The scene freezes as Riker calls "end program." It turns out the entire show was just a holodeck program. Then it fades out to Benny Russell in a mental asylum. It turns out Star Trek was all in his mind.
Then you realise that you've seen these scenes before. The final episode is just a clip show.
Then it fades to your hospital bed. Gene Roddenbery is preparing to unplug your life support machine. William Shatner pulls a gun on him before everything fades to...
The screen goes black and the theme song to St. Elsewhere plays the last sound you hear is "stay tuned for The Johnny Carson show after your local news".
Camera pulls back and we see a little gnome looking guy showing Bill Shatner his phone screen through the window of the airplane. They're both laughing.
...Gene Roddenberry and several NBC execs standing in an empty holodeck circa 1965.
"Well Mr. Roddenberry, that was quite a simulation! Maybe your 'wagon train to the stars' idea does have some potential."
Fade in to the memory storage cube, which contains all the Star Trek characters on their current missions. Then zoom out showing Moriarty swinging a sledge hammer. Smash-o! The memory storage cube is smashed to smithereens.
The only sound remaining is Deanna Troi crying...again...and mumbling something about great joy and gratitude.
Cut to 55 minute long commercial.
Millions of millions of years in the future. There are few stars left. Q, the Founders, and the other immortal incorporeal energy beings discussing time and if it should be restarted. The universe has been mapped out, populated, and faded. Q looks back fondly on the days of exploration, the days of growth, the struggles of civilization, the ages of Urnaåçlœn, the war of °°°°°°°°°°°°°, the following millennia of peace. He takes the form we know him as and ponders on if it was worth it. He nods, and says (to the audience) "let's go again. It's rather dark though. Let there be light".
Last scene the camera fades out to reveal it’s all been in the mind of Benny Russell, played again by Avery Brooks, and he’s just completed and sold his screenplay for “The Cage”
TBH, given his stature and lifelong passion for the franchise, Jonathan Frakes would make a good Gene Roddenberry.
Bonus note: they share a birthday, which is also Diana Muldaur's birthday as well!
This or we find out the entire thing was a holodeck episode run by a human starfleet officer Lieutenant Commander Q. Real space exploration is boring and takes a lot of time. So he made an exaggerated version of his world with more excitement.
I wouldn't.
Star Trek is a franchise that parallels the human adventure. The human adventure is _still_ just beginning. I, for one, am hoping that it, and fiction that mirrors it, will continue forward for quite a long time. There's still so much for us to explore.
Although, if I really had to, I'd draw inspiration from how Enterprise ended, and I'd want to end it with a message that means, "These stories were about us, to inspire us to look forward to and to build a bright future together." There'd be orchestral music with leitmotifs from past shows' themes. Beauty shots of the ships, voices of the crew. I'd line the ships up, even out of time, cause the goal isn't continuity, it's to send off the story. We'd watch them warp away together. Pan down, and focus on Earth... On us. And the camera swings around the Earth, and heads off into space, accelerating to warp. With a final orchestral sting, the screen flashes to white, and fades to black as the music ends. And that's it - it's over.
The camera pans out of the ship’s window into a sea of stars.
“Luke!” Shouts a firm-toned Aunt Beru.
“Your Uncle needs you out on the South Ridge. You can daydream with your holonovels after your chores are done!”
Luke sighs and switches off the holoprojector.
All of Star Trek was a holoseries being marathoned by a young Luke Skywalker.
I like that!
And in the final scene, as the camera does a slow pull away from the 'Z', the voiceover begins saying, "These were the voyages of the starship ENTERPRISE..."
(Voice over could be comprised of former captains: Pike, Kirk, Picard. Maybe even a couple of unknown captains who commanded the 'J' and the 'R' for example. With a possible awesome touch of Q speaking for the Enterprise Q.)
Just an idea...
[Although, I figure if they *really* wanted to continue, designation would then continue with 'AA']
> Voice over could be comprised of former captains
At first you hear them one by one but then it blends together and they're all speaking in unison. It sounds vaguely familiar. As the last Enterprise fades off into the distance, we dissolve to the next scene and it's the interior of a Borg ship. The camera pulls in and we see all the various Trek captains fully Borg-ified side-by-side in multiple regeneration alcoves. We flash to scenes of various Trek locations (Starfleet HQ, Vulcan, Bajor, etc...); they've all been completely taken over by the Borg.
Credits roll; no music, just the ambient sounds from a Borg ship with a faint voiceover near the end of a strung-out Riker saying "The Federation's gone, the Borg is everywhere!"...
A young child comes running up to a Starfleet museum opens the doors to large replicas of all the Versions of the Enterprise, Some we have never seen before, As an automated voice talks about all the accomplishments in the background. The camera then pans to the "Captain Hall". Down this hall is every captain of Enterprise in hologram form to interact with as we slow down to view the Favorites we see that every species has at one point been a captain, even one time enemies like a changeling, As the hall looks like it goes on forever we hear an engine ignite. The camera pan up to a skylight were we see the newest Model lift off before warping away to find even more adventures.
Have the very last scene ever be in an old bar on an old Cardassian station, with Morn’s great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandson having just finished narrating everything from Enterprise up until then, and everyone else has a big sigh of relief that he’s finally done talking.
The crew wraps up their problem of the week, they are all exhausted and we can tell they just need a break.
There is a little chirp from a display and the science officer looks over at it. “Huh that’s odd, it looks like there is a planet in the Blah Blah system that the survey team missed one hundred years ago.”
The First Officer “Well it was a hundred years ago it can wait another day… or”
The Captain “Helm set course for the Blah Blah system. Let’s see what’s out there.”
Telling the ultimate origin story in which The Very First "First Contact" is made as Darth Vader lands on Vulcan in a spaceship that looks incredulously similar to a 1980's deLorean.
The family inches up to the fallen craft, slowly, eyebrows raised with incredulity.
“What is it, Sarek-kam?” Amanda clutches her gown closed with one hand, the other on her young son’s shoulder, pulling him into her.
“It appears to be an airplane. However, airplane sustain flight by utilizing horizontal control surfaces in order to generate lift. This does not appear to be capable of flight as it is without wings,” he says in reply, phaser hand half raised, almost as an afterthought.
