NationStates Jolt Archive

I just finished watching the 195? version of "War of the Worlds". You know, where the Martians invade Earth, the planet is only moments away from total destruction, and the Martians start dropping dead from some bacterial infection. Pretty unimaginative ending. But not the worst.

Remember "The Andromeda Strain"? The virus was moments away from contaminating Earth and destroying every living thing. Then it just mutated into something harmless.

What's your worst?

um thats how war of the worlds ends, the martians dont have the immunity to human diseases and like catch a cold or some shit and start dying

Independence Day is the most egregious Sci-fi film of all time (and that includes the ending too).

Independance Day.

EDIT: Damn, beaten to the punch!

Easily, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. I wanted someone to shoot all those furry dancing teddybears.

Signs
Starship Troopers 2
The Core

I thought the ending to Empire Strikes Back was a little abrupt, as was the end to Logan's Run...the most egregious ending was the end to The Matrix Reloaded. That was a movie that left too many things hanging.

The ending of Bad Taste. I wanted to see the upcoming chainsaw-massacre on the aliens' homeplanet.

Remember "The Andromeda Strain"? The virus was moments away from contaminating Earth and destroying every living thing. Then it just mutated into something harmless.
Augh, I hated that ending!
:mad:

WestWorld

I just finished watching the 195? version of "War of the Worlds". You know, where the Martians invade Earth, the planet is only moments away from total destruction, and the Martians start dropping dead from some bacterial infection. Pretty unimaginative ending.
are u kidding?! that ending was brilliant!
there was no other way to destroy the aliens, but when they opened their ships and went out, they all died because of all the bacteria in the air that humans were immune to. Its like with the native americans when the white settlers invaded their territory, and we spread all those diseases, but reverse

Easily, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. I wanted someone to shoot all those furry dancing teddybears.

Yes, that was terrible too. The Empire which had the technology to destroy planets with a single laser beam was defeated by teddy bears whom hadn't even passed the Bronze Age (or rather the teddy bear equivalent of course).

I thought the ending to Empire Strikes Back was a little abrupt, as was the end to Logan's Run...the most egregious ending was the end to The Matrix Reloaded. That was a movie that left too many things hanging.
That would be because Reloaded and Revolutions are actually just a single movie. However, it was split in two because they didn't think a lot of people would sit through a 4 hour movie.

are u kidding?! that ending was brilliant!
there was no other way to destroy the aliens, but when they opened their ships and went out, they all died because of all the bacteria in the air that humans were immune to. Its like with the native americans when the white settlers invaded their territory, and we spread all those diseases, but reverse
not to mention THATS HOW THE BOOK GOES, WAR OF THE WORLDS IS A BOOK -_- and its flipping brilliant

That would be because Reloaded and Revolutions are actually just a single movie. However, it was split in two because they didn't think a lot of people would sit through a 4 hour movie.
just throw in an intermission
how long was the we are generals or whatever that generals (gods and generals?) movie was? like 6 hours?

edit: Gods and Generals is 9 minutes shy of 4 hours long

That would be because Reloaded and Revolutions are actually just a single movie. However, it was split in two because they didn't think a lot of people would sit through a 4 hour movie.

They could have picked a better way to end the second one, though...

Definately AI.

Part one: Little robot boy wants to be human, loves his mummy lots.
Part two: Mummy gets her real boy back, robot boy gets jealous.
Part three: Mummy hates robot boy now and leaves him in the woods. Robot boy cries a lot.
Part four: Robot boy goes on a random quest to become a real boy to get mummy.
Part five: YAY ALIENS.

the endings to the mib movies
a marbal and a locker

I never noticed any aliens in AI ?

the endings to the mib movies
a marbal and a locker
the first one wasnt that bad, the second one was just lame

I just finished watching the 195? version of "War of the Worlds". You know, where the Martians invade Earth, the planet is only moments away from total destruction, and the Martians start dropping dead from some bacterial infection. Pretty unimaginative ending. But not the worst.

What's your worst?

It was pretty damn imaginative when H G Wells wrote it back in....*blank look*...early 1900s?

