Spider Riders

 is a series of science fiction novels first published in December 2004, published by Newmarket Press written by Tedd Anasti, Patsy Cameron-Anasti and Stephen D. Sullivan (books 2–3). The series was adapted into an anime series, produced by Bee Train and Cookie Jar Entertainment. It was the first show from the latter company that was placed under the control of their then-new action-adventure brand Coliseum.
Three novels for the series included "Shards of the Oracle", "Reign of the Soul Eater" and "Quest of the Earthen". The series was broadcast on Teletoon, This TV, and used to be broadcast on Kids' WB. Koichi Mashimo co-directed the staff at Bee Train with Takaaki Ishiyama. Writer Yosuke Kuroda adapted the novels. Robert Pincombe and Shelly Hoffman wrote the English version.
Plot.
Eleven-year-old Hunter Steel searches for the legendary inner world by following instructions in his grandfather's journal. He enters a cave where he finds a mysterious manacle attaching to his arm. A spider startles Hunter, who falls into a hole to the center of the Earth and into the subterranean world of Arachna. There, he discovers a small group of elite warriors struggling to survive and to save Arachna from the attack of Invectids, a race of insectoids. The warriors are children, each fighting with the help of their own battle spiders. They call themselves "Spider Riders". In the English TV series, the ages of the characters were reduced. There is a prophecy that says a surface-dweller or Human, like Hunter, will bring disaster to the Inner World. Sparkle mentions it in the beginning of the TV series. When Princess Sparkle finds out she says, "I wonder if he will bring doom to us...or to them."
Oracle Keys.
The Oracle Keys are fractions of the Oracle's power. They are cards that can be split in two. The Invectids hope to gain them for Mantid, who wants to use their power to rule Arachna. The Oracle uses much of her strength to protect them. The Spirit Oracle Key passes its power onto Hunter and Shadow, giving them new armor and weapons as well as new abilities.
To activate the keys, the holder must shout "Oracle's Light!". Two in combination can create more powerful armor and weapons. The wielder must have a sincere desire to protect without arrogance, otherwise the keys will malfunction. The Oracle Key from Nuuma was called by Corona, using her power, to let Hunter use it without having to hold it. Mantid used two of the Oracle's keys to power himself, plunging the Inner World into darkness and preventing Hunter from using his own keys.
Currently the locations of the four Oracle Keys are known in the English version:
Broadcast history.
The animated series debuted on March 25, 2006 on Teletoon in Canada. Kids WB! on The CW began airing it during the 2006-2007 season. The last "Spider Riders" episode was shown in Canada on April 29, 2007. The series was repeated on weekdays and Sunday from June to August 2007, and was not shown for the 2007-08 season. It is broadcast on Kix sky channel 627 from 12 June. From September 1, 2008, Teletoon is repeating the anime on weekdays. From November 2008 until September 2011, it was shown on the Cookie Jar Toons block on This TV.
Web manga.
On May 31, 2006, the Spider Riders manga premiered at TV Tokyo's ani.tv website, illustrated by Junji Ohno of Studio 23. The seventh and final volume was published between 2006-11-29 and 2006-12-27. Previous volumes were removed on 2006-11-29.
Starting on December 27, 2006, the manga was republished under the Monthly Fang Comic site, when two more chapters of the manga were later released. The web comic was first published in paper form on June 19, 2007, by the Monthly Fang Comic publisher LEED Publishing Co., Ltd.; the online chapters were removed soon after. Currently, the manga is not available.
The web manga has an alternate beginning, where Hunter Steele enters a spider-shaped monument and discovers the manacle floating above a spider web. Hunter wears the manacle when it flies to his hand and falls into Inner World through a gap between web strings. Inside the Inner World, Hunter discovers Shadow after peeking at the bathing Corona and after trying to rescue a cart of caged humans. Each chapter of the web manga ends with the "Sparkling Sparkle" section, following the adventures of Princess Sparkle and Hortala in a 4-square manga format.
In the Boy's Fang manga version, certain scenes are re-edited; for example, Corona is now naked instead of in underwear when Hunter first met her in chapter 1, an illustration is added at the beginning of each chapter, and Sparkling Sparkle segments have been removed.
Tie-in media.
Web games.
Tribal Nova produced a tie-in online game based on the show, available on the official site.
Phone games.
On July 29, 2006, the Anime X site published Spider Catcher and Oracle Daifugo, downloadable phone games based on the show for the FOMA-enabled cell phones. A third game, Jumping Spider, was released on August 9, 2006. Each game cost 105 yen.


The Great Muppet Caper

The Great Muppet Caper is a 1981 musical heist comedy film directed by Jim Henson (in his feature directorial debut). It is the second theatrical film in "The Muppets" franchise. In the plot, the Muppets are caught up in a jewel heist while investigating a robbery in London.
The film was released by Universal Pictures and Associated Film Distribution on 26 June 1981 in the United States and on 30 June 1981 in the United Kingdom. It is the only Muppets feature film directed by Henson. Shot in the United Kingdom and London in 1980, the film was released shortly after the final season of "The Muppet Show".
Plot.
Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, and Gonzo the Great are investigative reporters for the "Daily Chronicle" newspaper. Kermit and Fozzie, specifically, play identical twin reporters, which becomes the source of a running gag: nobody can tell they are twins unless Fozzie is wearing his hat. One day, after the trio is dismissed for failing to report on a major jewel robbery, Kermit asks their editor Mr. Tarkanian to allow them to travel to London to investigate the robbery and interview the victim, prominent fashion designer Lady Holiday. Statler and Waldorf make appearances throughout the film to heckle them and the audience.
With only $12 for the trip, they are forced to travel in an airplane baggage hold and are literally thrown out of the plane as it passes over Britain. They stay at the dilapidated (but free) "Happiness Hotel", which is populated by other Muppet characters including Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, Scooter, the Swedish Chef, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Lew Zealand, Rowlf the Dog, Sam the Eagle, Pops, Beauregard, Crazy Harry, Camilla the Chicken, and Rizzo the Rat. The next morning, when Kermit seeks out Lady Holiday in her office, he finds her newly-hired receptionist, the alluring Miss Piggy, and mistakes her for the fashion designer. Piggy instantly falls in love with the little green reporter. She poses as Lady Holiday, and Kermit asks her out for dinner; to keep up the pose, she allows Kermit to assume she lives at a "highbrow" address. She sneaks into a townhouse at 17 Highbrow Street to wait for him (much to the surprise of the actual upper-class British residents) and they go to dinner at a nightclub, the "Dubonnet Club".
At the nightclub, the real Lady Holiday's necklace is stolen by her jealous brother Nicky and his accomplices Carla, Marla, and Darla, three of her exploitative fashion models (the very same thieves who robbed her before). After the robbery, Miss Piggy's charade is revealed and she flees, leaving Kermit behind, though the next day, they reconcile after having a brief argument. Despite Nicky's instant attraction to Miss Piggy, he and his accomplices frame her for the necklace theft during Lady Holiday's fashion show. They plan to steal an even more valuable prize: Lady Holiday's largest and most valuable jewel, the Fabulous Baseball Diamond, now on display at the local "Mallory Gallery". Unbeknownst to them, Gonzo overhears their plot. He, Kermit, Fozzie, and the other residents of the Happiness Hotel decide to intercept the thieves and catch them red-handed to exonerate Miss Piggy. Kermit arrives at the prison to explain the plan to Miss Piggy, while disguised as her "lawyer".
The Muppets sneak into the Mallory Gallery and get to the Baseball Diamond at the same time as the thieves. They try to keep the diamond out of the thieves' hands via a game of keep away, but Nicky eventually catches the diamond and takes Kermit hostage. In the meantime, Piggy escapes from prison, and she races to the gallery, crashing through the window on a motorcycle that serendipitously fell off a truck in front of her. She knocks Nicky out and dispatches Carla, Marla and Darla with a flurry of furious karate chops. As the police arrive, all charges against Piggy are dropped, Nicky and his accomplices are arrested, and the Muppets get their deserved credit for foiling the heist.
The Muppets then return to the United States the same way they departed, being thrown out of the cargo hold and parachuting back to the United States.
Release.
Critical reception.
Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film a two star rating (out of four), writing "...Henson and his associates haven't developed a screenplay that pays attention to the Muppet personalities. Instead, they ship them to England and dump them into a basic caper plot, treating them every bit as much like a formula as James Bond." He concluded his review by stating that "the lack of a cutting edge hurts this movie. It's too nice, too routine, too predictable, and too safe." Similarly, Sheila Benson of the "Los Angeles Times" felt the "Muppets don't belong in a caper movie. They are interpreters of character, relationship and the human condition. (Of the first film's writers, Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns, only Juhl remains, now collaborating with Jack Rose; Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses are the other pair of writers credited. You can frequently scent trouble, or at least a lack of cohesion, as the list of writers mounts. ) Somebody let the air out of the jokes and the originality out of the melodies, which this time are by Joe Raposo."
Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" awarded three out of four stars, particularly singling out Miss Piggy for her "fabulous personality, a genuine star quality". However, he felt the film suffers "from a case of the we-know-we're-cute-so-we-can-get-by-with-anything disease. The disease manifests itself in the script that forever interrupts itself with jokes about the movie we're watching...I expect the screenwriters to try to write a seamless story. Anybody can interrupt the action of a movie for gratuitous remarks such as these, but it's a very cheap laugh." Todd McCarthy, reviewing for "Variety", wrote that "The Great Muppet Caper" "possesses all the charm of the first installment", in which he applauded Henson for showing "a sure hand in guiding his appealing stars through their paces." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" compared the romantic chemistry between Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy to that of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, in which he praised both characters as the "real stars" of the film.
The film holds a 76% approval rating based on 21 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 6.47/10. The site's consensus says ""The Great Muppet Caper" is overplotted and uneven, but the appealing presence of Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang ensure that this heist flick is always breezily watchable."
Box office.
After the success of "The Muppet Movie" and with good reviews, the film was expected to be a hit but grossed only half the amount of the previous film with a gross of $31 million in the US. Some thought the use of the word "caper" in the title was a mistake.
It is the fifth-highest grossing Muppet film behind "The Muppets" (2011), "The Muppet Movie" (1979), "Muppets Most Wanted" (2014) and "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996).
Home media.
"The Great Muppet Caper" was first released on Betamax, VHS, and LaserDisc in 1982 by 20th Century Fox Video. On 29 January 1993, Buena Vista Home Video, under the Jim Henson Video label, re-released the film on VHS and LaserDisc. The movie was reissued on VHS by Columbia Tristar Home Video and Jim Henson Home Entertainment on 1 June 1999. It was later released on DVD by Sony Pictures and Jim Henson Home Entertainment on 10 July 2001 and subsequently on 29 November 2005 by Walt Disney Home Entertainment as "Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition".
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released "The Great Muppet Caper" on Blu-ray and DVD, alongside "Muppet Treasure Island", on 10 December 2013.
Music.
In 1982, Joe Raposo was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "The First Time It Happens" but lost to "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" by Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Christopher Cross and Peter Allen from "Arthur".
In 1981, Miss Piggy won the Youth in Film Award for Best Young Musical Recording Artist for her performance of "The First Time It Happens", becoming the first, and only, non-human recipient in the history of the award.
Soundtrack.
"The Great Muppet Caper: The Original Soundtrack" contains all of the songs from the film, as well as several portions of dialogue and background score. The album reached #66 on "Billboard"'s Top LP's and Tapes chart in 1981.


