# William Shatner heads off to the final frontier (space, not death)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-heads-off-to-the-final-frontier-space-not-death/951868>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** star-trek-paramount\
**Created:** [October 4, 2021, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-heads-off-to-the-final-frontier-space-not-death/951868 "2021-10-04T15:40:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 10

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**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-heads-off-to-the-final-frontier-space-not-death/951868/182 "2021-10-26T03:33:24Z")

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There was a small timeframe when Brooks had both the hair and the goatee as Sisko.  
Guessing Scott Bakula was the first Captain whose hair was not an issue?  
As for Patrick Stewart, neither of the above wigs are what he was going to wear originally, here is a test photo of him in costume as Picard with a wig.  
[https://images.app.goo.gl/FQjuRj9zAjs2zmJXA](https://images.app.goo.gl/FQjuRj9zAjs2zmJXA)

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-heads-off-to-the-final-frontier-space-not-death/951868/183 "2021-10-26T08:10:15Z")

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Ew! He actually looks somewhat Shatner-esque in those photos. 😮

It was my understanding that Roddenberry wanted Picard to be more like Jacques Cousteau than Horatio Hornblower (i.e., an explorer, rather than a military man). Hence the French ethnicity.

I wonder who else they auditioned for the role. I remember Bob Justman saying somewhere that Roddenberry had his heart set on a “hairy Frenchman” instead of a “bald Englishman.”

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-heads-off-to-the-final-frontier-space-not-death/951868/184 "2021-10-26T08:14:23Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> > [@AK84](#):
> >
> > Or the fact they didn’t let Avery Brooks [stay bald during the first part of DS9](https://www.neatorama.com/2012/09/06/Facts-You-Might-Not-Know-about-iStar-Trek-Deep-Space-Ninei/)
> 
> I forgot what he looked like in season 1. Honesty, he looks great and quite a bit younger with his regular hair and no goatee. He probably should have kept the look.

Then he wouldn’t have had the _gravitas_ a senior officer needs in order to function.

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