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Star Trek: Enterprise in Danger of Being Cancelled
jkcity writes "According to Cinscape.com The Star Trek Enterprise set is awash with rumour that it will not be renewed for a 4th season, It was previous told it was safe by UPN but so was Enteprise's lead-out show Jake 2.0 which was just Cancelled. Star Trek: Enterprise has also been reduced to 24 episodes this season by UPN, things don't look good for the Star Trek Television Franchise and after the flop of Star Trek: Nemesis it could be many years before we ever see any new Star Trek outside of books."
Without attracting a troll modifier, I'm glad. The genre is now sufficiently well-established that there are other franchises (Farscape spin-off anyone?) who could do more interesting things with the Network's money.
It's sad letting our favourite things end, but moving on is cool too.
The Slashdot Paradox: "100% Overrated"
To be honest I am not suprised one bit. I watched every episode of TNG. But from there the series weren't as good. Each one is a little worse than the one before it. They ahve lost the magic and the method that made it great.
The magic that captured us was that TNG wasn't about space or the technology but about the people. Enterprise always seemed like it didn't make the grade there. It isn't a drama the way it needs to be for success.
Evolution or ID?
Good!
Not to knock the entirety of Star Trek, but the recent "Franchises" (do you want fries with that?) have been crap. I could barely watch Star Trek: A Three Hour Tour, and Star Trek: Boobies and Scott Bakula was not even worth the John Tesh opening theme. I'm not saying the age old "Ever since Gene died...blah blah blah", but the corporates at Paramont really have taken over and pissed on the whole deal.
There are better sci-fi shows out there: Bablylon 5, Farscape, Stargate SG-1, to name a few. Some are in threat of being cancelled or already in limbo. Support THOSE! Try to revive the GOOD series!
Let Star Trek die the death it has been begging for since ST:DS9 ended. Don't let it drag on. (Flame on!)
Zodiac Survey
Much has been said about the control that Gene Roddenberry had over the Star Trek franchise & many have criticised the power he had over it.
However, under Roddenberry, we were at least guaranteed a cohesive Star Trek universe.
"Enterprise", I'm told at least, did not fit into the pre-Kirk Trek universe and deliberately did not do so. The lame excuse that Rick Berman/Brannon Braga gave for this was that events in "First Contact" caused the timeline to be changed.
Berman & Braga have made a complete hash of Trek since they got their grubby paws on the franchise that has seen it deteriorate more and more since Roddenberry's passing - TNG was, on the whole, excellent, DS9 had a poorish start but improved as things went on, Voyager had a handful of good stories and Enterprise was a complete waste of time.
I watched the first series, hoping to see an improvement and then gave up with it. Recently, I tuned into a repeat episode (possibly 2nd series) to see a plot stolen straight out of "Enemy Mine" (human and alien stranded together on a planet) & was shocked at how unoriginal the plots had become.
The only good thing about Trek recently is that my lack of enthusiasm for it has caused me to go buy the Babylon 5 DVDs (I missed all but a hndful of episodes when it was shown on TV) and to restore my faith in good, well-made science fiction TV series.
Braga & Berman can go sit on the scrapheap - I'll not lose any sleep over it...
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
That repetitive drivel like Enterprise gets to last this long while the ream gems (FireFly, Farscape) pass away tragically.
Those shows had more originality, creativity and quality writing than the Star Trek franchise can hope to match. Not to say that Star Trek wasn't good and original in its day, but that day has passed.
I recently showed Firefly to a housemate for the first time, he was hooked after the pilot. After each episode (we just finished the last one), he sits in stunned amazement, quietly saying "why was this cancelled?". It's sad really.
Disclaimer: This is not a troll nor flamebait, but a talking point.
Much of the discussion about "how much Trek sucks" usually ends up blaming Rick Berman. How much of this is his fault here? I have no judgement, but I'm tossing this out for discussion's sake.
I think my personal opinion is thus: Create work that is quality, and I will consume it.
I thought that's how the system was supposed to work... but yet, somehow, shows like UPN's planned "reality" show chronicling the wacky misadventures of Amish teens have more marketability than (insert your genre of interest here).
I think they keep trying to draw audiences by injecting episodes with BIG ACTION and SEXY SITUATIONS... well, that's not what made TNG good. TNG was good because of interesting ideas that were expanded on, often very subtly, sometimes without any threat to human life.
