Do you like Sci-Fi series that ends with religious stuff ?

[PowerGod]

First of all, this POLL is intended for TV (or streaming) series, so not movies/books.

The main point is that happened to me to follow some Sci-Fi series for many seasons, that were building expectations for answers, possibly scientific (as far as a fiction can do), but in the end all of those were just "that random god made all this because he can"... and I felt like I just lost my time watching the entire serie...

Examples of a plain scientific Sci-Fi without gods are the Dune series, because while the "religion" is involved, it is demystified and explained as a scientific result.

So, please, using SPOILERS, list the series you know that ended with gods/divinities/miracles or just science (even of fantasy), so the interested people can evade or watch them.

I remember 3 of them, and the last was a very recent let down.

Spoiler: Ended with gods/divinities

• Battlestar Galactica (1978), but the story was unfinished so the introduction of some kind of gods was never explained as well...
• Lost
• The 100

 

[Djoga'Ro]

I can't even recall one. I vaguelly remember watching one some shows, that seemed promissing and then turned that way, but did so within the first season. I couldn't say which, though.
Funny thing, the three you name didn't pique my interest at all or couldn't keep it up. So I never knew, they're of that ilk.

 

[levi]

I switched between No and Only if Love Wins, and obviously set on Only if Love Wins in the end.

 

[ElPoco]

The main point is that happened to me to follow some Sci-Fi series for many seasons, that were building expectations for answers, possibly scientific (as far as a fiction can do), but in the end all of those were just "that random god made all this because he can"... and I felt like I just lost my time watching the entire serie...

To me the problem is not the religious aspect, but the use of a "deus ex machina" as a conclusion to a mystery.
It's like a murder mystery where you eventually discover that none of the clues and investigations were relevant because magic was involved. This is defeating the point of the murder mystery.

 

[PowerGod]

To me the problem is not the religious aspect, but the use of a "deus ex machina" as a conclusion to a mystery.

Yeah, I meant that, but after creating the poll I found out I wasn't able to correct the title... so I just described it better in the OP

 

[ClockworkCoder]

To me it depends on the story, although I hate stories written with an agenda of being vehicles to promote religion (like Narnia is to Christianism), however, if it feels natural and in-keeping with the universe of the story being portrayed (I personally really enjoyed reading Dune), then I don't mind/care.

Agree though, if it's a trite "it was all magic", then that sucks. It's akin to, for example, at the end the story "it was all a dream". To me it's indicative of poor writing.

Reminded of the Butterfly Effect. The directors cut had a great ending (not a happy one), but the "Hollywood" ending was cheesy and extremely annoying.

 

[Bosbeetle]

To me the problem is not the religious aspect, but the use of a "deus ex machina" as a conclusion to a mystery.
It's like a murder mystery where you eventually discover that none of the clues and investigations were relevant because magic was involved. This is defeating the point of the murder mystery.

Yup a to often used mechanic to fill plot holes and/or endings.

 

[PowerGod]

Reminded of the Butterfly Effect. The directors cut had a great ending (not a happy one), but the "Hollywood" ending was cheesy and extremely annoying.

there's an alternate ending ?! *runs to google*

The Butterfly Effect is a cool movie, but at some point it loses all the logic it started with and feels like crap...

Spoiler: The crap point of The Butterfly Effect

The "Jesus Christ" thing in the prison ha no sense at all... he returns to his youth to destroy his hands and his story doesn't changes at all ?!
The holes in his hands just "magically" appears at the right time so everyone in the prison could see them, without having any effect on his youth ?!
At least, if the change of the story was minimal, he could have still gone to prison, but already with wounds healed years before in the hands...
For the entire movie is explained that if you change just a little bit, everything changes and the story is totally rewritten, so that point is totally out of context for me...

 

[levi]

Yup a to often used mechanic to fill plot holes and/or endings.

Any fun examples? What I've become more adept in more recently is spotting the macguffin involved in various stories. Thankfully it doesn't spoil the story for me unless the macguffin does something potentially magical. The only example I can think of where that is the case is a lot of the episodes of Doctor Who though.

 

[PowerGod]

I only saw 1 episode of Doctor Who, from a random 2000 season, and seemed to me it is not something to be taken too seriously, the purpose was to be just hilarious.
I don't know if there's a "serious" long plot.
One day I will finally watch that serie, but I'll need to start from the beginning of the first one... I know... I know...

 

[levi]

No there's no long plot. There's a kind of backstory, concerning the gallifreyans, but that gets rewritten every so often, so it probably helps if you forget everything that's gone before. These days the series themselves often have a story arc, but the payoff for those is often disappointing.

 

[rygD]

Screw your rules, and your poll, which excludes me.

Book of Eli. I loved it.

 

[Djoga'Ro]

Book of Eli. I loved it.

I remember not liking that one.

 

[PowerGod]

Then I'll have to watch it myself to give the undeniable final judgement

 

[ible]

i just thought the Book of Eli was weird. i'm reading the Three Body Problem (not a TV series, i know). it has religious elements to it, which i'm glad the book touches on, because it would be hard not to have a spiritual response to the realization that we're not alone in the universe. it's not done in the same way i would go about it, but it's not a terrible treatment.

 

[FBnil]

I remember not liking that one.

You probably bought the braille one, you need to buy the one with letters, it's less rough on the reading finger.

 

[FBnil]

I got one that starts with a non-religious rant: Ready Player One (the book, not the movie). So, yeah, that was a weird moment. I mean, it does not add to the story at all. Just an atheist manifesto from the author at the beginning... but then has the hero (or saviour of the virtual world) resurrected (through a 1up coin). There's an audiobook on youtube if you want to listen to it.

Here's more reading material, it makes good points:

Religion in Sci-Fi

Since its inception as a literary genre, religion has played an important role in science fiction. Whether it took the form of informing the author’s own beliefs, or was delivered as part of …

storiesbywilliams.com

How Science Fiction Found Religion

Because of global politics & cultural moment, some of this generation’s most successful sci-fi & fantasy movie franchises follow a Christian plotline.

www.city-journal.org

List of religious ideas in science fiction - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In the last link I found some gems I read when I was little and might want to re-read them now that I'm older and can understand the finesses better.

I also loved the time-traveling "Das Jesus Video". It has enough believable moments that you forget the "fiction" part, like good sciencefiction does.

 

[ClockworkCoder]

It's a long time since I've read it, but I do remember enjoying the short stories in "Stories of Your Live and Others" by Ted Chiang.

 

[PowerGod]

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Given the name I was expecting many references to god's stuff, but I really wasn't prepared to an ending (that was also completely redone in a movie made after the serie) like that... it completely destroyed all the story so far and made this one of the worst series I ever seen.
The ending was so boring that I was constantly looking at the remaining time, and was so messy that made a nonsense about all the previous happenings... I still am unsure about what I have seen... a big big let down.

 

[levi]

Evangelion

Any relation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, or is it just my brain connecting random bits?