TWOK uniforms : original badge design

[Botany Bay]

From the ANOVOS team (makers of high end costume replicas) :

As originally designed, the uniform would have only featured the classic symbol on the belt buckle. The insignia on the chest would have been a stylized representation of the planet Earth, and that insignia was the long gold oval that eventually became the backing board for the two piece badge. How is it a pictograph of Earth? Well, the starburst in the center is our sun, the lavender/blue sections represent Earth’s sky and oceans, and the ivory/white field are the clouds that surround our world. Oh, and that little dot over there in the corner? That’s our Moon. Cool huh? This insignia and the concept behind it was designed by Mike Minor and Wrath of Khan costume designer Robert Fletcher, but it was Star Trek II director Nicholas Meyer who decided that it needed to have a "Starfleet Delta Shield" on top.

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about your favourite film of all time.

 

[Maurice]

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about your favourite film of all time.

Not MY favorite film of all time. Not even my favorite Trek film.

Interesting trivia tho.

 

[Runetouch]

The Wrath of Khan uniforms are my favourite Star Trek uniforms of all time. First Contact/DS9's were good, but I love TWoK uniforms the most.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

That's cool. I've never heard that one. I've long wondered why the back piece was there and particularly why the seemingly arbitrary dot was there.

 

[J.T.B.]

Interesting. I never really liked that badge, it just seemed like another arbitrary doo-dad added to an already cluttered-up uniform. It does raise the question of why Spock and other alien Starfleet personnel would wear an Earth badge, though.

 

[drt]

That's cool. I've never heard that one. I've long wondered why the back piece was there and particularly why the seemingly arbitrary dot was there.

Back in the day, I had decided they were the new design (and location) of the perscan devices from TMP.

 

[AshGL1914]

The Enterprise carries an Earth registry and Earth also happens to be the seat of government for the UFP. In this case then the officer's chest badge serves as an identifier for the home of the Enterprise just as the shoulder patch on the Wrath of Khan field jacket shows our solar system.

 

[Therin of Andor]

why the seemingly arbitrary dot was there.

Me too. My own theory was that the backing section was a miniaturization of ST:TMP's black Perscan buckle (which supposedly measured biorhythms and sent vital info back to the sick bay's computer), which similarly had a round button on one side and squares on the other.

Back in the day, I had decided they were the new design (and location) of the perscan devices from TMP.

Ha! Great minds think alike!

 

[F. King Daniel]

I just figured the costume designer or director wanted a Trekified version of an Air Force pin on a Canadian Mountie uniform.

 

[Botany Bay]

And more from ANOVOS on the TWOK uniforms :

When costumer Robert Fletcher designed the uniforms for Star Trek II he was asked to provide not so much a costume, but rather a “real” uniform with all of the complexity of something designed in the 23rd century. One of the ideas he came up with was that the uniform itself would signal to the ship’s computer if the wearer was permitted access to vital areas of a starship. And so Bob created the “Security Device”; that nifty doodad on the back of all the officer’s uniforms in the film. Nearly every character’s is different and they were created from of all things the wheels of World War II tank model kits. Using a modeling technique called “Kit bashing” the costume department took different sizes and shapes of wheels and gears and recombined them into the various “Security Devices” seen throughout the Star Trek films starring the Original cast.

 

[Therin of Andor]

And more from ANOVOS on the TWOK uniforms :

And so Bob created the “Security Device”; that nifty doodad on the back of all the officer’s uniforms in the film. Nearly every character’s is different and they were created from of all things the wheels of World War II tank model kits.

Which was incredibly frustrating when we were trying to replicate the costumes for ST II's Australian premiere night, based only on small photos in the "Starlog Movie Magazine"! We settled on rectangular handbag clasps for the front of our uniform straps and oval handbag clasps, without the clasp, for the backs.

A few years later, when Lincoln Enterprises started selling doodads which they claimed were screen accurate, of course they looked nothing like the ones we had been attempting to study. It helps to know there were many different ones.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I had no idea the WoK uni's had this security thingie. And I've seen those films a million times.

 

[dub]

This is all new to me! Is there an image of what the TWOK badge actually looks like without the Starfleet insignia on top?

