Braga throws suits under the bus
- Thread starter Gaith
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TATV is like the black hole of ENT--it just seems to suck in whatever discussion happens to touch on it. You could power a Romulan warp core off of it.
number6
Vice Admiral
They're not mutually exclusive.
And ANIS is a fun episode.
The whole reason for the quote function is to, y'know, quote something, so others who read your post won't have to scroll up to see what the heck you're talking about.
Quoting someone for the express purpose of deleting their very short comment...well, there are all kinds of ways to misunderstand the statement you're trying to make.
I cared about the show, and I enjoyed ANIS too. I enjoyed all of them, for one reason or another.
Rather than get bogged down (again) fussing over views you don't agree with (again) or labeling groups of viewers (again) and making wholesale claims about them (again) that aren't necessarily true (again)... let's not. Okay?
They don't have to scroll, it's enough to just click on that blue arrow icon next to the user name...The whole reason for the quote function is to, y'know, quote something, so others who read your post won't have to scroll up to see what the heck you're talking about.
Is this, like, an advertisement or something?
^^^^(Not quoting or snipping* anyone. I'm just responding to the last few comments.)
1. I'm a big fan of the show.
2. I get a kick out of ANiS. Sure, it's not "Balance of Terror," but it's a pretty enjoyable rewatch, just for the comedy. If they had thrown in a B plot about a subspace anomaly that was going to destroy the Alpha Quadrant in 47 minutes unless they could invert the verteron pulse, I would be a lot less forgiving. And knowing that the big exercise ball thing is going to become part of the Xindi Superweapon makes it that much more interesting.
My other strategy is, view this one as taking place in a mirror universe where the humans are like the Pakleds of the Alpha Quadrant, minus the scheming. Kind of dumb, totally inept, and impossible to really dislike. The Vulcans have been assigned as their interstellar babysitters by the rest of the quadrant, but haven't let the humans in on the joke.
*I have been snipped, but am still fully functional. And skilled in a variety of techniques.
1. I'm a big fan of the show.
2. I get a kick out of ANiS. Sure, it's not "Balance of Terror," but it's a pretty enjoyable rewatch, just for the comedy. If they had thrown in a B plot about a subspace anomaly that was going to destroy the Alpha Quadrant in 47 minutes unless they could invert the verteron pulse, I would be a lot less forgiving. And knowing that the big exercise ball thing is going to become part of the Xindi Superweapon makes it that much more interesting.
My other strategy is, view this one as taking place in a mirror universe where the humans are like the Pakleds of the Alpha Quadrant, minus the scheming. Kind of dumb, totally inept, and impossible to really dislike. The Vulcans have been assigned as their interstellar babysitters by the rest of the quadrant, but haven't let the humans in on the joke.
*I have been snipped, but am still fully functional. And skilled in a variety of techniques.
Lucky bastard.
That said, I would rather watch a marathon of Threshold; And The Children Shall Lead; The Royale; Spock's Brain; and Shades of Grey than sit through the abominable "humor," Archer's infantile foot-stamping, and the overall IQ-destroying stupidity of ANIS ever again.
To paraphrase, good Trek is all alike; bad Trek is bad in different ways. That's what makes it fun.
"Shades of Grey" is another episode whose awfulness I think has been exaggerated. It's a clip show, true, but at least we know there were reasons for it being so slip-shod.
I like the absolute disaster bad eps like ANiS more than competent but dull ones like "Desert Crossing," but that's just me. So out of Gep's list, I'd probably re-watch "Children" just for the fun of it, and "Spock's Brain" remains one of my favorite S3 TOS eps.
"Shades of Grey" is another episode whose awfulness I think has been exaggerated. It's a clip show, true, but at least we know there were reasons for it being so slip-shod.
I like the absolute disaster bad eps like ANiS more than competent but dull ones like "Desert Crossing," but that's just me. So out of Gep's list, I'd probably re-watch "Children" just for the fun of it, and "Spock's Brain" remains one of my favorite S3 TOS eps.
That's a fine sentiment as long as the "artists" are more imaginative and talented than the average suit. Bryan Fuller vs. the ABC philistines who cancelled Pushing Daisies or Josh Whedon vs FOX, sure, I'll side with the artists. In the case of UPN vs B&B, I don't see any reason to take sides.
And to defend the suits, I've heard of cases (not many, but some) where they improved a show. Some exec came up with the idea of keeping Sylar mysterious and faceless for several episodes on Heroes, to build up dramatic tension. Good call. The ABC philistines should get credit for having the sense to stay out of the Lost writers' way.
The stories don't belong to the "artists," they belong to the suits. The "artists" can go write their own original series without the big brand name, and then they'll see how far that gets them. The big brand name is by far the single most valuable thing Star Trek has going for it.
That's the problem - a premise like that lives or dies depending on the quality of the writers and actors. DS9 was the only series that was strong enough in both departments that they could have pulled it off, but even then, they tried to pull something very similar off - the Bajoran politics arc - and the ratings tumbled because even intelligent and well-written talking is less exciting than poorly written, derivative action and space battles and people don't watch Star Trek for talking. If DS9 couldn't pull it off, it would have been catastrophic on any other series.
Yes, JMS was the kind of writer who was good at that sort of thing. (The ratings sucked anyway.)
Okay fine. Writers at the same level of talent as the DS9 writers. Same difference. But it wouldn't matter whether they had done Trek or not. It wasn't creative burnout - Berman and Braga simply never wrote at the level of the DS9 writers. I don't think they were capable of it. They certainly never demonstrated the kind of nuanced, sophisticated, arc-based writing that you'd need if you were shooting for West Wing in Space.
It's a question of talent, creativity and vision. If a whole new bunch of writers have that talent, then bring them on! But if Berman had hired a bunch of hacks on the basis of how well they kiss his ass, then you might as well just keep the current hacks.
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Your entire post I whole-heartedly concur with (well, with the exception of the references to DS9 -- only because I haven't yet really watched that series).
However I do want to point out the following:
This is partially true. It was the suggestion of the "suits" that Jack not die in the first episode of Lost as the writers had originally planned.
And yes, I do agree with you on the fact that B&B versus the suits isn't that great of a fight to get in on.
However I do want to point out the following:
This is partially true. It was the suggestion of the "suits" that Jack not die in the first episode of Lost as the writers had originally planned.
And yes, I do agree with you on the fact that B&B versus the suits isn't that great of a fight to get in on.
And yet it ran for five years, without the advantage of Star Trek's built-in fanbase!
Not that hard to find, then
.In the oppressive environment UPN created for VOY and ENT's staffs, there would've been a far higher and faster burnout rate.
UPN was a MAJOR problem here.
No, neither do I. Particularly since it took the TOS people three decades to come out with their various "tell all" books that happened in the mid 90's.
That said, I would have liked to see this alternate show Braga had in mind. Sounds interesting.
As others have pointed out this is hardly new news - Braga's been saying it for ages.
As to whether the premise would work - well it sounds interesting but it all depends on the execution so who knows?????
And what do I know anyway, I liked what we got very much including the first 2 seasons.
As to whether the premise would work - well it sounds interesting but it all depends on the execution so who knows?????
And what do I know anyway, I liked what we got very much including the first 2 seasons.
“It was actually set on Earth for a while – the building of the first starship.... We wanted to do the launch of the first starship and take it maybe a little bit more retro."
*gasp* A prequel series, going retro?!
They could've made it look like it was made in the 50s!! whilst still being futurey.
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