Posted in: Star Trek, TV | Tagged: Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, star trek, Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise Finale Was "Disrespectful" to Cast: Keating

Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer reflect on the Star Trek: Enterprise series finale and what a fifth season could've touched upon.

As much as some Star Trek fans can develop mixed feelings about the new Paramount canon, no one can hold a candle to what the cast of Enterprise had to endure in terms of backlash and legacy that made Paramount hit the pause on the franchise for near half a decade until J. J. Abrams 2009 soft reboot film into the Kelvin Universe. Enterprise was initially developed as a prequel series before The Original Series and founding of the Federation, but creative decisions from the inspirational theme "Faith of the Heart" by Russell Watson to revisionist reframing of narratives like trying to tie the Eugenics Wars and why the Klingons looked the way they originally did in the original Gene Roddenberry NBC series in 1966. When the ax fell on the series after season four, a bait-and-switch was applied, turning the entire experience of the NX-01 into a Holodeck simulation thanks to Jonathan Frakes William Riker of The Next Generation era in the Enterprise finale "These Are the Voyages." Cast members Connor Trinneer (Chief engineer Cmdr. Charles "Trip" Tucker III) and Dominic Keating (Chief of security Lt. Malcolm Reed) spoke at the ST-SF convention in San Francisco to reflect on the finale and what could have been if season five was a reality.

Why Keating was "Ticked" at the Star Trek: Enterprise Series Finale

"I just watched that episode on [Star Trek: The Cruise VII]. I had seen it in times past, and it has not bothered me. This time, I have to say it really bothered me… Particularly—and I love Jonathan and Marina—but to see them jauntily wafting around our last episode like nothing's going on, and it ticked me off," Keating said (via TrekMovie.com). "It didn't in the instance. I guess as an actor, I was like, 'We're done' so I was moving on to get another job. But when I look back now twenty years on, yeah it was disrespectful—I think to Scott [Bakula] and to our cast. I understand that Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga] were wrapping up a very long sojourn of an unparalleled TV accomplishment of 17 years on a variation of a theme. It is incredible. But I think it was a misstep. We should have had a standalone episode to end our series."

As UPN decided to cancel the series, the decision was made to kill off Trip a second and more definitively in a valiant effort to save the Enterprise rather than expand Trip and Vulcan science officer T'Pol's (Jolene Blalock) relationship. "I would have been interested to see what kind of relationship that Trip and T'Pol could have actually had. That would have been an interesting storyline. They were going to try once every seven years to have a baby, so that would have been interesting," Trinneer said. "That Section 31 stuff was quite fun, wasn't it? That would have been worth some exploration. I believe they're actually in Toronto now, exploring it without me. And you know, Malcolm was always good to be captain eventually. Good British captain, I would say," Keating added.

While Trinneer dashed fan hopes of some miraculous resurrection of Trip at Star Trek: The Cruise, that doesn't mean he and Keating are done with the franchise yet promptly saying, "Yes" on any opportunity, like an animated series continuation of Enterprise, guest starring role on Lower Decks, or live-action return as original characters. "I don't care. I just want that Paramount check," Trinneer said. "…Animation is fun to do; you can show up in your shorts and tee shirt. Ask the 'Lower Decks' people," Keating added. For more including an anecdote about former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates' visit to the Enterprise set and their future on The Shuttlepod Show podcast, you can check out the piece here.

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