In the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jonathan Frakes played the character Commander Will Riker. At this point, however, he had exactly one less iconic beard. That should change.
With his beard, Jonathan Frakes not only reinvented his role, but improved the entire series
Jonathan Frakes’ role, Riker, was originally conceived in a way similar to William Shatner’s character
Captain James T. Kirk from the original series should remember.
Anyone who remembers William Shatner’s clearly clean-shaven look will recognize the reason for Jonathan Frakes’ face
originally remained beardless.
But then the Writers Guild of America writers’ strike happened in 1988.
The strike affected the second season of the series. In addition to a truncated second season episode count and a dwindling budget, another famous side effect was Jonathan Frakes’ return came back with a beard. In the chronicle The Fifty-Year Mission, he reported (via Screen Rant):
There was a writers’ strike in the second season, and I hate shaving, so I grew my beard. During the strike we had a meeting with [Gene] Roddenberry and [Rick] Berman and [Maurice] Hurley, who was a producer at the time, and Roddenberry kept looking at me and saying, ‘I really like that, it looks nautical.’
As the actor explained, his superiors reacted positively:
What followed was a bizarre executive beard trimming contest. It became absurd in terms of length and shape and everything else. Gene wanted the beard to be decorative, so it stayed that way, and I’m very glad I have it. Luckily my wife liked itotherwise I would have had real problems.
In addition to Jonathan Frakes’ beard growth, there were other changes that led to the series being perceived as being of better quality from the second season onwards. Frakes’ beard helped to visually differentiate his role from Captain Kirk’s role model.
This is how the performer’s decision not to shave during the strike led to Changes of unimaginable proportions.