Brannon Braga conceded that he should have stayed more in touch with the fans during his tenure on Star Trek and conceded that he made some wrong moves, saying that he feels it is unfair when he sees himself characterised as not caring about the franchise.

"I lived and breathed this stuff for my entire adult life," Braga told TrekWeb. "I wouldn't have stayed with it so long if I weren't incredibly passionate about it." He said that he still reads internet fan boards where Star Trek is discussed, though his focus these days is on Threshold, his CBS series that has received favourable reviews but ratings that leave its future uncertain. "A lot of [the criticism] I take to heart, I've always listened to what they have to say, as painful as it is."

Calling the late Michael Piller "something of a father figure to me", Braga said that he learned to do everything he is doing now from the onetime Star Trek executive producer. "He really was a mentor to many people and though Michael and I hadn't worked together for several years, he always stayed in touch, more so than I did, regrettably... Piller was just such an incredibly strong, focused, stabilizing presence."

On Threshold, Braga is enjoying writing a different kind of science fiction than Star Trek, whose futuristic setting made it expensive to show a detailed universe outside the spaceships. "What I've really enjoyed about writing Threshold and producing it is we are able to make a very cinematic show, where we go to a lot of different locations and really pick up the pace. And that is only possible by being able to use Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, and that's been very refreshing."

Braga noted that on UPN, Threshold's ratings would have been a cause for celebration, but on the network that carries CSI, they are not impressive. He thinks that the series will do better at 10 p.m. than it did at 9 p.m., being "a dark scary show", and not following Ghost Whisperer, whose demographics skew more toward female viewers. "Ghost Whisperer, which has its scary moments, is a hopeful uplifting show, and then you turn to Threshold where heads are exploding and the world's going to end," he noted. "Tuesdays at 10 is a better timeslot for us." He hopes that viewers will follow the show to its new time, where he claims to have a spectacular cliffhanger in store if the show runs for the full season.

The original article is at TrekWeb.

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