10 Doctor Who Cliffhangers That Made You Say WHAT?!
Those Doctor Who moments that left your jaw on the floor.
Transcript
00:00 When David Tennant appeared at the end of The Power of the Doctor and said his iconic "What?"
00:05 I think that's probably what millions of Doctor Who fans said as well.
00:09 Now obviously we knew he was returning, but just seeing him back in this role after so long was just crazy.
00:15 I personally was stunned. In fact, I was pretty much lost for words,
00:19 which you'll be able to see if you go back and watch our Ups and Downs review of the episode.
00:23 I just didn't know what to say.
00:24 But with this most recent cliffhanger dropping,
00:27 we thought now would be a good time to take a look at some of the other amazing cliffhangers that Doctor Who has given us.
00:33 So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture,
00:36 here with 10 Doctor Who cliffhangers that made you say "What?"
00:40 Number 10, the Dalek fleet in Bad Wolf.
00:44 Now as if Bad Wolf didn't already have enough going on with the killer android,
00:48 the rather permanent Big Brother evictions, and Captain Jack Harkness hiding a gun... somewhere.
00:54 On top of all that madness, RTD just had to go and throw Daleks into the mix as well.
01:00 The revelation at the end of Bad Wolf that these Skaro natives had survived their apparent destruction,
01:05 and were the ones in control of the game station was actually probably the first major cliffhanger of modern Doctor Who.
01:12 Now the backstory of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor kind of implied that the Daleks had all been defeated in the Time War,
01:18 and so the discovery of an entire Dalek fleet heading straight for our heroes was quite the bombshell,
01:24 for both the Doctor and for the audience.
01:26 And that closing moment where the Doctor basically defies the Daleks' orders and risks Rose's life,
01:33 is quite inspiring but also rather risky, and audiences were left unsure whether they should applaud his nerve,
01:40 or chastise his recklessness.
01:43 Number 9, the 12th Doctor meets Santa Claus in Death in Heaven.
01:47 Considering that Doctor Who aired a Christmas special every year from 2005 to 2017,
01:54 it is quite surprising that it wasn't until 2014 that we finally saw the Doctor encounter Father Christmas.
02:01 And I'm going to say Father Christmas because in England that is what he is called, not Santa Claus.
02:07 I feel very strongly about this.
02:09 Midway through the closing credits of the Series 8 finale,
02:13 the Doctor is suddenly awoken by a knocking at the TARDIS door, and then Nick Frost's Father Christmas just casually strolls in and asks the Doctor what he wants for Christmas.
02:22 We knew that the next episode was going to be a Christmas special, so that in itself wasn't massively surprising.
02:28 But what was surprising was the introduction of a mythical creature here, or a mythical being.
02:33 Mostly mythical beings in Doctor Who are given some sort of supernatural explanation,
02:39 but here it genuinely seemed like Father Christmas had walked into the TARDIS.
02:42 And also, he seemed to be an acquaintance of the Doctor's, which left us with quite a few questions,
02:47 mainly, what's on the Doctor's Christmas list?
02:51 This was also a mid-credits scene, something that was unheard of in Doctor Who at the time,
02:56 and so people were a little bit jarred, a little bit shocked, and had a lot of questions.
03:00 Number 8, Donna in the TARDIS in Doomsday.
03:04 Doomsday really was an emotional rollercoaster of an episode,
03:08 and marked the end of an era for modern Doctor Who, as it saw the departure of its first companion.
03:13 Now, there wasn't a dry eye in the nation as we witnessed the Tenth Doctor and Rose saying goodbye to one another on Bad Wolf Bay.
03:21 But, before we or the Doctor had time to process any of it,
03:25 a massive bombshell was dropped in the form of Catherine Tate in a wedding dress, in the TARDIS.
03:32 Now, the Doctor's iconic "What? What? What?" reaction debuted in this moment,
03:37 and the no-nonsense banter of Catherine Tate immediately set a new dynamic and tone for the following episode, The Runaway Bride.
03:45 But this ending left audiences in a really conflicted state of utter devastation at the loss of Rose,
03:52 but also a somewhat guilty feeling of excitement and anticipation for what was to come.
