Summary

• Commander Riker's actions in Star Trek: Enterprise's finale become a hilarious joke in Star Trek: Lower Decks.
• Riker regularly visits Captain Archer's Enterprise on the holodeck and impersonates the ship's Chef to interact with the crew.
• Captain Pike admires Captain Archer but can't visit him like Riker because there are no holodecks in the 23rd century.

Star Trek: Enterprise's series finale was largely hated by fans, but Commander William Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) actions turned into a hilarious joke in Star Trek: Lower Decks. In turn, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Captain Christopher Pike would be envious of what Riker was able to do in the 24th century. Pike and Riker share one big thing in common besides their Starfleet careers on the Starship Enterprise: They both look up to Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula).
Commander Riker being the focal point of Star Trek: Enterprise's series finale, "These Are The Voyages...", was perhaps the biggest thing fans revolted against, along with the show killing off Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer). Rather than being about the crew of the NX-01, Enterprise's ending was actually about Riker trying to solve a moral dilemma from the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7 episode, "The Pegasus." The cast of Enterprise essentially became guest stars in their own finale, and they didn't even appear in as their flesh-and-blood selves. Rather, Enterprise's people were all holograms Riker interacted with until he reached the decision he needed in TNG.

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