Frakes Wants #BringInRiker To Put Him in the Captain’s Chair of Star Trek 3

bringinriker

On Saturday we reported about the Twitter campaign #BringInRiker which aims to draft the former Number One to be the current director for Star Trek No. 3. Yesterday the actor cum director broke silence and began enthusiastically bidding for the part.

Riker wants in on the Trek 3 director’s chair
Just yesterday, Jonathan Frakes announced that he loves the twitter campaign and would be thrilled to direct the next Star Trek movie. While he has not responded on Twitter, he did give an interview to KOMO News Radio, wherein he said:

Hashtag, BringInRiker! I’m all over it. I’m all over it. … I say, unabashedly, I’d be great at it and would love to do it. … I’m trying to keep the lid on how excited I am about the possibility, knowing it’s such a long shot. But there’s nothing I would like better.

There’s been no response from Paramount on the subject, nor is there any reason to believe they’d respond to a grassroots Internet campaign. But it is reassuring to know that our beard-growing second-in-command misses us as much as we miss him.

Also when it comes to commanding attention on the Internet, former helmsmen of the Enterprise seem to have more luck than former first officers. With only 260,000 followers on Twitter, Frakes doesn’t command anywhere near the attention of George Takei (8 million followers on Facebook) or Wil Wheaton (2.74 million on Twitter and 1 million on YouTube).

But to help take him from the captain’s chair to the director’s chair, Frakes could be trying to change that.

Reddit user stephbcv announced yesterday ago that he’d been on the phone with Frakes about a webseries shooting in LA that’s looking for extras. No details are forthcoming, but could this be a series to win Frakes some more Internet plaudits and help promote him as a directorial candidate?

Stephbcv had not responded as of deadline. Maybe it’s just a commercial for gagh:

Header image by @Vulcanology.

 


 

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If he wants do direct, I say let him do it.

*to, gosh darn it, TO.

I like Frakes very much. I just don’t feel he should direct Trek 3 on a massive scope J.J. has done w/ the past two installments.

I did enjoy Into Darkness – BUT let the villian be John Harrison and NOT Khan. I would have had greater respect if they didnt bring back Khan.

Is it that difficult to create an original story? Seems like it yes.

Sorry Frakes, your little more then a cookie cutter director who follows television parameter formulas at best and a slightly better then weak bit actor.
No you have no business treading where the big boys play.
That’s why the studio canned Orci,
While the films budget is scaled down, it’s still too important a commodity to risk another underwhelming novice director.

I hear 9 Lives is looking for new commercial directors, contact them.

Sorry, I’m a TOS stalwart, and i don’t know if Frakes deeply understands the TOS ethos, e.g Kirk/Spock/McCoy

I think Frakes is a good choice, he’ll be able to bring back the old fans who got alienated by JJ’s Star Trek. At the same time, he’s been keeping busy directing so he should have adequate technical know-how of how modern blockbusters work. Above all, he really understand Trek.

If he can make Trek XIII half as good as First Contact, then he would be an excellent choice for director.

Frakes brings the kind of energy to the set that actors and crew love…I think he’d be great if given the chance.

That said, chances are pretty much ZERO that Paramount would ask him.

Well, according to Komo News Radio, Frakes said he has contacted JJ and his manager has contacted Paramount.

All a long shot but I’m glad to see someone with some much enthusiasm for a potential gig.

Well, Frakes did say he enjoyed the BR movies immensely. I suppose if he keeps (or gets to keep) most of the BR production staff as well as Bob Orci, it could work. But I think there’s a few others that might be more ready for a big-budget blockbuster.

Wow, it seems some Star Trek fans can’t make up their damn minds. They hate JJ and Orci, and want a new director, but when a new (And fan favorite) director WANTS to direct Trek XIII, the same fans who hated JJ and Orci are hating Frakes.

I forgot how many crybabies are in the fandom…

Ugh, this again.

How about Jim Jarmusch?

How about the guy who directs the Geico commercials?

Frakes can be the Martin Campbell of the franchise, and in case you all didn’t realize it– he had virtually ZERO input on Insurrection’s storyline– Don’t believe me, go re-read Piller’s book about the writing of that script and it was him, Berman, Stewart, and Spiner tugging the most at how the story was crafted, sadly.

So anyone blaming Frakes for Insurrection being kind of flat should think again– I will say however that some of the shots he did for that film were fun and original at the time… And let’s face it, he knocked First Contact out of the park but at the time he chose a hell of a director of photography in Matthew Leonetti…

Not sure why Paramount’s so hung up on Edgar Wright or Joe Cornish given it’s not like people care that much about those names it’ll mean more people buying tickets to see the next Trek… If anything Frakes will generate more fan support of the film

Jonathan has a great spirit. Very cool guy.

