Starfest Spotlight: Jonathan Frakes

Written By: John

In the four years that I have attended Starfest, I have learned one valuable lesson when it comes to the Main Events stage; if the actor worked on any version of Star Trek their presentation will be nothing short of amazing. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love going to see the guests speak at Starfest, and this year I absolutely enjoyed seeing David Prowse and John Noble live, but as we mentioned before on Girls of Geek, J.G. Hertzler and Robert O’Reilly absolutely killed it when they took the stage, and while I expected them to be a hard act to follow, Jonathan Frakes was up to the challenge and he did not disappoint. 

In fact he came bounding out to greet the crowd, full of energy and joy to be there in front of his fans before getting into a few stories.  Jonathan fondly recalled his first convention in Syracuse, NY a mere twenty four years ago where he patiently waited to head out on stage and found himself in the vendor room staring at the Galoob action figures created for The Next Generation and the sign that simply read: “Buy one figure, get Riker free!”

Thankfully such animosity did not last.  Seven seasons and four motion pictures later, it was clear that Jonathan Frakes and his portrayal as Commander William Riker are still well loved, and Jonathan was more than happy to reciprocate that love as he openly joked with the crowd, and not to be upstaged by a pair of Klingons, made his way into the audience on a regular basis to spend time with the fans.   

The stories were few and far between, in fact the only other tale that I can recall was Jonathan’s retelling of a fight scene staged for the The Next Generation episode entitled “Q Pid” where the unfortunate choice to use a real sword left Jonathan with a nasty cut, but the good news that resulted from this injury was “we got the shot, Frakes can go to the hospital.”  Indeed he did, spending time in the emergency room still dressed in his Little John costume. 

But steering clear of the undoubtedly vast numbers of stories he could have told us was of no concern.  Clearly Jonathan just wanted everyone in the audience to have a great time, and that we did.   It was exactly as it should be, with everyone in that audience having spent so many years with The Next Generation as apart of their lives, myself included, Jonathan Frakes made it feel as if we were all just getting together with an old friend, to do nothing more than shoot the breeze. 

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