These are REALLY the Voyages - how the Enterprise finale SHOULD have ended

We had a discussion on TrekBBS about Manny Coto, who came in the 4th Season of Enterprise and almost saved the franchise. The discussion of course included talking about the final episode of the series.

As you may know, the final episode of Enterprise (the fifth Star Trek TV series) was called "These Are The Voyages" and was supposed to be a "valentine" to the fans , according to Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, creators of Enterprise. It was an awful episode for most Star Trek fans.  They shoehorned a Next Generation episode as a framing device (and a bad fit), and also killed off a popular Enterprise character.  The episode was meant to close out not just the Enterprise series, but an era of new episodes of Star Trek.

So here’s my outline for a “better valentine” to Trek fans, that closes the door on the “silver age” of Trek. The story for the Enterprise crew is not really specified. I don’t think it’s as important as finding a credible way to tie the different series together. Feel free to suggest your own.

I used the Mindmapper program to help me sort out which series characters would be most likely available and interested in participating. (So I left off McCoy & Scotty for obvious reasons, and Kirk & Spock & Picard (and a couple others) because their actors are “too big” and/or too busy to be available. I mmatched up a TV series character with an Enterprise character I thought they could relate to.  Other series actors could also be part of the discussion as well; i just wanted to make sure someone from a previous series had a connection to the Enterprise crew member. Each Enterprise character would have one last chance to shine in each of the acts, but could of course be in the background for other scenes.

“The Better Valentine” or “These REALLY Are the Voyages…”

Teaser

n  TOS Crew talking to Cadets/young officers (or just lucky Trek fans dressed in as Starfleet officers/cadets, hearing a story)

n  Switch to TNG talking to a similar group, in their era (in a 10 Forward lounge?)

n  Switch to DS9 and VOY crew at Quark's talking to cadets

Act 1

n  Bashir, O'Brien, B'Elanna and Harry relay to cadets some of their heroes

Explain how each made an impact

n  Phlox Trip and T'Pol do something to help injured people

n  What causes the injury (Romulans?) sets stage for the ENT story

Act 2

n  TOS sets up this scene

n  saying how Supporting crew made a vital contribution to that era

n  Sato Mayweather & Shran do something to help the Enterprise crew deal with this threat

n  Mayweather and Sato are AT LEAST a Lt. by this point, if not Lt. Commander

Act 3

n  Riker and Worf set up stage for Archer uniting the UFP founders

n  Archer's actions, along with Reed's expertise, help solve an issue

Closer

n  TNG, TNG, VOY and  DS9 crews talking about Archer helping found the Federation (the camera rotates around "the table" and each incarnation has a say)

n  ENT Last scene w/ Archer (like we saw in Enterprise..except Mayweather gets promoted)

n  Narrative “These are the voyages…”said by all Captains, one line at a time