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Star Trek Original Series Uniform Colors
assassinxv1
Member Posts: 33 Arc User
Greetings All... I am asking for advice on what color Blue is used for TOS Science uniform? I play on Xbox & would appreciate the Color ID number. My eyesight is giving me issues with a color match. Thank You in advance for assistance with this request. 🖖
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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The early color TVs were not actually the reason, it was the fact that when TOS was being put together considerably less than half of viewers had color TVs and even many TV stations had not been converted to color yet (the sales of color TVs did not reach 50% of the market volume until 1972). The uniforms (and everything else) had to be identifiable in both color and black-and-white.
The uniform colors were originally supposed to be the primary colors (red, green, and blue) but the cheap velour they had to use for the original tunics did not come in a true green color, only a bright florescent green and avocado green-gold. The florescent green was an obvious hard pass, so they went with the avocado (which looked reasonably green in person but filmed as more of a gold).
When they switched away from velour and went to double-knit they tried a true green but it was harder to distinguish in black-and-white and too noticeable in color so they went with a color that looked more like how the velour looked on camera. The only one of the true green ones that made it into the show was the captain's wrap style tunic.
> Also the medical and science colors are slightly a different shades of blue
I never knew for sure if this was intentional, as this is the case only *sometimes* from TOS to DS9. I personally like the distinction and use blue for science and a shade of teal for medical, as well as a more tan colour for TNG security/ops and a slight orange tint for engineering. But the teal medical thing could have been just material/camera goofs.
In TOS, McCoy's medical shirt is clearly a different fabric and that, as @phoenixc#0738 pointed out, looks different for the camera. But I have a TOS character that uses the green tint for command, it's neat
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The sad thing is that the medical tunic was actually the same fabric as the other tunics, the difference was that the medical one was never washed (after it was made they decided to go for something less fuzzy for Dr. Boyce's scrubs so it was never used until they used it for McCoy's scrubs and by that time wardrobe was well aware of the washing problem) so it never lost its shimmer.
The particular Dacron velour fabric they used was never meant to be washed, it was designed for displays and the outer layer of theater drapes and the like (and was murderously hot to wear under the stage lights), and every time it was washed it became more and more damaged, but the first time was the worst.
The first time it was washed it dulled down considerably so the base color showed through more strongly, and the knap started to curl up (if you have ever had to put a plushy toy in the washing machine you probably saw the same effect firsthand), and as the fabric deteriorated with successive washes what was left of the shimmer turned into a dull sparkle and eventually ended up looking like a rough dull felt instead of the long-knap velvet it was supposed to resemble.
The silvery sheen of the unwashed velour lead to them making the woven fabric jumpsuit Boyce wore a light teal-like color, so it stands out as lighter than the washed velour tunics just like McCoy's unwashed velour "medical" tunic looks lighter than what everyone else wore.
As an aside, notice how Boyce's jumpsuit has the general UESPA logo with the ship name underneath instead of the active-ship delta, one of the clues that Starfleet was more like NATO or the UN security forces until late 2266 or so when Kirk started identifying the USS Enterprise as a "UFP Starfleet" ship instead of a UESPA ship.
For some reason, in The Cage they used beige instead of red for what they were then calling "ship's services" uniforms, though the woven jumpsuit version had a rather pink cast to it:
Also in The Cage was an example of the early 2250s formal captain's uniform (during the Orion scene) which was made of a slightly grayish brown wool gaberdine:
As far as I can recall no Trek series or movie made between 1979 and 2005 treated UFP as having ever been anything else then a Federal Republic similar to USA or Germany and by extension UFP Starfleet having been anything else then a governmental agency tasked with serving as UFP navy as well as it's exploration fleet.
Honestly it's not even that odd most franchises take a bit to get their universe standardized and TOS lasted only for 3 seasons during a time when such consistency wasn't seen as important.
I mean this isn't something that happens just in Star Trek either, IIRC early some Doctor Who Episodes implied (but never outright stated) that the Doctor might be a human from the Future and the Time Lords weren't established until much, much later.
I composed this notepad file for my TOS characters, based on the colors that are utilized in the Character Creation menu:
23c Starfleet Uniforms:
Uniform - Jacket Loose
Upper
The Original Series - Loose (Tactical) I1 - C12
The Original Series - Loose (Engineer) I1 - J8
The Original Series - Loose (Science) I1 - J6
23c Starfleet Uniform (Tactical) I1 - C12
23c Starfleet Uniform (Engineer) I1 - J8
23c Starfleet Uniform (Science) I1 - J6
23c Starfleet Nurse J5
Rank
(varies) A1
Badge
(varies) A1
Badge
Uniform - Pants Tucked Low
Feet
Boot Soft H24 - H24 - H24
Lower
Capris - Basic H24
Uniform - Skirts
Feet
Boot 23c Tall H24 - H24 - H24
Boot Soft H24 - H24 - H24
Lower
Skirt - 23c Mini Split (Tactical) C12
Skirt - 23c Mini Split (Engineer) J8
Skirt - 23c Mini Split (Science) J6
Skirt - 23c Mini J5
Bare Legs
Stockings
(The J5 colors are based on the default colors T'met's medical skirt)