movies/tv A Bad Ending Or No Ending: Which Is Worse?

[Denim&Venöm 16,510]

There are films and movies out there that get finished with a bad ending. Not bad as in negative or dismal, though that could apply, but bad as in unsatisfactory, underwhelming, anti-climactic or nonsensical. A finish that upsets long time fans and taints the product overall. 

But then there are shows and movie series that don't get that proper conclusion. That sequel never made. That next season never renewed. That cliff hanger ending which will never be revisited. 

So which is worse? Having a definitive ending that leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, or never getting that ending at all, leaving a series incomplete and having fans wonder what could've been? 

[Jeric 46,835]

 

Oh boy could I get really granular in this. I'll address only TV. In film and books I will always suggest that it's dependent on the preceding story. 

To address an ending that I generally disagree with but does effectively resolve the series. For instance, if both are an artistic decision that was intended (Sopranos and Battlestar Galactica are examples of both no endings and 'bad' endings that did what the showrunner intended) then I'm usually going to say it's a push. 

However, if it isn't an artistic decision ... say an ending was rushed or there was no ending due being cancelled or not renewed (Firefly vs Life On Mars) ... then I prefer the lack of an ending. 

[Twisted Cyclone 🚓 6,221]

To me it all depends on what the particular show/movie is and what the bad ending is. Sometimes no endings are worse and sometimes bad endings are worse.

[Silver Note 735]

I think a bad ending is worse than no ending. Sure, a bad ending has at least some sort of ending, but does it really have closure? At least with no ending, fans of the production can create their own endings. 

[Bricks_Ahoy 860]

I think that "bad ending " is worse. At least, when there is no ending, fans can come up with their own way to end the story. 

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

Well, even if there's a bad ending, fans can still come up with alternate endings  

But for me I think it just depends on how "bad" the bad ending is. I can deal with endings that don't turn out exactly how I would have liked them to, but sometimes there's a limit in which just stopping the series would have been the better choice.

Edited November 19, 2017 by SparklingSwirls

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

No-ending can disappoint you.

But a bad ending can leave you disappointed and frustrated.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Orcus on His Throne

[Megas 27,064]

A bad ending makes it feel like you wasted your time, no ending can still be bittersweet or satisfying depending on the approach, and leave room to interpretation.

 

To put thing into perspective using FIM as an example, Newbie Dash has RD finally become a Wonderbolt, but the episode is such a huge fucking disaster, and spends most of it’s time shitting in her, and regressing her character for the sake of its fucking stupid impressions joke, making it feel like she never accomplished anything, and it just gives you a sour feeling deep down, just making you feeling angry and upset, as if you wasted 5 years of your life for an episode that outright punishes you for liking the wrong character; by contrast had the show ended in S3, her arc would have ended in Wonderbolts Academy, and while she never became a WB by the end of the episode, it does give you a sense of her character going to full circle 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Megas

[Here No Longer 5,270]

It really depends on how "bad" of an ending the bad ending is, but generally I'd prefer no ending because it can at least be up to interpretation.

 

Though the combination of both is the worst of all, as was done with the original Star Trek series. An ending that resolves absolutely nothing, and isn't really an ending either, but also doesn't even leave too much room for imagination. That's the worst way to end a series.

[Once In A Blue Moon 894]

I was going to say that no ending is better than a bad ending, but @Kiryu-Chan's comment on disliking Newbie Dash actually changed my mind on it. My position now is that bad endings are fairly subjective - to return to Newbie Dash, I enjoyed it and thought that it was a good episode. I gained something from seeing a closure of the 'I want to be a Wonderbolt' arc, and whilst it's unfortunate that it had a negative effect on @Kiryu-Chan's enjoyment of the show I think the effect is a net positive as whilst I will watch it multiple times (gaining enjoyment each time) @Kiryu-Chan has presumably only watched it once and will not watch it again. The net enjoyment is thus positive - good episodes bring a lasting enjoyment (Lesson Zero and Amending Fences both feature heavily whenever I feel like going back and watching some older episodes, as to a lesser extent does the Wonderbolt arc) whilst bad episodes are ignored and forgotten.

The partially independent nature of MLP at least means that you can pick and choose what you watch again, and ignore the rest (likewise, there are some episodes that I'm not going to watch again - Daring Don't, for example. Interestingly enough, Stranger Than Fan Fiction is one I still enjoy despite it following on from Daring Don't.) This doesn't just apply to MLP - I still haven't watched the final season of the Battlestar Galactica remake as I've heard really bad things about the ending; I'd still say I enjoy the series though (and for the most part I tend to just re-watch a selection of Season 2 episodes, with a sprinkling of season 3 for good measure.) This isn't really the case for films, as you tend to see them as a whole, but for computer games a lot of the time people don't even finish them so in those cases the ending literally doesn't matter (maybe Fallout: New Vegas has a good ending, maybe it has a bad one. I have no idea, but I still enjoyed the game.)

