Posted on 05/01/2005 9:58:15 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
May 1, 2005
By DAVE ITZKOFF
IN the sector of planet Earth known as Hollywood, it was business as usual on the Paramount back lot. On a sunny day in early March, green-skinned aliens with zippers embedded in their faces were eating catered lunches, stagehands were disassembling lighting rigs labeled "Thorium Isotope Hazard," and all were doing their best to ignore the fact that the warp engines on the starship Enterprise would soon be shut down, perhaps never to start up again. "Welcome," a security guard said with heavy irony, "to the last days of Pompeii."
On May 13, UPN will broadcast the final two episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise," the most recent spinoff of the genre-defining science-fiction series created by Gene Roddenberry nearly 40 years ago. The scenes filmed in March will bring closure to the story of a futuristic space vessel and its intrepid crew, but the end of "Enterprise" also casts into doubt the future of a venerable entertainment property that is entering a realm where no franchise has gone before.
Almost from the moment it was canceled by NBC in 1969, the original "Star Trek" set about defying television conventions: a three-season dud in prime time, it became a success in syndication, spawning a series of motion pictures, a merchandising empire, and three television sequels (the syndicated hits "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager," which helped start the UPN network in 1995).
"Enterprise," a prequel devised by the veteran "Trek" producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, was supposed to be the series that would take the franchise into the future by venturing into its past. "We knew that in the 23rd century, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were out exploring the universe, and they were comfortable in space," said Mr. Berman, who was put in charge of the film and television properties after Mr. Roddenberry's death in 1991. "But who were the first people to have to try a transporter? The first people to come into contact with hostile alien species; who were hesitant about taking these first steps into the galaxy?"
Set 100 years before the first "Star Trek" series, aboard an embryonic version of the ship that would later carry Kirk, Spock and company across the cosmos, "Enterprise" made its debut on UPN on Sept. 26, 2001, to over 12.5 million viewers. By the end of its first season, its audience was just half as big, and by the end of its second season, barely a third of those original viewers were still watching. "People never really warmed up to 'Enterprise,' " said Ronald D. Moore, a former staff writer of the syndicated "Trek" television sequels who is now executive producer of the Sci Fi Channel's new "Battlestar Galactica" series. "It never quite grabbed people viscerally and hung on, like the other shows did."
As Jolene Blalock, who played the Vulcan officer T'Pol on "Enterprise," explained: "The stories lacked intriguing content. They were boring." A lifelong "Star Trek" fan, Ms. Blalock said she was dismayed by early "Enterprise" scripts that seemed to ignore basic tenets of the franchise's chronology, and that offered revealing costumes instead of character development. "The audience isn't stupid," she said.
Aware of viewers' disappointment, the producers made significant changes for its third season: a single, yearlong storyline was established, pitting the ship's crew against a malevolent alien race called the Xindi, and Manny Coto, creator of the Showtime series "Odyssey 5," was brought in as a co-executive producer. But while Mr. Coto was widely hailed by colleagues and fans alike for delivering episodes that equaled the quality of previous "Star Trek" series, the show's ratings continued to erode.
When it was time to commit to a new season of "Enterprise," UPN ordered fewer episodes than in the past and shuffled them to yet another time slot. Still, some people clung to hope. "Being the optimists that actors are," said Scott Bakula, who played "Enterprise's" heroic Captain Archer, "you think, 'Maybe if we do a really good job. ...' But basically we were kidding ourselves."
The network says the problem was that most of "Enterprise's" viewers were male, unlike those of its bigger shows, like "America's Next Top Model" and "Veronica Mars." "It didn't really fit into the overall brand, and it was harder to attract the audience for that show, because they weren't sitting here all week," said the UPN president, Dawn Ostroff.
As "Enterprise" prepares for its final voyage, its producers admit that the found it hard to write for both dedicated "Trek" fans and uninitiated viewers. "When it was time to start the writing for Season 4," Mr. Coto said, "we were mostly gearing episodes towards people who knew the 'Star Trek' universe. We were not worried so much about people who didn't. They were gone anyway."
