One Star Trek: The Next Generation guest star learned a funny filming tip from Jonathan Frakes. Frakes starred as Commander William Riker throughout all seven seasons of TNG, as the First Officer of the USS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). While most TNG episodes featured one of the main cast members more prominently, some episodes shifted the spotlight to a guest star. This was the case for TNG season 2, episode 5, “Loud as a Whisper,” which made Howie Seago’s negotiator Riva the center of the story.
When Captain Picard and his crew first visit Riva on his home planet of Ramatis III, they discover that the renowned mediator is deaf and requires the use of a three-person chorus to communicate. After Riva’s chorus is killed before the negotiation can truly begin, the mediator struggles to regain his confidence and find new ways to communicate. Deaf actor Howie Seago helped develop the story for his character, and he learned some things about filming television from the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast. In a 2022 interview on the Trek Untold podcast, Seago (with help from his ASL interpreter Paul Bert) revealed a filming secret he learned from Jonathan Frakes. Read Seago’s quote and watch the full interview below:
One thing that I did learn from, I think it was Jonathan Frakes. This is his sign, [uses hands to mimic a beard on his face] cause he had a big ole’ beard. I made a mistake in one of the scenes, but I kept going. I said, ‘Jonathan, I hope they don’t use that in the scene. I hope they don’t use that take.’ And Jonathan said, ‘If you make a mistake, swear. That’s the secret.’ Swear! Long and loud. ‘Excuse me, why?’ ‘Then they can’t use the take.’ Ah ha! I didn’t know that. And that’s something I’ve learned. So if I made a mistake, I have to really belt one out, you know? And Jonathan looked at me like, ‘yeah, you got it, buddy.’ So I learned so many important things from Star Trek.
How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order
The Star Trek TV franchise has existed for 57 years and consists of 12 shows (and counting). Here’s how to watch them all in timeline order.
Star Trek: Discovery’s Tilly Said Star Trek’s First Onscreen F-Bomb
Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard have included more cursing than previous Trek shows.
In some capacity, curse words have always been a part of the franchise, with occasional “damns” and “hells” sprinkled throughout Star Trek: The Original Series and other Trek series. In Star Trek Generations, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) famously says “Oh s***!” as it becomes apparent that the USS Enterprise-D is going to crash on Veridian III. The Star Trek shows in the past aired on network television, which limited the language they were allowed to use, but the streaming services of today no longer have that limitation. The first F-bomb in Star Trek did not come until Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episode 5, “Choose Your Pain,” when Cadet Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) gets excited about a breakthrough regarding the mycelial network.
After Lt. Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) explains his new discovery, Tilly exclaims: “You guys, this is so f****** cool.” She quickly apologizes, but Stamets agrees with her, saying: “No, Cadet. It is f****** cool.” It feels appropriate for Star Trek that its first F-bomb is about an exciting scientific discovery, and that it’s uttered by one of the franchise’s kindest and most upbeat characters. While it would feel strange for Star Trek characters to constantly be cursing, the occasional swear word can help emphasize a point or reveal something about a character’s state of mind. But it also means that Jonathan Frakes’ trick from his days filming Star Trek: The Next Generation doesn’t quite work anymore, as the producers might just use the take with the F-bomb.
- Cast
- Patrick Stewart , Marina Sirtis , Brent Spiner , Jonathan Frakes , LeVar Burton , Wil Wheaton
- Seasons
- 7
- Franchise(s)
- Star Trek
