UPN Officially Cancels 'Star Trek: Enterprise' 886
Tycoon Guy writes "It's official now: UPN has decided to cancel 'Enterprise.' The show's series finale, which may feature Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker) and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), will air on Friday the 13th of May. The show's fate was probably sealed when last Friday's episode reached only 2.5 million viewers - but even so, the people at EnterpriseFans.com are still trying to raise money for a fan campaign to save the show."
SPOILER (Score:5, Funny)
Re:SPOILER (Score:5, Funny)
Re:SPOILER (Score:3, Funny)
Re:SPOILER (Score:3, Interesting)
Although, I'm just finishing watching the second season so
I can see the headlines now... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I can see the headlines now... (Score:5, Funny)
Bummer (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmm maybe now we'll get that Star Trek: Titan show that was rumored to be about Captain Riker and the fall of the Federation....
Re:Bummer (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Bummer (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bummer (Score:5, Funny)
"Welcome Freshmen, to the Red Shirt Academy!!!"
Re:Bummer (Score:5, Funny)
Most of you will die long before graduation.
But a few lucky cadets, the cadets that excel, can look forward to serving on a real starship and perhaps meeting a real starship captain before being burned alive by a Horta, or absorbed by a vague energy cloud on some backwater planet.
Our fine academy will train you to be a specialist. We have no combat training or engineering classes.
You won't be needing those.
Here you will be trained to creep around a desert planet with a phaser in hand, or perhaps simply wander off on your own and touch any random glowing thing you find. Some of you may major in Provoking Reptilian Aliens, or Ignoring Repeated Warnings.
I myself majored in Agonized Screaming, though I've never had to ... had to ... AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGHH... (gets eaten by a Gorn)
Re:Bummer (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Bummer (Score:2)
Somewhere along the line.. (Score:5, Insightful)
More sci-fi, less drama. More psychobabbling nonsense about spacetime continuums and prime directives, that is what will get the fans back.
Re:Somewhere along the line.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you're dead on with that. Character development IS important but there are plenty of ensemble cast shows on the air set in the here and now where we can sit and speculate on which cast members are going to pair off. Star Trek is supposed to be SciFi though and drama is only a part of that. The producers lost sight of this and their show is going away as a result.
I also think Enterprise and Star Trek in general has just crumbled under the weight of it's own enormous history. When your fan base can spot even a minor continuity error from a mile away and there are volumes of material available detailing the history of your imaginary universe then you've got to walk a very fine line with your stories. Each season slowly tightens the noose a little more. The people doing Star Trek have gotten progressively worse at keeping things plausible and Enterprise has been a train wreck where continuity is concerned.
There are just so many reasons why this died and so many things it could have been if done well. All this work and effort and in the end Scott Bakula is going to go down as the George Clooney of Starship captains. He'll be the guy who's tour of duty killed the franchise (A disctinction that should have gone to his predecessor on Voyager. I can't remember her name for some reason, all I can think of is "The woman with the munchkin voice")
Re:Somewhere along the line.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Or maybe if they had a bookshelf's worth of commercially available reference books containing detailed information on virtually every aspect of their story universe... that would make it so much easier.
Or... maybe they could recruit an elite force of fanboys who, for the sheer bragging rights alone, would be tasked with consistency checking any new story idea or script with the rest of the Star Trek universe.
Oh well... *sigh*
Re: Somewhere along the line.. (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're equating 'science fiction' with 'technobabble' then you get my strong disagreement!
As far as I'm concerned, proper science fiction is about ideas. The bigger the better. The nature of causality and time, the confusion of reality and computer-generated fantasy, insanity, the nature of language and communication, the reliability of memory, faith, &c are all big ideas that have led to (IMO) really great stories, in Trek and elsewhere. Technology per se, and the alien of the week, do not necessarily make proper science fiction, unless they are part of an interesting idea. Similarly, relationships and personal development aren't necessarily excluded, provided that they relate directly to the big idea.
For me, then, The Truman Show counted as science fiction, even though you saw very little technology, no aliens, no laser beams, no starships, no robots, and none of the usual SF trappings, because it had at its core an amazing idea. Whereas I count most of the Star Wars films as space opera, not science fiction, despite the presence of all of those things. I consider Alien a horror film with SF trappings, but Bladerunner is true science fiction not just because it deals with replicants, but because it uses them to look at the nature of humanity.
