I never thought it would really happened, we killed our beloved franchise...
--------
"In every revolution, there's one man with a vision"
-- James T. Kirk
I'm not going to be the type thats happy about bad news such as this. This isn't exactly a time in Trek history to remember.
This is not a great thing, but the best thing. Were just saturated with Trek right now. 4 series totaling 25 seasons worth of trek. Thats a lot of viewing. I am content on watching re-runs of TNG and DS9 right now.
It's not about quantity, its about quality. And in the last number of years we have seen the quality diminish.
The demise was obvious. It's not something to celebrate. Rather we should reflect on this and believe that things will get corrected. And not overnight.
It is a sad day indeed for the Trek world. I am saddened by the demise of ENT but I saw it coming before the first show aired.
I opposed the idea of a "prequel" series as a bad idea and now my thinking has come to pass. Don't get me wrong, I want a trek series to be on at all times, but the whole ideal of a prequel just shot the timeline all to hell.
Star Trek was always about looking forward, not backwards. Brannon and Braga didn't help matters any either. And with the popularity of the Stargate series and now Battlestar Galatica, Star Trek took a major hit. And moving it to Friday just furthered its demise. Going up against the aforementioned Stargate and Galatica series would doom Star Trek to an early grave and I that has now happened.
Now what? We can only hope that the likes of B & B are taken off the series, the franchise given to new writers and staff, and that in 3-4 years time a newer and better series is developed, a sequel hopefully, going from TNG forward.
Add another failed ST show to the growing Rick Berman resume (VOYAGER, GENERATIONS, INSURRECTION, NEMESIS, ds9).
Nice going Rick, thank for fucking up the franchise.
I'm glad Shatner didn't cameo in this failed venture; he'd have only tarnished the Kirk mythos. Better save the return to Kirk for the silver screen.
... and a series short. This needed to happen with Voyager; Enterprise only exacerbated the problem.
It's going to take longer than a 3 year hiatus for Trek fans to get the bad taste out of their mouth of the Berman-Braga Regime.
Even if it's too late, at least we have Regime Change at last.
Good riddance to bad garbage.
The irony: Battlestar Galactica nailed the final coffin in Trek's coffin... ha, ha... who would I thunk it... or wait, I did about a year ago.
--------
"It's my duty... It's my duty as a complete and utter bastard."
- Rimmer (Timeslides, Red Dwarf)
"Your gangly attempt at being clever has been futile."
- Dieter (Dieter's Dance Party, Sprockets)
Expect a lot of rambling on my part during the next few months... Right now I'm just too depressed. Bashers: Rejoice! You won this time.
FARK Berman & Braga for ruining the show!!! Wish them die in hell!!!
..."STAR TREK LIVES!"
A lot of you are too young to remember when Star Trek (no bloody TNG, DS9, VOY, or ENT) was cancelled in 1969. When it left NBC, fans were determined to keep its memory alive. This led to the first Star Trek convention in New York City in 1970. A couple of hundred people were expected to attend...over 3,000 showed up.
Folks, Star Trek will never really be dead, because it embodies a lot of the things that give us hope for the future. It shows us that, if we can overcome our basic instincts, we can not only survive but thrive. If we can learn to co-exist on this planet with other humans, we can do so in space with non-humans. If we can discover the wonders of this world, we can certainly discover the wonders out there. If we, as a society, can grow up and start looking toward the future, instead of embracing the past and huddling in the corner of our room with our security blanket, we can truly become the people that Gene Roddenberry envisioned.
Star Trek: Enterprise may be gone, but it will be fondly remembered, and some day there will once again be new Star Trek to enjoy, bash, defend, pick apart, lust over, draw blueprints for, build models for, and generally look forward to.
STAR TREK LIVES!
