Another Take
I have moved through Mirror Image. When it first showed, I would have agreed that the ending was one of the worst. It was totally unfair that after 5 years of leaping around with his only stated desire to "go home" that Sam would NEVER return home. That was just cruel and unnessasary. I absolutely turned away from the series at that point and it actually became for me a show that I'd watched and enjoyed at one time, but was too angry to consider a future for.
Last year, events conspired (and enough time had passed) that I was curious again and started searching around on the internet about QL. That ultimately lead me here and I've spent the last year falling back in love with QL and the entire concepts and ideas. Thank GFTW for fanfiction (especially TVS).
So, I now have a totally different view of the last episode. It was DEEP, deeper than many in TV world want to look at. To Chris's point, much of science actually points to and implies the deeper meanings of life and the universe that we tend to put into studies such as philosophy or religion. I sort of like the line from Hamlet "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy." In Shakespeare's time, the study of philosophy included the study of what we term science so this quote covers both concepts. Thus looking at MI from this standpoint, it was a fascinating episode. From a scientific standpoint, I don't have a problem with the MI now. Indeed, after reading more about the quantum world, MI actually has more on the ball then it doesn't. And not having concepts thought out? Well, if they weren't, then it must be a coincidence that so much can be pulled out of the show...the concepts in that last show were as I stated before DEEP.
(Of course, Douglas Adams once said that the choice of the number 42 for the answer to everything is just that he was looking for a "funny number." If you do a search on the number 42...it's amazing how many fundamental things that it DOES answer. So was Adams just tuned into the collective unconscious and that's why 42 was used? Maybe Bellasario was tuned into the same collective unconscious when he wrote MI.)
I think, though, that Bellasario made a major mistake if he was to bring the show back to life in some form or fashion. He put a "FINAL STAMP" (and that's how it was read) on the story..."Dr. Sam Beckett NEVER returned home." One, it got many loyal fans absolutely angry about the whole franchise. I KNOW I'm not the only one that had the reaction I did as I have talked with people that also had that reaction. Thus, in many ways, Bellasario divided the fanbase (those that continued to follow whatever was still out there such as conventions, fanzines and fanfiction, books, or anything else and those that the final episode had so hurt that they turned away.)
Now, if Bellasario had simply indicated in the final screen "Dr. Sam Beckett has not returned home...yet," a whole different mindset would have played out. That is, those fans that got upset and turned away would have been ready to do whatever it took to get Sam home. Then there would have been a stronger momentum to either have the show return or movies to be made. You still would have had Sam continuing to leap out in the world and it certainly wouldn't have been the "tie up all the strings" happy ending. But as has been said (and shown throughout the ages) "United we stand, divided we fall." Bellasario's final screen was divisive.
Thus, 13 years out, we're still hearing the rumors of a TV movie or perhaps a new TV show. Look again at how many of the people who were turned off to the ending are coming back and how many new fans have joined. Could that be why these rumors are gaining momentum? Could it be that a united group of people can bring a show back to life?
Star Trek: TOS was seen on TV from 1966-1969. Discounting the cartoon (not because it wasn't good, but because it wasn't live action), the next show was in 1979 (ST: The Motion Picture)...10 years. Then the whole set of successful movies, starting with ST: The Wrath of Khan in 1982...13 years out. Then for the show to return to TV, ST: TNG in 1987, 18 years out.
Now...the world of TV and Movies has certainly changed over the years. What was true back in the 80's is no longer true in this new millenium. However, I believe that we will most likely see a return of some form of QL in the future (hopefully within a few years). Should it have returned sooner, well...YEAH. But I do believe that the division that the final show caused was at least a part of that equation, part of the reason it didn't return sooner. After all, the world of TV and Movies is ultimately based on green stuff (you know...those little slips of paper that you can take into a store and trade for things). If the powers that be don't see the potential for a LOT of green stuff, they won't put any effort into bringing the fans vision to fruition.
So...bad ending or good ending. All else being considered, it was only the final screen "Dr. Sam Beckett Never returned home" that caused this ending to be one of the worst. But then...hindsight is 20/20.