The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years

by Mark A. Altman

BRANNON BRAGA It was truly a mix of feelings, because on the one hand I was greatly relieved, I was moving on to other things, and it was such a scalding experience toward the end with an estranged network and an apathetic fan base. At the same time, it was a show that we thought was finally really good, so it was upsetting that it was over. I really think we could have continued for another two or three years with Manny at the helm. We were already cutting corners, the shows had shifted to high-definition video the fourth season and I thought it looked like shit, but even with cutting corners, the show could have continued creatively. Star Trek is a long-term investment, but at the end of the day, I think I was very ready to do other things. In fact, I’d already had another project sitting in front of me that I had to tackle, which was another science-fiction show for CBS, Threshold. It was doomed to failure, but I’d been doing Star Trek for fifteen years. I was ready to do something else, but looking back it was bittersweet—more bitter than sweet, because it should not have been canceled.