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Post by Phil Maurice on May 21, 2017 15:17:58 GMT -5
The final installment of The Fugitive starring David Janssen was the most-watched series episode from its air date until Dallas' "Who Shot JR?" more than a dozen years later. A really satisfying conclusion to a strong series.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 15:49:41 GMT -5
The Mary Tyler moore Show has a great final episode, as they say their tearful goodbyes. The emotion was honest. One of my most cherished was not the series finale; but, the finale to the Emma Peel years of The Avengers, "The Forget-Me Knot." Emma hands over to Tara King, and says her goodbyes to Steed, as her husband has been found alive and has returned. There is a tearful goodbye, some advice for Tara and we see Emma get into a car with a man, who from behind looks rather like Steed. The Mary Tyler Moore brought back another round of tears ... I just loved it ... Emma Peel and Tara King ... Poor Video, but what memories of it. I just loved smile on Diana Rigg's Face ... |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 22, 2017 21:45:52 GMT -5
Another great one: the end of Blackadder Goes Forth. The series is set in the trenches, during WW1. A big push is on and Blackadder has had enough and concocts a scheme to get out, by pretending to be mad. Unfortunately, with so much official insanity going on, he seems positively tame. The episode ends with the men ready to go over the top.
One of the most moving endings I have ever seen!
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Post by String on May 31, 2017 11:39:13 GMT -5
How come? I thought the ending where the first faint signals from the Apollo moon landings are picked up by the Galactica's scanners, although there's no one around to see it, was a nicely ambiguous ending. The Galactica was obviously fairly close to Earth, but it was left open as to whether they actually found it or not. Oops, my bad: I should have made clear that I referred to the reboot series  . The original one and Galactica 1980 had decent last episodes, but they weren't actual conclusions; the reboot series had a definite end. What I disliked about it is that after years of hinting at some great mystery, the creators pulled a literal Deus ex machina on viewers. No, the Cylons did not have a plan. No, Starbuck did not lead humanity to its end. No, we didn't get to learn how there could have been Cylons thousands of years in the past, long before they were first assembled. All the mysteries and discrepancies of the series were simply explained the Marvel way: it's magic, we don't have to explain it. And the series had been so brilliant up to that point! As I kinda gathered, I thought the Cylons were part of a cycle, that it's inevitable at some point that artificial intelligence, machine life would be created. That the Cylons of the ancient past were created (perhaps?) on Kobol and other early colonies. Their eventual revolt or destruction caused the migration to the Twelve Colonies where the cycle eventually repeated again. And now on Earth, it's set to repeat again at some future point....or I could be wrong. As for Starbuck, yeah, that was totally missed since we still have little clue as to what she was. (I'm still irked over the absence of the Globes of Light and the likes of Count Iblis from the original show here. Some connection of their nature could've perhaps better explained the latter Starbuck). But as for rest, how they found Earth and what became of them, that was very good. Adama and Roslin's last shuttle flight was especially tearful and heartfelt. As for the OP, Quantum Leap comes immediately to mind. A wonderful episode that raises more questions while teasing answers over long-standing ones (Is it Sam leaping himself? Is it God? Neither?) And the sad fact that despite helping Al in the end, Sam never finds his way back home. I WISH Bellasario would get Bakula and Stockwell back together for a TV movie or mini-series for this overlooked sci-fi gem. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 31, 2017 13:06:18 GMT -5
As I kinda gathered, I thought the Cylons were part of a cycle, that it's inevitable at some point that artificial intelligence, machine life would be created. That the Cylons of the ancient past were created (perhaps?) on Kobol and other early colonies. Their eventual revolt or destruction caused the migration to the Twelve Colonies where the cycle eventually repeated again. And now on Earth, it's set to repeat again at some future point....or I could be wrong. You're absolutely correct, that was the idea... but the Cylons on Kobol were not simply another iteration of artificial intelligences; they were actual Cylons. The Final Five and the colonial Cylons recognized each other as Cylons, not just as machines (and although it's been a while since I watched the show, didn't we see a Cylon mask either on Kobol or on the nuked Earth at some point? I seem to recall it but can't find a youtube clip to confirm it!). I think the producers just forgot about it at some point (especially when the Caprican Cylons were invented again by Graystone industries in Caprica!  The cycle aspect of the series was just great. What I imagined at some point is that it would be revealed that we humans had been the Cylons of a previous species, just as "our" Cylons would one day replace us. I had never connected the Angels from the original show to Kara, but that connection would be all kinds of cool!!! No argument about the characterization; we really cared about all those people (even the sort of slimy Baltar). Our fusing with the Cylons was all right, I agree. However, the discovery of a planet where there are already humans made no sense at all. This is Battlestar Galactica, not Lost in space, and it kept the fantasy element to a bare minimum... and it is simply impossible to have a so-called "genetically compatible" species on another planet. To simply say that "Earth" was not actually Earth but another planet called Earth also reekd of improvisation... especially since we had seen Earth in the season finale during the third year. That was the burned out Earth we'd get to in season four, and North America was clearly visible. The burned out Earth really should have been the real thing, but it was retconned into something else during season four. (I have my own hypothesis to reconcile all the apparent plot holes in the series, but it's very fan-fictionnish! The stuff no-prizes are made of).  |
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Post by berkley on May 31, 2017 19:01:35 GMT -5
having just watched it again for the first time in 25 years or so, the last episode of the original Twin Peaks series is probably my all-time greatest.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 31, 2017 21:15:40 GMT -5
"All Good Things..." from Star Trek: TNG was the first thing that popped to mind. I didn't love that one, though it definitely had its moments -- Tasha in the shuttle being a huge one. But, while we're talking Trek, I'll give it up for Star Trek Deep Space Nine: "What You Leave Behind". Of all the Trek series out there, DS9 was the most interested in slow progression/evolution across the course of many seasons, and that final episode felt a bit like a graduation. It was time for the characters and universe to move on in a way that was totally earned, and the wistful memories, looking back over seven seasons, were earned as well. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 1, 2017 6:09:02 GMT -5
"All Good Things..." from Star Trek: TNG was the first thing that popped to mind. I didn't love that one, though it definitely had its moments -- Tasha in the shuttle being a huge one. But, while we're talking Trek, I'll give it up for Star Trek Deep Space Nine: "What You Leave Behind". Of all the Trek series out there, DS9 was the most interested in slow progression/evolution across the course of many seasons, and that final episode felt a bit like a graduation. It was time for the characters and universe to move on in a way that was totally earned, and the wistful memories, looking back over seven seasons, were earned as well. The characters' farewells were so good in that episode that the whole part about the Pah wraiths and stuff seemed almost extraneous!!! Watching that episode back in the day, I knew I would miss all thise people sorely. Which should be the point in a well crafted finale! |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 1, 2017 7:16:19 GMT -5
The characters' farewells were so good in that episode that the whole part about the Pah wraiths and stuff seemed almost extraneous!!! ; Yes, I still maintain the Pah Wraiths were the only wrong turn the series ever took and, as a result, the conclusion of that arc was the only disappointing part of an otherwise extraordinary series finale. Kai Winn, Gul Dukat, and Sisko all deserved a better exit. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 8, 2017 20:59:35 GMT -5
The Sopranos and Breaking Bad,anyone?'
