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To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Part 1)

Michael

A good bad influence
Moderator
I'm not sure if this has been asked before (I wouldn't be surprised if it was). But I'd like to know what your favorite cliffhanger in all of Star Trek is. After going through all the series episodes (thank you Memory Alpha) I determined that there are 73 cliffhangers. Since that is a fairly high number of cliffhangers I decided to devide the vote into two parts (no, I'm not kidding). This will be the first 37 (since this will cover the whole of TOS, TNG and DS9) ...
 
Call to Arms is in a class by itself so I voted for it and nothing else.

But I do have fond memories of ENT's Space Nazis - certainly a memorable cliffhanger, and very entertaining in a way.
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

TOS | »The Mangerie — Part I
TNG | »The Best of Both Worlds 1
TNG | »Redemption«
TNG | »Unification I
TNG | »Descent«
TNG | »All Good Things... (Part I)
DS9 | »What You Leave Behind (Part I)
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

Best of Both Worlds, Reunification, Call to Arms, and Dogs of War.
 
When you say cliffhanger I assume you are referring to the actual ending as opposed to the best cliffhanger episode as a whole so my favorites:

The Best of Both Worlds Part I--best cliffhanger in Trek or tv period.

Call to Arms--the Federation is at war finally, Jake is on the station, Kira/Quark/Odo stays behind, Dukat back in charge of DS9 with sights set on Bajor, the awe-inspiring sight of the Defiant and Rotarran joining the massive fleet as screen goes to black.

Redemption I--Sela stepping out of the shadows

Descent I==Picard/Troi/Geordi surrounded by menacing Borg and Lore's "The sons of Soong have joined together and together we will destroy the Federation"

Unification I-Spock at the very end

In Purgatory's Shadow-with the fleet of Dominion ships pouring out of the wormhole

All the Final Chapter episodes had strong final scenes--Sisko/Sarah, Section 31 responsible for the virus, Damar's resistance, the cloning facilities destroyed, the Breen joining the Dominion.

Azati Prime with the brutal assault on the NX.

The Council with the launching of the weapon and Hoshi abducted.

Zero Hour with the Alien Nazis which I liked.

Scorpion I with VOY in tow following destruction of an entire Borg planet.

Unimatrix Zero with Janeway, Torres and Tuvok as Borg. Not as powerful as the sight of Locutus but still impressive.

Broken Link--"You're too late we're everywhere"

The Jem'Hadar-"If the Dominion comes through the wormhole, the first battle will be fought here. I intend to be ready for it."

I alo enjoyed in "Kir'Shara" where the screen goes to black then fading into a clandestine meeting between V'Las and a Romulan. It was ominous as the Romulan spoke of plans of unification.

I also loved the clever reveal of Valdore actually being on Romulus as the camera panned outward from one of the capital city's spires. United had the intriguing reveal of the albino Andorian seemingly working with the Romulans.

Those are the ones that stand out for me.
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

I voted for the following:

The Best of Both Worlds
Redemption
Time's Arrow
Descent
The Jem'Hadar
Improbable Cause
In Purgatory's Shadow
Call to Arms

I like a lot of the other episodes, but these gave me the most aggravation about having to wait for the next episode. A lot of these are arc episodes and not true cliffhangers, so I couldn't vote for those.
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

startrekwatcher said:
When you say cliffhanger I assume you are referring to the actual ending as opposed to the best cliffhanger episode.
Yeah, that's how it was meant. So in a way I'm not really talking about the episodes themself. I really mean the cliffhanger moment at the end.

Thank you for clarifying it ...
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

BOBW, The Menagerie, Unification, and Time's Arrow top my list.

I remember watching BOBW when it aired in a college dorm lounge with about 20 other rabid fans. When Riker gave the order to fire, and the screen went dark, the whole room erupted into chaos as it was so intense. A great Trek moment all around.
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

"Mr Worf......Fire!" So badass. Would have been even more badass if they had followed through with it.
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

startrekwatcher said:Descent I==Picard/Troi/Geordi surrounded by menacing Borg and Lore's "The sons of Soong have joined together and together we will destroy the Federation"

That line actually ruined the cliffhanger for me. "The sons of Soong"? Is that some kind of android drinking song?

For building up to a precise moment of tension, you can't beat BOBW.

--Ted
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

Call to Arms, by a wide margin
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

CorporalClegg said:
startrekwatcher said:
The Best of Both Worlds Part I--best cliffhanger in Trek or tv period.

Hyperbole of the day. :rolleyes:
Well everyone'll have a different opinion but I can't think of a cliffhanger that was as shocking or one that was as enjoyably frustrating to have to wait three month to see the conclusion as BoBW.

It is the one I most often hear of when writers craft their season finales. The only one that comes closest is Dallas' "Who Shot JR?". And I also thought highly of Melrose Place's "Big Bang Theory" which IIRC generated a lot of attention and anticipation.

Call to Arms is a very strong one as an episode but didn't infiltrate mainstream pop culture the way BoBW or Dallas' cliffhanger did.
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

Two-hour series premieres that got chopped into two episodes for reruns shouldn't be considered, IMO. They weren't intended as cliffhangers.

TBOBW is Star Trek's ultimate "To be continued..." by acclamation and should be excluded from the poll so everybody can vote for second-best.
 
^ But those split-for-syndication feature-length episodes do contain a cliffhanger. So why shouldn't they be considered? As I understand the writing of an episode, the authors break the story into acts. And while they are doing it they are certainly aware of the fact that the episode will be split for syndication. So I think the last act of a five act episode will always contain a certain climax at the end. At least that's what I think.

And why should TBOBW be excluded? The users can vote for as many cliffhangers as they want. So I see no reason to leave it out. That wouldn't be very scientific, would it?
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

startrekwatcher said:
The Best of Both Worlds Part I--best cliffhanger in Trek or tv period.
I don't know if I'd go as far as that. We've gotten some pretty damned good cliffhangers on some of the newer serials like Heroes and Lost.
 
Re: To Be Continued ... | Best Cliffhanger of Star Trek (Par

Belar said:
^ But those split-for-syndication feature-length episodes do contain a cliffhanger. So why shouldn't they be considered? As I understand the writing of an episode, the authors break the story into acts. And while they are doing it they are certainly aware of the fact that the episode will be split for syndication. So I think the last act of a five act episode will always contain a certain climax at the end. At least that's what I think.

Not always - doesn't the first half of Caretaker end with Janeway telling Tuvok she'll get him home? Riveting stuff there :)

But as an aside, is there a list anywhere of all the artificial cliffhangers for the feature length episodes (so the pilots, finales and IIRC Dark Frontier and Flesh and Blood)?
 
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