I didn't have a problem with Riker and Troi being in the episode, but it was poorly executed. What I would have done: -Have the episode proceed as normal, no Riker or Troi in it. -At the very end, after Archer gives his speech, we zoom out and Riker is watching it on his laptop thingy, he has not been watching the whole episode obviously, just the speech. -Troi comes in, says are you ready. Riker and Troi leave Enterprise E and go to Titan, Riker says something like "There will always be something magical about the name, Enterprise" or something less cheesy The end. I know it probably doesn't make that much sense, but it would have been less of a slap in the face than what we got. And left it open for a possible titan series down the line.
The thing is, no matter how good or bad their incorporation is... in this case it was poorly, putting them in the finale -at all- detracts from what it's supposed to be. A celebration of Enterprise's four years and a conclusion to the series. The three captain final frontier speech at the end was beautifully done and would've tied all the Enterprise series together nicely by itself.
I'm sensing some wish fulfillment here as he's made Riker to look old and fat, probably laughing his ass off in the Nexus now.
Well I really only have one problem with the episode: Trip's death. Yes, it could have been better if it would have been Riker on Enterprise-E before departure and not The Pegasus episode, but besides that it is nice to see that future generations talk about Archer and Co. I really think it would have worked better as a random episode not as finale, and my problem: why did they kill Trip? But still it was a nice episode, and while I won't give a 5 out of 5 stars to it, I will never put at the same page as the episodes I hate from the Star Trek series like "And the children shall lead", "Spock's brain" or "Masks".
I still think B & B killed Trip off in an act of petty rage against the fans for not sticking with the show. "Killed our brilliant show? Well, we'll get you all! We'll kill off your most popular character! There! FU! Try bringing it back after we're gone! NO TRIP! MUHAHAHAAAA!" I believe that is how it went down.
I thought it would have added to the storyline, if Riker (or Deanna) were to have mentioned that Riker had used this particular holodeck program many times through the years to help himself figure out ethical personal problems. Rant time. It would be easy to see Picard one day retire from Starfleet, go into politics and eventually become President. But ARCHER? Why, because he has a calm speaking voice? Thank you.
Those bastards. But I still think the way Phlox looks at Archer as Trip is going into the fix-it tube is very telling and seems to point to a massive plot underway. As in, The Good That Men Do.
Jon can sing, though! Isn't that enough? Too bad we never got to hear him sing on the show, in that 6th-season "Movie Night Musical" episode.
TATV was a terrible way to end the series (granted its not my favourite, but it did deserve better than that). The Riker/Troi inserts should have been done from a Titan POV, with them happily living their lives after Nemesis, maybe teaching their children about the formation of the Federation, or something like that. Trying to convince us that they're ten years younger is a bit ridiculous. As for killing Tucker, the only reason to do it was to stick it to his fans (personally I think killing Archer would have been much better). As for the personal attacks on Ms Sirtis, there really isn't any need for that.
It wasn't just that Riker and Troi were in the episode, bu the way they (especially Troi) mocked the "quaint-ness" of the NX. Big slap in the face to the fans. And this is coming from a diehard TNG fan.
I'm not saying it did. Everyone in the audience had so many preconceptions of Life Before Kirk, it was impossible to make them all happy. The worst that can be said is Enterprise failed to live up to expectations, but they did take a few risks.
Enterprise had its ups and downs, but TATV is something to simply laugh at and just accept as one of those idiotic brain farts that every TV show has. It's simply nothing worth taking seriously.
I saw that the opposite way. She points out that T'Pol had the same kind of Spock-scope scanner we saw in TOS. And that the NX-01 Enterprise is less advanced than other Trek ships despite all the fanrage that went on claiming it was "too advanced" looking. They were going, "Look fans! We have continuity and our characters think the ship looks less advanced even if you don't!"