Let’s face it – Star Trek: The Original Series season finales always missed the mark

Star Trek: The Original Series kicked off a still ongoing cultural phenomenon centered around space operas. However, despite its ever-increasing popularity as a legacy show, Star Trek: The Original Series didn't actually feature the bombastic and immersive season finales that we are accustomed to watching today in the context of contemporary shows.

All of the first three seasons of Star Trek featured rather lacklustre and flat finale episodes, which almost always missed the mark, with the third season finale proving to be an abrupt and disappointing venture.

Here we take a look at some of the reasons that might have made the finale episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series unremarkable.

Star Trek: The Original Series first aired in a time much different from our own

When Star Trek made its television debut back in the 1960s, the domain of scripted television programming was much different from what we're used to watching now. Back then, shows placed the highest importance on developing standalone episodes, which would consist mostly of self-contained storylines and plots. This meant there was no focus on developing overarching narratives that would gradually simmer and develop over multiple episodes or seasons.

Similarly, this is also the reason why the three-season finales of TOS felt unremarkable since they were written as one-off episodes and not as the narrative culmination of the preceding season. Much has changed since then, and we are now accustomed to expecting an immersive and grand finale episode from our favorite shows, hence the mismatch.

Production Designers open up about Star Trek: The Original Series

Part of the reason that made Star Trek so engaging and popular back in the day was its stunning portrayal of far-away worlds in distant space and the idea of interstellar travel. The scenes and episodes were masterfully designed, and the backdrop was developed only after careful consideration and planning.

A remastered Blu-Ray version of TOS was released back in 2021, and it further testified to the sheer brilliance of the production designers, Michael and Denise Okuda. Speaking in an interview with ScreenRant, the duo opened up about the enduring relevance and popularity of the show even after all these years. Denise Okuda remarked:

"It always boils down to story and character. No matter what the window dressing is, it always boils down to story and character. The Original Series is timeless. It tells sweeping stories, it has amazing characters who have a chemistry that transcends years, and I think that's what really keeps it fresh, even 55 years later."

Similarly, Michael Okuda added:

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"Gene Roddenberry went to extraordinary lengths to bring a sense of wonder into the show. He reached out to a lot of accomplished science fiction writers, people like Sam Peebles, Jerome Bixby, Richard Matheson, Ted Sturgeon, and, of course, Harlan Ellison. They brought an extraordinary vision to the show. But one thing that Roddenberry brought to the show was his desire to show a better tomorrow. To show that if we work together, if we're smart, if we're compassionate, we can reach for the stars and tomorrow can be a better place."

Star Wars: The Original Series is available for streaming on Netflix.

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