# Star Trek: Enterprise -[Final Mission]- Stardate:503150. Final Log



## Truth Seeker (May 13, 2005)

*Terra Prime* _Series and Season_ Finale:* 5 of 6.*

_In the first steps towards the foundation of the Federation, Captain Archer and the crew must stop Paxton, a well-armed, radical human isolationist leader, who is threatening to destroy Starfleet Command unless all aliens leave Earth immediately._


*These Are the Voyages*... _Series and Season_ Finale:* 6 of 6.*

_Six years in the future, an emotional Captain Archer and the crew return to Earth to face the decommission of Enterprise and signing of the Federation charter, ratifying the newly-formed alliance of planets they helped forge. _


*Guest* *Cast* for *Terra Prime: Peter Weller* as John Frederick Paxton. *Harry Groener* as Nathan Samuels. *Gary Graham* as Soval. *Eric Pierpoint* as Harris. *Adam Clark* as Josiah. *Peter Mensah* as Greaves. *Johanna Watts* as Gannet Brooks. *Derek Magyar* as Kelby. *Joel Swetow* as Thoris. *Josh Holt* as Ensign Masaro. *Amy Rohren* as Tactical Officer. 

*Creative Staff*: Director: *Marvin V. Rush*. Teleplay By: *Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Manny Coto*. Story By:* Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Andre Bormanis.*


*Guest* *Cast* for *These Are the Voyages...: Marina Sirtis* as Deanna Troi. *Jonathan Frakes* as William Thomas Riker. *Jeffrey Combs* as Shran. *Jonathan Schmock* as Alien. *Solomon Burke, Jr*. as Ensign.* Jef Ayres* as Med Tech. *Jasmine Anthony* as Talla. 

*Creative Staff*: Director: Allan Kroeker. Written By: Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. 


*Overall Cast*:
Scott Bakula as 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			









John Billingsley as 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Jolene Blalock as 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Dominic Keating as 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Anthony Montgomery as 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Linda Park as 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Connor Trinneer as 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





From a watcher, who has seen all the incarnations of *Gene Roddenberry's *ideal journey to the stars. I wish to give, a heartfelt thanks to you Sir and your family, and to all involved from the parking lot attendant, the grip, the security officer, who met those, who used to crossed the studio threshold, every morning.

It has been wonderful and heart opening experience, it will be never forgotten and it will be never erased from our hearts.

Live Long and Prosper.

*Energize*

*Star Trek: The Journey*--Began 9.08.1966, Ends 5.13.2005.

Sidenote: Andromeda Series and Season ends today also.


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## myrdden (May 13, 2005)

Truth Seeker said:
			
		

> *Terra Prime* _Series and Season_ Finale:* 5 of 6.*
> 
> _In the first steps towards the foundation of the Federation, Captain Archer and the crew must stop Paxton, a well-armed, radical human isolationist leader, who is threatening to destroy Starfleet Command unless all aliens leave Earth immediately._




I missed the first part of this 2-parter, but if that's the plot summary - 'blech'.  There's nothing better to hit on Earth than Starfleet Command?  And why threaten your own world?  Strange...



> These Are the Voyages... Series and Season Finale: 6 of 6.
> 
> Six years in the future, an emotional Captain Archer and the crew return to Earth to face the decommission of Enterprise and signing of the Federation charter, ratifying the newly-formed alliance of planets they helped forge.




This just seems like a very week way to end the series.  But I'll still watch just to say that I did.


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## wingsandsword (May 13, 2005)

myrdden said:
			
		

> This just seems like a very week way to end the series.  But I'll still watch just to say that I did.



From a longtime trekkie perspective, an episode just about the actual founding of the Federation _could_ be cool, and a chance to really, conclusively solve some questions about the origin and structure of the Federation (but probably not).  It's a little odd that Enterprise NX-01 would be decommissioned after only a decade of service, but this is after the Romulan Wars so presumably it's seen a lot of action and might be overstressed or needing more overhaul/drydock work than it would otherwise be worth, and with creation of the Federation (or Vulcan help during the Wars) they have access to more advanced Vulcan technology that makes the NX class obsolete.  Of course, by Trek lore the replacement as the workhorse of the fleet would be the Daedalus class, but that's diving into esoterica.


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## Angel Tarragon (May 13, 2005)

Despite the fact that tonights ep is bound to bomb and the fact that I stopped watch the series in the beginning of Season 2, I will be watching it.


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## wingsandsword (May 13, 2005)

Truth Seeker said:
			
		

> *Star Trek: The Journey*--Began 9.08.1966, Ends 5.13.2005.




Don't say Die just yet.  They said the same thing on 6.3.1969 when Turnabout Intruder aired.  All that has ended is a second era of Trek, one which began with the Star Trek: Phase II series (discounting the brief animated series in the early 70's) which later became The Motion Picture.

I'm sure in a few years (anywhere from 4 to 10 I say) Star Trek will be back.  Of course, whether it will be a return to the original continuity or a "reimagining/continuity reboot" like Battlestar Galatica or the Marvel Ultimates lines is completely unknown.


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## mojo1701 (May 13, 2005)

myrdden said:
			
		

> There's nothing better to hit on Earth than Starfleet Command?




Well, they see Starfleet as the "enforcers" of this pro-alien contact philosophy that they're against.


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## Angel Tarragon (May 13, 2005)

wingsandsword said:
			
		

> I'm sure in a few years (anywhere from 4 to 10 I say) Star Trek will be back.  Of course, whether it will be a return to the original continuity or a "reimagining/continuity reboot" like Battlestar Galatica or the Marvel Ultimates lines is completely unknown.



