Star Trek Braga admits to killing ENT

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 3657

Report this Jul. 29 2009, 11:02 am

Quote (whyaduck @ July 29 2009, 9:22 am)

From memory alpha (plus I can swear I saw him say it in an interview):

Speaking at the 2007 Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, co-writer Brannon Braga admitted he had "regrets" about this episode. He explained that he and Rick Berman were attempting to "send a valentine to all the Star Trek shows," and that "Enterprise just happened to be the show on at the time." He believed the episode "had some great stuff in it" and that "it was a cool concept," but overall, however, he found it to be "languid" and "not a complete success."

Here is the article and the quotes.

Quote

Brannon Braga took to the stage at this year's Creation Las Vegas Star Trek Convention, which he called a Â¿nostalgic experience.Â¿ for him. Braga invited to fans to ask him questions and get whatever they wanted off their chests.

"I wanted to stop by to say hi to you guys and to ask any last lingering questions you had. This may be the last one I do so this is your chance to get out your final gripes and questions."

Braga was asked if he had any regrets and what he would do differently.

"I honestly have to say that creatively probably nothing. There are certain episodes that are really stinky that I wish I hadnÂ¿t done, but how can I go back and change that. There were also episodes that turned out great that we thought were going to be terrible."

Later Braga voiced his regret on the Enterprise finale 'These Are the Voyages'.

"I do have some regrets about that final episode. It didnÂ¿t quite creatively align with the rest of the season. Â¿.The final episode was very controversial and I do have some regrets about it. What we were trying to do was send a valentine to all the Star Trek shows. Enterprise just happened to be the show on at the time and it turns out the episode was a failure. It had some great stuff init and it was a cool concept, but it was languid. I donÂ¿t know if it fully delivered and it really pissed off the cast. It was a hybrid show. Rick [Berman] and I were involved in the franchise for years (Rick for 18 - me for 15). We felt like we wanted to send a valentine to the show, but I do concur it was not a complete success."

Braga went on to add this.

"It was the final episode, we knew the series was over and we could do anything we wanted. Trip was always my favorite character on the show and I wanted toÂ¿.I just wanted to kill him. I cant give you a coherent response. We wanted to do something that had emotional impact and had consequences which is something we were never allowed to do."

Braga agreed with the fans about the direction Manny Coto took Enterprise in the fourth season.

"I thought Manny Coto did a great job. One could argue that Enterprise might have been that from the beginning. When I was seeing what Manny was doing it was like Â¿you know what? Maybe this should have been the show from the start.Â¿

A question regarding canon, specificially regarding the Vulcans on Enterprise came up.

"Contrary to some peopleÂ¿s opinions we paid very close attention to continuity. There has always been a perception that we spit in the face of Star Trek canon and nothing could be further from the truth. One of the biggest beefs is that we violated the Vulcan culture, that we did things with Vulcans like the mind melds that clearly were not kosher with regards to the Original Series. But remember, cultures change. This show took place a long before the Original Series and Vulcan culture was different then. We got to explore that Vulcan culture was not like it was by the time of KirkÂ¿in the same way that American culture is not the same as it was 200 years ago. Things change, technology changesÂ¿mind melds change."

[and how did thingÂ¿s change to where all Vulcans could perform mind melds?]

"They learned howÂ¿Community College!"

Braga also defended the decision for Enterprise to look more futuristic, despite being a prequel.

"It is a paradox. How to make the show look cool by todayÂ¿s standards and yet not cheesy like some parts of the Original Series by nature of the 1960s designs. This is certainly something that J.J. Abrams is dealing with and his prequel. You just have to bite the bullet and say that is probably more important to make the show look cool than be completely accurateÂ¿ We certainly tried to make it look more futuristic than we have today, but less than KirkÂ¿s time. But look at the stuff they were using on that show. They got communicators that are bigger than any cell phone. The laptops they used on Voyager were giganticÂ¿they were ridiculous."

Regarding the last two Trek show's treatment on UPN:

"I think it damaged the show. If you donÂ¿t mind booting Brent Spiner later on I could stay up here all day and talk about this one subject. I think it hurt Voyager and much more with Enterprise, to be on a constantly shifting fledgling network that in some parts it was on channel 92 if you could find it and you needed the foil rabbit ears. Here we were shooting this beautiful show and posting it in high def and people were watching it on the crappiest stations imaginable. Tons of problems being on that network. Also we didnÂ¿t have a lot of money to promote. So I donÂ¿ think it was a great thing for the franchise. I cant blame it all on that. There were other problems of course, but it was truly frustrating."

Braga was asked why they never showed a romantic relationship between Seven of Nine and Captain Janeway on Voyager.

"There is nothing I would love to see moreÂ¿maybe with BÂ¿Ellana. The homosexuality issue was always one on the show, even since RoddenberryÂ¿s time. As we understood it, it was RoddenberryÂ¿s feeling that Â¿how would you know if somebody was gay?Â¿ It was so accepted in the future, that if you try and dramatize it you just call attention to it. However, I still wish we did something more overt. Regarding Seven and Janeway: no way. The studio would not have let usÂ¿not with the captain. Plus it would have been dangerous for JanewayÂ¿you donÂ¿t know what kind of borg implants are down there."

Finally, a very young fan came up to the mic and told Braga Â¿I just wanted to tell you I loved Enterprise - it was my favorite showÂ¿ and Braga joked Â¿you are actually the first person to say thatÂ¿thanks.Â¿ But then thanked him sincerely and also seemed to be genuinely touched by the young fan.

