I just watched the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Let me just come right out and say that I am so angry and disgusted that I don’t know where to begin. A while back Jolene Blalock (who plays T’Pol on the show) was quoted as saying that the final episode of Enterprise was “appalling”… Jolene, how right you were. What a sad, sad ending to a series that was just starting to find it’s voice. What a slap in the face to the cast and the fans of Enterprise. I can’t stop shaking my head in disbelief and the only conclusion I can come to is that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have truly come to hate Star Trek and it’s fans.
There, I’ve said it.
Up until the last couple of weeks I’ve given the benefit of the doubt to B&B, but no more. The awfulness of “These are the voyages…” (title of the series ender) was even more evident in that it was broadcast immediately after the “Terra Prime” episode, written by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, authors of countless Star Trek novels and finally brought in this season as writers for the show. Sure, “Terra Prime” had some stuff in it that bugged the heck out of me, but overall it felt like Star Trek. It seemed like finally, with that episode characters that had been marginalized for 4 seasons came alive at last.
But then came the final episode…
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I had read bits here and there about the finale and the fact that it involved Riker, Troi, and a holodeck recreation of the Enterprise crew, but I didn’t want to spoil the episode for myself so I left it at that. I had read a lot of the reaction to the episode as well, but my thought was “Hey, go easy, you haven’t even seen it yet.” I had also read that the cast was (to put it mildly) unhappy with the episode and they didn’t feel it was about Enterprise.
I’m here to tell you those voices of outrage where on the money.
The difference between the Coto-helmed “Terra Prime” and Berman and Braga written “These are the voyages…” is absolutely jarring. In no uncertain terms it showed on the one hand why the show had finally become worthwhile and on the other why fans left it in droves and led to it’s cancellation.
And still Berman refuses to take responsibility in any way shape or form. He actually had the gall to refer to the episode as a “valentine for the fans”. What a load of crap. I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall anyone clamouring for the return of Will Riker, Deanna Troi or the Enterprise D.
I suppose I should get around to the specifics of the episode. It opens on the bridge of Enterprise 6 years after “Terra Prime”, and 10 years after the start of the show. The ship is going to be mothballed after 10 years of service, and is heading back to Earth for the signing of the declaration that is basically the founding of the Federation. Suddenly we see Will Riker on the ship and soon after that we realize that what we’ve been watching is a re-creation of events on a holodeck on the Enterprise D.
The episode ties in with something that happened during Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Riker had a crisis of conscience and was struggling with a decision. Apparently he felt the need to visit Archer’s Enterprise during a pivotal sequence of events in order to help him make the right decision. Immediately this marginalizes everything going on with Archer’s crew and makes the show about Riker. Seeing him pop up here and there on Enterprise is positively jarring and just feels COMPLETELY wrong.
As things progress we discover that Shran (the ever-excellent Jeffrey Combs) was thought dead for three years but has actually been in hiding with a wife and daughter. His daughter has been kidnapped and he demands Archer’s help in getting her back.
While we are watching this, they keep intercutting Riker and Troi on the Enterprise-D with what’s happening, and then when returning to Archer’s crew, skipping ahead to the parts that are relevant to Riker.
This leaves the story feeling rushed, choppy and disconnected. To add insult to injury, the cook aboard ship, who has been talked about over four seasons but never shown, and is all of a sudden is referred to as the crew’s confidant, is portrayed by… Riker.
I can just imagine the actors grinding their teeth during these scenes in the ship’s kitchen.
Here and there cute little comments are thrown out like Archer toasting and saying “Here’s to the next generation.” Ooooh, did that give you chills? Yeah, me neither.
But wait, there’s more… how about the death of Tripp just because, well, you know… killing someone will make the episode more interesting. You remember that is the same deep thought process that went into the death of Captain Kirk on some backwater planet.
By the end of this episode I was so thoroughly pissed that I could just spit. 
I can only hope to God that when the next iteration of Star Trek surfaces neither Berman nor Braga are let within 100 miles of the show. How Paramount continues to entrust this franchise to this pair defies logic to an extreme degree.
