Written by Jacqueline Bundy, edited by Steve Krutzler

I could not help but think of the Beach Boys song “Be True to Your School” at this past Saturday’s University of California, Santa Cruz alumni association event at the beautiful Arch Light Cinemas in Hollywood. A large group of Santa Cruz alums and their guests gathered for an afternoon that featured, among other activities, a tribute to one of their own, Brannon Braga. Mr. Braga graduated from Santa Cruz’s film college in 1990 and the main event of the afternoon was a screening of an ENTERPRISE episode followed by a question and answer session.

Having recently reached a milestone in his writing career, penning his 100th episode of STAR TREK, Braga was introduced by his former professor in film studies Eli Hollander and presented with a book that included congratulatory emails sent from fans and associates all over the world. “That was an amazing introduction, I feel like I died,” joked a very relaxed Brannon Braga as he began his presentation, adding that the years he spent at Santa Cruz were the most “creatively fervent years I’ve ever had. I owe so much to the University and to Eli and the program they’ve created there. I’m honored to be here.”

For the benefit of those who might be unfamiliar with the most recent STAR TREK series, before screening the episode Braga took a few minutes to explain the premise of the series telling the audience that “the latest incarnation of STAR TREK is called ENTERPRISE. It’s a show that is a prequel show of sorts in that it takes place before the time of Captain Kirk and Captain Picard and Captain Janeway and the STAR TREK that has become so familiar to people over the past 35 years. So, it’s a show that is kind of unique in that it allows us to tell stories with characters that are closer to you and me and is a little more contemporary. It’s been a lot of fun to do. The finale of season two airs next Wednesday night so we’ve just wrapped up two years of the show.”

Mentioning that he had a little trouble deciding which episode to screen for this event, he settled on the episode he felt was the most popular episode of this season and would be fun to watch in a theater, "Regeneration." Explaining to the audience that this was a Borg episode and who the Borg were he added that he felt this episode “capitalizes on the prequel elements of the show. In the STAR TREK series that take place after ENTERPRISE, they were undoubtedly the most popular villains of all time, so we thought let's do the Borg on this show. And I said ‘no lets not, it’s a cheap trick’ until somebody came up with a great idea. There was this movie called FIRST CONTACT where the Borg attacked Earth in the past and they were destroyed and what if a little chunk of that ship crashed but nobody knew it. And what if that somehow started a story in this prequel show. It was such a great concept I couldn’t resist it. A lot of people were very skeptical and thought the show would be derivative. If nothing else, it showcases the excitement of STAR TREK. It’s a very exciting show with tremendous production values and it’s fun.”

Before stepping aside Brannon went on to add, “I do want to say that our TV show, Enterprise, is the first STAR TREK show and one of the few shows so far in the history of television that is actually finished--filmed in 35mm of course like any film--but finished in high definition. We do all of our special effects and all of our postproduction work in high definition. And even though it’s not being broadcast in that definition we thought well maybe we should do what some shows did when color television was on the horizon and were shot in color even though a lot of shows aired in black and white and it wasn’t until syndication and color television proliferated that you could then show it in color. So, one day hopefully if high def catches on STAR TREK will be shown in that format all the time. We’re going to show this [episode] in high definition which is a rare treat for me.”

Following the screening Brannon returned to the podium as the lights came back up on the closing credits and began by joking, “I’d like to apologize for that horrible theme song.” As the laughter died down he said, “we stand by the theme song, it’s very controversial element of the show.” He went on to tell the gathering that in the first episode that followed the pilot, "Fight or Flight," the first species that this crew finds is a banana slug. That drew appreciative laughter from those who could appreciate it as homage to UC Santa Cruz, which refer to its students as ‘slugs’.

After offering to field any questions that “weren’t directly threatening,” a reference to the hostility he has experienced from many fans, the Q & A began with a question about why the theme song was so controversial. “I really wished you hadn’t asked that” Braga deadpanned. “We wanted to do something different to premiere this show. Traditionally STAR TREK has opened with shots of ships or space stations accompanied by a classical score. In this case, we decided to use imagery of exploration throughout humanity's history. And we decided to do a song. And this Oscar-winning song writer named Diane Warren wrote this song that we thought was really appropriate and one of the great singers in the world right now, Russell Watson, sung the song and we thought we couldn’t go wrong. And we love it. It turned a lot of people off because it was not the STAR TREK they were used to and it’s not what they expected but it’s caught on with a lot of people. We just wanted to make it a little different to show that this show is not quite the same as the others.”

