126-418: " North Star " is the 61st episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise , the ninth episode of the third season . It first aired on November 12, 2003, on UPN . It was written by David A. Goodman and directed by David Straiton . Set in the 22nd century, the series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship Enterprise , registration NX-01. In this episode,
252-434: A "shallow Trek adventure by the numbers" which was "all about setting and rarely about substance." He gave it a score of two out of four. Epsicokhan, summing up the whole of season three, described "North Star" as one of the mediocre episodes in the season. High Def Digest said this was a "fun episode," but acknowledged it's not for everyone. "North Star" was released as part of the season three DVD box set, released in
378-410: A CBS affiliate; though WOIO eventually took over production of the newscast by 2002). Harrisburg affiliate WLYH-TV briefly continued its newscasts after switching to UPN from CBS in 1995, until WHP-TV began operating the station under a local marketing agreement that fall. WFTC /Minneapolis continued to produce a late evening newscast after Fox Television Stations (which acquired KMSP-TV through
504-525: A cable-originated service to increase its distribution to markets without an over-the-air affiliate in July 1998; however, the service, which was to have been named UPN Plus, ultimately never launched. UPN did have one cable-only affiliate in its station form, WNFM-TV in Fort Myers , Florida , which joined the network in 1998. In markets where Viacom had a CBS/UPN duopoly after its 2000 merger with CBS,
630-443: A combination of "UPN" or "Paramount" (the latter having been used only by the network's Viacom-owned stations, some of whom adopted the "Paramount" branding prior to UPN's launch), and the affiliated station's channel number. By the late 1990s, affiliates were simply branded under the "UPN (channel number or city)" scheme (for example, Chicago affiliate WPWR-TV called itself "UPN Chicago" and New York City O&O-turned-affiliate WWOR-TV
756-636: A contractual clause that would – within a 45-day grace period – force Chris-Craft to either buy Viacom out of UPN, or have Chris-Craft sell its ownership stake in UPN to Viacom. Three days later on February 8, Chris-Craft subsequently filed a lawsuit against Viacom in the New York Supreme Court to block Viacom's merger with CBS, claiming that a pact signed between the two partners in 1997 had prevented either from owning "any interest, financial or otherwise" in "any competing network," including CBS, for
882-462: A few nights of programming each week, with additional nights of primetime shows gradually being added over the course of several seasons. Because of this, UPN's affiliates were basically independent stations for all intents and purposes during the network's early years, with these stations airing either syndicated programs or movies during primetime on nights when the network did not provide programming. The first expansion of its primetime lineup came with
1008-469: A four-year period through January 2001. On March 17, New York Supreme Court judge Herman Cahn ruled against Chris-Craft's move for a permanent injunction to curtail the Viacom-CBS merger and the enforcement of Viacom's ultimatum. Unable to find a suitable partner, on March 20, Chris-Craft allowed Viacom to buy out its 50% stake for $ 5 million, giving Viacom full control of UPN. This gave UPN
1134-495: A local newscast in the 10:00–11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (9:00–10:00 p.m. Central and Mountain Time) timeslot at some point during or throughout their affiliations with the network; there were also a few stations that produced a weekday morning newscast, although early evening newscasts were largely absent on most of these stations. The UPN affiliate body had fewer news-producing stations in comparison to stations aligned with
1260-478: A move that resulted in calls by state politicians for the FCC to revoke Fox's license to operate the station. KTTV took over production of sister station KCOP's newscasts in 2007, before discontinuing news programming on that station in 2013. KMAX's news department has since been merged with that of KOVR although it still produces a morning newscast separate from that station. WKBD shut down its news department (which
1386-564: A network's station in the East Coast and West Coast. For this reason, some doubt was cast on UPN's future after Fox Television Stations bought most of Chris-Craft's television stations for $ 5.5 billion on August 12, 2000, which included several UPN affiliates (including WWOR and KCOP). Fox later bought the third-largest UPN affiliate, Chicago's WPWR-TV, through a separate deal with Newsweb Corporation for $ 450 million in June 2002. Despite
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#17327722969081512-441: A new block. In 1999, UPN contracted the rights to the network's children's programming lineup to The Walt Disney Company ; as a result, the teen-oriented and animated series were replaced with a new block called Disney's One Too , which debuted on September 6, 1999, and featured select programs seen on ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning lineup (such as Recess and Sabrina: The Animated Series ). Many UPN affiliates at
1638-485: A news sharing agreement with KIRO-TV between 2003 and 2005. Not all of UPN's news-producing stations were owned by the two companies that formed the nuclei of the network's affiliate group; WUAB / Cleveland , which started its news department in 1988, also continued its 10:00 p.m. newscast as a UPN affiliate (it would begin producing newscasts for sister station WOIO-TV in February 1995, after that station became
1764-522: A number of guest cast members: Emily Bergl (Bethany) previously appeared in the miniseries Taken . Glenn Morshower (Sheriff MacReady) previously appeared in episodes of The Next Generation and Voyager . James Parks (Deputy Bennings) also appeared in Voyager . It was the first episode filmed on location during season three, but the production only moved from the Paramount Studios lot to
1890-427: A programming partnership with Chris-Craft to create the network. Chris-Craft and Paramount/Viacom each owned independent stations in several large and mid-sized U.S. cities, and these stations formed the nuclei of the new network. Warner Bros. announced plans to launch a similar network, which would become known as The WB , in close proximity to UPN. The belief that a new broadcast network could grow to be competitive
2016-531: A reference to The Original Series episode " Spectre of the Gun " with the naming of the character Cronin, but said that Kitty was named after a character in the film Santa Fe Trail (1940) rather than the radio/television series Gunsmoke . He later described "North Star" as his favorite episode of the series. It was the third Western -themed Star Trek episode after "Spectre of the Gun" and The Next Generation episode " A Fistful of Datas ". This episode included
