The uniforms in the Motion Picture are puzzling in their varied use of colors, designs, and rank placments. At the bottom of the web page you linked to, there is a "farbcode" or color-code. This is what it translates to, but I doubt its accuracy on some points:White = Counselors and Science Staff
Grey = Command Staff,Commando(Marines),and JAG officers
Tan = Technical, Security, and Flight Operations
Brown = Petty Officers and Crewmen
White & Grey = Flag Officers
Here is what I think:
The grey (or bluegrey) uniforms are worn by command personnel only. Kirk, Spock, and Scotty are seen in bluegrey, but the junior officers are not. Junior officers wear tan uniforms.
White uniforms are worn by crewmen. One can arrive at this conclusion by noting the large number of white-clad crew members attending the briefing on the rec deck. No rank indications are seen on these uniforms, only deparmental shoulder boards. Medical staff wear white uniforms too, but the Starfleet insignia on the left breast is replaced with a caduceus and olive shoulder boards with gold rank stripes are present.
Brown uniforms are also seen. Is is notable that these uniforms have shoulder boards. I agree with the web page's author that these may be petty officer uniforms. Department is indicated by the colored background of the insignia, so the shoulder boards are not necessary unless they are used to indicate rank.
The two-piece or jumpsuit is worn at the discretion of the officer dependent on the duties he or she is to perform. The uniform top with the foldover collar is most likely a fatigue seen most often on medical personnel, but probably elsewhere too. The short sleeve top is also a fatigue. Interestingly, the only white short sleeve shirt seen was worn by Kirk. Perhaps the Captain's fatigue is white and the other command staff wears bluegrey (although we never saw a short sleeve in bluegrey). This makes a little sense since the Captain wore a special wraparound fatigue in the original series.
Also interesting to note is the Admiral's uniform. Robert Fletcher's original design notes labeled this a DRESS uniform. Either he later changed his mind or the design was adapted for Admiral Kirk. The big mystery is why Kirk was "demoted" to Captain for this mission.
There is one photo that causes trouble for my theories above. It is the group photo on the bridge. For some reason, Decker is wearing a tan jumpsuit. Obviously a costuming screwup since he never wore such a uniform in the movie. Also, Lieutenant Ilia is there in her bluegrey uniform (which she wore until zapped by V'ger). By my rules, she should be in tan, but maybe someone arbitrarily decided that a bald gal in tan would look silly.....
Printer-friendly view of this topic