Yuck, a Battlestar like reboot? Yeah, that was a fantastic job. I dislike the new Battlestar.


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## Jamdin (May 13, 2005)

I will be watching with a tear in my eye.


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## LrdApoc (May 14, 2005)

Now that was the ending of the series.. I know I have not seen the "Finale" yet but they should have left it at this. There was a soul, and a lot of power in the performances that I didn't see a lot of through the majority of the series. From Maclom's deal with the devil to Hoshi's moment of command, Mayweather's strength of character and Phlox's tearful remorse, this was one of the best final episodes I've ever seen for any ensamble show.

The plots surrounding Paxton were unimportant as the story revolved on the characters where Star Trek has always shone the brightest.

The scenes about T'Pol and Trip's daughter were some of the most touching by far. While I will not miss Enterprise overall I will miss the crew and stories that have grown so amazingly in these 20 short episodes.

_Added after the Finale:_
Well I regret watching the last half of the final episodes. I should have taken the advice and turned it off at 9.

I don't see how Berman could call that a valentine to the fans.. aside from possibly the last twenty seconds.. it served to remind me of what I disliked so much about the first three seasons.. and unfortunately it's like eating the best steak in the world only to have the memory ruined by a really bad piece of pie afterward.

Sigh. Farewell Star Trek, maybe the next iteration will have more competant guardians at the helm.


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## reveal (May 14, 2005)

Well that was, um, interesting. Now I remember why I didn't watch it. Was it just me or did Trips death seem pointless and sudden? It was if they just needed a reason to kill someone.  :\


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## Crothian (May 14, 2005)

I liked the ending.  THe show did not live up to what it could do through the 4 seasons, but it ended on a high note with some good stories and good performances.  I am pleased.


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## LrdApoc (May 14, 2005)

reveal said:
			
		

> Well that was, um, interesting. Now I remember why I didn't watch it. Was it just me or did Trips death seem pointless and sudden? It was if they just needed a reason to kill someone.  :\




It made absolutely no sense.. especially knowing that he had a full crew compliment and had been in a situation like that oh I don't know.. 20 minutes before in the prior episode. I guess Trip lost his quick wit over the course of those 10 years.


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## Silver Moon (May 14, 2005)

LrdApoc said:
			
		

> Well I regret watching the last half of the final episodes. I should have taken the advice and turned it off at 9.



I agree.   I found the final episode bad on so many levels.   Expecting the viewers to believe that Ryker and Troi hadn't aged any since TNG Season Six was a real stretch.  Even the best scripted scenes in the episode, the one-on-one conversations between the Enterprise crew, lost any real impact by having the invisible third person standing in the room evesdropping rather than it being a private moment.    And then they tell us that Archer gave a great speech and end the episode before we get to hear any of it! 

The episode prior to that was a great ending.    So I guess I'll just have to convince myself that "Terra Prime was the final Enterprise episode  (along with the facts that there never were any sequels to the movie "Highlander", the "Gilligan's Island" castaways were never rescued and that "Buffy" ended after Season Five.)


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## wingsandsword (May 14, 2005)

Terra Prime was a good close to the series.  It felt like good Trek, some drama, some action, it generally made sense (the array was reasonably explained, I presume it doesn't work against shields or there was some other perfectly good reason why it wasn't used on the Xindi weapon), and I'll presume that part of Mars was pointed toward that part of Earth at the right time for that shot to work.  Hoshi actually taking command was nice touch to it all as well, as was Malcolm going back to his Section 31 contact and seeing them again.  That felt like the real conclusion of Enterprise.  If it had ended there, at least there was some vague sense of completion: although damaged the diplomatic underpinnings that would lead to the Federation had been built.

These are the Voyages was two things, a footnote-glimpse of the day the Federation was founded, and an appendix to the TNG episode "The Pegasus".  I can see how the cast of Enterprise felt like second-fiddle at their own finale, being shunted to being holodeck characters just there to be background to a story told a decade ago.  You could tell Manny Coto was out of the loop on that one I'm sad to say.  Trip's death belongs right behind Tasha Yar on the Senseless Trek Deaths list, with Kirk getting randomly shot in the back also way up there (of course, Generations and Kirk's death was another Berman/Braga concept, so this is par for the course for them).


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 14, 2005)

I stopped watching at 9PM...not on purpose, just started flipping channels. I'm glad I stopepd when I did. It was a good ending, and I guess I didn't miss much with the other one.


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## myrdden (May 14, 2005)

What a horrible way to end the series.

'Nuff said.

I mean - what was the point featuring Riker over the actual cast?

Dumb, dumb, dumb....

I wasn't overly fond of the Terra Prime episode either but it was better than the final.


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## DreadPirateMurphy (May 14, 2005)

Problems with the last episode:

Turning the show into an episdoe of an older show is great for an anniversary ep (see Trials and Tribblations), not such a hot idea for a SERIES FINALE.

Revisit the much overused holodeck episode shtick.  I'm surprised Moriarty or Riker's old holo-girlfriend didn't show up.

Meaningless character death already mentioned by others.  It seemed kind of sudden -- from what I saw, he was being treated, then T'Pol was packing his things.  Where the heck was security while the captain was being surrounded by criminals, and how did they get on board?

Blow the chance to show one of the key moments in the entire Star Trek universe, the founding of the UFP.  No speech, no signing.

Same problem as Nemesis -- the NextGen cast has aged.  Not their fault, but it is the fault of the writers to try and set the episode during the original NextGen run.  Would have been better to have a post-Nemesis viewpoint if they had to use Riker and Troi.

Flashback episodes should go back to something meaningful to the characters.  The Pegasus was an episode meaningful to RIKER.  If they wanted to go back to that, they should have at least tied it to the Romulan War.

