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Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek...

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Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek's falling ratings wasn't easy.

Braga admitted to stumbling into his early Star Trek writing success. "I didn't really have any books or any way of grasping how I could go about being a screenwriter when I was growing up," he said. "It's not easy, but it can be done. That's part of the message I want to impart."

He went from an internship writing scripts for Star Trek: The Next Generation to producer, collecting a Hugo Award for Excellence in Science Fiction Writing along the way. But Braga took heat for the falling ratings and eventually cancellation of Enterprise. "It isn't a pleasant thing to think of yourself as to blame," he said. "There are other factors involved with Star Trek losing its audience appeal over the years."

Braga has moved on to other projects. He was the executive producer of the short-lived Threshold and is now a writer on 24. It's challenging and demands a tremendous amount of continuity," he said of the fast-paced show.

Yeah, continuity is pretty important when writing for ANY show there genius. :rolleyes:
 
Brannon gets too much grief from people.

Looking back on TNG he incorporated details rather well from previous episodes into his stories. Barclay's fear of spiders in Realm of Fear/Genesis. He had Geordi mention the Devidiians phasing from Times Arrow in Timescape. All appropriate. The Ode to Spot mentioned in Schisms brought up in Fistful of Datas.

In Scorpion he appropriately incorporated Q, Wolf 359, the Borg mantra, anti Borg tactics such as rotating modulations, Locutus as a spokesperson etc.

Year of Hell remembered events in Before and After.

The Xindi arc maintained strong continuity and he oversaw that.

So what exactly did he mess up on? The only one that stands out is TaTV fitting with "Pegasus".
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

The Xindi arc maintained strong continuity? Within itself, perhaps. It just didn't fit well into greater fabric of the whole of Star Trek. It sure didn't feel right to me.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

StarryEyed said:
The Xindi arc maintained strong continuity? Within itself, perhaps. It just didn't fit well into greater fabric of the whole of Star Trek. It sure didn't feel right to me.
The arc answered why we never heard of the Expanse in later series, we saw an ENT-J, the Founding members mentioned in Zero Hour were correct. The attack on Earth didn't have an opening in later series where its reference fit so that is why it wasn't mentioned and if that isn't a satisfactory explanation you could argue the timeline was altered by the Sphere Builders interference.

I guess this sort of stuff doesn't bother me.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

It bothered me because it just didn't feel right. I'll admit that there isn't anything in the Xindi arc which flat-out contradicts what came before but it didn't feel right to me. It was previously established that the Romulan War would take place during Enterprise's time frame so why come up with a whole new enemy?

Braga had no respect for established Trek history and he admitted this several times. Many of us can't enjoy a book if what we read in chapter 7 contradicts what happened in chapter 3. It spoils the whole thing.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

StarryEyed said:
It was previously established that the Romulan War would take place during Enterprise's time frame so why come up with a whole new enemy?
Were the Xindi necessary? No. But at that time ENT was in trouble and this is what B&B came up with. It gave the series a lot of elements it was missing.

And I liked the idea of a new myterious race we hadn't heard of before and the mysterious Expanse. It gave the prequel some elements we were in the dark about and added some intrigue and suspense. Plus it allowed new viewers to jump in.

Having the Xindi in season three didn't prevent the Romulan War to be depicted just delayed it as we saw in season four. It was probably better to wait a few years to set it up before launching into it in most likely season five or six.
Braga had no respect for established Trek history and he admitted this several times. Many of us can't enjoy a book if what we read in chapter 7 contradicts what happened in chapter 3. It spoils the whole thing.
But what was contradicted?
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

Enterprise was in trouble because it had strayed from the established Trek universe IMHO. That was the biggest complaint I remembered at the time on other message boards.

Nothing was really contradicted; I admitted such already. But introducing a new alien not mentioned in previous series when the Romulan War is supposed to take place was just the wrong direction. If B & B wanted to make their own stuff up rather than go with what was already established, they shouldn't have done a prequel.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

From day one..the "Temporal Cold War"..that puppy left me flat..the Suliban never seemed to be a decent adversary, the sillyness of Season 2 with the Borg? and Ferengi? violating continuity for the sake of ratings..(gosh we're in a ratings slide..lets get the Borg involved that ALWAYS raised the ratings before)..I wanted to see the BIRTH OF THE FEDERATION..meetin and greetin the races that make up the Federation's core. the Romulian War Jeeze,the Andorian shows were excellent and the Tellerite too..Season 4 (AKA too late for most) was exactly what the show needed from the beginning with it's mostly unrecycled stories and nods to Trek history.


Too bad Brannon Braga and Rick Berman didn't even try to give the public what it expected, just what they thought was easy to bring in ratings..
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

goldbug said:(gosh we're in a ratings slide..lets get the Borg involved that ALWAYS raised the ratings before)
Actually the Borg ENT episode was Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong. They discuss in "Regeneration"'s commentary that they were the ones who brought this idea they had to Brannon. This wasn't his idea.

The writers were running out of stories in late season two and the duo were afraid to even mention the idea of bringing Borg onto ENT but went ahead and pitched it to Brannon.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

I agree completely, goldbug. What they did in season 4 was excellent and exactly what they needed from the beginning.

Enterprise could have been a well-respected and well-loved series if they had just stuck to the established Trek universe. There was so much story to tell with just the Andorians and the Tellarites. That plus Romulan and Vulcan stuff with the occasional alien of the week story would have easily filled seven seasons. They had an opportunity to fill in a huge gap in the Trek universe but they blew it big time.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

Startrekwatcher said Actually the Borg ENT episode was Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong. They discuss in "Regeneration"'s commentary that they were the ones who brought this idea they had to Brannon. This wasn't his idea.

The writers were running out of stories in late season two and the duo were afraid to even mention the idea of bringing Borg onto ENT but went ahead and pitched it to Brannon.
Yes..but who had the final say for stories?...who could have said "Now that won't work". it was his decision..and as the producer (Head writer for all intents..) it was HIS call to accept it or not..and again, what were these writer's thinking.."running out of stories in late season two"..my gosh, think..I could have thought of dozens and I'm no writer...Let's meet the Tellerites, another Andorian story, a Vulcan story..lets meet the Rigelians... the BORG? THE FERENGI?? shows the creative bankruptcy that infected the entire writing staff...
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

But a lot of season four's stories needed earlier episodes to set them up. You couldn't just jump into them right off the bat. B&B should have done more interesting standalones that featured TOS elements like Observer Effect before paving the way to these more epic stories in later seasons.

ENT did have some good episodes in its first two seasons--Carbon Creek, Shuttlepod One, First Flight, The Catwalk, Minefield, Dead Stop, Strange New World etc.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

Yes they should have, featuring races that were KNOWN in TOS or as setups from TNG..(Betazed anyone?) but again BORG that is indicative of what was wrong with the first seasons of ENT..
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

The Suliban, Xindi, and Sphere Builders all may have worked in a different Star Trek or sci-fi show.

But not in the Star Trek prequel show.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

He never had the TCW worked out, and yet made the series revolve around it.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

Brannon gets too much grief from people.

Perhaps. I tend to blame Paramount/Viacom overall before I work my way down to the Bs level.
 
Re: Brannon Braga found that taking the heat for Star Trek..

DrGojira said:
He never had the TCW worked out, and yet made the series revolve around it.
That's because the studio made him.
 
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