Star Trek’s Civil War: Part 1
Star Trek’s Civil War: How Infighting, Corporate Rivalry, & Incompetence Is Destroying The Franchise — Part 1
Greetings friends! Matthew Kadish here: author, evil genius, and basement-dwelling Trekker, coming to you today with a combination essay/rant/anecdote about one of my favorite (and generally beloved by all) science fiction properties ever, that of Star Trek.
Besides Star Wars, Star Trek is probably one of the biggest and most recognizable sci-fi franchises on the planet. In many ways, it’s even bigger than Star Wars, simply due to its consistent presence within pop culture through its numerous TV properties, both in their first run, syndication, and now streaming form. But in addition to the numerous TV series, Star Trek has also had a big presence in the form of movies, books, and comic books, not to mention a few video games here and there.
Despite all the entertainment media Star Trek is present in, it also rivals Star Wars in terms of merchandising. Star Trek has everything from clothing, to toys, to even its own make-up line. Pretty much anything you can think of to sell, there is a Star Trek version of it.
I only point this out to speak to the popularity of the brand. Since the Original Series debuted in 1966, Star Trek has been a part of the pop culture lexicon, pioneering not only radical and innovative ideas about the future, but also enchanting audiences with its incredible storytelling. The adventures of the starship Enterprise, and all its various incarnations and off-shoots, has captivated science fiction fans for decades.
Until recently, anyways.
Alas, like so many other beloved franchises from the past, Hollywood has seen fit to take liberties with the loyalty of the fanbase and churn out reboots and spin-offs that seem not only designed to monetarily exploit the fandom of a particular property, but also try to ruin that fandom’s love of the property at the same time. I do not believe this is an intentional thing, since ruining the very franchise one is trying to cash in on seems a bit self-defeating. However, it appears to be the exact strategy that is playing out over and over again in front of our eyes.
Sony did it with Ghostbusters.
Disney is doing it with Star Wars.
And CBS is doing it with Star Trek.
In an effort to “reimagine” or “modernize” these beloved franchises, those in charge of these properties seem to have either ignored or forgotten what it is that fans love about them. And not only do they completely disregard these foundational elements that caused fans to fall in love with these properties to begin with, they also seem tone-deaf to the notion of re-including them going forward, essentially “doubling down” on their misguided strategy of dictating to the fans what they should want, rather than giving them what they DO want.
And though other properties have the potential to recover and actually begin catering to the fans once more, my personal belief is that Star Trek is the one in the most danger of going past the point of no return and not being able to come back. Already, you’ve seen a response to this in the form of FOX’s The Orville, which is essentially a re-branded version of The Next Generation-era Star Trek of the past. The Orville is a show that seeks to embody everything fans love about the Star Trek franchise, and it’s done this with great success.
Too much success, actually. Star Trek fans now actually prefer The Orville to the latest entry into the Star Trek universe, that of Star Trek Discovery. And in the height of irony, judging from the trailers for the second season of each series, we’re now at the point where Star Trek Discovery is trying to be more like The Orville, the series which was created in response to the departure from “classic Trek” by the actual Star Trek movies and TV shows. For reference, here are the trailers for each new season of the different shows:
As is plain to see, Star Trek Discovery is now trying to model the tone of The Orville, which is nothing more than a carbon copy of shows like The Next Generation and Voyager, only with a few more jokes thrown into the mix. It’s a development so mind-bogglingly backwards, one is tempted to think we’d entered the mirror universe at some point.
In order to understand the issue here and why Star Trek (in particular Star Trek Discovery) has gone so far afield of what fans want, we’re going to have to cover not only how we got here, but WHY we got here as well. What is to follow is an admittedly lengthy essay, one which is meant to dive deep into the “behind the scenes” “inside baseball” of the business behind Star Trek, and the missteps that have been made in that regard. In this multi-part report, I will be covering topics such as:
- The history of Star Trek.
- How Star Trek gained its popularity.
- How Star Trek was almost killed by studio mismanagement.
- How corporate politics created barriers to making new Star Trek shows and films.
- The drama behind the cinematic rebooting of Star Trek.
