Re:Best and Worst Sci-Fi Series Finales…

[quote=”Escarpe”]…If you’re going to end a series you could at least spring for a new plot..not rehash one of the three that you do every week.[/quote]

Yes, I was really hoping for some exciting and interesting new twist to the end of Voyager… What a letdown. Here’s the ending I would have liked to have seen: They do eventually make it back to Earth, but it’s now ruled by monkeys. Sorry, I’ve been on a Planet of the Apes kick for a few months now. 🙂

[quote=”Lizard”]I can’t remember most show endings! Exceptions: Lexx, The Prisoner and Seinfeld … That Prisoner ending I have mixed feelings about. It was very zany, maybe a little too zany. I liked it that he gets away with No. 2, but I don’t buy the ID of No. 1!!![/quote]

Was that the Seinfeld episode where Kramer goes up against his alter ego? Oh wait, never mind, I’m thinking of that Seinfeld spin-off, Kramer vs. Kramer. On a side note, I’d always suspected Kramer was the real Number One, and not the show[i]Seinfeld[/i]’s eponymous hero. Kramer always felt like a bit of a schizoid man; entertainingly dysfunctional. Truth be told I haven’t seen the Seinfeld final, but one can dream.

[color=red]Some Prisoner Fall Out Spoilers Ahead… and a Lexx one at the end[/color]

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As for The Prisoner finale…
‘Scuse me if I copy and paste a quote I already posted in [url=http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=3691&start=15&sid=e9d6b92b91fac71f55f05d413917b76a&POSTNUKESID=2cdbce2b3b05c786cf6dec0a7f8b8c7e]this thread[/url]… [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules/My_eGallery/gallery/Prisoner/FallOut.jpg[/img]

Here’s the quote from Patrick McGoohan about who is Number One (and I think we can all agree in a sense that the true No.1 is Patrick McGoohan):

[quote=”Patrick McGoohan”] What is the greatest evil? Is it the bomb? The greatest evil, that one has to fight constantly, every minute of the day, until one dies, is the evil side of oneself. That’s what I did, and I’d do it again. There were many alternatives that went through my head, but I didn’t consider them for a second. [/quote]

Although one might look at it as monkey business, I like Mr.. McGoohan’s concept. However, no matter what his intent was, I feel we can interpret it any way we choose – that’s one of the strengths of the series, that it is open to so much individual interpretation. For instance, I like Sgt. Draino’s idea of Number 1 as an impostor to trick No. 6 – it makes perfect sense. Or one can look at it as a paranoid delusion of a mentally unstable man (as Phi has professed). I look at it as allegorical myself, but then I have a more literary than literal mind. It’s a flight of fancy which may require some suspension of disbelief… Really much of the series doesn’t make a whole lot of logical sense unless you concoct elaborate theories (that’s half the fun).

I shouldn’t be going on and on about The Prisoner here, but I do think sometimes as The Village as a sort of fantasy place (“welcome to fantasy island!”) constructed in the mind of The Prisoner, or Patrick McGoohan for that matter (he is a prisoner of his own device). There’s a wonderful Poe quote that reminds me of the Village…“Where all that we see, and seem, is but a dream within a dream.”

While watching the series I sometimes wondered if Number 1 (as a sole, real controlling entity) was myth in much the same way that Big Brother is. In other words, I thought No. 1 may be no one really. Sometimes I thought of Number One as a computer with his all-seeing eyes (the eyes of surveillance)… It reminds me somewhat of how the posters of BB in 1984 were designed in such a way that the eyes would follow you around. 6 as one sees all and knows nothing…

No. 6: I see.
President: You do. You see all.
No. 6: I fail to see.

“What is the greatest evil? Is it the bomb?” (P. Mc. G).

When we fist see part of the rocket in Fall Out with the 1 on it, I did think it would be No. 1. “Whoever you are, [i]whatever[/i] you are” (a late Number 2). And having previously seen Beneath the Planet of the Apes I thought No. 1 would be like “Lord Bomb”… It would end with the Village missile being launched, and “POP” – the world would end. During the height of the cold war people were so worried about the bomb…

I like it when finales have twists – the expected is a let down. That’s why the Voyager finale didn’t work for me… All along I knew they’d find Earth – the show was on cruise control for way too long.

Sgt. Draino: From what I’ve read, Space: Above and Beyond may be the greatest sci-fi show I’ve failed to see.

Bonnee: I lost most of my interest in Earth: Final Conflict when they got rid of William Boone. I far preferred him to Liam Kincaid. Man did they ever change the cast around. When Rennee Palmer took over the lead, the show was total shark-bait in my opinion. That show did more backward somersaults through dangerous waters than a deranged Flipper.

I’ve actually like some episodes of Lexx Season 4 (the ones with Lyekka). At least we got the Earth goes pop finale that I rather wanted with The Prisoner (nope, I haven’t seen the episode).