Which Uniforms Do You Prefer

[plynch]

Marlonius wrote:

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Actually, they had to take the emblem off each night, as well as the rank stripes for the aforementioned drycleaning.

In fact, in HD, many of the tunics have the outline of the emblem showing up slightly out of alignment with its location on that day of shooting. Obviously stuff they hadn't foreseen 45 years ago!

One more reason to stick with my beloved clamshell DVDs.

[ssosmcin]

plynch wrote:

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One more reason to stick with my beloved clamshell DVDs.

Or the Laserdiscs, where you see so little, everything is perfect. :-) I agree, HD reveals too much and I'm glad I held onto my lo-res DVDs.

I like the third season uniforms. They're longer and make every seem taller and leaner. Shatner was tucked in with a girdle at the time, and his shoe lifts made his ass stick out, so he kind of looked a little "off." But he did drop weight, you can see it in his face in the beginning of the season.

Overall, though, I like the look of the original fabric.

[ZapBrannigan]

Carcazoid wrote:

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Interesting note about the velour tunics: in Enemy Within when Evil Kirk beams in he's wearing what looks like a brand new tunic. So new, it didn't have the delta emblem on it yet.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...ywithin028.jpg

I read a slightly different explanation for that, somewhere:

The script called for a body double to face away from the camera whenever both Kirks were on screen. The double's tunic would never need an insignia, so they didn't bother to sew one on. The trouble was, the show was still pretty new, and nobody noticed when Shatner was given the wrong shirt for certain scenes.

A much bigger continuity gaffe occurs in "Charlie X," when Kirk enters the elevator wearing his standard gold tunic and arrives on the bridge in his green wraparound.

[plynch]

I thought it was so when they flipped the film for id-Kirk, he wouldn't have the insignia on the wrong side.

[middyseafort]

Lance wrote:

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This shrinking was particularly egregious at times.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y28/Sir_Lance/Bab6.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y28...ance/Bab13.jpg

At least later on, they figured that if they made the actors wear a black shirt underneath, it would help to mask the shrinking costumes. But it was still evident:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y28...ics/BAON29.jpg

Kirk's wraparound uniforms weren't made of velour like the regular uniforms. They were all made of a double-knit wool and were constructed to be a little shorter than a normal shirt cut.

In fact, the second season wrap had suspenders and hooks that attached to the trousers, see on a screen-used tunic here.

As for my preference — velour or double-knit synthetic?

I used to prefer the velour, but as time has gone on, I've come to prefer the double-knit because it's smoother and fits better.

My favorite uniform, however, is Kirk's first season wraparound with the scrambled eggs on the shoulder. In fact, I own replicas of both these uniforms:


Starfleet Uniforms by Clark "Kal-El" Kent, on Flickr

The regular duty uniform is the high-end, screen-accurate replica from Anovos.

While the wrap is a fairly good replica made by a costumer — the braid and insignia aren't as screen accurate.

[ssosmcin]

plynch wrote:

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I thought it was so when they flipped the film for id-Kirk, he wouldn't have the insignia on the wrong side.

Until the DVD's "corrected" it, the opening shot of the planet set was flopped, with Kirk and Sulu's hair parted on the opposite sides. Kirk had no insignia and Sulu's was covered by the Space Spaniel, so we wouldn't notice. This was apparently done to make the set seem larger. Or something. The only thing to otherwise betray the trick was the writing on a box on a rock was backward. However, until the clarity of HD, we could never clearly see the label. SO now, it's flopped back, but not what was originally done back then. Just sayin'.

[Maurice]

ssosmcin wrote:

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Until the DVD's "corrected" it, the opening shot of the planet set was flopped, with Kirk and Sulu's hair parted on the opposite sides. Kirk had no insignia and Sulu's was covered by the Space Spaniel, so we wouldn't notice. This was apparently done to make the set seem larger. Or something. The only thing to otherwise betray the trick was the writing on a box on a rock was backward. However, until the clarity of HD, we could never clearly see the label. SO now, it's flopped back, but not what was originally done back then. Just sayin'.

Usually such flops aren't "mistakes" per se but conscious editorial decisions to make eyelines or directional continuity work (see the end of The Way to Eden), which appears to be the case in The Enemy Within. The way it was changed by unflopping the opening shot, Kirk and Sulu look off camera right on hearing the crewman's cry and hurry off in that direction. In the subsequent shot, then enter from screen right heading left, which is technically a directional mismatch. So, the recent rework broke the directional continuity in order to "fix" something that was intentional on the editor's part.

[Melakon]

middyseafort wrote:

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. . .My favorite uniform, however, is Kirk's first season wraparound with the scrambled eggs on the shoulder. In fact, I own replicas of both these uniforms. . .[cool pix of shirts]. . .
While the wrap is a fairly good replica made by a costumer — the braid and insignia aren't as screen accurate.

Does wearing the wraparound make you want to work on your biceps? Apparently Shatner was always exercising with stage weights between takes.

[ZapBrannigan]

Melakon wrote:

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Does wearing the wraparound make you want to work on your biceps? Apparently Shatner was always exercising with stage weights between takes.

Kirk can look good in the wraparound, but sometimes it goes too far. In "The Trouble with Tribbles," his plunging neckline shows so much skin, it's absurd as a uniform. It was the Season 2 version with black piping in the neck that got out of control.

[Robert Comsol]

I had always preferred the "warm" cinematography of the first and second season.

By Season Three the "colder" cinematography gave the studio set a rather sterile touch and the polyester costumes added to this impression, IMHO.

Bob

[ZapBrannigan]

Robert Comsol wrote:

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I had always preferred the "warm" cinematography of the first and second season.

By Season Three the "colder" cinematography gave the studio set a rather sterile touch and the polyester costumes added to this impression, IMHO.

Bob

Jerry Finnerman left the show, that's what you're seeing. His assistant Al Francis got promoted, largely because all the better-qualified DPs were unavailable. Francis was okay but not an accomplished artist by any means.

[CaptainMurdock]

I prefer the Velour but they both looked the same on screen.

[Dale Sams]

Warped9 wrote:

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My favourite uniform is Kirk's first season command alternate tunic. I, too, liked the velour shirts, but the polyesters made more sense.

I like this dress uniform on Shaw here...even though it looks kinda crumpled up on her.



Did anyone ever notice how horribly fitting the TOS-movie uniforms were on TNG actors whenever they made an appearance? C'mon wardrobe, at least try and refit those.

Well, I guess they're "TOS-movieish", but they still appear so ill-fitting.

[FormerLurker]

The main problem with the TOS movie uniforms on TNG was the elimination of the turtleneck underneath, which made the wearers look underdressed.

[middyseafort]

Dale Sams wrote:

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Did anyone ever notice how horribly fitting the TOS-movie uniforms were on TNG actors whenever they made an appearance? C'mon wardrobe, at least try and refit those.

Well, I guess they're "TOS-movieish", but they still appear so ill-fitting.

FormerLurker wrote:

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The main problem with the TOS movie uniforms on TNG was the elimination of the turtleneck underneath, which made the wearers look underdressed.

The reason the Monster Maroons were ill-fitting was because the costume department just grabbed whatever of the uniforms in storage that best fit the actor rather than constructing new ones specifically tailored to the actor.