Worst Unresolved Cliff Hanger in television history

[Redem]

According to you what Tv show really could have use a resolution to their Cliff Hanger

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

Surface

Reunion

Traveler

[Toonimator]

Earth2, though I only remember the main character being put in stasis being a cliffhanger... maybe there was more to it; putting her in suspended animation until they could fix her WAS cliffhanger-y, but it probably would've felt cheap if they healed her in the first hour of season 2. Seemed more like a running subplot for the next season, figuring out how to save her.

[Athena Bast]

Benson

I have no idea how that election turned out.

[DonC]

Surface

Reunion

Traveler


The victim's daughter was the killer.

[jdwrocks]

The brief series "Cliffhanger"? Back in the early 80's I believe. 3 different shows in one weekly episode. Never lasted past a year.

[The Black Guardian]

Twin Peaks
Blake's 7
Space: Above and Beyond
Forever Knight
Dark Angel
Lost World

Oh... and Alf. [Project ALF does not exist! :tongue:]

[meethraa]

My Own Worst Enemy comes to mind... because I just finished watching episode 9 not ten minutes ago.

[Wenatchee the Hatchet]

A friend told me the end of Forever Knight was something like the vampire killing himself that the box set had some unaired episode or something. Been years since I heard this so the info may not be reliable.

[kalorama]

Twin Peaks
Blake's 7
Space: Above and Beyond
Forever Knight
Dark Angel
Lost World

There was a cliffhanger at the end of Dark Angel?

[Ontir]

Season 2 of This Life. Melée @ the wedding, major fight when all of a sudden the long-lost gay roommate returns and it just ends. The whole bloody series just stops right there!

Benson doesn't actually have a cliffhanger OR a finalé. The show hasn't actually been cancelled, just put on hiatus. They were always intended to come back and pick up the final eps of the season, but...

It's rather like when someone's sent to take a phone call in the other room, or up to the attic to get skis in a soap opera. A fate worse than decapitation whilst falling off a cliff!

I love the end of Blakes 7. Was Avon a total bastard all along, or was he the truest friend and sad sole survivor? We'll never know, but it's fun to argue about!

[The Black Guardian]

A friend told me the end of Forever Knight was something like the vampire killing himself that the box set had some unaired episode or something. Been years since I heard this so the info may not be reliable.
I'm not really sure if I'd call it a cliffhanger or just an ambiguous ending. It ended with Natalie hovering close to death, LaCroix looming above Nick, who didn't know whether to turn Natalie or let her die. Nick asked LaCroix to stake him, and we saw the raised stake, but we never saw the outcome. Many doubt that LaCroix would have ever done the deed.

There was no unaired episode, but the script had them all dying (even LaCroix dies by sunlight). However, we never do actually see that happen on film.

There was a cliffhanger at the end of Dark Angel?
Yes. Dark Angel had actually been renewed for another season, but Fox went back on their word and pulled the plug at the final minute for Firefox. The series ended with all of the transgenics revealed and stuck in Terminal City.

[Mike Smith]

It was more of an unexpected canceling at a series crux than cliffhanger, but Kyle XY recently ended in a very unresolved and disappointing manner.

[marshal99]

Well , Angel's ending was purposely ambiguous , to go out fighting , you can say that the ending was unresolved.

Dark skies was definitely unresolved , i don't remember the alien invasion being stopped or the fiancee being saved. Since the show was set in the 60s , i would have thought earth would have been overrun in the present.

[Infernorhythm]

Surface

Reunion

Traveler

Thank you, another Traveler fan! One of the most underrated, smart shows ever. David DiGilio explained a lot of the stuff that would have happened, including the cliffhanger, but it would have been so cool to actually see it play out. As a season finale it would have rocked. As a series finale it was painful.

[kalorama]

double post.

[kalorama]

Yes. Dark Angel had actually been renewed for another season, but Fox went back on their word and pulled the plug at the final minute for Firefox. The series ended with all of the transgenics revealed and stuck in Terminal City.

I know that. The ending wasn't a finite, definitive end point with everything neatly wrapped up, but that doesn't make it a cliffhanger.

[JohnPopa]

Soap! It ended with one of the main characters apparently being shot by a firing squad.

[ForeverTaskmaster]

Samo Hung's Martial Law. That show deserved some form of a closure.

[jesse_custer]

Blake's 7

That doesn't have a cliffhanger. It has a series finale with two interpretations (and one of them is a HUGE STRETCH).

[Stressfactor]

Now and Again -- Michael and his family on the run while a pissed off Dr. Morris starts after him with like a couple of military platoons and military hardware at his disposal.

