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UPN Officially Cancels 'Star Trek: Enterprise'
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."
In the finale, Q takes Riker to the past, present and future to correct the timeline and prevent Enterprise from happening.
a DDOS attach brought down UPN networks late yesterday shortly after news that Star Trek: Enterprise would be canceled. No details were available at this time
I enjoyed the show. But if people weren't watching it, then all I can really say is 'farewell'.
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....
"Derp de derp."
Buy Dad a TiVo and use it to record "Enterprise."
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
Let the fucking series end already. Way past beating a dead horse.
When I first heard about the series I immediately thought it was going to be a hard drama about the pain and suffering of the early days of spaceflight.
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.
If the franchise takes 5 years off, and comes back with new people at the helm (and not Berman or Braga - they had their chance, it's time for fresh blood), it might actually be something that can reignite fandom again.
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.
Don't blame me - I voted for Howard Dean. http://dean2004.blogspot.com
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.
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry!
There was no chance ever of it being renewed. It was moved to Friday, which we all know is teh death nell for any SciFi show. I mean if FireFly could not cut it on Friday, how the heck is the worst Star Trek show going to have a prayer. B&B blow, and Joss rocked. Damnit bring back FireFly. .. . .
They wasted so much promise with this show that it really does deserve to die. I will miss Jolene Blalock's overall yuminess, however.
I can't wait to see how it ends. Will Sam Beckett finally get back home?
If Berman let's the franchise cool for a while, then this is a good thing. If Berman keeps his chaps on and continues to ride the dead horse, this will be a bad thing. Sadly, I pretty sure I know how this is going to turn out...
That stupid, stupid opening theme song..
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.
- 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 first season of the new Battlestar Galactica was fantastic. However, the last episode broadcast in the UK (which has already aired the entire season) was promoted as the 'series finale' (as opposed to 'season finale'), and many folks on Sky One's message board seem to interpret this to mean the show won't be re-upped. I'm not sure how well the SciFi Channel showings are being received, but given that the last episode leaves you seriously wanting more (along with having a cliffhanger ending), I'm concerned that the show won't be continued.
Looks like EnterpriseFans.com needs to start taking up a collection for more robust web hosting.....
It was moved to Friday, which we all know is teh death nell for any SciFi show.
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.
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Have a nice day.
DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
Q. How many "Enterprise" fans does it take to save a TV series?
A. Both of them.
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
m-
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
While the show started out as poor, its gotten better and it now upto TNG in quality. The problem they have, is some people tuned out, and lost viewers.
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?
Which was a pretty cool show when it first aired, but the same could be said of TOS.
How about _completely_ new series, with no canon to worry about, no old fans to grouse about "how it was better back in the day" etc.
Babylon 5 seemed to do that. What's the big fear about trying likewise again?
upn is scared, nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyaahhh-nyah
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I think the problem lies in the fact that every episode you felt left out if you had missed the previous. The other shows you mention, they did a good job of filling you in or at the very least, writing it in such a way that if you didn't see the previous show, you wouldn't have that lost feeling.
Isn't that just a difference in nomenclature? I thought that "series" in the UK was similar to "season" in NA. But I could be wrong. I think it's doing quite well in the ratings on SciFi, so I haven't started to worry yet. And I couldn't wait, so I BT-ed the whole season. Oh my god, is all I can say after the finale.
the people at EnterpriseFans.com are still trying to raise money for a fan campaign to save the show.
Resistance is futile.
Seriously, in this case.
"There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
- Bob Dylan
"You left just when you were beginning to get 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.
// harborpirate
// Slashbots off the starboard bow!
Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaan!!!
the Political Inquirer
Star Trek hasn't changed much since TNG. TNG was great TV, and I felt like DS9 was, too (once Sisco/Hawk shaved his head and became a badass), but after that...
Farscape was what did it for me. It showed me that sci-fi TV coud be smart AND funny AND fast-paced AND well-written AND imaginative AND everything else that Star Trek is not anymore and hasn't been for a long time.
I was complaining to a friend about how all ST shows had gotten so slow. They plod to each commercial break until someone reverses some polarity and makes everything better. He disagreed with me, but karma was on my side. That night, the episode of Enterprise that was on featured some sort of gooey space alien that was in a cargo hold or something, and everybody who went in got caught in it, suspended in gooey tentacles.
Slowest. Monster. Ever. Just like the ST franchise these days.
For the love of Pete!!!!!!!
