Jonathan Frakes Visited Star Trek Set April 20, 2008
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Star Trek (2009 film), TNG , trackback
As reported before, John Cho (Sulu in the new Star Trek) is out promoting his new Harold and Kumar comedy, and usually saying the same stuff about Trek, but he did drop a new factoid in an interview with Canda’s Jam Movies. Apparently Jonathan Frakes (TNG’s Riker and director of two TNG films) came by the set for a visit.
From the interview:
I did meet Jonathan Frakes, and he is freakishly huge. A hulk of a man. He came by the set and I met him very briefly
Frakes joins the growing list of Trek alumni who visited the set including Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, David Gerrold, and Ron Moore. Other known visitors include Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, and Ben Stiller. And Leonard Nimoy, of course.
Cho did have a couple other things to say about his experience, like what it was like to be in the film:
…it was a childhood fantasy come true. There’s nothing to compare it to. I just say being on the bridge of the Enterprise was like being on the bridge of the Enterprise.
And thoughts on Star Trek as he grew up:
My Trek experience was reruns. I remember as a kid I thought it was silly, I was distracted by the velour. But as I got older I realized it was an incredibly intelligent show, daring and thoughtful and meditative.
Cho on Star Trek costumes
You have no idea what the outfit means until you put it on. And that’s when you realize it fits nothing like your Halloween costume.
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Comments»
John Cho is vicariously living the Trekkie dream. Good for him. If the movie is as good as the buzz, it’ll be good for US, too. Wish Paramount would leak some teaser pics of the bridge!
Just show us the bridge! Enough talking! AAGH!
Star Trek costumes is something i am eager to see i hope there will be a red one the guy you will see 0.30 seconds in the movie ;)
Riker is great
I love it when he used to say “I ain’t getting on no shuttle, fool!”, what a character!
I LOVE Riker! But I think that the main reason is because of Jonathan Frakes himself and his enthusiasm for all things Trek, no matter the time era or the characters. While I am more of a TNG fan as I grew up and fell in love with that show and the cast (and wish they were making an appearance in the movie), I am SO LOOKING FORWARD to this movie as is! My Dad is a huge Star Trek fan, and he cannot wait for this film either. He even forwarded an email I sent about Leonard Nimoy to some colleagues at work. I just hope and pray it does not disappoint!
Ha got the first comment gotta say it would be cool to meet Frakes.
Okay — I got over the shock and anger about the release date being pushed to one year from now. But please Mr. Abrams stop the teasing already, and at least release five photos of the crew, bridge set, other starships featured in the movie. I think I can say on behalf of everyone that is not really asking for a lot!!!! Thank You!
Gees,,,, Is there a list out there of people that didnt vist the set of Star Trek??
Don’t look now John Cho but when all is said and done your going to be among the biggest stars on the planet. Trek is going to be you path to the status of Icon. Not necessarily a bad thing for any actor to achieve.
i wonder if this portends a cameo by SHAT?
#10 the way they are talking,anything , even that is a possibility, but i wouldn’t hold my breath on that score.
#8 I’ve heard a rumor that they began wheeling in the corpses of old Hollywood greats as principal photography was winding down, just to provide fodder for more snippets along these lines. John Wayne was on set for a bit (according to a spirit medium, he dismissed it as “bleeding-heart pinko crap just like in the sixties”), RuthGordon was on set and said nice things about the dialogue through a Ouija board, etc.
“freakishly huge. A hulk of a man.”
Yes. Yes, I am.
Freakishly Huge???? I love Frakes but he best back off the Spago pizza
If anyone knows about shooting a film it Frakes. Too bad they didn’t give him Nemesis!! IMHO it would have been a much better film.
15.. Yeah just like Insurrection … Uh um well it would have been better anyway for sure!!!!
Number one is Number one! I would have never thought he was “freakishly huge” haha
What he meant is that Jonathan Frakes is 6′4… a guy I met who is that tall made me feel like a dwarf at 6′1. >_>
#1 (no, not Riker), John Cho isn’t “vicariously” living the Trekkie dream, he IS living the Trekkie dream. He gets to be in a new production of Trek. If that isn’t living the dream, I don’t know what is.
