The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their finales

[Quinton O'Connor]

This thread will have an obvious degree of spoilers.

Just a thought I had for a topic that might generate a bit of interest here. I fully admit to coming up with the idea while in the shower, so I can't make any promises that it's a sound one.

Shows change. A lot. Especially during that first-season test run (there's a thread for that) but over the course of their run -- be that one year, four years, seven years, ten years or more -- there are a lot of alterations. This is to be expected, and indeed encouraged; no one wants to see a show that looks identical in its final hour to what they saw in its first.

Change = controversy. One fan's unwatchable becomes another's unbeatable. And there is perhaps no greater comparison than that of a series premiere to its finale. The purpose of this thread will be to make those comparisons for shows you choose, citing all the modifications, the changes in tone, plot and characterization. You can drone on about how the writers screwed over a good thing or saved something mediocre and made it memorable. So on, so forth.

One thing I'll urge in this thread is a proper lead-in to discussing a particular show. Why? Well, some folks don't want that show spoiled! So please make sure all readers can safely see, say, 'Babylon 5' at the top of your post and know to avoid ruining it for themselves. Thanks!

 

[Sparky]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

You can drone on about how the writers screwed over a good thing...

Heroes.

/end thread.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

>_>

 

[6079SmithW]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Battlestar Galactica

*****spoilers*****

While the major themes of the show remained the same throughout the four seasons, the emphasis on themes changed in the later seasons. The three big themes I see are survival, religion/mythology/spirituality, and human nature/the human condition.

In the first two seasons, fending off the cylons and just trying to get by on scarce resources was the focus, although the other themes were present as well, especially personal drama and human nature. Somewhere in season three the focus shifted to personal drama first and foremost with religion/mythology bringing up a strong second with the Final Five. Then in season four religion/mythology was the main focus with the personal drama being second.

Even the nature of the cylons changed, from a near-faceless enemy who attacked at random with shady motivations/goals, to just another group of people with a different outlook on life then the colonials to (some) becoming allies and part of the fleet.

Change in a show may be good or bad depending on the viewer. All shows change through time, even if slightly. I didn't start watching BSG until season four so its latter premises were viewed as its core by me. Now having re-watched in order I can see how some might be unhappy with the changes that occurred. But, to me, the changes weren't so much actual changes as they were shifts in focus and emphasis. The Miniseries and Daybreak are very different, but the core of what makes BSG BSG is still there at the end.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

One of the things I enjoyed about the TNG finale was their attempt for some scenes to go back and recreate the way the characters and the show "felt" when it first began - there was both amusement and sentimental value in that.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Voyager had a great premise with a lot of potential, but by the end of the pilot they had flushed a lot of that promise down the toilet and basically set the tone for all seven seasons.

 

[6079SmithW]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Enterprise

*****

The fourth season was very different from the first, but in a good way. It actually dealt with the formation of the Federation, something the show should have been doing the whole time. So, the show actually got better by the end of its run. But then TATV happened...

 

[Marc]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Enterprise

*****

The fourth season was very different from the first, but in a good way. It actually dealt with the formation of the Federation, something the show should have been doing the whole time. So, the show actually got better by the end of its run. But then TATV happened...

It's best to pretend TATV didn't happen.

 

[Skywalker]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

But then TATV happened...

It's best to pretend TATV didn't happen.

What are you guys talking about? What's a TATV?

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Some kind of Imperial droid, I believe.

 

[Amaris]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

In addition to Dennis' TNG mention, I love the premiere and finale of Deep Space Nine, and thought it very well done, nicely bookended.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

I'm a big fan of all things mentioned so far, with the exception of Heroes, anyway.

Farscape...








...is a fun comparison. Its premiere was only a regular-length one-hour episode, with a totally alien feel to it because astronaut John Crichton had just entered the crazy that was the Uncharted Territories. Moya was exotic, D'Argo was frightening (even if Anthony Simcoe didn't know how to make him sound the part yet), Zhaan was super-exotic, Pilot and Rygel really left an impression, Aeryn was a hard-nosed soldier... and Crichton had no idea what the frell was going on.

The finale, on the other hand, technically ended up being a four-hour miniseries extravaganza after the fan campaign partially succeeded. It had all the pomp and pacing of an urgent tale, with the conclusion to a storyline that had been nurtured and developed with appropriate action and intrigue for years. A storyline that, but for its simplest parts, wasn't even remotely visible during the series premiere. And the characters had changed so dramatically; above all else, John had become a galactic vagrant with an enormous reputation and Aeryn had transformed into so much more.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Enterprise

*****

The fourth season was very different from the first, but in a good way. It actually dealt with the formation of the Federation, something the show should have been doing the whole time. So, the show actually got better by the end of its run. But then TATV happened...