03:58 Number 7, floating in space in The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
04:02 Jodie Whittaker's debut episode introduced a lot of new elements to Doctor Who.
04:07 She had a new Doctor, a new gang of companions, and a new central location on Earth,
04:12 which was a nice change to just always ending up in London.
04:16 But one thing that is recognised by audiences as a mainstay of Doctor Who was missing, the TARDIS.
04:22 It's not unusual for the TARDIS to take a bit of a beating following a regeneration,
04:26 and a redesign was expected to accompany this kind of fresh vision of Doctor Who.
04:32 But expectations were quickly subverted when the episode ended not with this new TARDIS team beaming to the TARDIS,
04:40 but just into open space.
04:42 Some fans were a bit disappointed at the lack of a new TARDIS reveal,
04:45 and others were just in complete shock that these new companions were now floating in space,
04:50 rapidly running out of air, and it was a really good hook for the following episode.
04:55 Say what you will about the Whittaker-Chipnall era, but this was certainly a gripping ending to their debut episode.
05:02 Number 6 - The Doctor is still blind in Oxygen
05:06 This series 10 episode centres around a space station and the value of oxygen amongst its crew,
05:12 so they aptly named it Oxygen.
05:14 We see the 12th Doctor, Bill and Nardole, take on these zombies in spacesuits.
05:20 Seriously, what is it with Stephen Moffat and spacesuits that have a mind of their own?
05:24 And also the inhumane values of a company who places profit above human life.
05:31 Now the episode does give you a few near-fatal moments, just to give you a bit of a fright,
05:35 you have Bill's suit malfunction and the Doctor give her his,
05:39 then he goes blind as a result of his prolonged lack of oxygen,
05:42 and then Bill's suit malfunctions again and seemingly kills her.
05:46 Luckily, the Doctor is able to save Bill and Nardole is able to restore the Doctor's sight.
05:51 Or so we thought.
05:52 It's revealed at the end of the episode that the Doctor is in fact still blind
05:57 when he says to Nardole "I can't look at anything ever again".
06:01 Now it is very rare to see the Doctor suffer major injuries,
06:05 and it certainly left us with a lot of questions heading into the following episode.
06:09 Number 5 - The Universe Ends in The Pandorica Opens
06:14 Now it's no secret that when Matt Smith took over from David Tennant,
06:17 there was a lot of concern that he wouldn't be up to the task.
06:20 But it's a tale as old as time, or at least as old as Doctor Who,
06:24 the new guy is never going to be as good as the one before.
06:27 And it's a tale that's generally proven wrong.
06:30 And I think that series 5's The Pandorica Opens really proved that Matt Smith was worthy of the role.
06:37 And it also introduced a premise that was so obvious and yet inconceivable at the same time.
06:44 Now it stands to reason that the most feared being in the universe
06:48 would be the one person who constantly prevails over all the other menacing creatures in the galaxy.
06:54 The idea of all of the Doctor's enemies working together in an alliance was just brilliantly created by Stephen Moffat,
07:01 and left us with a truly brilliant cliffhanger as the Doctor is dragged into the Pandorica and sealed inside
07:09 as the TARDIS explodes, destroying the universe.
07:12 Now this ending left us with so many questions.
07:14 How is the Doctor going to escape this perfectly designed prison?
07:18 How is he going to fix the universe?
07:21 Did Robot Rory really just shoot Amy?
07:24 And most importantly, did River get out of the exploding TARDIS in time?
07:28 Number 4, Bad Wolf in Turn Left.
07:31 Turn Left was a brilliant "what if" episode,
07:34 and it really highlighted just how many times the Doctor has saved the world,
07:37 but also how many people he's influenced to follow in his footsteps.
07:41 But of course, the biggest element of this episode was the return of Rose.
07:46 Now we had seen glimpses of Rose's return throughout series 4,
07:50 but this was the most prominent appearance, and really laid the groundwork for the upcoming two-part series finale.
07:56 Now there still was a lot of mystery surrounding Rose,
07:59 she wouldn't give her identity to Donna,
08:01 and there was no explanation how she was travelling from her parallel universe to Donna's.
08:07 But it was made clear towards the end of the episode that her one goal, her one mission,
08:11 was to warn the Doctor of the impending darkness.
