Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

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Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:03 pm

Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

When it came to developing Enterprise, both Braga and Berman wanted the series to be a little more darker than it ended up.

“Rick Berman and I had a little bit more of a raw conception of Enterprise than maybe the studio was comfortable with. It was actually set on Earth for a while – the building of the first starship, kind of like JJ’s. We wanted to do the launch of the first starship and take it maybe a little bit more retro, and we initially didn’t have the futuristic temporal cold war aspect of it.

“The studio was a little nervous about the prequel concept and they felt that Star Trek should be going forward, not backward. So we introduced this recurring element of a Star Trek far beyond Kirk’s time, or even Picard’s time, to satisfy their concerns, which I thought was interesting. But initially our concept of Enterprise was really raw and basic and ‘prequelly.’ I’m not saying it would’ve been better but it would’ve been a little bit different. It’s a collaboration – it’s a collaboration – it’s their franchise, it’s their money. We did the best we could to accommodate their notes.”

Does anyone have a copy of this issue? I'd be interested to see what else he has to say about ENT.
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby justTripn » Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:32 pm

Thank you. Yes, I'd like to hear more of that interview.
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby Alelou » Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:49 pm

It's interesting to think the whole temporal cold war was the result of a desperate compromise with the studio.

But of course when I first read that article, I just got fixated on that "more darker." :explode:
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby WarpGirl » Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:42 pm

I read this on Memory-Alpha a while ago, but I don't know how to get the artical. It is a shame that the whole temporal cold war was not only a compromise, but so choppy and then it vanished. I wouldn't have minded "darker" though, if it had been consistent. If you are going to do something stick to it don't chicken out.
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby Alelou » Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:45 pm

I think the overarching point is that if the studio got nervous, changes were made. You don't tend to work very long in Hollywood if you're rigid and uncompromising.
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby WarpGirl » Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:49 pm

<sigh> Well fine then do the temporal cold war, but then DO IT. Don't have it here today gone tomorrow with no remifications. The temporal cold war disappeared completely in season 4, not one episode dealt with it. What it was suddenly over?
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby Alelou » Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:11 pm

They won?
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby WarpGirl » Sun Aug 22, 2010 10:14 pm

It's temperol mechanics it's never over...
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby crystalswolf » Sun Aug 22, 2010 10:18 pm

Weren't the first two eps in Season 4 related to the Temporal Cold War? I wasn't a big fan of that plot so I was happy to see it dropped.

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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby WarpGirl » Sun Aug 22, 2010 10:23 pm

Oh I didn't either, but I was a fan of the actor that played Daniels, and I liked his personality. I would have liked to see that character, minus the time travel thing, be a character on the show.
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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby EntAllat » Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:01 pm

crystalswolf wrote:Weren't the first two eps in Season 4 related to the Temporal Cold War? I wasn't a big fan of that plot so I was happy to see it dropped.


Yup. From Chrissie's Transcripts Site:

(Archer is surrounded by disjointed images disappearing and appearing - pyramids, Easter Island, Civil War soldiers, Stonehenge)
DANIELS: It's quite a sight. The timeline's resetting itself. You did it. Vosk is dead. He didn't make it back. All of the damage he caused, it never happened.
ARCHER: And you're here to give me a pat on the back.
DANIELS: In a way.
ARCHER: Well, I don't want it. I want you to leave me and my crew alone. We're done with you and your damn Temporal Cold War.
DANIELS: It's coming to an end because of what you did. You have no idea how many lives you've saved.
ARCHER: I'll take your word for it. Just send us home.
(Margaret Thatcher, someone using a laptop, the Clintons, Mandela, Blair and Bush)
DANIELS: It's almost ready. Good-bye, Jonathan. Captain. It's been a privilege.
(and with an image of Archer running down the gantry before the Xindi weapon exploded, the Bridge shimmers back into view)

So they came back after the Xindi arc of season 3, addressed it and wrapped it up. We were still left with some mystery: i.e. who was that shadowy figure Silik was reporting to. I remember reading somewhere that B&B had wanted to make that a Romulan from the future who was going to destroy the Federation by mucking with the past but I can't find a link to that info now.

