Trek Bosses Defend Franchise

[Gservo]

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, the executive producers of UPN's Enterprise and de facto keepers of the Star Trek flame, found themselves on the defensive in a discussion with reporters about the franchise's health. Signs of trouble include the recent box-office failure of the 10th Star Trek movie, Nemesis; the declining ratings of Enterprise; and the recent lawsuit by game publisher Activision against Viacom, claiming that the company and Paramount have allowed the franchise to "stagnate." The future of Trek has been the subject of magazine stories in TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly, among others.

So the two producers found themselves defending their work and the new direction Enterprise is slated to take as it begins its third season in the fall. "I don't think the franchise is in trouble," Berman told reporters at UPN's fall press preview in Hollywood. He added, "Viacom and Paramount have been very supportive of what we do, both in terms of the television shows that we produce and the movies that we produce."

As for Enterprise, which is taking a bold new direction, Leslie Moonves—chairman and chief executive of UPN's parent, CBS—denied to reporters that the company was close to a drastic change such as taking it off the air and coming back later with an entirely new Trek series. "I don't think we were close to it," he said. "Everything is talked about. And obviously, we looked at all permutations. And as [UPN president] Dawn [Ostroff] said, we looked at our research, we talked to the producers, we talked to the studio, and we felt this was the best plan."

For his part, Braga told reporters, "I don't think creatively we were doing anything wrong. It can be debated from many different angles whether there are problems with the show. There are many people that love the show. We're very proud of the show, but we did feel that after a couple of seasons, it was time to do something differently." So why did viewers bail last year? "Don't know," Braga said matter-of-factly. "Don't know."

[^7_of_9]

/me watches Trek-Nation slowly slither down the tubes

[10:13]

/me wonders if Trek is about to take a long hiatus such as happened after TOS ... in some ways it might almost be good ...

[Meadmaker]

/me looks at DVD collection, and feels a bit happier....

[jema]

Said it before and I will say it again, the idiots need shooting. They create something like enterprise with a ton of potential, then let it go down the pan on the assumption that the views are all techy nerds, who want to listen to mindless techno babble, rather than a well thought out story line These people seem incapable of learning What strories lines come out as the classic episodes in all of trek history? Is is episodes like "City on the edge of forever" in TOS, some of the Klingon empire stories in TNG and the final DS9 episodes, all stuff that relied on story and not tech.

jema