I haven't followed Enterprise, so I can't quote you examples there. But I hope you can see my point. If the writers think that by just throwing in exotic aliens, weird energy beams, and some incomprehensible technobabble, that they're necessarily creating science fiction, then they've been doing the series -- and the general public -- a great disservice.
Re: Somewhere along the line.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Look through issues of Analog or Asimov's or Interzone, or books by some of their authors. You'll find that although it's mostly billed as science fiction, and its writers are known for that genre, it often doesn't deal with technology, aliens, &c. It's my opinion that what connects the better SF stories is that they're concerned with big ideas, however obliquely they deal with
Star Trek is FANTASY! (Score:3, Insightful)
If Star Trek is 'sci-fi', it's only because any mildly geek-friendly show set in the future/space/etc is called 'sci fi'. I'm with Arthur C Clarke on this one; it's not sci-fi, it's fantasy.
The 'science' is made up, usually to suit the plot. The 'aliens' are humans; and I mean more in the way they behave than look. Frankly, if we discover real aliens, I'll be surprised if we can relate to them on even a rudimentary level.
Star Trek i
Re:Bummer (Score:5, Informative)
Address to send a support letter (Score:3, Informative)
Mr. Leslie Moonves
Co-President, Co-Chief Operating Officer
Viacom International, Inc.
c/o CBS Television City
7800 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2112
There are Enterprise fans? (Score:2)
About time. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:About time. (Score:3, Insightful)
They fucking killed it by putting it on at the same time.
Why are these posts insightful ever time? The show started out ok, got worse with the time crap, and is now back to good episodes. New directors and writers help.
Re:About time. (Score:3, Insightful)
Enterprise is certainly above Voyager's quality, and with season 4, I think it's approaching DS9 quality as well. I'll be the first to admit the show wasn't perfect, but
Could Have Been So Good (Score:2, Interesting)
What a waste of potential. I'm not sure how weird of an idea it is, but I would love to see a BBC style 'remake' of the series. Of course throwing out everything except the basic concept.
ST needs a hiatus (Score:5, Insightful)
Star Trek's roots are in social criticism, raw idealism, and triumphalism about the human spirit. There was very little of any of those themes in Star Trek series in recent years. A return to roots is neccessary, especially since the bar has been raised on production values (Battlestar Galactica), story arc writing (Babylon 5) and character development (Farscape).
Or, they could just hire Wil Wheaton as the next captain - playing a different character than Wesley Crusher, natch - give him a starship, and set him loose.
Just stop having episodes with Nazis. Or on historical Earth. Or both.
Re:ST needs a hiatus (Score:5, Insightful)
Odd, I thought its roots were unnecessary man-to-man fist fights that are way too slow and choreographed, spaceships, and space pussy.
Re:ST needs a hiatus (Score:3, Funny)
Time to start over (Score:3, Insightful)
(a) The universe carries too much baggage. Okay, it's nice to have some history to play off of and create plots from, but it's also a major downer creatively to have too much of your fantastic futuristic world predefined. Star Trek carries a ton of that baggage -- the relations, technology, conventions and politics are all laid out there.
Example outside of Trek: When I was younger, I was into the Dragonlance books
Re:ST needs a hiatus (Score:3, Insightful)
Instead of a federation ship, we have a Klingong ship. They start out the show with some mysterious music and space stuff. And the voice over says "Our goal, to pilage the universe, accumulate as many women as possible and drink the blood of our enemies!". From there you have klingons just running around blowing shit up. Maybe have some hot vulcan chick as the science officer who pulls kun
As someone who's clocked in 600 h of Trek (Score:3, Insightful)
TNG - This seemed to be everyone's favorite, likely because it was the first, and Picard was bloody brilliant. Hands down the best character. The show would have been unbearable otherwise. Riker had his moments, and a few Data episodes were okay, but on the whole an episode without enough Picard was a bad episode. 8/10
DS9 - I as skeptical of this series, but it became to be a truly amazing show. Overall the characters were better than th
Re:ST needs a hiatus (Score:5, Insightful)
The true test? I could actually get other people who wouldn't touch ST with a ten foot pole to actually LIKE watching DS9. Why? Because underneath, it was a truly character driven ensemble cast, with so many shades of gray that people were never clearly good and never clearly bad throughout the whole series.
Re:ST needs a hiatus (Score:3)
Go generalize elsewhere, troll.
