Which cast member enjoyed being on TNG the most?

[USS Dragon]

I have never attended any con's.
And have not followed TNG close enough over the years.

I was curious though; Which one of the Cast members (in your opinion) enjoys being a member of the Trek mythology the most?

 

[TS-1838-SWATH]

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III

...AND

Levardis "Levar" Robert Martyn Burton Jr.

Were both Star Trek Fans before being cast in T.N.G.

 

[KimMH]

I remember hearing somewhere Brent Spiner was an emotional rock for the TNG crew, too and that he brought a lot of fun to the work of ST.

 

[thedude]

I'm gonna have to go with Willy hhhhhhhWheaton here too. No offense, but when I was 10 I envied that little jerk so much... but I do hear he really enjoyed growing up on the Enterprise... except for the fact it ruined his career... but eh, who's counting?

I also heard hhhhhhhWhoppi Goldberg was a huge Trekker before she came on board.

 

[ParLawGod]

I remember hearing somewhere Brent Spiner was an emotional rock for the TNG crew, too and that he brought a lot of fun to the work of ST.

I've heard that before as well. I would love to hang out with Brent Spiner in person, he must be fun!

 

[Too Much Fun]

Funny that there are all these Brent Spiner choices right off the bat, because I expected him to be the last person anyone would pick. First of all because of his interviews on the TNG DVDs, where he says his main concern with working on TNG was making money, and he was happy the show got renewed not because he enjoyed playing the character so much, but because it meant he didn't have to worry about money anymore. I was really irked by him saying that.

There's also the fact that he used his creative pull in "Nemesis" to have his character killed off. People say it's because he thought he was getting too old to play an android, so it was a choice motivated by logic more than anything else, but I don't buy that. If he was really passionate about working on Star Trek, he'd either get in shape to help sell the illusion of this ageless android (his physical state was shameful in "Nemesis") or accept CGI help for it to work.

Based on interviews and performance, I can see Jonathan Frakes as the guy most happy to be a part of TNG. Unlike Stewart and Spiner, who seem to have a bit of a snobby attitude and believe they're above it and would rather do other things (although at least Stewart seems to still have a lot of love for the fans, as I've seen him defend them in interviews various times), Frakes to this day always talks about how much he loved doing Star Trek and would love to do it again (and I don't think that's just because he doesn't have much of a career in film/TV these days). I remember him saying he had dinner with Patrick Stewart recently, and Stewart was like, "you know, I wouldn't mind doing Star Trek again". It sounds kind of blase to me.

In contrast, Frakes always seems to perk up when interviewers mention stuff like doing a direct-to-DVD feature showing him on the Titan. Marina Sirtis is the same way...she recently said she wished she could still play Troi. The fact that they agreed to appear on that Enterprise episode after all their fellow castmates left TNG behind long ago also shows how happy they are for any opportunity to play their characters again.

I know the rest of the cast agreed to do Family Guy, but it's not the same. Frakes seems to love doing anything even remotely related to Star Trek so much that he wanted to play himself on Futurama for a joke that lasted about 3 seconds and required him to only say two words! They could have got any cast member to say those two words, but Frakes himself went in just for that. Now that's devotion.

 

[Amaris]

^ Yeah, Jonathan Frakes is one of my favorite Trek actors, and it is in part because of his enthusiasm for his work.


J.

 

[clint g]

Im going to go with Johnathan Frakes (there's no denying this guy loved it) and Levar Burton (he was directing Trek episodes into Voyager at least)

 

[USS Dragon]

Thats really cool to hear that Will and Levar were fans before even being cast. That makes me enjoy their charecters even more.

I would love to see "Capt. Crusher" make a comeback in a new TV series. He is old enough now I am sure.

As far as Riker is concerned, I am soooo happy to hear he loved/loves Trek. He gets the short end of the stick in many conversations I have read here.

 

[Amaris]

Riker's my favorite character on TNG.


J.

 

[Newski]

You know, I've never been to a trek Con, but my buddy who has... He remembersFrakes as having tried "Fitting into a crowd" and went to a Q and A session with Marina Sirtis for the sole purpose of acting like a really annoying fanboy to mess with people.

SOUNDS LIKE a guy who really enjoys his job.

 

[Amaris]

You know, I've never been to a trek Con, but my buddy who has... He remembersFrakes as having tried "Fitting into a crowd" and went to a Q and A session with Marina Sirtis for the sole purpose of acting like a really annoying fanboy to mess with people.

SOUNDS LIKE a guy who really enjoys his job.

His sense of humor sounds twisted and off beat.


I like it!


J.

 

[nx1701g]

I think Frakes and Sirtis had the most fun with the show and are proudest of their roles, but I think all of them had a lot of fun. Michael Dorn said that it was nearly impossible to get work done on the set most days because someone would always try to crack someone else up.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

I'm going to say Jonathan Frakes. All the interviews I've seen of Jonathan is extremely postive towards his work on TNG. He seems like a real nice guy. To me he's like Roger Moore with the Bond series. Both love to talk about their time playing those characters which is great.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Didn't Michael Dorn show up to his auditon dressed up as a Klingon? If that doesn't scream Star Trek fan, I don't know what does.

Little did he know how instrumental Worf became to the perception of Klingons post-1987.

 

[Alrik]

Have to go with Frakes here too. From all I've seen and read, he really did seem to enjoy his run. I have also heard that his is quite the prankster.

 

[Jaespol]

Yes, Frakes it is.

 

[RandyS]

Didn't Michael Dorn show up to his auditon dressed up as a Klingon? If that doesn't scream Star Trek fan, I don't know what does.

Little did he know how instrumental Worf became to the perception of Klingons post-1987.

I've never heard that he dressed like one, but I did hear that he acted surly and growled alot in an attempt to sound like one.

 

[TS-1838-SWATH]

I'm going to say Jonathan Frakes. All the interviews I've seen of Jonathan is extremely postive towards his work on TNG. He seems like a real nice guy. To me he's like Roger Moore with the Bond series. Both love to talk about their time playing those characters which is great.

BUT does Frakes like to spend his time setting up elaborate pratical jokes on others like Roger Moore

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

^Not sure about Frakes, but I love Roger's stories of how he would take Desmond Llewellyn's script and add a few dozen more lines for him to say during there scenes together.