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Jonathan Frakes Criticizes Enterprise Finale and Star Trek Insurrection

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By GustavoLeao / 14:59, 17 October 2007 / Star Trek: Nemesis

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The latest issue of Star Trek Magazine, juts out in the UK and US, features an exclusive interview with Star Trek actor/director Jonathan Frakes. Here are few excerpts, cortesy of Sci Fi Pulse.

Frakes revealed that he does not expect to be donning the uniform again and added that the circumstances of his and Marina Sirtis last guest appearance in the Star Trek: Enterprise Finale ‘These Are The Voyages' were very strange.


"That was very odd," the actor said in relation to Enterprise. "It was ill fated, I think. Scott [Bakula] was such a mensch about it. I know we would have been upset if it had happened on our show. I think we would have felt infantilised and belittled, but Scott handled it with such grace. I think it's because he had had so much success previously, and also it meant he wasn't in a lot of scenes."


Frakes added that although he was happy to return as Riker, he never did understand the logic of doing a flashback episode which linked a TNG episode from its final season to the finale of Enterprise.


"I thought it was frankly giving The Next Generation too much power," he says. "It hadn't been set up in Enterprise that there was any interest in Next Gen."


"They wanted it to be a valentine to the fans - that's how Rick [Berman] described it to me on the phone. They wanted me and Marina [Sirtis] to come back, and I said I'd love to. When I got there... it was what it was. It was great to be with Marina again, and for us, selfishly, it was great, because we were back on the lot, back in uniform. We still looked good and we felt good, so that made sense. But it was hard to follow - the logic police didn't take a good look at it."


When it came to talking about the two Star Trek movies which he was able to direct Frakes still regards Star Trek: First Contact as being his best work as a director on Star Trek. However he still feels that Insurrection was a little uneven.


"God bless Michael Piller's soul, but in Insurrection, the whole idea of the Ba'ku, this perfect race, looking Aryan? That was a fiasco. The other side of Insurrection, the arc with F. Murray Abraham, was great. It worked: it represented villainy, greed and vanity. It had all kinds of wonderful stuff. The Ba'ku was a colour that just wasn't powerful enough for a movie."

To read the full article, get the new issue of Star Trek Magazine at your local newsstand.

The original report can be found at Sci Fi Pulse.



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Old News | Report this post to moderator
By: John Calvin (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 13:27:26 on Oct 19, 2007

At first I thought this was an archived news article out of place from just after Enterprise was cancelled. I wish they'd give it a rest. This is old news.

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  • RE: Old News | Report this post to moderator
    By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 14:50:54 on Oct 19, 2007

    Yeah, but only now, years later, he is answering it honestly. And he even criticizes his own movie. Very candid interview.

    Gustavo

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    • RE: Old News | Report this post to moderator
      By: John Calvin (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 16:30:11 on Oct 19, 2007

      That wasn't meant as a criticism of TrekWeb posting these stories. I just got the impression way back when that all the actors etc. had already weighed in on the issues with Enterprise.

      I can understand how the Enterprise cast must have felt, being cancelled, then having to take a backseat to the cast of another show on there own finale.

      I'm just ready to move on from all that and see what some fresh people have to offer the franchise.

      Thanks to you GustavoLeao for keeping us informed.

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      www.gracelockport.com


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Kirk and Spock? Wouldnt have made a difference.. | Report this post to moderator
By: cdydatzigs (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:32:55 on Oct 18, 2007

Quote:
If it were Kirk and Spock, the overshadowing would have been 100 times more--especially since explaining Kirk being there would have been the most important thing. The ratings would have been much higher, and the cast of Enterprise would have been much more insignificant.

You're right in that you would have to subtext a LOT more to explain why Kirk and Spock are "there", and why Kirk is not only alive but looks older than he did before he died?

I don't think the ratings would have been any higher though. Again, die-hard Star Trek fans think that by throwing in a "bigger name" in the Trek universe into an episode, that the GENERAL audience is going to finally tune in to Enterprise in droves. It's like you guys are in denial about how "popular" Trek is to the general public anymore.

Not so... you could have had Kirk, Spock, and half the original cast of Battlestar Gallactica in that finale, and the ratings would have been the same. The average viewer wasn't tuning in to UPN, and could care less about that Star Trek show with the guy from Quantum Leap in it.. the truth hurts

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-- Steve
"If a sixth Star Trek television series is ever realized, it will be set in the new universe." -- cdydatzigs, June 15, 2009.


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Question | Report this post to moderator
By: Dukat (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 01:41:50 on Oct 18, 2007

What if instead of Riker and Troi, it has beek Kirk and Spock at the end of Enterprise?



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  • RE: Question | Report this post to moderator
    By: StillKirok (Odo's file, contact) @ 03:51:03 on Oct 18, 2007

    If it were Kirk and Spock, the overshadowing would have been 100 times more--especially since explaining Kirk being there would have been the most important thing. The ratings would have been much higher, and the cast of Enterprise would have been much more insignificant.


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Same interview questions, different day | Report this post to moderator
By: cdydatzigs (Odo's file, contact) @ 17:05:19 on Oct 17, 2007

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It's always nice to hear from Jonathan Frakes, but sheesh dude, time to find a new drum to beat! Frakes is becoming the new Robert Beltran!


