The one-piece uniform with the shoes as part of the garment makes sense with the in-universe concept of having clothes materialize directly onto the body, like with the Ilia probe in the sonic shower. Though how do you go to the bathroom in the onesie? Maybe an opening is temporarily de-materialized and then sealed up again. Kor
I like that touch too. And it makes sense from a practical point of view to instantly know what deck you are on. It also adds a lot of scale to the film to feel like they're not endlessly reusing the same 20 metres of set. They could have done with colour-coding on the Enterprise-D, that's ship you could easily get lost on.
Not really because the film established the Enterprise was not ready yet, so seeing one portion having wall color was another essence on future films to come hopefully by Mr. Wise himself. We just had a taste of the new Enterprise and in TMP was only just a taste of what was yet to come in 1979.
The movie era Enterprise, particularly the first 4 movies, had some of my favorite Star Trek designs from across the franchise. I loved how it looked in TMP in particular. I know people complain sometimes of how bright it was, even sterile. For a weekly series using that design, obviously some changes would have needed to be made, mostly in the details. I was glad the set design was largely maintained through TVH, though with little changes in detail like colors and lighting. Had Nicholas Meyer had the budget most suspect he would have totally upended everything. I'm actually glad he didn't have the budget to do that. I understand they wanted to distance themselves a bit from TMP because of how it was perceived, but I like maintaining some continuity at least. The uniforms weren't my favorite. I do agree with Steph about the variations of the uniform is a good idea in TMP. And not all the uniform variants were bad. I just wasn't a big fan of the one color uniform variant. Kirk's admiral uniform was fine, and I even liked the short sleeve variant with the black pants Kirk wore some of the time. Perhaps if they had made the pants black and separate from the shirt that would have helped the primary uniform. The uniforms from TWOK on made for what I would call a nice dress uniform, but they seemed impractical to me for everyday use, and they just seemed like they would get hot and uncomfortable after a while. By the time of TFF they even started adding some variations to that uniform (and of course lower level crewman wore different uniforms designed from TMP leftovers).
Well, they stayed put and were used, built over, revamped and remained throughout ST II-IV, TNG, ST V-VI, DS9, VGR and ST GEN, FC, INS and NEM. When the VGR bridge was pulled down, to completely clear the soundstages for the first time since "Phase II", the wooden support struts of the bridge were still marked "Star Trek II", the actual original title of "Phase II". There were a huge number of uniforms and ambassadorial robes made. During the "It's a Wrap!" auctions, I was surprised how many of the more casual-looking Epsilon 9 uniforms were up for grabs. They could have made a TMP-era version of DS9 in 1980, no problem! I strongly suspect that Roddenberry funneled lots of TMP budget into costumes and permanent sets with the assumption that "Phase II" would go to series after the release of TMP. (Sad that Nick Meyer essentially ignored most of the Starfleet and alien costumes, keeping only things like the engineering radiation suits, the spacesuits and redying the one-piece jumpsuits to create cadet uniforms.) IIRC, the wider "Phase II" corridor walls were behind the TMP corridor walls, so there would have been a narrowing.
Now I want a "Star Trek: Deep Space One" series set during the late 2270s, with Captain Clark Terrell from TWOK in command and Commander Pavel Chekov as Strategic Operations Officer, with the USS Reliant serving as the station's escort ship. This time have the space station be a strictly Starfleet base, but have the crew be the most diverse as far as alien species, with only a quarter of the population being human. The station is a sort of test to see how different cultures interact with one another with a focus on interspecies relations.
It has nothing to do with costuming, model or set design, but I wish Kirk’s line of, “Five years out there…” had actually been, “My years out there…” It would be easier to accept TMP as being set ten years after TOS’ 5-year mission rather than about three years after.
"Five years out there dealing with unknowns like this, another five years over there dealing with completely different unknowns, plus all those other years up there where I mostly dealt with things I did know about."
