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Time for Berman to call it a day and hang up his employment at Paramount/Star Trek

    I really believe it is time for Rick Berman to either resign from heading up Star Trek at Paramount or be fired.  With the failure and recent cancellation of Enterprise and the dismal failure of Insurrection and Nemesis, his employment at Paramount should be over.

    Rick Berman's career has seen better days.  With Roddenberry putting his faith in Berman, The Next Generation Television Show and the following movies Generations and First Contact shone brightly in a Sci-Fi depraved world.

    I would start to chronicles of his failure at the helm of Star Trek Series Deep Space Nine.  The show had it moments but many fans have voiced their opinion that this was their least favorite show, but you couldn't not watch it because after all it was Star Trek.  This mentality lasted through most of Star Trek Voyager.

    Slowly but surely, Trek viewership dwindled at home and at the box office.  Insurrection was not a total failure but it did not capture even the same domestic gross as Generations, and just barely topping Star Trek V. 

    The trend continued to follow when Voyager was winding down and a series entitled Enterprise was being introduced in it's early stages to the faithful Star Trek devotees on the Internet.  Immediate reaction to the proposed new series was a mixed bag at best.  Many people were questioning why go back and rewrite Trek history, while others saw it as the shake up the franchise desperately needed.  The only problem with the optimism was that it was all resting on the shoulders of one man, Rick Berman. 

    His failure to bring a 3rd fantastic Next Generation movie could be felt through the endless fan Internet pages devoted to Star Trek on the Internet.  Most Star Trek fans chalked it up to a stroke of bad luck, calling Insurrection the "Star Trek V" of the Next Generation movies.  It was plain to see that it was a little too early to have a "Star Trek V" already while this was only the Next Generation's third movie.

    The Autumn of 2001 came and went and we (the American public) witnessed a terrible, horrible, and unforgivable terrorist act.  One wondered, in a world with so much grief and "new" terrors, if it was possible to invest one's self into escapism science fiction, known as Star Trek. 

    The Star Trek series Enterprise premiered to higher then expected numbers and for a time was the talk of Hollywood.  Any series that dared to dream during such a tragic time was seen as a shining example of American's optimism.  As the months would pass and the ember's of the world trade center disaster faded the story would soon change. 

    Within months of finishing their freshman year, Enterprise ratings were tanking in comparison with their season start.  While the number were still acceptable they didn't live up Paramount's or UPN's hope. 

    Nemesis.  The word by itself was a great word.  A word that defines one's enemy.  A word that bring the feeling of an ancient battle cry that wants to be cried out.  Now, the word itself should be seeking damages for being used and attached to the box office tragedy called Star Trek Nemesis. 

    Nemesis was all that was terrible about the Star Trek franchise.  Berman, Unintelligent Story Telling, Low Budget, Star Driven... an awful finished product.  Patrick Stewart has almost as much responsibility for the failure for Star Trek, as does Rick Berman.  Stewart pushed his ideas in both Insurrection and Nemesis.  Getting creative production credits he stood in the way of the movies continuing until he had his way and forever changing his character of Jean Luc Picard from a man of diplomacy and intelligence, to a man of action that hopelessly and pathetically tries to capture the essence that is Kirk.  The final death toll of Nemesis for a lot of fans was the revision of Trek history.  Picard had a clone and that clone looked something like Picard if you discount the earlier Star Trek episodes such as Tapistry when a young Picard was highlighted and shown with plenty of hair.  Why the new clones didn't even have Picard's signature voice tones or british (uh... french?!?) accent.

    The actor that potrayed Schinzon was a pathetic excuse for a young Picard.  The only thing character did was show how awful Picard is as a man of irrational and thoughtless action.  Picard was better the  way he was, before he became a wannabe Sci-Fi western star, and before he was an arrogant little puke of a brat that was Schinzon.  Picard has always been better as a leader who acts when needed but not at every turn in the road.

    The dismal movie barely passed failing to repay it's estimated production costs when it hit theatres in November of 2002.  Star Trek fans decided to not see this runt of the litter again.  Instead, we all happily spent our money on a franchise that actually was being given the money and resources it needed to become the most successful movie trilogy of all time, The Lord of the Rings.

    Meanwhile, back on the TV screen, Enterprise's rating continue a slow downward slide towards TV's time to be cancelled status, less then 3 million viewers each week.  Despite being very ambitious with a no holds barred, the world is at stake attitude, Enterprise's 24 episode story arch third season wasn't pulling it weight.  For the first time the word cancellation was being rumored around the set and on the Internet.   Angel, a TV series on the WB which was produced and shot in the same studio but on different sets was cancelled despite it's stronger then 3 million viewers each week.  The cast and crew of Enterprise felt the blow and cold winds begin to blow, literally from the studio next door.

    The 4th season of Enterprise was slated to start with just 13 episodes.  An additional 9-11 could be renewed by way of a UPN option.  For the longest time their was no official word whether even this would occur.  The 13th episode past so one wondered if this would be the official last season for Enterprise. 

    Endless Trek debates and web pages devoted to a dying show would be too little to help save the dying show.  In the End the only thing that matters is viewership.

Agree or disagree? Feel free to drop me a line at stgenerations2003@yahoo.com