These days, Jonathan Frakes is a captain in his own right.
The former Star Trek: The Next Generation actor and director makes his living mostly behind the scenes with a plethora of directing gigs, notably on The Glades, Leverage, Burn Notice and even V, to keep on fresh sci-fi.
Jonathan's latest gig is to direct tomorrow night's episode of the Community TV series Bar Karma, an interactive experience engineered by The Sims creator Will Wright and Spike TV founder Albie Hecht, where the internet community literally creates the story for each individual episode.
For those unfamiliar with the show, the official description reads:
“Set at a mystical watering hole at the edge of the universe, Bar Karma stars William Sanderson (True Blood, LOST, Deadwood) as James, the 20,000 year-old bartender, Matthew Humphreys (Obsessed, Big Love, The Forgotten) as bar owner Doug Jones, and Cassie Howarth (Deranged High, Deathclock) as the lone waitress, Dayna. The series answers the age-old question: 'What would happen if you could change your fate?’ Set in a time-traveling bar owned and operated by members of the mysterious organization Karma, Inc., each weekly episode follows a new bar patron as they enter at happy hour and must make a life-changing, and possibly world-saving, decision.”
The former Commander Riker was kind enough to talk to UGO recently about his experiences working with the Bar Karma group and his own wife Genie Francis on Friday, April 8th's episode "Three Times A Lady," and even talk about the current state of sci-fi!
And no, we couldn't resist a few Star Trek: The Next Generation, or even Gargoyles questions.
Check it out, and dont forget to check out Jonathan's episode of Bar Karma Friday night, April 8th at 10/9 CST on Current TV!
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Bar Karma, as a user-generated TV experience is absolutely wonderful. How did you get involved with this project? What attracted you to it?
Frakes: Years ago, I did a movie called Clockstoppers by Albie Hecht. Albie is the Executive Producer and Creator of Bar Karma. He called in into the editing room on NCIS: LA and asked if I wanted to come and play with him on his new show, and have Genie [Francis] do a part. And because it’s Albie, and how much I love working with him, I said "absolutely, I’ll do whatever you want." He threw me for a loop with the concept and the input from what they refer to as "the community." And it all sounded me to me as a very high-concept show, especially on its amount of content. It turns out it’s not unlike Twilight Zone, in that respect.
How was it working with your wife as an actress? Have you ever directed her before?
Frakes: I directed her in the movie in Thunderbirds, and we’d acted together before, but here it was such a great shoot in lovely downtown Newark, New Jersey, especially to see her play these diametrically different characters. She played a nine-year old, and a woman with OCD, and she played a hooker! And she was awesome, it was a blast.
I saw in the trailer her character was talking about having aliens inside her. I wont ask you to spoil the plot, but can we expect any Trek references?
Frakes: Very subtle ones. Although I am the official spokesperson for the paranormal, so anything can happen.
Tell us a little bit about how the whole process of being a director on this high-concept series works. Do they have the story fleshed out before they even approach you, or was it a fluid, on-the-go thing?
Frakes: The story was developed from two ideas that seem to have risen to the top of the cream. One was that she was playing her own twin, and the variation on that theme would be her dealing with a character with multiple personalities, which clearly had the most interesting storytelling potential. Once that was in place, we had a situation where we had a rough draft of a script. It’s a really a non-union, tightly-budgeted show, so there’s a lot of stuff going on the fly, and it was like being in film school. It was like in student film, the crew are like New York indie-movie crews given this opportunity by Albie to actually make a television show. The personnel were game for anything and that’s how I roll too, so it was a great experience out of the tradition of regular episodic shooting,
Between Cassie Howarth, Matthew Humphreys and Will Sanderson you really have three different generations of actors working on the set. With Sanderson as the eldest, how do you approach each differently as a director?
Frakes: Well I was a fan of Sanderson, with the Newhart show's Larry, Darryl and Darryl, and Deadwood. I've been a fan of his since he was in Blade Runner. He’s one of our guys, one of the great American character actors, I was happy to be in his company. He has a very special on-camera presence.
Is there a future in community-developed TV, users having more interaction in the media through the internet and fan communities? How do you think that’s going to play in the future of TV?
Frakes: I think that’s a very smart way to go. Because there’s less and less interest in traditional scripted television, due to reality shows and video games and a number of kids who don’t even have a TV who stream everything off their computers. I think between Will Wright and Albie, whoever decided to go this route, they will not be the last. The downside obviously is, then that the community begins to assume ownership over something in which they are merely participants. But that’s for someone else to handle.
Would you like to revisit the experience in the future, go back and direct more episodes?
Frakes: Absolutely, all they have to do is get picked up and I’m back. I think that the character Genie’s plays can come back as well, given the premise of the show is that you can change your fate, and she does. So I’d love to see her character return as well.
Was there anything about the distinct presence that Karma plays on the series has that spoke to you as a director?
