Series with the best finale

[CrazyMatt]

"All Good Things" gets my vote. On its own, it's a top 10 episode for its series--none of the other finales can claim that, IMHO. It still makes me shake my head that Moore/Braga wrote a better TV show than movie in '94!

"What You Leave Behind" is also very good, but the pacing varies too wildly... seems a little rushed at times, and a little too slow at times. A close second.

"End Game" is Voyager encapsulated: tedious, preening, and too cute by a half. The only scene worth anything to me is the scene at the end. The rest is just more pure Voyager... a pretty looking mess.

"These Are the Voyages...." What can be said for a finale that uses characters from another series? A poor decision, poorly executed. If the final episodes had been the two-parter "In A Mirror, Darkly," that would have been a much better choice.

Finally... "Turnabout Intruder." Sigh.... Oh well, the final line was perhaps the most (unintentionally) poignant final line... one that so perfectly sums up the frustrations of that hearty group of original Trekkers as they watched Star Trek disappear seemingly forever right before their eyes on a June evening.... "If only..."

 

[svenden]

Another for All Good Things..., because the trial perfectly bookends with Encounter at Farpoint, providing a thematic closure. The later series never accomplish that.

I would argue that What You Leave Behind also accomplished this for DS9. Quite nicely in fact.

 

[Goji]

Deep Space Nine's finale is my favorite. It's imperfect, is paced oddly, but did a lot more right than wrong and ended on a satisfying, if bittersweet, note. "All Good Things" is alright I suppose, but I've never had the love for it or TNG as a whole that many people do. The rest are all different levels of failure. Voyager's might just edge out as the worst, as it feels so poorly cobbled together from so many previous episodes. At least "These Are the Voyages" was trying to do something different, even if that different thing it was trying was wrong-headed and ultimately a failure on pretty much every level.

 

[Kirby]

DS9, only because TNG's All Good Things didn't really feel like a finale since they immediately went into filming Generations. I really liked AGT, but it felt more like a season finale since new TNG was on it's way.

 

[Nightdiamond]

I give the edge to TNG, but just barely. It wrapped everything up neatly, the time travel thing was nice. It was a classic finale.

I thought there was too much technobabble in the plot. And it still felt kind of limited. The characters always seem to be stuck in this certain mode.


DS9 comes in a close second. I thought it was much more meatier than AGT It also had more characters. If you count the last 5 episodes as the finale, then its the best. Damar becoming the hero, what happened with Gowron etc.

The pacing was off. The reused battle footage was a letdown. And the supernatural devils vs gods thing at the end came off as corny.

But if they ended it with something like the Bajorans deciding to tear down DS9 and build a new station, the ending would have been real nice.


Voyager-- sorry, I can't even remember what the finale was about. I never could remember the plot after watching it.
I know it started with too much time travel at this point-- done to death.

Funny thing is after the finale aired, the local news channel aired a special on it, and they asked the actors what they thought about it. Garrett Wang said he didn't like it

Same thing with Enterprise TATV. I could never finish it. Even Jolene Blalock trashed it.

TOS Turnabout Intruder-- this one is too funny for me to criticize. I consider it a classic. I love all the acting and characters in this one.

 

[Ethros]

I like All Good Things, I like it a lot. But I never understand the huge massive love for it. Half of it's just senseless technobabble.

 

[Kilana2]

All good Things was entertaining - it started with Q and ended with Q.

The Voyager finale was unsatisfying: luckily there is the novel relaunch, because the TV finale left us behind with many questions....

 

[Greg Cox]

"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."

 

[JimZipCode]

TOS. Turnabout Intruder was AWESOME.

 

[Kilana2]

"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."

You're answer kept me brooding, but finally I got it: TUC is a great finale despite the fact that it is a movie. I can hardly remember the last TOS episode, but TOS was continued via the movies.

With that said, Nemesis isn't a good finale. I prefer definitely All Good Things. I guess K'Toska asked for the finales of the respective series.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I would not include TOS, for the reasons others point out: it was not a true series finale. The same also applies to TAS. Perhaps its better that way, since fans were left with the impression that the missions continued.

