RE: Riker's beard

[middyseafort]

ByrdMan said:

Roddenberry thought it gave him a 'nautical' look which worked well for his character. (At least that's what he told me when I asked him at a convention around '93. Frakes, that is. Not Roddenberry.)

He said the same thing at a convention in San Diego during the summer hiatus between the second and third season. IIRC, he said that he grew it because he hated shaving (or was tired of it) but was ready to have it shaved off when they returned to production. Roddenberry saw it, liked it and said it had a "nautical look," to which Frakes joked with the audience, "What the hell is a nautical look?" But he didn't care since he got to keep the beard.

The funny thing, he mentioned, was that the producers couldn't agree on how high up the cheek it should go. At first it was about mid-cheek, but then they trimmed it, then decided they liked it the other way, and so make-up had to add fake hair until it grew back. Then, of course, it had to be trimmed again because the producers wanted it shorter. Frakes said that it took a few episodes before the beard was finally trimmed the same for the rest of the season.

[Mark_Nguyen]

This reminds me of an old Starlog comic, wherein Riker wakes up hung over after a night of hedonistic debauchery on the Planet of Facial Tattoos...

Mark

[WillsBabe]

^ It reminds me of a fanfic written in the early days of production of Insurrection in which Riker returns to the Enterprise sans beard and has to explain to Picard down which back alley he lost it.

[jimbo1973]

.

On a serious note...does starfleet even allow beards??? I can only remember seeing one other plus Sisko's goatee (and Geordi's lame attempt) in modern Trek. And if there is a regulation against it how did Riker get away with it?

[/QUOTE]

Seems there was an Admiral on Next Gen had one, I remeber Capt. Bateson had one also.

[flandry84]

Actually Frakes has been hirsute of face for along time.I remember him bearded in an episode of "Hill street blues".

[WillsBabe]

^ Yes, I think you're right. I think Frakes was normally beardy but shaved it off for season one Riker and then just reverted back to his usual style between seasons.

[Spider]

The reason I have a beard is because of Frakes. Or Riker. Whatever.

I keep my beard closely cropped like him. I use the number two clipper attachment twice a month to keep it from getting shaggy.

[votd]

Well it turned out that Riker's beard was actually like KITT from Knight Rider - it's an artifical intelligence spawned by a secret government agency. It can talk and Riker often asks it's advice on away missions - usually asking for some gadget built into the beard to help out - again lot like KITT, however the conversation usually went something like:

Riker: Damn, the Ferengi have outbid us on the new superweapon offered by superbeing X. Beard use your computer hacking abilities to alter the superbeing's computer so that the Ferengi bid becomes a bid from the Federation.

Beard: I'm sorry Will, I'm just a beard.

Riker: Bugger.

[The Old Mixer]

I also grew my first beard inspired by Riker's. I've worn one most of my life since then, though in recent times I've adapted it into a goatee to better go with my Picard-like scalp. Much easier to shave around, too.

[Odon]

A pet tribble (presumably desexed) was once known to have existed in the kindergarten of the USS Enterprise-D, it was disposed of by Lieutenant Worf’s son, Alexander, during a rather bloody show-and-tell session involving his father’s bat’leth. Worf is believed to have skinned the creature and presented the fur as a toupee in a sign of respect to his captain. Captain Picard politely declined the gift, but his debonair first officer Commander Riker cheerfully agreed to wear it on the end of his chin.

This tradition among Starfleet officers of wearing a tribble has apparently carried through to the present day. A holoimage of Captain Kathryn Janeway, taken on the eve of Voyager’s ill-fated maiden journey, shows her with what appears to be an enormous red tribble on top of her head.