homosexuality and plain boredom. Willow and Xander walk together and talk about Buffy's struggles and Willow's worries about her role in dealing with the impending Hellmouth danger. With Xander's support, Willow walks towards Tara's grave. Buffy talks with more students, including her own sister, but one girl, Cassie Newton, stuns Buffy when she confesses that she's going to die next Friday and that there will be many coins. As she leaves for class, Cassie compliments Buffy's shirt and warns her against spilling something on it. Buffy reports Cassie to Principal Wood, but he's not as helpful as she'd like. After spilling coffee onto her white shirt, Buffy is apprehensive and sends Dawn to befriend Cassie. Dawn catches up with Cassie and they talk about Cassie's friend Mike, who has continuously asked Cassie to an upcoming dance and been rejected every time. Willow investigates Cassie on the computer, and finds Cassie's website filled with sad, morbid poetry. Though Buffy is convinced that Cassie has a precognitive ability and given up hope for survival, Xander and Willow are both skeptical despite all the experiences they had with the paranormal. Dawn returns home from school and thinks the reason for Cassie's problem is Mike, but Buffy and the others don't pay much attention. Willow finds a website on Cassie's father that shows his troubled past with the law and alcohol. Buffy and Xander visit Cassie's father and confront him with their suspicion that he may get drunk and hurt his daughter. Mr. Newton confidently denies the accusation after he goes on about how his ex-wife only allows him to spend one weekend a month with his daughter. Buffy then finds out that Mr. Newton's weekend with Cassie was the previous one, therefore not only does he not have the chance to hurt Cassie, but if Cassie's prediction is true, then he will not see her again before her death. Satisfied that Mr. Newton is not involved, Buffy and Xander leave and bump into Cassie. She had been waiting for them outside of her father's house, and although she appreciates Buffy's efforts to find the cause, she knows there's nothing Buffy can do. Xander asks her if she's planning to kill herself, but Cassie denies it. She talks about all the things she wishes she could do and makes it clear that she doesn't want to die; it's just what is going to happen on Friday. Meanwhile, a group of guys in red cloaks walk around a circle and burn pictures of Cassie on a tray in the middle. Still motivated to help Cassie, Buffy reads poetry from Cassie's site and continues to investigate with the rest of the gang despite Xander and Willow's skepticism, and Dawn becomes close with Cassie and Mike. Buffy goes to the school basement and asks a still insane Spike if he knows anything about Cassie. He doesn't. As Buffy turns to leave, Spike asks her to stay, but she tells him that her presence seems to worsen his condition and leaves. Upstairs, Principal Wood and another administrator search through student lockers for anything suspicious. Buffy catches Mike in the halls and stops him to see if he may have intentions of hurting Cassie because she rejected him. He makes it clear he doesn't mind, and is thinking about asking Dawn to the dance instead. Coins fall from one of the lockers, drawing Buffy's attention. Buffy takes one of the coins and the number of the locker where they came from and talks to the student the locker belongs to. The student confesses that some of his friends want to hurt Cassie. Dawn and Cassie walk away from the school as Cassie reveals how she knows Buffy sent Dawn to befriend Cassie. However, Cassie then states that it doesn't matter as the two are now clearly real friends. Just then a student named Peter approaches, and Cassie, knowing she won't see Dawn again, tells Dawn that nothing that is about to happen is her fault. Peter asks Dawn about the dance, but not to ask her to go with him. When an irritated Dawn turns back toward Cassie, she is gone. At the school that night, the cloaked group gathers again around a circle of coins and one of the boys reveals to be Peter. He checks with the others to make sure the school is secure and that no one can get in or out. Then, he pulls a bound, blindfolded and gagged Cassie out to the circle and holds a meat cleaver to her neck. She is to be sacrificed to a demon that will provide the boys with "infinite riches". As Peter starts the ritual, Buffy reveals herself as one of the cloaked people. She doesn't think the ritual was a success, but a large demon appears behind her, proving her wrong. Buffy fights the demon and Spike shows up with a flaming torch to help, having temporarily regained his sanity. Buffy uses the torch to burn the demon while Spike cuts Cassie free from her bonds. After he rips her gag off, Cassie says to him, "She'll tell you. Someday, she'll tell you." Desperately, Peter drags himself toward the fried demon, demanding his money. The burned demon leans up and bites Peter on the shoulder once before exploding into dust. Buffy and Cassie walk away together, leaving Peter on his own. A crossbow booby trap set by one of the cloaked boys