Listen very carefully I shall say this only once. In the UK a 'season' is refered to as a 'series'. So the UK has finished airing the 'first series' of Battlestar Galactica. So 'Series Finale' translates into American as 'Season Finale'. Is that okay or would you like pictures?
Now! This in no way guarantees a 2nd series but it also in no way suggests there will not be 2nd series.
Distributed Disintrest Of Startrek?
The ratings are so bad, I doubt even the script kiddies are watching it. Trek never really recovered from Shatner's "Get a Life" joke.
Yeah, there was awful writing at times (something Trek has recovered from before), few places left to boldly go in the Trekverse and geekdom's entertainment habbits were moving away from the tv forcing the networks to flail around in search of a new audience, but the "Get a Life" meme was a stigma that eroded all that was good and fun about the fandom.
And the answer is: Nobody cares.
Star Trek has sucked for years. I've got higher hopes for the latest attempt to resurrect Doctor Who than for that sinking franchise
Stop with the +Insightful posts, many people like the Enterprise tv show. 2.5 million people watched it the same time Stargate SG1 was on.
They are trying to kill Enterprise by putting it on at friday night, it cant win in that timeslot.
They should've done "Starfleet Academy: 90210," but they didn't listen to me.
That'll teach 'em.
Isn't it a Sci-Fi rule that every series that lasts more than 3 seasons needs an Alien Nazi? The Original Series definately had them...
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
Those boys really know how to geek it up
Both much better.
:-) Looking forward to the movie.
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?
2.5 million is HUGE numbers. In the UK thats like a 3rd of the population. I might hate enterprise but Jesus christ give it a break with figures that high.
I like muppets.
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 Earthlings versus the coldly logical Vulcans when they share danger and conflict. Or even better yet, how about the human race suddenly coming to grips with the reality of alien life forms which are superior to us in many ways?
The team of B&B raises a special type of ire in me. There is only a small handful of people in the world who are in a position to make a SciFi series with a built in universe and dedicated fan base. To squander that opportunity with inane plots and technobabble is a crime. They should be banished to live the remainder of their days in the very universe they neutered.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
it'll be too soon. I knew it was doomed to fail the minute they gave up the orchestra for that "faith of the heart" easy listening crap.
The sad thing is, they have FINALLY started doing what they should have been doing from day one - namely, showing the foundation of the Federation - showing why the Federation didn't come into being UNTIL Earth started poking its collective noses into everything.
... well, the less said about it the better, save that it, too, served to turn off more people.
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.
www.eFax.com are spammers
(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. The first few were damn decent in terms of starter fantasy, but as more and more came out they started suffering from this exact problem. The situations, characters and setting started to lose their edge and the attributes which made them attractive in the first place. "Oh, hey, it's Lord Soth, what a shocker that he'd show up..."
(b) It's a show for a different time. I'm not sure if this is cyclical, but today's audiences don't really want mildly disguised social commentary. If you look at the top shows right now, they tend to be about human drama. BSG is a great example. Farscape was (often) a good example. Deadwood, the Wire... The list goes on and on.
I'd add that it was overmerchandised, but George Lucas has proved to us all that you can whore something out to the hilt and people will still come pony up for it if the original was good enough.
At this point, rather than trying to patch up the Star Trek universe it seems like it would be better just to direct creative juices elsewhere.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I'm not sure what happened but startrek is not drama, it is sci-fi. Somehow this got lost during the brainstorming of enterprise. I'll watch an hour of the borg, even the crappy ones in voyager but I won't last 15mins into the episode on who T-Pol sleeps with next.
More sci-fi, less drama. More psychobabbling nonsense about spacetime continuums and prime directives, that is what will get the fans back.
did you forget to take your meds?
Seriously, I'm kind of bummed that they haven't completely pulled out all the stops to get any remaining Trek fans to watch.
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.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
This show, while it was star trek and bad star trek is better then none at all, it deserved to be cancelled for a few reasons....first...
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!
Gorkman
They aired the crappy Voyager series for 7 (too) long seasons without killing it and now they kill not-so-bad Enterprise?!?
I hope there will be at least some movies based on Enterprise - So the birth of the Federation can happen.
Let's be honest - many of us didn't watch more than the first few Episodes of Enterprise before they got fed up and dropped the series.
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...