I'm not a huge fan of the War of the Worlds movie in general - I much prefer the book. It seems like they read the first chapter of the book then guessed the rest. And then set it in America.

not to mention THATS HOW THE BOOK GOES, WAR OF THE WORLDS IS A BOOK -_- and its flipping brilliant

A lot of times when they make a movie out of a book, theyr change a lot, including the ending...read Logan's Run the book and then watch the movie. The two will appear completely different except for the storyline of Logan looking for Sanctuary and deciding the age limit is a bunch of horse manure. Beyond that, everything else is different.

Definately AI.

Part one: Little robot boy wants to be human, loves his mummy lots.
Part two: Mummy gets her real boy back, robot boy gets jealous.
Part three: Mummy hates robot boy now and leaves him in the woods. Robot boy cries a lot.
Part four: Robot boy goes on a random quest to become a real boy to get mummy.
Part five: YAY ALIENS.
The aliens fucking rocked, but I agree it was a bit of a stupid ending.

It was pretty damn imaginative when H G Wells wrote it back in....*blank look*...early 1900s?

I'm not a huge fan of the War of the Worlds movie in general - I much prefer the book. It seems like they read the first chapter of the book then guessed the rest. And then set it in America.
speilberg is maknig another one
i dunno how its going to go but i can guarantee it will cost assloads of cash

*cough* there were no aliens in AI

Sphere, mainly because I thought that the film had so much potential yet it had an "Oh fuck it" ending (ie the director just got bored by the end of filming and crowbarred in a quick ending).

The end of Cube always leaves me slightly depressed, but I think it is quite cool though

Matrix Revolutions... So suddenly there's peace because he "defeated" Smith, even if he didn't win? War rules. Somebody should have exploded something on the core of the robots Star Wars style (except good).

not to mention THATS HOW THE BOOK GOES, WAR OF THE WORLDS IS A BOOK -_- and its flipping brilliant
And Andromeda Strain ended the same on film as in print. What's you're beef? My point was the endings were pretty unimaginative. "And everyone lived happily ever after", you know?

And Andromeda Strain ended the same on film as in print. What's you're beef? My point was the endings were pretty unimaginative. "And everyone lived happily ever after", you know?
Well Andromeda Strain was just an "oh fuck it" ending. ie the writer just got bored (I mean what are the chances). At least WotW is reasonable (as a parralel, the Europeans in Africa), foreign invaders with no resistence to disease, succumb to it.

It was pretty damn imaginative when H G Wells wrote it back in....*blank look*...early 1900s?

I'm not a huge fan of the War of the Worlds movie in general - I much prefer the book. It seems like they read the first chapter of the book then guessed the rest. And then set it in America.
I think it was almost 1900. 1899,98? It was a great book. Not a doubt about it. I still think it reads like he just ran out of steam on it.

Sphere, mainly because I thought that the film had so much potential yet it had an "Oh fuck it" ending (ie the director just got bored by the end of filming and crowbarred in a quick ending).

The end of Cube always leaves me slightly depressed, but I think it is quite cool though
There's the second Crichton book to get an award. Is there a pattern starting to emerge?

*cough* there were no aliens in AI

What are you talking about? The Earth turns into a fucking iceball at the end of AI and bingo! All aliens no humans. Humans no longer seem to exist...no mention whatsoever though of how it happened though or why...

I think it was almost 1900. 1899,98? It was a great book. Not a doubt about it. I still think it reads like he just ran out of steam on it.
Well arguably he did a better job of describing a martian invasion than Olaf Stapleton, whos version was a bit wierd.

Well Andromeda Strain was just an "oh fuck it" ending. ie the writer just got bored (I mean what are the chances). At least WotW is reasonable (as a parralel, the Europeans in Africa), foreign invaders with no resistence to disease, succumb to it.
You're right. I take back any disparaging remarks I made about H.G. Wells and the WotW. It was written at the turn of the century and is a good allegory. And a good story.

Apologies for going of topic, but has anyone ever watched They Live?

That film was so bad it was hilarious. Some guy finds special sunglasses in a box that allows him to see the aliens among us.

Apologies for going of topic, but has anyone ever watched They Live?

That film was so bad it was hilarious. Some guy finds special sunglasses in a box that allows him to see the aliens among us.
Never seen that, but it could have an Inspiration for a Robert Rankin book [iirc], be he's just hilarious.