nearly kills Cassie, but Buffy stops the bolt. Buffy tells Cassie that one person can make a difference, to which Cassie responds, "And you will," before gasping and falling to the ground, dead. The next day, the Scooby Gang gathers at Revello Drive and solemnly talks about how Cassie died because of a congenital heart defect. She was always going to die, no matter what happened, and Cassie knew that Buffy would be at her side when her prediction came true. Buffy feels that she has failed, but a devastated Dawn corrects her, saying Buffy didn't fail since she tried to save Cassie; it was because of her that Dawn and Cassie were friends. The gang are now convinced as Buffy of Cassie's unique gift; they all sadly realize that even though they may be able to avert outcomes, but not on fate. Buffy returns to work, knowing that while she will always try her best, sometimes she just can't help anyone. ===== Xander introduces Spike to his new living environment: Xander's apartment. Buffy tries to convince a reluctant Xander that Spike needs their help and a place better than the School Basement to live. Spike's just about as reluctant as Xander, but Buffy thinks this plan is the right thing for him. Buffy and Dawn talk privately about Buffy's feelings for Spike and why she's helping him in light of the pain he's caused her. Dawn starts to rant about love and relationships and Buffy leaves so she can return to work. An attractive jock on the football field then catches Dawn's attention and she falls off the bleachers while distracted by him. Buffy fights with and kills a demon at Anya's apartment that was sent by D'Hoffryn. Anya thanks her for the help, but doesn't want it to seem like she needs help. Buffy explains that the gang needs Anya's help and she wants to protect her friends, Anya included. At the high school, Dawn prepares to confront her dream guy, named R.J., and once she finds him, she tries to start up a conversation with him. He's with another player, O'Donnell, and two cheerleaders talking about cheerleader tryouts and most of Dawn's awkward comments don't quite fit with the crowd. Later, Dawn tries out for the cheerleading team wearing Buffy's old cheerleading uniform, but she falls and makes a fool out of herself. At home that night, Dawn locks herself in the bathroom and cuts up the cheerleading uniform while Buffy tries to get her to come out. Buffy tries to offer help and support, but considering Buffy's track record with guys, Dawn isn't interested. The next day at school, Dawn overhears O'Donnell inform R.J. that he won't be starting quarterback for the game and she confronts O'Donnell. She yells at him at first, but then in a moment of anger, she shoves him and he falls down a flight of stairs. Dawn has a meeting with Principal Wood and Buffy about the incident and informs them that the jock just tripped and fell down the stairs. Buffy realizes though that Dawn may have been motivated by her love for R.J. and actually pushed O'Donnell down the stairs. R.J. catches up with Dawn after her meeting and they talk then R.J. invites her out on a date. At the Bronze, the gang sit around and talk about Spike's progress at Xander's place as they spot R.J. dancing with a "slutty-looking" girl. They're all beyond shocked when they see that the girl is Dawn. Buffy confronts her sister and lays down the law about Dawn's clothes and behavior, but Dawn puts up quite a fight for her right to do whatever she wants. Unable to get past Buffy to return to the dance floor, Dawn leaves and encounters one of the cheerleader girls in the alley. They begin to fight over R.J. and have to be broken up by Buffy. Buffy watches as Principal Wood lectures R.J. about not doing his own homework and then Buffy catches him for another lecture. She gets on his case about the way he's treating girls but, quickly, something comes over Buffy and she starts to swoon over him like a lovesick schoolgirl. Buffy catches Dawn as she returns home that night and tells her about her meeting with R.J. Buffy offers encouragement to her sister by explaining that she has a chance with R.J. and that he really likes her. At school the next day, Buffy pulls R.J. out of class and takes him to an empty room. While Dawn walks the halls peeking into rooms in search of R.J., Buffy adoringly listens to R.J. talk about football and his troubles at school and then starts kissing him just as Dawn peeks into the room. Dawn runs outside in tears and into Xander. He tries to comfort her, but realizes that Buffy would possibly be more help and goes to find her. He's surprised to find her on top of R.J. and promptly takes her home for a much needed intervention with the others. At the Summers house that night, Buffy and Dawn fight about their love with R.J., while Xander, Willow and Anya try to keep the peace until they can reverse the love spell obviously affecting the sisters. Willow searches for information on R.J. and instead finds information on R.J.'s older brother, Lance, who Xander remembers from high school. Xander and Spike go to find R.J.'s brother and despite his popular status at high school, he isn't quite his