OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

On endings...

POSTED BY: BLACKOUTNIGHTS
UPDATED: Friday, May 20, 2005 07:46
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 7:32 AM

BLACKOUTNIGHTS


A recent post got me to thinking about story conclusions. You know, the Empire falls apart at the end of Star Wars, Frodo destroys the ring in Mt. Doom...etc, etc.

I was wondering what type of endings Browncoats prefer...definite conclusions, or open-ended...and what type of ending you'd like Mal and the gang to have.

Personally, I prefer definite conclusions. I think those make the best stories. However, to have such a story, there also has to be a beginning. Frodo has to get the ring before he can destroy it.

So...I guess it really depends on the type of story that's being told. I hope Serenity is well rounded though. I'd hate to be left hanging if another movie doesn't get made.

"You're either in or you're out, and I'm playing to the in."—Greg Dulli.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 7:38 AM

CHRISISALL


I think Serenity will end like Buffy's Prophesy Girl in S1, it'll end, but with it open for so much more (hmmm, didn't Star Wars do that?).
As for a real ending, well I don't ever want it to.

Eternal Chrisisall

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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 8:06 AM

MSCKAREN


Ooops - Ignore this one it doesn't count!

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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 8:06 AM

MSCKAREN


Yes, I want it all. I want a sense of completeness/conslusion when the ending credits start to roll but I like to be able to wonder what our surviving heros, heroines and villians will be up to next.

I'm also cool with ambiguous endings, e.g., my exhusband thought Total Recall had a happy ending. When I told him that Arnie was lost in a dream, he got mad at me. Probably a clue there about OUR ending...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Appears they've canceled the show and we're still here. What does that make us?"
"Big damn junkies, Sir!"
"Ain't we just."

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Wednesday, April 27, 2005 4:13 AM

CYBERSNARK


Endings are problematical for me.

On one hand, I like a sense of closure, but I also want to retain the possibility of revisiting the world.

Frex, the finale for Deep Space Nine ("The Things You Leave Behind") is my idea of a perfect series finale. It wrapped up the Dominion War, resolved most of the big character arcs, and ended this chapter in the lives of pretty much everyone. But, the Station is still there. Kira's in charge. Cardassia is in need of rebuilding. The Dominion's gonna go through some social revolutions. Worf is stuck playing diplomat. . .

There're more stories to be told; and the novel series that continues past the finale (DS9: Avatar onward) is as close to a series of DS9 movies as I'll need. Unlike the novels that co-exist with the TV show, these ones are under no obligation to keep things static. Folks die, return, change, and evolve. Worf returns to the Enterprise (as seen in Nemesis), O'Brien isn't on Earth anymore, we've visited Andorr and found it completely different from Shran's homeworld in Enterprise.

The Voyager finale, OTOH, ended with the sound of a guillotine. Christie Golden had to spend much of her "reboot" novel (Homecoming) undoing the events of the finale.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Wednesday, April 27, 2005 4:24 AM

EMBERS


Joss is not one for 'endings' he never has married off his characters,
or indicated any nice neat 'completion' to the story...
and I agree with the open-endedness:
Joss is only 40 years old,
and he hasn't closed the book on any of his creations.
He can always return to any of the stories and continue (which I think is a very good thing).

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Wednesday, April 27, 2005 4:25 AM

BIKISDAD


As I understand it, when Joss first took the "Serenity" screenplay to Universal, it was written solely as an ending to the series - just a one-shot wrap-up that would end the Firefly story completely. Universal actually had him re-write it so that it would be open-ended to allow for sequels. Those people (unlike the ones at F*X) aren't stupid. They know when they've got a good thing...

Apathy on the Rise. No One Cares.

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Wednesday, April 27, 2005 5:46 AM

BLACKOUTNIGHTS


I haven't seen those Trek endings. Loved DS9 when it first began. There was so much potential there, but somewhere along the way I lost interest. Sounds like a good finale, though.

Shows and books whose endings I appreciate include:
• The first Highlander

Select to view spoiler:


which seems to indicate he gets the gift of mortality. Actually offers closure which is becoming a rare thing.


• Quantum Leap.

Select to view spoiler:


One of the most orginial conclusions I've ever watched. Sam's last mission reunites his friend (the name escapes me at the moment, think it's Al) with his first wife. Fade to black with text messages, last one reads something like "Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home." No closure for Beckett ... but wow.


• Cheers!

Select to view spoiler:


One last sling at the Sam and Diane relationship. Rebecca marries Tom Berenger. Sam realizes his true love is his bar. I think it's the only time in the series we hear him tell someone the bar is closed, and he straightens a picture in the back that's a reference to the old bartender Coach, who died irl while Cheers! was in production. Could be revisited, but no real reason to go back other than maybe a reunion. Closure here.


• Along those same lines, Frasier.

Select to view spoiler:


Interesting they chose to go with a 'write your own ending'. I loved it. It took guts to do that. We don't know if Frasier went to the girl or not. Fun series.


• Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower'.

Select to view spoiler:


Our hero Roland goes back to the beginning, but with the potential for another ending the next time around. I've got to reread those books soon.


•Philip Jose Farmer's 'Dayworld' books.

Select to view spoiler:


Originality doesn't begin to explain it. I was disappointed with the Riverworld conclusion, but here Farmer gets it right and gives us a surprise ending along the way. Good ride.



I'm sure there are others, but those are a few examples. So, I guess it's not so much the type of ending, but whether or not the ending is appropriate for the story; if that makes any sense.

"You're either in or you're out, and I'm playing to the in."—Greg Dulli.