- The part merchandising has to play in the mismanagement of Star Trek.
- Behind-the-scenes info on the development of the various Star Trek properties.
- And more.
Make no mistake about this, my assertion is that CBS is dreadfully mismanaging this beloved franchise. But it is my hope that with enough knowledge and exposure concerning this issue, CBS may be able to change their handling of the property, particularly now that former CEO Les Moonves (probably the biggest villain in this story) is no longer with the company. There is a very narrow window for a course correction when it comes to Star Trek, and it is my intention to help educate others who love the series as much as I do about what is going on with it, so that we may hopefully be able to effect some positive change.
With that said, I hope you have set aside some time to read all the articles in this lengthy series, because I am about to drop a George R.R. Martin amount of text on you…
A (Not So) Brief History Of Star Trek
Full disclosure here: I used to work at Paramount Studios back in early 2001. No, I wasn’t in any important type of position at the studio, rather, I was a lowly Page (read: Intern) looking to break into the entertainment industry. And part of my duties as a Page was giving tours of the studio lot. In order to do this, I had to essentially memorize a rather lengthy manual detailing the history of the studio and all the historic things that happened there. Rather than see this as a chore, being the nerd that I am, I actually was fascinated when it came to learning all about Paramount and the various iconic TV shows and movies that were shot there.
Not the least of which was Star Trek.
Back in the early days of Hollywood, what is now the Paramount studio lot was actually two different studios that existed right next to each other. RKO owned the western studio and Paramount owned the eastern one. RKO was eventually bought out by Desilu Productions, which re-named the lot “Desilu Studios.” For those unfamiliar with Desilu, it was the biggest independent television production company in the United States during the 1960s and it was founded by the husband and wife team of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, the duo behind the classic hit I Love Lucy. (The name “Desilu” is simply a combo of their first names.)
Lucille Ball divorced Desi Arnaz in 1960 due to his philandering ways, at which point full control of Desilu Studios was handed over to her. This made Ball the first woman to head a major studio and one of the most powerful women in Hollywood at the time. During Ball’s tenure as the studio’s head, Desilu developed many popular television series, including Star Trek. In 1967, Ball sold Desilu to the Gulf+Western company, which had also just acquired Paramount Pictures. Gulf+Western combined Desilu and Paramount into a single company and the two studio lots were combined together to create what is now the Paramount Studio Lot located on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.
Though Desilu had been purchased in 1967, Star Trek had actually premiered on NBC the year prior. While Star Trek initially enjoyed high ratings, the average rating of the show at the end of its first season dropped to 52nd out of 94 programs. Due to this decline, NBC threatened to cancel the show before its second season. However, the show’s fan-base was strong enough to convince NBC to renew the show due to an unprecedented letter-writing campaign from passionate Trekkies. But despite renewing Star Trek for another season, NBC moved it from its primetime Thursday night slot to the dreaded “Friday night death slot,” while simultaneously slashing its budget rather substantially. In protest, the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry resigned as producer and reduced his direct involvement in Star Trek, which led to Fred Freiberger becoming producer for the show’s third and what was to be its final season.
By the time the original series was cancelled, Paramount Studios now owned the show, having acquired it from its purchase of Desilu. Paramount then licensed the broadcast syndication rights to help recoup the losses it suffered from production of the show’s final season. Reruns began in the fall of 1969 and by the late 1970s the series aired in over 150 domestic and 60 international markets. This massive syndication run helped Star Trek develop a cult following greater than its popularity during its original broadcasts. This popularity led to the creation of “Star Trek Conventions” which began popping up all over the world during the 1970s, not only feeding the show’s popularity, but solidifying the fanbase in the process. The success of this “failed” sci-fi show both confused and delighted the Paramount executives, who’d more than recouped their investment in the series by this time.
With the effortless popularity of the show, Paramount began to kick around the idea of reviving the franchise. Paramount released an animated version of the show, Star Trek: The Animated Series, which aired Saturday mornings on NBC. Though the animated version of Star Trek only lasted two seasons, it had breathed enough life into the franchise to bring Gene Roddenberry and Paramount back together to begin developing what would come to be known as “Star Trek: Phase II.”
