ST XI . . . in COLOR!

[jayrath]

Color drove many choices in art direction for TOS. And color was so important at the time. For those not old enough to remember the introduction of color programing, many shows were introduced with bumpers announcing, for example, "The Lucy Show . . . in COLOR!" The usual Sunday Disney anthology was even retitled "Disney's Wonderful World of Color."

The problem was in designing shows to work both in black and white and color. And so we had lots of reds and light-blues (in b&w, deep gray and off-white). The interior of Sheriff Andy Taylor's courthouse suddenly was largely sky blue. The Lone Ranger did not wear white, but sky blue. And on TOS, we had red doors, sky blue trim, and candy-colored uniforms.

I suspect that in a two-hour film, that will be seen as garish or even hokey, along with the Pike-era gooseneck bridge viewers.

I suspect that the art direction will be muted, similar to ENT. But I hope we still have some eye-popping colors, including a scarlet bridge rail.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

That reminded me of Police Squad!.

"And Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln!"

 

[Dale]

Star Trek - In Living Color!

Star Trek in color & 3D!

 

[Franklin]

jayrath said:
Color drove many choices in art direction for TOS. And color was so important at the time. For those not old enough to remember the introduction of color programing, many shows were introduced with bumpers announcing, for example, "The Lucy Show . . . in COLOR!" The usual Sunday Disney anthology was even retitled "Disney's Wonderful World of Color."

The problem was in designing shows to work both in black and white and color. And so we had lots of reds and light-blues (in b&w, deep gray and off-white). The interior of Sheriff Andy Taylor's courthouse suddenly was largely sky blue. The Lone Ranger did not wear white, but sky blue. And on TOS, we had red doors, sky blue trim, and candy-colored uniforms.

I suspect that in a two-hour film, that will be seen as garish or even hokey, along with the Pike-era gooseneck bridge viewers.

I suspect that the art direction will be muted, similar to ENT. But I hope we still have some eye-popping colors, including a scarlet bridge rail.

(And George Reeves wore a gray Superman uniform because it looked better in black and white. Also, green paint was apparently on sale the day they decided to film "The Andy Griffith Show" in color.)

I think they considered those very points back in STMP, especially the uniforms. But most folks believe the results went too far in the other direction -- too muted, too monochromatic.

From what little we've seen so far in the spy photos, it looks like darker blues and an olive green for uniforms (remembering the command "gold" was an artifact of how TOS was filmed and the color was actually a shade of green).

What I really liked about TOS was the use of lighting to add color, depth, and texture to a scene. I'd like to see some updated creative lighting effects in scenes in this movie.
That said, I'd also like to see more color than the Enterprise of ENT had.

 

[xortex]

Ent. looked like a watered down BBC production. Drab.

 

[Warp Coil]

xortex said:
Ent. looked like a watered down BBC production. Drab.

Despite all its creative flaws, I thought the overall design for ENT was quite good and very realistic. The uniforms were a hybrid of Starfleet and NASA, and the NX-01 interiors looked great.

I really do NOT want to see lots of primary colors in this new film. Darker, muted colors work for me. I don't want it to look like TMP (that really was just too drab and colorless) but I sure don't want cheesy 60's colors, either.

 

[Woulfe]

TMP went so far musted we ended up with pastels !
Let's NOT do that again, EVER !
Granted the desings were good, just the wrong color.
Something in between the TOS & TMP coloring would fly.

 

[ChristopherPike]

What do mean, I won't see any advanced futuristic equipment in fire hydrant red? Or Engineering Control Panels that look like Connect Four?

Crayola had better be an official sponsor or else...

 

[Basil]

As a fan of classic technicolor cinema, I'd rather see bold, warm color than the drab shades of everything more popular in the past few decades. Done correctly, it gives film a vibrant quality that just makes the experience stunning. I recall seeing what wasn't even the best print of "North by Northwest" projected onto the big screen -- the image quality was beautiful and almost three dimensional. The detail that could be seen was better than most films today, especially since Hitchcock understood how to properly frame people. Vibrant color on TV wasn't just a product of matching B&W viewing but an attempt to mimic the cinema. Could it be done today? Sure. The cinematography in "Pan's Labyrinth" was remarkably like that of 1960s films, and some scenes had the color balance of a film like "From Russia with Love." I'm not sure many American filmmakers could pull it off (maybe the Coens) but certainly others might.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I think they need to be careful. I don't want it to look too cheesy...and a *do* want the film to age well.

