Best and Worst Sci-Fi Series Finales…
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What are your favourite sci-fi series finales, and which ones were disappointing, just plain bad, or made you mad?
My fave is The Prisoner’s Once Upon a Time/ Fall Out (the two final episodes but they really went together). Fall Out actually received severe fall out from many people who felt it was too ambiguous, didn’t tie up the loose ends properly (offered more new questions than answers), or was too darned wack! I loved it, that it made others angry at the time makes me love it even more! 😀
Another great one must be Galactica 1980’s. I don’t remember the final episode, but the fact that it ended is worthy of some kind of thankful recognition. 😉
Didn’t like the Voyager finale, nor how Earth: Final Conflict ended (I actually felt that show jumped the shark long before it ended).
Of course the worst finale is those that have none at all — are cancelled before they even make the final episodes and are just left in limbo…So what are your choices? (might avoid divulging spoilers or warn people of them)
Best – The End of The Macross Saga : when a broken Rick Hunter answers Lisa Hayes when she asks what next whilst looking out over the devastated city, by looking up at the stars and saying simply, ‘beyond…’
Worst – End of Lexx series 4. Sucks to your ass-ma!
Another good ending I liked (but for a horror movie) was the end of the movie ‘interview of a vampire’ when Lestat jumps out of the back of the car to bite the reporter.
The best,
Lexx, brought the story full circle, gave it a definite end (at the right time)
Worst – Blake’s 7, OK, it gave the series a definite end, but they screened it at CHRISTMAS!!! And they weren’t the dead wanting to die, they were the living wanting to LIVE!!
Other Worst – Sapphire and Steel – Our heros plus Silver, trapped forever in a loop in time in a service station. Oh God, the indignity! The injustice 😥
For me it was [i]Sleeping in light[/i], the final B5 episode. The fact that it was all planned from day 1 to end with this episode (if not quite in this fashion) made it easy for JMS to set up some great final visuals. And the recitation by Ivanova of the “moral” of the 5 year tale was very moving.
Grumbler: If one were to consider [i]Objects at Rest[/i] as the B5 finale, how would you feel about that as the final episode?
NW: As for the B7 finale, unfortunately I missed it. I’m glad I’ll finally be seeing LEXX’s Yo Way Yo very soon (haven’t much cared for S4)…
LR: haven’t heard many people hating the LEXX finale no matter how they felt about the final season… Some loved it just because they were so relieved it was over. 😆
THE BEST: Definatly Blakes’s 7. It was shocking, origional, it had emotional impact and it dared to do what no other series at the time would.
Who cares that it was christmas, bad things happen to good people all year round. Plus as a child it taught me to fear strange men in studded leather who smiled at odd times.THE WORST: Voyager…..it also prompted an emotional response…not to mentiona physical one…..
If your 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.
😈I can’t rember most show endings! Exceptions: Lexx, The prisoner and Seinfeld.
I think the end episode of Lexx is awsome, provided that one fast forwards past all of the scenes that don’t include kai—–
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!!!
Just to be different on purpose…
Worst, I gotta go with Red Dwarf. I LOVE the show, and unlike most folks, I LOVED series VIII. But I hate it when series end on a cliffhanger. I’m left hanging!
Will Red Dwarf be destroyed? And if so, WHICH Red Dwarf? (since everyone except Rimmer apparently escaped to the mirror one).
Did Rimmer really escape Death, after he kneed Death in the bollocks?
And now, to make myself look like a complete hypocrite, I’m gonna give Best Finale to SPACE: Above and Beyond.
Yes, another (sorta) cliffhanger, with uncertain futures for all but two of the 58th Squadron. However, somehow the bleakness still seemed to work for me. The heroic tragedy and final stands of the various characters, the quiet contemplations at the end. I want to see more, but even so it was magnificent.
Rumors are they might finally release SPACE on dvd late this year. Please, let it be so! 🙂
And hurry the *&%& up with some Blake’s 7 dvds for us Yanks!
And finish those Lexx Series 4 Reviews!!! 🙂
[quote=”Logan”]
Didn’t like the Voyager finale, nor how Earth: Final Conflict ended (I actually felt that show jumped the shark long before it ended).
