The last episode
- Thread starter Darth Thanos
- Start date
I'm not sure I ever heard of Hanlon's Razor before, but I looked it up and as razors go it's pretty decent.
Also I agree, despite all the criticism Berman and Braga got from fans, I don't think they would've deliberately made a bad final episode just to punish the people who actually stuck with them through it all.
Also I agree, despite all the criticism Berman and Braga got from fans, I don't think they would've deliberately made a bad final episode just to punish the people who actually stuck with them through it all.
It feels like that, I know. And YES, I think there was precedent: a scene in "Nightingale", probably a response to viewer complaints about Harry's low rank, felt totally like a raised middle finger. So yes, they were quite capable of such actions. But, I don't see them going to the trouble of getting Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner (voice only), AND Jeffrey Combs just to deliver an insult; there are far easier ways.
Indeed. This was more an indication of their appalling cluelessness than anything else. Hard to believe that the man who made the brilliant decision to cast Patrick Stewart in TNG fell so far.
NOBODY spends tons of money and time to create a production specifically meant to shit all over their fanbase. Berman & Braga thought they were making something the fans would like. Kurtzman & Osunsanmi did the same thing. So let's all disavow this silly notion that this was some stupid master plan to piss people off.
Could you be more specific?
When Tom was promoted back to lieutenant at the end of Season 6, Harry mentions that he didn't find a box (containing a lieutenant's pip) on his chair. Undoubtedly, over the course of the summer, the viewers demanded to know why that was: Tom had been an ensign for a year and a half, Harry four times that long. But instead of just accommodating said viewers, they shot this really nasty scene in "Nightingale"... Harry reminds Janeway that he's still an ensign after six years, she accused him of "bucking for a promotion", then when he reminds her that if they were in the Alpha Quadrant, he'd be at least a lieutenant, she makes a rather denigrating remark "you're pretty sure of yourself" or some such thing. Like she thinks he's so pathetic, he shouldn't expect to be promoted, ever.
They were basically rubbing the viewers' nose in the fact that Harry's rank wasn't going to change, and if they didn't like that, they could piss off.
Kim said
> KIM: No, no, I understand there's a command structure and that ourcircumstances are unique. But the fact is, if we were back home, I'd be a Lieutenant by now. Maybe even a Lieutenant Commander.
Data on the other hand spent
> another three as ensign, ten or twelve on varied space duty in the lieutenant grades
Presumably held back by the same prejudice shown to him in Redemption Pt 2.
La Forge spent 5 years as Ensign from 2357 to 2362, but then reached Lt Cdr in 2366. Riker went Ensign to Full Commander from 2357 to 2364 and presumably would have been captain if he'd taken the Drake. Riker was exceptional of course.
Worf reached Lt JG 3 years after graduation, and full Lt 5 years. He did take 14 years to get to Lt Cdr though.
While Lieutenant Commander might be a bit of a stretch for Kim (he was assigned to a pretty small ship), full Lieutenant shouldn't be an issue.
> KIM: No, no, I understand there's a command structure and that ourcircumstances are unique. But the fact is, if we were back home, I'd be a Lieutenant by now. Maybe even a Lieutenant Commander.
Data on the other hand spent
> another three as ensign, ten or twelve on varied space duty in the lieutenant grades
Presumably held back by the same prejudice shown to him in Redemption Pt 2.
La Forge spent 5 years as Ensign from 2357 to 2362, but then reached Lt Cdr in 2366. Riker went Ensign to Full Commander from 2357 to 2364 and presumably would have been captain if he'd taken the Drake. Riker was exceptional of course.
Worf reached Lt JG 3 years after graduation, and full Lt 5 years. He did take 14 years to get to Lt Cdr though.
While Lieutenant Commander might be a bit of a stretch for Kim (he was assigned to a pretty small ship), full Lieutenant shouldn't be an issue.
Since one of the mods created the topic basically to stop me from dragging the subject out everywhere else, I'll move my reply to the relevant topic.
Regarding TATV, it would have been a decent 4th season finale... if there had been a 5th season. With the following modifications...
- Move it to 2155.
- Have Riker and Troi be on the Titan. Jonathan Frakes is 53 at this point, and he's not passing for 35.