Oh well, I’ll always have classic Trek on DVD…
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45 Comments
I really have to agree with you on all points, especially since (what really bugged me) was
1) if you’re on a starship, are you going to be spending your spare time hanging out making meals with a chef?
2) I’m sure that if you timed the TNG/Enterprise bits, there was more TNG material than Enterprise (and yes, I found the “jumping around” distracting and insulting as well)
3) Tripp’s death could have been easily avoided – even as written, you could tell it was more due to sloppy writing than any dramatic purpose (and why, 15 minutes later, did Tripp “reappear” in the hologram?)
Bad writing, a tacked on coda to keep the hard-core fans happy…this is an excellent lesson in how to kill a long-standing franchise.
Oh, how I agree with you! I was so ANGERED by this final episode! Now, understand, I am a latent fan of ENTERPRISE having just started watching it in the last few months. I borrowed the entire series on videotape from a friend and watched the whole thing successively over a very short amount of time … you could say I was wired for “story.”
What I got was CRAP! Uggh! You just can’t jump 6 years in the future like that and expect an audience to buy in. I mean, literally 15 minutes earlier in the night Tripp was a blubbering mess over the death of their child … now they haven’t been a relationship for 6 years?! Come on, this was one story/character arc that actually intrigued me.
And Tripp’s death … arrgh! There was more apparent pain to the crew over losing Tripp’s clone than losing Tripp himself.
If the episode didn’t feel sterile enough with these sweeping changes in character story, the real clincher was doing it from the holodeck perspective. I felt like I was watching the show through a veiled curtain. It wasn’t an Enterprise story at all, it was a TNG story … and a bad one at that. I was lost in what Riker was seeking out (he had a stronger mind than that and didn’t need “you’ll do the right thing” to convince him to talk to Picard!) Come on B&B, do you really expect us to accept this “Valentine?”
It was more like a stab in the heart.
For me, there are 97 episodes of Enterprise. The last one doesn’t fit in my universe.
The coda at the very end was indeed the best thing about the finale, although even that seemed out of place for some reason. Good point about seeing Trip alive after he had died…confusing and why insert it there? Another detail in regards to his death, didn’t he seem completely out of character? He was almost acting like a classic-Trek hysterical female as he was trying to negotiate.
Another thing that comes to me in retrospect is the Voyager-like syndrome where in 10 years no one has been promoted and everything basically stays the same.
They should have left “Terra Prime” as the finale with some minor tweaks for closure. It would have been much more powerful.
Vic
I’m a huge fan of the star trek franchies.So when this star trek series “entreprise” came to an end the way that it did,I was left scratching my head.
I was looking forward to seeing were they were going with the rawhmulanies,I thought that it was just getting interresting,then a couple weeks and a whole lot of repeats later its over.What was that!!,and you have to be kidding me.I thought the series ended to fast that it left alot of blanks and questions.I think the series “entreprise” was a great series,much to great for the ending that was written.And was it realy neasasary to kill tripp off at the very end,I mean realy,who would do something like that.At least they did something rigth and made tripp a hero.Gene Roddenberry must be rolling over in his grave. NP
I’m a treky that was VERY SHOCKED & DISAPPIONTED the way the series came to an end. Just when it was getting intrestting with a couple of the charactors, mainly T-Pal and Tripp they skipping six years into the future and leaving out their entire relateship in between. In one episode tripp is talking with T-Pal telling her that it’s still possible for their two speacies to have a child, then in the next episode, bam it’s six years later and their no longer together. It’s like watching a movie from the start and just when it’s getting interresting you fast foward to the end and watch the ending. I found no reason to kill tripp. Here’s an ending, Artchor gives his speak that we never even got to hear then he calls his crew to join him incluing Tripp because as he said this isn’t about me. TNG ended with the main charactors playing poker. This series was meant to answer questions but did the total opposit thier are so many dead end. I wish Gene Roddenberry was still alive he knew how to write.
Joe
I have to agree with everyone else here, I just finished watching the series finale, and I truly feel for the actors on this show. I cant imagine how they could pull off some of the scenes and lines in this episode, as it completely slaps them in the face and disrespects their accomplishments throughout this series. Jolene Blalock was correct. Absolutely APPALLING. Completely disrespectful. If I wanted a TNG episode, I would pop in a damn DVD.
