Movies - TV
Jonathan Frakes Felt Torn About Fans’ Love Of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Upon their respective 2017 and 2020 releases on CBS All Access (now known as Paramount+), "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Picard" faced harsh criticism on various grounds.
However, two of the platform’s 2021 releases, "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," turned out to be instant hits among the Trekkies and critics alike.
In a Star Trek Explorer Magazine interview, Jonathan Frakes, longtime "Star Trek" actor and director, said he saw the praise for "Strange New Worlds" as a backhanded compliment.
Frakes, who has directed several episodes of "Discovery" and "Picard," also directed a special crossover episode between "Strange New Worlds" and "Lower Decks."
As Frakes stated, when praising "Strange New Worlds" and its crossover episode, fans and critics "took the same opportunity to say, 'This is the Star Trek we've been waiting for.'"
"Either written or unwritten was, 'Not "Discovery" and not "Picard,"' if you recall," he said. With people decrying those shows, he felt the praise was "a slap in the same swing."