The series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise has been a source of discontent among fans of the series for the past fifteen years
It would be difficult to find a fan that really enjoyed the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. It has long been lamented as one of the worst episodes in Star Trek history. Even Brannon Braga regrets the episode, which was originally intended to be a “lost” episode of The Next Generation. That piece of knowledge didn’t endear Enterprise fans to the producer. But he probably would have had a lot more fan anger to deal with had the series been renewed because the episode would not have been changed.
According to Rick Berman, the season four finale of Enterprise would have been the same even if the series had been renewed, as word of cancellation wasn’t received until after the episode had been written. So Trip still would have died. The last episode did jump ahead six years so Trip would have remained a part of the crew for any future seasons with fans knowing what fate lay in store for him.
But as much as fans hated his demise, Connor Trinneer, who portrayed the charming engineer, was okay with his character’s ending because at least he got to say goodbye when no other character did. And had the series been renewed, the actor reminded fans that “death isn’t always permanent,” adding that “Spock died in one movie and was resurrected in the next.” Because it is sci-fi which means anything can happen.
And though the novels that have continued Star Trek: Enterprise’s journeys retconned the chief engineer’s death, fans would rather have seen Trip revived onscreen. This is partially why there is such a demand for a movie or another season. Fans want the mistake to be corrected.
Regardless of what, if anything, comes next for Enterprise, though, in fans’ minds Charles “Trip” Tucker III never really died in that episode because it was just a bad holodeck program or a dream Commander William T. Riker had. Perhaps even a holonovel. Whatever the reason, the engineer is alive and well both onscreen and in between the pages of the novels that have followed the series.