More news from that exclusive interview with Brannon Braga in the May issue of CINESCAPE.
In the wide-raging question and answer piece, Braga talked to us about the challenges of producing ENTERPRISE and creating another captain in the STAR TREK universe fans would want to follow. Here are some excerpts:
C: Even with the archetype pre-established, has [Captain] Archer been a difficult character to write?
Braga: The captain has always been the most challenging person to write for the three different STAR TREK shows that I've worked on. The captain has to be complex, highly intelligent and articulate and interesting and all of those things that I rarely feel like first thing in the morning when I sit down to write. I mean, if I don't feel particularly intelligent and interesting, how am I going to make this captain feel that way?
C: Is there something more you'd like to see his character doing?
Braga: We wanted to see him make some mistakes, see him learning, see him grappling with the idea of how he's going to do this job where there are no rules. The fact that Archer has a bit of a temper -- we like to see that now and again, and to see him get frustrated. He's a real physical guy. With Janeway, we'd throw her around the room and she'd get up and her hair would be a little mussed. She had a skeleton of titanium, but with Archer, we like to see him get beat up. We rough him up a lot and like him to get physical.
C: Are you tired of TREK yet?
Braga: That's a very good question and it's a question that I ask myself every day: "What they hell am I doing?" The question keeps me on my toes. Every morning I ask, "Do I have anything else to give to this franchise? Does this franchise have anything else to give to me besides money?" The day I wake up and answer "yes" to either of those questions, I will quit. I often wonder if I'll ever work on anything else, and the thought that I won't frightens me. But then here I am writing this MIDNIGHT EXPRESS-like prison breakout drama and I'm thinking "Sh*t, I've never written a prison breakout story. How lucky am I to still be writing things that I've never written before?" TREK lets me play in all the genres. I've written westerns; I've written gothic romance; I've written dramas. Out of the 100 or so TREK episodes I've done, I've written in almost every genre. That's the great thing about STAR TREK you can do anything.
For the whole story, including Braga's views of fan feedback and more, pick up the May issue of CINESCAPE.
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