Apologies for going of topic, but has anyone ever watched They Live?

That film was so bad it was hilarious. Some guy finds special sunglasses in a box that allows him to see the aliens among us.

That film is so 80's it's become a classic.

What are you talking about? The Earth turns into a fucking iceball at the end of AI and bingo! All aliens no humans. Humans no longer seem to exist...no mention whatsoever though of how it happened though or why...
Err.. they were in no way aliens. Not only did they looked like robots they repeatedly said they were. I dont get it.

EDIT: The robots explain everything, in simple english.

I dunno, that movie that might have been called Metamorphosis had an absolutely horrible ending. Then again, I guess it was just carrying on with the standard set by the rest of the movie.

A.I. DID have a pretty awkward ending... I mean, there were a hundred times when you expected it to end, or perhaps should have ended, but it just kept going on and on... and then when it finally ended you just sort of sat there and were like 'what'? Or something.

The end of Cube always leaves me slightly depressed, but I think it is quite cool though

I got to see Cube Zero last night. Excellent: it is return to the multi-coloured cube that we know and 'love' instead of the tesseract from Hypercube. Definitely worth watching, it takes the original film and twists it and leaves some nice disturbing ideas hanging in the air.

Well arguably he did a better job of describing a martian invasion than Olaf Stapleton, whos version was a bit wierd.

From Last And First Men? Describing the Martian invasion in that as 'a bit weird' is missing out on just how weird the rest of the book is, but it pales into normality compared to Starmaker. The man was a sf writer ahead of his time - it wasn't until the 80s that anyone even did a half-decent job of following on from his post-humanist ideas, and even then they are dwarfed in scale by the scope and inventiveness of those two novels. I'll pass quietly over Sirius, Last Men In London and Odd John, none of which aged anywhere near so well and just creak unlike the those I have praised, which still sing after all this time.


Bad endings to sf films: the 1953 (?) version of Day Of The Triffids which ended with the destruction of the Triffids and singing hymns in church. Way to miss the point, guys.

I just finished watching the 195? version of "War of the Worlds". You know, where the Martians invade Earth, the planet is only moments away from total destruction, and the Martians start dropping dead from some bacterial infection. Pretty unimaginative ending. But not the worst.

Remember "The Andromeda Strain"? The virus was moments away from contaminating Earth and destroying every living thing. Then it just mutated into something harmless.


Almost all Sci-Fi employs the technique of the Deus Ex Machina to end it. It's a shit way to end things, but, then again, Sci-Fi writers have no imagination anyway, so it would make sense.

Almost all Sci-Fi employs the technique of the Deus Ex Machina to end it.

Examples?

It's a shit way to end things, but, then again, Sci-Fi writers have no imagination anyway, so it would make sense.

Compared to whom?

Examples?

Andromeda Strain and WoTW are great examples which have already been given. Further examples would include Asimov's Foundation series, most of Bradbury's works, etc etc. the Deus Ex Machina is a common Sci-Fi theme.

Compared to whom?

Epic poets, beat writers, and many other genres.

I got to see Cube Zero last night. Excellent: it is return to the multi-coloured cube that we know and 'love' instead of the tesseract from Hypercube. Definitely worth watching, it takes the original film and twists it and leaves some nice disturbing ideas hanging in the air.

I was wondering about those two. Usually I wait for films to either be put on TV or a freind buy them. But that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon wit those two, so I may persuade myself to buy them.

From Last And First Men? Describing the Martian invasion in that as 'a bit weird' is missing out on just how weird the rest of the book is, but it pales into normality compared to Starmaker. The man was a sf writer ahead of his time - it wasn't until the 80s that anyone even did a half-decent job of following on from his post-humanist ideas, and even then they are dwarfed in scale by the scope and inventiveness of those two novels. I'll pass quietly over Sirius, Last Men In London and Odd John, none of which aged anywhere near so well and just creak unlike the those I have praised, which still sing after all this time.

Don't get me wrong, I love those two books, and I haven't read anything like them since (or before), just saying HG Well account of a Martian invasion is a lot more accessable.

