Cliff Hanger: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''To be resolved...in two weeks! ([[Lampshade Hanging|because I am]] [[Evil Gloating|an evil motherfucker]])''|''[[Shortpacked (Webcomic)|Shortpacked]]''}}

A [['''Cliff Hanger]]''' ends an [[Act Break]], episode, or even a whole season (or a film or novel in a series) with some or all of the main characters in peril of some kind and the audience is made to wait for the outcome. The [[To Be Continued]] caption is often used here. Typically the longer the viewer is made to wait, the larger the seeming peril. Indeed, this can be a [[Downer Ending]] to the part just finished -- althoughfinished—although many apparent perils and catastrophes are not as serious as they appear. It is a rare [['''Cliff Hanger]]''' that will cut back simply to watch 'em fall.

A [['''Cliff Hanger]]''' can also be centered around surprising revelations; either one just made, or one being saved for the 'hanger's resolution.

The season type of 'hanger has a flaw: if the [[Screwed Byby the Network|show gets canceled]], the 'hanger [[Left Hanging|stays unresolved]]. A few such 'hangers are listed below. This is not to be confused with a [[Bolivian Army Ending]], which is an ''intentionally'' unresolved cliffhanger as an ending. If this happens, the cliffhanger may be resolved in a movie or miniseries later on. Or, it may not... and that's why we have [[Fan Fiction]].

Not to be confused with an area for aircraft set into a mountainside (a cliff hangar), the sort used to hang up clothing (a coat hanger), the laserdisc-based video game using footage from ''[[Lupin III]]'', the pricing game Cliff Hanger''s'' on ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' (AKA The Yodely Guy game), the movie [[PunA Worldwide Punomenon|of the same name]] (you might be able to find that [[Cliffhanger (Film)|here]]) or either of the two [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Hanger_:Cliff Hanger (comic_strip)comic strip)|comic strips]] also using the name, or the [[Cliffhangers]] TV series.

Beware of these being executed badly, too. [["What?" Cliffhanger]] is when a cliffhanger is so deliberately vague that it not even suspensful enough to hold a viewer's interest until the next chapter; a [[Cliffhanger Copout]] is when a creator deliberately tweaks with a story's continuity of events when resolving a cliffhanger or outright refuses to reveal a piece of information that is promised at the end of one chapter to the next. A lampshaded, immediate resolution would be [[To Be Continued Right Now]].

See also [[Literal Cliff Hanger]].

** AndEven then[[Anime]] comes thehas seconddone season-ending 'hangers, wherewith Every.''[[The Damn.Big Episode.O]]'' Endsand with''Zoids Fuzors'', not to mention a cliffhanger of cosmictruly proportionsstaggering andsize everyat secondthe oneend isof aSeason 1 of ''[[WhamCode EpisodeGeass]],'' to(mentioned in detail bootbelow).

** After completing the aforementioned arc and even getting through another one, ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' is once again put on an at least six month hiatus with the completion of Part 1...with the ''massive'' cliffhanger of {{spoiler|Riku finally seeing Daisuke (and Satoshi) transform, and asking if he's Daisuke...or Dark.}} And that's not even covering the stuff that still needs to be answered after that [[Wham! Episode|single chapter]].

* ''[[Naruto]]'' is pretty infamous for this. A recent chapter even ended ''mid-sentence'' during such.

* ''[[Bakuman｡ (Manga)|Bakuman｡]]'' is pretty much a cliffhanger in every chapter. Especially [https://web.archive.org/web/20100403072631/http://www.onemanga.com/Bakuman/33/19/ when the characters are up for serialization].

* The ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'' episode "Search" ended with Overhaul [[Literal Cliff Hanger|dangling from a cliff]] above a valley of lava.

* ''[[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]'' often ends with cliffhangers, especially when one character launches an attack against another. More often than not, the attack is non-fatal (and often, completely ineffective), and the next chapter shows why.

* Several episodes of [[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]], particularly the second-to-last one {{spoiler|when Light has Mikami write all his enemies' names in the Death Note}}, end in cliffhangers.

* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' manga started out the current arc with one, and still hasn't resolved it. Leaving the fans to try and figure out how the pieces are going to connect. Doesn't help that the last arc gave us the starting of it, but leaving things vague enough for us to not realize that it was going to be left as a cliffhanger.

