Favorite series finales?
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
"Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. There would never be another. It changed the future, and it changed us. It taught us that we have to create the future, or others will do it for us. It showed us that we have to take care of one another, because if we don't, then who will? And that true strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely places. Mostly though I think it taught us that there can always be new beginnings. Even for people like us."
Maybe I'll get around to mentioning others at a later time.
Maybe I'll get around to mentioning others at a later time.
I've not seen the episode (or understand the context of it) but that is such a beautiful quote. I've gotta watch Babylon 5 somehow.
Thought Testiomy of a Traitor was the final - Buck is accused of playing a big role in the start of the WWIII and that the Ranger 3 mission was his reward.
No, that was the next to last episode.
I just thought it was very fitting. Most everything in the show was wrapped up and Mulder and Scully were on the run which I thought was an excellent idea. The enemy they were facing was so much more powerful than anything they could combat just seemed so incredibly humbling and powerful I absolutely adored the final scene in the hotel. That's probably what made the episode for me.
Of course, I've always loved the themes of romantic art, so that's probably why it affected me so much. The episode seemed to fit very much in that mold. Same for Angel actually.
Judging from this, Angel's really not that great of hero then. He just wants to feel good about himself. Saving everyone on Earth isn't as important as giving yourself a big pat on the back for just doing your frickin' job.
The way I figure, you can feel good about yourself and get in touch with your feelings AFTER you've won. And not until then.
But they didn't lose. They killed Mordred. Bedivere, Guinevere, and Arthur survived(Arthur briefly). So they won.
I think I'm close to the only person who doesn't like "All Good Things". My first reaction was "Oh... great, time travel. Again. Whoopee." Q was not as entertaining as he had been for the past few seasons, and as for that Worf/Riker/Troi thing... blech. It wasn't bad or anything (okay, Worf/Troi/Riker was), but I found it mostly pretty bland.
Farscape and DS9 probably have my favorite finales, though both are flawed to an extent. They were overall quite satisfying.
Farscape and DS9 probably have my favorite finales, though both are flawed to an extent. They were overall quite satisfying.
Oh, I hate All Good Things...
Yes, the last scene in the hotel was great.
Guess it was broadcast arse about in Australia then because we had Testimony of a Traitor as the finale.
But who says that "saving the world" (or the kingdom) is the only fit topic for a good story? Often, the struggles of a single individual are more compelling than some arbitrary ticking-clock doomsday scenario.
Look at STAR TREK. There are episodes where the Enterprise saves the entire galaxy from the giant space amoeba or whatever, but those are seldom as dramatic as, say, "Amok Time" where nothing is at stake but Spock's future. Given a choice I'd rather watch "Amok Time" or "The Measure of a Man" or "Duet" than some episode where an antimatter technobabble anomaly is going to blow up the whole universe--unless our heroes stop it in time!
"Winning" is just a plot coupon. What matters (for me at least) is how it affects the characters and the emotional impact of the ending.
When it comes to a series ending, I just want to feel that I know the characters story(s), that I don't need to come back for more, that they are complete. DS9 did that for me-I don't need to see the further adventures of O'Brien, he's done even though his 'life' is still continuing. B5-Sheridan died and even though the Alliance continues I'm happy that the parts of the story that interested me are finished. Resolution. That's what I look for.
That probably would have made a better finale, but "The Dorian Secret" really stuck in my mind as a kid because of the final scene:
Throughout the whole episode, the Dorians were always said to be horribly scarred mutants, because of a war they fought once, that's why they always wear masks. At the end, one of them takes off his mask, and he seems like a fairly normal guy. Then all the other Dorians follow suit, and they all look exactly alike. The leader says "Imagine what it is like, to live in a world...where every face you see, is a mirror image of your own." That really freaked me WAY the hell out.