And every episode seems to follow a plot that's been done, what, like three, four times on previous Trek shows? My advice to save Enterprise is to fire Brannon and Braga, and hire only writer s that have never worked on any of the shows before. Keep around a 'bible' expert for continuity, but look for talented writers and producers. This is what will save the show.
Random rants about technology: http://technorants.blogspot.com
The "Flop of Nemesis"???
*smacks forhead*
How about this: Don't release movie number 10 in a series of niche movies a weekend before one of the most anticipated movies of all time, which had been promoted for several years, comes out.
I didn't have a problem with nemesis. I actually liked it. Did I go see it in a theatre? No, i saved my $15 for Lord of the Rings. Duh.
~Will
sig?
Sci-fi fans have higher expectations from series these days. We just don't like episodic television. Lost in space was over 30 years ago.
Events from one episode have to influence future ones. Babylon 5 did this. So did Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Star Trek franchise managed to learn this in the end with DS9, but now they've totally forgotten. Season 3 has had a couple of references to the Xindi backstory, but really we need more than that. We never get the feeling anything has happened after an episode has finished.
Paramount doesn't even seem to want to try. There were clear signs of a subversive effort to change this in Voyager, with Janeway slowly losing it in Equinox, but then the franchise backed away. At the end of that episode all was forgiven and forgotten. Chakotay decided that going on the Ahab revenge thing and locking him in the brig was only a minor misunderstanding, and they could still be friends.
Personally after being lost in the delta quadrant for years on voyager, I thought trek would get back to some basic Treking. Klingon's (Bad ones, nasty ones, Enterprise's Klingons are more like TNG's, which in my opinion ought not to be the case). Bad Ass Romulans, and the discovery of thier link with the vulcans (this was touched on Briefly, very Briefly, and really ought to get more attention as well. They really need to round up the writers and directorys that made some of the DS9, TNG episodes that really stick out as Classics. Best of Both Worlds, the Bell Riots, The entire Bajorian Religious Arc at the end of DS9 (the final season was one of the best seasons of Trek ever). I also feel like Enterprise has quickly degenerated into the Captain Archer Show, which some Trip and T'Pol thrown in here and there. They need to open up the cast more let us get into the other characters heads, and perhaps even give us a few more characters. It looked like they were headed that way they had that ensign (Cartright? maybe?) who seemed to get some focus in a couple episodes (on an away mission in the episode with the slave race, and the episode where she has a crush on Flox)...ah well I hope they work something out and we get a season 4 and perhaps they can strighgten this out...
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
I do enjoy the whole Star Trek universe, but it's hard to deny that Enterprise has largely been unoriginal. This hairbrained season-long plot hasn't worked out well, and I find that the only episodes I most like heavily feature Phlox.
.02 $US.
If the series had instead of going with this "temporal cold war" idea gone with a simple "explore nearby space and meet new races" type idea, I heavily suspect that things would have been better. I mean, hell; TNG and TOS were great; DS9 was alright, but Voyager was a step in the WRONG DIRECTION.
Just my
It seems like every sci-fi show, good or bad, popular amongst us geeks or not, gets cancelled.
Instead, we have these mind-numbing 'reality' tv shows, vapid sit-coms, and corny teenage melodramas.
I watch Enterprise. It's not that I think it's that great, it's just better than most of the other rubbish on TV. At least it's mildly entertaining, and I need something to watch while I exercise.
Does anybody REALLY want another Joe Millionaire/Survivor 14/Bachlor(ette) clone to replace it?
I might shoot plot holes though Enterprise all day, but at least my brain functions while doing it.
Yes, it is all Rick Berman's fault. Every ST movie that has royally sucked was his fault.
umm how do you explain Star Trek 1? Vger? come on take the cosmic dust off for gods sake. worst movie of them all. 2 was best. i know it had holes but i was never a fan of TOS so i thought it was great and continue to repeatly watch it. 3 ok. 4 wacky humor. 5 is where we start seeing a down turn until after generations.
Star Trek:
Western in space. Kinda campy but did have its moments. Very memorable characters. Fanbase: Big enough to get a few movies going after its cancelation. Noteworthy: The fans loved the show and movies enough to get an entire freakin' space shuttle renamed. Nae bad.
