I just read that had Berman's "Star Trek: The Beginning" been done, Jeffrey Combs would have reprised his role as Shran. He would have been the only previous Star Trek character used. That kind of bums me out...it would have been cool to see Shran again. Who knows, J.J. might surprise us.
Shran would likely have been made a regular cast member in Season 5. I'd have preferred that to any feature film consolation prize... I'm also pretty pissed the script dared make reference to the NX-01 vacationing at Risa while the Romulan War was being waged. I mean WTF? That significant piece of Trek history was destined to be Enterprise's finest hour...
Really? As long as we're wishing for fishes, I would have preferred to have seen the Romulan war in Previous seasons of Enterprise.
You are correct. They should have done more prequel stuff from the beginning, but Rick and Brannon weren't interested in that. They were just content on doing more alien-of-the-week stories. It wasn't until Coto became showrunner did the show start to live up to it's premise.
I believe Mike Sussman let slip that Manny Coto wanted Shran on the series full-time. It's been amended to reflect that in Memory Alpha's ENT S5 page... not by me, I hasten to add. Reading between the lines in his last scene from 'The Aenar', I think it would've happened too. He mentions the Imperial Guard aren't likely to reward him for losing his ship... in fact, I can see him being foisted on the pinkskins as punishment. The official explaination being the creation of an officer exchange program, with Starfleet and the Guard beginning to work together as part of the Collation. In any case, it's another story for the melting pot, possibly a premiere to set up why Shran is aboard the NX-01 for the year. I've read some great ENT roadmaps since 2005 online... Shame we can't bring them altogether and make our own show.
Well, I of course wish we saw The Romulan War played out on ENT, also, and that we were enjoying Season 7 right now. This movie was pitched by Berman after ENT was cancelled.
Another crying shame and reason to lament ENT's premature death. There was so much more for characters like Shran to do and contribute to the founding of the Coalition and later the Federation, but UPN and the Beebs in that order squandered everything with the cancellation and then the shit-tastic finale that all but peed on the shoes of most of the fans who cared about the series for the first 97 episodes.