Re:ST needs a hiatus (Score:3, Funny)
Rats, actually. (Score:2)
End of an era? (Score:2)
I must admit I thought Enterprise sucked, and Voyager sucked even more, but there was something comforting in the knowledge that if I ever wanted to see how the Federation I was doing (or at least
Darn I really liked this season (Score:2)
I was anxiously awaiting the next episode each week.
That being said, I missed Friday's epsiode because I don't have any cool PVRs. I guess I'll have to download it.
Shock horror (not) (Score:5, Insightful)
Is anyone really surprised? I mean, Star Trek has been getting steadily worse. Voyager royally sucked and Enterprise was, at best, mediocre.
Trek fans shouldn't take this too hard. This cancellation could give the staggeringly lazy Trek writers and producers a kick up the arse -- it's a good excuse for a badly needed clean out of the wasters that have taken up residence in the Star Trek creative departments over its long history. The next Trek series might actually be worth watching as a result.
In the meantime take a look at the new Battlestar Galactica. I'm British, I've seen the entire series already and it's fantastic stuff.
Re:Shock horror (not) (Score:3, Insightful)
Oddly enough, it did- the episodes surrounding the fact that the Vulcan High Command was a Rommulan plot to supress the works of Surak were wonderfull. The episodes with Data (really a "Dr. Soong" from the past) weren't terribly good from a canon perspective but were GREAT from an originality perspective. And it appears with the new "Babel One Parts One and Two" that started Friday a
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Informative)
Well, Sky One already aired the entire first season of Battlestar Galactica in the UK before the Sci Fi channel decided to pick it up and air it here (ie. in the US). So, I think he was pointing out that he has already seen the entire first season and, hence, can judge the show better than people who haven't.
Myself, I have to agree. I saw the last few epis
Re:Blame Voyager (Score:3, Funny)
Sirtis is/was a slowly-inflating bag of pus with a hairy back. She was hips-n-tits in the first few seasons, but she joined Frakes in the "expanda-belly" club about the middle of the run. It was pathetic seeing her cinched into ever-tighter belts in a vain attempt to control the spread, only to see the skin bubble around the edges.
Doomed when it was moved to Friday (Score:3, Funny)
What about Stargate? (Score:5, Insightful)
I find that a rather illogical statement, considering that Stargate and Battlestar Galactica are both doing very well on Friday, and they are even on cable which doesn't reach as many households as UPN.
The problem with Enterprise was that the first two seasons sucked ass and it consequently never developed a strong fanbase beyond the die hard trekkies during the early life of the show. The last two seasons have been better, but unfortuantely not good enough to save it.
Re:BSG's on Fridays, too (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, how could they expect Enterprise to have a prayer against shows with a decent writing, character development, and all clumped to gether in a "MUST SEE SCIFI TV"
Just Let It Die (Score:2, Insightful)
Too many violations of the Temporal Directive! (Score:2)
It's too bad...the new season was starting to grow on me.
It's up to Berman... (Score:2, Insightful)
Its started with a song... (Score:3, Funny)
WTF? Rod Stewart in outer space??
at least we won't have to deal with that anymore...
yet, the only thing worse than the song was the constant statements from the producers stating it would not change...
memo to future producers: when that many people complain about a show, perhaps its time to rethink things.
Re:Its started with a song... (Score:3, Funny)
Either way, a surefire way to annoy my wife is me singing, "IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME...." at the top of my lungs.
UPN sucks (Score:2)
I have satellite TV, live in the Mountain time zone, and the UPN channels I get are based out of Boston. Enterprise is always on at 6:00pm - about the time I get home from work.
Recently saw the posting about UPN ending the series, so pulled some episodes of bt. Haven't watched many of them, got tied up in the first season of 24 on
Just when it was getting, uh... not as bad? (Score:2)
With apologies to JMS... (Score:5, Funny)
- JMS
"Rick Berman, on the other hand..."
- Trek's fanbase
Cause I've got faith - but no art,
Goin' where the ratings take me,
I've got faith to believe,
Borg chicks sell anything,
Branding strength - but no soul,
Finally the Nielsens break me,
I can sell - any script...
I've got faith... (I've got faith...)
Faith without art...
the move to Friday killed it (Score:2)
WHEN I remember to watch it, that is. The move to Friday has caused me to miss about 4 episodes. Who is watching TV at 8pm on a Friday?
Moving it to Friday kiled it. That's the spot for zombie TV shows, which are dead but don' t know it yet.