Of course the worst finale is those that have none at all — are cancelled before they even make the final episodes and are just left in limbo…[/quote]
Earth Final Conflict [i]backfilpped[/i] over the shark season 2 onwards, and kept going back to shark infested waters with each successive season. Talk about ruining a once great show.
Lexx also ended badly in my opinion. Despite some good episodes, most of the season just seemed botched from begnning to end (uncertain in tone, meandering pace, lack of narrative and thematic focus, etc). I would have liked to have seen the narrative brought full circle in some way – that would have been consistent with its cycle of time motif, but instead it disappeared up its own narrative arc.
I also hated the way Buffy ended. In my view, the series went on for two seasons too long and should have ended with her death at the end of season 5. Instead, the series entered the realm of the insufferably bad by embracing facisism as a moral imperative.
[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]
[color=orange]O
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T[/color]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).
I’m like Lizard when it comes to show endings; there are very few I can remember. I loved the Prisoner’s final two eps. Yes, the ending was ambiguous, but I didn’t expect anything less. Lexx’s ending was unforgettable, a total tear-jerker.
YO WAY YO SPOILER
One would think the demise of a dead man wouldn’t inspire the kind of emotional response that it did. Granted, I’m a Kai slobberer, so it’s not a real surprise that Yo Way Yo was a several box of Kleenex event for me. But I’ve also heard non-droolers say what a moving event it was for them.
For me, it is one of Xenia Seeburg’s finest acting performances of the series. She breaks my heart with her rendition of the Brunnen G Anthem.
The worst? Gotta go with Voyager. Next Gen’s last ep blew chunks for the same reason, a ridiculously convoluted time travel storyline. Leave time travel storylines to Doctor Who. I’ll forgive Red Dwarf for the cliffhanger ending if they EVER put out the movie. 🙄
I remember being really pissed off at the Quantum Leap finale… A great episode, full of characters from past episodes, and creating more questions than it answered. But the last line…”Dr Sam Becket never returned home..” Boooo!!! (and they misspelled Beckett) What about his wife he had waiting for him at home????
On the good finale topic, I was quite pleased with Highlander’s… (even tho most of the preceding episodes sucked)
Yeah, they did the old cliched ‘Its a wonderful Life’ storyline, but there was a nice feeling of completion to the series, and the last 5 minutes ( flashbacks of the series, accompanied by some VERY melancholic music) made me swell up with…well.. melancholy…Streudel: Methinks that if only they’d done a [i]Lexx[/i] and blown that Little Blue Planet into chunks, that [i]Voyager[/i] finale would not have “blown chunks”. But yeah, those time travel episodes didn’t do it for me. I actually like many time travel shows and movies, including [i]Dr. Who, Time Tunnel, Odyssey 5, Planet of the Apes[/i], [u]Gary 7[/u] is one of my fave [i]Star Trek TOS[/i] episodes and they had other good time travel ones, and I enjoyed [i]Quantum Leap[/i]…
Plif: I felt like the final [i]Quantum Leap[/i] episode was a bit of a cop-out… Maybe, just possibly, they created more questions than answers because they didn’t have a clue themselves (at least they didn’t know how to answer them in an entertaining way)… I felt at the time that they may have been leaving the door open for sequels.
Now I preferred the original [i]Highlander[/i] movie finale to the series – then they had to contradict it with the later films – what bollocks! Your “[i]It’s a Wonderful Life[/i]” reference reminds me of something… Although the [i]Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy[/i] series is very incomplete when compared to the books for obvious reasons (including that some of the books weren’t even written when the series came out), I loved the way it ended with the song [i]What a Wonderful World.[/i]
I liked the ending of SPACE: Above and Beyond. Sure it was a cliffhanger but the episode and the sadness and the sakrifise.
LEXX S2 had a great ending to. A great final battle.
Bad was Voyager. Really disapointing. They should have worked on it most of S7 and gett a good ending instead of just… you know. And they should have added some time so that you could se WHEN they get home and the first days att home or so.
Red Dwarf VIII also had a bad ending. I really liked VIII and have nothing against cliffhangers exept for when they dont know if there will be a next season or not. (Something good about Joss when he did Buffy and Angel). Ans as we al know, Red Dwar NEVER continues a cliffhanger. If the new series comes it will take place years later and everything is “normal”.
Knight Rider. It just endet without an final episode.
