MovieChat Forums > Threshold (2005) Discussion > Somekind of closure

Somekind of closure

posted 18 years ago by holysimon
11 replies | jump to latest

Just finished the Threshold series. The only reason I could think they killed the series might be for some political vengeance. In "Escalation" (episode 11), there is the following dialog:

- So they actually kill off their own to further their agenda.

- We do it all the time. Ever heard of a little place called Iraq?

What other reason could there be?

As for the last episode, there was somekind of closure.

Molly does have this dream where she is told by the kid that her plan eventually worked but that she was not around to see its conclusion.

Better than nothing.

I will miss this show.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Harvey_Birdman_attorney 17 years ago

Except that episode didn't air on CBS before cancellation. So what you are suggesting is that Pro-War-in-Iraq political forces routinely view pre-televised episodes and have the power and influence to shut down the whole series when a single line of anti-administration commentary is found, but only in Sci-Fi shows, not comedies like "South Park".

Your logic is undeniable.

[–] wrightwe 17 years ago

I must agree, networks don't cancel shows because of any right or left leanings.

The only thing I can think of is that CBS failed to give it a good time slot and / or failed to properly promote it. Before I saw it advertised on SCI-FI, I had never heard of it. I too recently finished watching the entire series and it really is a crime that it was cancelled after only one season. It's possibly one of the best series I've ever seen.

[–] quasipox 17 years ago

What is was, and I remeber clearly, it was snuggly fit into the Friday lineup, and when it waned somewhat in the ratings (which frankly mean nothing to me as they don't accurately reflect viewership), it was moved into a very competitive timeslot on Thursdays (I believe) and then it got kicked around so much I missed a couple of the last episodes. Stupid mistake by CBS, as you just don't put a rookie show up against a bigger show

[–] marvelcomics119 17 years ago

"- So they actually kill off their own to further their agenda.

- We do it all the time. Ever heard of a little place called Iraq? "

That was episode 11??

I just watched 7 epidsodes on Sci-Fi and I don't think I missed any.

[–] x1nd0lent 17 years ago

You seem to be implying that it is anti-war to suggest that there was experimentation in Iraq. It might just be a fact. The Pentagon has a long history of experimenting on their soldiers... does this mean that they are anti-war also? I seriously doubt it.

Do you think that anybody needs a *reason* to kill television series? MOST shows don't make it past the first series. Networks have their own weird criteria of how much a show costs, versus how successful they imagine it can become. This is mostly marketing BS so it often comes down to lowest common denominator. This is lame for sci-fi fans, as usually only a fraction of the viewing public will be interested. Compare to romantic comedy, or people getting embarrassed at work - they figure 99% of people can relate to. We are lucky that the past few years have brought us so many sci-fi shows, but it is hardly surprising that most get cancelled after the first few episodes.

[–] Johnny_Dinero 16 years ago

I think sci-fi fans bring it out on themselves to why shows get cancelled. Instead of watching it when the show airs on television, most of the fans just go ahead and download the show. Even though networks do monitor how many times there shows get downloaded, it doesn't affect their numbers since they get no money with the illegal downloads.

But other than that, this was a great show. I don't think it would make any sense to come back, since it did have closure in the final episode, the line with the kid was added because the writer knew it was canceled and felt he owed it to us fans to seal the deal. That was a nice thing to do. But maybe it would have been more fun to leave it all up in the air. But we know that there was suppose to be three seasons, Threshold, Foothold and Stranglehold. In the end, humans win.

[–] seanet1310 16 years ago

I agree a very large % download then compain when it is axed i personaly never download anything unless there is 0 chance of it being shown where i am and there will not be any dvds anywhere in the world. i wish people would jsut start watching the dam shows insted of downloading especaly from the countrys that get the show relatively quickly (doest help that the few scifi shows aus shows can be a year + behind america and the fact they are so slow the dvd's are often out before the show is shown rateings then suffer so it gets an even worce time slot or none at all idiot tv programmers)

[–] x1nd0lent 16 years ago

I think sci-fi fans bring it out on themselves to why shows get cancelled. Instead of watching it when the show airs on television, most of the fans just go ahead and download the show.

There is a lot of truth to this. But the fact of it is that broadcast television is a dinosaur, and distributed file sharing is contemporary. The only reason it is so difficult and time consuming for big media companies to adapt is because... they aren't needed anymore.

I don't even have a television! When I had cable where I lived a year ago, less than 1% of what was on interested me. If there are no shows I want to watch, then I don't see any ads for other shows, then I don't know what they offer. Also my work schedule is crazy, so I'd need a hard-disk recorder to even watch anything. This means I watch an MPEG2 or Divx file off a hard drive - so what's the difference?

Most of the shows I watch either I heard about after they were long gone (as was the case for Threshold), or else they are shows from other countries. Want some examples of my favorite shows and how this works? ReGenesis came out in Canada a few years ago, and to my knowledge has never been shown on television or released on DVD here. SciFi Channel put out the DVDs in the UK, but here they refuse to even show it. Charlie Jade is another of my very faves, same deal. When Doctor Who came out in 2001 I was downloading it to watch, and they only started showing it stateside almost two years later. BBC America shows Torchwood, but they censor it. Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex I was watching rips of almost *five years* before they started showing in the US, and I didn't like it dubbed in English, I prefer to see things in their original language. Monkey Dust was out in the UK years ago, never shown here. Etc, Etc. For me it is unusual that it is even *possible* for me to watch a show without downloading it.

The industry doesn't cater to me, so I can't buy into it. If there was a way to directly kick a little cash to those who create these shows I love, I would. When I was a kid I was even in a Nielsen household for a while, and my favorite shows still got cancelled, just like they often do now. It's just statistical marketing and I like fringe stuff. It is better for people to get more creative with smaller budgets and put stuff out via the net themselves. Screw Paramount, Warner Brothers, Viacom, etc... the next Godard is probably out there on the net somewhere.

[–] isis-36 16 years ago

I don't call the kid in the final episode "closure". There are still a LOT of unanswered questions.

1) Why was the kid there? If the humans won, why was the boy brought to Threshold?

2) What happened with the baby?

3) What happened to the ones who heard the signal and had increased theta waves or whatever they are called? How did it continue to change them?

4) What about the captain from the ship and the aliens' agenda? There was too much to play out...too much to learn.

5) What about the guy in charge that kept giving Threshold a fit? He took the position JT was supposed to get.

6) The biggest question to me (next to Q1) is what happened to Cavannaugh's brother they left behind??

[–] Johnny_Dinero 16 years ago

The kid is the baby. It was a flash forward type deal, to show that her plan eventually worked. But not the Threshold hold. The second season was suppose to be called Foothold, and more and more aliens showed up, and the third and final season was suppose to be called, Stranglehold, where Earth's population was over run by the aliens and the few humans left ad to wipe them out.