Edited December 28, 2017 by Once In A Blue Moon

[Black Sabbath 2,484]

I prefer a bad ending, at least I get some kind of conclusion. 

[cmarston1 5,951]

I would prefer having no ending over having a bad ending, as the latter can make you feel like you wasted your time in getting emotionally attached to the plot and characters of a movie, book or tv, and can ruin your enjoyment of all of it, not just the ending.

Edited December 29, 2017 by cmarston1

[BlueCoats 19]

I hate bad endings, they are way too depressing

[ultrairongorilla 2,064]

Yeah, I'd say having a bad ending is worse than no ending, because a bad ending makes you feel like you wasted your time getting emotionally invested in whatever your enjoying. (Looking at you Mass Effect 3 and Arkham Knight...) At least if a show or a game has no conclusion, people can make up their own interpretations as a few posters said previously.

Without spoiling anything, look it how the Samurai Jack ending turned out. People wanted an ending for years only to get an ending that was extremely polarizing towards fans. (For the record I actually liked the ending.)

Edited January 7, 2018 by ultrairongorilla

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

On 2018-01-07 at 5:33 PM, ultrairongorilla said:

Without spoiling anything, look it how the Samurai Jack ending turned out. People wanted an ending for years only to get an ending that was extremely polarizing towards fans. (For the record I actually liked the ending.)

Ironically, the comics had already given them a less-polarizing ending.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Even Evil Has Standards

[Black Sabbath 2,484]

2 hours ago, ultrairongorilla said:

Yeah, I'd say having a bad ending is worse than no ending, because a bad ending makes you feel like you wasted your time getting emotionally invested in whatever your enjoying. 

But how is no ending less of a waste of time than a bad one? I get that you can make your up your own ending in the case of the former  but what's stopping you from just ignoring the canon one and making up your own anyway in the case of the latter? 

[ultrairongorilla 2,064]

52 minutes ago, Yamet said:

But how is no ending less of a waste of time than a bad one? I get that you can make your up your own ending in the case of the former  but what's stopping you from just ignoring the canon one and making up your own anyway in the case of the latter? 

Good point

Edited January 8, 2018 by ultrairongorilla

[King of Canterlot 9,588]

Well I think no ending is worse than a bad ending, because at least with a bad ending, you still get an ending, rather than just getting nothing. A bad ending will at least make an attempt to wrap the show up, an attempt to tie up all the cliff-hangers and smaller plots, though with no ending at all you wouldn't get any of that, and I think at least trying to end the show is better than making no attempt at all. 

[ChB 18,532]

On 11/19/2017 at 10:51 AM, Denim&Venom said:

There are films and movies out there that get finished with a bad ending. Not bad as in negative or dismal, though that could apply, but bad as in unsatisfactory, underwhelming, anti-climactic or nonsensical. A finish that upsets long time fans and taints the product overall. 

But then there are shows and movie series that don't get that proper conclusion. That sequel never made. That next season never renewed. That cliff hanger ending which will never be revisited. 

So which is worse? Having a definitive ending that leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, or never getting that ending at all, leaving a series incomplete and having fans wonder what could've been? 

No ending. I'd rather have a series end on a low note than to stop mid-performance.

[Sparklefan1234 161,867]

I'm going with the "No Ending" option.

 

I would prefer to see a series that I enjoy watching end on its own terms instead of leaving things up in the air due to it being cancelled,

 

no matter how bad that finale could potentially be.*

 

*I hope I answered this correctly. 

 

[Denim&Venöm 16,510]

3 minutes ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

I'm going with the "No Ending" option.

 

I would prefer to see a series that I enjoy watching end on its own terms instead of leaving things up in the air due to it being cancelled,

 

no matter how bad that finale could potentially be.*

 

*I hope I answered this correctly. 

 

no no, you're correct.

[ChB 18,532]

Some say that a bad ending is worse, because it really ruins your experience of the show after being emotionally invested in the series and characters for so long. In my personal experience, though, I get the same feeling for no ending, only worse. It feels to me like the writers are telling me, "Oh, you liked my series? Well, screw you. I'm not even going to finish it for you."   

[EpicEnergy 22,076]

I hate no endings because then it leaves me hanging.

[Flying Pencil 3,023]

No ending because it can lead people to wonder and consider their own endings. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,285]

Definitely prefer no ending in this regard. One of the only manga I've ever read from start to finish was Psyren and it would have benefited quite a bit if they would've gone for the void ending route instead of what we got. Supposedly the ending was entirely rushed and what we got as a result was an ending arc that broke every rule established previously, turned every character into a magical gary/mary sue that can do everything and it all ended in the most whimperest of whimpers. It made the entire journey feel worthless. That was the moment I realized that in some cases, nothing at the end of the tunnel can certainly be better than the deflating balloon at the other side.