[Rob Babcock]

Guess I'm not surprised- after the last episode garnered the lowest #'s in the shows history, UPN & Paramount are pulling the plug.  Oh, well.  In a sense I have to say "good riddence."  I'm a huge fan of TNG, and I really liked Voyager, too, but Enterprise really never hit on all cylinders.  I gave it many chances, but ultimately I quit watching it (again) after about the 6th episode this season.  With BSG & Andromeda to provide my scifi fix, I haven't missed Enterprise.

Paramount does allude to a future Star Trek series.  I'll be anxious to see what they cook up; hopefully something more interesting than the terminal bore that was Enterprise.

[gitarretyp]

I'm not really surprised either. The time travelling stuff really blew it, in my opinion. I've enjoyed this season, for the most part. Now that they're focusing more on history relevant to the trek universe, such as the romulan wars and the foundation of the federation, it's become more interesting to me. Some of the more rabid fans are going to pretty extreme measures to bring it back. Newspaper Ads They're trying to raise money to fund future episodes Another Slashdot Link

[nickspicks]

I'm bummed.
I love Scott Bakula, and he made for a good captain.  I like the time frame that was the setting for this series as well.

they blew it w/the drawn out Zindi bull shit that ate up two seasons.  The show got very aggressive at that point.  And oddly enough, it seemed to resemble the current state of america and our "zindi" issue.  I thought it was a bit over the top from that point on.

It would have been cool, but unfortunately they "FOXified" it w/too much sex, giant vulcan boobs (anyone else notice that was toned down these last two seasons" ..., etc etc.

[Rob Babcock]

I like Bacula well enough as an actor, but the Archer character reminded me of a substitute teacher.  Absolutely no swagger or "balls."  Later when Earth got attacked they tried to make him "edgier" but to me he just got desperate & pathetic.  Eventually the one consistent reason to watch was gone- Jolene Blalock.  Sure, she's still there, but she's become so emaciated that she's almost painful to look at.  She went all Callista-Flockhart on us, becoming so thin you can see here spine thru the uniform, and her eyes are sunken & hollow, etc.

The whole Xindii thing was retarded, IMO, and I absolutely cringed at the "Temporal Cold War."  Blech!   Every show needs its own 'theme,' but time travel episodes make my ass itch anyway, and basing an entire series on it was simply unbearable.

Maybe the whole idea of setting a story in that time frame was fatally flawed.  The "Star Trek Universe" is sufficiently developed that most fans know the timeline from essentially the end of the 20th century right thru the 24th.  So either nothing really surprising can happen or it can but must be changed (ie time travel) so that it doesn't much up the "timeline."

I for one am glad to see it cancelled, mostly because they weren't likely to start a new one while Enteprise still staggered along.  Now that it's been cancelled, perhaps they can develop a new show that I might actually want to watch.  Chalk this misstep up to experience and go back to what worked (ie something based on the TNG universe & time, or even move ahead to the future).

[John Ashman]

I'm personally bummed out, while I liked TNG when it finally hit its stride, as did DS9 just before it went down, I think Enterprise was overall the best of the later ST shows.  It had better acting, better character development, better lines, more LIKABLE and realistic characters.  It was the only one where I wasn't contantly annoyed by one or more characters.  With TNG, it was Diana Troi and what's his name with the occasional beard.  With DS9, the captain just couldn't act his way out of a paper bag and Bashir, geez, what a wuss, then they tried to turn him into some super brainiac uber human by the end and they needed to bring in Worf to save the show.  Then Voyager had huge promise, but was just a trainwreck.  All that ST boyscout crap while they were supposedly fighting for their lives, with a wimpy, unbelievable captain with stupid, annoying gestures and preppy, geeky crewmembers that never really fleshed themselves out.  

So, by comparison, Enterprises kicks the hell out of these others, even if you didn't like some of the plot lines and enjoyable filled in how the first show got to where it was by filling in the history.  The show had to have over the top plot lines apparently because people don't like good acting or well-written shows or something.  I liked the edgier, darker flavor to the show and only the original can edge it out and that's just because of the originality of it.  

However, one Star Trek series I'd like to see is "Star Trek - Special Ops" with a team of folk that get to play fast and loose with the rules that need to jump around the universe attempting to put out fires (or start them) to deal with crap that the boy scouts can't deal officially do and with cool technologies and weapons that wouldn't be appropriate for a "ship of exploration".  THAT would be fun.

[John Ashman]

BTW, I liked Archer's character.  I was worried I wouldn't, but if you think about it, he was just an explorer scientist geek.  And then he started getting kicked around and having to try to keep people alive rather than explore and so he grew some balls and a little bit of swagger as one might expect.  So, I think it makes sense that Archer grew into a prototypical ST captain rather than starting out that way.

