The Final Countdown ending question

Sluis Van Shipyards

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This is about The Final Countdown movie not the "It's the final countdown! Doo doo doo doo. Doo doo doo doo doo!" song. Spoilers ahead.


So I rewatched the movie and at the end the CAG shows up and he was alive living with the girl they set down on the island with. He says he has a lot to talk about with Martin Sheen's character. Martin Sheen's character was hired by this guy at the beginning, implying he has a lot of power to get him onto a carrier. Is there more to it than that? Martin Sheen's character really didn't do anything that substantial so it wasn't like including him changed the timeline or anything. I'm not sure if they just wanted to imply there was more there than actually was or what.
 
In the movie, the CAG was said to have contributed to the design of the Nimitz. So yeah, he had some sway with the military. Martin Sheen's character kept rifling through his bunk neighbor's room, which would have been good reason NOT to include him. However, Sheen's character also brought the CAG's historical knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack to the attention of the Skipper. IIRC, Sheen was also the first to posit that they had traveled back in time. And Sheen almost took the bait to also be offloaded to the island with the woman. Maybe the CAG didn't want to mess with the timeline in any way? Or perhaps he had grown fond of Sheen's meddlesome character? It's been awhile since I've seen the movie.
 
I don't think the film was implying any big time-loop twist (like "the debris from the crushed terminator caused Skynet!").

I figured the historian guy and the woman were simply eager to talk about what happened and catch up with Martin Sheen. It was the most pivotal event in their lives and for 40 years they've been keeping it to themselves.
 
I don't think the film was implying any big time-loop twist (like "the debris from the crushed terminator caused Skynet!").

I figured the historian guy and the woman were simply eager to talk about what happened and catch up with Martin Sheen. It was the most pivotal event in their lives and for 40 years they've been keeping it to themselves.
This was my take on it as well. It was a great movie, one of my childhood favorites!
 
Thanks! I thought maybe there was something deeper other than having a chat. Still one of my favorite movies!

One thing I hate about having a lot of knowledge about anything (military aircraft in this case), is you can't unsee errors. For example there's one jet (maybe an A-6) that takes off with ejector racks full of blue practice bombs. They also launch an EA-6 which would be useless, other than maybe recon. I guess it could jam the Japanese fleet's radar, but that's about it. They also had carts of MK82s being wheeled around to load onto the planes without any fuses. Maybe they did that at the plane, IDK.
 
Thanks! I thought maybe there was something deeper other than having a chat. Still one of my favorite movies!

One thing I hate about having a lot of knowledge about anything (military aircraft in this case), is you can't unsee errors. For example there's one jet (maybe an A-6) that takes off with ejector racks full of blue practice bombs. They also launch an EA-6 which would be useless, other than maybe recon. I guess it could jam the Japanese fleet's radar, but that's about it. They also had carts of MK82s being wheeled around to load onto the planes without any fuses. Maybe they did that at the plane, IDK.

You may be interested in Ward Carroll's Youtube channel. He was a radar officer and flew in Tomcat squadrons during the 80's and 90's. He has a pretty good breakdown video of Final Countdown and other movies that feature naval aviation, like Top Gun. He also discusses current events as they relate to the US Navy. It's a pretty good channel. Here is the link to the Final Countdown video.

 
Thanks! I thought maybe there was something deeper other than having a chat. Still one of my favorite movies!

One thing I hate about having a lot of knowledge about anything (military aircraft in this case), is you can't unsee errors. For example there's one jet (maybe an A-6) that takes off with ejector racks full of blue practice bombs. They also launch an EA-6 which would be useless, other than maybe recon. I guess it could jam the Japanese fleet's radar, but that's about it. They also had carts of MK82s being wheeled around to load onto the planes without any fuses. Maybe they did that at the plane, IDK.
There's definitely continuity and technical errors. If you pay close attention Modex numbers sometimes change between scenes, and even loadouts in the pivotal Zero dogfight (I watched the movie and especially the dogfight a *few* times researching my Final Countdown Tomcat build). A couple of the more interesting ones:

Victory 202 and 203 shot down one Zero each, but Victory 203 ends up with both of the rising sun kill markers on the aircraft, and they are both on there before the dogfight occurs (more time travel shenanigans? :unsure:;)).

Both dogfight F-14's have the same loadout; 2 AIM-54A Phoenix, 2 AIM-7C Sparrow, and 2 AIM-9 Sidewinder. Curiously, each aircraft has one AIM-9D/H and one AIM-9L/M (on opposite stations).