Following the success of the science fiction movies like Star Wars, Paramount decided to adapt Star Trek: Phase II from a planned TV show into a movie, and Phase II is what eventually became the feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Though the film performed admirably at the box office, it got mixed reviews from critics and earned less than expected by Paramount. Despite its shortcomings, Paramount decided to move forward with a sequel, but this time without Roddenberry at the helm. Paramount blamed Roddenberry for the film’s poor performance, mostly due to Roddenberry’s constant demand for rewrites during production. The studio forced Roddenberry to relinquish creative control of the franchise, handing the reins over to television producer Harve Bennett.
Bennett, who thought the first Star Trek movie had been “really boring,” brought on writer and director Nicholas Meyer to help shepherd the sequel. Meyer was a novelist who understood storytelling, having written The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a rather subversive take on the mythos of Sherlock Holmes. Meyer had also directed the science fiction film Time After Time and had never seen a single episode of Star Trek.
Meyer moved the focus of the sequel away from Roddenberry’s more philosophical vision and directed it toward the characters of the series. Both he and Bennett felt the previous film had lacked a real villain and focused on crafting a true nemesis for the Enterprise crew based on the episode “Space Seed,” bringing the character of Khan Noonien Singh to the forefront. Meyers later bragged that his chief contribution to Star Trek II was a “healthy disrespect” for Roddenberry’s vision. Meyer wanted to make the characters more human and less of an allegory, focusing on actual interpersonal drama rather than sanctified concepts that Rodeenberry favored.
The efforts of Bennett and Meyer paid off, with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan being both a critical and commercial success, effectively reversing the fortunes of the franchise. Due to its lower production budget, the film actually made more net profit than the first movie, and due to its success Paramount would go on to produce six Star Trek feature films between 1979 and 1991.
By 1986, 20 years after the original Star Trek’s debut on NBC, the franchise’s continuing success and profitability earned it the reputation of being Paramount’s “crown jewel.” Star Trek was the most popular syndicated television program even 17 years after cancellation, and the Harve Bennett-produced Star Trek films were extremely profitable. However, as the salaries for the film’s actors began to balloon, Paramount decided that a new television series with unknown actors would be more profitable than paying the larger salaries of Shatner and Nimoy.
Once more, Paramount turned to creator Gene Roddenberry to develop the new TV series. Roddenberry initially declined to be involved but came on board as creator after being unhappy with early conceptual work. Roddenberry went on to develop what would be known as Star Trek: The Next Generation. Paramount executive Rick Berman was assigned to the series at Roddenberry’s request, along with a number of Star Trek veterans from the original series. Roddenberry went back to his original vision for Star Trek in which society would become so advanced that interpersonal conflict would no longer exist. Instead, the show focused more on exploring concepts, ideas, and ideals rather than the character-based drama that had rescued the franchise with Star Trek II.
Paramount chose to distribute The Next Generation as a first-run syndication show rather than a network show. This is important because this decision is where Paramount decided to take direct control of the Star Trek property in an effort to safeguard it by exercising full control over the I.P. (Intellectual Property). Instead of going through traditional networks like NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX, Paramount instead made individual deals with independent stations and network affiliates, thus making The Next Generation far more profitable than if they’d sold it directly to a network.
The Next Generation performed extremely well after it premiered. By the end of the first season, Paramount reportedly received $1 million for advertising per episode, more than the roughly $800,000 fee that networks typically paid for a one-hour show. By 1992, Paramount earned $90 million from advertising annually from first-run episodes of The Next Generation, with each 30-second commercial selling for $115,000 to $150,000. The show had a 40% return on investment for Paramount, with $30 million to $60 million in annual upfront net profit for first-run episodes and another $70 million for stripping rights for each of the about 100 episodes then available, so the studio did not need overseas sales to be successful.
