Rick Berman felt that complaints about guest stars in the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise were not warranted, but his co-writer Brannon Braga said that he understood why the show's actors might have been upset.

In a new Dreamwatch interview posted at Sci Fi Pulse, the two executive producers said that they had worked all along to maintain continuity with previous Star Trek shows, something they tried to do as well in "These Are the Voyages..." Berman admitted, "There were some grumblings about the fact that we brought Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis in from another series" to reprise their roles as Riker and Troi. "The feeling was that if this was going to be the finale of Enterprise, then why bring characters in from another series? But I think when people see the episode and realize what we were able to truly do - which is pay the respect to our characters the way we have - I think it's going to receive a very positive response toward the Enterprise crew." Braga noted that those who have been critical of the episode were probably agitated already about it being the final installment of the series and that the unique concept might have been better appreciated under other circumstances.

The producers also felt that, while the fourth season of the series received a lot of attention for utilizing elements from the other Star Trek shows, it was an extension of what had been done all along. "We did always feel we were utilizing continuity from the original series," Braga said. "It wasn't until the fourth season when we - Rick, myself and Manny Coto - consciously decided to go deeper and stronger with that, but we never thought we weren't doing it. Should we have gone stronger with the continuity elements earlier...who knows if that would have increased the ratings?"

For his part, Berman insisted that Trek canon is not always as clear-cut as some viewers might suggest. "There have been a lot of fans that have discussed the fact that Brannon and I have ignored the continuity of Star Trek and ignored canon," he said. "That could not be farther from the truth. We live and breathe this continuity and we're dealing with every element to try to keep a continuity going, but at the same time to create an entertaining series on a weekly basis year after year...we have to bend the rules a little bit." He added that some of Star Trek's own storylines contradict themselves.

The interview appears in issue #130 of Dreamwatch. These excerpts appear at Sci Fi Pulse.

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