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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby Pennjazz » Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:53 am

So they came back after the Xindi arc of season 3, addressed it and wrapped it up. We were still left with some mystery: i.e. who was that shadowy figure Silik was reporting to. I remember reading somewhere that B&B had wanted to make that a Romulan from the future who was going to destroy the Federation by mucking with the past but I can't find a link to that info now.



Except if that's what it was supposed to be, then having the "Romulan" warn Archer about the Xindi would go against his plans... :wtf:

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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby enterprikayak » Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:06 am

it's gossamer. and one doesn't dissect gossamer.


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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby Silverbullet » Thu May 05, 2011 9:42 pm

I thought that Trip and T'Pol had a lot to do with the end of the temporal cold war. they destroyed the time machine preventing that guy from getting on it.

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Re: Braga Discusses The Original Idea Behind 'Enterprise'

Postby Kotik » Wed May 18, 2011 12:11 pm

I found a nice article by Karen Comer on treknation, which looked forward to ENT. This is what she expected and I'll have a look at what we got Image

1. DO Serialize it. This will force lazy writers to pay attention to character and plot continuity. It is also the driving force behind successful Series like LA Law and Hill Street Blues.

Oh, that's not gone well before the third season...

2. DON'T Rely on a writing staff. As the last few seasons of DS9 testify, writers get burned out. Terrible things happen when they get tired. They get slap happy and start doing crazy things. Continue to solicit the best script ideas from outside sources.

O noez Image

3. DO Give us some regular alien characters who don't sell out to Federation values. Let them retain their own cultures and beliefs. Cardassians and Romulans are my personal favorites.

Well, with Shran they got at least this one right. In fact, I think Shran is the best recurring non-regular ever on screen, but half of that magic is down to Combes acting, rather than the script

4. DON'T give us anymore chemistryless couples like Odo and Kira. (see previous Trek Romances article) She acted like a dominatrix and he like a whiny teenager. Romantic trips to the holodeck do not chemistry make. It was obvious the actors were struggling to pull this off. This was not an adult or realistic relationship. It was mommy and sonnyboy. Odo actually stomped his feet once and had a temper tantrum like a two year old because he couldn't have what he wanted. No more "romance of the week" either.

FAIL. They started out well with the first-season chemistry between Trip and T'Pol, only to see that it makes entirely too much sense and went for the chemistryless AinT pairing in S2, only to switch back to TnT by the wrongest means possible, but then just let it degenerate into the horrible will-they-wont-they of season 4. :duh:

5. DO Find a fantastic costume designer a la' William Ware Theiss. Put them to work designing great style and fashion that will be trendy and apt to be copied. Why restrict your marketing to 9 inch playmates?

Erm, yeah - those blue mechanics overalls were a stroke of genius :wtf:

6. DON'T give us another character who longs to be a human or a solid, or is ashamed of themselves in some way. This was fresh and new with Spock but a has- been by the time we get to Odo and B'ellanna

Well, no, but how about a Vulcan, who wants to be a Vulcan but becomes more and more human-like, like drugging herself. Does that count for anything? :vulcan:

7. DO give us some memorable music. No more retro sixities stuff. Hire young, modern, talented composers. Use synthesisers and computers instead of an orchestra.

Well, points for that one, I liked the new music

8. DON'T give us anymore of those hideous Vulcan and Romulan wigs. They are so obvious, stiff and ugly. You got smart and listened to us and gave the Rommies a costume makeover. No more aircraft carrier shoulder pads. Now, revamp the wigs and makeup. Why do Vulcan women all of a sudden shear themselves like sheep when T'Pau and T'Pring had elaborate and beautiful hairstyles? The brow ridges on the Romulans are just as bad. How could the same makeup people who gave us the elegant Cardassians do such a thing to the Romulans? The brow ridges make them look expressionless. Ditch them and create something better.