Mega Snake

Mega Snake is a television film by Sci Fi Pictures. It was first aired on August 25, 2007. The film was produced by the company Nu Image Films as an original movie for broadcasting on the Sci Fi cable television network. It was shot in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The film features a special appearance by Feedback, the winning hero on the channel's first "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" contest. Though it was originally advertised as "Starring Feedback", he is a minor character that only appears for a moment towards the end of the movie.
Plot.
The movie is set in 1986, when a young Les Daniels, who is terrified of snakes, is forced to go to a wedding where venomous snakes are passed around. When he is supposed to give one of the snakes to his father, he hesitates, giving the snake enough time to bite his father's artery. His father dies in a matter of minutes.
Twenty years later, in the movie's "present day", Les is still afraid of snakes, and his older brother Duff teases him about it. To help him get over his phobia, Duff goes to a Native American snake proprietor, Screaming Hawk. While there, Hawk tells him about a small snake living inside a jar on his desk. The snake, called Unteka, is actually an ancient snake that grows at a massive rate and whose species had killed many of Hawk's tribe in the past. The tribe was finally able to kill all but one of them, and so Unteka is the last of his kind. Duff is given three rules regarding the snake: "Don't let it out of the jar, don't let it eat anything living, and never fear the heart of the snake." Despite being told he cannot have Unteka, Duff steals it.
Once at home, Duff accidentally breaks the jar. Les sees the snake double in size almost instantly, but Duff doesn't believe his brother when he tells him the horrific tale. That night, while Duff is sleeping, the snake eats the pet cat. The snake has now grown to almost 20 times its original size. It sneaks out into the chicken coop, killing all but one chicken, which the snake soon finishes off. When Les' mother hears the commotion, she goes outside to see what's going on, only to meet the same fate.
Duff becomes afraid that the legend is true and decides to ask some snake killers how to deal with his situation. They say that if the snake hasn't yet reached full size, Duff could kill it by stabbing it in the head. Duff does so and seems to have killed the snake. The following night, however, the snake awakens, and kills both him and the family dog.
Les returns home after a long night of drinking, only to find the place ransacked. He calls his girlfriend, Erin, who is a police officer, as well as her ex-boyfriend, Bo, the chief of police. When Les says that he just knows his family is dead, Bo becomes suspicious that Less might be the killer and arrests him.
Unteka then attacks a vacationing family in the woods, killing the father, and attacking the rest of the family, Erin shows up and inspects the incident and she indicates that they are most likely hiding if they got out. Erin starts to believe Les' story, but Bo still doesn't. Erin heads deeper into the woods and finds a giant snake-skin, signifying that the creature is still growing. She helps Les escape, and they head over to Screaming Hawk to try to find out more about Unteka.
Bo and his team finally head out to kill the snake. The enormous creature jumps at them; only Bo is able to escape. Before he dies, he comes to the homes of the snake catchers Duff talked to earlier. The snake catchers try to kill the beast, but they both end up getting killed.
Meanwhile, Les, Erin, and Screaming Hawk all try to find the snake and kill it. Unteka, which is now long, heads to the county fair, where Feedback is making a guest appearance. The snake kills a young couple and three stoned men before making its way inside. Unteka then kills multiple people, including Fay (Les' paramedics partner). Feedback is able to hold the snake off long enough to save some people before fleeing himself.
On the way into the park, the trio sees a little girl trapped in a ride. Erin is able to save her but ends up being eaten herself.
After being swallowed, Erin calls Les via walkie-talkie. Les' group heads into a haunted roller coaster ride to save Erin before she suffocates. Looking around for the snake, Les looks behind Hawk. Hawk, seeing the shock on Les' face, quickly turns around and tries to stab the snake, but Unteka tosses him aside, injuring him. Les is left to kill Unteka. He allows himself to get eaten whole. The snake looks at Hawk while moving slowly towards him. Just as he is about to be eaten, the snake lets out a screaming roar of pain, moves around banging its head against the wall, and then falls to the floor dead. Les cuts a hole out of the snake's chest and, holding its heart, tells Hawk to help pull out Erin. She embraces and kisses Les, and walks out of the haunted roller coaster with Hawk holding the snake's heart.
Within a few months, Les and Erin get married and have their first child, and Les has gotten over his fear of snakes.


Garfield Gets a Life

Garfield Gets a Life is a 1991 animated television special based on the "Garfield" comic strip written by Jim Davis. It features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast May 8, 1991 on CBS. It was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program at the 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards. It was the final in the series of twelve Garfield television specials, in spite of the success of "Garfield and Friends" as CBS cancelled new animated specials in 1990. Odie only appears twice in this special. Unlike the other "Garfield" specials, despite the title, this one focuses mainly on Jon rather than the titular fat cat. It has been released on both VHS and DVD home video.
Plot.
On a dull Monday morning, Jon realizes how uneventful his life is and sets out to change it. He goes out to various locales to meet girls, but is turned down by every one. At home, Jon sees an advertisement on TV for the Lorenzo School for the Personality Impaired and chooses to attend. There, he meets a girl named Mona, and the two like each other and go to Jon's house. There, Garfield is worried about Jon being in a relationship and goes to tell him. Mona begins sneezing and Jon learns that she is allergic to cats. Jon chooses to stay with Garfield, but he agrees to stay friends with Mona, and the two go out to dinner as Garfield follows them.


In Case of Emergency, Release Raptor

In Case of Emergency, Release Raptor is an action video game from developer Arcen Games. The game puts the player in charge of a velociraptor with the goal of causing destruction in a 3D environment.


Dino Master

Dino Master is a game for the Nintendo DS system similar to a fusion of Pokémon and the arcade game Qix. The player takes the role of "Dave the Digger", who excavates fossils from various sites while avoiding enemies. The fossils can then be revived into living dinosaurs and pitted against each other in Battle Mode. To battle, the player would choose a part of the dinosaur to defend, and a part of the opponent dinosaur to attack. Smaller dinosaurs are weaker but have less vulnerability points; larger ones are stronger but have more vulnerability points. Powerful dinosaur are more rare to come by, and the player can dispose of the common kinds. In the story mode, the player traces a line across the field and any fossil concealed within the line is revealed. Enemies that collide with the line will send out a yellow "bullet" which will follow the line toward the player until it strikes or the player reaches an area of security. If the player collides with an enemy, the player loses a life. If an enemy is trapped within the line, removed "that enemy is vaporized.
Several errors are in the game, such as the misnaming of dinosaurs. One error is the mislabeling of Plesiosaurus as Plateosaurus.
The game has received poor reviews for errors in the touch-screen functionality and a battle system relying far too heavily on luck.