Sapphire and Steel -- Trapped in a 'resturant at the end of the universe'. (Yes, that was a Douglas Adams joke and also yes, I know Big Finish did audios that got the two characters out but as far as I know that isn't exactly canon.)

[Mac Danny]

Journeyman.

[Kaiju]

High Incident- Half the cast was injured or dead in the aftermath of their version of the North Hollywood shootout. Blair Underwood's character was in a coma and Lisa Vidal's character finally admits that she's in love with him. I was ticked that it wasn't renewed.

Someone upthread mentioned Cliffhangers. The Dracula story was finished in the final episode shown on tv. Secret Empire and Stop Susan Williams were completed but never shown on American tv.

[Siddon]

Carnivale

Deadwood

Sopranos

[jesse_custer]

Deadwood didn't have a cliffhanger. The characters could have been used for more stories, but Season 3 had a definite ending.

[Phil Clark]

Lost in Space: They never did resolve whether or not the Robinsons either Reached their destination or got back to earth.

Quantum Leap: Sam keeps trying to get home, and yet when the series ends, he is told that he won't be going home, and that the leaps are just going to get harder from this point on. Crap!!!! I want more.

[Redem]

.

Quantum Leap: Sam keeps trying to get home, and yet when the series ends, he is told that he won't be going home, and that the leaps are just going to get harder from this point on. Crap!!!! I want more.

What happen is that he leaped in the body of a guy who was about to be execute infront of a firing range 2 second before they shoot...that didn,t end well

[Slam_Bradley]

Crime Story actually ended with a cliffhanger.

[Gilda Dent]

Lost in Space: They never did resolve whether or not the Robinsons either Reached their destination or got back to earth.

That's not a cliffhanger, it's the series' premise. Lost in Space is episodic, not a serial, so a proper cliffhanger would have a conflict set up within an episode and then left unresolved or would end just prior to the climax.


Quantum Leap: Sam keeps trying to get home, and yet when the series ends, he is told that he won't be going home, and that the leaps are just going to get harder from this point on. Crap!!!! I want more.

Not quite. Sam is given the choice of going home or returning to a previous leap to help save Al's first marriage. He chooses the latter, the consequence of which is that he never returns home. There are a few unanswered questions, but the major conflict of both the series and that episode is given a resolution--Sam helps Al and never goes home, spending the rest of his life leaping around helping people.

[lou-bert vs. q-bert]

Blade the Series: just as it became fascinatingly great.

[Mac Danny]

Carnivale

Deadwood

Sopranos

Yes on Carnivale.

[jessecuster3]

Yes on Carnivale.

No on Sopranos. I loved the ending of Sopranos.

[Toonimator]

I don't think Journeyman was "worst unresolved"... sure, you didn't get all the answers about why he jumps in time, or what people know about it, but it gave you enough info to know he's on the right track, and his wife finally got to see him vanish. It was, to me, a satisfying end that really shouldn't have been an end but for the strike and NBC's ridiculous notion that anything following Heroes has to be a super-mega-giganto hit every week or it's not worth it. Studio 60 and Journeyman should've had a couple full seasons each, at least. Now, all 10pm programming is nixed in favor of 5 nights of Jay BEFORE local news.

So I guess the 10pm Hour of NBC is a pretty bad unresolved cliffhanger... we'll never know what COULD have shown up in those slots! :biggrin:

[Slam_Bradley]

Not quite. Sam is given the choice of going home or returning to a previous leap to help save Al's first marriage. He chooses the latter, the consequence of which is that he never returns home. There are a few unanswered questions, but the major conflict of both the series and that episode is given a resolution--Sam helps Al and never goes home, spending the rest of his life leaping around helping people.


Yep, it was a resolution.

It may or may not have been a good resolution. But it definitely was one.

[Justin D.]

Yep, it was a resolution.

It may or may not have been a good resolution. But it definitely was one.

Seeing Sam starting to cry when he was told that the leaps were not over but only going to get harder was gut-wrenching.

For me, it's the last episode of Red Dwarf. I was so incredibly frustrated that was the last episode of the series. Yes, I know it's back right now, many years later, but it doesn't pick up where the last episode left the show. I haven't seen the new episodes yet, but I have heard that the ones aired so far don't address what happened at the end of the last series.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

.

Quantum Leap: Sam keeps trying to get home, and yet when the series ends, he is told that he won't be going home, and that the leaps are just going to get harder from this point on. Crap!!!! I want more.


