Star Trek's most controversial series has had it's fair share of behind-the-scenes drama.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00The early 2000s saw the return of Star Trek to its original roots. We're going back before Kirk,
00:06just after First Contact, sometime kind of west of Croydon. Star Trek Enterprise is interesting
00:11for so many reasons, including what went into making it happen. I'm Sean Ferrick for Trek
00:18Culture, and here are 10 amazing behind-the-scenes secrets of Star Trek Enterprise.
00:24Number 10. The reason for the title change. Enterprise received a lot of attention when
00:29the first episode, Broken Bow, aired on UPN, but the viewership slowly declined to around 2.5 million
00:35per episode. After the first couple of seasons, the writers began trying to find creative ways to
00:40save the show. One theory for the show's declining viewership was the lack of Star Trek in the title.
00:44When the series began, it was simply titled Enterprise, a first for the franchise and also
00:49a strange and risky decision. Many on the production team believed that people weren't watching because
00:54they didn't know the show was about Star Trek, though you'd think the word Enterprise would give
00:59it away. The third episode of the show's third season, Extinction, was the first to use the new
01:04title Star Trek Enterprise, and while seasons 3 and 4 were received better by fans, the name change sadly
01:11wasn't enough to save the show from cancellation. Number 9. Braga likes cheesy things. Enterprise was the
01:17first Star Trek show to have lyrics in its opening theme, unless you count Gene Roddenberry's secret lyrics
01:22for the original series theme, which he wrote in order to collect royalties from it.
01:26The Enterprise theme, Where My Heart Will Take Me, performed by Russell Watson and written
01:30by Diane Warren, has become a huge meme in the Star Trek community. A vocal segment of the
01:34fanbase, including Simon Pegg, absolutely hates it because of how starry-eyed, dramatic and
01:40soft rock it is, but isn't that what Star Trek is all about? Besides the soft rock part.
01:46Still, many others will sing along any time they hear those opening lines. It's been a long
01:51road, getting from there to here. The song is undeniably cheesy. Brandon Braga, one of the
01:59show's creators, even agreed, saying in Star Trek Magazine Volume 3 Issue 2, I think the
02:04song is cheesy, but I like cheesy things. We wanted a sentimental theme song with just the
02:09right lyrics that obliquely capture the spirit of human exploration. I feel the song nails it.
02:13Braga has also explained that, after all of the orchestral themes from past Trek, he wanted
02:18to do something different for Enterprise to give the show its own identity. The montage
02:23of the history of human invention is truly inspiring, and really tells what the show is supposed
02:27to be about. Humanity's first steps into our galaxy, but the song choice is a source
02:32for endless debate. Number 8. The Push for the Temporal Cold War
02:36The Temporal Cold War storyline from Enterprise portrayed a conflict between various factions from
02:41the future visiting the past to change history in their favour. As special features for the release
02:46of Enterprise's first season included a segment called Star Trek Time Travel, Temporal Cold
02:52Wars and Beyond, in which Brandon Braga explained that the Temporal Cold War was added because
02:56the studio wanted to make the show more futuristic, given that all of their 22nd century tech was
03:01outdated compared to all the previous Star Trek shows. While the Temporal Cold War is really
03:06compelling and beloved by many fans, the reasoning is a bit ridiculous. The whole point of making
03:11Enterprise a prequel was to tell the story of humanity's earliest treks into space. Fans loved seeing,
03:16seeing older versions of classic tech and the early interactions with the species we all
03:20know and love. By trying to make a prequel more futuristic than previous Trek shows, it
03:25was difficult for Enterprise to forge its own identity. Braga later stated in the special
03:29features that the Temporal Cold War was a nifty idea, but probably would have worked better
03:34as a separate show. Number 7. Trip's Old Name and Conor Trenier's Close Call
03:39Interestingly, Charles Trip Tucker III was originally named Spike while the show was in early production.
03:46His name was changed because there was already a character named Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
03:50The description for Spike in the series Bible read Chief Engineer, early 30s, a southerner who enjoys
03:55using his country persona to disarm people. He has an offbeat, often sarcastic sense of humour.
04:00In a special feature for the first season titled Launching Enterprise, Conor Trenier explained that he got
04:06the call from Rick Berman to inform him of the name change. He was worried that he was going
04:10to lose the role on the show because he recently took a couple of bottles of liquor home from a
04:14party on the lot. He was absolutely relieved to hear the news because he was sure he was going
04:18to be fired for ripping off some booze. Number 6. Braga Apologized For The Finale
04:22In the second season Blu-ray special feature, Star Trek Enterprise In Conversation The First Crew,
04:27Bran and Braga apologized to the cast of Enterprise for the last episode These Are The Voyages. Nearly
04:32everyone involved in the finale has expressed regrets about how the series ended. Conor Trenier was
04:37especially upset with his character's unceremonious death. Braga also explained that the goal with
04:42the finale was to create a love letter to all of Trek, a move that he now believes was a narcissistic
04:47move on his and Rick Berman's part. The decision to focus on William Riker watching the NX-01 crew on
04:52the holodeck merely distracted from the real stars of the show and wasted time in an already highly rushed
04:58episode. The creation of the Federation was originally planned to be a long story arc but
05:03with the coming cancellation a lot of the teamwork between the Vulcans and Dorians Tellarites and
05:07humans was skipped over, though we did get to see the beginnings of these relationships throughout the
05:11series. These Are The Voyages is definitely one of the most hated finales of any television show.
