Enterprise getting "Star Trek" added to its title

[Tabitha]

There has been a lot of speculation recently as to whether this would be happening or not, and it seems they have finally announced that as of today "Enterprise" will be now known as "Star Trek: Enterprise.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2003-09/23/12.30.tv

UPN confirmed to SCI FI Wire that its prequel series Enterprise will officially change its name to Star Trek: Enterprise with the Sept. 24 episode. "It's just a natural tie-in," a UPN source said in an interview. "Everyone calls it Star Trek anyway."



The network sent a memo to its affiliates on Sept. 23 informing them of the change. "Over the past few weeks our marketing and publicity efforts have been using Star Trek: Enterprise for promotional purposes, and by formally changing the show's title, we will be able to further capitalize on and form a stronger connection to the famous and highly successful Star Trek franchise," Diane Kuri, UPN's director of communications and operations and CBS/UPN affiliate relations, wrote in the memo.



The new name is one of several changes that UPN has made to the prequel show in an effort to boost ratings as Enterprise begins its third season.

I have a weird vibe about all this. When Enterprise was in development, we were all being told how radically different it would be to the previous three series, but lo and behold, once the episodes started hitting the airwaves we were all thinking how strangely familiar it all seemed.

I know they have also altered the title music (and speeded it up, I think), but only superficially - are we to expect a more traditional Trek theme to follow (like the end credits)?

Do you think this is an admission of defeat for those who were trying to make the series a departure from the usual Trek fare?

 

[Dave]

It's certainly an admission of the poor ratings, but I thought it was wrong not to call it 'Star Trek: Enterprise' in the first place. As they say, "Everyone calls it Star Trek anyway."

 

[Tabitha]

After having watched some episodes of the show, I would have agreed that dropping the "Star Trek" part seemed unwarranted - after all, it really wasn't that different from its predecessors at all, but while the show was in production, I was quite interested in the idea of taking the Trek 'brand', and moving it in a new direction.

And the phrase "everyone calls it trek anyway" suggests to me that not including the "Star Trek" part in the first place was a strange choice.

Also - considering how badly the "Star Trek" name has been doing recently (as per "Nemesis") would including those words really have any effect whatsoever on viewing figures?
It seems unlikely to me.

What's the phrase? Rearranging the place settings on the Titanic?

 

[ray gower]

To be honest I watched the whole of the first series and wondered what the fuss was about when it was announced. I thought it was Star Trek Enterprise.

So I think it was more of an attempt to correct an oversight than anything meaningful.

 

[Status]

To be honest I hadn't even noticed the oversight. I always thought of it that way anyway. I watched all of season 1 and lost intrest midway through season 2. I have no idea what they are doing with it now. You think I'm one of the reasons of the decline in popularity? (not me alone of course)

 

[Dave]

I would expect that the studio was involved in getting it added. The press and fan reactions to Enterprise, the poor ratings, they must have some effect, and to create some pressure on Berman and Braga. They should have anyway.

I've just been reading some comments from Berman about the negative comments, but I still think that he misses the point. It's still like he's saying "It wasn't me!"

I'm a Star Trek fan, I always have been, and as such I've invested a lot of time watching it. But even I am not just going to sit and watch any old rubbish. I don't want it to be taken off, but I don't want it to go stale either. What I want is for it to improve.

I think he doesn't realise how lucky he is to be running Star Trek. He can make a lot more mistakes before the studio will pull the plug on him. Look at Joss Weedon's Firefly, that show was much better than Enterprise Season 2, yet some of the episodes weren't even screened. Look at Farscape, Crusade, Odyssey 5...

This is coming from the studio saying "Add Star Trek to the title and all those trekkies who went away will come back." It's very patronising.

They said that Enterprise was going to be different. They dropped the 'Star Trek' to emphasise that point. Seasons 1 & 2 were not very different at all, though there were some individual episodes that were excellent. It seems ironic, that just as Season 3 looks like it may actually be very different, they are adding the 'Star Trek' back again.

 

[Tabitha]

Originally posted by Dave
It seems ironic, that just as Season 3 looks like it may actually be very different, they are adding the 'Star Trek' back again.

That is exactly how I feel about this move - very strange, considering the new eps really do seem to have something a little bit different going on (not sure whether it is a BIG improvement or not). It seems like such a bizarre time for one part of Enterprise to be moving back towards its roots, while another element is making some strides forward.

I just had another thought that might be relevant. Didn't paramount get sued recently by Activision for letting the Trek name deteriorate? Perhaps that might have something to do with the new inclusion of the traditional title.

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by Tabitha
Didn't Paramount get sued recently by Activision for letting the Trek name deteriorate? Perhaps that might have something to do with the new inclusion of the traditional title.

I don't think it's resolved yet, so you may be right, maybe the Lawyers told them to do it to cover themselves?

 

[Status]

But how would that save them adding it after the fact?

 

[Dave]

Well, I admit that Viacom would need to do more than just adding 'Star Trek' to 'Enterprise', but most reports on this lawsuit expect it to fail anyway.

Activision says Viacom has allowed the franchise to stagnate, thus undermining the license's value.

Viacom has struck back with a release saying that Star Trek continues to go strong and that Activision is wrong.

They would find that hard to defend without a current series actually called 'Star Trek' and with no plans for further movies.

 

[ray gower]

Which makes it corporate politics and nothing to do with the unwashed peasants at all, who in the main wouldn't notice.

Finally it makes sense!

 

[Dave]

I thought that it made sense, until I read this in 'Star Trek: Monthly' #110:

Rick Berman was asked the question directly, and his reply:

The show is not going to be called Star Trek: Enterprise. The show is still called Enterprise. I think the on-air promotion that UPN has been doing, and is still going to be doing, will try to emphasise to anyone who doesn't know it already that Enterprise is a Star Trek show. But that's really only going to be for UPN on air-promotions.

To me, this sounds like garbage. Seriously, if anyone knows what Star Trek is, but didn't yet realise that Enterprise was Star Trek, then they are hardly very likely to great Star Trek fans, and so telling them this fact is unlikely to make them watch it if they haven't already done so.

Very confused now.