Summary
- Paramount's reluctance to allow Avery Brooks to play Commander Sisko with a bald head was rooted in concerns about comparisons with the character of Hawk from Spenser: For Hire, which don't make sense from a ratings perspective.
- Captain Sisko's bald head and beard in season 4 signified an improvement in quality for DS9, making Avery Brooks more comfortable, enhancing his presence.
- Another potential explanation is that Paramount's concerns stemmed from avoiding comparisons with Star Trek's previous bald lead, Picard.
I've never fully understood Paramount's reasoning for insisting that Avery Brooks not play Commander Sisko with a bald head and beard in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seasons 1 to 3. Captain Sisko's bald head and beard has long been seen to signify DS9 season 4's improvement in quality, much like when Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) grows his beard in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2. Avery Brooks is more commanding with his bald head and goatee, and it's clear that he's a more confident member of the Deep Space Nine's cast from that point on.
It's therefore perplexing that it took so long for Paramount to accept Avery Brooks' request to play the character of Sisko in such a way. As Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe puts it in the book Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, "That's what Avery looks like, so why shouldn't you let the guy look like himself?" The reason given for Paramount's ban on Avery Brooks playing Sisko with a bald head is that they didn't want DS9's commanding officer to look like Brooks' character Hawk from Spenser: For Hire and A Man Called Hawk, but I've never understood why that would be a problem.
Paramount's Concerns About Bald Captain Sisko In Star Trek: DS9 Never Made Sense
Between 1985 and 1995, Avery Brooks played the character of Hawk in 65 episodes of Spenser: For Hire, four Spenser TV movies, and 18 episodes of the spinoff series A Man Called Hawk. By 1993, Brooks would have been well-known to audiences, which surely would have made him a draw as the lead of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Which is why I've never understood Paramount's ban on bald Sisko, because it disconnects Avery Brooks, DS9's main star, from the public image that could attract new viewers to Star Trek.
Perhaps Paramount felt that the optics of Avery Brooks' Hawk as a Starfleet officer sent the wrong message and may incur the wrath of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry from beyond the grave.
Perhaps the real reason Paramount wanted Avery Brooks to shave his beard and grow out his hair was because they were uncomfortable with what Hawk represented. In Spenser: For Hire, Hawk is the best friend to the titular private detective played by Robert Urich. Despite being close friends and allies, Spenser and Hawk differ when it comes to moral scruples, with the latter working as a gangland enforcer and bodyguard. Perhaps Paramount felt that the optics of Avery Brooks' Hawk as a Starfleet officer sent the wrong message and may incur the wrath of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry from beyond the grave.
Directors Winrich Kolbe and Cliff Bole worked on Spenser: For Hire before they worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .
Why Did Paramount Change Their Mind About Avery Brooks Being Bald In Star Trek: DS9?
Rick Berman and Ira Steven Behr were surprised when Paramount didn't oppose Avery Brooks' request to shave his head for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4. Paramount's change of mind is particularly odd because DS9 season 4, episode 1, "The Way of the Warrior" aired in October 1995, the same year that Brooks made his last appearance as Hawk in the TV movie, Spenser: A Savage Place. Clearly, Sisko and Hawk's similarities were no longer an issue for studio executives, but what if they never were? What if Paramount just didn't want two Star Trek shows with bald leads?
DS9 was specifically designed to be different from TNG , and the surface-level optics of another bald commanding officer would have undermined Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's unique identity...
Star Trek: The Next Generation, led by bald actor Patrick Stewart, had ended 17 months before "The Way of the Warrior" was broadcast. Instead of avoiding comparisons with Spenser's morally dubious best friend, what if Paramount were actually concerned about comparisons between Sisko and Picard? After all, DS9 was specifically designed to be different from TNG, and the surface-level optics of another bald commanding officer would have undermined Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's unique identity in its vitally important early years. Four years in, and despite his discomfort, Avery Brooks had more than established Benjamin Sisko as his own man.
