Even after all these years, Star Trek: The Next Generation remains the gold standard for hard sci-fi television. Beyond its many fantastic episodes and wonderful ensemble cast members that continue making headlines, the series had a knack for pulling in many notable guest stars during its run. Unfortunately, the cast had a bit of a reputation when it came to day-players, according to Jonathan Frakes, saying some thought they were "a--holes" after popping in and out.
The revelation came out during an episode of Dropping Names with Brent and Jonny, in which Frakes and co-host Brent Spiner welcomed on another TNG cast member, LeVar Burton. The actor and director brought up the pressure to memorize lines ahead of filming episodes on TNG, and how the cast as a whole thrived at bringing that together. As mentioned, though, he said that level of preparedness provided the fuel for an unfortunately negative reputation from outsiders who came into the show. As he put it:
I felt the pressure so hard. Well, first of all Patrick [Stewart] had that [reputation] especially in Season 1, and it's one of the reasons I believe that we have a reputation in the business for being such a--holes on our set. Because all of us were all so well prepared, nobody was stressing between takes of, 'Oh my God. I gotta learn this.' We showed up, and we could roll.
Frakes was questioned by LeVar Burton on the descriptor and amended it to "rambunctious." Still, one can imagine the level of intimidation one might feel coming in as a guest star on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I know I'd hate to be the one-off actor who came in knowing that everyone in that room would have their lines memorized, and I'm expected to do the same!
Brent Spiner added that guest stars faced an additional challenge because Star Trek was a different beast when it came to dialogue. As actors on even the more modern shows would attest to, there's a specific cadence and words you'll find in this franchise that won't be anywhere else, to the point they need to be said out loud in advance before shooting:
We had guest stars, really good actors, who would do a scene and they'd go up again, and again, and again, and they'd get so mad at themselves, 'But I knew this last night.' And they did, but they hadn't said it out loud, so their mouths didn't understand.
The technobabble is a hurdle that even series regulars on the show, like Wil Wheaton, struggled with. I can imagine it was a real pain for a guest star coming in. Additionally, they had to adhere to the script and be "word perfect," so it wasn't like they could just improvise another line to get around it.
LeVar Burton added on to what Brent Spiner said, and made a comparison that maybe other actors wouldn't consider heading into Star Trek. The series had its own unique dialogue that was unlike other shows of the time, almost like performing a piece of classical literature:
What a lot of guest stars didn't understand was the dialogue, the language that we used in Star Trek, was its own thing. Not just the technobabble, but the heightened syntax. It was like learning Shakespeare on a different level.
Perhaps it's why Patrick Stewart, who had a decades-long tenure with the Royal Shakespeare Company before joining Star Trek: The Next Generation, thrived so much on the series. Jean-Luc Picard remains one of Trek's best characters to this very day, and it's those performances that propelled Stewart further into the Hollywood mainstream.
Of course, times change, and more modern Star Trek shows are a little looser with the dialogue. Robert Picardo recently admitted it was a shift he had to make when joining Starfleet Academy, though stands behind the series as one of its strongest advocates all the same. After all, Trek is all about progress and change, right?
Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on streaming with a Paramount+ subscription, along with many other shows from the franchise. Throw on an episode today to remember why it's the gold standard of sci-fi, or just to see the wonderful cast on the bridge.
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