Star Trek’s Jonathan Frakes Cursing About Robots Makes Us Want Him as a Supervillain

It’s been a banner year for videoes of Jonathan Frakes going viral, and there’s a new one that has our attention. The clip comes from the German television series How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast), which came to Netflix in May, and it has Frakes in a familiar setting behaving in an unfamiliar way.

Frakes plays himself in the show’s second episode, titled “Life’s Not Fair, Get Used to It.” In the episode, he’s hosting a show about the Darknet that is a clear pastiche of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, known as X-Factor: The Unfathomable in Germany. The show questioned unbelievable tales in search of the truth. A typical episode saw Frakes recounting a tale and then revealing if it was truth or made up.

The version of the show he’s hosting in How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) is a bit more R-rated. In the clip, Frakes drops an F-bomb as he curses about the autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners known as Roombas. He even calls out the manufacturer, iRobot, for taking its name from the Will Smith movie about killer robots (which takes its title from Isaac Asimov’s fix-up novel of robotics-themed stories). The whole thing gives us serious supervillain vibes and someone in Hollywood needs to get on that casting now.

As mentioned, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction has been in the internet’s collective consciousness lately. There have been viral supercut videos of Frakes telling you that you’re wrong or right and asking some very odd questions of the audience.

Frakes doesn’t do as much in front of the camera work these days, but he’s an accomplished director. He started directing while working on Star Trek: The Next Generation. This year, he reunited with his The Next Generation co-star Patrick Stewart to direct two episodes of the upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek: Picard. Frakes has said he’s happy to be back in Star Trek‘s orbit again.

“Eighteen years later. I think the fans are going to be thrilled and excited and surprised,” Frakes said. “I have had the privilege of reading the first couple of episodes and I have spent some time with Patrick who is so engaged [laughs] Sorry. It’s wonderful. It’s smart. I’m excited about it. He is obviously more excited. His announcing of it at Las Vegas — which I believe was his idea —was very smart. You know he is 78, and he is going to be carrying the show on his shoulders, his considerable shoulders.

“I’m excited for him and personally, I feel so blessed to back,” he continued. “It’s so ironic that I spent so many years trying to expand where I was working and I was lucky enough to get onto other types of shows. The directing has been a mitzvah for me—to learn another craft. And now I am deeply ensconced in the world I was in 31 years ago—and I’ve got to say—incredibly grateful for it, between The Orville, and Discovery and Picard. And hopefully the Empress Georgiou show.”

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