Is UPN abandoning "Enterprise"?

pure vanity | 12/20/02 | self

[pabianice]

Good SCIFI is always an endangered species on TV. With the exceptions of shows like "Stargate SG-1" and "The Dead Zone," quality TV scifi is rare.

For anyone who has become a fan of the TV show "Enterprise," the drop in its quality during this, only its second season, is a real puzzler. "Enterprise" started last year in a rush of good casting, state of the art CGI, great writing, and top production. But this year it has suffered a considerable drop in story quality. And its ratings reflect it.

As a network, UPN clearly has a vested interest in making the show succeed. So, what's the story? Has the show relied so heavily upon the two main writers that, when someone else writes an episode, the quality suffers? Has UPN decided for some unknown reason to let the show die on the vine? Is there some other issue of which the public is unaware?

[Willie Green]

And none of the characters, including Bakula's, have any real spark or interest.

If that's what you think of the Vulcan babe, you must be a eunich.

[1redshirt]

I really like the new series AND the Vulcan lady is HOT. I would like to see a little more Ship level Phaser stuff though. Maybe an incident with the Kingons or the Romulans would be good

[TexasRepublic]

I am tired of space westerns, particularly the PC ones.

[shadowman99]

A great deal of confusion still exist over this. At this time, Farscape is still cancelled. Scifi is airing commercials that promo the episodes that air in January, but they are the remaining season 4 eps.

Farscape News on SciFi.com

"THE FINAL 11 EPISODES of Farscape will begin airing on Friday, January 10, when SEASON FOUR resumes! Be sure to watch Farscape at its new times of 8PM and 12AM ET/PT. And, on Friday, January 3, get up to speed with three back-to-back season-four episodes — "A Prefect Murder" at 6PM ET/PT, "Coup by Clam" at 7PM ET/PT, and "Unrealized Reality" at 8PM ET/PT!

Also see SAVEFARSCAPE NEWS

Also this Farscape crew member has some thoughts on the matter:

"Well, we wrap work on the VFX for episode 422 this week, and once that's done we're archiving everything to DLT and going our seperate ways... as far as I know it's still over.

I was at Animal Logic last week and asked our producer if she'd heard anything different from Andrew (one of the exec producers) - nada. It's all winding down - on Thursday we hit a local pub for the VFX wrap party then that's it :-(

Anyway, at this point I'm rooting for Firefly ;-)"

[Willie Green]

I think they've already had a couple run-ins with them.
At least with the Klingons, anyway.
Nothing too series, yet.
But a good indicator of the potential for future episodes.

[Poohbah]

Janeway simply had zero command presence (which is downright amazing, because Kate Mulgrew, IN PERSON, has the kind of aura I've seen in successful military commanders).

Rick Berman just doesn't have a clue.

I've been thinking of writing a fan fiction series set after "The Undiscovered Country." The Klingon-Federation cold war has come to an end, Starfleet has been downsized (as has the Klingon fleet), and a lot of small-scale squabbles in a border sector between the two stellar nations are coming up, pirates and smugglers are having a field day, starfarers still face all the myriad hazards of space...

And into this mess splashes the USS Gambier Bay, a Reliant-class starship, with a skipper trying to do the right thing with inadequate resources, unclear orders, and a crew that is wondering if Starfleet can weather the scandal of Admiral Cartwright's treason without losing its institutional soul. The only thing he's got going for him is his own wit, courage, and leadership skills.

A guy who knew both television as a whole and Rick Berman told me that (a) it'd be a great idea for a TV series, with lots of drama, and (b) Berman would thus completely despise it.

[ThinkDifferent]

Ah, thanks for the correction. The SciFi commercials confused me.

[paultwynn]

I hate to be ignorant (or worse, look it), but what is wrong
with Bakula?

