A better way to end the series then Endgame

[The Overlord]

Sfdebris did a review of Endgame and found it underwhelming. He suggested a different way to end the series in this review at 35 minute mark (going on the assumption that he had to keep the Borg and time travel elements) of this review:

http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v971.php

So how should have Voyager ended? Should there have been more of a build up regarding Voyager's return to Earth? More of an epilogue to the series, where we see the ship return to Earth and the crew get to reunited with long lost loved ones?

Edit: I realize a made a typo in the header, can some mod please change it from why to way?

 

[Lance]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

The easy answer is "show don't tell". We learn a lot about how Voyager's return happened in retrospect, and we see the ship approach Earth at the end of the episode, but the event itself is never seen except in a kind of flashback sense in the future segments. It's a cheat on the premise: if you're idea that they're making their way home, then you've got to show the way that happens, and how the crew readjust to being home for the first time. You don't just say "We're home", and then roll the end credits.

It's the same kind of hollow feeling as you get from the Enterprise series finale, which builds up to this so-called historic great speech that Archer is supposed to give, but we never actually get to *see* it!

 

[hux]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

Endgame was a mess. I agree about the horrible Chakotay/Seven relationship being tagged on and Tuvok's illness being utterly non-existent until this episode. But those things needed to happen in order to Justify the biggest piece of ridiculousness which was Janeway's desire to change the time line. As the reviewer says, she wants to change things to save people (erm, except all the people that died before this episode) and that's just silly. Even the writers know this so they cook up motivations for Janeway to act irrationally (i.e saving her three favourite crew members) but even that doesn't really work as a motivation but hey, they needed something

Me personally, i never wanted Voyager to get home. I would have been happy for the series to finish with them still trying to get there (but done in a way that was satisfying to the audience and provided a worthwhile denouement for the series)

In fact, i wish getting home had never been a real option from the start. Maybe if the caretaker had sent them 700,000 light years from the badlands rather than 70 and getting home was an irrelevance. What mattered was the journey; the family

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

I would have had them come home a few episodes before the finale then in the finale have something from the Delta quadrant come back and become a threat to Earth that Voyager is needed to fight off. Like maybe an all out Borg attack on Earth, and we find out that the Borg have learned how to assimilate Species 8472. So Voyager is called in to contact 8472 to try to make an alliance against the Borg, which is difficult because 8472 losing the first time was kind of Voyager's fault.

Or, they meet a third Caretaker and do the whole full circle thing. Something like that.

 

[Lynx]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

"Endshame" was a total disgrace.

Voyager should have ended with a final showdown with Suspiria, the female Caretaker.

In this episode, Surpiria should have returned to finally destroy Voyager. Then Kes should have returned from the "energy-being" state and finally she would have persuaded Surpiria not to destroy Voyager, convincing Suspiria that Janeway told the truth about how The Caretaker died and also that Voyager fulfilled The Caretaker's last wish when they distroyed the array.

As a final gift, Surpiria would have sent Voyager home and also given Kes a human lifespan as thanks for her help.

Then we would have had a real homecoming for our heroes.

Maybe a "happy end" between Chakotay and Janeway!

 

[trekshark]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

not kill Carey a few episodes before the end
I think getting back to Earth before the last episode and having an episode or two of them adjusting to being home would have been good

 

[sonak]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

I have heard and read tons of better ways of ending the series than what was done in "Endgame." I think many fans sitting at home could have come up with a better story. "Endgame" was mediocre as an individual episode but an insult as a series finale, as it ended just as it got to the part that so many wanted to see.(What would happen to the characters as they adjusted to being back on Earth)

 

[Dukhat]

I have heard and read tons of better ways of ending the series than what was done in "Endgame." I think many fans sitting at home could have come up with a better story. "Endgame" was mediocre as an individual episode but an insult as a series finale, as it ended just as it got to the part that so many wanted to see.(What would happen to the characters as they adjusted to being back on Earth)

Exactly. I could just start typing right now, with no prior ideas in my head, and come up with a better ending for VOY than what we got.

 

[mahler]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

Here is how I would end the show.
Blow up the ship, and let the beauty things die...horribly.
Cue theme music
Finis

 

[Lynx]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

not kill Carey a few episodes before the end
I think getting back to Earth before the last episode and having an episode or two of them adjusting to being home would have been good

I agree on that. Carey was a good character, it was totally unnecessary to kill him off.

 

[bbjeg]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

...
So how should have Voyager ended? Should there have been more of a build up regarding Voyager's return to Earth? More of an epilogue to the series, where we see the ship return to Earth and the crew get to reunited with long lost loved ones?

I think they should have ended it with them using the Borg hub and all, but not with future Janeway's help. I said this in another thread but Voyager has come across tons of new species and gathered an immense amount of new data. They should have been able to give themselves an upgrade to get through that hub. Maybe they could have replicated another 8472 mega torpedo, or a Krenim temporal torpedo (I know that one timeline didn't exist but Kes did bring back data from a alternate future), or any other breakthrough they came across.

Instead, they completely forgot about the Temporal agents.

...
Edit: I realize a made a typo in the header, can some mod please change it from why to way?

It's best to private message one of the board mods to fix that.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

not kill Carey a few episodes before the end
I think getting back to Earth before the last episode and having an episode or two of them adjusting to being home would have been good

I agree on that. Carey was a good character, it was totally unnecessary to kill him off.

I didn't even remember who Carey was the first time he died. As in, the first time I saw him die.

 

[bbjeg]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

^I cared more about him after finding out he was on TNG after Voyager wrapped up. Probably not the same character though.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

He hit on Seven despite having a wife and children.

In a universe of such tapered morals, of course he had to die.

 

[MacLeod]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

For me another VOY episode "Timeless" did the whole travelling back in time to change history better than "Endgame".

 

[Melakon]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

I think too many people pay attention to online critics instead of thinking for themselves.

 

[Gaith]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

I think too many people pay attention to online critics instead of thinking for themselves.

But Richard Whettstone, in his review of "Endgame", has already done all your thinking on this matter for you!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

That came out a few hours after Endgame aired.

Rick obviously at some point liked Star Trek a lot, but Enterprise killed him.

 

[Seven of Five]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

I don't know. If they wanted to stick with time travel and Borg, then maybe the crew could have shown Admiral Janeway the error of her ways, and actually have it mean something. They showed her how happy they were as a community despite not having reached Earth yet. Harry in particular touched on the notion of the destination not being important, but the journey. Perhaps they should have played up that aspect more throughout the episode?

The crew shouldn't need to cheat to arbitrarily get home, just because it's the last episode. They were right in wanting to destroy the transwarp hub, and should have followed that path without the having cake and eating it too bollocks.

Perhaps after defeating the Borg, they finally cross over into the Beta Quadrant, which would mirror the cut to an epilogue 26 years in the future, where Voyager finally reaches Earth. We hear about some of the sad things that happened that Admiral Janeway warned of, yet we also see many more promising things. Families reunite, and Starfleet welcomes back the weary travelers.

Whatever happens though, no Chakotay-Seven love fest. I don't think they need to have a relationship to make an emotional problem for Admiral Janeway. She's had a strong bond with both of them for long enough, so that if one or both of them died, or was severely injured, it would be enough to do her in. Especially with Tuvok's illness thrown in.

 

[Lynx]

Re: A better why to end the series then Endgame

^I cared more about him after finding out he was on TNG after Voyager wrapped up. Probably not the same character though.

That might be true.

But I always considered the crewman on Voytager as Carey. It would give Lt Carey a good background story.