Berman And Braga Talk 'Enterprise' Continuity

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, co-creators of Enterprise, are acutely aware that the little details of the long-established Trek universe can be both a blessing and a curse.

"We're always walking a very thin line in terms of developing things that are less advanced from the time of Captain Kirk," Berman told the Chicago Sun-Times. "One of the most fun elements of this series, especially for our fans, is to be able to watch all of the things that they know are coming to Star Trek in their infant stages, to be able to see the development of things like transporters and phasers and tractor beams."

However pre-established Trek canon doesn't always fit in with what the producers may have in mind. "In the original series, it was established that in 1996, half the human race was killed in the Eugenics Wars," Braga said. "Well, what do you do? Do you pay attention to that, or do you just glide on by? [...] We're too busy really to sit down and read all of the Internet mail that comes in on all of this stuff." Berman added, "If we did that, we'd have to hire other people to do the television series."

Berman's first experience with fan feedback occured after an early TNG episode showed a phaser beam appearing out of a photon torpedo tube. "We got over two hundred letters," he said. "I didn't know the difference. I had no idea which was which. Two hundred letters in three days."

One of the most oft-debated continuity topics among fans is the question of Klingon makeup. "I love this question," Berman said. "We're just talking about makeup. The [original] makeup on the Klingons was a rather simple kind of eyebrow mustache-type of deal."

"But if you are a true Star Trek aficionado," he continued, "you realize that in a number of the movies, starting I think with 'Star Trek II,' which took place really at the same time as Capt. Kirk, they were using makeup very similar to Worf. [...] We are going to be using the new look. We're not going to the old Klingon look." Braga added, "It was 'Star Trek III.'"

The full interview, which included comments from Scott Bakula (Captain Archer), can be found here.

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