The Dreaded And Loathed Cliffhangers

[Jonn Wolfe]

We all know them, We all loathe them, We all scream when they happen... The Cliffhanger.

These are nothing new. They're hooks to keep readers or viewers interested, and to keep the hype up from what looks like bad endings. I'm a complete hypocrite, in that I hate coming across them, but have used them myself... mostly on complete accident, but sometimes on purpose.

One of the earliest is the Arabic literary work One Thousand and One Nights involves Scheherazade narrating a series of stories to King Shahryār for 1,001 nights, with each night ending on a cliffhanger in order to save herself from execution. (Wikipedia Links)

We all know them. We all loathe them...

• What is the one you remember most?
• What's the first one that caught you by surprise and caused mental and literal shrieking at either a book or television?

The one I remember most, other than the entire '60's Batman Series or Lost in Space, is from Star Trek the Next Generation - Riker giving the order to fire on the Borg Cube and his Captain. "To Be Continued" flashed on the screen, completely upsetting me. Mom tried to calm me down, saying that it would be back next season. I just looked at her in full teenaged angst, "But that's a whole 'nother year!" She just laughed at me, the traitor.

The one I high pitch, girly shrieked at the screen on as an Adult, because it was both a surprise AND the last episode due to Cancellation, was Farscape's "Bad Timing," end of Season Four, where John and Aeryn were just shot and 'disintegrated' right after John proposed and Aeryn revealed she was pregnant with his kid. (Link to SyFy Article fully discussing that Heartwrenching Debacle)

So, what do you like about them? hate about them?

Does anyone even want to discuss the evilness of the Cliffhanger?

 

[Mak Taru]

I remember having to wait 3 years as a little kid for the ending of my favorite game Descent II to be finally resolved.

Search YouTube for Descent II ending if you don't know it; I'm on my mobile and too lazy to link the video.

 

[Eliar]

Cliffies huh?

My pet pieves lie mostly on the almost finished fics tbh.

Children Of an Elder god was a major one for years until it was eventually finished.

I still loathe In A Clear Day you can see for ever. Or was that finished as well? I remember hearing something of the sort.

Anyway you get the drift.