Personally, I think the thing about TOS that is most off-putting to kids coming into Trek Fandom is NOT the stories, but the 'look' of the show - very 60's. Garish colors, ghastly costumes & makeup, etc. Good, perhaps, for the time...but rather off-putting for young kids today.

I'm okay with color. But they really need to use classic looks rather than trendy looks - that slows down the aging process.

All one needs to do is look at TOS and the first few seasons of TNG, all of which have NOT aged well visually (although TOS has much more of an excuse, having been made a couple of decades earlier) to see what I mean.

 

[Kryton]

On NBC, it was "In LIVING color"...which inspired a band name and the name of a FOX comedy show.

 

[Franklin]

Kryton said:
On NBC, it was "In LIVING color"...which inspired a band name and the name of a FOX comedy show.

Even as a kid, I always wondered what the alternative to "living color" was.

PKTrekGirl has it about right, though. Even with updated sets, using the set colors from TOS would look cheesey on the big screen.
Maybe change the light sky blue on the ship's walls to light gray, but keep the reds and the colored lights on panels while updating them to look less like gumdrops. Also, vary the lighting on the bridge. As good a job as they did in general with lighting in TOS, the bridge was always too evenly lit.

 

[Jimmy_C]

I think the reason old colors look cheesy nowadays is because we can more faithfully reproduce the images now. Back then equipment was not as sensitive. If you shot the new movie in black and white then colorized it, I bet you would get a more "authentic" feeling. Personally, I'd rather have more realistic colors and lighting choices (but not dark for dark's sake things like mid to late 90s Batman movies).

 

[Franklin]

I don't think anyone wants to see things darker, per se. RICHER colors and tones may be the better way to put it.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Franklin said:
Also, vary the lighting on the bridge. As good a job as they did in general with lighting in TOS, the bridge was always too evenly lit.

Well, that's more a limitation of a television budget & schedule. You can see the same thing comparing the Enterprise-D sets from The Next Generation vs. how they looked on the big screen in Generations.

As for the pastels in The Motion Picture, WTF???? Pastels?!?!? Pastels are the wussiest colors on the palate. How are you going to fight the Klingons when you look more like you're ready for bed???

 

[M'Sharak]

Franklin said:

Kryton said:
On NBC, it was "In LIVING color"...which inspired a band name and the name of a FOX comedy show.

Even as a kid, I always wondered what the alternative to "living color" was.

Dead, sterile Black & White*?





* I know: it really isn't -- or doesn't need to be -- but this was an advertising slogan to get everyone to go out and buy NEW! COLOR! teevee sets.

I guess you really had to be there...

 

[trevanian]

Franklin said:
[As good a job as they did in general with lighting in TOS, the bridge was always too evenly lit.

Are you kidding? When the ship was under attack, you'd see all sorts of different lighting, even when not on alert status. Contrasty side-lighting was used throughout the show, very dramatic, and about as far from 'evenly lit' as I can possibly imagine.

Take a look at BALANCE OF TERROR. Man, at one point, they kill EVERY light on the bridge except for the helm blinker and the alert light by the lift ... that is bold-ass lighting for TV in ANY era. Probably some of my favorite stuff (might not be realistic -- anymore than when they cut power on one side of the ship in BABEL and so the lights on that side of the bridge dim, that's pretty theatrical IMO -- but very effective.)

The problem with TOS bridge lighting usually has to do with follow-spots on Kirk's eyes ... in wide shots, sometimes that light will wipe out the little screens around the bridge as he walks to his chair. It is the visual equivalent to a character carrying his own theme music in the form of a boom box, pretty distracting.

BTW, they don't do anywhere near as much gauze lighting on the women 3rd season, when Al Francis shot the show. You can say it isn't as dramatic or artistic in terms of cinematography, but it is less distracting, too.

 

[Kegek]

Bah. Give me Star Trek in glorious monochrome!

 

[Garth Rockett]

I like the bold, garish colors, and don't find them cheesy at all. But I know my tastes don't reflect what the general populace would like to see.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I'm all for color. Red bridge railings!