20 years ago tonight the Enterprise finale aired. So....what's your opinion two decades on?

[cooleddie74]

May 13, 2005.

"Terra Prime" airs at 8pm Eastern Standard Time and then, an hour later, "These Are The
Voyages..." decorates our TV screens for the next fifty-odd minutes, ending not only Enterprise as a series but the Star Trek franchise as it had existed for the previous 18 years. The Classic Era of Trek that had begun on NBC on the night of September 8, 1966, and continued through five more live action and animated series, 646 TV episodes and 10 theatrical movies drew to a close as the flyby of the three Enterprises placed a bookend on the franchise as we then knew it and the voices of Patrick Stewart, William Shatner and Scott Bakula eased us into a world that would be Trekless for the next four years, at least when it came to all-new canonical story content.

"TATV..." is an unmitigated disaster as a series finale and an even bigger whipped cream pie to the face of the franchise as a whole, one that went into a four-year slumber after that night and had ended its Legacy run on the most unpopular and bad taste-inducing series farewell of any it had ever produced, and this is a franchise that gave us William Shatner body swapping with a woman and then hammily vamping it up on the Enterprise in ways that would have made even Benny Hill do a double take the camera.

It's not a good episode outside of the closing flyby and the production values, which in ENT were consistently pretty excellent across all four seasons of the series. The actors gave it their best with the shoddy material Berman and Braga gave them, and seeing Jeffrey Combs return for his swan song as Shran was a definite strong point for the finale. Had the "Riker and Troi visit the NX-01 on the holodeck to learn a valuable historical lesson" plot been used for a Sweeps Week episode mid-season to goose the ratings of the series then it might well have actually worked, but as a series finale....yikes. What a creative misfire.

20 years haven't softened the blow all that much, and while it's easier to look back after two decades and see the love that ENT and the Archer Era of Starfleet history have received from not only the writers of streaming Trek but also the Kelvin Timeline movies and revel in the respect and warm feelings that ENT is now (rightfully) receiving after four years as the franchise's redheaded stepchild, "TATV..." is not a good episode. It's one of the lowpoints of small screen Trek during its first forty years and while not morally offensive in any way or a juvenile roll in the mud that would be awkward and goofy even for an episode of a Sid & Marty Krofft series, it's nothing to get excited about.

What are your thoughts as approach 20 years to the moment since Classic Trek transitioned from "the current stuff" to Legacy stories?

 

[XCV330]

I think that nearly nonstop run from TNG to the end of ENT was a special time. It wasn't all perfect, some of it was awful, but like pizza, most of it was pretty good, even when it wasn't great, and a lot of it was great. we got more trek than we deserved, but that level of intensity was too difficult to keep going, those cracks had already formed with VOY and ENT was a patch job.

Enterprise is a show i never get tired of revisiting. It's odd: I'm not an archer fan. I don't much care for season 1, apart from a few episodes. I don't have faith of the heart.

Still: Enterprise is like the comfort food of TV Trek for me. I liked what they attempted to do in terms of world building. I like the crew. I like the Xindi Arc, and the subsequent min-arcs. I think if Manny Coto had had more time at the helm it would be regarded as one of the best or the best trek series. but there wasn't enough time. It's telling that there are so many callbacks to Enterprise in subsequent movies and productions. It was a foundation where there hadn't really been one before.

 

[feek61]

I feel like I am one of the few who really enjoyed "Enterprise" when it was first aired. The scheduling was terrible and it moved around time slots and days so I watched about half of the first season then they moved the time slot then I found it late one night (11:30 on Friday) with the third season episode "Carpenter Street which I thought was great. Apparently, here locally the network it was on lost its affiliate, so the shows on the Paramount Network were shown after the late local news. Anyway, watched the rest of the series until it ended and have since watched the entire series many times. I will have to go back and watch TATV, to reevaluate it. After trying to get through the newer series (particularly "Discovery"), it may be better than I remember!! lol

 

[ThankQ]

S4 is my least favorite of ENT. I think the 2nd half of S2 was ENT finding its footing before what would have been its stride--the middle of TNG S3, Seven joining VOY, "Move Along Home" in DS9, for examples.

