Jornada nas Estrelas: Enterprise

One of the better series. I likely particularly because it was close to home. You see it in the bare no frills ship. They were just getting started and it was cancelled.

This is in my opinion the last legit entry to the Star Trek universe: Discovery and Picard are just a travesty of Roddenberry's vision. The movies with Chris Pine are not bad but put by far too much focus on action and CGI-wonderland. Anyway, from time to time I put one of those shows back on my screen and Enterprise is the border for my travels back in time, after that just awaits the void of trash, which I carefully know how to avoid.

I have mixed feelings about this show. It probably has contained some of the best and definitely a lot of the worst Trek episodes ever. It was meant to re-invent Trek but all it did was re-use old plot devices. The best thing they ever did was replace Berman, because he had been working on the franchise too long. Trek needs new blood, and for the 4th season they finally got it. But of course it came too late and now the show has been cancelled after it just started to find its footing.

Contrary to some other comments I've seen, Enterprise did NOT use its cast to its fullest potential. Mayweather has been virtually ignored since the first and second seasons (he wasn't even in most of the 3rd season episodes) and when he has been around lately it has only been to lift heavy things or hit something. Reed was just starting to get some good stuff this season. Enterprise had a wonderful opportunity to connect every Trek series together and revitalize the franchise but all it did (and most people believe this) was bury it. Despite Enterprise's accomplishments, its failures reign supreme. As much as I love Trek, it needs a rest. Maybe after a few years it will be brought back by people who have new ideas to bring to it. Then, hopefully, we will truly go where no one has gone before.

For the past year I've watched Enterprise hoping they would get better and quit being so doom and gloom. I was hoping for them to get back to basics and more of the original Star Trek. Well, finally after a so-so year, they get back more to the original and start getting good again. I get all pumped up about it, and what does UPN do; but, cancel it! Well, that settles it. I have no reason to watch UPN again. Too bad another network or syndication wouldn't pick up Enterprise. If it would continue as it's been this year alone, it could run many more years. The camaraderie's is back and it's getting more humorous. The stories are fantastic. And, we're seeing more of the beginning of the original Trek! The writers are getting imaginative again! Well, hopefully there will be a miracle and Enterprise will be saved, though I doubt it. Too bad! I really hope it's not the end of the Star trek series. I hope Enterprise makes a comeback, some how, some way! Someone please save this series!

I'm stunned. It's hard to believe that with the cancellation of "STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE", for the first time in18 years there will not be a STAR TREK series on the air. I have spent an abnormal amount of time engaged in water cooler talk as to why the latest STAR TREK spin-off failed to last more than 4 seasons. I do consider myself a TREK fan but I am hesitant to use terms like Trekkie or Trekker. I see STAR TREK the same way I see religion. It can be a great source of comfort, it should be used in moderation and I don't want to associate with or be associated with its followers. These devoted fans by the way recently raised over 15 million dollars to keep this fifth TREK series on the air, forcing them to delay moving out of their parent's basements for at least... Well I guess they had the disposable income anyway. Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are Trekkies or Trekkers. Go rent the documentary TREKKIES and you will know what I am talking about.

What Gene Roddenberry pitched, as "Wagon Train to the Stars" became much more than what WilliamShatner described on SNL as, "...just a TV show!" Roddenberry managed to address the problems of the day that would not have been addressed otherwise on TV, by using outer space as its backdrop. The show inspired many to reach for the stars by studying science. People of color and women seeing Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) on the Enterprise bridge saw a future that included them. The show inspired new technology and it's packaging. Imagine what your cell phone or home computer would look like without STAR TREK as inspiration. Gene Rodenbery's vision also showed us a future where people of all races worked and played together (including TV's first interracial kiss Plato's Stepchildren).

I know that I'm making this sound bigger than just the cancellation of a TV show. I liked Enterprise and was not bothered by the multiple episode story lines. I still saw Gene Roddenberry's original intentions realized in this latest STAR TREK franchise. I liked that Captain Jonathan Archer's (Scott Bakula ) Enterprise and crew was less sophisticated than Captain Kirk's or Picard's. The bottom line is that it doesn't matter if you are battling an unknown alien threat or debating the moral implications of interfering with the development of an alien species, as long as the show is well written and well acted, that's all that matters.

One of the great things about Trek is that you can never run out of story ideas. All you have to do is look at today's newsmakers, paint them green and stick them on another planet.

Fear not Trekkies or Trekkers. Even though we are saying goodbye to Captain Archer's Enterprise, the franchise will live long and prosper. There is now talk about an 11th STAR TREK feature scheduled for release in 2007. I look forward to it, just don't expect to see me at the first screening and I definitely wont be in uniform because to quote Groucho Marx, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member".

Stay Tuned Tony Figueroa