Why the constant use of uniforms?

[Gotham Central]

I've noticed that alot of sci-fi shows (especially space based shows) are constantly putting the main characters in uniforms (even when they are not in the military). For instance, there is no reason for the civilian contingent of Atlantis to be wearing a uniform. It would definately alter the feel of the show to have the civilians dressed like...civilians. It would have to be cheaper as well since you could buy clothes off the rack instead of specially made uniforms. Another example was the Lucien Alliance on SG-1. Those guys were essentially the mob in space....yet they all wore uniforms. That always struck me as odd.

I was watching old episodes of Space 1999 and was thinking the same thing. Why are civilians wearing uniforms in a place that is basically a city on the moon (not to mention that the uniforms were hideous and unflatering).

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Many shows are based on some sort of psuedo-military model and if not, maybe follow the lead of the space program where astronauts wear a uniform, whether they are civilian or not. Even in regular life, airplanes are crewed by uniformed personel. I've never been on a cruise but I imagine the crew wear a uniform as well.

There may be financial/logistical reasons for TV crews to want to do this as well.

 

[Christopher]

In storytelling terms, it's a visual shorthand. You want your characters to have a recognizable "profile" or look, and when different groups are involved you want to make it easy to tell who has what affiliation. Also, having characters wear uniforms makes it easier to maintain continuity, in the production sense of making sure the wardrobe etc. matches between scenes that are filmed out of order.

In-story, it makes sense for an offworld civilian post like Atlantis or Moonbase Alpha to have uniforms, since it's not exactly easy to get to a clothing store. Having standardized clothes provided from a single supplier is more practical.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Lots of non-military folk wear uniforms as part of their job anyway.

For example, the Japanese company I work for requires all of it's employees in the Japanese factories to wear uniforms.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Not to mention fast food workers, sports teams, exterminators, in the old days service station and sanitation personnel....And then there's Jerry Seinfeld's take on the issue:

I think eventually fashion won’t even exist. I think someday we’ll all wear the same thing. Because anytime I see a movie or a TV show where there are people from the future or another planet, they’re all wearing the same outfit. Somehow they all decided, “All right, that’s enough. From now on, this is going to be our outfit. One-piece silver jump suit, with a V-stripe on the chest, and boots. That’s it. We’re going to start visiting other planets and we want to look like a team.”

 

[Hermiod]

I admit I did roll my eyes a little bit when I saw that the civilian members of the Atlantis expedition would be wearing uniforms that looked like cast offs from Crusade.

 

[theenglish]

I don't have a problem with people wearing uniforms for many of the reasons stated above. It does strike me as odd that we rarely see characters OUT of UNIFORM. Star Trek TNG tried to do this a bit, but it wasn't very often.

 

[Hermiod]

I don't have a problem with people wearing uniforms for many of the reasons stated above. It does strike me as odd that we rarely see characters OUT of UNIFORM. Star Trek TNG tried to do this a bit, but it wasn't very often.

On TNG when we did see them out of uniform it always seemed like they were wearing the same clothes. I'm thinking of Riker's ridiculous shiny shirt.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't have a problem with people wearing uniforms for many of the reasons stated above. It does strike me as odd that we rarely see characters OUT of UNIFORM. Star Trek TNG tried to do this a bit, but it wasn't very often.

On TNG when we did see them out of uniform it always seemed like they were wearing the same clothes. I'm thinking of Riker's ridiculous shiny shirt.

After Farpoint, Deanna Troi never wore a uniform until Chain of Command. The only other prominent examples I can think of are Riker's blue shirt and Picard's bathrobe.

However, I think as far as Star Trek is concerned, the main reason we never see them outside of uniform is because civilian clothes of the future are ugly. Starfleet uniforms seem to be the only fashionable thing to wear.

 

[wamdue]

because uniforms are sexy?

 

[V4Victory]

scifi can often pretend to be some kind of liberal hippie utopia, but deep down I don't think it is. If you look beyond the cover there is a lot of war and a lot of battle bot stuff going on. Uniforms are the easiest way to help distinguish the Trekkie guy from the Bandit or the Star Wars Stormtroopers from the Skywalker Rebel. Could you imagine if the Stormtroopers were out of costume drinking beer and having smokes...it would be impossible to tell them apart and its easier to write a one dimensional scene and demonize some guy in a Storm Trooper suit.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

because uniforms are sexy?

Not the ones on Stargate!!!! They may as well be wearing potato sacks.

Let me design Shep's uniform, I'll show you sexxxy. Actually there was a cool black leather jacket at one point, what happened with that?

