These Are the Voyages... (Enterprise episode)

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"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 in the fall of 2005, the 2005-2006 season is the first year without a first-run Star Trek series since 1986-1987, which was the year prior to the first season of '.

Plot details

Described by Berman and Braga as a "valentine" to Star Trek fans, the episode featured guest appearances by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis as their characters William Riker and Deanna Troi. Brent Spiner, another TNG veteran who had guest starred earlier in the fourth season of Enterprise, had a "speaking, off-screen" role as Data. In addition, while it is archived footage that was reused for this episode, Captain Jean-Luc Picard can be seen at the very beginning of the scene one, talking to Data.

Also appearing was Jeffrey Combs as his recurring Enterprise character, Commander Shran.

"These Are the Voyages..." was set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation era where Commander Riker and Deanna Troi are using the holodeck to view the events surrounding the birth of Federation. The events they view are set six years after the events of season 4 of Enterprise. In this episode, Captain Archer and the Enterprise return to Earth to sign the documents that will establish the United Federation of Planets, at the same time the Enterprise is due to be decommissioned. Meanwhile, Charles "Trip" Tucker faces a tragic fate.

This episode takes place on board the Enterprise-D as well as a number of locations from the Enterprise era. The Riker/Troi events, therefore, predate the developments of . In particular, the sequences featuring Riker and Troi take place within the timeframe of the TNG episode "The Pegasus".

A number of cosmetic changes to make up and costume designs have been made to depict the Enterprise crew six years after the events of the previous episode, "Terra Prime". Most notable is another alteration of T'Pol's uniform and hairstyle. The Starfleet uniforms worn by the rest of the Enterprise crew also underwent modifications, with the addition of a new Starfleet logo patch, and a name tag. In the final scene, Archer's dress uniform no longer has a tie and his sleeve stripes are similar to those which appear "later" in the original pilot episodes of The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before. The Enterprise bridge was also modified slightly, with the addition of instrumentation not seen in earlier episodes, as well as several modifications introduced on the Columbia (NX-02).

Controversy

Elements of this episode generated tremendous controversy among fans of the series. As details of this episode emerged, fans became divided in their views of what could be the final televised Star Trek episode for the foreseeable future. Advance criticisms (before the episode was actually released) 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.

Those voicing criticism 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." [link] 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 unrest was based upon the decision to devote part of the final episode to characters from TNG.[link] 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.[link] Anthony Montgomery was also not pleased with the finale and has been quoted as saying "I feel there could have been a more effective way to wrap things up for our show as well as the franchise as a whole. It just seemed to take a little bit away from what the Enterprise cast and crew worked so diligently to achieve over the past four years, do you know what I mean?" [link] (Montgomery also stated that he has made it a point never to watch this episode, as he knew it would only deeply upset him).

In response to some of these criticisms, series producer Manny Coto stated that he personally considered "TATV" to be a coda rather than the true finale of the series. He considers 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. [link] [link]

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 Travis Mayweather and Hoshi 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. Also, in many branches of the military, there are many people who are career privates, this could be an example of that. 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. However, many fans complain that these main characters were never well developed, and depriving them of any future character development in the series finale was a final insult.

The death of Engineer Trip Tucker was another object of controversy. In the context of the episode's plot, Tucker's death was intended to illustrate the challenges of "breaking of orders" and serve as a lesson to Riker, who was likewise considering breaking orders. However, many fans claimed that Trip's death was unnecessary to the execution of the plot. Connor Trinneer himself (who plays Trip) said during a convention appearance at Dragoncon's TrakTrek during fall 2005 that Trip has "gotten out of much worse scrapes than that", and that Trip's death seemed very forced. The writers, Trinneer contended, wanted to kill off a character to "get the fans talking", and Trip was killed off not for any plot reason but simply to manipulate fans by killing off a popular character. However, Trinneer said that since the series was ending anyway, he felt that they might as well have killed off his character.[link]

Some viewers complained that the episode overlooked any reference to the Earth-Romulan War, established in as a bitter war fought from approximately 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. At one point it was rumored the proposed 11th Star Trek feature film (see Star Trek XI) would take place during this era.

Another problem rests with a line spoken by Troi near the end of the episode, in which she comments that the treaty being signed "would lead to the Federation," implying it was not actually the Federation charter that was being signed, and thus the six-year time jump wasn't necessary from a story point of view. Another criticism is that in the third season, it was clearly stated that the "United Federation of Planets" was founded in 2161, so Troi's dialog appears to be a script error (either way, it is a criticised move).

NCC-1701-D remake errors

When one compares the Enterprise-D from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Pegasus" and the one shown in "These Are the Voyages...", the following errors are present:

In Ten-Forward

1. The camera-panned footage of Ten-Forward was taken from Ménage à Troi and edited so that Lwaxana Troi is substituted by William T. Riker, which causes him to be seen twice.
2. There should be lights under the two steps up from the bar area to the seating area. In “TATV” there were no lights. In “The Pegasus” they are clearly visible in the Riker/Pressman Ten-Forward scene.
3. There are two officers visible who are wearing the 1st and 2nd season style “jumpsuits” with the lower color. These uniforms were eliminated for main characters after season 2, although they were used for extras until the start of season 4. “TATV” takes place in season 7 of TNG.

