Notable animated series finales (2000s)

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This is a list of notable animated television programs from the 2000s with series finales.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] 2000

  • Superman: The Animated Series - Legacy - Superman, brainwashed by Darkseid (thereby flying under the radar of New Genesis), attacks Earth. There, after causing considerable damage, he manages to break free of Darkseid's control just as Lex Luthor and General Hardcastle take the opportunity to incapacitate both him and Supergirl with a Kryptonite missile. They are captured and taken to a military complex, but escape to STAR Labs with Lois Lane's help, although Supergirl is badly injured in the process. Determined to end Darkseid's reign of terror, Superman takes a Mother Box and goes to Apokolips, where he systematically disposes of Darkseid's minions. Finally, he defeats Darkseid himself in combat, leaving his fate to his people - who, to his surprise, choose to keep him as their master, too conditioned to do otherwise. A recovering Supergirl brings him back to Earth, where much of the populace now fears him after his rampage as Darkseid's pawn. The series closes with him kissing Lois, vowing to win back the planet's trust.
  • Beast Wars: Beast Machines - End Game - Megatron transfers his spark into a specially constructed body modeled on Optimus' "Optimal Optimus" form. Megatron then absorbs the sparks of every living transformer into himself, turning himself into a massive god-like being. Only Optimus is left to oppose him, and the two of them engage in a final battle across the face of Cybertron. Realizing that he cannot outfight Megatron, Optimus instead hurls himself and Megatron into the planet's core. The two of them are absorbed into Cybertron, which re-formats the planet into a techno-organic paradise, and releases all the sparks trapped by Megatron, who are all reincarnated on the surface as techno-organic beings. Thus far, this is the finale of the original Transformers timeline.
  • Histeria! - Big Fat Baby Theatre - This episode ended with a "Farewell from Histeria!" closing.

[edit] 2001

  • Men in Black: The Series - The Endgame Syndrome - After Agents J and K prevent Vangus from invading the UN building, Alpha forms an alliance with Vangus and his Ixions so they can invade Earth, beginning with the destruction of UN building. The MIB have no choice but to reveal themselves to the world by showing their weapons to air force. Alpha and Vangus finally destroy the MIB headquarters, unaware that the agents escaped through a tunnel to the baseball stadium. The Alpha-Vangus alliance breaks up when Vangus decides to destroy earth with a missile rather than conquer it - but thanks to the combined technology of MIB, the alien governors and the earth (especially the hidden cannon mentioned by the president), the invasion is stopped. J and K reach Vangus' ship to stop him, personally, but Vangus escapes. Alpha, realizing that it was his lust for conquering that set everything off, sacrifices himself to remove the shield of the missile just before it hits earth, allowing K to destroy it. Though initially thought to be killed in the blast, everyone except Alpha makes it out, and are subsequently made heroes by the president. K proceeds to erase the memories of everyone watching on TV, making it as if the invasion never happened. The final scene shows the agents, helped by all their allies, rebuilding their headquarters from scratch.

[edit] 2002

  • Daria - Is it College Yet? - Daria and her classmates prepare for graduation while Daria decides to end her relationship with Tom (but they remain friends) and Quinn faces her own problems which she deals with an unexpected maturity. Daria and Jane both go to Boston-based colleges (Raft and Boston Fine Arts College, respectively). Tom goes to Bromwell, where many members of his family were alumni. The Fashion Club (all of whom advance to senior year at Lawndale High as do Joey, Jamie, and Jeffy) breaks up, but they continue to be a social circle. Mack goes to Vance, while Jodie goes to black-dominated Turner. Brittany goes to Grand Prairie State, while Kevin flunks senior year and has to take it again.
  • Hey Arnold! - The Journal - Arnold finds a journal describing the adventures of his parents in the jungle, from which he learns that he was born during a volcano eruption and that his pig was a present to his parents. Later, he finds a map in the back of the book. This hour-length episode was to serve as the prologue for a second Hey Arnold! theatrical film, which may (probably) never see the light of day.

