TrekWeb.com - Parting Thoughts From Cast and Crew at ENTERPRISE Wrap Party, TrekWeb's Video Coverage

Parting Thoughts From Cast and Crew at ENTERPRISE Wrap Party, TrekWeb's Video Coverage

By Steve Krutzler / 12:14, 14 April 2005 / Enterprise

The cast and crew of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE -- and for many, all of the modern STAR TREK series -- gathered last night in Hollywood at the Roosevelt Hotel to celebrate the end of a STAR TREK season one final time. Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Dominc Keating, Linda Park, Anthony Montgomery and Jeffrey Combs joined producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman on the red carpet for interviews with the press before joining colleagues like Manny Coto, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Mike Sussman, Chris Black, Merri Howard, Gary Graham, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner and a host of others inside the event.

"Ultimately I think all culture is a synthetic process," John Billingsley told TrekWeb as he entered the party. "It has to always be about what you want to talk about in concert with what the world is doing. And ultimately what I think made season three more interesting, what they tried to do that. Season four, more interesting. They tried to do that. It was headed in that direction, but it was just maybe a little too late."

NEMESIS screenwriter John Logan was present and he expressed confidence in a new feature film with an all-new STAR TREK cast.

"I think it could definitely work," Logan said enthusiastically. "I believe even though I'm very sad that ENTERPRISE is ending its run, that the journey will go on eventually. I hope and I believe there'll always be a call for STAR TREK, so in a few years, a new movie, a new
cast, a new Enterprise, a new captain, absolutely!"

We asked many of the cast to assess why ENTERPRISE wasn't able to capture the same level of audience attention as the other series. Dominic Keating says more character drama early on could've helped, but, "If we'd done character driven shows it's likely that you all would be asking why we didnt do more action-packed shows."

Anthony Montgomery reflected on whether showcasing the secondary characters more could've helped.

"As an actor of course I have to say yes to that but, no," he said. "I think exactly what they did with the show was fantastic. They integrated us as far as I'm concerned the best that they could. Would I have liked to have seen more? Of course I would, I'm an actor. But i'm to have been a part and continually be a part of American history."

Scott Bakula firmly believes that the business of television these days just didn't add up to a positive environment for ENTERPRISE.

"The landscape of television has canged a lot," Bakula explained. "When you think about when VOYAGER came on -- that is now
eleven years ago-- and the televeision that was available then, the Internet that was available then, which it was not... the marketplace has changed dramatically."

Co-creator and executive producer Brannon Braga admitted that some missteps may have been made along the way.

"I think the concept of the show is great," Braga affirmed. "I think our aim to revolve it more around the charaters and less around the science fiction plot-driven stories did hurt the show. And it wasn't until the third season when we went back to that, or the fourth season when we went back to that, that viewers started coming back and it did start to catch on. So that may have been a creative misstep... I think one of the problems early on was that we tried to do things differently, but they weren't different enough."

Braga's partner in ENTERPRISE, Rick Berman, was less eager to analyze the show's creative decisions.

"That's like monday morning quarterbacking," Berman said. "It's really hard to say. We've discussed that a lot. There are a lot of what-ifs, but I'm proud of it."

Frequent STAR TREK guest actor Jeffrey Combs was sad to see it go this soon but focusing on the memories.

"I cherish my time with Scott Bakula and the rest of the cast," Combs said cheerfully. "STAR TREK is king. It's a
class franchise, and I'm deeply proud to have been a part of it."

Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. reflected as well, unwilling to judge, but certain that this doesn't mark the end for the franchise.

"No, this is not the end. STAR TREK will never die," Roddenberry said. "This is the end of ENTERPRISE. Paramount owns STAR TREK; I'm not going to predict or give advice or anything on what they should
do. I hold the name Roddenberry and I'll try to do the best I can representing that name... But I hope they do the best; I hope they listen to the fans, I hope they listen to everyone and give them what they want and stay true to my father's name. I could spend my whole life bitching and complaining about how I would do it differently but if I do that, then [I'd be] just a small person."

Hear much more from all these interviews in TrekWeb's Video Clips, hosted by our partner Crave Online. You'll need Macromedia Flash Player to view the videos.

Brannon Braga

Rick Berman

Scott Bakula

John Billingsley

John Logan

Dominic Keating

Anthony Montgomery

Jeffrey Combs

Eugene Roddenberry, Jr.

TrekWeb extends our thanks to everyone at STAR TREK for a wonderful eighteen years!

ENTERPRISE Mission Schedule \| Logs by Season: 1 2 3 4
Episode Number	Title	Airdate

23 comments Post New | Help

RE: If you missed the character development, you weren't paying attent | Report this post to moderator
By: Gary P (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:48:59 on Apr 15, 2005

I agree with both of these posts. I remember when I first saw the episode when Archer let his dog loose on that new planet and the dog pissed everywhere. The aliens got pissed and Archer was like, "screw them." I sat there and thought to myself, "Great character development. Archer is developing into an inconsiderant, adolescent-mannered prick." Which begs the question, is character-development comendable on a show like this when the characteristics are incompetence, irrationality and unlikeability? I thought Janeway suffered from this as well. Sure, they're developing her character. Unfortunately, that character is irrational, hot-headed, and perpetually hypocritical. Why tune in to watch characters when the viewer thinks they could clearly do a better job, AND without any Starfleet Training.

I also think people miss the point about character development and its manner of execution. In a show like Trek, character development runs ALONGSIDE the action; it does not replace it. People's decisions in lieu of what's going on DEFINES their character, hence you have character development. B+B don't understand this. They think character development occurs in bubble episodes, when people are in sickbay or having lunch. Bragga thinks, "Oh they're sitting around talking to each other. Time to develope the characters." Then when the action begins, have them talk about shield strength and that's it. Ron Moore understood this. Look at the great episodes of TNG. Characters weren't developed by sitting around. The PLOT revealed their character. Examples, "the drumhead" with Picard. Forgive me, I don't know many episode titles, but let's look at Worf and that Dying Romulan who he needed a bodily donation from him. "I would rather die, than pollute my body with Klingon Filth." That line alone sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. Worf to Alexander, "You have never seen death before? Then look, and always remember." Beautiful. To make a short story long, plot drives character, dinner conversations do not.

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RE: If you missed the character development, you weren't paying attent by Cap'n Calhoun @ 17:16:22 on Apr 15

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RE: If you missed the character development, you weren't paying attent | Report this post to moderator By: Gary P (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:48:59 on Apr 15, 2005

RE: If you missed the character development, you weren't paying attent | Report this post to moderator
By: Gary P (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:48:59 on Apr 15, 2005