Posted in: Hallmark, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: A Biltmore Christmas, hallmark channel, Jonathan Frakes, Robert Picardo, star trek, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: The Next Generation, star trek: voyager

Star Trek: Picardo Praises Frakes for Hallmark Film, Not His Co-Star

Robert Picardo had playful, self-aware fun while promoting his & fellow Star Trek alum Jonathan Frakes' Hallmark film, A Biltmore Christmas.

It seems like the Star Trek casts of The Next Generation and Voyager get along pretty famously these days, dating back to the cameos from the UPN series made to the syndicated series' theatrical films dating back to 1996's First Contact that saw Robert Picardo reprising his role as The Doctor aka Emergency Medical Hologram in a cameo where Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) summoned him to fend off a Borg attack. Not that it's the same EMH as Voyager's since they're standard issues in every Starfleet vessel, so it's okay the character doesn't really "die." Now Picardo's come full circle collaborating with TNG, albeit not in the fashion you'd expect in the Hallmark film A Biltmore Christmas.

"My friend [Jonathan S Frakes] is in #ABiltmoreChristmas tonight on [Hallmark Channel]. I like him much better than the other [Star Trek] actor who also appears in this delightful new Christmas movie," Picardo wrote. That "other" actor in question is Picardo himself, who plays Harold Balaban. Frakes plays Winston. The film follows Lucy (Bethany Joy Lenz) as she's hired to write the script for a remake of a holiday movie. She joins a tour of the grounds, and when she knocks an hourglass over, she finds herself transported back in time to 1946.

At least it has time travel in common with Star Trek. Anyhow, Frakes played William Riker on TNG across all seven seasons and four theatrical films, reprising his role for Voyager, Enterprise, and most recently in Picard and the animated series Lower Decks, both on Paramount+. He also reprised his TNG doppelganger in Thomas Riker on Deep Space Nine. While Frakes is more involved behind the director's chair these days, he remains active in the franchise directing episodes of Strange New Worlds, Picard, and Discovery. Picardo is obviously not the only Voyager alum sharing space with the TNG world, with Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) appearing in the series' final film Nemesis (2002), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), and Tim Russ (Tuvok) appearing in Picard. You can stream A Biltmore Christmas, which also stars Kristoffer Polaha, here.

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