Oh, and by the way, the last line of the show “I think we’re done here… end program,” as Archer is about to deliver the biggest speech of their time… come on! How disrespectful is that? Might as well said “Oh well, who gives a crap what he’s about to say, Diana, lets go screw.”
Was the appearance of Tripp after his death deliberate, or an editing error? I was so damn confused by it, I thought that it must have been a deliberate mistake. But yes, an ugly stupid last episode–I understand why the cast so hated it.
I don’t really know why they brought Tripp back in once he was “dead”. Perhaps they thought it would be more poignant, which it wasn’t.
Vic
Hey Vic;
Not for nothing, but shouldn’t you be on line already waiting for Star Wars???!!!
Funny.
Although I did buy my tickets for this Thursday a week ago.
Vic
I pretty much agree on all points. What could you have said in your review that I won’t say here?
Terrible, limp, lame ending. I don’t give a flip about Riker and Troi; the Enterprise characters were shortchanged and I couldn’t help but feel ill thinking that this series could have ended with the superior Terra Prime and most everybody would be saying that it went out a winner.
Trip out of character? Yes, I’d say so. Consider the fact that he pulled a Houdini in Terra Prime while his daughter was under duress and managed to sabotage the verteron array’s targeting system while remaining cool and calm–then think of how he panicked in TATV. Jarring. Add to that the fact that Berman and Braga felt the need to invalidate the touching resolution of Trip and T’Pol’s relationship in Terra Prime and it’s just all too shabby. When I heard Malcolm complaining about the seating arrangement with nary an unhappy look, I just about fell out of my chair. Then, of course, Riker interrupted the speech. Terrible episode.
Dorian
Is it too late for me to throw in some peanut gallery comments? I actually watched both hours of the finale, surprisingly enough. I liked the first hour, but I hated the second hour. What a terrible way to end the series… no wonder it was cancelled.
Brian
First hour = No Berman or Braga.
Second hour = All Berman and Braga.
Total and complete coincidence, I’m sure.
Vic
I think the all time low point in Star Trek was when Archer is just about to give his speech which would be just what Riker needs in his time of moral crisis. Archer walks to crowd ready to give the speech that defines Starfleet and the Fredation. It will define ideas such as peace and harmony for people of all races. He’s just about to give it and Riker say, “Computer. End program.” I think that the wirters realized that it was way over their heads.
I was so happy this season when they finally managed to eliminate most traces of the hideous B&B odor from the previous seasons. Is it surprising that the decline of Trek has followed the growth in involvement of the B&B team. Why make a finale with a forgotten and unimportant TNG episode? The fact is the Reeves-Stevens’ have gotten it right all season. Screw B&B let’s do the Reeves-Stevens’/Shatner Kirk novels. By the way has anyone read the articles about the new Trek movie next year? They say its a “reimagining” (think Battlestar Galactica’s ressurection as pure crap). They also claim its going to predate Enterprise by another 100 years. Is anyone else concerned?
Concerned? No, because it will obviously have nothing to do with Star Trek as we know it. They obviously want to make something that will bring in the loyal, or once-loyal trek fans to the theaters, since the last few movies completely flopped. But if the fans didnt want to see Trek movies with the actors and characters they liked, I dont see how making a movie with none of them in it is any better of an idea than using the known characters/ships/timeline. It may be different, and that may attract some people, but it will also make a lot of the fans say “oh, well, who cares, and why should I bother seeing it?” You’d think that they would put some serious time and effort into finding decent writers and coming up with a story that’ll just blow everyone away. It’s not as if they are rushed in any way to put out a new Trek movie. I think they should just sit on it for a few years and spend the time developing an amazing story.
That’s a really good point. I know I tried three times to like the new Battlestar Galactica, but it had nothing even slightly in common with the original. That combined with the silent space battles backed with horrible drum music. If that is the future of Trek, I probably won’t be returning.
BSG certainly isn’t Trek, but I’ve come to really like the show. It has much more depth and texture than Enterprise. I still don’t care about the characters as much as I do those in Stargate SG-1, but I find the episodes very compelling.
