Why do they never take their uniforms off?

[Ethros]

I was recently watching a random TNG episode, Qpid, and there's a scene where Picard is with Vash in his quarters, and Dr Crusher shows up as they usually meet for breakfast. But rather than her normal uniform she's just a nice blue sweater.

I just really liked this little touch, as that's one thing that always seems off, is the crews of all 5 Trek shows seem to (99% of the time) never wear anything except their uniforms. Most importantly, even in their off hours.


How drab would it be to literally wear the same thing day in day out. When I get home from a long shift the first I want to do is change. Who are these people who go hang out in Ten Forward for the night and leave their uniforms on?


The Voyager crew especially seemed to wear nothing but.
Another episode I watched recently was VOY 5.01 Night, where the crew are flying through are starless void for two years, and they're all bored with nothing to do, hanging out in the mess hall... still in uniform!!


Well ok, I guess TNG did have a few background artists with civilian clothes, but I'm mainly talking about our main cast members. Ha, its just a little annoyance of mine when watching Trek. Did the producers think us fickle audience members would be unable to recognise the actors if they weren't donned in their usual Starfleet attire?

 

[scotpens]

Any of you military/Navy people want to weigh in on this? What’s the dress policy for general duty, off-duty hours, shore leave, et cetera?

 

[Star Wolf]

It has evolved over the years from WWII when you were never off duty and in civilian clothes to today when you "must" wear civilian clothes in some situations but there is still a dress code.

 

[MacLeod]

I don't always change my clothes after getting home from work.

 

[captcalhoun]

it's cheaper to just use the uniforms instead of multiple costumes, plus it also saves trying to predict future fashions - which NEVER ends well - and also avoids any potential issues with branded clothing - y'know, which brands will survive and which won't or product placement accusations. plus which, product placement in Trek is all kinds of wrong.

 

[MacLeod]

^True, also why they don't use pop music, as it would instantly date the show (well more so that a show would date normally)

 

[Star Wolf]

In the mid eighties we were allowed to stop for gas and milk, but any extended shopping off base was to be done in civilian clothes even if everyone in Junction City knew we were soldiers. Aboard a ship with more limited storage space per sailor I can see problems, but Starfleet with instant replication would not have that problem

 

[Ethros]

In regards to the military/Navy thing, true that would apply to the Enterprise's in Trek, but with DS9 and (because of its lost nature) Voyager, they're literally home for these people too. It's not like they'll be going back to their home worlds that often.


Yeah I guess the real-universe reason is saving time and money on designing and producing civilian clothes for the actors to wear. But I just mean you hardly ever see crew not in uniform (unless for a specific episode, like the 3 Risa ones for example)
I think Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5 both did this a lot more often

 

[Count Zero]

In ENT at least Archer was pretty often seen in civilian clothes, sometimes even on the bridge. But then, the clothes of this era were close to what we wear today so you didn't have to design futuristic looking clothes (like they did for TNG and the other modern Trek shows). It might be slightly unrealistic (though, on the other hand, I know that GDR soldiers had to always wear uniform if they went to town and such) but I don't find it jarring or anything. Maybe the uniforms are really comfy?

 

[Ethros]

For fun can people think of some example when we saw the crews "chillaxing" in regular clothes on board? Not including holodeck time, shore leave, etc

The Sisko at the start of Way of the Warrior always springs to mind

 

[LeadHead]

I've always wished that the crew would dress differently from time to time. I really wanted during Voyager for them to alternate back and forth between TNG and early DS9/VOY uniforms. I really liked that Generations had that.

More not dressed in uniform times woulda been good.

However, I can see the reasons for not doing so. Cost and keeping track of the different costumes scene to scene. In Charlie X, Kirk is in the standard gold uniform when he enters the turbolift, then in the green wraparound when the lift reaches the bridge. And in Corbomite Maneuver McCoy went from uniform to medical shirt without moving a muscle.

 

[Draculasaurus]

We see Riker in his silky "jazz shirts" every so often.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Did the producers think us fickle audience members would be unable to recognise the actors if they weren't donned in their usual Starfleet attire?

TV series are not made for the dedicated fanbase, they are made for the general public, who may be sitting in an armchair flipping channels on their remote. Without frequent use of Starfleet uniforms, ST series start to look like a random soap opera. It's important that costuming helps to convey the spirit of an episode, and of the series as a whole, just as lighting, makeup, sets and dialogue do.

