Grand Finale: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'': {{spoiler|Tenma, Nina, Lunge, Roberto, Grimmer, and Johann all gather in Ruhenheim. A massacre ensues, and Johann is shot in the head by a terrified drunken bystander. Tenma saves his life again, and while Johann spends the next while comatose in his bed, everyone still alive goes back to their normal lives. [[Book Ends|Eventually, Johann wakes up and tells Tenma one final secret before leaving the hospital. Where he goes is left unknown.]] Assuming he even left and Tenma didn't just imagine him waking up.}}

* Given that the works of ''[[Rumiko Takahashi]]'' tend to go on for far longer than they should, some animes end up ending abruptly without closure. The biggest example being ''Ranma 1/2''. So it came as a great surprise to many that the [[Inuyasha]] manga was finally given its Grand Finale in early 2008. A new anime, ''[[Inuyasha]]: The Final Act'', began airing in late 2009 to resolve the anime's plot as well.

* The explosive climax of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', where events have inevitably led the main characters, but which is nothing like they expected.

** It sounds like this is talking about the season one ending, which is more of a [[Wham! Episode]]. The actual final episode of the show is also shocking in its own way, but provides a much greater sense of resolution.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' went out with a series of giant revelations about the major conflicts throughout the story and loads of character deaths, leading to a [[Distant Finale]] showing Usagi marrying Mamoru in the manga. The anime version had different revelations, killed and revived all of the Senshi again and just ended the show with a rather traditional ending that had only a few series finale elements.

* The writers of ''[[The Big O]]'' cleverly wrapped a [[Cliff Hanger]] and Grand Finale together in the final series episode. Just when every character ''almost'' figures out the big secret, the entire plane of existence is erased and rebooted. A few years later, it came out that Cartoon Network had apparently told them to leave things open intending to finance a third season, but then changing their minds and left the show [[Screwed by the Network|extremely screwed over.]]

* ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]'' is the Grand Finale that ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' never had. The film had an air of finality to it; the crew and ship were due to be decommissioned, aside from Sulu who now had his own ship. They managed to save the galaxy one last time before retiring. Also, the first teaser trailer drove the point home; it was essentially composed of snapshots of the greatest moments of TOS and the previous five films. The movie also bridged TOS and [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]] by sowing the seeds of peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire; this peace was well-established when TNG premiered.

** Then [[Executive Meddling|the studio insisted]] that [[Star Trek Generations|the next movie]], which was supposed to be [[The Movie]] of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'', crossover with TOS and prominently feature Kirk to "pass the torch"... again. Oh, well.

* ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'' closes the story line of the [[Star Wars]] prequels and sequels. {{spoiler|The [[Expanded Universe]] is another story.}}

* ''[[The Matrix|Matrix Revolutions]]''

 

== Literature ==

** Prior to the publication of the last book, there was much speculation as to how Rowling, on a purely practical level, would choose to end something so popular and profitable (although the ending had been planned from the humble beginnings over ten years before). Many said that, whatever she'd been planning before the title character would have to die, for example, so that the author wouldn't be hounded for the rest of her life (or that she'd better ''not'' kill him off, so that she wouldn't be hounded for the rest of her life). Another "story-ending" possibility raised by some was for him to lose his [[Magic]]. She seemed to solve the issue by implying that Harry had lived a quiet, peaceful life for at least 19 years following the defeat of Voldemort.

* [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''Flinx Transcendent'' is the grand finale of thirty five years worth of novels set in the [[Humanx Commonwealth]] universe. Sure enough, each and every dangling plot element is resolved, one by one, like a checklist.

* ''[[Happy Days]]'' had an ultimate sitcom-style ending. Joanie and Chachi finally got married, Fonzie adopted a young boy, Richie returned to see everything off, and Howard ended the episode by thanking the audience for being a part of their family, then name-dropped the title. (But never explained where [[Brother Chuck]] vanished to, unless you consider the outtake where Howard does a spit-take and exclaims "Hey, where's Chuck?!")

* ''[[The Steve Harvey Show]]'' actually had two, but they were aired out of order. The [[Graduate From the Story]] episode {{spoiler|the kids graduate. Lydia goes to Princeton, Romeo to an unnamed university, and Bullethead to Community College}} was supposed to air first, but the show had been [[Screwed by the Network]] and canceled so the [[Happily Ever After]] episode {{spoiler|Regina accepts a job at a fancy prep school in California and Steve follows her; Ced and Lovita win the lottery and she goes into labor immediately after learning the news. We never learn the sex of their baby.}} was shown as the Grand Finale with the graduation episode shown later. They continue to be shown in this order in syndication.

* ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' ended with Harold, the [[Hollywood Nerd]], getting married, Dalton renewing his wedding vows with his wife who appeared onscreen for the first time, Mike becoming a police officer, and Bill appearing outside of the black and white Adventures with Bill segment for the first time since season 2.

* ''[[A Different World]]'' ended with {{spoiler|Dwayne and Whitley finding out they're pregnant and moving to Japan for Dwayne's job}} and a big goodbye party for them is shown. During the party, Kimberly and Spencer decide to get married.

* ''[[Nip Tuck]]'' ends with Sean and Christian making Liz a partner in the practice, effectively calling it McNamara/Troy/Cruz. Liz, who is pregnant via donated sperm from Sean, is happy but decides to leave for parts unknown when Sean decides that he wants to be a part of the baby's life, which she doesn't agree with. Christian, feeling that he is the reason Sean is not living a more fulfilling life, kicks him out of the practice and gives him a one-way ticket to Bucharest so that he can work in an orphanage doing pro-bono surgeries. Matt decides to make a life with his transsexual lover Ava. Julia moves to England and remarries, taking Annie and Conor with her. Christian is left alone to run Troy/Cruz. Their final patient is an elderly porn star who gets his heart surgery scar removed. He later dies with a smile on his face while filming a sex scene in his latest movie. The final scene is Christian, seeing {{spoiler|the ghost of Kimber}} in a bar and wishing her well, then meeting a new young starlet who's thinking about plastic surgery -- exactly the way the series begun (with Christian meeting Kimber in a bar).

* Given that David Krumholtz has moved on to other projects, this season's finale of ''[[Numb3rs]]'' was probably the Grand Finale. Charlie and Amita get married before their move to England to teach at the University of Cambridge. Larry seems to have found what he was looking for, and plans to take over for Charlie.

* ''[[Life On Mars]]'': Sam Tyler {{spoiler|commits suicide by jumping from the top of a tall building. And saves the lives of his friends in 1973, gets the girl and drives off into the sunset.}}

** The US version featured him {{spoiler|waking up in a spaceship as part of a mission to find literal life on mars. Several of the themes from both series were weaved in to make a bit more sense, but the ending voided any and all chance of ever having an American ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]''.}}

** ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', on the other hand, had a little more of a grand finale with climatic battles between [[Humans by Any Other Name|Tau'ri]] forces and a super-Hive ship. Interestingly, they only manage to destroy the enemy by using the same method used to kill Ra in the original film (see ''[[Armageddon]]'' for a detailed description of why this works). Still, the [[Our Vampires Are Different|Wraith]] are far from being defeated, and there is a good chance this can happen again.

* ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' has a bizzare somewhat grand finale. Much like the series all the charactes aboard the ship are put into suspended animation. With the exception of [[Ascended Fanboy|Eli]], the symbolism alone was could easily be a [[Tear Jerker|tear jerker ending.]]

* [[Sudden Downer Ending|"Changing Nature"]] from ''[[Dinosaurs]]''. The episode has Earl Sinclair {{spoiler|accidentally setting off a chain of events that ''will'' destroy the world and as a consequence, all the dinosaurs in the show die out, including the Sinclair family. The last thing we actually see before the dinosaurs go extinct is news anchor [[Punny Name|Howard Handupme]] telling the viewers "This is Howard Handupme signing off for the very last time. [[Tear Jerker|Goodnight...and goodbye..."]]}}

* ''[[Dark Oracle]]'''s finale episode, "Redemption" killed off the [[Big Bad]] and former villain {{spoiler|Omen}}, featured [[Big Bad Wannabe]] Vern's {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn]]}} and wiped the comic, the source of all the show's problems from existence.

* ''[[3-2-1 Contact]]'': Island week.

* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' ends with [[God]] Himself telling Sam that he has always been the master of his own fate and that, contrary to what he believed, Sam has done a lot of good by helping people throughout history one at a time. The lives he touched, touched others, and those, others. Realizing something of his own value, Sam gives up a chance to go back and saves his friend Al's marriage to Beth (Al's first wife and true love). The ending consists of a few text lines confirming that Al and Beth have their [[Happily Ever After]] {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|and Sam Beckett never returned home.]]}}

* ''[[Newhart]]'': "The Last Newhart," one of the most memorable sitcom finales among fans and critics. A Japanese tycoon purchases the entire (unnamed) Vermont town instead of the Stratford Inn, which series protagonists Dick and Joanna Loudon co-owned. After everyone goes their separate ways, the action picks up five years later, where Dick has progressively gotten more frustrated with his life as he deals with crazier loons than what populated the inn years earlier, and his wife has even gotten nuts; he's also unable to get over a golf course being built ''around'' the inn without his permission. Then, the old folks -- handyman George Uttley, Larry (along with his brother Darryl ... and his other brother, Darryl), and the vain Stephanie and Michael Harris with their daughter (a vain clone of her yuppie parents) -- all come back and drive Dick to the brink of a nervous breakdown. The Darryls speak for the only time in the series' history ("QUIET!!!" to shut their annoying girlfriends up). Eventually, Dick snaps when he is unable to bring order to the inn, and is making good on his vow to leave the Stratford Inn when he is knocked unconcsious by a wayward golf ball. The screen goes black ... and when a light comes back on, the scene shifts to Dr. Robert Hartley's bedroom from ''[[The Bob Newhart Show]]'', and his wife Emily (Suzanna Pleshette in a cameo of her famous role). The whole series of ''Newhart'', it seems, was but a (bad) dream that Bob had one night.

* The original [[Concentration]] ended its 14-year/7 month run on NBC daytime with an apropos puzzle to its fans ("You've Been More Than Kind"). Musicians Milton Kaye and Tony Columbia strike up "Auld Lang Syne" during the closing credits.

* ''[[Baldur's Gate|Throne of Bhaal]]'' wraps up the Bhaalspawn saga in a truly epic manner.

* Since pulling the cord on the series, Warriors of Rock was this to ''[[Guitar Hero]]''. Rush's own Grand Finale is even playable.

* Similar to ''Halo 3'', ''[[Gears of War]] 3'' ends on a very epic note and gives a final conclusion to the game universe's central conflict. One of the most major characters dies in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], most of the plot threads are resolved, and the [[Big Bad]] is finally killed. However, a few questions regarding the backstory and the truth behind the causes of the war are [[Left Hanging]].

* ''[[Modern Warfare]] 3'' neatly wraps up every loose plot thread from the previous Modern Warfare games. World War 3 is brought to a conclusive end, the last of the world's 3 [[Big Bad|Big Bads]] is finally killed, and {{spoiler|every single major character except Price ends up dying.}}

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Narbonic]]'' ended its original run with a final episode that showed several possible futures for the main characters. This was one of only two Sunday episodes that were canon (the very first Sunday was the other).

** If you count the epilogue he's working on, the true finale has yet to come.

*** There it is. [[Art Shift|Unexpected, too.]]

** Interestingly, this was the show's '''third''' Grand Finale: The writers had believed that ''[[Justice League]]'' was to be canceled after the second season, and therefore ended it with a three-part episode involving an alien invasion, a traitor in the League's ranks, and shattering a romance that had been built up throughout the series... among other things. Then the show was renewed and re-tooled as ''Justice League Unlimited''. It was believed that it was to be canceled again in its second (or fourth depending on how you look at it) season, and thus a four-part episode was created to end things with a bang, followed by a lower-key episode that served as a coda for the entire [[DCAU]]. Of course, it was [[Post Script Season|then renewed]] for a second and final time, eventually resulting in the two-parter mentioned above.

*** In an interview, the writers remarked that they wrote every season finale with something that could work as a Grand Finale, since in the business they had little guarantee of getting another season.

* The [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Jumanji (animation)|Jumanji]]'' had a finale, at a time when such was extremely rare for kids' shows. Unfortunately, it's a [[Clip Show]] in which we sit through boring [[Stock Footage]] until we finally {{spoiler|see Alan's first trip into Jumanji, including the clue that he never got to see. Once they solve it, the three leave the World of Jumanji for good. As Peter says at the end: "Game over."}}

* The American animated series based on ''[[Street Fighter (animation)|Street Fighter]]'' had a definite ending. The last story arc of Cammy being brainwashed by M. Bison ended after Cammy came to her senses and freed her comrades, culminating in a final battle between Guile and Bison (Guile was made the main character of the cartoon instead of Ryu, the franchise's usual lead character). Guile finished Bison off once and for all by, bizarrely, blasting him into a computer, at which point his powers cause it to overload and the wires and insides of it seemingly begin to ''eat him alive'', before the computer then explodes. There is then the obligatory walking into the sunset of the five characters present, although there is no get-together with all the other characters or any other sense of closure. All that is known is that Bison, their eternal enemy, is definitely dead once and for all.

