Berman 'Confident' Of Fourth Season

See Also: 'Zero Hour' Episode Guide

Star Trek: Enterprise executive producer Rick Berman recently said he remains upbeat about the show's future beyond this season.

"I am confident [...] that we are going to get a season 4 from UPN," Berman told the Star Trek Communicator after the filming of this season's final episode, "Zero Hour". The magazine asked whether Enterprise would be shopped around to other networks if UPN declined to pick it up. "I would think that, just for the general sense of stability, our primary goal is to keep the show going on UPN. If it is not picked up on UPN and it could be picked up elsewhere, that would be a terrific thing as well."

Admitting that the rumours of the show's demise have made things "difficult at times", Berman said Star Trek has been extremely fortunate over the years in receiving regular renewals each season. "TV is a business that relies on yearly pick-ups, and we have been very blessed that we have had lots and lots of those. To have to deal with the anxiety of not knowing whether a show is being picked up or not is par for the course in TV production."

The producer said he saw the advertisements placed by The Enterprise Project in support of Enterprise in the Hollywood Reporter. "I never know whether it helps, but it certainly is appreciated by everybody on the crew and the cast of the show. I have seen that the fans of Angel have been doing the same kind of thing on a regular basis now. I know that it was fan protest that brought the original series back for its third season, so I have no idea. We appreciate it, though, and every little bit helps."

Despite Enterprise being "on the bubble", Berman and his writing staff have already begun planning for season four. The producer said the the final episode, "Zero Hour" will set up a "mini-arc" for the beginning of the new season, but added, "If I tell you more right now, I will give away the ending of the season."

He continued: "My feeling is that Enterprise will probably not go back to the first and second season job of simple exploration of space. I think there will be missions, but not missions that are anywhere as lengthy as what we have done with this 25-episode Xindi arc. I think that we will probably be dealing more with smaller arcs, maybe arcs of three, four or five shows. We see season four being as different from season three as season three was from season two."

To read the complete interview, pick up the latest issue of the Star Trek Communicator. Many thanks to 'Cyrus' for these excerpts!

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