Steven Moffat has promised the first half of Doctor Who time of year six will end on a cliffhanger that will keep you on the edge of your place all summertime . But how will it pile up to these other pricker - tingling cliffhangers ?
cliffhanger are part of the life - blood of Doctor Who . In the former days of the show , every episode ends on some kind of cliffhanger , including the concluding episode of each individual story . As Moffat has pointed out , the best cliffhanger are game - record changer in some way , which discover something terrible and startling — so that even if our hero come through the immediate peril , you are allow for wondering how this new status quo will play out . Weak cliffhangers are often a symptom of weak storytelling , and the greatest cliffhanger render a structural linchpin for a rattling , tortuous chronicle .
Interestingly , Moffat ’s mid - season cliffhanger will be one of the few bragging season - ending cliffhangers in the show ’s history — the “ test of a Time Lord ” season - long storyline was supposed to terminate on a cliffhanger , but the producer vetoed the mind . And an early version of “ Journey ’s End ” would have ended with Cybermen breaking into the TARDIS , top into “ The Next Doctor , ” but Benjamin Cook convert Russell T. Davies it was too much after the string of distressing scenes involving Donna ’s mind - wiping .
So here are the most thrilling cliffhangers in the show ’s history :
1 ) “ An Unearthly Child . ” ( 1963 ) The show ’s very first episode ends with a doozy , as the TARDIS is uprooted from twentieth Century Earth and lands in a jolty wasteland landscape . And then a weird , misshapen shadow slinks towards the ship , threateningly …
How is it resolve ? The shadower grow out to be a caveman , and it just looked misshapen due to the light .
2 ) “ The Dead Planet ” ( 1963 ) Another cliffhanger where something we never get a good looking at advances in a forbidding fashion — this time around , it ’s a single sink - plunger subdivision , belonging to a Dalek , and we do n’t get to see the Daleks in full until the next episode . ( Famously , the show had n’t actually build up the Daleks yet when they shoot this episode , so literally all they had to show was the Dalek ’s subdivision . ) How is it resolved ? The Daleks … bring out !
3 ) “ The World ’s End ” ( 1964 ) The Doctor and his bunch go far in a post - apocalyptic London , where they ’re terrorized by bionic man enforcers … and then a Dalek come climb up out of the river , revealing that the true force behind the successful encroachment of Earth is the Doctor ’s deadliest enemies … the Daleks ! The original game - changing cliffhanger . How is it resolve ? “ The Daleks are the masters of Earth ! ”
4 ) “ The Space Museum ” ( 1965 ) One of my personal favorite — the Doctor , Ian , Barbara and Vicki jump their time track and visit their own future — and at the end of the first episode , they describe their future selves , pin and hold as exhibits in an exotic museum for all eternity . How is it resolved ? They vow to change their own futures … before it ’s too belatedly !
5 ) “ The pestilence ” ( 1966 ) Another clever use of fourth dimension travelling . The Doctor , Steven and Dodo confab the survivors of the human race , who are traveling to a new homeworld after the destruction of the Earth . The humans are working on a elephantine statue of a world , which will be completed when they reach the new planet , and they ’re accompanied by a race of servants , the Monoids . But when the Doctor and his friends leave in the TARDIS , they bound onwards seven hundred years , visiting the same Ark in the hereafter — and the giant statue now has the head of a Monoid , because the Monoids have enslaved human race . It ’s a really bang-up visual trick that tells you everything you need to live . How is it resolve ? The Doctor and his friends team up with some inconspicuous aliens ( budgets being what they are ) to help humanity .
6 ) “ Power Of The Daleks ” episode 4 ( 1966 ) The Daleks are play false a group of gullible Earth colonist into cogitate they ’re docile servants . expert affair there are only a handful of Daleks around , then … right ? Oh wait . Here ’s a Brobdingnagian giant Dalek production line cranking them out by the slews . Zut alors ! How is it resolved ? “ DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY . ”
7 ) “ The Moonbase ” episode 3 ( 1967 ) The Doctor has outwitted the Cybermen and drive them out of the Moonbase , close off their secret entrance … except now the whole Cyber - fleet has land and a huge United States Army of Cybermen is march across the Moon ’s open , with a huge cannon aimed at the infrastructure . How is it resolved ? The Doctor figures out how to use the Moonbase ’s Graviton against them .
- “ Tomb Of The Cybermen ” episode 2 ( 1967 ) A whole army of Cybermen is in stale store underneath their tomb on the satellite Telos , and as the Doctor watches in repulsion , they thaw out . The Cyber - Controller approaches and herald that the humans belong to the Cybermen , and “ you will be like us . ” How is it resolved ? The Doctor barely gets out of that frigid reliquary in one piece .
9 ) “ The Mind Robber ” instalment 1 ( 1968 ) The TARDIS explode ! You do n’t get much more cliffhanger - atomic number 39 than that . ( In fact , you could do just a tilt of cliffhanger where the TARDIS explodes , but I think this was the first one . ) The Doctor and his companions are left floating in an eerie nullity with the shatter pieces of the Doctor ’s time machine . How is it resolved ? They drift into a kingdom of make - believe … and the story go downhill from there .
