How would you fix the series finale?

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I'd have done a half Titan half Enterprise episode, with the NX-01 crew making 1st contact with some planet and Riker and Troi following up 200 years later. The stories could intermingle, alternating eras. The aliens are long lived, so Riker's group could find someone who was there when Archer's crew arrived.

In other words, a totally different episode.

You know, if they really wanted to have some fun, given the show's already done numerous time travel episodes, and TNG and ENT had time travel finales, just say F it and do it again on Enterprise. Imagine the NX-01 coming across a strange Starfleet ship from 200 years into the future. The Titan-A shuttlecraft with Captain Riker and Counselor Troi aboard.

 

[tomalak301]

I would have put TATV somewhere in the middle of the season (Maybe after Observer Effect) and made Terra Prime/Demons the actual finale of the show.

 

[Morpheus 02]

For the framing, i would have seen if you get get 1 or 2 actors from each of the other other series to talk about a specific Enterprise character and how they inspired them , trying to give wisdom and inspiration to a cadet to fresh Ensign.

I had to look, but i actually wrote a quick outline about how this would look (written 10 years ago, in 2014!):

Teaser

TOS Crew talking to Cadets/young officers (or just luck Trek fans dressed in as Starfleet officers/cadets, hearing a story)

Switch to TNG talking to a similar group, in their era (in a 10 Forward lounge?)

Switch to DS9 & VOY crew at Quark's talking to cadets

Act 1

Bashir, O'Brien, B'Elanna & Harry relay to cadets some of their heroes

Explain how each made an impact

Phlox Trip & T'Pol do something to help injured people

What causes the injury (Romulans?) sets stage for the ENT story

Act 2

TOS sets up this scene

saying how Supporting crew made a vital contribution to that era

Sato Mayweather & Shran do something to help the Enterprise crew deal with this threat

Mayweather & Sato are AT LEAST a Lt. by this point, if not Lt. Commander

Act 3

Riker & Worf set up stage for Archer uniting the UFP founders

Archer''s actions, along with Reed's expertise, help solve an issue

Closer

TNG, TNG, VOY & DS9 crews talking about Archer helping found the Federation

ENT Last scene w/ Archer (like we saw in Enterprise..except Mayweather gets promoted)

Narrative “These are the voyages…”

said by all Captains

 

[maneth]

If the episode were made today, CGI de-aging has become convincing enough to take 15 years off an actor's appearance without making it all look too fake. 20+ years and it gets a bit more difficult to make it convincing, but there's plenty of TNG footage to feed the AI to get Riker's and Troi's appearances right.

Other than that, I'd let Trip live and end the episode with the credits rolling over Archer's speech. Not hearing that made me feel as disappointed as I felt at the end of the Voyager finale, I would've loved a final segment about the lives of the main crewmembers when they got to Earth.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

If the episode were made today, CGI de-aging has become convincing enough to take 15 years off an actor's appearance without making it all look too fake. 20+ years and it gets a bit more difficult to make it convincing, but there's plenty of TNG footage to feed the AI to get Riker's and Troi's appearances right.

I absolutely loathe CGI de-aging. I don't mind if it's for a flashback scene, but not when it's the entire movie. I want to see actors act, not CGI.

Other than that, I'd let Trip live and end the episode with the credits rolling over Archer's speech. Not hearing that made me feel as disappointed as I felt at the end of the Voyager finale, I would've loved a final segment about the lives of the main crewmembers when they got to Earth.

Why do we need to know what happens after they return to Earth? When we meet everyone, it's just before they get swept to the DQ, so ending the show just as they come home works for me. That said, I could have gone with one added scene: Voyager lands on Earth, the crew climb down a landing leg, Janeway kneels, picks up some soil in her hand, she stands, as it pours from her hand, she looks on toward San Francisco in the distance. "We're home." (fade to black, roll end credits)

 

[suarezguy]

If it's mid-season, scrap Trip's death and "six years later." Have Trip mortally wounded, but he lives. Episode stays the same and works as a mid-season episode.

Probably similar to Voyager's crossover "Pathfinder," more about the other previous characters but at least also about the series characters, and generally regarded as fine, good, at least not offensive to series fans.

 

[publiusr]

Maybe Archer seeing mass produced Daedalus class ships…the refit being part of the “Starship” project (that defined as swan-type saucer and cigar hull pairings….Bonaventure being the first *starship* with warp drive—the core from a SpaceX testbed.