attractive, popular self anymore. After some chatting, the guys realize that R.J.'s jacket has been handed down through the family. R.J. shows up at Buffy's house looking for her, but Willow and Anya tell him to leave. As R.J. walks away, Willow and Anya start to look at him lovingly and then argue about which of them he loves more. Buffy and Dawn jump into the fight, and soon Dawn is hurt and depressed that her friends and sister are taking her guy away, while the other three plot to win R.J. Buffy goes to kill Principal Wood (who had disciplined R.J.), Willow works on a spell to make R.J. a woman, Anya takes off to rob banks and Dawn lays herself across the railroad tracks. Xander stops Willow from completing her spell, and then brings her along to stop Buffy from killing Principal Wood with her old rocket launcher. Spike tackles Buffy before she can kill the principal, and although she puts up a fight, he gets the weapon away from her. Using Willow's locator spell, they find Dawn on the railroad tracks just as a train is headed for her. Buffy jumps in and rescues her sister just before the train hits; scared at the thought of losing her sister, Buffy shows that the spell wasn't that strong, and admits that she's willing to give up R.J. if it means that much to Dawn. Finally, Xander and Spike jump R.J. on the street and steal his jacket, then burn it in the fireplace at the Summers home. All the girls feel terrible about the way they acted and the things they almost did, while Xander remembers an incident he had with a love spell in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered". Willow questions what Anya did to prove her love to R.J.; Anya dodges the subject with a quick lie and turns off the radio as a news report is heard about a wanted bank robber on the loose. ===== Several encounters take place around Sunnydale on one night, which are told in real time. Uniquely among Buffy episodes, the main characters do not interact with one another. According to the staff writers, this was intended to enforce the idea of "being alone." Marck, Nick, Jane Espenson, Drew Goddard, Danny Strong, and Tom Lenk. 2004. "Conversations with Dead People." Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Season 7. Episode 7. Disc 2 (commentary). Los Angeles: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2006. On patrol, Buffy discovers that her latest vampire foe is an old high school classmate named Holden Webster. Upon recognizing her, "Webs" stops their fight and takes on a friendly demeanor – seeming pleasantly surprised to have run into her and asking how she has been. Because she doesn't immediately remember him, Webs begins to jog her memory about the half dozen times they interacted with each other. Buffy finally recalls him, and the two begin to reminisce. The vampire, a psychology major in life, proceeds to psychoanalyze Buffy, and she opens up to him about her innermost conflicts and problems while at the same time fighting. She slays him in the end, but not before he identifies Spike as the vampire who (recently) sired him. Back at Revello Drive, Dawn prepares for a night alone at home. An unnaturally loud banging sets her nerves on edge. She talks with her friend Kit on the phone, asking, "See? Do you hear that?" when the banging begins again. Eventually, Dawn comes to believe that her mother is trying to contact her, and the malevolent force is working to prevent her. Dawn manages to exorcise the malevolent force and Joyce appears to warn her that when the time comes, Buffy won't choose her. In a story entirely devoid of dialogue, Spike picks up a woman at a bar, walks her home, and feeds on her, leaving her dead on her own doorstep. Jonathan and Andrew return from Mexico to dig up an artifact hidden near the Hellmouth. Andrew is secretly in contact with what appears to be the ghost of Warren, while Jonathan is having a personal revelation that he misses high school and still cares for his old friends. After they dig up the artifact, Andrew, on Warren's instructions, insults and kills Jonathan, causing his blood to spill all over a 'door' in the dirt. In the library, Willow is visited by the ghost of Cassie, a girl Buffy once helped, who claims to have been sent by the dead Tara. The ghost relays Tara's message that Willow will end up killing everyone if she ever uses magic again, and recommends suicide as a solution. This tips Willow off that she has not been talking to Cassie, and she demands to know who the being really is. The being reveals itself as The First and threatens Willow and all her friends before vanishing. ===== New York, 1977: Spike is fighting Nikki Wood, a Slayer whom he kills, seen in the fifth season episode "Fool for Love", in a park at night in pouring rain while her son watches from his hiding place behind a bench. Spike has the opportunity to kill her but the kid distracts him and he lets her go with the promise that they'll meet again. "Love the coat," he adds with a smile, before he leaves. When he's gone, a clearly troubled Nikki finds her son and calms his fears by telling him, "The mission is what matters." The scene switches