Brannon Braga is headed back to sci-fi television. The co-creator of Enterprise, who has more Trek writing credits than anyone, has just sold a sci-fi pilot script to ABC. Co-written with David Goyer (Batman Begins), Flash Forward sparked a Hollywood bidding war and is being considered a companion show to JJ Abrams Lost.
The story of Flash Forward is based on the novel of the same name by (friend of the site) Robert J. Sawyer. The premise is that an experiment at CERN causes everyone on Earth to blackout for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, where everyone gets a vision of the future.
The show has a pilot order with a ‘series penalty’ which means it is more likely to end up a series. Braga is currently a co-executive producer on the Fox show 24 (as is his Enterprise pal Manny Coto) and apparently this possible double-duty caused some issues with ABC and FOX. After some negotiations Braga has pulled out of any day to day on Flash Forward, but will remain an exec. producer. Goyer and Braga worked together previously on their CBS sci-fi show Threshold. Goyer will direct the pilot.
Flash Forward, the book to become a Braga series
[Source: THR]
Interesting; why would this be a companion to Lost? Just because they do flash forwards in their story telling?
Maybe Braga has some new ideas after this hiatus in writing. His series, (i dont even remember the name now, the one with Spiner) was not very interesting. But this one sounds quite good.
Bragas ideas never were the problem. The execution, however…
Wow! Congratulations to Rob!!! He’s a great writer.
…and the adventure continues…
Sounds good. I think that I saw the novel by Robert J. Sawyer a few years ago and wanted to read it then. Guess I blacked out for a few minutes and forgot about the novel. I’ll have to read it now before the show is aired.
The novel is great. I’m curious how it’s adapted for TV.
I love this novel, so I really hope they don’t eff it up trying to go all “Must watch TV!” on it.
Come to think of it, I love all Sawyer’s novels. If you haven’t already, you could do a lot worse than to check ’em out.
By which I mean, go read ’em. :-)
On a side note – why credit mr Goyer with “The Dark Knight”? He co-wrote the script for “Batman Begins”, and he is told to have contributed to the story and ideas of TDK. The script itself was written by the Nolan brothers…
Okay, I gotta do it…
FLASH! AH-AHHHHHHHHHH!
Good for Brannon Braga. I hope it’s good and I hope that it’s a success.
As for the connection to “Lost”, the flash-forwards sound like the visions that Desmond has, courtesy of the hatch implosion a couple seasons ago. Maybe they will work in an upcoming “event” from the island that has repercussions worldwide, resulting in everyone blacking out and having flash-forwards.
That way it could tie in to the Lost mythos, without really having to be plot-wise connected to the show. It would be about the effects of the event and not the cause itself.
I know it says the event happens at CERN but that could be altered, or maybe that’s where everyone thinks it happens…
When did Brannon get on 24?
The problem with the novel, is there’s just really one flashforward…
A series would need to diverge tremendously from the book, lest you kill half the awake population of the Earth every time.
Having read the book and saying ‘meh’ (yes, perhaps it’s the physicist in me)… I wish Braga and Goyer luck, as they’re really going to have to work hard to beat this into shape.
If they devise a flashforward that doesn’t occupy any time in ‘current time’ that won’t lead to massive deaths on the highways and in the air, and a “Red Hour” type method where at a certain regular interval, people see a 2 minute flashforward….
Anyway… best of luck to them. Especially since CERN’s already powered up and prepping the first Higgs runs.
Of course the irony would be if the world was destroyed by CERN before it could even be filmed. LOL
Does anybody else find Braga hard to stomach? Just my opinion, but he seems to have a big ego.
