So Long, Enterprise. It seems we hardly knew you.

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After almost two decades, the television landscape will soon be devoid of any prime time saga set in the "Star Trek" universe.
In their infinite wisdom, Paramount executives have mercifully cancelled the long ailing "Star Trek: Enterprise" after just four seasons.
Four seasons of mostly crap.
It's no wonder people weren't watching. Rather than flesh out the already existing fictional "Star Trek" universe, producers felt inclined to take a different path. There was very little mention of things that we had "learned" about the fictional universe from previous shows; suddenly we were dealing with a whole new set of "facts".
It may sound stupid, but when you devote time (say, four decades) to watching a story unfold, you don't anticipate scrapping all that information for the sake of new marketing opportunities.
That would be like someone going back in time to General Hospital, circa 1982, only there's no Luke and Laura or Rick and Monica; it's new characters we never heard of before despite the thousands of episodes we faithfully watched.

The only reason any of this should matter to you is simple: Whether we like it or not, Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" universe has forever altered our world. It is pervasive in American society, driving our future.
Scientists working today at NASA grew up following the "voyages" of James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock; those working at Scaled Composites were probably weaned on "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; Gen. X'ers like myself developed a loyalty to those oddball Trek titles "Deep Space 9" and "Voyager."
That's why Sir Richard Branson plans to name his new space craft "VSS Enterprise" and "VSS Voyager."
Do you get it yet?

Not to mention the fact "Star Trek" created incredibly diverse and often inspiring female characters. Who can forget the piercing gaze of Seven of Nine? And what of the latest intelligent, beautiful and commanding character, T'Pol. Capt. Kathryn Janeway was the first female captain with a major recurring role and the term Orion Slave Girl is now a permanent part of our lexicon.
There were plenty of male characters, of course: Kirk, Spock, Picard, Riker and even Archer. Each had his moment of truth and each succeeded in doing what mere mortals somehow could never achieve.

So do not despair that "Star Trek: Enterprise" will soon be gone. It will take more than a few network executives to stop the juggernaut that is "Star Trek."
It doesn't belong to them anymore. It belongs to us now, a part of the fabric of our folk history, and we will carry it with us in our hearts and in our minds as we journey to the stars for real.