Why do people consider the finale so bad?
- Thread starter The Newer England
- Start date
Me personally I only consider the finale to be bad because I've seen it
It completely ignores the emotional pathos from the previous episode.
I re-watched “These Are the Voyages…” recently when it was on TV to see whether it was truly as disappointing as I remembered - and unfortunately, it was. I was reminded why I normally stop at Terra Prime when I catch repeats.
Beyond my long‑standing frustrations with Trip’s death, the uneven narrative, and the regression of several characters, what struck me most this time was just how weak the writing was, especially for a series finale.
The main Enterprise characters felt like placeholders, reduced to their archetypes. All the development they’d gone through - particularly throughout Season 4 - seemed to evaporate. The “six years later” setting didn’t feel believable either; it was presented with no meaningful sense that anything had happened in the intervening years.
Then there were the TNG‑era scenes, which were awkwardly executed. They didn’t fit the tone or narrative of the episode they were retrofitted into, and the aging of Riker and Troi, and the in places poor recreation of the 1701-D made their appearance feel even more jarring. It simply wasn’t a well‑conceived idea.
To me, it showed that this episode was essentially a holdover "back-up" concept from Season 3 (which I think was telling from how they handled Trip/T'Pol in this episode, as it only really fits where we left them both at the end of S3, and basically ignores S4). Aside from a few nods to later events, it barely acknowledged Season 4 - and even if it had, the underlying story still wouldn’t have worked.
Ultimately, the biggest problem is that the episode underserves both the characters and the series as a whole. Even a single, well‑produced “six years later” scene tied to Archer’s speech tagged onto the end of Terra Prime would have been more satisfying - something akin to the improvised finale Discovery had to create under pressure. Just a brief scene with Archer, T'Pol, Trip and possibly Shran to show an optimistic glimpse of wear humans, andorians, and vulcans are going to end up from this.
What makes it more frustrating is that most of the story threads here could have flowed naturally from Terra Prime. Take out Riker/Troi, replace Archer’s Federation‑founding speech with something linked to the Coalition, wrap up some of the emotional arcs from that episode, and end on an optimistic note about the future, despite Trip and T’Pol’s loss. You could even have finished with a brief flash‑forward to Archer about to go and deliver his iconic speech.
There was a path to a meaningful finale in the narrative - it just wasn’t this one.
Beyond my long‑standing frustrations with Trip’s death, the uneven narrative, and the regression of several characters, what struck me most this time was just how weak the writing was, especially for a series finale.
The main Enterprise characters felt like placeholders, reduced to their archetypes. All the development they’d gone through - particularly throughout Season 4 - seemed to evaporate. The “six years later” setting didn’t feel believable either; it was presented with no meaningful sense that anything had happened in the intervening years.
Then there were the TNG‑era scenes, which were awkwardly executed. They didn’t fit the tone or narrative of the episode they were retrofitted into, and the aging of Riker and Troi, and the in places poor recreation of the 1701-D made their appearance feel even more jarring. It simply wasn’t a well‑conceived idea.
To me, it showed that this episode was essentially a holdover "back-up" concept from Season 3 (which I think was telling from how they handled Trip/T'Pol in this episode, as it only really fits where we left them both at the end of S3, and basically ignores S4). Aside from a few nods to later events, it barely acknowledged Season 4 - and even if it had, the underlying story still wouldn’t have worked.
Ultimately, the biggest problem is that the episode underserves both the characters and the series as a whole. Even a single, well‑produced “six years later” scene tied to Archer’s speech tagged onto the end of Terra Prime would have been more satisfying - something akin to the improvised finale Discovery had to create under pressure. Just a brief scene with Archer, T'Pol, Trip and possibly Shran to show an optimistic glimpse of wear humans, andorians, and vulcans are going to end up from this.
What makes it more frustrating is that most of the story threads here could have flowed naturally from Terra Prime. Take out Riker/Troi, replace Archer’s Federation‑founding speech with something linked to the Coalition, wrap up some of the emotional arcs from that episode, and end on an optimistic note about the future, despite Trip and T’Pol’s loss. You could even have finished with a brief flash‑forward to Archer about to go and deliver his iconic speech.
There was a path to a meaningful finale in the narrative - it just wasn’t this one.
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^ Wonderful, cogent comments. But the compelling suggestions you offer would require... effort.
Alas, it looked like the Beebs pulled The Thing off a forgotten shelf of "Needs a lot of work," didn't even bother to dust it off, made a few tweaks to the uniforms and T'Pol's hair, and started filming their "valentine" while ordering up the bulldozers that would destroy the sets as soon as production shut down. Presumably didn't even consult with showrunner Manny Coto, who had demonstrated a keen understanding of how to make compelling, thought-provoking Enterprise stories, stay true to the characters, and develop the Trip/T'Pol relationship. None of which this awful mess lifted a finger to do. I guess they locked Manny in a closet or something.
They could have auctioned off the sets and props for a nice chunk of change. Or put it all in storage - studios never throw anything away, it can always be redressed and used for something else. But they didn't even do that. That UPN head who hated Enterprise, he must have just wanted it all to go away. Dumb and wasteful - and short-sighted, considering all the streaming shows that came after. A cruel coda to the death of our good ship Enterprise.
