The best season-ending cliffhanger ever... What is it?

[JTG of the PRB]

I'm sure there might be some votes for recent shows (Lost or Heroes come to mind immediately), and I'm sure there are many others I am unaware of, I want to hear your opinions on the best season-ending cliffhangers EVER!

I have three that I have in my mind as the best ever. The pool for truly great cliffhangers has been terribly diluted over the years, so there are only a few that jump out at me...

3. "Scorpion, Part I" - Star Trek: Voyager, Season 3: A truly great season finale that leaves everything in peril when the Borg are introduced full-scale to the series... And then an even deadlier opponent is introduced minutes later. A show with great action, great mystery, and great suspense. This episode also features what I consider to be the best pre-credits teaser EVER:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oFp_9HS6Q

2. "Crossroads, Part II" - Battlestar Galactica, Season 3: A spectacular ending to a truly remarkable season of television. it has everything - a trial, courtroom drama, family betrayals, secrets revealed, shocking revelations, someone coming back from the dead, a big-ass potential space battle, murderous robots, and a twist ending that left me so stunned I had to rewind the tape repeatedly just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

If Season 4 of BSG is as good as I think it may be, this may someday supplant my #1 on the list... But for now, that spot belongs to...

1. "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" - Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 3 - This episode is still, nearly 18 years alter, the best season-ending cliffhanger that has ever been made. In all honesty, it was the first major cliffhanger, a total coup in the industry at the time. The musical score is genius, the script is inspired, the suspense still gives me goosebumps to this day, and the closing line of that episode is, and always will be, a classic in television history...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub_DPM_YYkQ&feature=related

In any case, I'm shown what a dork I am, so let me hear YOUR opinion. What is the best season-ending cliffhanger you've ever seen?

[Brigid]

1. Who shot JR Ewing?

What else? ;)

[JTG of the PRB]

7. I thought about that one...

...but since I've never seen it I automatically ruled it out. If I've never seen it, surely it can't be any good! :P

[ironflange]

24. This is the correct answer

The first and still the best. It's unparalleled in its shock value, simply because viewers didn't know a cliffhanger was coming. Today, the last episode of the season so frequently has a cliffhanger that it has no surprise value.



All the hype got us hooked on that show, though it took me a while to accept J. R. as being evil, because we remembered him as the good guy on "I Dream of Jeannie."

[LeftyMom]

2. Your #1 is the correct answer.

I can't even think of another in the same league.

[JTG of the PRB]

6. The only show I've seen even come close is the new Battlestar Galactica.

Every other cliffhanger just cannot measure up. "Best of Both Worlds" had EVERYTHING going for it, and it still does.

[Alexander]

15. Seconded. It's one of the few TNG episodes I bought on videotape.

[Connonym]

3. I think it was the end of season 2 of BSG

"one year later..." and the cylons swoop in and a huge assed hiatus while we wait to find out what happens next.

[JTG of the PRB]

5. I considered that one as well...

But I consider Season 3's cliffhanger finale to be much more Earth-shattering, if you'll pardon the pun... :rofl:

But I agree... The end of Season 2 was just astonishing. We're watching the show, Baltar wins the election and then all of a sudden... "One Year Later..." :wow:

[Connonym]

8. I know, I've been anxiously counting down to Friday's premier

I think we're going to be in for a helluva ride this season.

[JTG of the PRB]

10. It'll be spectacular.

I'm just dreading the day when those last two hours of television roll around sometime later in 2008... Perhaps "Earth, Part I" and "Earth, Part II" would be a fitting title? I can't wait. It could be some of the best science fiction television ever made.

[Archae]

13. I already know the ending to Battlestar Galactica.

They find Earth, get these cool flying motorcycles, wait a minute...am I thinking of the same BSG here?

[JoDog]

20. I liked the end of season one

Boomer gunning down Adama. It was such a shocker.

I'm sooooo excited about the start of the last season!

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. Alias. I remember there being a really good season ending cliff hanger with that series.

But I can't remember which years. I know it totally jumped the shark about half way through so it must have been the first couple of seasons. Same folks who do LOST if I'm not mistaken.

[Brigid]

9. You're probably thinking of . . .

the season 2 ending, where it turned out that Sydney had been missing for nearly two years. Sad, because that idea had so much potential. Plus, in the series 3 premiere, she kicked serious booty. But then it all unraveled. Season 3 was absolutely horrible, and the show never recovered. I should have stopped watching long before I did. Len Olin was right -- they should have killed her character off after she jumped off that building. They never did anything worthwhile with the character after that anyway. Great character, played by a great actress, but the writers just seemed to run out of ideas, both for her and for the whole show.

[Pacifist Patriot]

23. Could not agree more!

[Initech]

11. The first season of Reno 911.

Of course, the way they manage to bring themselves out of it in the first part of season 2 is absolutely one of the most brilliant scenes I've ever seen on TV. :rofl:

[JTG of the PRB]

14. Ahh... Touché!

I think that might be one of the more underrated comedies on TV right now. The cast does an amazing job with the minimal scripts, as almost everything is improvised on the fly. They still manage to tell a very entertaining story. I didn't like ther show all that much when it first came on, but it started to grow on me toward the end of Season 2.

[ghostsofgiants]

12. Season 2 of Carnivàle.

Sadly, no season 3. x(

[Starbucks Anarchist]

16. Probably Twin Peaks.

"How's Annie? How's Annie?" :scared:

[WildEyedLiberal]

17. I totally agree with your #1 and #2

My first thought was "Best of Both Worlds." That episode set the gold standard for cliffhangers. Battlestar Galactica, easily the best SF show since ST:TNG (and arguably the best show on TV now) has turned out amazing cliffhangers for every one of its seasons - someone else mentioned the end of season 2 with the Cylon invasion of New Caprica, but didn't Boomer shoot Adama in the season 1 finale? Also a pretty intense cliffhanger.

[JTG of the PRB]

21. Honestly, I could oput every single BSG season finale up there and they'd all work.

Some shows have tried to do several cliffhangers throughout the years (see: Star Trek: Voyager), but BSG has done a stunningly effective cliffhanger at the end of every season. Even the mid-season cliffhangers are spectacular! Don't forget the Season 2 mid-season finale "Pegasus", and Season 3's break show "The Eye of Jupiter." Not as great as the season-ending cliffhangers, but still better fare than you'll find from almost every other show on television!

[Broken_Hero]

18. Smallville season II final episode....Spoiler.

Clark blows up his ship(ship that brought him to earth), thinking that doing so will stop Jor-el(whom appears evil at this point) from forcing him into his "destiny."

When the ship goes, Martha/John get into an accident, and she loses her child...Clark is so messed up with emotion, Lex is crash landing into the ocean, will he live, or die?????? Clark puts on the red K ring(red kryptonite in the show takes away Clarks give a shitter), and he drives away to Metropolis, while single handily telling Chloe and Lana to go take a flying leap off a cliff...and then, then...."to be continuted???!?!?WTF!!"

:D Also, season ender of Smallville season III, IV are pretty good as well...damn, even season ender of V was a bastich! :D

[TZ]

19. Without even clicking I thought

"Best of Both Worlds" better be on there!:thumbsup:

[flvegan]

22. Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut

The end of South Park season 1, trying to determine the identity of Cartman's father.

And yes, that IS the official name of the episode.

[Broken_Hero]

25. I was thinking John Elway, and the 88 Bronco's

were his dad, but they threw a monkey wrench in the mix....:D