Two stars of Star Trek: Enterprise held a panel at the ST-SF convention in San Francisco last weekend. Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating covered a lot of ground, discussing some of the ups and downs of the series, their hopes to appear in new Star Trek, and the future of their podcast.
Finale was a “misstep”… wanted more Trip/T’Pol and Section 31 for season 5
After four seasons, Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled, ending 17 years of original Star Trek programming (and four series) that had started with The Next Generation in 1987. Executive producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman decided to turn the finale (“These Are The Voyages”) into a what they called a “love letter to Star Trek” by bringing in Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis to reprise their Next Generation roles, framing the story. This decision proved controversial with fans, and both actors agreed it wasn’t a proper finale for the series. Dominic Keating talked specifically about how a recent rewatch made him feel:
“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. 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 and to our cast. I understand that Rick and Brannon 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.”
That being said, both agreed they had fun working with Frakes, especially in the scenes when he was playing Chef in the galley.
Connor Trinneer and Jonathan Frakes in “These Are The Voyagers” (Paramount)
Had the series continued, both actors had some thoughts on where they would have liked to have gone with their characters:
Trinneer: “I would have been interested to see what kind of relationship that Trip and T’Pol would 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.”
Keating: “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.”
Connor Trinneer at ST-SF 2024 (Photo: TrekMovie)
Ready for more Star Trek… any Star Trek
There were a couple of funny moments when the idea of returning to Star Trek came up. First was this exchange with moderator Ryan Husk…
Husk: I don’t know how aware you are of the new Star Trek shows going on…
Keating: We are aware of them. We are legacy, you know.
Husk: So the question is, they come knocking on your door or texting your…
[simultaneously cutting him off] Trinneer: Yes! / Keating: Yes! [laughing]
Husk: Would you be willing to not reprise your roles but play a different role?
[simultaneously cutting him off again] Trinneer: Yep, yep, yep. / Keating: Absolutely, keep talking… This is so easy.
Later a fan returned to the subject with a specific idea…
Fan: My question is a follow up… I’ve always thought that the best way to continue an animated series. If Paramount came calling…
[simultaneously cutting him off] Trineer: Yes. / Keating: Yes. [laughing]
Fan: Where would you like to see the stories go?
Trineer: I don’t care. I just want that Paramount check.
Keating: Probably in space, but I don’t really mind.
Trineer: It could be broken in the shop the entire time.
Keating: Animation is fun to do, you can show up in your shorts and tee shirt. Ask the Lower Decks people.
Connor Trinneer as Charles “Trip” Tucker and Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed in Star Trek: Enterprise (Paramount)
That time Bill Gates came to the set
When asked about funny or strange things that happened on set, Connor recalled a specific visit.
“Early on in season 1, I was taking a nap in my trailer and a PA knocked on the door and said, ‘Bill Gates is here.’ I was sleeping and I was like, ‘Who?’ ‘Bill Gates, he wants to take a picture.’ And I was like, ‘Can I stay in my robe?’ And I did.”
Both agreed that the billionaire founder of Microsoft didn’t care what people were wearing: “He could not be happier.” So if you’ve ever seen the picture of Bill Gates on the set (below), now you know why Connor is in a robe.
Bill Gates visits the set of Star Trek: Enterprise
Future of their podcast
Two years ago, Trinneer and Keating began The Shuttlepod Show on YouTube, which mostly featured the pair interviewing various Star Trek guests. In December, Keating announced he was leaving the show and last month Trinneer did the same. The subject of the future of the podcast came up a couple of times during their panel and Keating gave some context as to what is going on:
“As you know The Shuttlepod Show—let’s address the elephant in the room—has had to go away in its current iteration for Hollywood reasons. But we are talking about bringing it back. I think we’ll be back within six to eight weeks or something like that. So please watch that space… It was just untenable in its current status, that’s as much as I can say. But I hope you can forgive that and come and support us again when we reemerge like a phoenix rising out of the ashes.”
Later on, Keating indicated that details on a return have to be worked out.
“This weekend is going to be the first weekend we’re talking seriously with some people. Whether or not we come back? We’re not sure. [Connor injects: Wait and see] Yeah, wait and see. It would be sort of different. I’m not sure what we’ll call it right now. We might call it something different.”
