Contact discussion

I've always thought that the encounter with the aliens was really vague. Very little was detailed and it seemed like the encounters from the other travellers was skipped over almost entirely.

The contact was obviously the point of the story, what would we do if we found a signal/message, how would we react, how would we gather and decipher it and so on but I really would have liked just a little bit more from the end. Maybe the purposes of the other species, where they are, what their civilisations are like. Something. It all felt like a monumental effort to cross the galaxy to have a daydream that we aren't told about.

I agreed with you that it needs a better ending of the story via book and movie. SUnnya:)

It doesn't need a new and better ending. The ending is ingenious in its depth. The struggle of one person of one race to truth. In the monumental passion and effort in its search, we see the vitality of our race. But Sagan is telling us that truth can not be just something that can be obtained, It has to lived. The art of living the truth is called wisdom. Knowledge without wisdom is meaningless and dangerous. When Arroway experience the first contact and returns without any evidence and complete logical understanding of what happened she is forced to look to truth not only with her mind but with her hearth as well. She learns the real value of her experience beyond the facts, and begins to pursue it against all odds, until she finds it. But it is not pure scientific fact now. Its a truth about the value and the significance of the life in the universe. And in the variant of the book, she founds the signature of the being from which this life and this meaning flows - God. The both endings are the conclusion of the evolution in the thoughts and perceptions of Arroway and the humanity. Evolution of its spirit. It was glorious! The ending is fitting and most appropriate for the flow of the story.

After reading an entire book leading up to meeting a new alien species I expect a better payoff than a few passages blurrily referring to what kind of happened when the two species met for the first time.

Remember, everything in the book previously was ironed out with pain staking detail so the end of the book doesn't fit.

To be honest your reply was very skittish and not well thought out, I think you were trying to convey and idea slightly ahead of you and didn't describe it very well. I had to read your reply twice just to get a grip on what you might be trying to say.

I agreed with Darren's comment very well. Well said! :)

Personally I prefer endings that are ambiguous and allows the reader space for their own opinions.

This one was perhaps too open but thought provoking.

Personally I'm not a believer in God and certainly not in organised superstition (religion) but I can see that those who are would find an argument that the contact is with a creator type.

It's worth remembering that I think Arthur Clake observed that any far advanced technology is indistinguishible form magic to a less advanced civilastion.

The ending had to be so. Otherwise we would have had ET or 'Independence Day' which would have diminished the thrust of the story.

Sometimes, the fun part is in the journey, and not the destination.

In a traditional sense, the ending was a disappointment but most good sci fi ends that way. It's beyond our rational thinking, there should be more answers given but the universe could care less about our personal understanding.

Not a satisfying ending but anything less would be insincere