Why Jonathan Frakes' Star Trek: Enterprise Return Made Scott Bakula 'Pissed'

The "Star Trek: Enterprise" finale is a polarizing topic among fans of the franchise, with the general criticism being that it's essentially an unwarranted episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The outing sees Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) return to relive the past, paving the way for some callbacks to the pair's peak "Star Trek" years. Despite being intended as a tribute to the history of "Star Trek," however, the finale apparently angered "Enterprise" mainstay Scott Bakula.

In an interview for the book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek," "Enterprise" co-creator Brannon Braga said Bakula was always a sweetheart to work with, but this episode made him voice his frustrations. "He was p***ed that we were doing an episode that really wasn't an Enterprise episode, but was a Next Gen episode. Everyone, including the fans of the show, felt the same way."

Interestingly, Bakula wasn't the only person who was upset about the spotlight being stolen from the "Enterprise" crew. Frakes has also admitted that it was a bad idea from the get-go, echoing the view of many others.

Jonathan Frakes has shared his true feelings about "Star Trek: Enterprise's" controversial finale before, noting that the show's fans weren't interested in reliving other series' pasts. However, as he explained in the aforementioned oral history book, he also felt bad about taking the shine away from the series' main stars. In fact, the situation made him uncomfortable, and he also empathized with Scott Bakula's concerns.

"He was notably generous and civil and thoughtful, and I thought inside he's got to be thinking, "What the f**k are you guys doing? My show's already been canceled, and you guys are coming here to try to close it out?" I would have been so insulted. I didn't think that was our finest hour."

As Frakes mentioned, "Enterprise" was canceled after four seasons, whereas every prior "Star Trek" series received seven installments. As such, the show's cast probably wanted to say goodbye on their own terms. In retrospect, even co-creator Brannan Braga has admitted the final episode's story was a mistake. "It was sweet, and it had a nice little ending with the ships from Star Trek, and our heart was in the right place, but we should have just done a great Enterprise finale and called it a day."