As Riker and Troi walk the Enterprise-D

1. While the ceiling lights are a match, where the ceiling meets the wall, there is an error. In “TATV” there is a grey panel with light coming out from behind it. In all TNG episodes where the ceilings are visible, that grey strip IS a light.
2. The turbo lift that Troi walks into after finishing with Riker does not look anything like a 1701-D turbo lift. (It is in fact one from the 1701-E.)

In the Observation Lounge

1. The entrance door. In “The Pegasus” the entrance doors are grey, not orange. Those doors were never orange at any time during TNG. There was also no door label on that door in “The Pegasus” (in fact these are just recolored doors of the 1701-E).
2. Next to the entrance door at the other end of the room from where Troi and Riker are sitting, there is a tree and some type of wall art. Neither of those items appears in “The Pegasus” during the observation lounge scene.
3. The chairs in the conference room are different. While they are close to the ones seen in “The Pegasus”, they are off. The chairs in "The Pegasus" have three creases running down below the headrest along with three buttons under the headrest. The fabric also appears to be slightly different.

Holodeck Exit

1. The door sounds of the holodeck were wrong. They used the normal room door sounds.

Ship Exterior

1. An exterior shot of the Enterprise-D showed its saucer impulse engines running. Throughout the entire run of the Next Generation series, the only time the saucer engines were shown running was during scenes when the saucer and stardrive sections were separated. Otherwise the engines were not turned on.

Trivia

• It was reported that "These Are the Voyages..." was originally written for possible use as the finale of the third season in 2004 had Paramount cancelled the series at that point. However, series producer Mike Sussman has denied this in an interview with the Trek Today website, stating that, while the idea for such an episode dates back to the third year, it wasn't written until season 4. [link] Rick Berman later told TV Guide that the episode was always intended for the fourth season finale, even if the series had been renewed.[link] However, in a July 2005 interview, Berman revealed that had the series been renewed, Trip Tucker would not have been killed off.[link]
• The TNG elements of this episode take place during the seventh season of TNG. As a result, Marina Sirtis' accent as Deanna Troi is less pronounced and more British, which is in keeping with the way she played the character towards the end of the series and into the movies.
• This episode contains a large number of references to past Enterprise episodes, ranging from obvious to subtle. One of the more subtle references can be seen when T'Pol holds a small model of the Frankenstein monster when packing Trip's quarters - a reference to the second season episode "Horizon" in which Trip convinces her to watch a Frankenstein movie.
• The episode also contains several not-so-subtle references to : when Trip remarks upon his sadness at Enterprise's decomissioning, Malcom replies "All good things...", the name of TNG's series finale, and, in another instance, Archer makes a toast to "the next generation."
• The Enterprise-D corridors, a section of Ten Forward and Deanna Troi's quarters featured in this episode were rebuilt from scratch.
• In the last scene of the episode, after Archer steps into the Council Chamber, Riker walks up to Troi, standing in a walkway behind the audience. A number of behind-the-scenes Star Trek personnel have cameos in the following shots. Enterprise writer-producer Manny Coto is the grey-haired admiral sitting behind Malcolm Reed's left shoulder. To Coto's left is Rick Berman’s assistant on ' and Enterprise editorial staff member, Michael O’Halloran. To O’Halloran’s left is Larry Nemecek, editor of the fan magazine Star Trek Communicator. Behind Coto are a man and a woman, who are Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Enterprise staff writers and the authors of numerous Star Trek novels. As Riker stops when he gets to Troi, the camera pans to the left, and closes in on the two of them. As it does so, a man to Judith Reeves-Stevens' right becomes visible: this is writer and series science consultant Andre Bormanis. To Bormanis’ right is a woman in purple: Manny Coto’s assistant, production associate Donna Rooney. To her right, the man who speaks to her at one point, is pre-production coordinator Juan Carlos Fernandez. In front of Fernandez is production associate/producer David Rossi. This use of cameos echoes the finale of ', which also featured the creative staff in a scene set in the holosuite program of Vic's nightclub.
• Coto has suggested that, had Enterprise been given another season, Jeffrey Combs' character Shran would have been made a permanent addition to the cast.
• The episode ends with Riker saying "Computer, end program" to turn off the holodeck (just as Archer is about to give his "famous speech"), then walking out. This is followed by a montage-shot of three Enterprises: NX-01, NCC-1701, and NCC-1701-D, flying through space as Archer, Kirk, and Picard make the famous "These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise..." narration. Many fans felt this was the only "nice" thing about the entire episode. However, Mike Sussman revealed in interviews that this was his idea, not the idea of Rick Berman or Brannon Braga. Berman and Braga literally wanted to end the final episode with Riker cutting off Archer's speech by saying "computer, end program", walking out the holodeck doors, then fading to black and running the credits.
• A recent Enterprise novel, Last Full Measure (written by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin), revealed that Trip actually survived the events of this episode. It was not revealed how Trip survived, who ordered that his death be faked (based on Riker and Troi's reactions to the holodeck program, Trip's survival appears to be a closely guarded secret), or why. While not canon, this plot point may form the basis for future Enterprise novels, which are currently undergoing a relaunch.

Preceded by: Terra Prime

Followed by: Series Concluded

References

• [StarTrek.com Episode Information]

External links

• #redirect

 

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