05:17Given how many members of the crew have spoken out against it, it probably would have been better for
05:22the series to end without trying to wrap everything up. At least that way their characters could have been
05:26revisited in future Trek. Number 5. Bran and Braga's favourite episode. Star Trek Enterprise In
05:32Conversation The First Crew also included a part where Bran and Braga said that his favourite episode
05:36of the whole show was Dear Doctor. The episode was about Doctor Phlox and the Enterprise crew debating
05:41whether or not they should interfere in an alien society in order to cure a deadly disease spreading
05:46through their society. Eventually this conflict led to Captain Archer considering the need for a prime
05:51directive to prevent Starfleet from interfering with pre-war cultures. Braga praised the episode for
05:56tackling an interesting and controversial challenge that only could have been dealt with on Enterprise.
06:01Linda Park then added that she appreciated episodes like Dear Doctor for creating metaphors about real
06:07world issues using sci-fi. The episode Stigma was also praised by the cast shortly after for the same
06:13reason. Sci-fi allegories for real issues have existed in Trek since the original series with episodes like
06:18Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. John Billingsley and others have said that that particular episode was a bit
06:24too on the nose with its message but other Trek including Enterprise has taken the concept of sci-fi
06:29metaphors to a whole new level. Number 4. The Borg Queen origin story. It's well known now that
06:35Enterprise was cancelled right when it was beginning to find its own identity. It's truly a shame that we
06:39never got to see what the writers had planned for season 5, especially one particular potential storyline.
06:45In a 2007 interview with Trek Movie, Judith and Garland Reece-Stevens pitched a story that would show the
06:50creation of the Borg Queen in season 5. The story would be a continuation of the episode Regeneration,
06:56in which the time travelling Borg from Star Trek First Contact were rediscovered in Earth's Arctic
07:01ice and escaped by simulating a crew of researchers. Judith and Garland planned to have Alice Krieg return
07:07to play a Starfleet medical technician who would come into contact with the Borg. Krieg previously played
07:11the Borg Queen in First Contact and the story would show how she came to become the voice of the collective.
07:16The storyline would raise so many questions and grandfather paradoxes it's hard to fathom.
07:21It's also complicated by the fact that the Borg Queen said she was a member of Species 125 in the
07:25Voyager episode Dark Frontier and humans are designated Species 5618 by the Borg.
07:31Number 3. Why the Romulans didn't attack Earth. In the second season finale, The Expanse,
07:37the Xindi attacked Earth, which began a brilliant season-long story arc that profoundly related to the
07:429-11 terrorist attacks that happened only two years before the episode aired. Interestingly,
07:47before we knew more details about the invaders, some fans initially speculated that the Romulans
07:51were behind the attack. In issue 145 of the magazine Star Trek Communicator, Brandon Braga explained that
07:57using the Romulans as villains for a season-long story arc would have been a big mistake because they
08:02would have become old hat. This is strange to hear considering that Earth's war with the Romulans was
08:06one of the defining parts of this era of Trek history. While it would have been nice to see more of
08:10humanity's first interactions with the Romulans, the episode Minefield at least gave us a good idea
08:15of what the writers had planned for the cancelled seasons. Number 2. Did the creators not want to
08:21make Enterprise? Another idea for why the show suffered poor viewership was franchise fatigue.
08:26This is the idea that there were simply too many Star Trek properties being released at one time.
08:30Rick Berman and Brandon Braga have been criticised for their belief that Star Trek needed some time
08:34before returning to CV, but perhaps they were right. Star Trek went through a huge break from
08:38television after Enterprise until 2017 with the release of Discovery, and since then we've had
08:44five other new shows, many of which have been incredibly successful. Maybe it was that long
08:49break that allowed Star Trek to become highly demanded again. We're not ready yet for another
08:53decade-long dark age of yearning for a new Trek show, but franchise fatigue is real and it's important
08:58to take the franchise in multiple directions to avoid that fatigue from setting in. Modern Trek has
09:03enough variety to keep things fresh. Number 1. The NX-01 refit design. If there's one thing to learn from
09:10this list, it's that missing out on Enterprise's fifth season was truly a tragedy. One huge change
09:15we would have gotten was a beautiful refit of the NX-01 Enterprise made by the brilliant fictional
09:20Starship designer, Doug Drexler. Drexler revealed that the design on his blog, Drex Files, by simply adding
09:26another hull segment and extending the warp missile pylons below the saucer, Drexler was able to turn the NX-01 into a
09:32realistic template for the original series Constitution class. You can clearly see how Starfleet engineers
09:37could evolve from the flat NX-01 to a new, bulkier design that included more space. This design would
09:43then go on to inspire the creation of Constitution class vessels in the 23rd century. This simple change
09:48was a highlight of Star Trek Enterprise's ability to show the progression of humanity and, thanks to Star Trek
09:54Picard's second and third seasons, the inclusion of the Eagle Moss model of this ship and including this ship
10:01at the Fleet Museum, this refit is finally canon. Thank you so much to everyone for watching along,
10:07you are awesome and you are wonderful. Thank you so much to Marcia Frye who originally wrote this
10:13article, you will catch them over on the website, make sure you check that out. You are wonderful,
10:18you are awesome, make sure that you look after yourselves until the next time I'm talking to you,
10:21make sure that you live long and prosper, you are great. Thanks.