2142-583: A request of $ 100,000, which Salhany refused. At one point, the network was set to be titled the U/P Network before its current name was decided. Ultimately, the "U" in UPN stood for Chris-Craft subsidiary United Television , which owned the network's two largest stations, WWOR-TV in New York City and KCOP-TV in Los Angeles ; the "P" represented Paramount Television, the studio that formed
2268-400: A satellite television programming network featuring programs largely produced by college students since 1991. The founder and first head of UPN, Lucie Salhany , approached NACB with an offer of US$ 50,000 to transfer the name. Due to the costs related to rebranding the student network, and under the advice of its then-volunteer legal counsel, Cary Tepper, the non-profit association countered with
2394-642: A scheduled NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins in Miami to be postponed from its scheduled start time of 1:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET; the game aired locally on KDKA-TV and WFOR-TV while their respective UPN sister stations, WNPA-TV and WBFS-TV , aired CBS's regular Sunday night programming instead. These factors led to the network struggling in the ratings over much of UPN's existence, with its later Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Enterprise , perhaps suffering
2520-483: A script. Series creator Matt Groening stated that while he is a fan of the Star Trek franchise, he has never seen an episode of The Original Series in its entirety, but has seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Director Pat Shinagawa said that there was a certain amount of jealousy among the crew that she got to work on the episode. All of the living members of the original Star Trek cast agreed to appear in
2646-642: A sitcom set during the Civil War that centered on a black English nobleman who becomes the valet to Abraham Lincoln ; even before its premiere, the series was riddled by controversy and protests from several African American activist groups (including the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP , who picketed outside Paramount Studios one week before the originally scheduled pilot episode ) and some advertisers for its perceived lighthearted take on American slavery in
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#17327722969082772-456: A week. Thirty "Movies of the Week" would have followed Star Trek: Phase II on Saturday nights. Plans for the new network were scrapped when sufficient advertising slots could not be sold, though Paramount would contribute some programs to Operation Prime Time , such as the mini-series A Woman Called Golda , and the weekly pop music program, Solid Gold . Star Trek: Phase II was reworked as
2898-549: Is one-quarter Skagaran. Meanwhile, back on the planet, Bennings hands in his deputy badge after MacReady orders him not to take further action against the Skagarans. Archer returns in a shuttlepod along with T'Pol and a security crew, led by Lieutenant Reed — all wearing their modern uniforms. Landing in the center of town, he informs the Sheriff that he is from Earth and will return to take them back to Earth once their mission
3024-450: Is over. Bennings then shoots MacReady, starting a firefight. In the chaos, Archer is also shot by Bennings, but finally overpowers him in a fistfight. Enterprise then departs, but not before returning Bethany to the surface, and providing her with a PADD to educate the local children about Earth's recent history. "North Star" was the season's third episode directed by David Straiton , while writer David A. Goodman had previously written
3150-663: Is the eleventh episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama , and the 65th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 21, 2002. Set in a retro-futuristic 31st century, the series follows the adventures of the employees of Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company. In this episode, the Planet Express team and most of
3276-790: The Kids' WB Saturday morning lineup from fellow predecessor The WB, resulting in UPN affiliates that joined The CW in September 2006 carrying network-supplied children's programming for the first time since the One Too block ended. Some Fox stations that declined to carry 4Kids TV passed on that block to an affiliate of UPN or The WB, or an independent station , in order for the Fox affiliate to air general entertainment programming or local newscasts on Saturday mornings (for example, WFLD in Chicago moved
3402-718: The Metro-Goldwyn Mayer library. UPN had approximately 143 full-power owned-and-operated or primary affiliate stations in the United States, and another 65 stations aired some UPN programming as secondary affiliates. Although it was considered a major network by Nielsen for ratings purposes, UPN was not available in every American television market . In some areas, UPN programming was shown off-pattern by affiliates of other networks (airing immediately after programming from their primary network on some Fox and WB stations, or during overnight timeslots on major network affiliates) or by otherwise independent stations, such as in
3528-618: The Paramount Teleplex as the main brand for movies at any given timeslot, the Paramount Prime Movie for primetime features, and the Paramount Late Movie for films airing in late night timeslots. From 2002 to 2006, UPN offered a movie block (airing on Saturdays or Sundays depending on the affiliates) called Hot Weekend Movie , which carried movies (theatrical, made-for-TV and direct-to-video) from
3654-782: The Tribune Company at roughly the same time. Paramount formed the Paramount Stations Group in 1991 when it purchased the assets of the TVX Broadcast Group , which owned several independent stations in major markets. This was not unlike the purchase of the Metromedia stations by News Corporation five years earlier, which were used as the nucleus for Fox. In another parallel, 20th Century Fox (the News Corporation subsidiary behind
3780-603: The UPN Movie Trailer to its stations. The weekend block featured mostly older theatrically released action and comedy films, often those from the Paramount film library. The Movie Trailer block was discontinued in 2000 to give stations that opted for them room for a two-hour block of select UPN series that aired in primetime during the past week. There were also three Paramount-branded blocks that aired on Viacom's UPN owned-and-operated stations between 1995 and 2000:
3906-531: The United Paramount Network , with initial plans to run two hours of programming in prime time for two nights per week. The new network would be co-owned by United & Paramount Television, while most of its shows were to be produced by Paramount Television. Initially, the network was to simply be called "U", but the "U Network" trademark was held by the now-defunct National Association of College Broadcasters (NACB), which had been operating
North Star (Star Trek: Enterprise) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-627: The 1940 film Santa Fe Trail and The Original Series episode " Spectre of the Gun ". The episode was mostly filmed on the Western town set nicknamed "Six Points Texas" at the Universal Studios lot. Critical response to the episode was mixed, but the ratings held steady from the previous episode with a 2.6/4% share. While in the Delphic Expanse , Enterprise discovers a planet inhabited by about 6,000 humans who are living in
