Berman on ENT changes

the whole thing is here:
http://scifipulse.net/Trek%20Archive.../R_Berman.html

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One of the things, which has many fans talking, is the season finale. Berman and the powers that be have promised more changes for Enterprise. Which the producer is hoping will be for the better. Already the flags are waving with promises of a new mission for Enterprise, which will change some of the rules. Berman elaborated on this.
"It's not so much a cliffhanger as it is a tantalising taste of what next season will bring. Next season will deal with Enterprise being sent on a mission that may last many episodes, but it's not going to be a serialised arc. The stakes are the future of planet Earth. They're going to be sent to a part of space they've never been before; a part of space the Vulcans warn is extremely dangerous. It's kind of our quadrant's Bermuda Triangle.
"There are going to be significant changes. There will be changes in a number of our characters. I don't mean that we're changing characters. But we're going to see changes as we go into a very ominous section of space, and try to find an alien race that we have reason to believe is going to do everything they can to destroy Earth's population. Our knowledge of all this will come from elements of what we've been referring to as the Temporal Cold War.
"So we're going to set up a lot in the final episode. We'll be setting up this new mission and setting up the section of space we'll be going into. We'll be meeting some recurring characters we haven't met before. And we're going to be involved in a rather ominous task. That's the direction we're interested in taking the series in Season Three, and the finale will set that up in a very dramatic way."

So far it seems they're trying to copy what was done on DS9 : two rather Trek generic first seasons, then introduction of a new and dangerous ennemy.
Not that I could complain, I loved the way DS9's episodes were tied together. I just hope they do something a bit less gritty (especially in DS9's later seasons).

I guess reading the Enterprise Companion (when it's out some years from now) will be very instructive indeed.

Mmh... seems my first guess that they'd be sent into the future at the end of the cliffhanger was wrong.

While I don´t trust Berman and Brag any further than I could throw them, I like ENT very, very much. For all it´s shortcomings, I think it has far more self-consistency than many a Trek product or spinoff... that coming from a TOS fan as myself is saying a lot !!

So, as long as the writing and the acting continue to improve... more power to ENT !

What I have grown to dislike about Enterprise is the way the Trek universe seems to be constantly "shrinking". The show makes me wonder how there would be anything left to explore for Kirk and Co. or even more so the 24th century Federation.
Having a 'Bermuda Triangle' to set some stories in might at least lessen this problem.

OTOH the part about "significant changes for the characters" does sound rather ominous., i.e. it makes me wonder if they are just gonna mess with the characters in an effort to make them "more interesting" or if they are realy going to develop the crew.

Everything he says sound all right to me. And every other Trek spinoff with the exception of VOY has hit its stride in its third season, so hopefully that pattern will resurface/continue.

This only makes me more eager to see that episode...

The idea fragments presented are intriguing enough. Whether the new direction saves the show will depend on implementation.

I'd like to be able to say that I'm confident the creative team will give us an interesting and competently written show that makes this new direction exciting. But I'm not. At the present time, all I can say is that I'll give it a look. If they catch my attention in the season ending cliffhanger, it's likely I'll be back for season three. But if they don't, it's likely that I'll kick Enterprise to the curb and take my chances with Trek withdrawal.

But wait - there's more!
Namely, this, from darkhorizons:

"Sci-Fi Wire talked with executive producer Rick Berman recently, providing more details on the changes in store next season, most notably new cast members - "For the first time on a Star Trek series, we're going to be dealing with a mission to save Earth. We'll be dealing with a different group of aliens, (and) we're going to be dealing with some new non-Starfleet people coming on the ship to add a little muscle for the potentially violent situations our crew will be coming up against. One of our characters is going to lose someone back on Earth during this devastating blow. There's going to be a major change to T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), based on whether or not she'll join the crew in going into a Bermuda Triangle-like region of space". "

So...they're gonna have some grunts on board, sounds like. Any ideas on what they're doing with T'Pol?

Maybe we should have a contest or something, see who guesses right on all these clues...

Hey, maybe T'Pol will at last be recalled by the Vulcan command... or she will suddenly be revealed to be part of some alien conspiracy (hey, would be a surprise, wouldn't it ?).

I agree we should start the contest. Mmm... mission to save Earth ? Hey, some say the movies look like expanded episodes, now they're using a series to cram a movie-like plot into :D

Funny, I seem to recall at least one instance where the Earth was saved during a Star Trek series. Best of Both Worlds, part II, of course.

I will say that some of my favorite Trek episodes occurred during the arc driven era of Deep Space 9. I'm also a big fan of B5, and as other fans can confirm, that show was *heavily* arc driven.

So, adding arcs seems to me like a step in the right direction.

Most definitely !!

Braga will have to eat his statement about "continuity prostitutes" I mentioned in the other thread, even if he gets to add a little spice of his own to it.

There´s nothing like a well written arc to get viewers back the following week ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted by C5
Hey, maybe T'Pol will at last be recalled by the Vulcan command... or she will suddenly be revealed to be part of some alien conspiracy.

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It could be that she really was supposed to be a Council spy all along, but she decides to rebel against them, and side with the humans. Or who knows what?

-- Daniel

Come on this was a lame duck and ill concieved idea. A prequel TV series? And that far back?
Berman and Braga told George Takai a series that takes place in the past would never work so no Captain Sulu Adventures........
Then 3 months later we have Enterprise.
The cast of characters are plain terrible and ill concieved. The show was obviously thrown together and they hoped that Bakula and tight Vulcan outfits would have us tuning in every week.
I cringe when I see Vulcans lie and openly like Romulans.
We had a great character in Captain Benjimin Sisko and he was African American to boot!
Then we have Travis Mayeweather, the Token Black Guy from Not Another Lame Star Trek Series.
Why did DS9 Work and Enterprise did not?
Take a look at whom created Deep Space Nine. Rick Berman & MICHEAL PILLER! Top that off you have Robert Hewett Wolfe and many of the old TNG writers on the show. You have a hit when Bermen leaves active duty on DS9 to work on the lesser Voyager series. What made DS9 work was Pillar and Wolfe among many other fine writers on the series.
Now you have Berman and Braga who can barely write writting most of the episodes and Enterprise getting worse from an already bad idea. They have no idea where to take the series their big Villian was a Time Travelling Villian, they had no idea whom it was? He said this in an Interview proudly. And this Saliban that could give any era an issue they did not design well enough. Trouncing on Established Episodes of TOS & TNG? They wonder why the show is dropping in the ratings?
I have yet to see one reason that it had to take place before the Federation and Star Fleet. Every story I have seen could have been a POST Dominion War.
Now they are drastically going to change their idea like it is oh wow easy that should fix out problem for a lame duck series? Enterprise is a failure and proves itself every week. The problem with all this is two names Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

Gene Roddenberry is spinning in his grave!

What I would do if I was rich.

Buy Star Trek from Paramount.
Ask Majel et al. to come back and make it a dream once more.
Denounce Anti-prise.
Have the powers that be at Paramount go on teh air with a formal apology to all Trek fans everywhere.
Sue B&B for implying that I am an idiot.

New Professional Flaw : B&B intolerance.

The player must spend 1 courage point to resist the urge to bash Enterprise and Berman and Braga anytime the conversation offers a remote opportunity to do it.