What happen is that he leaped in the body of a guy who was about to be execute infront of a firing range 2 second before they shoot...that didn,t end well




Not quite. Sam is given the choice of going home or returning to a previous leap to help save Al's first marriage. He chooses the latter, the consequence of which is that he never returns home. There are a few unanswered questions, but the major conflict of both the series and that episode is given a resolution--Sam helps Al and never goes home, spending the rest of his life leaping around helping people.

Ok to add a little. Motivation on why Sam Beckett never went home....

In the series finale , Sam is also told he could have leaped home at any time he wanted. Its just that he secretly , deep down stopped himself from leaping home. That he knew he liked leaping into lives and fixing things for people.

[Gaastra]

Exo-squad
captain power
spider-man unlimited
didn't seaquest end in a cliff-hanger?

[Siddon]

Deadwood didn't have a cliffhanger. The characters could have been used for more stories, but Season 3 had a definite ending.

Deadwood was suppossed to end with the fire at the Jem and the exiling of Al it was cancelled before they reached that point.

[jesse_custer]

Perhaps, but that doesn't mean Season 3 had a cliffhanger ending. More importantly, the two events you have mentioned are not even alluded to in the series.

[Redem]

spider-man unlimited


Ah yes, though if I recall what happen was it had a short run at one point but was pulled out of the drawer sometime later giving some additional episode but never having a finish

Big Guy and Rusty ended up on a reveal too

[The Black Guardian]

didn't seaquest end in a cliff-hanger?
No, it just ended with several episodes unfinished.

[frankiedetroit]

Soap! It ended with one of the main characters apparently being shot by a firing squad.

Amen! Though Jessica does later turn up in Benson as a ghost at some point. But what about the other characters—does Burt buy it too, sneaking into that house?

[The Black Guardian]

That doesn't have a cliffhanger. It has a series finale with two interpretations (and one of them is a HUGE STRETCH).
Not so. The episode wasn't even intended to be the finale.

[Hoss]

The Nine - the show wasn't all that great but still...

[jesse_custer]

Not so. The episode wasn't even intended to be the finale.

Doesn't really matter. The final episode didn't leave anything to the imagination other than completely absurd wishes for a great show to somehow continue.

Avon's mission and prediction were fulfilled.

[Hoss]

Yes on Carnivale.

The worst part is that they could have given you some resolution but purposely gave you a cliff hanger ending...

[choptop]

Silver Surfer and Spider-Man Unlimited.

[Legato]

I hate to say it but Im going to have to say Quantum Leap also. They could have atleast provide a TV Movie to actually give Sam a proper ending.

The final episode of OZ wasn't satisfactory either.

[Slam_Bradley]

I hate to say it but Im going to have to say Quantum Leap also. They could have atleast provide a TV Movie to actually give Sam a proper ending.

The final episode of OZ wasn't satisfactory either.


Not liking an ending neither makes it improper nor a cliff-hanger.

[the_coldest_sun]

Veronica Mars. I watched the entire series borrowed from a friend of mine, and I had no idea while watching the last episode that it was the last episode. I was eager to know the outcome of the Sheriff election and all that jazz. I was like.."whaa? thats it?"

[fireSTRIKE!]

Nowhere Man... it was a great one-season series that got cancelled back in ' 95 or ' 96 ... what was revealed in the end was that Tom Veil wasn't even Tom Veil, the negatives never really mattered to the Organization, and we would never know where the conspiracy and the mystery of Tom Veil would have eventually led to...

[hugh45]

Doesn't really matter. The final episode didn't leave anything to the imagination other than completely absurd wishes for a great show to somehow continue.

Avon's mission and prediction were fulfilled.

Y have to admit,they did all this build up for the battle. All it ended up was the sheriff to say,leave Deadwood and don't come back. WTH!!?? :mad:

I still think it was the director way of saying to HBO @$!%!% for canceling me
:smile:

[Toreador]

John Doe. Never explained how John knows everything or really why the Phoenix group was after him. And how Digger was the big boss of the group.

Another vote for Reunion. Sure the producers revealed after the show cancelled who the killer was but not the how or why.

Vanishing. The ending sucked. She goes back to her old boyfriend. What about the huge conspiracy? Why was the senator important? A whole lot of unanswered questions.

[marshal99]

Tru Calling - just when it got interesting with the father involved with Jack , the series ended. What the heck ! Nothing was resolved.

[JCAll]

The Pirates of Dark Water. I may be carrying the grudge a little far at this point, but it still ticks me off that it got cancelled halfway through the story.

[The Black Guardian]

Doesn't really matter. The final episode didn't leave anything to the imagination other than completely absurd wishes for a great show to somehow continue.