Frakes: I was more about trying to honor the complicated subject matter of multiple personalities. It needed to be specific, and dealt with with a certain amount of respect. There's a direct line to post-traumatic stress that causes multiple personalities, as the medical research shows us. And members of the community, of the Bar Karma staff were also concerned that the characters that Genie plays were medically accurate. The focus of our storytelling isn’t just to be entertaining and fun, there was a certain commitment to doing the right thing by this particular medical phenomenon.
The user experience of creating the show is addicting, and to be an internet fan community that sees its ideas come to life, the fans are very strong and loyal.
Frakes: Yeah, my understanding is that theyre nothing if not loyal, sort of like Trekkies.
I know music is very big part of this show as well.
Frakes: Yeah, that’s Albie’s thing, he’s an old rock video producer. He created a lot of the music for Spongebob Squarepants when that became a huge hit. He’s all about music, he’s an old rocker. He’s got a very eccentric taste in music. We have country music in the show, we have jazz in the show, we have the traditional bar karma score, it’s all a huge part of the texture of the show.
You mentioned jazz, are we going to see any of your famous trombone skills?
Frakes: [Laughter] No trombone this time.
Frakes and wife Genie Francis on the set of Bar Karma
What’s next with your career with Leverage?
Frakes: I’m doing The Glades now, and then I do Burn Notice, and then I’m going to Portland to work on three or four episodes of Leverage.
What TV is out there that you would love to get your hands on directing, what are you watching?
Frakes: I love Nurse Jackie, Justified and Damages, all shows I'd be thrilled to work on. Having said that, I like returning to the shows I’ve been working on. I'm In Florida on The Glades, and we’re doing a huge NASCAR show this week. We've got Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Brian Vickers, four big NASCAR stars coming in to the homestead race track. Episodic TV can also become like a mini-movie, and that’s what’s happening here this week.
How do you feel about the current zeitgeist of fantasy and sci-fi, with all these huge fantasy epics like Avatar or even Star Wars, vs. the more grounded and structured, maybe even noble Trek?
Frakes: Very good question. Specifically with Star Trek I was really impressed with J.J [Abrams]' reboot out of our franchise, I thought he was loyal to the Roddenberry philosophy. The scope of the film was spectacular, the casting and storytelling Unlike some in the Star Trek family, I’m thrilled with what J.J. has done with the franchise. I was watching some reruns of Firefly because I was doing Castle with Nathan Fillion and I was always curious to see what that was. And I got a memo from Wil Wheaton, who’s working on Eureka which is also sci-fi-ish. It’s a genre that always needs to have a life on television. It had avid fans, for both the dark sci-fi and the fantasy sci-fi and I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon. It’s like medical shows and procedurals; they’re part of what the audience expects on their menu.
I've heard you speak about your children slowly developing an interest in your Star Trek episodes, what was their take on the Abrams movie? Did they find it any more accessible?
Frakes: [Laughter] I don’t think my kids saw it. I mean they haven’t even seen my Star Trek movies. I keep thinking they’ll find some interest and see that Star Trek: First Contact was actually pretty good.
It’s been a few years since Star Trek's been on TV. How much longer do you think until it makes the leap back to the medium it started on?
Frakes: I had a Star Trek that I developed for TV, and we were told in no uncertain terms that they said no to a Bryan Singer television Star Trek, they said no to a William Shatner television Star Trek. They feel at CBS Paramount that they don’t want to make the same mistake that’s been made before, which was watering down the brand by having a TV show and a movie. That’s what happened with Star Trek: Nemesis, and that’s why I think Star Trek: Enterprise didn’t last the way they expected to. It was the classic corporate greed of “we've got something good, so let’s continue to milk it” and we milked it so dry that the fans had no appetite for a movie. So I think what they’ve done by taking time off before the Abrams Star Trek, and they're doing it again because they haven’t even begun to shoot the second one, is a much smarter business plan. Much to my chagrin! Not that I wouldn’t love the Titan, or the Rikers in Space, or any of those shows on the air.
I have an unusual question. The Rikers are from Alaska – any chance of any or Riker being a descendant of Sarah Palin?
Frakes: Oh, no! No, I think the Rikers are from a different part of Alaska than Palin’s family.
Another burning question. When are we going to see movement on a Gargoyles movie, or reboot?
Frakes: I don’t know why Gargoyles was taken off the air, but that's a question that always comes up. I was at Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle and there’s always a factor of the audience who know that the show was taken off the air too quickly and I had thought that there were talks of a movie but I don’t think Greg Weisman or Jamie Thomasan are involved in it, which seems odd to me. So I’m not sure what the status of that is.
It was definitely a show that went before its time, and it's hugely ripe for some kind of reboot, or remake.
Frakes: I agree, totally. It was so literate, and filled with talented actors and writers, and the animation was great. It was very special, and it should still be on the air. Not only the mythology was great, but they had a lot of Shakespeare references, and the kids didn’t know it, but they were getting some version of education .
I’ve read that you’d been involved with Marvel Comics back in the day, and since Marvel is doing so much these days would you ever consider returning to work on any properties?
Frakes: I’ve been trying to get one of those big ones, Fantastic Four, Iron Man...really, nothing would thrill me more.
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Thanks for reading!