* Zig-zagged in the anime adaptation of ''[[Berserk]]''. The very first scene of the anime takes place {{spoiler|[[Foregone Conclusion|a few weeks after the events of the Eclipse with Guts waiting for Godo to prepare the Dragonslayer]].}} After the opening credits, the scene flashes two years later when {{spoiler|Guts has a well-established reputation as the Black Swordsman.}} After defeating an apostle, the rest of the series reveals [[How We Got Here|how Guts became the way he is in the present]], starting with his first encounter with soon-to-be [[Big Bad]] Griffith. In the last episode, during the climax of the Eclipse, we see Guts screaming in rage and agony {{spoiler|at the sight of the demon lord Femto raping Casca}} just as the credits role in. Although the very last scene reverts back to the very first scene, it is still left unclear as to {{spoiler|how Guts managed to make it back from the hell dimension alive or whether Casca survived her ordeal}} and the viewers are still [[Left Hanging]] on this detail as Guts walks into the distance as the Black Swordsman, which is where the anime ends.

** The timeline and detail of events in the manga is much more straight forward {{spoiler|[[Adaptation -Induced Plothole|since the absence of the Skull Knight from the animation was partially responsible]] }} so we know what happens after the climax of the Eclipse and the story continues from there.

* Used very very frequently in ''[[Brigadoon Marin and Melan]]''. Especially in the second half of the series, more episodes end with cliffhangers than not.

* The [[Pokémon Special]] FireRed and LeafGreen chapter ends with one of these.

* The ''[[Giant Robo]]'' OVA ended on a great, gaping "To Be Continued". While the main conflict is resolved, it's implied that Big Fire still had a few more tricks up their sleeves.

* Episodes 5 and 10 of ''[[Popotan (Anime)|Popotan]]'': the former ends with {{spoiler|Mai and Mea being left behind when their house jumps forward in time five years}}, the latter with {{spoiler|Keith incapacitating Mea and making the house travel to its final destination}}.

=== [[Comic Books]] ===

* Chapters 3, 4 and 5 of ''[[All Fall Down (Comic Book)|All Fall Down]]'' end this way.

=== [[Film]] ===

* Film does this too, especially when doing the "[[Two -Part Trilogy|two films at once]]" thing. ''[[Star Wars]]'' seems to have started the trend with the ending of ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', with Han Solo being captured, frozen in carbonite and being taken to Jabba the Hutt so he could be rescued at the beginning of ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''.

{{quote| '''Charlie:''' Hang on lads, I've got a great idea...}}

=== [[Literature]] ===

* [[Older Than Print]] meta-example: The cliffhanger was part of Scheherazade's desperate gambit to keep herself from being executed in ''[[Arabian Nights (Literature)|Arabian Nights]]'', as she told the evil king a series of stories for one thousand and one nights, ending each night on a cliffhanger so very enticing that he could not execute her, because then he would not get to hear the ending.

* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|The Gods of Mars]]'' ended with Dejah Thoris, Thuvia, and Phaidor all trapped in the Temple of the Sun for a year -- andyear—and with Phaidor trying to stab Dejah Thoris. John Carter has to live out that year in ignorance.

* [[Lloyd Alexander]]'s ''The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen'' ends every chapter except the side stories and the finale with one of these, along with an italicized paragraph directly addressing the reader and asking questions in the vein of "What will happen next?"

* [[Bruce Coville (Creator)|Bruce Coville]]'s ''[[The Unicorn Chronicles|Song of the Wanderer]]'' ends with the big bad getting the key that will allow her to destroy Luster, cue huge build up and a to be continued. The sequel about the epic war is then put on hiatus and not published until nearly 10 years later.

* The ending to the second [[The Hunger Games|Hunger Games]] book (''Catching Fire'') caused ''major'' [[Ship -to -Ship Combat|fan freak-outs.]]

* [[Sammy Keyes|Wendelin Van Draanen]] ''loves'' ending every single one of her chapters with a cliffhanger. (Thankfully, they're always resolved with a turn of the page. Face it, as annoying as this can get, you can't say as much for the cliffhangers of [[The Devouring|other]] [[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|authors.]])

* ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Goblet of Fire (novel)|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'' ended with Harry finishing his fourth year at Hogwarts. Oh, and the little incidental fact that {{spoiler|Voldemort had returned}}, meaning that everything was about to change for the heroes and the world in which they lived. Naturally, the fandom exploded with theories, [[Wild Mass Guessing]], and more [[Fanfic]] than anyone could reasonably hope to read. The next book, ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (novel)|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'', wasn't published until three years later, prompting many fans to dub the interval "the three-year summer."

** ''Order of the Phoenix'', ''[[Half -Blood Prince]]'', and, to a lesser extent, ''[[Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' end on cliffhangers as well. The first book also has a minor [[Sequel Hook]] with Dumbledore's mention that there are still other ways Voldemort could return, although that thread doesn't pay off until the fourth book. ''Goblet Of Fire'', however, goes so far as to title its final chapter "The Beginning".