Having said that:

The flip between the NextGen, TOS and Enterprise captain's monologue was nice.

Data's little "raincheck" confusion was silly, but still brought back nice memories.

The actual story involving the Andorian trying to get his daughter back would have been OK as a regular episode, and was reasonably well done.

I liked the exchange between Trip and T'Pol about whether they missed each other.

Basically, they turned an OK episode into the series finale.  The only thing I can think is that they had a script planned for next season lying around and got lazy.


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## John Cooper (May 14, 2005)

That was the most disappointing series finale I can think of in a long time.  Most of my points have already been made by others, but so much of the episode seemed to be leading up to things they just never got around to showing.  Archer's Federation speech is the best example, but I was also left really wanting to see T'Pol meet with Trip's parents.  Also, many of the characters just seemed "off" this episode - T'Pol's hesitancy to trust Shran (it was pretty embarrassing having Archer have to explain racial tolerance to her), Trip's suicidal "I guess I have to blow myself up to stop these invaders even though I'm sure a ship full of Starfleet personnel and MACOs can handle four aliens with guns," and so on.  And tying the whole episode into a Riker and Troi storyline was bad enough, but to tie it into a storyline that we've already seen was a particularly bad move - we already know that Riker's going to tell Picard about the Pegasus cloaking experiments, so where's the suspense?

Oh well, I suppose I should just be glad that the entire series wasn't explained away as a holodeck program.

As for the previous episode, I agree that that made a much better ending for the series.  I wasn't surprised about Elizabeth's death or status as a clone, though - that way, they've still got Spock as the first human/Vulcan hybrid.  (Elizabeth, as a clone with a DNA error/flaw, kind of "doesn't count.")  And did you notice that the Mars station was named after Carl Sagan?  Nice touch!


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## driver8 (May 14, 2005)

Worst...Finale..Evah...

Soo disappointed. At least Voyagers Finale played on the characters and their histories with each other, even if it did sort of render their long journey home moot by breaking the rules to get home. Bit this, this had nothing.

The Terra Prime wrap up was ok, but like so many 2 parters in Enterprise's history, the payoff was much weaker than the setup.It kinda felt like an afterthought. They took down the big Bad guy easy enough, no real dramatic tension IMHO,but there was at least several nods to the cast members- Hoshi commanding, etc..

As for the finale..it was just a mish mosh. I wonder if it was slapped on after Coto had begin his mini arcs or what. The TNG tie in was ok-it was actually nice to see Riker and Troi, but it was terribly distracting. But so little made sense to me. No epic final mission to help found the Federation; Trips death was in what you could almost call a "side trek" in D&D terms. WTF?

And we didnt even get to hear the speech    Kind of a cop out. But in the end, it is indicitive of the way the series went.  Such a waste. Goodbye and good riddance.


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## Napftor (May 14, 2005)

Terra Prime ended on too much of a sorrowful note to be an ENT finale for me.  As for TATV, well, I enjoy Riker and Troi and seeing them and the great ENT-D visuals only makes me want a TNG-era series even more.  As a series finale, it just doesn't cut it.  The hints in the previous episode for a Trip/T'Pol baby are blown out of the water when it's revealed that they depart from an intimate relationship in the finale.  The subplot with Shran's child and Trip's death...I just couldn't bring myself to care.

They should have just ended the series with alien Nazis.


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## wingsandsword (May 14, 2005)

I didn't mention it at first, but I'll also agree that not hearing the speech (at least the beginning of it) was a big let down too.  They built up right before that to it being important with Troi mentioning she had to memorize the speech in grade school, making it seem like the Federation's version of the Gettysburg Address.  I was excited to hear what might be said, some opening phrase that might be the Star Trek equivalent of "Four Score and Seven Years ago. . .".   Maybe him just saying "Space, the final frontier. . ." establishing why that was such an important phrase for the Federation, just like "where no man has gone before" was a quote from Zephram Cochrane which they established in the pilot.  Fading out on him making that speech, or some delegates signing the Charter, or some other historic moment would have been cool.  I felt a little betrayed when the episode began to fade out on Picard's voice-over.  Sure it segued through Kirk and Archer, but the mood of an _Enterprise_ finale was ruined with all that.

"These are the Voyages" wasn't an episode of Enterprise, it was an episode of Next Generation made 10 years later with an entire second cast as guest stars.  All the dramatic tension of the episode by it being a holodeck scene.  You know exactly how the frame story with Riker goes, and there's no real dramatic tension with the Enterprise crew.  The real dramatic tension of the effective finale of 18 years of televised Trek was a story about a kidnapped Andorian little girl?

I also realized that the last episode had to include the decommissioning of Enterprise NX-01, the only way B&B crammed it into continuity without breaking too much was that it wasn't a _Federation_ ship, since Enterprise-D was many times said to be the fifth _Federation_ Starship to bear the name.  I also wonder how long until a fan produces a "Phantom Edit" style version of The Pegasus with the two episodes edited together in chronological order.  

I guess it could have been worse for a TNG crossover ending.  The series could have ended with a voice-over from Riker going "Computer, end program", the entire ship fading to a holodeck, Riker muttering something about amusing alternate-history holodeck programs and walking out.