Avon's mission and prediction were fulfilled.
Obviously there was tons left to the imagination since things seemed much bleaker than the writers intended it to be. The fact is that Boucher and many of the cast (all but Gareth Thomas, who was leaving) have stated there were plans for a fifth season. The final episode was not how things were meant to be left. The final scene was of Avon charging into battle against the Feds. That's a cliffhanger no matter how you slice it.

[Tobias March]

The worst part is that they could have given you some resolution but purposely gave you a cliff hanger ending...

Given it's origins as a movie script, I'm half-convinced the writer believed he had a shot of finally launching it as a film post-series.

Serenity-style.

[Tobias March]

For me, well, I guess I was the one person who like Space: Above and Beyond

- and that finale pissed me off.

[Gilda Dent]

Obviously there was tons left to the imagination since things seemed much bleaker than the writers intended it to be. The fact is that Boucher and many of the cast (all but Gareth Thomas, who was leaving) have stated there were plans for a fifth season. The final episode was not how things were meant to be left. The final scene was of Avon charging into battle against the Feds. That's a cliffhanger no matter how you slice it.

But it is how things were left.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Fist of Fury both end with the protagonist charging into battle with a group of armed soldiers, but there's little doubt that what happens in the next few seconds is that they die in a hail of gunfire. As with Blake's 7. Avon is surrounded in an enclosed space by armed Federation troops who have just killed all of his crew and we hear a series of gunshots in the moments following the freeze frame.

That's not a cliffhanger. We are shown on screen the ultimate fate of every major character other than Servalan. It's done in such a way that it's easily reversible had they decided to do a fifth season, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a resolution.

--------------

How about a good series-ending cliffhanger? Angel's final scene is nominally a cliffhanger, but it is IMHO a damn near perfect note on which to end the series.

[Michael P]

But it is how things were left.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Fist of Fury both end with the protagonist charging into battle with a group of armed soldiers, but there's little doubt that what happens in the next few seconds is that they die in a hail of gunfire. As with Blake's 7. Avon is surrounded in an enclosed space by armed Federation troops who have just killed all of his crew and we hear a series of gunshots in the moments following the freeze frame.

One of the Blackadder series ends like that, too.


How about a good series-ending cliffhanger? Angel's final scene is nominally a cliffhanger, but it is IMHO a damn near perfect note on which to end the series.

Angel isn't a cliffhanger. It's an ending. They knew the series was canceled when they did it.

[Gilda Dent]

Angel isn't a cliffhanger. It's an ending. They knew the series was canceled when they did it.

Hence the "nominally" part. It uses the form of a cliffhanger as a means of making a thematic point regarding the show as a whole. The Sopranos final scene works in much the same way; it doesn't really matter what happens next because it's a comment on how they life their lives.

[Michael P]

Hence the "nominally" part. It uses the form of a cliffhanger as a means of making a thematic point regarding the show as a whole.

But that's not what "nominally" means...

[Gilda Dent]

But that's not what "nominally" means...

Yeah, bad usage on my part there. I should have said "ostensibly".

[jesse_custer]

Y have to admit,they did all this build up for the battle. All it ended up was the sheriff to say,leave Deadwood and don't come back. WTH!!?? :mad:

I'm sorry, but if you were expecting the show to cater to fanboy wishes, you were watching the wrong program.

It had a resolution. You didn't like it? Fine. But it wasn't a cliffhanger.

[jesse_custer]

Obviously there was tons left to the imagination since things seemed much bleaker than the writers intended it to be. The fact is that Boucher and many of the cast (all but Gareth Thomas, who was leaving) have stated there were plans for a fifth season. The final episode was not how things were meant to be left. The final scene was of Avon charging into battle against the Feds. That's a cliffhanger no matter how you slice it.

Nope. We hear one type of gun firing after the credits start, and then we hear SEVERAL other guns firing. Avon killed a few guys but was blown away.

It doesn't matter if this was the writer's original intent. It happened, and it's pretty damn obvious what happened.

[fireSTRIKE!]

the remake series of the Fugitive starring Tim Daly as Richard Kimble back in 2000... the very last act/scene of the last ep televised is of the FBI agent involved in the government conspiracy gunning down Lt. Gerard, then about to gun down either Dr. Kimble, the one-armed man, or both...

[Phil Clark]

But you also have to take into consideration just how good Avon was. So there is the sliver of a chance that Avon could have gotten out of that alive. And what if someone else wasn't dead yet as well. Of what if Servalan her self helped Avon to escape. There are tons of possible answers to the question of what happens next since it wasn't shown. That is why it was done that way. It is a typical cliffhanger trick.

