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I am not sure if this is a real fact or just rumor. I heard that TNG ended because it was Gene's wish that the series not continue past 7 seasons. I am not sure if that is real or not. Is it? Is that why the others are 7 except Enterprise?

Aside: I sure wish there were more episodes of Enterprise.

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  • Roddenberry, please. Please! – Ghanima Dec 2 '15 at 23:22
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    TOS is not exactly seven seasons, now is it? – Ghanima Dec 2 '15 at 23:23
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    @Ghanima phew ;-) – Rand al'Thor♦ Dec 2 '15 at 23:49
  • Thanks (now I can go to bed and sleep peacefully) ;-) Too bad one cannot post sub-10-characters edits. – Ghanima Dec 2 '15 at 23:52
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    These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission [..]. Defintely not every series... – Jasper Dec 3 '15 at 9:29
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This is conjecture on my part but have a look at this on movies.se:

What happens to actor salaries around seasons 6-7 of a show

The usual contract is 7 seasons, after that contracts are renegotiated and it can be much more expensive to make a show.

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TNG ended after seven seasons, despite the cast being contracted for eight seasons. There were a number of reasons for this, the studio Paramount had begun making Deep Space Nine and had Voyager coming up and both these shows were cheaper to make than TNG due to the salaries commanded by the cast. The studio was also planning to make a series of TNG movies, which would have clashed with filming the series.

Roddenberry had died before TNG season 5 aired, so did not have any input into the decision to end the show.

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This is clearly not the case because the Original Series was originally planned or at least hoped to be five years, as evidenced by:

"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

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  • Planning for five has no bearing on wanting "no more than seven", which is what the question is asking. – Nerrolken Dec 2 '15 at 23:42
  • The title of the question (which still needs editing!) exactly seven and not "no more than seven". Although of course the body sounds different. – Ghanima Dec 2 '15 at 23:43
  • I'm implying (and I believe someone could find a quote) that he intended the series to be five years. So that's not seven. If planning five means then answer to 'not more than 7' is yes then, okay, but I don't think that's what OP means. He should mean exactly seven, no more, no less. – ThePopMachine Dec 3 '15 at 0:09
  • I agree with this answer. – Praxis Dec 3 '15 at 1:27
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    It was a "5 year" mission not a "5 series" mission - there's absolutely no link between the seasons and the in-story timeline – Jon Story Dec 3 '15 at 13:57

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