Friday, August 10, 2007
Top 5 Movie or TV "Cliffhangers"
OK, I was surfin' the net, and saw some doozeys...but came up with my own "Top 5" list of Cliffhangers on more-than-one-part type movies' or Television Series' (at least since the late '70's)...here goes(with much plagiarism as possible, due to time constraints!)
#5. Jack’s Gotta Go Back (“Lost” Season 3, Episode 23)During the 2007 finale, we watched as a mopey Doctor Jack boozed it up and grew a rad beard. At the climax, we realize it wasn’t a flashback at all, but Jack’s heartache after getting off the island with Kate. His final, ominous declaration of “We gotta go back” was good for chills, multiplied to the 4,815,162,342nd degree.
#4. Two Cathedrals ("West Wing", Season 2 finale)
The President is beset by memories of Mrs. Landingham as her funeral approaches. Meanwhile, the staff deals with a crisis in Haiti and questions from congressional Democrats regarding the President's health, following his disclosure that he suffers from MS. But the question on everybody's lips remains the same – will President Bartlet seek reelection? Though I haven't watched the series...In his "Inside the Actors Studio episode", Martin Sheen(who plays the President) is told by the host, James Lipton, that this episode was the best hour of television ever made.
#3. Picard…of Borg! (“Star Trek: The Next Generation” Season 3, Episode 26)Damn Borg: Emotionless and devoid of any human reason, they’ve been a bigger thorn in Starfleet’s side than Captain Kirk’s sexual harassment suits. As Commander Riker looks on, “Locutus of Borg,” aka an assimilated Captain Picard, appears via viewscreen. What else can Riker do but order his ship to “fire”—and what else can Trekkers do except set their phasers to “stunned”?
#2. Who Shot J.R.? (“Dallas” Season 2, Episode 25)
TV series cliffhangers weren’t put into heavy rotation until CBS struck oil with their bombastic attempted murder of J.R. Ewing, the slimy Texan who put the screws to just about everyone in the preceding season. Relaxing in his office one evening, a mysterious shooter puts three bullets into him. In a cliffhanger that gave birth to a cultural phenomenon, the nation spent the next several months debating who had the cojones to pull the trigger.
and the #1 movie/TV series cliffhanger, according to me...
Han Solo on Ice (“Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back”)
Fans may loathe George Lucas for any number of reasons: Ewoks, Jar Jar, allowing Harrison Ford to gain 20 pounds for “Return of the Jedi.”
But the Beard outdid himself in 1980, when he and director Irvin Kershner made a sequel to the most successful film of all time. By way of torment, the first two hours had everything fans had clamored for: spectacular space battles, lightsaber duels, startling revelations.
But as the film wound to a close, unease began to creep in. Darth Vader was still at large. Worse, iconic rogue Han Solo had been frozen in Carbonite and dragged off to Yoda knows where courtesy of bounty hunter Boba Fett. Lucas had made the ultimate homage to his beloved film serials, and ran credits over several unresolved issues. But unlike the reels from his youth, fans would have to wait years, not weeks, for resolution.
It was torture worthy of the Sarlaac Pit!
I'm sure I am forgetting a ton of stuff from some of the most popular TV or movie series of all time....but I'll think about it later...at the moment...my head hurts! Meanwhile, Feel free to comment some of your own!
#5. Jack’s Gotta Go Back (“Lost” Season 3, Episode 23)During the 2007 finale, we watched as a mopey Doctor Jack boozed it up and grew a rad beard. At the climax, we realize it wasn’t a flashback at all, but Jack’s heartache after getting off the island with Kate. His final, ominous declaration of “We gotta go back” was good for chills, multiplied to the 4,815,162,342nd degree.
#4. Two Cathedrals ("West Wing", Season 2 finale)
The President is beset by memories of Mrs. Landingham as her funeral approaches. Meanwhile, the staff deals with a crisis in Haiti and questions from congressional Democrats regarding the President's health, following his disclosure that he suffers from MS. But the question on everybody's lips remains the same – will President Bartlet seek reelection? Though I haven't watched the series...In his "Inside the Actors Studio episode", Martin Sheen(who plays the President) is told by the host, James Lipton, that this episode was the best hour of television ever made.
#3. Picard…of Borg! (“Star Trek: The Next Generation” Season 3, Episode 26)Damn Borg: Emotionless and devoid of any human reason, they’ve been a bigger thorn in Starfleet’s side than Captain Kirk’s sexual harassment suits. As Commander Riker looks on, “Locutus of Borg,” aka an assimilated Captain Picard, appears via viewscreen. What else can Riker do but order his ship to “fire”—and what else can Trekkers do except set their phasers to “stunned”?
#2. Who Shot J.R.? (“Dallas” Season 2, Episode 25)
TV series cliffhangers weren’t put into heavy rotation until CBS struck oil with their bombastic attempted murder of J.R. Ewing, the slimy Texan who put the screws to just about everyone in the preceding season. Relaxing in his office one evening, a mysterious shooter puts three bullets into him. In a cliffhanger that gave birth to a cultural phenomenon, the nation spent the next several months debating who had the cojones to pull the trigger.
and the #1 movie/TV series cliffhanger, according to me...
Han Solo on Ice (“Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back”)
Fans may loathe George Lucas for any number of reasons: Ewoks, Jar Jar, allowing Harrison Ford to gain 20 pounds for “Return of the Jedi.”
But the Beard outdid himself in 1980, when he and director Irvin Kershner made a sequel to the most successful film of all time. By way of torment, the first two hours had everything fans had clamored for: spectacular space battles, lightsaber duels, startling revelations.
But as the film wound to a close, unease began to creep in. Darth Vader was still at large. Worse, iconic rogue Han Solo had been frozen in Carbonite and dragged off to Yoda knows where courtesy of bounty hunter Boba Fett. Lucas had made the ultimate homage to his beloved film serials, and ran credits over several unresolved issues. But unlike the reels from his youth, fans would have to wait years, not weeks, for resolution.
It was torture worthy of the Sarlaac Pit!
I'm sure I am forgetting a ton of stuff from some of the most popular TV or movie series of all time....but I'll think about it later...at the moment...my head hurts! Meanwhile, Feel free to comment some of your own!
Back home again....so far....eh...
Well, here I sit at my mom's computer in Harmony....blogging for the first time since moving back from Iowa to the great Gopher state! Work has been quite uneventful, though things will definetly be picking up with the end of summer celebration schedule hitting next week, and then the fall sports season and school starting the end of the month. I will be headed back to church for the first time in over six months this Sunday, and am very excited about reuniting with good friends(speaking of which, I gotta get on Meebo with Bill this morning!)...I had hoped I would be more excited about everything...but I am actually a little apprehensive about the "change" that may have happened in the seven or so months with myself or with others I hope to see again. I truly get frightened about how others perceive me, and I don't like it! In any case, my continued prayer will be in my ability to stay strong and communicative through my relationships with others...but even more so that I can get a good relationship re-started in a public-setting worship with God!