Neeli Aankhen

Neeli Aankhen (English: Blue Eyes) is an Indian television supernatural series based on the concept of wishful female serpent. The series premiered on 9 February 2008 on Sahara One.
Plot.
The story is of a shape-shifting "naagin" (female serpent) Vaishali, who resides underground, but comes to earth to lead a human life after being blessed with a magical boon ("vardaan"). She faces many negative forces, but tries to take revenge for whatever bad is being done to her. Eventually she falls in love with a rich man's son, Rahul, who happens to have an intense phobia for snakes.
Being the sole heir of his father, Rahul is set to inherit the entire property. Hence, his stepmother, Kanishka, along with her son, Vinod, and brother, Dhanraaj, plans to kill Rahul (to take over his entire property) by causing a car accident. However, Rahul gets saved by Vaishali, and falls in love with her, not being aware of her identity as a shape-shifting serpent. He wants to marry her, but the questions remains whether Vaishali ever tell him about her true identity, and whether she will be able to save him from his enemies.


The Ostrich Politic

The Ostrich Politic is a 2018 French computer-animated short film directed by HouHou during his studies at Gobelins, l'École de l'image French animation school.
Plot.
This short film, delivered with a poetic narration, follows ostriches carrying on their daily activities burying their heads, believing It's an instinctive behavior. However, one day a research by phylogeneticist Dr. Kays proves otherwise.
Distribution.
The short was acquired and broadcast online by ARTE channel and seen more than a million times online.
Accolades.
The short has been selected and awarded at several film festivals including Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and the LA shorts Fest where it won the Oscar Qualifying prize for "Best Animation".
It was also a Finalist at the Student Academy Awards and the BAFTA Student Film Awards for best student film in 2019.


Running Wild (novel)

Running Wild is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo first published in 2009. It recounts the adventures of a boy who has to survive in the Indonesian jungle after being rescued from a tsunami by an elephant.
Plot summary.
"Running Wild" by Michael Morpurgo starts with a boy, Will Robert, riding an elephant along a beach, whilst on holiday in Indonesia. Will is grieving for his father, Robert, who died in the Iraq War. The elephant, Oona, is in an odd mood that day: her handler mentions that she refused to go into the sea for her usual morning dip. Suddenly, Oona charges off with Will clinging on for dear life. As they ascend a hill, Will witnesses the Boxing Day tsunami obliterating the beach where he had been moments earlier. Will is very sad.
Oona heads into the jungle with Will on her back, and Will gradually learns to communicate with her and finds fruit and water enabling him to survive in the wild. He also remembers a long-ago lesson from his father, who taught him how to catch fish from a stream using his clothing as a net. However, Will struggles with biting insects and leeches. One day, there is a standoff between Oona and a tiger, and Will remembers the poem "The Tyger" by William Blake. Saying this poem out loud gives Will courage. This courage is needed when Will is kidnapped by hunters, and finds out about threats to the rainforest through trade in exotic pets, animal furs, palm oil and timber. Later Will escapes with the help of a chef, Kaya, who frees them by cutting open their wooden cage, leaving Will and the orangutans to run back into the wild. They wander the rainforest until they run into Oona. Will is over joyed to find Oona and climbs on her back with the orangutans. It is an emotional and inspirational story about a boy who found his place in the world, the wild!
Inspiration.
The idea for this book came from a newspaper article about Amber Owen, who was saved from the 2004 tsunami by an elephant whom she was riding at the time. Morpurgo had not traced Owen until 2016, and invited her and her family to the opening night in London. Morpurgo was also influenced by "The Jungle Book" and "The Elephant's Child", his two favourite stories from his childhood.
Reception.
Writing in the Guardian, Linda Newbery says: “With its emphasis on animal instincts and social behaviour, "Running Wild", part epic adventure, part plea for threatened habitats, will surely rank alongside his best-loved books.”


Weasel Stop

Weasel Stop is a 1956 Warner Bros. "Looney Tunes" animated short film directed by Robert McKimson. The cartoon was released on February 11, 1956, and features Foghorn Leghorn.
The cartoon is unusual in that a different dog (instead of the Barnyard Dawg) is used as Foghorn's nemesis. The title is a pun on the phrase "whistle stop".
Plot.
A shaggy dog (played by Lloyd Perryman) is the guard at a farm's chicken coop when a lip-smacking weasel comes along, intending to gain access to the chickens. And, never one to side with a canine, Foghorn Leghorn opts to help the weasel by trying to violently remove the guard dog. The rooster and weasel try various methods of getting rid of the dog, but wind up losing all their feathers and fur in a hay baling machine. The cartoon ends with Foghorn saying "Fortunately, I always keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency," a line used in several Warner Bros. Cartoons; after the iris out, the weasel reappears wearing its hay bale of fur and runs off in search of another meal.


Jurassic City

Jurassic City is a 2015 American action film written, edited, and directed by Sean Cain. The film, produced by Anthony Fankhauser, stars Ray Wise, Kevin Gage, Vernon Wells, Robert LaSardo, Dana Melanie, Sofia Mattsson, Kayla Carlyle, Monique Parent, and Jack Forcinito.
The film was released direct-to-DVD on January 9, 2015 in Japan, and on February 3rd in the United States. The film is a mockbuster of the "Jurassic Park" series.
Plot.
When a top secret Black Ops facility is breached from within by genetically modified Monolophosaurus, a final shipment is re-routed to a nearby prison to secure a half dozen of the beasts.
A trio of sorority girls (who are temporary 'guests' after getting busted for high-jinx after a particularly obnoxious party) find themselves trapped in the prison when these dinosaurs escape and go on a vicious rampage killing 90% of the prison population including the guards.
Forced to team up with the remaining prisoners they find themselves pushed deeper and deeper into the bowels of the prison to find a way out. Only they aren't sure if their new 'friends' are any better than the Monolophosaurus who plan on eating them.
And to make matters worse the Black Ops organization enters the prison not only to collect their 'property', but also permanently silence anyone with knowledge of the situation.


Battle for the Park

Battle for the Park is the seventh (and in linear terms the final) book of The Animals of Farthing Wood series. It was first published in 1992 and has since been included with "The Siege of White Deer Park" and "In the Path of the Storm" in the "Second Omnibus" edition (Hutchinson, 1995).
Plot.
It is spring in White Deer Park and Dash the young hare, confident that she is quicker than every other animal in the reserve, wants to test her speed properly by running on the downland. She tells Plucky that she will find somebody to help her dig under the boundary fence and the young fox worries about her, but she soon forgets her remark and decides to remain in the reserve. However, when Plucky goes missing Dash employs the rabbits to help her get under the fence to look for him. Meanwhile, the animals discover that several other animals have gone missing from the park including Weasel. They also hear from Toad and Tawny Owl that several brown rats have entered the park and Fox tells everybody to kill any rat they see.
Dash gives up her search and returns to the reserve only to discover that several humans are rounding up various animals using traps. She tells Fox and Vixen who go to investigate and when the humans leave in their van, Dash follows them out of the park gates and chases them across the downland towards a large enclosure surrounded by large walls. When Dash informs the others Fox decides to set up a rescue party to go and help their friends who have been captured. Fox also puts Badger in charge of the animals' battle against the rats, and several more rats arrive at the park and thrive, despite the animals' best efforts to combat the threat.
The rescue party sets off for the second reserve and Tawny Owl flies over the wall to look for Weasel. Plucky hears his calls and fetches Weasel, but neither animal knows of any way in which they can escape so Tawny Owl is forced to leave. The animals continue their battle against the rats, who have also been discovered by the humans, so they decide to temporarily retreat and return to the park when the humans think the threat has gone. Meanwhile, Fox asks Whistler to fly to the new reserve and carry Weasel back to the park, which he soon does, but Plucky is forced to remain behind until he can find a way to escape.
After biding their time in the sewers, the rats return to the park over many nights and soon grow in huge numbers, but their caution means that the true scale of their invasion does not become apparent to the other animals for some time. When the animals become aware of the rats' renewed presence in the Hollow, they launch an attack on them and drive them out of their corner of the reserve. However, several more rats gather at the pond and attack the frogs, but Toad voices his protest and the rats attack him too. The rats' leader, Bully, warns Toad that they will soon take over the whole reserve. As the white deer arrive to drink at the pond, Bully attacks Toad with his teeth and retreats. Whistler arrives at the pond and discovers the badly wounded Toad, who asks the heron to carry him to the Hollow. Whistler does so, but Toad dies soon afterwards.
The animals form another hunting party and continue to attack the rats to drive them away from the Hollow, but more rats keep on coming and they appear to be fighting a losing battle. Meanwhile, Plucky comes up with a plan to escape from the other reserve. After the Warden finishes one of his checks of the reserve, Plucky jumps into the back of his Land Rover and is taken out through the gates, before jumping out and setting off for his home reserve, where he is reunited with the other animals.
The rats continue to overrun the reserve despite the efforts of Adder and Sinuous to kill as many as they can. As the snakes launch an attack, Bully and several of his followers await them and grab hold of Adder as he enters the nest. Sinuous escapes and tells Plucky, who quickly goes to Adder's rescue. He arrives at the nest and negotiates Adder's freedom by promising not to dig into the rats' nest and attack them. Bully then offers Plucky a truce so that all the animals can concentrate on raising their young instead of battling, and makes a plan to attack the animals while their guard is down.
Fox comes up with a plan to alert the Warden of the rats' presence in the park and the animals leave several rat carcasses outside his lodge. Meanwhile, Bully organizes a hunting party of the largest and strongest rats to dispose of Adder, and the rats find Sinuous and attack her. Sinuous strikes and kills Brat, one of Bully's lieutenants, but the other rats gnaw at her body and only release her when they are sure she is dead. The Warden finally becomes aware of the rats and searches for them on his rounds, and the animals are satisfied that he will deal with the threat.
The attacks against the rats have tired Badger out and he finds it difficult to move. A young female badger named Frond, who has been driven out of her home by the rats, discovers Badger's set and asks for shelter, then collects food for him while he is unable to move. Badger enjoys being looked after and Frond stays with Badger to look after him. The Warden finally locates the rats and sets out poison for them, but they are too experienced to take the bait and it achieves nothing.
Bully finally decides to launch his attack on the Farthing Wood animals and the huge colony of rats swarm into their corner of the reserve. Mossy is spotted and killed by Bully's lieutenant, Spike, before Holly notices the attack and alerts Tawny Owl. Soon the battle rages, but the Farthing Wood animals are overrun by the rats so Leveret and Dash head off to alert all the other animals in the reserve, who arrive to join the fight. With the other animals' help the rats are finally forced to retreat and Adder avenges the death of Sinuous by killing Spike. Vixen pursues Bully and crushes him with her jaws, then tosses him over the boundary fence and out of the reserve.
Within hours the park is finally free of the rats and the animals can live peacefully once more. A few days later, Whistler discovers that a fence has been erected along the downland between the two reserves, then sometime after that Dash discovers that part of the boundary fence has been removed and the park continues onto the download and has been linked with the other reserve, meaning that White Deer Park has become twice as big so there is more space for all the animals to live their lives.
TV series.
The events of this book are covered throughout the third season of The Animals of Farthing Wood (TV series), though the sequence of events is changed slightly.