Braga's last words leaving the stage were:

"It has been an honor doing this work for you guys and I enjoyed it as much hopefully as you enjoyed and I appreciate you coming very much."

ENT567

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 5267

Report this Jul. 30 2009, 3:54 am

Thanks for the quoted interview of Braga, MM!

Guys, throw anything you like at me, but I truly respect Brannon Braga and truly appreciate his artistic work, even though I clearly see drawbacks as well.

BrotherofShran01

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 23343

Report this Jul. 30 2009, 8:48 am

Quote (ENT567 @ July 30 2009, 3:54 am)

Judges what do you say

The Judges' Answer

whyaduck

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 3478

Report this Jul. 30 2009, 8:49 am

Quote (BrotherofShran01 @ July 30 2009, 8:48 am)

Quote (ENT567 @ July 30 2009, 3:54 am)

Judges what do you say

The Judges' Answer

SNORK!!!

honeybee1111

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 880

Report this Jul. 30 2009, 11:52 am

Yes, they got burnt out. But then again, I always appreciated the prequel concept and loved season 3 - so I can't say I hate B&B. I wish they hadn't taken the series finale over from Manny Coto, though. That still burns.

And I do tend to believe that Enterprise would have had 7 years had it been in syndication or on SciFi. UPN never knew what to do with Voyager or Enterprise. And I will point out that Voyager's best episodes were later in the series, just like Enterprise.

But this is all crying over spilt milk. I just hope that as the years go on, people will look at ENT on its own merits and appreciate the good.

lostshaker

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 2293

Report this Jul. 30 2009, 4:49 pm

Quote (honeybee1111 @ July 30 2009, 11:52 am)

And I do tend to believe that Enterprise would have had 7 years had it been in syndication or on SciFi.

Would have been very successful.

WedgeBob

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 436

Report this Jul. 30 2009, 5:08 pm

Well, don't forget... Not only was Enterprise on a network that isn't as widely watched, but it also had competition from other sci-fi series based in deep space at the time, which I'm not gonna name names, but it did seem like Enterprise's competition did seem to win out, and Berman and Braga knew that their series was destined to fail to those two other rival series at the time.

[spoiler]Okay...you twisted my arm. Those other two series were Stargate: SG-1, and Battlestar Galactica. I believe it was those two series that did Enterprise in...[/spoiler]

lostshaker

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 2293

Report this Jul. 30 2009, 5:22 pm

Enterprise would have at least had a fair fight. I know people who refused to watch UPN just because it was UPN and considered a crappy network.

ENT567

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 5267

Report this Jul. 31 2009, 3:14 am

ENT567

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 5267

Report this Jul. 31 2009, 8:02 am

Quote

Maybe it was just that on the average BSG had better writing.

Now THAT is a very subjective opinion.

The bullsh** about cylons and their "plan" is a "better writing"? In which part?

I'm afraid we have different understanding of "good writing"...

Besides, BSG and ENT are of different genres.

captbates

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 12614

Report this Jul. 31 2009, 8:07 am

Quote (ENT567 @ July 30 2009, 8:14 am)

R D A is an acquired taste, i'll give you that, but Micheal Shanks is a truly great actor who'd do well on any show.

have you seen the trailers for Stargate Universe? it looks like they are going down the BSG route, but without a ship. I'll still watch it, but I fear the worst.

ENT567

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 5267

Report this Jul. 31 2009, 8:07 am

Is something wrong happening to modern men? Where's the spirit of adventure? Exchanging "space adventure" onto "soap opera set on a starship"???? Is that the "fatigue"?

captbates

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 12614

Report this Jul. 31 2009, 8:09 am

Quote (starbase63 @ July 26 2009, 8:41 pm)

Quote (honeybee1111 @ July 27 2009, 2:59 pm)

I hope they will do a new series - and when they do, hopefully people will be a happy to have it - regardless of whatever issue they may have with any of it!

I'm guessing it will be after the movies run there course though. And I hope Berman & Braga aren't allowed anywhere near it. Manny Coto can have it.

The new series will be whenever CBS decides to do it, whether Paramount is still doing movies or not, I imagine.

:logical:

I hope they don't run another series until we get at least another two movies.

ENT567

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 5267

Report this Jul. 31 2009, 8:13 am

Quote (starbase63 @ Posted: July 31 2009, 8:06 am)

I did say "on the average" about the writing did I not? Should I mention the Temporal Cold War which lost it's direction very quickly?

I didn't see the cylons' "plan" having any really logical direction either. TCW at least had logic.

Quote

Different genres? Not really. Both are technically science fiction shows, but as I noted BSG was done from the perspective of a drama set in space rather than straight sci fi.

First of all, ENT is "science fiction", while BSG is "military science fiction" (yes, there are differences, though they both related to one route genre).
Then, ENT's primary generic definition is "space adventure", while BSG is "space drama/soap opera".

captbates

GROUP: Members

POSTS: 12614

Report this Jul. 31 2009, 8:20 am

Quote (ENT567 @ July 30 2009, 1:02 pm)

Quote

Maybe it was just that on the average BSG had better writing.

Indeed two different shows, but the fact is (and it's really undeniable) that BSG had much better writing than ENT, regardless of whether you liked the show or not. It did get ropey towards the end, yeah, but probably because thet were cancelled in advance, and needed a quick conclusion.

Star Trek

Braga admits to killing ENT

This content is:

Recently logged in

Forum Permissions

Recent News Articles

Shop

Star Trek Seven of Nine Pint Glass

Star Trek Tokyo Invasion Kirk Black Mug