When Star Trek: Enterprise embarked on its fourth season last night, it was without three key members of the show's writing staff.

Co-executive producer Chris Black, consulting producer David Goodman and co-producer Phyllis Strong have exited the series, according to the credits for "Storm Front, Part I" posted at Psi Phi. It is not yet known why they left the Enterprise writing team.

As previously reported, four new scribes have boarded the NX-01 to replace the departing staff members. They include consulting producer Alan Brennert, an Emmy Award-winning producer whose credits include LA Law and Odyssey 5, and new supervising producer Ken LaZebnik, who comes to the series by way of Providence and Touched by an Angel. Novelists Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens have also joined the series as story editors, and will make their writing debut with episode seven, "The Forge".

Several members of the production team have received promotions over the summer hiatus. The most high-profile elevation is that of Manny Coto, who was bumped up from co-executive producer to executive producer. Executive story editor Andre Bormanis is now credited as co-producer, while fellow co-producer Stephen Welke is now credited in the opening titles rather than in the end credits.

Chris Black joined Enterprise midway through the show's first season as a supervising producer, making his writing debut with "Rogue Planet". He was promoted to co-executive producer for the second and third seasons, writing or co-writing episodes such as the Hugo-nominated "Carbon Creek", "First Flight" and "Countdown".

Nebula and Emmmy Award-nominated Futurama scribe David A. Goodman came on board the NX-01 in the early days of season two. As consulting producer he penned "Judgment", "North Star" and co-wrote "The Forgotten", among other episodes.

Phyllis Strong had been the longest-serving of the three departing scribes, having joined Star Trek during Voyager's seventh season. Together with her former writing partner Mike Sussman, she contributed episodes such as "Body and Soul" and "Author, Author". During her Enterprise stint, Strong wrote or co-wrote numerous episodes, including "Strange New World" and "Regeneration".

Like any television series, Enterprise has seen many writers come and go during its three-year run. These include season one recruits Antoinette Stella, Tim Finch, Stephen Beck, André and Maria Jacquemetton and Fred Dekker. Former X-Files scribe John Shiban came along for the ride during season two, while Brent V. Friedman and Jonathan Fernandez joined and left the series over the course of season three.

The Enterprise writing staff currently consists of three executive producers, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Coto, supervising producer LaZebnik, producer Sussman, consulting producer Brennert, executive story editor Bormanis and story editors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

The original on-screen credits listing can be found here at Psi Phi.

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!