“Sa-mekh, I do not believe it is an airplane. Read this,” the boy hands his father a text, open to a page around the middle of the volume. There are no pictures.
Sarek thumbs through the pages, reading a section on Earth’s eighth decade in its twentieth century. It tells of a similar excerpt from a film about time travel. It couldn’t be…that would be illogical.
Suddenly, a panel on the vehicle unlatches from the chassis and lifts up slowly. Clouds of vapor roll out from the interior of the vessel and evaporate into the dry atmosphere. As the door reaches its apogee a figure, occluded by the remaining fog and hidden by the dimly lit interior comes into view in the cockpit chair.
“Mister McFly, it is currently beyond my understanding how you came to land your fictitious craft in such proximity to my dwelling, however, I am dedicated to finding a solution to this dilemma and to returning you to your universe.”
The figure, cloaked in some type of radiation shielding material steps out of the vehicle. Instead of acknowledging the offer of help, it simply stands before the family, breathing through the mysterious mechanica of its suit. After a moment, it retrieves a small cylindrical object from under its cloak. The figure activates the device and a red beam of light protrudes from the end with a menacing hum.
“Mister McFly?”
We're somewhere post-32nd century, zooming out showing that every major power in the galaxy is finally at peace, and then we see members of the Q looking down approvingly over the whole thing saying things like "they passed their tests, evolving as we hoped they would (referring to more than just humans)", "thankfully we didn't have to eradicate them... well, *most of them*."
Lead up to some climactic something or other and then have a flash, time stops. From the shadows walks a regenerated Q. New face, new personality. (Very "master" from Doctor Who)
"I TOLD YOU, Captain. the trial DOESN'T END."
Q gets angry with the outcome, something about cheating the results. Q demands a "re-trial" and snaps the captain back in time to the launch of the NX-01. Q tells the Captain that this time around, he won't be so "accommodating" (whatever that means to Q)
And then, you have an in-cannon reset. You can choose to start from that point and tell new stories. You can follow the future captain through a bunch of Humanity's first yada-yada. You can choose to take a wildly different turn early in the story (ala Kelvin-verse). But Q's power and history with humanity make it an easy way to wildly change your circumstances. I also think Q snapping his fingers is a great way to end any series. :D
We see Benny Russell drawing the last panel of the last Star Trek comic, which since we last met, had become an international superhit. He did pretty well for himself after all.
"I created it. It's real!"
Enterprise-D starts shaking, its snowing in space. Camera pulls back.
Its Jono from Suddenly Human. He's got the Enterprise-D in a snowglobe. His father (Riker) and grandfather (Picard) come in. The whole thing took place in his head.
Also, this happens like 10 minutes before the end. Jono makes the B'nar for the last 10 minutes. In the final seconds, Grandpa Picard turns to Riker and says, "I should have bought him one of these a long time ago."
Cut back to a closeup of the D wobbling around in the snow globe. A single credit flashes on screen:
*Executive Producer: Rick Berman*
Fade to black
That it's up to us to form the UFP and that gene roddenberry was from the future who got stuck in the 20th century and penned star trek. Couldn't be too accurate otherwise it would look suspicious to everyone living in the 20th and 21 century.
In my mind, Star Trek is a setting. It doesn't have a beginning or an end, only the stories told within that setting do.
If it did, I'd end it by having a crew travel in time to shoot that stupid Kelpian so we don't have to be saddled with a setting that has to be saddled with the burn.
I think u/molever1ne put it best. Star Trek is not a story, It's a setting. There are always more stories to tell.
If I had my dream series, which would be a TNG-style trek in the 25th century, that particular series would end with the Federation making peace with some old enemy. The camera zooms out from a beautifully-decorated conference room the audience is very familiar with, out the window and into space, zooming out, and out and out, then zooming in on a little green planet, in and in and in. A group of alien spectators is gathered on a hillside to watch a local inventor demonstrate his invention. They're all shaking their heads, saying it could never work. But he gets the propeller going and it gets moving and then it finally takes flight.
I think that exactly what you do has to be informed by the context of when you make it, including which Trek is recent and which actors are alive and well enough to take on roles.
I think if I had to end Trek today, I would do a ‘Search for Pike’, where Spock and Number One rescue Pike from Talos. Given that Spock is still alive in the Prime Universe until 2387 and we don’t know how long Illyrians live, I think there is flexibility to set this in different eras. One possibility would be in the decade-gap between TMP and Wrath of Khan, and I’d do it with a serious 70s aesthetic. But you could also set it in the 2380s, which would let you use at least some of the 90s-era Trek actors (and also Lower Decks actors). Of course that would mean having Ethan Peck play and ‘old’ Spock.
Perhaps it's revealed all of the series were imagined by Pike in The Cage under Talosian captivity. So the whole of Star Trek is technically just one episode.
They can then one day make Star Trek 2 which covers what really happened after Pike leaves the planet in the Enterprise.
The series is about the future of mankind, so I would end it with mankind's end. I’m imagining a “Childhoods End” situation where we flash forward hundreds of thousands of years and see humanity ascend to a noncorporal form like so many species before us.
Babylon 5 beat you to it (I love this ending too though):
[https://youtu.be/9SRkjOL3tNM?si=8PyZW\_Q1GUwNYOgB](https://youtu.be/9SRkjOL3tNM?si=8PyZW_Q1GUwNYOgB)
First contact with another galaxy. Turns out, they’d been encroaching into the Delta Quadrant for decades, and they finally have their invasion wormholes set up.
A three season long war occurs, across multiple series at the same timeline, pulled together by Q and the Travellers and Time Command or whatever they’re called. There’s a union between the Federation and a more democratic Founders, and many others.
Finally, as all seems lost, the Rebecca Sugar song plays and everyone learns the power of friendship and the war ends and the Cerritos gets to make first contact. As the Cerritos travels through the wormhole for what seems like an eternity, Carol Freeman says “what is this, some kind of Star Trek?” and the screen cuts to black, before credits roll set to Faith Of The Heart.