4158-428: The 1980s and 1990s; there were unaffiliated commercial television stations in most of the major television markets, even after the foundation of Fox in 1986. Meanwhile, Paramount , which had long been successful in syndication with repeats of Star Trek , launched several first-run syndicated series by the 1990s, including Entertainment Tonight , The Arsenio Hall Show , Friday the 13th: The Series , War of
4284-470: The 1998–99 season). In 1997, UPN added two teen-oriented series to the lineup with reruns of the syndicated Sweet Valley High (based on the young adult book series by Francine Pascal ) and a new series, Breaker High (which co-starred a then-unknown Ryan Gosling ); both shows filled the weekday morning block for the 1997–98 season, while they were also included alongside the animated series on Sunday mornings. Unlike other networks, UPN gave its affiliates
4410-499: The 19th century . Despite the publicity Desmond received from the controversial approach it applied to its topic, the series suffered from low ratings (with the first episode on October 5, 1998, placing 116th out of 125 programs aired that week on network television) and was canceled after four episodes. Six months before Viacom announced its $ 36 billion merger with (the original) CBS Corporation , in March 1999, Viacom applied
4536-426: The 4Kids TV schedule to co-owned then-UPN affiliate WPWR-TV , while WFLD aired infomercials). During the late 1990s, UPN produced a number of television films under the umbrella brand Blockbuster Shockwave Cinema , in conjunction with sponsor (and then-sister company) Blockbuster Video , almost all of which were sci-fi films . From UPN's inception until 2000, the network also offered a hosted movie series called
4662-403: The 9:00 p.m. hour; both received mixed reviews. Neither lasted long. Other early UPN programs included the action series Nowhere Man , starring Bruce Greenwood and Marker , starring Richard Grieco ; the comic western Legend starring Richard Dean Anderson ; the sci-fi themed action series, The Sentinel ; and Moesha , a sitcom starring R&B musician Brandy Norwood . Of
4788-490: The Big Three television networks (NBC, ABC and CBS) and considerably fewer than Fox and especially The WB. In several markets, the local UPN affiliate either outsourced news programming to an NBC, ABC or CBS station in the market (either due to insufficient funds or studio space for production of their own newscasts, or in later years after the FCC permitted duopolies in markets with at least eight unique station owners in 2000,
4914-735: The Chicago station. When the network launched in January 1995, UPN automatically added six affiliates with functioning news departments through Chris-Craft/United Television and Viacom's respective affiliation deals with the network; all of those stations started their news operations as either independent stations or during prior affiliations with other networks: WWOR-TV/Secaucus, New Jersey (New York City), KCOP-TV/Los Angeles, WKBD-TV / Detroit , KPTV / Portland, Oregon , KMSP-TV / Minneapolis and WTOG / Tampa, Florida . Two more stations would join them later on: KSTW / Seattle , also owned by Viacom at
5040-566: The Chris-Craft purchase, and converted it into a Fox O&O) acquired the station from Clear Channel Communications and switched the station to UPN – it was moved to 10:00 p.m. to avoid competing with KMSP's 9:00 p.m. newscast until the WFTC newscast was canceled in June 2006. With the exception of KPTV and KMSP, both of which are now Fox stations, none of the former UPN affiliates that produced newscasts during their affiliation with
5166-463: The DVD audio commentary, Goodman noted his pride in having included a large number of quotations from The Original Series , particularly those items which he claims "the people on the internet" had not found on their own. He noted that in "Shatner's Log", based on Star Trek ' s "Captain's log", the line "The impossible has happened" quotes the opening log in " Where No Man Has Gone Before ". Although
North Star (Star Trek: Enterprise) - Misplaced Pages Continue
5292-492: The Fox Family Channel, which was renamed ABC Family (now Freeform) the past year. At the same time, the "One Too" branding was dropped from on-air usage due to the rebranding of ABC's Saturday morning lineup from One Saturday Morning to ABC Kids (although the block was unofficially referred to as Disney's Animation Weekdays outside the network). UPN subsequently chose not to renew its contract with Disney, with
5418-441: The Fox network, which was spun off with the company's other entertainment assets to 21st Century Fox on June 28, 2013 before Disney acquired them on March 20, 2019), like Paramount, had long been a powerhouse in television syndication. All indicators suggested that Paramount was about to launch a network of its own. On October 27, 1993, Viacom and Chris-Craft announced the formation of a new television network, later to be named
5544-448: The Gun", but was pleased to find it was more similar to Voyager 's " The 37's ." She said that, "because the episode is stylish and beautifully paced, the morality play doesn't get too heavy-handed or silly," but felt that it was one-sided because of the lack of information on the Skagarans. She summed up the "North Star" by describing it as a "fun, throw away" episode. Jamahl Epsicokhan on his website Jammer's Reviews described it as
5670-466: The Head Museum and convinces Bender and Leela to join him in a mission to recover the tapes. On Omega 3, they find several original sets from Star Trek , and most of the original cast with new bodies and eternal youth. An energy being named Melllvar explains that he became a Trekkie after watching the discarded tapes over and over again. Melllvar gives Nimoy a body, and orders the actors and
5796-475: The Planet Express crew to participate in a Star Trek convention until the end of time, killing Welshie, a supporting character , to ensure their obedience. While Melllvar forces the cast to perform his fan script , Bender, Leela and Fry escape in the Planet Express Ship . Fry convinces the crew to attack Melllvar to save the actors, but Melllvar destroys the ship's engine as he drags it back to
5922-598: The Rings: The Two Towers . Philip J. Fry learns that the Star Trek franchise has been forbidden since the series became a worldwide religion in the 2200s; all of its fans were killed during the Star Trek Wars and the "sacred" tapes of its 79 episodes and six movies were burned, with the remaining copies sent to the forbidden planet Omega 3. Outraged, Fry takes Leonard Nimoy 's head from
6048-596: The UPN station was used to air CBS network programs if local sporting events or extended breaking news coverage would air on the CBS station, sometimes resulting in UPN programs being pre-empted outright, as the CBS-owned outlets were usually the senior partner in the duopolies (an exception being Detroit , where WKBD-TV is considered the senior partner to WWJ-TV due to WKBD being longer-established). One such event occurred on September 26, 2004, when Hurricane Jeanne forced
