Book Ends/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

''Note that some [[Book Ends]] can be a spoiler, so beware.''

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** {{spoiler|More than that. The last few shots are Jack retracing his steps back through the bamboo grove he runs through in the Pilot. He even passes the shoe tangled in a bamboo tree. He lies down and faces right, and Vincent comes running out of the jungle. It was one hell of a bookend.}}

*** Proof that they weren't entirely lying when they claimed to know the ending of the show all along. They actually did know the final scene, just nothing that had anything to do with the plot.

* Used in many episodes of ''[[Third Watch]]'', often with the same song playing at the beginning and end of the episode.

** Not only that, the ''entire series'': The first sequence in the first episode concludes with {{spoiler|Sully}}'s trademark "{{spoiler|Crap}}". The last scene in the last episode does, too.

** Also, one episode opened with Meredith dreaming of a threesome with her two love interests ended with her and her two friends lounging on the bed eating ice cream. Another started with McDreamy pulling Meredith out of a bathtub, which turned out to be foreshadowing for a dark and dramatic ending.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'', "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday": "This is the story of how I died...".

*** The Tenth Doctor, having just regenerated, lands in the Powell estate with Rose at the end of 2005 in "The Christmas Invasion". {{spoiler|And in "The End Of Time", after being exposed to deadly radiation, he finds himself dying at the Powell Estate at New Year 2005 before going back in the TARDIS, taking off and regenerating}}

** Series 5 uses the same shot and scene of little Amelia Pond praying to Santa in "The Eleventh Hour" and "The Big Bang" - only the second time, {{spoiler|there's no Doctor and no TARDIS crashing into the shed anymore.}}

** "A Christmas Carol" has scenes near both the beginning and the end where {{spoiler|Kazran just barely holds himself back from backhanding a small boy. The first scene is what convinces the Doctor that Kazran is redeemable; the second one -- where the small boy is Kazran himself as a child -- leads to his redemption.}}

** [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E1 The Impossible Astronaut|The Impossible Astronaut]] starts with Amy and Rory at home, followed by {{spoiler|the Doctor's death}} and [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E13 The Wedding of River Song|The Wedding Of River Song]] ends with {{spoiler|the Doctor's "death", followed by Amy and Rory at home}}

** The Third Doctor's run [[Doctor Who/Recap/S7 E1 Spearhead From Space|begins]] and [[Doctor Who/Recap/S11 E5 Planet of the Spiders|ends]] with The Doctor stepping out of the TARDIS and collapsing.

{{quote| '''George:''' Haven't we had this conversation before?<br />

'''Jerry:''' You think?<br />

'''George:''' I think we have.<br />

'''Jerry:''' Yeah, maybe we have. }}

** In this scene (as Buffy and friends prepare to make their final stand at Sunnydale High) she sends off each of her allies to their posts until she is completely alone. The order in which all the others depart is exactly the opposite order in which they first appeared in the series (Andrew first, Xander last).

** Angel's departure in the last episode, where he disappears into the shadows, was also deliberately made to mirror his entrance into the series.

** The entire show ends with scenes showing that nothing has changed.

** The first season intro song is used in the final montage.

** In two instances, the opening narration is used to imply that "we're back to the beginning" or "it's come full circle":

{{quote| '''Picard:''' Space, the final frontier... these are the voyages of the Starship ''Enterprise''. Her ongoing mission...<br />

'''Kirk:''' ... to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations...<br />

'''Archer:''' ... [[Mythology Gag|to boldly go where no man has gone before]]! }}

** A subtle version of this happened in Season Four. In the beginning, Wilson tries to mess with House's head (stealing the guitar and making him believe he's hallucinating the cottages) so he can do his lecturing thing. At the end of the season, Wilson literally wants to mess with House's head so that House can save Wilson's dying girlfriend. As you can probably tell, one is sadder than the other.