Last week I had me own vision o’ me future cuz o’ that CERN going all online…
I saw meself in tha’ near tomorrow… I got up, ate, took me a nap, then noshed some more, washed, and went ta’ bed…
Ahhhh… tha’ future is a wondrous thing… dunna know why thar’ were talkin’ dinosaurs whipping us and an android named “Cindy” constantly tryin’ ta’ use toilet tissue upon me, though… oh, and somehow Great Britain wuz overrun wit’ Canadian militia forces… But why worry aboot tomorrow when today is here… wait… I did do a bit o’ flashin’ in tha’ forward… guess that be OK in tomorrowland… one last bit- Simon Pegg released his eighth film o’ tha’ year afore Starry Trek even opened…
Arrrrrrrrr…
#15- Seems?? Big doesn’t begin to describe.
He should get out of sci fi. Enough damage has been done already.
Sawyer is one of the best sci-fi authors out there, no question. I really enjoyed this and all the rest of his novels. Hopefully this will be good.
As an aside, Sawyer would be a wonderful addition in some way to a creative staff of a Trek project.
So he’s exec producer but not involved day to day on the new show- sounds like it’ll be safe to tune in.
ugh…you can work at Flash Forward…I really don’t mind at all…just don’t frak up 24 please and thank you.
Question: will I ever again watch something that Brannon Braga is associated with?
Answer: Hell no!
Sorry, Brannon, but you and your buddy Berman almost killed Star Trek. I won’t forget that.
Just sayin’.
Good Lord.
Brannon Braga wrote some great Star Trek. He’s also writing on 24. I actually liked Threshold (the series).
Can we get past the Petty Hate Machine and wish him success?
This sounds like a pretty cool show and I will most definitely check it out.
…Sounds more like he’s ripped off the McGuffin behind the Time Tunnel reimaging pilot.
Branon is the MAN, I wish him good luck with his new project. I admire him ever since the Jeri Ryan episode. :D :D
I think theys should have got Braga back for Trek XI. Guys a f***ing genius!!
I like star trek
Braga’s horrible episodes can hardly be compared to the good ones. Because he didn’t improve. He started strong but ended badly.
In a star trek book released in the late 90’s, there’s a narration of a story meeting that Jeri Taylor was heading. The six who were working on the story for “Hope and Fear” took a coffee break, and when they all came back Braga was gone. They waited 15 mins before he returned. Apparently he went OVER Jeri’s head, without her permission and saw Berman about the story.
That year was Jeri’s last, and it looked like that kind of thing was a regular occurance. Jeri was the reigning power and Berman was just executive. No other company would tolerate that kind of usurpation of that power, especially when no major problem was recorded.
Connect this passage with Ron B. Moore’s long interview about his ‘being betrayed’ at Trek, it begins to make sense.
Sorry Braga, I have no interest in your ‘scientific excellence’ shows.
The book was “Star Trek: Action!”, read it for yourself and make the determination.
That continued usurpation of power. I need the clarify.
Hopefully Robert J. Sawyer will have a say in the series production.
@ 15
Hard to stomach?! I find him hard to LOOK AT, much less anything else. I hate the guy with an unholy fury. He’s arrogant, ignorant, he can’t take responsibility for his failures, he complains about his own fanbase, he seems to have little respect for Trek, etc.
Flash Forward will probably just become another in a long line of good ideas ruined by Braga.
#22:”Brannon Braga wrote some great Star Trek. He’s also writing on 24. I actually liked Threshold (the series).
Can we get past the Petty Hate Machine and wish him success?”
No. We’re “Star Trek” fans – petty resentment is what we do. LOL
You don’t have to like Braga, you arent less of a Star Trek fan if you dislike him he has made more than his share of pointed comments opening himself to criticism, he is obviously a great politician as he was the only one left at Berman’s side from the TNG Renaissance/Heyday toward the less satisfying/successful end. His best work was arguably with Moore, who incidentally did go on to make DS9 soar, and had a hit on his own with BSG, Braga is one of those types that always lands on his feet/gets a new gig, but I think Trek was good inspite of him because of its fundamental core which even he couldnt dilude.
No hate, no bitterness, just observation and opinion.
I agree with the comments about stopping the petty hate machine. Braga wrote some clunkers, and a lot of great Trek. He was there foe almost two decades and wrote more than anyone so they cant all be great
As for Mr. Sawyer, I am so happy for him and wish him the best and recommend his novels. I had the chance to hang out with him a bit at comic con and he is a great guy…and a huge Trek fan.