It's too bad, because the story was very interesting this year, and I liked the way they did the 3-part story arcs. (Although they had a few typical Star Trek fluff epis
how many... (Score:5, Funny)
A. Both of them.
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
m-
Damn them. (Score:5, Interesting)
Instead of working on it, and keeping the show going, they cancel. Where are the 2 hour specials to bring back viewers? They havnt tried shit, other than canceling. The whole idea of a gritter time is great, thats what made Firefly kick ass.
Really tired of all the networks canceling shows and putting reality crap, or fucking with good content. SciFi at least has Stargate and Atlantis. G4 fucked over TechTV, its a poor shell of the show it once was. B5 had many spinoffs, and possible
Last week episode showed how much the show improved. The plot worked, good inship fighting, little drama, and a few ship battles. Everything you want in a good episode.
So before all the posts "Its Crap, Let it DIE", are wrong, its a good now, now that the time war crap is over. I wish they would shoot the writers who are ruining such a good series.
Is it me, or is becoming popular to buy something and run it into the ground?
Side note, wtf is shows like "Blind Justice" a cop who is blinded on duty goes back to work, and now has super powers? Are we in a time warp going back to 80's crap?
Where are the fucking smart tv producers and network directors, they all quit?
Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Resistance is futile.
Seriously, in this case.
To quote Connery in Indiana Jones 3 (Score:3, Interesting)
Seems like this show is finally starting to gain some momentum. Too bad the never-ending moronic Xindi plot had already killed the show.
I think all the interesting parts of the Xindi story arc honestly could have been compressed into about 3 episodes.
And WTF was up with the "Beauty and the Beast" episode complete with medieval sytle castle? Ugh, what a disaster that was. Probably lost 40% of what was left of their viewership on that episode alone.
Still, once that lame arc finally completed, there have been a few interesting episodes. They're finally getting back to actually exploring the galaxy, rather than hunting "Osma in space". They've had some interesting characters, and getting into dealing with the implications of a lot of "cutting edge" technology happening at that point in the Trek timeline. Some promise there, but nobody's watching anymore. Well, except me, which apparently puts me in the minority of even the geeky slashdot crowd. Scary.
ONE TWO THREE GO (Score:5, Funny)
Kill it and bring back Farscape/Firefly. (Score:3, Insightful)
I never got into firefly when it was on, but after a run through the box set in proper order, I must say it was shiny.
Farscape was a blast.
I hated enterprise from the beginning. Stupid time travel this and time travel that. I don't mind one wierd fluke time travel episode, but they couldn't come up with an idea that didn't involve time travel. One other thought, do prequels always suck?
erm.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:erm.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:erm.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Or course the final-for-quite-a-while series of Doctor Who got about 3.5-4 million IIRC, which wasn't bad at all considering it was against Coranation Street at the time. But that was before Sky really came in etc.
If I never hear that theme song again... (Score:3, Funny)
The sad thing is (Score:5, Insightful)
Had they launched into that, instead of the "Temporal cold war" bullshit (and the Xindi weapon bullshit), they could have caught and held the fans' attention.
But the Temporal Cold war crap turned off a lot of people.
And the Xindi weapon arc turned off many more people.
And that whole "Go back in time to WWII and fight the Nazis, who are working with fugly aliens"
So when they FINALLY start showing the founding of the Federation - when they finally explain how the stuck-up asshole Vulcans of the first seasons became the race we knew in TOS/TNG/DSV, how the alliances formed because of Starfleet, and how the Romulan wars started - there were no significant viewers left.
Which is a shame, as the series is finally starting to show some potential.
Re:The sad thing is (Score:3, Interesting)
Think of the Xindi as the Taliban, the Federation as America, Florida as the World Trade Center and that stupid weapon as WMDs and it all adds up to Star Trek: Ripped Directly From the Headlines.
What was the end result? A show that was too serious to be taken seriously.
Re:The sad thing is (Score:3, Insightful)
Time travel doesn't always suck, but the vast majority of the time, especially in Star Trek, it does. When time travel isn't the main scifi element (i.e. H.G. Wells's _Time_Machine_), it tends to be an excuse for lazy writing.
Time travel episodes generally fall into two catagories. At best, time travel is a deus ex machina. These episodes typically end with someone going back in time and undoing all the events of the episode. (e.g. TNG's "Parallels
And there was much rejoicing (Score:5, Funny)
Where is the show I want to see. You know the one where Scott Bakula and that guy from Texas fight a whole truckload of Gorn to save the green skinned Orion women from being forced into the green alien sex trade while Q causes a time and dimensional, universal shift bringing the entire cast of TNG racing into battle - only get this - it's the MIRROR UNIVERSE TNG, with Evil Picard and even Evil Wesley showing up.
