Star Trek Ranking: The Series Finales

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Time for a little ranking fun.  Today, I’m ranking the Star Trek series finales.  Before anyone says anything, I am not counting Star Trek Prodigy 1: because I have not really watched the series, and 2: because there has been no official announcement that the series is ended.  

Keep in mind that this is my ranking, you do not have to agree.  As with any ranking YMMV.


From best to worst:

1. What You Leave Behind (DS9)

A worthy ending for the series, wrapping up pretty much all of the remaining loose ends (granted DS9 had so many loose ends and so many story lines going that the had to start wrapping up things several episodes early).  “What You Leave Behind” is a satisfying end to the series, the Dominion War, and Sisko’s arc.  Definitely top of the list.


2. All Good Things (TNG)

“All Good Things”.  Full disclaimer: I am a TNG fan first and foremost, so I am admittedly a bit biased, but I love this episode.  The only reason this isn’t at the top of the list is that unlike “What You Leave Behind”, “All Good Things” isn’t really an ending as much as a bookend to the Picard-Q storyline (especially when view with the pilot “Encounter at Farpoint”, to which it heavily calls back).  If anything Star Trek: Generations is a better ending to the TNG story since in the movie the Enterprise-D is destroyed.  Still a great episode.


3. The Last Generation (PIC)

Star Trek Picard…is a very mixed bag.  That said season 3 was one of the best seasons of Star Trek in over 20 years.  And it’s finale, the series finale “The Last Generation” is hands down no contest one of the best Trek finales in the entire franchise.  It is a far, far, faaarrr better sendoff for the TNG cast than Nemesis could’ve ever been.  All the main cast come back, and SPOILER ALERT: The Enterprise-D comes back for one final mission.  For an old TNG Trekkie like myself, it felt like long overdue family reunion.


4. Life, Itself (DSC)

Discovery as a series was…decisive to say the least (see my Discovery Retrospective series for more), but it’s finale “Life, Itself” was actually pretty good.  Especially considering that the final season was never intended to be the final season (the cancellation came after the season was filmed and in post production).  Thankfully the studio powers that be were nice enough to allow the cast and crew to film additional material to wrap up the series and turn a season finale into the series finale (and tie into the Calypso Short Trek).  Overall, I can’t call it a bad episode.  Despite all of it’s issues it is a satisfying ending to Discovery’s story.


5. Endgame (VOY)

“Endgame”.  Although a (mostly) satisfying ending to Voyager’s voyage through the Delta Quadrant and a possible ending to the Borg, “Endgame” still leaves many loose ends untied.  Mainly this is a result of the big climax, Voyager’s triumphant return to Earth, coming at the very end.  It is still satisfying to see Voyager home after 7 years alone in the Delta Quadrant.


6. The New Next Generation (LD)

I have to admit something: I am not a fan of Lower Decks.  As such I have not watched but maybe a handful of episodes.  That said I have watched the finale “The New Next Generation”, and it is ok.  Ok.  It would be better as a season finale, as it does end the season’s story arc (the multiverse rift) and ends the current “chapter” of the characters lives, however it (intentionally) opens up the possibility for future stories rather than simply wrapping everything up.  And yes, I know the show was cancelled and a series ending was not planned for the end of this season.


7. Turnabout Intruder (TOS)

Uggh.  “Turnabout Intruder”.  A TOS episode that is both sexist as hell and boring.  It boggles the mind that Gene Roddenberry wrote this abysmal episode.  The whole idea that a woman can’t command a starship is ridiculous (Gene Roddenberry himself originally wanted a female first officer, and had a female first officer in the original pilot “The Cage” before the network nixed the idea), and has been contradicted by no less than three different Trek series set before TOS (Enterprise, Discovery and Strange New Worlds have all shown female Starfleet ship captains).  Also the body swap trope was a tired one even by 1969 when the episode was written.  Overall a definite fail of a final episode (yes, I know it wasn’t a true finale, but such wasn’t even done on most TV shows back then).  TOS went out with a resounding whimper.


And finally, saving the worst for last…


8. These Are The Voyages… (ENT) 

These. Are. The. Voyages.   In 2025 this is still widely considered to be possibly the worst episode of Star Trek ever produced.  Whereas “Turnabout Intruder” was sexist and thus antithetical to Roddenberry’s vision of Trek, “These Are The Voyages” actively insulted the fanbase.  Taking the series finale of one season and framing it in an unrelated episode of another series?  WTF??  A series finale is supposed to celebrate its series, the characters, the stories, the legacy.  Instead “These Are The Voyages” reduces the Enterprise and it’s crews final mission and the signing of the Federation Charter to a holodeck program run by Riker and Troi during the events of TNG’s “The Pegasus” (which has f--- all to do with the Enterprise plot).  Even had the TNG stuff been removed entirely, the Enterprise story would have been mediocre at best.  Add to that killing off one of the most popular characters for no real reason and in such a weak way that it has practically no emotional resonance, and is it really surprising that one of the lead actors Jolene Blalock (T’Pol) actually called the episode “appalling”?  Hand’s down the worst series finale of the franchise.


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