Series That Ended Too Soon

About a month and a half ago my post, "Series That Need to Die" talked about one movie, video game, and TV series that have dragged on for far too long.  I try to avoid being overly pessimistic, so here are series that ended too soon.

Master and Commander: Far Side of the World

I love a good bromance

Master and Commander is a 2003 film starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, the captain of a British ship during the Napoleonic Wars.  Aubrey’s, HMS Surprise is searching the South Atlantic for a French warship notable because it doesn't immediately surrender.  The premise sounds a bit dull, but I thought every aspect of Master and Commander worked.  The battle scenes were spectacular, the game of cat-and-mouse between the two ships was intense, and the relationship between Captain Aubrey and Doctor Maturin, was interesting.  I don’t have an exact list, but Far Side of the World might crack my top-ten favorite movies.

Despite my love of the film and ten Academy Award Nominations, most people don’t remember Master and Commander.  There are a two main reasons for that.  Firstly, Master and Commander had the misfortune of receiving Academy Award nominations in the same year as Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which won a record-tying eleven Oscars. Secondly, the film is about a British ship during the Napoleonic Wars so women are on screen for a grand total of around 30 seconds (seriously).  The rest of the over two hour runtime is devoted to sweaty dudes who are missing more teeth than your average hockey player.  However,  Master and Commander overcame those hurdles and turned a small profit.

The film would have generated a strong sequel because it drew from only three books in the twenty book Aubrey-Maturin book series written by Patrick O'Brian, so a large amount of unused material still exists.  

I’m not optimistic about a sequel to Master and Commander but Russell Crowe's campaign for a sequel certainly doesn't hurt.

Chance of an eventual sequel: 40%

Pushing Daisies

This could be an advertisement for Skittles

Pushing Daisies is a former ABC TV series that ran for 22 episodes from late 2007 until June of 2009.  The show revolves around Ned who has the ability to bring dead things back to life with a simple touch.  However, if something is revived for more than a minute, something else nearby will die as a result.  To complicate matters further, if he ever touches something he has already revived it will die, permanently.  Eventually a private investigator named Emerson Cod discovers Ned’s abilities and the two begin working together to solve murders for money.  In Pushing Daisies’ pilot, Emerson and Ned try to solve the murder of Ned’s long lost childhood love, Charlotte, but after resurrecting her, Ned can’t bring himself to touch her again.

The uniqueness of Pushing Daisies was a breath of fresh air.  Unfortunately, “quirky” describes the show best and quirky doesn’t appeal to the lowest common denominator of viewers like American Idol or CSI. Ultimately, Pushing Daisies died in obscurity and I think television is worse for it. 

Family Guy is the only show I've ever heard of that managed to return from cancellation so Pushing Daisies chances are astronomically low.  Then again, nothing's impossible, right?

Chance of a series revival: .001%

If this blog generated any mail, I would surely receive a mountain of hateful emails about not choosing either Arrested Development or Firefly.  So let me just say that Fox is terrible for canceling one of the funniest shows in history and essentially Satan for also canceling an extremely promising sci-fi series after only fourteen episodes.  Everyone I know agrees with that and I don’t want to start ranting, so I will just leave it at that.

Chrono Trigger

A robot, a cavewoman, an anthropomorphic toad, and a ginger Goku all in one game?!

Originally released in 1995, Chrono Trigger is one of the most beloved RPG’s of all time.  The game follows a group of time-traveling heroes as they try and save the world from destruction.  Chrono Trigger is considered to be a revolutionary games because it included multiple different endings, top notch graphics, and interesting characters. 

In the sixteen years since its release, Square/Square Enix has made roughly twenty Final Fantasy games but only one "spiritual successor" to Chrono Trigger, 2000's Chrono Cross.  Square trademarked the name Chrono Break in the early 2000’s but then cancelled it in 2003.  Since then there has been no news of a series continuation but I wouldn’t completely rule it out.  Both Chrono games have retained an impressive level of popularity, especially Trigger.  Also, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy juggernaut has faltered badly over the past few years.  If the Final Fantasy series can’t regain momentum, I could see a potential revival of the Chrono series

Chance of an eventual sequel: 50%