[edit] 2003

  • Dexter's Laboratory - Garage Sale - Dexter's parents accidentally sell his newest invention to Mandark. Note: This was the next-to-last episode of the series to be produced, but in the United States it ended up the last episode aired. The last episode produced was "Tea Party/Dexter's Wacky Races," which in many countries was the last one aired.
  • Futurama - The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings - Fry continues to try to convince Leela of his feelings for her by composing a holophoner opera dedicated to her. Frustrated by the complexities required in playing the instrument he makes a deal with the Robot Devil by trading his own hands for the Devil's robot ones. However, when the Robot Devil claims Leela as his bride after she sells her soul to him for robot ears (in order to listen to Fry's opera, having been previously deafened by Bender), Fry is forced to give back the Robot Devil's hands. The episode ends with the end of the opera, Fry and Leela finally together. Note: The episode was made with the future of the show still not known, so it was made to be both a series finale and a season finale, so it could give an end to the series, though still leaving the door open for continuation. This episode is no longer the series finale since Comedy Central ordered 13 more episodes to air in 2008 and 4 direct-to-DVD films are in production.
  • Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys - Rugrats Go Wild - The Rugrats and their parents are on a ramshackle boat Tommy's dad Stu has rented in the South China Seas. Naturally, the boat shipwrecks, leaving them deserted on a small island. On the same island, but on the other side, are the famous globe-trotting family, the Thornberrys (out to film a leopard). The babies set off to find them, for they suspect they are somewhere on the island (as it happens, Tommy treats Nigel like an idol). Somewhere along the way, Chuckie gets lost and runs into the Thornberrys' Tarzan-like child, Donnie, and the two switch clothes. Meanwhile, Eliza, the gifted Thornberry, is tramping around the jungle and runs into Spike, the Rugrats dog. Since Eliza can talk to animals, Spike tells her that the babies are lost somewhere in the forest. Also, her father, Nigel, sees them. After a bonk on the head (with a coconut) however, Nigel has amnesia. Angelica runs into Debbie, teenage Thornberry, and she takes off with Debbie in the Thornberry's all-purpose Comvee. While not paying attention, the bumbling twosome sink the Comvee and generally cause havoc. Meanwhile, pop cultures references to just about anything about castaways on an island (in particular, Gilligan's Island, Survivor, and Lord of the Flies) ensue. Also, unlike the previous movies, Susie tags along with a Polaroid-like camera in hand, and doesn't have her parents travelling with her. In the End both families work together to get off of the island and go on a cruise together after that. Note This crossover movie ends both the Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys since there are no more episodes of either series after this.
  • The Brak Show - Cardburkey and New Year's Eve Party at Brak's House - Even though Cardburkey this episode wasn't an ending, at the end of the episode Brak announced the show was cancelled. Also Immediately after this episode aired on New Years Eve, an Adult Swim special that was already airing all night called "New Years Eve Party at Brak's House", had Brak's dad announcing that the show was cancelled. Characters from The Brak Show, Aqua Teen Hungerforce, Harvey Birdman, Sealab 2021, and Space Ghost were there and it was revealed by the end of the episode that Brak's Mom and Dad left, Zorak went on to do Space Ghost (as the Space Ghost Zorak was squished in the beginning of the episode), and Brak and George Lowe talked about the cancellation on the last edition of Adult Swim News.
  • X-Men: Evolution - The X-Men must work together to try and stop the rise of the evil mutant Apocalypse, who plans to transform every human being on earth into a mutant. To do this, the X-Men gather teams of every mutant they could recruit, whether friend or foe, and unite against Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen (Professor X, Storm, Magneto, and Mystique), all of whom were mind-controlled by Apocalypse. In the final scene, Professor X explains a vision he had while in the mind of Apocalypse, which strongly hints at plotlines that would have been explored further had the show continued. Highlights include:
  • The appearance of the Sentinels.
  • The X-Men team expanded, having acquired new uniforms, and, in some cases, new powers and abilities.
  • Jean Grey is transformed into Dark Phoenix.
  • The Big O - The Show Must Go On - Big O defeats Big Fau, Angel becomes Big Venus, "A bird whose wings have been plucked", and uses her god-like power to erase Paradigm City from reality. Roger negotiates on behalf of life, and time reverses to directly before the events of Act 1, albeit with off-model versions of Angel and Dorothy watching his car speed off to the first scene.

