Can it be brought back?

[KottenFutz]

Gee golly, I’m sure this isn’t the first thread created in this vein, so indulge my rerun if it is such. Kick me to the curb if need be. Still, I offer this query: Can the popularity of not only the new Star Trek film but also episodic Sci-fi itself be enough to revive a new Star Trek: Enterprise project. A TV movie on the fancy SYFY network, a mini-series? Straight-to-DVD release? Babylon 5 has gone the latter route; certainly Battlestar Galactica has injected new coolness to the episodic science fiction genre. Along with a capable demonstration that television sci-fi can be cinematic with stylistic effects and well crafted set pieces all the while maintaining a television budget as quite do-able, and can be seen as a solvent risk, even if the audience has shrunk. Stargate: Universe (in my view a drab pointless endeavor and a hacky BSG ripper to be sure) gives some credence to that end… proving Enterprise can return… and be better.

I believe there’s enough interest to resurrect this show in some form. Structuring it into a prestige format. Perhaps as a Romulan war epic, or a slimmed down version with just a few of the integral cast (sorry Mayweather), or special full format tele-films. There are honestly many more days ahead for these characters, more to explore… I think there’s life in the old girl yet, anyone else?

 

[Therin of Andor]

I think there’s life in the old girl yet, anyone else?

The viewership for ENT was miniscule compared to the recent movie.

Renegotiate contracts, rebuild sets, try to kickstart a long-dead series as a prequel to the current highly successful film series? Nah, you'd have a better chance to start from scratch, or even a Kelvin series.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Despite that internet fad for Captain Robau, I think the fact it got destroyed in an alternate reality is probably the only interesting thing to say about the Kelvin. In my Star Trek universe, it was clearly just another rung on the career ladder for Kirk's father.

That and the fact many of the Kelvin sets (corridors, lower decks) didn't look that different to the ENT ones they had already junked.

Enterprise had and always will have more importance than that. That's the tragedy I see when I watch the show. I already liked how it was developing, especially in the last two seasons... and it grew in potential with every episode, until a finale forced down our throats.

I doubt I'll ever give up wanting to see the show back. Possible or not.

 

[TheGodBen]

It's not coming back.

 

[Kegg]

Despite that internet fad for Captain Robau, I think the fact it got destroyed in an alternate reality is probably the only interesting thing to say about the Kelvin. In my Star Trek universe, it was clearly just another rung on the career ladder for Kirk's father.

If they were going to make a TV series based in the new timeline on a ship other than the Enterprise, it wouldn't be the Kelvin.

There'd be various reasons for that, not least of which is you'd want a new design for the ship and new sets built for it, and you'd have a premise where we've already seen all these characters die and their ship blow up before the series even premieres (meaing Robau in later seasons will look suspiciously older than Robau prior to his death).

I'd say that a Kelvin series is exceptionally unlikely, maybe even more unlikely than a return to ENT (though both rest comfortably in the sphere of 'impossible'.)

 

[Skywalker]

It's dead, Jim.

 

[Bones2]

It can be, and I'd like it to be.

It probably won't be though.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

No offence to the people who really want it to happen, but bringing back Enterprise seems rather unlikely. The show, in spite of reaching a respectable 98 episodes, is widely perceived as a failure and presumably wasn't a great money-spinner. Obviously Star Trek seems like a more promising property now than it did four years ago, but I don't think many people would see returning to Enterprise as a logical way to capitalise on that fact.

 

[Mach5]

The best, and the most logical option for a new Trek show would be Abramsverse 23rd century framing.

 

[Count Zero]

To make it short: no.

There are various reasons that make a return of ENT seem impossible:

• The sets were destroyed.
• It was a pretty expensive show, which means it can't be easily made on the budget of a Syfy series.
• It had bad ratings and it still has a less than stellar reputation, to put it mildly.
• It wouldn't really ride on the wake of Trek XI's success, because it doesn't look like the movie and has no real connection to it, other than also being Star Trek.

 

[Mach5]

• It wouldn't really ride on the wake of Trek XI's success, because it doesn't look like the movie and has no real connection to it, other than also being Star Trek.

Though ENT could be redesigned for the comeback (hypothetically speaking, of course). New uniforms (brighter, more colorful), NX-01 refitted with thoroughly redesigned interiors and a big shiny window for a view-screen etc.

 

[KottenFutz]

To make it short: no.

There are various reasons that make a return of ENT seem impossible:

• The sets were destroyed.

As the previous poster noted... REFIT !!!!

Honestly, when has that ever been a deal breaker?
Sets destroyed? Build new sets... this is America, son !!

• It was a pretty expensive show, which means it can't be easily made on the budget of a Syfy series.

Battlestar looked pretty damn good, so lower the budget and hire that production crew... next?

• It had bad ratings and it still has a less than stellar reputation, to put it mildly.

