This week sees the theatrical release of two of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s best episodes, stitched together into one movie, “The Best of Both Worlds.” Next week sees the Blu-ray release of the newly remastered third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
To mark the occasion, I spoke with Jonathan Frakes, Will Riker himself.
My review of “The Best of Both Worlds” appeared on Huffington Post with an abridged version of this interview.
The parts of the interview you might want to pay closest attention to are about his time playing Captain America for Marvel, and his interest in doing Star Wars.
Jonathan Frakes: I think the show holds up quite well, the storytelling is great. The writers were at the top of their game at the time. I think the special effects have been redone in a very painstaking, impressive and elegant way. I was told that one of the downsides is that you can see a lot of glue on the wings on the aliens and stuff like that, but I didn’t see that and I didn’t find myself distracted by that at all.
Bryan Young: This story played out over two seasons. Did you know how things were going to resolve between season three and season four?
Frakes: No, we were left hanging out to dry. We were wondering if Patrick Stewart was in the middle of negations and they were using that as a tactic to renegotiate his contract by stressing that me might not come back. And I think it was that seriousness of the story that made for such a brilliant cliffhangers. I think it is one of the greatest cliffhangers in television history.
Young: After Star Trek and even during some, you made a transition from actor to director, even directing some Star Trek, what caused you to want to take on that transition?
Frakes: I was looking for another outlet. And Leonard Nimoy told me that if I didn’t find one, I would be typecast, and that I had to find one. I’m glad I’m not trying to make my living as an actor now, and I’m very thankful to have learned another craft. When I went to Rick Berman, who is the keeper of all things Star Trek, and voiced an interest in directing, he was reluctant because I didn’t have any experience. But I went to a school Paramount had set up. Some very generous editors volunteered some of their time and expertise to explain and show, by example, what I needed to give them as a director so they could edit together an episode of television, so I learned a great deal. And then I went and learned post production where we put together sound design, looping and the scoring with a full orchestra, and then finally editing and doing the final mix. I learned what it takes to put an episode together literally from beginning to end, because Rick was so reluctant, I persevered for a year and a half until he turned an episode over to me, and it ended up being a wonderful episode, “The Offspring”, and we were both very blessed that it was a great episode, and one of everyone’s favorites.
Young: I read that for a time you played Captain America.
Frakes: Very true. I worked for Marvel Comics in New York in 1975 or 1976. A friend of mine was working as Spider-man, and Stan Lee asked if he had a buddy who could come out and be Captain America with you. And he recommended me. So I got the gig and then we’d have to go to the Marvel offices and sign out a skin-tight, spandex costume, and they would give us a plane ticket to someplace like Omaha, Nebraska, and we go to open a comic book store in full costume. It was a whirlwind, we’d go to a couple of comic book stores and six or eight 7-11’s and then fly back to New York. It was a great gig for a working actor at the time.
Young: So, when you took on Star Trek, you weren’t necessarily a stranger to the scene that would be consuming this sort of material, and you had experiences with conventions. What’s it like having that fan interaction continually over all these years?
Frakes: I’m continually amazed and thankful for the phenomenon that Star Trek has become over the last 20-30 years. We were celebrating the 25th anniversary at some conventions as a whole cast. So it has been the reunion for the fans which has also been a reunion for us. We see each other individually every so often, but the idea of being together again has been so much fun.
Young: I’m curious how you’ve felt about the Abrams Star Trek reboot and how you would feel if they decided to reboot Next Generation in the same way.
Frakes: I think JJ has been brilliant with the reboot. His work is astounding. I love the first movie, and I’m really excited about the second one, and I can tell from the trailer it’s going to be spectacular. I’m a big JJ fan, and I think the franchise is in good hands, and I think Star Wars is lucky to have him as well. The idea of Next Gen working its way into his franchise is hard to imagine, but not impossible, so I’m certainly hopeful that at least one of us will show up in his movies.
Young: So if JJ called you up and asked you to switch teams and be in Star Wars, would you follow that direction?
Frakes: In a heartbeat… In a heartbeat.
Young: You shot a lot of episodes. Is there one that stands out the most of all of them, and if you wish you had a different movie to be your last one.
Frakes: I have a soft spot for “The Offspring” since that was the first one I was able to direct. And then I always follow it up with “The Best of Both Worlds.” With its cliffhanger it’s classic Star Trek and is as good as it gets. We were just coming into our own, it was the third season of the show. Michael Pillar who was one of our finest writers wrote the characters with real clarity and irony. Our guest stars were fantastic. We were running on all cylinders, and I’m really happy that’s the show they have chosen for theatrical release. As far as the movie, I think Nemesis, as our last film, is clearly a result of economics. There were 10 Star Trek movies; the first 9 made money, the tenth didn’t, so the franchise stopped making the movies.
The Best of Both Worlds comes out theatrically April 25. Those episodes as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three comes out on Blu-ray April 30.