As I understand it, Bablyon 5 was single 5 year story arc for its inception. I think that gave Straczynski a distinct advantage when it came to concluding the whole enterprise. I often get the impression with many series that they are "making it up" as they go. If that's the case, creating a truly satisfying ending would be near to impossible.

The real culprit here is the network(s) which often force serial TV drama to extend their story arcs over 24 episode seasons. This, inevitably, leads to a lot of filler stuff that is neither central to the primary story nor interesting to fans who have bought in to the central mystery. LOST season three was a perfect example of too much filler, not enough story. The writers strike was a blessing in disguise and seems to have revealed to ABC was Abrams and other producers have been saying all along - much better to build a concise, tight storyline spread over a reasonable amount of episodes (10-15) per season. As a result, at only 15 episodes scheduled, this had easily been the best season of LOST. If JJ Abrams and the writers began knowing the essential mysteries of the island and the inevitable conclusions then we can expect a solid, satisfying ending. On the other hand, if they've pretty much played this entire series by ear (see Heroes), then who knows. We're likely to be disappointed.

3 more wheel of time books?! I'll be 80 before they're all out!

One sentence paragraphs? Really not making that work. How does 'Even newspapers are dying' warrant its own paragraph when it is a point irrelevent to the thrust of the article? And seriously, write in full sentences.

You don't begin writing a story -- whether short story, novella or novel -- without knowing how it is going to end. You don't throw random ideas against the wall to see what sticks. Serialized TV shows need to adopt that simple point of view. Imagine what would happen if a season of 24 was written without an ending in mind? Bottom line is, a story must give the clever viewer an even chance to figure out what's coming, and not pull deus ex machinas out of its hat.

Whether Lost has a well-thought-out ending remains to be seen. BSG, on the other hand, by Moore's own admission, was totally random from week to week, and presented the writers with a challenge when it came time to write the ending.

By the way, I love the phrase "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Ending".

bd wrote: "I often get the impression with many series that they are "making it up" as they go."

That because that's the way TV shows have been made since the dawn of time. "Babylon 5" is the exception, and not an entirely successful one.

The most emotionally rewarding non cop out ending was for 6 Feet Under. I have yet to see one that comes close. That was closure!!!!!

Franklin, you are right, as far as "situational" serial TV is concerned; however, many series look to me as though they are going beyond that format when they contanatly revisit various themes or create multi-season story arcs. My point is that if writers are treating a series as though it is a continuous story (a la B5), those writers like Straczynski are at a distinct advantage because they have in mind the entire story, and are not "writing it" as they go.

WoT fans, you should also check out the audiobooks of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, available at Audible and iTunes. The Mistborn audios are read by Michael Kramer, who is one-half of the narration team for the WoT audiobooks.

Endings is something that TV series will not have too much success. The mere inception or concept of a television is never though out on what will be the ending. B5 is one example where there was an ending thought out. Spanish television series are very successful because there is a meanful ending. It lasts for a period of time, the characters have closure, and you move on. Whether TV network executives want to take this concept, is up to them. But, the problem is TV executives like a sure thing, and they want to make it last forever because they want that guarentee money flow.

The Brits seem to handle this really well. I'm sure they could have extended Life on Mars longer than two seasons, but by restricting themselves to that arc, they were able to tell a story and finish it well. The original Office was the same way.

Battlestar HAD a great ending...it should have been Sometimes a Great Notion...they arrive at a desolate, radioactive Earth!!! Period. Fade to black!!!

This one was upbeat, though...they survived to a greener Earth, but succumbed to the elements, exposure, and thunked over the head by cavemen!

My problem was the paradigm shift in season 4 from telling compelling stories of the human condition, survival in the face of insurmountable odds, a relentless enemy, and "your neighbor COULD be your assassin" mentality that supported the first 3 seasons, BUT season 4 focused on the Final Five cylons...where did they get the humans??? Oh...yeah...nowhere...there were only 5 good episodes in season 4...Revelations and Sometimes a Great Notion, plus the mutiny episodes and part one of the 2hr finale...

