Braga Hints Enterprise Spoilers
Brannon Braga, co-creator of UPN's Enterprise, offered SCI FI Wire a glimpse of the Star Trek prequel's upcoming second season, complete with a few key spoilers. Among other things, Braga promised revelations about T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), more on the Temporal Cold War, more about the Vulcans and a brush with the Romulans. In addition, former X-Files producer John Shiban joins the writing staff this year; his first episode, the season's third, will deal with Lt. Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating), who finds himself pinned under a deep-space mine on the exterior hull of the Enterprise. The show kicks off its new season Sept. 18.
"We're trying to improve on the first year," Braga said in an interview at the UPN fall preview party. "We've got a great part two to the [first-season-ending] cliffhanger, which we were very pleased with, and that's terrific. And we've got, gosh, we're about seven stories in. We're just starting. ... We want to capitalize more on the fact that it's a prequel. We want to have a season that maybe has even more action than it had last season. And we want to just keep the creative juices flowing."
Braga added that the central character of Capt. Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) will get his "space legs. " "[Executive producer] Rick [Berman] and I have discussed this at length going into the season," Braga said. "We would like to see Archer start to really get it together. ... We still would like to see him struggling, making mistakes. In [the season premiere,] 'Shockwave II,' he's basically on trial. This whole mission's on trial. So I think season two, he's really got to prove himself. He's really got to take command and figure out how to do this right. Because he made a few blunders last year. And this year, we're hoping that we see a guy who really starts to fulfill his potential as a captain. And what that means, I have no idea."
With regard to Archer's Vulcan science officer, Braga said, "We have some big surprises in store for T'Pol. Some very surprising character revelations for T'Pol."
In other spoilers for the season, Braga revealed:
** The Romulans: "I think I can say without getting into too much trouble that very early in the season we will have our first brush with the Romulans. ... Capt. Archer will have a very lethal brush with the Romulans early on." He added, "We've been very careful. The continuity is airtight. Believe me. We know. We know."
** The Temporal Cold War: "In part two of the cliffhanger, we're going to learn some really interesting things about what Archer and Enterprise's role might be in the formation of the Star Trek universe. And then beyond that, we're going to wait awhile, and then come back to the Temporal Cold War. But we're not going to do it too much. We want it to be a kind of an ongoing element."
** The birth of the Federation: "The birth of the Federation will be hinted at in 'Shockwave II.' It will be hinted at. And in the back of our minds, that's something that may play a part in the series. We're not sure to what extent, but we definitely begin to hint at such far-reaching things in that episode."
** The Vulcans: "One of the things we realized early on, when we were doing this series, was that there was a chance to make the Vulcans really interesting again. ... The Vulcans are really a paradoxical species, especially on this show, in that they are very enlightened, and consider themselves to be enlightened, but they're really kind of screwed up, too. ... The second or third episode will be a big [Vulcan] episode, which actually takes place in the 1950s, and we learn that first contact with Zefram Cochrane actually wasn't the first time Vulcans had been on Earth. And the High Command has this secret thing that they're trying to cover up."
** Other characters: "I think Phlox [John Billingsley] is definitely a character that we'd like to explore more, and Mayweather [Anthony Montgomery], and then maybe Reed and Hoshi [Linda Park]. But I think Phlox and Mayweather are the two you're going to see a little more of."
Brannon Braga, co-creator of UPN's Enterprise, offered SCI FI Wire a glimpse of the Star Trek prequel's upcoming second season, complete with a few key spoilers. Among other things, Braga promised revelations about T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), more on the Temporal Cold War, more about the Vulcans and a brush with the Romulans. In addition, former X-Files producer John Shiban joins the writing staff this year; his first episode, the season's third, will deal with Lt. Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating), who finds himself pinned under a deep-space mine on the exterior hull of the Enterprise. The show kicks off its new season Sept. 18.
"We're trying to improve on the first year," Braga said in an interview at the UPN fall preview party. "We've got a great part two to the [first-season-ending] cliffhanger, which we were very pleased with, and that's terrific. And we've got, gosh, we're about seven stories in. We're just starting. ... We want to capitalize more on the fact that it's a prequel. We want to have a season that maybe has even more action than it had last season. And we want to just keep the creative juices flowing."
Braga added that the central character of Capt. Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) will get his "space legs. " "[Executive producer] Rick [Berman] and I have discussed this at length going into the season," Braga said. "We would like to see Archer start to really get it together. ... We still would like to see him struggling, making mistakes. In [the season premiere,] 'Shockwave II,' he's basically on trial. This whole mission's on trial. So I think season two, he's really got to prove himself. He's really got to take command and figure out how to do this right. Because he made a few blunders last year. And this year, we're hoping that we see a guy who really starts to fulfill his potential as a captain. And what that means, I have no idea."
With regard to Archer's Vulcan science officer, Braga said, "We have some big surprises in store for T'Pol. Some very surprising character revelations for T'Pol."
In other spoilers for the season, Braga revealed:
** The Romulans: "I think I can say without getting into too much trouble that very early in the season we will have our first brush with the Romulans. ... Capt. Archer will have a very lethal brush with the Romulans early on." He added, "We've been very careful. The continuity is airtight. Believe me. We know. We know."
** The Temporal Cold War: "In part two of the cliffhanger, we're going to learn some really interesting things about what Archer and Enterprise's role might be in the formation of the Star Trek universe. And then beyond that, we're going to wait awhile, and then come back to the Temporal Cold War. But we're not going to do it too much. We want it to be a kind of an ongoing element."
** The birth of the Federation: "The birth of the Federation will be hinted at in 'Shockwave II.' It will be hinted at. And in the back of our minds, that's something that may play a part in the series. We're not sure to what extent, but we definitely begin to hint at such far-reaching things in that episode."
** The Vulcans: "One of the things we realized early on, when we were doing this series, was that there was a chance to make the Vulcans really interesting again. ... The Vulcans are really a paradoxical species, especially on this show, in that they are very enlightened, and consider themselves to be enlightened, but they're really kind of screwed up, too. ... The second or third episode will be a big [Vulcan] episode, which actually takes place in the 1950s, and we learn that first contact with Zefram Cochrane actually wasn't the first time Vulcans had been on Earth. And the High Command has this secret thing that they're trying to cover up."
** Other characters: "I think Phlox [John Billingsley] is definitely a character that we'd like to explore more, and Mayweather [Anthony Montgomery], and then maybe Reed and Hoshi [Linda Park]. But I think Phlox and Mayweather are the two you're going to see a little more of."
