Braga Talks 'Threshold' Experience and Cancellation

Although his CBS series Threshold was cancelled last month, Brannon Braga answered questions about the show and his earlier involvement with Star Trek in a fan Q&A on his web site.

BrannonBraga.com posted the producer's responses, which began with a note of thanks to everyone who watched Threshold. "I really enjoyed working on the show for the past year. I really appreciate the people who tuned in on a regular basis to check it out," he said. "I am disappointed that the show didn’t continue but also very encouraged that there were so many of you out there who seemed to be enjoying it."

Braga said that a few Star Trek: Enterprise actors had read for roles on Threshold and said that if the series had continued, he thought some Star Trek actors "absolutely" would have appeared in addition to series regular Brent Spiner (Data). "Brent Spiner’s character, Fenway was a little different until Brent came on we accommodated that character to fit Brent. It’s a collaborative process," he explained of tailoring roles to fit actors. "In fact, the voice of the character is part what you are writing and part of the actor's voice...when you think about an actor like Patrick Stewart, of course Patrick Stewart's voice is going to be the voice of Picard." On Threshold, he added, some scenes with Peter Dinklage were changed because the actor is so small: "At one point we had Cavanaugh really roughing him up, which would have been in poor taste."

Braga said that at one point he wanted to be an actor, "but that is when I thought that actors made all their own lines. Then someone explained to me what a director did, what a writer did, and what a producer did and then I didn’t want to be an actor any more." He said that when he and Rick Berman were creating Enterprise's Captain Archer, their prototype was Harrison Ford, "but of course, we are never going to get Harrison Ford. Plus he’s not the right age for the role." On Threshold he did not have specific actors in mind for the roles he was writing, but the lead role was always intended for a woman.

Braga also said that he likes science fiction, which "allows you to do many other things creatively versus a single genre like let's say a medical show...on Star Trek we were able to do every genre imaginable within the confines of the show. But I also like horror and action." Asked whether he paid attention to audience feedback, he explained that Threshold was so new that there was no time to incorporate feedback into the series' development. But in general, he said, "You absolutely have to pay attention to it. You would be crazy not to. At the same time you need to maintain the integrity of your vision and what you are trying to do because if you listened to all of the opinions you would go crazy, particularly the negative ones. If you read some of these message boards it is as though they hate everything."

Had Threshold continued, Braga explained, viewers would have found out the identity of the mystery woman in Cavennaugh's bed, seen the aliens infect hundreds more people and watched Catherine Bell as a new recurring character. He said he would like to work with any of the actors on the show again as well as the other producers. "How do you handle the disappointment? You just try to end graciously and move on to your next project," he said of the cancellation.

The full Q&A may be found at BrannonBraga.com.

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