--------
"Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever." - Lance Armstrong
"Remind me to write an article on the compulsive reading of news. The theme will be that most neuroses can be traced to the unhealthy habit of wallowing in the troubles of five billion strangers." -- Robert Heinlein
falcon
I was never a fan of Enterprise, I always thought it was totally ill-conceived from go; the quibbling about how they couldn't have communicators like Kirk's because of cell phones. I mean, it's the show's universe that's important isn't it. All they had to do here was the adventures of Captain Pike-- slam dunk. Instead they added TNG technology to a pre TOS era. They tried to be anti-trek, then ended up borrowing ideas from everywhere to get the old fans back. I appreciate that, but this show just turned me off by disregarding basic tenets of the show; exploration, violence as a last resort, and most of all curiousity. How can you have a Star Trek show with a science officer who doesn't believe in time travel on a ship whose drive bends time and space in a series where the main plot is suppose to be a time war? The mind reels. This week the sets from TOS are up again. Somebody out there should look at those designs and figure out why they still work. I'm sorry for people that will be out of work and for those to whom this is the first Trek they were introduced too, but that's TV, a rough game in many ways. I wonder if in the current TV climate of tight budgets and reality shows whether a Trek that focuses on exploration can be mounted well. I think a lot of people who worked with Roddenberry thought they could do Star Trek as long as they had a ship and Starfleet, but it was never about the ship and the uniforms and stuff, even though those where designed probably as well as anyone is going to do them (TNG very well done in design) it was about the people. I mean, this crew wasn't even friends. Somebody on these boards described TOS as "flower power" in space and without all the "hippie" baggage that's about what it was-- really good people using their abilities to make stuff right and enjoying themselves at the same time. I see a lot of dreary, dour, depressing TV out there, so maybe Trek can't fit into this scheme. But who knows. But remember SNL, "It's just a TV show!"
God forgive me, and those who are going to put me through the ringer for this, but Voyager was not cancelled... If it indeed was the nail that led to Trek's death, why was it NOT cancelled and held better numbers then Enterprise?
Again, this isn't an anti-Enterprise post but a comment on the fact that if Voyager was just so friggin horrible, piss poor work, with awful writing acting characters etc, why wasn't it cancelled? Sorry to ask the same question twice!
Yes, a mercy killing, but who is responsible?
IS there any one thing we can blame for this?
I doubt it, lets not blame, lets thank the actors and crew involved for doing their best to bring us their iteration of Trek. After all, most of US still have jobs.
I think this season has shown some marked improvement, I wonder what sort of ratings there will be now that the world knows that Enterprise is being scuttled....
Perhaps now is the time to look to reruns, DVD's etc for a few years while the new breed of Sci-fi has its chance to shine. Lets issue the challenge - CAN YOU DO BETTER THAN TREK HAS? More series, more spinoffs, can you create the industry that Trek has become with your own brand of Sci-Fi?
We, the Trek fans challenge you, the entertainment industry, to WIN US OVER.
--------
"ooh, shiny!"
This is indeed a sad day.
But UPN has been far more interested in promoting infantile "reality" shows and moronic sitcoms than a quality sci-fi drama.
CBS is equally to blame because after all UPN is a Viacom/Paramount/CBS property. And CBS seems more interested in nonsense than quality programming as well.
To all fans of the greatest franchise in television history: Peace and long life!
Commander T'Nor to Enterprise: One to beam up-- Energize!
--------
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety".--Benjamin Franklin
When TNG ended, they always said they left the audience wanting more. It is true. I wanted more. If Star Trek: Enterprise had ended with the Xindi Arc last year, I cannot say I would have wanted much more of the series or Star Trek anytime soon.
After this season, however, my enthusiasm for Star Trek has been revitalized due to the creativity of a few good writers (the Reeves-Stevens) and a new format for the show. If Paramount knew what it was doing it would sign these two and perhaps Manny Coto to helm the next series creatively speaking. I have faith (of the heart) that Star Trek will be back within a few years, and I am very excited about that. They have left me wanting more.
As for now, maybe I'll start giving that Battlestar Galactica a go if I can find those torrents anywhere?
First off, my sympathies to you few yet proud Enterprise fans. Yeah, it's just a TV show, but it's never fun when something you love and have invested a lot of time and heart in goes away. Despite my distaste for the series, I empathize with what you're feeling now.