Star Trek: The Next Generation:
Pretty deep plots. Much deeper than much of what is shown on TV, which really doesn't say much. Very memorable characters. Very powerful episodes. (Remember the one where the crew find a probe and Picard spends a lifetime on a dieing planet?) Had many people who aren't fans of scifi watching. Noteworthy: Roddenbery died during this series.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Very deep storyline spanning many seasons. Characters not as memorable as those on TNG, but memorable none the less.
Star Trek: Voyager:
Unmemorable characters, superficial plots, enough gaps in the plot to make Spock have a stroke. The previously immortal and near unbeatable borg were made to look like a bunch of pussies in this. Time travel became more cliche than it previously was. It's crap, Jim.
Star Trek: Enterprise
New 'hip' series that shits on the pre-federation history laid out by the previous series and movies. Superficial. Unmemorable characters. Plots so shallow not even an infant could drown in them. Superficial. Tries to grab your attention with random semi-nudity. Predictable. Superficial. Theme song sucks. Superficial.
As somebody who used to be a HUGE Trek fan 10 years ago - good. The horse is laying in the middle of the field, four broken legs, broken ribs, and is oozing blood out of its ears. Just shoot it and get it over with. I hate seeing my childhood fave raped for ratings.
Berman and Braga can kiss the fattest part of my ass.
Another idea: breakdown of the Federation. It collapses sometime after Picard's retirement, and a starship crew makes the rounds restoring order to worlds and rebuilding alliances.
I believe Roddenberry already came up with a similar premise. Now known as "Andromeda."
There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
The good one?
I've seen guest characters on TNG get more character development in a single episode than Mayweather, Hoshi and Malcom have in 3 seasons.
I agree it's a shame.
It was the nearest series to ourselves in terms of time, culture and technology.
The think the way they designed the ship with all those flat screens and the jumpsuit uniforms gave it a more contemporary look. I don't want to get started about how it doesn't fit in with the 1960's show, but it definately seemed to gel with TNG, DS9 and Voyager I thought personally.
I do hope they give it more of a chance, Hopefully this will happen sa they have more invested in this franchise than other series that are being cancelled, along with a much larger fan base that has acculated over the years. If they are thinking of cancelling it they'll also give them another series to wrap things up properly. I don't see Paramount doing a 'Crusade' to Enterpise and just stopping it in the middle of nowhere.
As for plans for any future Star Trek I think we're going to have to push future into the future rather than coming back in time, otherwise we do end up with all sorts of continuity problems.
When I heard rumors of a New Trek Series I had been hoping for something along the logical progression of the Trek Universe.
1. We have for years had teasing hints of the Post Kirk Era, in seeing Sulu on the Excellsior(I know I spelled that wrong). I had been hoping that perhaps a new Trek Series would go down that line.
2. We have also seen bits of the Post Kirk Pre-picard Universe in seeing the Enterprise-B, and C I had hoped that maybe a new series would go in this direction especially the C. The Federation in the middle of an all out war would make for a refreshing change from the general Peace and love universe we are all used to seeing.
3. I heard a rumor of a Star Fleet Academy show at one point, Not sure about this one, but it might have worked.
4. A Post Picard Setting, where the Federation is on the verge of, or has already colapsed.
5. A Post Picard Setting way way into the future, jump forward 100-200 years (Leaves lots of room for back story) set on the the Enterprise - L. Perhaps things are very different in this age, the Romulans, Klingons and Cardasians are Full Memebers of the Federation, perhaps the Enterprise is even Commanded by a Klingon, with a Vulcan/Romulan first officer (A decendant of Spock fathered during his time on Romulus).
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
I actually like Enterprise and am disappointed that it may get cancelled. I absolutely agree that the plots have been done to death and that the aliens are sadly predictable in appearance but I more or less like this crew.
I think Bakula makes a good captain and his play with the Vulcan Sub-Commander is good. That can't carry the show however as much of the other crew hasn't been allowed to breath (except for Hoshi in the Psychic/Alien episode which isn't saying much).
But there is a lot of untested material in the Star Trek universe. There should be more Andorran plots and it would be really nice if the writers remembered the Gorn Empire or the Tholians. The universe was unstable back then (as opposed to TNG Federation/Romulan/Klingon triumvirate) and that instability could make for some good shows.
