Star Trek: TNG Wardrobe & Makeup Tests

Before Star Trek: The Next Generation began shooting, show runners tried different looks for the actors we'd come to know as the crew of the starship Enterprise. In the clip below, we see early hair and makeup tests for Data, Yar, Troi (complete with eye and poofy hair enhancements), various stand-ins for Geordi testing VISOR designs, the real Geordi with a sweet cardigan, a very young Wesley Crusher, Picard, Riker, Riker's hair, and more of Riker's hair.

For me, the highlight here is all the stuff they could have done with Troi to make her more alien (there are various contact lenses shown), but thankfully resisted. If you're a TNG fan with seven spare minutes, you need to see this.

Just to reiterate, that's not LeVar Burton with the Jheri curl! Some people who aren't wearing their VISORS apparently don't notice that. Here's LeVar Burton clearing it up:

Some more early TNG trivia: when Patrick Stewart auditioned to play Captain Picard, he had to wear a wig to get the part. (We have more hair-raising stories about Star Trek.)

If you liked that, please watch these TNG gag reels. Seriously.