10 Doctor Who Cliffhangers That Made You Say WHAT?!
Those Doctor Who moments that left your jaw on the floor.
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00:00When David Tennant appeared at the end of The Power of the Doctor and said his iconic
00:04what, I think that's probably what millions of Doctor Who fans said as well.
00:09Now obviously we knew he was returning, but just seeing him back in this role after so
00:14long was just crazy.
00:15I personally was stunned, in fact I was pretty much lost for words, which you'll be able
00:19to see if you go back and watch our Ups and Downs review of the episode.
00:23I just didn't know what to say.
00:25But with this most recent cliffhanger dropping, we thought now would be a good time to take
00:29a look at some of the other amazing cliffhangers that Doctor Who has given us.
00:33So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with 10 Doctor Who cliffhangers that
00:38made you say, what?
00:41Number 10.
00:42The Dalek Fleet in Bad Wolf Now as if Bad Wolf didn't already have enough
00:46going on with the killer android, the rather permanent Big Brother evictions, and Captain
00:51Jack Harkness hiding a gun somewhere, on top of all that madness RTD just had to go and
00:57throw Daleks into the mix as well.
01:00The revelation at the end of Bad Wolf that the Skaro natives had survived their apparent
01:05destruction and were the ones in control of the game station was actually probably the
01:09first major cliffhanger of modern Doctor Who.
01:12The backstory of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor kind of implied that the Daleks
01:16had all been defeated in the Time War, and so the discovery of an entire Dalek fleet
01:21heading straight for our heroes was quite the bombshell for both the Doctor and for
01:26the audience.
01:27And that closing moment where the Doctor basically defies the Daleks' orders and risks
01:32Rose's life is quite inspiring but also rather risky, and audiences were left unsure whether
01:39they should applaud his nerve or chastise his recklessness.
01:43Number 9
01:44The Twelfth Doctor meets Santa Claus in Death in Heaven
01:47Considering that Doctor Who aired a Christmas special every year from 2005 to 2017, it is
01:54quite surprising that it wasn't until 2014 that we finally saw the Doctor encounter Father
02:00Christmas.
02:01And I'm going to say Father Christmas because in England, that is what he is called.
02:06Not Santa Claus.
02:07I feel very strongly about this.
02:09Midway through the closing credits of the Series 8 finale, the Doctor is suddenly awoken
02:15by a knocking at the TARDIS door, and then Nick Frost's Father Christmas just casually
02:19strolls in and asks the Doctor what he wants for Christmas.
02:23We knew that the next episode was going to be a Christmas special, so that in itself
02:26wasn't massively surprising, but what was surprising was the introduction of a mythical
02:31creature here, or a mythical being.
02:34Mostly mythical beings in Doctor Who are given some sort of supernatural explanation, but
02:39here it genuinely seemed like Father Christmas had walked into the TARDIS.
02:43And also, he seemed to be an acquaintance of the Doctor's, which left us with quite
02:47a few questions, mainly, what's on the Doctor's Christmas list?
02:51This was also a mid-credits scene, something that was unheard of in Doctor Who at the time,
02:56and so people were a little bit jarred, a little bit shocked, and had a lot of questions.
03:01Number 8, Donna in the TARDIS in Doomsday.
03:04Doomsday really was an emotional rollercoaster of an episode, and marked the end of an era
03:09for modern Doctor Who, as it saw the departure of its first companion.
03:14Now there wasn't a dry eye in the nation as we witnessed the Tenth Doctor and Rose
03:18saying goodbye to one another on Bad Wolf Bay, but before we or the Doctor had time
03:24to process any of it, a massive bombshell was dropped in the form of Catherine Tate
03:30in a wedding dress, in the TARDIS.
03:32Now the Doctor's iconic, what, what, what, reaction debuted in this moment, and the no-nonsense
03:39banter of Catherine Tate immediately set a new dynamic and tone for the following episode,
03:44The Runaway Bride.
03:45But this ending left audiences in a really conflicted state of utter devastation at the
03:51loss of Rose, but also a somewhat guilty feeling of excitement and anticipation for what was to come.