I really hate it when a series just stops without ending and really when it ends in a cliffhanger!
Yeah I hate when TV series just end cliff hanger or no. The best/worst example was “The Fugitive” (The new series on CBS) It was done by the same people who did the movie so that was already a plus but through the entire season they had a running story arc about Richard Kimble and One Armed Man being linked in some way.
That question was almost answered in the final epsode. Basically it ended with a “supposed” FBI agent shooting Lt. Gerad then tracking down Kimble who had the one armed man in custody in a wherehouse. The one armed man is laughing crazily because Richard knows something has gone wrong. The FBI agent finds both of them and fires his gun at them and thats it! Nooooooo I say.
well as for the one that made me sad/mad that no one seemed to mention…FARSCAPE!…but,before the end of this year…WE WILL FINALLY GET THE MINI THAT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!..YES! 😀 unfortunatly it’s gonna be on skiffy…i’m still not sure if that’s a good idea after what they did to all us scapers,but,oh well! 🙄
Slight bias here but most of the B5 season finales get there. If I had to pick one it would be [b]Sleeping in Light[/b], although Season 2 ‘s “The [b]Fall of the Night[/b] comes close just for Sheridan’s rehersal of his apology for blowing up a Centauri cruiser.
[b]Crysalis[/b] and [b]Z’ha’dum[/b] come close, but Season 4’s finale [b]The Deconstruciton of Falling Stars[/b] doesn’t make it. That’s because the ep order was thrown out by the uncertainty of whether a 5th Season would be filmed and this was really an epilogue ep
I now realize that I don’t remember most season endings because I haven’t seen most of them! Maybe it is better that way.
Logan– I don’t know why we are discussing sienfield here but
SPOILER
The last ep of Sienfeld has the group getting arrested for being “guilty bi-standers.” They mock a guy who is getting mugged in a state (Maine?) That passed a law against refusing to aid a person in distress. They are defended by the Johnny Cockrane character to good effect.
And about the Village– Yes I would go live there for a while, I suppose they have a good library, but the beach looks cold. I also like the way that people dress there.
I have failed to watch the farscape ending mini series– but I might re-attempt it when in gets re-run. I ended up watching an interesting NOVA about neandertals instead.
I’m another one who bawled at the last Lexx episode. I’m a Kai “drooler”, but I still thought it was cool…some girly part of me wanted Kai and Xev to hook up, though ^_^.
Angel had a bad last episode. It didn’t end! Wesley dies, and then you just see demons rushing down the alley at Angel, Gunn, Illyria, and Spike! You don’t know what happens to them!
I’ve always felt that there must be more to it,..especially since the ending was set up for perhaps a mini-series or something to follow!!
And no matter what,..I can always see Kai..returning in some form or another! 😛
That’s just my opinion,..of course!
…..Stanelle
lexxrobotech wrote:
[quote]Best – The End of The Macross Saga : when a broken Rick Hunter answers Lisa Hayes when she asks what next whilst looking out over the devastated city, by looking up at the stars and saying simply, ‘beyond…’
[/quote]One of the best ever, I have to agreed. And in the same vein of anime tv series…Gundam Wing final episode, when Heero speeds to blow up the falling piece of the Libra warship to save Earth…I was on the edge of my seat!!!
I loved the end of the Farscape The Peacekeeper Wars…
Half to say in the original Battlestar Galactica, I could have done without them finding Earth. It was such a disappointment in a way, and then they just had to leave anyway.
Yeah I can’t think of any others…except maybe Starblazers!
Lizard: With all the “what is sci-fi?” board discussion over the years, I’ve learned to be a little more easy-going when it comes to what shows can be considered SF, or SFish enough. Therefore, I think Seinfeld rather adequately appropriate for inclusion… You see, I consider Kramer to be something of an alien. 🙂 Thanks for the synopsis of the finale, by the way.
[quote=”mysteriesofthesea”] I’ve always felt that there must be more to [the Lexx finale], especially since the ending was set up for perhaps a mini-series or something to follow!!
