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Post by snsurone on Jul 18, 2021 10:17:27 GMT
It seems sad that there was never any "conclusion" endings to numerous TV shows, especially in the sci-fi genre.
I mean, did the "little people" ever escape from the LAND OF THE GIANTS?
Did the Robinsons ever return home after being LOST IN SPACE for years?
Did David Vincent ever destroy THE INVADERS?
And did Matthew Star ever re-conquer his home planet and become king?
I suppose the first "ending" episode was the two-parter that concluded THE FUGITIVE, which was the highest rated viewing up to that time.
It has since been surpassed by "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen", which ended the series M*A*S*H. MeTV airs it ever year on Veterans' Day.
What do you think?
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Post by alpha128 on Jul 18, 2021 17:24:03 GMT
It seems sad that there was never any "conclusion" endings to numerous TV shows, especially in the sci-fi genre. I mean, did the "little people" ever escape from the LAND OF THE GIANTS? Did the Robinsons ever return home after being LOST IN SPACE for years? Did David Vincent ever destroy THE INVADERS? And did Matthew Star ever re-conquer his home planet and become king? I suppose the first "ending" episode was the two-parter that concluded THE FUGITIVE, which was the highest rated viewing up to that time. It has since been surpassed by "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen", which ended the series M*A*S*H. MeTV airs it ever year on Veterans' Day. What do you think? Back in the days before story arcs in TV, every episode (apart from multi-part stories) was pretty much standalone. Series just continued until they were cancelled for low ratings or other reasons, e.g., "excessive violence" in the case of “The Wild Wild West”. It was only when serialized storytelling became a thing, that creators began to plan series finales. One of my favorite science fiction series, Babylon 5, was AFAIK the first series planned at the outset with a five year story arc with a beginning, middle, and end. But early science fiction series just went along until the got cancelled. And those decisions sometimes came very late in the game, as in the case of "Lost in Space": This short skit at the end of the 1998 documentary "Lost In Space Forever" is the closest thing we got to a series finale.
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Post by snsurone on Jul 18, 2021 20:30:32 GMT
That clip was very funny, alpha.
And both the aged Jonathan Harris and the adult Billy Mumy were great sports in taking part in this "finale" of a series that was pure camp from the start.
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Post by alpha128 on Jul 18, 2021 21:01:00 GMT
That clip was very funny, alpha. And both the aged Jonathan Harris and the adult Billy Mumy were great sports in taking part in this "finale" of a series that was pure camp from the start. I agree with everything you wrote, except that LiS "was pure camp from the start". The first half of the first season was relatively serious. The first five episodes in particular, which all incorporated footage from the unaired pilot, were excellent, and Dr. Smith was a real villain in them. But as the season wore on, Jonathan Harris started turning Smith into a comedic villain, so his character wouldn't be killed off. When they got to "The Sky Pirate" (S1, Ep18) camp became a prominent element which got even worse in "The Space Croppers" (S1, Ep25). Although the first season finale "Follow the Leader" (S1, Ep29) was another excellent serious episode, with a great performance by Guy Williams. I bought the first season on DVD years ago when Amazon had it on sale at Xmas time. But I didn't bother buying the latter two seasons.
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