Summary

• Producers wanted to differentiate 'Enterprise' from earlier 'Star Trek' series, which led to a title without 'Star Trek'.
• 'Enterprise' aimed to break tradition - new set design, pop theme song, unique storytelling to attract viewers.
• Declining ratings led to adding 'Star Trek' to 'Enterprise' in season 3, in an attempt to reconnect with the fanbase.

Here is why Star Trek: Enterprise didn't have the words "Star Trek" in its title for the first 2 seasons. Enterprise was the fifth series in the Star Trek franchise and ran from 2001 to 2005 on the United Paramount Network (UPN). Created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, Enterprise was a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series and chronicled the adventures of the first Starship Enterprise, the NX-01, under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula). From the beginning, Enterprise sought to distinguish itself from the previous franchise installments in several key ways.

Enterprise's prequel berth set the show in the 22nd century of Star Trek's timeline before the formation of the United Federation of Planets, when humanity was on the cusp of their destiny as major players on the galactic stage. Enterprise was decidedly a departure from the typical Star Trek vision of the future and gave the show an entirely different tone. Enterprise's sets, props, and costumes were completely redesigned. Enterprise even got a pop song instead of an orchestral theme - "Where My Heart Will Take Me" by Russell Watson - which was a choice derided then and now. By far the biggest difference, however, was that Enterprise initially did not even include the words Star Trek in its title.

Why Enterprise Wasn't Called Star Trek In Its First 2 Seasons

Rick Berman wanted Enterprise to be different

Every series before Enterprise had followed the established naming convention of including Star Trek followed by colon, but executive producer Rick Berman chose to simply call the prequel Enterprise because he perceived an oversaturation of Star Trek content. Enterprise's series premiere arrived after almost 15 years of continuous Star Trek TV and film production. Enterprise's immediate predecessors, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager both experienced a precipitous decline in ratings. Enterprise was intended to be a new vision for Star Trek, so Berman felt breaking with established tradition was the best way to accomplish this.

Rick Berman opined that "Enterprise" was synonymous with Star Trek, and would evoke the greater franchise as a title.

However, by Enterprise season 3, the break with tradition had not paid off in the way it was meant to. After a solid start, Enterprise's ratings steadily declined and the prequel faced cancelation. Among the fixes intended to save the series, Paramount Studios ordered the show to add "Star Trek" into Enterprise's title in the hopes that it would reconnect the prequel series to Star Trek's core fanbase. The change was implemented in Enterprise season 3, episode 3, "Extinction", and from then on, Enterprise became known as Star Trek: Enterprise. Rick Berman discussed the trials and tribulations of Star Trek: Enterprise on The Shuttlepod Show in 2022:

Why Star Trek: Enterprise Was Canceled After Season 4

Multiple factors contributed to Enterprise's demise

Star Trek: Enterprise never had an easy run on UPN, and several factors contributed to the prequel becoming the only Rick Berman-produced Star Trek series to be canceled after season 4. Justifiably fearing franchise fatigue, Berman fought UPN and Paramount over the decision to launch Enterprise just 4 months after Star Trek: Voyager ended in 2001, but he was overruled. Berman and co-showrunner Brannon Braga's plans to do a different kind of Star Trek show - and even set Enterprise season 1 on Earth - were also torpedoed by the network that demanded a traditional Star Trek series. Enterprise seasons 1 and 2 skewing too close to the traditional Star Trek: The Next Generation format led to fans seeing the prequel as a pale imitation, even after Enterprise embraced serialization with its season 3 Xindi arc.

For many years, Star Trek: Enterprise bore the burden of being known as 'the show that killed the franchise.'

Other issues Star Trek: Enterprise faced include a daunting 26-episode-per-season order (reduced to 22 episodes in seasons 3 and 4) that led to UPN often airing two episodes back-to-back - "stupid." Meanwhile, Enterprise was often pre-empted or moved around local schedules by UPN s, making it difficult for viewers to find and watch the show in the pre-DVR and on-demand era of the early 2000s. A switch in showrunners to the late Manny Coto re-energized Star Trek: Enterprise in season 4, but it was too late to save the show. For many years, Star Trek: Enterprise bore the burden of being known as 'the show that killed the franchise', but thanks to streaming, the prequel has been reevaluated by a new and more appreciative audience.

Star Trek: Enterprise is available to stream on Paramount+.