Agree about MTM and the British Office, too.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2017 22:17:48 GMT -5
"All Good Things..." from Star Trek: TNG was the first thing that popped to mind. I didn't love that one, though it definitely had its moments -- Tasha in the shuttle being a huge one. It was kind of my swan song for Trek TV at the time. My mom and I would watch Next Gen every week together and neither of us ever connected to DS9 the same way. There were the movies, books and comics, but I never really watched any of the series on a regular basis after that. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 9, 2017 8:43:19 GMT -5
I didn't love that one, though it definitely had its moments -- Tasha in the shuttle being a huge one. It was kind of my swan song for Trek TV at the time. My mom and I would watch Next Gen every week together and neither of us ever connected to DS9 the same way. There were the movies, books and comics, but I never really watched any of the series on a regular basis after that. I definitely felt the same way about DS9 when it first came out. Took me many years to realize it's an even better show than TNG. My mother and I bonded over TNG too, and we watched the final two seasons religiously as they aired. Even then, the final episode felt flat to me. I was impressed how much they nodded back to the first season (which seemed so disconnected from the later episodes until that moment), but the story itself was utter nonsense on so many levels, and virtually everything established about the future for those characters was completely undone by the films that followed anyway. Season 7 was an excellent excellent final season with so many episodes that bended my mind and left an impression, but "All Good Things..." just wasn't one of them, and that really disappointed me. Would have been so much cooler to end the series with Parallels (Season 7, Episode 11), maybe putting Picard in the lead role instead of Worf. |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 13, 2017 17:22:37 GMT -5
The Sopranos and Breaking Bad,anyone?' I remember being underwhelmed with The Sopranos ending and haven't rewatched it since it first aired. I did rewatch that series quite a bit though. Initially there was one aspect of the Breaking Bad series finale that I didn't care for but overall really enjoyed it. I started rewatching the series recently and look forward to watching it again though. The thing I didn't care for was Pinkman getting away at the very end. He doesn't go to jail, he doesn't die, he just drives away. I suppose it could be argued that his being held captive and abused by the gang (for I'm not sure how long) was punishment enough. I guess it could also be argued that all the heinous acts Pinkman committed including multiple murders were directly influenced by Walt who was killed. I'm also hoping that the series finale for Better Call Saul in a couple years from now will be of similar high quality given the series has been excellent. I would also throw my hat in for The Wire series finale. I think for the most part it wraps up each characters story arc nicely. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 13, 2017 22:16:44 GMT -5
The Sopranos and Breaking Bad,anyone?' I remember being underwhelmed with The Sopranos ending and haven't rewatched it since it first aired. I did rewatch that series quite a bit though. Initially there was one aspect of the Breaking Bad series finale that I didn't care for but overall really enjoyed it. I started rewatching the series recently and look forward to watching it again though. The thing I didn't care for was Pinkman getting away at the very end. He doesn't go to jail, he doesn't die, he just drives away. I suppose it could be argued that his being held captive and abused by the gang (for I'm not sure how long) was punishment enough. I guess it could also be argued that all the heinous acts Pinkman committed including multiple murders were directly influenced by Walt who was killed. I'm also hoping that the series finale for Better Call Saul in a couple years from now will be of similar high quality given the series has been excellent. I would also throw my hat in for The Wire series finale. I think for the most part it wraps up each characters story arc nicely. There's really no reason to think that Jesse isn't going to get caught and do his time. And even if he somehow isn't, he's got no money and he's likely to spend the rest of his short life a strung-out junkie. I did have a problem with the last episode title of Breaking Bad telling me exactly what was going to happen and the ending. |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 14, 2017 11:04:05 GMT -5
There's really no reason to think that Jesse isn't going to get caught and do his time. True And even if he somehow isn't, he's got no money and he's likely to spend the rest of his short life a strung-out junkie. Or at the very least on-the-run for the rest of his life. |
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. The original one and Galactica 1980 had decent last episodes, but they weren't actual conclusions; the reboot series had a definite end. 
