These Are the Voyages... (ENT episode)

"These Are the Voyages..." is the title of the 98th and final episode of the UPN television series, '. It aired on May 13, 2005 in the United States. Written by series creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, the episode is the series finale of Enterprise. With no new Trek series planned for the fall of 2005, the 2005-2006 season will be the first year without a first-run Star Trek series since 1986-1987, which was the year prior to the first season of '.

Controversy

Controversy had dogged Enterprise since its premiere, and its finale likewise caused contention.

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As details of this episode emerged, fans became divided in their views of what could be the final televised Star Trek episode for the forseeable future. Advance criticisms ranged from displeasure over the fact the final episode would be written by the unpopular Berman and Braga to outrage over the decision to tie the series finale into Star Trek: The Next Generation. Other fans expressed disappointment that the Riker/Troi elements did not depict their posting aboard the Titan, which was referenced at the end of Nemesis (although this can be explained as an attempt to keep as much of the ship's configuration secret as possible, since Titan is the subject of a new novel series from Viacom subsidiary Pocket Books).

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The controversy also included cast members of the series, with Jolene Blalock (T'Pol) stating in a Toronto Star interview and again at her first science fiction convention appearance in March 2005 that she considered the finale "appalling."http://www.trektoday.com/news/070305_02.shtml Blalock's reasons for thinking this were not widely publicized -- different reports apparently preferring to focus on her "it's appalling" sound bite without elaboration, leading to speculation as to why she was upset with the finale. Brannon Braga stated later that at least some of the cast upset was based upon the decision to devote part of the final episode to characters from TNG.http://www.trektoday.com/news/160405_02.shtml This was later confirmed by Blalock in a Boston Herald interview which indicated that she was upset over the finale being essentially a TNG episode, although she stated that she understood the rationale behind the idea.http://www.trektoday.com/news/090505_02.shtml

Related Topics:
Jolene Blalock - T'Pol - Toronto Star - Science fiction convention - Sound bite - Boston Herald

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In response to some of these criticisms, series producer Manny Coto stated that he considered "TATV" to be a coda rather than the true finale of the series. The two-part story "Demons" and "Terra Prime" that preceded it was the actual finale of the Enterprise storyline according to Coto, and series producer Mike Sussman. http://www.trektoday.com/news/100505_01.shtml http://www.treknation.com/interviews/mike_sussman.shtml

Related Topics:
Manny Coto - Coda - Demons - Terra Prime - Mike Sussman

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The Enterprise events of this episode take place in 2161, about 6 years after the previous episode. As such, the production team took some efforts to show changes that had occurred with the passage of time. Fans have noted two changes that might have been expected that did not occur, namely that the characters Mayweather and Sato, each having now served on Enterprise for ten years, are still wearing the insignia of ensigns, the lowest commissioned officer rank. By way of comparison, in the U.S. Navy, an ensign typically serves 2 years in grade before promotion to lieutenant (junior grade). However, there is precedent in Star Trek for a Starfleet officer to remain at the same rank for many years. Harry Kim remained as an ensign throughout all seven years of ', for example, while Voyager also set a precedent by having Lt. Tom Paris demoted to Ensign. The static ranks of Sato and Mayweather may have been due to the same type of costuming error that gave Miles O'Brien an incorrect rank in the TNG finale "All Good Things..." or may have been the result of an as-yet unchronicled adventure. The editors of the Star Trek fiction line at Pocket Books have stated that this issue may be addressed in the upcoming Enterprise Relaunch series of novels.

Related Topics:
2161 - Ensign - Commissioned officer - U.S. Navy - Lieutenant (junior grade) - Harry Kim - Tom Paris - Miles O'Brien - All Good Things... - Pocket Books

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Some fans complained that they felt the death of Trip Tucker was arbitrary. The purpose of Riker's holodeck experience was supposedly to examine another instance when an officer disobeyed the orders of his captain, as Riker was considering doing in order to inform Captain Picard of the Pegasus' illegal cloaking device, which he had been ordered not to speak of. However, Trip's "breaking of orders" was almost a spur of the moment decision: a boarding party surprises Trip and Archer, and Trip tries to distract them while Archer shouts to Trip that he orders him not to attempt anything. Trip "breaks orders" by trying anyway, then leads the boarding party to a maintenance junction where he intentionally disconnects equipment to cause an explosion, fatally wounding himself in the process.

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Many fans felt that the situation (from an episode writer's standpoint) wasn't really applicable to Riker's situation, and didn't really feel like much of an "order" on Archer's part, and that there have been many far more applicable conflict-of-orders situations in previous Enterprise episodes. The episode does not explain why no one such as the MACOs came to the rescue during the incident, however in the context of the episode, Riker (and, by extension, the viewers) were only able to see what was happening to Trip. Any other activity (i.e. gun battles elsewhere on the ship) would, therefore, not be visible.

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Some viewers complained that the episode overlooked any reference to the Earth-Romulan conflict, established in ' as a bitter war fought from approximitely 2156 to 2160. The episode "Balance of Terror" established that a peace treaty establishing the Neutral Zone had been signed, circa 2161, after both sides had suffered heavy losses. The Earth-Romulan War was also established as occurring before the founding of the United Federation of Planets. It has been suggested that this was deliberate in order to leave the door open for a potential Enterprise movie taking place during the conflict. The proposed 11th Star Trek feature film is also rumored to take place during this era.

Related Topics:
Balance of Terror - United Federation of Planets

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