The Sopranos Ends With a ...

If you still have your copy sitting unwatched on your Tivo, I'd suggest that you stop reading before you are spoiled. The show is done at last and apparently fans are freaking out over the bizarre ending. At my house, we thought at first that the DVR crashed until the credits appeared in silence. Personally I thought that a show known for such excess tried to take an artful bow: It didn't work for me, but I get it at least. Anyway, I had a number of Sopranos submissions this morning and figured I'd just post this comment to give people who were interested in discussing the end of the show a nice place to discuss before they cancel their HBO.

Re:Soprano's and tech?

[CaptainPatent]

From Slashdot's own FAQ:

Why did you post story X?

Slashdot is many things to many people. Some people think it's a Linux site. To others, it's a geek hangout. I've always worked very hard to make sure that Slashdot matches up with my interests and the interests of my authors. We think we're pretty typical Slashdot readers... but that does mean that occasionally one of us might post something that you think is inappropriate. You might be interested in my Omelette rant.

Personally, I have a pet peeve when people post comments saying things like "That's not News For Nerds!" and "That's not Stuff that Matters!" Slashdot has been running for almost 5 years, and over that time, I have always been the final decision maker on what ends up on the homepage. It turns out that a lot of people agree with me: Linux, Legos, Penguins, Sci (both real and fiction). If you've been reading Slashdot, you know what the subjects commonly are, but we might deviate occasionally. It's just more fun that way. Variety Is The Spice Of Life and all that, right? We've been running Slashdot for a long time, and if we occasionally want to post something that someone doesn't think is right for Slashdot, well, we're the ones who get to make the call. It's the mix of stories that makes Slashdot the fun place that it is.

Slashdot is meant to be a giant mixing bowl of stories. They focus primarily on the tech but there are some things that pop up other than tech or sci-fi stories that are worth noting

Re: HBO giving the finger to the Tivo generation..

[antifoidulus]

Actually, of all channels in the US, HBO should care the least about TiVo beause it's main purposes are time shifting and skipping commercials. However, since HBO doesn't have commercials, they don't care if you skip them. And why should they care if you use a TV to timeshift? You still paid them. Also, I doubt most of the shows on torrent sites originated on TiVo, so much easier to go the old tv capture card route(and get software to snip the commercials or just do it yourself)

huh?

[Animaether]

"DRM'ed DVDs" and ''DVD will use a "better" encryption than ever before''

huh?

If it's a plain ol' DVD, that will play back in any regular ol' DVD player, then there's no DRM. There's encryption, sure, but the CSS encryption was cracked completely. Done. They *could* encrypt the thing better, but then it won't play back on DVD players - it's no longer a DVD.

Now perhaps you actually meant it'll only be available on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and by some magic way the HD-DVD version won't be 'cracked' almost instantly (as the keys have been found for HD-DVD perpetually).. or, knowing that HD-DVD's only protection is swiss cheese, only go with Blu-Ray and its additional protection layer.

Or maybe it is a DVD - but a data DVD, and you can only play it back on a special HBO set top box media center thingamajig?

Anyway.. if it comes out on DVD at all, it'll be ripped in no time.
===
Other than that, I fully agree with what you're saying - production companies are exploiting the Regular > Special Edition > Collector's Edition > Director's Cut > Director's Cut Collector's Edition > etc. thing up the wazoo. I wish it would stop - but it's a moneymaker, so I doubt it will. As you said - it's just business.. but it's pretty dirty business.

I don't mind the model in general - I don't mind paying extra for additional content if that's what I want to see. What I do mind is if you have e.g. a Special Edition which has bonus features A, B, C and a Collector's Edition which has bonus features B, C, D, and a Director's Cut which has features B, D, E and F You'd have to buy all three to get the full extras. That's just lame.

Re:He's dead

[lucabrasi999]

Here is more about The Godfather and oranges [jgeoff.com]. Note that at the top of the page I link to, that the cinematographer claims that he simply liked the color.

Re: Penultimate?

[sasdrtx]

He knows that, you pedantic twit. There's a good case to be made that the season's climax was in the next-to-last episode. Perhaps you don't agree, but that doesn't make his word usage wrong.

Re:The Sopranos

[ptbarnett]

And was totally ripped by the "analyze this" movies....

The Sopranos [imdb.com] premiered in January, 1999.

Analyze This! [imdb.com] was released in March, 1999.

Given production lead times, it's hard to say which one "ripped" the other, if at all.

Re:Tony's reply: "nothing, everything just goes bl

[shma]

Here is the exact dialog from that episode:

'Bobby: "I mean yeah, our line of work, it's always out there...bet you don't even hear it when it happens, right?"
Tony: "Ask your friend in there, on the wall"
Bobby: "(laughs) Listen to us...morbid fucks." '

Nowhere does anyone say 'everything goes black', or anything even remotely like that (and if you want to see what it looks like to 'not even hear it', I suggest you re-watch the execution of Jerry Torciano). The truth is that there are some people out there who just have to have some kind of closure to the series, people who have to see the bad guys get what they deserve. Well, that didn't happen here. Think of all the times he evaded death or capture, mostly through shear luck. Hell, look at the beginning of the episode! Are you honestly saying that the whole series was nothing more than a series of red herrings leading right up to the last second? I have more respect for the writers than that. If there was going to be a surprise hit, why bother with Phil ordering the 'decapitation' of the Family, or the entire second to last episode?

Personally, I find fans like to play guessing games now with shows, looking for symbolism and clues that aren't even there. Sometimes, what you see is what you get, and what you see is the Sopranos, presented one last time for our viewing pleasure. Remember the last lines:

'AJ:"...right. Focus on the good times."
Tony: "Don't be sarcastic."
AJ: "Isn't that what you said one time? Try and remember the times that were good?"
Tony:"I did? Well, it's true,I guess."'