The World Isn’t Perfect…But Enterprise Can Still Master Warp Speed

Although the insanity of the people living in Scottsdale, AZ, can be frustrating, especially when a certain church and singles group’s inability to grasp reality is considered (see previous posts), at least that insanity (probably) isn’t planned. While planned insanity may be a harsh description for the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise, many fans would care to differ.

Immediately after the episode was aired, the reviews were in, and few were as kind as the judges on Dancing With The Stars when they described Master P’s lackluster efforts at ballroom dancing. When the story by itself is judged, it’s a very well done episode, but as a series finale, it left a lot to be desired, especially since the episode was designed from the start to be the series finale.

While many fans questioned the need for Trip to die (people DO die in real life and fiction, though) or for the episode to be a subplot in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ended over a decade ago (holodecks can produce interesting plots, though), the greatest travesty was performed when the holodeck basically “turned off” the show. In my opinion, the rest of the show could have been left as-is if the ending would’ve been extended.

Without further ado, here’s how I would’ve written the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise, starting with Riker and Troi leaving the holodeck.

After Riker and Troi leave the holodeck, the view drifts across space in a spanning motion back in time to the point where Archer begins to give his speech. As we see the events as they really unfolded, little differences from the holodeck can be seen, such as T’Pol’s hair style or uniform being slightly different.

During Archer’s impassioned speech, certain words evoke flashbacks in his mind’s eye, such as having Trip dying in his arms (showing another holodeck continuity difference) while he mentions how the signing of the Federation Charter could not be possible without the sacrifices of dear friends and colleagues. Other speech points would allude to the Federation as being the single most important step in building an enduring community among the stars, possibly showing some relevant scenes of other Star Trek shows and movies in his mind’s eye as he had seen them from Daniel’s future database.

Once Archer’s speech is over, he receives a standing ovation. When the camera pans around the audience, giving us a view of what Archer sees, certain people are seen, such as Quinn (the Q who committed suicide), who winks at him knowingly, and as his eyes move to the outer edge of the room, he spies a younger version of himself with Daniels and bows his head with a wistful look on his face, knowing that everything is now as it should be, possibly even echoing some of Daniels’ words in his mind.

As Archer’s eyes return to the vicinity of the crowd where Quinn stood, he sees a flash of light, and a worried but knowing look comes over him. T’Pol, now standing next to him, asks him if everything is alright, and after a reflective silence, Archer replies, “No and yes...from what I’ve seen over a decade now, I’m sure I can safely say that there’s more going on today than we can begin to fathom or would ever want to know! Right now, let’s just relax and be thankful we have gotten this far, but there’s still a long road to go.” While Archer says this, the camera would pan up to his eye and, as he says “go,” the succesion of starships named Enterprise is presented until, finally, warp speed is achieved with the ship pointing to the edge of the galaxy. As the camera pans back to reveal more of the ship, we see the letters “GCC-001701-XE” painted on the hull with the name of the ship emblazoned above it, “USS ENTERPRISE.” As the starbow of the ship stretches across the blackness of space for light years, the aft part of the light collapses into its fore beyond our visual ability to perceive. From that point in the center of the camera’s view, the transporter effect is seen, and the words “The Next Adventure” materializes.

Well, that’s how I would’ve written the ending.