10 ) “ The War Games ” installment 9 ( 1969 ) The Doctor has no choice but to contact his own people , the Time Lords , for assistance … but can he escape before they arrive ? Apparently not , since everything get going to turn into a slow motion incubus , and the Doctor passes out while trying to get his cay into the TARDIS doorway . How is it resolved ? The Doctor finds a last flare-up of strength and get the TARDIS undetermined , pulling Jamie and Zoe inside .
11 ) “ Doctor Who And The Silurians ” instalment 6 ( 1970 ) The Doctor and the Brigadier are crouched over a dead consistency — the first of 1000000 who will die from the Silurians ’ plague . How is it resolved ? A whole tidy sum of people throw off numb in the street , in one of the show ’s more graphical scenes of death and cataclysm .
12 ) “ Inferno ” episode 6 ( 1970 ) The world is destruct . What more could you ask for ? Oh , sure , it ’s an alternative Earth . But the Doctor is trapped there , catch impotently as the globe ends in flames — and “ our ” Earth is next . How is it decide ? The Doctor wield to get the TARDIS operate at the last moment , return to “ our ” humanity .
13 ) “ Colony In Space ” episode 4 ( 1971 ) Almost every cliffhanger in 1971 necessitate the evil Time Lord , the Master , attempt to kill the Doctor in some playful style . I particularly like the one in “ Terror Of The Autons ” where the Master has the Doctor strangled by a living phone corduroy . But the one that always stick in my mind is the one in “ Colony In Space , ” where the Master decides that he ’s done with the fun and game , and he ’s just going to shoot the Doctor in the affectionateness . He pulls out a gun for hire and appears perfectly happy to rend the induction and then pretend the Doctor died in the crossfire . How is it dissolve ? Someone interrupts the Master before he can deplumate the induction , and he has to maintain his cover identity as an Adjudicator .
14 ) “ Genesis Of The Daleks ” episode 4 ( 1975 ) Yep , there ’s a adult crack here — but I frankly ca n’t think of any striking cliffhangers from Pertwee ’s final three seasons . The Dalek origin story is a different matter , offer a few great cliffhangers to choose from . The unspoilt one involves the harebrained scientist Davros excruciate the Doctor ’s friends to obligate the Doctor to divulge the secrets of how the Daleks are kill in the future . If the Doctor breaks , it ’ll make the Daleks invincible forever . How is it resolved ? The Doctor breaks .
15 ) “ Pyramids Of Mars ” episode 3 ( 1975 ) The Doctor manages to demolish Sutekh ’s rocket , finally put an ending to the disturbed god ’s dodging to destroy the military unit field generator on Mars that keep him a captive . But to do this , the Doctor must hazard into Sutekh ’s pyramid in person — and he ’s incapacitated before the unspeakable power of the Osirian . How is it resolved ? The Doctor becomes Sutekh ’s puppet .
16 ) “ The Deadly Assassin ” instalment 1 ( 1976 ) The Doctor rushes to prevent the character assassination of the Time Lord president — but he fails , and to the spectator , it look like the physician himself is the assassin . How is it resolved ? The Doctor is accused of assassinating the President and must turn up his innocence .
17 ) “ The Face Of Evil ” instalment 1 ( 1977 ) The Doctor is confronted with the huge cutting of the face of the Evil One , the mythical bugbear that terrorizes Leela ’s tribe — and it ’s his facial expression . How is it break up ? The Doctor vows to find out out why his face is the look-alike of ultimate evil , when he does n’t even remember confabulate there before .
18 ) “ The Invasion Of Time ” sequence 2 ( 1978 ) The Doctor of the Church ’s become United States President of Gallifrey , his home planet . But no sooner does he wind up swearing his oath to protect the citizenry of Gallifrey then he destroy the planet ’s denial and invite in a race of cruel invader — the Vardans . He tells the Time Lords to defer before their new masters . How is it resolved ? The Doctor is up to something .
19 ) “ The Pirate Planet ” episode 3 ( 1978 ) This one freak out my shit when I was a shaver . The Doctor snuff it back to face the Captain and his cryptically bossy nurse — and they make him take the air the plank , driving him off the edge , where he falls to his apparent death . How is it conclude ? It ’s not really the Doctor , but a projection he ’s created , using Queen Xanxia ’s arcanum .
20 ) “ The Leisure Hive ” episode 2 ( 1980 ) The Doctor is put into the tachyon generator as a sort of tribulation by ordeal , plus a mental testing of Hardin ’s time - use theories . Romana is fairly confident the Doctor will emerge from the generator just a few years new — but when she returns to Hardin ’s science laboratory to gather something , she sees that an hourglass that was reverse in time has burst , with the fragment freeze in a atrocious force bubble . This think of all of their calculations are wrong , and the Doctor is trapped in the generator as it ages him hundreds of year . How is it resolved ? The Doctor is leave an old military personnel whom nobody will heed to .