** Also, in ''[[HarryHHarry Potter and Thethe Philosopher's Stone (novel)|HHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]],'' if you were reading one chapter at a time, you were ''definitely'' on the edge of your seat with the words at the end of ''Through the Trapdoor'': " {{spoiler|But it wasn't Snape. It wasn't even Voldemort.}}"

* ''[[Six Sacred Stones]]'' takes the concept of a cliff hanger one epic step further. The novel ends with Jack West ''falling'' into an abyss, without his maghook.

* Every chapter of every ''[[Goosebumps]]'' book ends in this manner, which leads the reader to wonder what happens next, ESPECIALLY''especially'' at the end of the book.

* ''[[The Princess Bride (Literaturenovel)|The Princess Bride]]'' (novel) ends with a [[Bolivian Army Ending]], with everyone separated, stuck, and surrounded by enemies. We get [[Cliffhanger Copout|Cop Out]] in the preview for the sequel, where somehow the crew of Dread Pirate Robert's ship comes in at the last moment and saves them. Also, Goldman writes about how [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|Morgenstern (the "original" author)]] had a monetary stake in trees at the time, so to get people to care more about trees, he decided to spend 95% of the chapter talking about how great trees are, with details of their rescue sparsely peppered in, so you'd need to read about the trees just to read the cop out.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'': {{spoiler|''Changes'' ends with {{spoiler|Harry shot dead, yet the series is obviously not concluded}}.

=== [[Live -Action TV]] ===

* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' for most of its history consisted entirely of multi-episode serials, so obviously it's had a lot of cliffhangers. There have even been a couple of [[Literal Cliff Hanger|Literal Cliff Hangers]]s.

*** "Utopia" finishes with the reveal that {{spoiler|Professor Yana is actually the Master,}} as he steals the TARDIS, leaving the Doctor, Martha and Captain Jack about to be killed by zombie-esque hoards. The episode right after that, "The Sound of Drums" finishes with {{spoiler|The Master}} aging and capturing the Doctor, imprisoning Jack, and Martha just escaping to witness the death of 10% of the Earth.

*** "Silence in the Library" ends with Donna disappearing mid-teleport with a scream, as the Doctor and River are cornered.

**** The episode right after that ends with Daleks raging across the Earth, Sarah Jane being cornered by Daleks in her car, the members of [[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]] under attack, and {{spoiler|the Doctor mid-regeneration}}.

* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' regularly milks cliffhangers of both types for all they're worth, and ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is jumping in with both feet too.

* Also a staple of J.J. Abrams' other serial ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', as as acknowledged nod to ''The Perils of Pauline''. Almost to the point of annoyance.

* Peril 'hanger: At the end of ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' Season Three, Angel is put in a box and sunk to the bottom of the ocean and Cordelia [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence|becomes a higher being and disappears]]. Huge cliffhanger.

* Every single ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' season ending.

* Season two of ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' ended with Clark having just proposed to Lois. This cliffhanger lasted for four months, eventually to be resolved with the [[Wham! Line]], "Who's asking? Clark or Superman?"

*** Say the people who invented ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''

* ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' used this ''constantly'' in [[Act Break|Act Breaks]]s (and, of course, in ''its'' two-part stories - the show's only three-parter, "The Falcon," even ended part one with Paris dangling over a cl... balcony!).

* ''[[Dallas]]'' relied on a season ending [[Cliff Hanger]] every year. The most famous was "Who Shot JR?" in 1980, which lasted from March 21st21 to November 7th7.

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' has had a [[Cliff Hanger]] in nearly every non-final season since ''[[Star Trek: the Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek theThe Next Generation]]'''s Season Three. It's no coincidence that that cliffhanger, "The Best of Both Worlds", is considered to be the best episode of the entire series (and good arguments are made that it's the best episode of the entire ''franchise''. Edith Keeler might disagree, though...)

* ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'' typically uses a cliffhanger at the end of each ''episode''. The show also featured a season-ending cliffhanger in the final seconds of season 2, which, irritatingly enough, was subverted when the third season picked up three years later and the cliffhanger had already been resolved. This was later revisited in The Game, but it's annoying how the Season 2 and 7 plot arcs aren't fully explored at the end.

* The beginning of the new ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Impossible Planet" has a [[Shout -Out]] to the Cliff Hangers of the old series. In [[The Teaser]], the Ood, who look like Lovecraftian horrors, walk toward the Doctor and Rose chanting "We must feed", and the close-ups and spinning camera angles match the old Who's Cliff Hangers perfectly. Naturally, after the titles, the Ood are shown to be perfectly nice and friendly, with their apparent viciousness being a [[Phlebotinum Breakdown]]: "We must feed..." -- whacks—whacks the translation orb -- "...you, if you are hungry. Do you want refreshments?"

