Fun at FanExpo Dallas 2024 – Meeting Frakes & Jaymes
FanExpo Dallas
FanExpo Dallas is the annual extravaganza in Dallas where fans and pop culture talent come together for a fun-filled weekend. Whether you’re into comics, anime, fantasy, science fiction, gaming, or more, this is bound to be the place where like-minded fans shop, listen to panels, partake in competitions, and party. This year we met Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Dakota Jaymes, the voice over artists who recorded our audiobook, Kantara: The Traveler.
Fan Conventions
Stephen’s first fan convention was the Little Rock Star Trek convention where he met George Takei who played Sulu in Star Trek. 2024 celebrates his 35th anniversary of attending such events.
Kayti joined her husband with her first event in 2015 where she and friends met Firefly Star Nathan Fillion.
A Little About Jonathan Frakes
Of the classic Star Trek series, DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy) was Stephen’s favorite, but his favorite from Star Trek: The Next Generation was Jonathan Frakes’ character William Riker.
In 1995, Frakes hosted the infamous Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction? which explored the possibility that a film of an autopsy of an alien at Roswell was authentic. The following year, Star Trek: First Contact hit the theatres, thrilling fans. He not only starred in the film, but also directed this blockbuster hit.
Fun At Frakes’ Panel
During the panel with Jonathan Frakes, we learned about pranks on the set of Strange New Worlds (apparently Anson Mount pulled up an old audition of Frakes from Welcome Back Kotter), and about his character Riker, who originally was not intended to smile; we are glad that changed.
He regaled us of tales about his directorial experience and how much effort he put in to learning about directing television; apparently, acting involves a lot of waiting, something that drives Frakes crazy. After learning all he could, he finally got a chance to direct his first The Next Generation episode titled The Offspring, a fan favorite show about the android character Data creating a daughter.
Having directed numerous Star Trek spin off series, he had nothing but great things to say about the cast and crew of each. He relayed stories about Sonequa Martin-Green’s leadership on Discovery, who would always come prepared and support her fellow cast members, even after her work was done for the day.
He also told fun stories about Jack Quaid, who reprised his animated role of Ensign Boimler in the live action Strange New Worlds Episode ‘Those Old Scientists.’ While filming that episode, Quaid randomly swings his leg over to site on Captain Pike’s saddle. While doing so, who called out ‘Riker’, pointing out that this style of sitting was referred to as ‘Riker’. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Riker swung his leg over the back of a to sit down in episode such as Coming of Age, The Child, and more. Interesting fact: he wants to direct a musical.
Catching Up With Dakota Jaymes
On the last day at FanExpo, we found the ArcanicArtistry booth, the owner of whom is also a voice over artist, Dakota Jaymes, most recently known for his portrayal of Asil in ‘I Shall Survive Using Potions!’. He is also the narrator for our audiobook, Kantara: The Traveler (get your copy here). The best part of the day happened when Dakota introduced us to friends as the authors who wrote ‘his’ audiobook.
Summary
This was another great year for Kayti and Stephen at FanExpo. Not only do that have fun there, they also network with other artists and they write their Kantara Scrolls Book Series. Get your copy today at here.