The longevity of TMP uniforms?

[tim0122]

TMP uniforms have (as far as I remember) were only ever used for that production and then never seen again in any filmed Trek film or otherwise. But in universe, has it ever been said in any Trek novel or encyclopedia or what have you how long Starfleet used those uniforms before switching over to the red ones seen in the rest of the original cast films?

 

[NCC-73515]

A whole series of comics had them, and they commented on the switch to the maroons

 

[UssGlenn]

well, Since Starfleet tends to field 2 uniforms in parallel most of the time, we can maximize the use of the TMP style by assuming they started being used on Starbases near the end of the 5 year mission and were used alongside the Maroons after 2278. You could probably stretch it over a decade, 2269 to 80.

 

[Jedi Marso]

The less said about the space jammies, the better. Kirk's two-toned uniform was the only good looking one in TMP.

The monster maroons were cool but just seemed hopelessly antiquated / complex for 23rd Century shipboard life. Maybe as a dress uniform, but not a duty uniform.

I think the best option would have been some stylish upgrades of the TOS uniforms. The later-era TNG uniforms were decent as well, once they got away from the one-pieces.

 

[UssGlenn]

The monster maroons were cool but just seemed hopelessly antiquated / complex for 23rd Century shipboard life. Maybe as a dress uniform, but not a duty uniform.

If you remove the Jacket and put the badge on the shirt, suddenly you have a really close analog to the TOS uniform.

 

[mb22]

TMP uniforms have (as far as I remember) were only ever used for that production and then never seen again in any filmed Trek film or otherwise. But in universe, has it ever been said in any Trek novel or encyclopedia or what have you how long Starfleet used those uniforms before switching over to the red ones seen in the rest of the original cast films?

The one piece uniforms from TMP were dyed red, given new collars and used as cadet uniforms in TWOK through TUC.
https://wrathofdhanprops.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-complete-guide-to-starfleet-style.html

 

[Chaos Descending]

In my "head canon", Star Trek: TMP takes place during a time where Starfleet were piloting prospective new uniform designs (the US military does that too every several decades), and ultimately decided not to proceed with that uniform design due to bad feedback from the ranks.

 

[FormerLurker]

In my "head canon", Star Trek: TMP takes place during a time where Starfleet were piloting prospective new uniform designs (the US military does that too every several decades), and ultimately decided not to proceed with that uniform design due to bad feedback from the ranks.

Said feedback being complaints about unrestrained Decker units.

 

[Riley]

The less said about the space jammies, the better. Kirk's two-toned uniform was the only good looking one in TMP.

The monster maroons were cool but just seemed hopelessly antiquated / complex for 23rd Century shipboard life. Maybe as a dress uniform, but not a duty uniform.

I think the best option would have been some stylish upgrades of the TOS uniforms. The later-era TNG uniforms were decent as well, once they got away from the one-pieces.

Agreed on Kirk's two-toned uniform. If I had any PhotoShop skills (or PhotoShop, for that matter) I'd change the white in Kirk's uniform to gold/green and the rest would be black, including the pants. I'd also get rid of the scanner and replace it with a belt. That would have made for a nice update to the TOS uniforms.

 

[morf]

TMP uniforms have (as far as I remember) were only ever used for that production and then never seen again in any filmed Trek film or otherwise. But in universe, has it ever been said in any Trek novel or encyclopedia or what have you how long Starfleet used those uniforms before switching over to the red ones seen in the rest of the original cast films?

I believe the radiation suits that the engineering crew wore in TMP were used in TWOK as well.

Agreed on Kirk's two-toned uniform. If I had any PhotoShop skills (or PhotoShop, for that matter) I'd change the white in Kirk's uniform to gold/green and the rest would be black, including the pants. I'd also get rid of the scanner and replace it with a belt. That would have made for a nice update to the TOS uniforms.

The scanners looked weird on the uniforms.

If the shirts were shortened to waist length and the pants were black instead, and no more scanners, that might have made the uniforms more attractive.

The short sleeve shirts were a nice addition to the uniform ensemble. The white and beige colored shirts didn't look that bad either.

The maroons were gorgeous. But could be stuffy especially with the turtlenecks underneath, I would guess. It looked more appropriate as a dress uniform. Despite it's faults, the TMP uniforms did seem more suitable as a duty uniform.

 

[Pauln6]

I believe the radiation suits that the engineering crew wore in TMP were used in TWOK as well.


The scanners looked weird on the uniforms.

If the shirts were shortened to waist length and the pants were black instead, and no more scanners, that might have made the uniforms more attractive.

