Star Trek: Enterprise creators and executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga took part in a conference call with the press earlier this week to talk about their history with the show, and the series finale, "These are the Voyages," which airs May 13 on UPN.

Braga fielded the first question about how some of the cast may not have been happy with the direction of the finale. "There were a couple of people [notably Jolene Blalock - Ed.] who were slightly uncomfortable with the fact that we have Next Generation characters in the show and that it is a different kind of episode, but there were no serious complaints and none of the actors have seen the episode so they can't be dissatisfied with how it turned out," said Brannon.

"There were some grumblings," added Berman, "about the fact that we brought Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis in from another series and that the feeling was that if this was going to be the finale of Enterprise then why bring characters in from another series. But I think when people see the episode and realize what we were able to truly do — pay the respect to our characters the way we have, we've couched it in a unique fashion of being able to look back on them, and I think it's going to be a very positive response toward the Enterprise crew."

"You have to remember that under normal circumstances most people probably would have thought this was a very cool episode because it has a great concept driving it. It's very unique, but when it's the final episode of a series emotions are running very high," concluded Braga.

The next caller wanted to know if, with the ending of Star Trek on television and the final "Star Wars" film coming out in May, there was an ending of an era with regards to these properties and science fiction in general.

"Well, my feeling is that the fact that George Lucas is coming out with his last "Star Wars" movie at the same time that Enterprise is airing its last episode is really quite coincidental and — I can't speak for the "Star Wars" franchise — but I think that the Star Trek franchise, the fact that we're going to two, or three, or four years without a television series and the fact that the specifics of the next movie are not locked down, in no way means that Star Trek as a franchise is over," noted Berman.

"And as far as the other element of your question, I think science fiction and fantasy is constantly in the need of reinventing itself bringing itself into the 21st Century."

"And by the way," added Braga, "science fiction has never not been popular, it's always been around. If you look at the top 10 grossing films you'd probably find most of them are science fiction films. The science fiction genre has been around since the dawn of filmmaking. One of the first films ever made was a science fiction film." ["A Trip to the Moon" (1902) directed by Georges Méliès] The subject matter indeed changes and yesterday's "Star Wars" may be today's "Matrix," may be tomorrow's Star Trek but it's always around."

The next question dealt with whether or not Enterprise fulfilled its potential. Rick deferred to Brannon once more. "I ... felt there was more potential to come. The series could have continued and we had a lot more that we would have liked to do. However, we are very happy with Enterprise. We set out to do a particular kind of show that was more character oriented and that's what we did. We're very proud of the first couple of seasons of this show. We made some course corrections in the third season and took some big creative chances and we were very happy with the way they paid off. The fourth season has been a real barn burner. If I have any regret it's that it didn't last longer, but we are very happy with the show for no other reason then it was just a great group of actors playing a great group of fully realized characters."

Rick seconded Braga's thoughts. "Yeah, I think that Brannon's last statement is really something I would reiterate. I think that we hired seven wonderful actors and the characters in a sense — you know as you produce television each season, the characters develop 25-odd episodes of more back story and you get to peel the onion a lot more — I think our characters were growing.

"I think that it's a shame," continued Berman, "that they didn't get a chance to continue. I think we would have had a lot of wonderful ammunition to develop the show further. And you know, I think it needs to be said that UPN has changed a great deal over the last few years and it's become a network that's been skewed in a totally different direction than Star Trek, so I think that that's caused as much of a problem with our erosion as anything else."

Brannon was asked about the idea of continuity on the show, and whether it was ignored a bit in the beginning.

"We did feel we were utilizing continuity from the Original Series. We were doing it in smaller doses, but we definitely were doing it beginning with the pilot with references to Captain Kirk's original log and Zefram Cochrane and many others, but it definitely was in smaller doses. It wasn't until the fourth season when we – Rick and myself and Manny Coto — consciously decided let's go deeper and stronger with that. And as far as should we have gone stronger with the continuity elements earlier? Like Rick said, it's hindsight you know."

Rick Berman then chipped in with his thougths on continuity: "There have been a lot of fans that have discussed the fact that Brannon and I have ignored the continuity of Star Trek and ignored the canon and that could not be farther from the truth. We live and breathe this continuity and we're dealing with the writers and we're dealing with every element to try to keep a continuity going, but at the same time to try, on a weekly basis year after year, creating an entertaining television series. I remember the first season of Next Generation we got 200 letters because somebody, by mistake, had put in an optical of a photon torpedo coming out of a phaser port on the Enterprise. Somebody in visual effects area had made a mistake.

"You know," continued Berman, "we have to bend the rules a little bit, but we were trying."

Another caller asked about the much talked about next movie, but there still is not much news on that front. "There's a movie," noted Berman. "It's in an early stage of development, and as to when and whether it comes to fruition, it's really too early to tell right now."

The future of the franchise, and Rick and Brannon's role in it, was also up for discussion.

Berman took the first stab. "Right now, for us, it's a very bittersweet time. We have dozens of people who we have worked with for 10, 15, some 18 years, and it's become like a family. It's a very rare thing in our business and we've spent a lot of time working together and learning together, and that family for the first time is going to be splitting up. There's a lot of sadness connected with it. On the other hand, and I think I can speak for Brannon, both of us are looking forward to getting on with writing and producing new things that will take our careers in, you know, hopefully positive directions. And as far as the next iteration of Star Trek goes as to whether we'll have anything to do with it, I think it's way too early to tell."