McCoy is very annoying in TOS season three, he complains all the time
I actually liked the Voyager characters. As for Chakotay, he's my second favorite Voyager character after Kes.I never said I disliked the character. Not finding someone memorable does not equal hate. I mean, outside of Janeway, Seven, the Doctor and MAYBE Neelix I don’t think any of the Voyager characters were really memorable. But I don’t dislike them, even Chakotay who it seems EVERYONE hates.
Again, it’s an agree to disagree. I thought the episode was fine. And at least it wasn’t rushed like The Gift.
wouldn't go so far as to say VOYAGER had lousy writers. They definitely had their hands tied by UPN and weren't given more latitude to do more things.
Having said that, the writers did drop the ball on numerous things that could easily have been taken care of.
The big one, though, should be to not have Riker and Troi in it.
The Enterprise Incident - why would Starfleet not use trained intelligence officers to capture the cloaking device? The in universe plot relies on the Romulans not blowing up the Enterprise and the commander taking a liking to Spock. Plus other things but well acted.
A bit silly really
The problem wasn’t the inclusion of Riker and Troi (and a Data voice cameo). It wasn’t that it was set on the holodeck. It wasn’t the inclusion of the Ent-D (as evidenced how everyone likes the final 30 seconds of that episode).
Its not even that no one on the NX-01 got promoted in a decade and were still on the ship, or T’Pol was still wearing a catsuit, or Trip got killed off.
Its that it’s a rush job to the founding of the Federation, while simultaneously being a shoehorning in a then-decade old TNG episode, while simultaneously ignoring the story told over S4.
And B&B were so committed to the idea of the finale being a holoprogram that they were planning to set the S3 finale on the holodeck as well if that episode was the show's series finale.
And this is where TATV criticism falls apart for me.
The problem wasn’t the inclusion of Riker and Troi (and a Data voice cameo). It wasn’t that it was set on the holodeck. It wasn’t the inclusion of the Ent-D (as evidenced how everyone likes the final 30 seconds of that episode). Its not even that no one on the NX-01 got promoted in a decade and were still on the ship, or T’Pol was still wearing a catsuit, or Trip got killed off.
Its that it’s a rush job to the founding of the Federation, while simultaneously being a shoehorning in a then-decade old TNG episode, while simultaneously ignoring the story told over S4. And B&B basically had stopped listening to everyone by that point; case in point, the show’s lead - who often added input on the show over those four seasons - questioned the script before it went into production and had to go along with it because B&B didn’t want to rewrite it. And B&B were so committed to the idea of the finale being a holoprogram that they were planning to set the S3 finale on the holodeck as well if that episode was the show's series finale.
Better and tighter writing would have not only addressed all of that episode's shortcomings, it would have made better use of the material provided for that episode.
It does make sense, kind of. They are just playing mind games with the Romulans, by using the USS Enterprise as a deterrence from attack to prevent a war while bringing the cloaking device back to Federation space.
An intelligence officer recaptured will just put the Federation back at square one and possibly worsen tensions with the Romulans.
I think the writing for "Voyager" was at the same level as the writing for "Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine" - very good but flawed. I realize many would claim that "Deep Space Nine" was the best, but I don't think it ever achieved its potential. I do think that despite their flaws, the three shows of the "Next Generation era" are my favorites of the entire Trek franchise. But "Voyager" is my personal favorite, due to the cast of characters.
Ending with TP would have been abrupt, but better than what we got.
Of course, the ideal solution would have been to have season 5 happen. Romulan war, Shran made a main character, and supposedly they would have spared little Elizabeth as well. I think if S5 had happened, ENT would have gone a full seven.
I actually liked the idea of doing that... just not as the finale.
I do have a problem with all that. Especially with Mayweather, since he was the most competent person on that ship. But in general, I've made it my head canon that Riker's holosimulation is not historically accurate... because he wanted to consult with the crew who were most associated with Archer, he inserted circa 2155 versions of them into the program, even though by 2161 they had moved on to bigger and better things. That also explains why none of them grew a beard or changed their hair.
You are right that another glaring issue of "THESE ARE THE VOYAGES..." is the rush job to the Federation founding.
It essentially put such a rush on what Manny Coto was trying to accomplish that season that it cheapens what season 4 was doing.
That isn't hard to do.At least on paper, this version of the finale seems richer and more complete than what was actually produced.
I will disagree, however, with DS9 not ever achieving its potential. By far, DS9 characters had more growth and depth than TNG and VGR combined. DS9 had some flaws, but they were far fewer in number than their siblings.
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