Show the hero in a car, speeding towards the cliff, and the car flies over the cliff, smashing into the ground and exploding.

Next episode shows the missing cut of the hero opening the car door and jumping out, rolling to a stop just in time to watch his car go over the edge.

And EVERY season finale of Blakes 7 ended in a cliffhanger. Every one. So saying that the series finale wasn't a cliff hanger is just being closed minded.

Apparently there is a move going to continue Blakes 7 today, picking up with Avon as the prisoner of the state. Completing his transformation into Blake. Avon becomes what he hated, the hero.

[jesse_custer]

Soolin was unquestionably the best gunfighter in Blake's 7. If she didn't make it, Avon didn't make it.

Pretty much everyone shot in Blake's 7 had always died. There's no reason for us to assume a different case just because the series ended and a few people were butthurt about it.

Edit: And let me add that even if the script writers wrote it as a cliffhanger, they did a shitty job of communicating that.

[Gilda Dent]

But you also have to take into consideration just how good Avon was. So there is the sliver of a chance that Avon could have gotten out of that alive. And what if someone else wasn't dead yet as well. Of what if Servalan her self helped Avon to escape. There are tons of possible answers to the question of what happens next since it wasn't shown. That is why it was done that way. It is a typical cliffhanger trick.

Sure there are tons of possible answers. Only one is remotely plausible, however.


Show the hero in a car, speeding towards the cliff, and the car flies over the cliff, smashing into the ground and exploding.

Next episode shows the missing cut of the hero opening the car door and jumping out, rolling to a stop just in time to watch his car go over the edge.

But there wasn't another episode. This was the ending. And a damned good one, at that.

The car going over the cliff and exploding is a cliffhanger only if we know that there is another episode of the serial the next week. If it's the end of the last episode, it's just the end.

The purpose of a cliffhanger is to set up an unanswered question so that the audience will come back to find the answer. What happened during the missing two years? Who Shot J.R? Did Howard really just kill himself? Was the baby a boy or a girl? This ending doesn't set up unanswered questions. There's no unresolved conflict. We have a concrete resolution.


And EVERY season finale of Blakes 7 ended in a cliffhanger. Every one. So saying that the series finale wasn't a cliff hanger is just being closed minded.

No, it's accepting what we see on screen.


Apparently there is a move going to continue Blakes 7 today, picking up with Avon as the prisoner of the state. Completing his transformation into Blake. Avon becomes what he hated, the hero.

Of course fans want more. That they do doesn't mean that it will happen or change what we see on screen.

[Phil Clark]

...No, it's accepting what we see on screen....

And there's the rub. We didn't see ANYTHING on screen. We heard a bunch of gun shots. We didn't see Avon die. You can say it was an ending if you want, that doesn't change our opinion that it wasn't an end for us. And we want more.

[GozertheGozarian]

It's not a cliffhanger if there's no intent to resolve the storyline.

[Phil Clark]

So now you are going to say that the producers didn't intend to have another season? How can you possibly say that.

[bfrank]

5 Pages and no "Models Inc." my god people.....

[The Blinkmeister]

Soolin was unquestionably the best gunfighter in Blake's 7.

Yeah, Harry is great with a gun........oh, wrong show :biggrin: :wink:





Edit: And let me add that even if the script writers wrote it as a cliffhanger, they did a shitty job of communicating that.

I don't understand why there is such a confusion about this. It is basically the same joke they pulled on Doctor Who in 1989. Everybody assumed there would be a next series (including Boucher, who has stated on tape that it was always intended to have at least 6 seasons, 3 for the liberator and 3 for the scorpio), so at the last minute their contract wasn't renewed by the head of the BBC drama department (that last bit is a guess, as I don't know who made the exact decision).

The final was always intended as a cliffhanger, but should have been resolved at the beginning of Season 5 (had they been given a contract renewal). People would have survived the final (I imagine at the very least Avon and Soolin, the latter was the newest crew member and therefore still interesting to attract potential new viewers).

[jesse_custer]

Before I got the Internet and saw people complain about everything, I had no idea the writers intended it as a cliffhanger.

All I'm saying is look at what they gave us: people shot to the ground in dramatic slow motion, and Avon against an army. Looks pretty goddamn definitive despite the failed plans.

Plus, if you accept what I'm saying, that's a damn great ending, and you don't need to complain anymore.

[GozertheGozarian]

So now you are going to say that the producers didn't intend to have another season? How can you possibly say that.
I'm not talking of any specific show. I've never heard of Blake's 7 until this thread.

[Phil Clark]

...if you accept what I'm saying...

