Terra Prime was great, and would have been an excellent finale on its own.
Liberator's complaint about the anti-comet array seems rather silly, because the phasors on the NX-01 managed to do the same damage as the array did when they were overloaded. (grumbles about lack of overloaded cannon use since then...) With the technology shown in the show, the array device makes sense. Cotto & co. are pretty competent in this regard.
The episode's ending with Archer's speech, tying up the relations between most characters, etc. was a wonerful tie-up.
All of the Voyages on the other hand, seemed rather unecessary.
My problems aren't with the overall concept, but the execution.
A 'holodeck adventure' showing the ship was something sort of needed to give a point of view. However, both Frakes and Sertis don't look how they did ten years ago. Setting the episode on Riker's starship would have been a better move.
Similarly, it would have been nice if the NX-01 was the start of the "five year mission" setup. The NX-01 is on its second such mission. Have Tripp become captain, a few others gain promotions and reassignments, but all come back together for Enterprise's decommission. Archer takes on his old role as Tripp lets him be an honorary captain, etc.
It'd make sense if Archer became one of the ambassadors for Earth and was traveling planet to planet selling this idea of the Federation, and it conveniently allows for this final get-together.
The event with Shren seemed also pointless. Tying it in with the politics of the time would have been better. Such as Shren crossing the Orion Syndicate while negotiating a trade agreement and they kidnapped his family. Enterprise is the nearest ship and is sent there. It seems odd how they handled Shren when it seemed that he was going to become a diplomat, etc. Having it be a "high stakes" thing that could effect the charter would make it better.
Then there could have been a short space battle with the Orions catching up with the NX-01, boarding, and then Tripp's sacrifice to save Archer.
Also, having Reid not on the ship but perhaps one of the higher ranking members of Section 31, and being the person to mention the issue with Shren would have worked. It would have given his character a lot of growth, especially since he was "in the game" again after Terra Prime.
Similarly, Hoshi might have been given a promotion in the time to being a higher up in Starfleet's linguistics. Being along with Archer on his recent mission.
Finally, the 'founding the Federation' scene was quite odd. Terra Prime dealt with the coalition treaties, yet this episode had a similar thing going on. They seemed to be careful to say that this wasn't the Federation Charter being signed but something that led to it... yet the Federation logo was on the wall of the place.
I would have set the episode perhaps 11 years after Terra Prime, and made it the federation's founding. Have Archer mention the Earth-Romulan war, Tripp becoming decorated due to his unconventional tactics using the older NX class ships, etc.
Then toss in at the final scene the NX-01 flying into drydock over Earth (when Archer is saying the "...and boldly go where no man has gone before.") and see the camera pan to a Daedalus that goes to warp.
...and if Archer is to become a footnote in history, why was he at such an important speech? It'd make better sense if his speech in the episode 'Terra Prime' was his big epic one. But overshadowed by the Federation Charter where he may have been just one of many guest speakers.
But the moral of the story is that Berman and Braga should never be allowed to write ever again. Under penalty of death
Of course what would be wonderful is having a fifth season of Enterprise (written by the same folks as season 4) start with:
The Ent D flies by, and the shot zooms into the bridge. You see the various crew members working, and standing with them is a Romulan in a TNG uniform along with one of the Sphere Builders.
With some rough lines of dialog such as:
"Unless you destroy the humans, this may well be what occurs."
"The Earthers have already prevented our expansion into Andorian and Tellerite space. We need no additional reasons to war with them. Why do you show me this?"
"Because when the time is right senator, you will need allies."
The bridge then dissolves into a crude holodeck, and then the builder's hologram vanishes.
The senator then walks out through a door where Remans, etc. can be seen.
Cue to titles, and a season 5 opening two parter that deals more with events leading to the Earth-Romulan war.
That way it's a bit of a slap in B&B's face, and the immediate future of the series can be rewritten to a better story arc.
