Browse: Home / Celebrating the Living: Jonathan Frakes

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here
  • Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024
Do you believe it?

Celebrating the Living: Jonathan Frakes

Posted By Gillianren on September 12, 2021 in Features | Leave a response

When a show is on the air for a long time, it can offer opportunities to its regular cast members to try their hand at directing. For example, someone who’s been puttering around Hollywood since 1978, with early appearances on Fantasy Island and The Waltons might end up spending more time after their appearance on that show directing, once given the opportunity, and might spend quite a lot of their acting time afterward making references to their famous show. Sure, he’s acted on nearly twice as many TV series as he’s directed on, but he’s played the same character on a surprising number of those appearances and did glorified cameos on many others.

Now, it is no secret that Jonathan Frakes, as a young man, found a lot of jobs to supplement his income. His distinctive method of sitting came from dealing with the long-term effects of the back injuries he suffered as a mover. Less well known is that he briefly, in those days, worked for Marvel Comics, appearing at cons dressed as Captain America. Image to follow; you’re welcome. And, yes, he puttered around acting. His first TV appearances were in 1978. For a while, his most noteworthy performance was on all three sections of North & South.

And then, he was Riker. Riker’s a good character. He’s intelligent. He’s supportive. He’s compassionate. He fulfills the requirements for courting green-skinned alien space babes that Kirk did without actually having all of Kirk’s failings as a character. Arguably, he was a Kirk for the ’90s, with all that’s good and bad about that. He was the one who led away missions, because by then they’d recognized that risking the captain on all those missions wasn’t the world’s best idea.

There are two roles he did after Riker that are of particular note. One is voice work—he joined the Old Star Trek People’s Home that is Gargoyles and was the magnificent and clever David Xanatos, arguably the catalyst for the entire series. He’s a lot of fun in the role, and it’s clear he’s having a lot of fun while he does it. The other, of course, is the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. Is it a role? Sort of. Either way, it’s wonderfully silly and worthy of notice and don’t believe a word of it when Riker tells you, over and over again, that things are true.

Of course, Frakes is on the list of people who’ll never have to work in Hollywood again. He could just go on the convention circuit for the rest of his life, one assumes not as Captain America. (For one thing, he’d have to shave.) He hasn’t been offered a feature film since the disaster that was Thunderbirds, but I’d be hard pressed to blame him for it; I dare anyone to make a good Thunderbirds movie. But he still works in directing TV, and we always have supercuts on YouTube.

Have you considered making an artist’s life better with a single click? Consider supporting my Patreon or Ko-fi!

 

Note distinctive chin divot
Yup, there it is.
Posted in Features | Tagged celebrate the living, Jonathan Frakes, tribute

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Life is a mysteryCelebrating the Living: Madonna→

Clearly Pryor knew a thing or two about wooing womenAttention Must Be Paid: Richard Pryor→

Definitely how most people picture him.Celebrating the Living: John Cameron Mitchell→

A sexy hot mess bigot!Attention Must Be Paid: Patricia Highsmith→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    38549 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    31197 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    30589 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Gordon with Mr. Looper

    Attention Must Be Paid: Will Lee

    27740 views / Posted January 7, 2023
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    23692 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The truth is FAR out there.

    The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here

    December 6, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • This is a way lower res image than I will be allowed to get away with at the new site.

    Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer

    December 5, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE

    December 4, 2024 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    December 3, 2024 / Greta Taylor
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

    December 2, 2024 / The Ploughman

Last Tweets

    ©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

    Menu

    • Home
    • Who We Are
    • About
    • Privacy
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!