Deep Space Nine - The Final Chapter

[Snowman37]

Back when DS9 was ending in the spring of 1999, the final ten episodes were advertised as The Final Chapter. Does anyone remember this? The final episodes were...

7-17 Penumbra
7-18 ‘Til Death Do Us Part
7-19 Strange Bedfellows
7-20 The Changing Face of Evil
7-21 When It Rains…
7-22 Tacking Into the Wind
7-23 Extreme Measures
7-24 The Dogs of War
7-25 What You Leave Behind (feature length)

I really liked what the producers did here. Instead of a one-hour or two-hour finale, the show went into full serial mode for nearly half the season. So much happened here in these final episodes. The only other show I can think of that went out with a multi-episode bang was Roswell with it's final seven episodes.

[Crazedwraith]

It was a decent concept. The execution was not as good as it could have been. If you read through memory alpha stuff for the final chapter episodes you get the impression they pulled eveything together very haphazardly at the last second. The went too far, too early in the arc with Dukat for example and then he had sit around playing house with Kai Winn for a few episodes.

And of course they ran out of money and had to resort to a sappy clip show for part of 'What You Leave Behind'.


Still it would have been nice if some other shows had followed suit. Like Voyager. They could have back to earth at the half way point of season 7 and then spent the last several episodes actually dealing with that idea. Issues with the federation wanting to arrest the maquis. Seven and the other borg kid's position. That sort of thing.

[Snowman37]

It was a decent concept. The execution was not as good as it could have been. If you read through memory alpha stuff for the final chapter episodes you get the impression they pulled eveything together very haphazardly at the last second. The went too far, too early in the arc with Dukat for example and then he had sit around playing house with Kai Winn for a few episodes.

Of coarse they did, the producers/writers admitted that they were just making it up as they go. That's show business! It wasn't until The Final Chapter that they started to plan ahead and try and close everything out. As for Dukat spending several episodes with Kai Winn, I don't think this happened too early. If anything, this built up a lot of tension and suspense for the audience making the big pay off in the finale all the more fun to see.

And of course they ran out of money and had to resort to a sappy clip show for part of 'What You Leave Behind'.

I don't think this was done for budgetary reasons. Was it not done for dramatic effect, to remind the audience that this is a final goodbye, the last time we'd see them all together?

Still it would have been nice if some other shows had followed suit. Like Voyager. They could have back to earth at the half way point of season 7 and then spent the last several episodes actually dealing with that idea. Issues with the federation wanting to arrest the maquis. Seven and the other borg kid's position. That sort of thing.

I think this would have been very anti-climactic. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to Voyager returning to Earth earlier. The ship could have returned to Earth, spent three or four episodes dealing with the aftermath, and then have some kind of final showdown with the Borg in the finale. As it stands, I think the show ended fine. Really, I think one two-hour episode was more than enough to end the show given how episodic it was.

[Crazedwraith]

Of coarse they did, the producers/writers admitted that they were just making it up as they go. That's show business! It wasn't until The Final Chapter that they started to plan ahead and try and close everything out. As for Dukat spending several episodes with Kai Winn, I don't think this happened too early. If anything, this built up a lot of tension and suspense for the audience making the big pay off in the finale all the more fun to see.

I meant even more so than usual. As in they were changing things and mucking up future episodes as they were filming them. The Dukat thing is something the writer's acknowledged themselves as well. Again the behind the scenes sections on memory alpha has a wealth of information on the process that went into the final chapter.

I don't think this was done for budgetary reasons. Was it not done for dramatic effect, to remind the audience that this is a final goodbye, the last time we'd see them all together?

I'd heard it was budget reasons, though I can't cite a decent source. In either case, I found it rather overwrought and sappy than genuine emotion myself.

I think this would have been very anti-climactic. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to Voyager returning to Earth earlier. The ship could have returned to Earth, spent three or four episodes dealing with the aftermath, and then have some kind of final showdown with the Borg in the finale. As it stands, I think the show ended fine. Really, I think one two-hour episode was more than enough to end the show given how episodic it was.

That does sound like something they could have done. And you're right, there's no real reason for VGR to become more more arc based all of a sudden.

[blueray]

I personally love how DS9 ended! the writers did a great job tieing up loose ends and the last ten episodes were great since there were multiple stories going on at once. and I personally liked the clip show in the finale, it really showed how much the characters had changed and what moments/relationships really effected them (of course for me, I'd watch the show for the first time less than a year ago, so it was all fresh in my mind). my only complaint really is that they couldn't use Judzia for Worf's part, but that was an actor issue.

as for voyager, I agree that they needed another episode or two to show the aftermath of what happened when they returned to earth.

[tlw]

Still it would have been nice if some other shows had followed suit. Like Voyager. They could have back to earth at the half way point of season 7 and then spent the last several episodes actually dealing with that idea. Issues with the federation wanting to arrest the maquis. Seven and the other borg kid's position. That sort of thing.

So many things were left un resolved with Voyager. The 2 you mentioned. And I would have liked to have seen if Lt. Paris reconciled with his father.

[The Urban Spaceman]

Back when DS9 was ending in the spring of 1999, the final ten episodes were advertised as The Final Chapter. Does anyone remember this?

No, I suspect it was advertised differently here. Certainly, I never saw anything on the TV channel on which it aired that referred or alluded to "The Final Chapter".

[blueray]

So many things were left un resolved with Voyager. The 2 you mentioned. And I would have liked to have seen if Lt. Paris reconciled with his father.

I remember seeing a youtube video of Tom's father saying hes proud of him, I believe it was from pathfinder (I'm not sure if this scene was real or not, since I never actually saw all that episode).

[tlw]

I remember seeing a youtube video of Tom's father saying hes proud of him, I believe it was from pathfinder (I'm not sure if this scene was real or not, since I never actually saw all that episode).

Yes it was from Pathfinder. Maybe because he was so shocked or because there was no more time. Tom didn't answer him. And maybe it's just me, but in Endgame it seemed like he was trying to avoid looking at his dad on the viewscreen. When Admiral Paris looked right at him.