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so why do Trek series end after 7 seasons?

posted 8 years ago by everymanaking6488
40 replies | jump to latest

I recall reading online that TNG ended by decision of the producers and not by the network. Apparently they wanted to jumpstart the film career of the TNG cast (which makes sense) but why did that occur after 7 seasons? why not in say 1993 for example when season 6 ended? Or why not in say 1995 after an 8th season?

Also why did both DS9 and Voyager also end after 7 seasons? was it just seen as the magical number of seasons to end the series? Because honestly Voyager could have ended after 5, no reason to have been kept on for so long.

Even Enterprise was setup for a 7 year run. It just got cancelled way early.

Envisioning a 7 year run for any series seems incredibly problematic.

[–] everymanaking6488 8 years ago

Voyager should have ended at 5 seasons for sure

I'm sure it made sense for ds9 to end at season 7 though i'd love to have seen an 8th season.

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

Based on the ratings, DS9 probably could've been cancelled after 5 seasons too. Good thing it was syndicated.

RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

[–] jakeconhale 8 years ago

Oh please, PLEASE, don't start that up again.

Jake Meridius Conhale, at your service!
"Old Man" of the BSG (RDM) boards.

[–] everymanaking6488 8 years ago

Based on ratings then YES but it def had way more competition then TNG did at the time. And i'm sure Paramount were still milking way more then they put into the show, despite the ratings not being as high as TNG.

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

What do you mean better competition? Cause Next Gen was up against Cheers, The Cosby Show, the first few seasons of Seinfeld, The Golden Girls, Wonder Years. Some of the most popular, successful shows of all time.

RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

[–] everymanaking6488 8 years ago

DS9 had every genre series of the 90s on its tail. hercules and Xena.

TNG was in syndication. it wasn't aired on NBC or ABC or CBS

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

I'm aware of that. So was Ds9. I wonder what had higher ratings between those three shows?

RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] qwarlock 8 years ago

From what I read somewhere that all the cast where ready to continue for an 8th Season except for Patrick Stewart.

At some point early during production of Season 7 Paramount wanted to kick start a TNG film after again rejecting the Star Trek Academy film idea.

TNG ratings were doing really well even on the seventh season if Paramount didn't push for the films we might have ended up with 10 seasons of TNG.

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

If only. 10 Seasons would've surpassed the 200 episode mark. Would've been very impressive. Even 8 Seasons might've done that.

RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

[–] AndrewGS 8 years ago

I think most of the actors signed for 5 or 6 years and then an extension for one or two more.

While with TNG there was a desire to go to movies, on DS9 and Voyager the ratings tended to slide downward or at least not improve each year; even with the decline the ratings were still good for, respectively, syndication and a netlet, but the writers probably knew that they couldn't and shouldn't go too long, their budgets could be reduced and they could run lower on ideas, and with Voyager there was the hope that Enterprise would somehow be more popular.

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

I'm pretty sure a read it heard somewhere, that the TNG cast was signed on for 8 seasons, and were quite shocked Season 7 ended up being the last.

RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time. RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

[–] Nexus71 8 years ago

The cancellation Of ENT was largely due to a new management at UPN around 2000/01 the former management was a strong believer in Trek despite the dwindling ratings from DS9 on it believed in the show and gave it it's time to find it's way with each instalment after TNG that premise applied for most of DS9's and VOY's run.With ENT all that changed with a new board who wasn't into Trek and somehow resented Trek for the freedom it had previously and they started to mess thing up during it's production and run.

Also franchise fatigue plays large part in the cancellation of ENT,even Berman and Braga begged the board to wait a couple of years before launching a new Trek series(they managed to postpone the release because it was initially planned to start during the last season of VOY).

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

Franchise fatigue is a huge reason. People were tired Trek by the time Enterprise came out.

RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time. RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.