Options
Best ever Doctor Who cliff hanger - ever ever ever??
allen_who
Posts: 2,819
Forum Member
✭✭✭
well for me it's a flip up between Terror of the Zygons episode one or Planet of Evil - episode two.
New Who:- I suppose series two episode 12 was good... cybermen were expected at the end of part 1, but we got daleks emerging...
any thoughts folks??
New Who:- I suppose series two episode 12 was good... cybermen were expected at the end of part 1, but we got daleks emerging...
any thoughts folks??
0
Comments
Doctor Who music at the point of a cliff hanger is immense
In terms of leaving the fans guessing, part three of Survival takes some beating.
I still like the The Daemons 3 one from back in the day Who, purely because I still think it's neat they did a cliffhanger with The Master and not The Doctor in trouble.
I agree about the end of Earthshock part one too.
I went round to a friend's house a hour or so after it aired, and when he opened the door to me we both spontaneously and simultaneously uttered one word "Cybermen"!
It was that amazing.
Difficult for me to decide on just one, as you can see...
For New Who, Utopia and The Stolen Earth are both quite good and so is The Pandorica Opens. Also agree about Turn Left.
Stolen Earth - wonderful surprise regeneration plus all the other mini-cliff hangers too (Sarah Jane and Torchwood about to be exterminated).
WEIRDEST cliff hanger remains Dragonfire episode 1 - the 7th Doctor climbs down from a walkway to dangle over an icy abyss for no reason what so ever!
Other favourites -
Genesis Of The Daleks part 4; Harry and Sarah about to suffers all the torments ever known if the Doctor doesn't tell Davros about all the future Dalek defeats. It's brilliant the way the electronic burbles rise in pitch along with Michael Wisher's voice, which also becomes more Dalek like the more he shouts "You Will TELL ME".
Brain Of Morbius part 2 - the reveal of the Brain itself. Superbly done, as we can see it, but Sarah, who's been blinded temporarily, can't!
Hand Of Fear part 2 - the hand coming to life in that plastic lunch box, regrowing a finger and scrabbling about. Very creepy, and very effectively done.
There are many others, some have already been mentioned - Androzani part 3 is surely the most thrillingly exciting, (although Pyramids of Mars 2 comes very close as the mummies break into the cottage), Zygons part 1 is arguably the best ever reveal of a monster, but I think my all time favourite is -
Masque Of Mandragora 3. As Hieronymous turns to look at the Count we see that he's nothing more than a blaze of Mandragora energy under that hood. It was absolutely brilliant and still thrills me to this day.
It is the most literal Cliff Hanger ever. But also, quite probably, the stupidest.
"Oh, big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap..."
GRAHAM NORTON - OVER THE RAINBOW *animated dance*
"...me!"
We must feed. We must feed. We must FEED. *MUSIC BLARE*
*End titles*
You.
If I was choosing the best surprise Cliffhanger, than the Cybermen at the end of Earthshock would definitely be the best.
If it was a WTF sort of cliffhanger, it would be Julian Glover appearing as Captain Tancredi at the end of Part 2 in City Of Death.
For pure tension the 'You will tell me.' cliffhanger in Genesis Of The Daleks is awesome.
Perilous cliffhangers, I think Sarah falling of the rocket scaffolding into a freeze frame cliffhanger in the same story was superb. Plus The Caves Of Androzani, Episodes 1 and 3, some of the best ones ever. You see The Doctor and Peri actually shot at under a hail of gunfire in one and The Doctor about to crash in a spaceship in the other. Great Stuff.
But could have been so much better - Cybermen were obvious all episode. Just think what a fantastic cliffhanger it would have been if Cybermen had suddenly turned up 3 minutes from the end and then the Daleks 2 minutes later.
But both ruined by complete cop out escapes the following week.
Indeed a great cliffhanger, but again Cybermen had been hinted at all story. For me a much greater surprise was Daleks at the end of The Space Museum, but no one ever seems to mention that!
I don't know about anyone else but it was before my time so when watching The Space Museum for the first time I sort of knew The Daleks were going to be in the next story and at the end of this one, so it was no surprise!:D
Forgot also to mention The Daleks appearing at the end of Army Of Ghosts. Though I'd read about them cropping up somewhere it had been some months before it was shown so I'd forgotten it about by this time. So it was still quite an exciting surprise to see them!
If it's a WTF moment then you don't get much better than the very first one. The TARDIS lifts off from London, everyone seems to get knocked out by the vortex of noise and images and then silence. The Police Box is standing on a rugged outcrop of rock in the middle of a sandy plain. How brilliantly weird. I mean really, what on earth would you have made of that way back in 1963?