Musings From New York

Yes, Star Trek: Enterprise has got the axe! I always thought of it as a weak show, and watched it more out of a sense of loyalty to Star Trek, than any real interest. There were some (relatively) good episodes, but they were few and far between.

In my opinion, there were a number of factors that pulled the show down, such as:

• Action-oriented than "puzzle-solving" - One of the things I loved about the TNG & Voyager (I was never much of a DS9 fan) was their finding of "strange new worlds, new life & new civilizations". Enterprise spent an entire season fighting the Xindi and their latest season opener had them flung into the past fighting alien Nazis. Sounds like a First-Person-Shooter videogame than a Star Trek episode!
• The Temporal Cold War - C'mon, don't tell me that the Star Trek writing team couldn't come up with a better idea than shadowy figures from the future attempting to change the timeline in their favor. Stick to the proven formula, people!
• Very, very American cast - The cast/crew of TNG, DS9 & Voyager had veried human races, as well as various species (Klingon, Firengi, Betazoid, etc.). This gave a good mix to the show. Enterprise had an All-American human crew (with the exception of Malcom Reed, who was British), with a Vulcan, and a Denobulan. Wasn't Earth supposed to be united after First Contact? Where are the Africans, the South Americans? Heck, we Indians are pretty good engineers, and we lose out to Americans? I know the show's about an alternate reality people, but have a little variation to appeal to different demographics!

It's a pity that the show was cancelled. It was nearly 20 years between the cancellation of TOS, and TNG ... and, it'll be the first time since TNG's debut in 1987 that there hasn't been a current Star Trek show. Oh, the franchise will live on through comics, toys, and fiction ... maybe even a videogame. But there won't be any more TNG movies ... unless they figure out a way to ressurect Data! I don't think DS9 or Voyager will be movie-fied.

Hopefully, we won't have to wait another 20 years for the next show!