I still think that some of the uniform "disarray" in TMP can be explained that the crew was a hodgepodge of officers and crew from all over pulled in last min to staff the ship in the wake of the emergency deployment. Because of this there was no set "uniform of the day plan" and not all the crew were operating in their current or normal billet.
There's an old ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS interview that really covers his whole career, and I'll see if I can find someplace that has links to it. I might have kept a couple pages in a binder. Try to check back in a day, but he talks about Trumbull, Abel ... everybody, really.
I definitely like uniforms with a little more pop. But I think, respectfully, that the TWOK--on uniforms look better just in red.
Oh, I disagree. Going by that photoshopped image above, the TWOK uniform jackets look much better in blue. I'd like to see an image where all the jackets are a rich navy blue, not just Spock's. (It doesn't make sense to have color-coding on the outer jackets when you've already got it on the undershirts.)
I have never thought of them as my favorites, though I do like them, and I appreciate how well-thought out the whole scheme was - pins and so forth. My main beef was that the uniforms felt so formal. I would have been happier if for this uniform set this was the Class A and there was a somewhat simpler Class B that everyone wore most of the time, combined with a variant of the cadet jumpsuits as a Class C. Blue would have certainly been less aggressive. I don't see why they couldn't have kept the TOS scheme in TMP anyway and carried it on to TWoK.
^A navy blue would be better for those uniforms. As much as I like the TWOK uniforms the way they are — and fully acknowledging their impracticality — I can't help but imagine the cast in that group shot Warped9 posted breaking into "The Lumberjack Song."
I tend to agree that the color-coding on the undershirts makes more sense, and is cheaper, too! -- RR
The undershirt coding also has the advantage of being more specific and multi-colored while being very understated and avoiding making them look like a color guard. How about a beige/off-white version of the monster maroon as a Class A?
Not at all! Personally, I feel a bit of pride knowing that Vulcan was colonized by one of the lost tribes of Israel.
Actually, having sat in on a Uniform Board (sounds wacky, but yes, at least in my service we have them... ), there is a school of thought towards trying to make uniforms "more" formal than regular outfits. It ties in with the whole "military is a way of life" notion. (Yes, I know, Starfleet isn't military! But the same argument applies.) Call it "way of life" or maybe "higher standard", but there's an underlying theme of making uniforms relatively uncomfortable... to remind you to stand tall and look good. Hopefully that makes sense -- hard to explain. Cheers, -CM-
Just a minor point - why does Kirk have quarters with what I can only guess are his pictures on a refitted Enterprise? Or are we suppose to assume those are generic pictures and objects in the Captain's quarters?
Your real world military experience is always useful and appreciated, CM. I actually quite understand what you're saying. I can certainly see the notion of Starfleet uniforms not being quite pajamas comfortable - it just seems like there should definitely be 'degrees' of uniform discomfort. The maroon jacket to me should be the dress uniform and most uncomfortable. Something a little more of a compromise towards comfort, to me, would have made more sense for daily wear, in reflection of them being a 'not quite' military. Hopefully that makes sense.
^ Yeap, no worries there. A lot of those types of choices (or maybe compromises? ) would fall prey to the characters/personalities on the board at that particular time. Cheers, -CM-