Depending on how popular this is, I'll be posting a new question roughly every week. This thread is for those questions that Star Trek needs to have answered (well, in my opinion (so WARNING most of these will probably be kinda fangirly sorry )) This week: Riker: Beard or no beard? When I first saw him with a beard I thought it didn't suit him but once the new uniforms came in I thought it made him look more commanding.
The beard was improvement. First season's baby-face Riker looked to me like Roger Korby's android making machine gone awry trying to clone William Shatner. Frakes definitely seemed more comfortable with the beard. It's like Avery Brooks and the Sisko hair thing.
I think Brooks was more comfortable with his head shaved. And it seemed to improve his performance. That's as close to a like/dislike you'll get from me.
Riker is better with the beard. The beard commands/demands respect. Riker would never have had the guts to put his leg up on peoples' consoles and shove his crotch into their face without growing the beard first. Sisko is better with the Van Dyke. The Van Dyke made him more dark/threatening and fit the war story they were trying to tell. Van Dyke Sisko is not a man to be trifled with. Hmm. Had Riker been Sisko's XO instead of Worf, the Dominion War would have been over in a single episode. When their beard powers combine...
Riker with the beard, definitely. He looked way too young to be XO without it. I think I liked Sisko best during the brief period he had both facial AND scalp hair.
I liked Riker better with the beard, but it also was a pleasant change when he had it shaved off all those years later in "Insurrection".
Wasn't that kinda the point of Riker, he was a young hot-shot who was climbing the ranks quickly. Anyways, I'm more used to seeing him with beard, so I'd have to say I prefer him with it. It has been a while since I watched him beardless though. I'm with you on this one, Sisko suited the hair and beard together.
Definitely with the beard-ola. Troi shaved it off in Insurrection and look how crappy that movie was!