The U.S.S. Enterprise-D met its end in Star Trek: Generations but the ship was supposed to meet its demise in the finale of season six.
Some fans lament the end of the iconic Enterprise-D at the end of Star Trek: Generations. In the film, the ship is heavily damaged by Klingons, and the ship’s saucer section breaks off and crashes on Veridian III. Because of this, the ship is deemed totaled and a new ship will eventually bear the name Enterprise.
That ship would end up being the Enterprise-E, as seen in First Contact.
The move was controversial, as the Enterprise-D was a huge hit among fans and remains many fans’ favorite ship. So why was the decision made to end the ship in Generations? Well, because they finally had the budget to do it justice. Ronald D. Moore and company opted to end season six with the ship crashing but it was deemed too expensive.
"The idea for destroying the Enterprise-D in Star Trek Generations came from artwork in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Writer’s Technical Manual showing the separated saucer section making an emergency crash landing onto a planet. TNG’s producers actually wanted to show this at the end of season 6, but it was prohibitively expensive on the TV show’s budget. Producers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, who co-wrote Generations, pitched the idea of the saucer crash landing and destroying the Enterprise-D to executive producer Rick Berman, who gave it a green light. The TNG brain trust also agreed that it created an opportunity to introduce a new Enterprise in the next movie, which is what happened: the Sovereign-class U.S.S. Enterprise-E made its debut in Star Trek: First Contact (and it’s still in service in Star Trek: Picard’s era over 20 years later)."
The ship was iconic but as technology improved through the series, and the general feel for the show continued to evolve, the large ship design started to become more and more dated. Seen more of a relic of ’80s decadence, the whole bigger is better trend. The next version of the Enterprise was smaller, sleeker, more streamlined, and modern. It felt timeless and was the perfect design for space battles, something the films would feature more of in future installments.
While not a universal agreement from all fans, the Enterprise-E just felt like it fit more with the expanding universe of Star Trek. From the U.S.S Voyager to the U.S.S Defiant, the ships were just more streamlined and battle-ready. Something the former Galaxy Class ship lacked. It felt more like a space-cruise ship than anything. A change was refreshing, especially eight years into the lifespan of that specific cast and crew.