Great Story Ideas Done Or Ended Poorly

[The Captain]

I just watched the anime Legendary Heroes over the past few nights and was loving it until the end which left me baffled, then confused, then just disappointed. In a nutshell, the entire show was setting up all these plotlines and characters to collide and essentially had the big ending be done in montage. Upon further review it sounds like initially the show was banking on more seasons which don't seem likely due to poor ratings.

It got me thinking, what are some great stories or shows you have seen/read that had so much promise but just didn't end well or were rushed though and left you underwhelmed? Could be for budget reasons or just a lack of time but still they left you wanting so much more because of what they seemed to promise.

The other classic example for me is Xenogears which had a first disc that was among my favorite gaming experiences ever and a second that I will never forgive for the same reasons as above.

Th polar opposite of this would be Breaking Bad, which from season 2 through the end was just a perfect crystallization of storytelling and of amazing execution, no pun intended.

So, what do you think?

Take care all.

[Shorty]

Dexter.

[blackmage_nuke]

Stargate Universe

[Bubba]

The film adaptation of Stephen King's IT.

[Loony BoB]

Final Fantasy XIII.

[Slothy]

Final Fantasy XIII.

He said great story ideas.

Gonna have to go with Heroes off hand. I don't even know how it ended because volumes 2 and 3 were god awful messes.

[Loony BoB]

Final Fantasy XIII.

He said great story ideas.

The premise of FFXIII was excellent. The fact that one of them could at any point have turned into a monster if they were too stressed or something? The rebellion of human against fal'Cie, of l'Cie against fal'Cie, of fal'Cie pining for the return of their gods and the idea of the two worlds and how the opposing people thought of each other, all that kind of thing had the makings of a great story for me. I don't think it was done awfully but I definitely think it's a story that did not even meet half of it's potential, which was a high potential indeed.

[edczxcvbnm]

Battlestar Galactica had a trout final season. I became clear the writers were trying to be symbolic and mysterious with no real idea of how any of this was going to work for an ending. Also, even though the first seasons said the cyclons had a plan, it was clear that they had no plan at all. What a bunch of smurftroutty smurfsmurfs.

[Bubba]

What a bunch of smurftroutty smurfsmurfs.

My new favourite insult for a collection of people.

[black orb]

>>> Hikaru no Go, worst ending ever for one of the best mangas ever..

Same goes for most of the Obata`s mangas anyways..

[Mirage]

Final Fantasy XIII.

I don't even have to type things out anymore!

[Del Murder]

Battlestar Galactica had a trout final season. I became clear the writers were trying to be symbolic and mysterious with no real idea of how any of this was going to work for an ending. Also, even though the first seasons said the cyclons had a plan, it was clear that they had no plan at all. What a bunch of smurftroutty smurfsmurfs.

Yeah this is one of the best examples of a great story going no where in the end. I'd put Lost in that category too.

[The Captain]

Believe it or not I've never watched Lost for that very reason. By the time I was ready to watch it, most of the series had been completed so I waited to see if people were generally satisfied with the ending and when they were horribly disappointed I decided to just not invest my time at all.

I guess that raises a subquestion for this thread, are these series/games/movies worth watching even if they disappointed? Or would you tell people to not even bother? For some it's almost a rite of passage to have to suffer through a great idea's bad ending.

Take care all.

[Slothy]

Battlestar Galactica really can't even be put in the same zip code as Lost, let alone the same category.

Lost stopped going anywhere in season 2 and didn't even make any sense in the end. At least BSG answered the bigger questions they raised and had everyone reach their eventual goal. You can argue that you didn't like it, but it doesn't compare to how quickly and completely Lost went off the rails without ever even coming close to recovering.

[Ayen]

The Mist. My brother and I really did like the idea of regular everyday insects being turned into giant monsters due to secret government experimentation but... (SPOILER)when it turned out to be just because of another dimension opening it ruined the whole movie for us.