I guess it’s about what Star Trek is and should be today and whether or not Frakes has what it takes to find what Star Trek should be for today’s audiences. It’s not about trying to make it more like how Star Trek was in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s or 90’s… It’s about figuring out what it is now and what it can become within the next 5 years.

I think honestly Frakes isn’t the guy. He’s a brilliant director and First Contact was a brilliant movie but that was Star Trek then not what Star Trek is now.

Yes, Frakes to direct a USS Titan film…the begining of a new era of wonder and true star trek…
He verily wants
He truly can
I vote Frakes. I vote Titan. I vote true Star Trek.

15.
Star Trek is always Star Trek. Good Sci fi is Eternal as Asgard…

Yeah, sure. Why the hell not.

Thunderbirds

I would watch Trek 3 if Frakes directed it, for sure. I think he has had more than enough experience in the directors chair over the years to pull off a great movie…and the script plays a huge role in how good the movie turns out of course. If he could work with the production crew from the last two movies, I’m sure it could be a class act.

Not gonna happen. Thunderbirds killed Frakes’s movie feature career.

If the script is good, then I see no problem at all with him directing the movie.

I’m a big fan of Mr Frakes, but I’m not sure he is the right man for this job.

If due to delays, the time frame for shooting the film gets compressed, then we do need a director with experience in TV.

Depending on how long we have to wait, the very leisurely 6 months shooting schedule typical major movie might have to be reduced to 4 months.

In which case, we do need a director with movie experience and the fast paced TV experience.

Whilst Frakes may not be the best director, he could well be the just right director who is good enough.

Well, why not?

I’d still prefer Brad Bird.

Let him do it!!!!

#4 I Khan believe it ain’t butter-
Please take your mean-spirited vitriol somewhere else. People like you who spit hate behind the guise of a computer keyboard are cowardly souls.

Frakes is, by all accounts, a good guy, a competent director, and a great Trek ambassador. That said, however, I hesitate to join in on the notion that a TNG alum should be brought in to direct a TOS-era reboot movie. Sounds too much like an impedance mismatch to me.

#19. Ugh. I had done my best to forget. drakes is cool, but this movie needs someone else, someone to straighten-out the mess.

Since I would have gone along with Orci, I have to go along with Frakes, who in addition to FC gave us Cause and Effect, which is much more of a directorial show case and a pretty strong argument that he can bring a visual sense to the show. But does it outweigh the appalling on all levels Insurrection? Don’t see how it can. Conceptually wrongheaded, that’s the script – but the casting, lenses,editing and the performances, that’s the director and Insurrection was terrible.

I liked Thunderbirds though.

The reason I was ok with Orci is that although he’s never shot a single frame on his own, he has been there putting together hundreds of hours of genre entertainment. I think he would get the need for pacing and money shots as well as a tighter, less fan-servicing script. (Maybe that was wishful thinking. When you have no track record, it’s possible to speculate that you are really good as you have not yet been proven to be mediocre.)

Frakes, as a shooter, has done plenty of stuff and has done some good Trek. I’m ambivalent mainly because I don’t think letting the fans run the show leads to good Trek. The fans were wrong about Spock’s death, they were wrong about Starfleet Academy, they were wrong about JJ being able to make a good Trek movie. I think they are now wrong about bringing back Shatner, and I wonder about this Frakes idea.

Frakes is averaging 10 hours of produced drama per season, he’s got 50 hour-long episodic director credits over the past 5 years.

He’s a proven director. He made Leverage what it is. He’s got 7 movie and made-for-TV movie credits. That’s a lot more than Orci has, of course.

Heck of a lot more than Shatner has, too. Frakes is a great choice. Orci would still be producing.

AND most importantly… Frakes understands the development Roddenberry was trying to show with Riker (or Decker in Phase II) as a “young Kirk”. Who better to direct the transition from young brash careless Kirk, into the Kirk at the start of the 5YM!?

would love to see him back.

Jonathan Frakes is a nice guy. He’s actually a helluv a guy and a proficient director. However, he doesn’t have the energy that’s needed from a blockbuster movie. The TNG movies he directed still feel like extended episodes of the show. Visually, they’re not very dynamic.

Anyone concerned over the lack of pace of TNG-era movies should look at the budgets that were available.

Generations ($26m).

First Contact ($40m).

Insurrection $58m).

Nemesis ($60m).

These budgets get even smaller once the salaries of cast and crew were taken out of them.

For example, salaries of cast and crew for Nemesis would have been about $30m.

If these movies had another $10m to $30m, don’t people think they would have been more ‘epic’.

Everything from the Enterprise D in Generations engaging a whole Klingon fleet and getting destroyed, instead of a single torpedo hit by 1 BoP; from an entire Borg armada in FC instead of just 1 cube?

If Frakes comes on board and is given $100m to $125m say, I’m sure the required amount of pace and action will be there plus character development.