- Don't kill Trip.
- Make the little girl Shran's niece.
- Have Shran lose his position in the military as a result of his going off-reservation to save the kid. The episode ends with him accepting a Starfleet commission and joining the Enterprise crew.
Ergo, it's fanservice, and it lays the groundwork for Shran as a regular in S5.
Regarding TATV, it would have been a decent 4th season finale... if there had been a 5th season. With the following modifications...
- Move it to 2155.
- Have Riker and Troi be on the Titan. Jonathan Frakes is 53 at this point, and he's not passing for 35.
- Don't kill Trip.
- Make the little girl Shran's niece.
- Have Shran lose his position in the military as a result of his going off-reservation to save the kid. The episode ends with him accepting a Starfleet commission and joining the Enterprise crew.
Ergo, it's fanservice, and it lays the groundwork for Shran as a regular in S5.
I can see why people might come to the assumption that the writers were intentionally leaving Kim as an ensign to 'rub the viewers' noses in it,' but I doubt that was actually the case. I think it was more that UPN wanted absolutely no change from the crew's status quo. They wanted the show to be completely episodic like TOS so that viewers wouldn't be confused if they watched episodes out of order. That was UPN's mentality. It had nothing to do with the writers secretly wanting to keep Kim an ensign to piss people off.
Watching Enterprise from its premiere through its finale as it first aired on UPN during my preteen years, I was totally surprised and really loved seeing Riker and Troi return after having seen them in reruns when I was little, and though that's a minority view, I've seen a few others share it even though the new scenes don't exactly fit with "The Pegasus."
There are many more changes between S1 and S7. For example, Tom and B'elanna becoming a couple. Most characters had become decidedly different in S7 when compared to their S1 version (most notably Tom, B'Elanna, Janeway and the EMH) (which is normal, character growth). Some characters appearing (7 of 9, Naomi Wildman), some disappearing (Kes, Lt. Carey).
And finally, Tuvok got promoted. Tom got demoted and promoted again. So a rank 'inconsistency' for Harry, were episodes to be shown out of order wouldn't have stuck out that much - especially if Harry still would've been doing the same job (which he probably would). So I don't think that really would have been a reason to stuck with Ensign.
Arguably Tuvok got demoted and promoted.
That's all fine, but I still do not believe that Harry was never promoted because the writers and producers wanted to piss off fans. That's just silly. If anything, they probably just didn't care. I understand Garrett Wang was a pain in the ass, so it's understandable why the producers wouldn't have focused on his character all that much.
Laying aside my personal hatred for TATV, from what I have heard from interviews with the men themselves, there were two main reasons for the episode as written, both directly related to the cancellation of Enterprise.
1) They wanted to get us to the “founding of the Federation” finish line
2) They wanted a fond farewell to their era (and quite possibly, at least it seemed at the time, to Trek itself)
Did they stick the landing? Most assuredly not. Did they have any idea what the fans of the show in question actually desired? Signs point to no. Did they know how to convey the passage of time in a believable way? Definitely not. Did they connect the circle from TNG to Enterprise in a respectful, affectionate way? Not by a long shot. But, despite being Bambi on ice, did they attempt a triple axel? Yes, they did. Your feelings about that attempt may echo mine (Whyyyyyyyy?Let’s just ignore it!). However, I do honestly believe they did what they did with the best of intentions.
My understanding of the production of TATV is that they only had three weeks after the announcement of cancellation to come up with anything. And then spent 13 days producing it; they started filming immediately after finishing filming “Terra Prime” earlier on the first day, filmed for eight days total instead of the usual seven days for ENT episodes, the sets were struck down on the twelfth day and Frakes and Sirtis used green screen on the last day for the holodeck shots. And then it aired two months later.
Granted, even if the writers were under pressure, three weeks should have been plenty of time to rethink aspects of the episode before they began filming it.
They should of promoted Terra Prime as the series finale. Externally and internally. Perhaps slightly rewritten to give it more finality to it. Then some weeks later, released "These are the Voyages" as a special bonus epilog episode as a valentine to the fans. That would of been beter received I think.
This is one of the best ideas I've read regarding this. In re-watches, I've always regarded Terra Prime as such and stopped there.
Similar threads