Haven't read anything else by dear old Olaf unfortunately though :(

Bad endings to sf films: the 1953 (?) version of Day Of The Triffids which ended with the destruction of the Triffids and singing hymns in church. Way to miss the point, guys.

Ahh forgot about that one. I remember I borrowed it from a freind and when I gave it back he absolutley refused to take leaving me stuck with a god aweful 50's film.

Mission to Mars was a dreadful movie with a dreadfully irrelevant ending.

Mars Attacks :(

Andromeda Strain and WoTW are great examples which have already been given. Further examples would include Asimov's Foundation series, most of Bradbury's works, etc etc. the Deus Ex Machina is a common Sci-Fi theme.

TWOTW is a bad example of a Deus Ex Machina as it is an entirely logical consequence of the setup. As far as Crichton goes - I'm not going defend that hack. I remain somewhat unconvinced by your argument, however.

I think it was almost 1900. 1899,98? It was a great book. Not a doubt about it. I still think it reads like he just ran out of steam on it.

*Digs out the book* 1898. Ahh I was close.

I think it's a great read - I've lost count of the number of times I've read it:D

I like the ending, I think it's quite clever. But the movie doesn't do it justice.

TWOTW is a bad example of a Deus Ex Machina as it is an entirely logical consequence of the setup.

It's a perfect example. If bad guys come a callin' and are subsequently defeated without any deliberate interraction by the good guys, that is a Deus Ex Machina.

For WoTW, it is an example of good use of DEM, but it is an example of DEM nonetheless.

It's a perfect example. If bad guys come a callin' and are subsequently defeated without any deliberate interraction by the good guys, that is a Deus Ex Machina.

For WoTW, it is an example of good use of DEM, but it is an example of DEM nonetheless.

To consider the ending of War of the Worlds an example of Deus Ex Machina, is to completely misunderstand the whole story.

It's a perfect example. If bad guys come a callin' and are subsequently defeated without any deliberate interraction by the good guys, that is a Deus Ex Machina.

For WoTW, it is an example of good use of DEM, but it is an example of DEM nonetheless.

No, the aliens were defeated by their failure to understand life on earth: despite their being 'intelligences greater than man's', they were still unable to comprehend the universe. There is no intervention involved here - instead we see that raw nature bloody in tooth and claw is the victor.

I think the problem you are having here is that you are seeing the humans as 'the good guys' - if you actually go back and read the novel there is very little 'good' about them, instead they are reduced to panic and fighting amongst themselves. Civilisation is toppled and barbarism reigns. The clue is in the title - The War Of The Worlds - the true coinflict isn't between humanity and the Martians, instead it is between the ecologies of the two planets.



EDIT: further to this, and with a wider scope, your definition of Deus Ex Machina also covers classical tragedies, where it is not the action of the guys in the white hats that bring about the anti-hero's downfall, buit instead their tragic flaw. Intentional?

Mission to Mars was a dreadful movie with a dreadfully irrelevant ending.
Maybe I should have been more specific. This should have been the "Movie that was really good until the end" thread. Andromeda Strain wins that hands down.

I'll say it again. After reconsidering all the comments about WotW, it was a great movie with an fitting ending. I just reread the end and it fit perfectly. The 195? movie didn't do as well, but it was certainly better than Andromeda.

[edit]
I meant book, I mean it!

The 1953 movie of War of the Worlds, and no doubt the version currently in production, completely butchered the original novel. In my opinion, anyway.

Star Trek: Nemesis (picard is getting old, they shouldn't of killed data, and put Riker in command of the Enterprise)
Starship troopers (I thought it was a terrible movie all together)
Signs
T3: Rise of the Machines (I didn't want Jugment day to actually hapen!Arnold was getting to old for the terminator anyway)

Apologies for going of topic, but has anyone ever watched They Live?

That film was so bad it was hilarious. Some guy finds special sunglasses in a box that allows him to see the aliens among us.

It also had a great ending, with the aliens being see-able by the human populace and everyone freaking out.

Love it. BTW, the fight scene in the alley WAS the cripple fight between Jimmy and Timmy on South Park, move for move!!

-Markreich

Do you know who Queensryche is? Vote here!! : http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=389278

* All Star Wars movies end badly. In the first, Chewie didn't get a medal. In the second, they didn't know how to end it, so did the space sequence. I won't even comment on Jedi, nor the abortions that were the next two.