Riker was always my favourite character! and Frakes is great
Met Frakes last summer, he’s awesome! Really nice guy, very funny, very down to earth. I will always remember the question he was asking in the press conference about the difference between his acting and directing experiences and which he prefered. All I remember was the part where he said they look after you as the actor and even spray in your bald spot, at which point everybody completely cracked up!
And yeah, he is VERY tall and built like a brick *&^%house!!! Top bloke!
8. SirMartman.
Yes. And you’re at the top of the list.
I would love to see a bit more. I understand the need for secrecy from Abrams, and I also understand the release date is a ways off and that principal filming just now ended, but for the love of all that is holy in the Trek world PLEASE just a little something! Anything, a pic of the bridge, a shot of one of the actors (Quinto?) in uniform, anything…
…you sly devils! PICTURE! NOW!
“freakishly huge”
I’m so tired of hearing THAT particular phrase……
I met Mr. Frakes in Vegas last year at the convention and I commented to my girlfriend as we were looking at our photo op picture with him how tall he is, she look up how tall he is on IMDB and he is the same height as Micheal Dorn , which is 6′ 6″ if I’m not mistaken , with me being 5′ 7″ and my girlfriend being 5′8″ we felt like we were standing next to Goliath ! LOL!
I wonder if its even a remote possibility that if this trek film succeeds and we need a trek series, Titan may get a look in….
Frakes is the man, Riker was always a top bloke!
Nemesis is a good film, just rewatched it. Tom Hardy was really good, and for a TNG fan it was really bittesweet to see the crew break up at the end.
The deleted scenes would’ve made the film better though.
#27 i totally agree, Nemesis wasn’t ALL that bad, it had some good moments and some dodgy ones too.
Pros: TNG Crew, Romulans (not Klingons for once!!), a half decent bad guy, other trek references, the scimitar, the space battle, the wedding, data’s sacrifice.
Cons: B4, lame attempts at comedy in inappropriate areas, non-appropriate rape scene that didnt really do much for the story, the script in general, the fact it was alot like TWOK, ‘thelaron’ has been said before and is used in the engines apparently, that random planet, the argo, Worf’s drunk scene, Wesley, Worf being there in general, deleted scenes were better than some scenes left in, STUART BAIRD!!
:D
#24 Harry…
Too much information!
I have a great respect for Mr. Frakes and I still hope someday he gets that Titan movie or series.
Nemesis had possibilites, but an otherwise substandard script and story relagated this movie to mediocrity. Im sorry but Mini me evil Picard aka Shinzon was not all that impressive a villian. They could have done a lot better then this and please the Reaman’s a light sensitive alien species? looked like second rate refugees from the Buffy universe. Then there was the ultimate cop out they kill off data but not really, thereis stillhis vastly inferior duplicate b4 so data kinda has not died off for real. Why Shinzon who is dying would waist his last precious days trying to kill of picard made no sense either.
Hey Roberto—you still reading the board? When are ya’ll gonna throw us a bone?
One major problem with Nemesis WAS the directing. The cast did not get along with him at all. Some wondered what the hell he was doing as a Director anyways, he was given the job as a favor! So yes, if Frakes was behind the camera it would have been at least a tiny bit better.
Jonathan Frakes should play a pre-corpulent Orson Welles in a bio pic.
He bears quite a resemblance to Welles in middle age.
You know, I just read this article, then flicked through the comments with my mouse reel really quickly and this just flashed by:
24. Harry Ballz – April 20, 2008
“freakishly huge”
I’m so tired of hearing THAT particular phrase……
I then shut down internet explorer before I got the joke, and now have had to come back to the site just to say…
Harry, I love you.
CmdrR#13- Prove it, sweetness…
Harry#24- Please, do not prove it, please, no…
#31 – sometime in May ‘09, the way things are heading. Cho basically confirmed what Chris Doohan previously said about wardrobe – they must have pulled out all the stops to make the stuff quality, and not throwaway. They obviously weren’t kidding about sequels.