Brannon is total legend, and I wish him, Manny, Ira, Ron and Rick back into the franchise.
Uuuugggh Sawyer. Ever since Azathoth showed up in Calculating God I haven’t been able to stand him.
There’s a difference between “petty hate” and having a strong opinion about someone based on what you feel he did to something you enjoyed. If people believe that he “ruined” some episodes of Trek, then he probably DID, from their point of view at least.
I don’t see how that opinion is any less valid than “Branon is the MAN”, which is only concentrating on his good points and ignoring the rest. It’s just the differences in people’s take on him, that’s all.
No one’s wishing him dead or anything, we’re all just expressing our opinions of his contributions and actions. Since we’re all human, those opinions are obviously going to vary greatly.
#26 Marv – Well, I have to take your comment that Brannon Braga went over the head of Jeri Taylor as simply incorrect. If you read the book, and I assume you have, then you will recognise that Jeri Taylor herself recognised that the story break was not working. That the idea for the 4th season finale was merely just threads that were made up of ideas that had failed to make in the past, but which many of the staff had become attached to.
As Brannon and co. put it in the book, he went to the ‘mount’ain’ and recieved clarity. That being that Rick Berman, with a fresh mind, read the beat sheet and saw a different tact for the story. It was already with riddled with holes and even Jeri Taylor, who had been in charge of the direction of Voyager for the past season, could not see how it could make a meaningful season finale.
As it states in the book, before Brannon even goes to Rick, the beat sheet ends with a simple statement.
‘There’s a lot to figure out here!’
It took Rick to figure out what the voice of the entire writing room was trying to say and send it back to them. It’s what a good executive producer does. And frankly, I wonder if Jeri Taylor had lost a little edge being sucked up in the nostalgia of it being he last episode on Star Trek.
What I find trully fascinating about the book Star Trek: Action! is the difference between the Voyager and Deep Space Nine season finales is how tuned in the DS9 guys were, and how the Voyager writers simply had to come up with something because it was the finale.
For any of you who haven’t read Action! I really have to say it is one of the most fascinating books on Star Trek I’ve ever read. And I’ve read many. It gives such an incredible insight into the workings of the writers of both Voyager and Deep Space Nine, as well as the crew and actors.
It made me see the series, and indeed the entire franchise in a different light.
I have a hard time getting excited for this. After all, wasn’t Braga in charge of Voyager? (along with the other guy) and Enterprise? Both weren’t that great while he was working it. It’s always been my opinion that he ran Trek to the ground, milked that cow dry, and generally messed up the franchise. That could just be me, I’ll give this show a shot I suppose. But still, a little worried about it.
-The Doc
Congrats to Brannon, sounds like a cool show :) I’ll be watching
I think the problem with Mr. Braga is he stayed on too long. How could anyone write that much of anything and not run out of ideas. Even Gene Roddenberry only created a few stories for TOS and had Sci-Fi writers of the time among others write stories for Trek.
I think if Berman would have stuck with overseeing Trek and outside writers were allowed to submit stories we might still have new Trek on TV.
I’m not bashing Berman and Braga, I like some of their stories ( but I really hated the Voyager episode “Threshold”, what were they thinking?), but they should have took a step back sooner on Enterprise and let Coto and other writers bring fresh ideas to Trek.
I’ll merely cite how markedly Enterprise improved once Braga was relieved of his day-to-day showrunner duties in favor of Manny Coto.
The sad part is that Coto was stuck doing damage control for most of that last season, cleaning up the mess left behind by the Bragaberman.
Brannon Braga earned my eternal hatred for what he did with the last episode of Enterprise. Finally, there was a season that made me feel good about watching the damned show, and the series finale was so badly botched that I actually threw something at my television (ask the fellas who were watching with me for testimonials). Fortunately, the only thing at hand was a balled-up paper towel, and so no damage done to the TV. But plenty of damage done to my corneas, heart and soul.
