Collars or No Collars?

The original third season redesign with the double chest seams has been resurrected in the new Picard action figure. As I've stated, I like the collars but I prefer a more form fitting look for uniforms.

 

I think TNG switched colors because the producers felt red was more elegant than gold, and the command officers should have the prettiest uniforms. Patrick Stewart looked best in red. Plus having security officers run around in bright red puts a target on their back.

 

I'm sure someone knows the actual reason but it seems to me the reason was that people at the time had associated red with the "monster maroons" from the movie-era so having top brass like the captain wear red would make a smoother transition back to TV.

 

I've read this before but I've yet to see any documentation on this (or images of test with Stewart in the mustard-gold). I wonder if it's just one of those fan assumptions than something that was actually so.

Also in another universe, if the producers had made a different choice, we would've gotten collars like this in the first season:

 

Hey it's Jack LaLanne!

 

In that case it confirms my Star Trek Universe theory of "the red shirt curse" which made Starfleet change the colors.

 

This has always been my assumption, too. We know also that one of the many variants tried was a kind of slimmed back monster maroon without all the straps and trimmings, which we can see in the test footage of DeForest Kelly's old age make-up, but ultimately they didn't go with that.



As to the question, I prefer the season 1/2 no collar because it's more form fitting to the genuine physique of the actors. The collar uniforms definitely look more elegant and tailored, but I find (for example) the addition of shoulder pads etc to be disingenuous and fake. I also really like that little piece of colour trimming around the shoulder line of those early uniforms.

 

Yeah but they did give Patrick Stewart back problems

 

On TNG they changed the red from a bright in- your-face primary red to a prettier crimson/maroon color. I thought I read somewhere that Rodenberry or Justman felt the color scheme on TOS needed an update.

 

You beat me to it. Many don't realize there was that early to mid S3 period of time where you had multiple variations going.

 

Call me crazy but I think that the mid 24th century uniforms are one of the better designs, striking a nice balance between formality and comfort.

 

Yeah I guess so but they should’ve took an away the undershirts just makes it look like its missing something

 

It does look rather incomplete without the turtleneck - almost like an apron.

 

Right I mean it looks A little loose So there needs to be an undershirt to make it look more complete although it think officers should’ve gotten a choice whether to wear a turtleneck or crewneck.

 

The version we see in Tapestry is a bit more noticeable.

 

Right it looks more complete here

 

The no collar uniform IMHO looked cheap and nasty in comparison but at least the uniforms were better fitting. I thought the collared 2 piece outfits for the men made them look bulky and were less fitted. If they had put collars on the original outfits maybe?

 

This is where the 80s films, ENT and DSC get it right - in using muted, austere colors hinting at function or decoration/professionalism rather than flashy/showy ones that TOS almost egregiously flaunted in. At least in terms of the human range of eyesight and perception of color, half the species they visited wouldn't have reacted to bright red any more than a bull doesn't because it's spazzing over the movement of the cape and not its color - bulls are red/green colorblind. Anyway, pointless Sheldonific factacular nonsense aside, had TOS not been made when color TV came out, and every show of the time was going to puke unicorn rainbows to be showy (and showy as TOS was, they had the color wheel mojo going on since everything looks more lush and vibrant as opposed to "garish gaudy day-glo unicorn puke". Or, to cut a long ramble short, if color TV wasn't new then how would TOS uniforms come about? The uniforms would probably be single-color themed and not red/yellow/blue (as opposed to the dour orange/green/purple associated with Halloween), also noting that the gold-shirts were green but the lighting used for filming rendered them yellow. (and noting on top of that how color TV uses three rays shooting electrons at at red, green, and blue phosphors on a coated glass screen in a vacuum, it looks like it was an in-joke that failed due to the lighting conditions changing green to gold, wheeeeeeeeeee!)

(And also noting "The Cage" was also filmed in color, in possible anticipation of color TV coming out and RCA, the first to put out color TV, also invested in Trek because of it.)

Having said that, it's obvious the color scheme became iconic, otherwise TNG, DS9, and VOY wouldn't have clung to the motif. Though DS9 did go the TNG movie route and use gray/black outfits with gray tunics that look mauve based on set lighting with flashes of the iconic color to indicate division...

Oh, if anyone is still awake at this juncture, I apologize.

 

i agree with the majority view here, collars deffinately. They looked a lot better than the uniforms of the 1st and 2nd seasons.