Goliath II

Goliath II is a 1960 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, it is narrated by Sterling Holloway and stars the voices of Kevin Corcoran, Barbara Jo Allen, J. Pat O'Malley, Verna Felton, and Paul Frees. It was released theatrically in the United States on January 21, 1960 alongside the live-action "Toby Tyler" (also starring Corcoran).
The short was the first Disney short cartoon to make full use of xerography, a process of using Xerox technology to transfer animation drawings to cels as part of the traditional animation process instead of utilizing hand-inking. "Goliath II" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short, losing to Gene Deitch's "Munro". Elements of this short were later reused in "The Jungle Book" (1967).
The cartoon is also called "Slonić Ćiro" or "Slonić Ćira" in Serbo-Croatian and was very popular in Yugoslavia during the late 1970s-early '80s.
Plot.
Goliath II is a miniature 8-year old Indian elephant (about 7.5 to 10 centimeters tall (3 to 4 in) tall, although the consistency of this is variable) who tries to impress his father, the biggest elephant of them all. His father doesn't care about him because of his size, although his mother does. A nasty tiger named Raja is curious to taste an elephant and tries to attack Goliath, but is stopped by Goliath's mother. Afterwards, Eloise (another member of the herd) almost accidentally steps on Goliath. Later, he is nearly eaten by a crocodile, but his mother again saves him.
As the elephants are marching through the jungle, Goliath leaves the line to follow two snails and gets lost. His mother panics, causing the other elephants to crash. Goliath's mother and Raja search for Goliath and manage to find him in a snail hole. After a short tug of war between Goliath's mother and Raja, Goliath is rescued. Goliath's mother scolds him for defying her warnings to not wander off, and puts him into a bird's nest as a timeout. Goliath is fed up with being treated like a baby and feels confident that he can take care of himself.
That night, while the herd is sleeping, Goliath runs away from the herd and vows never to return. Afterwards he is frightened by various jungle noises and accidentally wakes up Raja, who seizes him. Goliath cries for his mother, who rescues him. Goliath gets a spanking from his mother, because deserting the herd is considered a serious offense, and to make it worse, he has disgraced his father.
The next day, while the elephants are marching through the jungle again, Goliath's father is frightened by a mouse. The mouse panics the herd, causing them to flee. The mouse laughs at the elephants but finds Goliath watching him unafraid. Enraged, the mouse says that Goliath should be afraid because elephants are afraid of mice. The mouse starts a fight with Goliath, which ends with Goliath holding the mouse over a cliff above a hungry crocodile. The mouse begs for his life, and Goliath spares him. After this, Goliath is respected by his father and is named the top elephant of the herd.
Home media.
The short was released on December 6, 2005 on "".


Ichhapyaari Naagin

Ichhapyaari Naagin, also named as Icchapyaari Naagin ("Beloved Desire-Serpent") is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language romantic fantasy television series starring Priyal Gor, Mishkat Varma. The series premiered on 27 September 2016 on SAB TV. The show also aired on Sony Pal in 2018 but after few months, it went off-air in the middle. The series has been dubbed into Tamil as Priyamudan Naagini (Lovable Snake) and aired on Polimer TV. The show went off air on 10 July 2017.
Plot.
"Ichhapyaari Naagin" is set in a land called "Naagistan", where many "Ichhadhaari Naags and Naagins" live. They are nice and some hardly get vicious. One day while watching a TV show, they realize that humans have created a negative image in their minds about snakes and decide to come up with a way to change these perceptions about them. While Chirmiri plans to threaten humans, Ichha believes that perhaps, there might be a more peaceful way to go about with this and comes to earth to change their perceptions. She appears in a temple, before a pandit who worships snake deities and he tells her about the Pratap Family; a simple and loving Pehalwaan family. She befriends Appu who knows about her secret but problems arise when she falls in love with Babbal and must hide her true identity from him.
Meanwhile, Chirmiri who's jealous of Ichha attempts to sabotage her mission on various occasions but fails each time. On the other hand, Vishaili, an evil snake of ""Vishailgarh" "who lost one of her family members because of Daadi's son, Shankar, vows to kill each and every member of his family and has since kidnapped him and held him hostage to find about the whereabouts of his family. During the Diwali celebration, rivals from the neighbourhood place a bomb in the cracker box at the "Pratap House". Appu unknowingly lights the bomb thinking it's a firecracker and it explodes. Babbal saves Appu but gets severely injured and eventually breathes his last. To bring Babbal back to life, Ichha performs a puja called "Sanjhapratyarpan" where she gives half her life to Babbal.
Vishaili finally locates "Pratap House" and arrives as Amrita, a film maker to make a film on Pehelwaans. She claims to know Shankar and Daadi allows her to stay at their place. Vishaili finds out Ichha an "Ichhadhaari Naagin" is protecting the Pratap family and is determined to find the way to "Naagistaan" to destroy it as well. She then attacks the family with the help of Budhiraj, a shape shifting bee and then Aagvansh, a shape shifting fiery eagle but Ichha thwarts her every move. Ichha eventually finds out that Vishaili is the Vishailgarh naagin who was trying to destroy the Pehelwaan family then she threatens her that she is going to destroy the Pratap family and take her revenge from the family.
Babbal realizes his love for Ichha and tries professing his love on various occasions but she ignores him as she promised her mother to stay away from him. After many failed attempts, Babbal decides to make Ichha jealous by flirting with Amrita. Amrita falls for Babbal and it creates a rift between Iccha and Babbal. Prabal who can now read women's minds, mistakes Amrita to be in love with Babbal and informs Daadi who plans to get them married. However, Vishnaini, Vishaili 's sister and Queen of Vishailgarh allows this on the condition that Babbal be turned into a snake through a process called "Naag-Atmikaran." Ichha interrupts the process causing Babbal to be hypnotised by Vishaili. Vishnaini arrives at "Pratap House" as Vishaili's mother to make sure everything goes according to their plan. Meanwhile, Ichha enters "Vishailgarh" and fetches a diamond which causes the "Vishailgarh Sisters" to take their snake form during Babbal and Vishaili's wedding and they escape soon afterward. Ichha finds out that she was born as a human and the former queen of Vishailgarh turned her into a naagin so Sipili and Sheshu had to save her. Ichha gets permission to marry Babbal and then she confesses her love to him. Ichha and Babbal finally get married after they defeat Vishali and Vishnaini.
Ichha had to defeat Sursuri a naagin who was jealous because Ichha married a human and who was creating trouble between Ichha and Babbal. Babbal eventually finds out that Ichha is a naagin but then eventually accepts her because she has saved his life during the Diwali incident. After the whole family finds out that Ichha is a naagin, Daadi get very furious and decides to kick her out of the house. Chanchal was very mad at Ichha but then Sipili tells her that Ichha saved her son from dying. Just before Ichha was leaving the house, Lord Shiva comes to the house and tells them that Ichha is a good naagin and she just came on Earth to change people's negative perception on snakes. The whole family then accepts Ichha with their perception about snakes being harmful changes and the series ends.


