Well…it’s been a long road…getting from there to here…yeah yeah I know. Here we are, the final episode of Star Trek Enterprise and it ends with…well…Riker on the holodeck. Yep. Originally broadcast on May 13, 2005 this is These are the Voyages…
The Episode:
Captain’s Starlog date undetermined.
Riker is trying to decide whether to confide his actions aboard his previous ship with Picard, so he spends time on the Holodeck watching the events that led up to the founding of the Federation to help him figure things out. During the simulation Riker poses as various crewmembers including the Cook as he accompanies the crew on a mission with Shran, who was believed to have died three years earlier. Oh, yeah, this is several years after the events of the previous episode and Enterprise is being decommissioned, but pay that no mind because it’s a holodeck program. By the end of the episode, for some reason Riker decides he needs to inform Picard of his actions aboard the Pegasus as he watched Archer and the crew usher in the Federation while saying farewell to one another. Oh and Trip dies while saving the ship because why not kill off a beloved character in the finale for no reason at all.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
What the heck was it that I just watched? I mean, seriously? I honestly forgot just how bad this finale was and boy was this really bad. It’s like a strange spinoff episode of STNG without actually fitting in well at all. Not to mention, I really didn’t like the constant interruptions with Riker freezing and interrupting the story using the holodeck program. It just made the episode feel disjointed and wonky at best. Sure it was fun to see Riker and Troi back in action but, really, it all felt like such a cop-out for a finale of a series that, well, wasn’t well received to begin with. Plus, I really can’t see Riker going through all of this to tell Picard the truth, sure he had to wrestle with it in the episode this is ‘based in’ The Pegasus’ but….this just seems extreme.
Then, there’s the death of Tripp…sure, this is 10 years into the voyager of Enterprise so there has been a LOT of adventures but jumping from a tender moment of Tripp and T’Pol losing their child to a story where Tripp dies years later? Seriously? Also, they are not in a relationship anymore? Really? I mean, yeah Tripp dies ‘saving’ the ship but, sure…it was kind of a really crappy way to create a tragedy where they really needed none. Yeah, I’m glad that this series didn’t get to this point naturally, just yank off the Band-Aid and move on.
Frankly, the more I write about this episode, the more it frustrates the crap out of me. The series already had it’s problems but to end it this way seems like a complete miss in every way. If they really wanted to jump ahead to the ‘end’ they should have just done that. Yeah, as I said, I love seeing Riker and Troi again but…this was not the finale this series deserved. Honestly, if you are watching this series, just skip this one and consider Terra Prime the end. Otherwise, you will be sorely dissapointed.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- Shran has a daughter so there’s that.
- honestly….there’s nothing else…lets just move on from this series now….
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: How about a journey back to the Original Series? Till then!
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Late To The Game 11/29/2021
Special Thanks to Memory Alpha as they are one of the best sources for details on Star Trek information available. Although I have a pretty deep knowledge on the subject, they have proven invaluable as a regular resource.
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