"Enterprise" canceled just as it shapes-up

This and That | 2/20/05

[pabianice]

"Timing is everything." We've all heard that one and it's true. Example: "Star Trek: Enterprise."

Paramount and UPN announced on February 2 that the show was being canceled at the end of this year's run in May. "Enterprise" had hit an all time low, with just a 2.5 rating the week before the announcement. UPN's decision to have placed it on Friday nights in the 'death slot' against the monster SciFi Friday lineup of "Stargate SG-1," "Stargate Atlantis," and a white-hot reincarnation of "Battlestar Galactica" almost certainly played a major part in the ratings drop for "Enterprise." However, weak to terrible writing until this season was also a big factor.

Well, the cancellation is official ... just in time for the new creative team headed by Manny Coto ("Odyssey 5") to have kicked in, and the change in the show is startling. The most recent shows have been fast, sharp, and nasty, breaking with the "I'm OK, You're OK" pablum spooned-out starting with Roddenberry's lobotomized "The Next Generation." This past week's "Enterprise" had espionage, danger, and an explanation of that 39-year-old riddle: why did the Klingons in the original "Star Trek" look so human when compared to later versions.

Now that the show has been canceled it is coming into its own with tight writing and interesting stories. Well, maybe Coto can find another show worthy of his talents. Paramount really screwed the pooch with they way they mishandled "Enterprise."

[spinestein]

Say, does anyone have a picture of Jeri Ryan in her "Borg" outfit?

[Paul Atreides]

RE: Wesley Crusher

I think a lot of people hate child prodigies, no matter who it is. They can be irritating, as well as overdone.

[cyborg]

agreed

[GeronL]

This past week's "Enterprise" had espionage, danger, and an explanation of that 39-year-old riddle: why did the Klingons in the original "Star Trek" look so human when compared to later versions

Yes, that was an interesting loose end to tie up

[kingu]

The new Battle Star galactica is better.

I've seen all 13 episodes; it just gets better and better.

[kingu]

The new Battle Star galactica is better.

I've seen all 13 episodes; it just gets better and better.

[GeronL]

Augments. You know how they had Khan and other augmented humans?? The Klingons borrowed the technology thinking the humans had developed a secret weapon. Now its become a plague.

[GeronL]

Farscape looks cheesy to me. They need better special effects.

[JoJo Gunn]

Trek has been going down the tubes since Berman took over. When are people gonna acknowledge that?

[spinestein]

I almost forgot "Enemy Mine" and "Dune".

Two fantastically great SF books made into two craptacularly bad movies.

[GeronL]

Now we need to start building ships... would someone figure out a way to neutralize gravity already??

[MarkL]

Personally, I really liked the final season of DS9... In fact, the entire dominion war storyline was great... And I felt that the most interesting characters were the non-humans... Specifically Odo, Quark (to a lesser extent), and most of all, Garrick!

I also liked the stories that were character based in TNG. My favorite episode of the entire series was the one where the probe "grabs" Picard, and he lives out a live on an alient planet. Second favorite was the episode set on earth where Picard is recovering after being assimilated by the Borg, and he stays with his brother.

Enterprise was just starting to get really interesting, but UPN killed it by running a few new episodes, then going back to re-runs. It killed the flow of the stories.

Mark

[Richard Kimball]

Interesting note: Two of the movies you mention, Blade Runner and Total Recall, were based on the work of Philip Dick. Blade Runner was based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Total Recall was based on the short story, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale. The Steven Spielberg bomb A.I. was also based on a Philip Dick story, Supertoys Last All Summer Long. The short story was great. You can check it out here. If you haven't read it, it's one of the great science fiction short stories.

Dick worked extensively with virtual reality themes in his books and stories. I'm hoping for another great Sci-Fi writer, but there's a lot of chaffe to go through to find some wheat.

[Paul C. Jesup]

"Enterprise" was crap - too much PC garbage and it just plain sucked.

LOL!! Last time I looked, being Pro-Gun, Pro-life and Pro-War was NOT PC.

[Richard Kimball]

Well, they haven't neutralized gravity, but I hear the British military is getting a little light in the loafers.

[JoJo Gunn]

People can say what they want of Roddenberry, but he liked and appreciated good music in the show, and Berman did his level best to kill it.

[Paul Atreides]

I read where David Lynch's version of Dune was about five hours long, and the powers-that-be chopped it down to two hours. Who knows what a restored version might be like. I have never read the book version of Enemy Mine. In fact, I never knew there was a book version.

The miniseries version of Dune was good. Not perfect, but good.

[GeronL]

I remember when they killed off Jadzia Dax I wondered aloud. Wouldn't it be cool if they replaced her with Nicole deBoer?? AND they did!! what a babe.

[flashbunny]

"Overall, ST is a mediocre product people like because it's at least set in space. Farscape kicked its butt in every way possible."

Amen.

[GeronL]

They could have done much better with a lot in TNG, especially Wesley... but all in all, I liked the ship and the special effects.