Season Cliffhangers as Series Finales

[Robert Maxwell]

The 4400 was killed by the WGA strike, and its final season ended with a cliffhanger (of sorts.) It was a significant game-changer, though, and I think it works well as a series finale. Generally speaking, I tend to find "open" finales better than "closed" ones, but that's a matter of taste.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Heroes Season 1 makes a great miniseries. First-time viewers, quit while you're ahead.

I have to disagree with them about BSG. (1) I liked the actual finale just fine; (2) It was always obvious to me that the Earth in the mid-season cliffhanger wasn't "our" Earth (they went out of their way not to show anything that would identify it as such); and (3) I loved the mutiny storyline that ensued from that episode.

 

[intrinsical]

The 4400 was killed by the WGA strike, and its final season ended with a cliffhanger (of sorts.) It was a significant game-changer, though, and I think it works well as a series finale. Generally speaking, I tend to find "open" finales better than "closed" ones, but that's a matter of taste.

Pretty much every season cliffhanger in The 4400 also served as the series finale.

 

[chrisspringob]

Honestly, were it not for the final scene, Bad Timing would have made a decent "conventional" finale, too.

Which is exactly why I liked the final scene. It was just like Farscape to pull the rug out from under a conventional ending and leave its audience going "Aaaaa! What the hell was that??!!!" I was actually a bit disappointed when they came back and resolved the cliffhanger.

I agree. I thought "Bad Timing" was a great ending.

Anyway, with respect to other cliffhanger endings, how about Battlestar Galactica's "The Oath"? Not a season finale, but it is a cliffhanger. At the end, Adama and Tigh go down in a blaze of glory, trying to defend the ship from mutineers.

 

[Aeon]

Millenium season two finale

Oh yes! Time Is Now is the series finale for me personally.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The first season finale of seaQuest should have been the series finale.

Then they could have made seaQuest 2032 as a spinoff/sequel but a totally distinct series.

 

[Christopher]

The first season finale of seaQuest should have been the series finale.

Except that it was a really bad finale. It felt like they intended to do a 2-hour finale but were only allotted one hour by the network, and thus had to cram it all into half the intended length, resulting in something that felt forced, cursory, and ridiculous.

The only sense in which I agree it should've been the finale is that the show would've been better off cancelled at that point.

 

[Marc]

The first season finale of seaQuest should have been the series finale.

Then they could have made seaQuest 2032 as a spinoff/sequel but a totally distinct series.

Wasn't SeaQuest 2032 the 3rd season.

or are you pretending the 2nd season didn't exist (new SeaQuest, half the original cast fired/let go end up on an alien planet).

 

[bigdaddy]

I think he does what we all do and ignore the second season.

However 2032 wouldn't have worked as a spinoff being the world went to hell because there was no Seaquest and for some reason they couldn't build another. Seaquest would be a great show for a reboot, just have it start as a science mission and grow it into a military show.

 

[Christopher]

Seaquest would be a great show for a reboot, just have it start as a science mission and grow it into a military show.

Why not just keep it as a science mission? The only two episodes of the series that I really liked, "Bad Water" and "Photon Bullet," were both heavy on the science and problem-solving.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Seaquest would be a great show for a reboot, just have it start as a science mission and grow it into a military show.

Why not just keep it as a science mission? The only two episodes of the series that I really liked, "Bad Water" and "Photon Bullet," were both heavy on the science and problem-solving.

Why not have both? A show can have elements of military sci-fi and hard science fiction. I liked the 2032 setting and the stories they told with it. I wish they had a chance to tell more.

Of course, I am a sucker for shows exploring near-future problems and politics.

And yes, I just pretend the second season never happened. Well, I don't "pretend." It just didn't happen.

 

[bigdaddy]

Seaquest would be a great show for a reboot, just have it start as a science mission and grow it into a military show.

Why not just keep it as a science mission? The only two episodes of the series that I really liked, "Bad Water" and "Photon Bullet," were both heavy on the science and problem-solving.

Because an underwater show that deals with just science and not Earth based issues, aka wars, is just boring for seasons on end.

 

[sidious618]

​

To quote myself: As much as I'd love to see the other prospective two "volumes" of two seasons each, Carnivàle was a beautiful nightmare of a show, and no dream ever really lasts long enough to resolve all its plot points. In a way, Carnivàle's abrupt ending is perfect.

Without a doubt.

 

[Christopher]

Because an underwater show that deals with just science and not Earth based issues, aka wars, is just boring for seasons on end.

Speak for yourself. Some of us find military stuff boring. And one can certainly have adventure and danger without the ugliness of war.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ A show can deal with military issues and yet not war. The two are not always the same.

And even if they are: DS9 did all right with the Dominion arc, didn't it?

 

[bigdaddy]

After 22 episode of season 1 it was clear that isn't a show that can stick around for 22 episodes.

Plus there doesn't need to be a war. But a political episode dealign with keeping the peace would be nice.

 

[Marc]

Because an underwater show that deals with just science and not Earth based issues, aka wars, is just boring for seasons on end.

Speak for yourself. Some of us find military stuff boring. And one can certainly have adventure and danger without the ugliness of war.

I gather that Roy Schieder wasn't too happy with the direction the show took after the first season.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Because an underwater show that deals with just science and not Earth based issues, aka wars, is just boring for seasons on end.

Speak for yourself. Some of us find military stuff boring. And one can certainly have adventure and danger without the ugliness of war.

I gather that Roy Schieder wasn't too happy with the direction the show took after the first season.

Talk about understating the matter.

He wanted off the show, he hated it so much. They actually wouldn't let him out of his contract unless he agreed to make a couple appearances in season 3 (2032), which he did.

Can't say I blame him. The show got turned into something totally different from how it began, and not really for the better.

 

[Captrek]

The book of Malachi would have been a great place to end the series.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Seaquest would be a great show for a reboot, just have it start as a science mission and grow it into a military show.

Why not just keep it as a science mission? The only two episodes of the series that I really liked, "Bad Water" and "Photon Bullet," were both heavy on the science and problem-solving.

Why not have both? A show can have elements of military sci-fi and hard science fiction. I liked the 2032 setting and the stories they told with it. I wish they had a chance to tell more.

Of course, I am a sucker for shows exploring near-future problems and politics.

Right.

And, to take it a step further, viewers might be interested in an exploration of how the interests of science could be balanced with military interests. That could be both a source of drama and a source of subject matter that might itself in the abstract interest and be of concern to viewers, in the way they deal with today's world.

Frankly, I would be more interested in that than I would be in stories set in a world when pure science missions on the scale of seaQuest could get funded, assuming it's to be set in the not-too-distant future, since it's completely implausible that a world such as that latter one could exist anytime in the 21st century (i.e., in my lifetime). To set it in such a world would be to lean more towards the fantasy end of the scale.