For a show with no budget, they are doing quite well so far this season.

Simon | August 20, 07:20 CET

Frakes has become one of my favorite TV directors - he just directed the "Fairy Godparents" episode of Leverage, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

cabri | August 20, 07:28 CET

Awesome!!!!

Which episode is it he's directing?

ETA: The 19th (yesterday) was Frake's birthday!

[ edited by Nebula1400 on 2009-08-20 07:35 ]

Nebula1400 | August 20, 07:29 CET

Yeah, they could do worse than pulling Frakes into their stable of directors, if they do that.

The One True b!X | August 20, 07:29 CET

Jonathan Frakes is an excellent director, looking forward to this episode. Anymore information?

Madhatter | August 20, 07:30 CET

By "next" she means 2x04 "Belonging"?

wiesengrund | August 20, 07:42 CET

Or S2x05 "To Boldly Go"?

Simon | August 20, 07:43 CET

Are we making up titles now?

Nebula1400 | August 20, 07:46 CET

Yes everyone can play along.

Simon | August 20, 07:48 CET

At least we're being imaginative :)

Madhatter | August 20, 07:54 CET

Dollhouse 2x06: Woman in the Road.

The One True b!X | August 20, 08:02 CET

What a cool name, "Trpcic". I wonder how it's pronounced.

Storyteller | August 20, 08:34 CET

Good times for Frakes-related stuff. News of him directing some Dollhouse, plus two new Gargoyles graphic novels came out yesterday (Jonathan Frakes was the voice behind Xanatos, one of the best villains/amoral types in cartoons. The show and its writing brought out the best in he and other Star Trek actors, not the least of which was Marina "Counsellor Troi" Sirtis as Demona throughout the series as well). They're by the creator of the cartoon, Greg Weisman, and continue the story beyond the two seasons of the series.

Got a friend a little bit more into Dollhouse tonight. He had watched two episodes I'd recorded of it back in February, but took too long to visit again, so I had to delete the rest to make space. Took the [cheaply bought from Amazon.ca] blu-rays over to his place last night and picked up where we left off with the third and fourth episodes (halfway through, I sorta apologized for the pop singer episode, but I think he enjoyed "Gray Hour" and I remember him liking the premiere okay and really liking "Target"...which I kinda wanna watch on blu now).

Still haven't seen "Epitaph 1", will watch when he catches up (don't actually have a blu-ray player at my house).

Kris | August 20, 10:11 CET

Does it even qualify as a true house if there's no Blu-Ray player inside ?

What a cool name, "Trpcic". I wonder how it's pronounced.

Tripchick is how I say it in my head but my head isn't exactly the final arbiter on these things ;).

Yay Frakes, not only is he a good director but his occasional cameos always make me smile, he just seems like a guy that has a good time doing something he loves.

2x07: "The Naked Now"

Oh wait, they already did that ;).

Saje | August 20, 10:47 CET

"Does it even qualify as a true house if there's no Blu-Ray player inside ?"

Ouch man, ouch. Heh. :)

Just didn't wanna jump on the bandwagon when the PS3 first came out (took my chances with the Wii anyway at the time--don't think I've ever owned two systems from the same generation, unless you count Game Boy and Game Gear). Decided to wait and let other gamers be the guinea pigs for a few years, plus for the PS3 to get a major price drop (a friend just bought one for $100 less than usual, so I guess that happened this week). Don't know if I'll need it for blu-ray films/TV-on-DVD, since I'm trying to go digital-only. Although there are a number of games that, unless Sony makes 'em available for download, I might have to break down and get (The Last Guardian, for starters, though I'm sorta obsessed with that development team's line of games--Ico and Shadow of the Colossus).

Kris | August 20, 11:19 CET

You can hear her pronounce her name when she introduces herself in the DVD commentary for the Firefly episode Shindig.

TactGuy | August 20, 11:55 CET

Kris is intelligent, and has good taste in video games.

Racoon Boy | August 20, 11:56 CET

Ouch man, ouch. Heh. :)

;-).

Truth to tell Kris, I don't have one either (though I live in a flat so i'm exempt ;). My DVD player seems to be on the way out though (stutters etc. - either it's knackered or i've been extremely unlucky with discs) so it could be time to upgrade (LG have a nice thin drive for about £60). Only issue is, my media centre runs Linux and Blu-Ray doesn't play well with the mighty penguin.

Saje | August 20, 12:25 CET

This is awesome news. Not only is he a Star Trek great, but he was also heavily involved in Roswell back in the day, which is one of my non-Whedon-related guilty pleasures.

jiggyfly | August 20, 15:43 CET

Simon wrote; "For a show with no budget, they are doing quite well so far this season. "

By bring Frakes on to direct Joss may be taking a page from Devlin on Leverage. Devlin also works on a tight budget and in order to save money he tries to cut down on days to shoot. He did an episode of Leverage in six days, I think Frakes was right behind him, bringing in his show in 6.5 days. So Joss may see that as a potential money saving venture and getting a darn good director in the process. I hope he uses him more, everybody loves to work with Frakes. Also he tends to get his Star Trek buddies on shows as well. WooHoo, maybe Wil Wheaton will get a shot on Dollhouse now.

:D

RavenU | August 20, 16:44 CET

Not to mention Topher's aging, cantankerous, college professor father - Brent Spiner.

brinderwalt | August 20, 17:53 CET

Wouldn't be at all surprised if Wil Wheaton showed up. With a connection to both Frakes and Felicia Day (since he's appearing on The Guild), it almost seems likely.

Brent Spiner...now he would be an awesome guest star. I've always felt that he's a vastly underrated actor and should be working lots more. And I see he guested on one of the Leverage episodes that Jonathan Frakes directed. Now I want this to happen.

JMaloney | August 20, 18:16 CET

Feed the birds.

brinderwalt | August 20, 18:34 CET

Episode 2.08 - "Double Dog Dare"
Episode 2.09 - "All Dolled Up"
Episode 2.10 - "The Echo Chamber"
Episode 2.11 - "Die, Die, My Doll"
Episode 2.12 - "Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry?"
Episode 2.13 - "Night of the Living Doll"

QuoterGal | August 20, 19:39 CET

Does this mean Dollhouse is now part of the Star Trek-verse!?! :)

Little Green Kid | August 20, 20:05 CET

This is good news. Frakes is an excellent director--better, I'd argue, than he is an actor.

WilliamTheB | August 20, 21:05 CET

Not sure you could find anyone to argue with WilliamTheB ;-).

(I still really like watching him though, he brings something cool to every part. Plus, he was Riker - he's gonna be in credit for a long time in my book)

Saje | August 20, 22:03 CET

Holy crap, I totally missed this news. This is GREAT. I'm watching TNG right now--on season three--and man, I adore Riker.

Jobo | August 26, 04:28 CET

Agreed J. Honestly, outside of Patrick Stewart... most of the TNG actors seemed a bit blacklisted.

That said, I always liked Frakes more as a director than an actor. His voice work was always good though. I wonder if it was just that TNG was so early in his career and the episodes I remember of him were early TNG when everything was a little bit "iffy." Later seasons I don't remember him nearly as much. Those are impressions though, not meant to be an all encompassing critique.

On a personal note (since I'm also a Trek fan), I'd love to see Whedon give some of the TNG actors a shot (not all). I suspect there are a few of them that would be shockingly great.

[ edited by azzers on 2009-08-28 03:38 ]

azzers | August 28, 03:34 CET