It used to be the case that a successful movie would earn a sequel, and really good/lucrative ones could go five or six. These days, a film’s sequel arc is planned before it even hits theatres, with a built-in “To Be Continued” as a selling point. Some, like the legendary down ending of ‘The Empire Strikes Back”, are amazing; others, like the egg at the end of the 1998 ‘Godzilla’ feel like a threat, leading to today’s Son Of The Bride of Query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) think that ‘Flash Gordon’ giving us “The End… Or Is It???” should probably count, asking: What’s the most infuriating ‘To Be Continued’ moment in the history of pop culture?
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I’m still waiting for a second ‘Last Airbender’ movie, and the finale to the Divergent series. But the “To Be Continued” that rankles the most is the one at the end of the Matt Smith Dr. Who episode “The Name of the Doctor” that read that it was to be continued on the date of the 50th Anniversary special… which continued it not at all. The former left the heroes in a place of peril that was never resolved because the latter couldn’t be bothered to address the situation.
There was a series called “The Glades” 2010-2013 on A&E I believe that ended the 4th Season on a cliffhanger of the main character getting shot…… and that was it. They cancelled the show without finishing the story. We never found out if he lived or not, or who shot him…. nothing. very frustrating. It also reinforced the fact that the networks really didn’t care about anything but making money.