6174-449: The United States on September 27, 2005. The season was released on Blu-ray in the United States on January 7, 2014. Jay Chattaway 's music for the episode was released as part of the four disc Star Trek: Enterprise Collection on December 2, 2014, including the orchestral piece "Hangin' Offense". UPN The United Paramount Network ( UPN ) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It
6300-431: The Universal Studios back lot where the Western town set "Six Points Texas" was used. The shoot there started on the second day of filming, over a five-day period, and used a number of sets including the main street, livery stable , saloon and schoolhouse . The sets have been in more movies than any others in the world; the livery stable, in particular, was in the film My Little Chickadee (1940). A shuttlepod set-piece
6426-471: The Viacom buyout. Shortly afterward, Viacom shortened the network's official name from the "United Paramount Network" to the three-letter initialism, "UPN". Viacom also proposed a rebranding of UPN into the " Paramount Network ", using a prototype logo based on Paramount's mountain logo, which served as the basis for the "P" triangle in the network's original logo that was used until September 2002. This idea
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#17327722969086552-550: The Worlds , Star Trek: The Next Generation , and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . In 1993, Time Warner and Chris-Craft Industries entered into a joint venture to distribute programs via a prime time programming service, the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), which is UPN's partial parent. Chris-Craft later became a partner in UPN, and Time Warner launched The WB in a joint venture with
6678-523: The addition of programming on Wednesday nights on March 6, 1996 (during the second half of the 1995–96 season); that expansion also saw UPN assume the broadcast rights to the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards , which aired its inaugural broadcast on CBS the year before. UPN ordered 36 sci-fi films to air as part of its weekly movie presentations beginning in 1998; the films were supplied by four production companies, with most of
6804-453: The animated adaptation of Dilbert . In Summer 2005, UPN aired R U the Girl , in which R&B group TLC (not with Left Eye) searched for a woman to join them on a new song. The network also produced some special programs, including 2001's Iron Chef USA . Much of UPN's comedy programming between 1996 and 2006 (particularly those that aired as part of the network's Monday evening lineup)
6930-620: The brand "UPN Hawaii"). This would be a continuation of the trend of networks using such naming schemes, which originated at Fox (and even earlier by the Canadian CBC ), and was also predominately used at CBS (which has most of its owned-and-operated stations, with a few exceptions, brand using a combination of the network's name and over-the-air channel number) and The WB (with the exception of its Tribune Broadcasting-owned affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago, and certain other stations); NBC and ABC also use similar branding schemes, but not to
7056-526: The case of KIKU-TV in Honolulu , Hawaii . Some affiliates were also known to extensively preempt network programming in order to broadcast local sporting events. By 2003, UPN had an estimated audience reach of 85.98% of all U.S. households (equivalent to 91,689,290 households with at least one television set). In contrast, The WB was viewable in 91.66% of all U.S. television homes. This is mainly because UPN did not have wide distribution in areas ranked below
7182-417: The cast jettison their bodies. Melllvar follows the crew into space in a Klingon Bird of Prey . Zapp Brannigan boards the Planet Express Ship and holds a court-martial of the occupants for trespassing on Omega 3. Leela points out that while the court-martial is in progress, Melllvar is still chasing them. Fry convinces Melllvar that he cannot spend his life watching Star Trek , and Melllvar agrees to end
7308-472: The chase, allowing the crew and cast to return to Earth. The writer for this episode, David A. Goodman, said that making this episode was a "dream come true" for many members of the crew including himself. At the time he was hired onto the staff, they were already talking about creating a Star Trek -centric episode. The initial idea was to have a giant Kirk and Spock fighting over New York-New York Hotel and Casino . Executive producer David X. Cohen assigned
7434-405: The companies would shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network later that year. UPN ceased broadcasting on September 15, 2006, with The WB following two days later. Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW , when it launched on September 18, 2006. Paramount Pictures had played a pivotal role in the development of network television. It
7560-541: The company's stock; both the original Viacom – which was renamed CBS Corporation – and a new company that took the Viacom name would be controlled by the original Viacom's parent National Amusements (controlled by Sumner Redstone ). UPN was kept by CBS Corporation, while the new Viacom took Paramount Pictures among other holdings each company acquired in the deal. The split took effect on December 31, 2005. On January 24, 2006, UPN parent CBS Corporation and Time Warner ,
7686-575: The crew of the Enterprise discover a lost colony of humans in the Delphic Expanse . The colony originated from a wagon train from the American Old West in the 1860s which was abducted as slave labor by an alien race called the Skagarans. The humans overthrew the Skagarans and now treat them as second-class citizens. Goodman wrote the episode after he was set a challenge by executive producer Rick Berman , and wrote in references to
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#17327722969087812-415: The division of affiliates, but Chris-Craft expressed extreme skepticism and declined to proceed with the merger. A merger would ultimately come in 2006 with the creation of The CW . UPN launched on January 16, 1995, initially carrying programming only on Monday and Tuesday nights from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time . The first telecast, the two-hour pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager ,
7938-482: The episode for Rocky Mountain News , calling Futurama "under-appreciated" and that this episode had "Lots of fun and fantasy at the expense of the noted sci-fi series." Zack Handlen, while writing for The A.V. Club , gave the episode an 'A' grade. He said that the storyline could have been seen as "pretty mean-spirited if there wasn't such a clear thread of Trek love running through the episode". He felt that having