This season's "Expanse" theme is interesting and I personally like it. However, it can't go on forever, for the very fact that none of it was ever mentioned in any past series.
The show needs to get back to its beginnings. USE the tried plot but lets not forget that space is a new and exciting and unknown place. Everything that the crew seems to encounter has already been encountered before. The original series used that unknown as the backbone of plot. TNG really built up a crew centric aspect. The other two kind of let me down. Enterprise has the potential to do a lot but isn't going anywhere.
They should really let the fans be the writers. Set up a contest or something on the website to submit an episode. Star Trek is a good and proven concept but there needs to be more trekking and more weird discoveries.
The species that I have loved the most is the Ferengi. The overtones were very clear. These were a race of value-less corporate executives. They valued nothing over their own self enrichment.
Our current collective struggle is against the Ferengi. They are threatening to eliminate the power of the nation states and replace them with international corporate governance. People will be less valuable then equipment to them. Feudalism would once again fall upon the Earth.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
After Nemesis and Enterprise, Star Trek needs to die. Brannon Braga and Rick Berman are a bunch of greedy fuckwits, dumbing down and morally sterilizing the franchise (God, I hate Janeway) to attract Mr. and Mrs. MTV lobotomized American, and should be killed as horribly and painfully as possible.
Okay, a little far. But Star Trek needs some serious time off, after which it should be handed over to someone who might actually care about the franchise, and hire proven, good writers who aren't afraid to take a chance. Berman, the franchise's current head, was Roddenberry's money guy, and Braga, the main writer, is a wannabe Jerry Bruckheimer hack, and he's not even very good at that. Someone like Joss Whedon (not sure if he even likes Star Trek, but he'd still do well), Ira Steven Behr, or even fucking Jonathan Frakes. I'm sure there are other, better candidates, but I haven't done my research.
The best idea I've heard, I'd even go so far as to say the only idea that might salvage our beloved Trek, is to do "Star Trek Adventures" (lame name, but I'm not in fucking marketing). Essentially, a series of short miniseries set in various times and places throughout the mythology. Like 3 gritty episodes following a Klingon strike team in the Dominion War, then a few following Q around, having fun. You could jump to way the fuck in the future and watch the crew of the Enterprise-Q make first (well, second) contact with the Andromeda galaxy, spend an episode following the successful assimilation of a civilization from the people's point of view, then another, from the Borgs', and then spend a few weeks chronicling Khan's rise to power in the 21st century. You could take any genre, jam it into a Star Trek setting, and have a go. It's unlimited! They could even pander to a few episodes of CSI: Ferenginar, or a stupid sitcom set on Bolius Prime. Hell, after a hiatus, you might even enjoy dropping in on the NX-01 for a while.
The current producers need to go, they need to get the fuck off UPN, and they possibly even need to ditch the whole lone ship of exploration thing. TOS and TNG were mostly original, DS9 went somewhere entirely different, and did damn well at it (mostly because Berman and Braga ignored it, and left it to his subordinates), Voyager was utterly derivative of TOS and TNG, with a quarter the enthusiasm and passion, and Enterprise started out as the third iteration of the law of diminishing returns on the whole lone ship in an increasingly sickeningly PC unexplored space. Something like "Star Trek Adventures", without Berman and Braga, is the only way to save Star Trek.
Taking your sweeping series at face value, let me point out a few things. DS9 had some real stinker episodes and even some stinker story arcs. Voyager had a few episodes that were among the best in the franchise.
The point is, the thing that really had me rolling my eyes at many of the Voyager and DS9 episodes is how poorly written they were. They were organized around gimmicks which were simply patronizing to the fans of the franchise. To be fair, doing something memorable is going to be a huge challenge in along running franchise like ST. However, I think the ST writers would do well to be suspicious of "concepts" that scream to be summed up on one line ending with an exclamation point, e.g. "Let's have the whole cast play a baseball games against the vulcans!", or " Let's have Janeway fall in love with a hologram (OK, I can buy that) from a cute irish village!" Message to Mr. Berman: desperation is showing.
