Paramount is determined to keep the Star Trek name in front of the public. And never mind how much damage this dull, misbegotten enterprise does to the franchise. … returns with a ludicrous time-travel story, bereft of both creativity and taste. To its usual mix of bland characters and indecipherable plots Enterprise adds alien Nazis …

Yikes. But talk about irony. In his review of tonight’s episode, USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco also writes:

It would be different if the ratings-and-quality-deprived Enterprise had been saved by some sudden, mass outpouring of fan support … But no. Enterprise plods on, despite overwhelming national disinterest …

But there was such a sudden outpouring of support – this April in - USA Today. A piece authored by Bianco’s fellow entertainment writer Gary Levin revealed that this year’s USA Today “Save Our Show” survey hailed the latest “Star Trek” spinoff as far and away the “on the bubble” show viewers most wanted to keep around.

It wasn’t even close. “Star Trek: Enterprise” reaped a record 70 percent of the vote, garnering almost twice the support of runner-up “Arrested Development.” One can read more about the survey results in Levin’s USA Today piece here. Clearly, more want “Enterprise” to continue than want it to go away.

So. Relentless “Enterprise” trolls. You must stop with your annoying nerd moaning. Just stop watching “Enterprise.” Migrate to “Andromeda” or “Battlestar: Galactica” or “Lexx” or “Babylon 5” encores. If it makes you feel better, pretend UPN cancelled “Enterprise” and replaced it with “America’s Top Model.”

See? Doesn’t that feel better? Now you can watch “Joan of Arcadia” or “Eight Simple Rules” or “Dateline NBC” or “What I Like About You” tonight instead. When you decide in ten years you miss “Star Trek” again, maybe it’ll still be there, waiting for you.

Certainly, one substandard episode does not unravel all the improvement we saw last season. In Steve Krutzler’s excellent Trekweb interview with Coto, the new showrunner confides:

“My vision is to try to fulfill what I think is ENTERPRISE’s promise, which is to create a truly prequel series. And that is beginning to tie ENTERPRISE into the overall STAR TREK canon and to really use the opportunity that we have to create stories that give us a glimpse into the formation of the STAR TREK universe.”

Who knows? We might even learn why, 100 years after the Archer era, the Klingons all look like Rich Vos.

8 p.m. Friday. UPN.

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