Star Trek: Kirk’s Iconic Uniform Color Was A Mistake 

Contrary to what fans believe, Captain James T. Kirk did not wear a gold uniform in Star Trek: The Original Series. It has become common knowledge over the years that Starfleet in the TOS era color-coded their uniforms gold, red, and blue, with gold representing Command, red for Engineering and Security, and blue for Science and Medical. But the gold uniforms worn by the original Star Trek cast, namely Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov were, in reality, mistakes. Yet the gold color scheme later became official Star Trek canon.

After The Original Series, the gold design of the command uniforms was further cemented into Trek lore in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Trials and Tribble-ations.” In that episode, Dr. Bashir is confused about the uniform conventions of the era after traveling back in time to the original Enterprise, but is set straight by Chief O’Brien and Captain Sisko. It marks the first time that the original gold uniform code is mentioned in dialogue and is a nod to fans “in the know,” who would often engage in the gold vs. green debate. The gold appearance of the TOS uniforms had been officially retconned into the franchise.

The reason for the retcon was that the Command uniforms had never actually been gold at all in The Original Series thanks to a trick of light and early color television. Star Trek premiered in 1966, just after the color television transition of ’65, when most networks began switching their broadcasts to at least 50% color. Desilu Productions, the studio producing Trek for NBC, wanted to capitalize on this and demanded a color palette of bright, primary colors. In accordance with this directive, William Ware Theiss, the designer of the original Starfleet uniform, chose a distinctive palette for the crew: a bright cherry-red, a steel-toned blue, and lime green. The red and blues of the on-set fabrics maintained their color on the film stock of the day. But the green uniforms appeared gold on screen through a combination of studio lighting, velour material, and the film stock used.

Further evidence of this original, green design can be seen in Captain Kirk’s occasional use of a wrap-around tunic in place of the standard-duty uniform. The prop department had created that particular piece out of different fabric and, as a result, it appeared on television screens true to color: a bright green. Eventually, the gold uniforms became canon as Star Trek fans, none-the-wiser, began recreating their own uniforms based on the color template they knew at the time. Once the fan conventions began, the design for lime green command uniforms was all but forgotten.

This green/gold color confusion wasn’t the only uniform color snafu in the history of Trek, however. Star Trek: The Next Generation had its own error on display for fans to notice from its very first episode. It seems as if, in the 24th Century, Command and Operations colors had inexplicably switched, with the Captain and first officers of the USS Enterprise-D now wearing red, and the engineers and security staff now donning a mustard-like gold. There was no “in-universe” explanation for this. The simple reason for the switch was that series leads Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes looked better in red, showing, once again, that sometimes, canonical details happen because of off-screen practical challenges.

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