Purple uniforms?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Of course we all know that the colored stripes on the shoulders of all ENT uniforms are intended to be a tribute to the TOS uniform colors.

Assuming this is the case: why, in ENT, is there no red?

There's the greenish/gold of command, and science blue, both the same colors as used in TOS. However, in ENT, engineers and tactical officers have PURPLE stripes on their uniforms (as can clearly be seen with Trip and Malcolm), not red. Why did they do that?

 

[Sheridan]

It doesn't look purple to me. It's not completely red either. It's in between purple and red. Not sure what the official name of that color would be. Maroon perhaps?

 

[Pavonis]

Purple? It always looked red to me. Have you checked your TV's color settings?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Looks like magenta to me.



And to answer your question MLB, it's that colour because it brings out the beauty of their eyes.

 

[6079SmithW]

It always looked red to me. I guess the lighting can make it look purple and they aren't using a "true" red.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I always thought it looked more wine colored. But I also think the division stripes for sciences personnel are more teal than blue, IMO.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Assuming this is the case: why, in ENT, is there no red?

Trick of the studio lights. The stripes photograph differently on the sets, depending on reflections.

For TNG, they deliberately colour-shifted all three designations. Red to a wine/cherry (since the movies were now using a similar tone for their uniform jackets), blue to a teal and gold to a mustard. Check out the "Enterprise" action figures: they used a red paint for the engineering stripes, not purple.

One reason for the avoidance of a straight blue dates back to TMP, to avoid it being the same blue as an original SPFX bluescreen of the late 70s. For TMP, sciences division was broken into two colours: orange for science and mint green for medical.

 

[sojourner]

Also, with the rest of the uniform a dark blue, it's gonna trick the eyes into seeing the red as more of a purple.

 

[R. Star]

It looked red enough to me. There's enough things to fault about Enterprise that nitpicking this is redundant at best.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Assuming this is the case: why, in ENT, is there no red?

Trick of the studio lights. The stripes photograph differently on the sets, depending on reflections.

For TNG, they deliberately colour-shifted all three designations. Red to a wine/cherry (since the movies were now using a similar tone for their uniform jackets), blue to a teal and gold to a mustard. Check out the "Enterprise" action figures: they used a red paint for the engineering stripes, not purple.

One reason for the avoidance of a straight blue dates back to TMP, to avoid it being the same blue as an original SPFX bluescreen of the late 70s. For TMP, sciences division was broken into two colours: orange for science and mint green for medical.

So when you say "trick of the lights" were they actually red on the uniforms?

 

[Finn]

Here's one of Trip from Strange New World, with natural light. No overexposure from the sun and not too shady. Looks wine red to me

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Who wants to see Tucker in a skant?

I'm just in the mood for that right now.

 

[Mach5]

Apart from the division colour, It seems the jumpsuits have been changed in Season 4, from purple-ish dark blue, to brighter blue. I always thought they looked different because of some change in studio lighting and the switch from film to digital, but...

They really are different, aren't they?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ The one on the right has the nametag on it, suggesting it's from TATV. Did they alter the unis for just that episode? (It could also be that the laundry simply washed the color out and made it look faded, like on some of the blue TNG unis)

Also: In those pics of Trip, the stripes still look purple.

 

[Mach5]

^ The one on the right has the nametag on it, suggesting it's from TATV. Did they alter the unis for just that episode? (It could also be that the laundry simply washed the color out and made it look faded, like on some of the blue TNG unis)

It is from TATV, but all S4 uniforms seem to be the same shade of blue.

Here's some examples:

Borderland

Cold Station 12

Babel One

It could be the lighting after all, but the difference in colour is evident.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I do remember one episode in which the main cast members had the lighter blue jumpsuits and the extras still had the darker blue/bluish-purple ones.

 

[Mach5]

I do remember one episode in which the main cast members had the lighter blue jumpsuits and the extras still had the darker blue/bluish-purple ones.

Uhm, yeah, this image pretty much confirms that not all jumpsuits look the same.

It's and old photo, though. I'll try to dig up something more recent.

EDIT:

Here it is. Mystery solved. This one is from Zero Hour.

 

[C.E. Evans]

^^^
Yep. Quite a contrast.

 

[MickJo1701]

The main cast swapped from the original jumpsuits to the more pronounced blue ones in the ep Minefield. Spotted it right of the bat (total nerd).

 

[John Mason]

more like crimson