[Rob Babcock]

Okay, you won't see me dressed as a Klingon at Game-Con, but I'll admit to being a big Trek fan.   My favorite of course was TNG.  I'll have to disagree with you, John; I think TNG had overall the best acting and Enterprise probably the worst (not that it was all bad).  The asian chick, while cute, is just agony to watch.  Same for the Mayweather character- just painful.  There's only a couple characters that don't make me wince, and ironically they're probably the most cookie cutter of all.   I like Trip & Malcolm, although Trip is a walking cliche (but he has some charisma).

My 2nd favorite was Voyager.  Yes, Janeway was a total waste of plasma, but overall I liked the show a lot.  The first year was a little rough, as often happens with a new show, but the effects were good and the premise was unique in the ST universe.

Deep Space Nine was mostly just a bore-fest.  Eventually they started an epic war just to give the characters something to do.  Between that and adding Worf, they were successful to a degree.  The messianic quality they tried to give the captain was hilarious, but overall it wasn't too bad.  I'll likely never buy DS9 on DVD, but I have all the TNGs & I'm buying Voyager, too.

At any rate, Enterprise apparently won't be missed by many.  Last weeks episode drew the smallest audience since the series debut 4 years ago (only 2.5 million viewers).  By contrast SciFi Channel has 2 shows that consistently beat Enterprise (BSG & Stargate Atlantis).  BSG in fact was 2nd or 3rd in it's time slot vs all other shows on cable, which is huge.  And in fact, BSG is a lot better show than Enterprise.  At least IMO.

Again, I realize some will miss it, but I'm glad it got put out of its misery.  Hopefully they can come up with a new show to get the franchise moving forward again.

[bubba966]

Well, if you're looking for it on DVD it sounds like you won't have to wait so long.

According to this http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2905 There'll be 4 seasons released this year. That all of 'em?

[audiojerry]

Me bummed too.
I thought the current season had great acting, fairly good story lines, and I was hot for Tepal until she got anorexic on me.

Is there a link somewhere that discusses the show's demise?

Will there be any more new episodes this season?

[bubba966]

Is there a link somewhere that discusses the show's demise?

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/9469.html

[gitarretyp]

Is there a link somewhere that discusses the show's demise?

I think the numbers pretty well speak for themselves. You might also take a look at the links in my first post.

The rest of this season is still going to air, but that'll be it.

[Rob Babcock]

Enterprise certainly got it's chances; they gave it over three years.  Contrast that to the greatly superior Firefly- while vastly better than Enterprise in terms of acting, F/X, and especially writing, the show was axed after only a handful of episodes were aired.  Luckily the 14 episodes that were shot are available as a DVD boxed set, and the show had enough word of mouth buzz to allow Whedan to make a movie based on the series, which is set to hit theatres in May.

It always baffles me when they cancell a show inside of 4-6 episodes.  Very few programs get a chance anymore- if they're not strong out the gates, they're gone instantly.  In that sense Enterprise was far luckier than most- it had every chance to carve out an audience for itself, but it's rating steadily dropped with each disappointing episode.

[rosconey]

i always have enjoyed the different star trek shows,ds9 was awfull but i still watched it as was voyager(weekest cast of all trek shows).
i liked the cast for enterprise but the story was never any good,couldnt make myself watch it even when the vulcan chick was a still hottie.

i wont miss it

[John Ashman]

Firefly?!?  Better than Enterprise?!?  You're kidding, right?  Weak scripts, cheesy lines, paper thin, contrived characters.  It was barely a step above Hercules or Andromeda and not nearly as funny.  It had potential, maybe, but Enterprise was way better on its first day. God, I feel like a geek even debating this, but Firefly was dreadful.

[Rob Babcock]

Firefly?!?  Better than Enterprise?!?  You're kidding, right?  Weak scripts, cheesy lines, paper thin, contrived characters.  It was barely a step above Hercules or Andromeda and not nearly as funny.  It had potential, maybe, but Enterprise was way better on its first day. God, I feel like a geek even debating this, but Firefly was dreadful.

"Weak scripts, cheesy lines, paper thin, contrived characters.  It was barely a step above Hercules or Andromeda and not nearly as funny."  Funny, that's pretty much the exact words I'd have used to describe Enterprise.  Although I'd have had to add commentary about the howlingly hilarious "bumpy/antenae headed alien" makeup unimaginatively trowled onto one unfortunate guest star after another.

