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"LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) After four seasons and 98 episodes, UPN's "Star Trek: Enterprise" comes to an end, with its series finale airing on Friday, May 13.

Word came to series creators and executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, along with fellow executive producer Manny Coto, at 6 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, Feb. 1, with cast and crew finding out Wednesday morning.

 

So, on this bright Tuesday morning around 11 a.m. on the Paramount lot in Hollywood, it's still business as usual (for about seven more hours). Series star Scott Bakula, who plays Enterprise Capt. Jonathan Archer, hops between soundstages during production of a multi-part episode that sends him and some of his crewmates into a parallel universe (a "Trek" trend begun in "Mirror, Mirror," an episode of the original 1960s series).

 

 

Sporting a temporary dark crewcut, Bakula is wearing the green, wraparound shirt that James T. Kirk (William Shatner) donned a few times, along with Kirk's tight, cropped pants and Cuban-heeled boots -- an outfit the whippet-lean Bakula rocks.

He takes a break to talk, sitting on the steps of the partially dismantled set of the bridge of the USS Defiant, which looks almost identical to the bridge of the starship Enterprise from the original "Trek" (for dedicated fans, it's the Defiant from the 1968 episode "The Tholian Web," not the USS Defiant from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine").

 

Although he won't know for sure until the next morning, Bakula seems resigned when asked about the show's future.

 

"We don't know," he says. "We're in a great state of limbo. It's February, and we don't know. We're just making good shows."

 

After critical praise for an extended 9/11-inspired storyline last season, "Enterprise" is ironically having what may be an even stronger year creatively, with many episodes echoing characters and stories from the original series.

 

Speaking on Wednesday, Berman says, "It's been an interesting day, as one might imagine. The final indicator is always the ratings. Although, from our point of view, and from the point of view of a lot of fans that we're in touch with, qualitatively, the show has been better than ever. But the numbers have continued to drop.

 

"The vibe that we got was it was not looking great. Yesterday, it was no longer a vibe."

 

Although Paramount did two "Trek" spin-offs -- "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine" -- in first-run syndication (and "Enterprise" has cleared in 90 percent of the country in rerun syndication), Berman doesn't feel the marketplace allows for the show to take that route.

 

"First-run has been relegated now mostly to shows with far lower budgets than we have," he says. "They're usually produced in Canada, and they're done on a budget less than half of what Paramount has been so generous to give us."

 

As to whether Sci Fi Channel or any other cable outlet might pick up the show (as happened with "Stargate SG-1"), Berman says, "The feeling that I've gotten -- and this is less than 24 hours old -- is that everyone seems to agree that it's time to give the franchise a rest.

 

"I've always believe that you can take too many trips to the well. I'm not saying that Paramount has taken too many trips to the well, but they've probably taken enough for the time being. Since 'Next Generation' began, we have produced 624 hours. It's been 18 years with 'Next Generation,' 'Deep Space Nine,' 'Voyager' and 'Enterprise,' and seven of them we had two shows on simultaneously.

 

"So it's all part of what some people like to think of as franchise fatigue."

 

While the official cancellation didn't come until Feb. 1, Berman and his cohorts made preparations just in case.

 

"Believe it or not," Berman says, "the finale is almost written. It was conceived based on the assumption that it would be the series finale. It's not like, all of a sudden, we have to scramble. It's a very special and unique episode, different than anything we've done before.

 

"It will be a fitting farewell to the franchise for however long it will be before it comes back, because God knows, they haven't seen the end of 'Star Trek.'"

 

Berman says there is early talk of reviving the movie franchise, which formerly employed the casts of original "Trek" and "The Next Generation."

 

"It's in a very early stage of development," he says, "but that would also go the route of characters that were not based on any TV show, like the previous movies have been."

 

Finale rumors include an appearance by Jonathan Frakes, who played Will Riker in the "Next Generation" series and movies (and directed "Star Trek: First Contact" and "Star Trek: Insurrection").

 

"Really?" Berman says. "I heard that too. I can't imagine where that came from. We're not giving away any surprises."

 

Last year about this time came the cancellation of "Enterprise's" soundstage neighbor, The WB's "Angel." Now, NBC's "Medical Investigation" has taken over its stages, and former "Star Trek: Voyager" star Roxanne Dawson recently directed an upcoming crossover episode with "Third Watch." So, TV life goes on.

 

Some may say that "Enterprise's" demise is part of an effort for UPN to redefine its identity.

 

"One thing UPN will not be," Berman says, "for the moment, is 22nd-century outer space. But time will tell. It's been 39 years since 'Star Trek' started, and we've been doing it for 18. It's bound to be resurrected at some point."

"

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