4 of The WORST Classic Doctor Who Cliffhangers

[@Rogue_Cinemayt]

Practically all the cliffhangers in the trial of the time lord there all basically "Doctor you have done this" the doctor looks at camera music

[@ryanhlfc]

You forgot the zooming on Colin's face

[@Matheus-ki9zo]

​@@ryanhlfc While he's like 😯

[@TwoCentReview]

It’s funny how Dragonfire had a perfectly good cliffhanger right before that scene. Mel and Ace are walking along whenever the Dragon appears and Mel Screams super loud. This would have been fine.

[@ChestersReviews]

That is a very good point. Kinda baffling

[@peterjoyfilms]

I'm fine with the Ark in Space one tbh, it was a freaky moment

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

Indeed. There was no rewind in those days, so we saw some weird insect thing and before it entirely registered we were all moaning that we'd got to wait a week to find out what it was.

[@seanryan3020]

It was a fine idea, just poorly executed.

[@brigadier-tc8565]

Okay, so with the Dragonfire one, what happened was that in the script, the Doctor is descending into the ice caves, when he reaches a dead end, with the path continuing below, so, he'd hang off the edge of the cliff, before realising he couldn't reach the next ledge. Unfortunately, when they came to filming, they got a single ice cave set, specifically a straight path, so the entire ending for that episode couldn't be done.

[@MidnightChimey]

With the Death to the Daleks one, it's not just that it's anticlimactic with the Doctor saying "stop" and then the floor tiling. It's the combination of the utterly bizarre music and the fact Pertwee does not even make any apparent effort to sell it as a dramatic moment, with his flat delivery, that is the reason why we are still talking about it. To be honest the worst cliff-hangers are probably the ones that are least memorable, and at least Death to the Daleks achieves that, for all the wrong reasons. Likewise with Dragonfire

[@harnois75]

Death to the Daleks under-ran it's episode length, it was supposed to conclude as the Daleks approach the Doctor and Bellal as they are cornered at the base of the tower. However that would have seen the episode only reach about 18 minutes. So the story proceeds further and the reason Pertwee undersells it is that at the time of recording he wasn't aware it was going to be repurposed as a cliffhanger.

[@MidnightChimey]

@@harnois75 I'd argue it is all the better that way

[@Benjiesbeenbetter.]

The misalignment of those tiles was horrifying to anyone with OCD.

[@jamesclarke2813]

Three that jump to mind for me: The Mutants episode 5 who Rick James’ Cotton utters his totally monotone, “now we’re all going to die” line without a trace of fear or drama; Revelation of the Daleks episode 2 when a big, obviously styrofoam statue of the 6th doctor falls on him, and, most hilarious of all, Warriors of the Deep episode 1 when the doctor falls into some water for about two and a half seconds and Turlough tells Tegan they must go, saying earnestly, “face it Tegan! He’s drowned!”

[@JanRademan]

Moffat is the worst at this in modern Who. Set up an absolute classic cliffhanger, then jump six months later in the next episode with some handwaving about what happened halfway through the second episode.

[@dmf2475]

As someone who watched the Ark In Space cliffhanger in 1975, maybe you had to there but I crapped myself.

[@markstirton]

I double crapped myself.

[@michaellaviolette1249]

The ending of "Death to the Daleks" part three was not the intended cliffhanger. I'm going by memory here, having only seen the story once. According to the commentary on the DVD, in the original ending the Doctor and Bellal are fleeing from the Daleks and turn into a corridor, only to encounter a dead end. The Daleks then enter the corridor and the episode was supposed to end at that point. For reasons I've forgotten, part of the episode had to be cut, so what was supposed to be the cliffhanger came several minutes earlier than planned. In the finished episode the checkerboard came up at about the 25-minute mark, so that became the ending.

[@JAProductions494]

I was honestly really scared that Underwater Menace Part 3 was gonna be here when I love that one

[@ChestersReviews]

Oh no. I actually quite enjoy that one as well

[@ryanhlfc]

NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN STOP ME NOW!

[@Benjiesbeenbetter.]

I used to watch a lot of 60s and 70s shiws on DVD with my mother and after seeing that cliffhanger, every time Joseph Furst turned up in anything, she'd shout "Nothing in the world can stop me now!"

[@serenity1967]

Nice video, Sarcastic Purple Kermit.

[@ChestersReviews]

Thanks!

[@peterward2275]

The last one was more of a creepy jump-scare for youngsters (urg! Dead Thing falling out of cupboard!) Please try to remember that this was primarily still viewed as a Children's show in those days.

[@Noycey64]

Exactly. It gave me a jump scare when I first watched it in the 70s.

[@cameronmarnoch5236]

Five Doctors part 3: Master walks down a flight of stairs. Cliffhanger

[@peterward2275]

Part 3? When I watched it on its original run, it was a complete special, not divided into episodes.

[@julieeverett7442]

@@peterward2275 there is also a 4 part version

[@seanryan3020]

This is the one I was going to mention as well!

[@seanryan3020]

​@@peterward2275 You're correct, but in reruns, it was split up.

[@gumdeo]

I am so glad I saw the uninterrupted version.

[@GromitOfficial]

I actually don’t really mind greatest show episode 1. It isn’t suspenseful but I always thought it worked pretty well in itself just being a closing 5 seconds, they had probably just went over their 25 min slot so had to throw in a weird ending. Same craic with death to the Daley’s!