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## Cthulhudrew (May 14, 2005)

I agree with others who feel that the first hour's episode would have made a much better ending to the series than the second hour. Hadn't made the connection with the "Pegasus" episode of TNG until it was mentioned here (though it did clear up the confusion over why Riker wasn't in command of his own ship, and Data was still alive)- it would have been a much better idea, IMO, to have *Captain* Riker struggling with some command decision, and needing to reflect on a similar decision of Captain Archer than this one did. In either case, it was never quite clear to me exactly what it was that Riker was hoping to learn from this "lesson" (that sometimes doing things for friends can cost the lives of other friends? That Archer should have stuck with his orders so that Trip would live? I dunno). Didn't like the "let's kill Trip off for no apparent reason, except maybe so we won't have to explain why he and T'Pol didn't eventually have another kid". So many problems with that (how'd the intruders get aboard Enterprise so suddenly? How'd they manage to not encounter anyone on the ship prior to meeting Trip and Archer? Why'd Trip decide that the only solution to the problem was to blow himself and the enemy up?)

The worst part was the throwaway line by Troi- "It's too bad he didn't realize he wouldn't be coming back from Rigel." Gee- way to telegraph the entire rest of the episode.

Not to mention that, in 5 years, nothing else had changed with the crew. I swear, T'Pol seemed like she was back in Season 1 in this ep, and we get more of the "I love you, no I don't, yes I do, no I don't" garbage with her and Trip.

Terra Prime was definitely a better finale. Anyway, the last couple of seconds, with the three generations of Enterprise commanders speaking those famous lines was cool.


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## Wycen (May 14, 2005)

I agree with the majority, weak finale.  I however did enjoy the TNG connection, possibly because when I flipped back to the channel after the second ep of Terra Prime, the cable guide said, "Riker faces a dark secret" and I surprised myself figuring out the secret as soon as I saw the asteroid field.  

I had been hoping to see a warp 7 vessel, but oh well.


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## Greylock (May 14, 2005)

I stopped loving Star Trek today.

Taped it and just finished watching it. That's about the biggest F.U. to a show's fans I've ever seen.

_Terra Prime_ was quite dandy and a fine close to the series. _These are The Voyages _ was an homage to ST:TNG, a show I hated with a passion from day one. Enterprise was the only reason I came back.

It's over. That's it as far as I'm concerned.

From the kid making paper communicaters in 3rd grade PE in 1973.


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## John Crichton (May 14, 2005)

The Terra Prime second half was enjoyable.  Not great, but not bad either.  Sato's command was the highlight for me.  I always love seeing lower ranking officers put in positions like that and having their mettle tested.

The finale:  WTF

Many others have already made good points that I agree with above.  The ep was basically well done and looked great with some cool TNG moments but the writing was terrible.  The plotting was half-baked and the whole ep felt like the writers sat behind the keyboard snickering while thinking...

"Teehee!  We'll tease the fans with all this cool proto-Federation stuff, toss in some nostalgia from the late 80s and then fade to black just before all the good parts!  And to top it all off, we're going to throw all pretense of drama out the window and just ram the holo-story and fate of the crew down the fans throats.  What fun!"

Seeing the starships cross with the voiceovers and such at the end was neat, and the TNG stuff was fun.  It most certainly did not feel like and wasn't an ENT episode and the worst part was that it was designed that way.  If that was supposed to be a love letter than someone was drunk while writing it.  I think I even smelled some barf in there...

*sigh*

Not only did the holodeck suck completely as a plot device and storytelling method it is terribly hard to believe that any of those intimate moments would have been archived like that in holodeck form.  Sure, there would have been crew logs and such but as a viewer it takes you completely out of the moment because you don't know if that is what really happened or not.  All the stuff on Enterprise would have to have been reconstructed.  The only thing that would have been accurate would have been Archers speach which we didn't even get to see.  Normally, I can look past stuff like this but it all just felt terribly fake and contrived.

The one thing this season has proved:  If you give this franchise to people who really care and have some concept of what Trek is than it can really be entertaining.  Yes, the finale was a train wreck but the season as a whole was a smashing success and should be remembered as such.  It gives me faith for the future.  I don't see this as the death of Trek at all.  It's simply the end of a flawed series.

I'll leave further speculation on the franchise's future for another thread.


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## Seonaid (May 14, 2005)

I haven't watched _Enterprise_ since season one, and like many others I tuned in last night to watch.

Boy am I glad that I'm not the only one who is horribly disappointed. I don't have anything to add to what was said except a lot of "me too" (especially with Trip's death and Hoshi's command, plus the NG focus), but I do have one question:

In "Terra Prime," what was up with the weapon _missing_ and hitting the bay? If they had been monitoring Trip's changes, wouldn't they presumably then _fix_ any sabotage he committed? And even if I can buy the fact that he's soooo slick that he could fool all of them, I don't at all buy the fact that hitting the bay rendered it completely harmless. A weapon that powerful and with that much potential drilling into the bay would not just fry some fish and evaporate a little water.


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## Ahnehnois (May 14, 2005)

Very Disappointing.

Why combine an unremarkable TNG episode with an out-og-place ENT episode? Where are all the other future characters. What does the Pegasus have to do with this episode? How in the world did violent aliens get aboard so easily? What happened to the signing of the charter? If they're closing out all of Trek, why not an homage to DS9 or even VOY? Even a line "What you leave behind..." would have been nice.

Most importantly, why did B&B write this?


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## Villano (May 14, 2005)

I've said on these boards that I don't get UPN, but that I really wanted to see the series.  After reading this thread, I don't want to anymore.   

BTW, wasn't Enterprise supposed to answer the Klingon forehead question?  Did they?


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## Torm (May 14, 2005)

Ahnehnois said:
			
		

> If they're closing out all of Trek, why not an homage to DS9 or even VOY?



Someone DID say "endgame", which was the name of Voyager's final episode.


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## Ahnehnois (May 14, 2005)

But not even a nod to DS9. Hmm. That was both the best series, but also the one that the writers of this episode were least involved with (excluding obviously the original) Coincidence?


