Thought this would be an interesting topic. Which of the Trek finales did you like the best ?
I'll start it off. TNG. The final scene at the poker table was one of the most memorable moments in the series. I wasn't expecting it - guess thats what made it so special.
Hey, Rico -- how about adding a poll question to the weekly podcast ?
Yes - TNG had a great finale episode. After that I guess I would pick Voyager next. DS9 seemed to leave too many loose ends, but it was interesting.
Let me think on the poll question idea. I'll try and work it into the show.
Great question, markinro!
TNG - interesting, grand storyline. Seeing favorite characters' futures is always a treat. 3-nacelled ENT-D with phaser cannons! Q! Great action and great sentiment. Awesome ending, appropriate since nothing was really ending for the show.
VOY - A VOY 2-parter on steroids! Again, we get to see some of our favorite characters' futures. Borg! A nice end to the 7-year journey, wrapping up the show in the only satisfying way I could imagine. (I wanted to see more of their homecoming.)
DS9 - Wrapped up all the storylines to satisfaction. The show just seems very poorly paced to me. I remember being disappointed in how time passed. It's been a while since I watched this, but I seem to recall thinking that a ridiculous amount of stuff happened while Sisko was down in those caves with Dukat for an hour, as if days passed for the other storylines while the editors showed us much less time passing with Sisko. I need to watch this again.
(This episode, like most of the awesome 7th season has lower rewatch value to me because it's part of one big story. It doesn't stand alone well for me.)
ENT - TRIP!!! I didn't mind the whole Riker/Troi bit, since they're two of my favorite characters, but it just felt clumsy and unnecessary. TRIP!!! I hated that they abandoned the Trip/T'Pol relationship. Why bother with it at all then? TRIP!!! I loved the final shot with the narration and the three Enterprises. TRIP!!!
I have no idea why people hate Voyager's finale so much. Endgame is everything you'd expect in a finale. Any of the complaints I've read are just flaws people see in the show as a whole. I don't know what people were expecting. It was incredibly true to itself and I think it delivered 100%.
I really enjoyed the TNG "All good things" episode. It was a very emotional and fitting episode to wrap things up. I didn't want the show to end since it was like and old friend, but the way they did it was excellent! Every one of the actors and actresses did a superior job and of course to see Q again reprise his original role was great. I liked having Tasha in it again and laughed when I saw Troi in her cosmic cheerleading outfit. Of course who could forget Warf with his butthead and Dorothy Hamill haircut! Awesome! Data with gray hair was a great effect and learning about Geordi was wonderful. I enjoyed the show a lot.
The second would be Voyager, great job, nice in wrapping things up. I enjoy the borg episodes, so this was a visual treat for me as well.
Thirdly would be DS9. It was kind of strange and I wasn't jumping up and down over it, but I wasn't as emotionally invloved with those characters as I was with TNG.
Enterprise chimes in at fourth place. I didn't like it. I didn't buy Deanna and Will. They were out of shape and old looking. (no offense to them) but it wasn't working for me. I did enjoy seeing Archer start to address the big crowd, that was a cool scene... but all in all, pretty dissapointing to say the least. That series would have been better served with a stand alone episode that could have left us fans satisfied. Oh well.
Ther is my :2cents
This is such a hard question.. I loved all three TNG/Voy/DS9 Finales. I think TNG/Voy are on the top of my list but DS9 is a very close second.
First TNG, I remember when TNG ended I was devastated. This was my first real involvement with Star Trek. I loved each and everyone of those characters and knowing that this was going to be the end of the weekly series was hard. I thought the TNG finale was perfect for TNG. It really didn't end the story as we all knew they were going to do movies next. But it was a great ending for the weekly series.
Deep Space Nine I think was the best written Trek as a whole. They had the long story arcs that lasted seasons. The last season of DS9 was just fantastic. I loved the finale, it was everything I was hoping for, but as others had said this finale doesn't work as a stand alone episode. This finale was for the loyal fans who watched all seven seasons of this series... it was there gift to us.
Voyager's finale was AWESOME. I'm a huge Borg fan and Voyager used them the most. I was happy that the finale was about them. We got to see the Borg Queen one last time. My favorite scene of all Trek finales is at the end of Voyager with the Borg Sphere coming through the transwarp conduit and all the Federation ships waiting then it explodes and Voyager come shooting out of the flames... WOW that was amazing.
Enterprise is my least favorite finale. I actually think the second to last episode was the proper Enterprise finale. Even thought I liked the Enterprise finale I don't think it was a good finale for that series. It was more like an extra TNG episode. I think that series of all of them got the raw end of the deal.
Quote from: StarTrekFanatic5 on March 24, 2007, 05:16:05 PM
Deep Space Nine I think was the best written Trek as a whole. They had the long story arcs that lasted seasons. The last season of DS9 was just fantastic. I loved the finale, it was everything I was hoping for, but as others had said this finale doesn't work as a stand alone episode. This finale was for the loyal fans who watched all seven seasons of this series... it was there gift to us.
Kenny, I was there for every episode along all seven seasons. The seventh was great fun and probably my favorite. Overall, the writing on this Trek was better than the others. I couldn't agree with you more there. However, that great seventh season, at least in my opinion, had better episodes than the finale.
You really can't say that about TNG or VOY. (Or maybe you can, but I won't. :)) Their finales were something even more than we'd been getting all along, and that's an important thing for me in a special episode like a series finale.
It all depends on your criteria, I guess. I see how it's hard to divorce the final episode of the overall Dominion War arc from the arc as a whole. And it's hard to deny that the whole story was one of the best things we've seen from Trek.
Coincidentally, tonight's Simpsons episode did a whole bit on the Voyager finale.