Just one of the many reasons why TWOK felt like a natural continuation of TOS than TMP. Agreed. Anything is better than those horrible jumpsuits from TMP. This. One of the biggest reasons behind TOS' appeal is that its characters may be out in parts unknown, but they retain their humanity, because they are....human. A sterile atmosphere and the kind of mentality it would encourage is the polar opposite of TOS, and was one of the reasons TMP (and early TNG) was so criticized for lacking characters with heart and a ship that felt practical for their work, but was appealing to live in. Star Trek was never meant to be the equivalent of an operating room in space, populated by cold robots.
I think that, for some, the sum of the whole was less than the sum of the parts but people lump together 3 years' worth of TOS and, in their minds, visualise every episode as being full of warmth and humour, when it was a real mixed bag. TOS looks horrendously dated. TMP does not. So for me, the aesthetic worked. An important part of TMP is the characters finding their groove again but, that said, McCoy and Scotty are pretty much on point right from the start, so this criticism can surely only be levelled at Kirk and Spock, whose journeys are deliberately intended to mirror V'Ger's and, therefore are an important part of the story. I can understand fans wanting to recapture the lightning in a bottle from the off. NuKirk is on a character arc that takes 3 movies to settle down to an acceptable version of Kirk to me so I often find myself criticising the poor characterisation of the first two movies, despite knowing where he ends up. This is why I think that the problem in TMP is that Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, Chapel, and Rand should have had some more interaction with each other to showcase the camaraderie. I don't think Chapel has any direct dialogue with McCoy. Rand's only direct interaction with any of the main cast is 'Permission granted,' and even then that didn't sound like Grace. That could have been a better way to try and warm up the movie.
The development of the early 80s' Disney World EPCOT "Communicore" uniforms derived from same futures research that led Robert Fletcher and Robert Wise to the pastel Starfleet uniform designs and aesthetics of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (including predictions of what pastel colours would be best for longterm use in space). Wise also brought over some of his sterile "look" for the sets from "The Andromeda Strain". Disney World EPCOT Communicore uniforms by Ian McLean, on Flickr Woulda been fun! I think GR put some brief scenes in the novelization?
"They tell me you've been certified a ship's doctor." McCoy had turned now and was giving her a challenging look. "Yes, Leonard, I was certified two years ago." She saw a blink of surprise at her use of his first name. But her title and medical degrees were as legitimate as his - even though she had served him as a nurse during almost five years out there. "Doesn't it bother you that I'm taking over?" challenged McCoy. 'You've just been demoted to assistant to the ship's doctor." "And I've never been so pleased and relieved over anything in my life." Not even McCoy could doubt the sincerity in her blue eyes. "Let me see your medical log on the Captain," McCoy said. [Page 83-84.]
Ah yes! I always thought the exchange was a bit odd. Starfleet medical must have hundreds of fully qualified consultants. They would not send a newly qualified junior doctor in charge of a whole medical department, they would have drafted a temporary experienced physician. Watching some old Pertwee Who, Brigadier says to Liz Shaw, "Call a doctor," and she says, "I am a doctor." And I'm like, so why does everyone call her MISS Shaw? I always felt Chapel should have been a PhD with specialisms in exo archaeology, exobiology, lab research, and cybernetics, plus her basic medical training. I feel she suffers by being stuck as McCoy's straight man. I think Ex Machina plugged her skill set a bit more.
Although it was never shown in TOS I always assumed Scotty had an office apart from his cabin. The Franz Joseph TOS blueprints, although divergent in significant ways from what we saw onscreen, did have designated officers for all the department heads. They never showed that in the series so we assumed they used their cabins as their offices. In TNG Picard had his ready room. It’s possible a senior officer could opt out of a designated office space which could be relegated to some other use. For some it would be more practical while others not so much.
Makes sense. we also see riker’s and worf’s offices on TNG. also I’m fairly sure we see belanna’s once or twice on voyager. And of course crusher’s.