Redesigning Starfleet’s Uniforms for Star Trek II

Gawd, I HATED the Star Trek II uniforms. So bulky and uncomfortable-looking. And I can only imagine how ridiculously hot they must have been under the stage lights — like wearing a fur-lined parka.

I liked them. They provided a real world feel to the whole picture. I think they looked somewhat comfortable, granted it must’ve been hot under those studio lights. They look no more bulky than a suit jacket.

My only quibble is that they should’ve kept the division colors from The Original Series to provide a greater sense of continuity.

I agree with Jaren, completely.

I don’t agree with the different colors for the organization. Starfleet is supposed to be inclusive and not a segregate organization. Offering different colors for bands or depts is fine, but The Wrath of Khan uniforms were the first time an organization had a uniform. A set attire that included everyone in one cause. The military has that uniformity and so NASA, a civilian organization the organization Starfleet is suppose to be mimicking. To have lavish colors and different varieties was a product of the 60s, nothing more.

Erm… Chris… those were *all* uniforms.

If you look at military forces, they all have different uniforms within themselves, with different ones for different purposes.

The whole “ermagerd, colors aren’t uniform!” argument is nonsensical. You need only look at the flight decks of aircraft carriers to see the various colored shirts and uniforms in use there, with each denoting a different function.

These illustrate and explain the different colors and functions: link 1, link 2.

I think they sort of kept the division colors, on the shoulder strap and the arm band. I think they were a vast improvement over The Motion Picture.

Could not disagree more. Terrible design. The only thing I didn’t enjoy in that film at all.

You must be a product of the peace and love era… the Star Trek II uniforms were most likely hot as hell, but the didn’t look like actors wearing PJ’s on screen. Those uniforms were the best of all TV and movies put together…

Another distinguishing feature seems to be the sweaters under the uniform jackets. For example, command officers wear white sweaters and medical personnel wear green. And so on.

These uniforms were absolutely brilliant and evokes a sense of nautical regality missing in TOS and TMP. Fabulous Star Trek design sense with a nod to ‘cavalry bib’ tunics, bloused ‘paratrooper’ trousers and British full dress colorations combine to make the most powerful, memorable and distinct Star Trek uniform of all iterations; class, swagger, and dash. The perfect uniform for the command crew of the Enterprise and Starfleet!

I hated the redesigned uniforms for Star Trek II and beyond. In the 1968 book The Making of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry is quoted as saying that clothes (uniforms) in the future would not have zippers, buttons, clips, belts and many of what was ultimately in the design of the “red” uniforms. I wasn’t troubled by the uniforms in The Motion Picture except that they lacked color. In fact, I prefer the original uniform design by William Theiss of the first two seasons of TNG over the Robert Blackman redesigned uniforms for TNG’s remaining seasons.

IMHO, William Theiss was a far superior costume designer than Robert Blackman. The actors never liked them, because of their one-piece design, but they were tight-fitting to the actors’ body, and were not as “baggy” as the Blackman TNG redesign.

Just look at what jumpsuit the Space Shuttle astronauts wore from the fifth shuttle flight to the flight of Challenger’s destruction. Blue coveralls (seemed like one piece) uniforms with just a open helmet with an emergency air pack. After the Challenger accident NASA went back to using ungainly pressurized space suits, but in the end those wouldn’t have saved the astronauts in the event of another Challenger-type disaster, nor the demise of shuttle Columbia.

There’s a reason why the actors of TNG preferred the later uniforms, and that was because to create the effect of no wrinkles, the actors would wear costumes that were too small for them, and so the new uniforms were designed, otherwise they’d lose Patrick Stewart because he was having back problems. Same reason why TOS actors preferred the TWOK uniforms over TMP. Gene Roddenberry was trying to create a futuristic look, but the problem with his vision of clothing was that he had no idea that functional clothing evolved based on comfort.

I have always hated the ST:WOK uniforms. For all of reasons stated above. The closest thing they’ve come to a merging of the styles was DS9’s uniforms. Which worked for practicality. You’re not gonna sit for eight hours in a ST:WOK uniform without skin chaffing and massively sweating. Not to mention how stiff they’d be in trying to reach across consoles. They were horrible.

I actually liked the design of the TMP uniforms. They were practical and in reality, one can imagine they would have been quick to don and doff. Essential for a duty uniform. Fletcher muted the colors as it was felt the bright colors from the series would have looked comical on the big screen. The idea of the utility jacket with large pockets for away missions made sense, as did Scotty’s onesie with the large thigh pockets for engineering.

When you look at the TMP design as a progression of the TOS uniforms it seems logical (pun intentional). The Star Trek II designs are a complete departure to the design aesthetic.

They did a lot of weird retrofitting in Star Trek II; notably the communicators and phasers. In TMP, the communicator was compact and wrist-worn, and the phaser was very streamlined. The communicator that Kirk uses in the Genesis Cave scene looks like the clunky version from “The Menagerie/Cage”.