 

[Dukhat]

I have heard that the finale of Discovery revealed it?

Spoiler

No, the finale of Discovery revealed that the Kovich character was really the Daniels character from ENT, even though that was not the original intent of the Kovich character.

 

[Phoenix219]

Spoiler

No, the finale of Discovery revealed that the Kovich character was really the Daniels character from ENT, even though that was not the original intent of the Kovich character.

So its inferred rather than flat out stated, then..... i would still find it very likely. Thank you for the clarification. Do we know anything abuot what the original intent of the character was? It always seemed like he was being set up for much more than they followed through on.

 

[Dukhat]

So its inferred rather than flat out stated, then..... i would still find it very likely. Thank you for the clarification. Do we know anything abuot what the original intent of the character was? It always seemed like he was being set up for much more than they followed through on.

Spoiler

Kovich flat-out stated that he was Daniels. Which was an utterly stupid idea, since the DSC crew would have no idea who Daniels was. I assumed that had the show continued, Kovich's identity would not have been revealed in order to keep him mysterious. But I would bet good money that he would never have been revealed as Daniels if DSC hadn't gotten abruptly canceled.

 

[Phoenix219]

Spoiler

Kovich flat-out stated that he was Daniels. Which was an utterly stupid idea, since the DSC crew would have no idea who Daniels was. I assumed that had the show continued, Kovich's identity would not have been revealed in order to keep him mysterious. But I would bet good money that he would never have been revealed as Daniels if DSC hadn't gotten abruptly canceled.

Spoiler

right, but the speculation that that makes him Future Guy is only an implied possibility, but i find it likely that it could mean they are one and the same. I agree that he would have had a different role if it wasn't cancelled, and was curious if we have any idea what that would have been.

 

[Dukhat]

Spoiler

right, but the speculation that that makes him Future Guy is only an implied possibility, but i find it likely that it could mean they are one and the same. I agree that he would have had a different role if it wasn't cancelled, and was curious if we have any idea what that would have been.

Spoiler

No one has implied that Kovich was FutureGuy.

 

[Oddish]

Best solution, though it breaks the rules.
1. Make TATV set in 2155, tweak as necessary. It's the S4 finale, a nice bit of fanservice.
2. Get a 5th season by any means necessary, with Shran added to the cast.
3. Given that Shran will probably be like Worf on DS9 or Seven on VOY, expect to go 7 seasons.
4. Have the show end properly after said 7 seasons, with the birth of the Federation. And we get to hear Archer's speech.

 

[Moonglum]

One small tweak that would have made the episode lightyears better would have been if they had killed off Neelix in the finale instead of Trip. The end.

 

[Dukhat]

One small tweak that would have made the episode lightyears better would have been if they had killed off Neelix in the finale instead of Trip. The end.

That would have made it worse.

 

[Moonglum]

That would have made it worse.

Not to me. Neelix sucked.

 

[fireproof78]

If I were to redo this, and still include Riker and Troi, I would do the following:

Open with Riker on the bridge of the NX ENTERPRISE as captain of the Titan. He then orders the computer to play the last log. We see the mission unfold as Archer and company set the stage for the Coalition of Planets but a threat to the delegates demands his attention.

A ship attacks them flees, with Archer and an Andorian Imperial cruiser in pursuit. Shran's ship is damaged and he joins the Enterprise.

They ultimately must close a temporal rift to prevent a last ditch effort to stop the Federation from forming. Enterprise is lost in the rift as Riker confirms the sacrifice of the first Earth Starfleet ship ENTERPRISE was instrumental to keeping the Coalition going.

 

[Dukhat]

Not to me. Neelix sucked.

But he sucked in a completely different show and time period.

 

[Moonglum]

But he sucked in a completely different show and time period.

Lol Oh yeah! I totally forgot he was Voyager. I try to block the memories.

Although, if somehow Neelix got transported through some space-time anomaly to the Enterprise and he died, it would have still made the episode better.

 

[at Quark's]

^ Hah, I thought you did it on purpose ('If they involve Riker from 200 years in the future might as well involve Neelix from 200 years later and the other side of the galaxy while they're at it!')

And I still think Neelix could have been a great character .... if only they hadn't decided to use him mainly for poor comedic relief (but explored his serious side a bit more, like in Jetrel, or Fair Trade, or Mortal Coil).