On the BIG-TIME plus side, this might now, finally , signal the end of the terribly nasty and thoroughly deleterious reign of Rick Berman and Brannon Braga as the "creative" lights of the Star Trek franchise. Far as I'm concerned, the only people not involved in the Original Star Trek that ever showed that they "got it" in their production of a Trek show were Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer. The only time since the movies that they were involved with I saw what I think of when I see the words "Star Trek," was during the first three seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I think they were able to do some wonderful, very "Star Trek" things on that show while Next Gen was on, thus largely occupying the attention of B&B. That "under the radar" status gave us some very eventful, yet very thoughtful science fiction much in the tradition of the Original Star Trek, but quite outside of the original format and rarely, if ever, acting as a palid imitation, that role having been admirably (?) filled by Next Gen. This all came to a crashingly boring end with the fourth season, when, directly in the crosshairs of B&B, they added Worf, a starship, more moribund Klingon stories and the initially promising, but ultimately fitfully developed Dominion War. The series went in the tank and all the proof you need of that was the sudden proliferation of "holo-suite" based stories and the (shudder) Vic Fontaine "holo-lounge-lizard" character!
But now, with the still-born movie idea (an Enterprise prequel?) at least on the back-burner if not entirely dead, and with Enterprise all but done with, we have our first real chance in four years to wrest control of Star Trek from B&B! Any resulting "fallow" period between Star Trek efforts can only be a good thing. Remember, it was the popularity of the Original Star Trek that only grew after its cancellation that, in conjunction with the success of Star Wars, gave us the movie series, the three most successful of which (arguably Star Trek II, IV and VI) were also done without any involvement from Berman or Braga. There are wonderfully creative people out there, in and outside of the science fiction mainstream, whose vision might be just what we need to bring back a Star Trek worthy of the name. And now, with current Trek production essentially done with, we can finally see one of them placed at the helm of the franchise and watch it bloom again.
Not that this will or even needs to happen overnight. I see posts of folks lamenting the fact that we'll likely not see any new Trek for quite a while, and others cursing Trek detractors for that probability. I say, bully for that! As I mentioned above, Star Trek fandom did nothing but grow, at a near-exponential rate, after the end of the original series, and that was in a pre-computer/Internet, pre-VCR, pre-DVD world, syndication being the only access to the show. Hell, folks were so desperate for any Star Trek they could get their hands on, discarded frames of film were traded, sold and made into pocked-sized viewers! That apparently fallow decade between the series and the first movie was when Star Trek actually entered the consciousness of the general public; the success of the movies only served to realize and enfranchise it. It was the ongoing and growing fandom (and of course, the consumer market thereof!) that provided the foundation for the movie series and the sequel TV series thereafter.
Nowadays, we have a positive GLUT of Trek! It's all around us and more pervasive than ever. There's literally no time of day or night you can turn on the TV and not find a Trek series playing, and if you can't, you can put a DVD on, or listen to a CD, or hop on the web and read about it on a site (novel idea, eh?)! I think that, in conjunction with the thinner and thinner brew being served up as "Star Trek" this past decade, the general public is more than a little Trekked out. If, in Enterprise, they had REALLY been exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations, maybe it would be different, but they didn't, and we haven't been boldly going where no man (or "one," if "one" must be so P.C.) has gone before since before Voyager. I can appreciate the "continuity porn" of this season of Enterprise for what it is (though it feels increasingly gimmicky), but what I've seen of the execution of it was AWFULLY poor, and still populated with regular characters who'd have been red-shirted off of the original Enterprise before the teaser had ended!
So why not take this opportunity to let Star Trek rest up a bit? It'll never go away, really, and if history is any guide, the lack of new material will only build the fan base and the demand for more. And what we eventually will get will be as fresh and vital as "Wrath of Khan!" So to those of you who will be doing everything in your power to hope against hope and keep Enterprise on the air, consider what the result will be. Do you REALLY want more of what you've just been getting by with these past 10 years or so, or do you want something better? Some new form of Star Trek we haven't even considered, from someone who loves it as passionately as any Trekkie ever has? That future is worth waiting for, I say. Let the phoenix be reborn, folks. Yes, the flame will hurt a bit, but the reward will be rich indeed!
That's fine. Once the show goes in to syndication, and is given more than enough airtime that UPN could ever have attempted. UPN never advertised the show and properly positioned it. Now that it is in syndication, expect popularity of the show to increase to the point where STAR TREK will be back in a year.