8064-402: The episode was not the last episode produced for season four, it was used as the season finale for the fourth broadcast season, being broadcast on April 21, 2002, on Fox in the United States. The episode was subsequently nominated for a Nebula Award in 2004 for best script, but lost to the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). Prior to the broadcast, Dusty Saunders previewed
8190-442: The episode with the exception of James Doohan , whose agent replied, "No way." Because of this, the episode's working title was jokingly named "We got everybody but Scotty" and so Scotty was replaced with "Welshie". DeForest Kelley was physically portrayed but had no lines due to his death in 1999. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy recorded their lines together, which was unusual as actors usually record solo. Goodman later joined
8316-798: The episodes " Judgment " and " Precious Cargo ". (He also wrote the Star Trek themed Futurama episode " Where No Fan Has Gone Before ".) Goodman explained that he was inspired by The Original Series episodes " A Piece of the Action " and " Patterns of Force " after executive producer Rick Berman set him the challenge of writing a "parallel Earth" story similar to those featured in TOS but that would fit with Enterprise . These types of stories, where humans had evolved societies on other planets similar to our own, featured in Gene Roddenberry 's original pitch for Star Trek to NBC. Goodman also added
8442-416: The exception of DeForest Kelley – who had died in 1999, although a character in his likeness did appear, without speaking – and James Doohan , resulting in the creation of a new character called "Welshie". "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" was received positively by critics, with praise directed at the various Star Trek homages. The script was nominated for a Nebula Award , losing to The Lord of
8568-548: The fact that UPN would not be able to have extensive small-market coverage at launch due to a lack of commercial television stations in those areas, Paramount Television denied Advance Entertainment Corporation permission from distributing the network's programming over the WWOR EMI Service , the superstation feed of New York City affiliate WWOR-TV, preventing the network from reaching markets without an exclusive or secondary UPN affiliate. The network proposed launching
8694-456: The fashion of the 1860s American frontier alongside an alien race called Skagarans. Captain Archer , Commander Tucker and Sub-Commander T'Pol beam-down to the surface in period costume to investigate. They head into one of the numerous towns to observe the humans and aliens first-hand, and while Tucker and T'Pol acquire a horse, Archer stops Deputy Bennings from belittling a "Skag" waiter in
8820-501: The first below-the-line commentary track in Star Trek history, featuring first assistant director Michael DeMeritt. Among many details it includes provided is how the overall sepia look was achieved by director of photography Marvin Rush, a process of the physical film age called bleach bypass . First Assistant Director (AD) Jerry Fleck died during preparations for "North Star". He joined season six of Star Trek: The Next Generation and
8946-420: The framing device set during the event rather than afterwards as "delightful", and that the Star Trek references were both "relevant to the story and funny in their own right". Andy Wilson reviewed the episode for BigShinyRobot , calling it the "greatest animated homage to Trek ever" and "one of the best episodes of Futurama ". IGN ranked the episode in tenth place in their list of the top 25 episodes of
9072-429: The main cast of Star Trek: The Original Series face a court-martial after visiting the forbidden planet Omega 3. An existing idea to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series was scrapped and replaced with a new script written by David A. Goodman , after the newly hired writer was identified as the biggest Star Trek fan on the staff. All of the main cast of The Original Series agreed to appear, with
9198-465: The majority owner of The WB, announced that they would shut down the two respective networks and launch a new broadcast network that would be operated as a joint venture between both companies, The CW , which incorporated UPN and The WB's higher-rated programs with newer series produced exclusively for The CW. The new network immediately signed 10-year affiliation agreements with 16 stations affiliated with The WB (out of 19 stations that were affiliated with
9324-460: The merger of that network's owned-and-operated stations into Viacom's Paramount Stations Group unit), created duopolies between CBS and UPN stations in Philadelphia ( KYW-TV and WPSG), Boston ( WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV ), Miami ( WFOR-TV and WBFS-TV ), Dallas–Fort Worth ( KTVT and KTXA ), Detroit ( WWJ-TV and WKBD-TV ), and Pittsburgh ( KDKA-TV and WNPA ). Viacom's purchase of CBS
9450-449: The most and ultimately being canceled by the network in a controversial decision in February 2005. The most consistent ratings performer for the network was WWE SmackDown . During the 2004–2005 season, the network was getting consistently better ratings than The WB, much of this thanks to its carriage of the WWE. When the network launched, UPN began having most of its stations branded using
9576-485: The network continue to maintain an independent news department – despite license requirements imposed by the station's 1983 transfer of its license to Secaucus, New Jersey from New York City to cover New Jersey issues, WWOR-TV, which continued to produce news programming after coming under common ownership with Fox O&O WNYW , shut down its news department in July 2013 and replaced its lone 10:00 p.m. newscast with an outside produced program called Chasing New Jersey ,
9702-453: The network dropping all children's programming after August 31, 2003. This left UPN as one of only two major broadcast networks that did not air a children's programming block, the other being Pax TV, which discontinued its Pax Kids lineup in 2000, before returning children's programming as Ion Television through the 2006 launch of Qubo (as a 24/7 network, it was pulled off the air in 2021). Incidentally, UPN's successor The CW carried over
9828-563: The network for eight months in 1998 due to a compensation dispute; it received a rare waiver from the network to air a marathon of the last half of season four of Star Trek: Voyager which it had not aired in August 1998, before the fifth season's premiere in September. ). One Chris-Craft/United Television-owned station, KMSP-TV in Minneapolis–Saint Paul , only branded as "UPN 9" for its entertainment and network programming. Due to
9954-430: The network on August 31; as a result, UPN's last two weeks of programming did not air in 10 markets where Fox owned a UPN affiliate that was set to become an owned-and-operated station of MyNetworkTV, when that network launched on September 5, alongside other markets where the local UPN station affiliated with MyNetworkTV or terminated their UPN affiliation during the summer. Shortly after the network's closure, UPN's website