to an alley in present-day Sunnydale. Buffy, Principal Robin Wood, and Spike are fighting a bunch of vampires. Buffy and Spike manage to kill their quarry, but a vampire has knocked Wood to the ground, and is about to kill him. Spike saves Wood by killing the vampire from behind, then helps him up, telling him not to hold back with using the stake. Wood thanks him, but the camera zooms in on the stake he's holding, and we see he's gripping it so hard his hand's dripping blood. Previously, the First Evil had programmed Spike with a post- hypnotic suggestion in his mind that allows it to turn Spike violent using an old song, "Early One Morning", as a trigger. This way the First was able to command him to kill again. Buffy wants to find out how to turn it off so that she can fully trust Spike against the First, but Giles opposes Buffy. In his opinion, Spike is dangerous and must be contained or disposed of. At the same time, the Scoobies go to the basement of Buffy's house, where Willow makes a spell with the Prokaryote stone, a magical artifact that penetrates Spike's mind and makes him more conscious of how the trigger works. During this process information about Spike's human past is revealed, including how he turned his sick mother into a vampire only to be rejected by her newly vampiric self. The song that his mother used to sing makes him relive the whole episode and switch into his evil, soulless self. He unwittingly hurts Dawn in the process and scares them all, except Buffy. Meanwhile, Willow receives a phone call from a girl named Fred and quickly leaves for Los Angeles. She apologizes to Buffy for her quick departure, but promises to be back as soon as she can. After the previous incident, Wood privately convinces Giles that Spike must die. Giles learns that Wood is the son of Nikki, now dead, and that Spike killed her. The two plan for Giles to distract Buffy while Wood takes care of Spike. Giles takes Buffy on patrol and begins asking her indirect questions and making obscure references to her role against the First. In the meantime, Wood takes Spike to his hideout with the promise to protect him, but upon arrival Wood reveals to Spike that he knows Spike murdered his mother and that he's going to kill the monster inside him. Spike says he has no remorse over killing Wood's mother, and that it was "all part of the game". Wood then plays the song "Early One Morning", which triggers Spike's violent, monstrous self and the two fight. As the fight progresses, Spike continues to relive the events that transpired between him and his mother, due to the Prokaryote Stone. Wood takes advantage of Spike's flashbacks, and using weapons, knocks Spike around until he cannot stand and he then attempts to stake him. At this point, Spike regains control of his own mind, having faced his own anger and regret on turning his mother into a vampire and then being forced to kill her. Wood is now almost helpless against the much stronger Spike, who gives him a violent beating and demonstrates that the song has no more power over him. Spike tells Wood that the difference between his mother and Spike's mother, is that Spike's mother actually loved him back. While Giles and Buffy are talking in the cemetery, they become involved in a fight with another vampire. Buffy realizes that Giles has been trying to distract her while Wood kills Spike. She kills the vampire, leaves Giles and rushes to Wood's place. Buffy finds Spike at Wood's place, with Wood badly hurt, but alive. Spike tells her that he gave Wood "a pass" because he killed Wood's mother, but if Wood tries anything again, he'll kill him. Buffy goes inside and tells Wood that she needs Spike alive, and that she has no time for personal vendettas. She promises him that if he tries anything like this again, she'll let Spike kill him. As she walks away, she says she has a mission to win this war - "The mission is what matters" - echoing Robin's mother's words when he was a child. Once at home, Buffy tells Giles that his and Wood's plan failed, and shuts the door on him, saying "I think you've taught me everything I need to know." ===== Buffy, Xander, and Anya try to pursue Willow, who has killed Warren to avenge his murder of Tara and now plans to execute his two jailed accomplices. They discover that Willow has damaged Xander's car to prevent them from catching her. Buffy continues her pursuit on foot. Anya teleports into Jonathan and Andrew's cell shortly before Willow arrives. Anya and Buffy manage to evade Willow's attack and slip away with the two men. As Xander drives them away in a stolen police cruiser, Willow attacks them with a truck she is wielding magically; but her overuse of magic has drained her power, and they escape. In a cave in Africa, Spike continues to pass stages in his ordeal. He fights a man with burning fists and eventually defeats and kills him - only to learn that it was only the first stage. Dawn and Clem decide to go to the dark magician Rack's lair, expecting Willow to try to deal with him to recharge her powers. Buffy, Xander and Anya regroup at the Magic Box and debate their course of action. Buffy