Taking The Joy Out: The Cliffhanger
Clare Briggs
Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.
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Growing up, I got Cricket Magazine and they ALWAYS had serialized stories and I absolutely hated it. Something would invariably happen to the next edition of the magazine and I’d never get to read the ending. Sooo frustrating.Report
I remember how mad I used to be when GI Joe had a two-parter. That’s indicative of how literary I was. But I did like the payoff. The funny thing is that there were stories I thought were epic five parters that were, in fact, two episodes and 40 minutes long.Report
There was a show called The Banana Splits that had ongoing serialized cartoons. One of them was Huckleberry Finn where Tom, Huckleberry, and Becky get lost in the cave, like, forever. And the cave was magical so they went to lots of different worlds. It. Never. Resolved. They’re still stuck in there for all I know.Report
I was going to say that the Banaba Splits was the most bizarre Saturday morning non-Sid-and-Marty-Krofft show ever, but Wikipedia says they did the costumes and sets.Report
I have to wonder what their budget for recreational drugs amounted to…Report
Pitch meeting, somewhere in Hollywood:
“OK, so Rick Grimes gets magically transported to this cave, where he finds the desiccated bodies of Tom, Huck, and Becky, their fingernails broken from frantically clawing at the steel door and at least one of them showing evidence of post-mortem cannibalism. Then one of them starts to move…”
“Thanks, don’t call us we’ll call you. NEXT!”Report
There was an episode of Batman (the 1966 version) that ended with an allusion to the lady and the tiger. Batman had to pick one of two doors… behind one was Catwoman. Behind the other was… THE TIGER! AND HE PICKED THE TIGER!!!!
And the conclusion was next week!
I first saw that episode when I was 8. I went on to see that episode 4 times. I didn’t see the exciting conclusion until my early 30’s.
As it turns out, Batman just used his Bat Tiger Repellent or something. Then he walked into the door that the tiger came out of and the room was set up so that the Tiger would have come out no matter which door he picked.
Which was really awesome. I wish I had seen that when I was 8.Report
Who was the villain?Report
Catwoman?
(Though, for some reason, The Penguin light on the console is flashing as well so maybe he was in it too?)Report
Ah, I remember that.
The Batmans were always shown out of order, it was really irritating. I actually kind of wondered at first if the cliffhangers were a joke, like Batman was always just left in mortal peril with no resolution but eventually I started catching the endings. I was disappointed because most of them were indeed something along the lines of “Bat Tiger Repellant.”
I remember my mind was blown in the 8th grade when we were assigned the Lady and the Tiger because I realized “they were spoofing this on Batman!”Report
Boys Life serialized John Christopher’s Tripods trilogy (in graphic novel form) and I stopped getting the magazine before the story was finished. I had to (had to!) check the books out from the library and read the whole thing to see how it finished.Report
Same here, except I also only started getting the magazine when they were in the last few installments of the White Mountains, and it was years later when I found the books in the library on a random browse.
(wiki also says that, apparently, they made a fourth book in the late 80s as a prequel)Report
I’ve just read an excerpt from the prequel and now I’m toying with the idea of reading the series again.Report
It’s good. Well worth seeking out.Report
Put me in the same boat also.Report
What about the poor readers waiting on the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series?Report
The HBO series has already passed the books. As one of those poor readers, I don’t really care about the books anymore, even though I’ve only started the books in 2012.
And it seems like I always missed the second part of the Batman episodes. That’s why the Animated Series was sooooo good. Mostly one part episodes.Report
It’s been too long, I’ve given up. I’d have to start over, and I’m not sure I have the energy for that.Report
It’s gong to be the wheel of time all over again. Or else they’ll just let the execrable* HBO script stand as the last books.
*Though, on the up side, no Griff.Report