Agreed 100% on this also. I think TPTB thought they were going to get a full 7 seasons, so thats why they waited on the formation of the Fed. That does not excuse them, but that is what my undertanding was. I really wish they would have gotten at least two more seasons, they were heading in the right direction. It's a real shame about Enterprise, what a waste of really talented people.

Battlestar Galactica

*****spoilers*****

While the major themes of the show remained the same throughout the four seasons, the emphasis on themes changed in the later seasons. The three big themes I see are survival, religion/mythology/spirituality, and human nature/the human condition.

In the first two seasons, fending off the cylons and just trying to get by on scarce resources was the focus, although the other themes were present as well, especially personal drama and human nature. Somewhere in season three the focus shifted to personal drama first and foremost with religion/mythology bringing up a strong second with the Final Five. Then in season four religion/mythology was the main focus with the personal drama being second.

Even the nature of the cylons changed, from a near-faceless enemy who attacked at random with shady motivations/goals, to just another group of people with a different outlook on life then the colonials to (some) becoming allies and part of the fleet.

Change in a show may be good or bad depending on the viewer. All shows change through time, even if slightly. I didn't start watching BSG until season four so its latter premises were viewed as its core by me. Now having re-watched in order I can see how some might be unhappy with the changes that occurred. But, to me, the changes weren't so much actual changes as they were shifts in focus and emphasis. The Miniseries and Daybreak are very different, but the core of what makes BSG BSG is still there at the end.

Agreed 100%. I too started watching on the 4th season. To me, Daybreak was the natural conclusion. After seeing the series from the beggining, I still believe this. I realy don't see the problem people have with the ending, it was perfect in my mind. I will admit, season 3 and most of season 4 were not quite as good, but that's like saying IJ: The Last Crusade is not as good as Raiders, it's all good in my book. I do wish we could have gotten a little more time on New Caprica though. That is my only real complaint.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Premiere: Strong
Finale: Terrible

Spoiler: Neon Genesis Evangelion

The show started out pretty strong, establishing most of the main characters, Shinji's self-imposed helplessness, and introduced some of the show's mysteries that would be solved later (with a little bit of imagination and reading Wikipedia after finishing the show).

However, the ending was crap. Not the fault of the writer(s?), but because of time and budget constraints it was rushed, using footage from other episodes set to new dialogue. These final episodes mostly revolved around the Instrumentality Project, which would melt all mankind's consciousness into one. Unfortunately, this mostly involves Shinji and company repeating lines over and over... then SCREAMING THEM REALLY LOUD... starting over with another line and another character... and so on for the last two thirty-minute episodes.

At least the feature length movie, which was meant as sort of an "alternate ending", was pretty good.

 

[Marc]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Premiere: Strong
Finale: Terrible

Spoiler: Neon Genesis Evangelion

The show started out pretty strong, establishing most of the main characters, Shinji's self-imposed helplessness, and introduced some of the show's mysteries that would be solved later (with a little bit of imagination and reading Wikipedia after finishing the show).

However, the ending was crap. Not the fault of the writer(s?), but because of time and budget constraints it was rushed, using footage from other episodes set to new dialogue. These final episodes mostly revolved around the Instrumentality Project, which would melt all mankind's consciousness into one. Unfortunately, this mostly involves Shinji and company repeating lines over and over... then SCREAMING THEM REALLY LOUD... starting over with another line and another character... and so on for the last two thirty-minute episodes.

At least the feature length movie, which was meant as sort of an "alternate ending", was pretty good.

Neon Genesis had two strikes against it in the last part - the writer/creator's mental health was going down hill and the budget took a big cut. From what I've read some of the episodes didn't go down to well with the financiers (Ep 18 where Unit 1 tears apart the 13th Angel was one iirc).

 

[Mutara Nebula 1967]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

DEEP SPACE 9 had one of the worst premiers (outside the Borg attack & Kira's feminine hairstyle for that one episode only) but by the end of the seven seasons it gave payoff in one of the best finale's out there.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

I think the only sci-fi shows with both pilots and finales I liked were "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Angel", and "Battlestar Galactica". With "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The X-Files", I felt the shows went on too long and by the time their series finales rolled around, I just didn't care anymore and I found the way they resolved things boring and uninspired. I also hated most of the former's season 1 and "Welcome to the Hellmouth" has just aged too poorly for me to be able to stand watching it again. I don't think it's awful, just too dated and too far below the quality of the show's best episodes. Seasons 2-4 (and the first few episodes in season 5) of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" were the peak for me.