30. beggars cant be choosers, i still like the film. it does have an awesome goldsmith score and some good action.
Yes, but will Zoe Saldana be in the Mirror Universe uniform?
Upon this one question does the entire movie hinge.
I have always wondered where Nichelle’s mirror universe uniform found itself after series wrap. What I wouldn’t give to have those sacred scraps of clothing to wear to just any event at all… a trip to the market, a friend’s recital, a bar mitzvah…
#12. THAT was funny! I imagine Charlton Heston’s spirit got a uniform fitting for a cameo as the ghost of a Starfleet admiral! As for #8’s question, who hasn’t visited the set? Simple answer: All of us on these boards, apparently! Aarrgghh! As Dr. Smith in “Lost in Space” would say about this tortuous, year long wait, “Oh, the pain, the pain….”
Call me when Mr. Shatner visits the set….
I can Frakes’ voice on the set: ”So listen, JJ, I was thinking, right at the end of the movie you’ll hear my voice say, ‘computer, freeze program’, and everything will freeze and…”
i love the fact that a guy such as Mr Frakes, who has given a hell of a lot to Trek, is given that sort of oppourtunity. Every article like this makes me so much more confident that this film is gonna ROCK!!!
Not only that but a director has to be confident to show a vet round a set yeah?
It is gonna be so good
Pr011+Denise
thank you for your kind words, Pr011……
Denise, pleading will only exacerbate the situation……….hmmm, a limerick with things that rhyme with “exacerbate”……nah, better not go there! Maybe in the chat section…
There are 2 things I think of most whenever I see anything about Frakes…. “Best Of Both Worlds” and “First Contact”.
I thought it was his best performance as RIker in “Best”, and it showed what he could do as an actor; and a fantastic director in “First”, and he should be directing a lot more. Consider me a fan………
#42
LOL! I reckon that would kick ass!
I so hope he is in the movie. Get the Titan in there and have it escorting Spock off of Romulus. The last film did set up that the Titan was heading to Romulan space.
Can somebody please leak a photo of something to do with the new Trek.Bridge,transporter room,tribble hooker anything.
#48 Yes! Leak pix please!!
Riker in Insurrection was a breath of fresh air. Didn’t originally like the character at all.
Frakes though? Class act.
“I was distracted by the velour.”
Weird. Just weird.
#42. Just the thought of Frakes in “These Are The Voyages” made me break out in a cold sweat! I would rather see a Uwe Boll (dir. of “Bloodrayne” and a true shlock-meister extraordinaire) directed Star Trek movie than see the new Trek movie treated as an Enterprise holo-deck episode shoehorned into an episode of Next Gen! And up to that very point, season 4 of Enterprise was actually GOOD again! What a shame. Anyway, best of wishes to the new movie; may it be on silver screens an half hour before Uwe Boll knows it wrapped!
Who ever said, could there be a Titan series if this movie is a hit, I think it could be So long as Coto is involved!
well I thought it was a nice touch seeing Frakes and Sirtis in These are the Voyages. (Don’t get me wrong I had plenty of issues with the episode)
It was intended to be more of a finale to the last four trek shows, not just a close to enterprise).
Enterprise´s final ep could have been so much better if they had created the Titan and made it a 60 Minutes full time episode just like Stargate did in Season 8 …
Cho said Frakes is “freakishly huge”. That isn’t nice or so. I met him this last February in New Orleans at a Micheal Buble concert. I spoke to him and welcomed him to New Orleans and he said he was in town to film a movie and couldn’t resist to see Buble. He definetly is not huge by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps Cho is freakishly small.
Nemesis was horrendous.
Frakes likely filmed a scene that showed the whole film will be a holodeck playback of record tapes :)
dis guy looks familiar but I just can’t place him…. hmmmm….
arrrrr
Oh- I kid… please don’t come after me, Mr. Frakes ya man giant…
Mr. Frakes is a class act. His love of Star Trek is infectious!
First Contact is a standout movie thanks to him.
