Bring back Star Trek: Enterprise

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Enterprise' started by Raj, Jul 18, 2020.

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Do you want Star Trek: Enterprise back?

  1. Yes (Please sign the petition)

    45 vote(s)
    48.4%
  2. No (If you want, please explain why)

    35 vote(s)
    37.6%
  3. Maybe (If you want, please explain why)

    9 vote(s)
    9.7%
  4. Other (If you want, please explain why)

    4 vote(s)
    4.3%
  1. Damian

    Damian Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, TNG was probably lucky it was on syndication. That maybe gave it a bit of breathing room. And it was something brand new so I think Paramount seemed more open to giving them a chance. I noticed some improvement in season 2 in fact and by season 3 it seemed to really catch fire. Perhaps that's why DS9 was given time to find its feet. TNG was still hugely popular and it paid off with DS9. Voyager was probably the most consistent of the shows in that I didn't notice that first 2 season lag there. But I think that's where the Berman fatigue really crept in.

    That combined with the relative unpopularity of the films Insurrection and Nemesis I think also put Enterprise on a short leash. Enterprise wasn't given the same honeymoon as the other shows, and it was a network show so I think that shortened the leash even more. I do give Berman credit for shaking things up in seasons 3 and 4. He was not a great writer or even creative mind, but I think his strengths were definitely more on the production end of things. Bringing in the right producer to shake things up (Manny Coto), changing the focus and doing multi-episode arcs, something that was just beginning at that point on TV. And he finally did something he should have done a few years prior, take on more of a back seat role. He was fine as an overall CEO. Making sure people were doing their jobs, overseeing budgets, and just making sure the show overall stayed on track. But he should have left the creative decisions behind a few years prior, maybe during Voyager's run.

    But in all honestly Enterprise's fate was probably already signed by Moonves. From what I've heard he probably needed little reason to cancel a Star Trek show. Enterprise's issues in the first 2 seasons may have helped make the decision, but I think Moonves would have just used a different excuse to cancel it.
     
  2. Richard S. Ta

    Richard S. Ta Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    A sad tailing off at the end of a very long run of Trek. Doctor Who is sort of in the same place right now unless the new team that's incoming can revitalise it.
     
  3. ChristopherPike

    ChristopherPike Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'm more of a Classic Doctor Who fan than the 2005 revival onwards, which while wildly popular through Tennant and Smith, is actually more to my taste with Capaldi and even initially Jodie Whittaker. I see Enterprise as the Indian Summer of Paramount Trek's 18 year run. It's more like the Sylvester McCoy era ending in 1989 than the uncertainty affecting Who today. Good enough of a turnaround for the programme at any other time, and a sudden steep upward curve in quality, but the BBC wanted rid of it. So yeah, just like Star Trek's fate was already sealed by a corporate shuffle and it was gone however much it improved.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2021
  4. Boris Skrbic

    Boris Skrbic Commodore Commodore

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    But ENT didn’t improve: it just went all TOS with the proverbial kitchen sink, kicking off a trend which continued through TOS-SE, the Kelvin Timeline and the first two seasons of DSC, probably reaching into SNW also. Whatever improvements had been made for S3 also evaporated with that storyline, once it was decided to replace Hail Mary 1 with Hail Mary 2 and call ahead by a century.
     
  5. Dukhat

    Dukhat Admiral Admiral

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    One could argue that that's what ENT should have done in the first place instead of two seasons of wandering aimlessly around the galaxy on some ill-defined mission of 'exploration,' which we just had seven seasons of in VOY. That was ENT's inherent problem: nobody knew just what the show was supposed to be about (which was also the problem with DSC), so the producers just made the same show they had just ended, only with a different ship and a different crew.
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2021
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  6. Boris Skrbic

    Boris Skrbic Commodore Commodore

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    Yes, but why should it have been more like S4 and not S3, which I thought was done surprisingly well? They came up with a fairly unique setting, interesting new civilizations and MACOs as a different group in the Starfleet mix. S4 could’ve continued with its own setting and storyline rather than start mining TOS for life support.
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2021
  7. FederationHistorian

    FederationHistorian Commodore Commodore

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    @Dukhat @HopefulRomantic I get where everyone is with ENT. Even I'm there that its not coming back, at least as Enterprise. The B&B era is long gone.