And no matter what,..I can always see Kai..returning in some form or another![/quote]
[i]Spoiler Alert…[/i]
Indeed, they left it open for continuing adventures… I’d quite like to see [i]Li’l Lexx: The Search for Kai[/i]. Perhaps Kai’s soul, as well as all the displaced souls, migrate to a new planet in a new universe. [i]There is a third universe beyond that which is known to man; a middle ground between Light and Dark[/i] (beige perhaps?)… [i]That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, The Tweedle Zone.[/i]
I really enjoyed the final episode of Quantum Leap. They could have written a slightly better ending, but they didnt have time as they knew the show was to be canceled.
I liked this ending because Sam finds out that he can do anything, leap anywhere, and help anyone he wants. He helps out Al, then vanishes never to be seen again, he never comes home. Its a sad and somewhat tragic ending that made this series finale stand out from the crowd. Other shows always seem to have these SuperHappyEndings that you can almost place bets on.
The best – Lexx , of course. A real sense of events coming full circle, destinies being fulfilled, magnificently acted & unbearably moving. I don’t think I have ever been so affected by the death of a character & the finish of a series. My heart is broken!
The worst – actually, this is quite hard. Buffy, Voyager, Angel….? I think Angel. Hate that kind of non-ending.
Okay, this is the best season finale (though I could also call it best series 1 finale) I can remember seeing. The new Battlestar Galactica’s Kobol’s Last Gleaming parts 1 and 2 was brilliant! I wasn’t altogether keen on all the eps of this show (felt the show was taking the ‘scenic route’ a bit too much), but was absolutely riveted by this two-parter.
Wow, it’s already been a very good year for sci-fi. Now all we need is for that new Blake’s 7 series to get made.
Worst; Farscape…it wasnt explained properly, in my opinion.
Best; I hate to admit it…but its gotta be Lexx. Though sad, it was final.
[quote=”The_Crusader”]I liked the ending of SPACE: Above and Beyond. Sure it was a cliffhanger but the episode and the sadness and the sakrifise.[/quote]
The Prisoner was the best, IMO, Nowhere Man a close second to the Prisoner for changing everything you thought you knew in the last five minutes. S:AAB is my third. They kept to their vision of keeping the show a military show which happened to be in space.
***SPOILERS IN THE NEXT LINES***
[color=black]Main characters were sacrificed, McQueen lost his leg in a guerrilla/terrorist action, depending on how you looked at it, and it turned out they were wrong to go to war in the first place. It was all because of a corporation’s greed, not to save the Earth at all. [/color]
***SPOILERS OVER***
I thought Farscape’s Shakespearean ending was one of the best until they made the miniseries, (which admittedly I have not seen, have they shown it yet? I am not living in the present day right now.). The idea that the universe no longer needs a person after his destiny is fulfilled (John and Aeryn stopped the baddies from getting to Earth, then apparently died tragically just as it looked as if everything should work out) actually renewed my interest in the DVDs after I got lost by the soap opera it had become after season 2. But I only got that far before I found out they were coming back to life for a miniseries and I then lost interest in buying the other seasons.
Firefly’s “ending” was one of the worst. Show the pilot last, cancel it, then win an Emmy. Dummys. I know the movie is coming, but I am still annoyed.
Best, don’t hink anything I have seen can hold a candle to B5, take your pick but Sleeping in the Light did it for me.
Worst, Andromeda, if ever a promising series really lost its way this was it!
Predicatable, Stargate, you can actually see them teeing up the cliffhanger, annoying if they pad out the episode as well. Stargate also seems to suffer more from inconsistencies with science and continuity.
Also having read this thread I reckon I’ll need to watch Lexx
[quote=”carup008″]Andromeda’s final two episodes must surely rank as one of the worst endings for a Scifi show ever![/quote]
Andromeda’s final Season was completely ludicrous. It was a complete betrayal of the show’s premise and totally pointless.
As a motter of fact almost every episode was a betrayal of the the series.
Dylan is to retore the commonwealth. Fine. Great. He works hard to do so.
Except almost every episode he finds some resource or person to add to the commonwealth.
Except then the resource is blown up or the person killed or an entire civilization destroyed, Dylan and company make some superficial joke about it and go on to restore the commonwealth by searching for some new asset or person to destroy or kill.Finally,l in the last season, it is all for nothing, everything they might have accomplished is gone, they are lost and helpless for 20 episodes and then they return to blow up the earth or whatever and who cares anyway because the main characters never cared about any of the hundreds and millions of people that got killed, they were all dispensible to promoting their own “Heroism”.
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