Enterprise: Season 4 on DVD

Manny Coto was given the unenviable task of trying to save Star Trek: Enterprise from its creators. After 3 rather lukewarm seasons, both Berman and Braga stepped away from the show (though Berman would go on record saying that he still over-saw the day-to-day production of the show). The Xindi arc, while it had problems, worked as a story tool. But instead of doing a season long story, Coto decided they would do mini-arcs, some about 3 episodes long. This gave the chance to flesh out good stories -plus it saved on the budget as sets could reused. Also, the show would now be filmed in HD video to save more money, and would run only 22 episodes (all Treks since the TNG have run 26 episodes, but with the last two seasons of ENT, it would be reduced to 24 and the after mentioned 22). Judith Reeves-Stevens and her husband Garfield -respected long-time Star Trek novelists -were signed on to help, while Paramount would go after some casting stunts (Peter Weller and Joanna Cassidy) in hopes of showing fans the new direction the series was taking. The biggest stunt was bring back Brent Spiner. The former TNG actor was signed onto play Arik Soong, whose's ancestors would go on to create Data. The three episode arc explored how Soong was trying to create better humans with embryos left from the Eugenics War. While it was clever stunt, and gave long-time fans a feeling that Coto was trying to tie-in this prequel into TOS, the story itself was not that interesting, and plot points on why the there are embryos left from time period (something that could've be given a good moral argument) are quickly glossed over for needless violence. And once again, the white arrows point to the obvious conclusion ruined the whole story (which can damage any prequel style of storytelling). The Vulcan story line by the Reeves-Stevens almost gave me hope. While it contained plot holes, the 3-part story was filled with Vulcan intrigue -giving us, perhaps, and explanation as to why these Vulcans are so different from the ones we would eventually see on TOS. Still, the show failed on a couple of other stories, mainly the 2-part opener (which is not Coto's fault, as he forced to figure out how to get out of the corner that Berman and Braga painted the crew into) along with bland transporter story Daedalus, the overused aliens-are-observing-the-crew-again of The Observer Effect, the Bound episode (which still showed the series was never ever going to treat women with any sort of dignity) and the 2-part Mirror universe story, In a Mirror, Darkly. For those who say that the story was just a good romp with the cast able to chew the scenery, I say that was its problem. It should fit into the storyline of the Mirror universe that TOS did and what would be continued years later on DS9. In the end, it impacted nothing. That was what was wrong with the franchise, of course. It's impact on mainstream audience was gone. It had lost 10 million viewers since its launch and after being dumped to Fridays, its doom was sealed. The final episode, written by series creators Berman and Braga (and rumored to have been penned a year earlier when it looked like the show was not returning for a 4th year), was a horrible story which featured the return of Jonathan Frakes as Riker and Marina Sirtis as Troi and is set within TNG's fifth season episode The Pegasus. It felt so forced and while I enjoy Frakes and Sirtis, who have so much chemistry together (something both Voyager and ENT lacked with its cast), it was a real disservices to ENT crew. Tucker's death was meaningless and was a sad commentary on how far the franchise had diverged from its original beginnings. So 7 bad stories out of 22. Not bad in some peoples books. But Trek needed 22 excellent, high rated episodes to come back for a 5th season. But, it was never going to come. In February 2005 (during the production of Demons and Terra Prime), word came that UPN was cancelling the show (which surprised no hardcore fan, as most expected this would be the shows final season). But the season was a turn-around from the three previous three, and Coto deserved, perhaps, a chance to continue with a fifth season. Perhaps then, maybe some explanation of Temporal Cold War - a thread of the series since its beginning and unceremoniously dropped (or forgotten) by season three -would've come forward, as we are left with never finding out who Future Guy really was. Still, at the end of the day, Trek was never going to be saved with letter writing campaigns, as UPN was trying to lure a female audience who liked its urban comedies and American's Next Top Model reality show. Demographically, Trek did not fit in with who they were trying to get. Like it or not, there was the true reality. Could've Trek been brought to another network, like Sci Fi? I doubt it, even if cable network had room for it. The franchise is expensive and even moving the entire production to Vancouver they would've still would've needed to cut the budget further. Plus, Trek was the butt of many jokes, and the network heads felt the show was no longer a viable entity to invest in. Plus, Trek did need to rest after 18 years on TV. It needs to heal the schism in the fan base that Berman and Braga created. It needs to go back and understand why most of TOS 79 episodes still stand well today. And while DS9 will always be seen as the Red-headed stepchild of all the Trek series, it still remains the most creative and I believe if Trek is return anytime to soon, it will need to learn from DS9 and even Sci Fi's remake of Battlestar Galactica. The allegory tales have always proven to be Trek's best way of telling a story. BG -a huge post 9/11 tale -has shown what the Law & Order franchise has been doing for years -that you can get good ratings from tales ripped from the headlines. Trek has only made minor attempts over Voyager's 7-year run and Enterprise's four-year run to appeal to the fans who liked those stories. In abandoning its fundamental principles, it doomed it self to mockery and found out that while fans will put up with jeering from non-fans, it will not tolerate it from creators of Trek itself.