Mr. Impatient

We have a thread about the strongest premiere, but what about the way these shows ended their runs? None of us wants to see a show we like come to an end, but some shows have better endings than others... Which one is your favourite, and why?

A quick guide to series finales:

Star Trek:
Turnabout Intruder - A woman from Kirk's past exchanges bodies with him and takes control of the ship.

Star Trek: The Next Generation:
All Good Things Part one Part 2 - Picard tries to prevent the destruction of humanity.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
What You Leave Behind
Part 1 - As Cardassians revolt against the Dominion, the Federation and its allies start to get an upper hand in the war. Meanwhile evil brews from another front.
Part 2 - The confrontation with the Dominion comes to a climax, as does Sisko's fate.

Star Trek: Voyager:
End Game
Part 1 - Admiral Janeway travels back in time.
Part 2 - Janeway tries to change Voyager's history.

Star Trek: Enterprise:
These Are the Voyages - Six years in the future, an emotional Captain Archer and the crew return to Earth to face the decommission of Enterprise and signing of the Federation charter.

Chris

Great idea Rob!

hmm ... I'm thinking Voyager's 'Endgame' - mainly because the crew got home. Sure, I would have liked to know a bit more about what happened to them after, but for the most part I think it was a satisfactory end to the series.

Mr. Impatient

Thanks!

i agree. I liked Voyager's the best. It was very well done.

Chris

Oh, thanks for providing the links to all the finale episodes.

Yeah, the Voyager finale gave us closure for that particular crew, but seemed to leave lots of open possibilities for the franchise.

I'd have to vote the Enterprise finale as the worst. I was not impressed with it at all.

Mr. Impatient

The only thing that was good about the Enterprise finale is that it was only meant to be a season finale, and not actually be the last episode of the series. But, even then... it wasn't all that great. It was too much like a lost episode of TNG.

Chris

Yeah, to me the episode was a huge slap in the face to the Enterprise cast.

Mr. Impatient

I agree.

celera

Why would they make TATV a season finale? I don't think they'd put in that stupid 6 year gap if they didn't know the series was ending.

Chris

Well, the gap was there so they could go on and fill it up, but I think that they were pretty sure that the series was over.

Mr. Impatient

They used it because they believed (incorrectly as far as I am concerned) that it would work as either - season finale or series finale. By having the six year gap, they allowed themselves room to have more episodes to "fill in the gaps" if the show was renewed.

Chris

With TNG, the finale kind of borught the series full circle, so it was satisfying that way. The premiere introduced Q who was putting Picard and Q on trial for 'the crimes of humanity' and the finale revisited that theme.

Mr. Impatient

Yes, the TNG finale was a great way to wrap up that series. It seemed to make the whole story complete. It was done really well, and I loved the fact that Picard joined the poker game in the end.

Chris

Yeah, that was a nice touch. Also, it was implied that Picard & Crusher were married in a future time. Even though they wound up divorced, it was nice to know that they did get together.

Mr. Impatient

I actually thought that the Picard/Crusher thing was wrong. They had that other episode dedicated to their relationship, and in that episode it was decided that they loved each other, but not in that way. Then, we find that they were married? No surprise it ended in divorce.

Chris

You do have a point. I always thought that they had good chemistry though and kinda wanted to see the characters get together.