10 Greatest Star Trek Cliffhanger Episodes
1. Where Your Old Man Was, Jack (The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I)
I mean, could it have been anything else for number one than the number one 'number one' moment? "Mr Worf… Fire!" It's not Hannah Montana, it's The Next Generation season three finale – the cliffhanger that set the benchmark, and set it high, for every Star Trek cliffhanger that followed.
The Best of Both Worlds seems to have achieved something rather unique: pretty much everyone, even in the cacophonously divided world of the Internet, agrees that it's great. Look at reviews online even today and descriptors like 'outstanding,' 'game-changing,' and 'masterpiece' abound. Part I and Part II also tend to make just about every 'best of' or 'essential' list going, and not just the Star Trek ones.
Far be it from us to offer any kind of dissenting opinion either. There's a reason it gets all the love – it really is just that good. The Locutus twist and the Riker response was a defining moment in Star Trek history, written and played to perfection, and left fans in 1990 with one heck of a summer wait for answers.
This cliffhanger episode was so monumental a turning-point for the franchise that its after-effects continue to reverberate down to the new next generation. Only very recently, in a remarkable scene from Star Trek: Picard's standout season three, Jean-Luc was confronted about his time as Borg figurehead (in the presence of his son Jack, no less) by loveable, and clearly traumatised, "dipsh*t from Chicago" Captain Liam Shaw. Picard was not responsible for his actions, but those affected by them are still dealing with the consequences, such is the now three-decade-plus staying power of the greatest Star Trek cliffhanger.