    With that being said, the 22nd century setting can be rebranded as a Rise of the Federation anthology series, with the first season starting with the early days of the USS Yorktown being the flagship during the early days of Federation in place of Enterprise (keeping with the original idea for TOS being set on the USS Yorktown). Then lean into Archer and the rest of the gang if the cast wish to revisit those characters again. Being an anthology series means it does not have to live action all the time. It can be animated as well, and can produce movie series too..

    Even a ENT TCW movie based around the origins of the Suliban and climate change that’s unusually on the nose for Trek as a message to confront the climate crisis would be acceptable as a reunion movie.

    While these ideas are money to me. I don’t know what’s money to CBS. They look at all these ideas for an theoretical ENT revival and give them to Disco instead. I know because I once posted a story idea of Mayweather during his days on the Horizon where he had to deal with an Andorian-Orion alliance on the ENT boards, After learning there was a storyboard idea for Mayweather to have met Andorians before Archer that was left on the cutting room floor. And then the next thing I know, Osyraa and the Andorian-Orion alliance that is the Emerald Chain is a thing on Disco in S3.

    I would not be surprised if a number of ENT ideas proposed end up on Disco at some point, since that’s what CBS is focus on.

    The best chance to see the ENT cast again is to campaign for them to make an appearance on the Orville. Phlox already has, and the episode itself was enjoyable.
     
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  8. HopefulRomantic

    HopefulRomantic Mom's little girl Moderator

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    So happy to see you here again, FederationHistorian!

    You give me ideas. Has anyone already brought up the idea of an animated ENT followup? Maybe doing the Romulan War, the big thing that the show was perfectly set up for, but didn't get to do. Animation would solve the problem of those extra 15 years, and the Romulan War could be done for a lot less moolah, and a lot more creativity.

    Yep, dreaming, but it's fun.
     
  9. Damian

    Damian Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That'd probably be the best hope for an Enterprise follow up. Hopefully they'd be able to get most of the actors back to voice their parts (one good thing with animation is there is probably some flexibility on when and even where they can record their lines).

    But, sadly, I still think it's a very slim hope. :sigh:
     
  10. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Ooof, no. That episode was deeply uncomfortable. Last one I watched.
    I think animated is a good idea. The Romulan War is a good idea that could live well in animation.
     
  11. mattman8907

    mattman8907 Commodore Commodore

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    you know i didn't think about it at the time but had Enterprise gone on to do a full seven season series Their seventh season which would've aired during the 2007-2008 wouldve been impacted by the Writers Strike of that year. So their final season and they would've been reduced from a 24-26 episode season to maybe 16 to 20 which would've sucked.
     
  12. HopefulRomantic

    HopefulRomantic Mom's little girl Moderator

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    Didn't think of the writers strike!

    If they were getting good enough ratings (DVR by this time would be a thing, and help ENT), perhaps they could have negotiated a Season 8, or a half-season, to play out the planned episodes (end of the war, presumably). They might also have banked scripts ahead of the strike, which has happened for previous WGA strikes. If the scripts were finished, the crew would have been able to film the full season even with the strike going on.

    Consider also that UPN would be dead (YAYYYYYY....erhm, sorry not sorry) and hopefully ENT might have found a sturdier home with supportive execs, and gotten those last couple seasons guaranteed, even with a strike looming.
     
  13. tomalak301

    tomalak301 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    When I was at the convention, I found out that this year (September 26th) will be the 20th year of Star Trek Enterprise. It would have been a perfect time to announce some new Enterprise stuff, like maybe a Short Trek in the Enterprise era. Personally, I would love a boxset of the Season 4 trilogies together as individual movies. I was watching the Augment and Vulcan trilogies over the weekend and I was thinking how great it would be if they combined both and made them into a movie. The fact that Paramount + doesn't do that (Or doesn't have a next episode button during the credits) is a missed opportunity.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
  14. ChristopherPike

    ChristopherPike Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    At this point I'm basically pinning my hopes on Strange New Worlds going back to the Classic Trek format, acting as a reminder of Enterprise. Maybe even deliberately if an NX-01 crewmember puts in a guest appearance. I mean, that should be the announcement come Star Trek Day on the 8th : 55th Anniversary, SNW sneak trailer,and first look, ENT 20th with Bakula revealing he's being aged-up in latex for a handover scene.

    It would be the perfect way to test the water. Ultimately I hope the Section 31 show is set in the 22nd Century, to allow the franchise to explore where a fifth, sixth, seventh season might've gone. Admittedly not through the eyes of Archer, T'Pol etc as I would've liked.
     
