"Enterprise" cancelled; series finale for 05/13/05

[TM2-Megatron]

I'm not sure how many Star Trek fans we have here, but I thought I'd post this after I noticed it on Yahoo! News.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... tar_trek_2

Actually, I'm rather dissapointed. It's quite true the first two seasons left alot to be desired, but the third showed moderate improvement; and the series seemed to finally get it right with the fourth season's 3-episode Arc structure. Just as things are starting to get on the right track, soulless executives pull the plug; though it's hardly the first time. Admittedly, they really should've tried harder initially (as they did for the fourth season), but it was way too late by the time they put in the required effort.

Looks like it's at least a three year break before Paramount tries anything with the franchise again. Probably not a bad idea.

[Loomis]

I can't say it is a surprise, especially with the announcement of the first 4 seasons of Enterprise on DVD. Traditionally, they have only released completed series.

I agree it was starting to get better, but I also thought that a BIG break from Trek would serve the franchise well. Look at the success of The Next Generation, brought on by many years without TV Trek and a few movies.

I think a few movies would serve the series well, then perhaps a semi-crossover film (with TNG, Voyager, DS9 crew) that ultimately launches a new series.

In fact, a movie that launches a new series would be awesome.

But in a few years.

[Practical Pig]

I, too, am disappointed (but not surprised) about the cancellation of Enterprise. I love sci-fi/fantasy shows, but with the cancellation of Buffy, Angel, Farscape and now Enterprise, I am left with a hole. I can't get into the Stargate series' and there's not much else other than Smallville. The few new Battlestar Galactica that I've seen haven' t been too bad, but it hasn't grabbed me just yet.

[MickeyMousePal]

I was a fan of Star Trek: Enterprise but after the first season the show got pretty lame. Well the ratings were down since UPN moved it to a killer time slot on Friday. Why can't they just give it another try on Wednesday?

[AwallaceUNC]

Never liked it, so I can't say that I'm heartbroken. I'll take one more TNG movie (with Guinan in a more prominent role, a la Generations, as well as Q) and 3-4 Voyager movies, if you don't mind. Feel free to skip DS9... never was a fan of it either.

-Aaron

[TM2-Megatron]

I love sci-fi/fantasy shows, but with the cancellation of Buffy, Angel, Farscape and now Enterprise, I am left with a hole.

As far as sci-fi cancellations go, Firefly was the biggest dissapointment for me.

I'll take one more TNG movie (with Guinan in a more prominent role, a la Generations, as well as Q) and 3-4 Voyager movies, if you don't mind.

I wouldn't hold my breath on any of those. After the last (and might I add awful) TNG movie, I doubt they'll bother taking that crew out again. Truth be told, I was getting bored of the Picard/Data fixation by First Contact (despite how good that one was), and I was glad to finally see Data die. As far as Voyager movies go, that series was generally the least popular among fans out of the three 24th-Century based series.

If any of them were to have any more movies, I'd put my money on DS9, as it was probably second in popularity after TNG, and the only series of the three to really leave any loose ends for a movie to pick up on.

The most likely scenario, though, is that they'll take a few years break (Berman has said at least three), and then perhaps make a new movie with a completely different crew that launches another television series.

[2099net]

Well, cheer up, only about 6-8 weeks until the new Dr Who series starts on UK tv. One door closes and another opens. Only this door is a much brighter light behind it.

And I'm only semi-joking.

[orestes.]

I'm sad over this. I wasn't as much of an Enterprise fan as I was a Voyager fan but I enjoyed the show and it's sad when any I like or any that have potential get canned.
Sci-fi on TV besides Enterprise isn't fascinating me right now and I really hope the new Doctor Who will get over to this side of the ocean soon and I hope I enjoy it even though I was never a huge fan of the original series. I watched it from time to time though in repeats.

I should try and get into Battlestar Galactica but something is holding me back.

[Maerj]

Enterprise was starting to get really good. The Andorians (the blue guys) were really cool, I loved any episode with them in it.

[Squirrel]

Yeah, I was totally depressed ... when I heard the news that Enterprise had been cancelled. True, it had been teetering on the edge, but I didn't think it would actually get the chop. Trek is a valuable property, whether or not Enterprise is lighting the ratings on fire. And one would've thought, with next year being Trek's 40th anniversary ... that they would keep it for one more year, just for that. But ...

And, really, I love the show. Enterprise is my second-favorite Trek (with Deep Space Nine being my favorite). I thought Season One was good. Solid. The best first season of all the Trek shows, and having the best pilot (in Broken Bow), but Season Two ... wobbled. It swerved about, and I almost fell off. But Season Three cemented it for me. And Season Four is even better. So, at least the show will end at its peak.

