Star Trek's most controversial series has had it's fair share of behind-the-scenes drama.
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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
00:12for 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
00:35million per episode. After the first couple of seasons, the writers began trying to find
00:39creative ways to save the show. One theory for the show's declining viewership was the lack of
00:43Star Trek in the title. When the series began, it was simply titled Enterprise, a first for
00:48the franchise and also a strange and risky decision. Many on the production team believed
00:52that people weren't watching because they didn't know the show was about Star Trek,
00:56though you'd think the word Enterprise would give it away. The third episode of the show's
01:01third season, Extinction, was the first to use the new title, Star Trek Enterprise, and while
01:06seasons three and four were received better by fans, the name change sadly wasn't enough to
01:12save the show from cancellation. Number nine, Braga likes cheesy things. Enterprise was the
01:16first Star Trek show to have lyrics in its opening theme, unless you count Gene Roddenberry's secret
01:21lyrics for the original series theme, which he wrote in order to collect royalties from it. The
01:26Enterprise theme, Where My Heart Will Take Me, performed by Russell Watson and written by Diane
01:31Warren, has become a huge meme in the Star Trek community. A vocal segment of the fanbase,
01:35including Simon Pegg, absolutely hates it because of how starry-eyed, dramatic, and soft rock it is,
01:41but isn't that what Star Trek is all about? Besides the soft rock part. Still, many others
01:47will sing along any time they hear those opening lines. It's been a long road, getting from there
01:54to here. The song is undeniably cheesy. Brandon Braga, one of the show's creators, even agreed,
02:00saying in Star Trek Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 2, I think the song is cheesy, but I like cheesy
02:06things. We wanted a sentimental theme song with just the right lyrics that obliquely capture
02:10the spirit of human exploration. I feel the song nails it. Braga has also explained that,
02:15after all of the orchestral themes from past Trek, he wanted to do something different for
02:20Enterprise to give the show its own identity. The montage of the history of human invention
02:24is truly inspiring, and really tells what the show is supposed to be about.
02:28Humanity's first steps into our galaxy, but the song choice is a source for endless debate.
02:338. The Push for the Temporal Cold War
02:36The Temporal Cold War storyline from Enterprise portrayed a conflict between various factions
02:41from the future visiting the past to change history in their favour. A special feature
02:46for the release of Enterprise's first season included a segment called Star Trek Time Travel,
02:51Temporal Cold Wars and Beyond, in which Bran and Braga explain that the Temporal Cold War
02:55was added because the studio wanted to make the show more futuristic, given that all of
02:59their 22nd century tech was outdated compared to all the previous Star Trek shows. While the
03:04Temporal Cold War is really compelling and beloved by many fans, the reasoning is a bit ridiculous.
03:10The whole point of making Enterprise a prequel was to tell the story of humanity's earliest
03:14treks into space. Fans loved seeing older versions of classic tech, and the early interactions with
03:20the species we all know and love. By trying to make a prequel more futuristic than previous
03:24Trek shows, it was difficult for Enterprise to forge its own identity. Braga later stated in
03:29this special feature that the Temporal Cold War was a nifty idea, but probably would have worked
03:33better as a separate show. 7. Tripp's Old Name and Connor Trenere's Close Call
03:39Interestingly, Charles Tripp Tucker III was originally named Spike while the show was in
03:45early production. His name was changed because there was already a character named Spike on
03:49Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The description for Spike in the series' bible read,
03:52Chief Engineer, early thirties, a southerner who enjoys using his country persona to disarm people.
03:58He has an offbeat, often sarcastic sense of humour. In a special feature for the first season titled
04:03Launching Enterprise, Connor Trenere explained that he got the call from Rick Berman to inform
04:07him of the name change. He was worried that he was going to lose the role on the show because
04:11he recently took a couple of bottles of liquor home from a party on the lot. He was absolutely
04:16relieved to hear the news because he was sure he was going to be fired for ripping off some booze.
04:196. Braga Apologized for the Finale In the second season Blu-ray special feature,
04:24Star Trek Enterprise, In Conversation, The First Crew, Brandon Braga apologized to the cast of
04:29Enterprise for the last episode, These Are the Voyages. Nearly everyone involved in the finale
04:34has expressed regrets about how the series ended. Connor Trenere was especially upset with his
04:38character's unceremonious death. Braga also explained that the goal with the finale was
04:43to create a love letter to all of Trek, a move that he now believes was a narcissistic move on
04:48his and Rick Berman's part. The decision to focus on William Riker watching the NX-01 crew on the
04:52holodeck merely distracted from the real stars of the show and wasted time in an already highly
04:58rushed episode. 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, Andorians,
05:06Tellarites and humans was skipped over, though we did get to see the beginnings of these
05:10relationships throughout the series. These Are the Voyages is definitely one of the most hated
05:15finales of any television show. Given how many members of the crew have spoken out against it,
05:20it probably would have been better for the series to end without trying to wrap everything up.