[@Spectahman2.0]

Nice to see another Whovian, subbed. Also I think the worst has to be in the last episode of The Celestial Toymaker, where it ends on the First Doctor getting a toothache after putting a candy in his mouth.

[@ChestersReviews]

Oh yes. Haha. Didn’t think about that one! Definitely felt like they had to throw some cliffhanger in at the last minute and was all they could think of

[@Autism3.0]

What.

[@loonytunescrazy]

To be fair that does intend in lead into the next story the gunfighters where he lands in the ok correl looking for a dentist , a lot of the early 60s cliffhanger endings do lead into the next story

[@chrisjilldowns3638]

Toothache can be quite nasty you know :) To be fair, they had so many episodes in those days, it's not surprising they ran out of good cliffhanger ideas sometimes.

[@EsteemedRepresentative]

Ark In Space was a good idea but badly done. Still scared the hell out of me when I first saw it for the first time back in the late 70s. There are worse than this. Watch Underworld. Oh no! An oversized gold cart... and it's coming this way!😄

[@kali3665]

That LITERAL cliffhanger from the Seventh Doctor's "Dragonfire" was absolutely pathetic - whoever thought of it should be kicked repeatedly upside the ass. NOW! That should be identified as the worst cliffhanger in the history of cliffhangers! But then there's The Five Doctors - not really a cliffhanger, but Sarah Jane did fall down a very slight hill, and the Third Doctor tried to "rescue" her as if it was a bottomless pit.

[@mantabond]

A small thing: Chester's bow tie is knotted, not ready-tied. The mark of a gentleman.

[@ChestersReviews]

Why thank you :)

[@mantabond]

My pleasure, good sir.@@ChestersReviews

[@loonytunescrazy]

The ark in space one is good

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

You forget that at the time of Death to the Daleks we also had this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/onm8iHSHjq6qh80 Pure horror.

[@MichaelHickerson]

Most of the cliffhangers from The Frontier In Space are right there...and yet you don't pick them?!?

[@ChestersReviews]

Haha. Fair enough. Maybe they'll be included in a sequel video. I specifically called it four of the worst instead of THE four worst because I knew there was plenty for future videos.

[@whovian1055]

I definitely agree about the dragonfire one- oh boyy

[@GlennSkywalker2305]

How did I find you

[@whovian1055]

I have no idea

[@dogblessamerica]

The end of the second episode of Kinda had a particularly dumb cliffhanger lol

[@chrisjilldowns3638]

The climax of episode 2 of The Caves of Androzani spings to mind for me, with the Doctor "menaced" by the magma monster - probably not the worst cliffhanger in the show's history, but just because the painfully obvious man-in-a-rubber-suit magma was the low point in an otherwise classic story, and also this ending paled in comparison to the excellent cliffhangers at the end of episodes one and three - while four ended with possibly the best regeneration scene ever.

[@timothyweers8054]

The cliffhanger for finding the wrren in the closet didn't make much sense anyway. After it happened, Harry was so nonchalant about his find instead of the slight distress after raising his eyebrows. It was like oh look a big bug costume afterwards. You can see in Dragonfire at the end of the episode before dangling to his possible death that he intentionally wanted to get down there without looking over. Obviously it was just a filler. When you come back in the next episode, Glitz jokes to the Doctor about it and when they cut back, you don't see how Glitz got to the next floor down to steady the Doctor the remaining few feet to the ground. Where did the abyss go after that.

[@mjaynes288]

My introduction to Doctor Who was the end Dragonfire. I was channel surfing and the episode was mostly over. I had no idea who any of these people were. Then the cliffhanger happened and I decided Doctor Who was horrible. I did not watch any more until nuWho.

[@ChestersReviews]

Oh wow! That's fascinating. Glad you were able to eventually find out it's not all that bad.

[@reubenmanzo2054]

Actually, the giant grasshopper isn't in the cliffhanger. The episode ends with Sarah being discovered in her suspended form.

[@natsmith303]

Well? Did you get the cookie or not?!

[@mantabond]

Encore! Encore! Your humour strikes me dead. And I am killed by it.

[@mireillesaliba7525]

2:51 well it's a literal cliffhanger

[@Foebane72]

I don't remember the other three, but Dragonfire's was surely the most retarded cliffhanger, as the Doctor DELIBERATELY PUT HIMSELF IN THAT POSITION!! It never made sense to me, but apart from that dumb moment, the story is decent enough.

[@alexlazebat839]

there are a few crappy ones some monster ones you can forgive. 9/10 times its kill him and the reprise i won't kill you yet. Ships airlock one are rubbish. Mark of the rani george Stephenson was ment to chane the points. Dragonfire the seventh Doctor was meant to be ice/rock climbing and he realises he can't go foward or back. Planet Of Evil i hated ep 2 because freeze frame the doctor looked liked he could regain balance better to have him fallen in.

[@Jasonm25870]

Character with third doctor is called "Bellal" and the grasshopper is a creature called a Wirrn. Your grasp of Doctor Who is amateurish to say the least.

[@sandraqureshi9333]

I found the whole #7 Doctor era boring. 🥱

[@loonytunescrazy]

even remembrance of the daleks that is a classic doctor who and dalek story and the darker tones in the next last season