Trek's catsuit problem with female actresses

[Bad Thoughts]

Unless you're a part of a uninformed service and your "sexy" outfit makes no sense. Then whatever supposed sex appeal is lost in ridiculousness.

And yet the outfit Troi donned in Chains of Command is still more like a catsuit than the two piece suit the men wear as a uniform. It is a one piece outfit with stretchy fabric which, although not being entirely skin tight, emphasizes women's physique in the way the men's does not. And then it still has the Starfleet Industrial Strength Bra, as Sirtis herself called it. The daily uniform for women is still about sex. Compare that to the daily service uniforms worn by men and women in modern militaries, which look like small alterations of each other, if not the same,

Ultimately, putting Troi in the Starfleet uniform was not as big a step as we make it out to be. She looked more professional, but the sex appeal was still dialed up.

 

[Orphalesion]

The TPTB better not dare make Captain Angel an one-off character. I found her more interesting than many of the "main" characters over the years.

Before the reveal maybe.
Afterwards they were a cackling Saturday morning cartoon villain and not particularly well acted either.

 

[Qonundrum]

Yeah, those outfits definitely call out "I'm from the 80s."

Which in some ways was an entertaining decade when it came to clothing. Well, usually.... The mid- to late-80s did often take a step backward. Looking like one's gearing up for gymnastics class was one such step backward.

I've had to wear Depends (or actually, the generic equivalent). Most recently when I was preparing for and recovering from my prostate biopsy (the former to avoid soiling my boxers with aftereffects from the required enema; the latter to avoid bleeding on my boxers) Not fun. Not especially comfortable. Not especially convenient. And after about the third visit to the convenience on a single pair, they don't stay up very well.

That said (and assuming nobody else has brought it up) Roddenberry did have a libido almost the size of Trump's.

Wowzers. Sounds painful. How long did it take to recover, if you do not mind my asking?

I'm not there yet either for biopsy or general age-driven reasons, but the latter is a normal inevitability. I've read making-of books that resort to describing things as "nappies" (British equivalent of "diaper") by people who are easily 20 years my senior...

If we are talking “catsuits” in sci-fi…let us not forget Erin Grey in Buck Rodgers. The stuff she wore was as tight or tighter that what Ryan, Sirtis, et al wore.

as for the T’Pol casting thing…does that really surprise anyone? I don’t doubt decisions like that still happen. It sucks but it’s not all that surprising.

And 1960s Catwoman, who - as with Seven - had to be sewn into the costume...

 

[Nombrecomun]

The TPTB better not dare make Captain Angel an one-off character. I found her more interesting than many of the "main" characters over the years (no, not because of how she's dressed). I think she'd make a good recurring character.

While a bit over the top, I tend to agree. And I do think they left things set up for a likely return. She is hella charismatic for sure.

She's sort of a different take on the classic mustached twirling villain, which would be quite laughable, but she makes it work.

*them and *they

I read on Memory Alpha that she goes by feminine pronouns. I don't know the veracity of that site though. Has she said elsewhere that she prefers non-gendered pronouns?

 

[Jinn]

I read on Memory Alpha that she goes by feminine pronouns. I don't know the veracity of that site though. Has she said elsewhere that she prefers non-gendered pronouns?

Jesse James Keitel, who plays Angel goes by she/her. The character is exclusively referred to by they/them in the episode, both before and after the reveal. MA is really not very good covering non-binary people, I wouldn‘t trust them in that regard.

 

[Nombrecomun]

Jesse James Keitel, who plays Angel goes by she/her. The character is exclusively referred to by they/them in the episode, both before and after the reveal. MA is really not very good covering non-binary people, I wouldn‘t trust them in that regard.

Ahhh....you were referring to the character. Got it. I totally missed the 'they/them' in the ep referring to the character. Gonna have to watch again!

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Can only speak for myself, but the catsuits for Seven and T'Pol took a lot of the natural hotness of Ryan and Blalock away and made them look less sexy

To a lesser extend that's also true for Marina after "Encounter at Farpoint", before Troi finally got back into Uniform in Season 6

 

[Finn]

*them and *they

I hadn't heard that. I don't recall the pronouns in that episode, though I think they had assumed the leader was a guy. But i'm happy to adjust my post.

 

[Trekker09]

Seems like it wasn’t just Trek women in revealing outfits-- some of the men’s costumes were even more daring/embarrassing -- Kirk’s red gym pants in “Charlie X,” Will Decker’s blue jumpsuit in TMP, the Edo guys’ bikinis in TNG “Justice,” John Doe’s white bodysuit in “Transfigurations,” Trent and Riker’s codpieces in “Angel One,” etc.

 

[valkyrie013]

*them and *they

She goes by Her in 2022. Did go by They/them before. I did search before I posted. Wikipedia and her own Instagram.

 

[Jinn]

She goes by Her in 2022. Did go by They/them before. I did search before I posted. Wikipedia and her own Instagram.

I‘m referring to the character, as did the poster I was originally quoting.

 

[valkyrie013]

I‘m referring to the character, as did the poster I was originally quoting.

Ah apologies.

 

[Lord Garth]

Kirk’s red gym pants in “Charlie X,”

Kirk's red leggings in "Charlie X". Just say it.

"Gym pants" make me think of sweatpants or swishies.

 

[fireproof78]

Ultimately, putting Troi in the Starfleet uniform was not as big a step as we make it out to be. She looked more professional, but the sex appeal was still dialed up.

Because ultimately these outfits are not designed with professional standards but presentation. What looks best on screen, based upon artistic preference over real world practically.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Kirk's red leggings in "Charlie X". Just say it.