In 1994 Paramount Communications Inc. was sold to Viacom. Viacom (which is an initialism of “Video & Audio Communications”) was a media conglomerate which began as CBS Films, Inc., eventually re-named CBS Enterprises Inc. CBS Enterprises was initially the television syndication division of CBS before it was spun off after government regulations prevented television networks from owning syndication companies, where it was renamed to Viacom. After becoming its own entity, the company then went on to acquire numerous media companies, which came to include Paramount. At the time, Paramount’s holdings included Paramount Pictures, Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks, and the Simon & Schuster publishing house, all of which were added to Viacom’s stable. Under Viacom, the Paramount Stations Group continued to build with more station acquisitions, eventually leading to Viacom’s acquisition of its former parent, the CBS network, in 1999.
Due to the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Paramount continued to expand the franchise with new television spin-offs and movies. These included Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, spanning from 1993 to 2005. A series of four feature films based on The Next Generation were also produced, starting with Star Trek Generations in 1994 and ending with Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002.
After the TV series Enterprise was cancelled in 2005, Paramount made the decision to stop production on Star Trek properties, siting “franchise fatigue” for the continuing decline in Star Trek’s popularity. This moratorium on Star Trek media would last until 2009 when Paramount tapped writer/director/producer J.J. Abrams to help reboot the franchise. This new series included 3 feature films — Star Trek, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond. A new Star Trek television series was also introduced in 2017, called Star Trek Discovery. Though, in keeping with its tradition of controlling the distribution of Star Trek, the new series was launched on the streaming service CBS All-Access as opposed to airing on broadcast television as all previous series had.
Now that we’re all up to date on our “Trek History,” let’s start looking at the business side of the phenomenon a bit more closely…
The Cash Cow That Is Star Trek
Star Trek could probably be considered one of the greatest “rags to riches” stories in Hollywood. What started as a cheap sci-fi show that aired in an era where sci-fi wasn’t popular eventually became such a phenomenon that it effectively became the tentpole that held Paramount up when other projects the studio invested in failed. In fact, Star Trek was commonly known to those within Paramount as “the franchise”, because forty-three years’ worth of the various TV series, movies, and merchandise had been so insanely profitable for the studio that no one could legitimately put a figure on it.
And though, thanks to the “creative accounting” that occurs within Hollywood, it’s impossible to really get a straight answer from Paramount regarding just how profitable Star Trek has been for them. Here are some numbers I was able to dig up (they may not be 100% accurate, but I’m sure they’re in the ballpark).
- Total worldwide box office for all Star Trek films is around $2.22 billion.
- Licensing, which includes clothing, fashion accessories, holiday ornaments, postage stamps, conventions, promotional tie-ins, music, toys, games, mobile apps, and action figures, account for around $300 million.
- The four prime-time series during the last 30 years generated $2.3 billion, and retail sales of DVDs, VHS, and streaming have exceeded $3.5 billion.
- Publishing accounts for a huge chunk of revenue, with 50 Star Trek titles published every year and about 500 during the last 3 decades. There are a myriad of comic books and magazines as well.
So that’s all well and good in terms of metrics by which to judge the profitability of the franchise. But beyond that, it really is more of a reflection of the fandom behind Star Trek than it is Paramount’s ability to monetize it, and that’s something I think is really important to touch on here.
One of my favorite past times is selling my own science fiction novels at the primary Star Trek Convention every year in Las Vegas. It really is a lot of fun to be around such a passionate fanbase who all come together — no matter their age, race, creed, or nationality — to celebrate something they all love: Star Trek. And in my time as a vendor at the Star Trek Convention, I’ve come to learn one thing about Star Trek fans…
They love to spend money.
Seriously, it was almost unbelievable to me when I did my first convention at just how much money Star Trek fans were willing to drop at the event. To give you an idea, the high-end passes for the convention alone go for around $1,000 and go down from there (and they always sell out). Factor in travel and lodging for the 5 days the convention is held over, and it’s not unreasonable to assume the average attendee will spend anywhere from $1,000 — $5,000 just to attend the event.
Autographs and pictures can range anywhere from $25-$300 a pop, depending on the actor one wants. And fans will often want to get pictures and autographs from more than one of their favorite Star Trek actors (even if they’ve gotten them in previous years). It’s not unreasonable to see attendees drop another $1,000 just on this alone.
