The last episode

[Darth Thanos]

I have just ended the series, and I liked it, but for the love of the Bajoran gods, what the hell were they thinking with this last episode? The idea of making it all an holosuite play by Riker is fine... for any other episode. The last one should be the most important, the final climax that closes everything. Instead, the focus is transferred to someone from another series. The story (even if in holosuite form) should be about the creation of the Federation, but that's just an afterthought in a story about some kidnappers. And the final insult, Archer is about to give a grand speech, but Riker and Troi had enough and close the simulation.

 

[Tosk]

I always stop on Terra Prime when I rewatch.

 

[PoorSailorsAirline]

I always stop on Terra Prime when I rewatch.

This! 100% this. There are a million explanations (“we were all so heartbroken at the sudden cancellation, we had to finish everything at once, and we were out of time!”), a really weird excuse (“It was a love letter to the fandom not for ENT but for TNG-present since the whole franchise is going on hiatus”), to the bizarre fact that was that even the last and final finale?

Spoiler

I mean, if it was a TNG holofantasy with the same realism as Minuet or Dixon Hill or The Bridge Crew Brides of Barclay…is Trip even really dead?!

Just weird all around. Terra Prime is definitely, unfortunately, where it ended. TATV is just like the world’s saddest Real Housewives Aftershow…confusion, vitriol, if someone isn’t throwing things on screen, they must’ve been throwing things off screen. It shows huge graciousness from the cast and crew who are able to remember the series fondly; but I certainly don’t blame those who don’t want to be involved after S4 got hastily—so, so hastily, even syndication-messing-up hastily, shoved into a shortened potentially great storyline re: xenophobia then The End.

 

[NickolasDay]

Honestly, I agree with you. The final episode was supposed to be a grand finale that wrapped up all the major storylines and wrapped them up in a clever way. Instead, we got something unexpected and perhaps even disappointing. The idea of making this whole thing into a holo-spectacle with Riker was a good one, but perhaps it didn't belong in the final episode. Especially considering that at this moment the audience was expecting more, something more meaningful and final.

 

[bdub76]

Reminds me of the end of St Elsewhere. It’s all in Riker’s head.

 

[FederationHistorian]

It was a decent idea, even for a finale. It was just badly executed.

If anyone else had wrote it, or it was rewritten on the spot, it probably would have been at the very least a passable episode. Possibly even an all-time classic, remembered for the right reasons.

 

[Finn]

I think they did that episode when they still was hoping they'd get a new season...so technically meant to be a season finale, not a series finale.

 

[Tosk]

I think they did that episode when they still was hoping they'd get a new season...so technically meant to be a season finale, not a series finale.

You are mistaken.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

It was a Berman era finale, not an Enterprise finale.
Which wasn't fair to everyone involved with Enterprise as they deserved their own sendoff ad much as every other series got.

(With that said, I liked the episode still. And know I'm basically alone with this)

 

[TroiFan4ever]

As someone who loves TNG, "These are the Voyages..." is trash. Like the OP said, this would've been fine as a mid-series episode but for a series finale? This ain't it.

I will admit. I don't particularly consider myself an ENT fan (but I don't hate it, either) but that "finale" has me sympathizing with the fans and the cast because I feel like they did the ENT characters dirty, largely with the whole thing being Riker's holodeck simulation.

On top of all this, wasn't this supposed to be not only the series finale of Enterprise but also the last episode for this particular era of the Star Trek franchise? Isn't that what that monologue at the end voiced by Kirk, Picard, and Archer was about?

I'll give it this though: the only thing I actually did like about "These Are the Voyages..." was that scene where Tucker tells the alien intruders, "You all can go straight to hell," before connecting the plasma conduits together, blowing them away and knocking them out! That gets me every time!

Aside from that I feel for the cast of ENT because pretty much every other Star Trek series got a proper send-off and especially with it being the end of that era, they deserved a different ending than what they got.

What a colossal let-down.

 

[somebuddyX]

I've said it before but there's so many ways to do this episode with small changes and come out with what I feel is a better story. At the least change it from holodeck program to flashbacks and change Riker and Troi to be in their present day of like 2384 and on the Titan, and be looking back for some legit historical reason that illuminates something about the crew for their sake rather than Riker's. Even the whole idea of looking back has been used better in sci-fi before, even just stuff like "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" from Babylon 5 or even "Artifacts" from The Batman cartoon where you can play visually with what the future knows about the present and what really happened.
Bermaga have said they wanted this to be a love letter to the fans and to be perfectly honest I don't have any strong feelings about it, other than I like the effort they went into recreating the sets and seeing the Enterprise-D and that closing montage. I saw this episode already knowing the hate so I was prepared, but I find the adventure to be forgettable and only memorable for the controversy and the stupid shit that happens. I like that everybody is on the same page though, like Frakes on Shuttlepod Show agrees it sucks and I like he's honest that to him it was just a job and you take it, and apparently there's a video on the blurays of the cast just laying into Braga over the finale and him taking it on the chin.

 

[Dukhat]

I like that everybody is on the same page though, like Frakes on Shuttlepod Show agrees it sucks and I like he's honest that to him it was just a job and you take it, and apparently there's a video on the blurays of the cast just laying into Braga over the finale and him taking it on the chin.