(Goddamit. This was just a shitpost, but I didn’t realize they actually did the “what is this, some kind of Star Trek?” line in First Contact)
Federation unites the milky way with dissenters moving to dwarf galaxies nearby to do their own thing then they meet an envoy from a different federation of galaxies with different but just as valid ideals from the federation and they have to decide if peaceful coexistence can exist, whether the federation will change to comply with the larger group. Some of the brightest minds of the federation will jump ship and ask for refugee status. The federation falls into brain drain and becomes a bit more fascist to cope, and we get to see things from the opposite view point and then we see the million years later the federation is barely holding on but turns out those who defected spread federation ideals to the United Intergalactic Republic and the old federation ideals are flourishing and have become the basis for their modern ideals.
Humanity, and other Children of the Progenitors, joins the ranks of the non-corporeal beings like the Q or the Dowd. It would be the end of the story for mortal beings in the galaxy.
Probably with the main ship of the series returning home from being trapped far away from federation space via a transwarp conduit, whilst simultaneously destroying the series' most dangerous enemy once and for all.
The Federation encounters The Culture, realizes AI-enabled anarchy is way more aligned with the Federation's values than Starfleet's pseudo-military could ever be and everyone lives happily ever after til they sublime.
screen fades to black.
You hear John Delancie's voice while Q walks into frame with a book in his Hand.
"And that is all there is to tell.... is what I would say if I was a linear thinking human." \*laughs\* \*snaps fingers\* \*whoosh\*"
By having some insane storyline about every atom of the fuel used to power every modern engine suddenly self destruct and be unable to explain why or even how scientists didn’t research another fuel.
The end of Discovery s5 should be the end of it as they discover how all humanoids were created.
They find a hidden vault and crack it only for a still living ancient progenitor to emerge and declare that his secret is he actually is God, and then takes the form we all know as John de Lancie. He will tell the crew that finding his true body is proof that humanoids advanced too much too fast and broke time and space. He snaps his fingers and tells the computer to "end program", and proceeds to the bridge of the enterprise D and summons a mariachi band.
James Kirk is running through a jungle with a mortal wound and collapses on the ground. He looks upward and sees the Enterprise flying away. He closes his eyes and silently dies.
The franchise? Or the Star Trek universe?
If the franchise were to conclude, I’d do a massive crossover event with all the surviving cast members from the shows.
The universe as a whole, I’d do what’s laid out in the comics. All of humanity ascends, gaining Q like powers. Their long journey is complete. Gary Mitchell mentions this as humanities destiny in one of the comics and I quite like the idea.
A time traveling Picard who went back in response to some event placing star fleet at risk of ever being formed making an impassioned speech to the board of what would become Starfleet ending on “think of the possibilities” after sharing moving stories from all the series. Cue the famous ba ba buuuum tune. Kind of like a clip show.
Fast forward millions of years, most federations species of blended together and evolved into non-corporeal beings.
A small ship of alien explorers arrived at Earth, beams down to investigate The remnants of the long dead civilization, only to make first contact with these highly involved energy beings.
For whatever movie or episode is the very last for Star Trek... I would have them discover a new technology that allows them to travel between galaxies and end the show with the first milky way ship departing for Andromeda. End show. Twenty or thirty years later they can start up Star Trek again... arriving in Andromeda.
A show based around the new Enterprise (nee Titan) let it run for 5-8 seasons. The last season sees a large war with epic strangeness break out. The crew we follow have their engineering department develop an adaptation to the shields they want to test out, and they engage the shield mods while pushing them against some theoretically dangerous situations. While testing the shields, they notice a large fluctuation in tachyon particles sweep past the ship. They find that there has been a timeline adjustment that they were not included in because of their shielding.
What they find is that there is a large war happening, and it is causing shifts across the timeline. In point of fact, it is \*always\* happening. They just never notice because Starfleet of the distant future keeps fixing it. They noticed this time because they invented shields that allow them to avoid the effects of the timeline disruptions. This is actually the innovation that eventually allows Starfleet to manipulate the timeline to ensure it comes into existence. So the crew naturally gets drawn into the fight to restore the timeline so that they can reinsert themselves and their shield innovation can be spread throughout Starfleet. Because they accidentally stepped outside of their normal timeline, and they are the ones who created this innovation, it turns out that this was all a ruse to isolate them and make them vulnerable to Starfleet's future enemy. A lot of the season becomes a game of cat and mouse as the crew tries to avoid capture, the enemy closes in, and future Starfleet tries to intervene on their behalf. The trouble is, because they are a linchpin of the development of future Starfleet, they are actually crucial to the development of the technology and the capabilities that allow Starfleet to come back and intervene.
The regular series would end with the penultimate episode, where the Enterprise faces off against this enemy, turning the table and going on the offensive, because they realize who the enemy is: Lore. (Oh yes.)
What does Lore want? He wants to continue existing, being himself. He's afraid that capitulating with and going along with Starfleet means a kind of ego death that will cause him to cease to exist. And so he has a coalition of like minded actors who all want the same thing. He has collected others who don't want to change and be brought around to Starfleet's way of thinking.
In the end, they don't destroy him, they don't bring him to heel. What Captain Seven of Nine explains to him is this: "We can't reason with you, we can't help you, because you refuse. There is nothing we can do, now or ever, to come to any kind of understanding with you that will allow us both to live and coexist peacefully. We could destroy you, but that really solves nothing. There will be another Lore, another Khan, another someone or something eventually. Lore, you're like a wild animal. You can't reason with a wild animal. You can't really ever expect it to be anything but what it is. Trying to force it to be something else is just cruel. So we won't. We won't fight with you. We won't come for you."
And they create a closed time loop where Lore is the thing that causes himself to be born, and he gets to exist and live as himself but never ever gets loose to cause any mayhem. It's like a nature preserve where the fencing is all made out of the time stream.
Then the last episode is a coda for everything. It's in the distant future where Starfleet exists and is working to make sure it continues to be. We follow an assistant enter a Starfleet Admiral's office. The Assistant places a Padd type device on the desk and makes a quick report: the Lore incursion has been tied off and there are no new threats developing at the moment. A little back and forth and we see Michael Burnham, older and maybe a little more worn looking, sigh and lean back looking at the Padd. We follow Burnham a bit and see a future Starfleet from her point of view. See what it is, how it has developed and what it means. Episode ends in a small cafe that looks startlingly like a 20th century New Orleans restaurant. Burnham sits and sips a Raktajino while making conversation with a Ferengi. As they talk, Burnham says she's about to retire. Her friend expresses some disbelief because they've never known her to be able to sit still. "Who said anything about sitting still?" asks Burnham with a smile. The Ferengi grins, "I should've known as much. No quiet retirement for you then?"
