Brannon Braga Interviewed

The Trek Galaxy has put up a transcript of an interview with former 'Voyager' executive producer Brannon Braga, which first appeared in the June 2000 edition of SFX Magazine. In the first place, the article for the first time officially confirms Braga 'Unimatrix Zero, Part One' will be his final episode as executive producer - as previously reported, Kenneth Biller will be leading 'Voyager' during its final year.

In the rest of the article, Braga talks about Series V, remaining strangely vague about confirming anything at all:

"I've signed a new deal with Paramount that has to do with any new series that I might create. There are some provisions in there should it be a Trek series. So I think that there's an understanding between the studio and Rick Berman that I will be co-creating the next series, but what and when that will be... your guess is as good as mine."

[On Voyager ending up on CBS rather than UPN:] "You're asking the wrong guy. I hate to say it, but I'm here doing Star Trek, and the powers that be are so far beyond my realm of existence that I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I don't know the details. All I know is that we're waiting for everything to be worked out so that we can get word on what we're going to do with this new show. It's all a big question mark."

"No. Oh no. [...] We're basically working at the concept stage right now. It's in a state of flux. We're just starting to talk about it. When the new series would go into development, when it would premier, are issues that have yet to be determined. But we are talking about it. The plan is to launch a new series, but there are just a lot of unknowns right now."

"I wish you could give me some illumination [on what the new Series will be]," Braga laughs. "Rick Berman and the studio and myself have been working on a concept. It's in the very, very early stages... nothing that I would feel comfortable talking about, simply because it's too early."

Later on, Braga does comment a bit on what Series V will and won't be, also commnenting on the Excelsior Campaign:

"Of course, it's an interesting idea. [...] There are lots of Internet ideas floating around. A 'Bring back Kirk' campaign. There's a Seven Of Nine show been suggested - wouldn't that be fun! Starfleet Academy... There have always been campaigns for what the next show should be. But I think what our goal is with this new show is to capture the essence and spirit of Star Trek. We don't want to mess around with that, but at the some time we feel that it should be new and different. I don't think that's going to include Sulu or any of the components that have existed. We really want to move this franchise forward and do something that feels completely fresh. I think that's what the franchise needs."

Would elements of the new show be introduced in the final season of Voyager? "Very doubtful. This would be something that stands on its own. I don't think we want to use Voyager as a launching pad. We're talking about a brand new series. I don't think it would be something that we'd want to use Voyager to launch. I think Voyager's, going to finish on its own. And the new series will launch on its own. Keep them separate."

"With any luck, you're going to see the after effects of the Borg revolution, whatever they might be. You're going to see Voyager edging a little closer to home, and dealing with those issues. Other than that, I can't say for certain. We're just wrapping up this year."

"We definitely have some ideas for what might happen. But I don't want to give them away. It'll be more fun to watch on the screen, anyway. We're lucky. We have a very generous budget and a very talented production team. It's great to write something and see it come to life."

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