'Enterprise' To Launch In August

After 'Endgame' airs on Wednesday, fans will be faced with a long empty summer filled only with Voyager reruns. But thanks to UPN, that drought is going to be shortened by several weeks, as the network is planning to launch its new Fall season as early as August.

According to Zap2It, UPN said at Thursday's upfront meeting that it plans to start early to get a jump on the other networks, who generally start their new television seasons in the second or third week of September. The early August start is contingent on whether Hollywood will be able to avoid a strike by television actors, which would seriously delay Series V production.

This year, the season started two weeks late to avoid the Summer Olympics, though networks such as UPN and the WB then also debuted several shows early to provide some content for bored channel-surfers. By launching its shows early this season, UPN will be able to get some extra media attention for both Enterprise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which will also premiere on UPN with a two-hour episode.

As expected, Enterprise will launch with a two-hour premiere, which UPN Entertainment President Tom Nunan said would launch with "one of the (network's) largest marketing campaigns ever."

In an effort to draw a wider audience than just the established Star Trek fans, Enterprise will launch without the words 'Star Trek' in its title. "Paramount felt it was no longer necessary," UPN president Dean Valentine explained. "Enterprise is synonymous with Star Trek."

In other Series V news, the Sci-Fi Wire reported that one of the tag lines Enterprise carries is "...back to where it all began." Previously, the tag line "The Final Frontier Has A New Beginning" had already been released.

Finally, Cinescape confirmed earlier reports that 'Broken Bow,' the Enterprise pilot, will see a Klingon ship crash landing on Earth. When the humans try to get him home, something doesn't go as planned, causing the start of Klingon-Human tensions. The site also confirmed that the Klingons will have bumpy foreheads, fitting in with Gene Roddenberry's statement that Klingons "were always intended to look that way, we just didn't have the budget for it back in the 60s."

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