Gold is actually a very greenish red when you take it apart (RGB: 255, 215, 0). Wiki also says the uniform color was satin sheen gold, a deep yellow, unlike Vegas gold, which is a moderate greenish yellow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_(color)
So, about those monster maroons... In the depictions of the years just prior to TNG, they did make a couple extremely minor changes to differentiate them from the movie era, such as crew collars on the undershirt instead of the turtleneck, and lack of belt, and one instance of a TNG-era communicator/insignia. It still seemed pretty cheap to me. Maybe if they had sewn a piece of black fabric on the shoulder area it would have made more sense as an intermediary design. Does anyone want to take a crack at that with Photoshop? Kor
I have an NTSC (US) video version of the DS9 pilot and a PAL (Australasia) version. The "teal" colour of Bashir's and Dax's uniforms are vastly different in each. Very blue in one and very green in the other. I didn't notice such variation in TNG.
For the umpteenth time they were green. Justman memos refer to them being green. Theiss, who had the fabrics dyed, said they were green. I asked Star Trek S2–3 women's wardrobe person Andrea Weaver and she says unequivocally they were green in person, and she saw them almost every workday. She told me the blue dyes made in LA in that period were very unstable, and so the colors you see on surviving costumes and swatches is not what they looked like 52 years ago.
If what's on screen matters, then they were more yellow than green. Otherwise, you'd have to say that phasers and tricorders were non-funtional plastic, and the Enterprise was a wooden ship just a few meters long that never traveled in space. XD
Although in TAS (and the Mego and Playmates' action figures) they were gold, to look the colour that the green appeared in live action TV.
In addition to all of this, the other variations of uniform within the division were more clearly shades of green as well... The Captain's wraparound: Dress uniform: Utility jumpsuits: However, my understanding is that the standard duty uniforms were sort of silently retconned as gold by the time of the third season, when IIRC the costumes were replaced with ones made of nylon instead of velour (the original material that never/seldom showed up the "correct" color and had other practical drawbacks) which actually were much more yellow. (Or is that a myth, Maurice?) Ultimately, this retcon was made explicit onscreen in "Trials And Tribble-ations" (DS9). -MMoM
Tough to change thinking when they showed up on TV as gold for the 40 years I watched prior to the Blu-ray's.
Any background on why they went with gold for TNG? Could it be that the fan perception of the TOS tunics being gold was a factor?
TOS S3 actually appear greener even before the remasters, due to not having the funky properties of velour S1 and 2. Nor the major shrinkage, Jerry. SHRINKAGE!!
Well, Green was the first person to die in Star Trek (broadcast order), and Adam was played by the late, great Charles Napier.
The overwhelming majority of people's who've seen the show, read comic books, bought the toys, etc. might care. Yes, it's cool and neat and interesting to know that the tunics were really "green" when viewed by the naked eye, but they're yellow on TV and that's what everyone remembers.