Secondly, expect another "cancellation" and that's TrekWeb. I hope you are prepared for a huge drop in visitors once the show cancels off completely. Nobody will come to this website when there isn't a franchise to support it anymore.
Good luck everyone. It was a great run while it lasted.
I am dismayed, but not too surprised over the news. To me, it was like a parent cancelling life support and calling the coroner after the patient's health had started to improve. Manny Coto had revived the show and it was starting to look better with each 4th season airing. I had real hope for a fifth season and perhaps more.
I would not be too hard on the nay-sayers. They voiced their true and honest feelings over the shows and while we may not share these opinions, they sre entitled to them. Remember, they couldn't honestly comment on the show if they didn't watch them. It's easy to complain about a job someone else is doing. What's hard is proving you could have done it better.
I have never really trusted the ratings as a true picture of what America is watching. Unless there is a Neilsen box hooked to every TV in the country there can't really be a true telling as to how many people watched what.
Those of us who DID enjoy Enterprise can at least catch it in syndication and DVD's and await the next member of the franchise.
I'm sure others will bring this up, but I think if there is *any* chance of "Enterprise" being resurrected it is not at UPN. Instead, perhaps, the attention can be aimed elsewhere, especially at other Viacom properties. I'm sure Paramount would love to continue to produce the show if there was a network willing to show it.
Perhaps "Showtime" is a good fit. Viacom owned. Not subject to ratings the way ad-supported networks are. And "Trek" has more loyal fans than any other show on television. How many Trekkers who are currently not subscribers to "Showtime" would subscribe *just* for "Enterprise"?
I'd bet Paramount would give them the show relatively cheap (at least as cheaply as they gave it to UPN this season), just to have another 22 episodes to syndicate and sell on DVD. And even if the show only lasted one more season, how many of those Trekkers would stick with "Showtime" afterward? Sounds to me like a win-win for Viacom.
And Les Moonves doesn't program "Showtime"...
'm sure others will bring this up, but I think if there is *any* chance of "Enterprise" being resurrected it is not at UPN. Instead, perhaps, the attention can be aimed elsewhere, especially at other Viacom properties. I'm sure Paramount would love to continue to produce the show if there was a network willing to show it.
Perhaps "Showtime" is a good fit. Viacom owned. Not subject to ratings the way ad-supported networks are. And "Trek" has more loyal fans than any other show on television. How many Trekkers who are currently not subscribers to "Showtime" would subscribe *just* for "Enterprise"?
I'd bet Paramount would give them the show relatively cheap (at least as cheaply as they gave it to UPN this season), just to have another 22 episodes to syndicate and sell on DVD. And even if the show only lasted one more season, how many of those Trekkers would stick with "Showtime" afterward? Sounds to me like a win-win for Viacom.
And Les Moonves doesn't program "Showtime"...
Well 9/28/1987 - 5/13/2005, 17 years 8 months and 10 feature films. Not a bad run for STAR TREK. How many series last that long ? It has been a great run and I for one am sorry to see it end.
To all of you who are happy with this you suck.
This is a wonderful moment! ENT was a cancer that could only survive by reediting and spinning TOS episodes into their own distorted image. Continuity was thrown out the window. A show dedicated to telling the early history of the Federation goes against the original idea of TOS. TOS was a vehicle -a "wagon train to the stars" to explore philosophical and contemporary issues. ENT approach was too literal minded to have any meaning or resonance.
So many awful things have happened on this planet since ENT when into production, so perhaps this is a harbinger of better times.
ENT fans were very premature in their praise and overly optimistic in their predictions for this moribund series. This made it very easy to bash ENT.
I would like to thank:
*My parents (who have never watched Star Trek).
*ENT bashers worldwide.
*B&B for writing moronic and inept scripts.
*Softcore Trek fans who never heard or/and never bothered to watch (and had watched *every* previous Trek series).
*UPN for under-promoting the series the last few year (when was the last time you saw ENT promos?)
Yippee!
Perhaps Captain Archer can borrow from ST:TUC closing:
Captain's log, U.S.S. Enterprise, May 26, 2155. This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command (Hey, it was a good run for four years!). This ship and her history will shortly become the care of a new generation (a new group of actors under B&B's management and franchise-direction).
