Neon Genesis Evangelion. The damn writers/producers couldn't think of a way to end that train wreck except by killing off the whole damn cast. They should have just ended it with Kaworu Nagisa and success of the Human Instrumentality Project....if not sooner.
@Vulcan Has No Moon: I liked the ending for one simple fact: I hated every last character on the show. Oh I was enthralled by it and couldn't stop watching it until I'd seen every last scrap of the shows and movies but, they seemed to be great examples of humanities selfishness and propensity to destroy itself. On the one hand I hated Shinji's father but also couldn't stand Shinji's whining.
@Alvarez: Actually, I don't really care they killed everyone, just that it seemed like they had run into a brick wall with the story and took an easy out. Like they never planned the story arc out to the end. It's like the writers got together and said, "Show got cancelled, and we've got an hour to rap this up. Any ideas on how to tie up all the loose ends?" "Let's just kill everyone off." "Cool!" and then everyone knocked off early for lunch.
@Wookie1972:
Then so was Wagner's Ring and the whole Nibelungenlied. And, of course, Puccini.
How about The House of Atreus? And the Oedipus cycle?
I'm gonna do my PhD dissertation: Buffy As A Universal Human Archetype
@firstofnormalin: Well, those were real operas, soap or not. Except for Oedipus. (although Oedipis, with its use of hidden parentage, would obviously count)
@Wookie1972:
Well, I'll grant most weren't _sf_ soaps, but look at Wagner's Ring--dwarves (maybe even dwarfs), dragons with magic blood, hero screws his sister, magic swords, magic gold rings, tarnhelms for invisibility, Rinemadens living under the river...if that ain't a fantasy/soap opera combo, I'll eat my Furtwangler CDs.
Another weird thread in BSG was Starbuck and Leoben. They have this long, complex, tormented relationship throughout the series, and then when they discover Starbuck's dead body on the Earth (that is Earth but maybe isn't Earth), Leoben gets creeped out by her, runs away, and.... well that's it. The relationship just seems severed; they never cross paths again; the event is never discussed. Nothing.
I'm still waiting for Forge to show up in Wakanda to take Storm from the arms of T'Challa. Storm out in the rain is still one of my favorite covers of all time -sigh-
Wow, that ROBOTECH mash up brings back memories. I think I was in graduate school (hint: that was a long long time ago) and Mrs. Overclock and I weren't even married yet (ditto) when that series played on one of our local stations.
Totally right about it being a soap opera. I thought so even back then. But I had to watch it because I had a awful crush on Misa Hayase. She knew a thing or two about unrequited love, too.
Oddly enough, not even 3 days ago I found my 15 year old melodrama paper, a class heavily steeped in soap operas as its inspiration, where I used Robotech/Macross and its many twisty relationships as my focus.
I thought it actually made sense that Dean Venture turned out to be the legitimate Sovereign...after all it was revealed that Rusty's grandfather was actually one of the Guild's founding members. Why isn't Babylon 5 on this list? I love that show but it had more than it's fair share of soap opera moments.
No Spiderman? I know X-Men is far worse, but with the clones, faked deaths, pacts with proxie devils, and chameleon 'rape' accusations, seems like the Web Head has more than his fair share of drama.
11/26/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
Then so was Wagner's Ring and the whole Nibelungenlied. And, of course, Puccini.
How about The House of Atreus? And the Oedipus cycle?
I'm gonna do my PhD dissertation: Buffy As A Universal Human Archetype
11/26/09
11/27/09
Well, I'll grant most weren't _sf_ soaps, but look at Wagner's Ring--dwarves (maybe even dwarfs), dragons with magic blood, hero screws his sister, magic swords, magic gold rings, tarnhelms for invisibility, Rinemadens living under the river...if that ain't a fantasy/soap opera combo, I'll eat my Furtwangler CDs.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
I always found that a little strange.
11/25/09
what about the Summers family tree? It's even worse than that x-men relationships map:
[tvtropes.org]
Here's the text version: [members.core.com]
(I'm sure somebody must have done a beautiful one somewhere)
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
Totally right about it being a soap opera. I thought so even back then. But I had to watch it because I had a awful crush on Misa Hayase. She knew a thing or two about unrequited love, too.
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
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11/24/09
I kyd.