Marina Sirtis Slams Star Trek: Enterprise Finale Appearance

Marina Sirtis doesn’t look back fondly on her guest appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise‘s series finale. Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes portrayed Counselor Deanna Troi and Commander Will Riker, respectively, and Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s guest stars were the focus of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s controversial series finale, “These Are The Voyages…”

Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled after four seasons on United Paramount Network (UPN) in 2005. Executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga imported Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes as Troi and Riker to honor Berman’s 17-year run overseeing Star Trek and to link Enterprise to the popular Star Trek: The Next Generation. This backfired in epic fashion, and Enterprise‘s finale remains reviled over 20 years later.

Marina Sirtis appeared on The Show People Podcast where host Andrew Keates asked about the different times Sirtis played Troi in other Star Trek series. After talking about how she guested on Star Trek: Voyager, Marina mocked her and Jonathan Frakes’ appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise’s finale, saying it went down “like a cup of hot sick.” Read Sirtis’ quote and watch the clip below:

Marina Sirtis: “Well, the first time they asked me to do Voyager, I said no. Then the second time they asked me to do Voyager, before I could say no, they said, ‘You’ll be acting with Bob Picardo,’ who I adore. And I went ‘Oh, all right.’ Bob Picardo and Dwight Schulz, who I adore if we don’t talk politics…

Then they asked me and Jonathan to do the last episode of Enterprise…”

Andrew Keates: “That went down quite well, didn’t it?”

Marina Sirtis: “Like a cup of hot sick. Because, really, it was a TNG episode, ‘cause we were real and they were holograms… But yeah, the Enterprise cast were not happy that we were there at all…

Mind you, there’s one thing… I was there on the first day of TNG, and Jonathan and I were the last shot of Enterprise and then the lights went out. So I was there at the beginning, and I was there at the end.”

As Marina Sirtis pointed out, the cast of Star Trek: Enterprise, including series lead Scott Bakula, were upset that Enterprise‘s finale was, essentially, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. “These Are The Voyages…” was really a continuation of TNG season 7’s episode, “The Pegasus,” with Enterprise‘s characters relegated to holograms in their own final episode.

Jonathan Frakes bore this out, telling Variety that “the fans didn’t want to see us,” and calling Scott Bakula “a mensch” for his professionalism about Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s interlopers. Frakes says Rick Berman and Brannon Braga intended TNG in Enterprise‘s finale as “a Valentine to the fans,” but it ended up as the exact opposite.

However, Marina Sirtis does have a feather in her cap by appearing as Counselor Troi in the series premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. Marina can say with pride that Troi was part of the beginning and the end of the golden era of Star Trek from 1987-2005 that began with Gene Roddenberry and was continued by Rick Berman.

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have acknowledged the mistake they made with Star Trek: Enterprise‘s finale on The D-Con Chamber podcast hosted by Enterprise actors Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating. In Berman and Braga’s mea culpa, they said that they never intended to disrespect Enterprise, and they understand why the cast and fans were upset by “These Are The Voyages…” being about Riker and Troi.

Star Trek: Enterprise was low-rated and not popular with fans during its broadcast run on UPN, and its 2005 cancellation ended the Star Trek TV franchise for 12 years. Thanks to streaming, fans have reassessed and gained a greater appreciation for Star Trek: Enterprise in recent years. Yet this hasn’t meant newfound love for “These Are The Voyages…” from Star Trek fans… or Marina Sirtis.