That is a mighty big IF. All I am saying is that as a fan, I want more, and don't consider the end of what became the final episode to be an end to the potential stories or the characters. You can say that the ending as is, is pretty definitive, I just don't agree. We don't have to agree. Both your position and mine are simply opinions, not absolute facts. We can both be right in our own minds. You can accept that episode as the end. I can try to write my own ending or try to become part of a remake that retells the tales of Blake and his fellow rebels and continues on beyond this "end". Or not.

It's all good. I am not saying your opinion is wrong so please don't tell me mine is wrong.


I'm not talking of any specific show. I've never heard of Blake's 7 until this thread.

Sorry, I inferred your meaning Blakes 7 due to the placement of your post. My bad.

[jesse_custer]

That is a mighty big IF. All I am saying is that as a fan, I want more, and don't consider the end of what became the final episode to be an end to the potential stories or the characters. You can say that the ending as is, is pretty definitive, I just don't agree. We don't have to agree. Both your position and mine are simply opinions, not absolute facts. We can both be right in our own minds. You can accept that episode as the end. I can try to write my own ending or try to become part of a remake that retells the tales of Blake and his fellow rebels and continues on beyond this "end". Or not.

It's all good. I am not saying your opinion is wrong so please don't tell me mine is wrong.

I'm not saying you can't have an opinion or that you're wrong for wanting more out of the series. But my viewpoint saves me from stress, and it takes the episode for what it is, not what it could have been. Just a thought. I didn't mean to imply imagination is a bad thing.

[Gilda Dent]

Never mind.

[howyadoin]

For me, well, I guess I was the one person who like Space: Above and BeyondI loved it when it was first aired. Went back and watched the entire series in the past couple years, and found there were only about 3 or 4 good episodes in the entire run. The rest was garbage.

[howyadoin]

That is a mighty big IF. All I am saying is that as a fan, I want more, and don't consider the end of what became the final episode to be an end to the potential stories or the characters. You can say that the ending as is, is pretty definitive, I just don't agree. We don't have to agree. Both your position and mine are simply opinions, not absolute facts. We can both be right in our own minds. You can accept that episode as the end. I can try to write my own ending or try to become part of a remake that retells the tales of Blake and his fellow rebels and continues on beyond this "end". Or not. Writing your own ending has nothing whatsoever to do with what happened on the actual show, though.

Which is what we're talking about in this thread.

[Phil Clark]

Correct. And I still say that I feel that the end was a cliff hanger that needs resolution. And I am not alone in this. Paul Darrow himself has been behind an attempt to continue the Blakes 7 story. It may happen some day. Until then, I reserve the right to bitch about the way the show ended. :rolleyes:

[howyadoin]

Correct. And I still say that I feel that the end was a cliff hanger that needs resolution. And I am not alone in this. Paul Darrow himself has been behind an attempt to continue the Blakes 7 story. It may happen some day. Until then, I reserve the right to bitch about the way the show ended. :rolleyes:By all means, bitch away. Personally, I think Battlestar Galactica should have ended with Starbuck and Athena coming over to my place for a tequila-fuelled menage a trois, but that doesn't make the ending they went with a cliffhanger.

[kalorama]

I'm starting to think that for some people, any series that doesn't end with everyone dead or the words "they all lived happily ever after" on the screen counts as a cliffhanger.

[howyadoin]

I'm starting to think that for some people, any series that doesn't end with everyone dead or the words "they all lived happily ever after" on the screen counts as a cliffhanger.Maybe there needs to be a paragraph of text on the screen explaining the rest of each character's life.

[Michael P]

Maybe there needs to be a paragraph of text on the screen explaining the rest of each character's life.

"The Beaver died in Vietnam."

[Hoss]

"The Beaver died in Vietnam."

Did not - he got fat and middle-aged and divorced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Leave_It_to_Beaver

[Davideaux]

Did not - he got fat and middle-aged and divorced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Leave_It_to_Beaver

I prefer Michael's ending.

[howyadoin]

Did not - he got fat and middle-aged and divorced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Leave_It_to_BeaverIt's a cliffhanger to me, dammit!

[Legato]

"The Beaver died in Vietnam."

Died in a blaze of glory I bet.

[blackdragon6]

dark skies

[The Gunslinger]

The 4400, and The Dead Zone.

[Brock]

30 Rock season 2, which ended with Kenneth held at gunpoint by Chinese organ scalpers.

So far no callback to that in season 3. The lack of resoultion in itself is quite funny, but they could just as easily come up with a quick explanation for how he escaped.

[Redem]

The 4400, and The Dead Zone.

