Not so long ago, and not so very far away, Michael Dorn, who played Lt. Worf, the Klingon weapons specialist in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," relaxed between scenes on the set of that series and explained his role in the science-fiction space drama.
"At the start of the show, we often encounter some new aliens," he said. "My first impulse is to blow them out of the sky."
But, he said, the captain and other cooler heads would prevail and try to work out differences with the newly encountered species. But reason and understanding only go so far.
"By the end of the hour," said Dorn, "they've pretty much come around to my way of thinking."
That wasn't the plotline of every episode, of course. But it was the basic setup for the "Next Generation" series -- the aggressiveness of Worf balanced by the measured understanding and determination of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, played by Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart.
Advertisem*nt
With Jonathan Frakes as Picard's second-in-command William T. Riker, and LeVar Burton as the blind Geordi LaForge, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was the second of four TV series derived from the classic "Star Trek" series of the '60s. Running from 1987 to 1994, it also was the most successful show in the franchise.
Now the current rendition of the "Star Trek" mythology, UPN's "Enterprise," is in trouble. And its producers may be coming around to Worf's way of thinking.
After encountering a ratings slump last season, the show's executives are implementing a number of changes in the show. Some of the retooling is complicated and may prompt some fans of the show and critical TV watchers to wonder whether the end of the series' run isn't imminent.
Such changes that signal pending doom are called jumping the shark in TV circles, after an episode toward the end of the run of "Happy Days" that featured just such a stunt.
Advertisem*nt
"Enterprise" fans have already seen some signs of pending change in the closing episodes of last season, and more are on the way. The captain is becoming more rigid, his Vulcan shipmate is becoming more relaxed, and this season the ship's crew will have to contend with a new alien force that comes in five flavors. And taking a page from the Worf guidebook, there will be more action shot through the series.
Brannon Braga, a creator and executive producer of "Enterprise," elaborated on the changes at a recent news conference in Hollywood.
"The show is going to be more action-packed, action-oriented, faster-paced, and we're doing some interesting things in that direction," said Braga. "We're not going to be seeing a lot of familiar faces next season because we want to take the ship into a region where there are a lot of dangerous new species. We're going to be focusing a lot of our attention on the brand-new race of aliens called the Xindi, who are comprised of five different, distinct species, two of which are computer generated creatures. And so we're not really planning to bring Klingon and Borg and those kind of things into the third season."
Advertisem*nt
Braga was joined at the conference by fellow creator-producer Rick Berman and three cast members, including Scott Bakula, who plays the captain in the series set in a time frame before the period depicted in the original "Star Trek."
"What happened for me somewhere probably in the middle of last season," said Bakula, "I started to feel that the story lines that we'd introduced in the first year and a half . . . . There were elements we kind of left dangling. . . . I kind of felt like we need to kind of address these things in a more earnest fashion or move on."
Bakula and the producers maintained there was no desperation behind the changes.
"It seemed to me that this has followed a natural progression with this franchise," said Bakula. "But it didn't come out of, 'Oh, my God, we've got to change the show.' "
Advertisem*nt
"We're always looking for new ideas to ramp up the show," said Berman. "It's no secret that our numbers [viewership] fell last year more than we expected them to. And, obviously, we, like any other responsible producers, wanted to do what we could to lure back some of our viewers."
What they've done is turn to a theme that may sound like an echo of 9/11. The setup for this season, established in the final show last season, is an attack on planet Earth staged by alien forces bent on coming back to wreak more destruction.
The producers found this theme, Berman said, in the two most successful "Star Trek" theatrical movies, the fourth and eighth. "They were both movies that dealt with impending destruction of the Earth, said Berman, "huge stakes that Enterprise and its crew had to go out and undo. So our thought was that, rather than just have a general mission of exploring space peacefully, that it might be interesting to do a portion or maybe even an entire season where we had a very specific and a very immediate and a very dangerous situation, in this case a terrible attack on Earth."
Advertisem*nt
Amid this crisis, there will be adjustments to the characters. Bakula's captain has already taken on a more stern approach as he begins to cope with this threat.
T'Pol, the show's Vulcan -- a species devoid of emotion -- will be loosened up. "She's going to start experimenting a little bit with her emotions," said Berman. "It's going to provide us, I think, with some fun and possibly some sexy stuff as well."
Jolene Blalock who plays T'Pol, assured fans that her character wouldn't abandon the characteristic Vulcan logic -- "Scott likes to call it sucking the air out of the room."
But romance may be in the offing. With Bakula's Capt. Jonathan Archer? Connor Trinneer, who plays Chief Engineer Charles Tucker III, smiled and raised his hand.
Amid all the coming changes, the producers expressed optimism about the prospects for the series. "Is the franchise waning?" asked Braga. "Probably somewhat. But it's been around a long time. Is it going away? I personally don't think so."
