I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Goldsmith Odyssey podcast alongside Jonathan Frakes—who has not only played Commander Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation (and its sequels and spin-offs) for 36 years, but collaborated with the great Jerry Goldsmith when he directed Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection.
Here’s the blurb from the podcast guys:
Given that all members of the Odyssey team are also lifelong Star Trek enthusiasts, we were particularly thrilled and honored to welcome actor/director Jonathan Frakes to the program. Your humble hosts Yavar, David, and Clark, along with Film Score Monthly founder Lukas Kendall, chat with Jonathan about his experiences working with Jerry on Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection, the complex nature of Goldsmith’s relationship with the Trek franchise, the collaborative qualities that distinguished Jerry from other film composers, the warmly received third season of Star Trek: Picard, and much more! It's a warm, lively chat filled with fond memories and memorable music. If you've got 50 minutes to spare, make this show your Number One priority!
Note: This interview was conducted on July 12th, 2023, just prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Special thanks to friend of the show Stéphane Coëdel for his lovely work on this episode's cover image.
Frakes talks at some length on Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating's Shuttlepod Show podcast about his ambitions with Thunderbirds and how the movie landed him in Director's Jail. Not a happy subject for him but not one he shies away from.
The omission of the name of the movie from this particular podcast episode seemed like a(n unintentional, perhaps) courtesy to Zimmer and his team!
Was it me, Or did no one actually MENTION the movie Frakes did with Hans Zimmer, because I swear no one ever says "Thunderbirds", having seen it in the cinema (for free and it was still too expensive). I can understand no wanting to give airtime one of the all-time worst screen adaptations of a TV show (as in down there with "Wild Wild West", "The Avengers", "The Flintstones" and that piss-poor "Bewitched" (Dammit, did the Ephrons really have such high opinions of themselves that felt a premise that spawned a long-running sitcom (and a comic strip adaptation -at least in a UK publication) needed a meta treatment? (to be fair Nora Ephron's "Heartburn" and "When Harry Met sally.." lef…