The vendor’s room is also quite active during all 5 days. Clothing, memorabilia, art, books, movies, toys, and a host of other things are all sold there and all sell very well. I’ve spoken to people who will spend between $1,000-$2,000 over the course of the convention just in products from the vendor hall.
Then there’s food and beverage to consider. Over the course of 5 days for Vegas prices, that can easily be close to $1,000 per person as well, depending on how extravagant one gets.
And that doesn’t even include the “special” expenses Star Trek fans are willing to pay for. For instance, during the Reading Rainbow kickstarter put on by Next Generation actor Levar Burton, there was a $10,000 reward tier that guaranteed a private dinner with Burton and actor Brent Spiner which sold out. Another reward tier that ran for $3,750 a person also sold out. That’s how much some fans are willing to pay to interact with their favorite Star Trek actor.
All told, it is not unreasonable to assume that the cost for the average attendee for the annual Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas is around $5,000. (Again, this is fuzzy math, but I’d wager it’s in the ball park.)
The “average” Star Trek fan tends to be Caucasian males over the age of 25 — a demographic that has a great deal of disposable income. And though the appeal of Star Trek crosses over to a multitude of races and nationalities, the dominant segment of fandom has always been white men. Though, as time has gone on, more and more women have been entering the Star Trek fandom as well, but they still do not make up as large a portion of the fanbase as the men do.
This is simply to say that the demographics of the average Star Trek customer is typically white men over the age of 25, which also just happens to be the exact demographic most advertisers on television wish to appeal to due to their purchasing power. I guess it’s no coincidence why Star Trek was so successful as a TV series now, at least on the advertising front, eh?
Looking at Star Trek, both anecdotally and strictly by the numbers, it’s obvious this is a franchise that practically prints money — even when it has been shelved and no new Star Trek content is coming out. The “crown jewel” of Paramount studios keeps on truckin’ and earning that sweet, sweet franchise revenue.
But if that’s’ the case, then why did Star Trek ever decline? Why did Paramount take it off the air in 2005 and have it sit dormant for so long? And why have the newer movies struggled to emulate the glory of the original Star Trek films? Well, let’s dive back into the history of the franchise and figure out why Star Trek went from Paramount’s “golden goose” to its “bronze parakeet.”
Star Trek’s Golden Age
Star Trek’s Golden Age essentially runs from 1987 when The Next Generation premiered up to the end of Voyager in 2001. It was not only at this time when Paramount was making the most money off the property, but it was also the period where Star Trek’s fandom grew far beyond the nerdy “get-a-life” crowd that had sprung up around The Original Series.
The Next Generation got off to a rocky start on the creative end. Star Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, was once again the source of strife behind the scenes due to his insistence that the writers rigidly focus on situations and themes rather than characters. When Gene Roddenberry left during The Next Generation’s second season due to his declining health, a tectonic shift in the production occurred. Just like with the movies where writer/director Nicholas Meyer changed the focus to the characters of the show, the new executive producer and “showrunner” of the The Next Generation, Michael Piller, stepped in and abandoned Roddenberry’s mandate of “no interpersonal conflict” and shifted the focus of the show.
During the first two years of the series, the writing staff had been plagued with conflicts, with the staff continually changing as different writers came and went. This chaos behind the scenes lead to a great deal of in-fighting among the production team and also affected the actors of the show, many of whom were considering leaving. But within the third season, Piller had managed to form a strong writing team without the conflict that had plagued the previous two seasons’ writers room. Piller moved the direction of stories away from “alien of the week” or “situation of the week” to stories about the characters. He also implemented an open door policy for scripts that let anyone submit their story ideas and led to some of the most popular episodes of the series. By the time the third season of The Next Generation had concluded with The Best Of Both Worlds Part 1, the series had reached a turning point where fans, crew members, and the cast had actually become passionate about the show due to its dramatic increase in quality.
