New Andy mangels Interview

[Reanok]

Hi everyone, I was over at Digital bits looking for news about upcoming dvds when I found a new interview over there with Andy Mangels he talks about the abomination and how much he hated the finale and goes into quite alot of detail about writting The Good That Men Do and about future relaunch books Kobayashi Maru and the Earth/ Romulan war miniseries. here's the link http://www.digitalbits.com/articles/int ... 60407.html

[Shakabutt]

Me thinks Andy is a Tucker fan

[justTripn]

THE KEY PART OF THE INTERVIEW:

Bill: (laughs) The so-called finale.

Andy: Right. It was such an abomination in the eyes of God, Man and nearly every fan in the galaxy, that Paramount agreed to allow us to write a story that kind of makes sense out of it.

Bill: It's actually really impressive, because as bad as that final episode was, you guys made it look brilliant. You guys made it into the granny pitch before a gimmie home run. (Andy laughs) . . .

Andy: Well, I don't think I'll ever get to work with (Enterprise producers) Rick Berman or Brannon Braga after this, after I've slagged off their horrid, horrid finale…

Bill: That's probably a good thing.

Andy: You know, (chuckles) I think I'll be able to live with myself.

[justTripn]

You know that is the big question I wanted answered. In the acknowledgements of the TGTMD they thank "Rick Berman and Brannon Bragga, whose original teleplay for the Star Trek: Enterprise Series provided our initial jumping-off place."

He, he . . . "jumping-off place." It's more like they ripped that episode to shreds and did such a good job of it (their reinterpretation scoffed at all the inconsistencies in the original Trip-dies plot) I found myself wondering if Berman and Bragga HAD actually set him up for this story. For a minute I wondered if they were all working together. That's why I appreciate the "granny pitch" comment.

[CoffeeCat]

^ I've always thought that Berman and Braga used to do stuff like *the_abomination* on purpose to get the fans in an uproar. Think about this for a minute: The more they screw up the characters, the more prolific frustrated fan fic writers get and it becomes a free advertisement for their show. They frelled up Voyager more than any other Trek series and yet if you go to FF.net you'll find that there's more Voyager fics there than any other Trek series. Then you get Enterprise in second place.

I think the plot holes in *the_abomination* were done on purpose.

[Hondafan]

I still refuse to watch the abomination. Completely refuse too.

[Jedikatie]

^
I think that might be a flawed example, though. Technically, the public use of the Internet really took off right around the time Voyager was the only game in town (maybe possibly the last year or so of DS9 as well), so of course, there would be more fanfics based on it rather than the earlier series. Same for Enterprise--we're part of the digital, wired age, and so our fanfics are online. The earlier shows (TOS, TNG, DS9) had more fanfics in the traditional fanzines, I think.

[CoffeeCat]

Yah - you're probably right. I still think they did it on purpose though: They way they so smugly labeled it a "Valentine" and all.

I still refuse to watch the abomination. Completely refuse too.

I suffered through it a few times only cause I'm writing a fix the finale' fic. (and boy I'm fixin' the bugger) When I'm done, I'm NEVER going to put myself through it again.

[justTripn]

Here's a question I was wondering about. Was "the abomination" "good" for Enterprise fanfic? I know that several writers, myself included got writing in order to fix the finale. Of course it was going strong before that. It sure would have been nice NOT to have to fix the finale, just to have skipped the finale. The finale is Terra Prime. Did the fans get so rilled up that they started writing faster or stick with it longer?

Also, did Berman and Bragga write the finale to say, this is OUR show, you fans can't have it? Or was it just a lazy shortcut--going for an big emotional impact with no great idea for a finale. Inquiring minds want to know.

If anyone knows of any interveiws that address this let me know.

[CoffeeCat]

Here's a question I was wondering about. Was "the abomination" "good" for Enterprise fanfic? I know that several writers, myself included got writing in order to fix the finale. Of course it was going strong before that. It sure would have been nice NOT to have to fix the finale, just to have skipped the finale. The finale is Terra Prime. Did the fans get so rilled up that they started writing faster or stick with it longer?

It was enough to get me writing fan fic again. Although my fix the finale isn't really Enterprise yet. It also stemmed from a desire to see some of the old Voyager characters back in action. (although, I write Voyager to deal with all the things they frelled up with that, too)

Also, did Berman and Bragga write the finale to say, this is OUR show, you fans can't have it? Or was it just a lazy shortcut--going for an big emotional impact with no great idea for a finale. Inquiring minds want to know.

I think it was a little of both. But I think most of it comes from Berman. From what I learned during my time speaking with certain people, Braga was more of a "yes-man" for him who was pretty much put in a position to take all the flack.

If anyone knows of any interveiws that address this let me know.

Any interview with Braga. You can read between the lines and basically understand the way they think without even having it confirmed.