Vic
Just saw the last ep of Enterprise – so bad its surreal – words cannot describe how depressed it has made me. Am I taking crazy pills ??
Joanne, you’re quite sane. It was indeed awful.
Sad, ain’t it?
Vic
Just watched the last ep last night. I’ve spent three months watching the series, getting it from Netflix. I was a huge TNG fan as a kid. I had heard Enterprise was okay, but had some time-travel/continuity issues. I enjoyed the hell out of the series, with some small exceptions, until I hit the last one. Holy God, what a mess. It has compelled me to pick up The Good That Men Do, so I can pretend the whole “Trip was killed” thing didn’t happen. I hope that in the future, when someone else is in charge of this franchise, they do the right thing and announce publicly that Terra Prime is the last episode of Enterprise that is considered canon. I know I don’t consider this stinker canon.
Who but B & B could manage to weaken two series with one episode?
Oh flipping hell, i am Soooooo ANGRY!!!!!!!! I agree with everything thats been said on this site!!! Why kill Trip? Why turn him into such a WIMP!I could have chucked the tv out the window. The crew hardly seemed to notice Trip was dead!! After the last touching episode (Terra Prime), how could they have write that trash?? And why include Riker and Diana? Was it supposed to be a heartwarming episode tie?? – Far from it! it most certinaly did not work, completly intrusive, the worst bit of writing i ve even seen. It stank, and someday i hope somebody rewrites that final episode and does justice to the series. ABSOLUTE RUBBISH !!!!!!!
WOW is Riker FAT! They must have used five rolls of duct tape to get him in his uniform. And why was Troi needing to get back to Regg? Wasn’t she hot for Riker? Holodeck therapy? Lame.
Yes, the impressive speech Archer was to give would have required a ‘writer’ so it was chopped off. Lame.
Announcing Trip would never make it back to earth ahead of time and then actually have him die (not a plot twist like living on Vulcan or something). Lame.
Six years from previous episode and nothing has changed? Lame.
If they had left this episode out they could at least have made a movie if fans were vocal enough (like with Firefly/Serenity). Things had really started working well in Enterprise before this vomit inducing ‘valentine’.
I’m really hoping the new movie won’t be a disappointment. After all Sylar is Spock!
I have been too busy traveling internationally that I missed viewing any of the ST:E shows until the past year of reruns on SciFi and HDNET. I love it! . . . and I followed the original ST since the 60’s and then SNG as well. I actually liked ST:E the best! Why did it “fail?” In my opinion, it did not as so many are still watching in the reruns.
The only weak link was perhaps the Captain in about half the shows, but that was minor. I’ll continue to enjoy the show and hope to see a rebirth sans Berman and Braga. Trek on!
The serie started off so well. I watched the first two seasons with interest. Then came the Xindi saga… at first I found it interesting butit quickly started to drag on and to become very predictable, like the written were so out of ideas that they stretched that episode to its furthest limits. So much of ideas that they found nothing better than to “surprize” us with two episodes of an evil Enterprise (not even an original idea… see DS9 and evil Empress Kira). hat should have been a warning sign for what was to come with the final episode. Enough has been said about it here and I agree 100% (a suicidal Trip, later “reincarnated” and going God knows where), it was so disrespectful to all the characters, as if they were mere holographic material, even so they should have deserved more respect according to the Star Trek tradition (ask Robert Picardo what he’d have thought of that treatment). I didn’t find Terra Prime to original either, it was like a rerun of the Xindi thread, only the poignant Trip/T’pol relationship was worth watching. For once emotion ran high.
What a waste, that serie had so much potential. These writers should reimburse all the money they made and never be hired again…
I can’t believe I watched 97 episodes to get to that finale.
ugh.
Agreed, I wasn’t able to watch the original airing of Enterprise, and just finished them all in a couple of weeks. I was very disappointed with the finale.
I hope you’ll forgive me. I am not a die hard Enterprise fan. I come from the next generation generation and followed this through to DS9 and Voyager. I started watching Enterprise but gave up after a while, something about it just didn’t grab me.