believes she can convince Willow to relent, but the others disagree; Buffy heads for Rack's, alone. Xander admits to Anya that he might have been able to stop Warren before he fired on Buffy and Tara, but was afraid to intervene, unarmed. Willow meets with Rack, who attempts to seduce her. She rejects his advances, seizes him, drains his power, and kills him, just as Dawn arrives. Dawn's effort to calm the much more powerful Willow prove futile and serve only to annoy her, but Buffy arrives before she acts against Dawn. Buffy tries to talk with Willow, who replies that nothing in the world matters anymore since Tara's death. Willow teleports the group back to the Magic Shop, where Buffy and Dawn collapse. As Willow attacks, Anya fires up a protection spell to shield Jonathan and Andrew. As Willow intensifies her attack, Buffy tries a physical attack, allowing all but Anya to escape. Willow subdues Buffy, then disables Anya and negates her protection spells. As she declares her victory, she is struck down by a bolt of energy from the just-arrived Rupert Giles. ===== A young Potential, Shannon, is chased through the woods by Bringers. She accepts the assistance of a stranger wearing a priest's collar and driving a truck and is horrified to discover that she has fallen into a trap. The man, who introduces himself as Caleb, terrifies her and burns his mark into her neck. He gives her a message for the Slayer (which the viewer does not hear at this time), stabs her in the stomach, and forces her out of the car. Minutes later, Faith and Willow find the girl on their way back to Sunnydale after re-ensouling Angel in Los Angeles and take her to the hospital. At his apartment, Xander's erotic dream about the teenage Potentials is cut short when the girls wake him up to fix the toilet. At the hospital, Faith asks Willow why the Scooby Gang failed to warn her about the threat of the Bringers. Faith subsequently encounters Spike chasing a young woman and mistakenly believes Spike is evil again. The young woman, now in her vampire form, attacks Faith, who (borrowing a stake from Buffy) quickly slays her. Back at the house, Faith encounters a cold reception from both Dawn and Giles, and Spike explains that the tension is not all because of her. Meanwhile, the First Evil reveals Buffy's form to Caleb who is residing in the basement of a winery. The next day, Andrew tries to bring the interested Potentials up to speed on Faith's history. While they are quick to point out that Faith had killed a volcanologist, not a Vulcan, they watch Faith exercise in the back yard with fascination over this other Slayer. At Sunnydale High School, Robin calls Buffy into his office where he fires her from her school job, emphasizing the need for her to focus on the mission. In the Summers' home, Faith sneaks down into the basement to smoke a cigarette and have a moment away from the "wanna-bes" who, in her opinion, have way too much energy and are needy for more stories from her about her life. Spike sees her and also asks for a cigarette. She and Spike talk, and bond over their respective periods of being dangerous. Faith reveals they met once before years ago when Faith was in Buffy's body, and Spike reveals that he and Buffy had been more than just friends at one point. Buffy, having been fired by Principal Wood so she can focus more on the mission at hand, comes down and seems a bit unnerved at seeing the two of them so cozy. Dawn calls down that Willow has reported from the hospital: Shannon is awake. Buffy goes to the hospital, where Shannon tells Buffy of Caleb's message: he has something of Buffy's. Later at the house, Buffy tries to motivate the terrified Potentials to accompany her when she attacks Caleb (who, meanwhile, is re-enacting scenes of his past murders with the First Evil). Buffy alone is confident in her plan; Giles, Spike, her friends, and the Potentials all question her decision. Buffy and Faith, on a recon mission, follow a Bringer through the woods. They discuss Faith's intentions and her recent experiences with Angel before locating Caleb's stronghold in an old winery. At the Summers' home, Xander directs the Potentials on the methods of attacking in battle. When Rona criticizes Buffy's intentions, Xander strongly defends his friend. Leaving Willow and Giles to stay behind to protect the more inexperienced girls, Buffy leads Spike, Faith, Xander, and the more experienced Potentials (including Kennedy, Molly, Rona, Chao-Ahn, Amanda, Diane, and several others) to the vineyard; they divide into two groups: an assault team and a back-up team. After an initial clash with the Bringers, Caleb appears. He has super- strength: he quickly knocks aside Buffy and Spike, and breaks Rona's arm. Xander and Faith arrive with the back-up team, but Faith is soon knocked unconscious. Caleb kills Diane and Molly, and Buffy orders a retreat after managing to knock Caleb down. Xander starts to yell that everyone needs to get out, but is then attacked himself by Caleb. Caleb says "So, you're the one who sees everything? Let's see what we can do about that." He stabs his thumb into Xander's eye as