In a bizarre entanglement of fiction and reality, an upcoming episode of UPN's science-fiction drama Roswell will feature a principal character travelling to Hollywood to audition for a role in Paramount Pictures' Enterprise.

Jonathan Frakes and John Billingsley will play themselves in the episode "Secrets and Lies" where the character of Max Evans (played by Jason Behr) finds he must get onto the Paramount studio lot in a quest for information about his son, and he accomplishes that by arranging an audition for the new Star Trek show. He reads a scene with Billingsley — performing his character "Dr. Phlox" — before Frakes, who is the director of the fictional Enterprise episode. Max — an extraterrestrial in human form — must try to convince Mr. Frakes that he knows how to act like an alien.

In a further blurring of the lines between fact and fantasy, Frakes happens to be the director of "Secrets and Lies." The episode is scheduled to air Tuesday, October 30.

Frakes is also the executive producer of Roswell. Besides playing "Will Riker" on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Frakes was a frequent director on the last three Star Trek series, along with "Star Trek: First Contact" and "Star Trek: Insurrection." Roswell's co-executive producer is Ronald D. Moore, who was a producer and writer on TNG, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as two Star Trek movies.

Perhaps part of the motivation for doing a Roswell-Enterprise crossover is convenience, since both shows are shot on the Paramount lot. But this is not the first time Frakes has played himself on Roswell, as last year he did so in an episode called "The Convention."

William Sadler, who played Section 31's "Luther Sloan" in DS9, also appears on Roswell as Jim Valenti.