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', "Phantom Planet": After some humiliation competing against a new ghostbuster team, Danny decides to remove his powers and retire. However, the world is imperiled and needs Danny again. With great difficulty, Danny regains his powers and succeeds in saving the world. As a result, Danny is honored throughout the world while he and Sam hook up for good in his new and busy life.

* ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars]]'' ends with a final confrontation between Megatron and Optimus Primal on an ancient and massive warship in a battle for the fate of the timeline itself.

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' managed to wrap up nearly all the remaining plot threads in "Endgame". Megatron makes his final assault and is thwarted by the combined efforts of the Autobots, and we finally get the Optimus Prime/Megatron beatdown we've been waiting three seasons to see. The fact that Optimus returns to Cybertron {{spoiler|with the Magnus Hammer and what appears to be the Matrix also indicates that he might become the next Magnus.}} And of course, {{spoiler|Prowl and Starscream both die.}} And Blackarachnia and Waspinator {{spoiler|are both left for dead in an unknown jungle.}} And Thundercracker, Skywarp, Slipstream, Soundwave, Laserbeak, Lockdown, Team Chaar, and the Constructicons are all probably {{spoiler|still at large.}}

* ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'' had a nice wrap-up too. The Unicron Singularity destroyed, {{spoiler|Galvatron slain, and Cybertron more beautiful than ever before. The Space Bridge Project is begun again, and many adventures through the credits montage, ending in Coby and Lori's wedding.}}

* ''[[The Emperor's New School|The Emperors New School]]'' had a Grand Finale that ended with Kuzco becoming Emperor and getting an actual ''date'' date with Malina.

** In the meantime, the current finale was pretty damn satisfying -- it, too, defies [[Status Quo Is God]] -- Eddy stands up for Edd against the Kanker Sisters after Edd has a particularly bad day ("HE'S HAD ENOUGH ALREADY!!!")... moreover, the Sisters actually decide that maybe it's best they leave for the moment. Eddy then hands Ed and Edd hot dogs, and asks them -- albeit in a very nasty tone of voice -- "There, is everyone happy? Good!" Sure, maybe they didn't actually accomplish anything, and Edd and Eddy are both bruised beyond belief, but you get the feeling that they finally got to end on a happy note and maybe realized they don't have to be the [[Cosmic Plaything|Cosmic Playthings]] forever.

* ''[[King of the Hill]]'' averts a flashy Grand Finale, but in the last episode, {{spoiler|Hank and Bobby find a common ground (grilling beef) and [[So Proud of You|finally start bonding like father and son]]}}.

* ''[[The Replacements (animation)|The Replacements]]'' had a Grand Finale where Conrad Fleem's face is finally revealed, and it's revealed that he's {{spoiler|Todd and Riley's uncle}}.

* ''[[Gummi Bears]]'' had "King Igthorn", which ended with Igthorn losing his castle and army of ogres, Gummi Glen is destroyed, or at least severely damaged, and the Great Gummi's are confirmed to return.

* ''[[Sixteen]]'''s finale had Nikki {{spoiler|moving to Iqualuit, Nunavut after her father landed his dream job up there. Notable for the fact that it averted the show's typically light-hearted mood, and most fans upon hearing of the initial announcement of the episode were mostly saying "[[Like You Would Really Do It]]". Yes, they really did it.}}

* ''[[Ben 10]]'' had "Secret of the Omnitrix", a 3-part episode/TV movie that had Ben learning more about the Omnitrix, meeting its creator, ending his feud with his cousin Gwen at last, and defeating Vilgax. The end, right? [[Ben 10: Alien Force|WRONG.]]

** ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'''s ''The Final Battle'' resulted {{spoiler|in the Omnitrix being completely destroyed, Ben getting the Ultimatrix from his [[Evil Twin]], Kevin turning back to normal as a result of the Omnitrix exploding, Ben unlocking upgraded forms of his initial aliens (though it just shows Ultimate Swampfire), Vilgax being defeated one more}}, and it ends with Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and Max having a [[Group Hug]]. [[Happily Ever After]], right? [[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien|Again, WRONG.]]

** ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien|Ben 10 Ultimate Alien]]'''s ''The Ultimate Enemy'' ties up the loose ends with Diagon and the Lucubras resulting with Ben using {{spoiler|Ultimate Way Big, Sir George getting killed, the majority of the population being turned into Flame Keeper's circle soldiers, Vilgax absorbing Diagon's power, Ben defeating Vilgax with George's sword therefore having the Ultimatrix's power combined with Diagon's AND the Sword's, turning all the FKC soldiers to normal, Ben getting kissed by Julie on the lips for the first time, Azmuth cutting the Ultimatrix off, and Ben getting what is called the real Omnitrix. This ends with Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and Julie being in a group hug.}} The End Right? Once More, [[Ben 10: Omniverse|YOU ARE WRONG!]]

