NewsTV NewsStar Trek’s Jonathan Frakes Responds To Negative Starfleet Academy Reactions
By Devin Meenan March 8, 2026 4:20 pm EST
Jonathan Frakes and Holly Hunter reading script on the set of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy with Tig Notaro in background
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Trekkies will always think of Jonathan Frakes first as Commander Will Riker, but the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star has also become one of the franchise’s most prolific directors. Coming a long way from his first “Trek” directing gig on the “Next Generation” episode “The Offspring,” Frakes even directed two of the “Star Trek” films featuring the “Next Generation” cast, “First Contact” and “Insurrection.”
Frakes most recently directed the penultimate episode of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” season 1: “300th Night.” “Starfleet Academy” has been subject to an online review bombing campaign, as any nerd franchise tends to be when a new chapter features queer and Black people existing and/or women in positions of power. In an interview with IGN, Frakes discussed the backlash that “Starfleet Academy” has been getting, with the perspective that many fans hated “The Next Generation” a long time ago too.
“I was prepared because when ‘Next Gen’ came out almost 40 years ago, we were trolled. Nobody wanted us. And this was pre-internet. But it’s still dimensionally more painful [today]… and the trolls are hiding, and the trolls are hating. It’s the first rule of the Constitution. I guess they’re entitled to their opinion, but it surprises me how aggressively ‘anti’ they are with each new iteration of the show. And it continues to surprise me, and I try not to let it upset me.”
— Jonathan Frakes
Read More: https://www.slashfilm.com/2118343/jonathan-frakes-star-trek-starfleet-academy-negative-reactions-response/
Indeed, the internet has made it easier to spread any opinion (even toxic ones), and for good and ill has made creatives on TV shows more tapped into fan sentiment than ever before. Bigotry-influenced review bombing is the worst side of this, and it’s not just “Starfleet Academy” fans who should be peeved. Bad faith criticism obscures genuine criticism, too.
Source: Star Trek’s Jonathan Frakes Responds To Negative Starfleet Academy Reactions
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