+++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
So UPN cancels "Enterprise". UPN isn't the only station that buys Enterprise. In Canada, the Space network show it, as does CityTV. (who, while both are owned by CHUM, may not be paying exactly twice, but paying more then once) Im sure there are both "normal" and speciality networks all over the world buying and showing it.
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.
Since you think that ST has sucked "for years", why did you keep watching it? Just so you could act superior? Or can you really find no better use for your time than to watch TV shows that you hate?
"Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
Sorry, but not surprised, to see it go.
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.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
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 episodes of Battlestar Galactica's first season. And I really hope they decide to pick it up for at least another season. Good acting, good and sometimes superb writing, decent sfx. Definitely a good show.
opinion != troll
That is exactly the point. BSG and SG1 and SGA are all 100x better than Enterprise. UPN did not have a prayer of Enterprise doing well against SciFi's line up. I'm surprised there was even 2.5million people. They probably were reallly jsut people with VCRs / Tivo's taping it while watch quality SciFI on the not-so quality SciFi network.
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" type of lineup. Even though SG1 seems to be running out of steam, it is still far and away better than the crap that Enterprise has been.
BSG truely rocks, it feels real, you never know who is going to bite the bullet. The writers are not afraid of character with faults, and for every victory there is usually a price to pay.
Enterprise, if some major character is "killed" it is just a matter of going back in time to save them. Or some other "magic" technology, with little basis in reality, gets jury rigged in 10 minutes to save the day. Where is the dram in that. At the end of the day, or at least the end of the season, everyone will be safe and happy once again.
I mean I used to enjoy Star Trek very much, but after seeing some of the more recent quality sci-fi shows like Firefly, Farscape, BSG and the earlier years of SG1 the whole premise of STarTrek is a lot harder to swallow.
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 (barring live football etc.) all year round. The big soaps are now on four days a week, UK TV seems to be getting awful for people who don't like soaps, or cheap fillers about people buying houses, or selling stuff at auction (etc.). (Then again a while ago all the fillers were about home improvement and stuff...)
10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
20 GOTO 10
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.
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
This just goes to show you that when television gets better, less people watch it.
Enterprise has been getting more and more interesting this season, and they choose now to can it.
Morons.
+++ATH0
I'm not sure what happened but startrek is not drama, it is sci-fi.
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 is fantasy that just happens to have borrowed the clothes of 'true' sci-fi. Star Wars is *definitely* fantasy that just happens to include some sci-fi elements (eg spaceships).
True sci-fi should at least have its roots in a plausible idea; so I'd call Asimov's robot stuff sci-fi, 2001 sci-fi, and so on.
Don't get me wrong; I enjoy some Star Trek (well, TNG mainly, having recently watched a complete season on DVD), but it's fantasy.
And it strikes me as ironic that geeks (myself included) enjoy watching a show that makes up as much stuff as Star Trek does.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
In general, why did Enterprise fail?
*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.
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.
When all is said and done, it would have been 39 years, 754 episodes from 6 series (including the Animated one), and 10 films. Literally about a month's worth of 24/7 viewing.
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...
-- Win2k: "It's not so much that it's only 65,000 bugs, it's just that they stopped at 65,535 to prevent an overflow."
Every time a thread like this comes up I see a lot of insightful, well thought out reasons on what happened in the past and why what is happening now is good/bad.
This is why most people here are clearly overqualified to ever be a TV executive.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
I'm feeling pretty pessimistic about this but if your interested here is the address to send your "Please Don't Cancel the Show" Letters :
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
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for the are subtle and quick to anger.
I'm sorry, but In My Opinion (hear that, moderators?) SG1 was a great series, but has gotten horrible in the past 2 years.
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.
Oh yeah, I liked the season with the time-travelling alien nazi's. Every episode kept us watching throughout the entire season. "Us" includes both me and my wife (that's a helluva feat considering that sci-fi bores the crap out of her), our 12 year-old boy, 5 year-old boy, and even the 3 year-old boy.
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 through it's heart long ago, and now it appears that has finally happened. Maybe now Gene can stop spinning in his (metaphorical) grave.
If you're going to mourn the passing of a show, save your energy for something worthwhile like Firefly, B5, or Farscape.
Trek is dead. Let it rest in peace.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
Well, with Ben Browder coming on as a regualer ( no not as John Crichton), Claudia Black coming back for 5 episodes, and with a new general (to replace Richard Dean Anderson) Beau Bridges. I actually think the next season of SG-1 looks promising.