Too bad I must say for dead zone their final actually kinda made an interesting adjustement

[Tobias March]

30 Rock season 2, which ended with Kenneth held at gunpoint by Chinese organ scalpers.

So far no callback to that in season 3. The lack of resoultion in itself is quite funny, but they could just as easily come up with a quick explanation for how he escaped.

Who says he escaped? They probably did a number on him, like in Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance.

[Phil Clark]

Dude, the producers themselves planned on another season of Blakes 7. They treated the end of the season as a cliffhanger just as they had every other season. Just because you choose to accept the end of the season as an end, doesn't mean that it doesn't also qualify as a cliff hanger. And no need to go to extremes.

Other shows have just ended without them being cliff hangers. Quantum Leap I suppose is just unresolved, but not a cliffhanger. But Blakes definitely was a cliffhanger.

[jesse_custer]

The difference is I never questioned the fact that the other three season finales were cliffhangers. The last finale certainly looks dim in comparison.

[Alan Lynch]

Other shows have just ended without them being cliff hangers. Quantum Leap I suppose is just unresolved, but not a cliffhanger. But Blakes definitely was a cliffhanger.
Quantum Leap was definitely resolved. Sam never got home, but he did prevent Al's first wife leaving him thus ensuring a happy ever after. The only ambiguous thing about the finale was what exactly was leaping Sam around. And even that wasn't well hidden.

Sorry, random interruption. Carry on.

[Stressfactor]

Not all cliffhanger endings are bad. Here's one no one has mentioned -- Dallas.

In the final episode the company is in the toilet and J.R. appears to get a visit from an angelic-like being who shows him what everyone's lives would have been like without him in them, a-la "It's a Wonderful Life". The kicker is that almost EVERYONE would have been better off if he'd never existed.

Then, at the end, the reveal is that the being who is showing him this isn't angelic... he's demonic and he's trying to convince J.R. to shoot himself. J.R. stands in front of a mirror with a gun in his hand and he sees an image of the demon in a full length mirror he's standing in front of and he raises the gun....

Outside Bobby arrives, worried about J.R. He rushes into the the house and is coming up the stairs when he hears a gunshot and a crash from J.R.'s room. He rushes into the room and the camera is on his face and he exclaims "Oh my God!".... and then freeze frame.

Multiple choices here... DID J.R. shoot himself and his body fall into the mirror? Did J.R. shoot the mirror -- essentially telling the demon to go to hell? Did J.R. shoot himself but is only wounded?


Another good "appropriate" cliffhanger was the second finale to Magnum P.I. -- everyone is gathered for Rick's wedding and the pastor has come to the part where Rick is supposed to say "I do" and Rick freezes. Higgins tells Rick to say 'I do' then Magnum tells Rick to say 'I do' and Rick finally opens his mouth and says "I....." freezeframe. Did he finish it? Did he say "I do" or did he back out of the wedding at the last minute?

[RolandJP]

Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series

[Phil Clark]

The difference is I never questioned the fact that the other three season finales were cliffhangers. The last finale certainly looks dim in comparison.

Dimmer than the season that ended with the ship exploding with all on board. Then they come back next season to find that the image of the ship exploding was actually a visual simulation created by the computer.

Still, both qualify as a cliffhanger because both you wonder... how is he (or how are they) going to get out of this situation.

[jesse_custer]

Yes, watching people die tragically among friends is dimmer than seeing a ship with a teleporter explode.

[CannonFodder]

Journeyman didn't exactly end on a cliffhanger, but ended pretty abruptly. Too bad, it was a great show.

[hugh45]

Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series

AHH!! Loved that cartoon. Been waiting for a comeback ever since :biggrin: :tongue:

[Zack]

[QUOTE=Stressfactor;8817970]Not all cliffhanger endings are bad. Here's one no one has mentioned -- Dallas.

In the final episode the company is in the toilet and J.R. appears to get a visit from an angelic-like being who shows him what everyone's lives would have been like without him in them, a-la "It's a Wonderful Life". The kicker is that almost EVERYONE would have been better off if he'd never existed.

Then, at the end, the reveal is that the being who is showing him this isn't angelic... he's demonic and he's trying to convince J.R. to shoot himself. J.R. stands in front of a mirror with a gun in his hand and he sees an image of the demon in a full length mirror he's standing in front of and he raises the gun....

Outside Bobby arrives, worried about J.R. He rushes into the the house and is coming up the stairs when he hears a gunshot and a crash from J.R.'s room. He rushes into the room and the camera is on his face and he exclaims "Oh my God!".... and then freeze frame.

