Why Jonathan Frakes knew that his first Star Trek concert was going to be special

In the episode “Star Trek: The Next Generation” The offspring “(March 12, 1990), Android (Brent Spiner) data have decided that he would like to be a father. Using his own Android body as a template, he builds an Android child in a positronic laboratory, naming the new LAL. At first, LAL (Leonard Crophot) Acute and metallic. The data is easily defended.

“The offspring” was the first episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” that was directed by Jonathan Frakes. Frakes played Commander Riker in “Nextgen”, and was eager to go through the performance, feeling that he would feel comfortable in the director’s chair. /Film has spoken before about the process that had to pass to obtain permission, and the “extended training camp” to which he was forced to attend, following other directors and really knowing the ship. Frakes also joked that when he finally began to direct, other “Star Trek” actors began to make similar demands, causing not a small amount of headaches for the program executive producer, Rick Berman.

Frakes also revealed that he was happy to direct an episode focused on the data, since he always felt that the Spiner’s character provided the best stories of the program. More recently, Frakes also revealed, In a 2022 interview with Startrek.comThat “the offspring” was special because it was written by Trek’s collaborator for the first time, René Echevarria, a writer who would become an important figure in the Trek family.

Echevarria would only start his “Star Trek” career with “The offspring.” He would continue to have writing credits in 79 additional episodes before becoming one of the central producers in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. He also wrote 24 episodes of that series. After “Star Trek”, Echevarria would write episodes for “Medium” and “Dark Angel”, and co-created the “The 4400” and “Carnival Row” programs. If you saw science fiction television in the early 2000s, you are likely to have seen something that was involved.

Frakes knew that Echevarria was someone to celebrate, so he had a double luck when it came to “the offspring.” He obtained a great data history, but also a great script. As he said:

“In addition to being an episode of data, it was René Echevarria’s first episode. As you know, it became one of our unconditional, as well as a producer in ‘Deep space nine. ‘He was a member of that incredible writing staff that Ronald D. Moore, Ira Steven Behr, (Naren) Shankar, Brannon Braga and that group gathered. As the story has told me, (‘The offspring’) was his specifier script that had undergone Michael Piller, who was generous enough to read unreasonable scripts from young writers. Michael was fabulous and a wonderful pianist. ”

The names listed were all main producers or writers in “Nextgen”, and most of them are responsible for guiding the entire franchise in a positive direction. Frakes praised Hallie Todd’s performance as LAL, and was grateful to have gone through his director’s training camp, since the shooting team took it seriously. He also said that his castmates did it No Take it seriously … which I appreciate. It seems that Frakes likes a playful and loose atmosphere on the set.

After that, Frakes directed 28 additional episodes of several “Star Trek” programs and two films. A good start for a good career.