Oh yeah and of course the Vulcan chick and Seven of Nine find out that, yes, they are in fact space lesbians.
Worse then that he's dead jim dead jim dead.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Prequels never work to well. Star Wars works a little, but even it has the look that the past was more modern then the future problem. Examples in Star Wars is the Naboo Starfighter and Amidala's ship.
One thing that Enteprise was effected was the ship looked fricken great. LCD's all over the damn place and very sharp looking....NOT SOMETHING THAT WOULD LOOK LIKE IT CAME BEFORE KIRK!
I'd have rather seen more buttons and things like that....the bridge should have looked more like a 80's carrier. MUCH more cramped and not as modern looking. Even that may be slightly more then the old series.
UPN's signal SUCKS in my neighborhood and I never watched it primarily because of that. Also, my UPN affiliate is also a WB affiliate and they do not show it at the same time as the rest of the nation.
I will be picking this up on DVD. Since this one is real short, pricewise, it should be ok for me to get UNLIKE other Trek DVD sets!
WTF?!? (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope there will be at least some movies based on Enterprise - So the birth of the Federation can happen.
Re:WTF?!? (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, yeah. They already spent 7 seasons shedding viewers left and right, so there was hardly any viewership left for Enterprise. It needed to be so good it attracted viewers back. It wasn't close to doing that - it was just not as bad as Voyager... and any fan who stayed with the franchise through Voyager would have watched anything, so it didn't matter whether Enterprise was a b
It had a bad start, and never really recovered (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, I too was happy when a new Startreck series was announced. But then I watched the first Episode... and the second... and the third.... and after I saw the fourth I simply gave up.
I can't really define what Startreck is all about.
But I know I don't want it to be about decontamination gel (fanservice is nice once in a while, but doing it in the first or second Ep is a bad sign, especially in a way that screams "I'm just here to show you a nekkid chick") and horrible temporal wars (giving it a big introduction and then not mentioning them for a long time doesn't improve this).
After the first seasons many Startreck fans simply abandoned the Series.
Even if it improved after that, it already had lost many fans - and without real efforts to regain them, they stayed lost - and this was the death knell for the series.
I'm feeling a bit sad for the Fans - I know if you love a Series (I loved Firefly) seeing it cancelled really hurts - but I hope they will take a breather, get a producer, decent director & writer team, and make a series that makes the Startreck label proud again.
And perhaps they can even cut down on time travel a bit...
But.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Besides that, Enterprise is almost gaurenteed to have a long syndication run. STTOS is still being aired; outside of a marathon, when was the last time you saw Leave it to Beaver? Isn't Viacom all but gaurenteed infinite future syndication sales?
I remember one of those "behind the sceens" show on TNG. Each episode cost about as much to make as an average feature film. They had a bunch of production staff working full time, 52 weeks a year. (a 30 minute comedy could likey be shot in <2 days, 8 weeks for the season, not much post-production) So while expensive, I would think it would also be easy to manage at the executive level... Keep a regular, full time, cardre of ST production staff and all but forget about it on the executive level. No toss of the dice every season with new shows. No worrying about getting good writers or crew. ST just churns out stuff like clockwork. Quality is important, but many people will watch it regardless today, and tomorrow.
For that matter, with a full time ST cadre, movies could almost be done for free. Well, thats a streach.. But all your pre and post production stuff can be done here and there by the TV staff (or the opposit, the TV stuff could be done here and there by your movie crew). Farm out major work, and get a special crew to do the principal photography, but all the "glue" stuff could be done inhouse. At the very least, you will maintain a skill set, ST props, ST makup, ST sets and what not that, if you diddnt have full time staff, may or may not carry over from movie to movie.
People are saying that ST needs a break. Writers need a break, fans need a break. Is the opposite not true? Airing new shows keeps the interest up, even in the syndicated series. One might not tune in to watch a TNG episode, but if a TNG episode airs just before or just after Enterprise, the viewers might stick around for both.
Writers, Bad Scripts and the Curse of the Fans (Score:3, Interesting)
For science fiction to succeed away from its own little niche of fans, it needs writers who can develop stories that appeal to a wide audience. After all, a bad science fiction story is, in the end, just another bad story.
