Braga: I Screwed Up 'Star Trek: Enterprise'

[reveal]

http://www.syfyportal.com/news424037.html

Is former Star Trek franchise runner Brannon Braga finally having that long-overude meaculpa?

The man known for having a creative hand in such shows as "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Star Trek: Enterprise," admitted to Trek fans over the weekend at a convention in Las Vegas that the last hour of Star Trek on television was a huge mistake.

"I do have some regrets about that final episode," Braga said, according to TrekMovie. "It didn't quite creatively align with the rest of the season. The final episode was very controversial and I do have some regrets about it."

Braga maintains that the episode, "These Are The Voyages," which recreated "Enterprise's" final days on a "Next Generation" holodeck with Jonathan Frakes' William Riker and Marina Sirtis' Deanna Troi, was supposed to be a "valentine" to Star Trek fans.

"'Enterprise' just happened to be the show on at the time and it turns out the episode was a failure," Braga said. "It had some great stuff in it, and it was a cool concept, but it was languid. I don't know if it fully delivered and it really pissed off the cast."

Because it was the end of Star Trek on television, Braga said that he and executive producer Rick Berman knew they could do anything in the final episode, which aired in May 2005. That included killing off characters, like Connor Trinneer's Trip Tucker.

"Trip was always my favorite character on the show and I wanted to kill him." Braga said. "I can't 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."

Manny Coto came in as the "Enterprise" showrunner in the fourth season, and while fans seems to overwhelmingly accept that he was on the right path with the series, it ended up being too little too late with UPN pulling the plug after that season. Braga said that Coto's vision seemed to be the right one for the show, and should've been there from Day One.

"One could argue that 'Enterprise' might have been that from the beginning," he said. "When I was seeing what Manny was doing, it was like, 'You know what? Maybe this should have been the show from the start."

For more of Braga's comments, read the entire transcript over at TrekMovie (http://trekmovie.com/2007/08/12/vegascon-07-braga-reflects-on-a-life-with-trek/).

[bunny]

Wait? What happened on the last episode? Did he pull an "oh, it was all just a dream" cliche cop out?

[reveal]

Wait? What happened on the last episode? Did he pull an "oh, it was all just a dream" cliche cop out?
It was Ryker and Troi watching the final happenings on the Enterprise holodeck. Trip was killed for no reason. And in the end Captain Archer was to give the big speech to the newly formed Federation of Planets. The last thing we see is him walking to give it and then cut to credits. They didn't even write him giving the speech, which would have been a fantastic send-off for the show. I hadn't watched it since the second season and, after seeing the finale, was glad I hadn't.

[bunny]

And in the end Captain Archer was to give the big speech to the newly formed Federation of Planets. The last thing we see is him walking to give it and then cut to credits. They didn't even write him giving the speech, which would have been a fantastic send-off for the show.



Shocking. How very un-star trek. They never shy away from the big speech, especially if its a speech about "why can't we all just get along?" Poor Enterprise. A good idea in some very bad hands.

[Lisa Nadazdy]

If that's the only place that Braga thinks he fucked things up, then he needs to be hit over the head again.

[shabois]

I think they needed a break from the franchise on television. I am very excited about the reboot movie with JJ Abrams at the helm!

[Harry]

Unlike many folks, including many here, I loved the Enterprise series. Early, all it had was wasted potential, especially during that dumb-ass story arc about a Time War, but when the last season started, and the new writers basically said "That story arc never existed", and went on to just write good teevee, everything was improved in my opinion.

Then Braga went and pissed all over the entire show by making the last episode about Riker and Troy, whose show I never watched, and in fact it had been ST:TNG that had almost managed to turn me off of the entire franchise. The manner of Tripp's death was also a major, major problem. I don't have a problem with central characters dying. Some shows and writers have managed to pull that off well, and it's a great moment for the show. Off hand, the death of Wash was done perfectly. But Braga just tossed Tripp away uselessly and for no reason. It pissed me off to no end.

[Dr. Paragon]

I have still to watch the last episode of Enterprise and at this rate likely
never will. I really enjoyed the series, even when it stumbled on occasion.
But from all the noise I heard about the last episode, no thanks.

[reveal]

...the new writers basically said "That story arc never existed", and went on to just write good teevee, everything was improved in my opinion.

