By the top of the collection, nonetheless, the three important colours solidified into the next divisions: these in command wore gold, folks comparable to Kirk and Sulu. Science officers and docs, particularly Spock and Bones, wearing blue, whereas everybody else had purple shirts. And by everybody else, that features engineers like Scotty and safety personnel, which is why they tended to get killed.
However as is so usually the case with all issues Trek, the uniforms weren’t solely what creator Gene Roddenberry had in thoughts. Most notably, the gold uniforms had been really supposed to be inexperienced, however learn on digital camera as the colour that we all know right now. Throughout manufacturing of the never-released follow-up present, Star Trek: Section II, Roddenberry wished continuity between TOS and the brand new collection, not solely by way of the forged, which blended Kirk and Sulu with newcomers, but additionally manufacturing. Particularly, Roddenberry introduced again his authentic collection costume designer William Ware Theiss.
Nonetheless, when manufacturing shifted and Section II grew to become Star Trek: The Movement Image, Theiss was changed by Robert Fletcher, who designed costumes for the film crew via Star Trek IV: The Voyage Dwelling. Fletcher maintained a few of Roddenberry’s imaginative and prescient for TMP, which tried to match ’70s aesthetics by giving the crew pastel pajamas. However when Nicholas Meyer took over for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Fletcher designed military-inspired uniforms to match the director’s naval warfare imaginative and prescient.
Though most Trekkies choose the Meyer motion pictures, Roddenberry hated the militarization of Starfleet and, equally vital, resented the way in which his franchise was taken from him. So when Roddenberry regained some energy for The Subsequent Era, he sought to proper the ship, so to talk, by making Starfleet explorers once more. And with it, he introduced again Theiss.
For probably the most half, Theiss succeeded the place Roddenberry and Fletcher failed in TMP. The TNG uniforms really feel like ’80s variations of the ’60s authentic, particularly after they had been revised in season 3. Nonetheless, with the emphasis on division colours got here a complicated swap. As soon as once more, science officers and docs wore blue, however command now wore purple whereas operations wore gold. Additionally, there’s the skant, however solely Decrease Decks talks about that now.
So why did the colours change? As soon as once more, the reply is straightforward and nearly mundane. Patrick Stewart apparently didn’t look commanding sufficient in yellow, whereas Brent Spiner, in his pale Knowledge make-up, didn’t look good in purple.