This has been a bit of a problem in every post TOS series, but it has steadily grown. Enterprise is the worst offender. I often feel like the writers are talking down to me. Or perhaps they aren't trying to talk to me, but to a demographic. You know, the kind that has to have "edginess". It's art by formula, but Komar and Melamid they ain't.
It's not a mystery that the franchise has lost its way since Rodenberry's death. The thing about Rodenberry is that he had a vision. At times it was a cringe-inducingly naive and parochial vision. But it was a vision you could buy into because the show really believed in it.
With Enterprise, the franchise's masters are trying to recapture the sexiness of TOS. But they fail because what they come up with is as artifical as a pair of regulation issue 40DD boobs. Enterprise doesn't believe in sexiness, it just needs a certain amount of it to meet the product specifications they have in mind. Take so much T&A, so much gunplay and battle, sprinkle at least one gimmick, stir and serve lukewarm.
Even when Enterprise raises what could be a provocative issue ("can torture be justified"), it ends up shying away because it doesn't believe anything. Time for another half nude shot of Jolene Blalock! No offense to her; despite her obvious endowments I think she is quite skilled and talented, as is much of the rest of the cast. They just aren't given anything interesting to do. I'd be glad to see a half-nude or even full-nude shots of Jolene Blalock in every episode. Rodenberry would have loved it. Just give the rest of my brain something to keep it occupied.
So, Enerprise just drifts in limbo, having neither the freshness and energy of TOS, or the gravitas and maturity of TNG. What it does have is "edginess", which I suppose is a kind of nervous tick. The fascination of that kind of thing is rather limited.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The real problem with Star Trek is that it's controlled by a pair of egotists who:
1) Think of Star Trek as a franchise to be exploited, instead of as an opportunity to tell great stories. This means that everything is derivitive retreads of existing material, because that's the safest tactic. This is whey don't hire real SF writers (e.g. Niven, Ellison, Gerrold) but instead hire TV writers who slap SF gadgetry and doubletalk over generic TV show plots.
2) resent the fact that everyone likes Gene Roddenberry's work better, and keep trying to create an "original vision" instead of executing GR's vision well. This is why they even took the name "Star Trek" off of Enterprise. They don't want to make Star Trek a success, they want to make something "new" a success, only they don't have the guts to actually create anything new, so they're trying to hijack Star Trek. This same issue is why the movie of Dune sucked (the director didn't want to simply film Dune, but had to get his ego involved), but LOTR was wonderful (Jackson told the original story perfectly, no ego BS), only Enterprise gets to suck weekly.
It's a shame, since Star Trek has so many fans, and the actors and effects in Enterprise are first rate. It's just the writing that sucks.
My advice: hire real SF writers and give them real creative control. Or watch Outer Limits instead. Or Farscape, Lexx, or SG-1....
Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
Have you even seen an episode of Star Trek: TNG from its heyday?
TNG was about making statements on humanity and exploring social issues, using the backdrop of a sci-fi space drama.
They keep showing the episode on Spike TV where the young recruit goes on the undercover mission with the terrorist organization, grows fond of them, and eventually defects. The last shot of the episode is Picard sitting in his room in defeat, lost in thought, wondering if he pushed her too hard...
That was good writing.
... but good.
I can't say I'm sorry to hear that Enterprise is in danger of cancellation. I recently began reading Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry, and hearing in Roddenberry's own words about his vision of Star Trek, I can only say that the current Trek producers are pretty much raping the hell out of the Trek dream for pure marketing and financial reasons. Most of the movies and television series have become incredibly jingoistic and militaristic, and both ironically pretty much encompass almost every single thing that Roddenberry warns against. Roddenberry didn't have it perfect, either, but he cared with an obsessive-compulsive passion about the cohesiveness of his creation. The loss of that shows clearly. And the sheer contempt for prior series continuity that is evident in Enterprise absolutely disgusts me.
I'm a Trek fan. Not a con-attending, fanfic-writing one, but certainly semi-passionate; I often find myself reading the books, trying to catch the movies, etc. I was a Trekker even before TNG came out, and read the books as a young teenager. And right now, I could see nothing better for the franchise than for it to die. It's been milked to death and beyond, and the people in charge of the franchise now remind me of necrophiliacs who will simply continue humping the corpse until it decays to dust around them. Strong words, but sincerely, non-trollishly meant.