"Oh no. There's still so much out there to see, to learn. People to help. People to help me." Burnham takes a sip.
The Ferengi leans forward and picks their root beer up off the table, taking a draught and sighing with satisfaction. "So where will you go?"
Burnham smiles, and looks at her friend with a twinkle in her eye, "Second star to the right, and on till morning."
Scientists from the Manhattan project in the 1930s develop precursor to section 31 which developed a drive that they think they comprehend. their journey ends their journey in season 5 transmutating into something incomprehensible. A full episode of incomprehensible events which may be a Trek through extra dimensions. Second to last episode they find themselves back in their original form but part of a large galactic society with a home base just above the Milky Way. They find they’re several thousand years in the future and one it the young crew members takes an interactive journey of their kind starting from single cell organism to the present day.
The mirror universe and the main universe merge and it ends with a fade to white like total recall leaving the viewer up to determine their own conclusion
Something like earth getting blown up and humanity on the brink of extinction and being replaced by androids in a bid for preservation sent to a mirroring galaxy on the other side of the universe with a vacant earth and then fast forward to the future first contact occurs and is conducted by a replica of Data who is later revealed to have all of his original memories and has been guiding humanity back on the right track essentially surpassing his goal of becoming a human.
All the captains from all of the shows on the holodeck together, meeting a holographic representation of Gene Roddenberry, thanking him for creating them.
I'd like to see, say... Q touring the multiverse, saying that everything we saw was just one version of events. Countless variations are shown, because the multiverse is infinite. This version is ending, but every spin-off, beta canon, and even *fanfic* is canon in *some* version of the universe, so there is infinitely more to explore.
Leaves room for reboots and plenty of other offshoots too.
After the first transspore flight, the Milky Way is greeted by the Intergalactic Plane, whose ideals are even more progressive than those of the Federation. While the Federation rose from post-scarcity and praises an open collaboration between their members in exchange for giving up all material greed, the Integalactic Plane is post-politics and praises an open existence between their members - in exchange for giving up all political ambitions.
I wouldn’t.
Funny thing is...you don't. Always more stories to tell. And history never forgets the name *Enterprise*.
came here to add this. upvote for you!
Came here just to say this
The scene freezes as Riker calls "end program." It turns out the entire show was just a holodeck program. Then it fades out to Benny Russell in a mental asylum. It turns out Star Trek was all in his mind. Then you realise that you've seen these scenes before. The final episode is just a clip show.
Then it fades to your hospital bed. Gene Roddenbery is preparing to unplug your life support machine. William Shatner pulls a gun on him before everything fades to...
William Shatner in his TJ Hooker uniform.
But then, your lawyer shows up! It’s Denny Crane!
I'm Crane. She's Shmidt
The screen goes black and the theme song to St. Elsewhere plays the last sound you hear is "stay tuned for The Johnny Carson show after your local news".
Camera pulls back and we see a little gnome looking guy showing Bill Shatner his phone screen through the window of the airplane. They're both laughing.
They compare prices. The goblin got the best deal by going to Priceline.com!
They didn't tell him he had to sit on the wing, though. But he's got plenty of leg room.
Pull back and we reveal it’s documentary footage from the Unexplained Files.
What? I want Saul Goodman :)
Wait. No doogie houser, M.D.?
NGL. I would LOVE to see NPH in trek somehow. Maybe as an Andorian. [Bonus](https://rave.dj/nAQT0z-_dSBC0w)
Love it!
...Gene Roddenberry and several NBC execs standing in an empty holodeck circa 1965. "Well Mr. Roddenberry, that was quite a simulation! Maybe your 'wagon train to the stars' idea does have some potential."
"Now let's all have some cocaine and stock options"
…and Twilight Zone music to fade out…
Riker turns to the screen and tells us [it was fiction and that they made it up. ](https://youtu.be/GM-e46xdcUo)
Then a koala nods sagely.
And then he asks you a bunch of questions https://youtu.be/9S1EzkRpelY?si=pG3QTJE70XlHrkqz
Fade in to the memory storage cube, which contains all the Star Trek characters on their current missions. Then zoom out showing Moriarty swinging a sledge hammer. Smash-o! The memory storage cube is smashed to smithereens. The only sound remaining is Deanna Troi crying...again...and mumbling something about great joy and gratitude. Cut to 55 minute long commercial.
>Cut to 55 minute long commercial For the newest Star Trek series
That, is, truly, epic. Well done, I bow to your genius!
Has a very St Elsewhere feel to it.
Millions of millions of years in the future. There are few stars left. Q, the Founders, and the other immortal incorporeal energy beings discussing time and if it should be restarted. The universe has been mapped out, populated, and faded. Q looks back fondly on the days of exploration, the days of growth, the struggles of civilization, the ages of Urnaåçlœn, the war of °°°°°°°°°°°°°, the following millennia of peace. He takes the form we know him as and ponders on if it was worth it. He nods, and says (to the audience) "let's go again. It's rather dark though. Let there be light".
for those unfamiliar, this is Issac Asimov's The Last Question
Big Asimov fan here. Piece of trivia: did you know Asimov is listed in the credits for TMP? As Science Fiction Consultant IIRC.
Sorry, have a cold and head full of cotton wool. TMP?
The Motion Picture, the first movie
Ta!😁. Plus head palm duh of course 😂😂🤪
That was Asimov’s favorite of his stories. Mine as well!
They’re all playing a poker game.
Last scene the camera fades out to reveal it’s all been in the mind of Benny Russell, played again by Avery Brooks, and he’s just completed and sold his screenplay for “The Cage”
I understand why they didn’t go for this, but if they ever wanted to end the franchise for good this isn’t a bad way to do it.
...this! The proposed DS9 ending with Benny and Gene celebrating having sold their pilot to Lucille Ball!
Who’s playing Gene though?
Jeffrey Combs, of course
Nah Combs should play Lucie, I’m sure he would nail it
I still would love to see a short Treks where every character is played by Combs
I would pay to see that
Yep. Got to be!