[edit] 2004

  • As Told by Ginger - The Wedding Frame - Lois and Dr. Dave get married. But along the way Dave's mother tries to split them apart by hiring a woman/man named Nikki/Nicholas Laport. Then Prescott Gripling (Courtney and Blake's Father) get arrested for insider trading and the Griplings become poor. Ginger and her new family plan to move into a new house and the Griplings are trying to buy their old house.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist - Laws and Promises - The Elric brothers confront Envy at the Gate of Alchemy, while Col. Mustang battles Fuhrer Bradley/Pride. Envy impales Edward, killing him. Alphonse uses his armored body, the Philosopher's Stone, to retrieve Ed from the Gate of Alchemy, pulling himself and Envy through. Ed returns, his body intact, but with Al gone, he uses his body for a final transmutation to retrieve Al. Intercut with this, Mustang incinerates the Fuhrer, is wounded by Archer, and is saved by Hawkeye. A lengthy epilogue shows Al returned to his 10-year-old body, with no memory of the four years since losing it. Ed is shown living with his father, Hohenheim, on our Earth, in 1921 Munich. Vowing to find each other across worlds, Al seeks further alchemic training from Izumi, while Ed studies the emerging science of rocketry from the papers of Robert Goddard. This ending directly establishes the premise of the sequel movie Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa.
  • Home Movies - Focus Grill - After Brendon, Melissa, and Jason decide that their films are unwatchable, Brendon's camera gets destroyed. The show ends with Brendon, Jason, Melissa, Paula, and Coach McGuirk going to a fast-food place, functioning as if they were a family unit.
  • Rocket Power - The Big Day - The Rocket Power gang returns to Hawaii, with Noelani and her mother in town. Now the plans for the wedding begin. But when the wedding date conflicts with the opening of the highly-anticipated Zero Gravity Zone skatepark. Then Ray and Noelani get married that day.
  • Static Shock - Power Outage - Static and Gear begin to experience 'power outages' during the course of their normal crime fighting routines leaving Static with slowly draining powers and Gear's super-intelligence fading back to normal. Eventually finding out the government released a gas to un-mutatate Dakota's Bang Babies back into normal teenagers, Static and Gear have to stop Static's arch-nemesises Hotstreak and Ebon after the pair steal some of the Bang Baby mutagen to reactivate their on waning abilities. In the ensuing fight, Hotstreak and Ebon mutate further, merging together into a giant fire/darkness hybrid monster. Static unleashes his remaining power to fight and defeat the creature. The resulting explosion releases a second cloud of mutagen, re-activating his and Gear's powers. With his super-intelligence restored, Gear finds an antidote that counters the Bang Baby antidote so they will keep their powers after all.

