Enterprise to Follow Jake’s Lead?

You’ve probably already seen the Slashdot article, but Cinescape.com is running a piece regarding rumors and fears on the set of Star Trek: Enterprise. Specifically, fears that they won’t see a fourth season.

I can’t say I’m surprised, but I would hope that we could at least get some resolution. At the very least, we end the series with the public flogging of Berman and Braga. Tell me that won’t get stellar ratings!

15 replies on “Enterprise to Follow Jake’s Lead?”

  1. I hope not
    I’ve been watching re-runs of ST:TNG and I’ve seen that most of what people complain about Enterprise here was also present in the first few seasons there. I think we should watch and support the show and maybe some good ratings will give them te opportunity to make it click. I actually like the show, I just think they lost track of the original purpose with the whole terrorist, ahem, Xindi plot. I hope they get a chance to get back on track.

    • Re: I hope not

      I’ve been watching re-runs of ST:TNG and I’ve seen that most of what people complain about Enterprise here was also present in the first few seasons there. I think we should watch and support the show and maybe some good ratings will give them te opportunity to make it click. I actually like the show, I just think they lost track of the original purpose with the whole terrorist, ahem, Xindi plot. I hope they get a chance to get back on track.

      Question is, why let them continue to make a horrible mess of this? I think it’s rewarding them for making bad decisions. I’ve seen every episode the night it originally aired… and yet the ratings are bad… I’ve tried my best… but the show stinks.

      I would love to see a good trek show, and I do believe that this one could be it, even still. It’ll take getting rid of B&B though, and I don’t think that’ll happen.

      • Re: I hope not

        Question is, why let them continue to make a horrible mess of this?

        Because once they hit the magic number of 100 episodes, they can sell the show in re-runs for more than it would cost to finish out the 3rd and 4th season.

        My GUESS is we’ll see at least one more season of Enterprise. Notice how they had season 1 with 26 episodes, season 2 with 26 episodes — then they anounced that this year and next there would only be 24 each. That’s the magic number of 100.

        • Re: I hope not

          My GUESS is we’ll see at least one more season of Enterprise. Notice how they had season 1 with 26 episodes, season 2 with 26 episodes — then they anounced that this year and next there would only be 24 each. That’s the magic number of 100.

          I think the “magic” number for syndication is 79, that’s the number of episodes TOS had when Fred Freiberger pulled the plug in ’69.

          • Re: I hope not

            I think the “magic” number for syndication is 79, that’s the number of episodes TOS had when Fred Freiberger pulled the plug in ’69.

            I think it’s now 100. I’ve heard that number bandied about by insiders regarding Enterprise and other shows.

            • Re: I hope not

              Yes, generally, producers/network/etc want 100 eps of a series in the can to get a good syndication deal. That’s the “magic” syndication number. Some are different, though. For instance, Disney Channel generally only produces about 85 episodes of their series before pulling the plug and recycling them ad nauseum.

    • Re: I hope not

      My memory is admittedly vague on this, but I seem to recall that mid-3rd season ST:TNG was light years beyond mid-3rd season Enterprise in terms of quality.

      And I would argue that before the Xindi plot, there really was no original purpose for the show. Not that there is much of now now, either, but I think this show has been lacking a reason to be since Day One. And I really don’t see any way to fix it. It should never have been born and should be allowed to die peacefully.

    • Re: I hope not
      I know am stating the obvious with regards to ratings and successful series but I feel it must be voiced. A reason people watch a show or movie is because they enjoy or identify with a story that’s innovative, entertaining, and takes on DIFFERENT facets of existence. With the lack of innovation, or continuity the audience would recognize they will move on to another story / show.