To them and their posterity we will commit our future (thanks to syndication and DVDs!). They will continue the voyages we have begun (hopefully a full seven seasons; who was that Future Guy anyway?), and journey to all the undiscovered countries (and a new network), to boldly going where no man....where no one has gone before (so long and thanks for all the fish).
Oh, how wonderfully perfect. I just gotta love how everything happens at once. Gotta love just as I find out my grandfather has lung cancer and will die in a few days, my favorite show gets cancelled. Oh, and it just happens to be my 18th birthday too. Happy birthday to me :(
--------
"Oh my God! I hit William Shatner!"
"Light...growing...dimmer. Can't...breath. Beam me up...God."
RE: Great :(
by TREKMAN: The MAN Who Knows His TREK @ 18:52:20 on Feb 02
Just the other day I posted a message congratulating the writers for this season's vast improvement. I was glad we were on to better stuff...finally. Now that won't happen. I'm maddest at the knuckleheads who got us to this point. If this season had been ENTERPRISE'S first instead of it's fourth, and if it had been started today instead of rushing into it before the ink was even dry on the last dollar they made off VOYAGER, we wouldn't be reading a headline like this. A STAR TREK SHOW CANCELLED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FORTY YEARS. I sure hope the studio and the producers walk away having learned something from this. It should be embarrassing to all of us.
I wonder... is anyone else able to get into the official site? I bet some servers were unprepared!
HA!
RIP Enterprise
--------
"If we could freeze moments in time, we all would . . ." -- Sheryl Crow, We Do What We Can
Anynone notice that there's no post to the site where this article originated? Just about every interview or news item that I've seen posted has had a link posted to an original article... not to mention the fact that there's no mention of this on UPN or the officail Star Trek website. You think, with an announcement as big as this, that it would be headlines on both sites? Something smells fishy here...
Anynone notice that there's no post to the site where this article originated? Just about every interview or news item that I've seen posted has had a link posted to an original article... not to mention the fact that there's no mention of this on UPN or the officail Star Trek website. You think, with an announcement as big as this, that it would be headlines on both sites? Something smells fishy here...
Thanks for a stellar last season.
--------
Visit my Blog
Get a free ipod
Anynone notice that there's no post to an original article? Just about every interview or news item that I've seen posted has had a link posted to an original article... not to mention the fact that there's no mention of this on UPN or the officail Star Trek website. You think, with an announcement as big as this, that it would be headlines on both sites? Something smells fishy here...
I am really bumed about the cancellation as much as the next person but i am frankly not surprised. Don't get me wrong i thought the show was kick ass from episode one but after the move to friday night and the lack of viewer response, i think we all need to admit that we saw this coming. As much as one would like to delude themselves when you really look deep into your mind and examine your thoughts on ENT you knew it was going to die this year. I also think the canellation was due to a combo of factors, to me they were 1. UPN hating trek 2.The ENT bashers 3. Lack of viewership. Some would say the bashers had nothing to do with it but they are part of the cause of low ratings. If the bashers had just let up a little bit and stayed in thier darkened rooms where they watched DS9 24/7 on DVD then ENT might have lived. So, to all those who liked the show: today is a sad day in the history of Trek. And to the bashers: I guess you got what you wanted so congrats.
--------
Today's forcast: a few sprinklings of genius with A CHANCE OF DOOM!!!!
Stewie Griffin
I have to be blunt. I support those who thing that it is better to go without Trek that to watch it turn to crap.
But the good thing is that now we can start speculating for real as what comes next and when.
--------
"That is the exploration that awaits you: Not mapping the stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possiblities of existence." - Q, All Good Things...
...'cuz that's the last opportunity for the show's survival. Long shot? Yeah... but when you remember that the Franchise has been first run syndication the majority of its life... well... you never know.
DS9 did overlap two other series... I know... grabbing at straws...
...and don't tell me the show is crap, 'cuz if you've actually been watching it, you know it's been great.
I'm quite sad right now.
--------
"I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in the station, when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone .. our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit .. that the part of me that is going .. will very much miss the part of you that is staying."