At least "The X-Files" had about 6 solid seasons before it started to run out of gas (and even the last three seasons have some stellar episodes). "Angel" may be the only show on which I can say I thought the series opener and series finale were both excellent. They were both well-written and well-acted, and I expect they'll both be equally fun to re-watch. A few things in the finale bugged me. I don't think it was perfect, but overall it was a satisfying conclusion with no major missteps.

"Emissary" is one of the worst series openers I've ever seen and made me never want to watch the series again...as did the rest of season 1. So cheesy and boring. It's almost a miracle that I became a fan of this series after what torture its first episodes were to watch. The series finale was also deeply, deeply disappointing, but not because the whole thing was bad. It had all of the potential in the world to be a masterpiece (it still has moments of greatness) and shot itself in the foot with its horrible Dukat storyline.

Like the series finale of DS9, TNG's series opener just had too much going on. I loved the stuff with Q and the character introductions, but I didn't care about the mystery of Far Point station. I thought TNG's series finale was much better balanced and more consistently interesting. It drags a bit, but it's still a favourite series finale of mine that I consider one of the best.

 

[Gaith]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Voyager had a great premise with a lot of potential, but by the end of the pilot they had flushed a lot of that promise down the toilet and basically set the tone for all seven seasons.

I can understand the showrunners wanting to have everyone in Starfleet uniforms by the end of the pilot. It does make for a satisfying, emotional conclusion.

That said, there's no reason why the second episode couldn't have jumped back to before that happened, and showed a few days' worth of friction and debate over that and other issues. But no, they jumped right into the "weird space stuff."






The West Wing



The pilot, while not perfect (Mandy, anyone?) jumped into Bartlet's first year, and told a character-driven story. The finale, Tomorrow, let the narrative demands of the inauguration shape the episode, with character stuff on the side, which is emblematic of a lot of the post-Sorkin run. That said, it wasn't a terrible ep by any means, or a bad second-stage run as a whole.




Smallville




Had a pilot about people with fairly recognizable emotional issues and interactions. The finale will probably be a lot of non-sequiturs, populated by "characters" who have long since lost any sense of internal consistency.






Early Edition




By the finale, Chuck has left and Gary owns a bar, but apart from that, not much has changed. There have been hints about the origins of the paper and Cat, but only hints. Gary meets his eventual successor, but how she'll get the paper as an adult (tomorrow's iphone/Kindle delivery today?) is not explained. And in the last ep to air (not the intended finale), Gary meets a smokin' hot Irish chick, who pretends to be his fiance... and fails to marry her. Fail!





Carnivàle



As the show evolved, the cooch-show Dreifuss family got more and more airtime, as their increasingly dire/convoluted but very human problems increasingly served to ground a show that was getting similarly deep into its fantasy mythos. By the finale, however, the Dreifuss strands have come back full circle, as Libby marries Jonesy, who, along with Ben, are intent on rescuing Sophie from Brother Justin.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

Enterprise

*****

The fourth season was very different from the first, but in a good way. It actually dealt with the formation of the Federation, something the show should have been doing the whole time. So, the show actually got better by the end of its run. But then TATV happened...

I would disagree. I think they were showing the formation of the Federation in the first three seasons. But they were doing was taking it slow. A little bit here and there. Which was a good plan since they were expecting a seven year run. Season Four was a bit too fanwanky ( Which I loved and hated) and put the bums rush on the UFP.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: The beginning and the end: Comparing series premieres to their fin

As a general rule, I like finales that make some attempt to "come full circle" and link back to the show's first season. TNG's finale is an obvious example of this that I think was handled remarkably well.

However, it doesn't need to be that obvious, and it doesn't even necessarily need to happen in the final episode. Angel for example, has a slow-burning finale that lasts most of the final season, but it's the episode "You're Welcome" that brings things full circle so that we can have some resolution before diving into the grand final arc.

Farscape does a similar thing with "Bad Timing." Honestly, so many things about that episode make it seem like it's trying to wrap up the show. I feel like after all the struggles these characters have had over the last several years that they are finally in a place where they can relax and move on. It is a quiet finale that demonstrates very well the nature of this weird alien family that has grown and finally come together after facing impossible odds. While I love "The Peacekeeper Wars" for providing an end to the greater story arc of the show, I prefer "Bad Timing" for its resolution of the character arcs.