05:24At least that way their characters could have been revisited in future Trek.
05:28Number 5. Brandon Braga's Favorite Episode. Star Trek Enterprise, In Conversation, The First Crew
05:33also included a part where Brandon Braga said that his favorite episode of the whole show
05:37was Dear Doctor. The episode was about Dr. Phlox and the Enterprise crew debating whether or not
05:42they should interfere in an alien society in order to cure a deadly disease spreading through their
05:47society. Eventually, this conflict led to Captain Archer considering the need for a prime directive
05:52to prevent Starfleet from interfering with pre-war cultures. Braga praised the episode
05:56for tackling an interesting and controversial challenge that only could have been dealt with
06:00on Enterprise. Linda Park then added that she appreciated episodes like Dear Doctor
06:05for creating metaphors about real-world issues using sci-fi. The episode Stigma was also praised
06:11by the cast shortly after for the same reason. Sci-fi allegories for real issues have existed
06:15in Trek since the original series, with episodes like Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. John
06:19Billingsley and others have said that that particular episode was a bit too on the nose
06:25with its message, but other Trek, including Enterprise, has taken the concept of sci-fi
06:29metaphors to a whole new level. Number four, 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
06:39we never got to see what the writers had planned for season five, especially one particular potential
06:44storyline. In a 2007 interview with Trek Movie, Judith and Garland Reece-Stevens pitched a story
06:50that would show the creation of the Borg Queen in season five. The story would be a continuation of
06:55the episode Regeneration, in which the time-travelling Borg from Star Trek First Contact were
07:00rediscovered in Earth's Arctic ice and escaped by assimilating a crew of researchers. Judith and
07:04Garland planned to have Alice Krieg return to play a Starfleet medical technician who would come into
07:09contact with the Borg. Krieg previously played the Borg Queen in First Contact, and the story would
07:14show how she came to become the voice of the Collective. The storyline would raise so many
07:18questions and grandfather paradoxes, it's hard to fathom. It's also complicated by the fact that the
07:22Borg Queen said she was a member of Species 125 in the Voyager episode Dark Frontier, and humans
07:28are designated Species 5618 by the Borg. Number three, why the Romulans didn't attack Earth. In
07:35the second season finale, The Expanse, the Xindi attacked Earth, which began a brilliant season-long
07:40story arc that profoundly related to the 9-11 terrorist attacks that happened only two years
07:44before the episode aired. Interestingly, before we knew more details about the invaders, some fans
07:49initially speculated that the Romulans were behind the attack. In issue 145 of the magazine
07:54Star Trek Communicator, Brandon Braga explained that using the Romulans as villains for a season-long
07:59story arc would have been a big mistake because they would have become old hat. This is strange
08:03to hear, considering that Earth's war with the Romulans was one of the defining parts of this
08:07era of Trek history. While it would have been nice to see more of humanity's first interactions with
08:12the Romulans, the episode Minefield at least gave us a good idea of what the writers had planned
08:17for the cancelled seasons. Number two, did the creators not want to make Enterprise? Another
08:22idea for why the show suffered poor viewership was franchise fatigue. This is the idea that there
08:27were simply too many Star Trek properties being released at one time. Rick Berman and Brandon
08:31Braga have been criticised for their belief that Star Trek needed some time before returning to TV,
08:35but perhaps they were right. Star Trek went through a huge break from television after Enterprise
08:40until 2017 with the release of Discovery, and since then we've had five other new shows,
08:45many of which have been incredibly successful. Maybe it was that long break that allowed Star
08:50Trek to become highly demanded again. We're not ready yet for another decade-long dark age of
08:54yearning for a new Trek show, but franchise fatigue is real, and it's important to take
08:58the franchise in multiple directions to avoid that fatigue from setting in. Modern Trek has
09:03enough variety to keep things fresh. Number one, the NX-01 refit design. If there's one thing to
09:09learn from this list, it's that missing out on Enterprise's fifth season was truly a tragedy.
09:14One huge change we would have gotten was a beautiful refit of the NX-01 Enterprise,
09:19made by the brilliant fictional starship designer Doug Drexler. Drexler revealed the design on his
09:24blog, Drexfiles, by simply adding another hull segment and extending the warped nacelle pylons
09:29below the saucer. Drexler was able to turn the NX-01 into a realistic template for the original
09:34series' constitution class. You can clearly see how Starfleet engineers could evolve from the flat
09:38NX-01 to a new, bulkier design that included more space. This design would then go on to inspire
09:44the creation of constitution class vessels in the 23rd century. This simple change was a highlight
09:49of 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
10:01this ship at the Fleet Museum, this refit is finally canon. Thank you so much to everyone
10:07for watching along, you are awesome and you are wonderful. Thank you so much to Marsha Fry,
10:12who originally wrote this article, you will catch them over on the website, make sure you check that
10:16out. You are wonderful, you are awesome, make sure that you look after yourselves until the
10:20next time I'm talking to you, make sure that you live long and prosper, you're great. Thanks!