Would TMP have been better had they used the TOS uniforms?
- Thread starter CaptainMurdock
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I'm sorry, what's the question? Who was arguing what was what?
I would think this was partly down to the era it was filmed, most other scifi movies/shows from the time had a very similar colourscheme.
Kirks Admiral Uniform was my second favourite regular uniform of the film, I always liked the metal Starfleet insignia (to focus in on one specific element). My favourite was another 2-tone, and another of Kirks, I always liked the look of the short sleeve white top he wore with a pair of the grey trousers. The 2 piece uniforms were also much better than the 1 piece.
TOS uniforms would have looked better, and I always wanted to see the TMP Bridge with the crew wearing a variation of the classic uniform.
It wouldnt have made the film any different though.
Nothing much I can really add, except to reitate things that have already been said. Kirk's admiral uniform was actually quite nice, but the one-piece uniforms that the Enterprise crew wore looked terribly bland. A necessary evil though, as they indirectly lead to the creation of the uniforms we got for Wrath of Khan all the way through the early part of Generations, which is by far my favorite Trek uniform.
I really enjoyed TMP the first time I watched it. It's a really tough one to re-watch though (for me), mainly because of the lengthy ride through v'ger as someone else mentioned.
The TMP uniforms do look dated. As someone else mentioned, they are the 1970s view of futuristic...which is now a retro view of futuristic. I'm sure at the time they were awesome.
The dark red uniforms that followed, on the other hand, hold up very well. Instead of trying to be futuristic, they're trying to be militaristic. I know Gene Roddenberry didn't like that direction, but to me it really worked well as a "look," regardless of the inspiration or the implied meaning Nicholas Meyer was going for. It's more unified and just worked better on film in my opinion.
The TMP uniforms do look dated. As someone else mentioned, they are the 1970s view of futuristic...which is now a retro view of futuristic. I'm sure at the time they were awesome.
The dark red uniforms that followed, on the other hand, hold up very well. Instead of trying to be futuristic, they're trying to be militaristic. I know Gene Roddenberry didn't like that direction, but to me it really worked well as a "look," regardless of the inspiration or the implied meaning Nicholas Meyer was going for. It's more unified and just worked better on film in my opinion.
Yup, those were the ones.
I too think they look great. If Phase II had ever actually reached production as a series, I would have loved to have seen the crew wearing something like those (I know, the plan was apparently to use TOS uniforms in Phase II).
Yup, those were the ones.
If you notice, he also colorized the door in pastel red, which also works—at least in that particular frame.
I liked the TMP uniforms but I think they should of kept the Department colours red blue and yellow the same as TOS and the star fleet Insignia the metal pin from kirks admiral uniform as standard. Never liked the colour coded system. Also they used two uniforms in TMP short sleeved with rank on the shoulders and the long sleeved ones both I liked but the beinge were so bland !!!
The wrap around jackets that we saw at the end of the movie I didn't like I much preferred the TWOK landing party jackets well cool !!!! Loved one of them for the winter months !!!
The wrap around jackets that we saw at the end of the movie I didn't like I much preferred the TWOK landing party jackets well cool !!!! Loved one of them for the winter months !!!
I don't know bout this one. You're forgetting how fast technology changes. What might not have worked in 1978, could work in 2008.
^ Very true. Film stock in the late 1970s was very different to what they're shooting with today. I don't see that they should have had problems adapting the TOS color scheme to a movie screen in 1979 though, even if it wasn't 1:1 identical to what was actually used in TOS. If TWOK-onwards can have everybody wearing a redshirt, I don't really see why there should be a complete lack of them in TMP. 
(The real answer, of course, would appear to be that Wise himself had a preference against the use of TOS's vibrant colors. He was going for a very neutral look, which IMO he pretty much nailed. TMP's design does look beautiful, just in a very different way.)
(The real answer, of course, would appear to be that Wise himself had a preference against the use of TOS's vibrant colors. He was going for a very neutral look, which IMO he pretty much nailed. TMP's design does look beautiful, just in a very different way.)
Wise's direction was fantastic. If there was one thing that wasn't wrong with the film it was the direction.
The ST2+ uniforms seem dated, too, just in a different way. The '70s look of exaggerated styles, synthetic material and informality had given way to the return of more traditional styles, natural fibers and a more status-conscious formality. Reagan brought the morning coat back to the inauguration, people were getting fashion ideas from The Preppy Handbook.
Military styles tend to be conservative and resistant to change, and going to a look with more retro military cues may be why the TWOK maroons seem to age better for some people. But they don't for me, they just seem like a cluttered, over-styled attempt to cram a bunch of quasi-military cues onto one costume. Conceptually, TMP is the high water mark of Trek uniforms.
Nothing wrong with his directing.
There's nothing wrong with TMP that can't be traced back to the script's original nature as a tv pilot. All that stuff about reintroducing the crew/relaunching the ship... you know, it takes ten hours just to get to V'ger, the same way it takes about 20 hours for the Enterprise-D to deal with Farpoint station. A less flabby version of the same script would have been very achievable IMO.
If anything, Wise's direction is one of the few things that actually almost helps to disguise it. Makes it feel properly theatrical.
If anything, Wise's direction is one of the few things that actually almost helps to disguise it. Makes it feel properly theatrical.
Which are all directly correlated to the direction.
