With this episode, Captain James T. Kirk becomes the first character to appear or be mentioned in every Star Trek series that had aired up to that point.
Listed Trivia:
- Content Leak: Several plot points were leaked onto Star Trek fan forums in the weeks leading up to the finale, including Trip's death. The leaker said they were so disappointed by the finale that they decided to spoil it in order to spite Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. The leaker's identity was never established.
- Creator Backlash: A lot of cast members were appalled at the series finale, which rather than allowing Enterprise to end on its own terms, turned it into a Star Trek: The Next Generation story. By all accounts no one liked this story:
- Speaking at the 2007 Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, Brannon Braga admitted he had "regrets" about this episode. He explained that he and Rick Berman were attempting to "send a valentine to all the Star Trek shows," and that "Enterprise just happened to be the show on at the time." He believed the episode "had some great stuff in it" and that "it was a cool concept," but overall, however, he found it to be "languid" and "not a complete success."
- In response to fan criticisms, Manny Coto stated that he personally considered this episode to be a coda rather than the true finale of the series. Both he and fellow series producer Mike Sussman consider "Demons" and "Terra Prime" that precede this installment to be the actual finale.
- In 2008, Braga, recalling the episode and its reaction stated, "I don't think it's ever going to be a beloved episode". Similarly, Berman stated in 2011 that the episode was a failure and claimed that he never would have produced it if he had known what the reaction to it would be.
- At a 2009 Star Trek convention, Jonathan Frakes simply said this episode "stinks".
- John Billingsley took a more neutral position. In a 2006 interview, he commented "I wasn't wild about the last episode, but as is often the case I think probably more is made of these things than should be. It, arguably, should have been more about our stories than The Next Generation's cast, and I think people who were a little put out perhaps had a point." He added, "It seemed to me from things that I've read or heard that people's reactions were a little over the top. I also think they were on some level trying to find a way to say goodbye, or at least goodbye for now, to the entire franchise, and to that extent I could understand what the thought process was in wanting to bring in some of the Next Gen characters."
- In an interview with The Toronto Star in 2005, Jolene Blalock states that she doesn't "know where to begin with that one...the final episode is...appalling."
- Appearing on the TrekTrak show at DragonCon where LeVar Burton and Marina Sirtis were interviewed, the latter stated "Personally I thought it was a good episode; I just didn't think it was a good last episode".
- In 2013, eight years after the airing of this episode, Braga apologized to the entire cast for it and said he thought Berman and himself made a "narcissistic move" in trying to make the episode a "valentine" to Star Trek. He also called it "a crappy episode".
- Braga dined even further on ashes, when he stated at the 2014 VegasCon, "The final episode of Enterprise was an idiotic move on my part. I thought it would be cool to do a valentine to all of Star Trek. To me there was something really post-modern about the idea of saying this was an episode of Next Generation you have never seen – where they go on the holodeck with their heroes aboard Enterprise. It sounded good in my head – what ended up airing was really bad and not successful completely. It should have been Enterprise's finale – it was a misstep," having added, "The Enterprise actors? They hated it. It was the only time Scott Bakula got pissed off at me".
- Voice-Only Cameo: Data only appears via voice cameo due to Brent Spiner not wanting to play the character any more on account of his advancing age (at least until Star Trek: Picard where, thanks to advancements in Digital De-Aging, he was able to physically play Data again).
- What Could Have Been: The episode's teleplay ended with the Enterprise-D flying off into the asteroid field. Producer Mike Sussman, likely sensing that this wouldn't go down well with the fans, instead suggested ending the episode with a montage of that ship, the NCC-1701 and the NX-01, with parts of the "Space, the final frontier..." monologue performed by their respective captains.
