10 Greatest Star Trek Cliffhanger Episodes

Daniels? What are you doing on this list again? I'm feeling one of those time-travel migraines coming on.

The blood-pumping, heart-pounding, action-filled season three outing of Star Trek: Enterprise, Azati Prime, raises more stakes than Kirk chopping wood in the Nexus. As the Xindi arc comes to a head, the ante is upped not just for Enterprise and its crew but for everyone living on Earth.

In the episode, using information about the construction site of the Xindi weapon they obtained from Degra in a creative pre-holodeck-days ruse, the crew of Enterprise arrive at the Azati Prime star system. Captain Archer decides to lead a solo-suicide mission aboard the Xindi insectoid shuttle to blow up the weapon, although not before a little debate with Daniels on the Enterprise-J in the 26th century.

When Archer gets to the launch site, however, the weapon has already been moved. He is captured and interrogated but does eventually get to try a more diplomatic approach with Degra. The Reptilians and the Insectoids are having none of it though and four of their ships attack Enterprise.

The battle is epic. Just about everything that can explode does explode; buttresses fall, decks decompress, and several unfortunate crewmembers are ripped out into space as Xindi weapons cut large swathes through the hull. The last thing we see before the screen cuts to black is Enterprise adrift as particle beams continue to rain down. Not off a cliff, the ship is left hanging in space. It looks like the end for the NX-01!

Spoiler alert, it wasn't, but the damage Enterprise sustained in this critical cliffhanger would follow it for several episodes and even into season four.