Happy endings? Sad endings?

[panyasan]

Back to the topic: I think it's much harder to write a good happy ending without being mushy and realistic. I really like the ending of Without end, a story by Escriba. The past is remembered, Trip and T'Pol think about the people who died and are seeing the hopeful fucture (their child) before them.

[WarpGirl]

It is very hard to write a non-sappy happy ending. And it's disturbingly easy to write a tragic tear jerker. I don't know why that is though. Actors always say making people laugh is harder than making them cry. I guess the principle is the same.

[Alelou]

Comedy is tougher because some people just don't get it. We've read a couple of comic essays in Comp 101 at this point and some students are sitting there giggling (we're talking Dave Barry and Nora Ephron) and others are just utterly blank about it and will try, in a pained and confused sort of way, to analyze them as if the authors are dead serious. They wouldn't recognize irony if it ran over them in a truck. It must make the world seem so... flat.

[WarpGirl]

And sappy tolorence, is as individual as angst tolorence. Sometimes subjective is the only way to go I guess.

[honeybee]

That is exactly what I felt about BSG. I would joke with BSG fans that I could always see the ending coming (of each episode). Whichever possible outcome was the most horrible would be the ending.

BSG really did go too far with the pain and torture. It became predictable, until the last ending which felt forced and strange. On a micro level, I see where people loved the show because the dialogue was always tight - but it was a mean-spirited show that was way too pleased with itself. On the other hand, it is possible for happiness to feel tacked on or forced.

I think Trek has always been inherently optimistic, which is what I love about it, but it is best when that optimism is challenged. I actually love Terra Prime as a series ender, as it shows how hard fought the world we saw in earlier series was. I also really do believe that TnT should have wound up together, as I believe from the first episodes, it was setting up the idea of a world where people from different species could intermarry and give us characters like Spock and Torres. I don't think the writers knew who T'Pol was going to wind up with (god knows, they tried to pair her with Archer) but it was always there. It was touched on in many episodes. To me, it was narratively important to have them overcome those odd against them, even if it wasn't easy for them. So, I really like happy TnT ending stories. And I see plenty of hope in the end of Terra Prime.

[WarpGirl]

AMEN! Agreed! And thank you for mentioning B'Elanna.

[Silverbullet]

Honeybee. I think that you are right, they did try to pair her with Archer but it did not rersonate with a lot of the fans. I believe I read somewhre that intially it was Trip and T-Pol who were going to provide what Romance there was to be. I still think that both Bragga and sussman were devout Archer/T-Pol fans. which is why there were such episodes as Twilight, ANIS and Azati Prime not to mention the Forge arc. Bakkula was alittle long in the tooth to play the dashing romantic lead. He was attractive enough but by the fourth season he was showing his age. Conner on the other hand looked like the dashing young Romantic lead. If there was confusion it, I Believe, was too many people pullng in different directions. Leaving the fans waondering how the pair ended up. We won't mention the Abomination.

[WarpGirl]

OK I don't blame the AinT stuff on Scott Backula! I might not like him much as an actor, but let's get something straight... ACTORS have very little to no power on Trek, at least none after TOS. So let's leave the "poor" actors alone. They're real people with feelings, and deserve respect. And even the ENT TPTB are people, who are also deserving of respect. I'll give you that they didn't seem to have a very organized plan for the series or the characters. But it happens. Doesn't mean they're evil.

[panyasan]

I just read a piece about the nine worse movie endings (thinking I sure hope my ending isn't that bad). Worse endings are the one who makes no sense (aliens how want to invade Earth and can't stand a material which makes up 70% of Earth: water) and where at the last moment out of the blue a fact is revealed to give a nice shocking twist that leave the audience with . Number two of bad endings is the "then I woke up and it was all a dream." Blast! I was just about to use that one for the ending of my story.

[WarpGirl]

Which story? I woke up and it was all a dream has it's uses. I'm sorry but it does. I honestly don't care, unless it's so sad I'm physically crying. I don't like to cry in sadness. I don't like to cry period.

[Silverbullet]

Warpgirl I was not knocking Bakkula, TPTB or the writers. I just aid that Bakkula was not right for the part of a dashing young Romantic lead. He did begin so show age in season four. Nothing wrong with that he was 51 or 52 at the time.

I have seen films and TV shows where women in their late 40's and men who looked good but didn't look the age of the character they were playing. It showed.

I always thought that Conner would have made a better ARcher. He was young, dynamic, Handsome He looked like a Dashing, Romantic lead.

IMHO

[Alelou]

I can buy Sussman being an A/T'er, but I don't see Braga falling into that category. From what I can see of Season 1 BnB set up TnT from the beginning, and judging from the commentary on the DVD they also noticed that those two actors had great chemistry from the beginning. It does look like they decided to apply the brakes in season 2, but it may have been because they felt it was getting out of hand too early. You have to pace your romances on TV or you'll jump the shark. This is why they are inherently prone to ridiculous levels of angst.

This is also why many fanfic authors who try to stay canon-friendly with season 3 or 4 are going to end up with high levels of angst in stories that fall during those periods.

[WarpGirl]

Well thankfully ST has always been truly ensamble shows. Because it's more likely to jump the shark if the two main characters get together. On ST there are no true main characters, not even the Captains.

[honeybee]

I think they chemistry tested T'Pol with Trip, Archer and Malcolm in Season 1. The Trip test happened in Broken Bow, and although the decon scene was smokin, their argument was even more so. But Malcolm got his test in Shuttlepod One and Archer in Shadows of P'Jem. And still, TnT was the pairing that sizzled.

But in Season 2, they were toying with A/T but in a very odd way. With Archer being attracted to her and her not being attracted back. But then, even in the last scene of Precious Cargo, T'Pol is playing a mixture of jealously and amusement that sparkles more than anything. I agree they put the breaks on TnT so as to not have the romance take over the show - which it could have.

And as to angst, people do seem to think that once a couple is in love, some angst must be there to keep it interesting. I think that can be true, especially if the show is about the relationships, but this show missed the boat with all the potential difficulties of an interspecies romance - which would have been uniquely Trek. And again, that gets me back to the topic at hand - this show needed an interspecies romance to symbolize the future - and a happy/ambiguous ending was in order. I don't think a sad ending fits with the narrative arc of the entire show.

[WarpGirl]

God Honeybee you're a genius.