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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. Now obviously we
00:10knew he was returning, but just seeing him back in this role after so long was just crazy. I
00:16personally was stunned, in fact I was pretty much lost for words, which you'll be able to see
00:20if you go back and watch our ups and downs review of the episode, I just didn't know what to
00:24say.
00:24But with this most recent cliffhanger dropping, we thought now would be a good time to take a look
00:29at some of the other amazing cliffhangers that Doctor Who has given us. So with that in mind,
00:34I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with 10 Doctor Who cliffhangers that made you say what?
00:40Number 10, the Dalek fleet in Bad Wolf. Now as if Bad Wolf didn't already have enough going on with
00:47the killer android, the rather permanent Big Brother evictions, and Captain Jack Harkness hiding a gun
00:53somewhere. On top of all that madness, RTD just had to go and throw Daleks into the
00:59mix as well. The revelation at the end of Bad Wolf that these Scarrow natives had
01:03survived their apparent destruction and were the ones in control of the game station was actually
01:08probably the first major cliffhanger of modern Doctor Who. Now the backstory of Christopher
01:13Eccleson's Ninth Doctor kind of implied that the Daleks had all been defeated in the time war,
01:18and so the discovery of an entire Dalek fleet heading straight for our heroes was quite the bombshell
01:24for both the Doctor and for the audience. And that closing moment where the Doctor basically
01:29defies the Dalek's orders and risks Rose's life is quite inspiring but also rather risky,
01:37and audiences were left unsure whether they should applaud his nerve or chastise his recklessness.
01:43Number 9, the 12th Doctor meets Santa Claus in Death in Heaven. Considering that Doctor Who
01:49aired a Christmas special every year from 2005 to 2017, it is quite surprising that it wasn't until
01:562014 that we finally saw the Doctor encounter Father Christmas. And I'm going to say Father Christmas
02:03because in England that is what he is called, not Santa Claus. I feel very strongly about this.
02:09Midway through the closing credits of the series 8 finale, the Doctor is suddenly awoken by a knocking at
02:16the TARDIS door, and then Nick Frost's Father Christmas just casually strolls in and asks the
02:20Doctor what he wants for Christmas. We knew that the next episode was going to be a Christmas special,
02:25so that in itself wasn't massively surprising. But what was surprising was the introduction of a mythical
02:31creature here, or a mythical being. Mostly mythical beings in Doctor Who are given some sort of
02:37supernatural explanation, but here it genuinely seemed like Father Christmas had walked into the TARDIS.
02:42And also, he seemed to be an acquaintance of the Doctor's, which left us with quite a few questions.
02:49Mainly, what's on the Doctor's Christmas list? This was also a mid-credits scene, something that was
02:54unheard of in Doctor Who at the time, and so people were a little bit jarred, a little bit shocked,
02:59and had a lot of questions. Number 8, Donna in the TARDIS in Doomsday. Doomsday really was an emotional
03:06rollercoaster of an episode, and marked the end of an era for modern Doctor Who, as it saw the
03:11departure of its first companion. Now, there wasn't a dry eye in the nation, as we witnessed the
03:17Tenth Doctor and Rose saying goodbye to one another on Bad Wolf Bay. But, before we or the Doctor had
03:24time to process any of it, a massive bombshell was dropped in the form of Catherine Tate, in a wedding
03:30dress, in the TARDIS. Now, the Doctor's iconic, what, what, what reaction debuted in this moment, and the
03:38no-nonsense banter of Catherine Tate immediately set a new dynamic and tone for the following episode,
03:44The Runaway Bride. But this ending left audiences in a really conflicted state of utter devastation
03:51at the loss of Rose, but also a somewhat guilty feeling of excitement and anticipation for what
03:57was to come. Number 7, floating in space in The Woman Who Fell to Earth. Jodie Whittaker's debut episode
04:04introduced a lot of new elements to Doctor Who. You had a new Doctor, a new gang of companions,
04:10and a new central location on Earth, which was nice, it was a nice change to just always ending up
04:15in
04:15London. But one thing that is recognised by audiences as a mainstay of Doctor Who was missing.
04:21The TARDIS. It's not unusual for the TARDIS to take a bit of a beating following a regeneration,
04:26and a redesign was expected to accompany this kind of fresh vision of Doctor Who. But expectations were
04:34quickly subverted when the episode ended not with this new TARDIS team beaming to the TARDIS,
04:40but just into open space. Now, some fans were a bit disappointed at the lack of a new TARDIS reveal,
04:46and others were just in complete shock that these new companions were now floating in space,
04:51rapidly running out of air, and it was a really good hook for the following episode. Now,
04:55say what you will about the Whittaker Chibnall era, but this was certainly a gripping ending to their
05:01debut episode. Number 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 crew,
05:13so they aptly named it Oxygen. We see the 12th Doctor, Bill and Nardole take on these zombies in
05:19spacesuits. Seriously, what is it with Steven Moffat and spacesuits that have a mind of their own?
