5. The Lions of the Night
Back in the late 1990s, before Enterprise was announced, there was a decent sized fan push for an Excelsior series, starring Sulu. Lions of the Night is the closest that ever got to fruition. Developed by Jimmy Diggs, this animated adventure wouldve revolved around Captain Sulu and the Enterprise-B repelling an invasion by the Kzinti. The Kzinti were a race of aliens created by Larry Niven as part of his Known Space universe and were incorporated into Trek lore through TASs The Slaver Weapon. Artist Court Jones came up with concept designs for the Kzinti and their ships for Lions of the Night, some of which was almost reused in Enterprise, but the project was cancelled before it could get any further. Lions of the Night seems to have been the victim of the decline of Trek during Enterprises run, since many of the ideas and concepts involved were going to be incorporated into Enterprises fifth season. While Sulu on the Enterprise-B seems like an odd choice, any opportunity to explore the so-called Lost Era of Trek between the TOS movies and TNG wouldve been greatly appreciated by the fans.