[edit] 2005

  • Jackie Chan Adventures - The Powers that Be - Drago succeeds in absorbing the Chi powers of all 8 demon sorcerors, becoming all-powerful. The J-Team arrives to help Jackie in the coming fight, and even his old enemies the Dark Hand Enforcers decide to join forces with him (as they don't want the world to be destroyed either). Jade goes to Section 13 to get the 12 Talismans to battle Drago. In the final battle, Jackie and all his allies from throughout the series confront Drago and his minions inside a football stadium. In the end, Uncle resurrects Shendu, who battles Drago for supremacy. While the two are distracted battling each other, Tohru opens a portal to the Netherworld, imprisoning both Shendu and Drago once and for all. Captain Black offers Jade a job at Section 13, which gives everyone a big laugh.
  • Justice League Unlimited/Batman Beyond/DC animated universe - Epilogue - Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the future, discovers that he is in fact the genetic son of Bruce Wayne. Believing that his life was set up, he contemplates leaving Bruce, the Justice League, and even his girlfriend Dana. But before he does, he confronts Amanda Waller, a former government agent and liaison to the League, who's had dealings with Batman before. She admits that it was she who set up his birth without Bruce Wayne's knowledge, altering the genes of Terry's father in a plan to create a new Batman to replace the aging Bruce. When the assassin hired to kill Terry's parents, actually an old flame of Bruce's, refused to carry out the deed, the plan was aborted, until several twists of fate occurred, resulting in Terry becoming Batman anyway. Waller tells Terry that he is still his own person, and his own Batman, not a pawn of Bruce, herself, or Fate. Terry then reaffirms his relationship with Bruce, plans to propose to Dana (who by now knows that he's Batman), and returns to his duties as the Dark Knight.
    • Although other episodes of Justice League Unlimited have been made and broadcast after the initial airing of this episode, it was made before it was known that any more would be created. Thus it was made as a (premature) finale not only for the series, but for the entire continuity started with Batman: The Animated Series.
  • Kim Possible - So the Drama - Three-episode story arc originally aired as a TV movie. Kim falls for a new kid named Erik, making Ron feel like he's losing Kim forever. Meanwhile, Kim and Ron attempt to foil a series of seemingly random crimes by Drakken and Shego. In reality, instead of his usual single stupid plan, Drakken has combined several plans into one surprisingly brilliant plan to take over the world (which ultimately boils down to covering the Earth with an army of giant killer robots). He almost succeeds, as Kim is demoralized when she is betrayed and captured by Erik, who turns out to be a synthetic drone created by Drakken to seduce and distract Kim. However, Ron finally confesses his feelings for Kim, giving Kim the resolve to stop Drakken's plan and defeat him and Shego once and for all. Finally, Kim overcomes her fear of peer pressure and takes Ron to the prom, finally a couple. (As of December 2005, Kim Possible has been renewed for a fourth season, so this supposed "finale" now merely resolves a long standing relationship)
  • Megas XLR - Rearview Mirror, Mirror - Gorrath's plan to destroy the earth is interrupted when Coop accidentally sends them both to an a dystopian future, ruled by none other than himself. The duo is forced to put their differences aside and work together to defeat the evil Coop, who now has his sights set on Coop's home dimension.
  • Sealab 2021 - Legacy of Laughter - The final episode of Sealab 2021, done as an interview and sort of a sequel to "Tinfins" (the film "Tinfins 2" is in the works and it's sponsored by Grizzlebee's). There is a Q&A session with the audience, during which one person asks of the people on stage are supposed to be the voice actors as themselves, or are they in character now? The only answer is "yes". It's determined that the biggest problem with Sealab 2021 is that it "wasn't enough like Aqua Teen Hunger Force." The interview/episode ends with a greatest hits tribute to Captain Murphy and a sneak preview of the next season right after the commercial break. Of course, there aren't any more new episodes as the series ends in this fashion.
  • Star Wars: Clone Wars - Chapter 25 - The Separatists launch a surprise invasion of Coruscant as Anakin Skywalker sees a vision of his future on a faraway planet. While Yoda and Mace Windu battle the Droid armies, General Grevious kidnaps Chancellor Palpatine, and Anakin rescues a group of primitives from becoming the CIS' newest weapon. The episode ends with Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi being called back to Coruscant to rescue Palpatine, leading directly into the events of the feature film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. However, now it has been stated new episodes will be made in 3D and thirty minutes long.
  • The Proud Family - The Proud Family Movie - When Penny Proud (Kyla Pratt) and her family are invited on a cruise ship, they learn it's a plot by the evil Dr. Carver (Arsenio Hall) who wants Oscar's secret to his new Proud Snack. Since Oscar won't reveal, Dr. Carver sends peanut-shaped clones of Penny, Oscar, Trudy, Bebe & Cece, Suga Mama, and Puff to wreak havoc back home.