I feel that the best ending was that of Babylon 5 or that of MASH. I felt that BSG's ending was far poorer than the series.

what i see is a lot of people who don't create anything, but very easily judge other's people writing. for example, mr cassutt, your show is very good, i loved all the seven season you write.

I think everyone, including those who liked the ending to Battlestar Galactica have to agree that it was a bit rushed. In addition, I don't think many of us appreciated the colony starting on a primitive Earth. Some will say that it had the best ending possible. However, if you have only seen one ending, there is no way you could know that it was the best ending (unless you had seen the variations). Had Scifi decided to axe the show, the ending would be understandable. But, that wasn't the case, so there is no excuse. Adama should have found this Earth in its present day form, and taken the colony there. That didn't happen, so what we got was an alternative. Did it work? Yes, it did, because it left the door open for another round.

this is possibly the best article ive ever read on the sci fi wire page. im a really big star trek fan but the best ending to a tv show ive ever seen is defo babylon 5, and although i think it was ment to be picked up for another year the finale to space above and beyond was awsome. great show

I loved the Battlestar ending. If you love Sci-fi, how could you not. Ronald only had a few choices to choose from. The Battlestar finds Earth and it's the Past, Present, or Future. We saw how it looked when the old Battlestar series found Earth in the Present. It just turned out to be real silly.

He tricked us with the future wasteland Earth, and then decided to make the Battlestar find the earth of 150,000 years ago. Beautiful I think....

The characters of the BSG world saw too much war and death, it's not farfetched that they would want to give up there technology to live in peace.

As for the Angels of BSG, I loved it. I like the idea of mixing myth in a sci-fi tech world. Mystery is the greatest part of any form of writing. We will never have all the answers. Why should we expect them in a final episode?

Author mentions Joss Whedon but fails to site "Angel'" arguably the best series finale ever. The last shot leaving our hereos frozen in time, exactly the way we'd want to remember them.

What ever happened to good guys vs. bad guys? Why do we have to put up with all the psycho-babble about politics, religion, cloning and predudice, that was the last three years of this show. The original had it right, mankind vs. the machines with the evil sounding mechanical voice.
What a dumb ending, lets all destroy everything mankind has achieved and go live like cavemen....

The problem I found with the Battlestar ending was the last minute or so. If they had cut at the point Adama was left alone it would have been perfect. But oh no instead we have to have some godawful allegory to our society and technology not to mention that cheesy cameo by Ron Moore himself. That cameo alone nearly ruined the episode and to have it right at the end seemed not only very egotistical but pretty cheap. Yes Ron we know you created the show and have contributed a lot to the Sci-Fi genre but that stunt was rather tasteless. At least he could have turned up earlier or in another episode but right at the end; c'mon!

I'm mixed about the ending. I loved the way the character work the writers had done, but dislike both the supernatural aspects and the hippy-dippy, "if we're not careful, we'll end up doing this ourselves, and we've got to get back to nature", sandlot philosophy of the ending. This is the wrong audience for that.

It's a shame, though, because the storyline itself had been leading to a possible exposition of what happens when technology is used to guide evolution.

If Ron had chosen to take the tack, say using Daniel, where one of the original Cylons had evolved through technology to the point of being "Godlike", then the show could have wrapped up in a similar way without recourse to magic or mysticism.

A Paradise Lost in Space, if you will. Daniel/God decides to help the 12 tribes evolve, but Cavil decides to rebel, etc... The ending works as since the Humans & the Cylons do eventually end up joining together, and the moral of the story then becomes one of "great things are possible through technology, but evolution cannot be forced and must be left to follow it's own course".

I hated the BSG ending. Could you imagine anyone wanting to drop from a 21st Century standard of living to a hunter/gather subsistence level of living?

Seriously, how many of the 37,000 Colonials plus Cylons died in the first year because of starvation or disease? How long before the antibiotics and other medicines ran out? We saw the survivors carrying just the barest survival gear.