Mariel of Redwall

Mariel of Redwall is a fantasy novel by Brian Jacques, published in 1991. It is the fourth book published and sixth chronologically in the "Redwall" series.
Plot summary.
Book 1: The Maid from the Sea.
The story opens by introducing Gabool the Wild, the nefarious King of Searats, who stands at the top of a cliff and watches as a small mousemaid frantically tries to survive in the seas at the bottom of the cliff. The pirate king returns to his fortress, Fort Bladegirt, where one of his captains named Bludrigg demands plunder. Gabool feigns an air of compliance, but suddenly beheads Bludrigg. After this short incident, he interrogates Joseph the Bellmaker and attempts to force him to build a bell tower for the enormous bell he captured. Failing in this, he successfully persuades the Bellmaker to interpret the symbols on the bell in exchange for the latter's daughter. He then shoves the old mouse off of a cliff.
In the meantime, the mousemaid is rendered unconscious when a piece of flotsam strikes her on the head. She washes up onto the shores, wakes up, and unties the rope around her neck. Suffering from severe thirst, the mousemaid searches for water, finds a small pool of it, and fends off another gull with her trusty rope. Cogitating on her forgotten identity, the amnesiac mouse names herself Storm Gullwhacker.
When weary Storm awakens, she finds herself surrounded by trident-wielding toads, led by one disgruntled Oykamon. The mousemaid launches a trenchant attack, but is stabbed. She is rescued by Colonel Clary, Brigadier Thyme, and Hon Rosie, hares of the Long Patrol. They decide to bring her to Redwall. A reclusive, pedant squirrel, Pakatugg is concerned about security and secrecy to an extreme degree.
At Terramort Isle, Saltar the corsair, brother of Bludrigg, arrives with the "Darkqueen". Saltar duels Gabool, but is treacherously killed in a trap. Immediately afterward, the report comes in that Captain Greypatch has stolen the "Darkqueen", Gabool's flagship. Gabool tells his captains that whoever kills Greypatch will be made second-in-command of all searats.
Redwall.
Storm and Pakatugg are obdurate and intransigent creatures, and they soon part ways, none too peacefully. She attempts to find the way to Redwall by herself, and meets an eccentric hare named Tarquin L. Woodsorrel.
The two reach Redwall without further incident, and Tarquin converses with the badger mother Mellus while Storm gets acquainted with Dandin and Saxtus, two mice. Despite the mousemaid's aversion of baths, Storm quickly grows accustomed to life at Redwall. That night, Dandin, Saxtus, and Storm enjoy themselves at the Abbot's Jubilee Feast until Saxtus recites a strange, prophetic poem. The mousemaid lets out a sudden cry and falls unconscious. The poem, coincidentally, told the story of Storm's life.
The blind herbalist, Simeon, convinces Storm to tell them her newly remembered life-story. Storm reveals that her real name is Mariel, and recounts her peregrination aboard the "Periwinkle" with her father, Joseph the Bellmaker. The "Periwinkle" is bound on a course for Salamandastron to deliver a massive bell to the current badger lord, Rawnblade Widestripe. Unfortunately, they are overtaken and boarded by a pirate ship under Saltar, who kills the "Periwinkle" crew after a brief struggle. Joseph and Mariel are taken to Terramort, and she is forced to serve at Gabool's table.
One day, Gabool picks a fight with a pirate named Skullgor, and Mariel unintentionally collides with the pirate king. Gabool finishes off Skullgor and comes after the hapless mousemaid. Mariel snatches up Skullgor's sword from the ground and manages to stun Gabool, but is knocked out herself by the villain's henchmen. Embarrassed by his unexpected loss to a mere mousemaid, Gabool ties a heavy rock to Mariel's leg and throws her into the sea. The rock is dashed to pieces on another rock during her fall, and Mariel concludes her intriguing narrative.
The Quest Begins.
Northwest of Redwall, Greypatch lands in Mossflower Woods aboard the "Darkqueen", and is hotly pursued by Garrtail aboard the "Greenfang". Greypatch easily massacres the crew of the "Greenfang" and burns the ship. Pakatugg spots the ship and follows the searat scouts, but is captured. When he is interrogated, the squirrel cracks under the pressure and reveals the location of Redwall.
Back at Redwall, Mariel attempts to immediately leave to slay Gabool. Dandin, Mother Mellus, Tarquin, and Simeon convince her to search for information on the whereabouts of Terramort before starting. All the inhabitants of Redwall search the gatehouse for a helpful clue, and a scroll by Fieldroan the Traveler is finally found. Mariel plans to leave the next day, alone. However, Martin the Warrior has other plans. During the night, his spirit visits Simeon and prompts the herbalist to give Dandin his deadly sword.
Early the next morning, Mariel starts off on her quest and meets Tarquin L. Woodsorrel along the path. She adamantly insists that she must make the trip alone, but the hare accompanies her anyway. About lunchtime, they walk into Dandin, who has been waiting for them with a full picnic ready. As they continue down the road, they meet up with Durry Quill, a Redwall hedgehog. Though furious initially, Mariel finally resigns herself to the fact that the trio will come with her, no matter what she says. The travellers come to a river and are abruptly confronted by a murderous heron named Iraktaan. The travellers' combined efforts are sufficient to subdue the vicious bird, and Durry nearly loses his life crossing the pike-infested ford. After a nerve-wracking encounter with an adder and long hours of walking, the four find the "otter and his wife," monolithic sculptures that were mentioned in the Terramort poem.
Book 2: The Strange Forest.
The Flitchaye.
After making their report to Lord Rawnblade, Clary, Thyme, and Rosie investigate the wreck of the "Greenfang" and trace its destruction to the "Darkqueen", which has been left unguarded by Greypatch. Greypatch arrives at Redwall and parleys with the Abbot in a bid to have the Abbey's gates opened, but is injured by a lapideous turnip. An opprobrious troublemaker named Bigfang inveigles the crew to abandon Greypatch and return to the '’Darkqueen'’. However, the "Darkqueen" has been commandeered by the three hares, who loose arrows at the approaching searats. After a long standoff, in which both sides manoeuvre to gain the upper hand, Kybo the searat convinces the crew to abandon the "Darkqueen" and return to Greypatch.
Mariel and her companions follow the path and enter a dense forest. In this forest, they detect a strange, cloying smell that causes heavy drowsiness. The party fall asleep, and they wake up to find themselves trussed to a tree, surrounded by creatures shrouded in barkcloth and weeds, captured by a tribe called the Flitchaye, led by their leader Snidjer. Mariel breaks them free of their bonds and they beat furiously on the oak.
Help soon arrives in the form of a massive barn owl, Stonehead McGurney. The aptly named owl uses his head as a battering ram to fling the hapless weasels over the treetops. After introducing them to his savage wife Thunderbeak and their four ravenous chicks, Stonehead offers to take them to the "swampdark" mentioned in the poem the next morning.
Down south in Salamandastron, Lord Rawnblade is missing. The "Waveblade", under Captain Orgeye, is grounded near Salamandastron and the badger lord comes out of his mountain to do battle. Full of the Bloodwrath, Rawnblade slays the entire corsair crew singlehandedly and sets the ship on a course for Terramort.
Swampdark and the Sea.
Near Redwall, the crew returns to Greypatch, who has formulated a fail-proof plan to take Redwall. The assault begins and the Redwallers are ready. Greypatch sends Bigfang to burn the gates with a shield of oarslaves. The pirate Kybo goes to the east wall with grappling hooks to mount a surprise attack, while Greypatch's company fires a barrage of projectiles as a distraction. The feint attack appears to be working, and Kybo's crew scales the east wall unnoticed. Unfortunately for the searats, three naughty Dibbuns equipped with knives appear and decide to save the Abbey. In their element, the deadly Dibbuns gleefully slice through the searats' ropes. It is a long drop to the forest floor below...
The Terramort questers are guided to swampdark, where Stonehead leaves them. The dim-lit swamp is treacherous, and Dandin almost loses his life in a bog. They reach the edge of the swamp, but are followed by silent lizards, who watch their every move. Mariel tries to challenge and intimidate them, but the lizards make no move. They leave the swamp and traverse some hills to reach the coastline. There, they meet a kindly old dormouse named Bobbo, who brings them home for tea. After introducing them to his pet newt Firl, Bobbo tells them his life story—he was captured by Gabool the Wild and became a galley slave, but was left for dead on shore.
As the rest turn in for the night, Mariel asks Bobbo for directions to Terramort. Bobbo tells her about a swallow ornament that "cannot fly south," a primitive compass. The next day, Bobbo leads them to a deep pool. At the bottom, the desired swallow is trapped between two rocks, guarded by an enormous lobster. The five animals throw food into the water to satiate the crustacean's appetite, and Mariel and Dandin descend into the murky, forbidding depths to retrieve the swallow.
Book 3: The Sound of a Bell!
The Search for the Swallow.