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 you David Dacovney DAMN YOU!!!) But seeing that I like Ben and Claudia from Farscape, as long as MGM doesn't hire Farscape writers, the series should be kept from turing itn 'Fargate'...
IMHO there are oly 2 ingredients needed for a good ST show
:-)
:-)
:-)
A) get interesting characters, develop those
+) Sisko, Archer, Picard, Seven, Phlox, Quark, T'Pol, Worf, Tom Paris, Jadzia Dax, T'Pol, Trip, Data,
-) Neelix, Beverly Crusher, Katherine Pulaski, Lwaxana Troi,
B) get a thrilling and CONSISTENT(!!!) storyline
DON'T USE
- time travel
- it's just a dream
- parallel universe
because it tells me "uh uh - we messed up the plot and need to rewind" - those episodes simply suck
Ranking:
#1) DS9 - no questions asked - my #1
- interesting characters and good character development
- storyline is interesting an mostly consistent
- nice "side stories"
- the "tribbles" episode was a soo funny (though it violated rule B)
#2) Enterprise (first 3 seasons - hoping for more to ait here soon)
- characters are good and promise more fun and development
- storyline has promising ideas, but lacks a strong idea and continuty. constantly violating rule 2 ( time travel sucks
#3) TNG
- weak storyline - with exception of the "Borg" episodes
- strong and weak characters
#4) Voyager
- "we need to get home" is no storyline, sorry
- some nice side stories
- not enough strong and interesting characters
#5) Star Trek
Just too old to remember
Here's some food for thought: can anyone name a "good" Paramount film or series in recent years? What happened to syndicated TNG? What happened to the old Trek films, or Beverly Hills Cop, or even Beavis & Butthead (remember, "Picard" liked it too)? Why did Nemesis bomb, when it really wasn't as bad as Trek V? I haven't seen "Deep Impact," but saw "The Core:" did anyone see both?
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.
Life is irony, and nothing ever goes as planned.
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.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I liked Enterprise, especially this season.
:-/
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.
It didn't work for Angel, Firefly, or Farscape (yes, Firefly's getting a movie, and Farscape had/will have a miniseries to wrap things up. But fan support didn't keep the show on the air).
Hell, Angel was the WB's second highest rated show when it was cancelled.
Enterprise is doomed.
Here's a frank appraisal of each series (minus TOS), and a ranking:
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 those on DS9 (although no one will ever top Picard); particularly Odo, Garick, Martak, Goyron, and Weyoun. I didn't find myself cringing at any of the characters, save some completly bizarre Ferengi episodes. Massively long continual story arcs kept you intrigued throughout the entire series. Overall the plots were just better than TNG. 10/10
Voyager - Oh God. This was the bottom of the barrel. Yes, worse than Enterprise I'm afraid. I wish I kept a running tally of how many times Janeway said "I understand that blank blank blank, BUT blank blank". Ugh. She wasn't a captain, she was a Mom. No characters were worth seeing except the holographic Doctor, and they dwindled on him too much at times even. Truly atrocious series I was glad to finish. I can recall 2-3 good episodes. 2/10
Enterprise - Probably got the worse rap out of any of the series. The stupid intro song, the prequel thing, and the idiotic cheap leg shots of T'pol put most everyone off. However it did improve as the series went on. Malcolm ("armory" office) got a little more interesting, and Trip's accent became less annoying. Archer finally started making some tough decisions (jacking an innocent ship's warp drive), but it was too little too late to really save the series from termination. The Xindi story arc was intriguing, but it took them 2 seasons to get to it. 4/10
It should be noted that Every one of these series started off very badly, even TNG and DS9. I don't know why Star Trek needs the obligatory 1 or 2 seasons to get going but that's certainly the trend. And yes, I need to get out more.
Corporations: your universal scapegoat for all society's ills.
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.
Of course it's going to be cancelled, Galactica on Sci-Fi and the rest of the Sci-Fi Friday is getting as good or better ratings than it is, and I believe that UPN has a wider distribution than Sci-Fi does. I've read that Galactica had a 2.5 rating last week, which is higher than the week before. It's weird seeing Galactica succeed and a Trek franchise fail, but Galactica is just That Damn Good. You Galactica haters can scoff now, but wait until the last few episodes, Galactica gets very good. On par with Babylon 5 at its prime, I'd say.