"Gym pants" make me think of sweatpants or swishies.

We're men
We're men in tights
We roam around the forest looking for fights.

 

[Delta Vega]

I couldn't give a flying fuck what the costume department dug out for the women, or men in the past.
It's trivial, if a female performer didn't like the costume she could quite simply open her mouth and draw attention to the fact that she wasn't comfortable.
Blalok in particular wasn't shy of doing sexy photoshoots for magazines in her prime, so I would take any complaints about her catsuit, years after filming, with a pinch of salt.
As has been mentioned, what about Kirk's gymn attire in Charlie X?
Wasn't that a trifle sexualised?
What about the plank of wood, Decker, in TMP?
His John Thomas was clearly on display in almost every scene he was in.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Wowzers. Sounds painful. How long did it take to recover, if you do not mind my asking?

I'm not there yet either for biopsy or general age-driven reasons, but the latter is a normal inevitability. I've read making-of books that resort to describing things as "nappies" (British equivalent of "diaper") by people who are easily 20 years my senior...

Sherman, set they WayBack Machine for about a year ago. My doctor added a PSA to my annual bloodwork. And the result came back elevated. He ordered a second PSA, and when that came back elevated, he referred me to a urologist.

Last Spring. The urologist did an ultrasound examination and a DRE, and declared that my prostate was "enormous" (my cousin who's a phlebotomist, when I told her, suggested I use that as a pick-up line), and ordered another PSA (still elevated), then a prostate MRI. If you've never had an MRI, imagine spending an hour, alone, with a rubber bulb in your hand for a pneumatically-actuated "chicken switch," on a motorized table being racked in and out of a very large machine. Even with earplugs, it's quite noisy. Imagine a Philip Glass concert, at heavy metal volume levels. And in the other arm (in the same vein wherein I'd had multiple blood draws, over the prior three months), a rather heavy IV line, for a remotely-controlled gadolinium bolus (for contrast, in the final imaging runs). I was rather surprised that unlike everything else I'd ever had given to me intravenously (e.g., the very light doses of sedatives while I was having my colonoscopies done), this was not given through a TKO drip of either D5 or Ringer's; this was just a tube connected to a pump.

The MRI looked good, but not conclusively so, and so I was back to the urologist in the fall, my PSA still elevated, scheduled for a biopsy. Thankfully, he prefers the transperineal approach, rather than transrectal: the infection risk from transperineal, even with no prophylactic antibiotics, is much lower than with transrectal (even with aggressive prophylactic antibiotic use).

Spoiler: From here on, it gets a bit graphic. Reader discretion advised

So after an enema (and yes, Harvey Korman's "Dr. Seward" from Dracula: Dead and Loving It was right, it does give one a feeling of accomplishment), I changed into a hospital gown, gave the doctor a small stack of color laser prints of funny medical memes I'd created, and climbed up onto a table (there were stairs alongside). I noticed some of the instruments, including something that vaguely reminded me of a dentist's lidocaine syringe, only with an extremely long needle. Flat on my back, with my legs in stirrups (he did have to make an adjustment to reduce the turnout: I'm not a ballet dancer!), and my privates lifted out of the way with a long strip of tape, I presented unobstructed access to both my perineum and my ass. Then a sonar head (in a condom) went up my ass, so the doctor could see what he was doing (unfortunately, unlike my colonoscopies, I had no view of the screen). He anesthetized my perineum, and while the lidocaine was taking effect, he demonstrated the snapping noise made by the biopsy needle. Finally, he began first using the lidocaine gun to anesthetize the prostate itself, and then going in with the biopsy needle. Over the course of some 20-30 minutes, he removed some 20-odd cores from my prostate, while one of the two nurses assisting him packaged them up for the pathologist, labeling them according to whence they'd come. The whole time, I was telling them stories about my previous medical adventures, cracking off-color jokes, and occasionally grunting in pain.

Then I got up, pulled on a pair of Depends, and changed back into my street clothes, and went to lunch.

I didn't bleed from the perineum for very long, nor out my ass at all, but with my prostate in a Swiss cheese state, I did bleed from my penis when urinating, defecating, and doing anything that put even modest strain on that area, so I was in Depends for well over a week. And I found that I was coming in unusual colors (there's got to be a very "blue" one-liner in that!) for well over a month. Thankfully, I'd been told to expect all of that, so it wasn't especially alarming.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

It's trivial, if a female performer didn't like the costume she could quite simply open her mouth and draw attention to the fact that she wasn't comfortable.

Well, the TNG men complained about the one-piece uniform they wore in thr first few seasons, especially because of the back pain in caused, and it was changed. I don't know if the cut of the women's uniform was redone, but it was still a one piece.

 

[Orphalesion]

Seems like it wasn’t just Trek women in revealing outfits-- some of the men’s costumes were even more daring/embarrassing -- Kirk’s red gym pants in “Charlie X,” Will Decker’s blue jumpsuit in TMP, the Edo guys’ bikinis in TNG “Justice,” John Doe’s white bodysuit in “Transfigurations,” Trent and Riker’s codpieces in “Angel One,” etc.

And of course that's the same thing as Troi, Seven and T'Pol wearing ridiculously revealing jumpsuits in every single episode.
Totally.

 

[Tuskin38]

Well, the TNG men complained about the one-piece uniform they wore in thr first few seasons, especially because of the back pain in caused, and it was changed. I don't know if the cut of the women's uniform was redone, but it was still a one piece.

I thought it was just Patrick Stewart because of his doctor saying it was damaging his back?