The stories Enterprise has been telling since Coto became the showrunner are better, but Season Four is the wrong time to go after the audience the show should have sought in Season One.
The Star Trek franchise also suffers from the curse of its fans, many of whom give the earlier series a degree of respect they often didn't deserve. (Bad scripts and cheesy plots abounded there, too. Each series had wondetful moments of drama that inspired legitimate awe and wonder about humanity's future, but each series was also inconsistent, with frequent recourse to alien/disease of the week.)
But, every fan who insists that Trek scripts maintain continuity with their view of the Trek universe also hamstrings the writers, putting them in increasingly restrictive boxes.
A show like Babylon 5 survived thanks to consistently good scripts and adherence to one individual's vision. The notion that good stories begin with character development was at play there. But, any spinoff series would like have run into the same problems as happened to the Trek series.
So, my advice to Paramount is this: Go have a deep think. Pitch the next Trek series/movie to the general population. Bring in good writers, good actors, a good director. If Trek fandom values adherence to continuity more than good stories, tell them to take a one-way tranporter trip.
Fundamental problems (Score:5, Interesting)
*Writing*
Pacing: In many of the early episodes, the pacing of the stories was terrible, often slowing to the point of boredom. Remember the episode where the Ferengi were stealing parts of the Enterprise (yawn)? Or how about "A Night in Sickbay" (yawn^2)?
Continuity: Initially, there were problems with continuity with the ST universe. Many episodes only paid lip service to previous ST material by mentioning it, and then went promptly went nowhere. Only when the ratings began to slip did the producers make an intelligent effort to tie into the old school.
Also, it was cool at the beginning of the series when Enterprise didn't have all of the tech that Picard et. al. were supposed to have. I liked the feeling of a small, weak Earth ship that didn't have all the answers. Bit by bit though, the same level of technology has crept back, to where except for the occasional shuttle pod, the tech is equivalent.
*Stories*
How did that temporal war arc get resolved? Did they make it up as they went along? Why did it seem so clumsy and difficult to follow? How about the Xindi/Star Wars/Death Star arc? Why did it take 4 years to start seeing elements of the ST universe we were yearning for from the start?
*Characters*
Viewers relating to Characters: Did the show ever get the viewers to really care about the characters? Maybe you could care about "Trip", but the rest of the cast could get blown out the airlock, and no one would protest.
Erratic Character Development: Why did so many of the episodes have the cast acting out of character? This was a problem with Voyager too, where each week a character would act differently, and negate or forget their development to that point in the series. Viewers watch the show and think "he wouldn't do or say that".
Crummy casting: Why is Scott Bakula so unbelievable and unconvincing in the role of Archer? Why can't he be taken seriously like Patrick Stewart was? This is an anchoring role for a Star Trek series - you can't miss-cast the role, and then expect the series to succeed. Voyager had problems here too, but I could at least stomach Janeway.
Yes it's easy to criticize the series at this point, but these guys have had 4 years, gazillions of dollars, and a lot of fan input to draw from to get the show right. Time to look elsewhere for sci-fi entertainment.
Opportunity wasted. (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's put the results aside for a moment (the show has had some serious issues), and take a look at what could have been.
Enterprise started off with two things going for it: a decent premise, and a good cast. What Star Trek fan isn't interested in how the Federation was started? Or how the war with the Klingons started? How about the formation of the Neutral Zone with the Romulans? Or how about the evolution of technology from rougghly what we know today, to what was available in ST:TOS?
Unfortunately, all of this was an opportunity that was wasted and squandered. Sure, they tried a few episodes dealing with the evolution of technology, but all of them were of the sort where the episode started with "Hey, we need X", and by the end, they had X (for all X in "Phasers", Transporters", etc.)
Part of that was just bad writing, and bad story planning. But then there was the introduction of time travel, which was completely unnecessary, and made the whole thing completely unbelievable. Whomever came up with the "Temporal Cold War" should be summarily fired...out of a canon. Into a pool of sharks. With laser beams on their heads.
Then there is the ship. I'm sure it would make a fine set for any number of sci-fi shows, but not for a Star Trek series that is supposed to take place before TOS. The interiour should look like that of a modern day battleship, and not filled with zinc plates and chrome. Yes, it would have been hard to make the series believable by not having any display terminals (TOS didn't have them, but here in the 2000's we do, so it would be somewhat difficult not to have them), but they should have taken a cue from a modern military warship for interiour design. It would have made the show more believable, and would have added some "grit" for the writers to work with.