Jeez guys, you DO realize that interviewers ask the SAME questions to these guys every time they sit down for a junket, whether it's supposed to be Star Trek related or not.. and that EVERY Trek related answer is going to be posted on websites like this, which makes it appear that all Dorn, Siritis, Stewart et al do is complain about the show and the films!

Beltran was one of the few actors who was legitimately pissed, and with fair reason. He was second in command, had a rich back story and got shoved aside in favor of stories about the holographic doctor and Seven of Nine -- which to the producers, garnered better ratings and were "more interesting."

Hell, the actor who played the dad on the sitcom "Family Matters" wanted that show to be the next Cosby Show, and that's how it started off... how miffed do you think he was when Steve Urkel went from a secondary background character, to the star of the show! That's Hollywood baby.

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-- Steve
"If a sixth Star Trek television series is ever realized, it will be set in the new universe." -- cdydatzigs, June 15, 2009.


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give it a rest! | Report this post to moderator
By: Dingo's Kidneys (Odo's file, contact) @ 15:29:07 on Oct 17, 2007

It's always nice to hear from Jonathan Frakes, but sheesh dude, time to find a new drum to beat! Frakes is becoming the new Robert Beltran!

There's a thought... Frakes and Beltran should team up with George Takei for a new movie featuring Captain Sulu, Captain Riker and Captain Chakotay!

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GET A LIFE,
will you people? I mean, for crying out loud, it's just a TV show!.... You've turned an enjoyable little job, that I did as a lark for a few years, into a COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME! -- William Shatner on Saturday Night Live (1986)


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  • RE: give it a rest! | Report this post to moderator
    By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 15:37:58 on Oct 17, 2007

    Frakes is a nice guy. I think his criticism of Enterprise and Insurrection to be very accurate. Berman and Stewart ruined Michael Piller's script for Insurrection and I think Frakes knows this.

    Gustavo

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    gl2000@uol.com.br


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    • RE: give it a rest! | Report this post to moderator
      By: RJ79 (Odo's file, contact) @ 15:44:22 on Oct 17, 2007

      Stewart helped destroy the script? Wow, please tell me more.


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      • RE: give it a rest! | Report this post to moderator
        By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 16:00:54 on Oct 17, 2007

        In the original script by Piller titled Star Trek: Stardust (named after the Hoagy Carmichael song), Captain Picard is sent to track down a former Starfleet Academy classmate named Duffy, who is attacking Romulan ships in the far reaches of space. As the Enterprise crew pursues Duffy, they grow younger in age as they close in on the Fountain of Youth powers of the "Briar Patch". Problems with the dramatic impact of such a storyline, however, plagued the development. Berman believed the film to be too political; the Fountain of Youth scenario too fantasy-like. Ultimately, the rejuvenation of the crew was dropped in favor of a story more closely modeled on Heart of Darkness, drama upped by the replacement of Duffy with Data.

        The second draft of Stardust featured Picard in pursuit of Data. Eventually battling and killing Data in the second act, Picard would ultimately reactivate the android in time to save the Federation from an "unholy" alliance with the Romulans. According to Piller, "How do you out-Borg the Borg? How do you create a villain or adversary that will be their equal? The answer is don't try. Make a different kind of movie."

        Distributing the story to Paramount executives, Piller and Berman received mixed reviews - some reiterating Bermans' previous concern that it was "too political", others opposed to the idea of aligning the Federation with the film's villains. The biggest blow to Stardust, however, came from Patrick Stewart, writing to Berman from the set of the TV movie adaptation of Moby Dick. According to Stewart:

        "I said three things: One was, I thought that Picard's involvement in the action line of First Contact had been very successful and I wanted to continue that. My feeling was that the captain should be in the thick of things. You've got to have the captain in jeopardy. Then I talked about perhaps trying to find a lighter tone for this film, I wanted to see our heroes having fun. And the last thing I suggested was that we should develop a romantic storyline that went a little further than the one that I had with Alfre Woodard in the last film. That was a fairly competitive relationship, which ultimately became respectful and fond towards the end - but it was just too late."

        Finally given a chance to sit down and speak to Stewart, a disheartened Piller found that they were actually interested in telling the same story: "...It came to pass that the conflict that I had with Patrick really is what saved this project and did give me what I wanted in the first place." Stewart was especially enthusiastic about the Fountain of Youth notion, reintroduced into the third draft screenplay. Retaining, but confining the conflict with Data to the first act only, the new storyline introduced new villains called the "Son'i", victimizing the "Ba'ku", a race of children. This draft introduced elements that remained intact through the final film, including the regeneration of Geordi La Forge's eyes, the rejuvenation of the Riker/Troi romance and Worf's puberty. In it, Picard would rebel against a faction of Federation officers allied with the Son'i to steal the Ba'ku planet.

        Gustavo


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        • RE: give it a rest! | Report this post to moderator
          By: SuperDave (Odo's file, contact) @ 22:41:13 on Oct 18, 2007

          Quote:
          "I said three things: One was, I thought that Picard's involvement in the action line of First Contact had been very successful and I wanted to continue that. My feeling was that the captain should be in the thick of things. You've got to have the captain in jeopardy. Then I talked about perhaps trying to find a lighter tone for this film, I wanted to see our heroes having fun. And the last thing I suggested was that we should develop a romantic storyline that went a little further than the one that I had with Alfre Woodard in the last film. That was a fairly competitive relationship, which ultimately became respectful and fond towards the end - but it was just too late."

          Did Stewart even get Picard? I mean, come on!

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