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## DreadPirateMurphy (May 14, 2005)

In the light of morning, something occurs to me that didn't last night.  The last episode was NOT an homage to Star Trek.  It was B&B's self-centered assertion that Star Trek is over now that "their" shows are over.  They clearly saw themselves as the focal point for all things Trek.  Take for example their quasi-whining in the press that Enterprise hadn't become "the Manny Coto show."

Does anybody doubt that we will continue to see Star Trek comics, novels, games, trading cards, toys, etc.?  Does anybody doubt that Paramount will return to the trough of a money-making franchise once B&B's mythical "exhaustion" passes?  There was no reason to turn the series finale into an homage to Trek.  The stars were correct to feel slighted, and the fans are correct to feel disgusted by the whole mess.

Jolene Blalock said it best.  They had 13 million viewers.  Somehow, they managed to convince 11 million of them to go away.  I place that at the feet of B&B.  They failed to understand that the Star Trek fan base was both intelligent and somewhat obsessive.  The progressive dumbing down of scripts, the attempts to "better appeal to geeks" through sex and violence, and the lack of attention to series continuity got progressively worse the further from the legacy of Gene.

B&B strike me as typical TV execs, the same type of bozos who ruined Firefly and Crusade.  They think they're better than the audience they serve, and they can't help but condescend as they meddle with shows created by people like Roddenberry, Joss Whedon and JMS, folks who actually get why fans watch.

If the end of Enterprise means that somebody new may take over the creative control of the franchise, then it was well worth the sacrifice.


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## DaveMage (May 14, 2005)

I really wanted to like the finale.

*sigh*

At least the last 20 seconds were cool.  (Always good to hear 'ol Kirk's voice.      )

This wasn't a valentine - it was a lump of coal.


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## Staffan (May 14, 2005)

Villano said:
			
		

> BTW, wasn't Enterprise supposed to answer the Klingon forehead question?  Did they?



Yes.
[sblock]Klingons tried using genetic materials harvested from augmented humans (a la Khan) to improve themselves. The whole thing backfired, leading to human-like klingons.[/sblock]


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## Villano (May 14, 2005)

Thanks!


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## Kobold Avenger (May 14, 2005)

Between the 5 series we had:

TOS's Turnabout Intruder which was not one of the good episodes of the series, and often ranked side by side with Spock's Brain.  It wasn't a real ending anyways.

TNG's All Good Things sort of marked the end of one era, with some changes and he resolution of the Q storyline from the 1st episode.  No one's storyline really got resolved though.  It had too much time travel stuff though.  And it lead right into Star Trek: Generations...

DS9's What You Leave Behind, had a bunch of changes and resolutions that came rather quickly and suddenly through a 9 parter (like the end of the Dominion War).  But it completed the storyline for a lot of characters, though it was disappointing the Prophet story had no connection to the Dominion story.

Voyager's Endgame got the Voyager home in the final episode but in the most contrived and cheesy way possible.  Complete with a bad time travel plot, and the fact that the Borg no longer resemble a threat anymore.  Out of the actual finale it was probably the worst.

Enterprise's These are the Voyages, is an episode that desperately tries to bring closure to an incomplete series.  Nothing much changed during the 6 years in between Terra Prime and this episode.  The holodeck served as an all right plot device in this episode unlike many many others.  Though I don't really see how watching the holodeck programmed convinced Riker to come clean about the Pegasus, from what I remember with that episode it was mainly Picard pressuring Riker for the truth.

As for Tucker's death, yeah it's pretty bad but not everybody dies a meaningful death.  Other than that so far we've seen Tasha Yar's, Kirk's, Jazdia's, Data's, Spock's (though he came back) and Sisko's (though he ascended) deaths.


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## Cthulhudrew (May 14, 2005)

Seonaid said:
			
		

> In "Terra Prime," what was up with the weapon _missing_ and hitting the bay? If they had been monitoring Trip's changes, wouldn't they presumably then _fix_ any sabotage he committed? And even if I can buy the fact that he's soooo slick that he could fool all of them, I don't at all buy the fact that hitting the bay rendered it completely harmless. A weapon that powerful and with that much potential drilling into the bay would not just fry some fish and evaporate a little water.




I had the feeling that the mistargeting/sabotage that took place was actually done by Trip while Archer was battling Paxton. He was standing behind some kind of console thingy with the airmask on when he talked to Archer.


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## Orius (May 15, 2005)

Terra Prime wasn't too bad.  Sort of weak in spots, but nothing really surprising.  I knew Trip was going to end up punching one of Paxton's goons, and I wasn't disappointed in how that was handled.  The Carl Sagan memorial was a great touch too.

As for These Are the Voyages....

The fan complaints were right on the mark.  I held off on complaining about the whole holodeck angle so I could see the episode for myself, but it was very very poorly done.  The whole focus should have been about the birth of the Federation, but that was barely even touched in the episode.  Instead we get half an episode of Riker agonizing over a decision that was made in a TNG episode that aired *11 or 12 years ago*.  Most of the rest of the episode was devoted to an abduction storyline that felt forced from the start.  Even Voyager had a better series ending episode than this.  And why the hell are Hoshi and Travis still ensigns?  Surely they would have been promoted by 2161 what with the Romulan Wars and all.  All in all, it seemed like a monument to Bermaga mediocrity.

However, it did have one bright spot at the very end.  As the Enterprise-D flies off, we get a Picard voiceover doing the old "Space: the final frontier..." monologue which shifts to a shot of the original Enterprise with a Kirk voiceover, and then ended with the NX-01 and Archer ending the voiceover.  That was a great touch, and the final episode would have been much better if B&B had focused on stuff like this rather than retreading an episode of TNG that had already been resolved years ago.