Questioned about how this episode derived from events in FIRST CONTACT one audience member could not resist asking how this episode could be reconciled with TNG’s episode “Q Who?,” which was supposedly Starfleet’s first encounter with the Borg. “We thought about that,” Braga responded. “And it’s complicated. The movie FIRST CONTACT changed everything because the moment the Borg went back in time they immediately altered history. So, the episode ‘Q Who?’ that you are referring to really may not have happened that way if you know what I’m saying. The timeline was altered by FIRST CONTACT.”

Asked if he had created the Borg Braga explained “The Borg were created by Gene Roddenberry and his team at that time during TNG’s second season. So, it was quite some time ago and they have evolved, like any good STAR TREK villain, be it the Borg or Klingons, they’ve evolved over the years.”

When one audience member commented on how much more advanced the technology on Enterprise looks in comparison to the original STAR TREK, Braga said, “That was a paradox we had to work with in creating a show that took place before Kirk. We had to take a little dramatic license. But in Kirk’s time and even Picard’s time, everything is invisible. The technology, you don’t see a lot of it. I think one of the differences here is that you see stuff. Gene Roddenberry’s philosophy was you should never see technology, that’s how advanced it is. We went away from that a little bit and made it kind of chunky and a little different in that regard. But you’re right. If you look at the older episodes, how large the communicators were for example, much bigger than the average cell phone today, you realize that our current technology has surpassed STAR TREK and that is a difficulty.”

Someone else wanted to know if Enterprise was a difficult show to pitch to the network. Replying “Yeah. This was a challenging concept to get off the ground. STAR TREK is many things to many people. Some people thought we should just do another show set in the 24th century and some people thought we should do one set way, way, way in the future which makes no sense to me. I’m not sure, would people’s spandex suits be tighter?” Braga could not resist asking the crowd. “How does the future look more futuristic? So, the obvious place that Rick Berman and I decided to go was backward. It seemed like a fresh and more interesting direction to go in.”

Questioned about how he became involved with STAR TREK Brannon explained that he started out with an internship, the ad for which he’d seen outside of Eli Hollander’s office. “It looked interesting and I applied for it and didn’t get it one year and applied the next year and I got it. I just thought I’d be there for a few weeks. I didn’t know STAR TREK all that well.”

Asked about the difficulties in balancing the demands of the fans with the necessity of producing fresh new stories each week one audience member wanted to know if Braga listens to the opinions of the fans. “Yes of course we do, especially with the advent of the Internet. You can’t avoid it. I look at the fan boards and there are many web sites where you can look at reviews of the show that aired the previous night. And many of them are hostile. They just want to kill you. They’re terrifying. But there are a lot of incredibly intelligent people giving their opinions.”

Going to on to elaborate, Braga pointed out, “There have been over 650 episodes of STAR TREK and they’re all very different. You can’t repeat an episode. The fans will kill you; they know all the episodes. So, it’s getting more and more difficult to come up with fresh stories. But my point is that in doing so many different kinds of stories on STAR TREK you can’t appeal to everyone every week. There are so many kinds of fans. Some people just like this kind of stuff, a lot of fans just want straight ahead action, go-get-em Captain stories.”

“The other episode I was thinking of showing, but chickened out, is a show called 'A Night in Sickbay.' It’s really a show about nothing more than the Captain’s dog getting sick. And it was a very charming, funny episode but a lot of fans despised it. They hated it. And we wrote it because we thought it would be different. We thought it would be interesting to try a purely character, comedic little charmer, just to stand-alone. And the backlash from a lot of fans was severe. But a lot of other people loved it. The irony of it is that it ended up getting nominated for a Hugo award.”

