Why did they ever make the change to the gray topped uniforms in FC?

[Andymator]

Re: Why did they ever make the change to the gray topped uniforms in F

This is from a lifelong viewer of Trek, as well as a fan.

The original uniforms for TOS wisely used the black collar in order to draw the viewer's eye from the tunics to the actor's faces. I'm glad they did not use the Voyager uniforms--I found myself with every episode staring at the distracting, bright collars rather than at the faces of the actors who wore the uniforms.

That doesn't make much sense though. You were distracted by the bright colors on the shoulders of the DS9/Voyager uniforms... but not by the bright colors on the shoulders of the TOS ones?

The irony is that it actually WAS intentional on the DS9/Voy costumes for the very reason you identify in the TOS ones; in medium shots you want to draw the eye up to the actors face, not down. With the black full body you don't get distracted by details and color, just a nice clean sillhouette, and then the colored flourish on the top brings your eyes up to where they should be. For close ups it makes no difference as the framing is incredibly specific to what you should be paying attention to.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: Why did they ever make the change to the gray topped uniforms in F

This also applies to the later movies and DS9, but I was always curious why they decided to change to those dull gray uniforms with the colors only showing up on their collars and their sleeves.

I dunno, because they looked like drab jogging outfits that needed laundering.

 

[Lynx]

Re: Why did they ever make the change to the gray topped uniforms in F

This also applies to the later movies and DS9, but I was always curious why they decided to change to those dull gray uniforms with the colors only showing up on their collars and their sleeves.

I've often wondered about that.

Talk about an unnecessary change. I think that those new uniforms are dull compared to those in TNG, DS9 and Voyager. Maybe the change has something to do with the "doom and gloom" trend which we have to stand in almost all SF-series and movies today.

 

[arch101]

Re: Why did they ever make the change to the gray topped uniforms in F

Something I always thought was neat about the FC uniforms, was that when the jacket was taken off it left a solid color tunic that seemed like a throwback to the TOS style uniforms, with darker colors.

Yes. I think it was "Rocks and Shoals", several of the crew are jacket less and wearing their com badges on their shirts and I couldn't help but notice how TOS they looked.

Overall, the grey & black uniforms are terrific. My favorite after the TMP uniforms (I know I'm opening myself to serious jest there) I remember more than one movie reviewer mentioning in '96 that the actors looked like they were wearing "serious clothes", and weren't dressed so comic-booky. I also liked the versatility. You could barely tell the difference between a one-piece overall, as Riker often wore, and the two-piece like Picard usually wore.