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Wednesday, April 27, 2005 11:43 AM

CHRISISALL


The trailer appears to make it seem like a self-contained story. My bet seems right.

Brttin' man Chrisisall

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Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:10 PM

GROUNDED


The Quantum Leap ending was beautiful :)

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Monday, May 16, 2005 3:54 AM

BARNEYT


Quote:

Originally posted by Cybersnark:
Endings are problematical for me.

On one hand, I like a sense of closure, but I also want to retain the possibility of revisiting the world.

Frex, the finale for Deep Space Nine ("The Things You Leave Behind") is my idea of a perfect series finale. It wrapped up the Dominion War, resolved most of the big character arcs, and ended this chapter in the lives of pretty much everyone. But, the Station is still there. Kira's in charge. Cardassia is in need of rebuilding. The Dominion's gonna go through some social revolutions. Worf is stuck playing diplomat. . .

There're more stories to be told; and the novel series that continues past the finale (DS9: Avatar onward) is as close to a series of DS9 movies as I'll need. Unlike the novels that co-exist with the TV show, these ones are under no obligation to keep things static. Folks die, return, change, and evolve. Worf returns to the Enterprise (as seen in Nemesis), O'Brien isn't on Earth anymore, we've visited Andorr and found it completely different from Shran's homeworld in Enterprise.

The Voyager finale, OTOH, ended with the sound of a guillotine. Christie Golden had to spend much of her "reboot" novel (Homecoming) undoing the events of the finale.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.



It's the DS9 approach that I like best. A conclusion to the main story at hand, but also a clear sense that we were merely seeing one chapter out of the lives of these people and they continue to live once we've stopped looking.

That's why I like TV series more than movies, you're able to get a much stronger sense of continuity, that there are more stories out there to be told.


---
"I think the right place to start is to say, fair is fair. This is who we are. These are our numbers." Mr Willis of Ohio - The West Wing

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Monday, May 16, 2005 4:31 AM

SERGEANTX


Quote:

Originally posted by Grounded:
The Quantum Leap ending was beautiful :)



Absolutely. I can't even THINK about that episode without getting choked up.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Monday, May 16, 2005 4:32 AM

BIKISDAD


Joss basically did the same thing (as DS9) with the Buffy finale. The Scoobies' time in Sunnydale came to a very definite end. However, as we found out in Angel's season five episode, "Damage", they continued on, just doing different things.


Apathy on the Rise. No One Cares.

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Friday, May 20, 2005 3:46 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Quote:

Originally posted by msckaren:
Yes, I want it all. I want a sense of completeness/conslusion when the ending credits start to roll but I like to be able to wonder what our surviving heros, heroines and villians will be up to next.

I'm also cool with ambiguous endings, e.g., my exhusband thought Total Recall had a happy ending. When I told him that Arnie was lost in a dream, he got mad at me. Probably a clue there about OUR ending...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Appears they've canceled the show and we're still here. What does that make us?"
"Big damn junkies, Sir!"
"Ain't we just."



Hello,

One of the things I liked about the Recall ending was that it was purposefully (I thought) ambiguous. He might have been in an artificial reality... or it might have been real. And the fact that you are left to make your own conclusions was grand to me.

(Arguments like that are plenty fun in my book, incidentally.)

--Anthony


"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

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Friday, May 20, 2005 5:06 AM

THRAWN


While we're at it, I'd like to mention Peacekeeper Wars, my personal favorite ending to a TV show of all time. Everything since we met Scorpius at the end of first season had been building to the last moment in that miniseries, and it delivered perfectly, while still leaving many things open (what's Chiana doing, etc). I thought it was absolute perfection.

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Friday, May 20, 2005 5:16 AM

EMBERS


Quote:

Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Quote:

Originally posted by msckaren:
I'm also cool with ambiguous endings, e.g., my exhusband thought Total Recall had a happy ending. When I told him that Arnie was lost in a dream, he got mad at me. Probably a clue there about OUR ending...


One of the things I liked about the Recall ending was that it was purposefully (I thought) ambiguous. He might have been in an artificial reality... or it might have been real. And the fact that you are left to make your own conclusions was grand to me.


actually the ending of 'Total Recall' was my very favorite part of the movie...
you were left not knowing what was real and what was a dream,
and for me that feeling carried over as I left the theater...
is this a dream? Is it reality? Believe me it is a very Zen question that has been debated by 'Knowers of Reality' for millenia

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Friday, May 20, 2005 6:37 AM

BATMARLOWE


I ususally like the definite end. But I don't know how you would bring FIREFLY/SERENITY to a definite end without either killing everybody, or maybe it gets larger and larger in scope and the defeated rebels start a revolution and it's RETURN OF THE BROWNCOATS. Or Mal gets to the point where he settles down somewhere. But none of those feel right for our BDM's. Doesn't feel like SERENITY is pointed in a particular direction. Whereas it felt like BUFFY and ANGEL were headed toward a conclusion we have yet to see.

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Friday, May 20, 2005 6:44 AM

ZOOT


I think I'd like a "Still Flying" ending, if ya know what I mean. A definite end to the particular plot line but the general saga still continues - a sense that in some alternate 'Verse Serenity is "still flyin'"....

***************************************

Okay, I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm
armed.

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Friday, May 20, 2005 7:46 AM

FRECKLE


i lke there to be two endings in one.The happy all is well ending and the not so well undertones that at anytime could spring up and ruin the fun...does that make sence?
like end of Farscape PK wars... John and Aeryn get married, babies born but D'argo is still dead and we all know that even though the war's over the Peacekeepers still hate JOhn Crichton and will kick his butt first chance they get.

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