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William Wear Theiss: In & Out of Uniform

"How do you like them Gene?"
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I just noticed Bob Justman sitting on the far side of the couch.
 
I got him, but is that David Gerrold or Rick Berman in the middle? (taking a guess based on apparent age)

And - just watched that opening to Things to Come: very affecting! I think I'll watch the whole thing. Thanks.
 
IMO, the brilliant and influential futuristic costumes in the last act of Things to Come (1936) provide an object lesson for how to do a male skant in sci-fi.

The flying helmet OTOH, much less influential.

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Most of the costumes for the men are definitely shorts-like, but in one notable case, the father of the male astronaut, the look is definitely that of a short dress for a man, with the signature broad sweeping shoulders and cape.

Looking closer, it appears he has similar shorts, but the upper tunic or whatever you want to call it is long and covers them up.

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The flying helmet OTOH, much less influential.

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Ha! Seriously.

Looking closer, it appears he has similar shorts, but the upper tunic or whatever you want to call it is long and covers them up.

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Yeah, I agree that's a possibility. It would be completely unsurprising to me, if that were the case, because it would be as if he had elected to wear the outer tunic "closed," instead of "open" the way most of the others do.

Thank you for posting the pic.

Still, it gives the idea of what a male dress looks like, and to me it looks totally fine. There's nothing funny about it. (YMMV.)
 
Aside from the historical value, is the movie any good? I can handle old things, so y'know. . .
 
The flying helmet OTOH, much less influential.
Raymond Massey looks as if he's wearing a giant radio vacuum tube on his head.

Aside from the historical value, is the movie any good? I can handle old things, so y'know. . .
It's mainly of interest to film and sci-fi geeks. The good: The special effects are quite impressive for the time when it was made, and it has a great music score by Arthur Bliss. The bad: It's ponderous, talky and overblown. The characters don't have dialogue; they make speeches. But they do it with such impeccable BBC accents! (Even Canadian-born Raymond Massey used an RP accent so he wouldn't stick out like a sore Canadian.)
 
Looking closer, it appears he has similar shorts, but the upper tunic or whatever you want to call it is long and covers them up.
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Or it's a "skort", which Grace Lee said her mini was, but Andrea Weaver (women's wardrobe on seasons 2&3 of TOS) said was just a mini w/standard dancer's briefs underneath.
 
Aside from the historical value, is the movie any good? I can handle old things, so y'know. . .

Pretty much just historical value, I agree with scotpens. It's also the earliest movie I know of to use a post-apocalyptic setting with regressed technology.
 
I'd wear it. Cause I got fantastic legs.

In fact, this is the one uniform I've been meaning to add to my collection. I have much love for the Skant.

It's like a kilt, only without the patterning or sporran (with all the anti-cold remedy pills and other special items stored within)...
 
Pretty much just historical value, I agree with scotpens. It's also the earliest movie I know of to use a post-apocalyptic setting with regressed technology.

And Sir Ralph Richardson as an evil warlord, trying desperately to keep his subjects from getting the advanced tech Raymond Massey and his crew offered them.
 
Theiss' work was imaginative and should always be seen correctly. I think the Abrams' films, Star Trek and Into Darkness, were loyal to his designs and showed respect of his contributions to Star Trek. I think future designers should research Theiss' work so his inspiration can live on.
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One good thing about the TOS uniform is the tunic's realistic simplicity for spacemen. You could wear it aboard the International Space Station, no problem.

By contrast, I remember an episode of Voyager where Janeway has to change clothes to gear up for some kind of battle, and she takes off the tunic, then a vest under it, then another layer, and so on. It was a preposterously layered and complicated uniform, totally impractical for indoor wear. And in fact it was obvious they created all these layers just for this episode, so the costume alone would add detail and stretch out the scene.
 
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Some fans have been calling for men in skirts, this should be the new Starfleet uniform. I can already see Shatner in it.
 
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