03:58Number 7, floating in space in The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
04:02Jodie Whittaker's debut episode introduced a lot of new elements to Doctor Who.
04:07You had a new Doctor, a new gang of companions, and a new central location on Earth, which
04:12was a nice change to just always ending up in London.
04:16But one thing that is recognised by audiences as a mainstay of Doctor Who was missing.
04:21The TARDIS.
04:22It's not unusual for the TARDIS to take a bit of a beating following a regeneration,
04:27and a redesign was expected to accompany this kind of fresh vision of Doctor Who, but expectations
04:34were quickly subverted when the episode ended not with this new TARDIS team beaming to the
04:39TARDIS, but just into open space.
04:42Now some fans were a bit disappointed at the lack of a new TARDIS reveal, and others
04:46were just in complete shock that these new companions were now floating in space, rapidly
04:51running out of air, and it was a really good hook for the following episode.
04:56Say what you will about the Whittaker-Chibnall era, but this was certainly a gripping ending
05:01to their debut episode.
05:02Number 6, the Doctor is still blind in Oxygen.
05:06This series 10 episode centres around a space station and the value of oxygen amongst its
05:12crew.
05:13So they aptly named it Oxygen.
05:15We see the 12th Doctor, Bill and Nardole, take on these zombies in spacesuits, seriously
05:20what is it with Steven Moffat and spacesuits that have a mind of their own?
05:25And also the inhumane values of a company who places profit above human life.
05:31Now the episode does give you a few near-fatal moments, just to give you a bit of a fright
05:35you have Bill's suit malfunction and the Doctor give her his, then he goes blind as a result
05:40of his prolonged lack of oxygen, and then Bill's suit malfunctions again and seemingly
05:45kills her.
05:46Luckily, the Doctor is able to save Bill and Nardole is able to restore the Doctor's sight.
05:51Or so we thought.
05:53It's revealed at the end of the episode that the Doctor is in fact still blind when he
05:58says to Nardole, I can't look at anything ever again.
06:01Now it is very rare to see the Doctor suffer major injuries and it certainly left us with
06:06a lot of questions heading into the following episode.
06:105.
06:11The Universe Ends in The Pandorica Opens
06:14Now it's no secret that when Matt Smith took over from David Tennant there was a lot of
06:18concern that he wouldn't be up to the task.
06:21But it's a tale as old as time, or at least as old as Doctor Who, the new guy is never
06:25going to be as good as the one before.
06:27And it's a tale that's generally proven wrong.
06:30And I think that Series 5's The Pandorica Opens really proved that Matt Smith was worthy
06:36of the role, and it also introduced a premise that was so obvious and yet inconceivable
06:43at the same time.
06:44Now it stands to reason that the most feared being in the universe would be the one person
06:49who constantly prevails over all the other menacing creatures in the galaxy.
06:54The idea of all of the Doctor's enemies working together in an alliance was just brilliantly
06:59created by Steven Moffat, and left us with a truly brilliant cliffhanger as the Doctor
07:05is dragged into the Pandorica and sealed inside as the TARDIS explodes, destroying the universe.
07:12This ending left us with so many questions.
07:14How is the Doctor going to escape this perfectly designed prison?
07:18How is he going to fix the universe?
07:21Did Robot Rory really just shoot Amy?
07:24And most importantly, did River get out of the exploding TARDIS in time?
07:284.
07:29The Wolf in Turn Left
07:31Turn Left was a brilliant what-if episode, and it really highlighted just how many times
07:35the Doctor has saved the world, but also how many people he's influenced to follow in
07:40his footsteps.
07:41But of course, the biggest element of this episode was the return of Rose.
07:46Now we had seen glimpses of Rose's return throughout Series 4, but this was the most
07:51prominent appearance, and really laid the groundwork for the upcoming two-part series
07:56finale.
07:57There still was a lot of mystery surrounding Rose, she wouldn't give her identity to
08:00Donna, and there was no explanation how she was travelling from her parallel universe
08:06to Donna's, but it was made clear towards the end of the episode that her one goal,
08:10her one mission, was to warn the Doctor of the impending darkness.
