I could not hit Skip Intro fast enough

There I am, sitting in my basement, having just learned about a show called Star Trek Enterprise from the PEAK era of sci-fi television, the early 2000s. It is important to note that I am a big trekkie, to the extent that at work for a long time I had my devs “Take the conn” instead of be the goalie for the week. I put on the first episode, a bit of preamble to the show begins and I am enjoying it, then it cuts to what is going to be the intro and I can’t wait. To this day my wife can look to me and I will break into TOS theme song or when we do watch TNG, I will sing along. So I am READY to add something new to my repertoire.

Let’s refresh your memory on what intros in the Star Trek universe sounded like:

Now, Enterprise

Oh, my sweet Q. Hook up Gene to a power station cause my man is SPINNING in his grave.

What in the actual…

I was genuinely floored, how could anything associated with Star Trek miss this bad?

For 35 years, Star Trek had a formula that worked. The Original Series gave us that iconic fanfare. The Next Generation had the sweeping orchestral theme that made you feel like you were about to explore strange new worlds. Deep Space Nine and Voyager continued the tradition - different, but recognizably Star Trek.

Then Enterprise said, “Nah, let’s try something completely different” and gave us Temu Rod Stewart? Wish Bon Jovi? Singing some lyrics written by a 16 year old?

The most amazing thing though?

It didn’t ruin the show

Enterprise was actually a really good show.

Archer is a compelling captain, the characters have good chemistry and the storylines (so far, not done the show yet) have tackled some important topics. It really brings the “first time in deep space” vibe for humans.

The terrible theme song didn’t ruin the show, it just has helped me increase my reflexes SO I CAN NEVER HEAR IT.

And this (incoming pivot to the purpose of the blog post) is the perfect metaphor for innovation in established companies.

The Blockbuster Problem

You know what killed Blockbuster? It wasn’t Netflix’s superior technology or Reed Hastings’ business acumen (though those helped). It was Blockbuster’s inability to try something different due to fear of cannibalizing their own revenue streams.

Late fees were a massive part of Blockbuster’s business model. They made hundreds of millions from people who forgot to return “The Matrix” on time. When Netflix showed up with no late fees, Blockbuster could have pivoted. They could have eliminated late fees, embraced digital, and leveraged their massive physical footprint.

But they were terrified. What if getting rid of late fees destroyed their profitability? You can’t mess with what works, right?!

So they protected their cash cow right until it was too late.

Meanwhile, Netflix was willing to potentially cannibalize their own DVD-by-mail business with streaming. It was risky. It was uncertain. It definitely hurt their existing business model in the short term…

But it didn’t kill Netflix. Blockbusters unwillingness to break from their proven “traditional” business ended being what killed them whereas Netflix not only innovated in the DVD tangible market, they then invested heavily in streaming, a total conflict of the working model they had, but we all know how it turned out, a massive success.

The Enterprise Lesson

Here’s what Star Trek Enterprise teaches us about innovation: Sometimes you have to try things that buck tradition.

The Enterprise theme was objectively terrible, but Enterprise was trying to do something different with the Trek formula. It was a prequel, showing humanity’s first steps into space. The theme song, as awful as it was, actually reflected that more optimistic, exploratory spirit they were going for. Its just a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE song.

But they tried something! And the failure of that one element didn’t doom the entire enterprise (nyuck nyuck).

And here’s whats interesting to me: When Star Trek came back with Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Picard, what did they do? They went right back to sweeping orchestral themes. But now they did it with confidence, knowing they had tried the alternative and learned what actually worked for their brand.

The experiment “failed” in that the rock ballad was universally hated. But it succeeded in proving that the orchestral approach wasn’t just tradition - it was actually core to what made Star Trek feel like Star Trek. They weren’t just following a formula anymore; they were making an informed choice based on real experimentation.

Permission to Experiment (With Purpose)

Look, I’m not saying every experiment will work. The Enterprise theme song is proof that sometimes you swing and miss spectacularly. But here’s the secret that established companies often forget: You can survive your failures, and more importantly, you can learn from them.

Your core product, your main value proposition, your “brand identity” - these things are usually more robust than you give them credit for. Adding a new feature doesn’t erase the old ones. Trying a new approach doesn’t invalidate what’s already working.

The key is understanding what makes your product actually valuable (for Star Trek, it was good storytelling and compelling characters) versus what’s just tradition (orchestral theme songs… except wait, turns out those actually were important).

Enterprise knew that Star Trek wasn’t really about the music - it was about exploration, optimism, and asking “what if?” So they asked “what if we tried something completely different with the theme?”, the answer was “people hate it”.

They learned something valuable: the orchestral themes weren’t just empty tradition. They were actually part of what made Star Trek feel like Star Trek to fans. When future shows returned to orchestral themes, it wasn’t because they were afraid to innovate - it was because they had data proving it worked better.

That’s the difference between informed choices and just following the rulebook.

Faith of the Heart (Sorry, Had To)

The next time you’re in a meeting and someone suggests something that feels risky or different, ask yourself: Is this going to hurt our core value proposition, or is this just different from how we’ve always done things?

If it’s the latter, maybe it’s time to have faith. Faith that your product is strong enough to survive some experimentation. Faith that your users are smart enough to adapt. Faith that innovation requires taking some risks, even if they don’t all pay off.

Because here’s the thing - if you don’t try new things, you’ll never know what might work. And protecting what you have today won’t help you if what you have becomes irrelevant tomorrow.

Things may yet work out!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go finish watching Enterprise. Of course, I will be keeping my finger on the remote to press Skip Intro in record time, I’m no masochist.

Post Cover Image from: CBS/Paramount (Fair Use)