quote:
"Hey, I had to fight for that earpiece [of Hoshi's]-- Rick was not sure about it!" he reveals taking the bait. "And the design of the bridge, to some degree. I felt very strongly that it should have a sunken central captain's cahir that swivels, kinda with a Kirk flair. And there were lots of others--I thought very strongly that the communicator should flip open (ala its '60s ancestor)." [...]
But it's not secret that some fans aren't convinced, and were holding their collective breaths when it was annocuned the fifth seres would focus on earlier history--a time the led into the classic series' era.
"Yeah, I've taken a lashing from the fans," he says, taking the issue head-on. "But just for the record, here's how that started. I think there was a period about eight years ago when I made some stupid comments, in one or two interviews, about never having seen an episode of the original series -- which was true. And in face, when I first started here, when Gene Roddenberry was still alive, he said to me, 'Don't watch the original series/ If you haven't seen it, don't watch.' And I said why? And he said, 'Because you will bring something fresh to the table' -- because he was very adamant that TNG not be the original series, and not re-do anything. So I was, like, 'Fine.'
"And then it became a novelty: I was a STAR TREK writer not familar with the original series - which *I* thought was a novelty, but the fans too offense at that. Well, of course, now -- eight years later -- I HAVE seen most of them, and I've always had a great affection for it, and I know it very, very well. And I know what people like about it. So when it came to certain details of this show... there were lots of original series details that came from me.
"So," he adds with a laugh, "the fans are going to have to ease up a little, now!"
But Braga knows there is still lingering doubt out there. "There are some fans who think Rick Berman and I should be hung out to dry, and that new people should come in," he adds. "And on some level, they're right -- some fresh creative vision might be a good thing. But it's my belief that Rick and I are the perfect guys to do this because we know every single episode of STAR TREK, we know exactly what STAR TRE has been, and what is should NOT be -- we know all the things that don't work. And I think that we've really created a show that is going to be very much the essence of STAR TREK, but very, very fresh."
[...]
"Initially we started talking about [a setting of] the great Starfleet pioneers, traipsing around in the mud building starships, which started us talking about what it meant to get a ship in the air," he recalls. "It really began as a much more rustic concept. And then over the course of two years, we came to a lot of realizations. We realized that it had to be a ship show -- it could not be an Earth-bound show. DEEP SPACE NINE was a station-bound show, and VOYAGER was a ship show about going back to Earth. We thought it was time to doa show about going OUT THERE again."
[...]
"I love exploring as much as the next person; I love scuba-diving -- I remember getting certified as a scuba diver," he says. "But when I went on my first night dive, I was scared out of my wits! There were schools of lobsters and weird creatures that only out at night -- and I only had a flashlight. I thought I was going to have a panic attack! And that's a good analogy for these people -- it's all new to them."
[...]
Although lots of ideas are in the mix, Braga lets it be known that ENTERPRISE -- as with all past debuting Treks -- has no strict overarching plan for now, leaving lots of room to improvise both in story as well as background.
"Yeah, you don't want to figure out everything, every detail -- you want to figure out 25% of it and leave 75% of it to inspiration as you go," he says. "But we know where a lot of things stand... We're hoping that the fans enjoy watching the genesis of STAR TREK, and enjoy the characters, and maybe the non-TREK fans might enjoy the show 'cause you don't have to know much. You'll appreciate it MORE if you're a fan, but if not then you really don't have to know anything because it's all laid out for you. It's a very good way to break into STAR TREK."
[...]
"We're planning on doing much more recurring crewman; we're not going to do the 'extras of the week' as much. We've already got one character who might be back...'
[...]
"I think maybe chef -- his name is Chef, they call him Chef -- we might play Chef as the kinda guy you never see but always hear about [ala DS9's 'Morn'], like 'Carlton your Doorman' (the intercom voice from the sitcom RHODA). But we'll see." He pauses, and then deadpans: "A STAR TREK novel will be written about Chef."
[...]
"My dictum has always been 'Fun to write, fun to watch,'" he adds. "If I'm writing a script and it's a chore, then it's not going to be very much fun to watch. And STAR TREK is at a place where, after 600 episodes, it needs to keep surprising the audience. And if we're feeling stale, it IS stale."
[...]
One last poser -- and you might almost call it a trick question: what about Romulans?
"Well, we very much want to do Romulans," he begins, a big smile betraying that he's on to it. "But the problem with Romulans is in the original series it's established that no humans or even Vulcans had seen Romulans. So for Archer to see Romulans would be... a *breach of continuity*" -- you can tell he enjoys saying that, for the doubting Thomases -- "so we're gonna have to figure that one out."
For the tech-heads, there's meant to be a bigass section on the production design, including concept sketches of the various sets and an interview with Zimmerman.
I might just buy this puppy.
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