The big year-long story arc with the Xindi (sp?) didn't help either. It was hard to just tune into an episode here and there, particularily towardds the end. I was in the middle of nowhere during the first four months of 2004, where TV wasn't really available, and the one time I did get a chance to see part of an episode I couldn't get into it because I had no idea what was going on. I missed the whole resolution of the story arc as well, making the whole season a total write-off for me. I can only imagine what the casual Star Trek watcher would think trying to watch just a few episodes here and there.
I feel bad for the cast, who are now going to be out of jobs after such a short run (but not too bad -- it isn't as if people in the tech industry don't know what it's like to be without a job...:P). There was some good potential for this series, but the people in charge completely munged it. Let's hope they find themselves jobless for a while so they can ponder their grand failure.
Yaz.
It's been a good ride... (Score:3, Interesting)
Alot of ups and downs and I'm sure there will be a 40th anniversary special for next year commemorating the franchise, as they have been doing something like that since the 20th anniversary first-time airing of the B & W version of "The Cage" in 1986.
Time to warp off into the sunset...
Here's the thing (Score:3, Funny)
This is why most people here are clearly overqualified to ever be a TV executive.
The Dying Gasp of 90's Paramount? (Score:4, Interesting)
Basically, there seems to have been a large marketing of failure at Paramount. Tie series to UPN, whose affliates share with Fox or pre-empt for sports events? Put movies out in December to compete with "big events," instead of waiting a month when it'd be #1? When you advertise an episode of Trek, make it about sex most of the time, even when it has nothing to do with the story? Where's the sci-fi in their sci-fi?
What we are seeing is a revamp of Paramount, and they consider Trek a part of the problem, not the solution. It should be the other way around: however, it is the last vestige of an experiment, and probably should be put to rest while they clean house. Let us hope there is more Trek one of these days, and preferably syndicated, if not on Sci-Fi or some other network.
Well, that's copyright extension for you (Score:3, Insightful)
Under the originnal UK 1710 Statute of Anne , the model for modern copyright laws, much of TNG would already be in the public domain (14 years + 14 if the author was alive at the end of the first term). The US rule was similar from 1790 onward, until 1909, when each term was doubled.
In '76, the term went to death + 50, which would mean that people who remembered TOS would, by in large, not live to see it enter the public domain.
The Bono act of '98 extended copyright to death + 70, or in some cases 95 years. Under the act the public domain will not receive any new works until 2019, and of course the entire Roddenberry ouvre will remain in private hands until after everyone who is reading this (I mean you) is dead.
Bringing the topic back to Star Trek, I leave you with a quote from Lord Macaulay, from a speech given to Parliament in 1841 opposing the extension of copyrights from the Rule of Anne term:
Which is fitting to this case. The franchise died because it was kept in private hands who tried to milk it for cash, instead of going to its natural conclusion, entering the public commons where it could ignite new creativity and competition.
sad :-( (Score:4, Interesting)
sniff sniff...
Why don't they just do it syndicated, or offer it to the Sci Fi network?
I'm sure some one is willing to put money behind a Star Trek franchise.
Galactica is out rating it. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hrm.. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's called TiVo, look into it. (Score:2)
Seriously. TiVo. No decisions. Just TiVo it.
And uh, regarding your response to your own post, although you were joking, you shouldn't need cable. UPN is broadcast.
Just admit it- you weren't going to watch anyway.
Re:The winds of change. (Score:2)
Uh, why? It's not like one was preventing the other from being enjoyed.
Boy I'm sick of comments like these.
Re:The winds of change. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The winds of change. (Score:3, Informative)
Or do they simply show them over the course of a couple months, and then show other stuff (or reruns) the other 10 months of the year?
That's pretty much it, programmes are generally run weekly, and once one programme has finished it's run another will fill it's slot. I think the UK may have more cheap filler and repeats in the schedules as well, but I haven't looked at US TV schedules in depth. It's mostly economics I think...
The main exception are soap operas of course, which run in fixed slots (barr
Re:The winds of change. (Score:3, Interesting)
If it wasn't for Ben and Claudia I would be on the side of the camp calling for and end to SG-1 while it is good, I don't think I can go through another downward slid that was the X Files (God DAMN was that show horrible once they moved the production to LA, damn
Re:Not like they're not out there... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:One Word (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Rescue (Score:4, Interesting)
This is really sad. (Score:5, Interesting)
Enterprise has been getting more and more interesting this season, and they choose now to can it.