- G'Kar, Babylon 5: "Objects in Motion"
----
"The Andorian Mining Consortium runs from no one!"
-Shran (ENT "Proving Ground")
----
"The only voices in my head are asking the same thing 'Why does a man call himself a "Gerbil King"?'"
-Scorned
That's sad. I've really enjoyed the show, and will miss the characters.
It's also the first time since I was 16 that I haven't had Star Trek to watch, and that's not good.
The new season has been the sort of show they should have been making during its first season in 2001. I resent that it took the creative team so long to finally start the show off right!
There is a kind of symmetry here though: Star Trek got canceled early at BOTH ends.
3 seasons in 1969.
and
4 seasons in 2005.
Altogether, that's a full seven year run, I guess...
--------
"Aha! Advancing on me only brings you closer to the cold wrath that is my spork!" - Bucky the Katt
I took no pleasure in that article but simply put, the remod came too little and FAR too late. Enterprise was created by people that cared nothing about the cannon and the fan base. It's obvious. I may be one of those spoiled brats that complained about quality but I only did when it was necessary. When there really was somthing to say to those who would listen. Yes, I would rather have no Trek for awhile then have it continue to degrade like this. I have been a Trek fan for as long as I can remember and it PAINS me to see where these idiots have taken her. No more talk. It's done. I hope one day, TPTB get a clue and start thinking Quality instead of Quantity like in this new Season.
I'd just like to say that anyone pleased with the cancellation of this series is being counterproductive. If they want better Trek, this will not speed the process. If anything, it may slow it, as we may be years away from the next series. If they don't want any Trek as it might get in the way of past series, they are just being unreasonable (and unrealistic).
That being said, I am also disappointed about the cancellation of this show. It was starting to get really good (I just hope that Coto will stick around and be persistant in starting a new series, while B&B hopefully move on to other projects, finally). While I am 21, I technically have had new Trek all my life (I had 3 years to be introduced to TOS, which is how long it ran). I'm not sure how to go through this, as, rather than waiting for a few months between breaks for Star Trek I haven't seen, I may have to wait years for the next movie or series to come out. While I enjoy reading the books (a number of which are really good I might add), it won't be the same. We won't have the spectacular effects seen in the battles against the Borg or the Dominion except in reruns. We won't be able to see new issues solved between rival or clashing alien species. And, let's face it, we might bash T'Pol or 7 of 9 for being just beautiful women in cat suits, but we will miss the women of Trek. Sure, Uhura, Jadzia, and Hoshi will still be in reruns, but somehow, it won't be the same.
I'd like to thank the cast and crew of Enterprise, and all prior Star Treks, for giving us something to look forward to each week. I hope that the wait for the next series will not be too long. And, in the meantime, I can hope that maybe this will give Scott Bakula more time to appear on the (rumored) new Quantum Leap series.
Mixed feelings on this one. I've read many posts here blaming "bashers" for this cancellation. Honestly "Enterprise" did not die here. It died on UPN due to low ratings. Let's face facts.
I have followed the show pretty well since its inception, and I felt they started it off on the wrong foot. It's too bad Manny Coto was not connected to the show in its first or second seasons. Now it's too late to revive it.
Besides the television series going the way of the wind, the movie franchise is also in a quagmire. At least prior to "The Next Generation", we had motion pictures every couple years. Now we don't even have that.
But not to worry because Star Trek is not dead. We still have the DVDs, games, novels, comics, and more to keep it alive....and us, the fans. And through all this, as long as Star Trek is still around and we still talk about it, I believe at some point we will see more Star Trek in the future.
By the way, does anyone at Paramount have Nicholas Meyer's phone number?
--------
None of us is as good as ALL of us.
Live Long And Prosper…too late.
