"Time Bomb"
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The Odyssey
(1992-1994)
In this cliffhanger axing, the eternal wall that divides the "downworld's" kids from the grownups is perforated. Oh no! WHAT NOW! No more downworld? In the real world Jay must tell his mother that his father is not dead, as was believed for the past seven years.
"The Odyssey," originally to be named "The Jellybean Odyssey," followed the epic journey of young Jay Ziegler who, thanks to a near fatal fall and laps into a coma induced catalepsy, discovers an alternate world comprised totally of the mind and populated solely by children. After being revived from his coma at the end of season two, Jay seems to be split into two different, but connected, version of himself. One version of Jay is back in the world of the conscience while the other is still trapped in the down world of the sub-real.
This episode was writing by two writers Leila Basen and Charles Lazer, both of whom I managed to contact (click the link for more)! But the coolest part of its final scene is Mark Hildreth's performance. I love it. He has gone on to other roles but "Finger", the obsessive bad guy, is still the character that seem to have drawn the most power out of his acting. Visit his really cool sight Mark-Hildreth.com
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"The Return"
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V, The Series
(1984-1985)
Ah V, the show from the mid 80's that was my favorite TV lollypop when I was a kid. I even ranked it higher then Night Rider. I couldn't get enough of the concept and the action, much to the chagrin of my parents. Even if it was a very thinly veiled allegory towards second world war fascism in Europe, I wouldn't miss an episode if I could help it and neither would anyone I knew in school. It was that popular among the kids.
The show centered around a small pocked of urban freedom fighters who must do all they can to upset the plans of alien visitors that are not what they claim to be, friendly! A pre Freddy Krueger, Robert Englund, plays the most likable character, an alien turncoat who joins the human good guys.
In the series finally, the war has apparently come to a sudden and bewildering end, the aliens are simply recalled to their mother ship by their leader. It seems that the head honcho has come to feel that peace is the only alterative to fighting that is not producing any results. But when the human good guys come onboard the mother ship to pay this leader and visit, they learn that the leader want's the "Star Child", a half human half alien young woman, to join him. A big sacrifice for the good guys who love her like a daughter. Just before she departs, Diana, the former commander of the alien fascist whispers to her confidant that a bomb is onboard the leaders shuttle! WILL IT GO OFF!!!!
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"Heaven and Hell"
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Lexx
(1997-2001)
I have the unique perspective of having watched this show mainly in another language, Spanish, and I think that the comedic face of Lexx shines all the more in el Espanol Stanley H. Tweedle is incredibility more funny with the sound of a Mexican voice actor whining out his lines. I was watching this show late night, after my shift work, and it was a true treat. I loved how much it stood out.
As for the Cliffhanger, It's a bit of a misnomer! You see season four, the last season, was never aired on the Spanish channel and never reran very much on any English channels either. So for me, the last episode of season number tree, "Heaven And Hell", was the end of the trail. This episode depicts the destruction of planets Fire and Water, binary worlds that a fuel starved Lexx is circling helplessly. Prince, the big bad guy, should have been blown up with them but apparently the evil one is indestructible. He goes flying from the explosion and towards a blue planet that looks a lot like Earth. What will happens next!
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"Patriots and Tyrants"
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Jericho
(2006-2007)
A TV drama about a small Kansas town turned into a isolated Babylon by a nuclear catastrophe, sound like it would hardly have much ploy left over for a cliffhanger. However, Jericho had plenty over the span of two seasons, and its final episode ending was a doozy.
Two main characters, Jake and Hawkins, take a retrieved nuclear bomb to those who can use it to "save the country" and there by beginning a second American civil war. Hawkins is badly injured and is driven away in a ambulance with Jake by his side. "This war was coming with or with out our help," says Hawkins, "but how does it feel to make history!" Check the clip out. Oooo, the goose bumps! What will happen next!
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"The Spa Who Loved Me"
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Sledge Hammer
(1986-1988)
What more can I say about this show's cliffhanger ending except that it absolutely takes the cake! The cop show, and television in general, spoof was facing possible cancellation when it came up with a brilliant idea, use a cliffhanger "season or series" ending to get viewers interested. Robin Leach, of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, made an intro guest appearance for this possible final showing and explained that it was up to the viewers if they wanted to have a resolution after the "to be continued" was posted. This alone was funny enough, but the actual cliffhanger is one for the record books, Guinness that is.
The episode is about terrorists, female spa instructor terrorists, plotting to use a stolen nuclear bomb to carry out their dastardly mission. Sledge gets on the case, but with him, the city was probably better off with the terrorist just getting their way. After finding the bomb, Sledge... well, watch the clip for yourself. Click on the photo.
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"The Crash"
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Crossing Jordan
(2001-2007)
Who couldn't get enough of that crime scene reenacting "roll playing" thing! There's nothing like a little father and daughter bonding! Even if it did wane from the scripts after the first two seasons.
Crossing Jordan was a crime show about a young female pathologist named Jordan, who often consorted with her retired police officer father in the solving of crimes. After six years, it would have been pretty mien for the show's creators to end it on the cliffhanger they most certainly had planned for it. Jordan and all the others are stranded on a mountain by a plan crash, and there is where they all would have stayed if the writers of the show did not discover, in the nick time, that the show was not going to be renewed for seventh year. So they wrote in the resolution that would have been show the following season. Jordan and the rest are rescued and Jordan finally confesses her love for Woody (that was long overdue).
An axing on a cliffhanger was narrowly avoided thanks to the fact that the writers where informed in time of what the network was planning. This is why Crossing Jordan's curtain call is a great example of how so many other cliffhanger series endings could have been avoided.
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"Only the good"
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Red Dwarf
(1988-1999)
Me and my mother were big fans of this one, at least for the first year, even though it's my father and I who are the big sci-fi fans. This show was truly funny. It has an intangible chemistry coupled with some of this most innovative comedy writing I've ever seen.
In general, the show centers around a cast of misfits who through the most outrages circumstance find themselves lost in space. Humor from the constant friction of the crew is always magnified by crazy turns of fortune that spoof science fiction themes. The show went on forever, until 1999 when it came to a topically zany end. The main character Dave Lister has an encounter with death, the grim reaper that is, who informs Dave that his time has come. But Dave knees death in the growing and runs for dear life. A caption that comes on after the fade to black reads "The End" followed by a sub caption that reads "The Smeg it is!" What did that mean? Is Lister going to get away from death!
P. S. for the Alternate ending of the series click here.
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"The Seer"
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Sliders
(1995-2000)
I remember a time, that was not that long ago, when my evening would be set with a line up of Legend, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and Sliders. Oh the living you miss out on when your an ugly little TV geek. But I'm a big fan of Steven Hawkins ( I made it about half way through his "Brief History of Time" book), and when Sliders first appeared on the Fox airways, I was intrigued by a show devoted to the idea of parallel Universes.
By the time Sliders got to its fifth season, only one of the original cast members was still with the show, Cleavant Derricks Jr., he played "Rembrandt" the character that only got in on the Slider ride by accident. In this last scene of the last slide the heroes have found a vortex machine in the care of a psychic old man that has predicted that if they slide again into the next universe death will await them. But Rembrandt must do all he can to save his world form the Kromaggs, inter-universal bad guys, by bring to them death via a virus. He jumps into the "worm-hole" and what becomes of him is now up to all of us to speculate! With my limited imagination, how could they!
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Disclaimer: I don't claim copyright on any of the images, video clips, sounds or lyrics.
I'm just a fan TV trivia. No copyright infringement intended.