Multiple choices here... DID J.R. shoot himself and his body fall into the mirror? Did J.R. shoot the mirror -- essentially telling the demon to go to hell? Did J.R. shoot himself but is only wounded?[QUOTE]

They resolved this in the reunion movie "JR Returns." He just shot the mirror, then went off to Europe to regroup. Then he got the company back, but fell just short of being back in charge. There was another reunion, but it wasn't as good.

[Zack]

Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series

An unrproduced episode, "Requiem," resolved the main story. It's available as a radio-type production on the DVD, or you can read it online here:

http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Dungeons_&_Dragons_3x99_-_Requiem.pdf

[Anna]

Las Vegas, which had higher ratings than most of the shows that NBC kept.

kofffridaynightlightskoff

[Chris Lang]

Twin Peaks
Blake's 7
Space: Above and Beyond
Forever Knight
Dark Angel
Lost World

Oh... and Alf. [Project ALF does not exist! :tongue:]

Say what you will, but at least Project ALF let us know he's all right. I always thought it was terribly and pointlessly cruel to end the series on the note it did. Of course, no one else from the original series ended up in the TV movie, but resolving the 'cliffhanger' there was more than those other series ever got (and for some of them it's too late since the actors are too old and so on).


I love the end of Blakes 7. Was Avon a total bastard all along, or was he the truest friend and sad sole survivor? We'll never know, but it's fun to argue about!

I kind of thought that Avon basically was fooled into thinking Blake had betrayed them.

[Chris Lang]

But it is how things were left.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Fist of Fury both end with the protagonist charging into battle with a group of armed soldiers, but there's little doubt that what happens in the next few seconds is that they die in a hail of gunfire. As with Blake's 7. Avon is surrounded in an enclosed space by armed Federation troops who have just killed all of his crew and we hear a series of gunshots in the moments following the freeze frame.

That's not a cliffhanger. We are shown on screen the ultimate fate of every major character other than Servalan. It's done in such a way that it's easily reversible had they decided to do a fifth season, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a resolution.

Ah, the Bolivian Army Ending.


One of the Blackadder series ends like that, too.

That would be Blackadder Goes Forth. It's surprisingly moving and dramatic, given that in previous Blackadder series, death (including that of main characters) had been played for dark comedy.


And EVERY season finale of Blakes 7 ended in a cliffhanger. Every one. So saying that the series finale wasn't a cliff hanger is just being closed minded.

Actually, Season 3 was going to be the end of the series, with the Liberator (their ship for the first three seasons) being destroyed, and Servalan apparently dying in its destruction. Of course, they deliberately included a shot of her heading for the teleporter, just in case they DID do another season (which they did). And that's also why, though Blake's death is unambiguous (Gareth Thomas wanted to be decisively killed off), the others fall in a surreal slow motion so you can't be sure, and Avon is still standing, but then we cut to credits as laser shots are being fired.

Blake's 7 never got another season this time, so it ended up being a Bolivian Army Ending. And by now, I'd say it's far too late to pick up where it left off because it's been well over 25 years and the actors are too old.

[Hoss]

Las Vegas, which had higher ratings than most of the shows that NBC kept.

kofffridaynightlightskoff


ROI - Since CBS owns friday night as far as rating go, NBC having a critically acclaimed, cheap show makes more sense than an expensive show with a somewhat larger following.

[[]D[]/\/\[]D @ Nite/So-tite]

Surface.


Man, I hate NBC.

[Gilda Dent]

Ah, the Bolivian Army Ending.

I prefer to think of it as the Japanese Army Ending, but I'm more of a fan of Fist of Fury than I am Butch and Sundance.

[Phil Clark]

And by now, I'd say it's far too late to pick up where it left off because it's been well over 25 years and the actors are too old.

Darrow had plans of continuing the story by accounting for the 25 years and having Avon in the same predicament Blake was in at the beginning of the series. And then having Avon broken out by a new group of rebels, perhaps (my thought here, not anything I read) one or more of them could be descendents of either Rog Blake or one of the other members of the crew.

[mgs]

yup. Twin Peaks, but the 'conclusion' would be many, many more episodes to cover the speculation about what happened next.

[Anna]

ROI - Since CBS owns friday night as far as rating go, NBC having a critically acclaimed, cheap show makes more sense than an expensive show with a somewhat larger following.

Las Vegas did better on Monday night. :frown: NBC's problem is that the only time slots they own are America's Got Talent abd Sunday Night Football.

[Whirlwind Dinamo]

Odyssey 5
JMS B5 spin off Crusade
Silver Surfer cartoon
Carnivale
Invasion
Twin Peaks