  15. FederationHistorian

    FederationHistorian Commodore Commodore

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    It has been brought up before.

    IMO, Enterprise rebranded under the Earth-Romulan War banner would be one of the best bets for an ENT return, as it would signal that its free of the baggage from the B&B era and that its not more Bush-era Trek. It’s not like there cannot be any exploring done, moral dilemmas or real-world issues to be addressed in this setting. But they’d be revisiting these characters while still playing by their own rules.

    Done right, a Earth-Romulan War series could even deal with the early days of the Federation-Romulan Cold War, and offer something never seen and explored with DS9 and VOY: recovery from the war effort and what becomes of the cast of characters in the post-war environment. And would allow for middle ground cast wise; the ENT cast returns for a few seasons before moving on if they wish to, and new characters for the ENT period can be created for further exploration of the late 22nd century or early 23rd century down the line if wanted.

    Where I’m at, if such an idea were to be finally greenlit for production, is figuring out which characters would be featured in such a series. Since as a prequel series, it has to be planned out properly. In the early stages of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it was planned for it to have 100 episodes, and the series has been well received as a result.

    For the main characters, Archer, Trip, Reed, Mayweather, Sato & Phlox are obvious. Shran should be made a main character member for this series as a liaison for Andoria. Maybe have Phlox’s wife Feezal become a main character and live on the ship as the new science officer on Enterprise, as well as add an extra female voice to the main cast. No disrespect towards T’Pol, but the only way I see her coming back is if the actress sees the show and is confident in its storytelling abilities.

    As for supporting characters, its a long list:

    Starfleet: Admirals Gardner, Black, & Douglas. Captains Hernandez, Ramirez, Jennings and Duvall. And although I don’t know if she would have a voice over actress, but there could be a few appearances of crewman Cutler if the series was animated.

    MACOs: Major Takashi Kimura (Hoshi's husband)

    Earth: Minister Samuels, Ruby, Gannet. Maybe add in previous removed characters in Becky and Tommy - whose scenes were deleted in the ENT S2 finale - to show the civilian perspective to counter Archer’s perspectives and display how the Romulan War is different from the Xindi conflict. Thomas Vanderbilt – the first Federation President – should be featured in some capacity as well.

    Freighter families: the Mayweathers, the Keenes, the Stiles, maybe a couple of new freighter families

    Vulcans: Soval, T’Pau, Skon (Spock's grandfather), maybe V’Las. Maybe T’Uerell (or a character based off of her) if they want to reference the Star Trek: Legacy game.

    Romulans: Admiral Valdore, operatives such as Talok, Praetor Gileus

    Others: Unnamed Kzinti, Maltuvis, Future Guy

    To create a connection to DIS, maybe the position of first contact officer (Saru's role on Discovery in S1) is created on Enterprise during this conflict, and this individual regularly reports to Sato. Could be a female role, but it could also be a gay character.

    As for an idea to explain T’Pol's absence, I can totally see a storyline where Trip – on assignment from Section 31 - goes undercover in Romulan space looking for her as she’s been missing for months and presumed to have been abducted by the Romulans.

    I’m not trying to build false hope or anything. Just showing what's possible.
     
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  16. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Overall sounds ok, aside from the MACO. Also, no Romulan operative as Vulcans.
     
  17. HopefulRomantic

    HopefulRomantic Mom's little girl Moderator

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    Sounds great! Just tell me when it starts streaming, and I'll be there! :biggrin:

    Your scenario does illustrate how animation could really open the box and make anything possible. It sure is fun to imagine what it would be like. Creative marketing could even sell it as some kind of reboot, to shake off any negative vibes from the non-fans of the first run of Enterprise.

    The ENT fandom can certainly provide the will. Now all we need is a bunch of money, heh.
     
  18. Reanok

    Reanok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The animated What if series about the Marvel Characters on Disney plus are popular. I think it would be intriguing if they had an animated Enterprise series.And if they had new stories for the Enterprise crew would be really cool what kind of stories they could come up with.
     
  19. FederationHistorian

    FederationHistorian Commodore Commodore

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    Would crowdfunding campaign work today, for a Star Trek: Renegades type of fan film with members of the ENT cast. There are a few fan films related to the ENT era around, and the crowdfunding is far bigger than in 2005. Or is there a concern it will be treated like Axanar was i.e. lawyers?
     
  20. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The guidelines stipulate that it must be an all amateur production, which means no professional actors, including past Trek actors.