Yet "Enterprise" was also hobbled by competition from the four previous "Star Trek" TV series, which continue on cable and in syndication. "If anything, Paramount has gone to the well too often, because the franchise has been such a huge cash cow for the studio, for decades," said the longtime "Trek" actor and director Jonathan Frakes, who reprises his "Next Generation" character, Commander Riker, in the "Enterprise" finale. "You can go right through the dial and there's always 'Star Trek' on somewhere."
At the same time that "Enterprise" began to sputter, the "Star Trek" film franchise went into a tailspin: the 2002 theatrical release "Star Trek: Nemesis" was the series' first bona fide bomb, grossing just over $40 million. "There became a certain perception that the franchise wasn't something people had to rush out and see in any way, shape or form," said Mr. Moore, who wrote the screenplays for the "Star Trek" films "Generations" and "First Contact." "That perception becomes self-sustaining, and then people drift away from it."
They may have drifted toward Sci Fi's "Battlestar Galactica" (which brought in about 2 million viewers in its first season this winter) and USA's "Dead Zone" (which averaged almost 3.5 million viewers last summer). "It's like there's a certain number of science-fiction fans, and that's it," Mr. Coto said. "It's a genre that appeals to a certain type of individual, and there's not a lot of them."
THIS fall, for the first time in 18 years, there will be no original "Star Trek" series on television; a new film installment is unlikely to materialize before 2007 or 2008. Paramount Network Television confirmed that there was no timetable for the development of a new show, and no creative team in place to develop it. And despite the near-universal praise he earned for keeping "Enterprise" aloft, Mr. Coto said no one had approached him about further involvement with the "Star Trek" franchise. "It is kind of disappointing, frankly," he said. "I don't think a lot of people who are in charge right now are that interested in talking about the next thing."
From his office in the Gary Cooper Building at Paramount Pictures, behind a door with a plaque that reads "Please speak softly, massage in progress," Mr. Berman remained remarkably sanguine for a man so frequently threatened with bodily harm on Internet message boards. He had begun preliminary work on a potential new "Star Trek" film, but, he said, "I'm not certain that I will be involved in creating the next 'Star Trek' series. I have no idea when that's going to happen, and it very well may be someone new who's going to be doing it."
And as he spoke of the optimistic vision that Mr. Roddenberry presented in the original "Star Trek," one in which the most demanding of humanity's earthbound problems have been solved and the infinite wonder of the universe awaits mankind, Mr. Berman expressed a similar hopefulness for the future of "Star Trek" itself. "You can go anywhere in the world and people know what 'Beam me up, Scotty' means or what a Klingon is," Mr Berman said. "They're not going to go away."
But some who are departing the Star Trek universe, like Ms. Blalock, seemed relieved to be free of early-morning makeup calls and prosthetic pointy ears: "The girls on set, we would always joke: 'We're gonna be cute after this all over. After we shake off the haggard.' "
it is cheaper to produce a show on a 'planet' than it is to do the space things. That was one of the reasons that the show was able to be on this season. Tribune was going to cancel it totally but TPTB (Sorbo, et al) agreed to do with less money.
Aww that is why...
Star Trek has been in dry dock for me since Captain Kirk left the bridge.
While I enjoyed SAAB, I will note that Babylon 5 first aired in 1993, two years before Space aired.
But I sense that the Maquis was largely composed of colonists led by Starfleet hardliners. So since they had had Starfleet training and experience before defecting to the anti-Cardassian resistance, they could fit into a starship with little difficulty.
David Brin once accused Larry Niven of stealing his [Brin's] best ideas before he even had them.
Brin was joking
SF has always had its share of Leftist, but it has also had writers that had a more libertarian strain if not out right conservative.
It is interesting to wacth the original series from a historical perspective (dare I say "anthropological?")
Of course one has have clear memories of that time to put it into context.
One see how much we have descended in the interceding years and just how far to the left the media has gone, and what they take their role to be.
As I said somewhere else in this thread, when you compare it to later mutations you see how far we have descended.
Point Taken
Hmm..shows, how much I recall of the ST:TOS. :/
Mr. Spock: Captain Kirk to the bridge! Captain Kirk to the bridge!
Captain Kirk: Yes, Mr. Spock?
