Am I surprised? Not in the least. Anything beyond Serason 4 for ENT would have been a miricle given Les Moonvies attitude. Once he said he wasn't going to renew WWE (UPN's highest rated entertainment); I knew that no matter what ENT did (sort of being the No. 1 ranked show in all of TV), it was in for the chopping block. I was hoping something might happen in some form to get it to Season 6 (what it ws originally contracted for); but deep down, I knew this was coming.
The funny thing is that I firmly think he believes it will HELP his network. The problem with that is, plenty of the affiliates currently with UPN were with it BECAUSE of the money that was generated for them by the repeat airings of ENT on the weekends. I have a feeling when Moonvies says "Hey! It's time to renew your contract affiliation with UPN!" the response will be - "Sorry, we got a better offer from FOX." Les get 25 million for 'new development'; but lost a pretty big revenue stream. Paramount will se Star Trek licensing intrest drop, and will (within two years) drasctically drop their licensing fees. UPN has 3 years left (imo) before it ceases to exist and Viacom launches a CBS companion cable network like CNBC or MSNBC.
Then of course there's people like
Stewey who are popping champagne thinking "YES! Les said we'd take a two year break and then come back and the NEXT Trek series will ROCK THE SCI FI WORLD!!!..."
Well, I got news for you: Les said that to lessen any fan backlash (and he knows there will be some, but it's not that big a deal, and Les is probably right - this was done to protect what's left of the Star Trek licensing arm which, when merchandizers ask why they are paying so much to license a 'dead' franchise; the marketers can say "We'll be back, trust us..." Well, I'm sure Universal did the SAME THING after the first few years BSG went off the air in 1978 and they were attempting to license Galactica merchandise in te height of the
Star Wars era.
IF Trek ever comes back -
1) It'll be a good 10 years before the idea is even considered with Moonvies at the top. UPN will have to fail first, then (if he's still around) Moonvies will have to be convinced some market and audience for Trek exists outside of the 'die hard' base that still exists and while shrinking, will continue to exist for probably the next 20 years or so.
2) Any adherence to what
Gene Roddenberry,
Rick Berman,
Brannon Braga or
Manny Coto did will be GONE. If Star Trek ever returns, it'll be 'reimagned' for a 'new generation of fans' and the new version won't be saddled wth the 'campy, cheesey continuity issues of the old franchise'.
We Trek fans had it pretty good from 1982 on - we had a popular film series that led into a television revival that lasted 18 years. If you really want a view of what any die hard 'can't live without' Trek fan's 'fan outlet will be like - I invite you to head to
http://www.battlestarpegasus.com - and look at the archives. I'm sure the lesser Trek actors (like marina Sirtis) who weren't able to grow their careers beyond Trek are also upset because the Trek convention revenue streams and free paid travel they enjoy will dry up within two years as well.
If you wonder why I'm harping on 'two years' is because that's the logest ENT will run in syndication before it disappears as well.
After May of this year, the Trek Universe you know will be dead and buried to all but the most hard core fan. When they 'reimagine' it in 10 - 20 years (if they ever do), I doubt I'll be interested. It'll come back with a big budget feature film similar to
Lost In Space; and you may even see cameos by the younger current Trek actors still alive at that time. But don't fool yourselves, it'll be a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time before 'new' Star Trek is projected in a theatre or transmitted to a TV screen, and it'll bear little resemblence to the Star Trek franchise we will loose after May.
That's okay, in the long run, I was probably spending too much of my workday browsing these boards to talk about Trek. If was fun to relate all the series to each other while there was Star Trek episodes that I enjoyed being produced (Trek was dead and gone for me from seasons 2 - 7 of Voyager - even though I've been watching since 1969. hell, I only found this BBS when looking for info on 'Series V').
Once Trek is gone from the airwaves, I don't see a point in discussing or lamenting on things past. I'll have the DVDs of the Trek series I enjoyed to watch when I feel like it, and that'll be what Trek becomes again for me (back in the 1980ies, it was VHS tapes

).
But
Stewey has what he wants; and I'm certain
James Dixion is in absolute heaven as he can now 'reign supreme' with his perfected Treknological timeline that disregards the events of
Enterprise and restores his 'true and perfect/ absolutely consistent timeline'. I'm sure the two of them and the 100 or so who remain to laud the praises of the 'vastly superior' BSG2004 (until episode 30 when Sci Fi will cancel it as too expensive - or fold it into a less expensve series clled
Stargate: Galactica where we have the Capricans finding and uniting with Earth against the Cylon menace in a 'new and interesting' format).
Trek did have a 39 year run in TV and film, and if you consider the time between the end of the original series and the animated series, and teh gap between the animated series and the film series, it was only off the screen as far as new episodes for a 4 year stretch followed by a 6 year stretch. It produced 29 TV seasons of material in that time (including TAS).
I will miss having new Trek episodes, (and ENT in particular of all modern Trek), and I doubt I'll be back for the 're-imagined' version, if itb ever comes. The only further money Paramount will see frm me for anything Trek in the TAS DVD set, and the four seasons of ENT. There's 14 seasons of Trek I don't really care to own or archive; the 7 seasons of TNG (which I grew to like somewhat, but still never really enjoyed the way I did TOS, DS9 from season 3 on; or ENT); and the utter CRAPFEST that SHOULD have been pulled after it's FIRST season -
Star Trek: Voyager If there was EVER a series that was NOT Trek in the slightest, VOY was it.
But, at least after May, T'Bonz and crew should have a MUCH easier time adminitering this BBS; and
Stewey and
Jame Dixion can plan the
Perfect Trek Series (tm) (and then wonder why production hasn't been confirmed for 2008 when the time comes), and
Warped9 and
Orion randy can wrap themselves in their TOS blankets safe in teh knowledge that it will never be thretened again by the bastardizations of any more 'modern Trek'.
To to 200 or so that will remain after May (100 split between the various Trek forums; and the other 100 in the Sci Fi Fantasy forum drooling over BSG2004, SG-1 as they degenerate fast and SG:A as it plods through its already promised 4 year run and is them cancelled by Sci Fi); I wish you well.