# Star Trek: Enterprise Has Been Cancelled **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045 "2005-02-02T21:24:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/61 "2005-02-03T12:47:47Z")
I dunno, though. After seeing the fate of ENT, I think that the next series, if any, will have a harder time getting support. I’m hoping that [JMS’s pitch](http://www.trektoday.com/news/210604_01.shtml) gets accepted, and that it turns out to be about the fall of the Federation. I think that TNG-type episdes are about all played out. This hiatus for which many are hoping will be inevitable, but I don’t think that it will do the next franchise much good. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/62 "2005-02-03T13:00:36Z")
Did they reach the magic “100th” episode? That used to be the syndication threshold. They killed Hercules for the same reason - too expensive to continue, but enough in the can to syndicate. Still - I hated it, so I don’t care that it’s going. Enough rape of my childhood, let ST die a noble death. And while they’re at it - kill SNL too! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/63 "2005-02-03T13:13:47Z")
> [@The Long Road](#): > > Explain please. Adama wants Blatar to devise a test to tell the difference between humans and the human appearing Cylons. If their spine glows when they get horny, show all the women in the fleet a tape of the Chipendales. Toss anyone who’s spine glows out the airlock. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/64 "2005-02-03T14:40:20Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > I wish the CBS/Viacom honchos would realize that on-fifth of the country has had no access to UPN affiliates, and how many viewers elsewhere have gone uncounted. Bing! That’s why stopped watching. The cable network where I now live doesn’t carry UPN. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/65 "2005-02-03T15:19:04Z")
I don’t know why they’re saying it’s a surprise though. The woman that plays T’Pol has stated in several magazine interviews that this was the last season. I think I read the first one back in October or so. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/66 "2005-02-03T15:22:33Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Did they reach the magic “100th” episode? [103 thus far](http://www.tvtome.com/Enterprise/eplist.html), by my count. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/67 "2005-02-03T15:23:40Z")
I already said this in **Aes** ’s journal, but I’ll repeat it here… They got 4 or 5 good seasons on UPN. Better that than getting cancelled after 6 episodes on Fox, after getting moved around the schedule 5 times. (Hello _Firefly_, _Wonderfalls_, _John Doe_, and scores of other shows I can’t remember.) Lump me in with the “they blew the storylines, big-time” crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/68 "2005-02-03T16:27:44Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > I would have been good, dammit! No offense, but I don’t think that you alone would have been the deal breaker one way or the other. No matter how good you were/ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/69 "2005-02-03T16:49:35Z")
I thought it was the fucking worst Trek in the history of Trek, and that…that is saying a great deal. Aside from some nice Vulcan T&A, this show royally stank on ice, and good fucking riddance to another embarassment to the sci-fi genre. Which is, again, saying a great deal. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/70 "2005-02-03T16:53:28Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > I loved Babylon 5 but the movies have all sucked, with the exception of In the Beginning, and the two spinoff series weren’t any good either. Correction: One spinoff series, and one spinoff _pilot episode_ that never got made into a series. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/71 "2005-02-03T16:54:41Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > I thought it was the fucking worst Trek in the history of Trek, You must be forgetting TOS’s “Spock’s Brain” and Voyager’s “Threshold” episodes. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/72 "2005-02-03T16:57:14Z")
> [@rorty](#): > > It figures everybody would be concerned about the dog’s career over Scott Bakula’s. 😃 Oh, come now. We all know that **NoClueBoy** would watch _Star Trek: Porthos_ religiously. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/73 "2005-02-03T17:10:35Z")
> [@The Long Road](#): > > So I’ll post an unwanted bash of Trek: > > The franchise died for me during the second or third season of Voyager. I watched every episode of the original, TNG, most of DS9 and two seasons of Voyager. Couldn’t take the poor storytelling anymore. Put it in a vault and let nothing Trek be made for the next ten years. Dust it off and start fresh. It was turned into a money whore and worked till it dropped from exhaustion. I was discussing this subject with my roommate, and we agreed that while Enterprise was in many ways the best of the Trek shows, it had the twin millstones of Voyager and DS9 around its neck. Meaning that, without those two shows around to run so many viewers off, and make as many so cynical, it’d have been a much bigger success than it was/is. \*\* The Long Road’s\*\* comment is just ammunition for my theory. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/74 "2005-02-03T17:24:02Z")
**bump’s** theory may have merit, as **The Long Road** echoes my own Trek experiences, only I’ll add the movies. As for _ **Enterprise** _, I’ve seen fewer than ten episodes in its run. I was disappointed that the franchise didn’t do a Starfleet Academy spinoff or a series that explored Star Trek universe overall without being restricted to one starship/starbase or even the Federation POV. Sort of “Star Trek Stories,” with rotating one short or multi-part story arcs. If there must be a central set, I’d rather it be a bar with aliens mingling about. But yeah. A ten year rest would be great. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/75 "2005-02-03T17:33:22Z")
I lost track of Enterprise when it got moved to a distant night, far, far away. I thought it was Friday, but UPN never seemed to be running it. And I wasn’t interested enough to look hard. Retread stories, bland actors, and no sense of pacing is no way to go through life, son. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/76 "2005-02-03T17:59:05Z")