* Season 3 of ''[[The Sentinel (TV series)|The Sentinel]]'' ended with one of the main characters having been drowned in a fountain by an evil female Sentinel and a [[To Be Continued]]... at which point the show was cancelled. Fan outrage helped get it [[Un CancelledUncancelled]] for a half-season, long enough to resolve the storyline and come up with a less depressing finale.

* Season one of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' had John being possessed and Dean being tortured, then Sam trying to get them both to the hospital, saying that everything will be fine...and then a giant truck totals the Impala, leaving all three men bloody and unconscious.

{{quote| '''Castiel:'''{{spoiler|I'm your new God. And you will bow down, and profess your love unto me, your Lord. Or I shall destroy you.}}<br />

* In an unusual move, the second season of the light-hearted ''[[Big Wolf Onon Campus]]'' ended with one of the main characters [[Taken for Granite|a stone statue]] after making a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] for his best friend. All the more dramatic because the show nearly didn't come back for a third season, but fortunately it was renewed and he was saved.

* ''[[JAG]]'' had several cliffhangers. The first season ended {{spoiler|with Harm being arrested for murder}}, though same episode was a [[Missing Episode]] and later adapted, thus bordering on [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity]]. The third season ended {{spoiler|with Harm and Mac about to be shot down in a Russian jet while looking for Harm's father}}. The sixth ended with {{spoiler|Harm lost at sea, having ejected from his F-14 trying to get back in time to catch Mac's wedding}}. The seventh ends with {{spoiler|Bud stepping on a landmine while trying to prevent an Afghan boy from doing likewise}}. The eighth ended with {{spoiler|Harm leaving JAG to save Mac and Webb against orders}}. The ninth ends with {{spoiler|Webb apparently killed and the Admiral's retirement}}. The series itself ends with something like a cliffhanger, {{spoiler|leaving the audience wondering if either Harm or Mac will retire after they decide to marry and whether they'll end up in London or San Diego afterwards}}.

* [[GreysGrey's Anatomy]]'s fifth season ended with a cliffhanger. {{spoiler|Either Izzie or George}} might be headed for the big OR in the sky. {{spoiler|Or both.}}

* Season 2 of the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' ends, after having skipped a year, with {{spoiler|a Cylon fleet appearing over New Caprica, the Battlestars and remnants of the civilian fleet jumping away, and President Baltar surrendering. The first episode of Season 3 skips ahead four and a half months, when the Cylon occupation is in full swing. By the fourth episode of the season, the Cylons have been kicked out and the search for Earth resumes.}}

* A short lived '70s series called ''Cliffhangers'' was a homage to the old movie cliffhanger serials. The show had 3 different segments each hour, with each ending on a [[Cliff Hanger]] each week! (And just to rub it in, only one segment reached a proper conclusion before the series was cancelled!)

* Already taunting fans with severe [[British Brevity]] (i.e. the prospect of waiting a whole year for another six episodes), ''[[Misfits (TV)|Misfits]]'' ended its first season on a ''horrible'' cliff-hanger: {{spoiler|the main character was left buried alive, with no obvious means of escape.}}

* [[Vintergatan]] had a cliffhanger [[Once an Episode]], with no sign of stopping. Fortunately, the cliffhangers don't bother people that much. Why? Because it's always been presented that way, and there's danger around every corner in-canon, so it doesn't seem forced (and even when it does, it rarely becomes [[Narm]] -- usually—usually it's [[Narm Charm]], and at worst, it's [[So Bad ItsIt's Good]]) -- and second, because that meant we got to hear [[Crowning Music of Awesome|the cliffhanger jingle.]] ''DAH, DADAH-DAH DAAAAAAH!''

** Let's not forget Season 3's infamous cliffhanger with the villains' blowing up the Command Center, and leaving the Rangers pretty much screwed.<ref>Until [[Power Rangers ZEOZeo|next season]], that is...</ref>.

* A few season finales of [[Seventh7th Heaven]] have ended on cliffhangers, with the 7th season being the worst offender. {{spoiler|Is Lucy pregnant? What happened that brought head of the church and the police force to the Camdens' front door to talk to Eric immediately? Who did Mary elope with? Did Roxanne and Chandler get married?}} Of course, it was all resolved next season. {{spoiler|Lucy wasn't pregnant, Simon got into a car accident that resulted in a young boy's death, Mary eloped with Carlos, and Roxanne and Chandler break up. Although we never did find out what happened to [[Hooker Withwith a Heart of Gold|Christine]] or why [[Brother Chuck|Cecilia]] disappeared in early season 9…}}

* ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'' has six season cliffhangers:

** Season 9 {{spoiler|1=Harper Dearing planting a bomb on the Navy Yard, which goes off with Gibbs, Abby, Ziva, Tony AND McGee all still inside. Ducky gets the news at Palmer's beachside wedding and promptly has a massive heart attack.<ref>Not resolved yet, but the show is renewed, so it will be</ref>.}}

* Happens at the end of the first half of every two part episode in the 1960's ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' series.

* ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]'' does this with EVERY season finale.

* ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' has had bad luck with season cliffhangers: it's tried it twice, and both times immediately went on hiatus for years.

* The third episode of ''[[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]]'' season 1 ended with Sherlock and John facing Moriarty with snipers targeting them. It was resolved quickly in the new season when something new and better came up for Moriarty. And he was probably having too much fun with Sherlock to let him die so quickly.

* The first season of ''[[Person of Interest (TV)|Person of Interest]]'' ends with {{spoiler|[[Mission Control|Finch]] being kidnapped by [[The Cracker|Root]]. To track him down, [[Badass in Aa Nice Suit|Reese]] asks [[Magical Computer|the Machine]] for help ''[[Instant AI, Just Add Water|and the Machine answers]]'', but the episode ends before we find out what it said.}}

** The Sequel shows that the war becomes over near the end of the game, and also {{spoiler|Soap dies from a later injury from a mission, and Price gets a BSOD}}, and in the final mission, Price {{spoiler|kills Makarov with Punches and with the finish of Makarov being hanged.}}

* [[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]] loves this:

* [[AsurasAsura's Wrath]]. In multiple times in the True End. {{spoiler|Deus is dead, Asura can finally reunite with Mithra... and suddenly Olga appears and threatens to kill her for Deus' death... until all of the sudden, that Golden Spider accompanying Asura most of the time kills Olga, possesses Mithra and... the end, that's it. Regardless, at the end of the game, Asura is still pissed off.}}

=== [[Web Comics]] ===

* MS Paint Adventures' ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]''. Pretty much almost every page ends with a cliffhanger on purpose, although these are generally resolved quickly. A more common way of setting up a [[Cliff Hanger]] involves leaving a certain character in a predicament and then [[Four Lines, All Waiting|abruptly switching the point of view to a completely different character.]]

* ''[[Bob and George (Webcomic)|Bob and George]]'': [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041025c An Unnecessary Cliffhanger]

* Chapter 27 of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' (which updates Mon/Wed/Fri) ended on a Wednesday, as the main character is caught past curfew. Friday was the chapter bonus page, and Monday the title page of chapter 28, meaning readers had to wait a full week to see a resolution.

* Dan of ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' likes to use this a lot. Especially on [http://egscomics.com/?date=2008-07-25 Fridays] as one has to wait 2 days for a resolution.

* Big reveals in ''[[Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)|Sluggy Freelance]]'' will ''always'' happen on Monday. Cances are, if a monday comic ends in a cliffhanger, you will not see it resolved all week, as the scene will either just cut away, or all subsequent comics will just serve to drag out the situation even more. Observe: [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20110502 Bad guy 2.0 is behind the door]. [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/110503 He's plugged into that machine]. [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/110504 Random unexpected distraction]. [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/110505 There he is talking off panel tomorrow we'll find out who he is for sure]! [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/110506 Just kidding, it wasn't him. See you next week].

* In ''[[Wake the Sleepers (Webcomic)|Wake the Sleepers]]'', [http://wakethesleepers.com/comics/91 the second chapter ends with Locke's rescuer declaring him a deceiver -- and the promise that chapter 3 will start a month later.]

* Each major [[Story Arc]] of ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'' ends with one:

** ''Dungeon Crawlin' Fools'': The Order defeat [[Big Bad|Xykon]] and destroys the dungeon they'd spent the entire story up to that point in and assume their quest is finished -- completelyfinished—completely unaware that Xykon's [[Soul Jar]] survived and escaped the dungeon with his chief minions, the [[The Psycho Rangers|Linear Guild]] also escaped from prison, and that a mysterious figure (later revealed to be the Paladin [[Knight Templar|Miko Miyazaki]]) has been sent to confront them over the [[Cosmic Keystone|Gate]] they destroyed with the dungeon.

** ''Don't Split The Party'': A subtler cliffhanger than the previous ones; the Order is reunited and is going after the next Gate, but as they do V's [[Familiar]] Blackwing reveals to him/her what he saw in the rift of [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|the Snarl's prison]] -- {{spoiler|a ''planet''}}.

=== [[Web Original]] ===

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

** ''[[South Park]]'' also squeezed the concept for all the humor and frustration they could in the "Who is Eric Cartman's Father" two-parter, "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut". They teased the fans mercilessly by splitting the two episodes up with an unrelated full-length [[April Fools' Day]] ''Terrance and Phillip'' episode.

* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 (Animation)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2003) its fond of the season-ending cliffhanger: three of its seven (As of 2008) seasons (1,2,4) end this way. Season 4's cliffhanger is notable for being in danger of never being properly resolved, since for never-quite-adequately-explained reasons, the people behind the show decided to skip season 5 and go from season 4 to season 6 without explanation, ignoring the cliffhanger. After several delays, the "Lost Season", as it came to be called, began airing on February 2008--a2008—a year and a half later than it would have, had it aired normally.

* ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' tended to pull out the stops at the end of a season. According to the writers, they were never sure if there was going to be another season, so they wanted each cliffhanger to possibly be the end of ''[[The End of the World Asas We Know It|everything]]''.

* Subverted beautifully in [[Frisky Dingo]]. An episode ends with an almost literal cliffhanger as a woman is hanging from a ledge of a tall structure. Then, in the [["On the Next..."]] sequence, Killface says "Oh my God, she fell."

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' does this with the two-parters at the start of seasons 1 and 2, both of which involve a [[Big Bad|supervillain]] escaping confinement and needing to be put down with the Elements of Harmony. Both endings are also directed in a similar way, [http://bronies.memebase.com/2011/09/22/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-went-crazy-after-both/ which did not go unnoticed].

=== Unresolved Cliffhangers: ===

=== [[Film]] ===

=== [[Literature]] ===

* ''[[Don Quixote (Literature)|Don Quixote]]'' uses a deliberately unresolved [[Cliff Hanger]] as a parody of straight ones. One of the early chapters ends with a vivid description of Don Quixote and a knight charging at each other... only to have the next chapter start with [[Unreliable Narrator|the narrator]] apologize that he doesn't have [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|the page in the original manuscript that describes the fight]]. We do know that he loses.

* Which was it? ''[[Riddle for Thethe Ages|The lady or the tiger?!]]''

=== [[Live Action TV]] ===

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]] '' de-facto series finale ended with Claire Bennett revealing her power to the world by jumping off the top of a ferris wheel and healing via news cameras; this was the beginning of the series' 6th Volume, Brave New World, which never came to fruition due to the show's cancellation by NBC in May 2010.

* Usually, fans become quite irate when cancellation leads to a series ending on a [[Cliff Hanger]], but for some reason, when ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' ended this way, the fans took this as a bold statement by the makers, refusing to give in to the [[Sci Fi]] Channel's decision to cancel the show. Only a few people were annoyed that, given plenty of warning and knowing how unsatisfying such an ending would be, they didn't opt for a more graceful ending. On the up side, that season's main storylines were already resolved, with the last few minutes used to set up a ''new'' bit of drama for the cliffhanger. And we ''were'' eventually rewarded with a [[Grand Finale]] miniseries.

* The series finale of [[Flash Forward 2009|Flash ForwardFlashForward]], instigated after the show was canceled, ended with {{spoiler|the second blackout happening 14 minutes after the future caught up, Bryce finally finding Keiko, Simon and Demetri stuck inside the NLAP mainframe, Olivia and Lloyd kinda/maybe/sorta/probably ending up together, Aaron managing to reunite with his daughter and revive her, Janis being wheeled unconsciously from the hospital by one of the Big Bad's henchmen and the almost certain death of Mark as the FBI building explodes. Adding to this a series of disjointed flashforwards from unknown characters, excluding Charlie's one of her in the future, gives us next to nothing solid to finish up the story properly.}}

* The first [[Cut Short|and only]] season of ''[[Captain Power and Thethe Soldiers of Thethe Future]]'' ended with the death of a major character, the destruction of the good guys' home, and the remaining heroes stranded in the wilderness with a damaged ship.

* ''[[Ten10 Things I Hate About You]]'' had a pretty decent cliff hanger for the season one finale. [[Overprotective Dad|Walter]] walked in on Kat and Patrick right after they finished having sex. Bianca and Dawn quit the cheerleading squad in protest over their friend Chastity being unfairly kicked off, only to find out that Chastity is transferring schools and they didn't have to quit. Bianca's boyfriend Joey had become a contestant on a reality show and she tunes in just in time to see him kissing another one of the contestants. Then the network decided not to renew the show and the season finale became an unresolved series finale. Though the [[Word of God|series creator]] was nice enough to tell fans [http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/06/07/10-things-i-hate-about-you-season-two/ how things would have developed if the series had continued]. Basically, {{spoiler|Kat and Patrick's relationship would grow closer, though they'd eventually clash about college.(Kat wants to go and wants Patrick to go, Patrick doesn't think college is his thing.) We'd meet Patrick's mom and stepdad, and Walter would become a sort of father figure to Patrick. Kat's other possible love interest, Blank, would be around, but it wasn't quite going to turn into a full-fledged love triangle. Joey would get kicked off the reality show, causing him to lose a bit of his spark. His and Bianca's problems(from his cheating and bit of a personality change) would lead to Bianca confiding in Cameron, which would lead to a Bianca/Joey/Cameron love triangle. Chastity was going to be gone for good, since the actress quit the show, and Dawn would be given a bigger role to compensate}}.

