Berman Seeks New Twists, Old Faces For 'Enterprise'

Star Trek Enterprise executive producer Rick Berman is hoping for a strong fourth season in the show's new Friday time slot, seeing the end of the Xindi arc, more about the alien Nazis from the end of the third season finale and perhaps a guest appearance by William Shatner if it can be worked around his new regular gig on The Practice.

Speaking to Ian Spelling in Starburst Magazine (via The Great Link), Berman said he had some doubts that Enterprise would live to see a fourth season, "because our ratings had been lower than in previous years", but felt confident from ongoing discussions with network executives that the series would return. Now that the show is out of competition with American Idol and Smallville, he said, the show might thrive on Fridays "like JAG and The X-Files" as regular fans follow it to the new time.

"The series kind of found its stride in terms of becoming edgier, in terms of bringing the characters out in ways that were all positive," Berman noted of the third season, saying that he agreed with criticisms of the first two years suggesting taht the show "was relatively soft." He felt that Archer needed to "become more decisive" while Tucker needed to stop being a good-old-boy. Next season, he added, the Tucker/T'Pol romance will continue.

Berman was pleased with the balance achieved between stand-alone episodes and arc storytelling, saying that Enterprise "had a lot more action and sharpness" and kept the momentum moving into next season "with a little bit of a kick-ass surprise" in the finale with the alien Nazis. "I was pleased that we managed to get it done on a very tight schedule and budget," he added. "You always end up having certain budgetary restraints by the end of a season and I was very encouraged that the fans seem to have liked the episode."

Shatner, the original series' legendary Captain Kirk, has long said that he had ideas for Enterprise, and Berman said that he had imminent plans "of sitting down with Bill and discussing some possible ways of his being involved...one of a number interesting bits that will be hopefully coming in the next little while of both actors and characters from earlier series who we're finding logical and entertaining ways of getting involved this season."

The original interview appears in Starburst Magazine's Star Trek Special, Issue #64, available in the UK. These excerpts are courtesy The Great Link.

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