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What do those uniform colors mean, anyway?!

According to Theiss, and every internal memo that mentions the color, and women’s wardrobe Andrea Weaver, the color was green in real life. In fact, Weaver told me the blue dyes in LA at that time were unstable so the colors of the fabrics tended to change over time, so what the surviving costumes look like now is not necessarily what they looked like then.

Make of that what you will.

And in the remastered prints, especially on HD and Blu-Ray, you can see the green tint of the tunics more.
 
I'm with Zap on this one. No matter what color the shirts "really" were, we're dealing with a secondary/tertiary color here that can easily tip one way or another. Any color reproduction system—film, video, computer-to-print—is going to have variance from one end of the pipeline to the other. NTSC (old US video standard) was jokingly referred to as "Never The Same Color" by many in the industry. (Don't even get me started on PAL—the red-blue flicker of whites would have driven me crazy if I'd grown up in the UK.) I have backstage photos of the TOS trio on lunch breaks and the like, and Kirk's shirt looks unambiguously yellow. But that's color timing. Film isn't any more perfect than electronic systems.
Interesting, I also have photos of backstage lunch engagements between Shatner and Nimoy in color but what I have he's wearing the wraparound tunic.
 
Interesting, I also have photos of backstage lunch engagements between Shatner and Nimoy in color but what I have he's wearing the wraparound tunic.
I've always liked that wrap-around shirt. Captain's casual. Side-by-side with the other command shirts, I imagine the wrap-around was more prominently green. Aside from its design, it gave the captain his own distinct color.

Now, if I wanted to start a real nerd war, I'd ask what color Mr. Spock's skin is. And for that matter, why would an Orion woman wear red lipstick?
 
I'd like to say one thing, off topic: it's possible to confuse Command Division with being in command of people, with being the boss. I'm pretty sure it really refers to matters like steering the ship.

If a ship is adrift without human control, they say the vessel is not under command. I think that's what the Command color uniforms are all about, having a hand in where the ship is going.
 
Not following, sorry.

In black and white, with no context or powers-that-be explaining what uniforms mean, the red uniforms stand out as having a lower value (darker shade of gray) than the yellow and blue uniforms (lighter shade of gray, roughly equivalent). So someone watching Trek in B&W in the day might assume that light uniforms are the equivalent of chambrai, and darker uniforms the equivalent of enlisted fatigues. Of course, the darker uniform wearers include folks with high ranks (Lieutenant Uhura, Lt. Commander Scott) so one would quickly have to come up with another theory for distinguishing them.

I imagine the little arrowhead insignia, while great in closeup, would be so tiny on the typical small screen that I wonder if folks really noticed the differences until they were pointed out to them.
 
Just put two and two together. Riley's previous assignment in Engineering explains how Riley knew Engineering so well to be able to seal the doors, take control of ship communications and turn off the engines in The Naked Time. During the The Naked Time, he is acting as the ship's Navigator (promotion to gold shirt "Command Division" job). After The Naked Time, Kirk may have transferred Riley (after demonstrating his masterful skills over ship communications) to Communications as found later in The Conscience of the King. Why is he still wearing the gold shirt? Maybe Communication Officers are not color (division) dependent, after all, over the series we see all shirt colors sit in on the Communications Station. Memory Alpha says, "The role of communications officer (also known as comm officer) was a specialized occupation held by crewmembers aboard Starfleet vessels, installations, and bases. Found across multiple divisions, the individuals holding the position were held responsible for managing all incoming and outgoing transmissions, whether they were visual, audio, or text communications."

That makes sense. We did notice the nice bit of continuity, that Riley knew all about engineering because he'd been there. Of course, we know now that this was a happy accident as Bruce Hyde wasn't hired to play Riley but a differently named character.
 
^1968's The Making of Star Trek was pretty clear: "Command," "Science" and "Engineering and Ship's Services." But I personally didn't have access to that book till I was a little older.

Is it in the writing bible, too?
 
I've always liked that wrap-around shirt. Captain's casual. Side-by-side with the other command shirts, I imagine the wrap-around was more prominently green. Aside from its design, it gave the captain his own distinct color.

