The full text from the Starburst magazine preview.<\/p>\n
More from this interview, as Jonathan Frakes talks more about Roswell, plus 3rd Rock, his towering Eiffel project, the alien comedy Steve Was Here, and his thoughts on new Star Trek, when you get Starburst 259.<\/p>\n
New Frontiers<\/strong><\/p>\n
From second in command on the Enterprise to movie director and Roswell executive producer: Jonathan Frakes’s star is rising.<\/p>\n
By Ian Spelling<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s the hottest hyphenate in Hollywood these days? Jonathan Frakes. That\u2019s right. Frakes, the former co-star of Star Trek: The Next Generation is scoring as an actor- producer-director-host, and he\u2019s scoring big.<\/p>\n
Roswell, the Sci-Fi series he co-executive produces, (known as Roswell High in the UK) is a fledgling hit. He has also guest-starred twice on the series and has called the shots on two episodes thus far, with a third in his near future. Beyond Belief, the reality series he hosts, continues to serve as a top-notch pinch hitter whenever and wherever it gets placed in the television schedule. For his production company, Goepp Circle, Frakes just received a green light from Columbia Pictures to hire a screenwriter to pen a black comedy that he would direct. And, on the acting side, Frakes just popped up \u2013 with wife Genie Francis in tow \u2013 on 3rd Rock from the Sun, and he\u2019s committed to return to the acclaimed cable comedy, The Lot, for a second batch of episodes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am feeling good,\u201d Frakes says. \u201cI think that Roswell is going to make it. It seems to have the teenage girl demographic, which is what the WB has circled as their goal. So I have very high hopes that we will be back next year. I talked to Jason Katims yesterday. Jason is the show runner and he was told that the decision won\u2019t be made until May. We have a big four or five-episode arc at the end of the season that will hopefully attract attention. I\u2019m going to be directing one of those episodes. I\u2019ve done one, I\u2019m starting my second episode next week and I\u2019ll probably do one after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the success of the show is that the chemistry works. The writing does not talk down to the audience. The kids are smart. There\u2019s comedy in it. There\u2019s irony in it. There\u2019s sex in it. The look of the show is great. John Bartley, who is the director of photography, has given us that great, hot-orange look.<\/p>\n
“Where is there room for improvement? I have a feeling that we are going to have some regrets about letting the secret out so wide so soon. I think we need a new secret…\u201d<\/p>\n
Frakes turns up next as himself in a February sweeps episode entitled The Convention. Directed by Tucker Gates, the hour finds Max playing host to Frakes, who is in town for the 10th Annual UFO Convention, while Valenti deals with the arrival of the man (Tom Bower) who destroyed his father\u2019s career… \u201cI think you\u2019ll see a little bit of William Shatner in me in this one,\u201d Frakes says. \u201cIt\u2019s self-effacing. In the opening scene I go to Max. I\u2019m the guest moderator at this convention and I complain to him that Shatner and [Patrick] Stewart got suites at the hotel and I only got a regular room. That\u2019s the tone of the piece. (But) it\u2019s really unnerving to play yourself…\u201d<\/p>\n
But what of Frakes\u2019s other projects.? Beyond Belief, believe it or not, is still on the air. Frakes, who narrates each episode with wrap-around commentary, tapes two or three shows in a day, standing before a camera one day every two or three weeks. Given its modest production costs, chances are Beyond Reality will be back next year. But Total Recall 2, to which Frakes has been long attached as a director, seems to have fallen victim to Arnold Schwarzenegger\u2019s decision to pursue other films. \u201cThat\u2019s dead for now,\u201d Frakes notes. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s for the best. Maybe it wasn\u2019t meant to be…\u201d<\/p>\n
A day on Roswell<\/strong>
\nRoswell’s Maria (Majandra Delfino) – is she local?<\/p>\nIn Roswell aliens Max (Jason Behr), Michael (Brendan Fehr) and Isabel (Katherine Heigl) deal with love, hate, friendship and fear while growing up as human teens in Roswell, New Mexico alongside locals including Liz (Shiri Appleby) and Maria (Majandra Delfino).<\/p>\n
Since the launch of the show many people have wondered what it is precisely that Frakes and his producing partner, Lisa J Olin, do on a day-to-day basis…<\/p>\n
\u201cWe give notes on the first draft of the script and on the first cut of the episodes, when the director\u2019s cut comes in,\u201d he offers. \u201cWe look at dailies every day and keep track of those. That\u2019s my day-to-day, and then I direct a few shows. Obviously, I go and check in whenever I can, since my office is right there on the lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the kids are fabulous. I\u2019m very fond of them. I feel an affinity for them because it feels like the beginning of Next Gen, as I see these kids getting used to having a television series, having a full-time job and learning everything that goes with that, the good and the bad, including the fact that they have to build up their stamina to work our 15-hour days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most fans of Roswell consider the episode Frakes directed, River Dog, one of the show\u2019s best to date. Part two of a two-parter, it picked up where 285 South left off and involved the papers found in the geodesic dome, a theft, a mysterious necklace, an old Native American named River Dog (Ned Romero) and more romantic bickering between Michael and Maria (Majandra Delfino).<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very pleased with it,\u201d Frakes reports. \u201cI was freer with the hand-held camera than I had been on any other show I\u2019d done. I tried to use a little stylistic license, which I wasn\u2019t always able to do on episodes of Star Trek…”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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