I wasn't a big fan on S3 but I was willing to go along for the ride for the characters.

S4 just felt like it was produced to be aired Fridays at 10:00 PM EST between Silk Stalkings and Up All Night.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I remember thinking that the final shot with the three Enterprises and the "where no man has gone before" narration performed by the three captains was kind of cool.

 

[cooleddie74]

It was. The highlight of the episode.

 

[somebuddyX]

I keep saying "TATV" could have been a great episode. The premise in theory is solid, it just fucked up the execution. The fixes were simple. Riker and Troi on the Titan. No holodeck and just flashbacks. Honouring NX-01's legacy and not shoehorning them into Riker's personal story. Maybe not even retiring NX-01 or killing off Trip. Too many finales are about breaking the characters up and sending everyone on their separate ways. Should it have been the series finale? Eh probably not. I still haven't finished Season 4 but when I do Enterprise will be the first Trek show I've watched every episode of, which is kind of hilarious to me.

 

[LavianoTS386]

Killing Trip was inexcusable. I still remember watching it at my sister's house and being thoroughly disappointed. It was like watching your friend get into a car crash.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, Trip's sacrifice was just the 2005 TV version of doing a cool, viral watercooler stunt to get people talking. But since it was the series finale there was no point in the shock value for the sake of shock.

 

[tomalak301]

The more time has passed, the more I think TATV should have been a regular episode and Demons and Terra Prime should have been the actual finale. Heck, TATV should have been before Demons. I think if that was the case, it would have went down better. As a finale it just didn't work.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

I still love the series (even though I think The Thing is garbage). I still wish ENT had gotten 7 seasons, and the time to explore Trip/T'Pol as a metaphor for human/Vulcan relations, and the chance to watch the Archer/Soval partnership grow. I wish we'd seen Shran join the crew - say, stuck on ENT, probably as punishment for losing his ship, in some kind of exchange with Andoria, and clashing/bonding more with Archer and T'Pol. And of course I'll always wish Lorian and E2 made it back into the ENT-verse - perhaps to take part in the Romulan War storyline, pave the way for families aboard ships, and contribute to the T/T storyline.

Considering Manny Coto's tragic early passing, it would have been so special to have him as showrunner for ENT for 3 more seasons. I think he would have done great things.

I really enjoyed the character interplay on the show, the wonderful actors, the solid direction and cinematography, the beautiful music. It remains my favorite of the post-TOS shows.

ETA: edited for clarity

 

[Takeru]

I still hate it, it was a TNG episode (and not even a good one) guest starring the Enterprise cast. It might have worked as an idea for a regular episode but as a finale it was a slap in the face of the regular characters.

Killing Trip was inexcusable. I still remember watching it at my sister's house and being thoroughly disappointed. It was like watching your friend get into a car crash.

If he had at leas sacrificed himself for something meaningful, like a shuttle full of children about to fly into a black hole or something. But he did it so Archer wouldn't be late to his speech.

 

[valkyrie013]

Whats TATV?

Seriously, only watched it once 20 years ago and promptly ignored it. It was a dumpster fire.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

Oh my heavens, I re-read my post above and it looks like I said I still love TATV.

Note to self: when you write a post at 2am, best re-read an extra time for clarity.

I love Enterprise. I think The Thing is a profoundly ill-thought-out, frustrating, pointless, bafflingly out-of-character waste of an hour, a Don't Example of how to write an effective and emotionally satisfying finale for the hardy and put-upon fans of a TV show cut down just as it was hitting its stride.

 

[Dukhat]

Oh my, is it that time of the year again to bash on TATV?

Not sure what else I can say that I haven’t already said, other than I forgive Berman & Braga for the turd they delivered 20-odd years ago.

 

[DonIago]

With regard to TATV: As Jay Sherman would say, "It stinks!"

Okay, the final narration is good.

 

[Snowdrop82]

Enterprise was one of the best series ever created, ashame it got canceled. If only it never did the Temporal Cold War arc it would have been even better.

