As just about every scifi fan in the world knows by now, the UPN series “Star Trek: Enterprise” has been cancelled, which means that for the first time since 1986 there will soon be a season with no Star Trek franchise show on the air. For some people, like veteran scifi writer Orson Scott Card, it’s time to let the franchise die. I’d agree with him except for the fact that this current season, produced by Manny Coto, has demonstrated how good the latest incarnation of Star Trek could have been, especially with its loving treatment of the Star Trek history and tropes. (Card also passes over the extent to which even episodes of the original show, such as the Harlan-Ellison-penned “The City on the Edge of Forever,” unquestionably qualified as good science fiction. That second-season episode, like “The Menagerie” from the series’s first season, won a Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation.)

The most recent episodes of “Enterprise,” focusing on the “Mirror, Mirror” universe of the original series, and dealing also with the Gorns and the Tholians, have been great fun — especially because we get to see the current characters in the nostalgia-inducing velour uniforms that Kirk, Spock, and Scottie wore. I can’t speak for what someone coming this late to the shows would like, but I plan to be tuning in for the final episodes of “Star Trek: Enterprise” — I’ve been a fan, off and on, for nearly 40 years now, so I’ll be there as this show finally passes on. Even though I assume that at some future date someone will attempt to resurrect the franchise yet again.

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