So what was the most powerful last scene in any ST?

[matthunter]

I quite like the end to Tin Man... Troi realises that Data does understand Elbrun's emotional need for companionship, and Data responds that when Tin Man beamed him back to the Enterprise he realised "this is where I belong". And she affectionately puts her head on his shoulder, pleased that, although she can't sense his emotions, Data DOES have them.

 

[DonIago]

I've read some posts on this board that seem to indicate that the final episode of Enterprise was not well liked. But right at the end when they have the "Space, the final frontier....." speech by all 3 Enterprise captains (Picard, Kirk, Archer), it was a good scene because it tied the franchise together. I would have liked if there had been some way to have included Sisko and Janeway as well but you can't have everything.

That was pretty much the only part of that episode that I didn't consider a total loss.

 

[topcat]

Generations can be considered a good ending scene. When data goes nuts trying to find his cat, not caring about the dead bodies all around. and then crying more when he realizes that hes crying because he finally has full blown human emotions as he was designed from the beginning.

 

[Drone]

Tuvix, in which far from being a pitiless executioner, Janeway's countenance betrays the sense that a part of her has died in having to carry out what had to be done.

 

[Galileo7]

TOS "Balance of Terror"
TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise"
DS9 "In The Pale Moonlight"
VOY "Endgame"
TMP
TUC
Nemesis { 1701-E in drydock undergoing repairs { like the refit of 1701 in TMP }, B-4 with Data memories and finally (!) Captain Riker on his own starship. It actually made me want to see another NG film with all of these elements embedded in a good script. }

 

[STEPhon IT]

The Wrath of Khan, Kirk finishing his Captain's Log, as he joins Carol Marcus, McCoy and the rest. He thinks and says to them how Genesis was a better resting place for Spock, and how he felt. Bones asked him, How does he feel? Kirk's response was he feels young.
After that we see the torpedo pod and then through the heavens... until the planet again as it turns into deep space. There we hear Spock in spirit voice saying the classic words we all know.

 

[T'Arwen]

I've read some posts on this board that seem to indicate that the final episode of Enterprise was not well liked. But right at the end when they have the "Space, the final frontier....." speech by all 3 Enterprise captains (Picard, Kirk, Archer), it was a good scene because it tied the franchise together. I would have liked if there had been some way to have included Sisko and Janeway as well but you can't have everything.

As for what most people consider the REAL ending of Enterprise, beauty is not a sufficient word to describe Terra Prime's last scene. In Broken Bow, T'Pol refuses to shake Trip's hand but when after their daughter dies, she reaches for it. If bringing things to full circle wasn't good enough, they hold her mom's IDIC together. Symbolism at its finest. If you don't like this scene, I question if you have a heart. And if you have any friends who hate Enterprise, Demons/Terra Prime is just the thing to change their minds.

 

[Vandervecken]

Forget.

 

[Kor]

The final scene of "City on the Edge of Forever."

Kor

 

[Paradise City]

Well, I'm always reluctant to give *the typical answer* to these type of questions but the Inner Light gotta be my one.

There Captain Picard sits absolutely alone in his dark quarters having left forever a bustling life with a gigantic family with all the joy and pain therein, having been mysteriously cut off from the other star struck life he had lead as he shares in the communal tragedy that follows on when good people face their imminent doom. I remember being wrenched by that episode and I'm not easily impressed.

Other endings that come to mind are the endings in the TOS movies from TWOK onwards. Those films all had poignant endings.

 

[JoeCabby]

Jake: "How'd you know that was coming?"
Sisko: "I guess.. we were just lucky this time."
Jake: "You okay, Dad?"
Sisko: "I am now, Jake. I am now."


Everytime

I love it, but the scene just before that is the one that gets me all teary eyed when Sisko realizes what Jake is doing and how he's effectively thrown his life away. It's one of my favourite episodes, but I have skipped it on a rewatch before because I just didn't want to cry like a little baby.

 

[Scotchy]

The ominous statement at the end of Q- Who. Now that the Borg are aware of the Federation - "they will be coming."

 

[Griffeytrek]

"Second Star to the Right and Straight on Till Morning"

 

[Drone]

Not memorable as in having some emotional resonance or depicting some signal event, but as a marker for where the direction of a series was imminently heading, the end of Blood Fever was pretty instructive in a straightforward manner.

 

[DonIago]

I remember being more thrilled by the ending of that episode than I was by the rest of it.

 

[Drone]

What, you didn't enjoy Vorik getting his ass whipped by B'Elanna!!!!

 

[DonIago]

Eh.

 

[Richard Baker]

A relatively simple scene from "The Big Goodbye" still get me:


Picard turns to McNary.
PICARD
I can't think of a way to thank
you. You know I can't take you
with me.

MCNARY
(nodding)
Someone's gotta book this creep.
(indicates thug)
Once a cop always a cop, I guess.

The OFFICE FLOOR RUMBLES again.

PICARD
(empathetic)
I have to go.

McNARY
So this is the big good-bye.

They shake hands like two old friends who are about to
part forever. This is The Big Good-bye.

126 MOVE IN ON THEM

McNARY
Tell me something, Dixon.
(worried)
When you've gone.... will this
world still exist?.. Will my wife
and kids still be waiting for me
at home?

PICARD
(pause, sadly)
I honestly don't know. Good-bye
my friend.

Picard STEPS THROUGH.

After a few moments, McNary's entire world goes PITCH
BLACK.

 

[Who1]

Some scenes that might not have been mentioned as worthy contenders:

TNG "Unification Part 2" - Spock manages a contented smile as he finally sees into the mind of his late father thanks to a mind meld with Picard.
DS9 "The Die Is Cast" - David Livingston's beautiful composition with Garak in profile and a backlit Odo reflected in a mirror and out of focus. Odo giving Garak an olive branch and the look on Garak's face after he walks away is brilliant.
DS9 "The Visitor" - Sisko's voice tells you everything as he says he's okay and holds his son.
Voyager "The Thaw" - creepy and atmospheric, a holographic Janeway taunts the malevolent clown created from fear as the diminishing lighting finally goes to black.
Voyager "Someone to Watch Over Me" - after a heartbreaking reality check that Seven of Nine will never return his romantic affection for her, the Doctor returns to Sandrine's and sings a melancholy version of the titular song at the piano.

 

[KhanSolo]

Definitely the ending scene that did it for me was the end of "All Good Things". When Picard says "I should've done this a long time ago." Not only does that represent how close the characters had gotten, and how they'd become a family, but it parallels the camaraderie of the actual cast members as well. It was an emotional ending for sure. I also think the final scene between Riker and Picard in Generations as they stand on the totaled bridge of the Enterprise-D, that gets me in the feels too.