Dominic Keating at ST-SF 2024 (Photo: TrekMovie)
More to come from ST-SF
Stay tuned for more from the Creation’s Trek Tour ST-SF convention, and check out our previous reports:
- Voyager’s Robert Picardo talks about returning in Prodigy season 2
- Melissa Navia talks Strange New Worlds season 3
- Tawny Newsome, Dawnn Lewis, and Eugene Cordero talk Lower Decks
TATV is truly the worst finale hands down. It’s so awful beyond belief and just so tone death. I have never seen the last episode of TOS and I know it’s bad but it’s still probably an Emmy nominee compared to TATV
For me Terra Prime will always be the finale. That was a solid way to end the show.
While I truly loved Enterprise and was sad to see it go that finale was horrendous. I remember how excited I was to see Frakes and Sirtis back but wondered what did I watch when it was over.
Demons/Terra Prime is where it should’ve ended. That was truly the last great Trek we got until Picard season 3.
It felt incomplete and overstuffed/rushed, but the problem wasn’t the TNG element; this was, at the time, potentially a finale to all Star Trek, not just ENT (for which “Terra Prime” was a fitting finale).
I would very much like to see an ENT continuation in the spirit of PICARD. However, I am uninterested in animation. While I am not against all animation in general, Star Trek is about well-acted — not voiced — science fiction.
So would I. I don’t have an interest to revive any of the old shows except Enterprise because there is still so many great stories they can still tell. But I think animation is only the most realistic way to do it today. But sure I prefer live action as well if they could bring it back.
The biggest storyline we could of course see is the Romulan Wars which I would love.
TATV suggests the NX-01 crew stood down before that happened but a) don’t care and b) since the entire ep is technically Riker’s holodeck program we could chalk it up to being just that and not what actually took place.
Animation can be done with a more adult and respectful tone, it doesn’t have all be like Rick and Morty.
Agreed. And Terra Prime had a much better premise too. Even if you took Riker and Troi and the whole holodeck thing in TATV, Terra Prime is still the better story and way to show the beginnings of alliances that would define the Federation.
Exactly. That’s where it should’ve ended. I understand they wanted an episode that sort of capped off the end of that era but it was just done so badly.
The Final Frontier begins in this hall. Let’s explore it together.
Perfect last line of ther show.
“I have never seen the last episode of TOS and I know it’s bad”
If you’ve never seen it, then you don’t “know it’s bad.” And for the record, it’s fun.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the last TOS ep was the one where the woman took over Kirk’s body because women could not be starship Captains. IF that was the ep then I saw it and I stand by the OP that it sucks and sent the exact opposite message TOS is supposed to send.
Also, side note, it may have been the final ep of TOS but it wasn’t a series finale and wasn’t built as such so I wouldn’t really compare it to any other Trek shows that did actually have final episodes.
See Amirami is my best friend here and he also says it sucks lol.
LOL! :)
You’re my best friend too!!!
Everyone I know tells me it’s bad.
That’s enough for me. 😉
Even much worse was the Voyager final. That was as bad as bad gets, IMHO.
Since I hated the Voyager finale as well then all I need to know lol.
Haha…oops!
If you think about it, the Enterprise finale was a fittingly perfect metaphor that represented the entire four year cluster-F of that failed series. Just my personal opinion – YMMV.
Great stories though — these actors obviously gave it their all, and the visits to the set reminiscing is really cool!
YMMV indeed. Enterprise is my favorite show after DS9 (and I’m not even sure about that) and before TNG… It’s the show I have most re watched in the last few years. But I won’t re-watch the finale. I saw that once or twice and it’s enough.
I absolutely love Enterprise and I was one of the people who stopped watching it early on. I really kick myself today for not continuing but the prequel idea never fully grabbed me I guess.
But it’s probably the show I rewatch the most these days after DS9.
But I can certainly understand why others still may hate it today. I think Enterprise has thankfully gotten a second look by people like me and of course been discovered by an entire new generation of fans who didn’t have so much baggage like so many older fans at the time.
But nearly everyone seems to be agreement on its finale lol. On its own I don’t think it’s even that bad anymore but it should’ve never been the finale either.