08:15 What was really thrilling about this cliffhanger was that it was so personal.
08:20 Rather than just explain to Donna what was going to happen so she could tell the Doctor,
08:24 she gave her a simple message that not only warned the Doctor of the upcoming destruction,
08:29 but also had a personal meaning that instantly gave him just a glimmer of hope that he would see her again.
08:36 And then seeing the words "Bad Wolf" plastered everywhere on screen
08:39 just created such a buzz for the following week's episode,
08:43 and it also gave the audiences that glimmer of hope that they would finally see the Doctor and Rose reunited.
08:50 Number 3, River's identity in A Good Man Goes to War
08:54 The identity of River Song had been a long-standing mystery
08:57 ever since her first appearance in Silence in the Library.
09:01 And while some people, including Amy, had guessed that she would become the Doctor's wife,
09:06 there was a second layer to her identity that perhaps people didn't see coming.
09:11 In hindsight, maybe it was obvious.
09:13 There were a few hints and clues dropped in the build-up to this reveal,
09:17 but it was executed so well that the reveal still felt like a shocking twist.
09:22 River Song is Melody Pond.
09:25 Melody Pond is Amy and Rory's daughter.
09:28 WHAT?!
09:29 The range of reactions, from the Doctor's flustered excitement
09:33 to the sheer look of shock on Amy and Rory's face,
09:36 is probably a pretty good representation of the spectrum of audience responses as well.
09:42 While it was brilliant to finally know who River Song was,
09:45 we actually were left with more questions than we started with.
09:48 Like, how can River Song be older than her parents?
09:52 What happened to her once she was taken from Demon's Run?
09:55 Why didn't she say anything sooner?
09:58 And how does Evil Moffat's mind work?
10:01 Number 2, the Angel Doctor in Village of the Angels
10:05 Say what you will about Flux, but it cannot be denied
10:08 that Episode 4, Village of the Angels, ended on one hell of a cliffhanger.
10:14 After discovering a weeping angel inside Claire's mind,
10:18 the Doctor enters Claire's mind to try and expel the invader,
10:22 but instead she learns that this weeping angel is hiding from the Division
10:27 and offers the Doctor a deal, her missing memories in exchange for helping the angel escape.
10:32 Immediately this seems reckless. Why would you trust a weeping angel?
10:36 And of course, when the moment arrives, the angel double-crosses the Doctor
10:39 and offers her to the Division in exchange for its own freedom.
10:43 But what happens next was truly, truly unexpected.
10:47 Now it's not uncommon to see the Doctor find themselves in a sticky situation,
10:51 but very rarely do we actually see them defeated.
10:55 And yet in the closing moments of this episode, we see the Doctor transform into a weeping angel.
11:01 This was a moment that left many an audience member with their jaws on the floor
11:06 and a "what the ffff" expression on their face.
11:10 1. David Tennant's return in The Power of the Doctor
11:14 The return of Russell T. Davis and David Tennant is a massive twist for modern Doctor Who.
11:20 The pair worked so well together from Series 2 to Series 4,
11:23 so the prospect of them creating new content just sent fans into a frenzy.
11:28 With the announcement of David Tennant's return and Shuti Gatwa's casting,
11:32 the question on everybody's lips in the build-up to Jodie Whittaker's final episode
11:37 was who was she going to regenerate into?
11:40 It was fairly obvious that it was going to be one of these two actors,
11:43 but the fact that it was David Tennant left us with so much more confusion than if it had been Shuti Gatwa.
11:50 A new face is to be expected. An old face revisited?
11:55 Well that's something completely different.
11:57 In this instance, the reveal itself wasn't massively shocking.
12:01 We knew that David Tennant was going to be returning,
12:04 but the mystery and confusion surrounding his return made for a brilliant cliffhanger,
12:11 one that will now keep fans guessing for an entire year before they get any sort of answers.
12:18 Damn you Russell T. Davis!
12:20 And that concludes our list.
12:22 There are some obvious ones that we purposely left out because we wanted to look for the more obscure answers.
12:28 But if you think we did miss any really good examples, then do let us know in the comments below.
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12:50 I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of River Song herself,
12:54 goodbye, sweeties.