You can bet that every episode has a dedicated budget for wardrobe, and they go through every script and submit a budget. If there is money approved for creating extra costumes for a scene, they get to do it. In the scene you showed, featuring Picard and Crusher, they are conveying via costume that Picard is dressed for his work day, and having breakfast on his way to work. (Picard doesn't say, "Hello Beverly, I can't stay long beause my shift starts soon." His costume says that.) Likewise, Crusher is in her own cabin, and expecting visitors, so we all know she's off duty. (She doesn't have to say, "I wonder where the replicator is?" because the costume shows us that it's her cabin.) Had Crusher been in Starfleet uniform, too, perhaps the scene would have been more appropriately set in Ten-Foward, which brings in a whole raft of different existing and new costumes. (And is Whoopi Goldberg available this week?)

Wardrobe budget competes with all other budgets. Sometimes compromises are made.

 

[Ethros]

re Rikers silky shirts, were they his pyjamas? I forget

Thought of some others, Geordi when he's trying to woo Leah Brahms

And Kira & Jadzia at the latter's hen party (note though that Nog still wears his uniform to it)

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Voyager was definitely the worst culprit considering their situation.

 

[Zaku]

re Rikers silky shirts, were they his pyjamas?

Definitely pyjamas

 

[scotpens]

For fun can people think of some example when we saw the crews "chillaxing" in regular clothes on board? Not including holodeck time, shore leave, etc.

Janice Rand in a pink nightgown in “Charlie X” . . .

. . . and Uhura off-duty in “The Tholian Web.”

 

[T'Girl]

They would have to take off their uniforms if they anticipated having sex.

Which at least explains LaForge never getting his off (his uniform that is).

 

[jayrath]

Kirk was in gym togs once, and he lost his shirt a lot. So did Spock, once. And there were lots of coveralls in TOS. We also see many characters across all the series dressing like inhabitants of the planets they're exploring. Just in TOS there were gangster suits, togas, Nazi uniforms, 1960s streetwear and so on. Rysa was always an excuse for TNG to show recreational clothing. Picard didn't wear a uniform when he visited the family vineyard or, usually, when he played on the holodeck. Ditto the holodeck on VOY. Lots of casual clothing in "All Good Things."

 

[TerragonSix]

Any of you military/Navy people want to weigh in on this? What’s the dress policy for general duty, off-duty hours, shore leave, et cetera?

On duty, uniform. Depending on what you were doing; for example, if you are going to an important function, you wear your class A. Normal 'work' clothes for the military are fatigues (also known as BDU's). Generally, officers or personnel involved in office work wear B's. Not quite formal, not quite BDU.

'Off-duty', would be a term that I would describe as your down time in the barracks... Well... usually what happens is your overshirt is taken off, and you have a tan or black (in the air force, you had the option of wearing a black undershirt), your BDU bottom, boots. Some guys took their belts off, some would put a different kind of shirt on, which was OK, most of the time, if you had a good Sargent or Lieutenant, they didn't give you crap about that, you just made damn sure when you left the barracks, you were properly dressed again.

At night, when you went to bed, you could wear a white shirt and PT shorts. Keep in mind this is on a base stateside.

Outside of the US, whether in a foreign base of operations, or in combat zone 'firebase', I wouldn't know. The latter, from what I've heard is very loose on the grooming/uniform rules... for the most part. You already have guys fighting in combat, under a lot of stress, there is no need whatsoever to impose a bunch of mickey mouse stuff on them.

For example, it was common practice in Vietnam to paint motto's on helmet's, wear non-uniform clothing (for example, tiger stripe was NOT standard issue in Vietnam, the South Vietnamese came up with that and it was VERY popular with GI's, who wanted a better camouflage pattern than Olive Drab.

The Boonie Hat was also another non-uniform, uniform item that was popular. A Boonie Hat designed for jungle temperatures and keeping the rain off of you was better than the standard 'Baseball Cap', that NOBODY wore in battle. (If a Boonie Hat wasn't available, a bandana or do-rag was fabricated.

Incidentally, some special ops groups in those days got that stuff for free, mainly LURP teams, SEAL's, and Rangers.

For some special operation groups, the rules really don't apply at all. For example, the Operators of Delta Force do not have ANY rules in terms of uniform. They can pretty much wear what they want, have their hair as long as they want, and are left alone in that regard. I believe the SEAL's are the same way.