Funny I also stopped watching it during its initial run. Couldn’t stand the decon gel scenes and having T’Pol being little more than eye candy and acting like a moody teen who thinks too highly of herself. Then during the pandemic I rewatched it and my views changed. I still despise the decon scenes but I find that Jolene Blalock is in fact very good in her role. Still don’t like how they portrayed the Vulcans but I have come to appreciate her rendition of the role. The lady is a better actress than many give her credit for. And of course I like Archer as Captain, an opinion not many share…
The irony is I always loved both Archer and T’Pol even when I was meh on the show itself. I thought T’Pol was great from the start but I know she was divisive at the time. Today that is another big turnaround. T’Pol seems very loved today. I know Jolene Blalock has retired from acting but I would still love to see her on something like SNW someday. I know it will never happen but a fanboy can dream lol.
I didn’t watch the show past the first season back in 2002. I didn’t hate it, but it just wasn’t for me either. And frankly I was becoming a little Star Trek out lol. So I didn’t watch it again until 2013 because thanks to the Kelvin movies I was starting to get back into Star Trek more and I literally had 3 seasons of a show I never watched. Once I did I fell in love with it. I’m not even sure I would have loved it if I kept watching it when it was airing. It just more proof how perspectives change with time.
But I did watch the finale back in 2005, the only episode I watched outside of first season being the last one. I watched it thinking I made the right call quitting the show lol.
I don’t think T’Pol herself was the issue so much as it was the show portrayed the Vulcans as such advisories to humanity which was so foreign and different from what we had seen from everything that came before. If anything in TOS Spock was the one that had to prove himself to humans (which I hated) rather than the other way around.
Oh yeah agree with that. They definitely retcon the Vulcans which never bothered me personally but I understand why it would others.
But considering all the crazy retcons we are now getting these days thanks to all these prequels it’s all become a shrug at this point lol.
Why I generally hate prequels but hey.
Oh man by today’s standards Enterprise was like a lesson in how to adhere to canon.
Lol tell me about it. We were all so cynical back then. Now I wish we could go back to that time today knowing what would come later. I’m pretty sure if Khan somehow showed up on Enterprise he wouldn’t be British nor would we be running into Aliens type Gorn.
We did run into the Borg two hundred years early but they actually came up with a sufficient story around it. The new stuff just present everything as one big shrug.
Totally I remember when I first saw the trailer for the Borg ep and I jumped up and down Mother F’ing left and right I was so pissed. But the story made total sense and even gave credence to why the Borg were already on their way in the TNG S2 ep.
These canon breaks make no sense whatsoever except to say, ehhh whatever.
Yep I remember shaking my head hearing the freaking Borg was going to be on Enterprise. Everything about it sounded insulting.
But when I finally watched it I was actually pretty blown away lol. It was done extremely well and is always first viewing on my Borg watch list! 🙂
I wish I could give this an upvote!
Same! 👍
Thank you!
I remember watching Enterprise thinking how much worse can they mess up canon?
And then we got JJ verse and Discovery. 🙄👎
Enterprise is the gold standard today compared to those.
I remember the hot second when Quentin Tarantino was thinking of making a Trek movie. He mentioned that he had no idea what the idea of the new universe was and that as far as he was concerned Pine was Shatner (NO!!!!!) and that he didn’t get it. JJ turned around and said I don’t get it either. Just make whatever movie you want. JJ LITERALLY said he doesn’t get his own movies and NO, DO NOT just make whatever movie you want. We are the fans that saved Star Trek and we will cause an uproar if you screw it up!
At least s4 revealed the vulcan high command was under the influence of the Romulans, which explained their aggressive behaviour and interference in earth space exploration.
IMO ENT had a rough start in its first 2 seasons trying to find its place but honestly all the Berman era shows did. Season 3 and esp 4 were great and the show left too soon. I wish it had been a syndicated show and not on the doomed from the start UPN.
“Hey I looked up “YMMV” in the German Dictionary and there’s no “YMMV” in here…… “
YMMV = “your mileage may vary”
Yep. Sweeps week stunt: absolutely a good time. Finale? GTFO.
So what happened with their podcast, why did they stop making it?
That’s what I want to know, I was an avid watcher of it, I loved them interviewing all the old Trek stars, especially the ones like Walter Koenig.
I don’t understand what their Hollywood issues are that affect a YouTube show.
One guy’s opinion, these fellas are done and they know it. ENT will age well because of what came after it, imo. When I quit DSC I watched ENT again, and found it pretty good in comparison. And the end of ENT was disgraceful. Cheers.