A vast majority of fans believed this as well but, as Braga says in the article, by then it was too late. WB had already decided to cancel it.

[Snatch]

Unlike many folks, including many here, I loved the Enterprise series. Early, all it had was wasted potential, especially during that dumb-ass story arc about a Time War, but when the last season started, and the new writers basically said "That story arc never existed", and went on to just write good teevee, everything was improved in my opinion.


The final season of ENT should have been the first or second. I liked the last season, it wasn't perfect, but it was entertaining enough to stick with it and would have been a great first or second season to build off of.

Ah well...it seems no one really knows what to do with Trek as a franchise anymore. (I'm completely neutral on the new movie - I don't care one way or the other).

[Northcott]

The final season of ENT should have been the first or second. I liked the last season, it wasn't perfect, but it was entertaining enough to stick with it and would have been a great first or second season to build off of.

Ah well...it seems no one really knows what to do with Trek as a franchise anymore. (I'm completely neutral on the new movie - I don't care one way or the other).


Connery once said that the best thing to do with Bond would be to reboot him -- to get Quentin Tarantino in to write some new scripts, get a new actor with a new image, and kick people in the face with a bold new Bond. Turned out he was right.

I think that's the best thing to do with Star Trek. It's a cool idea that's become a fixture in our culture. Rather than discard it or continue to watch it limp along, it needs people with a fresh voice and bold insights to come in, shake the fucker up, and turn it upside down. Abrams may be the best man for the job... or he may end up writing movie after movie that raises an endless succession of questions without ever really giving concrete answers. ;)

[Snatch]

Abrams may be the best man for the job... or he may end up writing movie after movie that raises an endless succession of questions without ever really giving concrete answers. ;)

Lost Trek?

[The Theocrat of Poon-Tang]

Enterprise lost me when I found out the doctor was a creepy swinger. I did always enjoy the ridiculous outfits they put the Vulan gal in, though. Whenever I cruise by Sci-Fi and see her in one of those, I just giggle like a schoolgirl. My wife just rolls her eyes - she's used to it by now.

[Dacke]

Enterprise lost me when I found out the doctor was a creepy swinger.
Polygamist, IIRC.

[doc]

I love this quote Trip was always my favorite character on the show and I wanted to kill him." Braga said.

I liked Enterprise's 1st and 2nd seasons but the 3rd with the Xindi and the Temporal Cold War left me cold, I did like how they started to do the 4th season, and happy they did thier version of the Mirror universe. And yes I admit it , I LIKED THE THEME SONG !!!

[Dacke]

I liked Enterprise's 1st and 2nd seasons but the 3rd with the Xindi and the Temporal Cold War left me cold, I did like how they started to do the 4th season, and happy they did thier version of the Mirror universe. And yes I admit it , I LIKED THE THEME SONG !!!
The first and second season had a lot of TCW stuff going on too. I liked the Xindi thing, and it took a while for them to tie it into the TCW (at which time I lost a bit of respect for it).

I think part of the reason they did the TCW was that in the past, some of their more appreciated stories were about time travel (starting with City on the Edge of Forever). They then drew the erroneous conclusion that time travel was what people liked about those stories, and decided to do more time travel stuff... which fell flat.

Similar things have happened in other TV shows, like Buffy (except there it was angst rather than time travel).

[doc]

Yeah but the TCW was understated in the 1/2nd seasons, o hell I need to get the DVDs only time I watch it now is on Sci Fi channel. So you whacked me on the nose Dacke ~wimper~

[Phantom Stranger]

I really wanted to like the show, because I like Scott Bakula but man I just couldn't get into it. When they did the time war thing, and he was popped back into Nazi Germany I laughed my ass off just waiting for Al to step out.

[Northcott]

I really wanted to like the show, because I like Scott Bakula but man I just couldn't get into it.

Ditto. I don't think I saw more than a handful of episodes over the whole of the series. Bakula rocks, but it felt like the cast didn't have much in the way of chemistry. And now that I think back on it, there was a visual conformity to the people that seems odd: there were few people who really stood out visually, and they didn't seem to compliment each other very well.

