Enterprise had a goal before its cancellation

While the series has its fans, it’s hard not to refer to the 2001 series “Star Trek: Enterprise” as a vague disappointment. Starting in 1987 and throughout the 1990s, “Star Trek” was on the rise, enjoying immense popularity thanks to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and debuting with “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Star Trek :Voyager.” ” in quick succession. Several feature films were released in theaters and merchandise sales increased considerably. It was a good time to be a Trekkie.

“Enterprise,” however, debuted two weeks after 9/11 and it seemed like no one was in the mood. The show’s creators seemed a little tired, and the post-9/11 audience really wasn’t in the mood for a series about exploration, diplomacy, and making peace with enemies. The three previous “Star Trek” shows lasted seven seasons each. “Enterprise” was canceled after its fourth run in 2005, officially ending the glory days.

The premise of “Enterprise,” to remind readers, “was intriguing. Set a century before the original “Star Trek,” “Enterprise” followed the adventures of the first Starfleet ship launched from Earth. There was not yet a Prime Directive, nor were there shields, photon torpedoes or, most importantly, a Federation “Enterprise” that, being so stripped down and fragmented, sought to recapture the “wild west” vibe it had had. missing from previous “Star Trek” shows. Fans would say it was a success.

But, because the series was canceled after the fourth season, some of the most ambitious plans were never fully realized. Co-creator of the show and former “Star Trek” boss Rick Berman spoke with StarTrek.com back in 2011and lamented the missed opportunities, including its inability to fulfill its only central objective: to represent the formation of the Federation.

Some of the world’s most passionate Trekkies will be able to tell you that “Enterprise” takes place in the mid-2150s, and also that the United Federation of Planets was founded in 2161. The Federation was founded by a quintet of species, respectively the Earth, Proxima Centauri, Vulcano, Tellar and Andoria. Rick Berman likely established “Enterprise” when he did so to allow the events of the series to lead to the founding of the Federation.

But, because the show was canceled after only four years, the Federation’s story couldn’t be told the way Berman or his co-creator Brannon Braga wanted. There was no set plan for a Federation story, but it was always in the back of Berman’s mind. He said:

“We basically wanted to develop a show that, by season seven, would lead us to a logical and dramatic approach to the creation of the Federation. It was something that (showrunner) Manny Coto, Brannon and I hadn’t specifically explained.” , but our goal was that that was where the sixth and seventh seasons would go.”

The ending of “Enterprise” dramatized small fragments of the founding of the Federation, but in a way that many could say was truncated and unsatisfying. Instead of having the crew of the USS Enterprise form alliances and practice diplomacy, the show decided to make the final episode of the series (called “These Are the Voyages…”) a holographic recreation centuries after the fact, witnessed by William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Unfortunately, the show’s ratings declined before the groundwork could be laid. Yes, there were scenes of the signing of Federation treaties, but seeing the “Enterprise” characters as mere holograms didn’t have the same impact.

The cancellation of “Enterprise” came as a surprise to Berman, Braga and Coto. They were still writing “Enterprise” in a largely episodic structure (considered outdated in 2005) and were not looking toward future seasons yet. As such, when word spread that the fourth season would be the last, they had to work quickly to write a satisfying ending. When asked what the show’s unrealized fifth season might contain, Berman was at a loss. He said:

“We had no idea. We hadn’t gotten that far. We were probably filming six or seven shows before at the time we got canceled and we hadn’t really decided what the final episode of season four was going to be. It could have been a cliffhanger or “It might not have been, but we hadn’t made that decision before we found out it was going offline.”

The “company” struggled a lot with the structure. By the early 2000s, many high-profile shows were moving away from the syndication-friendly episodic model and toward a binge-friendly serialization model. Many shows told stories that took entire seasons to conclude, while others maintained single story arcs for many years. “Star Trek” previously thrived in the episodic model, and only began to branch out into serialization with “Deep Space Nine.” “Enterprise” pivoted toward a longer serialized narrative with its third season, and then had several mini-arcs (of three or four episodes each) in its fourth season. The show had to evolve on the fly.

Unfortunately, this may be what kept viewers away. It was not ambitious enough for a series model and had already worn out the episodic model. Four years was apparently all “Enterprise” was destined to have.