I like Star Trek. Can you tell? Since 1987 when the Next Generation debuted, the modern Star Trek spinoffs have been great adventures where no one has gone before. But after Deep Space Nine left the airwaves, something about Voyager was amiss. It had its moments but it's no TNG. You'd think the people in charge would figure out what was wrong with Star Trek before trotting out a new series but no. Less than one year after Voyager, they figured Star Wars could do a prequel, why can't we? So Enterprise was born, focusing on the first Warp 5 earth ship.

I had my doubts. You always run the risk of continuity problems when dealing with the past. You may want to debut that new weapon you have, but did they have that in the future? The Star Trek timeline is very important to the devoted fans, as evidenced by the number of ST: Encyclopedia books out there. And there was the fatigue factor. The 4th ST series in 15 years isn't going to make people tired? But like most fans, I tried it out, and as expected, didn't work with me. Watching Enterprise get bullied around every episode wasn't my idea of entertainment. As a result, I tuned out, as did millions of others, eventually reaching the point where its rating hit 2-3 points, great for UPN but pathetic for even a ST series.

I finally got back to it this year and was pleased with the improvement. But the series' fate was sealed long before I tuned back in. Last night was Enterprise's finale. If it was a season finale, I'd say it was great. But that's only because there's a 6-year gap in the timeline that could have been discussed if there were more episodes to watch. Instead, it was an average series finale which tried to answer most questions through Riker asking them. Wow, does he look old. I know he's trying to look 10 years younger to fit the Pegasus storyline, but man, he can barely fit into that uniform.

So here's my idea for Star Trek. Wait. Wait before you do anything else. Let people soak in what you got. The DVD's are still coming out and being watched. Nobody watched Nemesis; let people watch that too. If anything, take another page out of George Lucas' book and re-release TNG with those cool ship effects from the finale (Enterprise-D has never looked better). But wait until the next great idea comes to you.