Our ongoing look back at sci fi / fantasy TV shows that were cancelled way too soon or pilots that never made it to series.

By late 2005, Star Trek: Enterprise had wrapped up its final season and there were no Trek movies in the works, but an animated web series was put in development to run on the CBS owned StarTrek.com to keep some original content running for the franchise during the lull. Five episodes were planned with the possibility that the series could carry on beyond that point. The show would take place 150 years after we had last seen the Next Generation crew, in a time after violent attacks had torn the Federation apart. A powerful weapon known as the Omega device was used to rip up sub-space, making warp travel impossible in some sections of the galaxy and cutting off entire systems. After a war with the Romulans–the Federation believed they initiated the attacks–Starfleet retreated from space exploration. But after a period of isolation, many pushed for a return to the stars and this series would have tracked the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise, lead by Captain Alexander Chase, venturing back out into this fractured galaxy.







From 2006 to 2007, scripts and complete storyboards for two episodes were prepared as the series moved in the direction of animating its first episode. But behind the scenes changes led to a layoff of the entire staff of StarTrek.com, and the series was put on hold. A push for a big screen reboot had gained momentum with J.J. Abrams jumping onboard to helm the project. And so the animated series basically fell into limbo as the new movie was now seen as the future of the franchise.

The people who developed the series, Zero Room Productions, consisted of industry professionals, several of whom had worked on previous Star Trek shows. And to preserve the memory of this series that never happened, they put up a wonderful little website that gives a history of the production along with character bios, ship galleries, and the scripts and storyboards for the first two episodes. This series definitely had promise and could still fit into the Trek continuity today (remaining with the original timeline most likely). There are no plans that I know of to move forward with reviving the series, but it would be great to see this one realized as a comic book if nothing else. I highly recommend checking out the Star Trek Final Frontier website and reading through the two completed episodes. This could have been a great addition to the Trek franchise and perhaps it can still happen at some future date.

Aired: Never Aired

Starring: N/A

Developed By: Dave Rossi, Jose Munoz, Doug Mirabello