The 85th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. 
The 85th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN.
The 86th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. Jeffrey Combs guest stars.
The 87th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. Jeffrey Combs guest stars.
Citing declining ratings, UPN and Paramount announce that Star Trek: Enterprise‘s current season – its fourth – will be its last. The last episode will be shot in March. At 97 episodes (the network’s press release says 98, as Paramount typically counts the two-hour series premiere in 2001 as two shows), Enterprise is the shortest Star Trek spinoff since the original Star Trek was cancelled after three seasons in the 1960s. David Stapf, President of Paramount Network Television, says in a statement, “All of us at Paramount warmly bid goodbye to Enterprise, and we all look forward to a new chapter of this enduring franchise in the future,” though the cancellation marks the first time since 1987 that there is been no new Star Trek in production for TV; at least one spinoff has been in production continuously for 18 years, resulting in 619 episodes (seven of them two-hour TV movies) and four spinoff-based feature films. Another movie, the eleventh in the franchise’s history, is reportedly moved to the back burner by Paramount.
The 88th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. Jeffrey Combs guest stars.
The 89th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. James Avery (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and Eric Pierpoint (Alien Nation) guest stars.
The 90th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. James Avery (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and Eric Pierpoint (Alien Nation) guest stars.
The 91st episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN.
The 92nd episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN.
The 93rd episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN.
The 94th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. Peter Weller (RoboCop, Odyssey 5) guest stars.
The 95th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. Peter Weller (RoboCop, Odyssey 5) guest stars.
The 96th episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis reprise their roles in a series finale that proves somewhat controversial within fandom. This is the final Star Trek production with Rick Berman as the executive producer.
James Doohan, the actor known to millions as the original Star Trek’s Chief Engineer Scott, dies at the age of 85. A veteran TV and radio actor who also led Canadian troops during D-Day in World War II, he tried out a number of accents for what was originally a rather non-specific engineer character for Star Trek’s first season before settling on a Scottish accent; even after the series ended, his involvement with Star Trek continued, and he provided nearly every male voice outside of the show’s regular characters in the short-lived animated Star Trek series before reprising the role of Scotty in the first seven Star Trek films and a fan-favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease last year, and made a farewell appearance at Star Trek convention a few months later, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well.
Television writer and producer Michael Piller, credited by many for the success of the revived Star Trek franchise (and co-creator of spinoff series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager) dies at the age of 57 after a prolonged battle with cancer. Piller, who had previously been a producer on Simon & Simon and the SF series Probe, joined Star Trek: The Next Generation as the head of the writing staff for the third season in 1990, replacing Maurice Hurley. Piller was generally credited with bringing a more friendly vibe to the show’s writing sessions and with finding new talent, such as fan writer Ronald D. Moore. Piller also wrote the popular two-part episode The Best Of Both Worlds and many others, and went on to create Deep Space Nine with Rick Berman and Voyager with Berman and fellow Next Generation veteran Jeri Taylor. Piller created the short-lived series Legend for UPN, starring Richard Dean Anderson (pre-SG-1) and John de Lancie, and later formed a production company with his son Shawn, where he developed the recent version of The Dead Zone for TV, as well as ABC Family Channel’s Wildfire, starring DS9 alumnus Nana Visitor.
Wanna-be fifth networks UPN and the WB both announce that they will go off the air in late 2006, after 11 years of struggling to make a dent against the “big four” networks. (Both networks signed on in January 1995, the WB premiering its programming one week before UPN went on the air with the premiere of Star Trek: Voyager; WB later found its own genre niche with the series adaptation of Joss Whedon’s Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and its popular spinoff, Angel, along with the “young Superman” prequel Smallville.) However, some of their programming may survive to be seen on a new joint venture between Warner Bros. and UPN’s parent network, CBS. This new network, The CW, will have programming and personnel held over from both defunct networks. The announcements do not mention how the merger will work out in broadcast markets where affiliate stations exist for both networks.
The internet-based fan film Star Trek: Phase II releases a short vignette episode, Center Seat.
Entertainment industry newspaper Daily Variety reports that J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost and Alias, and director/producer of Paramount’s heavily-promoted Mission: Impossible III, has signed a deal to produce and direct the eleventh Star Trek film, which has suddenly moved from “off the schedule” (following the cooling of the studio’s attitude toward the Trek franchise in the wake of the Star Trek: Enterprise cancellation) to a 2008 release date. Fellow Lost producers Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof are also signed on as producers of the still-untitled movie, which is said to focus on the first mission for a young James T. Kirk and Spock. Mission: Impossible III (and former Xena/Hercules) writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are on board as scriptwriters.
Benbella Books releases the non-fiction Star Trek essay anthology “Boarding The Enterprise”, edited by and featuring contributions from David Gerrold. Other contributors include Norman Spinrad, D.C. Fontana, Paul Levinson and Eric Greene. (theLogBook.com webmaster Earl Green aided with this book’s fact-checking and editing.)
The internet-based fan film Star Trek: Phase II releases its third full-length episode, To Serve All My Days. Walter Koenig guest stars as Chekov in a new script written by original Star Trek TV story editor D.C. Fontana.
The fan-made internet series Starship Farragut releases its first episode, following the crew of a sister ship of the Kirk-era Enterprise.
The fan-produced Star Trek production Star Trek: Intrepid releases its first episode. The UK-based production is shot almost entirely in front of green screen with computer-generated backgrounds added in post production.
The internet-based fan film Star Trek: Phase II releases its fifth full-length episode, World Enough And Time. George Takei guest stars in a story written and directed by Marc Scott Zicree. The episode is nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
Through his own website, Star Trek composer Dennis McCarthy releases his score from the computer game game Star Trek: Borg, co-composed with Kevin Kiner (Star Wars: Rebels).
IDW Publishing releases the collected trade paperback edition of its Star Trek: The Next Generation comic series “The Space Between”.
The fan-produced Star Trek production Star Trek: Intrepid releases a short vignette. The UK-based production is shot almost entirely in front of green screen with computer-generated backgrounds added in post production.
The fan-made internet series Starship Farragut releases its first episode, following the crew of a sister ship of the Kirk-era Enterprise.
The Star Trek fan production Of Gods And Men releases its first webisode to the internet. Directed by Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager’s Tuvok) and with a script by several writers associated with 1990s TV Star Trek, it also boasts appearances by Star Trek cast members Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Cirroc Lofton, Garrett Wang, and Russ himself, among others.
Oscar-winning Film and TV composer Leonard Rosenman dies at the age of 83. Known for such movie scores as East Of Eden and Rebel Without A Cause (both starring James Dean), he also created the music for pivotal SF movies such as Fantastic Voyage, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Ralph Bakshi’s animated rendition of Lord Of The Rings, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes. He also scored episodes of TV’s original Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, among a great many others, including National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau specials.
The Star Trek fan production Of Gods And Men releases its second webisode to the internet. Directed by Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager’s Tuvok) and with a script by several writers associated with 1990s TV Star Trek, it also boasts appearances by Star Trek cast members Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Cirroc Lofton, Garrett Wang, and Russ himself, among others.