Day 462: Image of the Fendahl Part 1

This episode has a fantastic cliffhanger, which works through a variety of factors. On paper, it consists of Leela walking into a room and a gun being fired, whilst an unknown force advances on the Doctor. This reasonably ordinary cliffhanger is able to be massively intensified on screen. For a start, the episode is shot at night, so the scenes where the Doctor is advanced upon by the unseen force have a new degree of menace through the darkness and shadows that surround the area, whilst a heavy fog plays up the unsettling nature of the countryside location. This is edited back and forth between the Leela scenes, meaning that we are in constant peril with no room for breath, and in addition the scenes never seem to stay on one shot for more than a handful of seconds, creating tension as the climax is reached. Tension is also created through the soundscape, as there is no music, only a steadily rising pitch of some unknown force creating more tension as you get a sensation that it is slowly approaching some form of climax. The only break from this steadily rising noise is a simple gunshot, which is sudden, giving a brief sense of shock to the audience and leaving them more unnerved for the true cliffhanger as the camera approaches the Doctor and we realise that there may be no escape from the horrifying and unknowable force.