Fans of the Star Trek: Enterprise TV show are protesting the show's cancellation with street demonstrations in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, London and Tel Aviv.
Trekkies are holding rallies worldwide on Friday to bring attention to their cause. Rallies will be held at the Paramount studios in Los Angeles and at the offices of CBS and the Sci-Fi channel in New York. Additional rallies are set for the local Fox affiliate in Washington, D.C., the offices of the BBC and Channel 4 in London, and at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
The United Paramount Network canceled the show earlier this month at the end of its fourth season, which is set to conclude in May. If canceled, television would be left without a Star Trek show for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The campaign to save the show is headed by Trekkie Tim Brazeal. Brazeal, 42, is galvanizing thousands of fans worldwide to collect $32 million to pay for the cost of a fifth season of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Brazeal's campaign to save the show is coordinated through TrekUnited.com and Save Enterprise. As of Thursday, TrekUnited.com had raised $42,000.
But the campaign claims to be very close to securing $3 million from three anonymous donors who helped fund a commercial space flight venture.
"I'm not going to say we're going to raise $32 million, but I will say this, we're going to give it heck trying to do what we can do," Brazeal said by phone from his home in Maryville, Tennessee. "As long as we can make a major impact with funds and fan support, I think we have a chance here."
It's not the first time fans have saved Star Trek. In 1968, Paramount almost canned the show but changed course after a successful letter-writing campaign organized by fan Bjo Trimble.
Other shows saved by fans include ABC's Once and Again, WB's Roswell and most recently, Sci-Fi Channel's Farscape, whose fans mounted a vigorous online campaign.
Brazeal said all the actors he's talked to are interested in continuing production of Enterprise, including Scott Bakula, who plays Capt. Jonathan Archer.
"I asked (Bakula) then if he would like to see the show continue after season four," Brazeal said. "He said that he's in it for the long run. He loves the cast, he loves the crew, he loves everything about the show."
Seth Margolis, 45, a Star Trek fan from New Jersey, said he has already donated $150 and plans to give more. He'll also be attending Friday's rally in New York, he said.
Margolis said he started watching Star Trek as a kid in the 1970s. But whereas previous incarnations of the show left him cold, the Enterprise series struck a chord in the post-9/11 gloom with its optimistic outlook.
"I know that a lot of people watched it in the '60s because they had so much trouble going on in the world at that time," he said. "And I never understood that ... but when I saw that Enterprise premiere after 9/11, I understood that after that point. It gave me a sense that things would be better."
If the Trekkies' efforts fail, all the money will be refunded to donors, minus the PayPal transaction costs and minor legal fees, Brazeal said.
