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Tonight is the finale of Enterprise on UPN — tonight we say goodbye.

Locally, this series had trouble getting traction. We didn’t have a UPN affiliate in St. Louis, and Enterprise was carried on a WB affiliate, and was originally shown on Saturday afternoons (if I remember correctly). That station, though, had a contract with the local St. Louis Blues, and Saturday afternoon games constantly bumped Enterprise into the chaos of the rest of their schedule. Kinda hard to get a fan base when you don’t have a predictable timeslot.

Then the local religious station picked up the UPN affiliation, and really botched the showing of almost anything on UPN.

Finally, the local HSN affiliate switched to being a UPN affiliate, and for two years, it’s been great.

Now, alas, the series is coming to a close, and at a time when the writing is getting so good. Like the other Star Trek series, it’s taken a couple of seasons to get the writing to shine, and Enterprise has been no exception. This fifth series will have closed with the Star Trek franchise having just over 700 episodes in the bank.

It’s sad to see it go away. There’s been almost no time in my adult life that there hasn’t been a Star Trek series on the air, and for a kid who knew all the original episodes by heart, this last score of years has been a treat.

I only hope it isn’t long until the breather the franchise is taking will be complete, and new missions and adventures will grace the small screen once again.

RIP, Enterprise, 2001-2005. We barely, but always, knew you.