Why Jonathan Frakes Knew His First Star Trek Directing Gig Was Going To Be Special

In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Offspring" (March 12, 1990), the android Data (Brent Spiner) has 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 lab, naming the new being Lal. At first, Lal (Leonard Crofoot) is a somewhat shapeless being with sharp, metallic features. Data feels that Lal should be able to choose their own gender and appearance. Lal decides to be a young woman (Hallie Todd). The bulk of the episode involves Data, with his own limited understand of human interaction, teaching Lal everything he knows. When Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) questions the ethics of an artificial life form like Data creating another without permission, Data easily defends himself. No one else on the Enterprise requires permission to reproduce, so why should he? 

"The Offspring" was the first episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that was directed by Jonathan Frakes. Frakes played Commander Riker on "NextGen," and he was eager to move past acting, feeling he would be comfortable in the director's chair. /Film has spoken before about the process he had to go through to get permission, and the extended "boot camp" he was required to attend, shadowing other directors and really getting to know the craft. Frakes has also joked that when he finally started directing, other "Star Trek" actors began making similar demands, causing no small amount of headaches for the show's executive producer, Rick Berman. 

Frakes also revealed that he was happy to direct a Data-centric episode, as he always felt that Spiner's character provided the show's best stories. More recently, Frakes also revealed, in a 2022 interview with StarTrek.com, that "The Offspring" was special because it was written by first-time Trek contributor René Echevarria, a writer who would come to be an important figure in the Trek family.

Echevarria would only begin his career on "Star Trek" with "The Offspring." He would go on to have writing credits on 79 additional episodes before becoming one of the central producers on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." He also wrote 24 episodes of that series as well. After "Star Trek," Echevarria would write episodes for "Medium," and "Dark Angel," and would co-create the shows "The 4400" and "Carnival Row." If you watched sci-fi TV in the early 2000s, it's likely you saw something he was involved with. 

Frakes knew that Echevarria was someone to celebrate, so he was doubly lucky when it came to "The Offspring." He got a great Data story, but also a great script. As he put it:

"In addition to being a Data episode, it was René Echevarria's first episode. As you know, he became one of our stalwarts, as well as a producer on '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 assembled. As the story has been told to me, ['The Offspring'] was his spec script that he had submitted to Michael Piller, who was generous enough to read unsolicited scripts from young writers. Michael was fabulous, and a wonderful piano player." 

The names he listed were all producers or head writers on "NextGen," and most of them are responsible for guiding the entire franchise in a positive direction. Frakes went on to praise Hallie Todd's performance as Lal, and was grateful that he had gone through his directorial boot camp, as the shooting crew all took him seriously. He also said that his fellow cast members did not take him the least bit seriously ... which he appreciated. It seems that Frakes likes a playful, loose atmosphere on set. 

After that, Frakes directed 28 additional episodes of various "Star Trek" shows and two movies. A good start to a good career.