When someone wanted to know if there would be other new STAR TREK series Braga replied, “There are no more STAR TREK series planned that I’m aware of.” Following up on that another attendee asked how long ENTERPRISE would run. “At least one more year. We just got picked up for our third season. One hopes that it will go further.”

“STAR TREK is an interesting thing. It still has a very loyal fan base. Every week millions tune in. But it’s not getting the same viewers it did in the glory days of NEXT GENERATION when there was only one STAR TREK series. There have been several now and the question is always how much STAR TREK can there be before people just don’t want to see it anymore. But we’ll keep putting it on as long as [some] are enjoying it and I still think it’s a viable franchise with something to say.”

When asked how much is budgeted each week for new episodes Braga answered, “We don’t normally talk about that. I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about that but it’s in the neighborhood of a couple of million dollars per episode. It’s definitely one of the more expensive shows to produce. We can’t just go out into LA to shoot it, we have to build everything.”

Someone else commented that you would expect it to be scarier for the first crew who are out there exploring space. “That’s a very good comment. We’re always trying to make it scarier. I think initially ENTERPRISE was a lot scarier for the crew but what happened was we realized by episode 17 (picking a random number) they’re not going to be freaking out every time they meet an alien otherwise there going to start looking inept. So, the show kind of equalized a little bit and I think it’s a valid criticism to say that it doesn’t have the edge it should at the moment. If you decide to watch the season finale next week, you’re going to see a very different show and a very different season next season. We’ve decided to make some interesting and radical creative changes to the show to keep it viable and fresh.”

Another question involved what hints he could offer to someone who was trying to break into writing for episodic television. “You just have to look for opportunities,” he replied. “There are many different avenues. The most important thing you can do if you want to be a writer is write something. And continue writing. Have several writing samples available and send them out to agents. You can get a list of all the agents in town accepting submissions from the Writers Guild. You don’t have to be a member. But you need to get an agent. Nobody in this town will read submissions from people who don’t have representation.” Following up on that Braga added that for legal reasons STAR TREK no longer accepts submissions for stories from anyone without an agent.

Asked if he had watched the original series Braga said, “No I never did watch the original. That got me into a lot of trouble with the hardcore fans when I admitted it very early in my career. I’ve never had so much trouble in my life. It was sacrilege. But I only meet Gene Roddenberry a couple of times. The most memorable time [was] the first time, when I told him I’d never seen STAR TREK. And he said ‘don’t watch it because it will give you a fresh perspective’. And I took that to heart. I’ve since seen them all, though.”

When asked if he ever felt limited by writing for episodic television Brannon replied, “Yes the parameters are very limiting but that can be a good thing. A lot of people ask that question and a lot of people ask me if I think we’re limited by Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a future where people have gotten it together, things are fairly peaceful and there isn’t much conflict. And my answer to that is that it’s liberating. You’re kind of forced, if you want to tell a certain story, you’re forced to focus that story. It’s actually very helpful. Rather than just saying I want to tell a story about AIDS and some of the stigmatizing that goes on in certain subcultures surrounding aids, what would you do? You have to come up with a story. In STAR TREK, we told a story about that this season but we had all the parameters to channel it through, to explore those things, already in place. So working on a weekly TV show is very helpful in that way.”

In response to a query about model use on the latest series Braga stated, “Now on STAR TREK the ships are all computer generated. The explosions and stuff where you can’t quite get the spontaneity right with a keyboard we still use models for. But the ships flying around are all CGI.”

One of the final questions was about the pressures of the job. “This is an unimaginably demanding job day after day, for time reasons,” Brannon said. “I work seven days a week during production, 10 to 14 hour days. That is the honest to god truth. There are days when it seems, after all this time, like a grind. But at the same moment that I’m thinking this sucks, I’m thinking I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I get to think things up and get paid for it.”

In closing Braga commented on the current state of the franchise. “You’re competing with yourself. There is a lot of STAR TREK out there. All the series are still on the air somewhere at any given time. I’m sometimes amazed that people are still watching the show. So many episodes have aired. It’s truly incredible that it has such a following still. And you always hope that it’s going to increase and eventually it probably will. STAR TREK has had its ups and downs but it still survives.”