Look, let’s state what everyone is afraid to say most of the time: Brannon Braga and Ron Moore working together as part of a larger team on TNG and DS9 was terrific. Brannon Braga and Ron Moore working together on TNG movies was uneven at best. Ron Moore leaving exposed Braga as a fraud, IMHO. I don’t care who he is or what he does anymore, I hold him equally responsible with Berman for the death of Star Trek. It wasn’t over-saturation, it was over-crap-uration.
The fact that Braga and Coto work together on 24 explains something to me, too. As in, why I think it’s half brilliant and half retarded.
Goyer should thank his lucky stars that ABC had the sense to dream up a reason to keep Braga at arm’s length.
I’d like to see people in here to work on more or less the same show for that amount of time and still come up with good new ideas
Braga was churning out crap long before he could use the burnout excuse.
Braga never should have been allowed near anything Star Trek. He’s a hack.
Okay, everyone blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Maybe that is long enough to regain consciousness with the illusion that Braga is a talented and creative individual.
Braga has actually tuned into these conversations at times, and responded to questions. His commentary for ST:Generations, is frankly one of the most refreshing things I’ve ever heard a writer say – he nailed ALL of the problems with that well-intentioned film. I found him to be very self-deprecating.
Let’s face it – if you’re a fan of ST:TNG, Enterprise, Voyager, or either of the first two TNG films, you have no right to hate Brannon Braga.
The guy is interlinked with post-Roddenberry Trek as much as anyone is.
I am still mad at Lucas/Spielberg for what they did to us fans in the latest Indiana Jones film, but it doesn’t erase their previous good work. Same goes with Braga.
And if you hate all post-Roddenberry Trek, might I suggest you find another website.
[48] – there is nothing to hate about post-Roddenberry Trek, except the fact it is so damn boring, shy and repetitive sometimes. I mean, what sane person would reuse the same scripts in three subsequent series with only minor changes? How can we suppose our Trek to be cutting-edge if they use scripts 20 years old? And, well, Braga had his hand in it, I’m afraid…
“Let’s face it – if you’re a fan of ST:TNG, Enterprise, Voyager, or either of the first two TNG films, you have no right to hate Brannon Braga.”
False. ST:TNG was a big-team effort wherein Braga was a smaller part. By contrast Enterprise and Voyager can be laid at his and Berman’s doorstep squarely. Whether the crappiness was due to over-saturation, over-work, the departure of Ronald Moore as an important counter-balance or whatever else, does not change that they were overall crappy efforts.
To further support my statement, when day-to-day duties for Enterprise were handed to Manny Coto, the series quality improved *dramatically* and that fourth season was the exact show that I had wanted to watch the moment I heard them announce it – until the last episode. I gave Enterprise endless chances before that, just to be unable to bear it. I am glad I gave it one last chance when I heard that they were changing direction.
Do I wish Mr. Braga any ill? *Not at all.* In fact, I hope that he finds the right project for _his_ voice and enjoys success. I hope that for everyone, because when given the opportunity I’d like to see anyone succeed. But that does not excuse past missteps.Heck, it’s possible that Mr. Braga is an excellent idea man, but should be hands-off for execution.
As for the first two TNG films, I thought that there were good parts to them both, but at least half of the ideas and their execution were epic failures. Turning Cochrane into a comic drunk and boob – despite his brilliance that enabled him to create the Warp Drive – was maddening due to its execution. He wasn’t simply a drunk or an a-hole. He was a bona fide idiot, but invented the Warp Drive ship…just because the plot demanded it.
By default, I lay that at Braga’s doorstep merely in the context that Moore has demonstrated with BSG that most likely, he was more responsible for the awesome action sequences that I loved in that film. Perhaps that’s mistaken on my part, and if that’s the case, then I will gladly assign the blame where it should go.
As for Kirk’s death in Generations, or the concept of the Nexus and how it was executed…well, everyone who was responsible for that, including Moore, should be horse-whipped.