For all the yakking that goes on about how the FCC is really sticking it to TV with censorship, there's been virtually no measurable change. I suppose it's just because republicans are in charge that people THINK there's some sort of big change happening and that the bible belt is taking charge of the airwaves. The truth, of course, is that there's way too much money there for BOTH parties for the FCC to do anything really drastic. Again, except on radio where apparently saying the word "asshole" would cause children all over the country to turn to lives of sin.
I'm hardly a ST fan, but man, that series blew everything else out of the water. It had everything people here have been clamoring about: deep (very deep) character development, HUGE plot arc
As another poster said, try B5. JMS had the whole arcs planned out from the beginning. The last few seasons of DS9 seemed to fall into the same hole that the Spider-Man clone debacle that Marvel had a few years back. For those of you who didn't read Spider-Man at the time, the reader's digest version basically went like this:
Five years ago, Marvel time, somebody made a clone of Spider-Man. Said clone was dumped down a chimney, and thought to be destroyed. However, the clone shows up all of a sudden, wearing a different costume, and sales go up. The editors decided they had a good thing on their hands, and dragged out the story AS LONG AS THEY COULD. This, combined with the fact that you had to buy 4 books a month to keep up with the story, killed sales, made the whole clone deal a legendary bad story, and drove the charachter into the ground into such an extent that it's still recovering today.
The same situation seemed to happen on DS9. Berman seemed to think he had a good thing with the Dominion and he did - so he drug the same basic arc out 2 seasons past its prime. They would have a big battle on the show about every three weeks, but nothing would change, nothing would be resolved. And the charachter relations more and more seemed to resemble a soap opera (Odo and Kira, anyone?).
DS9 sucked the first two seasons, got its footing in season 3, and seasons 4 and 5 rocked. But after that the show returned to suckiness, unfortunatly. As I was discussion with another poster, they should hire JMS of B5 fame and Joss Weadon of Buffy, two guys who know how to do plots, story arcs and charachters.
The problem is that cancelling is because of ratings...more so than any other problems you pointed out.
Bit Torrent kills ANY shows ratings. I got turned off by the Xindi arc...because it reminded me too much of 9/11 and crap.
So my friend downloaded all the episodes...lo and behold I watched the entire arc in a couple sittings.
Since the show arcs kinda sucked...I did not watch on broadcast television...I watched at my own pace when I was bored...and I started liking the show.
Bit torrent killed the ratings. Suprnova always had about 2500 seeds (I was told) and thousands of peers downloading the show.
Ratings were not really ever a problem...UPN is just looking at the wrong sources...get with the times and realize fans paying $5.00 per episode will generate enough money (iTunes...) to keep the show running forever.
I'm rambling...but I have a good points. Discuss.
- - -
this is a repost from a comment that is in another thread, but I believe it needs discussion. Nobody EVER talks about torrents and their effect on shows.
Life is like pants... fit in or you don't fit in.
Actually, a level of incoherence of the "science" involved in Trekkie technics cancels it aspirations to be SCI-fi.
Or maybe they're from the parallel universe? Laser beams visible in space, FTL with preservation of causality and general relativity, completely naive view of human psychology, most aliens are humanoid...
If you're into science-fiction, better check "Culture" series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture by Iain M. Banks. or for real hard sci-fi, Orion's Arm http://orionsarm.com/
Star Trek belongs to the techno-fantasy genre, not sci-fi.
I can (almost) accept Enterprise being canceled. Perhaps it IS time for Star Trek to take a break. But what a waste to end it this way. 98 total hours instead of an even 100. Having to end with a one-hour show instead of a two-hour finale. Reworking an existing script into some type of satisfying last adventure of the series (maybe the last Star Trek episode ever).
How about putting back those two hours that were taken away earlier in the season? The 98 hours of Enterprise come from 26+26+24+22=98 over the course of four seasons. The last two hours can be shot immediately after the already planned 22 episodes for this season, before they tear down the sets and release the talent. Let Manny Coto write a worthy series (maybe franchise) finale as a two-hour "telefilm." Make it about the founding of the Federation. If available, get Jonathan Frakes to direct it. Spend a bit more time in post-production to make it really special and save it for airing during the Fall sweeps period.
I can see that it is unreasonable to expect another season of Enterprise on UPN (or elsewhere), but surely, Paramount's investment in just two more hours of Enterprise would be worthwhile. If UPN doesn't want it, sell it to the SciFi Channel as a one-time special event.
I'd be satisfied with something like that...
According to IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383588/
Sam and Al will both star in it, but that's all the info they have.
Hopefully it'll be good.