21 ) “ The Keeper Of Traken ” episode 4 ( 1980 ) I ’d also mention episode 3 , where the evil Melkur tricks everybody and becomes the Keeper , sit down on the throne that allow him to wield ultimate baron , as one of the all - clip great cliffhanger . But it ’s dwarfed by the horrifying end of instalment 4 , where the Melkur ( revealed to be the Master in camouflage ) traps Nyssa ’s Father-God , Tremas , and takes over his torso . How is it resolved ? The Master has a new body … at last .
22 ) “ Earthshock ” episode 1 ( 1981 ) Killer robots terrorise the Doctor and his friends in a cave — but their secret masters are revealed to be the Cybermen , watch on a proctor . How is it resolved ? The Doctor finally confronts the Cybermen .
23 ) “ The Caves Of Androzani ” episode 3 ( 1984 ) The greatest doc Who cliffhanger of them all , I ’d reason . The Doctor is give-up the ghost of Spectrox toxemia , so imperfect he can barely take the air , and he ’s been taken captive by savage gun - blue runner . He manages to get into the control room of their starship and maneuver it back to Androzani Minor , where his also ill companion ( and the remedy for their disease ) are . The gun runner are about to shoot him in the head , but he ’s pass anyway , and he ’s NOT get TO LET THEM intercept HIM NOW . He broadcast their spaceship on a hit course with the planet . How is it resolve ? The ship crashes .
24 ) “ anamnesis Of The Daleks ” installment 1 ( 1988 ) I ’m including this one against my better judgment , because I know it ’s regard as one of the great cliffhangers by many buff , but the actual execution is pants , with Sylvester McCoy pull some abominable faces . fundamentally the Doctor gets trapped in a cellar with a Dalek , so he climbs the step to escape — but the Dalek starting time levitating up the stairway . How is it resolved ? Ace lets the Doctor out of the basement .
25 ) “ Curse Of Fenric ” episode 3 ( 1989 ) The Ultima naught automobile springs to life , unlock the secrets of the Viking runes , as Millington chant that the Chain of Fenric are shattering . But the new host body of Fenric is n’t Millington , it ’s Dr. Judson , who rises to his feet with an malign grinning and severalise the Doctor the biz is beginning again . How is it resolved ? The Doctor is force to act the “ biz of traps ” against Fenric .
26 ) “ Bad Wolf ” ( 2005 ) The mysterious force behind the malefic game show satellite turns out to be the Daleks — and they ’ve captured Rose . And they have a huge fleet of ship all head for Earth . They seek to hold in Rose hostage , but the Doctor gives another one of his expectant words in which he says he ’ll save Rose and thwart the Daleks . How is it solve ? The Doctor saves Rose . Thwarting the Daleks , though … slightly more complicated .
27 ) “ Army Of Ghosts ” ( 2006 ) Not only have the Cybermen basically conquer Earth already , but the orphic extra - dimensional sphere is open . What could be unfit than an unstoppable Cyber - U. S. Army all over the world ? How about a smattering of Daleks who survived the Time War ! How is it resolved ? The Cybermen and Daleks throw down .
28 ) “ Utopia ” ( 2007 ) The Doctor realise too recently that the professor is really the Master . Who steals the TARDIS , ground the Doctor in the distant future , about to be killed by a ton of Mad Max rejects . The following cliffhanger , in which the Master ages the Doctor one C of years and decimates the human population , is also pretty amazing . How is it resolved ? The Doctor uses Captain Jack ’s vortex manipulator .
29 ) “ The Stolen Earth ” ( 2008 ) The Doctor is exterminated ! And the same appears about to happen to Sarah Jane Smith and the Torchwood crew . And the Doctor depart to regenerate . A whole nation gasps , wondering if we ’re really going to see a new Doctor next hebdomad . How is it settle ? piece of a cop - out , really . The Doctor does n’t regenerate after all .
30 ) “ The End Of Time ” part 1 ( 2009 ) Every single person in the world — except Donna and her grandfather — reverse into the Master . While the secret narrator of the episode turns out to be the President of the Time Lords , who ’s plan something nebulous but on the face of it nefarious involving “ the end of time . ” Booyah ! How is it resolved ? Actually , everyone on Earth bide the Master for quite a while , surprisingly enough .
31 ) “ The Pandorica Opens ” ( 2010 ) The entire universe ends , while the Doctor is entrap inside an ineluctable prison . And meanwhile , Rory turns out to be an Auton duplication , who shoots his bride-to-be Amy dead . How is it resolved ? Timey wimey . Also , wibbledy wobbledy .
Want a second opinion ? Den Of Geekhas this great leaning , but it seems to be jolly hampered by the decision to pick out one cliffhanger per Doctor — which have in mind having to dig up a Colin Baker cliffhanger from someplace . ( For me , the chilling Colin Baker cliffhanger is the end of “ The Twin Dilemma , ” when we ’re confront with the frightful threat that this guy cable is the Doctor , whether we like it or not . I actually think Baker is a o.k. histrion , as he prove in some of the Big Finish audios , but his televised performance was not optimal . ) There ’s also a partial list of cliffhangershere . And Topless Robotjust post a capital list of the worst Doctor Who cliffhangers , although they ’re missing several bad ones , admit some Pertwee stories where the episode just … stops .
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