Okay, they’re serious. This is unprecedented in the long history of fan “save our show” campaigns:
Fans of UPN’s soon-to-be-canceled Star Trek: Enterprise formally announced that three anonymous contributors have pledged $3 million to a fund to finance a proposed fifth season of the show. The TrekUnited.com Web site reported that the promised contribution will come from “investors” in “the commercial space flight industry.”
It’s one thing to take out impressive ads in national magazines or pull off clever ploys for garnering the attention of network suits (such as the time fans of Roswell sent thousands of bottles of Tabasco sauce to WB execs).
It’s entirely another for fans to run what essentially amounts to a pledge drive to ensure that a show they like to watch stays on the schedule. This is more like subscription programming. And maybe it’s about time we fans of genre programs think about whether it’s worth it to us to subscribe to a program, ensure its viability through the end of a viable storyline, and have some say in the quality of the drama (or comedy) we see.
Will it be successful? They admit they have less than 10% of the amount it’ll take to mount an entire season of episodes (estimated at $36 million). And if the Trek fans raise enough money to finance all or most of a fifth season, maybe the network (currently UPN) should think about running it with fewer commercials, or with “SF” themed commercials.
Targeted marketing, right? Just like aiming photo torpedoes.