However, despite this I did return for the finale after enjoying the last episodes of all previous encarnations OF Star Trek and my God! Even I was angry. As much I love Riker and Troi I was immediately surprised to se them on board to say the least. It went downhill from there. It seemed like it had been written in five minutes and completely disregarded almost anything that had happened on Enterprise before. What a massive disappointment it was as if the writers had heard that people didn’t care what happened and so thought “what the hell? We’ll just do what we like”
To all those angered fans – My heart goes out to you.
I just watched all 4 series and at first I thought, quantum leap, Sam beckett in star trek? it will never work, but i loved enterprise. when the 4th series was finished I went online and to my horror found that series 4 fianle was the last ep. come on!!! I skipped through most of it, it was that poor. and the TNG style ending give me a break we should be at least another 3/4 series before that. – rant over – RIP enteprise, i forget thee not.
Yes, this was the worst writing I have ever experienced in my life!!! We are actually suppposed to forget everything that happened over 4 years and believe this nonsense!!! It really is absolutely appalling. I am still in shock. I Netflixed these episodes after seeing TNG and was expecting a send off like that show received. I am definitely going to erase this ending in my memory and re-write my own. I feel for everyone involved. How can you take a dump in a box and then say’ “Merry Xmas, Trek fans!!!”
I avoided watching this show when it first came out because I didn’t like Scott Bakula as Capt. Archer. Then that fraking song in the intro had me shut off the tv immediately. Years later I was caught by the Xindi weapon being fired on Earth and watched the episode. I’ve been recording them ever since (so I can fast forward thru that intro). Thank God that Star Trek’s legacy lived on with awesome story telling. Tonight I saw what I thought may be the final epsidoe. I thought it was so poor by the end it couldn’t be the finale. My initial thoughts were bringing in Enterprise D was cool, but they could have made a better story line. Then; no speech at the end, kill off a main character and fumble thru a love story that took seasons to develop? – I don’t care what spin they put on it – this was disgraceful to the legacy and the industry. I ran to the computer to see if this was truly the final episode. I’ve never blogged before, but I just feel I have to do something – I am actually outraged by this. Why would you want piss off not only your colleauges, but the viewrs? Are these guys truly that inept or are they just lazy disrespectful jerks?! This must be one of the biggest disappointments in sci-fi history.
Well, I thought the last episode was wonderful, I am a huge fan of everything star trek and so should all be : ) I love when one show leads into the other and it brought a tear to my eye and made me proud to be a fan, sorry guys I guess i just feel differently .
Okay having completed this series much later (started watching when it was released, but never kept up with it until I borrowed the DVDs), I can say with confidence that “These Are The Voyages” is not Enterprise. I refuse to acknowledge an episode that is so inconsistent with the rest of the series (which was awesome!) and I totally agree with your analysis. ARGH… this makes me so angry too that it ended so poorly.
This was just bad writing of some flimsy ideas to attempt a dramatic ending. It felt like it was rushed and without a lot of thought towards a bigger story. Like it or not, this is part of Star Trek history now – I just wish this wasn’t also an example of poor story-telling.
I could never say I loved it just because it’s Star Trek, these guys have to be held accountable and critisized accordingly – otherwise it’ll just keep the same people circulating and producing more crap.
I’m glad to see the New Star Trek movie is picking up fans – all is not lost apparently.
B&B should have a restraining order placed on them, I was a late comer to the series, happened to catch it on HDNET, and loved it from episode 1. Not many TV series out there that I can say that about but, this was a rare gem. It captured my heart and mind both feeding me one dramatic episode after another. So when I read the information about the series finale episode, I to said nay…. how bad could it possibly be. Ughhh sadly it was pretty bad, it left a sinking feeling in my stomach the rest of the day. Viewers become emotianally invested with these characters, and when a series comes to halt the least the writers can do is send the series off with suitable “Bon Voyage”,noot a “Bon Voygood ridence”.
As a kid, I liked the original series. And when Star Trek TNG came out, I enjoyed it a lot more. But Enterprise was my favorite by far. I thought it was more like the way things really would be. And premiering right after 9/11 and right before I reported back to active duty, it had a special meaning for me.
I enjoyed watching it every night it was on – even with the stupid UPN moving it around. They really seemed to try and kill it off since it didn’t fit their overall image apparently. No wonder the ratings were not as good as they could be. There were never any TV ads for the show, never any consistency to when it would air.