** A much less subtle one happened in Season 5, again with Wilson.

** There's one that encompasses the end of season 4, the entirety of season 5, and the start of season 6. All of the events leading up to the mindscrew that is the season 5 finale and House's stay in the mental institution begin at the end of season 4, when House rides the bus that crashes and results in Amber's death. When it seems that House is finally cured of all the things that had been plaguing him since then in the season 6 premier, the episode ends with him riding a bus away from the mental institution.

** The Pilot episode is called "Everybody Lies". The series finale is called "Everybody Dies".

* ''[[Roswell]]'' started and ended with Liz introducing herself.

{{quote| ''Pilot:'' "I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. After that, things got really weird."<br />

''Last episode:'' "I'm Liz Parker and I am happy." }}

* ''[[The OC]]'' ended with Ryan asking a down on his luck kid if he needed help, the same thing Sandy asked him at the beginning.

** The first episode of the first season concludes with the brothers standing over the trunk of the Impala. Sam picks up a gun and says "We've got work to do." In the last scene of the season two finale, they're again standing over the Impala, and Dean drops {{spoiler|the Colt, which is out of bullets}} into the trunk and says the same line.

** The first episode (after the battle of Serenity Valley) opens with a man floating through space, the final episode also ends with a man floating through space.

* The ''[[Noah's Arc]]'' TV series opens and ends on the beach (with the beach not being seen all too frequently in between). Theres a definite juxtaposition between the happy, carefree nature of the start of the first episode, and the end of the last episode being packed with so much drama.

** Also, the entire storyline begins and ends with Josh springing Sam out of a meeting of lawyers to come work for the president, and Sam promptly [[Lampshade|lampshades]] it:

{{quote| '''Sam''': Your showing up does have a nice nostalgic symmetry.<br />

'''Sam''': ...if nothing else. }}

** However, this is only an instance of bookends in-universe; actually the first scene was shown in a [[Flash Back]] in the second series opener, and the second in the last episode but four.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' episode "Revelations" starts with Kara and Lee looking at an illustration of the Temple of Aurora, supposedly located on Earth. {{spoiler|The episode ends with all the characters trudging through whats left of a [[Big Applesauce|major city]] on Earth following a nuclear war. Their main camp is located near the ruins of a domed building that used to be the Temple of Aurora}}.

** The TV-Movie ''The Plan'' has this in two ways. First, the film opens with a shot of the two Cavils from "Lay Down Your Burdens" about to be airlocked. The rest of the film consists of flashbacks, ultimately leading up to the point where they stand in front of the airlock.

*** The second book end is a more meta example. ''The Plan'' ends with an altered version of the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|opening theme]] [[Theme Tune Cameo|of the show]]. Since ''The Plan'' is the very last ''Battlestar'' episode to air (excluding spinoffs), having the opening theme as the last thing the audience hears has a certain meaning to it.

** And both the pilot and the finale begin with a similar shot of Greene/Carter asleep and then woken up by the same exact nurse.

* The original ''[[V]]'' begins and ends in mountain camp of two different [[La Résistance|resistance groups]].

** The last scene in Volume Five also reflects the pilot, when Claire {{spoiler|goes public}}.

{{quote| '''Claire''': {{spoiler|My name is Claire Bennet and this is attempt number ... I guess I kinda lost count.}}}}

{{quote| '''Buster''': (Pilot) They [The SEC] have boats?<br />

'''Buster''': (Finale) They still have boats? }}

* The ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'' episode "Vehicular Fellatio'' begins with Larry trying to open a vacuum-sealed package and failing, eventually screaming in frustration. He buys a knife for opening packages. At the end, when he needs it, he finds that it's in a vacuum-sealed package...