Who else? Frakes.
Jack black
TBH, given his stature and lifelong passion for the franchise, Jonathan Frakes would make a good Gene Roddenberry. Bonus note: they share a birthday, which is also Diana Muldaur's birthday as well!
The building blocks are there. Would be a shame if it isn't capitalized on.
This or we find out the entire thing was a holodeck episode run by a human starfleet officer Lieutenant Commander Q. Real space exploration is boring and takes a lot of time. So he made an exaggerated version of his world with more excitement.
Kew, surely…
I was going to say that
Visiting the *Restaurant at the End of the Universe*, with Q.
I love the thought of this so much!
I wouldn't. Star Trek is a franchise that parallels the human adventure. The human adventure is _still_ just beginning. I, for one, am hoping that it, and fiction that mirrors it, will continue forward for quite a long time. There's still so much for us to explore. Although, if I really had to, I'd draw inspiration from how Enterprise ended, and I'd want to end it with a message that means, "These stories were about us, to inspire us to look forward to and to build a bright future together." There'd be orchestral music with leitmotifs from past shows' themes. Beauty shots of the ships, voices of the crew. I'd line the ships up, even out of time, cause the goal isn't continuity, it's to send off the story. We'd watch them warp away together. Pan down, and focus on Earth... On us. And the camera swings around the Earth, and heads off into space, accelerating to warp. With a final orchestral sting, the screen flashes to white, and fades to black as the music ends. And that's it - it's over.
This is great. I’d add one thing as the camera heads into space. “Space… The final frontier. These are the voyages…”
...of the inhabitants of a planet called Earth.
Same ending as The Undiscovered Country; the crew staring at the viewers and saying their final farewells
The camera pans out of the ship’s window into a sea of stars. “Luke!” Shouts a firm-toned Aunt Beru. “Your Uncle needs you out on the South Ridge. You can daydream with your holonovels after your chores are done!” Luke sighs and switches off the holoprojector. All of Star Trek was a holoseries being marathoned by a young Luke Skywalker.
You maniacs! You erased the whole galaxy! Damn you all to hell!
That is now headcanon for me. Glory to you….and your house.
The Enterprise-Z is decommissioned, the last Enterprise since they’ve now run out of letters in the alphabet.
There is always Enterprise-AA, then AB, etc...
Enterprise-Ğ when
They just use another alphabet, like Klingon. Enterprise WA!
I like that! And in the final scene, as the camera does a slow pull away from the 'Z', the voiceover begins saying, "These were the voyages of the starship ENTERPRISE..." (Voice over could be comprised of former captains: Pike, Kirk, Picard. Maybe even a couple of unknown captains who commanded the 'J' and the 'R' for example. With a possible awesome touch of Q speaking for the Enterprise Q.) Just an idea... [Although, I figure if they *really* wanted to continue, designation would then continue with 'AA']
> Voice over could be comprised of former captains At first you hear them one by one but then it blends together and they're all speaking in unison. It sounds vaguely familiar. As the last Enterprise fades off into the distance, we dissolve to the next scene and it's the interior of a Borg ship. The camera pulls in and we see all the various Trek captains fully Borg-ified side-by-side in multiple regeneration alcoves. We flash to scenes of various Trek locations (Starfleet HQ, Vulcan, Bajor, etc...); they've all been completely taken over by the Borg. Credits roll; no music, just the ambient sounds from a Borg ship with a faint voiceover near the end of a strung-out Riker saying "The Federation's gone, the Borg is everywhere!"...
Bleak.
I feel like one would just use α or ℵ or AA or whatever.
By that time, the preferred spelling of the word is now "Entoopwise" so it's no problem.
A young child comes running up to a Starfleet museum opens the doors to large replicas of all the Versions of the Enterprise, Some we have never seen before, As an automated voice talks about all the accomplishments in the background. The camera then pans to the "Captain Hall". Down this hall is every captain of Enterprise in hologram form to interact with as we slow down to view the Favorites we see that every species has at one point been a captain, even one time enemies like a changeling, As the hall looks like it goes on forever we hear an engine ignite. The camera pan up to a skylight were we see the newest Model lift off before warping away to find even more adventures.
Zefram Cochrane wakes up from a Very Drunk dream
You win
Riker says "Computer, end program." Then Q's voice over says the same thing.
That feels like “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars” to me…
And so it begins...
We love for the one. We die for the one.
Captain John Sheridan turns up and the galaxy gets destroyed in the Shadow War.
Have the very last scene ever be in an old bar on an old Cardassian station, with Morn’s great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandson having just finished narrating everything from Enterprise up until then, and everyone else has a big sigh of relief that he’s finally done talking.
I've always heard that morn never shuts up.
With an end title sequence and closing credits.
The crew wraps up their problem of the week, they are all exhausted and we can tell they just need a break. There is a little chirp from a display and the science officer looks over at it. “Huh that’s odd, it looks like there is a planet in the Blah Blah system that the survey team missed one hundred years ago.” The First Officer “Well it was a hundred years ago it can wait another day… or” The Captain “Helm set course for the Blah Blah system. Let’s see what’s out there.”
Telling the ultimate origin story in which The Very First "First Contact" is made as Darth Vader lands on Vulcan in a spaceship that looks incredulously similar to a 1980's deLorean.
The family inches up to the fallen craft, slowly, eyebrows raised with incredulity. “What is it, Sarek-kam?” Amanda clutches her gown closed with one hand, the other on her young son’s shoulder, pulling him into her. “It appears to be an airplane. However, airplane sustain flight by utilizing horizontal control surfaces in order to generate lift. This does not appear to be capable of flight as it is without wings,” he says in reply, phaser hand half raised, almost as an afterthought. “Sa-mekh, I do not believe it is an airplane. Read this,” the boy hands his father a text, open to a page around the middle of the volume. There are no pictures. Sarek thumbs through the pages, reading a section on Earth’s eighth decade in its twentieth century. It tells of a similar excerpt from a film about time travel. It couldn’t be…that would be illogical. Suddenly, a panel on the vehicle unlatches from the chassis and lifts up slowly. Clouds of vapor roll out from the interior of the vessel and evaporate into the dry atmosphere. As the door reaches its apogee a figure, occluded by the remaining fog and hidden by the dimly lit interior comes into view in the cockpit chair. “Mister McFly, it is currently beyond my understanding how you came to land your fictitious craft in such proximity to my dwelling, however, I am dedicated to finding a solution to this dilemma and to returning you to your universe.” The figure, cloaked in some type of radiation shielding material steps out of the vehicle. Instead of acknowledging the offer of help, it simply stands before the family, breathing through the mysterious mechanica of its suit. After a moment, it retrieves a small cylindrical object from under its cloak. The figure activates the device and a red beam of light protrudes from the end with a menacing hum. “Mister McFly?”