Mr. Spock: Sensors are picking up an unidentified vessel, Captain, headed straight for us.
Captain Kirk: Range, Mr. Sulu?
Mr. Sulu: .43 light years, sir, and closing fast.
Captain Kirk: Lt. Uhura, open a hailing frequency.
Lt. Uhura: I've been trying to reach them, but there's been no response, sir.
Captain Kirk: [ into microphone ] This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. Identify yourself. [ to Uhura ] Put them on the viewscreen, full magnification.
Lt. Uhura: Aye aye, sir.
Captain Kirk: [ into microphone ] Repeat. Identify yourself. [ viewscreen shows a maroon 1968 Chrysler limo flying behind them ] What kind of ship is that, Mr. Spock?
Mr. Spock: Fascinating, Captain. It would appear to be an early gas combustion vehicle, at least two or three hundred years old.
Captain Kirk: Run it through the computer. Find out what those little numbers mean. I want answers.
Mr. Spock: Process visual feed. Analyze and reply.
Captain Kirk: I have a hunch, Mr. Spock, that we are about to face a menace more terrifying than the flying parasites of Ingraham B; more insidious than the sand-bats of Manark 4; more bloodthirsty than the vampire clouds of Argus 10. I have a hunch that "thing" out there is deadlier than the Romulans, the Klingons, and the Gorns all rolled into one.
Mr. Spock: Here is the readout, Captain. The computer has identified the alien vessel as a 1968 Chrysler Imperial with a tinted windshield and retractable headlights.
Captain Kirk: And the little blue and orange numbers?
Mr. Spock: That's called a "California license plate", and it's registered, or was in 1968, to a corporation known as "NBC". Wait.. there's something more.. The computer isn't sure, but it thinks this NBC used to manufacture cookies.
Captain Kirk: Could that be some sort of illusion, Mr. Spock?
Mr. Spock: It's no illusion, Captain. Scanner readings indicate two life forms inside that craft.
Captain Kirk: Mr. Sulu, increase speed to Warp Factor Eight.
Mr. Sulu: But, sir, that's only for the most extreme emergencies. The ship can't take it.
Captain Kirk: You heard my order, Mr. Sulu.
Mr. Sulu: Aye aye, sir.
Captain Kirk: [ recording Log ] Captain's Log, Stardate 3615.6. On a routine delivery of medical supplies to Earth Colony 9, we are being chased through space by an automobile three centuries old, owned by a company that manufactured cookies. It would all seem silly if it weren't for this feeling of dread that haunts me, a sense of impending doom.
Mr. Sulu: They're right behind us, Captain.
Captain Kirk: Let's lose them, Mr. Sulu. Prepare for evasive action. Helm hard to port! ..Hard to starboard! ..Hard to port!
Mr. Spock: Frankly, Captain, I'm exhausted.
Captain Kirk: Me, too. Stabilize, Mr. Sulu.
Mr. Sulu: Look, Captain, it's no use. We can't shake them.
Captain Kirk: Then we'll give them a fight they won't forget. [ into intercom ] All hands! Man your battle stations! This is not a drill! Red alert! Man your battle stations! Red alert!
Mr. Spock: But, Captain..
Captain Kirk: Lock phasers on target, Mr. Sulu.
Mr. Sulu: Phasers locked on target, sir.
Mr. Spock: But, Captain, you can't..
Captain Kirk: Stand by to fire.
Mr. Sulu: Phasers standing by, sir.
Mr. Spock: But, Captain, we don't know who the aliens are, or what they want. To kill them without warning would be highly illogical.
Captain Kirk: Fact: their intentions are unknown. Fact: I am responsible for the lives of 430 crewmen. And, fact: I can't afford to take any chances. Fire main phasers! [ nothing happens ] I said, "Fire main phasers!"
Mr. Sulu: I'm trying, sir. Nothing is happening.
Captain Kirk: Arm and lock photon torpedoes, Mr. Sulu.
Mr. Sulu: They're not working either, Captain.
Captain Kirk: Deflectors up.
Mr. Sulu: Captain, the helm does not respond. The controls are dead.
Mr. Spock: We're slowing down, Captain. We're stopping.