After suffering an ignominious defeat, Greypatch hatches a new plan to attack the Abbey: fire-swingers! Greypatch convinces his sceptical minions to create scores of miniature boulders wrapped in flammable substances. Tied to vines and swung like oversized bolas, they make formidable incendiary weapons. Since none of their weapons can match the range of a fire-swinger, the Redwallers are defenceless against the onslaught of missiles. However, Colonel Clary, Brigadier Thyme, and Hon Rosie make their way to the Abbey and construct special arrows out of yew staves. The well-trained hares stand on the Abbey ramparts and fire their far-reaching longbows, felling several of Greypatch's rats. Pandemonium breaks out among the searats, and they retreat out of range of the Abbey.
As the beasts of the Abbey put up a valiant defence, Dandin and Mariel encounter unexpected difficulties in their pursuit of the swallow. Dandin, with sword in paw, protects Mariel as she tries to dislodge the swallow. Mariel finds that the metal swallow is wedged firmly between two rocks, and her vigorous motions attract the attention of the lobster. During the frenzied melee between Dandin and the lobster, the mouse drops the Sword of Martin and is immobilised, with the creature's claws at his back.
Mariel catches up the sword and deals the lobster a terrible blow, allowing Dandin to be hauled up on the rope around his waist. Unfortunately, the lobster wheels around and locks onto the Sword of Martin. A tug-of-war ensues as Mariel is pulled up by her rope and the indomitable lobster clutches doggedly onto the opposite end of the sword. However, the fearsome creature capitulates after being pelted by several rocks from the surface. Mariel and Dandin gasp for air on the shore, without the swallow. With a twinkle in his eye, Bobbo hands them the swallow, explaining that Firl retrieved the swallow during the confusion. Bobbo then directs them to the burned out hulk of "Greenfang", which remains seaworthy. After a tearful farewell, the four questers set sail for Terramort, directed by the magnetic swallow.
In the aftermath of Greypatch's attack, the hares and Mother Mellus discuss strategy. Though Redwall is secure from any pirate assault, Mother Mellus voices her concern about the mistreated oarslaves held captive by Greypatch. With considerable aplomb, Clary readily agrees to do whatever he can to free them.
In the twilight, the three hares embark on a covert mission to the pirate camp. As the vitriol mounts, Hon Rosie cannot contain her mirth and lets off a tremendous “Whoohahahahooh,” her signature, high-decibel laugh. All activity ceases and the hares are forced to flee. However, on the upshot, they rescue two shrews during the turmoil.
Greypatch is infuriated at the incident and orders tripwires and other sundry traps to be set around the camp perimeter. Upon discovering these devices, Clary has Foremole dig a tunnel to the oarslaves. In the middle of the night, sleepy rats are surprised to see pairs of slaves vanishing straight into the ground! Needless to say. The conflict escalates into a duel between Bigfang and Greypatch.. Greypatch forces Bigfang into a campfire and kills him with a swift spear throw.
Diverging Roads to Terramort.
Meanwhile, the travellers to Terramort are having problems of their own. In the thick fog wreathing the ocean, Mariel and Tarquin are unable to see a large ship bearing down on them. One of Gabool's ships named the "Seatalon" rams the "Greenfang", and all four travellers are thrown into the sea. Dandin and Durry are captured by the pirate ship, and Mariel and Tarquin tread water, using the hare's harolina as a float.
The "Seatalon"’s captain, Catseyes, takes Dandin’s sword for himself and consigns Dandin and Durry to the galleys as oarslaves. The two are treated cruelly by slavemaster Blodge and his puny assistant Clatt, who force the slaves to row for Terramort. At night, however, a hooded mouse with silvery fur comes aboard and hands out files to the slaves. He approaches Captain Catseyes, claiming to be a courier from Gabool. The eccentric mouse slays Catseyes with a thrust from a dagger, and leads a revolt to take over the "Seatalon". Only then does he reveal his identity: Joseph the Bellmaker!
As for Mariel and Tarquin, they struggle to stay afloat and hold an animated conversation until they are lifted aboard the "Waveblade" by Lord Rawnblade. They array themselves in searat regalia and land at Terramort without being identified, despite a harrowing encounter with two pirate ships.
Last Stand of the Long Patrol.
In the meantime, Colonel Clary, Brigadier Thyme, and the Honorable Rosie have run out of options. With Greypatch reaffirmed as leader, the oarslaves and Pakatugg find themselves in a resilient cage made of branches. The hares decide that they can only free the oarslaves at the cost of their lives. Heavily armed, they approach Greypatch’s camp and order Oak Tom, Treerose, and Rufe Brush to spirit away the oarslaves at their signal.
Entering the camp, they loose shaft after shaft into the charging corsairs from their deadly longbows. Clary tosses Pakatugg a knife, and the lean squirrel bravely volunteers to die with the hares. When the hares finally exhaust their supply of arrows, they fight with their lances. The hares and Pakatugg brandish their lances and charge straight into the middle of the pirate crew with one last cry of “Eulaliaaaa!”
Weeping, the three squirrels make their way to Redwall with the last of the oarslaves. Upon hearing the news of the long patrol's last stand, Mother Mellus and Flagg set out in the direction of the searat camp. They stumble upon two searats preparing to deliver the coup de grace to Hon Rosie, but kill them before they have a chance. With the aid of Oak Tom and Rufe Brush, they carry Hon Rosie to Redwall and struggle to keep her alive. Left with eighteen corsairs out of his former hundred, Greypatch decides to pack up and return to the "Darkqueen".
At Terramort, Gabool and his captains see the large form of Lord Rawnblade from afar. Three searat crews are dispatched to slay the badger. Now ashore, Rawnblade, Mariel, and Tarquin spot Dandin and Durry. They meet up, with the hordes of searats just behind them, and run among some large rocks. Durry pushes aside a massive boulder, revealing the tunnel to Joseph's secret hideout.
The Final Battle.
As Durry breaks the news to Mariel that her father is alive, the exuberant mousemaid, thrilled beyond measure, snatches the party's only torch and rushes down the tunnel. The newcomers meet the hundreds of Terramort Resistance Against Gabool fighters. Joseph relates his story and the two organised a large army of oarslaves dedicated to the destruction of Terramort.
After an argument over who will kill Gabool, Joseph uncovers his plan for a three-pronged assault on Fort Bladegirt through several tunnels. Mariel and Joseph will attack the fort from opposite sides as Tarquin batters down the main gates with a ram. Lord Rawnblade plans to break through the walls with a massive boulder and charge in. At first, the plan works perfectly and the searats are completely caught off guard.
As Mariel and Joseph's slingers are cut down by arrow fire, Tarquin provides a loud distraction by ramming the gates. As Gabool fearfully watches, Rawnblade enters the battle. Assailed by three searats at once, Joseph would have lost his life, were it not for the timely intervention of Mariel's Gullwhacker.
Into Gabool's Lair.
When the path is clear, Dandin, Mariel, Joseph, Durry, and Tarquin rush into the fort after Rawnblade, who went in before them. Rawnblade, full of the bloodwrath, fearlessly bangs on Gabool's bell, challenging the pirate king. Gabool attempts to engage Rawnblade, but quickly retreats further into his lair after thrusting a sharp dagger into the badger's chest. Fortunately, Rawnblade has a resilient breastplate that absorbs the impact. Mariel and the rest arrive as Rawnblade splits the door into two halves and sets hard on the heels of Gabool.
In the meantime, Gabool has set a trap. As his pursuers confront him, he taunts Rawnblade, who furiously charges toward him. When the badger steps on a carpet between him and Gabool, he plummets down into a dark pit. A scorpion, Skrabblag, resides in the pit, and quickly moves to attack. The spirit of Martin, however, takes control of Rawnblade and prompts the badger to fling the poisonous creature out of the pit and onto the face of Gabool. The scorpion strangles the searat with its twin claws, striking his cranium with its lethal stinger. Skrabblag detaches himself from Gabool's head as the former pirate king convulses and dies from the arachnid's venom. Dandin quickly kills the creature before it can do further harm, and the party leaves Terramort forever.
Durry, Tarquin, Dandin, and Joseph each commandeer one of the abandoned pirate ships, and they set sail for Redwall with the Trag warriors and the bell aboard. When they reach their destination, all Redwall comes to greet them. An enormous feast is prepared, thereafter known as the Feast of the Bell Rising, so named for Rawnblade's generous gift to the Abbey. Dandin's friend Saxtus becomes Abbot, and Rufe Brush ties Martin's sword to the roof of the Abbey, where it is found by Samkim in the book "Salamandastron". The famed Gullwhacker becomes the bellpull for the new Joseph Bell, and its owner goes with Dandin to seek out new adventures.
Translations.
The Dutch translation by Annemarie Hormann does not include the final two chapters. Also, due to some alterations to the ending, the heroes never capture the "Nightwake", the book ends with three ships sailing away as opposed to the four in the original version.


