Book and Episode Cliffhangers
The book episodes invariably end with a cliffhanger which is resolved in the next issue in one or two panels. For instance, when manager Tommy Brown revealed that 'he' was actually a woman in disguise, the following episode had her leaving the country for ever and being replaced by her identical twin brother.
- When someone stole a bag containing the gate money, which Sid Preston had left on a table beneath a small air vent, it was theorised that only a contortionist from the local circus could have entered the room. However Syd then realised that, now that he thought about it, he had actually left the bag on a different table - where indeed it was.
- Billy was convicted of the murder of his wife and children, and was about to be executed. In the nick of time his family turned up to say that they weren't dead; they had merely been out shopping.
The television series had cliffhangers at the end of each of the 4 episodes that were broadcast: Episode One The team are given a lift to Rossdale Stadium in Rick Spangle's jetplane. Suddenly, Spangles peels off his head to reveal an alien underneath it. The team discover they are his prisoners and that the plane is going to Mars...
Episode Two Billy is at a death camp in Botslavia. He has been send there for a punishment for signing a written confession to crimes perpetuated against the Botslavian states. Several guns are pointed at him, and Billy says: "Oh, well. This looks like the end." Once given the orders, the soldiers open fire...
Episode Three Gus Parker announces that when the match takes place on Saturday, Grimthorpe City will win the league trophy, and no fish, large breasted Indian or invisible striker is going to stop them...
Episode Four The narrator explains that the final whistle had blown before the ball had crossed the line, which means that Grimthorpe City are champions of the league trophy. But he is wrong. The referee apologizes for blowing the whistle. He was just testing it. Fulchester are champions of the league trophy.
Read more about this topic: Billy The Fish
Famous quotes containing the words book and/or episode:
“In the learned journal, in the influential newspaper, I discern no form; only some irresponsible shadow; oftener some monied corporation, or some dangler, who hopes, in the mask and robes of his paragraph, to pass for somebody. But through every clause and part of speech of the right book I meet the eyes of the most determined men; his force and terror inundate every word: the commas and dashes are alive; so that the writing is athletic and nimble,—can go far and live long.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The press is no substitute for institutions. It is like the beam of a searchlight that moves restlessly about, bringing one episode and then another out of darkness into vision. Men cannot do the work of the world by this light alone. They cannot govern society by episodes, incidents, and eruptions. It is only when they work by a steady light of their own, that the press, when it is turned upon them, reveals a situation intelligible enough for a popular decision.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)