As a life long fan of the Star Trek franchise it seems to me that no one has understood the concepts, drama, nor the specifics of Gene Roddenberry’s vision like Manny Coto. Weekly, fans and average television viewers are treated to a particularly human drama that blends a vision of the future with commentary on contemporary culture. The stories satisfy both our intellect and our emotion, blending high concept with action/drama. We explore not just a universe of aliens and new worlds, but what it means to be human; at our best and at our worst. Manny Coto has not been given sufficient time to “save Star Trek” and I believe canceling Enterprise will be, in the long run, a huge mistake that ends this unique person’s ability to bring both fans and regular television viewers to this wonderfully creative show. It is clear that Star Trek is an enormous source of revenue for Paramount. It is no “flash in the pan”. The question is; is it worth disappointing a dedicated following because ratings that are below expectations? Unfortunately, the show was deeply flawed from the start. But, clearly Mr. Coto’s incredible talents are worth another season.
Enterprise enjoys a strong ensemble cast, which unfortunately has been misused by people who either don’t understand how to write drama or what the “Star Trek Universe” is all about. I think it is clear the DS9 was riding Next Generations coat tails and if the writers/producers hadn’t happened upon the drama surrounding a massive space war the series would be a footnote. And, again, Voyager took great fan enthusiasm and squandered it by not coming across with the promise of high conflict in the depths of space. How many episodes did we suffer through until we saw some interesting aliens?
It’s simple; people want to see the captain with a strong moral sense and chase some alien skirts. If Mr. Bakula doesn’t really like that idea, I’m sure there are some younger crew who would be eager to take on the responsibility. Who can forget the smile every time Kirk put on his boots! I’m sure Anthony Montgomery wouldn’t mind having a little more to do than fly the ship (and he looks good with his shirt off!).
Ms. Blalock is absolutely correct. Her character has been miss-written right from the start of the show. Have the writers never watched Star Trek before? It has taken Manny Coto’s genius to correct this huge mistake. She is a Vulcan not an emotional wreck! Nothing says “hot babe” like a cool demeanor. We can go all the way back to the original “Number One” (yes the Star Trek Pilot) to find this side of sexy. If we need a woman who is an emotional wreck on the show, it wouldn’t take much to push a certain communications officer over the edge (though I would rather see her written into a strong character who could share some Buddhism and sisterhood with T-Pol).
It seems Phlox would make an excellent Marcus Wellby/Father Knows Best confidant for the crew. Who cares about alien wombats and leeches?
As far as casting is concerned if there were a strong interest in shaking up the show Jeffery Combs would make a great permanent addition to the cast. He is dynamic, strong and those antennae are just plain creepy.
Finally, why do we have space marines on the ship who do almost nothing? How about some real old fashioned drama. Have them get blasted to pieces! Where are the red shirts when you need them? Let Mayweather and Reed take command of the marines (more shirts off). You could even get Sato in there pumping iron.
It is time to take some chances with Enterprise, not with the things that make the show great, but with the things that have grown stale. There can be huge conflicts! The universe is full of evil doers and power hungry aliens. They do not have to be understood. They do not have to have reasonable motives. The (boring) Zindy could reappear, but just the bad-ass reptiles…keeping the good fight alive. They hate everybody as far as I can tell. And, what’s with the Klingons? Don’t they still fart in air locks?
The universe of Star Trek has great potential and Enterprise is such a great show. If Manny Coto is given the opportunity, the seasons of Enterprise that he crafts will be some of the best ever that have been seen in the Star Trek universe. It will reinvent and rejuvenate the Star Trek Franchise. He will satisfy the hunger of hard-core fans and attract new viewers to a great show.
If none of this is making any sense, let me express it this way. Ending Enterprise means disappointing millions of educated, loyal fans. It means the lost of faith and simply the loss of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
I'm really unhappy about this. Paramount could have at least shopped it around to other networks first.
I have endured the mess known as Voyager, and that stupid-ass temporal cold war subplot to finally find a season getting it's act together. Now this.
BUT, please don't take it to Sci Fi channel. If they buy it they'll dip into Galactica for the money and that's about the only real sci-fi on TV now. Given that hard choice -- Enterprise had it's shot.
I know a lot of people have been expecting this but I didn't really think they'd actually pull the trigger. Then again, the whole Friday night switch/no advertising act didn't exactly exude an air of confidence from the network. We all know UPN is garbage, though, and I figured they'd keep anything that would guarantee at least a couple of million people watch once a week.
