Pages

Friday, June 14, 2013

My Week With Frakes

When I was a little kid, just learning to read, I used to sound out the names of the actors in Star Trek: The Next Generation as the opening credits rolled. This was before the internet and my parents weren't about to spend money on things like TV Guide so I put in a lot of time trying to suss out who played who. Eventually I got it all together and I went on with my life with the actors' names as familiar to me as the characters'.


But here's the thing, even though I've spent a lifetime enjoying the rather one-sided company of my TV friends, I never had much interest in meeting the actors behind them. I didn't really want to go to conventions and have them sign things or stand in a line only to tell them the same thing a million other fans had inevitably said. I've always understood that the actor isn't the character and no one should expect them to be. I knew that if I was ever going to meet any of the Trek actors, (the people who'd worked on something that was so astoundingly important in my life) I'd want it to be a more authentic introduction. Not with me as an anonymous fan and them as a star. I'd want to meet and actually talk to the actors as humans. As I do with my closest friends, I'd want to just hang out, get to know them better, have a drink and be appreciative of the fact that they exist.


I never thought this would actually happen and I was 100% ok with that. But then, in spite of the odds, it did happen.


My husband is a TV writer and, through some kind of ridiculous first, best destiny bit of fortune, Jonathan Frakes is directing Scott's latest episode. Last Friday I was on planes/in airports for twelve hours, going from North Carolina to Vancouver, and when I got to my husband's hotel room, I wanted nothing more than to settle in, watch some DS9 and fall asleep while I waited for Scott to get back from shooting. And that's exactly what I did--for about twenty minutes. That's when Scott came in and said, "Hey you wanna get a drink with Jonathan?" I rubbed my eyes, yawned, and replied, "Uh...wait, what? Yeah. Ok."


Frakes’ first words to me: “Hey, nice NASA shirt!”


What do you say to that? “Hey, way to be a guy whose name I learned to read off the TV screen!” I was pretty loopy on Dramamine but I’m pretty sure I just said, “Thanks, man!” And we settled into our chairs and talked for a while.


As it turns out, Frakes is a great guy. Aside from being an efficient, smart director, who really seems to care about making a great show, he's also hilarious, sharp as hell, and sweet. I spent a week in Vancouver and a lot of that time around the set. I ended up seeing him quite a lot. We traded stories about life, growing up in different parts of the country, sports, movies--you know, basic human stuff. It was pretty cool.

I spent February through May hanging out with Riker but I spent the last week hanging out with Frakes. Occasionally it was a little surreal but mostly I was just glad to have gotten to know such an awesome human being. Sitting next to Jonathan yesterday, as he told Scott and me a story between takes, I thought, "Man, I sure am glad you exist."





10 comments:

  1. if you ever get invited to hang out with brent spiner, you better call my ass i-friggin-mmediately and i will hop on a dang plane. otherwise, friendship TERMINATED.

    but seriously, i was so happy for you while reading that i wept. congratulations, you marvelous lady.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll call you up for sure if I make any plans to hang out with Brent Spiner! I love this comment. Your understanding makes me so happy!

      Delete
  2. That's so great! He always seemed like a really great guy but you never can really tell. But to hear it first hand is great :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well I almost didn't read todays blog. I almost deleted it as I am busy with tough real world things like having to make my parents pay for some of the medical care that they have received, with the place that gave it to them being not very nice at all. I almost deleted it.

    I felt astounded, and pretty jealous. But now I am just glad that you got a once in a lifetime chance to meet and get to know one of your heroes. Riker is the guy I wanted to be when I watched TNG. I never wanted to be Picard; I liked Riker's easygoing joviality, his warmth even in command situations.. I am sure that there is a lot of him in Frakes, as that is where he came from... I am thrilled that you got to meet him, and he is a regular guy like the rest of us. That is just FANTASTIC! Good show old girl..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Doug, I'm so sorry that your real world life has been so stressful lately! If I could've zapped Frakes to your house, I would have! It was an unexpected, interesting experience hanging out with him and I'm glad I can report back that he's a super nice guy.

      Delete
  4. As much as I liked him as Riker on TNG, I think some of his best work was as Xanatos on Gargoyles the Animated Series. Huge Fan!- Larry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOVED him as Xanatos! Actually, the week before we left for the big trip, we happened to catch him on Adventure Time. I kept meaning to talk to him about his voice work experience but kept forgetting.

      Delete
  5. What an awesome surprise! This made me smile. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great guy! I'm very happy you got to meet him! He's always seemed like a nice guy, it's nice to see that he was :-) I also love it that he hasn't turned his back on the Trek world like some of the other actors have.

    ReplyDelete