With The Next Generation flying high and being a huge hit for the studio, Paramount Pictures asked Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman to create a new Star Trek series In late 1991. Berman turned to Michael Piller to help create the spin-off. They developed what would eventually become Deep Space Nine, which premiered in 1993. The Next Generation writer Ira Steven Behr was promoted by Berman after the second season to the position of showrunner and held that role for the remainder of the series. Deep Space Nine eventually shifted toward serialized storytelling under Behr’s leadership, and its darker and more serious tone came to make it regarded as one of the most adult and sophisticated of the Star Trek series.
As Star Trek: The Next Generation ended, Paramount Pictures wanted to continue to have a second Star Trek TV series to accompany Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The studio also planned to start a new television network and wanted the new series to help launch what would eventually become UPN (United Paramount Network). Once more, they turned to executive producer Rick Berman to create another Star Trek show to replace The Next Generation.
Berman turned yet again to Michael Piller as well as Jeri Taylor, the showrunner of The Next Generation at that time. The three producers developed what would become Star Trek Voyager, which prompted Piller to leave his showrunner duties at Deep Space Nine in its second season so that he could oversee the new series. Initial work on Star Trek: Voyager began in 1993 when the seventh and final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the second season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were in production. Piller served as showrunner and head of the writing staff for Voyager’s first two seasons with Jeri Taylor serving as his second-in-command. Piller left Voyager after its second season, effectively retiring from the Star Trek franchise and handing the reins over to Taylor.
Taylor became head of the writing staff on Voyager until the end of the fourth season when she retired and handed over control of the show to Brannon Braga. Braga was a long-time Star Trek staple, having started as an intern on The Next Generation in 1990 and working his way up to writer and executive producer. He initially joined Voyager as a producer and then executive producer before taking over showrunning duties from Taylor and working on Voyager until the end of its sixth season when he handed showrunner duties over to co-executive producer Kenneth Biller. Biller oversaw the final season of Voyager while Braga developed what was to be Star Trek: Enterprise alongside Rick Berman. It should be noted that during this period, from 1994 to 2002, Rick Berman had also produced four Star Trek feature films with the cast of The Next Generation.
UPN And The Decline Of Star Trek
Now, the reason I don’t consider Star Trek: Enterprise to be part of the “golden age” of Star Trek is because the decline began to happen within a few years into Deep Space Nine’s run and Star Trek’s “golden age” had essentially collapsed by the time Voyager had ended. The mid-90s saw more independent TV stations join new networks due to the audience erosion created by the popularity of cable and the sheer amount of channels cable provided. As these independent stations got absorbed into the big networks an extremely crowded marketplace for syndicated TV programming was created due to the lack of independent stations to sell them to. This excess of programming pushed syndicated shows into less favorable time slots as the US television market expanded from four major networks to six with the introduction of UPN and The WB Network.
Paramount had wanted to have its own TV network as early as the 1950s, but it wasn’t until UPN launched on January 16, 1995 that this became a reality. UPN was launched as a joint-venture between Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, with Chris-Craft Industries owning the network and Paramount supplying the bulk of the programming. UPN’s first broadcast was the two-hour pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager, giving the fledgling network a great start, with the Star Trek series premier being watched by 21.3 million viewers. Unfortunately, Voyager would never reach those types of viewership numbers again, nor would any of the series debuting on UPN. Of the network’s early offerings, only Star Trek: Voyager, Moesha, and The Sentinel would last longer than one season. As a result of the lack of viewership, UPN operated at a loss and had lost $800 million by the year 2000.
Paramount had been acquired by Viacom in 1993 and in 1996 Paramount/Viacom purchased a 50% stake in UPN from Chris-Craft for approximately $160 million. In 1999, Viacom announced its $36 billion merger with the original CBS Corporation. Viacom then exercised a contractual clause that would force Chris-Craft industries to either buy out Viacom’s 50% stake of UPN or have Chris-Craft sell its ownership stake in the network to Viacom. This lead to Chris-Craft filing a lawsuit against Viacom to block the company’s merger with CBS, claiming that Viacom was violating a non-compete pact by acquiring a rival network — a lawsuit that Chris-Craft ultimately lost. Chris-Craft was eventually forced to sell its 50% stake in UPN to Viacom for $5 million, giving Viacom full control of the network.
