tar Trek: Voyager executive producer Brannon Braga has yet to sell Paramount on a concept for a new Trek series to replace Voyager, though he's been working on one since late 1999. And with Voyager heading into its seventh and final season, the Internet is buzzing with rumors about what--if anything--will fill the void it leaves behind.
Braga and partner Rick Berman continue to develop the new show, about which neither will say much. But Braga revealed a little more about the process of coming up with the new series, confirming among other things that Paramount has tested several concepts, but hasn't settled on any one yet.
Speaking exclusively to Science Fiction Weekly after this month's Grand Slam Star Trek convention in Pasadena, Calif., Braga also commented for the first time about the fan campaign to base the new series on the character of Capt. Hikaru Sulu and the exploits of the starship U.S.S. Excelsior, as seen in the 1991 film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. More than 4,300 fans have registered in the campaign, and they showed up in force at the convention. They plan to demonstrate in front of Paramount on April 22.
Is there anything you can say about the new series?
Braga: There is a new series in development. Rick Berman, myself and Paramount are developing it now. What it will be and when it will be are big question marks at the moment. We are in very early stages of development right now. I can tell you that we are eager to do something that is completely different, that feels fresh while at the same time captures the essence of Star Trek [and] gets it back to where it needs to be. We just don't have anything nailed down specifically at this point, so I really have nothing more specific that I can tell you.
You're familiar with the Internet reportage, that there were three concepts tested: a Klingon concept, a Starfleet Academy concept and a prequel to the original series. Rick Berman has denied that those reports were true or that those concepts were tested. Is that so?
Braga: No, there has been some testing. Obviously, that's true. I honestly can't say a lot about it, simply because I have nothing to do with it. This is something that Paramount is doing. The testing of concepts, particularly on something that's a franchise, so to speak, I understand is a fairly normal procedure. They are testing various things, and I didn't have anything to do with it, and I have yet to hear about any results from it. It's real peripheral to me.
So it's not influencing the concept that you and Berman are developing?
Braga: It's so far out of my daily life. ... Whether it will influence it, I don't know. It has not yet. But again, we're just beginning to talk about stuff.
Is there a timetable for development of a series yet?
Braga: Not yet. No timetable at all.
You've heard about the Excelsior Campaign by the fans to base a new show on Sulu? What do you think about that?
Braga: I really like Sulu. We did a Sulu episode on Voyager.
Whether or not there's some sort of Sulu project, it's out of my domain.
I'm not really aware of any plans to do it. I would be very surprised.
There's also a "Bring Back Kirk" campaign. Some people want to see [a] Starfleet Academy [show]; some people want to see a Borg show. ... We keep an eye on these things. And there are a lot of rumors and a lot of campaigns going on. But I don't think any of them are really going to influence what we do.
Have you had any contact with the organizers of the Excelsior Campaign?
Braga: No. I have not. I don't know if Paramount has.
It's been suggested that Paramount may be concerned about the fans' campaign.
Braga: As they should be. I mean, the fans are what keep this series afloat. But as far as these campaigns go, there are so many coming from different directions. ... You've got to take fan influence into account, no doubt. But there is no plan for a Sulu series at the moment, I can say with almost certainty.
Can you talk about any future Star Trek film?
Braga: I am so out of the loop on the feature film, I don't know.
You'd have to ask Rick Berman that.
People keep saying maybe it's time for Star Trek to take a break, that maybe the franchise has run out of gas. How do you feel about that?
Braga: I have mixed feelings. There's a part of me that thinks, of course it should be given a rest. But there's also a part of me that feels that there's a great opportunity on the horizon to revitalize the franchise, and let's go for it. There are many different arguments. If you let the franchise go for a few years, people could lose interest completely. That's a danger. Then again, if you rush into something, maybe people are just sick of it. And we've discussed this. But I'm very eager to get involved in something new, and add some new dimension to the franchise.
And Rick and I are both very eager to do something different, do something that's going to take people by surprise and get them interested in Star Trek again. Hopefully. Those are lofty goals.
Is Paramount holding your feet to the fire to come up with something?
Braga: It's all alchemy. You can't predict what's going to recapture people's interest. At the moment, no, they're not putting our feet to the fire. We're just talking about ideas in the most preliminary fashion. "What if we did this, what if we did that?" And we haven't really nailed down anything yet. So we'll see what happens when we start edging closer to a concept.
Do you have other non-Star Trek projects you're interested in?
Braga: I do. The only other thing I've done recently was Mission: Impossible 2, which comes out Memorial Day. And I ended up with a story credit on that. Other than that, I haven't had time to do anything else, unfortunately. Believe me, I'm totally eager [laughs]. ... [For Voyager] you have to do 26 episodes a year. ... Most shows do 22. It's a hard job, a 12- or 14-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job. I wish I had time to do other stuff.
Will you be handing over a lot of the show-running of Voyager to Ken Biller next year?
Braga: I will be stepping away from Voyager, but I'm not right now, nor ... do I have plans to step away until the new series occupies enough of my time to justify stepping away. I just wrote the cliffhanger for Voyager this year. I plan on writing the second part, and plan to continue working on Voyager with Ken, who will be an executive producer next year, until I step away. When I will step away is the big question.