You are right on the communicator, but I would say in some ways it looked even clunkier than “The Cage” one (but at least it wasn’t transparent!)

The phasers from TWOK were actually the same as TMP though, you can briefly see security with them on the bridge during the V’Ger attack and there are behind-the-scenes photo with either Nimoy or Shatner holding one while wearing a space suit.

What was wrong with the original idea? Lime Green (Command and Operations) Blue (Science and Medical) Red Engineering and Security) made Star Trek unique!

This is Trek’s TRADEMARK! It’s DIFFERENT! From Battlestar Galactica and any other sci-fi series.

The other sci-fi shows generally use a ‘military’ style idea, which Gene Roddenberry was insisting that the Federation is not a military organisation.

So, what was/is wrong with the original three colors? Simple, and practical, non-belligerent and iconic for Star Trek. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

For me, it was such a relief when the three colors were brought back for the film reboots, it proves that it works for the big screen as well as the small.

I hope that the original creation will prevail!

As a chef, I loved the new uniforms with the flap that could be undone for more casual times. The decision was far better than TMP.

Has always been one of my favorite uniforms. As to the comfort, they seem no more or less comfortable than a chef’s coat, and they work in hot, greasy, humid, kitchens for 10 hours. I doubt the 100 percent climate- and humidity-controlled environment of a starship would be an issue, and future fabrics would behave differently. (“It is very *cold* in space!”)

I think in reality even the senior officers would more frequently wear what the extras wore, the jackets tend to lend an air of dress uniform to it that seems unnecessary for routine operations or training operations. Real world budget restraints aside, there should be a casual variant much like Kirk’s green wraparound tunic he wore in TOS.

I love the Wrath of Khan unis! Kirk looked like a freakin’ doctor in that white monstrosity from TMP!

Unless I am mistaken, the jackets were for officer uniforms only. I saw it as a means of identification among the crew, same as the rank insignia. Higher ranking officers usually have more “ornate” uniforms, do they not?

Check out the extra standing behind Ms Nichols in the candid photo. He is like “Guy” from Galaxy Quest… look its crewman #6. I would have done the same thing.

I personally loved these uniforms. I bought the pattern back in the late 80s and had a friend who is a seamstress make it for me.

The best Trek uniforms of all time.

I loved how they gave them a shout out in some TNG episodes (minus the turtleneck shirt.)

The Wrath of Khan uniforms lasted for the longest time, the 2280s until after Picard graduated from Starfleet Academy, the crew of Enterprise-C wore them minus the turtleneck as well.

They blew the TMP uniforms out of the water, ever see one at a con? NO ONE likes the TMP uniforms.

Kirk’s bomber jacket, the Regula I field jacket, I still want both AND a The Wrath of Khan uniform, but then I want a TOS dress tunic/pants and an Enterprise uniform too.

We can dream right?

Those are exactly the uniforms I want myself.

Jumpsuit onesies actually cut right into the privates. That’s the reason the actors complained and they were forced to change them to pants and a shirt on both the movies and TNG. The original Stormtroopers’ armors were hard plastic and had the same issue, their newer suits are soft rubbery stuff.

Best Star Trek uniforms to date!

I LOVE the TWOK (and beyond) uniforms. I understand and even agree that they seem like a step backward with regard to ease of wearing, taking them off and putting them on, etc. But WOW, do they ever look SHARP! I love the separate colors on the undershirt, sleeve band and shoulder strap denoting division, as well as the cool insigna designating rank. And the red “mountie” jacket with the flap is beautiful. Further, the field jacket, Scotty’s engineering vest, and officer’s bomber’s jacket expanded the fleshed out the look very nicely.

Do they look futuristic and efficient? No. But do they look gorgeous on screen? Oh, hell yeah! I understand others’ objections to them, and to be fair those are quite valid reasons. But all art is subjective, and me, personally, I just adore the aesthetic of these uniforms most out of all iterations of Star Trek.

It’s funny: I don’t recall where I read or heard this, but George Takei once said that, during the filming of one of the movies, he found it uncomfortably hot to wear the uniform under the lights needed for shooting. But since Sulu spends most of his time on the bridge, in shots only featuring him at the helm console (in other words from the waist up), he shucked his uniform pants and shot a number of scenes wearing the red uniform jacket on top but only a pair of shorts on the bottom!

These are my favorite uniforms. I have an inexpensive fan-made replica that I bought on eBay many years ago. I only wore it once to a Halloween party.

Not a big fan of either uniform, to be honest. The first uniform looked like New Age cult apparel, and the second looks like what Santa’s elves would wear to a formal event at the North Pole.

Sorry guys, the uniforms were spot on. Clearly nobody above has served on any of the services.