JONATHAN FRAKES

He'll forever be known as Number One to generations of Star Trek: The Next Generation viewers--but actor Jonathan Frakes has branched out to other genre franchises. His successful post-Trek directing and producing career now includes the WB's Roswell, which returns for its sophomore season this fall. The series explores the angst and antics of three survivors of the Roswell, N.M. crash of '47. When we last saw local Roswell high-schooler Liz (Shiri Appleby) and aliens Max (Jason Behr), Isabel (Katherine Heigl) and Michael (Brendan Fehr), the group had opened up a Pandora's box on the aliens' past. That's something Frakes promises will be explored in more detail this coming season.

Meanwhile, even as Frakes continues as an executive producer on Roswell's second season, he's readying a genre feature film, Clockstoppers, that he'll direct for Paramount. His duties on that film may limit his opportunities to direct future episodes of Roswell (he directed three in the series' first season). Plus, Frakes is closely following the talks for a 10th Star Trek movie, which he says could be ready by winter 2001.

Roswell's renewal was touch-and-go there for a while. Did it really go down to the wire?

Frakes: Well, they led us to believe that it went down to the wire. I personally feel that we were in a pretty good position, because the last six shows of our season were so strong, and it was such a new direction [for the series]. But I don't know--I wasn't in the room with the network.

Were you taken aback by the support Roswell received from the fans at the end of the season, right down to the Tabasco sauce campaign?

Frakes: I thought that was great. I wasn't surprised, because I know that there's been that kind of loyalty about Star Trek, historically, certainly in the original seasons; the original series was picked up partially because of fan support. So I was a cousin to that kind of phenomenon. I must say I was thrilled that that happened for Roswell; that was kind of a treat.

What about the rest of the cast and crew? How did they react?

Frakes: I think people who had not been around it had been quite amazed by it. First of all, our kids are all new--except for Bill Sadler, they're all relatively new to this whole phenomenon of being TV stars. So they all reacted with excitement, obviously. Some of them, I think, were surprised by how rapidly their lives have changed.

Will the positive word of mouth on the show help as you head into the second season?

Frakes: There's a nice history of second seasons [being when a show really starts] kicking in. Hill Street Blues certainly comes to mind, [and] The X-Files, and I certainly think that Roswell is going to follow in that lexicon of television. I think people who haven't seen it will catch up with it this summer. There is great word of mouth, and I think it's going to do much better on Monday than it ever did on Wednesday. The competition was too stiff between West Wing, which was arguably the best new show last year, and Voyager, which is a sci-fi audience, which is what part of our audience is now. So that was certainly tapping off some of our potential audience. And now 9 o'clock on Monday is not as brutal.

Roswell has actually evolved into a show with a high degree of crossover appeal between sci-fi and straightforward drama. Was that your goal?

Frakes: Well, originally the plan was to partner us with Dawson's Creek, because it was perceived as another teen angst drama. And now it's something that's certainly more than that. We're getting a really nice cross section [of viewers].

Metaphorically, you ended the season with a bang. Did you have a plan to end up that way?

Frakes: It evolved, in all honesty, into a show much more about the mythology of the aliens than about the angst about teen romance. It's really become, in a lot of ways, about Max, who is, as [creator] Jason Katims likes to refer to him, not unlike Michael Corleone--he tried to get out, but he's always brought back. He is the leader, he is the number-one alien; and it's a great character for that. In the beginning of this coming season, all of the aliens in the show, certainly, are going to have to lead their lives in a different way; their lives have been changed forever. Which is exciting and challenging and I think is going to make for some great stories. There is going to be a great [revelation] of something that I'm not supposed to divulge in the first episode, which will help. And I think, at the end of the last episode, we certainly let them know that our aliens are not the only aliens out there, which is also an appeal--and fuel for a lot of the season next year.

What is the path the aliens are on now?

Frakes: They have begun to find out where they came from, and they've begun to understand who the character Nacedo is. And in the beginning of the second season, there will be an event that will alter the way our aliens lead their lives. So it's no longer going to be just between humans. We now have human-alien relationships, alien-alien relationships, and the fact that there are other races of aliens here on Earth with us, so it's a pretty cool sci-fi concept, I think.

There's a new producer on board this season as well, someone who's quite familiar to genre fans - Ron Moore

You encouraged Jason Katims to bring Moore on staff as a co-executive producer?

Frakes: Yes. Ron Moore was the leader in creating the Klingon mythology that became such a big part of [Next Generation] and Deep Space Nine.

The original interview is here.

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