Just a ridiculous ending. Look, we have a good idea of what the last 5,000 years of human history was like: a cauldron of misery for 95% of humanity.

All of the philosophy, science, art, law, etc. that Colonial society had achieved deliberately flushed away for what? A culture that overcome sexism, colorism, monarchy, and homophobia discarded. No. There had to have been a better way for humanity to build a new life on second Earth.

Look at the world around you. Don't you think it could be a better world?

(Slick,
Good vs. Evil is really simplistic and neglects that there are such things as motivations that drive things.

Interpretation 1: BSG showed that the Cylons were taken over by Cavil. Had Cavil not killed his parents, there would not have been a holocaust.

Interpretation 2: God did it. God was responsible for every thing bad that happened to humans and Cylons.

Ultimately, I agree that the ending sucked.

Iggy,

Daniel had nothing to do with anything. Ron Moore came out and explained that Daniel died and all copies were deleted by CAvil. Daniel was not Kara's father.

Rafe, I know what Ron Moore said. But the Daniel plotline only happened in Season 4.5, after Ellen Tigh returned, and it was dealt with quickly.

What I'm saying, though, is that if Ron Moore had made the choice to use Daniel in the way I suggested (i.e changed the storyline to use Daniel in a more active way), as part of his final season arc, back when he knew BSG was going to end at the end of Season 4, then it would have been possible to have a more satisfactory conclusion to the story, without relying on the Supernatural.

It would have been easy to come up with a rationale as to why Daniel and the others would have wanted Humans and Cylons to join together, a better reason as to why the later 7 Cylons were monotheistic and why Cavil would have rebelled.

Starbuck isn't an Angel anymore, and doesn't vanish into thin air at the end. Lee Adama's need to explore the planet is now a metaphorical description of our own need to understand the world.

Furthermore, introducing the Daniel plotline would have made it possible to tie up other loose ends, such as the Hybrids, and why they were able to predict the future.

As it is, I felt the Daniel story line Ron Moore actually presented was a near-cruel tease. There should have been more meat on that bone.

Personally I always thought BSG should have pulled a Blake's 7 and ended it with everyone dieing. Of course the rumor is that it ended that way to piss off the fans enough to get BBC to do another season(similiar to how Farscape ended...which is why it eventually got the TV movie) but that never happened

Nilus... the Blake's 7 ending would have been an even bigger frak-you to the fans. Would have been cool though.

But while we're on the subject, how great would it be for the BSG guys to redo a reimagined Blakes 7 ? Or a Gerry Anderson series like UF0 ?

I loved Blake's 7 just for the very fact that it killed off all of the characters and replaced them with new ones and kill them off. It was a war Blake's 7 was fighting and in the end they didn't win. I even heard that BBC may be remaking the series just like they did with Doctor Who after being off TV for some 15 yrs.

Everyone's biggest issue is with the colonials giving up their wonderful technology...even though everything was breaking down, ships were falling apart, and there was only one tube of toothpaste left. It would have been impossible to maintain a state of high technology for much longer anyway.

Such is the nature of the open-ended conclusion. We don't know what happens to all the characters and colonists after the credits role, and frankly I'd rather not be told. There's such a thing as too much information, and after a point it would just become pedantry.

I hope "Lost" takes a similar Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot route in its finale next year. I want to be surprised and even a little shocked.

And I loved the "150,000 years later" epilogue. It was absolutely the best part of the entire finale.

Great article, though I have to give a thumbs up for BSG's finale. I found it satisfying, and interms of the characters, very moving.. As far as them choosing a hunter/gatherer existence, I'm not sure how much choice there was. Not much technology left on those damaged ships, including medicines.

Best ending ever for a TV show. Hands down Babylon 5. I agree with the above commentator who noted that it was always a 5 year arc with B5. The ending was clearly known. By the way, B5 was not eclipsed by BSG. They both are and will remain, long lasting and fine series.

To all the characters of BSG--Wander my friends!

