Enterprise's Hated Finale Did One Thing Right Thanks To Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: Enterprise's finale episode adopted an ambitious but divisive approach to wrapping up the show, but the presence of elements from Star Trek: The Next Generation made the installment more worthwhile. All four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise chronicle Starfleet's formative years as Scott Bakula's Captain Jonathon Archer took the Enterprise NX-01 deeper into space than humanity had ever ventured. Set at the earliest point in the Star Trek timeline, Enterprise needed to carefully consider its storylines so it didn't clash with in-universe events that hadn't yet happened.

Of course, Star Trek: Enterprise wasn't the first show to be presented with this challenge, as prequels had existed in various franchises for years already. That said, Star Trek boasts a huge amount of lore, and Enterprise contributed a lot of new characters, settings, and canonical occurrences to the iconic sci-fi universe. So, it was a little confusing when other Star Trek TV shows set after Enterprise never acknowledged the pivotal adventures of Captain Archer and his crew. Clearly aware of this, the show's final installment took it upon itself to try and correct this quirk.

"These Are The Voyages..." Finally Allowed TNG To Acknowledge Star Trek: Enterprise

The Next Generation ended 7 years before Enterprise began

Without the existence of Archer's ship, Star Trek: The Next Generation would have unfolded in a very different 24th century. Regardless, none of the original storylines introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise are acknowledged by the cast of The Next Generation in any of its seven seasons. While this is understandable because of the order in which the shows were produced, it does still result in more than a little canonical dissonance. Thankfully, "These are the Voyages..." recalled Jonathon Frakes to the role of Commander William T. Riker in a very meta crossover finale for Enterprise​​​​​​.

"These are the Voyages..." is far more than just a finale for Star Trek: Enterprise, but also serves as a companion piece to a Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7 episode called "The Pegasus." Riker is watching the events of Archer's final mission as a simulation on the USS Enterprise-D's holodeck. While there is a lot to say about how weird this decision was from a writing perspective, it does at least prove that those in TNG knew all about Captain Archer's endeavors and everything his crew did for Starfleet, which was impossible while TNG was on the air.

It would be unfair to name The Next Generation as the only Star Trek show to unavoidably ignore Enterprise. Deep Space Nine and Voyager faced the same strange phenomenon, as did The Original Series. Frakes' presence in "These are the Voyages..." was an interesting way to fix the problem for The Next Generation, but it also kind of stole Enterprise's chance to finish on its own terms, as it lacked the flash-and-blood versions of Archer's crew and only showed their photonic counterparts. Plus, it came with the worrying suggestion that all of Enterprise was just a holographic flashback.

Star Trek Has Made Enterprise More Important 20 Years After Its Hated Finale

Modern Star Trek has obviously found it far easier to pay homage to Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise remains the franchise's only show to be set in the 22nd century. As such, it hasn't been possible to directly revisit that period, but Star Trek's modern era has made sure to keep reminding everyone of Captain Archer's exploits. Starting with Star Trek: Discovery's debut first season in 2017, characters and events from Enterprise have been dropped into the scripts on a relatively consistent basis. As a Star Trek fan, this has been a very satisfying pattern, and makes up for the older shows' inability to do the same thing.

Archer himself is referenced in Strange New Worlds' first episode, as it's revealed a class of Starfleet vessel has been named after Bakula's character. However, of all the newer Star Trek shows, no other project has given Enterprise more attention than Star Trek: Lower Decks. The animated comedy is self-referential to the Star Trek franchise at large, and Enterprise has received its fair share of tributes - including the return of Jolene Blalock as T'Pol in the show's final season. In short, Star Trek: Enterprise's finale started something very cool by combining it with Star Trek: The Next Generation.