Want to share a story about what a class act Frakes represents:

At the LA premiere of the 09 movie, I introduced myself to Frakes and Sirtis. They said they had just been discussing the movie after they saw it, and they both agreed, “It was Star Trek…” which coming from them meant so much to me. One of the highlights of my career.

Jonathan Frakes is a nice guy, a competent director, and a great Trek booster. Unfortunately, his close association with the “old” Trek pretty much guarantees he won’t get the gig, regardless of whether he has or doesn’t have the talent to see it through.

Paramount has done everything it can to tell the viewing audience that this new Trek isn’t your father’s Trek and the director helming the feature is a big part of that. Whoever eventually gets the gig, it will be someone who does not have any history with the franchise.

Personally, I think someone like John Favreau might be a good choice. He works well with ensembles has a proven track record in managing big budget films, has a history with Paramount, and has that kind of rep and name recognition that will help in giving the film legitimacy with non-Trek fans, something that Frakes, sadly, does not possess.

I think he’d do a great job, it’ll never happen though, this isn’t about Star Trek, it’s about $$$ and most people will say “Jonathan who?”

36. boborci – December 11, 2014

Thanks for sharing. I already wanted to ask you about Frakes. In my personal hitlist Into Darkness and First Contat are on par as the best trek movies.
I saw Frakes in Bonn at the Fedcon in real life. He was such a funny and authentic person, even on the stage.
I always thought, he should have directed Nemesis.

He’s not equipped to direct a tent-pole movie. The fact that it’s Trek is irrelevant. The scale, scope, and economic objectives of the movie are way beyond his league. It’s not his fault. He just belongs to the old guard, which made a different kind of movie.

Tell me I’m wrong.

Nice guy yes. Right director for ST3 not by a long way.

Of course he is interested but his only calling card is First Contact (take away ILM & Jerry Goldsmith does not leave much of a movie so how much did his direction add…very little if Insurrection is anything to go by!).

36. boborci – I was excited to see you finally get your own ship, like Riker. Still really curious about the “bigger chairs” comment though. An admiral already? haha, how about that. Always something cooking at bad robot, eh?

It is funny that some people who were gushing over the idea of Orci, with ZERO directing experience, making the movie are now dismissing Frakes who directed two Trek movies & several TV episodes!

In a lot of ways, I think Frakes would be the next best thing to Bob directing. More and more it seems like studios are bringing in directors who really treat these movies as passion projects (JJ, Rian Johnson on the next SW, Joss Whedon, etc..), and if we can’t have Bob, I feel like they’d be hard pressed to find someone who’s more juiced about Trek than Frakes.

That said, I still think Edgar Wright Trek would kick ass.

@40. Tom

Completely agree with the old guard idea. You look at some of those movies from the 90’s (not just Star Trek) and you think ‘there is no way that kind of movie could be made today’ especially if you have not continued through

There are only a few directors who are able to transition, adapt yet remain timeless. First one off the top of my head is Ridley Scott. I just watched Gladiator, 14 years old and its still awesome. Alien, 35 years old and its still the best, most bone chilling of the Alien movies. Still feels the same after 21 years when I first watched it at 10 years old.

Great guy, nice guy, but being completely objective. No way. But I would still choose him over Edgar Wright. He’s worked with Bad Robot, if Paramount wants him, they’ll get him.

I do think that Jonathan Frakes could be a good director, if JJ Abrams will not step up and *Bob Orci is not considered quite ready to direct a major film like Star Trek.

I actually enjoyed both First Contact and Insurrection. There are some parts of Insurrection that I love. I love the scene with Picard, Worf and Data doing Gilbert & Sullivan (darn it – can’t remember the name of the ditty) – I laughed so hard…:) I was surprised to read just how many people hated that scene…sigh…

I also like the Troi/Crusher scene where the two women comment to each other about the appealing changes to their breasts etc after spending time on the planet. We women would notice these things and may well discuss such with another woman… that positive and touching feminine earthiness I enjoyed. So many lovely and quietly witty scenes in Insurrection.

If Jonathan Frakes could bring similar fun/wit to BR Star Trek, I could well be a very happy kea…and I believe the present actors are capable of bringing it on…:)

* I am sure that your time will come, Bob Orci. Just keep up the good work! Also very cool to hear what Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis said to you! Yep!

I meant to post this here but I hit a key and found I was no longer connected to the Internet. I put this on the other Frakes thread when I meant this post to be here. Funny old day I am having…

Frakes is just too “paint-by-numbers” in his direction. He is certainly competant, thats obvious from his resume, he is just too much like everyone else. I like a unique style…unusual angles, artistic frame composition, creative transitions, etc.. Trek needs someone just a little more out-of-the-box…Frakes isn’t the answer.

Be done with it and #BringInNimoy

Mixed feelings about that one. Not sure he’d keep the tone consistent. If this were a TNG movie, I’d be all for it, but I’m not sure it’d be anything but a step backward.

enthusiasm goes a long way and frakes certainly has enthusiasm.