A Crucial Query about Deep Space 9

[Oddish]

Ok, here it is, that critical question...

What was Sisko's best look?

The "it's in my contract", a full head of hair and clean shaven look of early on?

The "let's bend the rules a bit", full head of hair and neat goatee from late Season 3?

Or the "Hawk is back and you will learn to like it", shaved head and goatee?

Or even "Haven't you ever seen a Klingon before?" of early season 5? Threw it in, couldn't resist.

I think I know which will win, but as Donald Trump has painfully proved, surprises do happen.

Note: Not going to do a TNG one. Picard's look didn't change, and Riker with beard vs. Clean Shaven Riker would be like a bat'leth duel between Worf and a tribble.

 

[Oddish]

Arghhh... I have my own opinion, but don't want to disrupt this perfect shellacking.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I preferred him with beard and hair. The beard/bald combo is far more iconic of who Sisko was but I liked the intermediate step between the two versions.

 

[frankieteardrop]

Bald with beard all the way.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I preferred him with beard and hair. The beard/bald combo is far more iconic of who Sisko was but I liked the intermediate step between the two versions.

Totally agree. The late Sisko look was intimidating, but the "Maurice White" look was just the right kind of sexy.

 

[Oddish]

It was indeed iconic. Before there was a DS9, Avery Brooks played Hawk on "Spenser For Hire". He had the same bald head/goatee (his preferred look) for that character, too. Hawk was so memorable, that when Brooks was cast as Sisko, he was contractually charged to wear hair and be clean shaven, presumably to distance himself from Hawk.

As the end of his initial contract approached, Brooks was presumably permitted to regrow his beard. And, when he renegotiated his contract at the start of the fourth season, it deleted the "must shave and grow hair on head" provision. Caused me a little consternation at the start, seeing Hawk in a Starfleet uniform!

As one of the producers said, "we made [Avery Brooks] a captain and let him look the way he wanted to look."

 

[Bad Thoughts]

It was indeed iconic. Before there was a DS9, Avery Brooks played Hawk on "Spenser For Hire". He had the same bald head/goatee (his preferred look) for that character, too. Hawk was so memorable, that when Brooks was cast as Sisko, he was contractually charged to wear hair and be clean shaven, presumably to distance himself from Hawk.

In the documentary, Kerry McCluggage admits outright that the look was a result of conversations about Brooks looking too "street." Perhaps distancing Sisko from Hawk was an issue, but it was not the most important issue.

 

[no2catsuitKira]

Hair with beard most attractive to me.

 

[Oddish]

That may be so. Hawk was the quintessence of "street".

 

[Finn]

Bald and beard. I read somewhere that Avery Brooks wanted to from the beginning but someone told him not to for the first few seasons.

 

[Oddish]

Normally, I don't like shaved heads much. But some men, especially black guys, really make it work. And Avery Brooks certainly did, with two very different and very memorable characters.

White guys shouldn't do it, though. Too "chemo patient".

As an aside, I'm surprised Klingon Sisko didn't get a joke vote or two

 

[Bad Thoughts]

As much as Sisko's look was a matter of tension and negotiation, it actually is a great indicator of the evolution of the character. It's an unfortunate aspect of the show that nonetheless had some important payoffs.

 

[Oddish]

I just saw a post I HAD to quote, even if I disagree with it.

Question: When did each Trek series get better?
Answer:
TNG: When Riker grew the beard.
DS9: When Sisko shaved his head.
VOY: When you pick up your remote and turn that %#$*@ off.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Normally, I don't like shaved heads much. But some men, especially black guys, really make it work. And Avery Brooks certainly did, with two very different and very memorable characters.

White guys shouldn't do it, though. Too "chemo patient".

I love men with shaved head and full beards, always well worth a woof!

 

[Kor]

Everybody looks better as a Klingon.

Kor

 

[Kraig]

Normally, I don't like shaved heads much. But some men, especially black guys, really make it work. And Avery Brooks certainly did, with two very different and very memorable characters.

White guys shouldn't do it, though. Too "chemo patient".

Or Moby.

I'm on my way there but it's not by choice, more chosen for me by genetics and age.

 

[Oddish]

Oh, I'm missing much of my hair too. But what's left, I leave undisturbed. It just looks having 5:00 shadow on your scalp, plus it's super high maintenance, shaving that much, that often.

But like I said, Avery Brooks, Michael Jordan, and a few others knocked that look out of the park.

 

[garakvsneelix]

I always liked the whole thing, that Sisko's look changes over the years. In a far-fetched way, it symbolize for me, that DS9 as a series has changed over the years, while TNG, as Picard's look, always become just more defined than really different over the years.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Bald with beard, no question. But I did like the visual evolution of Sisko from newly-arrived commander to bad-ass captain.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I always liked the whole thing, that Sisko's look changes over the years.

Bald with beard, no question. But I did like the visual evolution of Sisko from newly-arrived commander to bad-ass captain.

This is what I always wonder about: wouldn't the impression of Sisko, a broken widower with a son, be ruined if he showed up looking like Hawk?