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## Orius (May 15, 2005)

Silver Moon said:
			
		

> And then they tell us that Archer gave a great speech and end the episode before we get to hear any of it!




Exactly.  I wanted to see the speech, and hear someone say _something_ about the Federation.  Instead we get Riker and Troi in the peanut gallery.


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## Cthulhudrew (May 15, 2005)

I remember thinking- wouldn't it have been a better idea to have Riker in the future agonizing over a decision involving a treaty with the Romulans (and thus paralleling the founding of the Federation, as well as providing a "bright spot of hope for the future" by ending the Romulan/Federation war? Not to mention following somewhat from the end of the last movie...)

Instead we got... what we got.


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## Greylock (May 15, 2005)

Orius said:
			
		

> And why the hell are Hoshi and Travis still ensigns?  Surely they would have been promoted by 2161...




Good point. One of the few things I liked about this episode was Hoshi getting the reins of the ship. And I noticed Travis got a few lines, too. Almost like they were Last-Episode gimmees to the actors though.


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## TBoarder (May 15, 2005)

For anyone wishing that B&B would've included Archer's speech, think of this... do _any_ of you think that they could've written something as important and historically significant as that speech successfully?  Personally after seeing the episode, I was releived that they didn't show it...

Being only the second episode I've seen since Enterprise premeired, I felt like I was kicked in the groin by the callous stupidity of the episode... I can only imagine what fans of the show, and more specifically, fans of Trip, must've felt.

Finally, I agree, it was kinda cool to hear all 3 captains do the "Space, the final frontier" monologue, but starting it with Picard only served to make it feel even more like a TNG episode than an Enterprise one.  Nice "valentine" for the fans...  :\ 

Definitely appaling...


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## DungeonmasterCal (May 15, 2005)

As someone who has been a diehard Trek fan since I was a kid (and that's a long time ago now) I have to say the Enterprise finale was appalling, IMO.   If I ever meet the writers of this episode I'll punch them square in the face until they apologize.


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## Richards (May 15, 2005)

Why stop with just a punch to the face?  I think we finally found a justifiable use for that "agonizer booth" that evil-Phlox and evil-Reed designed in the mirror universe storyline....

What a sad end to a series that was, this season, just starting to realize its potential.

Johnathan


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## Seonaid (May 15, 2005)

Cthulhudrew said:
			
		

> I had the feeling that the mistargeting/sabotage that took place was actually done by Trip while Archer was battling Paxton. He was standing behind some kind of console thingy with the airmask on when he talked to Archer.



D'oh! Good point. Still doesn't explain the lack of effect it had on San Francisco . . . 

I am also glad that they didn't show Archer's speech. At least someone there realized that no one would be able to pull that off and declined to try.

I was confused by the sudden shift in time, but I thought that was due to the fact that I hadn't watched in years. Had I thought about it, I would have agreed with those who mentioned promotions--ten years is a long time to not be promoted, or at least recognized, for jobs well done.
Edit: it also doesn't make sense that 10 years go by and no one significant is killed and then Trip dies in a ridiculous manner.

Even with the horrible episode, I wish it had been a two-parter, or at least two hours. It didn't feel like there was any closure, and it seemed like a regular episode with a strangely inappropriate montage at the end. (I, also, thought starting with Picard was odd, to say the least.)

Edit: I wish I could see what they cut from the episode, to know if anything was explained more fully in the original filming. I felt confused, as I said earlier, and wonder if it was just missing most of the show or if there was a reason for it.

Ugh.


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## Vocenoctum (May 16, 2005)

Seonaid said:
			
		

> D'oh! Good point. Still doesn't explain the lack of effect it had on San Francisco . . .
> 
> I am also glad that they didn't show Archer's speech. At least someone there realized that no one would be able to pull that off and declined to try.




I also assumed Trip sabotaged it, but figured it was after breaking out of the Brig and before meeting Archer.

They don't show the damage (like they don't show the one guy commit suicide), but the wave that formed... well, I think it did some damage. (It does feel like Trip, if he did something, should have done something MORE, but it's okay.)

I started watching the second ep, and had no idea WHAT Riker was trying to decide, or why it was important, or what the heck it was. I must have missed something, since I didn't even know it was 6 years later or anything. I stopped about 10 minutes in, and switched on the XBox.

I think ending with the first episode, and Archer salvaging the Federation (somewhat) was a good ending.


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## Darth K'Trava (May 16, 2005)

wingsandsword said:
			
		

> Terra Prime was a good close to the series.  It felt like good Trek, some drama, some action, it generally made sense (the array was reasonably explained, I presume it doesn't work against shields or there was some other perfectly good reason why it wasn't used on the Xindi weapon), and I'll presume that part of Mars was pointed toward that part of Earth at the right time for that shot to work.




It was out of order and the parts wouldn't be installed until Tuesday?   



> These are the Voyages was two things, a footnote-glimpse of the day the Federation was founded, and an appendix to the TNG episode "The Pegasus".  I can see how the cast of Enterprise felt like second-fiddle at their own finale, being shunted to being holodeck characters just there to be background to a story told a decade ago.  You could tell Manny Coto was out of the loop on that one I'm sad to say.  Trip's death belongs right behind Tasha Yar on the Senseless Trek Deaths list, with Kirk getting randomly shot in the back also way up there (of course, Generations and Kirk's death was another Berman/Braga concept, so this is par for the course for them).




I'd rather the whole episode been nothing but the Enterprise crew, not with Troi and Riker thrown in. And it seemed sloppily put together. We didn't need them in there for the finale at all. Who really cares about Riker's struggle with his decision on an episode aired a decade ago? Trip's death was senseless and stupid.