Captain Kirk: Bridge to engine room, acknowledge.
Voice of Mr. Scott: [ through control panel ] Scotty here, Captain.
Captain Kirk: What in blazes is going on, Scotty?
Voice of Mr. Scott: I dinna know, Captain. We're losing power, and I don't know why!
Captain Kirk: Well, do something, man! Go to manual override. Cut in auxilery systems.
Voice of Mr. Scott: Saints preserve us, Captain, but even the emergency systems are out.
Captain Kirk: Well, fix it, Scotty. I don't care how, but fix it! The lives of 430 crewmen hang in the balance.
Mr. Spock: Life support system are still operative, Captain.
Captain Kirk: But for how long, Mr.Spock? For how long? Lieutenant Uhura, inform Starfleet Command of our situation.
Lt. Uhura: All communications are dead, Captain.
Dr. McCoy: Jim, Jim.. I.. I.. Jim..
Captain Kirk: Great God, man, spit it out!
Dr. McCoy: The aliens have boarded us, Jim, and they're headed this way!
Captain Kirk: But how, Bones? How did they get on board? Did they beam on? Did they suddenly materialize?
Dr. McCoy: No, they just sort of stepped out from behind the curtains.
Mr. Spock: Describe them, Doctor.
Dr. McCoy: There's two of them. Bipeds, humanoid in appearance. Their clothing is drab except for a bright piece of cloth worn around the neck of the leader.
Mr. Spock: Was their anything else odd about their clothing?
Dr. McCoy: I'm a doctor, not a tailor, dammit! Wait, there was one other thing about them that seemed a bit strange. They spoke English! Quick, Jim, I hear them coming up the Turbo-lift! They'll be here in seconds!
Captain Kirk: We'll be ready for them, Doctor. [ they all point their phasers at the entranceway as two executives enter ] Welcome aboard the Starship Enterprise. I'm Captain James T. Kirk, representing the United Federation of Planets.
Herb Goodman: Hi, I'm Herb Goodman, head of programming for the network.
Captain Kirk: Stand back, I won't hesitate to shoot!
Herb Goodman: Can I have your attention. Curtis, you want to turn off those sound effects?
Curtis: Sure thing. [ turns sound effects off ]
Herb Goodman: Everyone, please, can I have your attention? I have an announcement to make. Due to low Nielsen ratings, we at NBC have decided to cancel "Star Trek".
Captain Kirk: Fire at my command!
Herb Goodman: On your way out, stop by the cashier's office and pick up your checks.
Captain Kirk: Set phasers on "stun." Fire!
Dr. McCoy: They're not firing, Jim!
Captain Kirk: Try "kill!"
Dr. McCoy: Nope, still nothing.
Herb Goodman: You'll make sure the property department gets those things back ,won't you, fellas?
Mr. Spock: Most peculiar, Captain.. I can only conclude that they possess some sort of weapons deactivator, in which case I shall merely render him unconcious with my famous Vulcan nerve pinch.
Herb Goodman: Of course, if it was up to me, you could keep them - as souvenirs, give them to your kids, whatever.. But you see, they're planning to market a complete line of Trekkie merchandise, and I have to send these to Taiwan to be copied.. [ Mr. Spock applies the Vulcan nerve pinch, but Goodman misinterprets his action ] ..Isn't that fabric something? You just can't buy material like this in the States. No way! But I was lucky enough to find this great little tailor who flies in from London four times a year.. oh, Nimoy, we'll need those ears back, too, I'm afraid. [ pulls Spock's rubber ears off ]
Dr. McCoy: For God's sake, man, we're on a five-year mission to explore space, the final frontier, and dammit, we've only been out three years!
Herb Goodman: Sorry, but it's those Nielsens. If it was up to me, of course..
Captain Kirk: What are these "Nielsens" that the alien keeps mentioning, Mr. Spock?
Mr. Spock: If I remember my history correctly, Captain, Nielsens were a primitive system of estimating television viewers once used in the mid-twentienth century.
Dr. McCoy: If Man were meant to fly, he'd have better ratings, is that what you're saying, Mr. Goodbody, whatever your name is? Come on, George, Nichelle.. let's go tie one on.