Xander screams. Spike tackles Caleb, giving them enough time to get Xander and leave the vineyard. Alone and distraught, Buffy leaves the injured girls and walks through the empty streets as Caleb tells the First, in Buffy's form, that their victory is imminent. ===== Chip Hilton books are always about football, basketball, or baseball. The most notable book in the series is Hoop Crazy, which examines the difficulties facing a black player wanting to join the basketball team. This is the only Chip Hilton book addressing social issues, and it does so in a compelling manner, although some of the early works did mention a great "negro" athlete, Miner, who played for one of the Big Reds' major rivals, Steeltown. Miner was presented as a gifted athlete without controversy over his participation; portraying an African-American athlete as accepted by teammate and foe alike. The reference is all the more interesting considering that the first books were written in the late 40s and early 50s when many pro teams, and even leagues, were yet to feature a black athlete. Tournament Crisis dealt with a team member who was Chinese and struggled to be included as a part of the team. He is initially depicted as angry and hard to like, and Chip works to help him and bring him around. ===== Compulsive gambler Charlie Gordon cons his brother-in-law, widower Herb Sullivan, whose wife Susie was Charlie's sister, into an all expenses- paid luxury Holland America Mexican cruise. The catch, which Charlie does not reveal to Herb until the ship has left port, is that they are required to work as dance hosts. They must sleep in a cramped cabin in the bowels of the ship, and if they do not dance, they will get fired and have to pay nearly $3,000 (later Herb finds out it's really over $5,000) for the cruise or get thrown off the ship. Ruled over by tyrannical, control-freak cruise director Gil Godwyn ("a song and dance man raised on a military base"), they do their best, despite Charlie's not actually being able to dance. Each meets a lady of interest. One is the luscious heiress Liz LaBreche, whose wealth attracts Charlie every bit as much as the rest of her does even though her wealth isn't real. The other is lovely widow Vivian who was a successful book editor and who is under the impression that Herb is really a doctor, not a dancer. Vivian came on board on the ship with her daughter and her newlywed husband to help her start dating again. After finally telling her the truth, Herb soon finds himself quite attracted to Vivian, and eventually the feeling becomes mutual. However, Herb is still very much in love with Susie which conflicts his very growing feelings for Vivian, leading him to eventually stand her up on the day that they were supposed to view the rare solar eclipse together. Charlie doesn't know that Liz is broke and came on board the ship to land a rich man. By the time Charlie literally drags ship owner Mrs. Carruthers across the dance floor in a clumsy manner, yet surprisingly greatly pleases Mrs. Carruthers. Charlie sets up Mrs. Caruthers to meet Gil in the latter's room under difference circumstances that neither are true. He being told he's about to get a big promotion and her thinking he's romantically interested in her. This was set in motion to enable Charlie to continue his charade and he and Liz spend the night together. During the eclipse, Charlie and Liz propose to each other and make plans to get married immediately. Liz's mom is ecstatic to having landed a rich guy, yet Liz has lost interest in how much money Charlie may have and is truly falling in love with him. However, Gil, figuring out that Charlie was in his room busts him in front of Liz and her mother who promptly dumps him and they decide to leave the cruise immediately. They make their getaway with Vivian on a plane. Herb decides against starting a new relationship with Vivian until Charlie reminds him that Susie was his sister long before she was Herb's wife, emphasizing that Susie would never want Herb to spend the rest of his life completely alone and unhappy. Herb and Charlie both realizing they are really in love with the women decide to go after them. Herb and Charlie are preparing to launch a lifeboat to get off the ship. Gil finds them and Herb finally stands up to him and tells him off. This sets off Gil who goes on a total tirade as Herb & Charlie leave, however Mrs. Caruthers is there with two other dance hosts and hears him say disparaging remarks about her. She promptly fires him, calling him an asshole and giving his job to one of the other dance hosts. Herb and Charlie find the plane trying to fly and call out to all to come back. They set off a flare that Vivian sees and reminds him of a story he told her. The plans lands and everyone tells the truth about everything. Charlie and Liz still continue dating, but Charlie made some good money that he won on a poker game from a rich guy that he had originally torn up to impress Liz and he later taped it back together. Herb and Vivian are together as well. End credits show bloopers and that Gil is now just a dance host and is absolutely miserable. =====