All too often , endings are synonymous with “ letdown . ” We all love to complain about how our favorite science fiction TV series or picture show ended . And we ’re kind of sick of twist conclusion and “ WTF Mindfrak ” endings . But on the other hand , there are some endings that we just do n’t see enough of .
It ’s just not bonny to criticize without offering some alternatives — so here are 10 finish we wish science fable and fantasy movie and TV shows would utilise more often .
Top image : Cover art to Angel , Not Fade Away # 3 by IDW Comics .
10 . Two random characters take the air off into the sunset together .
Yes , the Casablanca conclusion . Which is a classic for a reason — it wholly exercise . After the rubble has settled and everybody ’s pop off or won or achieved their end or recede everything , two eccentric take the air off together . There ’s often some vague suggestion that they ’re going to go have a whole new serial publication of escapade together , provide the looker imagining a new whirl - off or quasi - sequel . short letter : This type of close requires you to have provided quite a scrap of closure go up to this , make this an excellent placeholder for the canonical - but - underrated “ put up closure ” type of ending .
9 . The hero loses .
Or alternatively , the villain wins . ( See : Sapphire and Steel . ) This is one of those gutsy form of endings that can be too much of a downer — but if you pull it off right , it can be really powerful and memorable . The sort of ending people talk about for eld , as oppose to the sort of streak - of - the - mill glad ending that everybody instantly forgets . Obviously , an close where the “ good guy cable ” lose is closer , in many ways , to real life . But also , it ’s more interesting to see how character answer to a concluding licking than to a last victory . Plus , it ’s kind of bitchin ’ to go that darkness .
8 . Everybody gets a medal .
Aka the conclusion of Star Wars . There ’s something kind of sweet about an ending where not only do the hero win , but they get a adult Asterix - style banquet , or a overnice observance , afterwards . Just to put a nice head on it . A crowing wedding could also exploit , if almost everybody gets married at the closing , like in Shakespeare . I ’m just saying , if you ’re rifle to have a glad ending , why not have a fancy celebration at the last , just to emphasise how well-chosen it is ? Plus , having a ceremony reminds us that A ) there ’s a social club in place that ’s organize enough to give out medal , and B ) everybody ’s pretty unclouded that these phratry are awesome . Medals ! They make everything better .
7 . Big Dance Sequence !
Even if the rest of the TV show or motion picture has n’t been a musical . The other way of life to accede out after a clear - disregard felicitous closing is belike just to have everybody startle dance , and peradventure singing . You have to intromit , BSG would have been right smart better if it had terminate like a Bollywood flick . I ca n’t , off the top of my head , mean of an SF movie or show that ’s ended with a dancing sequence — Return of the Jedi , maybe ? — but that just means this is an mind whose clip has get . Even better for fantasy movies or appearance — the terminal scene of Once Upon a Time ’s final sequence could well be all of the fairytale people doing a huge Busby Berkeley phone number together , and it would seem completely consistent . I visualize someone claim someone ’s manus and leading them into a room where dead all the lineament are dancing in a trilateral organization . Let ’s all just fit that a happy end that does n’t lead to medals should lead , instead , to a massively choreographed dance succession .
6 . The account never ends
Like the end of Angel , basically . This can be done really well — suggesting that the adventures will go on , there will be more conflict , the Hero will always keep trying to make the universe a better place . Or it can be done ill , and expect like a bungled cliffhanger with no declaration . The paint to doing it well seems to be in providing enough of a gracenote , like Angel ’s “ I want to bump off the dragon . ” This kind of ending can be bittersweet but also inspirational , since the struggle never finish but the hero never give up . A related to type of ending : you’re able to tell how things are believably going to turn out , but the fib fades to calamitous before we quite get there . Like The Sopranos , I guess .
5 . We ’re lost forever
This might work well for shows about citizenry traveling in the wild or exploring in infinite — imagine if Star Trek : Voyager had ended with the Voyager being flung even further out into space , to someplace the ship could never get home from . I care endings where hoi polloi recognise they ’re break to be journeying evermore — it feel poetic and pensive , but also inspiring in the same way as the “ story goes on ” ending mention above . I opine partly I ’m thinking of the end to the Hitchhiker ’s Guide to the Galaxy telly show , where Ford and Arthur are permanently trapped in Earth ’s past . ( Except that , as reader of the books make out , they are n’t really . )
4 . The fourth wall shatters
Basically , the Blazing Saddles ending . Or maybe , the Batman : The Brave and the Bold ending . At some level , everybody just stray out of the narrative and starts interacting with the “ material ” world or addressing the audience directly . The characters and their macrocosm have stretched to the breaking tip , and something finally broke , leave the characters no choice but to wander out into the kingdom of metafiction . If Supernatural keeps getting renew for long enough , you be intimate that finally this is the only way that show can end . They ’ve already set it up , with “ The French Mistake . ”
3 . Full Circle
The last sequence plug into up with the first episode in some meaningful fashion — or some image from the start of the film is brought back in the ending . Done clumsily , this can appear like unpointed Ouroboros porn — and everybody hates Ouroboros pornography . But the finale of Star Trek : The Next Generation is a classic example of bringing the tale back to its start in a way that feel meet , and add together signification to both beginning and end .
2 . Everybody give way at the remainder .
Just like the ending of a sure British space opera house from the 1970s and former eighties . It does n’t get much more final than mass death , after all . Nobody can kvetch that there were lax ends left over , if every single eccentric who might have pursued state loose last is now entering rigor mortis . Plus , this is the most metal of all possible endings . An ending where everybody give his or her life for a suitable cause is as heroic as you could get — and an ending where everybody dies for no reason is pure nihilistic angst - candy . Either way , ending with corpses is a large way to draw a line under a series or film .
1 . The heroes gain ground but they ’re broken .
You know , like China Mieville ’s Perdido Street Station . This is belike a more common type of end in books than films or TV shows . The cost of triumph is too high , and the survivor are seriously messed up — physically , mentally , or both . Probably both , really . The more epic the triumph , the more wrecked the superior are likely to be — so it ’s hard for us to trust in a victory that does n’t leave everybody kind of damaged . Plus , this provide a chance to speak about PTSD and the fact that in tangible spirit , nobody gets away from a major conflict unscathed . There ’s a reason why the finale of MAS*H is so notable , and that ’s because it designate Hawkeye losing his motherfucker .
Blake ’s 7China MievilleMoviesStar TrekStar WarsTelevision
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