Now, one would think that owning its own network would be a big boost for Paramount’s productions, but there was a hitch in the full take-over of UPN. Essentially, with Chris-Craft leaving the partnership, it took along with it its 10 owned and operated TV stations, meaning UPN lost their presence in the three biggest media markets, those being New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, with the stations carrying UPN there reverting to affiliate status.
This was then further complicated by Chris-Craft Industries being bought out by News Corp., which was the parent company of FOX. Essentially, News Corp. swept the rug out from underneath Viacom by buying out their contentious former partner and owning all the affiliate stations for UPN, putting the network’s future in jeopardy. Mel Karmazin, then the COO of Viacom, was putting a lot of effort into trying to get UPN to turn a profit, and with Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and Karmazin focused on buffering Viacom’s stock price, UPN being such a drain on profits was definitely an issue for them.
With the looming threat of losing its presence in the major media markets, UPN was hit with a number of new obstacles. Other than the World Wrestling Federation, the network had yet to have a hit program, and it’s bid to attempt to establish a major sports franchise with the NFL competitor XFL failed spectacularly. In addition, Hollywood studios were reluctant to provide programming for the network because of its dubious future. Due to the lack of programming, the pressure was put on Paramount Studios to step up their content offerings.
In desperate need of a major hit to help keep the network afloat, Paramount decided to return to the “crown jewel” of its media arsenal. Prior to the end of Star Trek: Voyager and following the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1999, Paramount approached Rick Berman and Brannon Braga about the production of a fifth Star Trek series, either to overlap with the final season of Voyager or to immediately follow it.
Voyager had been UPN’s flagship series, having launched the network with its two-hour premier. But despite making a huge splash initially, being on a new network hindered the show’s ratings. When Voyager premiered, Star Trek was a dominant force on television. But by the time Voyager ended its run, it was underperforming Deep Space Nine at that series’ lowest ratings.
When The Next Generation premiered in 1987, it was the only first-run syndicated show on television and it was able to flourish due to a serious lack of competition, particularly in prime-time slots. But over time, as the competitive environment on TV grew, it left less room for its offshoots of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Both Deep Space Nine and Voyager each had to contend with an oversaturated sci-fi market and far more prime-time shows on more networks. But despite that, Deep Space Nine spent most of its lifetime as the number one syndicated first-run show on television. Despite low viewership numbers, Deep Space Nine was able to average a 4.0 in the ratings in its final two years (as a general rule, syndicated shows need at least a 3.0 to be successful).
Voyager, on the other hand, was hampered by being confined to the UPN network. Whereas both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were sold independently by Paramount to individual stations, Voyager had only one network — that of UPN. And though Voyager remained one of UPN’s top shows during the course of its 7-year run, due to the limitations of UPN only being available in a little over 40% of the United States, it was never able to perform near the level of its predecessors.
Of course, Hollywood mentality did not take this into account when looking at Voyager’s ratings. To the studio heads at Paramount, it looked as though Voyager’s low ratings and lack of viewership had to do with audiences getting sick of Star Trek after what was essentially a 14-year run (this perception wasn’t helped by the underperformance of The Next Generation movies at the box office). Voyager was essentially a continuation of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and the executives at Paramount believed audiences were simply tired of “more of the same.” Declining interest in Star Trek was relegated to “franchise fatigue” as opposed to the fact that the UPN network was losing stations, not available in 60% of the country, and generally unpopular with the viewing audience who chose to watch competitors with better programming instead.
Thus, when Paramount tapped Berman and Braga for a new Star Trek series, it came with some major studio mandates. The new series had to be “fresh and different” from the previous Star Trek shows (particularly Voyager) to break out of the fatigue Paramount believed had set in with the franchise. It couldn’t have the same look or feel as the previous shows. But more than that, it also had to appeal to new viewers, because UPN was in desperate need of a broader viewership. Star Trek fans were no longer enough, the show now had to have “mass appeal.”
