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Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation and in four Star Trek feature films, was a guest at last weekend’s Central Canada Comic-Con in Winnepeg, Manitoba.
During his time on stage, Frakes discussed the Star Trek: Enterprise finale from 2005, that he along with fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation co-star Marina Sirtis appeared in.
In the episode “These Are The Voyages…”, Riker is faced with a difficult decision, to face it, he decides to head into the Enterprise-D’s holodeck to observe the final mission of Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the NX-01.
Over the years, many fans view this as the cast from TNG invading Enterprise and not allowing the show to go out on it’s own, but instead being propped-up by the success of it’s predecessor.
When asked about the controversial, during his Q&A session, Frakes went into detail, saying:
Do you want to know the truth about that whole Enterprise thing as the show was called? Rick Berman, executive producer of all things Star Trek, called Marina and myself and said ‘we’d like you to do the last episode of Enterprise.
They said it would be a valentine to the fans, but all of it ended up doing I think was hurting Scott Bakula’s feelings. He was such a gentleman about it and I said to Scott this is weird for me to be on your show and your show is being taken off before it should be taken off and he was such a gentleman about it and said ‘No, glad you’re here’ so it was awkward on all accounts, except with working with Marina again which is always lovely. But I wasn’t crazy about it. And it was so thinly connected, I thought too. Thanks for bringing up such an unpleasant memory.
Watch the final scene from “These Are The Voyages…” embedded below.
Read a complete recap of Frakes’ Q&A over at High-Def Digest.
Old Trekker
November 5, 2011 at 4:57 pm
I’d agree. I hated it.
Gamers'Syndicate,LLC
November 5, 2011 at 11:28 pm
The last season of Enterprise was well-written because Manny Coto came in and fixed everything. It was enormously disappointing for the Star Trek powers-that-be to decide to screw up the very last episode by having Manny Coto step aside for the finale. The result was completely predictable.
Kelmar44
November 6, 2011 at 1:40 am
that show suck from begining to its end
DaimyoNintendo
November 6, 2011 at 3:01 pm
naw, it was a great show. It DID have its farfetched moments BUT as a whole compared to the others it was the most realistic and the least far fetched, thats why all my non star trek friends all ended up loving it. Just like the new movie, if Enterprise brings in non fans, its doing its just which isn’t solely catering to the fans.
DaimyoNintendo
November 6, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Yea no kidding, Enterprise belonged to that cast, Rick and Brannon had NO RIGHT to include any cast from any show. I actually just watched the 3rd and 4th seasons of Enterprise and although there is a part of me that likes it because its Trek and the birth of the Federation, I cannot tell how badly the finale rubs me the wrong way. It was sad and pathetic offering no real closure. You kill Admiral Forrest and in the end you kill Trip, and you add Riker and Troi, it infuriates me.
BCSWowbagger
January 20, 2016 at 3:25 am
Thing is, “Demons” is actually a fantastic series finale on its own. It’s everything ENTERPRISE was supposed to be, everyone gets something to do, it recaps the themes of the whole series to date, and it ends with both the bitter (the death of Elizabeth) and the sweet (Archer’s speech to the delegates — the one we ACTUALLY GET TO HEAR — is clearly the genesis of the Federation), as all finales should.
You just watch right up to “Demons” and then stop. That other finale… just a holodeck-induced delusion. Never happened.
EDIT: Crap, just realized I’m replying to a comment from four years ago. Sorry for necro!
Ryan Tyler-Smith
January 20, 2016 at 3:16 pm
I’m replying to a 4-year old comment too! Lol! I personally liked Enterprise. Was it as strong as Next Gen? Probably not quite, but neither was Voyager, but they let that mess creep along for 7 Seasons! Enterprise at the very least deserved to have it’s own fairwell, even though it WAS cut short prematurely. Bringing Sirtis and Frakes on board like that, as much as I respect both performers, Was callous and thoughtless, and ultimately wrecked what should have been Enterprise’s Swan Song. Took focus away from Bakula – and when it’s Bakula on-screen, he REALLY doesn’t need any help. Totally unfair.
JWH
January 20, 2016 at 3:56 pm
I didn’t care for Enterprise, but I thought that finale really screwed over the ENT cast.
Clockiel
January 24, 2016 at 3:24 pm
I liked Enterprise. I think their mistake was trying to tell a single story, rather than just random stories glued together. Voyager did the same, but really it was nowhere near as concise as Enterprise. Like with voyager the story was always there, but sort of just a prop. Enterprise made every episode about the story in some way.
Gary Nolan
January 26, 2016 at 12:46 pm
Agree 100%. In fact, I choose to view Demons as the finale and pretend that holodeck fueled abomination never happened, lol.
I personally found that Enterprise took some time to find its footing, as many shows do and, in fact, like most of the Trek shows did (even TNG, great as it was and though I enjoyed it from the get go, got so much better after it had a season or so under its belt). But I thought they started to hit their stride ion the 3rd season and I really liked Seasons 3 & 4 of Enterprise. I was really disappointed it didn’t get the same leeway DS9 & Voyager got after both had relatively sub-par initial seasons.
Adam Jones
January 28, 2016 at 12:47 pm
it ended 4-5 episodes too early and didn’t tie up the time cold war at all. Not Frakes’ fault but a really poor way for the show to go out
RoseByAnyOtherName
April 2, 2016 at 2:23 pm
Not to mention the major SPOILER of telling us one of the crew members died in the opening scene! It didn’t make it any less sad either. Poor Scott Bakula. He’s been cheated.