In Theiss-ing

Where do they get these ideas?

Flipping through one of Dorth’s Lucky Magazine issues I came across this unmistakably Bill Thiess TOS look. Love it. Looked futuristic and sleek then, looks futuristic and sleek now.

Miscellaneous Costume Design

Starfleet environmental wardrobe design evolution.Romulan military garb evolution.

Ferengi wardrobe evolution.

Vulcan Native Dress

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What’s most remarkable about the Vulcan costume design ethic is how it has translated so successfully over the decades. Kudos to Theiss, Fletcher, and Blackman. (Above) My joyous romp illustrating Vulcan fashionistas for the Star Trek Encyclopedia.

TMP Hazard Suit

Easily one of Robert Fletcher’s most intriguing designs for Star Trek: TMP, was the hazard suit worn by Enterprise engineering personnel. It said in no uncertain terms that you were messing with some very nasty stuff. These suits were fabricated in various sizes, right down to children’s, in order to work with the forced perspective engineering set.

Classic Wardrobe

An incredible  portrait of Star Trek through the ages. Fleet uniforms from all of Trek’s glory days await inspection.

Mike, Denise, and had been called in to inspect a large number of items that had been loaned out for exhibit. It was a breathtaking journey through time for the three of us. 

Hazard Suit

The only time w’ve really seen this suit was in the frozen lab in The Naked Time. Is it intended for extreme temperature environments? It can’t be for bio hazard, as a member of the landing team took his glove off to scratch his nose. He would have known better. These shots are from that day Mike, Denise and I were called into to inspect some costumes returning from distant exhibits. There is a link to that entry at the bottom of the column.

TOS Environmental Suit

Mike, Denise, and I were given a call in the art department. A large number of items that had been loaned out for an exhibit came back in less than satisfactory condition. Now we were on our way across the lot to inspect them, and assess the damage. Costumes had been thrown into flimsy cardboard boxes and shipped. One of the items was the classic series spacesuit.  The following are pictures I took on that day. Hard to believe. The item was eventually restored by the studio.

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Under 18

I was at work in the ever-lovin’ Trek art department, perched high atop the Marathon Mill, when the phone rang. “Dougie! It’s Laura! I’m under stage 18. Get down here right away! Can’t explain! Hurry!” There was a click, and she was gone. I looked up at Jim, and Denise. “Sumthin’ weird is going on under 18.”

The narrow concrete stairwell was dank and dark, and at the bottom of it stood a pool of stagnant water. I put my shoulder against the heavy metal door leading to the underground and pushed. It opened with a musty groan, reverberating with bygone Hollywood ages. All around us in the half light, were leftover artifacts from movies and television shows going back seventy five years. It was like the lobby of the Adam’s Family house. A stuffed black bear frozen in an aggressive posture, Admiral Byrd’s dog sled, the Happy Days juke box, six foot filming miniatures of WWII aircraft. “Lauuuuura!” I called. “Dougie! I’m over here! Hurry up!”

When we rounded the corner, it opened up into a football field sized basement. We let out a collective gasp. As far as the eye could see, were racks of costumes from all of the past Star Trek series, and motion pictures. It was like that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. In fact you would need a matte painting to properly describe it. There were the costumes of the Vulcan masters in TMP, engineering suits from TWOK, Ambassador costumes made with fabric left over from The Ten Commandments… and most amazing of all, a huge number of costumes from the original Star Trek, including Ted Cassidy’s “Ruk” costume, environmental suits, and Miranda Jones sensor web gown ( “… my compliments to your dressmaker”). We went a little crazy down there under 18, and ran from one rack to the next, laughing, and giggling in awe at what was there before us. Hollywood history, out of the nowhere, and into the here. We all stopped for a moment and looked at one another for validation. Do we dare? Let this picture stand as mute testimony to our lunacy. On the left is Jimmy V wearing Ruk’s costume, and an amazing costume it is. The architecture of Ruk’s physique is built into it. When Jim put it on, Ruk was in the room. Amazing piece of work by Bill Theiss. Denise donned a first season medical uniform – a dream come true, and I nothing less than a Vulcan high priest, and master of logic.

Yes, we were out of control. Yes, we sounded like kids at recess. Yes, we forgot where we were. “Hey!” I said, looking up. “What’s that noise?” From above, the sound of 50 pair of feet stomping on the stage floor over our heads. It was the DS9 shooting crew, busy on the Defiant bridge shooting a tense scene, when the giddy sound of the world’s biggest geeks laughing and squealing comes drifting up through the command deck. “CUT! CUT! CUT! What the HELL is that noise!?”

Like kids who just put a hardball through Mrs Mc Tavishes living room window, we leapt outta those costumes and ran for home. By the time we got back to the art department, we had transmogrified back into the highly trained and unflappable Hollywood professionals that we are.