[doc]

The cast were supposed to be the elite of Earth so how did you want them to stand out ? The Doctor grew on me but he was a hoot, Vulcan nipples :D

[Northcott]

The cast were supposed to be the elite of Earth so how did you want them to stand out ? The Doctor grew on me but he was a hoot, Vulcan nipples :D

Think of the original cast: in spite of all being white males of a certain age range, the variance in facial features, builds, and voices was sufficient to create a chorus rather than conformity. Same with The Next Generation: the central cast had a wide variety of appearances, even if you remove the presence of aliens and androids, distinctive mannerisms, voices, etc.

There were certainly differences in the Enterprise cast, but I wouldn't call them distinctive. Much like the Voyager cast, it left me feeling flat. There was little to no chemistry at work.

[doc]

It was bland in other words. If you had your chance to add depth the the cast (useing the same actors) how would you have done it ?

[Snatch]

It was bland in other words. If you had your chance to add depth the the cast (using the same actors) how would you have done it ?

Eliminate the vulcan and doctor roles by making them human. The whole point of Enterprise was that it was to chronicle the early beginnings of humanity's venture into outer space. So make the crew all human, make them fallible, adventurous and tone down the tech! Enterprise felt like TNG-lite as opposed to a precursor to TOS.

Trip was probably the most interesting character because he was written the most human. He made mistakes (except when it came to engineering of course...), had his biases and had a sense of adventure.

Archer did absolutely nothing for me. I don't know if it was how Bakula portrayed the character or if how he was written.

Overall I thought the characters were really, really bland and the show overall was a waste of potential.

[doc]

I liked Archer but he needed more depth, T' Pol was intergal to the story about the Vulcans slowly letting the war-like Humans out to play with the universe. The Doctor while strange added the Alien insight into the Humans and vice versus, Sato and Mayweather was way to under utilized

[Daemon Sultan]

Braga needs to be shot. I haven't liked anything he did with Star Trek. Just look at that shit storm that was Nemesis. What a horrible way to end TNG series.

[Hastur T. Fannon]

And yes I admit it , I LIKED THE THEME SONG !!!


I couldn't get past it. Literally. I don't think I've seen a whole episode

[Northcott]

Eliminate the vulcan and doctor roles by making them human. The whole point of Enterprise was that it was to chronicle the early beginnings of humanity's venture into outer space. So make the crew all human, make them fallible, adventurous and tone down the tech! Enterprise felt like TNG-lite as opposed to a precursor to TOS.

Trip was probably the most interesting character because he was written the most human. He made mistakes (except when it came to engineering of course...), had his biases and had a sense of adventure.

Archer did absolutely nothing for me. I don't know if it was how Bakula portrayed the character or if how he was written.

Overall I thought the characters were really, really bland and the show overall was a waste of potential.


I agree with the last sentence completely. I'd have kept the vulcan, though. It's long been established that it was contact with the Vulcans that launched humanity into space exploration, so the addition of a single vulcan worked well.

But outside of that? Yeah, entirely human crew. The Vulcan could have been invaluable as a character in terms of providing an outside voice; a new lens by which to view the actions of the crew.

It would have been great to see Archer having a very strong personality with a dash of charm thrown in. A bigger voice. Stronger opinions. Laying down the law, military style, and tempering it with more personal asides.

These are the people who are first on the line -- going out to explore the universe. The first of the last, great adventure of humankind. Exceptional skills and strong personalities should have been key. Almost archetypes.

As for the more calculated, image-driven end of it:
A variance in builds would have been nice, too. Look at the cast in Galactica -- some are short and wiry, some are average-ish, the one dude (mechanic, I believe) is tall and pretty buff -- it creates visual differences.

Facial features, hair colour, complexions... balance them against each other. Look at Picard, Riker, and LeForge. Bones, Kirk, Spock, Scotty. Even in the latter case where it's all white males of a similar age range, they looked and (just as importantly) sounded different enough that each was a powerfully distinctive character. Combine this with the dramatic variances in personality, and you've got a decent balancing act in dramatic tension.


Enterprise came off as Bland. A stronger voice should have been written for the Captain. Somebody who gave off a palpable air of authority and confidence should have been the head of security... not what's his name. No, really, I could never remember his name. The guy was unforgettable save for a very mild-sounding British accent. A physical presence would have been nice, too.

Maybe some dramatic variance in appearance for the security head -- a big black dude would have stood out in that cast, but it's overdone in television, almost a token race thing. Want to keep the English connection? A blocky, rough-voiced Englishman with his head shaved bald or an extreme buzzcut. Less salon, more SAS.