Victory 202 gets the Sidewinder kill, but the footage of the actual missile shot is Victory 200, and it's loaded with only Sidewinders. I'm guessing this was stock footage of a test or training shot (the film quality is noticeably different from most of the other dogfight footage). There's a few other magical Modex swaps in some of the recovery footage as well.

The interior cockpit shots were actually done from an A-6 since it has a side-by-side configuration with room for the large cameras of the time. The camera and operator were in the Weapons Officer's seat.​

Still one of my favorite movies, and I really enjoyed my Tomcat and Zero builds. At some point I have to finish the other pair for the project.
 
You may be interested in Ward Carroll's Youtube channel. He was a radar officer and flew in Tomcat squadrons during the 80's and 90's. He has a pretty good breakdown video of Final Countdown and other movies that feature naval aviation, like Top Gun. He also discusses current events as they relate to the US Navy. It's a pretty good channel. Here is the link to the Final Countdown video.

Ward's content is awesome. Mooch FTW!
 
In the novelization the CAG posits to sheen that the anomaly was extraterrestrial in nature.

My assumption is that the CAG knew his ship would go through it, put himself in a position to ensure the ship would be built with advance enough sensor suite (the broken terminator parts *do* cause skynet!) So he could get said sensor data from the anomaly through the Nimitzs two trips through it.

By the time the movie ends the CAG would likely be 80-85 so my head canon is that Sheen was being groomed to take over the position that CAG/Tillman holds in the government and prepare the US and or allied states for another "incursion"

Ive always thought that's how a second movie featuring the Ford would come about with Sheen being the dark figure in the back of a new Black Caddy, getting in a sea hawk and watching the Ford's underwater detonation tests to ensure its more up to the task and wont suffer even the minor damage that the Nimitz experienced in her adventure.

From there, I'm not exactly sure where to go with the plot. But in the end it would be nice to see a non cheesy alien aspect explored, even if the aliens were really just way more advanced *us*

I remember reading that last bit of the book and setting it down and the Tillman grooming Sheen plot all but slaps you in the face. He is old now, now has the best sensor data he can get and lays out everything to Sheen with the new data confirming his worst fears. "You need to care on for me when I'm gone, son. I'm not sure how much time I have left but I knew I would have this day with you. I'll introduce you to everyone, some you already know. I wanted you to experiance * waves hand toward the sea* that just so you knew this threat not just to our nation but, potentially, all of us."
 
That sounds like an interesting movie but a totally different one.


With the existing movie, I don't think it pays to put more attention into the time-storm. It's a plot device to serve a purpose. The meat of the story drama is the characters' reactions & choices once they have been plunged into the situation.


'The Final Countdown' reeks of Bermuda Triangle inspiration. The BT was big in the 1970s. There was a real BT incident in the 1960s where some guy in a Cessna claimed he flew into a weird "tunnel" in the clouds. He came out the other side with a minor time discrepancy.
 
I didn't realize there was a novelization of this movie. Thanks boss13, I just ordered it off Amazon. I have a huge collection of movie novelizations and can now add that to my collection.
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Right after they go through the time storm to 1941, a Corsair II lands and the pilot seems unresponsive. CAG checks him out on a gurney and looks surprised, but you never see the pilot’s face and never hear about it later. I’ve never understood that, even as a kid when I saw it the first time.
Does the novel explain what the deal with that pilot is?
 
I always thought it was the result of whatever made them clutch their heads (or however they react) as they go through the rift. I assume the planes that were near the carrier experienced the same effect.
 
I always thought it was the result of whatever made them clutch their heads (or however they react) as they go through the rift. I assume the planes that were near the carrier experienced the same effect.
Okay, but nobody else was knocked out by it and why did CDR Owens look at that Corsair pilot and look confused and/or scared? What was he looking at?
 
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Maybe there was originally some sub plot that the pilot came back as an old man or something. Y'know, time vortex stuff. I don't know how that would've played out, but obviously Owens was looking at something out of order, and whatever it was, was edited out.
 
Maybe there was originally some sub plot that the pilot came back as an old man or something. Y'know, time vortex stuff. I don't know how that would've played out, but obviously Owens was looking at something out of order, and whatever it was, was edited out.
That's exactly what I'd always wondered...
 
I was a crew chief in the Army when this came out. This movie and Top Gun, made me want to go Navy, ; )
 
IIRC the Corsair going into the net was a real incident that happened on the Nimitz during shooting. The movie crew worked it into the movie because it looked intense.

I'm not sure what was up with the pilot's face. You can see it for a second when they are wheeling the stretcher around and it doesn't look like they gave him any heavy makeup job (gray hair, etc).
 
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