10 Greatest Star Trek Season Finales
9. The Neutral Zone - The Next Generation Season One
The first season of The Next Generation had more ambition than achievement, but it did bring Star Trek back to TV for the first time in over a decade. Heading into 1988, with a writers' strike looming, there needed to be a hook in the finale that would guarantee viewers would return for the sophomore year. Thankfully, The Neutral Zone manages this with gusto.
The looming threat by the eponymous region of space, as well as the frozen humans thawing and causing hassle for the crew, combine to set the stage for a wonderfully dramatic return of the Romulan Empire. Marc Alaimo, offering his second role in Trek, as well as his deliberate, slow style of speech, simply oozes arrogance, sitting aboard the enormous Warbird.
We are back.
With that assurance, Starfleet's lives are about to get much more complicated, and the stage was set for many more encounters with these Vulcan-offshoots, as well as the initial hints of the Borg storyline. While the season is oft-maligned, the final episode is one of the true stand-out finales of the franchise.