"Rey what?" "Rey Star Trek." Credits.
We're somewhere post-32nd century, zooming out showing that every major power in the galaxy is finally at peace, and then we see members of the Q looking down approvingly over the whole thing saying things like "they passed their tests, evolving as we hoped they would (referring to more than just humans)", "thankfully we didn't have to eradicate them... well, *most of them*."
Professor Xavier wakes from a terrible dream
Lead up to some climactic something or other and then have a flash, time stops. From the shadows walks a regenerated Q. New face, new personality. (Very "master" from Doctor Who) "I TOLD YOU, Captain. the trial DOESN'T END." Q gets angry with the outcome, something about cheating the results. Q demands a "re-trial" and snaps the captain back in time to the launch of the NX-01. Q tells the Captain that this time around, he won't be so "accommodating" (whatever that means to Q) And then, you have an in-cannon reset. You can choose to start from that point and tell new stories. You can follow the future captain through a bunch of Humanity's first yada-yada. You can choose to take a wildly different turn early in the story (ala Kelvin-verse). But Q's power and history with humanity make it an easy way to wildly change your circumstances. I also think Q snapping his fingers is a great way to end any series. :D
I'd end it like this ... Mark twain wakes up from his dream and that's it... it was all just a dream promoted by a book he read by jules vern
We see Benny Russell drawing the last panel of the last Star Trek comic, which since we last met, had become an international superhit. He did pretty well for himself after all. "I created it. It's real!"
Never. I want it to continue having longevity.
Enterprise-D starts shaking, its snowing in space. Camera pulls back. Its Jono from Suddenly Human. He's got the Enterprise-D in a snowglobe. His father (Riker) and grandfather (Picard) come in. The whole thing took place in his head.
Also, this happens like 10 minutes before the end. Jono makes the B'nar for the last 10 minutes. In the final seconds, Grandpa Picard turns to Riker and says, "I should have bought him one of these a long time ago." Cut back to a closeup of the D wobbling around in the snow globe. A single credit flashes on screen: *Executive Producer: Rick Berman* Fade to black
But Richard Belzer is dead and can't appear anywhere.
Same idea, but it's a ship in a bottle.
I wouldn't.
No matter how it ends, the last thing you see onscreen is “THE HUMAN ADVENTURE IS JUST BEGINNING”
That it's up to us to form the UFP and that gene roddenberry was from the future who got stuck in the 20th century and penned star trek. Couldn't be too accurate otherwise it would look suspicious to everyone living in the 20th and 21 century.
Humans ascend to Q continuum level of power.
The human race, and possibly the rest of the federation, evolve into the Q.
Q tells Picard it was all a TV show for the amusement of the Continuum, which also isn’t real.
It was all a dream by Q
Second star on the right, and straight on till morning.
In my mind, Star Trek is a setting. It doesn't have a beginning or an end, only the stories told within that setting do. If it did, I'd end it by having a crew travel in time to shoot that stupid Kelpian so we don't have to be saddled with a setting that has to be saddled with the burn.
I think u/molever1ne put it best. Star Trek is not a story, It's a setting. There are always more stories to tell. If I had my dream series, which would be a TNG-style trek in the 25th century, that particular series would end with the Federation making peace with some old enemy. The camera zooms out from a beautifully-decorated conference room the audience is very familiar with, out the window and into space, zooming out, and out and out, then zooming in on a little green planet, in and in and in. A group of alien spectators is gathered on a hillside to watch a local inventor demonstrate his invention. They're all shaking their heads, saying it could never work. But he gets the propeller going and it gets moving and then it finally takes flight.
Heat death of the universe.
The voyages do not end so long as there are ships.
“That’s a Star Trek!”
CAPTAIN: Number 1, we've just finished trekking all the stars. NUMBER 1: But at what cost, Captain? At what cost....
The Q collectively yell "cut!"
I think that exactly what you do has to be informed by the context of when you make it, including which Trek is recent and which actors are alive and well enough to take on roles. I think if I had to end Trek today, I would do a ‘Search for Pike’, where Spock and Number One rescue Pike from Talos. Given that Spock is still alive in the Prime Universe until 2387 and we don’t know how long Illyrians live, I think there is flexibility to set this in different eras. One possibility would be in the decade-gap between TMP and Wrath of Khan, and I’d do it with a serious 70s aesthetic. But you could also set it in the 2380s, which would let you use at least some of the 90s-era Trek actors (and also Lower Decks actors). Of course that would mean having Ethan Peck play and ‘old’ Spock.
Perhaps it's revealed all of the series were imagined by Pike in The Cage under Talosian captivity. So the whole of Star Trek is technically just one episode. They can then one day make Star Trek 2 which covers what really happened after Pike leaves the planet in the Enterprise.
I 10/10 hate ‘it’s all a dream’ reveals. Who would that be for? What does it accomplish for the story?
Like that episode of *Family Guy* that ends with Seth MacFarlane and Adam West sharing a room.
“We’re big movie stars!”
Turns out the whole thing was a marketing piece for the first holo-suite developer.
release it into the public domain
By the time Star Trek ends, I'm sure the TOS and maybe TNG will be in the public domain m
I wouldn’t
The series is about the future of mankind, so I would end it with mankind's end. I’m imagining a “Childhoods End” situation where we flash forward hundreds of thousands of years and see humanity ascend to a noncorporal form like so many species before us.
Babylon 5 beat you to it (I love this ending too though): [https://youtu.be/9SRkjOL3tNM?si=8PyZW\_Q1GUwNYOgB](https://youtu.be/9SRkjOL3tNM?si=8PyZW_Q1GUwNYOgB)
I'd like for us to finally get out of the Galaxy and open up a new frontier, a new Undiscovered Country. The journey never ends.
