'Enterprise' beams up, but 'Star Trek' lives on
 

From The News Tribune:

'Enterprise' beams up, but 'Star Trek' lives on

By DAVE MASON, Ventura County Star
Friday, April 15th, 2005 01:20 PM (PDT)


HOLLYWOOD (SH) - "Enterprise" will beam off the small screen May 13 with a finale about the start of the Federation. But "Star Trek" will still be around the galaxy, with plans underway for a new movie and possibly another TV series.

"Enterprise" executive producer Manny Coto, who won praise this season from fans previously disappointed with the "Trek" prequel "Enterprise," said he has a proposal for another "Star Trek" series. He said he plans to wait a while and then pitch his idea to Paramount Pictures. For now, he's preparing to join the Fox real-time drama "24" as a producer.

"I'm not going to pitch it here," Coto said at the crowded "Enterprise" wrap party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the site of the first Oscars.

But Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, co-producers and writers for "Enterprise," praised Coto's vision for another "Trek" in the 39-year-old franchise.

Each "Trek" series reflects its time, and the next series, whatever it is, will represent its time period, said the Reeves-Stevens, a married couple known for their "Star Trek" books.

"There was a '60s mentality to the original series, With 'The Next Generation," they were doing the '80s. 'Deep Space Nine' was about the cocooning of the '90s," Garfield Reeves-Stevens said.

Judith Reeves-Stevens picked it up from there: "'Voyager' was about the desire to go home. This one ('Enterprise') was about family, how 'Star Trek' came to be."

John Billingsley, who played alien Dr. Phlox, said he wants "Star Trek" to return only if a new series results from an imaginative idea, not just because Paramount wants to make more money.

Other actors and producers described the last day of filming as bittersweet, but Billingsley said he found it to be merry. He said he went into this season determined to savor every moment because he expected UPN to cancel the series.

"We had food carts from different people. Everyone dropped by the set," he said. "Scott Bakula (who plays Capt. Jonathan Archer) gave an inspiring speech."

The day certainly was bittersweet for crew members who had been together since "The Next Generation." This fall will be the first time since 1987 that no new "Star Trek" episode will air. The sets at Paramount's Stages 8 and 9, large enough to house a starship all these years, have been taken down and folded up.

Executive producer Rick Berman, who co-created "Enterprise" with Brannon Braga, said work is beginning on a story for the next "Star Trek" movie. He said it's too early to discuss the details.

Berman said the decline in ratings, which led to the cancellation of "Enterprise," began gradually with "Deep Space Nine."

"We've reached the point with 624 hours of 'Star Trek,' 700 if you count the original series, that perhaps it's time to take a rest," he said.
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