Frakes: The Best of Both Worlds
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This week, both parts of The Best of Both Worlds will air in select theaters as a feature length presentation, and The Next Generation‘s Jonathan Frakes shared his thoughts on the episodes and what was going on when that show was being filmed.
The two-hour theater event for The Best of Both Worlds will take place on April 25 at 7 PM, and is in honor of the Blu-ray release of Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Best of Both Worlds.
It has been almost thirteen years since the cliffhanger season finale first aired, but Frakes believes that the show is still highly viewable. “I think the show holds up quite well, the storytelling is great,” he said. “The writers were at the top of their game at the time. I think the special effects have been redone in a very painstaking, impressive and elegant way.”
Sometimes though, newer technology shows a bit too much. “I was told that one of the downsides is that you can see a lot of glue on the wings on the aliens and stuff like that,” said Frakes, “but I didn’t see that and I didn’t find myself distracted by that at all.”
At the time, the actors did not know how the cliffhanger would be resolved or if Patrick Stewart would be returning for the fourth season. “We were left hanging out to dry,” said Frakes. “We were wondering if Patrick Stewart was in the middle of negations and they were using that as a tactic to renegotiate his contract by stressing that he might not come back. And I think it was that seriousness of the story that made for such a brilliant cliffhangers. I think it is one of the greatest cliffhangers in television history.”
Both Star Trek: The next Generation: The Best of Both Worlds, and Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three will be released in the Blu-ray format on April 30.
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Uh… typo in the article… it was NOT 13 years since the BOBW cliffhanger aired…. it has been TWENTY THREE years…
You’re correct of course. And they spelled ‘negotiations’ as ‘negations’ as well.
Data mode: ‘Negations’ is not necessarily incorrect here. Perhaps Frakes meant to emphasize that, while Stewart continued to say no to (i.e., to negate) their offers, the producers promptly reminded him of his character’s status vis-a-vis the cliffhanger.
Or perhaps it was just a typo. :p
JohnS! Hurry, we’ve got to go back– TO THE FUTURE!!!
lol… only if it’s the Prime future… Without Section 31 using Khan as a weapon to destroy our enemies while Khan’s blood brings people back from the dead.