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Burton ashamed of "Extinction"?

Spork111

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
I seem to recall reading somewhere that LeVar Burton went to the producers of Enterprise and told them he was ashamed or embarrassed that he had directed "Extinction". Does anybody else remember this article? And if this is correct, do you think Burton's embarrassment was justified?

It's been years since I've seen the episode - heck, I probably haven't seen it since it first aired! At the time it seemed to me to be a weak episode, but I really don't remember enough about it to pass judgment...
 
Well, after seeing it recently, I would have been ashamed too. It's one of the series worst episodes and in it's best season, it was just something that wasn't needed.
 
I don't think the episode worked, but I applaud them for trying something different.

I, however, would have axed this episode at the original "the crew jump around like monkey men for fourty minutes" pitch :lol:.

T'Pol's, white jumpsuit was yummy.
 
Why was he ashamed though?

It was certainly a weak episode, but I'd say it wasn't the weakest. It was better than many others in the franchise. It wasn't even the worst of Season Three - North Star or Doctor's Orders would take that honor.

This was the guy who directed such great episodes as Live Fast and Prosper, Nightingale, Q2, Terra Nova, and Fortunate Son.

What was so awful about Extinction?
 
tpolextinctionav.jpg


:cool:
 
The episode was awful, sure. But it was the fault of the script, not the direction. So, nothing to be ashamed of.
 
Chosen Realm and Hatchery were my least favorite of season three. Those two are on my Enterprise five worst episodes list. Extinction was just bad filler.
 
It's not a great episode, sure - but it's no worse than a lot of Voyager episodes.
 
It wasn't until I got into the posts that I even remembered which one extinction was....then I remembered it was best forgotten.

And am I the only one who liked "Doctor's Orders?" That was the one where they were all asleep but Phlox, right?
 
Why was he ashamed though?

It was certainly a weak episode, but I'd say it wasn't the weakest. It was better than many others in the franchise. It wasn't even the worst of Season Three - North Star or Doctor's Orders would take that honor.

What was so awful about Extinction?

Once again, I seem to look at Trek really differently, as I scored Extinction 7/10. I thought it was good. I mean I can see why people wouldn't like it, but "ashamed"? Oh well.

And wow. I scored North Star 9.5/10, and Doctor's Orders 10/10. I loved both of those.
 
Actually -- and I know this is somewhat heretical -- I liked "Extinction" even more than the preceding "Anomaly."

Worst of season was definitely "Carpenter Street", although "Raijin" is close.
 
What was so awful about Extinction?
Boring, added nothing to the story arc, the men crouch and scramble around like gorillas, but for some reason Hoshi stands tall, and it had an idiotic ending: Archer orders Phlox to save a sample of the virus. And even tho' it was put into a secured container, apparently he forgot they were in a region of space where anomalies played havoc with their systems. STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.

And this one more glaring example where Archer makes a bad decision without consequence, because as we have all learned, Captain Jonathan Archer can never be wrong.

I don't think Levar should be ashamed of that episode. All he did was direct it.

OTOH, Andre Bormanis should still be blushing.
 
Andre Bormanis the science guy? The guy who replaces [technobabble] with "the warp core is running low on dilithium"? They let him write an episode?!
 
The episode was beyond awful, but seeing T'Pol surrounded by her crew jumping around like monkeys was priceless. And the species they were transformed in were interesting.

It's the only episode in Season 3 that was completely unnecessary. And Doctor's Orders was a very good one. It is the only Star Trek episode that has managed to startle me at any point.
 
This seems to be the interview the OP refers to. And as I understand that, Burton wasn't ashamed of Extinction's quality, but the fact that they had him direct something like that.
 
Linda Park did an interview shortly after Extinction was set to air she didn't enjoy filming that show on a hot tv sound stage or the makeup she had to wear for over 16 hours I remember reading she said she was sick and miserable the whole time they filmed it.The only part of Extinction I liked was the Trip&T'Pol scene where he gave her the peaches and Trip being in command.
 
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