Mar
16
Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica and Angel follow.
TV audiences inherently want to be satisfied – that’s why we sit down with some series for entire decades of our lives, to empathise with the plight of the characters and watch as they rise and fall. The ending of said series – and there usually is one, unless we’re talking about a soap opera – is a significant part of that. It’s a part of TV storytelling that’s always divisive as well.
This has certainly been the case in sci-fi and fantasy over the past decade. I believe there’s something inherently different about the genre that forces writers to shy away from convention, to try and confound the audience’s expectations to the last, possibly as a result of the otherworldly subject matter involved. Angel’s finale, ‘Not Fade Away’, for example, ends on a powerful but closure-free scene, as the characters march towards their impending deaths against a demon army in a rainy LA alleyway. Battlestar Galactica’s ending has proved polarising, too – the explanation of Earth’s existence and the denial of technology was seen as unnecessarily obscure by many, but it provokes, and some found it validating.
Would sci-fi and fantasy TV benefit from more conventional happy or sad endings? No, they almost certainly wouldn’t. As viewers, we’d find it easier to accept them, but this is a genre that should always try and challenge in a way that others will not. Nothing should ever be easily categorised in these genres.
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Sometimes closure works, if the producers are aware long enough in advance to do a realistic one.
I’d say the worst closure of a scifi show was War of the Worlds (1989 tv series with Jared Martin). First, they screwed up the entire second season by killing off the popular characters, and more, and then, cut the season from 22 episodes to 20 and suddenly, in episode #20, the aliens were all killed and everything was right with the world. I don’t know of any fan of that series that liked it.
Stargate Atlantis ahd a very speedy conclusion, which it shouldn’t have. They combined what definitely should have been two hours into one, had the heroes discover a new hyperdrive that conveniently helped them save the day. However, many fans still want the show to continue, or at least a movie, and not on Earth, but back in the PEgasus Galaxy.
Of cousre, all of those are better than Blake’s 7, which ended up with a massacre (literally) of many of the characters. OUch.
Oh wait. Winner for worst end? Quantum Leap. “And Sam Beckett never returned home” said the crawl on the screen. Yech.
Biggest.Cliffhanger.Ever? Sarah Connor Chronicles. We need a resolution to this show, even if it is a two hour mini-movie. Also Reaper’s finale was rushed as they found out there wasn’t to be a third season. I agree on Quantum Leap’s. After all that journeying that’s all we got! I hope that if networks know a show is nearing its end, they should at least tie up all the loose ends and end the show properly. I felt Pushing Daisies was rushed too. That was such a brilliant show. I wonder what Tru Calling and Hex’s endings are going to be like, as I am currently watching them for the first time on Sky…
Not seen “Angel” but from the description, it sounds like it was inspired by “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. Closure’s for wimps. Who needs happy endings? Ambiguity’s where it’s at. Gotta leave ‘em wanting more…
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