“Bad Star Trek is Better Than No Star Trek”

That’s pretty much what I’ve been saying in the last couple years after Berman and Braga killed off Star Trek with the most insulting send off ever; “These Are the Voyages…” The Enterprise series finale was Braga and Berman collectively pissing on Roddenberry’s ashes while at the same time taking a crap on every Trekker/Trekkie on the planet.

Everyone knows that “Terra Prime” is the true finale to the series and would’ve been a fine send off for televised Star Trek. Archer’s speech at the end of the episode captures the core of what Star Trek has always been:

“Up until about 100 years ago, there was one question that burned in every human, that made us study the stars and dream of traveling to them. Are we alone? Our generation is privileged to know the answer to that question. We are all explorers driven to know what’s over the horizon, what’s beyond our own shores. And yet the more I’ve experienced, the more I’ve learned that no matter how far we travel, or how fast we get there, the most profound discoveries are not necessarily beyond that next star. They’re within us, woven into the threads that bind us, all of us, to each other. The final frontier begins in this hall. Let’s explore it together.”

That would’ve been a perfectly acceptable end to Star Trek on TV, but the evil duo who had Trek in their titan grip wouldn’t have it and had to burn the corpse beyond recognition. “These Are the Voyages…” is not canon, and it should never be considered so.

Yet in the years since that Holodeck disaster was captured in high-definition; I’ve come to realize that even bad Star Trek is better than having no Star Trek. As bad as Voyager and the first two and a half seasons of Enterprise were; I would gladly watch them right now (but I still won’t watch “These Are the Voyages…“). I couldn’t stand Voyager, especially the later seasons, but if I find it on TV; I’ll stop and watch it. It’s still Star Trek, and that’s something we’re desperately missing and needing right now.