Voyager was the worst spin off, but DS9 gave it a run for
the money. I stopped watching Voyager about when Janeway
ragged on the original characters saying "They wouldn't make
it in todays Star Fleet." There wouldn't be a Star Fleet
with out them!!!! (I know, it's just a show). Enterprise
has taken the one thing that was good from Voyager, and that
is hot chick in a bodysuit.


The T is for Tiberius

[1redshirt]

What really tore it for me with Painway was when she jeopardized the whole ship in an attempt to save some
Caison hybrid baby. I thought I was watching some stupid soap opera like "As The Stomach Turns"

[Willie Green]

Voyager was the worst spin off, but DS9 gave it a run for the money.

Being an original series junkie, I quickly lost interest in the PC Generation.
I didn't find DS9 to be much better.
My interest wasn't rekindled until Voyager picked up 7-of-9.
I credit her with getting my trekkie blood back to pumpin'.

[paultwynn]

> I credit her with getting my trekkie blood back to pumpin'

So to speak...

I agree with Poohbah, Rick Berman is clueless. Parts of Enterprise are fresh, but every now and then you can see Voyager creep back in. There are so many 'bold' things they could do, like have Archer screw up and cause the Federation/Klingon war, but they just play it safe. None of the new shows can pull off the Kirk/Spock/Bones friendship, which I think was key in the original. They don't have to be like the original, but they could still put something out that was/is good.

[camle]

"Enterprise" is like most of the recent ST series - they take a good idea, and make it so dern PC and BORING that you just can't stand watching anymore.

You know where its' going, what's gonna happen, and it just drags on, like the energizer theme song that just keeps going, and going, ad nauseum.

TOS was the best. TNG was absolutley pitiful. DS9 was a bit batter, STV is just plain wierd with Captain PMS, and STE is boring and dull.

and it is a shame too, cos I was one ofo the first to get into TOS when it first came out in 66 (or was it 65?)

[Willie Green]

I think individual character development, including their interpersonal relationships, is actually muck better than the original series. As you note, they can't duplicate the Big Three; but they're different characters in a different series. If you remember the original series well, you have to admit that Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov were pretty uni-dimensional characters. Each certainly deserving of nostalgic remembrance of the roles they played, but there certainly wasn't much depth to them despite how they "fit" within the overall cast.

[camle]

B-5 was the deepest sci-fi ever. I still discover subplots and nuances.

vastly underrated

[paultwynn]

Sure, I'll agree with that. I even think the Big Three were one dimensional. I've sometimes heard that the three make up one person. Spock:Logical, Kirk:Emotional and ambitious, Bones:Skeptic and wise cracker. But on individual levels, they rarely drifted from their stereotype.

I think currently, acting skills have changed, and character development has become a focus for TV, which might contribute to why you think it's better now. But where I didn't find it hard to beleive the Big Three, the relationship between, say, Trip and Archer seems forced. Ricker and anyone else on Enterprise-D. Again, not that they should try to duplicate it. It would be obvious, and hence, lame.

And on one more note, I think the problems ST is facing now is because there are so many characters, which are actors. In the case of the TNG, everyone wants screen time. It's got to be harder to write a script with 9 heros, than say 1 (or 3). In TOS, Scotty...Chekov may of had two or three episodes that revolved around them. The movies, mostly Kirk,Spock,McCoy. For TNG, how many Dr. Crusher episodes did we need?

[paultwynn]

Ricker= Riker

[bribriagain]

Anyone remember Denise Crosby, aka Tasha Yar? I had a coversation with her in a private chat room after she had been killed off. She apperaed to be pretty hammered, and judging from the transcript, pretty open. I kept a copy. Interesting read.

[Willie Green]

You make an excellent point about TNG having too many actors to coddle.
I think DS9 suffered the same way.
Hopefully Enterprise strikes a balance between these and the original series. Other than the main 6~7 characters, there simply isn't enough room on board to sustain very many additional supporting characters that appear each and every week.

[Frank_Discussion]

Your idea sounds very good to me.

[Wolfstar]

Or a straight female! LOL!