10080-452: The network's early offerings, only Star Trek: Voyager , Moesha and The Sentinel would last longer than one season. As a result of the lack of viewership, UPN operated on a loss and had lost $ 800 million by 2000. Within nearly two years of the network's launch, on December 8, 1996, Paramount/Viacom purchased a 50% stake in UPN from Chris-Craft for approximately $ 160 million. Like Fox had done nine years earlier, UPN started with
10206-506: The network's launch were already airing The Disney Afternoon , a block supplied by Disney-owned syndication distributor Buena Vista Television ; however, that block would be discontinued in August 1997. The addition of Disney's One Too expanded UPN's children's program block back to two hours, running on Sunday mornings and weekday afternoons. In September 2002, Digimon: Digital Monsters moved to UPN from Fox Kids , due to Disney's acquisition of Fox's children's program inventory as well as
10332-454: The network's programs. One month later on February 22, Fox announced the formation of MyNetworkTV , a new network that would also launch in September 2006 that would use the company's soon-to-be former UPN affiliates as the nucleus. Over the next eight months, determinations were made as to which shows from the two networks would cross over to The CW, as well as which of UPN and The WB's affiliate stations would be selected to become affiliates of
10458-445: The network's run (though it did offer children's programming on weekend mornings until 2003, and a movie package to its affiliates on weekend afternoons until 2000, when the latter was replaced with a two-hour repeat block of UPN programs); as a result, affiliates held the responsibility of programming their Saturday and Sunday evening schedules with syndicated programs, sports, movies or network programs that were preempted from earlier in
10584-428: The network) that were owned by that network's part-owner, the Tribune Company – including stations in the coveted markets of New York City , Los Angeles and Chicago – and 11 UPN stations that were owned by CBS Corporation. Fox Television Stations' nine UPN affiliates were passed over for affiliations as a result, and two days later, those stations removed all UPN branding from those stations and ceased promotion of
10710-410: The network, with the network's de facto owned-and-operated flagship stations becoming Philadelphia outlet WPSG (now an independent station) and San Francisco outlet KBHK-TV (now KPYX, also an independent). In addition, neither Chris-Craft or Viacom had ever held ownership of Chicago affiliate WPWR-TV , which had been the largest UPN station that was not owned-and-operated by the network before
10836-557: The network. Under CBS, new shows began to breathe life into the network starting in Fall 2003 with America's Next Top Model and sitcom All of Us (which was produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith ), followed up by the Fall 2004 premiere of the mystery series Veronica Mars and the Fall 2005 premiere of the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris , produced and narrated by Chris Rock . On June 14, 2005, Viacom announced that it would be split into two companies due to declining performance of
10962-409: The new network. Programming-wise, six UPN shows – America's Next Top Model (which was the last surviving series from UPN that remained on The CW's schedule until it moved to VH1 in 2016), Veronica Mars , Everybody Hates Chris , Girlfriends , All of Us , and WWE SmackDown! – were chosen to move to The CW for its inaugural 2006–07 fall schedule. With the exception of WWE SmackDown! , all of
11088-558: The only time the network carried programming officially outside of weeknights. UPN had planned to air a second season of the XFL in 2002, but it also demanded that SmackDown! be reduced by 30 minutes; McMahon did not agree to the change and the football league folded not long afterward. Like Fox and The WB, UPN never aired national morning or evening newscasts ; however, several of its affiliates and owned-and-operated stations did produce their own local news programs. Several UPN affiliates ran
11214-502: The option of running its weekend children's program block on either Saturdays or Sundays. In January 1998, the network entered into a deal with Saban Entertainment to program the Sunday morning block (with shows such as The Incredible Hulk , X-Men and Spider-Man joining the lineup). There were rumors that UPN then entered into discussions with then-corporate sister Nickelodeon (both networks were owned by Viacom ) to produce
11340-467: The planet. After seeing the Planet Express crew's attempt to defeat him, Melllvar wonders if they are more worthy of his adoration than the Star Trek cast, and decides to force them to battle to the death. After several minutes of fighting, Melllvar's mother appears and makes him come home for dinner. While he is gone, the two groups combine the engine of the cast's ship with the hull of the Planet Express Ship to escape. To lose enough weight to lift off,
11466-429: The programs that aired during the network's final three months were reruns. Unlike The WB, which closed its operations two days later with The Night of Favorites and Farewells (a special night of programming paying tribute to the network's most popular series), UPN closed with little to no fanfare on September 15, 2006, fading to black after that night's WWE SmackDown!. The Fox-owned UPN stations had disaffiliated from
11592-670: The rare distinction of being one of the only broadcast networks to not have had owned-and-operated stations (O&O) in the three largest media markets, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago (with The WB – the only network that never have had an O&O – being the only other, as minority owner Tribune Broadcasting owned most of its charter affiliates including those in all three markets , while majority owner Time Warner only owned WTBS-TV , an independent station that originated then- superstation TBS ). With Viacom taking full ownership control of UPN, KCOP-TV and WWOR-TV lost their statuses as O&Os and automatically became affiliates of
11718-486: The same broad level outside their O&Os. While the "Big Three" networks do not require their affiliates to have such naming schemes (though some affiliates choose to adopt it anyway) and only on the network's O&Os is the style required, UPN mandated it on all stations – though in one case, Milwaukee affiliate WCGV branded as "Channel 24" from 1998 to 2001, excluding UPN imagery from its station branding (WCGV, which previously branded as "UPN 24", had disaffiliated from
11844-404: The series in 2006, calling it "ultimate fan service episode", but "one that any sci-fi fan, Trekker or otherwise, can still enjoy". The popularity of this episode combined with the large volume of Star Trek references has made this episode a touchstone among Trekkies according to Chris Baker at Wired.com . This episode, along with " Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles ", was the great moments of
11970-548: The series), and former ABC series Clueless and The Hughleys . The first program that UPN acquired from another network was In the House , which moved to the network from NBC (which canceled the LL Cool J sitcom after its second season) in 1996. In its later years, as part of the network's desire to maintain its own identity with its own unique shows, UPN instituted a policy of "not picking up other networks' scraps", which