* ''[[Dark Angel]]'' ended with a huge [[Cliff Hanger]]. The world just got aware of the Transgenics, who were claimng their own part of the town and got under siege by the police.

* In the last episode of the first season of ''[[Sledge Hammer|Sledge Hammer!]]'', the title character accidentally triggers a nuclear explosion in the middle of the city. [[Da Chief]] can be heard screaming "Hammer!" as "To Be Continued Next Season?" appears on screen. The second season begins with a [[Hand Wave]] explanation that the following episode(s) occurs five years before the explosion (regardless of the fact that Sledge met his partner for the first time at the beginning of the series -- butseries—but this could be explained if we assume that there was a five-year gap between the final two episodes of the first season).

* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' ends with a {{spoiler|glowing red light coming from one of the morphers - the trademark of Venjix, the Big Bad. Looks like he survived by downloading himself into it...}} but there's no next season, as ''RPM'' was the final season -- untilseason—until Saban bought back the franchise and restarted it with ''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]'', which has yet to acknowledge or follow up on ''RPM'' in any way. If there had been a direct sequel season, this would instead be a [[Sequel Hook]].

* The last episode of the fourth season of ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]'' ended with Sam kissing Freddie, whilst Carly watched in the window.

* {{spoiler|"Santabarbaratown", the season six finale}} of ''[[Psych]]'' did this with an excellent [[Bait and Switch]]: ''Psych's'' season finales are always [[Drama Bomb Finale|Drama Bomb Finales]]s, but so far have always had everything resolved by the end of the episode (although the Yin/Yang trilogy had some suspenseful [[Foreshadowing]] and changes to the status quo to entice the viewers). This time they seemed to be following the same formula: an extra-dark, extra-personal, extra-high-stakes mystery that was wrapped up by the end of the episode...but then {{spoiler|a loose end appears at the very last moment, with Shawn and Henry both simultaneously realizing that Henry's old cop friend who is discussing the case with him at the beach was a corrupt cop just like Henry's other two old friends who had been exposed earlier in the episode. The old friend promptly guns down Henry for knowing too much, and Henry collapses, fate unknown and with Shawn still miles away at SBPD headquarters.}}

=== [[Video Games]] ===

* In the [[PSPlayStation 2]] Game "Haven: Call of the King," the endgame is as follows: {{spoiler|The eponymous protagonist is chained to a wall with no way out and left to die of starvation/thirst. The "Great King" who Haven spent most of the game trying to signal so he would return and save his people is dead, poisoned by the evil alien overlord Vetch--who has escaped after the final battle, presumably to go wreak further havoc on Haven's people.}} Even getting [[Hundred Percent100% Completion]] doesn't help: the game adds a teaser screen for the sequel, suggesting things would carry on from there without actually giving any idea of how other than saying that {{spoiler|the king was definitely, finally, totally dead}}. Then the sequel was never made due to poor sales.

* ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] II'' ended with [[The Dragon|Prince Thrakhath]] bragging to the [[Mega Neko|Kilrathi]] Emperor about the utter destruction of the Confederation's 6th fleet in Deneb Sector, with the last words on the screen being "To be continued in [[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] III".

* In the sequel to ''[[Bionic Commando (Video Game)|Bionic Commando]]'', also called Bionic Commando but for next-gen consoles, the game ends with the hero plummeting from thousands of feet into the sky, followed by a [[Post Credits]] [[Sequel Tease]] consisting of a morse code exchange referring to a mysterious "project", the second part of which translates into German ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wseID0ru6Yg&feature=fvst click here for more details]). The studio then went under.

* ''[[Double Switch (Video Game)|Double Switch]]'': Eddie presumably snatches the Egyptian statue and causes the vault containing treasure to be sealed again. The ending seems to be a [[Sequel Hook]], but no sequel has been made.

* ''[[Dark Souls (Video Game)|Dark Souls]]'': Both endings are like this primarily because you never find out what the end result of all your struggle amounted to for the world.

=== Web Comics ===

* ''[[Fabuland Housewives]]'' second season opens up with a slew of new mysteries and a sudden murder of one of the main characters. It then ceased updating after the first episode.