The family album was destroyed and they re-enacted important family milestones. One of the major ones was their Voyager finale party. Dr. Hibbert was in his Starfleet uniform. Lenny was dressed as 7 of 9.
I agree with everything that's been said here.
TNG had the best, then VOY, then DS9.
I really wish Enterprise had been given the chance. If it had been on for a couple more years, and shown us the Romulan War a series finale leading into the creation of the Federation would have been great.
i really liked enterprise. i had just walked in in the middle of the episode and was literally bouncing off the walls! :D i was so exited.
[spoiler]i had really never thought that all of the events just went on in a holodeck. i know there's not really much of a difference, but it still was a bit odd. when i saw cmdr. riker was the chef i just went :jawdrop[/spoiler]
sadly, that's the only finale i've ever seen since i'm terrified that there will be some huge spoiler in episodes form the last seasons.
DS9 has my favorite ending, i admit i shed a tear or two during the scene at the end when Jake and Kira are looking out of the promenade window as the camera zooms away from the station. Sci-fi television at its best.
DS9 was the best to me. It closed the series well and Real. There wasn't a happily ever after for everyone and that's what made DS9 great to me.
Ent was the weakest for me. TNG should have had nothing to do with the final episode. This was supposed to be a farewell to the Enterprise fans, not some poorly retconed holodeck adventure for TNG. I, like many of the cast who were very vocal about it, felt insulted by the ending of Enterprise because it wasn't enterprise.
TNG is my favorite. DS9 would be my 2nd, but I still haven't seen the endings of Voyager and Enterprise (soon though).
King
I would go TNG first for all the reasons already stated, plus I love Q.
Voyager def 2nd I love the Borg, although they did dumb them down a bit in voyager.
Enterprise would be last, but I think it suffered as an ending because it got cancelled. It felt rushed which in a sense it was.
I'm going with Voyager. Have it playing as I post this. Best way ever to spend a rainy Sunday morning. Coffee, caramel roll fresh from the oven and Voyager.
I would go with TNG as my favorite finale. Then DS9, Voyager then Enterprise.
TNG was just a great story.
DS9 even though I hated what happened to Sisko this is a close second to TNG.
Voyager I really liked the time travel and the Borg in this and I would have liked to see more from when they reached Earth.
Enterprise was a disappointment with having Riker & Troi in it even though I really like those 2 characters. That just didn't seem to fit. Plus I think that show ended to early anyway. :archer
I just don't agree with the hubbub over the Enterprise finale. I wonder if the people that complained the loudest were also the people that were most upset that the show ended prematurely. I thought it was a fine episode, on par with anything else that show did over the years it aired. And loving TNG the way I do, I was thrilled to see Riker and Troi back again even if it was only for a few scenes.
I'm not a huge fan of DS9's finale. It left me kind of..huh. It was appropriate for the tone and nature of the show, but moved just a bit too far into mysticism for my Trek preference. Voyagers finale was good fun and high adventure, but I think TNG gets the nod combining both an interesting story as well as an exciting one. Enterprise was forgetable.
Quote from: Jobydrone4of20 on May 06, 2011, 06:53:56 AM
I just don't agree with the hubbub over the Enterprise finale. I wonder if the people that complained the loudest were also the people that were most upset that the show ended prematurely. I thought it was a fine episode, on par with anything else that show did over the years it aired. And loving TNG the way I do, I was thrilled to see Riker and Troi back again even if it was only for a few scenes.
Actually, some of the cast also complained about the Finale as well. This was supposed to be their send off, premature or not, and it became a lost TNG episode.
Quote from: X on May 06, 2011, 07:14:44 AM
Quote from: Jobydrone4of20 on May 06, 2011, 06:53:56 AM
I just don't agree with the hubbub over the Enterprise finale. I wonder if the people that complained the loudest were also the people that were most upset that the show ended prematurely. I thought it was a fine episode, on par with anything else that show did over the years it aired. And loving TNG the way I do, I was thrilled to see Riker and Troi back again even if it was only for a few scenes.
Actually, some of the cast also complained about the Finale as well. This was supposed to be their send off, premature or not, and it became a lost TNG episode.
Right, I remember all that from the time it happened. Like I said though, emotions were running high, the cast losing their jobs, a beloved show leaving the air. For me the reality of that episode was more solid than simply a lost TNG ep, and it didn't invalidate my enjoyment of Enterprise in any way.
I read an interview with Scot Bakula the other day, where he said that they where informed of the fact that they where the next movie franchise.
Guess getting cancelled put paid to that.
TNG--I liked that the series started and ended with Q. It felt like the show went full circle that way. Also, even in the last ep there was character growth with Picard realizing he can hang out with his command crew.
ENT--I was disappointed when the show was cancelled as it was finally getting good. I enjoyed the final but with the book relaunch it changed everything...
VOY--I absolutely hated this final. The whole Seven/ Chakotay thing was just wrong and I swear came out of left field. Baby born during a crisis...hmm why does that story line seem so familiar? It also left me feeling unsettled because since they changed the time line the future will be different. The relaunch into books has been far more satisfying than this final ep.
DS9--I don't think I've seen the final for this one.
note to self: watch "all good things"! ;)
DS9 for me! When DS9 first hit the air I was not my favourite show, but the show and it's characters really grew on me, and it became, in my opinion, the most 'human' Star Trek.
The evolution of the characters, how they changed and adapted to life really intrigued me. For example Kira, in The Emissary she was a Cardasian hating solider, but early on in the first season episode Duet she began to realise that not all Cardasians were blood thirsty monsters! By the end of season 7 she was even fighting along side them to free their homeworld!
I am not afraid to admit that I found the series finale quite moving in places!