That's the thing, though. Frakes & Sirtis didn't have to take it. Neither one was hurting for cash; they just wanted to do more Star Trek acting despite their characters having nothing to do with ENT and had no problem shoehorning themselves into other shows just so they could continue to live out their Trek jollies at the expense of the other actors. What they really should have done was just take a pass, or at the least they should have asked to have the entire script reworked to not be such a stupid mess (although to be fair they probably didn't have enough time or creative control for that to happen.)

 

[FederationHistorian]

ve said it before but there's so many ways to do this episode with small changes and come out with what I feel is a better story. At the least change it from holodeck program to flashbacks and change Riker and Troi to be in their present day of like 2384 and on the Titan, and be looking back for some legit historical reason that illuminates something about the crew for their sake rather than Riker's. Even the whole idea of looking back has been used better in sci-fi before, even just stuff like "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" from Babylon 5 or even "Artifacts" from The Batman cartoon where you can play visually with what the future knows about the present and what really happened.

Even simpler then that.

It’s a year later after the events of “Demons”/”Terra Prime”. The band is about to break up and take new assignments. Riker and Troi – under the directive of Daniels – are undercover on Enterprise to make sure that the final mission where the crew is together goes smoothly after a temporal agent tries to change history. Then at the end, after they save the day, they return to their time wearing their FC uniforms and use the holodeck on whatever Galaxy class ship they’re on to flash forwards six years later and “Run Program” to watch the founding of the Federation. And the crew has undergone changes in those six years, physically, professionally and personally. Then Archer makes his way to deliver his speech. Then the montage of Picard, Kirk and Archer.

Basically the same plot, but rewritten and more attention to detail added.

 

[Dukhat]

Honestly, the only way that series finale would have been better is if Frakes and Sirtis weren't in it at all, and they made some other story. As I mentioned before, they shoehorned themselves into an episode that was already a pile of crap. It was a stupid and lame-brained idea, and Berman & Braga and their writers weren't up to snuff enough to write something as good as B5's "Deconstruction of Fallen Stars" (same premise but a much better execution.)

 

[Oddish]

I always stop on Terra Prime when I rewatch.

When Jonathan Frakes himself, who has appeared or been involved with eight different Trek series, frankly states that he probably shouldn't have been in this one, I'm inclined to believe him.

Stop at "Terra Prime" and ignore this abomination.

 

[somebuddyX]

Even simpler then that.

It’s a year later after the events of “Demons”/”Terra Prime”. The band is about to break up and take new assignments. Riker and Troi – under the directive of Daniels – are undercover on Enterprise to make sure that the final mission where the crew is together goes smoothly after a temporal agent tries to change history. Then at the end, after they save the day, they return to their time wearing their FC uniforms and use the holodeck on whatever Galaxy class ship they’re on to flash forwards six years later and “Run Program” to watch the founding of the Federation. And the crew has undergone changes in those six years, physically, professionally and personally. Then Archer makes his way to deliver his speech. Then the montage of Picard, Kirk and Archer.

Basically the same plot, but rewritten and more attention to detail added.

Love it!

 

[Moviefan2k4]

My only real complaint with this, is that the versions of Riker and Troi in the episode are completely out of place. The story is supposed to be set at the same time as a "TNG" episode, called "The Pegasus"...which was first in 1994. But in "These Are the Voyages", its obvious that both Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis are noticeably older. In particular, Jonathan seems more heavy-set in general, while Marina's older uniform doesn't do much to hide her increased bust size (she had the surgery sometime after "TNG" ended, but before "Nemesis"). Her wig for Troi also didn't look quite right, as if someone had just dragged it from a Paramount storage area the day before.

 

[aquova]

The idea of making it all an holosuite play by Riker is fine... for any other episode.

I've always strongly felt this. Use the framing device of Riker + Troi viewing the holodeck as a mid-season episode, and it would be one of the most popular episodes of the entire run. You can rework the plot of Archer saving Shran, maybe do some foreshadowing for the Romulan War that they never got to cover. Instead we ended up with an episode that felt lackluster at best and insulting at worst. I'm a big Enterprise fan, but I'm glad I wasn't when it was first airing, I would've been livid.

My one hope is that LD will do some cheeky retcon where Tucker faked his own death to go into hiding. If there was a show to tackle that, it would be them.

 

[Dukhat]

^Well, they only have one more season in which to do that, and I wouldn’t hold your breath that it’s gonna happen.

 

[fireproof78]

My only real complaint with this, is that the versions of Riker and Troi in the episode are completely out of place. The story is supposed to be set at the same time as a "TNG" episode, called "The Pegasus"...which was first in 1994. But in "These Are the Voyages", its obvious that both Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis are noticeably older. In particular, Jonathan seems more heavy-set in general, while Marina's older uniform doesn't do much to hide her increased bust size (she had the surgery sometime after "TNG" ended, but before "Nemesis"). Her wig for Troi also didn't look quite right, as if someone had just dragged it from a Paramount storage area the day before.

I agree this is a major complaint, but my biggest one is that the fallout from Trip and T'Pol losing a child is completely glossed over.