All Time Great Climaxes

[Neon Ignition]

Oh! Clean your mind!

For this, the final ATG thread it only makes sense to end at the end. It's said that every story has three pillars; The beginning, the middle and the end. So, for this last turn we look at the many TV and film endings but most specifically the ones that either paid off the story before them most satisfactorily, saved the rest of the film or TV series, where controversial to you as a viewer or were simply amazing.

Now, far more than any of the other threads this will be a case of Spoiler Warnings. Please post any of your videos under spoiler tags leaving only the name of the film or series you're posting so that people clicking in can pick and choose what they view without fear of having unseen endings ruined for them.

What Endings have stayed with you the most?

Warning:
SPOILERS

[Neon Ignition]

We'll start this off by going with something that often comes up online but is low key in execution

Blade Runner

->Open Spoiler<-

I like the film but don't adore it, but even as a more casual viewer this moment at the end catches you off guard and is possibly one of the things that stays with you the most.

[kryss]

Return of the Jedi

->Open Spoiler<-

final showdown between luke and vader, taking out the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor AND a huge space battle above the planet ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Wreck It Ralph

->Open Spoiler<-

The fight with king candy above diet pepsi mountain.

[Darwock]

I picked up on where you said 'controversial' and forgot that the topic title is only 'great' endings, but I've already typed this now so here it is.

Some of the very disappointing (to me) endings from TV :

Battlestar Galactica (the remake). Just WTF. They were on course for that ending for most of the last series though, so it was easy to see we were never going to be satisfied.

Lost. Yeah we guessed it after the first couple of episodes of series 1.

Others I remember:

Northern Exposure. Weird because it had two endings.

->Open Spoiler<-

What I would class as the actual ending was the one where Joel Fleischmann finally left Sicily, which was typically done in a weird ambiguous way. He was out exploring or something, he saw something in the blizzard and it turned out to be New York, if my memory isn't failing me. Then there was the final episode ending, a montage of all the cast living out their lives to the tune of "Our Town". To me it didn't really count because Joel wasn't there.

Twin Peaks. A lot of people hate the ending but I absolutely love it. That is a story that should not be wrapped up neatly, and it wasn't.

->Open Spoiler<-

A real tragedy for us, with the loss of Agent Cooper to 'the dark side' but a real hammer blow to finish on.

Most memorable movie endings:

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. (For tension and drama, possibly the best of all time.)
Apocalypse Now. (Not what I expected or enjoyed, but impossible to forget.)
Big Fish. (For emotional impact.)
Monty Python & the Holy Grail. (For the brass neck)

Worst movie endings:

The Usual Suspects. Not clever. Bobbins.

I actually can't think of anything except that right now, it was such a bad ending it kind of overrides everything else in my mind. I might edit later if I think of more.

[Asura]

One I would like to add:

Enter the Dragon

->Open Spoiler<-

So many good elements in the ending, but the fight in the mirror room is something that had a great impact on me as a kid - "Evil has only images and illusions. Destroy the illusion, and you will break the enemy."

Return of the Jedi

->Open Spoiler<-

final showdown between luke and vader, taking out the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor AND a huge space battle above the planet ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

The bit I love most about this is when Luke loses his ****, and the choreographed lightsaber duel decays into him just hittting Vader's guard over and over again, like he's trying to smash up something with a baseball bat. The raw emotion (along with a very unique bit of music for Star Wars) is very emotionally arresting.

Lost. Yeah we guessed it after the first couple of episodes of series 1.

I stopped watching it mid-way through season 2, as I realised it had become the new X-Files and suffered from "the Chris Carter Effect" - where everyone is waiting for this amazing ending reveal, but you can tell the series is asking questions that don't have an answer and is going to cobble something together later on - then claim "it's about the journey, not the destination" or some other pretentious bull****.

When it ended, I asked some friends what the ending was like. One of them said "if you wanted to see the end of the character arcs, you'll like it - but if you're the kind of person who is still wondering why there was a polar bear on a tropical island, you'll hate it". My immediate response was "ah, so it was **** then - glad I didn't waste my time".

[charlesr]

Deadly Premonition. Brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat. Was pretty devastated for a few days. No film has come close because you aren't invested in the same way.

Only watch if you will never play it. But it won't have any impact if you haven't played the game really.

->Open Spoiler<-

[Dogg Thang]

One of the best for me in recent years is Whiplash. I could barely breathe during that climax. Not sure I can even think of an older movie that had be gripped to that extent during the final act.