And people complain about Enterprise's first two seasons, but ... if you go back and look at TNG's first two years (and TNG being the most popular of the modern Trek shows), I think, quite honestly, they are much worse (TNG's Season Two finale, Shades of Gray, was a clip show ... and I still say Code of Honor is the worst episode of Trek ever, or if not the worst, certainly a contender). Yet this fact is conveniently forgotten. TNG really hit its stride with Season Three, and was fine from there ... but it had more time. It had more space.

I think many factors led to Enterprise's demise, including so many sci-fi shows on the air. A lot of competition. Being on UPN. I think Trek fans, as a group, have become fractured and splintered into sects ... and nit-picking gets taken to the extreme. And, yes, during the first half of Enterprise's run ... the writing stumbled (as in ... it played it safe). That can't be denied. But I think people wanted perfection. I think they couldn't just ... enjoy it for its own sake. One can't argue, in my mind, that the stories have been better the past year ... than they were early on. They're very strong now. And a turn to arc-based storytelling these past two seasons ... has been a turn for the better.

And one can't say that Enterprise is the only Trek that had its problems. Even DS9, arguably the most critically-acclaimed of them ... had its ratings drop year after year. Voyager continued the pattern. And Enterprise continued from there. The problem being that ... there was never a stopping point. Every season of Trek has shed viewers. And, after 18 seasons of constant episodes, I guess maybe it needs a break.

Though, to be honest, I'm not of the mind that it does. I like Enterprise, and I think it's in its prime, as it were. But, regardless, it was on the screen. It will have had 98 episodes. Four years. (More than the original series.) And, though it's being cancelled rather than being allowed to voluntarily end its run (and go the traditional 7 seasons as the modern Treks have done) ... it's still a part of the franchise, and still Trek. And I quite look forward to getting the seasons on video.

Anyway, if I had to pick my favorite Enterprise episodes, I would go with (not in order, mind) ... Broken Bow, Silent Enemy, Dead Stop ... those from the first two years. But most of my favorites are from later one. The Azati Prime/Damage/The Forgotten three-parter in Season Three ... was stellar. As is the Babel One/United/The Aenar three-parter they're doing now. And the Vulcan arc from earlier in the season was equally good.

All in all, my appreciation of Enterprise has grown as the show has progressed. I've grown to love it just as much as the others, if not more, and it's bittersweet that it's going ... but at least we had it. And, with its quality of late, it's going out in style.

[orestes.]

I don't think there is enough sci-fi on TV. It actually feels like there is less on now than a couple years ago.

[Squirrel]

I tend to think there's quite a lot of sci-fi on television. Of varying quality. Certainly more than there was ten or fifteen years ago. (Or maybe it's just cause I'm older now, and more aware.) But with Enterprise ending, with Buffy and Angel gone, and Farscape gone as well ... I think, yeah, there's not as much as there was a year or so ago. But, still ... I think there's more than enough. I think it goes in cycles. I think that, since Lost is such a hit, there might be a surge in sci-fi kind of shows on the big networks, maybe. But who knows.

Just that ... it's not always on the big networks. Like, most of it's on cable, it seems, or syndication. And not much of it is hard-core sci-fi. Lost has sci-fi elements, but it's more a drama than an outright science-fiction show. And it has elements of fantasy. And it's on a big network, but it's an exception ... and CBS has Joan of Arcadia. More fantasy, that one.

Aside from Lost, though ... the new Battlestar Galactica, as well as Stargate (the original) and Stargate: Atlantis. The Dead Zone (if that's still on; I think it is). Andromeda (which should be nearing its last legs, I would think). I don't know if Tru Calling's still on, or if that was cancelled. And, Enterprise, of course, which has about 9 episodes to go.

If you count more fantasy-like shows, such as Charmed, et cetera, or Smallville (which I would think is more fantasy than sci-fi), Joan of Arcadia ... then, I think, the number gets larger.

As for sci-fi competition for Enterprise ... Enterprise used to air opposite Smallville, and now it airs opposite Stargate and Battlestar Galactica and et cetera, so ... and, unfortunately, it seems to be losing out to such competition.

I just wish the big networks would give sci-fi/fantasy a better chance. I'm quite surprised (though pleasantly) that Lost is doing so very well for ABC. But FOX cancelled Wonderfalls (a fantasy-like show from early 2004) after just four episodes. They didn't really give it a chance. Same with Firefly, though I've never seen that one ...

Since Viacom owns CBS, and Viacom owns Paramount (which owns UPN), I often wonder how Enterprise would've done ... on CBS. Rather than UPN. Certainly, it would've had a larger audience, more media exposure. More advertising. An ad, say, for Enterprise during CSI would've gone a long way to attracting attention ... more so than an ad for Enterprise during Veronica Mars (not that UPN ever advertises Enterprise, though). But that's all in theory ...

Some would say that, had Enterprise been on a big network, it would've been axed a lot earlier ... that UPN was more gracious, because it's a very small network, because it was launched by Trek, and because it was a Trek show, and because they wanted 98 episodes for syndication rerusn and videos, but ... whenever they make another Trek show, I hope it finds a good home. That can deliver an audience.