Make a TV movie... make a REALLY GOOD TV movie. If it's a no go with the network as a series... DVD the bitch, we'll buy it. Babylon 5 is making a nice home direct-to-video, why not? PLUS: I'm still talking mini-series too. (Psst: that's how Battlestar done it ) The event nature alone may stir buzz. Then a few a year... neat!!

• It wouldn't really ride on the wake of Trek XI's success, because it doesn't look like the movie and has no real connection to it, other than also being Star Trek.

Not asking it to ride the wake neccesarily, not to the degree you posted anyway, the audience can differenciate. Enterprise wasn't like Voyager, DS9 wasn't like TOS... no real connection other than also being Star Trek

What I'm talking about is NOT how it can be done... cause it can. I'm saying should it be done, I say YES. I want to see more of Archer's universe, there's so much more there to explore... I can smell it !!

 

[Count Zero]

• It wouldn't really ride on the wake of Trek XI's success, because it doesn't look like the movie and has no real connection to it, other than also being Star Trek.

Though ENT could be redesigned for the comeback (hypothetically speaking, of course). New uniforms (brighter, more colorful), NX-01 refitted with thoroughly redesigned interiors and a big shiny window for a view-screen etc.

Then you might as well create a new show, possibly set in the Abramsverse, that doesn't come with all the baggage ENT does.

 

[Mach5]

Then you might as well create a new show, possibly set in the Abramsverse, that doesn't come with all the baggage ENT does.

I think you might have missed my point. To me, ENT was never about the ship or the uniforms. It was about the characters. And since ENT predates the destruction of Kelvin, it too automatically belongs to Abramsverse, as well as to the original universe.

You are right about the baggage, though. ENT carries the stigma of a show that failed, and that's exactly why we'll never see it on screen again.

 

[KottenFutz]

Then you might as well create a new show, possibly set in the Abramsverse, that doesn't come with all the baggage ENT does.

NO, NO, NO, I want Enterprise back... and I always get what I want !!!

 

[Count Zero]

I was approaching the question from a TV exec's point-of-view. Why should they risk all the money they'd need to resurrect ENT on that show, a show that was cancelled due to bad ratings and, unlike TOS in its time, doesn't have a strong, large cult following?

That's why it won't come back. Now, whether I want it to come back, I'm not so sure, anymore. At the time it was cancelled I was very dissapointed and sad, but it's been four years. Even though the show is still on my mind often (most of my fan fiction is related to it in one way or another), I think I have moved on, in a way. It's now something that lives on in my own mind, something whose new installments now come in books and fan fic.

 

[KottenFutz]

I was approaching the question from a TV exec's point-of-view. Why should they risk all the money they'd need to resurrect ENT on that show, a show that was cancelled due to bad ratings and, unlike TOS in its time, doesn't have a strong, large cult following?

I understand that, really I see that side of it too... but it's a small issue in my mind. Because there is a cult following growing. Fans are revisting the show more and more, me among them. And we're seeing what was good about it. Reruns on SYFY, and various networks around the world are creating a new following. From an exec's point of view that is huge. Enough to have a few meetings about anyway.

And lest we forget, it was reruns of a similarily under rated and totally cancelled sci-fi adventure show from the sixties that revived and began all that we have now.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The best, and the most logical option for a new Trek show would be Abramsverse 23rd century framing.

It would be a prequel to Abrams' Trek and I wouldn't expect any of the original characters to return, even if recast. Considering the importance of Romulans to new Trek, I could see a series set during the Earth-Romulan War being considered.

 

[Count Zero]

I understand that, really I see that side of it too... but it's a small issue in my mind. Because there is a cult following growing. Fans are revisting the show more and more, me among them. And we're seeing what was good about it. Reruns on SYFY, and various networks around the world are creating a new following. From an exec's point of view that is huge. Enough to have a few meetings about anyway.

I'm not sure it is that huge. There are no hard numbers to work from, but judging from the influx on this forum, it's not a huge following. Besides, there are also people who revisit ENT (or see it for the first time now) and dislike it (in real life, I've only met people who disliked it).

 

[Mach5]

The best, and the most logical option for a new Trek show would be Abramsverse 23rd century framing.

It would be a prequel to Abrams' Trek and I wouldn't expect any of the original characters to return, even if recast. Considering the importance of Romulans to new Trek, I could see a series set during the Earth-Romulan War being considered.

I believe both Brian Fuller and JJ Abrams agreed that the show parallel to the movies would be the best option.

Such show could thoroughly explore the Vulcan re-population and cultural rebuilding efforts, and of course, offer a completely new perspective on both Romulan and Klingon Empires. Timeline has been changed, canon restrictions almost completely removed, and there's only so much that can fit into the two-hour movie. Sky is the limit!

BTW, why couldn't this new 23. century show feature a few cross-over "flashback" episodes which would go back in time and explore the Earth-Romulan war?