* Any Star Trek movie with the Next Generation ends badly. At least to me, it always feels like the end to a TV show. Maybe because they didn't have the 12 year hiatus of ToS crew...

* Any Planet of the Apes after the 2nd one ends badly. Statue of Liberty in the first? Classic. Destroying the planet in the second? Classic. The rest? Silly.

* Quartermass and the Pit. We're related to oversized locusts that have a pact with Satan? Hoo boy...

* Year of the Sex Olympics. No climax. (Yes, it IS sci-fi!)

* Demon Seed. The climax was all wrong.

* Highlander 2.


-Markreich

Do you know who Queensryche is? Vote here!! :
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=389278

:confused: so, lemme get this straight, the aliens chose to invade the one planet in the solar system that's fucking covered in the water they're allergic to? WTF? :mad:

Highlander 2.

I'm sorry, what? They didn't make any sequels to the original Highlander film.

Just like they haven't many any movies of Heinlein's books. Never happened.

And it's awfully funny how they went straight from Star Trek #4 to #6, but hey, whatever floats their boats...

:confused: so, lemme get this straight, the aliens chose to invade the one planet in the solar system that's fucking covered in the water they're allergic to? WTF? :mad:


They mastered space travel and can't open a door, nor figure out that this is probably the worst planet in the universe to attack.

The worst ending to a sci-fi film I have ever seen was Battlefield Earth, due to the crappiness of the film. It is, however, the best ending to a sci-fi, simply because it is the end of the film.

:confused: so, lemme get this straight, the aliens chose to invade the one planet in the solar system that's fucking covered in the water they're allergic to? WTF? :mad:

Its also the one planet in the solar system that has the people they want to abduct and probe.

Worst Sci-fi movie ending. Soylant Green. Its people, so what. It is the most efficient use of available resources. No sense in letting good food rot in the ground.

I'm sorry, what? They didn't make any sequels to the original Highlander film.

Just like they haven't many any movies of Heinlein's books. Never happened.

And it's awfully funny how they went straight from Star Trek #4 to #6, but hey, whatever floats their boats...

Denial is the first phase. I've gotten to acceptance, but not forgiveness...

-Markreich

Do you know who Queensryche is? Vote here!! : http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=389278

Denial is the first phase. I've gotten to acceptance, but not forgiveness...

-Markreich

Do you know who Queensryche is? Vote here!! : http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=389278
I will not vote for Queensryche. They went poo after a while. I just wish they had put megadeth on that list, for I am going to see them in Feb in Manchester. Huzzah.

Most modern Vampire movies. Especially John Carpenter's vampires, the Blade movies, and Quentin Terrentino's Dusk till Dawn.

Instead of good vs. evil they have immoral low class jerk vs. amoral high class villain. Personally I think any of these movies would be improved tremendously if the rest of the plot went exactly the same way but then the "Heroes" all died from very rapid onset Dark Ages syphilis (the kind where the whole body turns into one giant festering painful pile of rot).

They mastered space travel and can't open a door, nor figure out that this is probably the worst planet in the universe to attack.

That's because Signs wasn't a movie about aliens. It was a theodicy about God. Read some Leibniz, especially his "greater good" defense of God, and you will get that movie so much more.

By the same token, I will defend Andromeda Strain (early Crighton was actually pretty good, although everything since Congo or so I certainly don't claim). The whole point of the book and movie was not just the standard hack considerations of "evil dreaded uberplague that we must stop or humanity is doomed", but a pretty good take on how our own assumptions about what life is and what life can and cannot tolerate can actually play against us. In case you didn't notice, they pointed out pretty clearly that something that kills rapidly is not something chosen for by evolution. The strain they were trying to contain killed a person in less than a minute. Ergo, it tended to die off before it could reproduce, and a strain that did not kill people would be better selected for by evolutionary pressures. That such a strain did develop shouldn't have been all that surprising.

The worst ending to a sci-fi film I have ever seen was Battlefield Earth, due to the crappiness of the film. It is, however, the best ending to a sci-fi, simply because it is the end of the film.

Which is shame. I really had high hopes for the movie. The book is excellent. A great epic story.