How would you fix the series finale?

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

It's spring 2005. The show just got cancelled. You work on the show, and you've got Berman and Braga's ears, you're helping work on the series finale. It's going to be a 1-hour, and it's gonna be a TNG crossover to bring the 1987-2005 full circle. Valentine for the fans! That's the starting point. How would you make this work as a series finale where you're not spending the next few years denying to have been involved?

Changes I'd have made, trying to keep the episode as is, but make it work.
#1 Make everyone look 6 years older, possibly new hairstyles, plus Reed, Sato, and Travis are all promoted up at least one rank.
#2 If B&B want Trip & T'Pol broken up, have it be more recent so it can tie into the episode itself.
#3 Killing off Trip isn't a big deal; they knew it was over and there wouldn't be a movie.
#4 If you're killing off Trip (my favorite character), it needs to flow better into the plot. Blowing up space pirates (and himself) is just... random.
#5 There's just "too much" going on for a 45-minute finale. Let's check: six years later framing, TNG holodeck framing, NX-01's final mission, Shran's daughter rescue mission, space pirates, main character death, Riker and Troi's "Pegasus" plot. Two framing devices, 5 stories, all in one episode.
#6 Maybe UPN could have pushed it to 23 episodes so the finale could be a two-hour? Yes? No?
#7 The uniform and set updates for the "6 years later" stuff was stupid. Just leave the uniforms as they are, focus on making the ship more weathered looking, and if you're going to add shit to the set, make it look functional and blending in, not those random add ons from the old NX-01 from "E2."
#8 Slim it down. 6 years later? I'm good. TNG framing with Riker and Troi? I'm good. Frakes and Sirtis pretending to be Riker and Troi from 1994 in a 2005 episode? A lot of casual fans loved it, so it could have worked. This needed to be very much an NX-01 story "watched" by Riker and Troi. The A-plot should be the NX-01 doing X on the way back to Earth, whatever that be. The B-plot is fine as Riker and Troi, so long as it made sense. The whole episode should have built up to the death of Trip.
#9 Maybe pick a different TNG S7 episode to tie into?
#10 Maybe tie the episode into Nemesis?

Anyway, point is, I liked the TNG crossover concept for the series finale, history looking back on the NX-01's final mission.
Conceptually, good ideas. I feel like the rush job is what killed the final product.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Not make it in any way, shape or form.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Not make it in any way, shape or form.

What was wrong with the "base concept" of a TNG-crossover finale?

 

[Tosk]

What was wrong with the "base concept" of a TNG-crossover finale?

Everything.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Everything.

OK, I'll bite. It's spring 2005. The show's been cancelled. Filming on the finale starts in 2 weeks. You have that long to come up with a series finale start to finish. What's your 1-hour finale?

 

[Tosk]

I'm not a writer, I'm a critic.

To expand on my previous answer, how would you feel if the TNG finale was actually a Discovery episode, where the only TNG elements appear via hologram so that Burnham can supposedly make a decision about her own life? It's just an awful approach to ending a show.

If I was Berman-Braga, I'd have simply given the last slot to Coto so that the final arc could be three episodes long instead of two.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I'm not a writer, I'm a critic.

To expand on my previous answer, how would you feel if the TNG finale was actually a Discovery episode, where the only TNG elements appear via hologram so that Burnham can supposedly make a decision about her own life? It's just an awful approach to ending a show.

If I was Berman-Braga, I'd have simply given the last slot to Coto so that the final arc could be three episodes long instead of two.

TNG ended in 1994, Disco came out in 2017, can't happen, but I get what you're saying. The finale of show B starring some of the cast of show A. I get it. My understanding was that "Demons" and "Terra Prime" effectively function as a 2-part ending to the show while "These Are the Voyages..." was envisioned as more of a 1987-2005 franchise finale. Maybe one of those things that works on paper but not in real life?

I do like your idea, reworking the Terra Prime two-parter into a trilogy and ending with that. Not bad.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The Enterprise Pitch Game Thread has better episode ideas than TATV.

 

[Dukhat]

What was wrong with the "base concept" of a TNG-crossover finale?

Nothing, per se, unless the TNG characters overshadow the ENT characters, which is what exactly happened.

Berman and Braga very clearly wanted to make a 'lost episode' of TNG (which they also failed at, TATV being just an extended version of an episode that already existed) and used the ENT finale as a way to do this at the expense of the actual ENT cast.