A show full of humanity's greatest adventurers should, above all else, avoid being boring.

[EhtoZed]

I liked Archer but he needed more depth, T' Pol was intergal to the story about the Vulcans slowly letting the war-like Humans out to play with the universe. The Doctor while strange added the Alien insight into the Humans and vice versus, Sato and Mayweather was way to under utilized
Sato was hot! Mmmmm, Trek needs more Asians. I think that would solve everything.

[Dacke]

Braga needs to be shot. I haven't liked anything he did with Star Trek. Just look at that shit storm that was Nemesis. What a horrible way to end TNG series.
Threshold was pretty good though.

[Dacke]

Think of the original cast: in spite of all being white males of a certain age range
I'm sure George Takei and Nichelle Nichols would disagree on that.

[The Theocrat of Poon-Tang]

Enterprise really missed the boat in my opinion because they were afraid to go retro. They pussed out and made a visually drab show that, as said above, started to talk about Kniffler Valves and tachyons when it should have been about two-fisted action and the captain bagging native women.

They should have gone into the Captain Pike era and used the old pilot episode of TOS ("The Cage") as a visual blueprint for the whole show. Sure they'd have had to update things and make them appeal to today's audience, but you can do it in a way that keeps the "feel" of a time most Trek fans already know about. So too with the ship - why the hell make a ship that looks like it belongs in "Voyager"? Why not an updated TOS ship? As for the uniforms, where are the bright colors? I want to know that the guys in red shirts are probably going to bite it, dammit!

There was so much fertile ground there and they blew it. They threw the worst parts of DS9, TNG and Voyager into a blender and served us the uneven, tasteless concoction. It is a shame, too, because Bakula was good and could have been so much more. They took the easy way out and were afraid to really take a risk, and in the end it cost them.

Maybe the upcoming movie will be what Enterprise should have been.

[Northcott]

I'm sure George Takei and Nichelle Nichols would disagree on that.

...:confused:

You're pulling my leg, aren't you? They were as whitebread as it gets.



:D Seriously, though; was it that unclear that I was referring to the primary characters? Spock, McCoy, and Kirk. Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, etc, I relegate to secondary status.

Talking about Trek with this much knowledge makes me feel dirty, and not in the fun way.



BTW, I agree with almost everything Stannis said. It's like when crews fuck up remakes of Flash Gordon or Superman. It's irritating as Hell to watch people be handed a property with a long history to draw on, loads of potential, and see them fuck it up in spite of having a blueprint for success in their hands.

[Snatch]

I'd have kept the vulcan, though. It's long been established that it was contact with the Vulcans that launched humanity into space exploration, so the addition of a single vulcan worked well.

But outside of that? Yeah, entirely human crew. The Vulcan could have been invaluable as a character in terms of providing an outside voice; a new lens by which to view the actions of the crew.

I understood the reason - it just didn't click for me. I suppose I'm tired of the Spock/Data/Odo/Tuvok/7of9/foil-to-humanity schtick.

[Northcott]

I understood the reason - it just didn't click for me. I suppose I'm tired of the Spock/Data/Odo/Tuvok/7of9/foil-to-humanity schtick.

Yeah, they keep using them in the same way, and that sucks. Now as a neutral observer to humanity, which they did with Data now and again, it has some interesting potential. Imagine if she'd been the Marlon Perkins doing her Vulcan "Mutual of Omaha: Living among the hairless apes" bit. The Diane Fossey of the pointy-eared set. She could even periodically provide outside narrative, or put different spins on the values and behaviours of stories. Rather that, than more "I don't understand you humans... now let's mate!" crap.

Though she was hot...

[Daemon Sultan]

Threshold was pretty good though.

I actually liked some of the episodes. The special effects were great.

I liked the first and last seasons of the show. One of my favorite episodes of the series was the mirror episode. If they did more stuff like that, the show would have been golden. Plus the Vulcan chick in a belly shirt was hot. (Space Elf).

I just think if Braga were shot the show would have been munch better. He is a useless fucking cunt. Kill it with fire!!!