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## Darth K'Trava (May 16, 2005)

Cthulhudrew said:
			
		

> The worst part was the throwaway line by Troi- "It's too bad he didn't realize he wouldn't be coming back from Rigel." Gee- way to telegraph the entire rest of the episode.




Why not go ahead and ruin it for us while you're at it?!?! Which is exactly what they did with that. We knew that Trip was gonna die before seein him do so.
with her and Trip.



> Terra Prime was definitely a better finale. Anyway, the last couple of seconds, with the three generations of Enterprise commanders speaking those famous lines was cool.




I agree. The last few seconds with the final voiceover is the only saving grace for a sucky episode that coulda been penned better by 6th graders.


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## Darth K'Trava (May 16, 2005)

Villano said:
			
		

> I've said on these boards that I don't get UPN, but that I really wanted to see the series.  After reading this thread, I don't want to anymore.
> 
> BTW, wasn't Enterprise supposed to answer the Klingon forehead question?  Did they?





The only explanation I can give is that they ate too many Ruffles rippled potato chips.


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## Darth K'Trava (May 16, 2005)

Orius said:
			
		

> Exactly.  I wanted to see the speech, and hear someone say _something_ about the Federation.  Instead we get Riker and Troi in the peanut gallery.




That's because the "writers" woulda snafu'd the speech just like they did the rest of the episode.


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## Alhazred (May 16, 2005)

Seeing Riker and Troi reminded my of better days.  A pox upon Berman/Braga et al.


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## Dark Psion (May 16, 2005)

Alhazred said:
			
		

> Seeing Riker and Troi reminded my of better days.  A pox upon Berman/Braga et al.




Ah but which Riker?

The opening scene in Ten Forward was lifted from the TNG episode Menage a Troi. They replaced Lwaxana and Troi with Riker and Troi, but forgot about the "other" Riker playing chess with the Fereingi as the camera pans.


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## devilish (May 16, 2005)

*Ensign Masaro?*

As a late-year Enterprise watcher, what was the big deal about Masaro
being the traitor?  Who was he?  Why was he important?  That to me seemed
too quick -- with the "Aha, it's me!  Tell my family I'm sorry (*Zot* to the head)"


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## Staffan (May 16, 2005)

It wasn't a big deal. I don't think I've seen him before. I think the big deal was more that it *wasn't* Kelby.


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## Torm (May 16, 2005)

Dark Psion said:
			
		

> Ah but which Riker?



Tom was visiting, and no one mentioned it?


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## Darth K'Trava (May 18, 2005)

Torm said:
			
		

> To*r*m was visiting, and no one mentioned it?




Fixed it. You wish! Just what they needed.... another "godling" visiting...


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## Orius (May 18, 2005)

Darth K'Trava said:
			
		

> That's because the "writers" woulda snafu'd the speech just like they did the rest of the episode.




Several people have said this both here and elsewhere on the net, and the depressing thing is that it's true.  I missed whatever speech he gave, but likely B&B would have made that suck too.


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## Steve Jung (May 18, 2005)

devilish said:
			
		

> As a late-year Enterprise watcher, what was the big deal about Masaro
> being the traitor?  Who was he?  Why was he important?  That to me seemed
> too quick -- with the "Aha, it's me!  Tell my family I'm sorry (*Zot* to the head)"



I read on Usenet that the guy was a contest winner.


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## reveal (May 18, 2005)

Steve Jung said:
			
		

> I read on Usenet that the guy was a contest winner.




Wow. What a great prize.   :\


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## Steve Jung (May 18, 2005)

Second prize was 2 guest appearances.


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## John Crichton (May 18, 2005)

reveal said:
			
		

> Wow. What a great prize.   :\



 Dude.  I would love to be on a Trek ep as a redshirt and get killed.  That would be sweet.  I'd like to be eaten rather than shot.


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## Seonaid (May 18, 2005)

What he said.


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## Arnwyn (May 18, 2005)

Terrible, terrible final episode. Just garbage. Only the last 20 seconds was any good.

Goodbye and good riddance, _Enterprise_.


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## reveal (May 18, 2005)

John Crichton said:
			
		

> Dude.  I would love to be on a Trek ep as a redshirt and get killed.  That would be sweet.  I'd like to be eaten rather than shot.




Being a redshirt and getting killed is one thing. Being the "let's throw in someone for 15 seconds who will kill themselves" guy on a craptacular finale is another.


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## DaveMage (May 18, 2005)

arnwyn said:
			
		

> Terrible, terrible final episode. Just garbage. Only the last 20 seconds was any good.
> 
> Goodbye and good riddance, _Enterprise_.




The Trek fan in me really wants to argue about this comment...

...but I have to agree.


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## John Crichton (May 18, 2005)

reveal said:
			
		

> Being a redshirt and getting killed is one thing. Being the "let's throw in someone for 15 seconds who will kill themselves" guy on a craptacular finale is another.



 I'd be okay with that, too.  I could say I was the mook who ended myself on the Enterprise finale.    An uber-redshirt traitor if you will...


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## John Crichton (May 18, 2005)

arnwyn said:
			
		

> Terrible, terrible final episode. Just garbage. Only the last 20 seconds was any good.
> 
> Goodbye and good riddance, _Enterprise_.



 If I hadn't seen season 4, I would agree.  But (barring the finale) if the quality was this high for the next few seasons, I'd be a happy guy.  I am a little sad that it is gone, only because would could have been.  Over the summer I will work on erasing the finale from my mind.


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## sniffles (May 19, 2005)

I wasn't as unhappy with it as many of you obviously were.  But it was, well, disappointing.  I would have prefered to see the series go out with the focus on Archer & crew, not Riker & Troi.  Having them shut down the holodeck program and walk off was not a good way to end the series IMO.  

