Cut Down in Their Prime and Gone Too Soon: Series That Were Axed Before Their Time?

[paranoid marvin]

I couldn't go back and watch a box set of a show that didn't have (some kind of) an ending.

Blakes 7 ran it's course. It got 4 series and 5 episodes, so much longer than many story-based shows, and it not only got an ending but the right ending; the only one they ever really could have had.

As for shows cut before their time - Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes. And I wish the 1970s The Survivors had had at least one more season; great show, that.

 

[Joshua Jones]

Definitely Farscape. Still my all-time favorite series and regularly re-watched by me. It did eventually get closure, but I had much preferred an entire season (with good-old-days 22 episodes per season) as decent closure, if it had to close at all.
I have mixed feelings about Stargate Universe. IMHO a series totally screwed up. And, after the axing, a never fulfilled promise.
Firefly. Cut in its infancy, after being mutilated first.

Yeah, I'm split on Stargate Universe too. I thought the opening of the series was brilliant in its depiction of desperation and character dynamics. However, as the conflicts became less intrinsic (as in, trying not to asphyxiate or starve on this ancient ship) and more extrinsic (alien attacks), my interest waned. I think the last episode I made it through was when Chloe started becoming an alien and was scrawling maths on the walls... apparently alien DNA is MARY-SUE (they have different letters than we do apparently ).

 

[Elckerlyc]

Yeah, I'm split on Stargate Universe too. I thought the opening of the series was brilliant in its depiction of desperation and character dynamics. However, as the conflicts became less intrinsic (as in, trying not to asphyxiate or starve on this ancient ship) and more extrinsic (alien attacks), my interest waned. I think the last episode I made it through was when Chloe started becoming an alien and was scrawling maths on the walls... apparently alien DNA is MARY-SUE (they have different letters than we do apparently ).

Agreed.
But what most annoyed was that the writers came up with a plot that IMHO seemed totally at oods with the situation they had set up in the first episode.
Here we have an ancient, huge spaceship of the Ancients in an universe far, far away. And we have an intriguing mix of characters who, thanks to a planet-worth amount of energy that's unlikely to be accumulated again any time soon, travel through the Stargate and get stranded on that above mentioned alien (as in unfamiliar) spaceship. SYS, Save Your Selves.
Good. Excellent. So much to explore!
And then it all comes tumbling down. Apparently the writers couldn't face this daunting new challenge and came up with some magical (yes, magic, not hard SF) stones that someone thought to bring with him by which people could swap awareness with people back home on Earth. I kid you not. Next, old issues stick their head back up. Some episodes were mainly set on Earth. It hurt watching.
They could and should have done way, way more with the spaceship itself. The challenges that they would have to face regarding the ship and their surroundings ought to have offered enough occasions for writing human conflict into the script. And not mainly about (Earth-based) power struggles as was the case now.

 

[Vladd67]

In their defence those stones were first used in SG1 during the struggle with the Ori so you can’t blame SG Universe’s writers with creating them.

 

[Trollheart]

And now we must add to the sad pile Vagrant Queen. That show had such potential. Sigh.

 

[Glaysher]

In their defence those stones were first used in SG1 during the struggle with the Ori so you can’t blame SG Universe’s writers with creating them.

I thought the episode where it turns out that Jack has been sharing memories with a barber for years because they were both in proximity to stones was brilliant.

 

[Elckerlyc]

In their defence those stones were first used in SG1 during the struggle with the Ori so you can’t blame SG Universe’s writers with creating them.

I stand corrected.
But I do blame them for unnecessarily using them for SG Universe. Why else create a plot that is situated millions of light-years away than to be totally disconnected from the world they left behind?

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

Deadly Games
Dark Angel
Threshold
Alphas
Star Trek: Enterprise - Yes, I know, they made a huge amount of mistakes early on, but it was just starting to get pretty good when it got pulled and the ending was just awful! They should at least have given it a good ending.
Reboot: Guardian Code - I thought they'd done a decent job on this one, but it looks like Netflix has canceled it . Isn't that always the way it is? The shows you like get canceled too soon, and the ones you don't seem to never end.

 

[tonymuhs]

Firefly which was horrifically abused by an executive who was able to ensure that the series never even completed its first season. They showed its initial episodes out of order, at different times and at time slots which often competed with major other shows/programs (eg sports). Basically did everything to ensure that it would never live.

That it went on to fan-fund a full film shows how much energy and enthusiasm there was for it. Sadly with many years past and with many of the cast having moved on in life (and sadly the actor who played Shepherd Book has now passed on); its now an impossible dream.

I love Firefly so much.

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

As for the unworthy...
Warehouse 13: I just thought this was a miserable pastiche of ideas and I hated it. I think it's on season four now?

I liked the show when it started, but they lost me early in season 4. Must have lost a lot of others too as it ended in season 5 and that was only a half season long.

 

[Matteo]

Most of the shows @Laura R Hepworth mentions I've never heard of but would definitely agree with Dark Skies - a clever premise that deserved to run for much longer. Millennium was a very dark and depressing show, but it was good because of that and should have been allowed to finish. Dark Angel I only dipped into now and again and in fact missed the fact that it was cancelled. Agree Space: Above and Beyond was a shame, but, like other posters, think Blake's 7 was right to end when, and how, it did.

Firefly passed me by - only saw it about a year ago - but the fact that there were not more episodes is a real shame.

 

[Droflet]

Stargate Atlantis, cancelled at its peak to fit in the vastly inferior Stargate Universe. Why?

 

[Lumens]

Utopia. Cancelled after two seasons, but they could pick it up again after any amount of years if they wanted.

Utopia (British TV series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Amazing series, although brutal and violent in places. The music was amazing, as was the plot and the characters. It also happens to deal with important and controversial issues, especially for this year. One of the best series there is, in my opinion.

 

[Vladd67]

Threshold and Prey were two series that deserved longer.

 

[AE35Unit]

Zoo was kind of OK. It got silly but had its moments. Was a bit annoyed when it just ended half way through a series.

A very good show that we both enjoyed was Helix. Two seasons only. The first was set in a Antarctic research centre and was about a weird virus outbreak. The second series had a rural setting and was based around poisonous honey. Sadly no more shows after 2015 I think. It had great potential.

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

I've been enjoying Space Precinct on Tubi. Haven't finished it yet, but I'm already disappointed that it only had one season .

 

[AE35Unit]

Utopia. Cancelled after two seasons, but they could pick it up again after any amount of years if they wanted.

Utopia (British TV series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Amazing series, although brutal and violent in places. The music was amazing, as was the plot and the characters. It also happens to deal with important and controversial issues, especially for this year. One of the best series there is, in my opinion.

I'm not familiar with this series but according to the link its coming back

"Amazon has since gained the rights to the series as of April 2018, and an American version of the show was in production throughout 2019, and is set to be released in the autumn of 2020."

 

[CupofJoe]

I tend to think that shows get dragged on for a season or two too long but I think there were more tales to tell in the Buffyverse. Maybe not Buffy or Angel directly [the ending of Angel was awesome!!!] but there were hints of a Watcher's Tales or The Tales of Ripper.
Aside from that... Firefly [of course]. But I loved that it burned so bright that we still remember it's light.
then there is Space: Above and Beyond. It was never given a budget that it needed but they made those limitations work for them. It was almost like watching Classic Dr Who but in space with aliens!
I have a sneaking liking for Surface. I think it was more of a mini series but the end of it set up a season 2 perfectly and that never appeared.

 

[JimC]

TSCC
Firefly
Dark Angel