* Although ''[[Loonatics Unleashed]]'' was [[Cut Short]], it did end with the [[Five-Man Band]] ascending from protectors of [[City of Adventure|Acmetropolis]] to protectors of the universe, and relocated their base to Planet Blanc for convenience.

* In the ''[[American Dragon Jake Long]]'' final episode "Hong Kong Longs", Jake's father finally finds about Jake and Haley being dragons, Jake meets Rose again, Rose remembers Jake and her former life after Jake changed the timeline so she never became a dragon hunter, and together they defeat the Dark Dragon, the most powerful villain of the series. Although there was a plan for a third season, it's a satisfactory conclusion.

* ''[[Chowder]] Grows Up''. What better way to wrap up a weird series than with a weird ending.

* ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'' ends with Spiderman ''saving the Multiverse'' and hanging out with a live-action [[Stan Lee]]. The producer had some ideas about where to go next (finding Mary Jane, etc.) but acknowledged, [http://drg4.wariocompany.com/semper.html "You really can't top that"].

* The final story arc in ''[[Trollz]]'' had the BFFL sealing Simon and Snarf away for 1,000 years, reaffirming their friendship, and ending with a Farewell Luau.

* The final of ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'' is a two-parter about Omi freezing himself using the Orb of Tornami and waking up in far future to discover that while he was gone [[Harmless Villain|Jack Spicer]] has [[Bad Future|conquered the world]] and [[Future Badass|defeated not only the other Xiaolin monks in the process, but also recurring villains Wuya, Chase Young, and Hannibal Roy Bean as well]]. After Omi frees his comrades he tries to acquire the Sands Of Time - Wu allowing to travel back in time- which he does, but at the cost of his friends' lives. He then goes back in time to realize his original goal - [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|preventing Chase Young from ever turning to]] [[The Dark Side]]. However, by doing that [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|he creates another timeline]], in which Chase is good...but Master Monk Guan has took his place at Heylin and become even worse than original Chase ever was, which resulted in bad guys taking over the world, death of Master Fung and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Jack being turned into a good person]]. Omi, figuring out his counterpart from this reality would be doing the same thing he tried to do leads the Monks to the place he originaly has frozen himself...which now is in the middle of enemy base. Heroes got themselves captured and Chase [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifices himself to evil]] to get them free. This results in a big final battle and Omi creating a time paradox that resets everything to the original status quo...only with everyone remembering what happened. Raymundo, because of proving himself to be a competent leader in both alternate timelines gets promoted to team leader. And the episode ends with ''[[Villain Team-Up|every single villain the monks have ever faced joining forces to attack the temple]]'' for some reason and our heroes getting ready to beat them all up. Whew.

* [[No Export for You|Outside Japan]], "The Rebirth" was the grand finale for ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]''.

* ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'''s last episode basically said "if we're going down, [[No Fourth Wall|we're taking the fourth wall with us]]". The plot was actually driven by the fact that it was the last episode.

** This troper thinks at one point "Amazon Quiver" may have been intended to be the finale for the show. The reason? The whole episode is about Timon and Pumbaa trying to avoid a panther who wants to eat them and end up getting stuck in a tree they crashed into, and in the end {{spoiler|They wait until 95 years (until 2090) to get out of that tree. At this point, they turn into elders and hallucinate about eating each other, but they don't eat each other. The panther also turned into an elder, too, but although he can only drink prune juice due to the doctor's orders, he can still chase Timon and Pumbaa.}} Due to the fact that this might have been a horrible ending (possibly due to how sorry the viewer might feel for {{spoiler|Timon and Pumbaa because they were stuck in a tree for 95 years}}), Disney may have decided to make this a normal episode. Due to this choice, this troper assumes this whole episode was [[Just A Dream]] that Timon and Pumbaa might have had before or after the events of the episode "Brazil Nuts" (which also takes place near the Amazon River).

* [[The Powerpuff Girls]] "rock opera" episode ''See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey'' has been widely thought to be the series' grand finale, even though it was a season five episode (and has never been screened in the U.S.--Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang has just finished airing season 5 and 6 shows and passed right over the episode). The last original first-run episode screened was "What's The Big Idea?".