The result was Berman and Braga opting to go with an idea that combined the world of Star Trek: First Contact (one of the more successful The Next Generation movies which Braga also co-wrote) with shades of The Original Series. The idea was to create a prequel that capitalized on the hard-core fan’s nostalgia for the Kirk/Spock/McCoy era while making the series more rough-and-tumble and action oriented than The Next Generation offshoots (a concept that J.J. Abrams would later adopt in the cinematic reboot of the franchise). Though the studio heads initially had to be sold on the idea of a prequel, eventually they signed off on the concept and Enterprise was born.
Enterprise was crafted from the ground-up to meet all the requirements of the studio for the sake of the failing UPN network. The cast was given radically different uniforms to help differentiate them from the tried-and-true Next Generation style uniforms audiences had become familiar with. The “sex factor” was revved up to appeal to more young men (who comprised the bulk of UPN’s WWE audience), with female characters getting tighter outfits and seen more in skimpy clothing. Star Trek’s classic orchestral score was ditched in favor of a more modern rock theme with vocals in an attempt to appeal to younger viewers. But perhaps most controversial of all, the title “Star Trek” was left off the new series in order to avoid any stigma that might be attached to that name by general audiences. (A decision that was changed in season 3 by studio executives in a desperate attempt to reconnect with the Star Trek fanbase who had largely abandoned the show by that point.)
Enterprise premiered in September of 2001 as UPN’s new flagship series with a great amount of fanfare and 12.5 million viewers. However, the UPN audience, which was geared around urban-themed situation comedies, professional wrestling, and reality shows, failed to turn out for the show. The new viewers Enterprise was meant to appeal to never materialized, presumably due to UPN’s simple lack of coverage in major media markets and inconsistent air time scheduling for the show (they were constantly changing Enterprise’s time slot). By the end of its first season, Enterprise’s audience had shrunk by half.
Enterprise’s failure to bolster UPN caused the relationship between studio executives and the production crew to grow contentious as studio politics began rearing its ugly head. In 2002, Viacom shifted control of the UPN network to CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves in a move to consolidate its broadcast network operations. Under Moonves, a notorious hater of all things sci-fi, Enterprise’s fate was in question almost from the get-go, with executives at UPN actively conspiring to cancel the show long before it could hit its intended mark of 100 episodes necessary for syndication in an effort to make room for new programming that could potentially bail out the floundering network. Gone were the days when a studio would nurture a series and give it time to find its audience. Under Moonves, shows had to hit quick or hit the road. If it were not for the efforts of Garry Hart, Paramount’s president of television production (and noted fan of Star Trek), Enterprise would have never made it to a third season.
But the reprieve offered by Hart was short-lived. Enterprise ended its run after four seasons and was cancelled personally by Moonves in May of 2005 as soon as the series hit enough episodes for syndication. In 2006, the CBS Corporation merged UPN with the struggling WB Network to form a new network called The CW (“C” for CBS Corp. and “W” for Warner Brothers). CBS and Warner Brothers each owned half of the CW and agreed to contribute programs, assets, and combine their owned and operated TV stations, giving The CW network coverage in 48% of the country and 20 of the top 25 TV markets. The merger was the brainchild of Les Moonves, who viewed it as a better option than trying to keep the struggling UPN network alive. Unfortunately, by this time Star Trek had already become a casualty of the failing UPN network.
With the last Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, being a bonafide box office bomb grossing just over $40 million in theaters, Enterprise attracting no new viewers and pulling in pitiful ratings, as well as a new network CEO who was ambivalent toward sci-fi fare, the decision was made to “shelve” Star Trek, bringing a hugely successful 18 year run to an end with no plans to develop anything new.
What was once Paramount’s “crown jewel” had lost its luster.
To Be Continued…
In the next part of this series, we’ll look at Star Trek’s resurrection under the guidance of J.J. Abrams and his production company, Bad Robot. We’ll also dive into the real reason Star Trek was shelved for so long, as Viacom split into two feuding factions in a bitter and brutal fight over ownership of the franchise. Be sure to subscribe to me here on Medium to be alerted when the next part of this series is available! Thank you for reading, & be sure to leave a comment if you have any questions or insights you’d like to share.
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