70s Trek: Star Trek In The 1970s

One of the hallmarks of The Original Series was its use of color.  In the mid to late 60s, color TVs were finally available and Star Trek went out of its way to make use of that new technology with colorful uniforms, sets and lighting. But as pre-production was under way on The Motion Picture, director Robert Wise decided to take the film in a very different direction. He introduced a very monochromatic look. He used shades of gray and silver everywhere and played down bright colors.  He decided to do the same with the new Starfleet uniforms, as well. His view was that the multi-colored uniforms were OK for the small TV screen, but replicating that look on the big screen, might be unrealistic to moviegoers. He wanted the new uniforms to be simple and lack color.  What we ended up seeing on the screen showed up only once.  But they have become symbolic of this time in Star Trek’s history. Some people love them and some people hate them. But no matter how you felt about them they’ve become part of Star Trek’s h