Occasionally, a cartoon will air that grows in quality with every episode, enshrining its place in audiences' hearts and earning a spotin the cartoon hall of fame. However, as fantastic as the show in question might be, the real prize is in the ending. A good ending gives the audience a feeling of satisfaction, with the major plot points coming to fruition.
Yet, as can happen to even the best of shows, sometimes the ending doesn't stand up to the hype that viewers have spent years imagining. This usually happens when a show is canceled and the writers have to rush an ending that hasn't been properly planned out or that they don't have enough airtime to fully explore.
9 Samurai Jack
When Samurai Jack aired in 2001, it was a promising show. It was quite different from the shows it played alongside on Cartoon Network, such as the Codename: Kids Next Door and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Samurai Jack had a rugged art style, unique story, and more mature themes which the fans lapped up. However, it was the mature themes that ultimately got the show canceled in its fourth season.
Fans didn't get a proper ending until Adult Swim bought the production rights and continued the show in 2017. With only one season planned, there were 10 episodes to give it the ending it deserved. While the ending wasn't so extremely rushed, it did come with some plot holes that the writers either ignored or failed to address. The biggest was that Ashi should have ceased to exist after Aku's destruction, not later just for dramatic effect.
8 Wizards: Tales Of Arcadia Had Big Shoes To Fill
In the Tales of Arcadia, three separate shows weave into one storyline in a way that only the great Guillermo del Toro could manage. However, with the attention split between the three shows, one was bound to get less attention from its creators. Unfortunately, Wizards only got one season to tell the final stories of Tales of Arcadia, despite its predecessors having more screen time. Wizards rushes to tie up all the loose ends that the other two shows left, filling in gaps about time travel, villain backstories, and the origins of the great wizard Merlin and his apprentice Douxie. With so much to tell and so little time to tell it, almost everything about this series felt rushed.
7 Centaurworld Had A Tone Problem And Didn't Quite Stick The Landing
As a show that was half puns and half rip-out-your-heart storytelling, Centaurworld had a very fine line to walk on. Season one maintained the perfect balance of jokes and story, leaving fans eager for more. Alas, when season two aired, the show seemed to lose the balance that it had previously, tipping precariously between too many puns or too much heavy storytelling at any given time. The final straw was during the very last episode, an hour-long special that revealed the history of the Nowhere King and detailed the origins of the war. In that hour, Centaurworld rushed to tell everything that it hadn't managed to in earlier episodes, info-dumping on the viewer. Many fans of the show agree that this would have been better explored in a final third season rather than the hour-long special.
6 Storm Hawks Left Fans Wondering What Happened Next
Storm Hawks aired in 2007, with multiple seasons planned for the coming years. However, the show was canceled during its third season. With little time left to come up with a proper ending, the writers used the last two episodes to depict the very last battle between the Storm Hawks and their nemeses, the Cyclonians. Though the writers did their best in coming up with a reasonable ending that would allow the audience to use their imagination to continue the story, it led to more questions than answers. To this day, Storm Hawk fans are left wondering what happened to Master Cyclonus and whether the Storm Hawks ever did return from the Far Side of Atmos.
5 Star V. The Forces Of Evil Tried To Cram It All In At The Last Minute
Between entering the magic dimension to destroy all magic, rescuing Tom, Mina's attack on the past queens of Munie, the separation of Star and Marco, and ultimately two worlds becoming one, the final episode of Star vs. The Forces Of Evil had a lot to cram in. For the most part, the finale had surprisingly decent pacing. But in the last five minutes, it became clear that the writers were trying to tie up any loose ends that hadn't yet been addressed. While the show itself was enjoyable, after four seasons many viewers were left hoping for just one more episode that would have detailed a little bit about what happened after Munie and Earth merged into one dimension.
4 Gargoyles Left Its Ending Open For More Stories
Gargoyles was a hit upon its release in 1994, centering around a misfit group of heroes out of place and out of time thanks to the effects of a magical curse that turned them to stone for 1000 years. This show was not afraid to tackle big issues such as gun-related accidents, street violence, and racism. Despite being a show for children, Gargoyles never once sacrificed integrity or talked down to its audience, which is why the ending came as such a surprise.
Having been canceled, Gargoyles was given one final season of 13 episodes known as The Goliath Chronicles to wrap up the story. While well-paced and somewhat satisfactory, the final episode never truly felt like an ending at all. It felt more like the ending to a story-arc instead, letting the viewers know that the Quarrymen had been dealt with, but that the Gargoyles would continue protecting humanity. Except now they wouldn't have to do so from the shadows, as their existence was revealed to humanity.
3 Wander Over Yonder Got The Bad Ending Instead Of The Good
Wander Over Yonder was never a show meant for huge plotlines and was more a collection of wacky adventures about Yonder and his steed Sylvia but it still had a few stories that carried over between seasons. Initially, the plan for the show was to have three seasons. In the final season, Wander would pass on his values of love and friendship to the main antagonist, Lord Dominator. However, before Lord Dominator could undergo any kind of redemption arc, the show was canceled, leaving the final episode to have all of the main characters hastily team up to defeat her instead. It was hardly the ending the writers wanted, but apparently beating the bad guys instead of redeeming them will have to do.
2 Teen Titans Seems To Have Been Fishing For Renwal
Yet another show to suffer early cancellation, Teen Titans is one of the most protested shows to date, with fans still begging for the final sixth season to be produced. After two big team-up episodes, the Trouble in Tokyo movie, and the very last episode, "Things Change," it would seem that the Teen Titans had plenty of time to come up with a reasonable ending. However, it appears that the writers may have been hoping that the cancellation would be revoked, as the final episode revolves around Terra, who upon being revived loses all memories of her previous life. This episode didn't conclude much for the show and instead left the audience with lots of questions that will apparently never be answered.
1 Transformers Animated Had Its Real Final Season Taken Away
Cinematically, the two-part finale to Transformers Animated "Endgame" did everything that it was supposed to do as an ending goes. The Autobots protected Earth and its people, they went into battle against the Decepticons, rescued Arcee, and finally were able to capture Megatron and take him back to their home planet Cybertron. By all accounts, this show did everything right, and yet the ending never felt complete, and that's because it wasn't.
Yet another canceled show, TFA was supposed to have one final season, starting with the trial of Megatron. Other plot points would have centered around the revival of Prowl and Blurr, Sari's life on Cybertron, and a look into the political system of Cybertron.