The Reckoning (2020 film)

The Reckoning is an 2020 adventure horror film directed by Neil Marshall, from a screenplay by Marshall, Charlotte Kirk and Edward Evers-Swindell. It stars Kirk, Joe Anderson, Steven Waddington and Sean Pertwee. The film follows a woman accused of being a witch after losing her husband to plague.
Filming took place in Budapest, Hungary. Both interior and exterior scenes were filmed at Fot Studios, Hungary on sets built and designed by Ian Bailie.
The film had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on 20 August 2020.
Plot.
After losing her husband during the Great Plague, Grace Haverstock (Kirk) is unjustly accused of being a witch and placed in the custody of England's most ruthless witch-hunter, Judge Moorcroft (Pertwee). Forced to endure physical and emotional torture while steadfastly maintaining her innocence, Grace must face her own inner demons as the Devil himself starts to work his way into her mind.
Cast.
Filming.
While "The Reckoning" is set in Northern England in 1665, the film was shot entirely in Budapest, Hungary in 2019.
Release.
The film had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on 20 August 2020; its UK premiere at the London FrightFest Film Festival on 23 October 2020; and its US premiere at Beyond Fest in October 2020 as a physical event at a drive-in theatre. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the USA by RLJE Films on 6 April 2021.


The Ghost of Slumber Mountain

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain is a 1918 film written and directed by special effects pioneer Willis O'Brien, produced by Herbert M. Dawley, and starring both men. It is the first movie to show live actors and stop-motion creatures together on the screen and is often cited as a trial run for "The Lost World". An advertising tagline for the film read "These giant monsters of the past are seen to breathe, to live again, to move and battle as they did at the dawn of life!". The film attracted the interest of Watterson R. Rothacker, founder of the Industrial Motion Picture Company, who was so impressed by the film's special effects, he joined forces with O'Brien to create the dinosaurs of "The Lost World" (1925), a classic that advanced the development of special effects techniques.
"The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" originally took up 3000 feet of film and three reels, equivalent to approximately 40 minutes.
However, after the film premiered at the Strand Theater, manager Walter Hayes ordered Dawley to cut the film down to about one reel because it was too long. At one point, the film was cut down to 12 minutes by the producer, and for years this shortened version was the only one thought to exist, but it was eventually restored back to 19 minutes. The rest of the footage is presumed to be lost. The film is available as a supplementary material item on the 2017 "The Lost World" Blu-ray disc from Flicker Alley. The supplementary material includes "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" in a new 2K HD restoration by the "Dinosaur Museum", although one source lists the film's running time at less than 14 minutes.
Researcher Christopher Workman wrote "It has been suggested that the missing footage was deemed too homosexual in subtext, an idea borne out by a scene that did get restored...(in which) Jack tries to persuade Joe to remove his clothes and pose as a faun, but Joe refuses... because there are too many mosquitoes around." (Oddly, the actor who played Joe in the film is unknown.)
Barnum Brown, the renowned dinosaur hunter who discovered the T Rex species, was a technical advisor on the film. O'Brien based the dinosaur models used in the film on the paintings of paleoartist Charles R. Knight.
Producer Dawley had hired O'Brien to write, direct, co-star and produce the effects for "Slumber Mountain", for a budget of $3,000. The collaboration was not a happy one, and Dawley wound up cutting the 45-minute film down to 12 minutes and claimed credit for much of O'Brien's pioneering effects work on the film. Dawley then used a lot of the cut effects footage in a sequel "Along the Moonbeam Trail" (1920) and his 1923 documentary "Evolution". O'Brien received very little financial reimbursement from the project.
Plot.
Most of the full plot is unknown. Author and explorer Jack Holmes (Dawley) tells his two young nephews about an adventure he had in the woodlands around Slumber Mountain, near the Valley of Dreams. Jack and his partner Joe (along with their dog Soxie) find a cabin belonging to the late hermit Mad Dick, who Joe once saw carrying a strange telescope-like instrument. That night at their campsite, Jack imagines a voice calling to him which leads him back to the old hermit's cabin. Jack searches the cabin and finds the instrument. Upon doing so, the ghost of Mad Dick (O'Brien) appears and instructs him to use it to look at the peak of Slumber Mountain. The device allows him to look back into the past, seeing a "Brontosaurus" followed by a strange wingless bird eating a snake. Two "Triceratops" fight before his eyes, then a "Tyrannosaurus" kills and partially eats one of the "Triceratops". The triumphant beast notices Jack and begins chasing him. Jack shoots the animal to no avail. Just as the creature is about to pounce upon him, Jack wakes up to find himself next to his still sleeping friend Joe at the campsite. It is then revealed that Jack had dreamed it all. The children then tackle him for thinking up such a good tall tale.
Reception.
"The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" was a box office hit, grossing over $100,000 on a $3,000 budget. The New York Times called the animated dinosaurs "remarkably lifelike". Variety stated "These dinosaurs...walk, twist, gaze and eat as we might imagine they must have in the long, long, long ago".
The film is available as a supplementary material item on the 2017 "The Lost World" Blu-ray disc from Flicker Alley. The supplementary material includes "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" in a new 2K HD restoration by the "Dinosaur Museum".
What remains of "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.


DeepStar Six

DeepStar Six (released in the Philippines as Alien from the Deep) is a 1989 American science fiction horror film about the struggles of the crew of an underwater military outpost to defend their base against the attacks of a sea monster (possibly a giant eurypterid). It was released in January 1989. The film's main actors and supporting players included Greg Evigan, Taurean Blacque, Nancy Everhard, Cindy Pickett, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples and Matt McCoy.
Plot.
DeepStar Six is an experimental deep sea US Naval facility, crewed by a mix of 11 military and civilians, now in the final week of their tour. The project is headed by John Van Gelder (Marius Weyers), in order to test underwater colonization methods, while overseeing the installation of a new nuclear missile storage platform. Already nearing his deadline, Van Gelder's plans are threatened when geologist Burciaga (Elya Baskin) discovers a massive cavern system under the site. Van Gelder orders the use of depth charges to collapse the cavern, to the dismay of Dr. Scarpelli (Nia Peeples), who wants to study the potentially primordial ecosystem inside.
The ensuing detonation collapses part of the seabed, forming a massive fissure in the ocean floor. Submarine pilots Osborne (Ronn Carroll) and Hodges (Thom Bray) send an unmanned probe to explore, but lose contact and venture in after it. Upon finding the probe, they detect a large sonar contact moments before being attacked and killed by an unseen force. The unseen aggressor then attacks the observation pod, leaving Joyce Collins (Nancy Everhard) and a dying Burciaga trapped inside as it teeters on the edge of the ravine. Captain Laidlaw (Taurean Blacque) and submarine pilot McBride (Greg Evigan) - who is also Collins' lover - attempt a rescue. They dock with the pod and rescue Collins, but the unstable hatch door closes on Laidlaw. Mortally wounded, he floods the compartment, forcing McBride and Collins to return and leave without him.
The remaining crew now prepare to abandon the base, but the missile platform must first be secured. Without Laidlaw, facility technician Snyder (Miguel Ferrer) is forced to interpret the unfamiliar protocol. When prompted by the computer to explain the reason, Snyder reports "aggression" (due to the creature), which the computer interprets as an enemy military force and advises to detonate the missile warheads. He complies and the resulting nuclear explosion creates a shockwave that damages DeepStar Six and the cooling system for the base's nuclear reactor. With failed life support, they begin repairs to restore power and pressure for the decompression procedure.
Engineer Jim Richardson (Matt McCoy) ventures outside in a JIM suit to effect repairs, but the creature comes after him, leading Scarpelli to conclude it is attracted to light. The crew retrieves his suit and haul him through the airlock, but the creature forces its way inside and bites him in half. The team retreats as the creature consumes the panic-stricken Scarpelli. Arming themselves with shotguns and harpoons with explosive cartridges, they venture back in to finish repairs. They succeed, but the creature attacks and Van Gelder dies when he accidentally backs into Snyder's harpoon. They escape to the medlab. Already badly stressed, Snyder quickly begins to unravel with guilt and fear. After a hallucination of Van Gelder, Snyder jumps into the escape pod and launches. Because he has not undergone decompression, the pressure changes from the ascent cause him to burst.
McBride swims through the flooded base to the mini-sub, to use it as their means of escape. While he is gone, the creature bursts into the medlab and Diane Norris (Cindy Pickett) attacks it with an overcharged defibrillator. Norris electrocutes herself and the creature as it attacks her, allowing Collins and McBride to escape, fleeing before the reactor goes critical. The sub breaches the surface, where they deploy a raft, only for the creature to emerge. McBride discharges the mini-sub's fuel, then fires a flare, killing the creature as the sub explodes. McBride soon resurfaces and joins Collins, as they wait for a Navy rescue team to arrive.
Production.
Producer Cunningham developed the idea in 1987, with the express purpose of being the first release on the slate of upcoming underwater action/sci-fi films. Originally, Robert Harmon was going to direct the film. However, when he left, Cunningham stepped in to direct the film with a budget of $8,000,000.
The creature was initially designed by Chris Walas, who then turned his production designs over to FX head Mark Shostrom. Shostrom made slight alterations and changed the creature's color scheme. The underwater scenes were shot in Malta, in The Rinella Tank at Fort Ricasoli.
Release.
The film was released by TriStar Pictures in the United States on January 13, 1989. It opened on 1,117 screens and debuted in eighth place with a weekend total of $3,306,320. Its final box office total was $8,143,225. In the Philippines, the film was released as "Alien from the Deep" by Solar Films on April 27, 1989.
"DeepStar Six" was the first release of several underwater-themed feature movies released during 1989, including "Leviathan", "The Evil Below", "Lords of the Deep", "The Rift" ("Endless Descent") and "The Abyss". With the exception of "The Abyss", none of these films were box office hits.
Reception.
, on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film had a rating of 9%, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 3.91/10.
"Variety" said the film was "diluted by implausibility" due to the monster's appearance being unrealistic rather than threatening, also criticizing the lack of centralized characters.
"Time Out" criticized the film's predictability and dialogue, stating that the only inventive aspect of the film was the design of the monster. Summarizing, "Cunningham apes Ridley Scott and James Cameron competently enough, and there are scary moments, but he has not got the 'vision thing'. This simply rehashes the phony trappings of countless TV shows, to baldly go where we have been before".
Janet Maslin from "The New York Times" criticized the film's predictability, lack of suspense and dialogue.


