Braga on First Contact: regrets not doing TNG 3

[Khan 2.0]

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-e9zkg-b0019a1
just listening to latest Inglorious Treksperts (cool show) and they had Braga back for all things FC (previous did a Generations pod) and one interesting bit around 47:00 and 57:00 he said after the huge financial and critical success of FC he was offered the chance to write TNG 3 (and have a producer credit) but decided to focus on Voyager instead but now bitterly regrets not doing both.. said everyone was mad at him for turning it down: his agent, berman etc ..and Altman ponders a little on how the TNG film series couldve gone had he stayed (unfortunately Branga dosnt go into any ideas of what his 3rd movie wouldve been)

i guess anything wouldve been better than Insurrection and since Branga (and Moore) had gone from the half decent (but disappointing) Generations (where they had a check list of stuff to include - time travel, TOS/TNG crossover, Kirk death, Klingons, data emochip, khan like villain, Ent D destruction) to the truly great FC the chances are it mightve been another crowd-pleasing Trek movie and then maybe another one instead of Nemesis.. and then maybe a TNG 5 and 6

 

[suarezguy]

First Contact was a very strong note to go out on. Moore and Braga could have made a strong followup but they would have likely been pretty constrained, as Piller actually was, by Stewart's and Spiner's demands.

 

[Vger23]

Almost anything would have been better than INS, unfortunately

 

[Onid]

I'd take Insurrection and Nemesis over Generations. So who the hell knows what we would have gotten.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Bannon Braga without Moore is...well...less. They did a good job on FC as a team, but would Moore have come back for the next film as well?

 

[BillJ]

Bannon Braga without Moore is...well...less. They did a good job on FC as a team, but would Moore have come back for the next film as well?

I always thought Moore was overrated, a Braga only film would've been interesting.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Well, Moore was just a stronger writer, whether or not he was overrated is certainly debatable. He did botch his own series when BSG had a chance to wrap up nicely. Braga seems to spend a lot of time apologizing for bad choices and wishing he did other stuff.

Seems like a nice enough guy though. And I did like his high concept ideas for Voyager. As for him writing alone, Rick Berman most likely would have had a lot to do with the writing of the next film anyway.

 

[BillJ]

Well, Moore was just a stronger writer...

Honestly, I think that was/is debatable.

 

[Ssosmcin]

To be fair, it all is. I'll just say I found his episodes to be more enjoyable.

 

[suarezguy]

I would be interested in Braga and Moore doing a TNG film 4 or later 5, especially as they would have taken more account of Deep Space Nine and Voyager, made it feel more like the end of an era and almost certainly wouldn't have given Data another twin.

 

[BillJ]

...made it feel more like the end of an era and almost certainly wouldn't have given Data another twin.

Generations was a film written to a checklist, so would have been any of the later films where Stewart, Spiner and the studio all would have had their own visions of what the movie should be.

Not a lot of freedom or "original vision" involved where franchise films are concerned.

 

[suarezguy]

I will say with First Contact, if it had to involve time travel, going back in time to our future was a brilliant creative move, if the film had instead just gone, as standard, back to 1996 or further in the past (as considered the Renaissance or Civil War), and/or if they went with the idea of Riker & Worf fighting the Borg, with Picard on Earth, it could have also felt very just two-part episode like the other films.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

While it would have been interesting to see a solo Braga-written film, my favorite episodes were the ones co-written with Joe Menosky (Timeless, Equinox, Dark Frontier). Now, imagine the movie we could've gotten if those two had teamed up!

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I will say with First Contact, if it had to involve time travel, going back in time to our future was a brilliant creative move, if the film had instead just gone, as standard, back to 1996 or further in the past (as considered the Renaissance or Civil War), and/or if they went with the idea of Riker & Worf fighting the Borg, with Picard on Earth, it could have also felt very just two-part episode like the other films.

They could've had Deanna and Beverly break pots on Borg heads this time

 

[diankra]

The third film was always going to run into the problem of Stewart and Spiner having creative input and wanting a change of tone.