So everyone from the original cast and more have been to to see the new Enterprise except for Bill Shatner?
Are they planning something special for him or what?
On the subject of height, I’m 5′ 10″, but I’ve known a guy who’s 6′ 9″. Now, I just can’t see anything less as being “freakishly huge”! ;)
It’s a shame that “These Are the Voyages” may be Jonathan Frakes last contribution to Trek. But First Contact is the bomb!!!
Saw Frakes at Atlantis in the Bahamas a few years ago. You couldn’t miss him as he towered over everyone. I was surprised that I was the only one around who seemed to recognize him. My trekker wife didn’t even recognize him. He was with his family so an autograph & picture were out of the question. Too bad.
OK, we get it. Every Trek actor/cast/crew who has visited the set has been impressed,and is confident that the movie respects the fans and Roddenberry’s vision.
Now, lets move on to the leaked pics, working prints, and scripts!
When Cho said “freakishly huge” did he mean tall or overweight? (Here we go with the behind-the-scenes gossip. [sigh].
I adore Jonathan Frakes (didn’t really like everything Riker did, though) but when I last saw him in the closing ep of “Enterprise”, he did look quite overweight. We’ve lost John Candy and Chris Farley WAY TOO YOUNG. I’d hate to lose Frakes. Hope he has lost some weight. He seemed like an exuberant, joyful person. And he has a wonderful smile. It just lights up everything.
kg
Frakes would be quite dashing again if he lost weight.
#65- Comparing Frakes to John Candy and Chris Farley? Both of those guys were at least 100 pounds overweight, Frakes is at most, 30 pounds overweight. Even at his skinniest during TNG, he weighed 200 pounds by his own admission. He just has the married guy gut. And Farley was doing massive amounts of drugs, which certainly doesn’t help.
“All I remember was the part where he said they look after you as the actor and even spray in your bald spot, at which point everybody completely cracked up!”
I told y’all Frakes has a bald spot, it was plain as day in one of his behind-the-scenes photos on his old Web site.
Cool dude, though, weight ‘n’ all.
Never met him.
41.-
Amen to that, brother.
It’s highly unlikely, though, giv en this controversy created by Abrams and his rather unwise decision to–well, you know.
In my opinion, he’s not missing much. From what I’ve seen and heard, he’d be wise to keep it that way. This movie reminds me a little too much of Wing Commander or the Lost In Spacxe remake, and we all know how those turned out. That, among other warning signs I’ve learned to trust over the years, that I sincerely doubt that it’ll be anything more than a glorified rehash of one of the old giant Star Trek novels from Pocket Books like Federation or Enterprise, only less well written and executed, given the writing skills, [or, lack thereof ] of his [Abram's] writing team.
Time will tell.
#60. Oh c’mon, c’mon, *of course* Shatner visited the set. They all don’t hate him THAT much. And we’re not all THAT stupid. He visited the set, he shot a cameo, we will find out about it when the film’s released next May.
But even if I’m wrong, I can’t wait to see this thing.
Frakes is 6′4″ according to IMDB.
I’m 6′4″ as well and most people overestimate my height. I hear things like “Dude, are you like 6′6″ or somethin’?” frequently.
And yet another reason to hate Jonathan Frakes…he took a can’t miss concept like Thunderbirds the movie and turned it into Spy Kids.
I was watching Nemesis and became curious about Johnathan Frakes height, 6′, 4″. I’m 6′, 3″, nearly 6′, 4″, 230 pounds and very in shape. I do not feel 6 foot 4 is hugely tall. I LOVE being my height and size. Admittedily, it is VERY rare that I have a face to face discusion with a man where I have to look up, perhaps only a handful in my adult life. Now, 6 foot 6 or taller starts entering the realm of freakishly tall, IMHO. The world just isn’t designed for men this tall and it startles me when I come across a man this tall.
But I simply love ALWAYS being taller than everyone else, yet I never feel like some freakish giant. I think every man between 6′2″ and 6′4″ generally feels the same. Height in our society is a subtle advantage in so many ways for men.
Nick