Jonathan Frakes Looks Back at His ‘Star Trek’ TV Directing Career, From ‘Next Generation’ to the ‘Strange New Worlds’-‘Lower Decks’ ...
Frakes’ “Star Trek” history truly is something to behold. He joined the franchise in 1987 as part of the cast of “,” playing the rakish Commander William T. Riker opposite Patrick Stewart’s cerebral Capt. Jean-Luc Picard. Three years later, Frakes launched his second career as a director on “TNG” — or, as he calls it, “Next Gen” — ultimately helming eight episodes of the show.
“These Old Scientists” deftly weaves the madcap comedy from “Lower Decks” into the more grounded tone of “Strange New Worlds.” The episode mines humor out of Boimler and Mariner’s starry-eyed interactions with their heroes — like Anson Mount’s Capt. Pike, Ethan Peck’s Spock, Rebecca Romijn’s Number One, and Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura.
“Our cast, as you probably know, is notoriously rambunctious. I was, for better or for worse, one of the leaders of that kind of behavior on the set. Some directors really didn’t like coming to work with us because we were that bad. We would be yakking right up until action. Part of it was because we were so well prepared because Patrick had set his high bar from the moment he showed up, that when you come into the morning, you have done your homework, and you’re in good shape.
“It felt like a period episode to me — and now it’s essentially a contemporary show. We went for sort of a low and wide, gritty, lot of side light look. “The lead voices of the writing staff certainly influenced that whole era, the Berman era, of ‘Star Trek.’ Shows were similar in flavor and shows were similarly produced, because of Rick. There was a tonal similarity to that that there is now with the‘Trek,’ in which we are encouraged to shoot the thrill. It’s very cinematic in a way that our shows were not, necessarily.”First aired May 13, 2005
“That was my new home, ‘Discovery.’ And that first episode, getting to know Sonequa — she’s very special, on a lot of levels. She’s not only a fantastic actor, but she is a great leader and very spiritual. She was very welcoming. I was very glad to be part of that company in the beginning of the series. To a person, they said, ‘So what’s this going to be like? What are the conventions like?’ They were all being welcomed into the family in a way.
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