Now, if I wanted to start a real nerd war, I'd ask what color Mr. Spock's skin is. And for that matter, why would an Orion woman wear red lipstick?

A friend of mine used to be Roddenberry's secretary. She got a call from a fan asking what color Spock's...Pon Farr organ was. Turned out Nimoy was visiting the office that day, and he confirmed that it is, in fact, green.
 
I'd like to say one thing, off topic: it's possible to confuse Command Division with being in command of people, with being the boss. I'm pretty sure it really refers to matters like steering the ship.

If a ship is adrift without human control, they say the vessel is not under command. I think that's what the Command color uniforms are all about, having a hand in where the ship is going.

Though next week, on Balance of Terror, we will see phaser control people wearing yellow, too. (we just saw the trailer last night, and everybody perked up. "Whoa! There are weapons on the Enterprise! We're gonna see a real space battle?")
 
Though next week, on Balance of Terror, we will see phaser control people wearing yellow, too. (we just saw the trailer last night, and everybody perked up. "Whoa! There are weapons on the Enterprise! We're gonna see a real space battle?")
This one will be most interesting to see their reaction to.
 
A friend of mine used to be Roddenberry's secretary. She got a call from a fan asking what color Spock's...Pon Farr organ was. Turned out Nimoy was visiting the office that day, and he confirmed that it is, in fact, green.

Was it Susan Sackett?
 
So someone watching Trek in B&W in the day might assume that light uniforms are the equivalent of chambrai, and darker uniforms the equivalent of enlisted fatigues.

Chambrai/chambray as in navy enlisted dungarees shirts?
 
I've always liked that wrap-around shirt. Captain's casual. Side-by-side with the other command shirts, I imagine the wrap-around was more prominently green. Aside from its design, it gave the captain his own distinct color.

Now, if I wanted to start a real nerd war, I'd ask what color Mr. Spock's skin is. And for that matter, why would an Orion woman wear red lipstick?
Not only that was green, the dress uniform was green as well, and I agree it did give the Captain their own distinct color and has less of a kids pajama color feel like yellow.
 
@Neopeius please consolidate your replies into one post with the multi-quote function, rather than posting 5 times in a row.

Thanks

I will endeavor to do that, thank you.

Out of curiosity, what's the rationale for that rule? Is it easier on the servers to have fewer posts in the database?

Chambrai/chambray as in navy enlisted dungarees shirts?

I might have the terms confused. I had thought the chambray was the khaki. My grandfather in WW2 was a Petty Officer -- talked about how when he wore chambray, no one knew if he was an officer or not, and people around him propagated the myth that he was. Colonels stepped aside for him. :)
 
I might have the terms confused. I had thought the chambray was the khaki.

Chambray is light blue cotton, a mix of blue and white threads. Standard working men's wear in the early 20th century, from which we get the term "blue collar."

My grandfather in WW2 was a Petty Officer -- talked about how when he wore chambray, no one knew if he was an officer or not, and people around him propagated the myth that he was. Colonels stepped aside for him.

This was the US Navy?
 
I will endeavor to do that, thank you.

Out of curiosity, what's the rationale for that rule? Is it easier on the servers to have fewer posts in the database?
You can find it on the rules for posting found here (link), but the item in question is:

- Post no more than twice in a row. This is so you don't dominate a discussion/thread. Use the quote function if you need to answer multiple posts aimed at you.
The multiquote's actually easy to use. :)
 
Chambray is light blue cotton, a mix of blue and white threads. Standard working men's wear in the early 20th century, from which we get the term "blue collar."
To be accurate, chambray from a textile POV is a cotton or line fabric where:
a) the weave is simple (warp over waft then under waft then over waft again)* and
b) the warp is dyed and the waft is white.**
I've owned (and still own) chambray shirts that are not blue.

However, blue has been and still is the ubiquitous chambray color, so much so that it is a Pantone color with RGB hex code 9eb4d3.

*(as opposed to denim, which is warp over two waft, then under one waft, then over two waft.)
**(denim also has a dyed warp and white waft.)
 
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