[edit] 2006

  • Teen Titans - Things Change - Terra returns, but seems to have developed amnesia. Beast Boy spends most of the episode trying to make her remember her past. He is ultimately forced to give up, and rejoins the other Titans to battle a mysterious shapeshifting creature.
  • The Fairly Oddparents and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators In the third and final part of the crossover trilogy between The Fairly OddParents and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Timmy wants to become friends with Jimmy Neutron. While they are friends, they battle each other's enemies, and they create a new villain that they don't like. So they abandon him, but that makes him super evil now, and he takes Cosmo and Wanda's wands and Jimmy's brains. With their wands back in their possessions, Cosmo and Wanda become fairies again and Timmy is able to wish that the villain had no strength. Jimmy and Timmy later tell everyone that it was really their fault that the villain became evil and apologize to him. As a result of their apology, the villain fixes both dimensions and restores peace. As a gesture of thanks, Jimmy and Timmy give him a pizzeria of his own in Dimmsdale. Finally, Cindy then tells Jimmy to say that she is smarter than him a couple of times before Timmy wishes Jimmy's brains back.
  • Justice League Unlimited - Alive!/Destroyer - In the first part of the finale, Lex Luthor, in one last attempt to resurrect Brainiac leads the Legion of Doom into space to the only known remnants of Brainiac. Gorilla Grodd leads a mutiny against Lex with the support of most of the Legion, who have come to doubt Luthor's sanity. As the villains battle amongst themselves, Luthor is able to turn Grodd's psychic abilities against him and forces him out an airlock, and the other rebels quickly surrender. Reaching the remains of Brainiac, Luthor's machine accidentally resurrects not Brainiac but Darkseid (thought killed along with Brainiac in the episode Twilight), who vows to destroy Earth. A few of the Legion manage to escape and appear outside the Justice League's headquarters in order to warn them of the coming threat. The heroes and villains band together as Darkseid's forces attack, and Superman takes on the now more powerful Darkseid personally. In a final desperate measure Metron assists Luthor in retrieving the Anti-Life Equation, giving it to Darkseid just before he can kill Superman; the resulting blast appears to kill both of them. Darkseid's forces leave and though the League celebrates, they expect they'll see both Darkseid and Luthor again. As thanks for their help, the other villains are given a "five minute head start." The episode concludes with Leaguers grouped in various generations running down the stairs to begin the chase with the classic three, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman bringing up the rear. Batman is in the middle of this threesome, with the camera set so that as he runs towards it, his chest logo fills the screen just as it fades out, ending the DC Animated Universe as it began fourteen years ago with Batman: The Animated Series
  • Lilo and Stitch: The Series - Snafu- Nosy reminds Lilo and Stitch of the experiments that Gantu has captured inculding 624 a.k.a Angel, so the duo resolve to break into his ship and rescue the reminding experiments while Gantu and 625 devise a plan to lure and capture the experiements that were reformed by Lilo (which fails). A new experiment which Lilo dubs Snafu hampers the duo's efforts with his ablity to foil plans and Lilo and Stitch are nearly captured themselves. However hearing the two lament on the power of love, Snafu has a change of heart and frees them who then proceed to free the other experiments while trapping and immobolizing Gantu in his own sercurity system. Adding insult to injury Hamsterveil calls and sees the break out himself before bereating Gantu. The end of the series see Lilo complimenting on finding all the experiments their one true place as she watches them play in front of her family's house. However Stitch walk off into the sunset with Angel calling back he'll be back later to which Lilo tells him she loves him too. This episode is a set up to the fourth and final direct to video movie, Leroy and Stitch.
  • Brandy and Mr. Whiskers - The Tortise and The Hare Brain/Rip Van Whiskers - Whiskers gets chalenged to a race by a tortise after being made fun of by him, but after he finds out how fast Whiskers is he asks Gaspar to help him out, so Gaspar dognaps Brandy which takes Mr. Whiskers off track after he saves Brandy he rushes to win, it ends up being a tie and Mr. Whiskers and the tortise end up becoming friends, then while walking through the forest Whiskers if bit by a frog which he mistakes for a posinis frog and thinks he's going to fall asleep and wake up 50 years later, so then when Brandy thinks he is about to fall asleep she kissis him, then he wakes up about 2 mintues later thinking its been 50 years, but then Lola says that frog was a non posinis frog, so Brandy gets mad because she kissed him and wacks him up side the head and then the screen blacks out.
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