Starfleet badge from the movies - various points

[RapidNadion]

Well, I had a sweet post here, but accidentally just wiped it out, so here's the short version:

Anyone else love the Starfleet badge design from the TWOK-TUC period?

Anyone else notice the odd little "dot" added to the rectangular background of the pin, and how it doesn't match the licensed merchandise (lower left instead of upper right placement)? Also, has the dot always been there, or was it added at some point?

Anyone know any details about how this insignia was designed? TMP gave us the circle behind the arrowhead, but who in the TWOK design team gave us the ornately designed rectangle behind the new logo?

 

[cultcross]

This image of Saavik http://texasbestgrok.mu.nu/images/saavik160.gif
(might have to copy-paste the URL for that I think it has hot-linking disabled) seems to show the 'dot' in the upper right. I suspect the dot was added so the 'bar' was put on the right way up when the badge was assembled but then it didn't end up the right way up all the time and the dot just ended up drawing the attention of detail minded fans to that fact

 

[Therin of Andor]

I suspect the dot was added so the 'bar' was put on the right way up when the badge was assembled but then it didn't end up the right way up all the time and the dot just ended up drawing the attention of detail minded fans to that fact

There were references to the "wrong dot position" of some insignias during the auctions by "It's a Wrap!" on eBay a few years ago. Some of the replicas Paramount had made (to supplement the badges made for ST II) for the later films were created in two pieces, but they would easily come apart if dropped. (The first batch were made in one piece, IIRC). Some actors and crew would retrieve them from the floor and click the two halves back together again but some would put the long enamelled shape upside down. Such as this one used on Kirk's grave.

Although nothing has ever been stated in ST II production material, my personal explanation of the seemingly random "dot" in one upper corner is that it activates the miniaturized version of a Perscan device - remember the black resin belt buckles from ST:TMP, which were supposed to let the ship's computer measure vital signs and biorhythms (biorhythms were very big in the 70s!)? Those buckles had a differently shaped dot on one side... and were sometimes worn upside down, too!

 

[RapidNadion]

^^ Both great posts - thanks for the Saavik pic, cultcross, which shows the dot in the "proper" position as I remember it. I remember that even on my first viewing of Generations in the theater, I was thrown off by the weird dot placement on the grave badge. (Momentarily, I mean - it didn't ruin that scene for me at all.)

Therin of Andor, thanks for the background info on the badge-dropping. That makes a lot of sense, and on-set incidents like that have resulted in lots of "detail fail" in various series. So, you remember that the TWOK badges were single-cast pieces, but subsequent editions were done in two easily-seperable segments?

Any idea on how the new badge came to be? Was it the costume designer on TWOK?

 

[Therin of Andor]

you remember that the TWOK badges were single-cast pieces, but subsequent editions were done in two easily-seperable segments?

Yep. When ST II came out, some very accurate, heavy, one-piece commercial versions of the new Starfleet insignia, Khan's pendant and a pin resembling Admiral Kirk's metal insignia in TMP, came out. (All that was missing from the insignia was the white and silver enamel, but easily fixed with hobby paint.) IIRC, the commercial pins were made by the same company which made them for the film.

Of course, the insignia pins were often pilfered from the set and when it came to making ST IV (?), it was necessary to get a different company to recast one original pin, but they made it of lighter metal and in two pieces. The new enamel seemed to be more cream than white, too.

If you've seen the final scenes of the "Starfleet Academy" CD-ROM game, the graduates are wearing only the backing pins, with a graduation ribbon attached to it.

Any idea on how the new badge came to be? Was it the costume designer on TWOK?

Robert Fletcher did both TMP and ST II, but only Kirk as-an-admiral had a metal pin in TMP. Everyone else had cloth embroidered patches in the six division colours. I'd say the new metal pins for ST II were part of Nick Meyer's request for a more military look to the Starfleet uniforms.