GBBP 44: Jonathan Frakes

The Great Big Beautiful Podcast, Episode 44: Jonathan Frakes

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Shields up… red alert! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

This week, we’re beyond thrilled to have Jonathan Frakes swing by the show. Most of you undoubtedly know him as the indomitable Number One: Commander William T. Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In addition to starring as Riker on seven seasons of the show and in four films (and in many other non-Star Trek roles), Frakes has also made an impressive name for himself as a director. He began his directing career on The Next Generation, turning in some of the best episodes of the second half of that show–including “The Offspring,” “The Quality of Life,” and “Cause and Effect” (one of my personal favorite episodes).

He directed episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager before working on what are widely regarded as the two best Next Gen films (First Contact and Insurrection). Away from Star Trek, he’s directed episodes of Dollhouse, V, Leverage, Castle, Burn Notice, and Agents of SHIELD. Recently, he’s been focusing on TNT’s The Librarians, the series based on the films he also directed. (Click here for why we think you should be watching the show.)

In short, nerd cred doesn’t come much stronger than his.

On this episode, we chat with Jonathan about Star Trek (old and new), the Riker Sit, behind-the-scenes drama (on which Shatner’s Chaos on the Bridge recently shined a new light), his desire to see a resurrection of Gargoyles, Gary Whitta’s Nerd Court, jazz, and cosplaying as Captain America.

Make sure you stick around for the very end, when we play a round of Either/Or and Jonathan weighs in the burning questions Stanley Hazard or Thomas Riker and Wesley Crusher: Hater or Apologist?

*Fun fact: He was sitting in LA traffic for the entire hour of this episode.

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