Before playing Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” franchise and reprising the role for the MCU, Patrick Stewart shot to fame at warp speed when he took on the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Widely regarded as one of the most popular captains ever to take the chair, Stewart took the lead in the sci-fi series that spanned seven seasons and then four feature films. That’s a lot of screen time, particularly in the filmic area of the “Star Trek” universe. And in the eyes of the Captain himself, his favorite “Trek” movie is also deemed one of the best in the franchise.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Stewart didn’t take long to reveal his favorite film as the 1996 “Star Trek: First Contact” (which is an essential 4K purchase if you don’t have it). He said that “First Contact,” directed by Jonathan Frakes, “was outstanding and was the best of our four movies.”
Jonathan Frakes also played William Riker on “The Next Generation” and cut his feature-length directorial teeth on “First Contact.” The film saw our heroes time-travel (like in Ethan Hawke’s most overlooked film) to battle with the Borg. After already helming a handful of “Star Trek” episodes from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Star Trek: Voyager,” it was an understandable shift that he’d eventually guide the Enterprise into the strange new cinematic world that Picard’s crew were just getting used to after “Star Trek: Generations.”
Jonathan Frakes was a huge influence on Patrick Stewart in The Next Generation
By the time “First Contact” hit theaters, Patrick Stewart and his on-screen crew had been traveling through space for a decade, beginning with “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” In that time, the man who was a fan of Earl Grey might’ve been the captain of the ship, but it was Frakes who was taking a commendable amount of control behind the scenes.
“After we finished recording our seven seasons of ‘Next Generation,’ we made four ‘Star Trek’ movies of varying qualities, the best one being [‘First Contact’] directed by Jonathan Frakes,” Stewart recalled on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “He was one of the people who had the most influence on me on the show because of his experience and his understanding of the complexities and how bringing different qualities onto the stage was very, very important in diversity and change.”
It was this understanding from Frakes that made him a go-to orchestrator not just of the “Next Generation” chapters, but of so many other eras of “Star Trek” history. After the movies, Frakes went on to helm episodes of “Star Trek: Picard,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” and will be behind the camera again for the TV series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.” While there’s an argument to be made that “First Contact” might’ve been the peak for some “Star Trek” fans and its captain, there’s no question that Frakes has helped keep the franchise steady, even after all this time.