14th May 2005
Enterprise Finale "These Are The Voyages"
I enjoyed this episode and agree that it was a good end to the show. If anything, though, I felt a little cheated that the TNG characters had 'stolen' the last episode of a four year saga from us — I think I'd have felt more comfortable if B&B had let our heroes finish the story on their own without help!I wish they hadn't cut the big Archer speech scene short so quickly, although I understand why they did — they couldn't hope to do that without it being an anticlimax and/or going on too long. Still though, finishing off with Deanna/Riker exiting the holodeck felt a bit sort of … "and now we're going to steal four years of ENT from you."Also Deanna/Riker looked ooooold! Before watching the episode, I guess I'd assumed it'd be Deanna/Riker on the Titan in 'present day' Trek — which would have been very cool, as we haven't seen much new in 'present day' Trek in years, apart from Nemesis, since Voyager ended and even then it was 'present day' Delta Quadrant. So really since DS9 we haven't had any Alpha Quadrant breaking news. So to throwback to an old TNG episode was a little disappointing perhaps, but it was clever how they tied it into an established story ("The Pegasus"). Just a shame it wasn't a particularly pivotal story; not for me anyway.
Regarding Trip's death: a heroic end indeed. But… taking care of a handful of common thugs? I think the finale should have been a two-parter to handle a character's death and the resulting emotional shockwaves properly, as all we really got was one sickbay scene and a couple of pseudo-tears from T'Pol. Cut to millions of people cheering and clapping, the end. If it had been a two-parter, the backstory behind Shran, the artefact and perhaps a more involved demise for Trip could have been built up far more effectively; meanwhile I don't think a justification could be found for having the TNG cast kidnap two whole episodes.