I try to save people from watching junk on TV or at the movies, but I also like to alert you to stuff you might not want to miss. If you're a long suffering Star Trek fan (like I am), I think it might be time to tune in to Star Trek: Enterprise this upcoming season.

Yes, I realize the show has been weak... I'm constantly comparing it to Stargate SG-1 and it fails miserably in that light. However, there is reason for hope. For the first time since Star Trek: DS9 someone other than Brannon Braga is in charge of the writing staff.

Last season Manny Coto joined the staff as co-executive producer, and he was responsible for some of the better episodes of season three. This year Manny takes over the responsibility of running the writing room. Berman and Braga have some input to the storylines and have final approval/disapproval power, but that's it. Manny is generating the stories and determining the direction of the show.

The reason I'm recommending that you try a few episodes this upcoming season is that Manny is a die hard TOS fan and his goal for the show is to turn Enterprise into a true prequel to the Trek universe. The "Temporal Cold War" storyline that has gone nowhere for three years will be resolved within the first couple of episodes of the new season, and from there we're on to newer (and hopefully, better) things.

There will be an extended story centering around a Vulcan civil war involving Romulans, and yes they will incorporate and not violate the TOS "we've never seen Romulans" rule. Manny is also trying to bring William Shatner in for an appearance (they're negotiating the money aspect right now) and Brent Spiner will be making an appearance as well.

There are some new writers as well: Alan Brennert and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. The Reeves-Stevens duo wrote the Star Trek novel: "Federation" (which was a great Trek story, BTW).

Let's give Enterprise a chance and see what happens.

Source: TrekWeb.com