Morons.
Re:This is really sad. (Score:3, Funny)
I used to watch STE, but once it was in a time slot against "the happy colors show" [tvtome.com] I knew I'd never see it again. Then "the happy colors show" became "a box full of puppies" which in turn gave way to "animal close-ups with a wide angle lens". [tvtome.com] But seriously, have you seen what this kid Craig is doing? He's a freakin' genius...
Another triumph for the forces of darkness (Score:5, Insightful)
When they had Vulcan desert insurgents fighting, I thought, you guys are getting too clever, they will get you. (I also wondered where T'Pau's thick accent disappeared to.)
Original Trek played against the background of Viet Nam and a tidal wave of social change. This season Enterprise started to come around to that and tweaked some present day noses. In today's rat-out-your-neighbor-to-Homeland-Security-for-not -being -patriotic-enough climate, there was no way this could go on, could it?
Look, one of the central tenets of Star Trek is that humanity stops warring amongst itself, forms a world government and then heads out to the stars. In an ideal world, Enterprise could have shown some of that process in action using the example of how the Federation came into being as a model for how we can do it ourselves and bring all these disparate nations together to form a peaceful whole.
In this real world, I'm afraid that the forces of darkness are winning. Any notion of a peaceful world government is considered (at best) traitorous liberal propaganda. A substantial portion of the population of the US believes that the end of the world is real close and (incredibly) that this is a good thing since it means Jesus will be here soon. Selfless acts and working for the betterment of all rather than just your own clan is considered a sign of weakness, not strength. Honor has no value. Science and education have no value. Only money and power are worth anything to us and only blind obedience and unquestioning patriotism is worth anything to our leaders.
We need all the idealistic dreams and heroes that we can get now because this century is going to be getting worse before (if) it gets any better. Progress is not a new feature for your cell phone, it is the march of humans from our barbarous past to a better future. At its best, that is the heart and soul of Star Trek and that is what we all need so very very badly right now.
Re:Another triumph for the forces of darkness (Score:4, Interesting)
One of the changelings (in the form of O'Brian) taunted Sisko saying that the "solids" were going to defeat themselves.
There was also great commentary on how the Dominion had already won if earth was going to live under martial law.
Given our (USA) current perpetual War on Terror, this resonated with me more than it did the first time I saw it.
Re:This is really sad. (Score:4, Funny)
And yeah, last season and this season were a lot better. They actually had something of a story arc, heaven forbid.... Of course, it got weird again at the season finale... (wait a second... alien Nazis? Isn't that an invocation of Godwin's Law?), but for the most part it is getting better.
Now that I think about it, I'm suddenly very confused.
Re:This is really sad. (Score:4, Interesting)
I love it when someone with the nick "CrocketAndTubbs" says something like, "It just goes to show that some people will watch anything no matter how bad it is."
I really laughed my ass off after reading that post.
Oh, and to stay on topic, I agree with the grandparent. Just like every "new" Star Trek show, it started out slow and cheesy. Once the characters were well defined and the show found it's legs, it's really improved. This season Enterprise has started to come into its own with good writing, relatable characters, and good acting. If TNG, DS9, and Voyager showed us anything, it was that the next two or three seasons of Enterprise would have been some really good "living room" SciFi.
Too bad Paramount can't stand by one of their own shows.
Maybe they'll put Miami Vice in Enterprise's time slot. lol
Re:One Word (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, one could watch it week after week hoping that it will magically stop sucking.
Personally, I stopped watching it after the half-dozen episodes. Oh, I'd check back a couple times a year to see if it had finally stopped sucking; but it never did, at least from my random sample.
Trek died with Gene Roddenbery. The undead abomination that kept shambling along after his death needed to have a stake driven throug
Re:One Word (Score:3, Interesting)
With a series premise like that, if you can't hold onto a geek's attention for more than 10 minutes, you suck. That show is honestly so damn boring now, they've completely killed it.
Of course I really like Enterprise, but I think the four seasons they've had have been good. It isn't like it's getting cancelled after only one season. To me, however, this season has been pretty weak.
Re:The show's fate was probably sealed (Score:3, Insightful)
Mars riots would be a fantastic plot line. So would attempts at exploring extremely hostile worlds. With a strong tie in with Vulcan you could even contrast the emotionalism of Earthlin