We started this season with Alien Nazis and we now finish off the entire series with an episode which could have been better written by Hitler in the Bunker in the closing days of World War II while he was pumped full of psychotropic drugs and dreaming of new super weapons which would turn around the course of the war. So as far as the cyclical structure of this, the final season of Star Trek for a long time, goes Berman and Braga have done a good job. However, I think that a better title would be "A Night in Chef's Kitchen" because this episode ranks down there amongst the dregs of this series as a whole. Instead of going out on a high spurred on by the wonderful epics presented to us by Manny Coto we go out on such an anti-climatic feeling that it's almost unbelievable. I am almost driven to tears by the closing scene out of sadness at how this episode will be received by the community and how much of a slap in the face it is of the dedicated fans of this series who have worked so hard to see it saved. This episode makes it look like the decision of UPN to cancel the series just as it had found its legs was a good decision. So if you haven't guessed already I was not impressed at getting to be one of the first to view and review this episode: "These Are The Voyages…". My friends, we deserve better!
You know I'm very young at sixteen and I'm in love. If I were to give the girl of my eye a Valentine then I'd make sure it was the best and most special thing I can conjure up because I love her and want to show her how much I care for her. Were I not to love her and not appreciate her then I'd give her something rubbish and would run the risk of losing her affection. You know we fans of Star Trek have followed this series for a very long time. There's never been a time in my life when there wasn't a new episode of the franchise coming out and so I was truly saddened to learn that Enterprise just as it was excelling high was being cut off but I was heartened that the franchise would be passing into new hands and that it was going to get a real send off. This send-off was described to us as a Valentine. Well this supposed "valentine" is the type in which you give a girl whom you never want to see again!
Since a majority of you reading this will not have seen the episode by this time I should tell you all what happens. The episode begins with a discussion at the end of Enterprise's 10 year mission on the bridge which establishes that Enterprise is going to be decommissioned. This scene is awkwardly paused by Riker who stands up and then exists the Holodeck in a very much alien Nazi "what the…" moment which finished off last season too. We then pick up with Riker and Troi talking in Ten Forward and Riker talking about his failed mission onboard the Pegasus many years ago when they tested out a phase cloaking device which was in violation of the Federation's treaty obligations with the Romulans. The whole episode is Riker trying to moralize his situation and work out what he's going to do: tell Picard or not about the dangerous ramifications of their original mission. Riker and Troi both participate in the action on Enterprise through Riker becoming the ship's counseling chef, bridge officer and MACO while also walking around as unseen spectators of the events going on around them.
They are following through Enterprise's last hours out before returning to Earth for Archer to deliver his speech at the signing of the Federation Charter and the decommissioning of Enterprise. Out of no where we're told that something happened to Shran which made it appear that he was dead but actually he's been alive all these years and now needs Archer's help to save his daughter who has been captured after Shran was involved with some unscrupulous amethyst dealers. He needs Archer and some MACOs to spare a few hours to return to Rigel 10 where the journey all began 4 years ago with the Suliban to rescue her in an exchange. They successfully replicate a fake amethyst and then set up an ambush to take out the smugglers but after a chase they board Enterprise and want to see Shran. Trip has them knock out Archer, whom he is all concerned about getting back to Earth to give his big speech. Trip then takes them into some engineering junction where he starts some overload to cause a massive explosion which kills him and the attackers. He dies very unceremoniously by entering the sickbay scanner chamber after croaking out some words to Archer. We then have T'Pol and Archer discussing him in his quarters before they arrive back at Earth and to the joy of the Archer/T'Pol shippers they hug just before he goes up on stage to deliver his all important speech. We get a few lines from Hoshi, Malcolm and Travis about what they're off to do before Troi and Riker decide they've seen enough and walk out of the Holodeck. We then get a beautiful visual of the Enterprise D flying off which cuts to the original Constitution Enterprise before we close with Enterprise flying off towards a nebula to the words spoken by Archer which have been immortalized throughout the franchise's history.
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http://www.scifiuniverse.net/news/2005/05/11_01.php
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