Raxmei wrote:Picard did have hair once. See the TNG episode "Rascals." Young Picard in that episode also looks nothing like Shinzon.
Even worse, see episodes "Tapestry", which shows recently-graduated Picard with a full head of hair, and "Violations", which shows balding-but-still-has-plenty-of-hair Stargazer-captain Picard.
It should be noted that Shinzon did mention several injuries that changed his profile somewhat. He may also be shaving his head rather than being bald, particularly since Captain Picard still has a fringe of hair rather than being completely bald. Similarly, Picard's cadet photo in the movie might have been taken right after he entered the academy, if the academy shaves its cadets heads like some military academies do today.
That's an awful lot of hoops to jump through, though. Given the previous continuity from the series, they could have just left Shinzon with hair (as they originally planned to, though he was going to be blond, I think, which is still wrong IIRC).
It was also stupid because it didn't make Shinzon look enough like Picard to make the "revelation" when they first met mean anything. Picard could have looked at an old cadet photo while he was reminiscing during or after the wedding party and established his cadet look
there, which would have made Shinzon's first appearance more significant to the audience.
As it was played out, though, even what little suspense there might have been with Picard's reaction not being understood by the audience was also handled in a ham-fisted manner that robbed it of any feeling. If they wanted to go that route, they could have left Shinzon's origin a mystery to everyone until the understandably-curious Picard met him for their private dinner, which would have built a little more suspense at least....Aw, fuck it. Compared to the complete waste of the movie as a whole, worrying a bit about fixing this minor point is like slapping a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.
-- Joe Momma