As someone who derided this show from its inception, though, I hate to see it go just as it was finding its voice. It still had a way to go, but there were definitely signs of life in something I had dismissed as early as its pilot. Coto did a great job trying to right a sinking ship and I can only hope that he has some hand in the next incarnation of TV Trek.
I was never a viewer myself but I feel bad for the fans of the show (especially when most agree that the series was improving creatively).
However, I don't think Les Moonves needs to be attacked for his role in this. He isn't cancelling Star Trek because he hates the franchise or the fans. He's cancelling one television series due to ratings erosion and the fact that producing new episodes no longer makes financial sense. It's his responsibility to do the smart (but not necessarily popular) thing.
He also knows that a rejuvinated Star Trek franchise in 5 or 10 years is worth a heck of a lot more financially than producing another season with the current creative team. If he gives Enterprise another year, the longer he has to wait for the relaunch.
The bottom line is that Trek is an instituion, it's not going anywhere. Who knows? The best could be yet to come...
About time. Trek, rest in peace.
--------
-j
"They'd save billions if they simply employed Hippo to wander around a few city streets and sniff the air." -Gitch
Trek is going to be gone now for at least a decade. For all you spoiled little SOB's that did eveything you could to destroy the show, congratulations. You won. I don't aave a clue as to what you think you've proven, except that the death of the franchise had nothing to do with B & B but with the spoiled little bastards that have never known a life without Trek. Well they will now. I lived in the dark time between TOS and TMP, it was not fun, but your about to discover that.
I figure Trekweb will be gone in 24 months at the outside, Trek.com the same time frame.
Well, I haven't seen an episode of ENT since the second season. I can't say I'm upset at the cancelation, although I'm not jumping up and down with glee.
But let's put things into perspective. If and when STAR TREK returns, it will almost certainly have nothing to do with the modern TREK continuity. I could see a CGI film featuring Kirk and Spock with updated tech and a slightly redesigned Enterprise (but keeping the same basic design, of course). Such a film would be based on TOS and have nothing to do with Berman-TREK.
I personally would love to see a good CGI TREK film, provided the CGI looks at least as good as the Final Fantasy movie and they hired voice actors who could play their parts without sounding like parodies of TOS actors. I'd like to see real ST updated for a 21st century audience. IMO, that's the only way STAR TREK can possibly continue. It has to adapt.
So, although TREK may return five or ten years hence, I've no doubt that the universe of Borg, Cardassians, Ferengi, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer is gone forever and never coming back. That universe lasted 18 years on television which is phenominal. Whenever we want to revisit that universe, there are hundreds of episodes and novels, and a handful of movies, from which to choose.
RIP Berman-TREK. I look forward to a good writer and producer bringing back real STAR TREK, but will remember fondly the last 18 years. Bon Voyage, Borg. Farewell, Ferengi. Ciao, Cardassians.
And so the curtain closes...
--------
"It's fiction. It's not supposed to make sense." --a Trekweb poster defending Brannon Braga's scripts
Well, I know a lot of you were hoping for the best, but I had been preparing for this for a couple of months now. It was a great season and although the show had it's ups and downs, it was highly entertaining. This too will probably be one of my last posts since there probably won't be any new Trek for a while.
Not only should we feel bad for the diehard fans but for the cast, the amazing crew, and most of all Manny Coto.
He's proven that he can bring back entertainment and thought provoking ideas to a dying show, but he has two "failed" shows under his belt even though this one was too far gone to be his fault at all. It can't look good to executives if he wanted to start a new show.
Anyways. It's been a great 4 years and hopefully Trek will come back stronger than ever eventually.
--------
Burninating across the land. Burninating the peasants.
I have to admit, I've enjoyed ENT from the beginning, from the great episodes right down to the clunkers. I for one would have given anything to have seen this series continue to move forward and blossom like never before in future seasons. People like Manny Coto are what a series like ENT needs to make it really work and enjoyable once again.
But on the other hand, I have to be a realist. The ratings haven't been good the last two seasons, and it was only a last-minute announcement when we all found out about ENT's return for a fourth season. It's been quite a run not just for ENT but also for this modern era of STAR TREK on television - 18 years straight through four series. It's time to take a break.
At least we'll have the reruns and the DVDs to watch once again in the years to come.
(2)