I participated in doing all I could to keep it alive after the first cancellation and at least there was one more season to watch. And I kept hoping that the second cancellation decision would be changed and it would go on. But it was clear with the final episode that would not happen.
This episode did have potential. The concept could have been done quite well and left open further Enterprise episodes. But clearly, B&B decided to pay back the fans who had supported Enterprise with this horrible ending. And tying in TNG the way they did hurt both shows. They could have had the tie in with a different episode. Let Enterprise have its own ending.
But the real slap in the face is simply the way B&B treated the fans. Killing Trip, throwing away the relationship with Trip and T’Pol, belittling the show with TNG, all these and more were just attempts to show us how unimportant we were to them. They got angry that the fans kept the show alive for a whole extra season. So, they decided to exercise their creative control with a vengeance. And then they just quit. Just like ill behaved children on the playground, they took their toys and left. I even wonder if Paramount (UPN) gave them a bonus for killing the show.
The episode tonight on SyFy just brought the entire situation back to me. So, I thought I’d rant. And I am so happy B&B were not involved in the new movie. And who knows, maybe now there is a way to make up for the disaster that was the ending of Enterprise.
Like so many others, I did not watch the original showing of Enterprise. I grabbed the entire series on DVD and watched all 97 episodes in a weeks time.
To say I am disappointed is an understatement. After rushing through the story lines and seeing the evolving crew and ship, I was so discouraged by the ending that now, three day later, I am still depressed.
What shill to loyal fans of Star Trek as a whole, to have possibly the last Star Trek series end with so many holes without any way of recovering.
Maybe that was the B&B goal? Live long and Prosper Tripp….
Vic, I am soo disappointed in you! You know I’m a big Trekker and you didn’t tell me about this thread?! I place you in the quantum stinker reality as B&B!
Just kidding, bro. All I can say is that this episode was really in a different quantum reality, like the episode of TNG where Worf was jumping from one reality to the next. At least that’s my explanation. This episode was from the CRAP universe, with a quantum vibration of 666. I think it is obvious that B&B hate Star Trek, and should never be allowed near it again. Why not end it with an episode about the Romulan neutral zone or something? If they wanted to have a nod to TNG, have Daniels transport Archer to the 24th century to show him what his famous speech started? AND WHY NOT HAVE THE FRAKKING SPEECH????!!! Berman and Braga are at the top of the Access of Evil!
LOL, this post is over 4 years old, bud.
Feel free to bring the Star Trek review folks over here.
Vic
It may be four years old but it still hurts like heck..
Yay for Star Trek review folks!
I hate that last episode with a vengence. I don’t even watch it, I down right refuse to accept it as a finale. I agree with other people that ‘Terra Prime’ should have been the finale, although frankly I think the series ended way too soon. I mean come on, Voyager went for 7 seasons and I couldn’t stand that series, but Enterprise was great and was only four seasons! But I’ll shut up now or I’ll never stop venting.
I had a love hate relationship with the show. Mostly hate but I watched it. True by season 3 they had done a sprucing up of the quality and the episodes steadily improved and then cancellation. They knew they we canned going into the last year of production instead of making a kick butt ending the got to the Starfleet old folks home to bring back Riker and Troy and the holodeck! That was no episode, no ending, it was a dagger in the brain pan. Berman was a studio lackey from the beginning of TNG. With him at helm Enterprise was doomed. Good actors and set pieces wasted 60% of the time. He took an iconic franchise and wrapped it in cotton candy, no wonder we still ache from watching it.
@Katherine
Hey, I see my Ferengi college student has made it! Welcome!
Voyager really grew on me. And Jeri Ryan didn’t hurt the show either.
When I initially saw its finale, I didn’t like it but after watching it again, I think it was fine. Enterprise, on the other hand, was crap each time I saw it. I still can’t believe they killed off the best character in that series. And like someone else said, I thought Hoshi and Mayweather would have made a great couple.
@ Kahless
It was a tough journey, but I got here.
I never liked Voyager, it bored me to tears. Trip totally was the best character, he was great. Yeah I was the one who said that, I think they would be very suited to each other.
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