Yeah, not everyone "got" it.  But lucky for me, Serenity will be in theatres in 3 months while Paramount has nixed plans for an Enterprise movie.  Thank God.  

[Woodsea]

Enterprise was a very good show, I just don't/didn't have the time to watch it.  Firefly I missed on TV, but bought sight unseen....It is the bomb.  Rob, 3 months for you, but about 9 months for me in Mongolia  
DS9 I thought was weak after the initial season.  TNG was the best.  Voyager never really grabbed me.
The hitchhikers guide movie I hope lives up to it's potential.
Then there is Blake's 7 that should be coming out in the next year or so.
Oh, I am such a geek.
Do they have Trekkie conventions in Mongolia.....no!  They don't even have a word for Science Fiction  

[Rob Babcock]

Yikes!   NO world in the language for science fiction?  Those people are savages!   Yes, I'm a bit of a scifi geek too.  Some of my all-time favorites:  Star Trek TNG, Farscape, Lexx, Babylon 5, Space- Above & Beyond, Firefly, Voyage, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, BSG, & Kindred the Embraced.  I also liked Forever Knight and Highlander (the series), too, although not as much.  I didn't like DS9 much at first, but once war erupted with The Dominion, at least stuff started to happen every week.

It would be hard for me to pick a top favorite, but certainly TNG is a leading candidate.  The cast was fantastic (especially Patrick Stewart), the effects were great for the time, and the writing was consistently strong (except for season 6, which was marred by the screenwriters strike that year).  Farscape was very great, too, and a lot edgier than most other sci fi shows (with the most convincing cursing I'd heard on network tv!).

Anytime shows are discussed some geek is gonna get his ears tweaked over someone dissing his beloved kibble, that can't be helped.  But I'm not the one who cancelled Enterprise, I just reported it!

[John Ashman]

My issue is that Enterprise actually had a coherent cast of characters, a few are somewhat forgettable (Travis and the asian chick), but none truly lame like in other shows.  It made it far more believable and less annoying and you can actually get aborbed in the show rather than being constantly annoyed.

For instance, on TNG, I couldn't stomach Ryker, Troi, Dr or Wesley Crusher (aka Bat Mite).  It made most episodes painful to watch unless their participation was minimized or overshadowed.   If it weren't for Picard, Data, or Worf growing into their roles by the second/third season, it would have probably been cancelled too.  And then DS9 relied on Odo, Dax and Quark, and later, Worf.  The rest of them were mostly intolerable.  Voyager was the same.  It needed 7o'9 to almost single-handedly save the show and the 'doctor' ended up becoming the other main character due to the pathetic and 1-dimensional performances from the others.  "Paris" the "bad-boy criminal baby face?"  "Torres" the wimpy half Klingon?"  "Chakotay" as the "half-assed Indian with the convenient mystical thing?"  I mean REALLY!   I want to play the drunken Welshman on the next show that's always late for his shift, but my beer drinking capacity will somehow save the ship ever 4th episode.  

And, btw, Jeffrey Combs as the Andorian is just too darned good.  He just makes all of those episodes fun to watch.    Who would have believed that anyone could have made a blue skinned, white haired alien with antennae believable and fun?

[Rob Babcock]

I guess that's a case of "same planet different world," JA.  I really like Jeffrey Coombs, but the Andorians were howlers!  I almost soiled myself at the hilarious makeup.  Different strokes, I guess- the only character I didn't like on TNG was Wesley (the Wesley episodes were agony).  I loved Ryker and the rest.  Enterprise had nothing but forgettable characters, and the only one that was faintly interesting, IMO, was Trip.  Not that he was well written, he just reminded me a little of Harry Connick Jr.  He seemed a likeable rube.

One thing Enterprise and Voyager had in common was the cast must have been chosen by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.  Look at Enterprise- they were careful to include an Asian female, a black, a Southerner, an Englishman & an alien or two to offer quirky insights into just how unique and special humans are, blah blah.  Voyager trumped them by adding a Native American.  What can you say- all the characters you hated, I loved (and Torres was HOT!).  All the characters in Enterprise that you liked I found cookie cutter cutouts and totally comical.

The final judge is always the ratings.  Enterprise started out respectably but lost about 5 million veiwers per season.  You can't keep a show on a major network that only draws 2.5 million viewers!   Not a science fiction show (they're notoriously expensive to shoot).  You can't say it didn't get a fair shake- they gave it over three full seasons to draw an audience, but it never did.  Fact is there's just better stuff on to watch.

[Florian]

I loved all the original Star Trek ones and TNG. Never liked Voyager, but say which one are you guys talking about ?