If you grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation like I did, then you probably love Jonathan Frakes (AKA Commander William Riker). And if you love Jonathan Frakes, then you may have also been into his post-Star Trek docudrama, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, which he hosted between 1998 and 2002. If you don’t know the show, it went something like this: Frakes comes out and introduces a scenario that seems far-fetched, which is followed by a dramatization/re-enactment of the scenario. At the end of each segment, he summarizes the story with an awesomely cheesy pun such as, “In this tale of trick or treat, have we opened the door of truth, or are we leaving you holding the bag?” He then promises we will found out which of the five accounts are true and which are false at the end of the show.
So after waiting with baited breath for what seems like an eternity, but it’s really only an hour, we finally come to the end of the program. As promised, Frakes shows up again and begins to reveal which stories were fact and which were fiction in the same wry, pun-inspired fashion as before. But my favorite moments of these closing segments are when the confidently smirking Frakes says something like, “So what about the story of [blah blah… totally unbelievable premise… blah]? This story has to be fake right?” And you’re like, “Absolutely, totally fiction. Next please.” But then Frakes gets all serious and looks straight at the camera and says, “Wrong, this one is fact…” and then you’re all, “WWHHHAAAATT?” and he’s like “Umm Hmmm” and you’re like, “Oh no, he didn’t,” and he’s like, “Oh yes, I did–I’m Jonathan Friggin Frakes…Boom!”
That’s how I remember it anyway. It was a great show, but also a relic of a different time–a kind of cheesery that could only exist at the turn of the 20th century.
In honor of this awesome show, I’d like to take a poll to determine the greatest of Frakes’ many wonderful puns. So, which of the following puns from Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction are the best, and which are just pundits of mediocrity?
OK, I may have made up that last one. So, did this article make you smile, or were we just pulling teeth?
I really loved this show (even when it was James Brolin hosting)! There’s nothing quite like it!
I love this show now and when I was growing up. The cheesy “pun lines” as you statewhere always the best and gave a good crack up during the commercial brakes lol I really like this show, in FACT I like it so much I have every episode ripped on DVD and the original release DVD with James Brolin as the host. Overall all of them need to be on dvd someday for people who don’t have a dvd burner!
Okay, so here’s a story. I leave it to you to decide if it’s fact or fiction…
A few months back I stumbled across this website and rediscovered my love for Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. I invited some friends over and we watched the first two episodes. We all enjoyed it so much we ended up meeting several more times that month watching more and more episodes until one of my friends secretly recorded us commenting and joking and having a blast watching the show.
He played it back to us and we said to ourselves… this could be a podcast.
And so now it is. If you’re a fan of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, then you will absolutely love our new podcast BEYOND BEYOND BELIEF. We’re going to watch every single episode and pick apart the stories, and guess which are fact and which are fiction. And we invite you guys to do the same. Normally I don’t go around spamming this kind of stuff, but because I saw a few commenters here posting about their love for the show, I figured I may as well get the word out on a very appropriate blog post.
We hope you’ll join us!
If you haven’t seen the Beyond, Beyond Belief Series you need to. They edit down the episodes to there craziest parts.