Jonathan Frakes has directed many episodes in the Star Trek franchise, but he got his start as an actor. TNG’s William Riker was the resident Casanova, with his one-liners and quips, almost like a proxy Captain Kirk. He was the perfect companion to Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who was a lot more diplomatic and introspective.
Frakes has all the love for his show, but he did mention that TNG fell short of the original series in one aspect. TOS had a lot of banter between William Shatner’s Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, and DeForest Kelley’s Dr. Leonard McCoy. This holy trinity of sorts was missing in TNG as it did not center around any one protagonist.
Jonathan Frakes has a valid reason for feeling TNG fell short of the brilliance of the original series
Jonathan Frakes is an incredible part of the Star Trek franchise, not just for playing William Riker but also for directing many episodes across shows in the franchise. He also directed two films starring the TNG cast, with First Contact heralded as one of the best films in the franchise since Wrath of Khan. So, Frakes knows what makes Star Trek tick.
The original series, though having its own cult following, was not huge enough yet for the studio to keep investing money in, and Paramount canceled the show after three seasons. However, with a renewed interest in the sci-fi genre after Star Wars’s success, the network revived the franchise with a new spinoff show, The Next Generation.
With a new cast, a new ship, and set a hundred years after the events of TOS, TNG explores even more worlds and ran for seven seasons, becoming a global phenomenon. However, Jonathan Frakes believed that the show lacked one aspect of TOS, which stunted its potential from becoming the greatest Star Trek show. He said (via Looper),
I only wish we’d found a way to have the irony and tongue-in-cheek banter of the triumvirate of the original. Picard (Patrick Stewart), Data (Brent Spiner), and Riker should have that. We had our own relationship, but there are moments between Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) that I’ve always envied. That’s a small complaint in a show that I was very proud to be a part of.
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy really tied together the show with their interesting dynamic, but Frakes may be reaching a bit in terms of how good it was for the show. TNG had a more balanced view of the crew members, with storylines going beyond the trio and covering other members of the USS Enterprise-D.
Jonathan Frakes felt he did a better job at playing William Riker from the second season of TNG
Most fans consider the first season of Star Trek: TNG some of the worst of the franchise. It is a miracle that the show became as big as it did because the first season did not cut it. The writing is still shoddy, and the actors are not as free as they would be in later seasons. This was probably due to Gene Roddenberry’s tight-knit rules.
This reportedly bothered Jonathan Frakes a lot, who criticized his own performance as William Riker in the first season. The actor-director mentioned that he struggled to maintain the diplomatic demeanor that Roddenberry envisioned him as, and it was only when he was allowed to be a bit funnier and casual, he thrived in the role. He said (via BrunerHouse),
I think I was so nervous during season one. When we go back and watch clips of these original shows, you can just see we’re not really quite sure how we’re supposed to behave because we hadn’t found the characters yet. And whenever we went to Planet Hell, which is what we called Stage 16, and we had a strong villain, we were a little bit looser.
Frakes also reportedly convinced Roddenberry to let him keep the beard from season 2, as the creator initially preferred the clean-shaven look.
Star Trek: TNG is available to stream on Paramount+.
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