:censored:

9. DO Hire experienced, classically trained character actors for most of the regulars and not just for the ridgeheads. Character actors with no fame behind them are cheaper, more versatile, and better trained. An actor without EXTENSIVE (I'm talking dozens of roles if not more) classical stage experience cannot project the larger than life, heroic, archetypal characters Star Trek needs. I want to see more actors like Salome Jens, Andy Robinson, Marc Alaimo, and Rene A. I don't care about looks and neither should you. If you must have a Hunk and a Babe on the cast then do so, but please ask members of the opposite sex before casting them. Just because a guy is young and handsome doesn't mean he's sexy to women. Many male actors are gay, and that's fine, but they have trouble projecting masculinity on-screen.

Most of the cast was brilliant, but was given way too few moments to shine.

10. DO Make your sets and lighting conform to the atmosphere you wish to create. DS9 was supposed to be gritty and edgy but we had soft warm colors on everyone. As for colors, if you a want dark and mean atmosphere use cold colors of lights -dirty white and blue, not warm like yellow, green and red as ds9 did which was anti-climatic. X Files always has grayish light which makes things spooky and foreboding.

I think they did well in that respect. Especially visuals of Vulcan and P'Jem were just spectacular, while places like Rigel X were properly spooky.

11. DON'T ever ever again put a regular character in a catsuit. No one believed Kira in a catsuit, which was so different from other Bajoran uniforms. Seven of Nine is now known as "Borg Barbie" for her ridiculous costume. The fans are laughing at you. Poor Nan did not have the figure for it anyway. Her legs are too short. Then you put her in silly clodhopper high heels to make up the deficit. I cheered when they finally put her in a proper uniform. She looked much better.

Image

12. DO remember that on a woman over thirty, less is more: makeup I mean. I swear sometimes poor Troi looked like it had been put on with a trowel. I don't know how many rows of false eyelashes they put on her but I was suprised she could keep her eyes open. Ditch the glossy lipcolors and the elaborate wigs. Nana Visitor's eyelashes grew to such proportions they were all I could see at the end. The poor woman looked like a clownish freak. Her pale skin, bright red hair, and pouty red lipcolor did no justice to her either. It clashed with the orange uniform and made her look like a teenager experimenting with different "looks" Women in prominent roles like this will have little time to fuss over hair and makeup anyway.

I think at least in that respect they did well. Hoshi was by miles the most attractive woman of all startrek series', because she looked a natural beauty, not the result of an enormous boob job, 2 tons of silicon in the lips and a 3 month vacation in a solarium.

13. DON'T rely on the holodeck. Ditch it like the writer's crutch it is. If exploration isn't exciting enough why are we doing another series?

:banghead: yeah, worked really :censored: well in the :censored: "finale" :banghead:

14. DO stop playing favorites with the actors. Come on! You know what I mean. We can calculate screen-time too. Be professional and deal with the characters and the plot, not your personal favorites. 15. DON'T put us into another war. Vow, like the Japanese, to renounce war as a plot device.

Were there any actors beside Bakula, Blalock and Trineer in there? :dunno:

16. DO find whoever was responsible for the RED CONTACT LENSES. I want him/her. I want him bad. I want him/her flogged with a wet typewriter ribbon. This was the most execrable, cartoonish, childish, spiteful thing I have ever seen on Star Trek. For sheer gag reflex this one beats even "Spock's Brain."

No idea what she was on about :dunno:

17. DON'T listen to fanmail. Most fan campaigns along the lines of "We the undersigned want X to happen", along with 10,000 signatures , are just five fans and a Xerox machine. Don't trust internet polls they are cheat fests. Don't trust much of anything on the internet.

Well, as we've seen they certainly DIDN'T listen to any fans. Perhaps they should have... :deadhorse:


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