For me this episode is the most pondered, thought about TV finale there is, I have spent almost ten years thinking about it as of the writing of this review. While I was initially very much in favor of this episode, after having watched it just tonight I feel that while there are obviously a vast crowd of people roaming the internet just bashing anything they can get their keyboard on without offering ANY KIND of better idea and I defended this episode against them back in the day quite adamantly, there is one thing in particular that strikes me as severely wrong with it today: This could have been one of the great Star Trek episodes if it did not serve as Enterprise's finale but had been put in the middle of the fourth season. I totally get what the writers were trying to do bookending the TNG-DS9-VOY-ENT era and integrating the adventures of the NX-01 in the future context in a actually quite modern way. However, screen time for the Enterprise actors themselves was so reduced in their own finale that it can hardly be called that anymore. Furthermore, the chain of events was set in motion by a pretty insignificant plot device (Shran's abducted daughter that previously had not even existed in the story) and led to some unknown aliens of the week forcing Trip Tucker to sacrifice himself in order to allow Archer to give his speech for the signing of the early Federation charter. All of this seemed quite forced to say the least. However, the Next Generation part was executed quite well, the holodeck terminology fit right in and was a nice nod to TNG itself. Which illustrates the problem again: The episode was more TNG then ENT and that is hurtful to the show itself when being a finale. So, I believe that another position for this episode within the season would have greatly benefited it's reviews and reception, as a finale it was sadly rather improper. I would, however, ask the many people hating this episode so much to finally consider that the writers, Berman and Braga, were the people that have given us some, even many of the best Star Trek episodes and films and that the accusation by many fans that these two writers wanted to and succeeded in f**king the fans with this finale is simply preposterous and probably nothing someone should imply. The episode may not have worked as intended, but I believe there hardly is anyone who can say he or she has never made a mistake. The recently released BDs of Enterprise clearly show that B&B had to face many obstacles in making this show and that their demonization by many people ("fans") even to this day is something these so-called "fans" should be ashamed of, whether they hate the final episode or not!
Review of These Are the Voyages...