Le cygne

Le cygne, , or The Swan, is the 13th and penultimate movement of "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saëns. Originally scored for solo cello accompanied by two pianos, it has been arranged and transcribed for many instruments but remains best known as a cello solo.
Music.
The piece is in 6/4 time, with a key signature of G major and a tempo marking "andantino grazioso". The slow cello melody is accompanied by almost constant broken chord figurations on the pianos. When performed as a separate movement, not in the context of "The Carnival", "The Swan" is frequently played with accompaniment on only one piano.
This is the only movement from "The Carnival of the Animals" that the composer allowed to be played in public during his lifetime. He thought the remaining movements were too frivolous and would damage his reputation as a serious composer.
Because of its slow tempo and mostly legato performance indications, the movement is suitable for performance on the theremin and has joined Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise" and Jules Massenet's "Méditation" from his opera "Thaïs" among the classical works central to the theremin repertoire.
Uses in choreography.
"Le cygne" is often known as "The Dying Swan", after a poem by Tennyson. Inspired by swans that she had seen in public parks, Anna Pavlova worked with choreographer Michel Fokine, who had read the poem, to create the famous 1905 solo ballet dance which is now closely associated with this music. According to tradition, the swan in Pavlova's dance is badly injured and dying. However, Maya Plisetskaya re-interpreted the swan simply as elderly and stubbornly resisting the effects of aging; much like herself (she performed "The Swan" at a gala on her 70th birthday). Eventually the piece came to be considered one of Pavlova's trademarks.
In 1949 the American synchronized swimmer Beulah Gundling created a routine inspired by Fokine's choreography and entitled "The swan" to "Le cygne" by Saint-Saëns.
Transcriptions and adaptations.
In the 1890s, Louis van Waefelghem adapted "Le cygne" for viola or viola d'amore and piano. The edition was published by Durand in 1895.
In Leonard Bernstein's famous recording of the piece with the New York Philharmonic the melody is performed on double bass by a 20-year-old Gary Karr.
Montserrat Caballé recorded a version in which she vocalizes sections of the melody accompanied by a piano.
In the early 20th century, Clara Rockmore, the renowned thereminist, performed it on theremin with her sister Nadia Reisenberg accompanying her on the piano.
Steven Mead arranged the piece for Euphonium and Piano in 1995, in the key of E♭ Major.
Tony Renis created lyrics for Le Cygne to create the song “Notte Stellata” that appeared on Italian pop-opera trio Il Volo’s "self-titled debut album".


The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat

The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat (1944) is the second in the Five Find-Outers series of children's mystery novels by Enid Blyton. It was published by Methuen and Co Ltd and follows the first book in the series, "The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage". It tells of a stolen cat the group of children work to uncover.
Plot.
Luke, a friend of the Five Find-Outers, is working in Lady Candling's garden when her valuable Siamese cat is stolen. The Five Find-Outers and Dog work to solve the case.
Characters.
The Main Characters
Suspects
Summary.
It all takes place next door to Pip and Bets Hilton, when Lady Candling's prize cat, Dark Queen (a valuable siamese), disappears right under the nose of Luke, the gardener's help. Mr Tupping, the gardener, is a nasty piece of work and the children immediately decide it would be great if he were the thief! But how could he be, if he wasn't even there when Dark Queen was stolen? All the evidence points to poor young Luke, Mr Tupping's helper, but the Find-Outers simply can't believe Luke is the thief.
There are a couple of other possible suspects in Lady Candling's staff, such as Miss Harmer the cat handler, and Miss Trimble, who takes care of the roses. They're all pretty sure it was Mr Tupping...but how on earth did he do it? The answer to the mystery is very simple and pretty clever. Mr Tupping stole Dark Queen in the morning, then painted a small patch of cream-colored paint to another cat's tail to disguise it as Dark Queen, whose tail was bitten by another cat, resulting the creamy patch on its tail. Then he made Luke work beside the cage all day, so that he could be the top suspect of the case. In the afternoon, Mr Tupping hopped into the cage, rubbed the paint off the cat's tail with a rag soaked in turps, and then announced Dark Queen was gone! At last, Mr Tupping was caught and shown that he had been mixed up with dog thieving cases before.


Fly-by-Night (Peyton novel)

Fly-by-Night is a children's novel by K. M. Peyton originally published by Oxford University Press in October 1968.
It is about an 11-year-old girl, Ruth Hollis, who buys a pony called Fly for £40 from a dealer. The low price reflects his lack of training. She expands his name to Fly-by-Night and attempts to train him herself without much success. She then joins a pony club to learn more about horses. A rivalry develops between Ruth and another girl, Pearl, who owns a pedigree Arabian mare named Milky Way. Ruth gets help from Peter, a runaway boy with much experience with horses. Ruth and Fly-by-Night compete in the hunter trials and come in sixth.
Fidra Books is currently publishing "Fly-By-Night", with the sequel, "The Team", expected in the future.


Ben (film)

Ben is a 1972 American horror film about a young boy and his pet rat, Ben. The film is a sequel to the film "Willard" (1971). The theme song, "Ben", is performed by singer Michael Jackson. It was also included on his 1972 album of the same name.
Plot.
A lonely boy named Danny Garrison befriends Ben, the leader of the colony of rats trained by the late Willard Stiles. Ben becomes the boy's best friend, protecting him from bullying and keeping his spirits up in the face of a severe heart condition.
However, things gradually take a downhill turn as Ben's colony becomes violent in its search for food, resulting in several deaths. Eventually, the police destroy the rat colony with flame throwers after trapping them in the sewers, but Ben somehow survives and makes his way back to Danny. A tearful and overjoyed Danny tends to the injured Ben, determined not to lose his only real best friend.
Theme song.
The film's theme song "Ben" is performed by Lee Montgomery in the film and by Michael Jackson during the final scene and ending credits. Jackson's recording of the song became a number 1 pop hit single. Later included as the title track on Jackson's second solo album, "Ben", it won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (it lost to "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern from another 1972 film, "The Poseidon Adventure").
The song is calm and mellow, which contrasts with the horror content of the film. A live recorded version was released on the album "The Jacksons Live!" (1981) and eventually appeared on Michael Jackson's album "Number Ones" (2003).
Crispin Glover recorded a version of the song for the soundtrack of the 2003 remake of "Willard". A music video for this version was produced, which also featured Glover.
Pearl Jam's song "Rats" refers to the film "Ben"; the last line of the song is an obvious reference to the Michael Jackson song "Ben". The line, "Ben, the two of us need look no more", is repeated multiple times as the song fades out.
Reception.
"Ben" received mixed reviews from critics. It currently holds a rating of 67% (Fresh) on Rotten Tomatoes, based on nine reviews.
Among the more positive reviews was that of "Variety". which wrote that the film has the "same type of suspenseful action" as the original, and that Lee Montgomery "plays his part to perfection." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and stated, ""Ben" succeeds as a horror show because it contains the requisite number of rat attacks with the camera holding on victims covered with perhaps two dozen, clinging, scratching, and biting rodents. Omigod, he's covered with rats. Eeeech! But "Ben" goes beyond mere thrills into the realm of solid drama because of the superb performance of Lee Harcourt Montgomery as Danny Garrison who befriends Ben, the leader of the rat pack terrorizing the city." Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that the film "is equally scary and diverting as "Willard" while being more serious and ambitious."
However, Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 1 stars out of 4, writing, "This isn't a thriller but a geek movie. In a thriller, we're supposed to be scared by some awesome menace to mankind—the Green Blob maybe, or Big Foot, or the Invincible Squid and his implacable enemy, red wine sauce. But in a geek movie, the whole idea is to be disgusted because the actors have rats all over them." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" said, "The way in which you will respond to "Ben" will depend on a number of variables, including how you feel about the possibility of Los Angeles shutting down, trick photography, dreadful acting by a dreadful cast, the decline and fall of Phil Karlson ("The Phenix City Story") as a director and a screenplay that never has the courage to acknowledge its comic impulses." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" thought that the film is "not much of an improvement on "Willard"" and has "no standout horror sequences." Leonard Maltin's film guide also gave the film a negative review, awarding it 1 out of 4 stars, and panning the film's gory visuals.
The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in the following list:


Plankton Jams the Signal