05:24And also, the inhumane values of a company who places profit above human life. Now, the episode
05:32does give you a few near-fatal moments. Just to give you a bit of a fright, you have Bill's
05:36suit
05:36malfunction and the Doctor give her his, then he goes blind as a result of his prolonged lack of oxygen,
05:42and then Bill's suit malfunctions again and seemingly kills her. Luckily, the Doctor is able to save Bill,
05:48and Nardole is able to restore the Doctor's sight. Or so we thought. It's revealed at the end of the
05:54episode that the Doctor is in fact still blind when he says to Nardole, I can't look at anything
06:00ever again. Now, 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. Number 5. The universe ends in the Pandorica
06:13Opens. Now, 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. But it's a tale as old as time, or at least
06:23as old as
06:23Doctor Who. The new guy is never going to be as good as the one before. And it's a tale
06:28that's
06:28generally proven wrong. And I think that Series 5's The Pandorica Opens really proved that Matt Smith
06:35was worthy of the role. And it also introduced a premise that was so obvious and yet inconceivable
06:43at the same time. Now, it stands to reason that the most feared being in the universe would be the
06:48one person who constantly prevails over all the other menacing creatures in the galaxy. The idea of
06:55all of the Doctor's enemies working together in an alliance was just brilliantly created by Stephen
07:01Moffat and left us with a truly brilliant cliffhanger as the Doctor is dragged into the Pandorica and
07:08sealed inside as the TARDIS explodes, destroying the universe. Now, this ending left us with so many
07:13questions. How is the Doctor going to escape this perfectly designed prison? How is he going to fix the
07:19universe? Did Robot Rory really just shoot Amy? And most importantly, did River get out of the
07:26exploding TARDIS in time? Number four, Bad Wolf in Turn Left. Turn Left was a brilliant what-if
07:33episode, and it really highlighted just how many times the Doctor has saved the world, but also how
07:38many people he's influenced to follow in his footsteps. But of course, the biggest element of this episode was
07:44the return of Rose. Now, we had seen glimpses of Rose's return throughout series four, but this was
07:51the most prominent appearance and really laid the groundwork for the upcoming two-part series finale.
07:56Now, there still was a lot of mystery surrounding Rose, she wouldn't give her identity to Donna,
08:01and there was no explanation how she was travelling from her parallel universe to Donna's. But it was made
08:07clear towards the end of the episode that her one goal, her one mission, was to warn the Doctor of
08:13the
08:13impending darkness. What 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, but also
08:30had a personal meaning that instantly gave him just a glimmer of hope that he would see her again.
08:36And then seeing the words Bad Wolf plastered everywhere on screen just created such a buzz for
08:41the following week's episode. And it also gave the audiences that glimmer of hope that they
08:47would finally see the Doctor and Rose reunited. Number three, River's identity in A Good Man Goes
08:53to War. The identity of River Song had been a long-standing mystery ever since her first appearance
08:59in Silence in the Library. And while some people, including Amy, had guessed that she would become
09:05the Doctor's wife, there was a second layer to her identity that perhaps people didn't see coming.
09:11Now, in hindsight, maybe it was obvious. There were a few hints and clues dropped in the build-up to
09:16this reveal, but it was executed so well that the reveal still felt like a shocking twist.
09:22River Song is Melody Pond. Melody Pond is Amy and Rory's daughter.
09:28What?! Now, the range of reactions, from the Doctor's flustered excitement to the sheer look
09:34of shock on Amy and Rory's face, is probably a pretty good representation of the spectrum of
09:40audience responses as well. Now, while it was brilliant to finally know who River Song was,
09:45we actually were left with more questions than we started with. Like, how can River Song be older
09:51than her parents? What happened to her once she was taken from Demon's Run? Why didn't she say
09:57anything sooner? And how does Steven Moffat's mind work? Number two, the Angel Doctor in Village of the
10:04Angels. Now, say what you will about Flux, but it cannot be denied that episode four, Village of the
10:10Angels, ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. After discovering a weeping angel inside Claire's mind,
10:17the Doctor enters Claire's mind to try and expel the invader. But instead, she learns that this
10:24weeping angel is hiding from the Division, and offers the Doctor a deal – her missing memories
10:30in exchange for helping the Angel escape. Immediately, this seems reckless. Why would you
10:35trust a weeping angel? And of course, when the moment arrives, the Angel double-crosses the Doctor
10:39and offers her to the Division in exchange for its own freedom. But what happens next is truly,
10:46truly unexpected. Now, it's not uncommon to see the Doctor find themselves in a sticky situation,
10:51but very 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. This was a moment that left many an audience member
11:04with their jaws on the floor and a what-the-f expression on their face.
11:091. David 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 Who. The pair
11:20worked so well together from Series 2 to Series 4, so the prospect of them creating new content just
11:26sent fans into a frenzy. With the announcement of David Tennant's return, and Shu T. Gat was casting,
11:32the question on everybody's lips in the build-up to Jodie Whittaker's final episode, was who was she
11:38going to regenerate into? Now, it was fairly obvious that it was going to be one of these two actors,
11:43but the fact that it was David Tennant left us with so much more confusion than if it had been
11:49Shu T. Gat were.
11:50A new face is to be expected. An old face revisited? Well, that's something completely different.
11:57Now, in this instance, the reveal itself wasn't massively shocking. We knew that David Tennant was
12:02going to be returning, but the mystery and the confusion surrounding his return, that made for
12:09a brilliant cliffhanger. One that will now keep fans guessing for an entire year before they get
12:16any sort of answers. Damn you, Russell T. Davis! And that concludes our list. Now, there are some obvious
12:22ones that we purposely left out because we wanted to look for the more obscure answers, but if you
12:28think we did miss any really good examples, then do let us know in the comments below. And while
12:33you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell so you never miss a
12:37Who Culture video again. Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there and Instagram as well, and I can
12:42be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild. Don't forget to look for
12:47Sean Ferrick as well, and Dan the Meigs too. I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of
12:53Riversong
12:53herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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