I couldn’t watch it at the beginning because Dish didn’t carry my UPN affiliate. Then, I couldn’t watch it because I kept forgetting it was on. Then, one night, I realized I couldn’t watch it because I didn’t give a damn about any of the characters. It’s a shame that it had to be cancelled. But maybe it’s time to put it on the shelf for awhile. After all, TOS was cancelled. Then, twenty years later, it came roaring back. So, maybe our kids and grandkids will see a new, revised franchise. Farewell, Enterprise. I’m afraid I hardly knew you. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/77 "2005-02-03T18:11:04Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > You must be forgetting TOS’s “Spock’s Brain” and Voyager’s “Threshold” episodes. Yeah, but you’re talking about _episodes_. I was actually able to make it through most episodes of TOS, and maybe about 25% of the Voyager episodes I watched. I don’t think I made it to the finish of a single Enterprise episode. It just couldn’t stand any of it. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/78 "2005-02-03T19:05:42Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > It’s a a universe about which there is just no more to be said. Well, now, I disagree with this. I think there’s a rich enough history and a complex enough world that a creative individual can come up with all sorts of ways to spin the material and make it fresh. For example, along the lines of what **athelas** mentions regarding JMS’s rumored fall-of-Federation premise, I’ve been mulling a possible angle for a new Trek series. I came up with this very early in _Enterprise_’s run, when I was trying to figure out why the new show wasn’t working. My plan was to work up a detailed proposal, more a wish list than fan fic, and basically spam all the Trek boards with it to see if people agreed with me and if so try to drum up general interest. In my hypothetical new series, a strange and powerful force invades the Federation, penetrating from the least-known quadrant of the galaxy. This enemy wreaks total havoc, destroying thousands of worlds and wrecking the political structure. A last-ditch effort eliminates the threat, but not until the Federation has been almost completely wiped out, leaving scattered remnants and isolated communities throughout known space. This all happens at the beginning of the pilot; it’s just setup. The actual series would center on the rebuilding effort. We would have a civilian ship with a political and diplomatic corps, paired with a hardass military vessel, accompanying one another as they travel from one enclave of survivors to the next, taking stock, and trying to recruit them into re-forming the government or something like it. The story would be about the tension between the two sides, the military and the civilian, and how they balance the leadership roles in a tense and dangerous environment. Instead of focusing on a single captain, loyalties would be divided between the military leader and the political leader, unified only by their belief that trying to rebuild something like they had before is the right thing to do. The story would also include resistance from some worlds and groups of worlds who show no interest in rejoining the Federation Redux, either because they felt abandoned during the invasion or even neglected beforehand, and the ethics of trying to manipulate people into doing something against their short-term interest with a view toward the long-term success of a wider civilization. Further, there would be conflict between our primary group and other groups they encounter who claim themselves to be the legitimate heirs to the Federation, and who want to rebuild according to their own beliefs about what civilization should be. I have a lot more detail about the premise, because I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but that’s the idea in a nutshell. I think this has a lot of potential. There’s room for both standalone episodes (introducing a situation and resolving it in an hour) and long arcs (as the various factions begin to form and clash). Because the conflicts are primarily human, about what people do and don’t want to do, you don’t waste time on ridiculous SF nonsense about time travel and sentient black holes and whatever other crap the writers dream up between bong hits. The technology goes to the background, in other words. And best of all, the show becomes _relevant_ again. The original Kirk-era Trek was relevant because it was a veiled look at the modern world; they could treat issues and themes that connected with viewers’ lives by transplanting our concerns into an analogous-but-metaphorical SF context. That is, after all, what good SF is supposed to be, right? It isn’t about aliens and teleporters and 2320’s style death rays. It’s about _us_, or at least it should be. By taking a hard look at what Federation society had become, and letting the characters wade through the mess of deciding what of that accumulated but lost culture they thought was important and wanted to recapture, and setting them against other people who have different priorities, you get to talk about what we in modern society are wrestling with as we try to figure out what compromises we need to make to remain safe and secure in an ever-more-complex and dangerous world. I called it _Star Trek: Wayfarer_, and I was really proud of my concept. But then _Battlestar Galactica_ came along and announced with its first few hours that it would be doing probably 90% of what I wanted to do with the new _Trek_, and better than I was going to do it, so… yeah. ☹ Anyway, the point is, I don’t agree that the world is played out. I think, with a willingness to go back to the drawing board and take some creative chances, there’s lots of stuff you could do with the Trekverse that would be new, interesting, and exciting. But I also think that the current creative team is playing defense, not taking any risks because they’re trying to protect the profitability of the existing franchise instead of striking out in new directions and expanding the world’s storytelling potential. And because of that, I reluctantly conclude that a break is required to allow the people in charge to clean house. Basically, as much as we all complain about the Big Reset Button, that’s what the artistic staff needs. They haven’t rethought themselves in years, and they’re so laden with baggage they’ve lost their creative dexterity. Everyone needs to step back and think about what _Trek_ is, its strengths (a rational worldview, a sense of optimism) and its weaknesses (a preoccupation with technology at the expense of the characters’ humanity), and go forward on that basis. It can be done. It just requires the will to do it. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/79 "2005-02-03T19:28:02Z")
I like your idea very much, **Cervaise**. Should the invading force be the Borg Mk II, or maybe the unknown mind-control worms from the first season of TNG? Or maybe the Federation should just collapse in on itself after a second Romulan War. I think your “reset button” should be something that grows from the current mythology instead of being an entirely new force. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045/80 "2005-02-03T20:46:51Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Oh, come now. We all know that **NoClueBoy** would watch _Star Trek: Porthos_ religiously. That is part of my dogma. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-enterprise-has-been-cancelled/288045.md?page=5)