 

[wamdue]

because uniforms are sexy?

Not the ones on Stargate!!!! They may as well be wearing potato sacks.

thats only because they are realistic uniforms, real uniforms tend not to be that sexy, for example there is a big difference between what nurses wear & what I want them to wear & I should know I spent two months on the children's ward as a teenager.

 

[RobertVA]

scifi can often pretend to be some kind of liberal hippie utopia, but deep down I don't think it is. If you look beyond the cover there is a lot of war and a lot of battle bot stuff going on. Uniforms are the easiest way to help distinguish the Trekkie guy from the Bandit or the Star Wars Stormtroopers from the Skywalker Rebel. Could you imagine if the Stormtroopers were out of costume drinking beer and having smokes...it would be impossible to tell them apart and its easier to write a one dimensional scene and demonize some guy in a Storm Trooper suit.

Being clones of the same guy, I think they might be able to figure out which side they're on.

 

[Star Wolf]

because uniforms are sexy?

Not the ones on Stargate!!!! They may as well be wearing potato sacks.

Let me design Shep's uniform, I'll show you sexxxy. Actually there was a cool black leather jacket at one point, what happened with that?

Stargate is different. Instead of being set n the future with a duel personality of the military being a bad thing yet wanting to have the hero firing a machinegun in every episode, it is set today and military uniforms want to break up the outline of man as much as possible. You want the enemy to hesitate and not waste ammo or give up his position by firing at a potato sack.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Why all the uniforms? Don't know... Maybe everyone joined the Navy or something.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't have a problem with people wearing uniforms for many of the reasons stated above. It does strike me as odd that we rarely see characters OUT of UNIFORM. Star Trek TNG tried to do this a bit, but it wasn't very often.

On TNG when we did see them out of uniform it always seemed like they were wearing the same clothes. I'm thinking of Riker's ridiculous shiny shirt.

After Farpoint, Deanna Troi never wore a uniform until Chain of Command. The only other prominent examples I can think of are Riker's blue shirt and Picard's bathrobe.

However, I think as far as Star Trek is concerned, the main reason we never see them outside of uniform is because civilian clothes of the future are ugly. Starfleet uniforms seem to be the only fashionable thing to wear.

I've always found much of the TNG casual wear to be rather amusing but at least they tried.

TOS non-uniforms always seemed to look like something you'd see on Laugh-In.

 

[BenRoethig]

I don't have a problem with people wearing uniforms for many of the reasons stated above. It does strike me as odd that we rarely see characters OUT of UNIFORM. Star Trek TNG tried to do this a bit, but it wasn't very often.

On TNG when we did see them out of uniform it always seemed like they were wearing the same clothes. I'm thinking of Riker's ridiculous shiny shirt.

After Farpoint, Deanna Troi never wore a uniform until Chain of Command. The only other prominent examples I can think of are Riker's blue shirt and Picard's bathrobe.

However, I think as far as Star Trek is concerned, the main reason we never see them outside of uniform is because civilian clothes of the future are ugly. Starfleet uniforms seem to be the only fashionable thing to wear.

There's nothing fashionable about it, its all regulations. Personnel must be in uniform while on duty. When deployed on a ship, that's practically 24/7. The only real angle we've seen of the Federation so far is from that of a military service. We haven't seen but the occasional civilian.

The reason why we see this in other scifi shows is because the military is predominately the ones charged with exploration. Going into the unknown you never know who or what you're going to find.

 

[Captain Intrepid]

There's nothing fashionable about it, its all regulations. Personnel must be in uniform while on duty. When deployed on a ship, that's practically 24/7.

Not really. Unless something exceptional is going on, you're not on duty for more than 12 hours a day in general. Though I dunno why you'd bother changing into civvies when you've got another watch in 4 hours.

 

[Nerys Myk]

On TNG when we did see them out of uniform it always seemed like they were wearing the same clothes. I'm thinking of Riker's ridiculous shiny shirt.

After Farpoint, Deanna Troi never wore a uniform until Chain of Command. The only other prominent examples I can think of are Riker's blue shirt and Picard's bathrobe.

However, I think as far as Star Trek is concerned, the main reason we never see them outside of uniform is because civilian clothes of the future are ugly. Starfleet uniforms seem to be the only fashionable thing to wear.

I've always found much of the TNG casual wear to be rather amusing but at least they tried.

TOS non-uniforms always seemed to look like something you'd see on Laugh-In.

ON TOS even civilians had Uniforms!!!