 

[SpHeRe31459]

And more from ANOVOS on the TWOK uniforms :

When costumer Robert Fletcher designed the uniforms for Star Trek II he was asked to provide not so much a costume, but rather a “real” uniform with all of the complexity of something designed in the 23rd century. One of the ideas he came up with was that the uniform itself would signal to the ship’s computer if the wearer was permitted access to vital areas of a starship. And so Bob created the “Security Device”; that nifty doodad on the back of all the officer’s uniforms in the film. Nearly every character’s is different and they were created from of all things the wheels of World War II tank model kits. Using a modeling technique called “Kit bashing” the costume department took different sizes and shapes of wheels and gears and recombined them into the various “Security Devices” seen throughout the Star Trek films starring the Original cast.

I've seen those on the backs of the actors and kind of wondered about them, but I hadn't really noticed they were all different, and that they had an intended function is new to me.

Was this ever documented anywhere? like a fanzine tech manual? I don't remember this detail being in Mr. Scott's Guide for example (but it's been a long time since I've looked at it).

 

[drt]

I have never seen it mentioned anywhere before - I think the costume dept dreamed it up, then never told anyone.

 

[Shat Happens]

I'd like to see that page. What is "ANOVOS"?

 

[urbandefault]

I'd like to see that page. What is "ANOVOS"?

http://www.anovos.com/

Licensed replica uniforms and doodads.

 

[Therin of Andor]

This is all new to me! Is there an image of what the TWOK badge actually looks like without the Starfleet insignia on top?

Yep. When It's a Wrap! was auctioning insignias, there were a few that had fallen apart. And there is a still of someone's (in ST VI - Kirk's?), where it has been reassembled upside down in a few sequences (the dot is on the lower left, not upper right.

The one that David Marcus wears in ST III was revealed in It's a Wrap! pics as a different-but-similar citizen's version without the Starfleet insignia.

Was this ever documented anywhere? like a fanzine tech manual? I don't remember this detail...

Nope.

It took a while for definitive info on all the rank insignias for ST II-VI to filter out, too. I recall ordering a set of resin insignias from Intergalactic Trading Post or Star Tech in January 1984 and the card they came fastened to was labelled. Until then, it was all guesswork, from ranks identifed onscreen by dialog.

The trapezoidal "chief" epaulette badges worn by Rand in TMP were wrongly identified by several mail order catalogs as being for the back of the flaps in the ST II uniforms, as were some round UFP badges - but, of course, it is possible they were both used as "security doodads" if there were so many variations in use.

 

[TheWelshPirate]

I think the costume dept dreamed it up, then never told anyone.

I think that is probably the case. In TWoK, David wanders on to the bridge as easy as you please in the middle of a battle situation. So unless somebody handed him an all-access security device to pin on his preppy sweater-scarf, my guess is that the writers and/or directors either didn't know about that little tidbit or decided that it just wasn't worth caring about.

 

[Therin of Andor]

So unless somebody handed him an all-access security device to pin on his preppy sweater-scarf...

No, David's pin is on the jacket he wears in ST III, when he was on an official exploration mission with Saavik.

Found it in my files!:


Marcus' citizen research pin by Therin of Andor, on Flickr.
Top: assorted Starfleet pins. Centre and below: Citizen research pin worn by Dr David Marcus in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

From the "It's a Wrap!" auction listings: "A metal badge appearing on researcher costumes in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, specifically on the costume of 'Dr. David Marcus' (Merritt Butrick). The item is pin backed, molded from gold colored metal with a slight curve. Its raised features include three hashes, four dots, and an off side rectangular feature. The hashes are meant to appear on the left side. The non raised portion is painted red. One dot and one hash are painted green. The items were never explained and could indicate rank, division, diploma, discipline or anything else. The item measures approx. 2.75 X 0.75 inches."

my guess is that the writers and/or directors either didn't know about that little tidbit or decided that it just wasn't worth caring about.

The writers wouldn't be caring about pins. That's a job for Wardrobe, in consultation with the director's underlings and the costume designer.

One of the pins sold by the old catalogs as supposedly being for the back of the strap "security" pin is depicted in the separate image at the top of the combined Marcus graphics. It was worn by the character Samno in ST VI, and is depicted with his name badges.