12096-416: The shows and aired them together on Tuesday nights until Roswell ended its run in 2002; Buffy ended its run the following year. In January 2002, Viacom President and COO, Mel Karmazin restructured the network, resulting in UPN being taken out of the ownership of Paramount Television , and being placed under the oversight of CBS Television, with CBS President Leslie Moonves being given responsibility for
12222-423: The station being operated through a legal duopoly or management agreement with a major network affiliate); other affiliates opted to carry syndicated programming in the hour following UPN's primetime programming lineup. For example, one of the largest O&O UPN affiliates in the country, WPWR-TV , never aired news programming in its 11-year run. This is mainly due to Viacom and Chris Craft 's non-affiliation with
12348-474: The station's circumstances of holding full cable carriage across the state of Minnesota and into The Dakotas as a superstation , local management preferred to retain their pre-UPN "Minnesota 9" branding in some manner, as most of the UPN schedule was of low appeal to the station's rural viewers, and it was building a successful and competitive news department that did not depend on the success or failure of UPN. KMSP's news division success despite UPN affiliation
12474-452: The theatrical film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture , absorbing the costs already incurred from the aborted television series. Paramount, and its eventual parent Viacom (which bought the studio's then-parent, Paramount Communications, in 1994), continued to consider launching their own television network. Independent stations , even more than network affiliates , were feeling the growing pressure of audience erosion to cable television in
12600-588: The time of UPN's launch, the network's de jure flagship stations were Chris-Craft-owned WWOR-TV in Secaucus, New Jersey (which serves the New York City market) and KCOP-TV in Los Angeles (which serves the Los Angeles market). Even after Chris-Craft sold its share in the network to Viacom, WWOR and KCOP were still commonly regarded as the de jure flagship stations of the network since it had long been common practice for this status to be associated with
12726-420: The time of the broadcast. This was the same as the ratings received by the previous episode entitled " Twilight ," but showed a loss of 200,000 viewers overall. "North Star" received lower ratings than the following episode "Similitude," which received a ratings share of 3.0/5%. Michelle Erica Green writing for TrekNation said that she was expecting something similar to The Original Series episode "Spectre of
12852-489: The time, after it affiliated with UPN in 1997 through the reversal of a 1995 affiliation switch with CBS affiliate KIRO-TV (which also kept its news department as a UPN affiliate), and KMAX-TV/Sacramento, which joined UPN after being acquired by Viacom in 1998 and began producing newscasts shortly after its 1995 affiliation with The WB. KSTW and WTOG's news departments were shut down in 1998 due to cost-cutting measures mandated by Viacom; newscasts would briefly return to KSTW via
12978-404: The titles coming from Paramount. Some titles would be shown on Showtime first, which allowed the premium cable channel to cooperate in advertising the movies. UPN completed its prime time expansion in the 1998–99 season, with Thursdays and Fridays as the last nights of programming to be added to the network's evening slate. That season saw the debut of The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer ,
13104-444: The top 100 Nielsen-designated media markets, whereas The WB operated The WB 100+ Station Group – a cable -only station group that was launched by the network in September 1998 – to provide broad coverage to those markets (from January 1995 to October 1999, The WB's programming was carried over the superstation feed of the network's Chicago affiliate WGN-TV through a programming agreement with its owner Tribune Broadcasting). Despite
13230-519: The town's tavern. After questioning Archer on his plans and intentions, Sheriff MacReady tells Bennings to keep a close eye on Archer. Archer, wishing to learn more about the Skagarans, enters the house of a teacher named Bethany he had seen earlier. The two depart for "Skag Town", the remnants of a 300-year-old wrecked spacecraft, but the deputy notices them leave. They arrive and meet Tucker and T'Pol, who had arrived earlier. Tucker and T'Pol travel back to Enterprise to investigate some data logs found in
13356-469: The uncertainty of the network's future following the Fox purchases, UPN reached four-year affiliation agreements with Fox Television Stations' nine UPN affiliates on September 24, 2003. In 2001, UPN entered into a public bidding war to acquire two series from The WB – Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell – from producing studio 20th Century Fox Television . UPN eventually outbid The WB for
13482-515: The week due to special programming, in the 8:00–10:00 p.m. ( Eastern and Pacific Time ) time period. This primetime scheduling allowed for many of the network's affiliates to air local newscasts during the 10:00–11:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time) time period. Most of UPN's programming through the years was produced by Paramount Television or a Viacom-owned sister company ( Viacom Productions , Big Ticket Television , Spelling Television or CBS Productions ). UPN's first official program
13608-534: The wreckage, while Archer stays behind. On Enterprise Ensign Sato discovers that the humans overthrew their Skagaran masters after being abducted from Earth by them and brought to the planet centuries earlier. Bennings arrests and imprisons Bethany for teaching the Skagaran children. Archer helps her to escape, but she is shot by Bennings. Archer orders an emergency beam-up in front of Bennings and other locals. Doctor Phlox treats her injury and discovers that she
13734-428: The writing staff of Star Trek: Enterprise . Several designs for the energy being were considered for this episode; however, the final version was decided upon due to a desire to keep the design simple. Shinagawa noted that even so, the final design for Melllvar is more sophisticated than some energy beings featured in the original series. This episode contains many story elements based on episodes of Star Trek . In
13860-400: The writing task to Goodman, as they agreed he was the biggest Trek fan of the group. They agreed to drop the story idea with the giant characters and gave him two weeks to write the script. The deadline was complicated as Goodman had to spend the first week on jury duty , and then broke his ankle. Despite this, he described "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" as the most fun he has ever had writing
