Star Trek has a high bar for series finales thanks to Star Trek: The Original Series' movie franchise with four films from 1994-2002. But many would argue that not even the TNG movies were as good as the series finale, "All Good Things..."
Star Trek: The Original Series did not get to bow out with a series finale. Star Trek ran for 3 seasons on NBC, and it had to be saved by a letter-writing campaign just to make it to season 3. Placed in the 10pm Friday night "death" time slot, Star Trek was canceled in June 1969 after airing its final episode, "Turnabout Intruder," which was never designed as a series-ender. Granted, TOS was broadcast in a much different TV landscape, and the episodic nature of most TV shows of the era meant series finales as audiences know them today were rare. TOS became a feature film with 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country can be considered the 'series finale' for the original cast.
TNG Gave Star Trek Its First (& Best) Series Finale
By its 7th and final season, Star Trek: The Next Generation reigned as the number one show in syndication, and it was nominated for an Emmy for Best Dramatic Series - the only time this has happened for Star Trek. TNG was also becoming a movie franchise, but the beloved show still wrapped up its historic run with "All Good Things..." The 2-hour finale centered on Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) moving through 3 different timelines as he was again placed on 'trial' by Q (John de Lancie). "All Good Things..." wasn't just a spectacular ending for TNG, it's regarded as one of the finest series finales of all time.
"All Good Things..." encapsulated the cerebral and character-driven storytelling that fans loved about TNG. It honored the full scope of The Next Generation, hinted at the possible future, and left the Enterprise's heroes in their best light (and ready for their first cinematic adventure). "All Good Things..." didn't wrap up the storylines of Captain Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D since they would all be back on the big screen months later in Star Trek Generations for Picard to team up with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), who was also killed off. Comparing the two, few fans would argue that Star Trek Generations was actually better than TNG's series finale.
TNG Created The High Expectation Of Star Trek Series Finales
"All Good Things..." is the gold standard for Star Trek series finales. Its success and popularity led to the expectation that every succeeding Trek show must also have a series finale that matched the high quality of "All Good Things..." Star Trek: Enterprise's finale, "These Are The Voyages...", which was a massive miscalculation that ended not just that show but the entire TNG era of Star Trek on a sour note.
A generation later, the Star Trek shows on Paramount+ will also be expected to conclude with a series finale, which will inevitably be compared to TNG's "All Good Things..." Ironically, the first Paramount+ show to finish will be Star Trek: Picard, with season 3 essentially serving as a sequel to and a second ending of TNG. Whether Picard season 3 will match or exceed "All Good Things..." is anyone's guess. Eventually, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and even Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy will have endings that will also have to live up to the magnitude of Star Trek: The Next Generation's series finale.