      A specific quest to learn about a race that attacks Earth may be a good plot idea, even if the set Trek History had no record of this, but to drag this plot thru an entire season is a tax on the viewers patience. Have they not learned from Buck Rodgers in the 25th century? LOL

      Within the original Star Trek we had our standard heavies; Klingons, romulans, and other rare races; antagonists that did not have an entire season to build what they needed in background to develop the story. I thought this was its charm. Most episodes dealt with a single dilemna. Where is this now? Mind you Im not adverse to ongoing subplots over one or two episodes so long as the story is wrapped up neatly. DS9 was exceptionally feasible because the environment was static so ongoing plots and character exploration could be done. Even they did not follow an entire season, however.

  2. Good riddance.
    I say it’s time to give Star Trek a rest for a while. It will result in one of three things. Either one, Star Trek will die a long overdue death; two (not likely) the time away will allow the producers to perhaps regain some creativity and give us something better than Enterprise or three, the time away will just allow them to make another crappy sequel/spin off.

    • Re: Good riddance.

      I agree. A break could only be good for ST and for the fans. Except for the rabid, eat/sleep/live Trek people. :)

      TNG wasn’t the best show in the world back when it premiered, either. God, how bad was “Encounter at Farpoint”, eh? (DS9 and Voyager were also pretty sucky in their first few seasons. And Voyager continued to be, which also contributed to the poor showing of Enterprise.) But look at how it was embraced simply because there hadn’t been a Trek series in 20 years. And the fact that it was so widely embraced despite its many flaws gave it the impetus it needed so that it could hang in there long enough to get good.

      Enterprise, on the other hand, has no impetus, has no momentum to carry it through the rough early years. So, rather than stick around just because it’s Trek, the audience isn’t giving the show time to find its legs. As a result, TPTB try all kinds of gimmicky episodes, “sexy” outfits, new directions, etc without having the faintest idea what they are doing or need to be doing. Hell, you could argue that the entire concept of Enterprise is proof that they don’t understand what is needed to keep ST fresh and exciting.

      Give Trek a rest for a decade or two and get some new blood in there to run things. The current crew is basically the same that’s been in charge since the late 80’s. (Maybe not literally, but there has been a continuity in the creative offices for that entire period. That has definitely had the effect of locking in a certain mindset about how ST episodes should be done.) What the franchise really needs is people who haven’t spent the last 10-15 years working solely on Star Trek. Fresh blood => fresh ideas => no more eroding audience.

    • Re: Good riddance.

      I say it’s time to give Star Trek a rest for a while. It will result in one of three things. Either one, Star Trek will die a long overdue death; two (not likely) the time away will allow the producers to perhaps regain some creativity and give us something better than Enterprise or three, the time away will just allow them to make another crappy sequel/spin off.

      I’d agree that it’s definitely time to give the series a rest! (With luck, Berman and Braga might meet their natural deaths during that time or change to the exciting field of citrus fruit bonsai or something.)

      The biggest flaw in this series is that there’s no sense of anybody thinking behind it. The best moments of the franchise (in all its incarnations) all had evidence that somebody was thinking about big questions and looking to see what answers would be found in a ST-type universe. When TNG got into doing that, that’s when it picked up, I think.

      This show has already tried that with the Xindi/terrorist and not said anything interesting! So if they tried the magic formula and didn’t go beyond the obvious, didn’t capture imaginations, didn’t do anything with it, then I have to wonder if they can do it right at all.

  3. What Comes Next
    Nah, you just don’t see what this is building up to: Star Trek – Timeship Enterprise, set in the 29th Century. We’ve got 700+ Trek episodes and at least three-quarters of them were time travel episodes. ST: TE will every week attempt ro straighten out the mangled Federation timeline from the screwups of B&B, er, Kirk / Picard / Sisko / Janeway / Archer. From Paramount’s point of view, the concept is a dream – half of each ep is old footage they’ve already got in the can!!! Just ten minutes of new footage per ep and they’re good to go!!!

    Oh, wait a minute – B&B seem to be pitching space travel stories for this time travel show…

    • Re: What Comes Next
      I can see this. Every episode will like “More Troubles, More Tribbles” from DSP. Timeship Enterprise will travel back to “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” By the end of the episode, Bele and Lokai will beam down to the planet as lovers.

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