I would have liked to hear Archer's speech, but my fiancee had a good point:  Archer had given an impassioned speech at the end of the previous episode.  The producers probably thought it was a bad idea to have a character give a speech in two episodes back to back.  A friend of mine also suggested that the "These are the voyages..." bit at the very end might have been intended to be part of Archer's speech.

Apparently in the ST universe lack of promotion is normal since Riker has never been promoted either.  At first I thought the Riker/Troi bit was supposed to be set after the end of TNG, which made it seem really ridiculous that Riker was still a commander!  It was hard to accept that the framing story was set during the other series, since Frakes and Sirtis looked so much older.

The story did have one really moving moment, though:  when Trip died and Phlox confessed to Archer that he thought of the crew as his second family.  Why is it that Trek's non-human doctors became some of the best characters?


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## David Howery (May 19, 2005)

I don't have cable, but the local Fox broadcast network carries Ent. on Sat. nights.  However, apparently the ratings suck so much, they didn't bother to show the first of the final 2 parter.  They must have gotten some flak over it though, because next week, they are showing the 2nd part and the B&B finale.... rather odd...


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## TDRandall (May 19, 2005)

Well, I want to thank everyone here.  You all set my expectations so low....

...that I was able to actually enjoy the episode when I was finally able to get around to watching it.  

It wasn't NEARLY as bad as you all let on.  It may not have been on par with many (most?) of them, but when you all led me to expect an absolute sucktastic debacle, seeing something only half as bad was a bit refreshing!


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## cuteasaurus (May 19, 2005)

I watched the series fairly regularly and I must say...parts of it were very good and I will miss it. However, for those of you who said the last episode left much to be desired...yeah... The weirdness of not getting to hear the speech everyone kept mentioning aside, the thing with Trip really bothers me. He doesn't even get an actual death. He's alive when the scene ends, and then suddenly his things are being packed up. And while I may be the minority on this one...I don't like the way things between T'Pol and Trip ended. Granted, I did always want them to work "things" out, but even if that wasn't going to happen- 10 seconds about how they have or havent missed each other over the last six years? And T'Pol mentions wanting to see Trip's family...but we don't get to see that either. Shesh. An entire episodes of raising my hopes just to let me down...


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## John Crichton (May 19, 2005)

cuteasaurus said:
			
		

> I watched the series fairly regularly and I must say...parts of it were very good and I will miss it. However, for those of you who said the last episode left much to be desired...yeah... The weirdness of not getting to hear the speech everyone kept mentioning aside, the thing with Trip really bothers me. He doesn't even get an actual death. He's alive when the scene ends, and then suddenly his things are being packed up. And while I may be the minority on this one...I don't like the way things between T'Pol and Trip ended. Granted, I did always want them to work "things" out, but even if that wasn't going to happen- 10 seconds about how they have or havent missed each other over the last six years? And T'Pol mentions wanting to see Trip's family...but we don't get to see that either. Shesh. An entire episodes of raising my hopes just to let me down...



 Yes, all the Trip (and T'pol) stuff was handled poorly.  Seemed contrived and rushed.


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## mojo1701 (May 19, 2005)

John Crichton said:
			
		

> contrived and rushed.




Synonyms for "Berman and Braga."


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## cuteasaurus (May 19, 2005)

mojo1701 said:
			
		

> Synonyms for "Berman and Braga."





Hehehehehe...*sigh*


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## Arnwyn (May 19, 2005)

DaveMage said:
			
		

> The Trek fan in me really wants to argue about this comment...
> 
> ...but I have to agree.



 The Trek fan in me didn't even want to make the comment...


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## mojo1701 (May 20, 2005)

arnwyn said:
			
		

> The Trek fan in me didn't even want to make the comment...




What about the fanboy in you?


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## John Crichton (May 20, 2005)

mojo1701 said:
			
		

> Synonyms for "Berman and Braga."



 Pretty much.  I much more upset with Berman.  At least Braga has contributed positively in the past to Trek.  The only good thing about ENT failing is hopefully it has alerted Paramount that they have cancer.  It is easily operable.


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## Arnwyn (May 20, 2005)

mojo1701 said:
			
		

> What about the fanboy in you?



The fanboy in me _did_ want to make that comment.


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## mojo1701 (May 20, 2005)

John Crichton said:
			
		

> Pretty much.  I much more upset with Berman.  At least Braga has contributed positively in the past to Trek.  The only good thing about ENT failing is hopefully it has alerted Paramount that they have cancer.  It is easily operable.




True. Though, I prefer to think of Berman as the malignant tumour, and Braga as the tiny, benign cyst. With some work, you can ignore or make better the latter.


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## takyris (May 20, 2005)

Ouch. I was feeling bad for missing it. I tuned back in for the Voyager finale after not watching it for the last couple seasons, and felt silly for having done so -- it felt like another episode of Voyager, better than some but not as good as some of the others. (For whatever reason, my feeling on Voyager was that many of its best episodes, at least the ones that I saw, were the ones that were told from the point of view of someone else in the universe or that had the "Alternate Reality" freedom to go over the top -- I remember liking the "year from hell" bit, the "alternate crew from the demon world" episode, and the "history holodecking from a culture that remembers the Voyager crew incorrectly" episode, all of which aren't really the real crew, and all of which got to kill crewmembers and then have it not affect the show's main storyline.)

I'm glad I missed it, now. I haven't watched Enterprise since the second season. Didn't loathe it with a fiery passion, but it failed the "Is there nothing you would rather do than watch this?" test, and it sounds like the finale wouldn't have redeemed it for me.


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