Jonathan Frakes Reveals the Star Trek Series That Broke the Franchise’s Cardinal Rule TNG Wouldn’t Cross
Jonathan Frakes says a sacred TNG rule was broken during the Strange New Worlds crossover he directed — and he, Armin Shimerman, and Kitty Swink reveal how Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome set it off on The D-Con Chamber.
Here is a very nerdy Star Trek rule I did not expect to hear Jonathan Frakes admit he broke: while directing the live-action/animated crossover episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, he let the guest stars ad-lib. On Star Trek. Yes, that Star Trek.
Frakes says the old Trek rule got tossed for one episode
On an episode of the chat show "The D-Con Chamber," Frakes sat down with Armin Shimerman and Kitty Swink and revealed that when he directed Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome on Strange New Worlds, the pair started riffing in their scenes. Historically, that was a no-go.
Frakes said that in his day the franchise was DLP - short for 'dead-letter perfect' - which basically meant actors were expected to hit every word and punctuation mark exactly as written. According to Frakes, the room full of Trek vets was a little stunned to hear he let Quaid and Newsome improvise.
The episode in question is the Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks crossover titled 'Those Old Scientists.' And here is the twist: the writers ended up loving the ad-libbed bits, which helped the episode click. So, breaking the sacred rule paid off.
Why DLP mattered so much on classic Trek
There is a reason the old shows were strict. Star Trek leans hard on exact exposition and dense sci-fi lingo; even a tiny tweak can break the logic or undermine a technobabble solution. Patrick Stewart has talked about this workload before, especially with age catching up to him. In an interview with NPR, he laid out how seriously he takes precision:
'Well, learning lines is a bigger challenge than it used to be. I used to learn lines so easily. Now when we're shooting the series, I have the week's work laid out in front of me. And over the weekend, I make sure that I am DLP - dead-letter perfect - of the first two days of work, Monday and Tuesday. And then I'm really familiar with Wednesday and quite familiar with Thursday and Friday so that each day, I will be on top of what I have to do insofar as just learning the lines goes. And I stick with that.'
That is the culture Frakes came up in on The Next Generation, which is why everyone reacted when he admitted he loosened the rules for 'Those Old Scientists.'
Strange New Worlds keeps coloring outside the lines
The crossover is one example of how Strange New Worlds likes to bend Trek tradition. The show experiments with tone (yes, a full-on musical episode), crosses paths with other corners of the franchise, and puts more emotional range on display. It pushes past the stoic-male thing with characters like Pike, Spock, and M'Benga, and it integrates LGBTQ+ storylines as part of the fabric of its world.
Quick refresher on Strange New Worlds
- Title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
- Premise: Follows Captain Christopher Pike, Science Officer Spock, and Number One (Una Chin-Riley) exploring new worlds aboard the USS Enterprise before James T. Kirk's command
- Franchise: Spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery
- Country: United States
- Created by: Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet
- Main producers: CBS Studios, Secret Hideout, Roddenberry Entertainment
- Showrunners: Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers
- Original network/service: Paramount+
- First release date: May 5, 2022
- Episodes (through Season 3): 30 total, 10 per season
- Genre: Science fiction, space opera, adventure, drama
'Those Old Scientists' is the crossover that let Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome loosen the screws a bit, and it sounds like the Trek brain trust was happy with the result. Strange New Worlds is currently streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.