Of the shows I've seen from start to finish, Babylon 5 probably had the most solid and emotionally satisfying ending, even though it could have been considered to have actually had two other different *endings* ("Deconstruction of Falling Stars", and "Objects at Rest") that would've worked just about as well. "Sleeping in Light", however remained the "official" end of the show and wrapped up everything quite nicely.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's ending was pretty good as well, particularly in terms of character/story arc resolutions (even though the final *confrontation* between Sisko and Dukat was a bit overwrought). I loved the conclusion of the Dominion War story arc though and thought it dovetailed nicely with the female founders' comments to Weyoun in the previous season about Odo rejoining the link being more important to her than the Dominion simply conquering the Alpha Quadrant.
Angel's ending was one big *WTF* cliffhanger but the final two episodes were solid and full of great scenes. My only disappointment was with Wesley's dying but Illyria's revenge over his death was.....well....fun to watch. Lindsey's total incredulity of being shot....by Lorne of all characters at the end was simply wicked. Short of killing Angel off at the end of the series, however, it's hard to imagine exactly how else they might've ended the show or where they might have gone with the storyline after Season 5.
Buffy's ending was o.k. I guess. I didn't really like the final season much but the end- with Sunnydale and the Hellmouth being swallowed up- well, it seemed about as appropriate an ending as any ending for the show. Ending the show with "The Gift" or even with "Graduation Day, Part 2"- before the show started its decline- would've probably been better. Part of what makes the first three seasons work so well is the characters being in High School and the humor/situations that arise from that. The following seasons-though they had some good episodes here and there- just didn't seem quite up to par- once the characters had graduated (and blew the school up).
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's ending was pretty good as well, particularly in terms of character/story arc resolutions (even though the final *confrontation* between Sisko and Dukat was a bit overwrought). I loved the conclusion of the Dominion War story arc though and thought it dovetailed nicely with the female founders' comments to Weyoun in the previous season about Odo rejoining the link being more important to her than the Dominion simply conquering the Alpha Quadrant.
Angel's ending was one big *WTF* cliffhanger but the final two episodes were solid and full of great scenes. My only disappointment was with Wesley's dying but Illyria's revenge over his death was.....well....fun to watch. Lindsey's total incredulity of being shot....by Lorne of all characters at the end was simply wicked. Short of killing Angel off at the end of the series, however, it's hard to imagine exactly how else they might've ended the show or where they might have gone with the storyline after Season 5.
Buffy's ending was o.k. I guess. I didn't really like the final season much but the end- with Sunnydale and the Hellmouth being swallowed up- well, it seemed about as appropriate an ending as any ending for the show. Ending the show with "The Gift" or even with "Graduation Day, Part 2"- before the show started its decline- would've probably been better. Part of what makes the first three seasons work so well is the characters being in High School and the humor/situations that arise from that. The following seasons-though they had some good episodes here and there- just didn't seem quite up to par- once the characters had graduated (and blew the school up).
