Brannon Braga (/ˈbrɑːɡə/; born August 14, 1965)[1] is an American television producer, director and screenwriter. Best known for his work in the Star Trek franchise, Braga was a key creative force behind three of the franchise's live action series. He later became an executive producer and writer on several Fox shows including 24, Terra Nova, and The Orville.[2] His film credits include Mission: Impossible 2, Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact.[3]

Brannon Braga
Braga at the WonderCon in April 2015.
Born (1965-08-14) August 14, 1965 (age 58)
Bozeman, Montana, United States
Occupation(s)Television producer, screenwriter

He served as an executive producer on the Fox primetime series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a re-launch of the 1980 miniseries hosted by Carl Sagan for which Braga won a Peabody Award,[4] Critics Choice Award,[5] and Producers Guild Award.[6] In addition, Braga has been nominated for three Emmy Awards. Braga also served as writer, executive producer, and co-creator of the drama series Salem, WGN America's first original series.

Career edit

Braga started out as an intern on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1990 as part of the Television Academy Foundation's internship program, eventually becoming a co-producer for the series' final season. He was part of the creative team nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1994 for Outstanding Drama Series, and won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1995 for his work on the series finale, "All Good Things..." along with longtime collaborator Ronald D. Moore. His credits on that series include a number of popular episodes including "Cause and Effect", "Frame of Mind" and "Parallels".

He then joined Star Trek: Voyager as a producer and was tapped to serve as executive producer the following year. He served as showrunner for Voyager until the end of the sixth season when he moved to Star Trek: Enterprise. He teamed up with Moore to write two Star Trek feature films – Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. They would also later develop the Mission: Impossible 2 screenplay. He went on to co-create Star Trek: Enterprise and led that series as executive producer until its fourth and final season.

Before the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, Braga co-created the CBS science fiction drama series Threshold,[7] he was brought on as an executive producer and writer on the Fox series, 24, penning episodes in the seventh and eight seasons. He was also an executive producer and writer on the 2009 ABC science fiction series FlashForward.

While at the helm of Terra Nova, Braga was approached to co-write a four-part comic book series Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hive for IDW, which made its debut in 2012.

Braga was the producer and one of the directors of the 2014 science education series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a sequel to the 1980 series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage that was hosted by Carl Sagan.[8] The project saw Braga collaborating with the original series' writer and Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, executive producer Seth MacFarlane and host Neil DeGrasse Tyson. The 13-episode series premiered March 9, 2014,[9][10] and received mostly positive reaction from critics and viewers.[11] Braga was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show.[12] The following month saw the premiere of the historical fantasy drama television series Salem, which Braga co-created with Adam Simon, and on which he serves as one of the executive producers.[9] in 2014, he directed the Marilyn Manson music video "Cupid Carries a Gun" off The Pale Emperor album.[13]

Braga is one of the producers of The Orville, a 2017 science fiction comedy drama inspired by Star Trek. He also directed several episodes of the series.

Personal life edit

Braga attended Kent State University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, studying Theater Arts and Filmmaking.[14]

During production of Star Trek: Voyager, Braga dated star Jeri Ryan for several years after she joined the cast in the fourth season.[15] Between February and November 2000, they were stalked by Marlon Estacio Pagtakhan, who was convicted for harassment and threats in May 2001.[16][17][18]

Braga gave a speech at the International Atheist Conference in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2006, where he discussed mythologies, specifically the atheistic future for humanity that Gene Roddenberry imagined in Star Trek.[19]

Filmography edit

Film edit

Year Title Director Writer Executive
producer
1994 Star Trek Generations No Yes No
1996 Star Trek: First Contact No Yes No
2000 Mission: Impossible 2 No Yes No
2020 Books of Blood Yes Yes Yes

Television edit

Year Title Creator Director Producer Writer Executive
producer
Notes
1990–94 Star Trek: The Next Generation No No Co- Yes (21) No Staff writer (season 5: 21 episodes)
Story editor (season 6)
Co-producer (season 7)
1995–2001 Star Trek: Voyager No No Yes Yes (49) Yes Producer season 1: 14 episodes, season 2: 4 episodes)
Supervising producer season 2: 22 episodes, season 3)
Co-executive producer (season 4)
Executive producer (seasons 5–6, season 7: 1 episode
Consulting producer (season 7: 25 episodes)
2001–05 Star Trek: Enterprise Yes No No Yes (38) Yes
2005–06 Threshold No No No Yes (1) Yes
2008 24: Redemption No No No No No Television film
Co-executive producer
2009–10 24 No No No Yes (16) Yes Co-executive producer (season 7)
Executive producer (season 8)
2009–10 FlashForward Yes No No Yes (2) Yes
2011 Terra Nova No No No Yes (3) Yes
2014 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey No Yes (8) No No Yes
2014–17 Salem Yes Yes (2) Yes Yes (8) Yes
2017–22 The Orville No Yes (4) No Yes (7) Yes
2020 Cosmos: Possible Worlds No Yes (7) No Yes (11) Yes
2022 The End Is Nye No Yes No Yes Yes

References edit

  1. ^ Blackwell, David (Summer 2006). "Movies Made in Montana". Distinctly Montana. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  2. ^ Ausiello, Michael (April 20, 2010). "Exclusive: Kyle Chandler eyed for dino-mite Fox drama". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 23, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  3. ^ "COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY" (PDF). Jan 1, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  4. ^ "COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey". Peabody Awards.
  5. ^ "Critics' Choice Television Awards". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2014-10-01.
  6. ^ "PGA Awards: 'Birdman' Wins Top Film Prize, Breaking Bad Takes Drama Trophy & Orange Is The New Black Nabs Comedy". Deadline Hollywood. January 25, 2015.
  7. ^ Ian Spelling (October 2005). "Crossing The Threshold". Starlog Magazine 339. p. 66. Threshold shares its title with a really bad Voyager episode. "David Goyer came up with the title," Braga reveals. "The irony did not go by me that 'Threshold' is considered to be one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever written. And somehow I wrote it.
  8. ^ "Q&A: Executive Producer Brannon Braga talks "SALEM"". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  9. ^ a b Phillips, Jevon (February 27, 2014). "Brannon Braga talks new TV treks with series 'Salem,' 'Cosmos' reboot". Hero Complex. Los Angeles Times.
  10. ^ Bell, Josh (September 12, 2012). "Brannon Braga Returns to 'Star Trek' with 'Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hive'". Comic Book Resources.
  11. ^ "Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey : Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  12. ^ "Brannon Braga Inks New Overall Deal With 20th Television". The Hollywood Reporter. September 11, 2014.
  13. ^ Marilyn Manson's The Pale Emperor Streaming In Full
  14. ^ "Braga". startrek.com. CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, CBS Interactive Inc., and Paramount Companies. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  15. ^ Tyler, Aisha (July 3, 2013). "girl on guy 100: jeri ryan". Aisha Tyler. 45:47 mark. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  16. ^ Manekin, Michael (August 24, 2007). "'Star Trek' stalker may not be fit to stand trial". East Bay Times (was Oakland Tribune). Archived from the original on 2016-07-22.
  17. ^ "Cyberstalking garnering more serious response". USA Today. Associated Press. June 29, 2001.
  18. ^ "Trek Beauty Terrified". Fox News Channel. January 19, 2001.
  19. ^ "Every religion has a mythology". sidmennt.is. 16 August 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.

External links edit