[Dacke]

I liked the first and last seasons of the show. One of my favorite episodes of the series was the mirror episode. If they did more stuff like that, the show would have been golden. Plus the Vulcan chick in a belly shirt was hot. (Space Elf).
The last season was made out of nigh-pure win. Mirror universe, augments, explanation for klingon ridges, romulans, and so on. Other than the TCW-nazis and the finale, it was all good.

[Daemon Sultan]

The last season was made out of nigh-pure win. Mirror universe, augments, explanation for klingon ridges, romulans, and so on. Other than the TCW-nazis and the finale, it was all good.

Yup, I have to agree. Other than the Nazis and the finale the last season was good. If they made the series more like the first and last seasons I think it would have been a good show. But Braga was at the helm and fucked everything up.

[Phantom Stranger]

Well I think the Nazi's was an attempt to try to capture the wacky OS episodes where they went basically back in time on the other worlds, like the episode "A Piece of the Action," and such.

[Dacke]

Nah, it was a hamhanded way for them to get out of the TCW.

[EhtoZed]

The last season was made out of nigh-pure win. Mirror universe, augments, explanation for klingon ridges, romulans, and so on. Other than the TCW-nazis and the finale, it was all good.
I missed the Klingon episodes. What was the explanation for the ridges?

[Northcott]

I missed the Klingon episodes. What was the explanation for the ridges?

The ridges are their natural state. They went smooth-headed when they tried incorporating genetic alteration from Khan's bloodline. This had the unforseen side-effect of making the altered klingons less klingon, and more human... including developing more human temperments and traits. It ended up spreading like a virus, and nearly wiped out the race as we now know it.

IIRC.

[Dacke]

I don't remember exactly, but it involved the Klingons trying to adapt human Augment technology to Klingon genetics, and there was some sort of really nasty disease involved too (I don't recall if it was a consequence of the augment-tech or if the augment-tech was used to cure it). Essentially, the disappearance of the ridges was due to infusing human DNA into the klingon genome. Presumably, some time between TOS and the movies, they managed to reverse the effects. There's some stuff about it on the two episodes' wiki pages, here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affliction_%28Enterprise_episode%29) and here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergence_%28Enterprise_episode%29).

[doc]

Sato was hot! Mmmmm, Trek needs more Asians. I think that would solve everything.

It was briefly covered in the DS9 Episode Trials and Tribble-ations where the DS9 guys went back to TOS time, here's what Wikipedia has on that...Between the original episode and DS9 the appearance of Klingons had changed radically (their design had originally been altered for Star Trek: The Motion Picture). When Bashir and O'Brien ask Worf why 23rd Century Klingons look so different he will only tell them "it was a bad time in our history... we do not discuss it with outsiders". Bashir and O'Brien ponder possible causes, genetic engineering and mutated virus, both of which were later shown to be the cause in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. Contained in the 'Special Features' of the region 2 box set of DS9 season 5, the producers are seen to comment that the joke at the Klingons' expense was as much for plausibility's sake as for the purpose of humour, claiming "any explanation we could come up with would have been ridiculous!"

[Phantom Stranger]

Nah, it was a hamhanded way for them to get out of the TCW.
Ah NM then, didn't see the 2nd part of the Episode.

[Snatch]

Though she was hot...

I have no rebuttal for that. :)

I think they could have done the whole "alien/human foil" hook by using the races they encountered instead having it internal to the crew. I think the writers got too hooked on mimicking the other series, while at the same time trying to original and edgy. For the most part, it all just fell flat.

[Northcott]

I have no rebuttal for that. :)

I think they could have done the whole "alien/human foil" hook by using the races they encountered instead having it internal to the crew. I think the writers got too hooked on mimicking the other series, while at the same time trying to original and edgy. For the most part, it all just fell flat.

I can't argue that. We at least agree on their having tread old ground, and done so poorly.

[Snatch]

The ridges are their natural state. They went smooth-headed when they tried incorporating genetic alteration from Khan's bloodline. This had the unforseen side-effect of making the altered klingons less klingon, and more human... including developing more human temperments and traits. It ended up spreading like a virus, and nearly wiped out the race as we now know it.

IIRC.

I hated that explanation. They should've let it lie and chalk it up to a TV show extending for the 1960's to the 21st century.

[dmmagic]

The last season was made out of nigh-pure win. Mirror universe, augments, explanation for klingon ridges, romulans, and so on. Other than the TCW-nazis and the finale, it was all good.

Truth.