Though (and I'm rambling now, I know), Broken Bow, Enterprise's pilot, did get 12 million viewers. And the show now gets between 2.5 and 3 million, so ... the audience was there. At the start. And it went away. I think Battlestar even beat Enterprise a week or so ago, in terms of ratings, and Battlestar's on a cable channel, so ... I guess people are just unaware of, or unwilling to watch ... Trek. For the moment, anyway.

[orestes.]

Actually compared to 10-15 years ago there does seem to be a lot more but I think the late 90's were the best period with two Star Trek shows on the air, Babylon 5, some fantasy shows like HErcules and Xena and a lot more.

Nowadays there are still lots but they don't seem to be as interesting and Battlestar: Galactica and Andromeda seem to be the onnly two big space operas right now after Enterprise or is Andromeda ending? I'm so out of touch with sci-fi right now.

[TM2-Megatron]

Same with Firefly, though I've never seen that one ...

If you've never seen Firefly, I'd suggest you either buy the complete series DVD (it's actually pretty reasonably priced, only $50 in Canada) or rent it from Blockbuster or something. It was probably the best sci-fi show on in the last 15 years. And since there is a movie coming out later this year, it would be a good idea to see the series.

[orestes.]

Oh agreed. I loved this sci-fi show. Firefly is the DVd I try and recommend first and foremost to people in search of a great set.

I got mine for $42 Canadian but I can't remember where. I got it as soon as it came out.

[Maerj]

I agree, Firefly was a great show. It may have done better in the ratings if FOX had shown the series IN ORDER!!! No, they decided to wait til the end of the series to show the pilot episode and mixed all the other ones up. Then they decided to make a few more episodes and not even show them. At least they are all on the DVD set.

As for Scifi on tv... well its not very good right now. We have Andromeda, which was quite horrible from the few times I've watched it. I can't get into those Stargate shows, I loved the movie but the shows just aren't as interesting. I was bored to death by the Scifi Channel's remake of Battlestar Galactica. In fact, they shouldn't have even called it that, they took everything that was unique about the original show and got rid of it. I don't even watch the Scifi Channel anymore, their shows don't interest me at all and their movies are garbage for the most part. I'm a huge fan of science fiction but that channel is just garbage at this point. They DID have good shows on at one time, but like every other network, they cancelled them.

Sorry about that rant, guess I got some pent up Scifi Channel frustration or something...

[Mr. Toad]

Found this on CNN about trekkies trying to save the serieshttp://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/16/tv.startrek.ap/index.html

[Squirrel]

I'm worried that ... after the Affliction/Divergence two-parter coming up, the show will lose even more viewers before the end. And, therefore, end any chance of, say, Sci-Fi taking a genuine interest in picking it up (if even for a smaller season) ... because, after those two, you have four weeks of reruns. A new episode put in the middle, and then another three or four weeks of reruns. That's a long stretch of just ... no activity. So, I don't know. Critically, this season has been the show's best. If, say, the show had been cancelled after Season 2, I wouldn't be quite as upset ... but at its peak? And, for the most part, it's still the most watched show on UPN ... even though it's probably the most expensive. Still ...




Some basic spoilers below (no plot details, just speculation based on a recent guest star confirmation), for later in the season ...




However, word has it (and word is normally closer to being right, more often than not) that Riker and Troi (of TNG) will be present in the finale, BUT ... it does not involve time travel, says Manny Coto (who heads the writing staff). And Rick Berman says it's a "valentine to the fans." So, I don't know ... I don't mind it, personally. I'm just wondering how they're gonna manage it (parallel story lines, where something similar is happening to the NX-01 in the past ... and also happening to Riker's ship in the future, or flashbacks, or a remembrance from the future, or maybe they find the NX ... somewhere, out there).

Here's the link: http://www.trektoday.com/news/130205_01.shtml

I don't think it's a rumor. I think the two characters will appear. Part of me wishes they would leave the finale to the Enterprise NX-01 crew ... and them alone. But another part of me is very pleased, if this is how they're gonna wrap it up, to see Enterprise be undeniably tied in with the rest of the Trek franchise (so people won't be able to complain that it's "not canon," and whatnot). And it would just be nice ... to see it so visibly linked to the bigger realm of the Trek universe (though this entire season has been doing just that).

[Squirrel]

http://www.trektoday.com/news/010305_02.shtml

3 million dollars was pledged to the fan campaign (Trek United) that's aiming to save Enterprise and pay for a 5th season ... that's a good chunk of change. Enough for a two-hour tele-film ... and if the media picks up on the story, and if it fuels more people to support the campaign, maybe Paramount will shop it to Sci-Fi, or maybe UPN will change their minds. I don't know. But it's certainly interesting. In a good way.