13986-555: Was Star Trek: Voyager , with the first comedy shows to debut being two short-lived series: the Richard Jeni starring vehicle Platypus Man and Pig Sty . Other notable UPN programs during the network's existence included The Sentinel , Moesha , Star Trek: Enterprise , WWE SmackDown , America's Next Top Model , Girlfriends , the Moesha spin-off The Parkers , Veronica Mars , Everybody Hates Chris , and
14112-729: Was a partner in the DuMont Television Network , and the Paramount Theaters chain, which was spun off from the corporate/studio parent and merged with ABC in a deal that helped cement that network's status as a major network. The Paramount Television Network was launched in 1948, but dissolved in the 1950s. Paramount had long had plans for its own television network with the Paramount Television Service . Set to launch in early 1978, it would have run its programming for only one night
14238-412: Was a strong argument when fan pressure was generated in 2004 for them to pick up Angel , the spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer which had been dropped from The WB. UPN aired only one regular sports event program: the much-hyped XFL in 2001, airing Sunday evening games as part of a package from co-creator and WWE founder Vince McMahon , which also included what was then WWF SmackDown! , and
14364-414: Was abandoned after many affiliates protested, citing that the rebranding might confuse viewers and result in ratings declines, alongside the costs of rebranding their stations with a new image and new network (and possible call sign changes). Several years later, cable television network Spike (part of Viacom) rebranded as Paramount Network . Viacom's purchase of CBS a few months before (which resulted in
14490-514: Was an auspicious start, with 21.3 million viewers; however, Voyager would neither achieve such viewership levels again, nor would any of the series premiering on UPN's second night of broadcasting survive the season. In contrast, The WB debuted one week earlier, on January 11, with four series – only one of which, Muscle , would not survive its first season. The first comedy series to premiere on UPN were Platypus Man , starring Richard Jeni , and Pig Sty , with both shows airing Monday nights in
14616-419: Was branded "UPN 38" and KMAX-TV / Sacramento was branded "UPN 31". WNPA / Pittsburgh originally branded itself as "UPN 19", but rebranded itself as "UPN Pittsburgh" soon after the network introduced its second and final logo in September 2002, making it one of the few that had carried both standardization styles. Many UPN-affiliated stations followed the same branding scheme (for example, KFVE / Honolulu used
14742-430: Was brought over from Paramount Studios. Twelve horses were used, and stunt doubles replaced main cast members whose characters were depicted riding. The episode included a number of stunts, supervised by Vince Deadrick Jr. Scenes using the standing sets at Paramount were filmed on the first and last days of shooting, which overlapped with the first day of shooting of the following episode, " Similitude ". The DVD includes
14868-479: Was largely aimed at African American audiences, with minor exceptions in shows such as Clueless , Realitycheck and Head Over Heels . UPN occasionally acquired series canceled by the other broadcast networks, including former WB series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell (both of which moved to UPN in 2001, Buffy was picked up after The WB chose not to renew it due to issues with license fees while Roswell joined UPN after that same network also canceled
14994-513: Was later shared with WWJ-TV ) in December 2002, with its 10:00 p.m. newscast continuing to be produced by ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV until its eventual cancellation in 2005. CBS re-launched a news operation for both WWJ and WKBD under the umbrella title of CBS News Detroit in January 2023. When the network launched in January 1995, UPN introduced a weekend morning cartoon block called UPN Kids (later called "The UPN Kids Action Zone" during
15120-399: Was one of the pushes for Fox Television Stations to acquire United Television overall, then convert KMSP-TV to a Fox owned-and-operated station in Fall 2002. The UPN affiliation thus moved to new sister station WFTC , which followed all UPN branding guidelines until Fox pulled their support for the network in January 2006. Where No Fan Has Gone Before " Where No Fan Has Gone Before "
15246-510: Was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries 's subsidiary, United Television , & Viacom 's subsidiary, Paramount Television (which produced most of UPN's programming), then became solely owned by Viacom in 2000 after subsequently purchasing Chris-Craft's remaining stake. On December 31, 2005, UPN was kept by CBS Corporation , which was the new name for Viacom when it split into two separate companies. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner jointly announced that
15372-412: Was predicated on the idea that the network in question would not have a fledgling rival to contend with. With the change in landscape, the joint understanding of assured defeat prompted executives from Viacom and Time Warner (at the time, UPN and The WB's respective owners, with the latter owning most of The WB) to discuss the prospect of merging the networks together. Both sides reached an agreement on
15498-477: Was redirected to The CW's website, and then to CBS's website. At the time of its shutdown, UPN ran only two hours of primetime network programming on Monday through Fridays from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. ET (compared to the three primetime hours on Monday through Saturdays and four hours on Sundays offered by the Big Three networks , ABC, NBC and CBS). UPN never carried any weekend primetime programming throughout
15624-515: Was referred to as "UPN 9", until The CW's launch was announced in January 2006). However, most of the UPN owned-and-operated stations under Viacom/CBS Corporation branded themselves by the network/city conventions (for example, KBHK-TV / San Francisco was branded as "UPN Bay Area", WKBD / Detroit was branded as "UPN Detroit", WUPA was branded as "UPN Atlanta" and WUPL / New Orleans was branded as "UPN New Orleans"). That type of branding did not always apply though, as for example, WSBK-TV / Boston
15750-569: Was said to be the "death knell" for the Federal Communications Commission 's longtime ban on television station duopolies . Further transactions added San Francisco ( KPIX-TV and KBHK-TV , the latter of which was traded to Viacom/CBS by Fox Television Stations ) and Sacramento ( KOVR and KMAX-TV , the former of which was sold to Viacom/CBS by the Sinclair Broadcast Group ) to the mix. At
15876-448: Was with the Star Trek franchise for eleven years. Production was shut down on September 15 out of respect, and the episode " Extinction " was dedicated to his memory. "North Star" was first aired on November 12, 2003, on UPN . It received a 2.6/4% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 2.6 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 4 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at
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