What was the purpose of what happened to Trip in the last episode?

Question

Personally, Trip was my favourite character in Star Trek: Enterprise and I really didn't like it when

his unfortunate death (or say, suicide)

was shown in the last episode.

I want to know why the directors/writers decided this was necessary? It wasn't a demand of the story. They went through numerous more dangerous situations before. This was a very simple one which could be solved very easily (like he could secretly alert T'Pol with a button saying it's a security protocol).

Another thing:

It wasn't really necessary to kill one of the main characters. If it was, why Trip? Why did the directors want to show this unnecessary death?

Answer 1

According to showrunner Brannon Braga, the goal was to evoke an emotional impact with fans of the show, especially given that they knew (ahead of time) that the show wasn't being renewed for a fifth season.

It was the final episode, we knew the series was over and we could do anything we wanted. Trip was always my favorite character on the show and I wanted to…. I just wanted to kill him. I can't give you a coherent response. We wanted to do something that had emotional impact and had consequences which is something we were never allowed to do.

_{^{VegasCon 07 – Braga Reflects On A Life With Trek}}

For the record, he's repented his sins

I'll admit killing Trip probably wasn't a great idea.

_{^{Via Twitter}}

And Rick Berman has confirmed that had the show been continued, Trip wouldn't have been killed off.

I've read a lot of the criticisms and I understand how some people feel, but [Braga] and I spent a lot of time coming up with the idea and a somewhat, I would say, unique ending to a series, especially when you're ending it prematurely," said Berman. He added that the decision to kill off Tucker was made with the expectation that the show was not coming back for a fifth season, and that if it had been, that element would likely have been changed: "We would have been totally shocked if the show had been picked up [for Season 5], and if it had we probably would have made changes to the final episode."

_{^{Berman Bothered By 'These Are the Voyages...' Criticism}}

Answer 2

Out-of-universe, I would say it was to prevent he and T'pol from eventually getting together and Spock having an older hybrid Cousin Elizabeth. The experience of meeting and losing Elizabeth was very likely to bring Trip and T'Pol back together. And Phlox actually told them Elizabeth's genetic flaws were due to a bad cloning job, not Human-Vulcan incompatibility. T'Pol would not leave her prime reproductive years until long after Trip was an old man, so it would be...logical for them to find a competent set of geneticists, and make another Elizabeth. Which would toss canon in the trash, as Spock was meant to be the first successful Human-Vulcan hybrid.

Answer 3

Trip was one of the most favorite characters in the Star Trek Enterprise series. Killing him off would only leave views shocked and heart broken as his character was beloved and probably had the most to lose. But one of the writers for the series actually carries on Trips adventures in the books (PLEASE SEE ORIGINAL ANSWER BELOW) so this could have been plan for the writer to carry on with the series. These books could have also been the stories to the episodes that were in the end never made as Star Trek Enterprise was actually cancelled even with stories for another series written so these books could have just been them. So evidently the plan could have been to kill trip off in one episode so he could carry out a secret mission for section 31, but we will never know unless they actually come out and say what the unshown episodes are. This is only speculation from were the books taken it though.

If your favorite character was Trip, then you might enjoy some books that continue Trip's adventures after his so-called death. These books work on the theory that he didn't actually die, but was tasked with a Section 31 mission into Romulan space and his death had to be faked. You can find some of these novels here under the novels section. This timeline that the books is not to be taken as the official reason why things have happened, but if you're a fan of Trip, its a very good side-step that's been taken to carry on his character.

Answer 4

If its anything to you.... Trip did not die! in a later book... "The good that men do" or somthing like that... Section 31 revived Trip and had him work for them... although he is not allowed to tell anyone that he is alive.

Answer 5

Out of universe:

As I remember, Trip was killed right before the founding ceremony of the United Federation of Planets, and that was more than five years after the previous episode.

If the creators of Enterprise were absolutely certain that the series would never be revived, they could have killed off all the characters just to shock the fans. So fans can be grateful they didn't.

And if the creators of Enterprise weren't certain whether the series would ever be revived, they would figure that if it was, the new episodes could happen in the half dozen or so years between the last episode where Trip or any other killed of character was alive and "These are the Voyages" where Trip or any other killed of character was killed. So they could have killed off any combination of characters, secure in the knowledge that if the series was revived, there were still several fictional years left for stories where those characters can still be alive.

And in the unexpected case of Enterprise being revived for a fifth season, the fans might find it a little creepy knowing that one or more of the protagonists would be killed in the future, but I guess that the fans could get over it. I remember reading and enjoying a book as a teenager despite knowing that the protagonist would be killed after that book and before the next book in the series.

And to fans who are saddened by the death of Trip or of another fictional character:

I say that almost every single work of fiction must happen in an alternate universe to ours. Thus reading or watching fiction more or less implies a temporary belief in alternate universes in order to suspend disbelief.

And if you must more or less believe in alternate universes in order to suspend disbelief in a work of fiction, you can believe in not merely two alternate universes - ours and the one that the story is in - but countless millions and billions of alternate universes branching off from our universe - and from the universe of the story - every second.

So the beginning of the fictional story has countless alternate universes with different events branching off from it. Each episode in a series has many different possible endings, and all of them should be equally real in different alternate universes.

So each and every one of the Enterprise characters has been killed many times in various alternate universes, and has survived many dangers many times in various alternate universes.

The creators of Enterprise could only show a tiny fraction of the millions of adventures which the crew experienced in different alternate universes, selecting which ones to make episodes about according to their various criteria.

And so "These Are the Voyages" has had many different endings in different alternate universes, including ones where the casualties among the main cast ranged from zero percent to one hundred percent.

And so Trip survived to the end in many alternate universes.