Now with that said, the concept of people from the future observing past events is a good one, but it should not have been used for ENT's series finale, and it should not have been done the way it was done in TATV. The TNG people should have been relegated to the sidelines and the story should have focused completely on the ENT cast. Instead, TATV ended up primarily being about how Riker's holodeck program allowed him to figure out how to deal with his bad situation with the Pegasus and its cloaking device. WTF does any of that have to do with ENT?

Take Babylon 5's "The Deconstruction of Fallen Stars" as an example of this concept done right. We see events from different points in 'past' history, being observed by someone, but we don't know who he is or why he is observing these events. We don't even see him fully until the very end of the episode, in which we learn he is a future human who is about to evolve into a Vorlon-like being, who is observing these past events as a tribute to the survival of the human race. These past events are far more important to the story than the observer is.

So, really, as Drunk Superman implied, if you're going to involve the TNG cast in a finale of a show that has nothing whatsoever to do with them, then either do it the way Babylon 5 did it, or just don't do it at all.

 

[Tosk]

TNG ended in 1994, Disco came out in 2017, can't happen, but I get what you're saying.

Yes, I know. It's an example to make a point. Obviously.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Nothing, per se, unless the TNG characters overshadow the ENT characters, which is what exactly happened.

Berman and Braga very clearly wanted to make a 'lost episode' of TNG (which they also failed at, TATV being just an extended version of an episode that already existed) and used the ENT finale as a way to do this at the expense of the actual ENT cast.

Now with that said, the concept of people from the future observing past events is a good one, but it should not have been used for ENT's series finale, and it should not have been done the way it was done in TATV. The TNG people should have been relegated to the sidelines and the story should have focused completely on the ENT cast. Instead, TATV ended up primarily being about how Riker's holodeck program allowed him to figure out how to deal with his bad situation with the Pegasus and its cloaking device. WTF does any of that have to do with ENT?

Take Babylon 5's "The Deconstruction of Fallen Stars" as an example of this concept done right. We see events from different points in 'past' history, being observed by someone, but we don't know who he is or why he is observing these events. We don't even see him fully until the very end of the episode, in which we learn he is a future human who is about to evolve into a Vorlon-like being, who is observing these past events as a tribute to the survival of the human race. These past events are far more important to the story than the observer is.

So, really, as Drunk Superman implied, if you're going to involve the TNG cast in a finale of a show that has nothing whatsoever to do with them, then either do it the way Babylon 5 did it, or just don't do it at all.

Well written, and I mostly agree. I have read many rumors that "These Are the Voyages..." was always going to be the S4 finale and when the show was cancelled, they retooled it to be the series finale. Have you heard this? What do you make of this?

I've read a lot of arguments that it would have worked mid-season if they plucked out the "6 years later" and Trip's death parts, but as a season/series finale, just no. Agree? Disagree?

 

[Firebird]

I get why the episode was made, and it's really not the worst episode in the world. What was stupid was airing it as the series finale.

It would've been better served to air somewhere earlier in the season with perhaps a slight writing fix where Deanna wryly tells Riker that holoprogram is notorious for being dramatized to the point it might as well be fiction. That gives you the out to say perhaps the fate of certain characters isn't exactly what we've just seen.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I get why the episode was made, and it's really not the worst episode in the world. What was stupid was airing it as the series finale.

It would've been better served to air somewhere earlier in the season with perhaps a slight writing fix where Deanna wryly tells Riker that holoprogram is notorious for being dramatized to the point it might as well be fiction. That gives you the out to say perhaps the fate of certain characters isn't exactly what we've just seen.

If it's mid-season, scrap Trip's death and "six years later." Have Trip mortally wounded, but he lives. Episode stays the same and works as a mid-season episode.

 

[The Wormhole]

If they absolutely had to make the finale be Riker and Deanna on the holodeck, have it set after Nemesis with the two of them on the Titan. Ain't nobody believing Frakes and Sirtis were playing themselves eleven years younger when they watch TATV.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

If they absolutely had to make the finale be Riker and Deanna on the holodeck, have it set after Nemesis with the two of them on the Titan. Ain't nobody believing Frakes and Sirtis were playing themselves eleven years younger when they watch TATV.

You had me dying with this. I also agree, so many fans said it should have been Riker & Troi on the Titan.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Starting off with the words "USS Titan - The 24th Century" coming up on screen would've been awesome, people were dying to see what that ship looked like. Though it might spoil the ending with the three Enterprises if only one is involved in the plot. That's the one bit everyone likes!