The short sleeve shirts were a nice addition to the uniform ensemble. The white and beige colored shirts didn't look that bad either.

The maroons were gorgeous. But could be stuffy especially with the turtlenecks underneath, I would guess. It looked more appropriate as a dress uniform. Despite it's faults, the TMP uniforms did seem more suitable as a duty uniform.

If you look at modern Trek, a lot of uniforms take inspiration from the TMP aesthetic.

I think all they needed was padded shoulders and a collar like the Admiral uniform. Black or dark grey trousers and separate boots. You basically end up with two piece TNG season 4 uniforms with a lighter colour scheme.

I like the concept of the buckles although something to make them less clunky might be good. I prefer the buckles to the more magical let's inject you with something that does the same job as the buckles, because if you could do that, you would do it all the time as standard. No more missing crewmen, no more intruders sneaking past security scanners on the ship, no more lost communicators. About a third of Trek plots just got ruined.

 

[Warped9]

Except for the one-piece jumpsuits I much preferred the TMP design over the ridiculous maroons that followed. The TMP design felt like an evolution from the TOS era. And they looked more like Star Trek than the Buckingham Palace outfits we got later.

But it needs to be said the TMP design works only if you have people with decent physiques in them. The maroon design did a better job of veiling or at least minimizing the less than ideal physiques of the aging main cast.

 

[Q'OrnamentalDeqor]

The less said about the space jammies, the better. Kirk's two-toned uniform was the only good looking one in TMP.

So if I wrote a poem, sonnet, haiku, and 10page glowing review on a costume ordering e-tailer site of "the Studio 54 all-you-can-see-jammies style uniforms", it'd be worse? ...check that, I think you might be right, especially when pausing the movie in at least two distinct timeframes... the movie may have had imagination applied, but there ain't none of that left for what the costumes left for viewers to ponder on...

The monster maroons were cool but just seemed hopelessly antiquated / complex for 23rd Century shipboard life. Maybe as a dress uniform, but not a duty uniform.

I'll second that. They do look fantastic but are bulky and not as practicable for the day-to-day work.

I think the best option would have been some stylish upgrades of the TOS uniforms. The later-era TNG uniforms were decent as well, once they got away from the one-pieces.

As much as I didn't initially like the return to the R-Y-B motif in 1987, I'll concede it's iconic -- and something other than the woolly mammoth outfits had to be made for the busy nature of TV production back then. The season 3 outfits really added the polishing touches on what started out as decent designs, if you could overlook the stretchy material known for retaining all the delightful odors from a 10~18-hour filming day under nice hot bright lights... eww... must have been dreadful for a lot of filming sessions...

 

[SantaTom]

You will never convince me that the monster maroons were not the best uniform design to ever come out of Star Trek.

 

[Warped9]

I wouldn’t try to convince you. They just look dumb and they don’t look Star Trek.

 

[tim0122]

You will never convince me that the monster maroons were not the best uniform design to ever come out of Star Trek.

I like the maroon uniforms. My favorite uniforms, though, are the First Contact ones.

 

[Uxi]

Monster maroons are the best uniforms period. Runner up is the DS9 jump suits. If doing it over, might have suggested that the Maroons kept TOS colors for their undershirts (gold for command, red for security and engineering, blue for sciences and maybe introduce the teal or ochre) but am not disappointed at all in the existing colors (only the screwup they did on Valeris).

TMP pajamas go right with TNG pajamas that took them a few seasons to fix (the collars, etc) though they were always inconsistent with the zippers that were in the front for obvious guest stars.

 

[Uxi]

I prefer the buckles to the more magical let's inject you with something that does the same job as the buckles, because if you could do that, you would do it all the time as standard. No more missing crewmen, no more intruders sneaking past security scanners on the ship, no more lost communicators. About a third of Trek plots just got ruined.

Maroons did that already with the intruder thing (and presumably location) with the "security device" on the back of the shoulder clasp.

 

[SantaTom]

I like the maroon uniforms. My favorite uniforms, though, are the First Contact ones.

The First Contact ones are nice, and I liked when DS9 switched over to them. Good continuity there. However, I prefer the brighter color of the monster maroons. My second favorite would probably be the TNG uniforms of seasons 3-7.

 

[FormerLurker]

If doing it over, might have suggested that the Maroons kept TOS colors for their undershirts (gold for command, red for security and engineering, blue for sciences and maybe introduce the teal or ochre)

I like this idea better than the jackets being colored by division. This way, they can remove the jacket where possible and have an updated version of the TOS uniform.