Roddenberry Jr.: Star Trek Down, But Not Out !

[Solitary Poet]

Roddenberry Jr.: Star Trek Down, But Not Out !

Author: Michael Hinman
Date: 02-02-2005
Source: SyFy Portal

For the first time in 18 years, fans do not have a Star Trek series to look forward to.

UPN cancelled the fifth installment -- "Star Trek: Enterprise" -- Wednesday after just four years on the air. And with no other projects lined up with Star Trek in the title, there are some who think Star Trek might be forgotten.

But not Eugene W. Roddenberry, son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. He said that the news of "Enterprise's" cancellation affected him, despite the fact he's never been a part of the Star Trek crew. And now there's definitely a question on whether or not Star Trek will be the benchmark of science-fiction television.

"It's definitely not something that I take lightly," Roddenberry recently told SyFy Portal's Michael Hinman. "My immediate response is that you (Paramount) did it to yourselves, and it was a long time coming. But then I sit down and look within, and there's really an emptiness there for me, and an immediate fear. I can't imagine how the people who work on the show, who have been pouring their heart and soul into it for the last 18 years, are feeling right now."

Roddenberry said that for nearly 40 years, television shows have looked at Star Trek to how to be successful as a sci-fi series. But with no more new Star Trek in the works, that mantle could be handed to other shows -- including Sci-Fi Channel's Stargate series, or even "Battlestar Galactica."

The fault, he said, could lie with the powers that be at CBS, which virtually runs UPN. By coincidence, Roddenberry made a rare appearance on the Paramount lot the day before the cancellation was announced, and met with "Enterprise" executive producer Rick Berman. He said that even then he could tell that the show was in dire straits, describing the "Enterprise" co-creator as "sad and depressed."

"I was on the lot yesterday, and I spoke with literally everyone," he said. "The feeling there is that CBS doesn't know what they have with Star Trek. They don't know what it's about, they don't know what it is. I thought Paramount had enough issues on how important the fans are, now we have to start all over again."

Fans have approached Roddenberry over the years, asking why he isn't involved with the production aspect of Star Trek. But he said he has mixed emotions on what kind of involvement he would have in some kind of Star Trek production.

"I would personally loved to be involved, and would be flattered by it," Roddenberry said. "But I never believed in the fact that the king's son should become king simply because he's the king's son. If I were brought up and trained by my father to be the next guy who does Star Trek, then that would be one thing. But I wasn't."

Roddenberry said taking on such a task wouldn't be impossible, because success would depend on who he would surround himself with. To get a great show on the air, he said he would surround himself with nothing but the best in a Borg-like environment.

"I know a lot of great people who could make it a good show," Roddenberry said. "I know a lot of art directors, a lot of co-producers, a lot of writers, people who really care about this show, who really know what it is. People who could sit down and say, 'OK, look, we need another bad guy. I don't want them to be Klingon or Romulan.' We'd all work together, it would be a group effort."

While Roddenberry might not be involved with Star Trek itself, he is involved in the legacy established by his father. The cancellation of the series, and Star Trek's apparent lack of interest as far as Viacom suits go, could spell trouble for some of his projects, including his long-in-production documentary, "Trek Nation."

"You know that Paramount has had a lot of restructuring," Roddenberry said. "Every department is scared of losing their job. They could probably give a rat's ass about 'Trek Nation.' They could give me the finger and tell me to go to another distributor. Or maybe they will see the value in speaking to their audience, that 'Trek Nation' speaks to their audience, and they could come across as the good guys again."

Not having Star Trek on the air might create more of a demand for Star Trek-related projects like "Trek Nation," Roddenberry said, which will celebrate 40 years of Star Trek in 2006.
But is Star Trek over?

"I don't think this is a nail in the coffin, no way," Roddenberry said. "Star Trek will come back. There's no doubt. I don't know when, maybe five, 10 or 15 years, but it will come back.
"But right now it needs a break. I think I only say that because it has been sort of the same thing for 18 years. Maybe if they kept it fresh and exciting the whole time, it wouldn't need a break. I just can't imagine another spinoff series like 'Starfleet Academy' or something, where they would have the same thing, new characters, different uniforms, maybe a different ship, but still deal with the same *beep*."

Roddenberry said he will continue in his projects, and that Trek fandom will continue as well.
"They love what is Star Trek, not necessarily the show itself," he said. "The whole idea of Star Trek will remain. I watched a little ('Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'), very little of ('Star Trek: Voyager'), and very little of 'Enterprise,' but I still love Star Trek. It's the idea of a better tomorrow."

[Lord Borg]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I love this show!!!

[Sonic74205]

Yep i knew that would happen. Bye bye Star Trek...for now...

[Lt.Hood]

Man this is really sad I love enterprise and every other star trek series ever made.

Leave it to paramount and upn to screw the whole dam thing up.Paramount knew of the setbacks and still aired enterprise anyway and upn cancels it.Why not have the b**ls to finish what they have started until the end of season 7.

[Leo Wyatt]

U can blame the writers for the goodbye and what's his name mentioned above.

[Lt.Hood]

Im going to, everyone knew this was going to be flawed, but they run it anyway and they decide to cancel it because everyone seen what they did.They knew the job was dangerous when they took it, im saying finish what they started and continue enterprise.

[Leo Wyatt]

The writers suck! They were the reason Enterprise cancelled cause they didn't write good story lines.

[Lt.Hood]

I agree, the writers do suck, i hope they replace these dudes before they make another star trek series.