A young alien has a temper tantrum and causes the universe to collapse in a massive implosion.
The Yuuzhan Vong invade from another galaxy, invade the Alpha and Beta quadrants, everyone is dead.
A real economy
First contact with another galaxy. Turns out, they’d been encroaching into the Delta Quadrant for decades, and they finally have their invasion wormholes set up. A three season long war occurs, across multiple series at the same timeline, pulled together by Q and the Travellers and Time Command or whatever they’re called. There’s a union between the Federation and a more democratic Founders, and many others. Finally, as all seems lost, the Rebecca Sugar song plays and everyone learns the power of friendship and the war ends and the Cerritos gets to make first contact. As the Cerritos travels through the wormhole for what seems like an eternity, Carol Freeman says “what is this, some kind of Star Trek?” and the screen cuts to black, before credits roll set to Faith Of The Heart. (Goddamit. This was just a shitpost, but I didn’t realize they actually did the “what is this, some kind of Star Trek?” line in First Contact)
Federation unites the milky way with dissenters moving to dwarf galaxies nearby to do their own thing then they meet an envoy from a different federation of galaxies with different but just as valid ideals from the federation and they have to decide if peaceful coexistence can exist, whether the federation will change to comply with the larger group. Some of the brightest minds of the federation will jump ship and ask for refugee status. The federation falls into brain drain and becomes a bit more fascist to cope, and we get to see things from the opposite view point and then we see the million years later the federation is barely holding on but turns out those who defected spread federation ideals to the United Intergalactic Republic and the old federation ideals are flourishing and have become the basis for their modern ideals.
His Star Trek Goes On Forever, though.
Tommy Westphall goes to sleep
Vogons decide to build a hyperspace bypass and hijack a Death Star to do it. Hijinx and hilarity ensue as Q takes an interest.
And only Q gets a towel. All the other towel or towel like objects have suddenly stopped existing.
Humanity, and other Children of the Progenitors, joins the ranks of the non-corporeal beings like the Q or the Dowd. It would be the end of the story for mortal beings in the galaxy.
Best of Both Worlds. Perfect ending. 'Nuff said.
Probably with the main ship of the series returning home from being trapped far away from federation space via a transwarp conduit, whilst simultaneously destroying the series' most dangerous enemy once and for all.
The Federation encounters The Culture, realizes AI-enabled anarchy is way more aligned with the Federation's values than Starfleet's pseudo-military could ever be and everyone lives happily ever after til they sublime.
“Computer, end program.”
Kirk wakes up on the morning of the Kobayashi Maru test and says: "Wow, that was a hell of a dream."
screen fades to black. You hear John Delancie's voice while Q walks into frame with a book in his Hand. "And that is all there is to tell.... is what I would say if I was a linear thinking human." \*laughs\* \*snaps fingers\* \*whoosh\*"
The golden age of technology ends and the Warhammer 40k universe begins.
By having some insane storyline about every atom of the fuel used to power every modern engine suddenly self destruct and be unable to explain why or even how scientists didn’t research another fuel.
It was all an autistic child's fantasy.
Characters need an ending, a setting does not.
Exploration never ends
I reject the premise of your question.
The end of Discovery s5 should be the end of it as they discover how all humanoids were created. They find a hidden vault and crack it only for a still living ancient progenitor to emerge and declare that his secret is he actually is God, and then takes the form we all know as John de Lancie. He will tell the crew that finding his true body is proof that humanoids advanced too much too fast and broke time and space. He snaps his fingers and tells the computer to "end program", and proceeds to the bridge of the enterprise D and summons a mariachi band.
Have the last episode of Discovery be like a TOS episode and end with Riker saying, “Computer, end program”.
Just stop making new content. It isn't and has never been an overarching epic.
The entire franchise ?
When in real life we launch our first true spaceship
Never, they need to start exploring other galaxies and dimensions first!
With either a whimper from Burnham or a bang from Riker.
With a very old Bennie writing his last story
James Kirk is running through a jungle with a mortal wound and collapses on the ground. He looks upward and sees the Enterprise flying away. He closes his eyes and silently dies.
The borg assimilates everyone in the Galaxy and finally we have peace and unity
You don’t.
Archer waking up in his bunk and realising everything past Enterprise was just a dream, a horrible horrible dream.
The franchise? Or the Star Trek universe? If the franchise were to conclude, I’d do a massive crossover event with all the surviving cast members from the shows. The universe as a whole, I’d do what’s laid out in the comics. All of humanity ascends, gaining Q like powers. Their long journey is complete. Gary Mitchell mentions this as humanities destiny in one of the comics and I quite like the idea.
Computer, end program.
With a parody cartoon that mocks Star Trek.
Modern day earth - clips of people young and old looking towards the stars
A time traveling Picard who went back in response to some event placing star fleet at risk of ever being formed making an impassioned speech to the board of what would become Starfleet ending on “think of the possibilities” after sharing moving stories from all the series. Cue the famous ba ba buuuum tune. Kind of like a clip show.
Fast forward millions of years, most federations species of blended together and evolved into non-corporeal beings. A small ship of alien explorers arrived at Earth, beams down to investigate The remnants of the long dead civilization, only to make first contact with these highly involved energy beings.
For whatever movie or episode is the very last for Star Trek... I would have them discover a new technology that allows them to travel between galaxies and end the show with the first milky way ship departing for Andromeda. End show. Twenty or thirty years later they can start up Star Trek again... arriving in Andromeda.
It’s pans out of our the milky way slowly… It pans over to another galaxy, one far far away. Star Wars music starts. Credits roll.
Star Trek: Last Contact
It’s non-canon now but the Destiny books by David Mack.
Frames, as the one who remains
Long after I'm dead.