Excuse me? Quantum Leap's ending sucked. Sam never got home or even understood why he was leaping in the first place. Sammie Jo was a good angle that was never used. We should talk about failed endings to characters that deserved better.

There's alot of people out there that like to get lost in worlds to come. That like to wonder what it might be like. The ifs and the whys??? Thats why I write Sci Fi. And although I want people to read my new book Everlasting. I also think that there is a whole lot more star gazing demons to be made

I have no problem with putting plot over characters. I mean, damn. I remember Richard Roeper talking about how there were too many characters to care about in the first Lord of the Rings movie. I remember thiking, "You dope! You don't need to care about any of the characters to care about the mission that they are on!"

I didn't mind the BSG ending--except for them giving up on the society they had fought so hard to keep together and evolve in difficult times without even trying to make it work on earth!--but my husband hated it all, especially Starbuck disappearing. Personally, I don't mind mythical elements, as someone else described it, and I liken it to the B5 ending. "Ascended" beings, angels, whatever have long been used in sci fi. Just because you can explain how magic works doesn't make it any less magical--BSG chose to leave off the "energy beings" rationalization. But the one finale everybody is forgetting is Farscape's Peacekeeper War. To me farscape still prevails as the most satisfy series ever, with extensive character development, great villains, 'by sides hurt' humor, drama and a happily ever after love story (I am a girl and not afraid to admit I need a good love story, even though most of the time I watch action flicks and zombie movies--did I mention I'm looking forward to reading 'Pride & Prejudice & Zombies'? but enough digression...) BSG had a better ending than expected for something made up as they went along, but Farscape was the best, and nothing beats a good book, of course.

Unsatisfying or seriously dissapointing ending... Case and point: Star Trek Enterprise.

The finale to BSG was brilliant, absolutely frakkin brilliant, and it will be recognized as such by future generations and taught in the university for centuries. Great art is seldom recognized as such by those it is made for and this is a fact of history.

I was satisfied with BSG's finale. Even if I hadn't been, I would have tried to remember something that I learned a long time ago: YOU CAN'T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME!!
I would have to rate BSG's finale as one of the best along with B5, Six Feet Under, TNG, & also DS9 (which I'm surprised no one mentioned). We should at least be glad that these shows got series finales unlike many serialized shows which don't get a headsup early enough to plan one. At least that's my opinion, which we are all entitled to.

what BSG got right is the human trappings of trying to stay alive thwarting a superior adversary, was going to at some point cause humanity to rail against its own existence. As the deer tires of the chase, the cougar wins when adrenaline consumes the deer in fear. The simple theme of not wining but giving up the chase would have been a natural conclusion. At the scorched earth episode, then fighting to stay focused, some absurd compromise, this seemed the only conclusion...remove the 'defeat' of the cylons and replace the complicity of the five cylons sharing everything then indifference for each other's secrets no matter how painful. Only survival mattered: our most base instinct. Ronald Moore was so, so close to a great ending. He needs some cues from the other 'Moore' or at least Ellison.
what BSG got wrong was succumbing to the artifice of network programming... Like the last episode of season 7 for X-files was the natural conclusion to that serial. Two more seasons of blech; Quantum Leap stayed serial; as was Firefly; Star Trek ended before the mission ended; next gen should have ended somewhere in season 4 ( Two Worlds Part 2?); DS9 should have replaced the 'Guiding Light' i.e. ended after 75+ years of countless characters crossing its deck plates. Skipped 'Voyager' onto an 'Enterprise' where humanity bootstrapped itself into space and all our technology did not work so easily and humans were ruthless to stay alive. Don't get me started on Section 31 re-writing Star Trek history by inserting into other serial previous episodes i.e. Quantum Leap meets DS9! I digress... There are endings, they just need to be 'natural' and not' By God we paid for 16 episodes'!
SciFi is serial, cultural, philosophical, in other worlds: character driven...it's when the writers give in to plot devices (their own cleverness?) leads all serials into unsatisfactory ends. People don't go to cons to dress up like their favorite plot device.