#BringinRiker
- Thread starter Bill Peters
- Start date
Could be that he's excited about the possibility of a big payday.
Payday aside - he's finally be making a Star Trek movie with the kind of budget he's said he always wanted. He'd finally be getting to play with all the toys instead of just a handful. That doesn't make a better movie, but it'd give Frakes an experience he probably hasn't had, not since Thunderbirds.
A
Amaris
Guest
I love Jonathan Frakes. I love that he's excited, and I love that he still wants to be involved in the Star Trek universe. That being said, this isn't going to happen for him.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
I very much doubt Frakes will get the job. I'm sure he'd love to do it, and I'm sure that if he were given the chance, he might even be able to make a good film. But he's worked solidly in television for nearly the entirety of the past decade, and that seems to be where his bread and butter are.
His bread and butter is around his waist. 
Well, he does seem very passionate about Star Trek 3.
But a few TV directors from GOT etc are getting big budget movies now without even having directed a movie before (Same with Abrams with MI3) and some just directed very low budget stuff then given huge film.
At least Frakes has directed movies before (one of which is recognised as one of the best trek movies)
I'm not Frakes, or his proxy, so I can't speak for him. I don't know what's going through his head. But to be excited about a prospect doesn't necessarily go hand-in-hand with having passion. To conceive an idea is noble. To execute the work is servile. Nevertheless, if Frakes were to some-how get to direct 3, I know he'll deliver a solid, quality picture. It may, or may not, do as well as the others did, but it will not be sloppy work. He's kind of got this Ron Howard quality to his directing ...
That pretty much sums up my feelings here, too. If Frakes were giving the director job, I think he would do a decent job, but I doubt they will.
I can't help but recall how about 10 years ago Frakes was lobbying for a Captain Riker show or movie that never happened. He was passionate about that, too.
IF Frakes got the job (and it is a big 'IF') and ST3 was a big 500m hit (it will be) it'd propel him into the big league again - remember post FC he was attached to stuff like Total Recall 2 (Arnold was going to do it) and was one of the directors attached to the Superman reboot in the late 90s
Yet, at the end of the day he did very little big screen work. Could be that the studios caught on that this guy is better working on TV? That he is a solid worker but has no real vision of his own, which would be problematic since big-screen movies are director driven.
But both were projects he chose to do.
Still a better director than Stuart Baird. And still a better love story than Twilight.
I agree with most everyone else here in that the odds of him directing are virtually zilch. BUT if my vote would ever count towards something, I'd give him a shot. He seems sincere about it and I'm sure he's learned a thing or two since Thunderbirds.
My only real worry about Frakes would be his institutional knowledge, a double-edged sword. Yes, he'd have more experience than most other directors out there plus a love of Trek (and therefore the devotion), but he was also the director when Trek was at its most formulaic and overexposed, too. I thought he was a fine director, but perhaps not one to take many risks, and a big blockbuster almost demands fresh ideas. The only thing worse than a bad Trek movie is a boring Trek movie.
I agree with most everyone else here in that the odds of him directing are virtually zilch. BUT if my vote would ever count towards something, I'd give him a shot. He seems sincere about it and I'm sure he's learned a thing or two since Thunderbirds.
My only real worry about Frakes would be his institutional knowledge, a double-edged sword. Yes, he'd have more experience than most other directors out there plus a love of Trek (and therefore the devotion), but he was also the director when Trek was at its most formulaic and overexposed, too. I thought he was a fine director, but perhaps not one to take many risks, and a big blockbuster almost demands fresh ideas. The only thing worse than a bad Trek movie is a boring Trek movie.
You forget Orci is still going to write and produce ST(1)3.
THey are going to want someone who will follow that vision, not but heads with them on their own vision.
If Frakes is the empty head you claim, then he would be a perfect fit by your own rationale.
That all said, I still stand by my opinion Frakes won't get it.
But going back to my earlier post, who would want to do it? Who's available to do it? Who has the experience of Trek?
With Abrams tied up doing Star Wars, Frakes may end up being the only viable choice. Look what happened when Paramount put Nemesis in the hands of Stuart Baird, someone with no experience of Star Trek. Now to be fair to him, the script was hogwash. He had very little to work with. I don't think there was ever much wrong with his direction per se. Marina's on record as saying the main cast where happy with the script for Nemesis, but they all hated the film. There's something wrong there.
The next Trek film will live and die by the story and the script, not by a director who may only be so so. Abrams had never done Trek, but the first reboot was successful because it had a good script, something which can't be said for Into Darkness.
At least, the new Bond movie allegedly has some massive script problems that make the as yet unwritten Star Trek XIII look like a masterpiece.
You don't NEED Trek experience to make a good Trek movie. Meyer didn't have any nor any particular love of the source material when he did TWOK. It's more about finding a talented director who is a good fit for the material and not someone who wants to make it into something it's not.
To play devils advocate for just one moment, there IS prior example of a Sci Fi movie director who made a little sci fi flick that didn't make that much of a splash who after doing TV for almost a decade came back to film with a movie that is one of the few blockbusters of modern times - Joss Whedon.
Now, Frakes is not Whedon. He isn't a writer. And outside of his close friends, I'm not sure he can work with a big cast very well. But boiling the situation down to the base elements - "little" Sci Fi movie director, Culmination of a franchise flick said director has experience with in another media and a small, strong fan following (The folks around the net do seem excited at Frakes doing it) Frakes taking Trek 3 isn't a million miles away from Whedon taking The Avengers.
He's still not my first choice though.
Now, Frakes is not Whedon. He isn't a writer. And outside of his close friends, I'm not sure he can work with a big cast very well. But boiling the situation down to the base elements - "little" Sci Fi movie director, Culmination of a franchise flick said director has experience with in another media and a small, strong fan following (The folks around the net do seem excited at Frakes doing it) Frakes taking Trek 3 isn't a million miles away from Whedon taking The Avengers.
He's still not my first choice though.
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