Alas, it looked like the Beebs pulled The Thing off a forgotten shelf of "Needs a lot of work," didn't even bother to dust it off, made a few tweaks to the uniforms and T'Pol's hair, and started filming their "valentine" while ordering up the bulldozers that would destroy the sets as soon as production shut down. Presumably didn't even consult with showrunner Manny Coto, who had demonstrated a keen understanding of how to make compelling, thought-provoking Enterprise stories, stay true to the characters, and develop the Trip/T'Pol relationship. None of which this awful mess lifted a finger to do. I guess they locked Manny in a closet or something.
They could have auctioned off the sets and props for a nice chunk of change. Or put it all in storage - studios never throw anything away, it can always be redressed and used for something else. But they didn't even do that. That UPN head who hated Enterprise, he must have just wanted it all to go away. Dumb and wasteful - and short-sighted, considering all the streaming shows that came after. A cruel coda to the death of our good ship Enterprise.
Again, I feel obligated to point out that Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS (and the person you are referring to) did not hate ENT, or Star Trek, or science fiction in general, as is widely claimed. Being a businessman and a head television executive, he did not like shows that were expensive to produce but made little return on investment, which fit ENT to a T. If ENT was a ratings powerhouse and had a lower budget, he would have let the show go on for ten years. But because he was the one who directly canceled ENT, fans just assume he was a grumpy old man who hates Trek, which was not remotely the case.
Now with that all said, Moonves was a complete slimeball. But that has nothing to do with Star Trek.
Interestingly I'm pretty sure the photo evidence of the NX-01 sets being bulldozed are dated November 2006. So they were around a full 18 months after "These are the Voyages..." was broadcast, before a decision was made to destroy them. Until that point, and the Christies' auctioning off the family jewels to highest bidding fans, it might've been possible to put together a post Season 4 finale, TV Movie or straight-to-DVD episode (as Stargate and Babylon 5 did around then) and promote it as a farewell to mark the franchise's 40th Anniversary. Sure, it would've been as cheaply put together... but a decent story could've covered the lack of money, provided closure at the price of CG set extensions. I remember being genuinely thrilled to see Boxleitner & Woodward together in the opening Babylon Lost Tale, even if the other two short stories were decidedly crap.
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Yeah, here's the viewscreen on the Paramount lot - right before it went forever. Check out the date. 
Eh, trashing those sets guaranteed zero ROI on that material. Studio prop warehouses are crammed with stuff that is decades old, just waiting to be repurposed for a new production. Just sayin.
And The Thing is still garbage, and will always be garbage.
they still do reruns of Enterprise?
I think it is a great idea that is stupidly handled. Shoving it into the middle of "The Pegasus" doesn't fit the timeline nor the theme/message of that episode at all. The holodeck nonsense means you aren't spending time with the real crew at all. The episode is pretty cookie cutter boring and the characters are a bit stupid. And just the hubris of Bermaga coming back to write us a "valentine" celebrating almost two decades of second generation Trek, like what the fuck idiots. There were plenty of ways to do something that informed both eras of Star Trek and they dropped the ball big time.
Sets only last so long. And anyway, UPN was on its last legs. There was no reason to keep sets when there was no reason to use them for the foreseeable future with a doomed network. And CBS still kept all the props, costumes, etc., so just equating destroyed sets with ‘Moonves hates Trek!!!’ is erroneous.
I will agree on that point.
Pretty much 365 days per year, 7 days per week. It's popular.
In fact, I remember reading something that said that Voyager was far and away the most repeated ST as people watch it, followed by Enterprise over here. Sky here tends to cycle through each series one at a time almost daily.
I think quite a few people have actually found ENT love for the show in the intervening years from the repeats. As a daily package of ST, it actually works better than the one a week, 26 episodes a year format did. People seem to be discovering it, perhaps looking at it now with kinder eyes than they did back then.
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I'm not sure why Riker has more lines than the lead of the show. But then again, it's just another baffling decision surrounding this episode.
IMO, viewers might have been content with the episode as is, warts and all, if Trip did not die. Or at least, his death had more meaning to it.
The irony is that if the writers had just left Trip's fate ambiguous if he was going to pull through or not, paralleling the creation of the Federation, it would have voided a major complaint about the episode.
Riker and Troi's appearance in the episode is a problem too. But in 2026, there are AI tools in existence to remove them from the episode. And someone can, if they want, make a modern version of "The Menagerie" with the ENT portion of the episode. And if they want to escalate it to the levels of a 22nd century Watergate-level scandal, they can. The ENT portion of the finale is ripe for a juicy story, in the hands of the right creatives.
It does not change the fact that for 20 years, everyone had had to live with the way this episode was made. And they way it was made was as a letdown. Such a letdown that the episode's message of "was it worth it?" was lost.
I’m not sure if you’re being serious here, but ‘using AI tools’ to remove Riker and Troi from TATV is not a thing. CBS does not care about TATV and is not going to revisit it, ever. Unless you just mean some fan edit.
Beause it was rotten that the cast of TNG got more screen time and Enterpise cast were only there as Holodeck characters. It was badly written. And Idiotic. Trip being killed off in one of the dumbest ways to save Archer. Is possibly the worst thing ever that happened to one of my favorite Characters. Most of the cast have hated this episode and refuse to watchi it to this day. Even Jonathan Frakes has mentioned at Conventions he thought it was rotten how the Enterprise should've gotten a better finale like TNG got. He said it was bad too at one of the Ls Convention on You tube really dissed it big time,It deserves being one of the least popular finales ever.
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