My tragic tale I won't prolong
And if you did not enjoy my song
You've yourselves to blame if it's too long
You should never have let me begin!
And if you did not enjoy my song
You've yourselves to blame if it's too long
You should never have let me begin!
— Tom Lehrer, "The Irish Ballad", Songs by Tom Lehrer
Don't worry, I saw Lord of the Rings. I'm not going to end this 17 times.
— Harry, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
This is how it's gonna be, Sid? The ending of the movie was supposed to be at the house; I mean this is just silly.
— Ghostface, Scream 4
Oh, come on! Now what? Can't we ever just win and have that be the end of it?
— Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Forces
EENNND! EEEEEEENNNND!!!
Believe it or not,
This movie's still on,
It should have ended two hours ago!
This movie's still on,
It should have ended two hours ago!
— Crow T. Robot, The Pumaman, Mystery Science Theater 3000
Tom Servo: "Oh, I don't think this is headed toward a happy ending."
Mike Nelson: "Y'know, at this point any ending would make me happier than I've ever been."
Mike Nelson: "Y'know, at this point any ending would make me happier than I've ever been."
— Mystery Science Theater 3000, on the movie Clonus
Well, I managed to get through the story of Red Dead Redemption 2, and I have to say, I'm quite shook; possibly the emotional impact, more likely from delirium tremens. Didn't have a single moment to myself; Saturday afternoon, I was like, "Oh boy! I finally reached the epilogue! Maybe I'll actually have Sunday free to relax on!" Eight hours of additional story later, "Fuck me, my definitions are out of date! I had no idea that 'epilogue' now means 'entire second game'!"
—Yahtzee Croshaw in his review of Red Dead Redemption II
, Zero Punctuation
, Zero PunctuationOne of the hardest things to do with a popular series is to give it the conclusion it deserves. Some of the greatest entertainment phenomenons of our time, be it The Sopranos, Lost or Hi Honey, I'm Home! have failed to give fans the closure that they, as uninvolved spectators watching at home for free, feel they are entitled to. The Lord of The Rings series, on the other hand has mastered the art of delivering a satisfying conclusion. And The Return of The King does it so well, in fact, that it decides to end seven or eight times.
Somewhere, around the hour-and-a-half mark, The Lone Ranger makes the fateful decision not to end. Worse, the movie keeps not-ending for another full hour.
—Christopher Orr in his review of The Lone Ranger
OH MY GOD YOU WHORES!
—CinemaSins on their review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
"THERES STILL A MINUTE AND A HALF LEFT I DONT"
— Anonymous on the ending credits of Tokyo Crystal Mew Episode 1
The movie was seemingly over. I can’t really explain a whole lot without spoilers, but what was happening to the characters, what they were saying, the fact that there was, I don’t know, a major plot point resolved, all pointed to the credits rolling any second. But no, I had to sit through more.
"There's a fine line between entertainment and a hostage situation"
— Ross Noble, Things.
"AUDIENCE: Wait, what's going on? The movie ended when they found the missing girl. Why aren't credits rolling? Was I supposed to be caring about Cräig's career the whole time? [...] No. The movie is over. Stop ending. Stop it, Fincher."
"There are four dreaded words that should never, ever, come out of my mouth when I'm playing something; and that's: "When does this end?". When I get to that point, everything beyond that is just a slog to get to the credits and then to never play that game again.
—Some Call Me Johnny. "X-Men Legends"
THIS MOVIE NEVER ENDS! Oh, it ended. Splendid!
HOLY S*IT! IT DIDN'T END! There's EVEN MORE MOVIE!
—CinemaSins on their review of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
End! End!! JUST BE OVER!!!
If I had to use a word to describe the ending, it would be "patronising". The game knows that if you've gotten this far, you're so desperate for closure that any ending short of a rickroll would have been acceptable, where being subjected to twenty hours of barely-connected events and plotlines that don't go anywhere would have made even the most patient man go "FUCKING END, ALREADY", and I should know, because I was that patient man and that patient man said that every five minutes.
—Froghand, from the Bioshock Infinite Review.
. Anyway, that person comes in and beats the big dragon... but it turns out that the show still has 5-6 episodes to go, which are like... imagine after killing the final boss in a video game, you reload to finish the remaining side quests.
Knock it off, you're making the movie too long!
—Burgerbeard, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Craven Moorhaus: And that's the end of Round Three! This fight just refuses to end!
Zak Koonce: If this fight is half as exhausting for the fighters as it is for us watching it, they must be hovering on the edge of oblivion right now.
Zak Koonce: If this fight is half as exhausting for the fighters as it is for us watching it, they must be hovering on the edge of oblivion right now.
Mae: I'm fairly sure this is the last cutscene. It's got credits running over the top of it, so it's gotta be the last one. ... Nope, more cutscenes.
Liz: I'm headed to bed. Come join me when you've saved the realm.
Mae: I saved it 45 minutes ago. They just won't shut up about it.
Liz: I'm headed to bed. Come join me when you've saved the realm.
Mae: I saved it 45 minutes ago. They just won't shut up about it.
Is it done now? Do you have any other short films you want to tack on to the end of this thing?
— The Producer on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Screen Rant Pitch Meetings
"If I really want to convey how hard this is to listen to, I just play the song in all its nine-and-a-half-minute tedium. It just keeps going... and going... and it just keeps getting bigger... and bigger... It's like climbing a Mount Everest-sized mountain of cocaine. It's a death march of peace and love."