08:16What was really thrilling about this cliffhanger was that it was so personal.
08:20Rather than just explain to Donna what was going to happen so she could tell the Doctor,
08:24she gave her a simple message that not only warned the Doctor of the upcoming destruction,
08:30but also had a personal meaning that instantly gave him just a glimmer of hope that he would
08:35see her again.
08:36And then seeing the words Bad Wolf plastered everywhere on screen just created such a buzz
08:41for the following week's episode, and it also gave the audiences that glimmer of hope
08:47that they would finally see the Doctor and Rose reunited.
08:503.
08:51River's Identity in A Good Man Goes to War
08:54The identity of River Song had been a longstanding mystery ever since her first appearance in
08:59Silence in the Library, and while some people, including Amy, had guessed that she would
09:04become the Doctor's wife, there was a second layer to her identity that perhaps people
09:10didn't see coming.
09:11In hindsight, maybe it was obvious, there were a few hints and clues dropped in the
09:16build up to this reveal, but it was executed so well that the reveal still felt like a
09:21shocking twist.
09:22River Song is Melody Pond.
09:25Melody Pond is Amy and Rory's daughter.
09:28WHAT?
09:29Now, the range of reactions from the Doctor's flustered excitement to the sheer look of
09:34shock on Amy and Rory's face is probably a pretty good representation of the spectrum
09:40of audience responses as well.
09:42Now while it was brilliant to finally know who River Song was, we actually were left
09:46with more questions than we started with, like how can River Song be older than her
09:51parents, what happened to her once she was taken from Demon's Run, why didn't she
09:56say anything sooner, and how does Evil Moffat's mind work?
10:012.
10:02The Angel Doctor in Village of the Angels
10:05Now say what you will about flux, but it cannot be denied that Episode 4, Village of the Angels,
10:11ended on one hell of a cliffhanger.
10:14After discovering a weeping angel inside Claire's mind, the Doctor enters Claire's mind to
10:20try and expel the invader, but instead she learns that this weeping angel is hiding from
10:26the Division and offers the Doctor a deal, her missing memories in exchange for helping
10:31the angel escape.
10:32Immediately, this seems reckless, why would you trust a weeping angel?
10:36And of course, when the moment arrives, the Angel double crosses the Doctor and offers
10:40her to the Division in exchange for its own freedom.
10:43But what happens next was truly, truly unexpected.
10:48I know it's not uncommon to see the Doctor find themselves in a sticky situation, but
10:51very rarely do we actually see them defeated, and yet in the closing moments of this episode,
10:57we see the Doctor transform into a weeping angel.
11:01This was a moment that left many an audience member with their jaws on the floor and a
11:06what the ffff expression on their face.
11:101.
11:11David Tennant's Return in The Power of the Doctor
11:14The return of Russell T. Davis and David Tennant is a massive twist for modern Doctor
11:19Who.
11:20The pair worked so well together from series 2 to series 4, so the prospect of them creating
11:25new content just sent fans into a frenzy.
11:28With the announcement of David Tennant's return and Shooty Gap was casting, the question
11:33on everybody's lips in the build up to Jodie Whittaker's final episode was who was she
11:38going to regenerate into?
11:40It was fairly obvious that it was going to be one of these two actors, but the fact that
11:44it was David Tennant left us with so much more confusion than if it had been Shooty
11:50Gap.
11:51A new face is to be expected, an old face revisited?
11:54That's something completely different.
11:57In this instance, the reveal itself wasn't massively shocking.
12:01We knew that David Tennant was going to be returning, but the mystery and confusion surrounding
12:07his return made for a brilliant cliffhanger.
12:11One that will now keep fans guessing for an entire year before they get any sort of answers.
12:18Damn you, Russell T. Davis!
12:20And that concludes our list.
12:22There are some obvious ones that we purposely left out because we wanted to look for the
12:26more obscure answers, but if you think we missed any really good examples, let us know
12:31in the comments below.
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12:46Don't forget to look for Sean Ferrick as well and Dan The Meegs too.
12:50I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye sweeties.