=== [[Web Original]] ===

* ''[[My Immortal]]'' ended just after Ebony had cast Avadra Keduvra (sic) at Voldemort, and we still don't know what happened after that since the author, Tara Gilesbie, was locked out by a Hacker, talk about [[Laser -Guided Karma]]...

* ''[[Space Boyfriend]]'' ends in quite the famous one. {{spoiler|Ben finally confesses his love to Veronica,}} and the series was canceled before she could respond.

* Gotham: The Series ''[http://www.gothamtheseries.com\ Gotham: The Series]'' ends with {{spoiler|Richard's mother, Elizabeth, attending the Nicole Miller fashion show and passing out leaving Catherine to call Richard to tell him that Elizabeth was rushed to the hospital. Elizabeth's fate is unknown.}} The series doesn't look like it's going to continue despite an Emmy nomination.

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

=* ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!]]'' ended on a huge cliffhanger at the beginning of what would have been the main climax of the series. One more season of the show was intended, but Disney decided not to go for it, so everybody was left at the beginning of the final battle. As you might imagine, the fans were not amused.

* ''[[Duckman]]'' ended with three characterscharacters—Duckman -- Duckman included -- gettingincluded—getting hitched, and {{spoiler|his late wife Beatrice suddenly appearing alive and well at the end}}. Writer Michael Markowitz seems unwilling to divulge the ending, leaving it up to the fans to guess what may have happened.

* The second season of ''[[Sonic theSat Hedgehog (TV)AM|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' (the Saturday morning version) ended with Snively emerging from the elevator he hid in, proclaiming that, now with [[Big Bad|Robotnik]] seemingly out of the picture, ''he'' would soon wreak havoc on the Freedom Fighters, accompanied by his new partner who we only see here as a pair of glowing red eyes ([[Word of God]] later stated those eyes to belong to {{spoiler|Ixis Naugus}}). Next September, though, the third season did not show up.

* ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'' season 4 ended with the main characters trapped in the Principal Office, which had been taken over by the returned, upgraded Megabyte, who infected Phong and Welman and captured Enzo. It does not appear that there will ever be a resolution, not helped by the death of [[Tony Jay]], the voice of Megabyte.

** An official online comic is currently{{when}} showing some of the story, while a film is planned for either 2009 or 2010.

* The children's show ''[[Between the Lions (TV)|Between the Lions]]'' has a segment called Cliff Hanger, which stars the cartoon protagonist of that name. At the beginning of each segment, the announcer always says "We find Cliff Hanger where we found him last... hanging from a cliff!" And of course, by the end of each segment he's always right back where he started.

*** Subverted in one episode whentwhen hethe author decided to finally get him off the cliff because he's tried of writing the books. This angers Lionel, and he asks that the author get him back on the cliff. Which he does.

* In ''[[Danny Phantom (Animation)|Danny Phantom]]'''s season 3, Valerie found out that {{spoiler|her employer is half-ghost and that Dani is half-human}}, but after that episode, nothing was ever heard of this ever again. In fact, Valerie practically fell off the face of the earth for the much of that season.

** Though this subplot didn't get resolved, the show itself did have a proper finale (which is more than most Nickelodeon shows get) so this is more a case of [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]].

* We never do learn where Zuko's mother Ursa is at the end of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' despite Zuko confronting his father Ozai about it .

* ''[[Spider-Man: theThe Animated Series]]'': The series got [[Turned Up to Eleven]] for the last season with Mary Jane getting kidnapped by Hydro-man, Spider-Man gives chase, and gets his ass handed to him, but that's OK because [[Deus Ex Machina|MJ has Water powers now]]! but it turns out she's actually just clone, than [[The Watcher|Madam Web]] comes in and says that Spider-Man must take part in a 3 episode [[Story Arc]] based on the [[The Eighties|80's]] limited series, [[Secret Wars]], after that he teams up with alternate versions of himself from other dimensions, to stop an evil version of himself that bonded with the Symbiote from destroying reality and gets transported to our dimension where he meets up with [[Stan Lee]] after that Madam Web vows to help him find the real Mary Jane... and that's it, that was the end of the last episode.

* Season 1 of [[Scooby -Doo! Mystery Incorporated]] ends with many loose ends. Fred goes on a search for his real parents after learning that Mayor Jones isn't his real father, Mystery Inc. is dissolved, Fred's engagement with Daphne is in abeyance, Scooby is being sent to an animal farm, Shaggy is being sent to military school, Daphne is taken home to commiserate, Velma is taken home to think about not coming forward about Angel Dyamite's real identity, and Professor Pericles has made off with the second piece of the Planispheric Disc. Season 1 ends with Scooby vowing to reunite the gang and track down Pericles.

[[Category:TropeKeeping This Index in Suspense]]