Nah, I agree with Steve MB. While I know that the cancellation came as a surprise to Mutant Enemy, they wasted time (“The Girl In Question”–while mildly amusing, completely out of place for a show that needed a stronger ending), hurriedly introduced a silly cabal of minor players as some trumped-up uber evil (Circle of the Black Thorn), had Angel kill an innocent (Drogyn) and simply dismissed the Shanshu Prophecy with which they’d been tempting us for years.
It could have been worse, and it was a pretty good ending to a season (and yeah, I know a sixth season had already been planned, so some of this would have been explored later on), but it was a cheap series finale. To be fair, though, I’m not sure how they could have handled the Shanshu Prophecy with so few episodes left; I just felt–then and now–that it could have had a better treatment than an ineffective “Oh, let me sign away that prophecy!”
But, I liked what happened with Connor, Harmony’s last scene, and Wesley’s death (as well as Illyria’s retaliation).
Umm this may be better off in another thread, but didnt the Shanshu Prophecy already get fulfilled?
Spike (a vamp with a soul) died saving the world, and was reborn thanks to Lindsay.
Thus fufilling “The vampire with a soul will Shanshu (Die/Live)” and as such it’s just that Wesley misinterpreted it (such a shock, Wesley misinterpretting a prophecy) not knowing that there would be two Vampires with a soul.
As to the topic of the thread, I have to agree that The X-Files ending was a big WTF… but from the same universe we get the biggest up yours, The Lone Gunmen series.
Not only does it not get a proper ending thanks to Fox, the ending in the X-Files (Jump the Shark) was so piss poor that it had to have been thought up in 20mins over coffee one day.
People keep saying this, but to me it was pretty clear that the epilogue was addressed to someone reading the book in the fictive world it takes place in, not the actual readers in the real world.
I’ve heard that notion at least once before, but I’ve yet to see Whedon (or any of the show’s staff) give support to it. But, even without their say, I’d lean toward “no” if only because a.) While Spike did regenerate, he did so as a ghosty-type, and then as a vampire. He never became human, which was an important part of the then current understanding. And, b.) Angel and the Circle of the Black Thorn both believed the prophecy still to be in effect because they made him sign away his rights to it. My guess is that the writers wouldn’t have put that in had the prophecy already been fulfilled.
Amen (even though you said you don’t want to discuss it). About a fourth through the last book I realized that this likely isn’t going to get any better, and I was right. The first three books were so well-written (and I even liked the retrospective 4th book) that the letdown from the last three still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
The end of the Bob Newhart show really disappointed me. The whole thing was a dream? Cop-out is what I say. Everyone I know loved it, so I’m just contrary.
SOAP. They were in the middle of a story and right before the big climax, just before everything they’ve been leading toward for the last few episodes happened, just before, quite possibly, everything in their world was about to change they killed the show.
FF-VII ends without telling you much about what happens after. All you know is you’ve stopped the destruction of the world and the Red XIII survives but everything else they decide not to reward you for your (at least for me) 120 hours of work. Of course they did pick things up later in others forms but that still sucked when I first completed the game.
I wasn’t too whoopie about what happened to Sam, but I did think the resolution for Al (especially considering the previous episode referenced by the finale) was really touching.
Heheheh, I keep hearing about how this wrap-up was sooooo darn clever, and have always wondered whether there were some people who hated it for being too much of a deus ex machina. I guess that answers my question. I mean, damn. Just how long was Bob asleep, anyway?
Although I was never so much in love with Seinfeld as others in my family were, the final episode was the nail in the coffin for me. Not just a clip show, but a really dumb frame for a clip show, too. They all go to jail for being mean and neurotic? What, there weren’t enough pot smokers to book that day?
I didn’t see it (I stopped watching far before the series ended), but I heard the final episode of Xena: Warrior Princess sucked out loud. Did I hear right?
Oh, and, well I guess this counts as a wrap-up since it’s the end of a film trilogy. A couple years ago, I was all excited to finally get the Star Wars DVD box set. I had missed the VHS release in the '90s, so this was my first opportunity to watch the movies in the comfort of my own home.
I pop in A New Hope. Great, epic, thrilling, etc. I watch Empire Strikes back. Exciting, heart-rending, edge-of-your-seat, and so forth. Then I turn on Return of the Jedi. Everything’s going great, the Death Star blows, the Ewoks start dancing, Luke looks thoughtfully into the distance at the ghosts of his mentors…and, lo and behold, Sebastian Shaw (Old Anakin) has been replaced by HAYDEN F***ING CHRISTIANSEN. Quite possible one of the worst actors in the entire series. I seriously wanted to break something right then and there.
I mean, I know that ol’ George Lucas likes to constantly tweak his “vision”, but come on. Greedo shoots first didn’t bother me at all, but the Anakin switcheroo was a different story. WHY, George. For the love of all that is holy.
I hated the way the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series ended. Mostly Harmless just felt to me like a book Douglas Adams wrote to get fans to stop asking any more questions; everything’s destroyed, there’s nothing left to write or explain, get off my back already. It didn’t feel to me to have any of the whimsy or enjoyment of the first four books. It’s the one Douglas Adams fiction book I do not own and will not buy. (My knowledge of its contents are from a library borrowing.)
[spoiler]It doesn’t read, to me, as Millar speaking through Wesley. But, rather it’s Wesley, perfectly in character, addressing the people that he’s figuratively fucking in the ass.
But I don’t think the distinction between the real world, and the world of Wanted is meant to be made. Or at least not delineated that clearly - it seems rather the point of the book, and especially the last page, that Wesley’s world is supposed to BE the real world*, but thanks to the actions of the villains back in the 80s, we don’t see that part of it.
Or at least close enough to it as to not matter.
Now, there’s a certain…irony in it, since Millar’s rather famous for dark and gritty books - Wanted included. But I don’t know that Millar really sees the irony - the way the end is structured he seems to be placing even the gritty, adult superhero books as being a reflection of the bright and fantastic world that the original Killer and his cohorts took away, rather than the dreary one they created.[/spoiler]
I keep hearing that there was supposed to be a book in the works following Mostly Harmless, and that Adams himself wasn’t really satisfied with the way the “trilogy” ended. Sadly, he passed away before he could write anything else. Maybe a secret unpublished manuscript will be unearthed someday…one can only hope
Muah-ha-ha-ha! I get to be the first to fire off a list of anime series that fit the OP!
Minky Momo. One of the most egregious tragedies pulled out of the ass from nowhere I’ve ever heard of. Magical Girl anime, and in the last episode they end it with the heroine getting run over by a truck. Nothing to do with the plot, the characters nor the feel of the show. A quick look at internet sources doesn’t confirm my memory of this ending for the show, so I may be mistaking it with another show. Anyone with better information than mine would be welcome.
Nadesico. Whee, let’s end the series in the middle of a big climactic battle, with no resolution.
The Vision of Escaflowne. After all, everyone loves stories that boil down to “It was all a dream.” Way to turn the 25 episodes leading up to the finale into dreck.