[QualityChimp]

I have a bittersweet relationship with "Lost".
It's been some of the best television I've ever seen.
So many brilliant moments and real jaw-dropping events. I think my favourite bit was the start of Season 2, where we meet a new character going about his daily life only to discover it's somebody in the hatch that they opened at the end of Season 1.

Unfortunately, they picked up far too many plot ideas and went nowhere with them, which made it a really frustrating show to watch alongside the general feeling that they were trying to extend the show as long as they could and most episodes felt like "How do you keep an idiot in suspense? Find out next week on Lost!"

That final Season was one too many and was a really disappointing resolution and a narrative device they'd dismissed in Season 1 as an explanation.

I'm now stung by TV shows and refuse to invest my time because they either go on too long with lots of filler or go on too long with lots of filler that makes audiences lose interest and they get axed with no resolution.

I'll think about my favourite movie endings in a bit, but I had to get that bit about Lost off my chest!

[Neon Ignition]

With Lost, it's a frustrating watch but in the end I really enjoyed it. It explains all the key parts but doesn't cover enough. Seasons 4 and 5 I found enjoyable as the show had an end point by then but Season 6 buckles hard to try and get the players in place. The ending itself on paper is predictable but Lost did manage to give all its characters a lot of screen time meaning the loyal viewer couldn't help but be invested in them so I'd say it's true it delivered on a character front, it has some genuinely memorable and at times emotional resolutions that make the show worthwhile. It's just the core story mystery that faltered in the end.

[Asura]

It's just the core story mystery that faltered in the end.

Some would say, though, that's like saying "it's just the bit it's about which is bad", which for some of us is nearly the entire show. It isn't really enough to have entertaining character drama; that's just an expectation.

[PaTaito]

The Mist 2007.

That ending was absolutely crazy. For those who haven't seen it WATCH IT(silent hill meets half life in a king novel), but don't ruin it by tubing or reading about it etc.

By far the ending which sticks with me most.

[Spooky Mulder]

THIS ^^^^^
Even Stephen King has gone on record to say he wished he'd thought of the movie ending, as opposed to the one he wrote for the Mist short story.

[Neon Ignition]

Some would say, though, that's like saying "it's just the bit it's about which is bad", which for some of us is nearly the entire show. It isn't really enough to have entertaining character drama; that's just an expectation.

It's definitely an issue with it but I feel they did enough work in the last few seasons to make enough room to end of a decent enough note. The trouble was it exploded so massively that by the end of Season 1 people had covered every plausible outcome. Season 2 and most 3 where clearly aimless and I think without having a killer unguessed idea in the bag the writers were out of luck. When Season 4 came around though it became more focused and about the characters with more sub arcs that could end rather than question upon question. Season 6 definitely struggled to cope with the big questions but I tend to feel that it's a solid overall show and the most hate it gets is from the viewers who didn't make it to the end. I totally, totally understand why someone wouldn't stick it out as it is a grind for a big chunk of its runtime but I left happy.

Speaking of near misses, my go to:

Farscape

->Open Spoiler<-

When that aired... boy. I mean, four seasons and that was the final scene as far as anyone was concerned. Absolutely gutting. So thankful that Henson pushed through to ensure Peacekeeper Wars could be made to reach the true ending but there was a gap that was killer for while

[Mayhem]

The Prisoner. Come on, can anyone actually explain that?

[kryss]

It's definitely an issue with it but I feel they did enough work in the last few seasons to make enough room to end of a decent enough note. The trouble was it exploded so massively that by the end of Season 1 people had covered every plausible outcome. Season 2 and most 3 where clearly aimless and I think without having a killer unguessed idea in the bag the writers were out of luck. When Season 4 came around though it became more focused and about the characters with more sub arcs that could end rather than question upon question. Season 6 definitely struggled to cope with the big questions but I tend to feel that it's a solid overall show and the most hate it gets is from the viewers who didn't make it to the end. I totally, totally understand why someone wouldn't stick it out as it is a grind for a big chunk of its runtime but I left happy.

Speaking of near misses, my go to:

Farscape

->Open Spoiler<-

When that aired... boy. I mean, four seasons and that was the final scene as far as anyone was concerned. Absolutely gutting. So thankful that Henson pushed through to ensure Peacekeeper Wars could be made to reach the true ending but there was a gap that was killer for while

Yeah I remember that on TV. I've still not seen Peacekeeper Wars, but Ben and Claudia taking over in SG1 let me pretend they were still going.