Never say never. Can’t count the number of times that was said about Shatner
I wish “Hollywood Protocol” wasn’t so difficult to enter as a writer: there are many, such as myself, who wrote or who were crafting stories for their 5th Season, and wouldn’t you know it: ENT was a network show, NOT a direct to syndication show like TNG, DS9 and VGR were, so this series faced network restrictions that, in the opinion of some, was a major cause of the show being cancelled just when it was REALLY getting good.
I had a major story already Writer’s Guild Registered so it could be properly shopped/pitched to Manny Coto & Co., and even re-wrote it twice after – and it’s still there. So, with that in mind, how many other stories were (and/or are) READY to be looked at?
Many of us read that article in a Fall 2004 ‘Trek magazine that Coto wanted to ask Paramount to renew the Spec script submission policy Michael Piller had for the previous series’ if a 5th Season was green-lit. Well, we writers didn’t wait – we just started writing as soon as we read that. (“Who, after all, would cancel a series that was hitting its stride?”) It was sad we’d all find out soon enough, to our dismay.
I won’t complain about it, but wow – Hollywood’s issues often come back to bite them in the a— in more ways than one!
Is anyone at CBS/Paramount actually looking at ENT as a potential revival-story for their studio? would it make them money they apparently so desperately need?
One wonders what they’re thinking, sometimes. But then, didn’t that happen with TOS, too, in its second and third seasons, to a degree?
i recently watched the whole show again and was really amazed at how well it was done. the xindi-arc is so much better than i remembered. okay, sometimes scott bacula’s overacting bothered me a bit, but connor and dominic were always a fun team to watch. the terra-prime-arc in s4 could have been a strong theme for s5. it’s even more unfortunate today than it was in 2004 that the series didn’t live up to its potential. some of the scripts were remarkable – even if you could tell the series’ creators were exhausted – and it deserved a longer life.
i don’t think anyone at paramount is still thinking about ‘enterprise’ or what potential a possible revival might have, but it’s still nice that the actors never dropped their series and are still thinking about possibilities. and nice to read that shuttlepod is continuing. it was always great fun and the chemistry of the two guys always catched guests and audience. please, continue.
Same. I remember how much I hated the show in the beginning only to feel it got super awesome by the end. I have a girlfriend and she’s not a big Trekkie but Enterprise is her second favorite show after TNG. She loves it because the characters feel more down to Earth and she like the story isn’t too Federation focused (since there is no Federation lol).
Enterprise is just a really fun show. I was so biased against it at the time but today it’s one of the most Trek-y shows around, certainly when compared to some of the new stuff.
I really hope we see some of the characters again.
In comparison to the new prequels, Enterprise honoured canon (remember the outrage about the NX01) and was pretty darned good.
How have the current prequels not honoured canon? Canon has always been secondary to the story the writers are trying to tell. Before the internet and the obsession with what is and isn’t canon, shows didn’t even keep track of it. I’m sure a detailed rewatch of any previous Trek shown will throw up tons of inconsistencies with canon.
I suppose they are playing with fire with the Gorn, and having Burnham be Spock’s adopted sister from a ship with hush hush tech no one ever talks about… that stretches things. From what I’ve seen the major complaints have always been that the prequel shows look too good and the tech is too slick to pre-date TOS. But that’s been a thing since TMP and it never really bothers me.
I personally really liked TATV, it may have been better received as a mid-season filler episode rather than a series finale.
but i do like that last moment with t’pol and archer and the various enterprises passing on screen.
I’m just glad their podcast is coming back. It is one of my favorites!
I was a real fan of Enterprise, and the finale never really bothered me. The message I received was that these people and events we’ve been watching turned out to be so historically significant that future (dare I say “the next”) generations would study them. I’m pretty sure that was the creators’ intention, but for some reason the fans worked hard to be offended by the episode.
I loved Enterprise, and yes, while it was fun to see Riker and Troi at the end, it was pretty disappointing, to say the least.
Generations and Nemesis were more disrespectful and worse. So okay Picard tried to fix Data’s death. Kirk’s death is the worst in the franchise.
the original death scene for kirk was way worse so the reshoot was probably better for the film and the character.
For me, TATV is simply a badly done holonovel that takes place between scenes in TNG The Pegasus. I choose to believe that Trip’s death was added for holo-dramatic purposes and that he really lived to a ripe old age.