Brannon Braga Speaks At UCSC Event

On Saturday, May 17, the University of California, Santa Cruz, Alumni Association staged a Star Trek event for the Los Angeles chapter. The guest of honour was none other than Enterprise executive producer and UCSC graduate Brannon Braga. Tamara attended the event for TrekToday, and filed this report:

"Brannon, perpetual motion," Eli Hollander said, introducing Brannon Braga, Enterprise executive producer, to the University of California, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Alumni. One might remember Eli Hollander from The Next Generation episode, "A Fistful of Datas". Braga immortalised his former professor as a holodeck character in this sixth-season episode of the series. Braga, having completed his 100th Star Trek script (he admitted the number was closer to 150 or 175 due to rewrites on other scripts) received a book of congratulatory comments from fans and admirers.

I had already mistaken several for the Trek producer, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a young, hip, electric man take the podium. Brannon Braga thanked his alma mater for some of the most creative years in his life before moving into a prelude of "Regeneration", an episode he "was proud of". Upon announcing the episode, Braga noticed one half of the room applauded while the other half fell silent. He joked that without the commercials it would be six minutes long. On a more serious note, Braga felt the episode was well received and action packed.

For those who were unaware, Braga explained that Enterprise is shot in HDTV format although it is not currently broadcast as such. I found watching "Regeneration" visually dynamic in HDTV, however I felt a sense of artificiality seeing it on a movie screen. After the viewing Braga was asked about certain visual effects such as the CGI and he simply stated the episode was "obviously not meant to be seen on a big screen".

Following the screening there was a short Q&A. Braga teased, "No direct threatening questions". When asked about continuity discrepancies in "Regeneration", Braga replied the "timeline has been altered". A temporal paradox? Along the same theme, he added that next season would be edgier.

Does Braga think there's too much Trek? No, he said he thinks Star Trek is a viable franchise. When asked, he hinted that each episode cost in the neighbourhood of one million to produce. Braga was pleased that Enterprise had been renewed for a third season on UPN. He said he was "amazed that people are still watching the show" after all this time.

Indeed we are.

The above photo shows Enterprise executive producer Brannon Braga with Professor Eli Hollander.

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