# Patheticly bad story ending **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 24, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609 "2000-07-24T04:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/1 "2000-07-24T04:00:35Z")
What, in your personal opinion, is the lamest, sorriest cop-out of an ending to a story that you’ve ever heard? My vote is split between: (1) The last episode of _The Prisoner_, and (2) _They might be giants_, starring George C. Scott. Both earn my disdain because they used the sorry tactic of going allegorical when the writers discovered they didn’t actually have an ending to the story. Dishonorable mention: -Last episode of _Quantum Leap_ -Bobby Ewing’s death on _Dallas_ was “all a dream”. ---
**Author:** ![dpr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dpr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dpr)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/2 "2000-07-24T04:04:33Z")
I’m still smarting over the Quantum Leap ending. ---
**Author:** ![seriousart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@seriousart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seriousart)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/3 "2000-07-24T04:10:07Z")
The Seinfeld wrap-up was ridiculously over-hyped and under delivered, that’s for damn sure. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/4 "2000-07-24T04:22:59Z")
Space Above and Beyond. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/5 "2000-07-24T04:33:58Z")
The book “Venus on the Half Shell” by Kilgore Trout. (Whom I haven’t seen around the board lately.) I actually shreiked and THREW the book. I’m still pissed, thanks for asking! ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/6 "2000-07-24T05:24:08Z")
Yeah, got to agree with seriousart on the _Seinfeld_ thing. That’s all I can really think of for now, though I can’t say I was _that_ disappointed with the last episode of _The Prisoner_. An argument can be made easily, and has been many times, that the whole series was allegorical. For a series that noone really understood what the true meaning was, I didn’t really expect the ending to be any clearer. I would have been disappointed if everything had been solved out of the blue. “Oh, it was the British Government behind it all? Okay.” That would have been terrible. Though I admit, the ending wasn’t exactly up to par. ---
**Author:** ![pLt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb9ed0/32.png) [@pLt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pLt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/7 "2000-07-24T06:45:46Z")
My vote goes for Quantum Leap … MASH had an interesting ending. Oh, and I wanted Joss Wheden to kill buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles at the end of season 4. I think the series is going to have a hard time keeping new things coming - rather end it on a high note. ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/8 "2000-07-24T07:17:30Z")
tv shows: Twin Peaks, Crime Story ---
**Author:** ![Mustapha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mustapha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mustapha)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/9 "2000-07-24T07:22:56Z")
Star Trek TNG - A pointless “why am I here/do I really matter” plot, ending up with the cast back together same as always, totally unchanged, back where they started. And just like any other episode, everything that happened was immediately forgotten. Think about it, has any of the subsequent TNG movies _ever_ referred to Picard’s supposedly deteriorating mental condition? ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/10 "2000-07-24T07:23:17Z")
I didn’t really like the ending to **Star Trek: Deep Space Nine** and I have to strongly agree with _carnivorousplant_. **Space: Above and Beyond** was a great show that shouldn’t have been taken off the air. I try to watch the re-runs on Sci-Fi channel whenever I can. ---
**Author:** ![Talkinsquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f6c823/32.png) [@Talkinsquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talkinsquirrel)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/11 "2000-07-24T07:28:47Z")
How did Quantam Leap end anyways? And its the year 2000!! Where are those cool ass clothes with the flashing lights I saw on the first episode of that show!?!? ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/12 "2000-07-24T09:02:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lumpy \* > \*\* > Dishonorable mention: > -Bobby Ewing’s death on _Dallas_ was “all a dream”. > \*\* I didn’t **like** the resolution of this, either, but once the decision was made to have Patrick Duffy’s character brought back, there was no other good alternative. He could have played Bobby Ewing’s evil imposter, but that would have been even lamer, as we’d merely be waiting to see how long it was before he was “unmasked”. IMHO, the Dynasty “wedding in Moldavia” (SP?) was far worse. Who did they kill off, two minor characters? I don’t know if this is true, but I heard that, years ago, on All My Children, they had a story line where a pregnant woman was shot in the stomach, but her baby survived. Yeah, right. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MagicalSilverKey \* > \*\*tv shows: Twin Peaks, Crime Story \*\* Twin Peaks’ last episode was JUST BIZZARE. But then, the whole series was. I loved the show anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/13 "2000-07-24T09:38:01Z")
TV movie ending: Steven King’s “IT” Theater movie ending: ‘Penn and Teller get killed’ Book ending: ‘Hannibal’ ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/14 "2000-07-24T10:24:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mustapha \* > **Star Trek TNG - A pointless “why am I here/do I really matter” plot, ending up with the cast back together same as always, totally unchanged, back where they started.** That is the entire **point** of course. Anyway, I loved it to death. “Five card stud, nothing wild, and the sky is the limit…” > [@](#): > > \*\*And just like any other episode, everything that happened was immediately forgotten. Think about it, has any of the subsequent TNG movies _ever_ referred to Picard’s supposedly deteriorating mental condition? \*\* [**Q**] _"Must you be so **linear** , Jean-Luc?_ [/ **Q**] I don’t think it makes sense at all to regard the TNG Movies as logical sequals to the series, in terms of a normal time line. They’re just separate stories with a familiar crew. They could have taken place at any time. ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/15 "2000-07-24T10:34:53Z")
The Book Hannibal. Talk about a shitty ending. sheesh. Osip ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/16 "2000-07-24T11:11:05Z")
Roger Zelazney’s second Amber series. _That’s_ an ending? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/17 "2000-07-24T12:33:58Z")
for the book Hannibal. yech. I had a hard time believing that the same writer who created the characters in Silence of the Lambs wrote this sequel - hell I had a hard time believing that Thomas Harris even READ Silence of the Lambs… (yea, I know he wrote them both, I still think it must have been an evil twin or maybe Bobby’s shower) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/18 "2000-07-24T13:01:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alessan \* > \*\*Roger Zelazney’s second Amber series. > _That’s_ an ending? > \*\* The only thing I know, in Zelazney’s defense, is that he was still writing about it up till the time he died. I agree he shouldn’t have left if hanging _that_ much, but still… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/19 "2000-07-24T13:04:33Z")
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. After that wonerful build-up with the dragon ship in the mist they had to end it all with the hand-held video cop-out? ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609/20 "2000-07-24T13:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*Monty Python and the Holy Grail. After that wonerful build-up with the dragon ship in the mist they had to end it all with the hand-held video cop-out? \*\* I hear that’s because they ran out of money. It was supposedly going to be this big battle, but nope, too little money. And it’s too late to change it now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patheticly-bad-story-ending/26609.md?page=2)