 

[Isolinear]

All Good Things and Undiscovered Country are both almost perfect, but I voted TNG. AGT is an incredible finale. Too bad Nemesis ruined Data.
TOS got the exact opposite. Undiscovered Country was the finale TOS deserved. Too bad Generations ruined Kirk.
Damn TNG movies.

But if we stick to television, DS9 is a close second. I didn't like Sisko's 'destiny' and Rom's 'promotion', but the rest was great.

Third is Voyager's End Game. I liked it. I love timetravel Trek. But it absolutely needed some Alpha Quadrant welcoming scenes and reactions from the crew. Now it's like, I guess we're home now. Ok, the End. Credits.

Fourth is Enterprise. Riker's holodeck was obviously malfunctioning; most of what we saw couldn't possibly have happened. I liked the idea of Riker/Troi looking back on NX01, the crew interviews and Archer's speech at the end. The rest though.....

Without TUC, TOS doesn't have a finale, so I guess it takes last place then...

 

[Kilana2]

Voyager's finale was quite aprupt. We never saw Tom Paris with his newborn daughter and Owen Paris united with his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. All that happened in the novels......

 

[Greg Cox]

"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."

You're answer kept me brooding, but finally I got it: TUC is a great finale despite the fact that it is a movie. I can hardly remember the last TOS episode, but TOS was continued via the movies.

The thing is, unlike the later shows, TOS didn't really have a "finale" in the modern sense. "Turnabout Intruder" just happened to be the last episode aired; it was never intended to be some sort of series finale.

It's just a random TOS episode--and not a very good one.

 

[tharpdevenport]

TNG, no question. Too bad the subsequent movies for it ruined all that.

TOS didn't have a finale, it just ended on a regular [unspectacular] episode, like "Gunsmoke".

D.S.9 didn't have a finale either. It basically got really self-involved with more and more war and then solved the problems it created in later seasons. It ended where it began, minus the lead. If anything it left unattended plot points: yes, the Cardassians were beat, but they are still there; will they continue to harrass Bajorians? Will they continue to occupy that and other home worlds they annexed? Will they still try to get back Tarok Nor and the wormhole later? For example (there's more of course).

Voyager actually did have a finale if we recall what the show was about: Voyager being far from home and trying to get back home. And they did. Plot accomplished.


The less said about Enterprise, the better.

 

[Vger23]

I voted TNG. "...All Good Things" was absolutely awesome. A perfect finale.

 

[Sybok Was Wrong]

I want to say "Turnabout Intruder" because that episode is Shatner Gold. And it's interesting to watch the actors-who knew the series was already cancelled and this was it. It must have been hard to give 100%. Majel Barrett had already reverted to brunette.

The vote goes to "All Good Things"--brilliant writing, Stewart was exceptional--and the cast exuded warmth that they never did before. Brilliant TV.

 

[eyeresist]

Enterprise definitely has the worst ending, but there might be a few people who really liked it (surely they must exist, right?).

I thought "Terra Prime" was pretty good. I just wish they had ended with Archer's speech rather than Trip and T'Pol being sad.

What? That was the last episode of ENT. What have you been smoking?

 

[Galileo7]

worst: TOS
best: Voyager

 

[svenden]

Third is Voyager's End Game. I liked it. I love timetravel Trek. But it absolutely needed some Alpha Quadrant welcoming scenes and reactions from the crew. Now it's like, I guess we're home now. Ok, the End. Credits.

I actually didn't mind this choice on the writers' part. I didn't agree with the decision to bring them home (I'd have preferred a more unexpected resolution of some kind), but given that decision, I think it was appropriate to not wade into welcome home stuff. You're trying to bring closure to the series, not open it wide open with all sorts of new story threads.

Ultimately, End Game suffered from seven years of poor choices on the writing end. It was probably as good as it could have been given where the series was at.