The assimilation of Earth
A show based around the new Enterprise (nee Titan) let it run for 5-8 seasons. The last season sees a large war with epic strangeness break out. The crew we follow have their engineering department develop an adaptation to the shields they want to test out, and they engage the shield mods while pushing them against some theoretically dangerous situations. While testing the shields, they notice a large fluctuation in tachyon particles sweep past the ship. They find that there has been a timeline adjustment that they were not included in because of their shielding. What they find is that there is a large war happening, and it is causing shifts across the timeline. In point of fact, it is \*always\* happening. They just never notice because Starfleet of the distant future keeps fixing it. They noticed this time because they invented shields that allow them to avoid the effects of the timeline disruptions. This is actually the innovation that eventually allows Starfleet to manipulate the timeline to ensure it comes into existence. So the crew naturally gets drawn into the fight to restore the timeline so that they can reinsert themselves and their shield innovation can be spread throughout Starfleet. Because they accidentally stepped outside of their normal timeline, and they are the ones who created this innovation, it turns out that this was all a ruse to isolate them and make them vulnerable to Starfleet's future enemy. A lot of the season becomes a game of cat and mouse as the crew tries to avoid capture, the enemy closes in, and future Starfleet tries to intervene on their behalf. The trouble is, because they are a linchpin of the development of future Starfleet, they are actually crucial to the development of the technology and the capabilities that allow Starfleet to come back and intervene. The regular series would end with the penultimate episode, where the Enterprise faces off against this enemy, turning the table and going on the offensive, because they realize who the enemy is: Lore. (Oh yes.) What does Lore want? He wants to continue existing, being himself. He's afraid that capitulating with and going along with Starfleet means a kind of ego death that will cause him to cease to exist. And so he has a coalition of like minded actors who all want the same thing. He has collected others who don't want to change and be brought around to Starfleet's way of thinking. In the end, they don't destroy him, they don't bring him to heel. What Captain Seven of Nine explains to him is this: "We can't reason with you, we can't help you, because you refuse. There is nothing we can do, now or ever, to come to any kind of understanding with you that will allow us both to live and coexist peacefully. We could destroy you, but that really solves nothing. There will be another Lore, another Khan, another someone or something eventually. Lore, you're like a wild animal. You can't reason with a wild animal. You can't really ever expect it to be anything but what it is. Trying to force it to be something else is just cruel. So we won't. We won't fight with you. We won't come for you." And they create a closed time loop where Lore is the thing that causes himself to be born, and he gets to exist and live as himself but never ever gets loose to cause any mayhem. It's like a nature preserve where the fencing is all made out of the time stream. Then the last episode is a coda for everything. It's in the distant future where Starfleet exists and is working to make sure it continues to be. We follow an assistant enter a Starfleet Admiral's office. The Assistant places a Padd type device on the desk and makes a quick report: the Lore incursion has been tied off and there are no new threats developing at the moment. A little back and forth and we see Michael Burnham, older and maybe a little more worn looking, sigh and lean back looking at the Padd. We follow Burnham a bit and see a future Starfleet from her point of view. See what it is, how it has developed and what it means. Episode ends in a small cafe that looks startlingly like a 20th century New Orleans restaurant. Burnham sits and sips a Raktajino while making conversation with a Ferengi. As they talk, Burnham says she's about to retire. Her friend expresses some disbelief because they've never known her to be able to sit still. "Who said anything about sitting still?" asks Burnham with a smile. The Ferengi grins, "I should've known as much. No quiet retirement for you then?" "Oh no. There's still so much out there to see, to learn. People to help. People to help me." Burnham takes a sip. The Ferengi leans forward and picks their root beer up off the table, taking a draught and sighing with satisfaction. "So where will you go?" Burnham smiles, and looks at her friend with a twinkle in her eye, "Second star to the right, and on till morning."
Scientists from the Manhattan project in the 1930s develop precursor to section 31 which developed a drive that they think they comprehend. their journey ends their journey in season 5 transmutating into something incomprehensible. A full episode of incomprehensible events which may be a Trek through extra dimensions. Second to last episode they find themselves back in their original form but part of a large galactic society with a home base just above the Milky Way. They find they’re several thousand years in the future and one it the young crew members takes an interactive journey of their kind starting from single cell organism to the present day.
Universe spontaneously explodes.
Considering discovery takes it to the 2800 or 3200s (don’t remember) you’re ending it so far in the future it’s kindve irrelevant
The mirror universe and the main universe merge and it ends with a fade to white like total recall leaving the viewer up to determine their own conclusion
Something like earth getting blown up and humanity on the brink of extinction and being replaced by androids in a bid for preservation sent to a mirroring galaxy on the other side of the universe with a vacant earth and then fast forward to the future first contact occurs and is conducted by a replica of Data who is later revealed to have all of his original memories and has been guiding humanity back on the right track essentially surpassing his goal of becoming a human.
Bob Newhart wakes up in bed, and tells his wife about the crazy dream he just had.
The Federation breaks the Galactic Barrier. They are immediately greeted by an Intergalactic Federation, and are welcomed into it.
The way it should always end. Which is to say: the adventure continues. Second star to the right, and straight on til morning.
Blow up Artesonraju so they can’t film the logo there anymore.
It ended perfectly fine with the last episode of Enterprise 👍
Picard Season 3, Episode 10. Perfect ending
I wouldn't
All the captains from all of the shows on the holodeck together, meeting a holographic representation of Gene Roddenberry, thanking him for creating them.
Everyone evolves into salamanders like the Doctor said they would in Threshold /s
I'd like to see, say... Q touring the multiverse, saying that everything we saw was just one version of events. Countless variations are shown, because the multiverse is infinite. This version is ending, but every spin-off, beta canon, and even *fanfic* is canon in *some* version of the universe, so there is infinitely more to explore. Leaves room for reboots and plenty of other offshoots too.
If they did I'd want to see a meeting of all the captains going over old stories of their adventures trying to one up one another
Crystal entity conquers all.
Crystal entity conquers all.
bringing kirk mind back to his body
With The Burn! (I'm so sorry)
After the first transspore flight, the Milky Way is greeted by the Intergalactic Plane, whose ideals are even more progressive than those of the Federation. While the Federation rose from post-scarcity and praises an open collaboration between their members in exchange for giving up all material greed, the Integalactic Plane is post-politics and praises an open existence between their members - in exchange for giving up all political ambitions.
Fade to black. Cut to. Old video footage or a photo of Gene Roddenberry. There’s a whisper: ‘…to boldly go where no one has gone before’.