I'd say lose the framing device, as it shifted the protagonist role to the guest stars and made some people assume that the whole show was just a holodeck simulation. Getting Next Gen characters involved was a good idea, the episode's supposed to bookend the whole Berman era of shows, but the way they did it felt disrespectful to the main cast who got their finale swiped from them.

Jumping forward to the birth of the Federation wasn't a bad idea, but the episode does a terrible job of selling the time jump. Everyone has the same jobs and ranks, we don't see any growth in their characters. We can't see where they are now if they never went anywhere.

So here's my idea: the episode opens with the Enterprise D in the 24th Century... under attack by Romulans, again. Captain Riker's log: the war doesn't go well. Suddenly Captain Archer appears in his ready room, telling him that this is the result of the Temporal War screwing up time, and it's not the first time something like this has happened. But with his help they're going to end it, forever, fixing all the damage it's ever done.

I haven't quite thought of the rest of it yet, but I'm sure it'd involve cameos by Admiral Forrest, Soval, Shran and Daniels, a glimpse of the original Romulan war (Archer: "we fought them for months and we still don't know what they look like"), an epic phaser battle, and a fist-fight with Future Guy... who turns out to be Daniels from the timeline where the other side wins. With the possibilities collapsed to one Prime Timeline, alt Riker disappears and Archer is able to get on with his own destiny. Cut to Riker on the USS Titan with Troi, who's found a picture of someone who looks like him on the NX-01. They think about how life would've been back then, on those creaky primitive ships, and how they must have been heroes for even going into space on them.

Also Trip and T'Pol live happily ever after and one of the other characters has the tragic sacrifice. Let's say Hoshi does something incredibly brave and saves them all at the cost of her life.

There's some fan fiction for you.

 

[Dukhat]

If it's mid-season, scrap Trip's death and "six years later." Have Trip mortally wounded, but he lives. Episode stays the same and works as a mid-season episode.

How does someone live when they're mortally wounded?

Starting off the words "USS Titan - The 24th Century" coming up on screen would've been awesome, people were dying to see what that ship looked like.

It would have to look better than the Titan we actually got.

 

[Tosk]

How does someone live when they're mortally wounded?

That's what medical science is for. Even fatally wounded isn't a guarantee in Trek.

 

[Nerys Myk]

How does someone live when they're mortally wounded?

It's only a flesh wound.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Starting off the words "USS Titan - The 24th Century" coming up on screen would've been awesome, people were dying to see what that ship looked like. Though it might spoil the ending with the three Enterprises if only one is involved in the plot. That's the one bit everyone likes!

I'd say lose the framing device, as it shifted the protagonist role to the guest stars and made some people assume that the whole show was just a holodeck simulation. Getting Next Gen characters involved was a good idea, the episode's supposed to bookend the whole Berman era of shows, but the way they did it felt disrespectful to the main cast who got their finale swiped from them.

Jumping forward to the birth of the Federation wasn't a bad idea, but the episode does a terrible job of selling the time jump. Everyone has the same jobs and ranks, we don't see any growth in their characters. We can't see where they are now if they never went anywhere.

So here's my idea: the episode opens with the Enterprise D in the 24th Century... under attack by Romulans, again. Captain Riker's log: the war doesn't go well. Suddenly Captain Archer appears in his ready room, telling him that this is the result of the Temporal War screwing up time, and it's not the first time something like this has happened. But with his help they're going to end it, forever, fixing all the damage it's ever done.

I haven't quite thought of the rest of it yet, but I'm sure it'd involve cameos by Admiral Forrest, Soval, Shran and Daniels, a glimpse of the original Romulan war (Archer: "we fought them for months and we still don't know what they look like"), an epic phaser battle, and a fist-fight with Future Guy... who turns out to be Daniels from the timeline where the other side wins. With the possibilities collapsed to one Prime Timeline, alt Riker disappears and Archer is able to get on with his own destiny. Cut to Riker on the USS Titan with Troi, who's found a picture of someone who looks like him on the NX-01. They think about how life would've been back then, on those creaky primitive ships, and how they must have been heroes for even going into space on them.

Also Trip and T'Pol live happily ever after and one of the other characters has the tragic sacrifice. Let's say Hoshi does something incredibly brave and saves them all at the cost of her life.

There's some fan fiction for you.

Maybe the final would have worked better if they just committed to "6 years later" and dropped the TNG part? Only so much you can do in 45 minutes.