 

[FederationHistorian]

As time goes on, I’m increasingly convince that the involvement of Riker and Troi and the Ent-D was not the problem. I’d happily die on that hill. The idea was just wasted.

From the perspective of “The Pegasus” framing, l‘m not sure why they just did not make the sequel they intended to make, and just show Riker dealing the aftermath of the inquiry and court martial. Instead of what they did, which became a license to body shame because it was made a decade later. There was nothing wrong with Frakes or Sirtis.

From the perspective of wanting to make a valentine to the fans, considering how central time travel and the Temporal Cold war was to ENT, I’m not sure why they did not do a hybrid of “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and “All Good Things…”, in an alternate 2381. Where Riker took command form Picard after BOBW, the Ent-D was not lost in GEN, and Data did not die in NEM. And the NX-01 is displaced in the future and has to return to their time to set things right. And the montage with the three Enterprises at the end is the timeline restoration. It was staring them right there in the face.

As for Trip’s death, the fact that TPTB have the ability to fix that, unlike another show with an awful ending *coughHowIMetYourMothercough*, and they just won't do that make that death worse.

I’m not sure what else needs to be said that hasn’t? Other than it’s been a boon to fanfic writers like myself, who can come up with anything better than that. So thanks, TATV, for being so bad.

As for “Terra Prime”, the other episode that aired that night, it’s the right finale. The true valentine that TATV intended to be. And should have had the night to itself, with TATV airing weeks later. Or if a two hours finale was wanted, then air "Demons" and "Terra Prime" the same night. But it was a good way to cap off a season that fans wanted ENT to be from the beginning.

 

[Dukhat]

As time goes on, I’m increasingly convince that the involvement of Riker and Troi and the Ent-D was not the problem. I’d happily die on that hill. The idea was just wasted.

Perhaps? But showing post-Nemesis Riker & Troi as their TNG selves was quite the mistake, and shoehorning them into "The Pegasus" was an even bigger mistake. It had nothing to do with 'body shaming.' They simply did not pull off looking like their past selves from 11 years before. Coming up with some other story taking place with them on the Titan post-Nemesis, having a new Titan CGI model built instead of a new Enterprise-D CGI model, and building new Titan sets instead of building replicas of the Ent-D sets would have been infinitely preferable to what they did.

But really, when it comes right down to it, Riker and Troi simply should not have been there, because the reason why they were there was because Frakes and Sirtis wanted to relive their TNG magic at the complete expense of the ENT characters. What if, instead of "These Are the Voyages," we got the old TOS cast to reprise their roles and take center stage, and push the TNG cast into the background? Or the "What You Leave Behind" finale of DS9, we instead get all the TNG characters to come back rather than focusing on the DS9 cast and the aftermath of the war? And all because they just wanted to be back in the limelight, never mind that their presense was unnecessary and detrimental to the cast of a show they had nothing to do with?

 

[FederationHistorian]

But really, when it comes right down to it, Riker and Troi simply should not have been there, because the reason why they were there was because Frakes and Sirtis wanted to relive their TNG magic at the complete expense of the ENT characters. What if, instead of "These Are the Voyages," we got the old TOS cast to reprise their roles and take center stage, and push the TNG cast into the background? Or the "What You Leave Behind" finale of DS9, we instead get all the TNG characters to come back rather than focusing on the DS9 cast and the aftermath of the war? And all because they just wanted to be back in the limelight, never mind that their presense was unnecessary and detrimental to the cast of a show they had nothing to do with?

But TNG has always been involved in the finales in some capacity.

DS9 had Worf and the O’Briens, characters the audience were introduced to on TNG

VOY had Barclay, who was a recurring character on TNG.

DIS revolved around an episode from TNG regarding Progenitors.

PIC is self explanatory.

Even the last TOS outing had Michael Dorn play an ancestor of Worf during Kirk and McCoy’s trial. So the TNG influence is still felt.

Even finales for Short Treks and Very Short Trek involved TNG in some capacity.

So, ENT involving TNG in the finale is not out of place at all. And is not the real problem. Its not about the actors at all. The issue is about the story and how they told it and why it was told the way it was told.