Lt. Uhura: I'm with you, Kelley.
Mr. Sulu: Maybe I'll just go home..
Captain Kirk: Belay that kind of talk, Dr. McCoy.
Dr. McCoy: Forget it, Bill. We lost. It's over. Are you coming, Leonard? [ Spock attempts nerve pinch on Dr. McCoy ] Knock it off, you joker!
Captain Kirk: Wait, Mr. Spock! We have yet to try Vulcan mind meld, where you actually enter the alien's brain, merge with his intelligence and read his thoughts.
Mr. Spock: I entered Mr. Goodman's mind while you were talking to Dr. McCoy, Captain. [ Curtis enters and pries the set apart with a crowbar ] It was all.. all dark and empty in there. And.. and there were little mice in the corners and spiders had spun this web..
Captain Kirk: Spock!
Mr. Spock: I kept bumping my head on the ceiling, and once..
Captain Kirk: Snap out of it, Spock!
Mr. Spock: [ with a shudder ] It's okay, Captain.. I'm alright now.
Herb Goodman: What do you think, Curtis? Any chance we can sell this junk to "Lost in Space"?
Curtis: Well, it all comes apart..
Captain Kirk: Hey, get away from there!
Curtis: Right on, Buck Rogers! Is that an order?
Captain Kirk: No, it can't end like this! I won't let it! This is my ship! I give the orders here! I give the commands! I am responsible for the lives of 430 crewmen, and I'm not going to let them down! There's got to be a way out!
Curtis: Let's go, boys.
[ a group of NBC stagehands enter and begin to dismantle the set ]
Mr. Spock: You are becoming quite emotional, Captain. Needless to say, my trained Vulcan mind finds such open displays of emotion distasteful. Emotion, you see, intereferes with logic, and it is only by dealing with problems in a logical, scientific fashion that we can arrive at valid solutions. Now, with regard to the alien takeover of the Enterprise, I would suggest that we seek some new alternative, based upon exact computer analysis, of course, and taking into consideration elements of.. [ suddenly breaks into a weeping lunatic ] ..Oh, God! I don't believe it! We're cancelled! How could they do this? Everyone I know loves the show! I have a contract! What about my contract! I want my ears back!
Herb Goodman: Curtis, can you give me a hand here?
Curtis: I have a couple Valium in my tool box, maybe that'll help.
[ Spock exits the set ]
Captain Kirk: So, it's just me, is it? Well, I've been in tougher spots. Surrender? No way. I'd rather go down with the ship!
Herb Goodman: Oh, Shatner, your agent called you. Something about a margarine commercial. He said he'd call back.
Captain Kirk: Captain's Log, final entry. We have tried to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. And except for one television network, we have found intelligent life everywhere in the galaxy. Live long and prosper. Captain James T. Kirk, SC 937-0176 CEC.
[ camera zooms out to show Captain Kirk/William Shatner sitting alone in what is revealed to be an empty TV studio. Further zoom out reveals studio cameras, boom mikes and technicians. Fade to black ]
Relax, it was just a little inside joke derived from the early days of the Star Trek fan phenomenon. In those days the fans called themselves "Trekkers"; "Trekkie" was a derisive term used by critics to make fun of them. These days those distinctions have long since disappeared, but that is the historical fact.
Two completely premises, grinner. Plus "B-5" had made its mark long before "Space: Above and Beyond" ever made the air.
I enjoyed "SAAB". One of Fox's better Sci-Fi efforts. Great cast. Cool Antogonists (Can't really call them Aliens) and special effects.
Jack.
LOL!
Those pictures of Kirk just scream: "Or... I will kick... your... ASS!!!"
It is cheapest of all to shoot inside the ship and use only existing shots of the spaceship and stars.
Producers call them elevator shows and they two or three of them late in the season so they can afford the spectacular finale.
That is why there were always a few 'Inside the TARDIS' episodes in Doctor Who. But, I was saying that with regards to Andromeda, the reason that they are 'stuck' on a planet is the same reason that the last season of LEXX was based on Earth... cheap locations. You don't have to have the expense of a huge 'Alien' location.
Many folks I know ended up in the space program due to TOS. :-)
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