There are three places in "Sleeping in Light" where I cry everytime. That's one of them
(though the sniffles start before the explosion when the shuttle leaves and all the ships move round in an honour guard). The other two are Delenn and Sheridan's goodbye and Vir's speech: "You know, Londo never liked the Pak'ma'ra...".
I've grown to dislike much of B5 as maudlin, overdramatic, and as "Star Wreck in the Perkinning" points out, just a lot of speeches. The sort of stuff a guy with aspergers' writes for people with aspergers; i.e. the Sheridan-Delenn romantic relationship isn't great, and at times characters talk like he's holding up a sign that "i'm being witty now!"
felt forced, oh so terribly forced; the darndest thing was that on the other hand, the attention to detail and continuity was really nice
it was a GOOD series, and innovative/different from what was "normal"
but it had a lot of problems with it; some people worship it:
I guess what I'm saying is, it's like when G'Kar in the penultimate episode leaves because there are legions of G'Kar fans who have G'Kar statues and WORSHIP him as this "Great Leader" when none of them can even say what the actual theme or major points of his book were. People seeing what they wanted to see.
http://www.evamonkey.com/portfolio/film-video/fv-eva-documentary.html
felt forced, oh so terribly forced; the darndest thing was that on the other hand, the attention to detail and continuity was really nice
it was a GOOD series, and innovative/different from what was "normal"
but it had a lot of problems with it; some people worship it:
I guess what I'm saying is, it's like when G'Kar in the penultimate episode leaves because there are legions of G'Kar fans who have G'Kar statues and WORSHIP him as this "Great Leader" when none of them can even say what the actual theme or major points of his book were. People seeing what they wanted to see.
http://www.evamonkey.com/portfolio/film-video/fv-eva-documentary.html
Well, I may be a big fan of B5, but I have issues with it, certainly. There are reasons why my appreciation of "Babylon Five" doesn't match up to my love of the "Star Trek" universe. I'll give one now: One thing I disliked was how hypocritical the human characters- and, I often suspect, the creator speaking through them- were. They spouted out all these ideals but themselves fail to live up to any standards worth following. The main issue I had is that I never saw why Sheridan is supposed to be so great or such a visionary. He seems rather ignorant to me, unable to comprehend how he himself violates these high-minded ideals he insists he is supporting and working for. There were times when I would wince and think "the show's creator just didn't catch that, did he?". If you're going to write a show promoting ideals of co-operation, unity, freedom, standing up for one's own destiny, etc, do not make it seem like the UN in space. That will simply be a wallbanger.
That doesn't change the fact that the series was groundbreaking, interesting, extremely quotable, very well crafted continuity-wise, meaningful, epic and had some absolutely brilliant scenes throughout, including many tearjerkers such as the three I mentioned above in "Sleeping in Light"
Just because I sobbed my way through that episode, and consider myself a fan, doesn't mean I "worship" the show. 
B5 had great plotting, but it also had some really bad dialogue and the production in general left a lot to be desired. Then again, every show has its faults, so I think Babylon deserves props overall for being an innovative show. In an ideal world, JMS would have had total creative control over the story, but the dialogue would have been written by people like the House writers and the filming/production design would have been handled by the Farscape crew ... best of all worlds.
JMS's dialogue on Babylon 5 could be brilliant at one moment, usually when Londo or G'Kar were talking, and be complete shit the next, often when it came to a the humans. Most of the time, the dialogue wasn't very naturalistic. Compare it to the show used in his picth line -- Hill Street Blues which changed how television writers approached dialogue in the late 80s and early 90s, something we benefit from to this day.
However, I will say that JMS dialogue was much better in Jeremiah and also in the movie The Changeling. He still, however, likes to give his characters grand standing speeches. It's just his style.
As for production design, John Iacoveli's sets all looked like small theater backdrops, hardly sterdy. I thought the manner in which "The Gathering" was shot hid a lot of the flaws in the sets, but those flaws were more obvious in the series proper. My brother said that every room on Babylon 5 looked like a hotel room, and I have to agree.
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