2001 saw the latest, and perhaps final, incarnation of the Star Trek spirit. After the regular end of "Voyager", the producers did not want another show put in the same timeframe explored since the inception of "The Next Generation", but even before the adventures of Captain Kirk himself. Answering to criticism of just repeating the same formula, they created a prequel show, which allowed some ties to established lore, but still gave them the opportunity to do something completely different. With a new crew, a fantastic captain and a new frontier spirit, the concept was a great one. Adding the final touch was the overall story arc, involving the so-called "temporal cold war", dealing with mysterious time-travellers from the future plotting to change the present.
After all, for a first season of any show, and also any Star Trek show, it was very enjoyable, quickly finding it's roots and delivering compelling Sci-Fi television.
Sadly, the harsh reality did not bless the show as one might have thought. To begin with, it started off pretty well ratings-wise, but soon ratings began to drop lower and lower. The show's promotion grew equally smaller and smaller, and by the end of the first year many people did not tune in any more. The reason for that, and for the continuing ratings decline in the following three years, has been, to put it mildly, subject to various discussions inside the so-called Star Tek fandom, with far too many people thinking they were the ones who had the perfect plan for Trek.
You know, Star trek has always been a beacon for intellectual television, in all of it's incarnations. But now, if you visit a Star Trek forum of your choice, you will mostly find angry, agressive and completely psychotic people spending their time insulting and threatening those with a different opinion. When you, as a person, reach a point, at which you wish death to the producers of Star Trek and to many of your fellow fans, where you take the time to describe their various mental illnesses as well as ways to punish them for it, you should really consider having your head checked. By the way, the people doing so still claim to be the "true" Star Trek fans who have the given right to decide what is right and wrong and so deserve to attack their "enemies" in a way not worthy of any human being, Trek-fan or not. They should really ask themselves if any of their beloved Star Trek-idols (not from Enterprise, of course!) would behave anywhere near like that, and if perhaps something else, perhaps they themselves, are the problem here.
When "The Next Generation" really lifted off in the early 1990's, it was the only genuine Sci-Fi show of it's calibre on TV at the time. Since not even the X-Files were on, every Sci-Fi-, Mystery- and Fantasy-Fan immediately watched it, and ratings went through the roof. As things go, it was not long after that when other fantastic shows started to show up on the screen, and made use of the newly created potential, which was a good thing through and through. Since nobody can watch everything and only a small part of the viewers of a particular show are really "fans", ratings went down continuously since the mid-end nineties. The show hit hardest by this phenomenon, as explained above, was "Enterprise". Now this development is generally explained to be caused by the inferior quality of the show "Enterprise", in a very questionable way, to say the least. To begin with, the same people who admired "The Next Generation", and claim to still do, now blame the producer of every Star Trek-show since Gene Roddenberry's death in 1991, Rick Berman, along with his partner, Brannon Braga, who wrote and co-wrote some of the most famous episodes of "The Next Generation" and also "Voyager" as well as the critically acclaimed "Star Trek - First Contact", for destroying the Star Trek universe, obviously forgetting who it was that excited them so many years ago and kept the Star Trek phenomenon alive in the first place. Those people keep saying that Trek has become too much routine, but whenever the creative staff changes something, the self-proclaimed keepers of Trek-lore accuse them of ignoring Gene Roddenberry's vision. What they really want, nobody knows, but it might just be conflict itself for the lack of other ways to blow off steam.
It seems to have become so easy just to criticise other people's efforts to make yourself feel better, while not offering any substancial or contstructive advice to correct the terrible situation you are criticising. It is just like in politics, and like something every bad politician does: You can not just improve yourself by discrediting others and being against everything else, you should have the courage to be for something and be able to say exatly what it is. If you can not do that, please do not tell other people what is right and wrong!
Anyway, if someone hates something so intensely, why would he torture himself and watch it, just so that he can continue to attack the people actually enjoying it? I find this completely psychotic and could not imagine doing it myself. Live and let live, what is wrong with that? Why get so passionate to ruin somebody else for watching a TV-show just to get off you agression?
But not only fans started to tear each other's throats, many important figures in the TV business felt compelled to chime in. Many of the former Trek producers and writers are now doing other shows, which are, for the most part, wonderful gems and great additions to the TV landscape and worth every minute of watching and owning, but why do certain ones of them chime into the negative chorus against Trek, which they wrote for, maintained and developed for years? How can you honestly write for something and, years later, claim that it was unralistic, stupid and uninteresting, and that just what you are doing now is oh so god? I for one can neither agree with that nor really take that kind of statement seriously. Even Jolene Blalock, member of Enterprise's cast, can not resist to occasionally tell the world how crappy she finds the show that has given her a job and made her popular. Why? She may not know herself!
Much of it also has to do with the current press. At some point it was decided that it is no longer pop-culture to like Trek, but to hate it instead. Since it was dicovered that the better headline comes from discrediting the show and the franchise as a whole than to support it, each and everybody started to take aim at the Trek-franchise and pulled the trigger. It seems to be man's nature to occasionally change his mind, but the process should still have some foundation in reality and reason, and in this case I doubt that very much. As said before, you can not make yours better by discrediting someone others, I wish more people would realize that.
To sum it up, Enteprise started it's run in 2001 and would go on for four seasons, after which it would be cancelled after 98 episodes. With bad publicity and overwhelming criticism against the very people who made the whole Star Trek-phenomenon so long-lasting and loved by the same people who then wanted to bring it down, this show still has one of the most, if not the most loyal group of fans, who know what the show stood and stands for, now and for the future. And they are not some geeky guys sleeping in their uniforms with the federation flag on their roof, uttering Klingon proverbs while in the grocery store or thinking they were captains of imaginary starships. They are normal, intelligent people who just enjoyed a fantastic TV-show with the certain Star Trek-spirit, and I could not for the life of me see what could be wrong with that. After 38 years, Star Trek will be put to rest in 2005, but not for good, believe me. Many people have understood what an entertaining show it was and is and the kind of message it sends, and no bad publicity in the world will change that.
Every Trekkie should embrace the show with an open mind and decide wether he likes it or not for himself. If that is too much to ask for some people, then they should just watch or rant about something else.
For all the others: Do not miss this wonderful show!
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