* At the beginning of ''[[Lexx]]'', Kai and some other Brunnen-G pilot outmatched fighters against the Divine Order's flagship, the [[Meaningful Name|Foreshadow.]] With no other means of causing damage, Kai deftly weaves his fighter around the ship's structure, crashes into the bridge just as it seals itself off, and is thrown from his cockpit to the deck. At the ''end'' of the series, Kai is using a moth from the Lexx, a small, unarmed transport, to drag a [[Doomsday Device]] into the center of an alien spaceship; being at the center of the blast would not normally harm the [[Our Zombies Are Different|undead Kai]], but [[Satan|Prince]] appears at the last minute, restoring Kai to true, mortal life. The camera work as Kai makes his run on the alien ship is identical to the first scene, and it ends with Kai crashing and being thrown from his cockpit in the exact same way before dying once again.

** Interestingly, none of the people in that scene did the actual riffing of "The Crawling Eye". By the end of the show, Mike Nelson had replaced Joel Hodgson ("Joel Robinson" as the character), Kevin Murphy had replaced J. Elvis Weinstein as Tom Servo, and Bill Corbett had replaced Trace Beaulieu as Crow T. Robot. The book ends are not just for the movie on-screen, but for the cast as well.

* ''[[The Middleman]]'' opens with Wendy on the phone with her mother complaining about her job and life; it ends with Wendy on the phone with her mother telling her how happy she is with her job and life.

* ''[[Life On Mars]]'' didn't quite open with the line {{spoiler|"Word in your shell-like, pal."}}, but they are the first words spoken by Gene Hunt, upon meeting [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]] Sam Tyler as he arrives in a new, confusing world. They're also the final words Gene Hunt speaks in ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'', to {{spoiler|the new arrival in CID who's ranting about his iPhone, after Gene's [[Angel Unaware|helped Chris, Ray, Shaz, and Alex cross over]] and remembered what his true role is}}.

* ''[[Nip Tuck]]'' begins with Christian meeting Kimber in a bar, who is uninterested until he reveals that he's a plastic surgeon. The final scene of the series has a similar scene with similar dialogue with a similar woman in an airport bar.

* At the end of the final episode, Dale "Smithy" Smith has the last line in ''[[The Bill]]'' with "Yeah, come on. Let's do it", pretty much identical to the opening line of the show's first.

** 10x21 Finale {{spoiler|Day time, Apokolips is falling to Earth and Clark, now flying and wearing the Superman costume, pushes it back into space}}

* The ''[[Masters of Horror]]'' episode "Jenifer" begins and ends with a man dragging a tied up Jenifer to a seemingly secluded location so he can hack her to death, only for an armed stranger to notice their struggle and shoot the man before he can swing the blade. Her rescuer rushes over to her just in time to hear her would-be killer say her name with his dying breath. In the beginning, the protagonist is her rescuer. In the end, he's the one trying to kill her.

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'': "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S15 E4 The Sun Makers|The Sunmakers]]", the first man they meet on Pluto is about to throw himself over the edge of building. At the end, we have a [[Disney Villain Death]].

* The first and last episodes of ''[[Dinosaurs]]'' actually both end with Earl Sinclair telling Baby "Dinosaurs have been on this planet for about 150 million years."

** And the first and last ''shots'' are of news reporter Howard Handupme.

** Likewise, the seventh season premiere opens with a flashforward of Ted talking to the groom at the wedding {{spoiler|it's Barney}}, and [[Word of God]] has said that the season finale will end with a flashforward to Ted meeting with the bride, revealing her identity.

** The episode "Tick Tick Tick..." both opens and closes with the sound of a ticking clock.

* In the first episode of ''[[Sanctuary]]'', Helen offers Will "a chance to explore a world that you've been trying to understand on your own … with very little success" and the second episode ends with Magnus saying "Shall we begin?" In the series finale, Magnus says "What if I offered you the chance to explore a world that you've been trying to see since you were a child?" The last words of the episode are Magnus once again saying "Shall we begin?" to Will.

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[[Book Ends|Then again, when you have a series that's almost]] [[Crack is Cheaper]], [[Book Ends|why have a final season?]]