In the original Star Trek, Captain James T. Kirk was something of a ladies man. The old joke goes that Kirk had a different romance each week during the original series run.
If Kirk were around today, Voyager producer and writer Brannon Braga says that Kirk wouldn’t be defined as a ladies’ man, but instead as a sex addict.
The assertion was made by Braga on StarTrek.com in defense of Voyager’s Seven of Nine character.
“A lot of people thought it was in poor taste that we had a buxom babe, but I’m like, “Have you actually watched TOS?” That was babes on parade. Kirk would be considered a sex addict by today’s standards,” Braga says. “The show [Voyager] needed a kick in the ass. Creatively, we needed something. A Star Trek series, in my opinion, is only as good as its captain, and Captain Janeway was a great captain, but she didn’t have her Spock or Data, really.”
Braga says he stands by the decision to bring in Seven of Nine for the final seasons of Voyager.
” I thought the character was a great addition to the show. And it kind of lit a fire under the cast, too. It was very controversial. We got rid of Kes and brought in Seven of Nine, and some people in the cast were upset about it and some thought it was cool, but at the end of the day I think it did all the right things creatively to the show, in my opinion,” he adds.
So, do you agree with what Braga says?
This is hilarious. I guess the fact that he was sleeping with Jeri Ryan at the time doesn’t have anything to do with his perspective on the subject…
It also shows how little Braga actually watched classic Trek.
I’ve been re-watching it on Blu-Ray and streaming and while Kirk is the ladies man, he’s not necessarily sleeping with every alien lady he meets. And the pattern of a new love interest each episode really doesn’t ramp up until season three.
Kirk was a sex addict…like James Bond.
Wait a minute. Ryan was shagging Braga?
Way to go Jerri. No grips or carpenters for you. (Not that there’s any problem with that.)
You went straight for one of the Brass Rings.
Good on you!
: )
His argument that Janeway is a great captain doesn’t help either. All things being equal, if Janeway had been male, the series wouldn’t have been any better, but that’s because she shunned any outside advice on all occasions, deferring to her own opinions/plans. She was an awful captain. They tried to make her tough, but she was more of a tyrant than some of the “bad” starfleet captains from TOS. 7-of-9 may have been added as a “pet project” for Janeway, but she was certainly not a balancing foil like Spock or Data. My whole reason for watching through the early seasons was Kes and Neelix. When they axed Kes and hand in the obvious replacement 7-of-9 (now with Double-D action), I lost all interest in the show.
Voyager simply sucked. yes, seven of nine is hot, but she ruined one of the best villains of all time, THE BORG. Seriously, why would they turn the borgs into humans?! That was simply the dumbest thing in the series, and not even Jeri Ryan’s good looks could save it. I hated that! The borg were the biggest triumph of TNG, followed in second place by data. So come to think of it, everything that was awesome about TOS, TNG, and DS9, everything that has made me love star trek, was disregarded when they made voyager. As for Enterprise, that show is 60% lousy, 40% awesome. I hated the intro sequence, and many of the episodes, but there were also some episodes that I absolutely loved. Well, all I have to say is, whats with the Ricks?! I mean, Rick Mccallum was working when the star wars prequels were made, and Rick Berman was responsible for that voyager abomination. (yes, there is lots of excellent expanded universe stuff during Ricks time, but Rick had no involvement in that. And as much as I love Star Wars Return Of The Jedi, as well as TNG, DS9 and some of enterprise, in the long run both Ricks screwed up some great space opera) If I ever end up making a space opera, I won’t let a Rick come near it!
I totally agree. Sex addiction is one of those prime-time pop psychology fads that in a few decades we’ll all be laughing about. Janeway was a great captain and Seven renewed my interest in the series.
That it was Braga who thought “Threshold” was a great idea sort of invalidates everything else he said in this interview, don’t you think?
Nope. For me, Threshold was the better series that year, even though Invasion was the one that survived to get the full season pick-up.
Him admitting that much of Trek That Sucks is all on him, but that he still gets hired to work on new scifi shows is what irks me. He takes full responsibility for the episode that caused me to stop watching Voyager and write off Trek as anything worth watching on TV anymore for YEARS. I probably wouldn’t come back to another Trek series, if they made one.
“Threshold” in quotes, dear. As in the episode. Not the series. Though it’s very understandable why you might have blocked that episode from your mind.
Blocked it? I told you… me watching that episode is solely responsible for causing my severe Trek allergy! Not even repeated watchings of Wrath of Khan could fix that! 😉
Hell, I haven’t even bothered to watch the JJ Abrams movie, I’ve been so Trekaumatized…
(I must have read too fast over the part where he thought the episode was a good idea… I just saw his passing comment on the series)
Braga is confusing actor and character. Shatner was the sex addict!
Voyager was my fav Star Trek series because I adored the sexual tension between Janeway and Chakotay. Have to admit I was most disappointed when Chakotay ended up with bimbo Seven of Nine. That made Janeway look all mumsy after she’d turned all sexy and tough with the shorter hair.
Would have loved to see a “Star Trek Diplomats” series with Seven, the Doctor and Worf working together to find diplomatic solutions to alien’s problems 🙂