Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 (1989)

Costume Design by:

- Robert Blackman ( notable efforts: The Running Man (1987), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993 - 1999), Voyager (1995 - 2001), Enterprise (2001 - 2005), Pushing Daisies (2007 - 2009), Mockingbird Lane (2012) )

Costume Design Genre: futuristic

The third season of The Next Generation was the first to involve new costume designer Robert Blackman, who had got the gig partly by being reccomended for the job by Durinda Wood, the previous season's costume designer. Wood and Blackman had worked together in the past, and had even studied together, which in a way explained why Blackman was so adept at carrying on the design sense of Wood's costumes - Blackman's tenure would see variations on Wood's various costume designs for Guinan, the Ferengi and Romulans, all of them keeping the general design sense preserved. Granted, some of these design elements had been already established by the first season's costume designer William Ware Theiss, the most obvious being the Starfleet uniforms that Blackman had to design. It should be worth noting that, like most costume designers who worned in science-fiction productions, Blackman had no interest in scifi in any form before taking the job - Blackman's experience, by his own admission, was in period and contemporary costume design, and was actually not thrilled about the prospect according to this interview from 2003. One thing that sticks out in the interview I linked is where Blackman mentions that in the interview, he was '...just gabbing about theory and design', as Blackman's various designs for the Star Trek shows he worked on - The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager and even the more drab and muted Enterprise - are definitely 'designy', being full of strange fabrics, bold patterns and oddball cuts to the fabric. This design sense was of course copied by the various other scifi shows that followed in the wake of Star Trek, but the only one that really offered any solid competition in the strength of its costumes was Babylon 5, and its costume designer Ann Bruice Aling.

One of the first duties that Blackman had was to redesign the spandex Starfleet uniforms originally designed by William Ware Theiss, which had been a constant torment for all of the main cast - Blackman's job, first and foremost, was to create a more comfortable uniform, without entirely changing the flow of the design. Whilst the extras would still wear the spandex uniforms, just slightly tweaked, the main cast refused to wear the spandex uniforms that caused hell for their backs, and stank of sweat and dry cleaning fluid thanks to certain properties spandex has. The new uniforms Blackman created were made of wool, and whilst still were jumpsuits like the older Theiss designs, were constructed to have larger shoulders in other to give the main cast more of a 'dignified' presence, as well as being fixed with a collar. The general pattern and colour sceheme of the uniform however, was pretty much unchanged from Theiss' original design.

Troi (Marina Sirtis) also got to have a new variant to her costume wardrobe, though this was mostly a recolour of the costume Durinda Wood designed for her in the previous season - instead of red with black collar lining, this one was lilac with a brighter lilac collar, but pretty much identical to the previous season. This costume would appear in several episodes of the following seasons.

'Evolution'

The first episode of the season, this one had an appearance from Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), who wears a muted green gown and teardrop hat, worn with a reddish collar and cuffs.

In this episode, Wesley's experiments are overseen by the scientist Stubbs (Ken Jenkins) who wears a tatty suit that honestly sets the style of Blackman's designs for the show from now on - Stubbs' jacket has an asymmetrical cut to it, with only one side having a lapel, as well as the shirt being cut in a way that has no collar. Even Stubbs' buttoned jumper has one side longer than the other!

However, more striking in this episode were the costumes that we barely saw in the episode itself, if at all! In a deleted scene, Wesley would have met other teenagers onboard the Enterprise getting ready for a ski trip in the holodeck, the ski suits being some of the most delightfully garish and vibrant designs this season would have had. Each suit is a bold colour - blue, yellow and red - which is worn with patterned shoulder panelling with roughly the same colours, though notice the girl in yellow's panneling having pink stripes on it! Sadly, these are only preserved as grainy recordings, so these outfits aren't going to be seen clearer any time soon - unless they turn up on auction someday! All we do see in the episode is this blue and yellow geometric patterned dress briefly worn by one of these teens at the episode's end, and again I hope this turns up in an auction or something because I would love to see it in full.

'The Ensigns of Command'

This episode involved Data (Brent Spiner) trying to convince a group of human colonists to abandon their planet before an alien fleet destroys it, with the colonists being dressed mostly in patterned shirts and buckled robes, some of them wearing silver vests!

The one exception to this slightly uniform dress sense is Ard'rian McKenzie (Eileen Seeley), who sports a blue-green jacket fastened with buckles and worn with brown trousers held with suspenders, the jacket worn over a silver shirt.

'The Survivors'

This episode involved the Enterprise running into the titular survivors of a destroyed planet, the mysterious Kevin Uxbridge (John Anderson) and his wife Rishon (Anne Haney) - Kevin is dressed simply in a yellow shirt with buckles and a large collar, whilst Rishon is in a shiny silvery dress worn over an orange shirt.

This episode also has Troi wear a new outfit that she would sport in a lot of episodes in the following seasons, this being a form-fitting dress of a cyan colour, with the dress having a low neckline (again of an asymmetrical shape) and a skirt part going over tights of the same cyan colour.

'The Bonding'

This episode involved an alien entity taking the form of a recently deceased mother, Marla (Susan Powell), who always is wearing a bright pink shirt under a rather drab brown vest and trousers.

'Booby Trap'

This episode involved Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) having to work together with a hologram to save the Enterprise from an energy trap that is preventing it from leaving the system. The episode starts however, with La Forge dating another crewmember, Christy (Julie Warner) in the holodeck, with Christy wearing a black-lined pink top and shorts and La Forge wearing a yellow top with mottled pants.

To save the Enteprise, La Forge works with a hologram of the spaceship engineer Leah Abrams (Susan Gibney), who is always wearing a teal-coloured suit consisting of two different fabrics - the thicker fabric goes over the lighter one, and is of course in a sloping asymmetrical cut. The skirt is made of the same thick material, and is worn over leggings of the same teal colour.

'The Enemy'

This episode once again featured the Romulans, and introduced a new variant on their uniforms worn by their commander Tomalak (Andrews Katsulas) - however, it was not seen properly in this episode as Tomalak only appeared in a viewscreen, so his uniform wouldn't be seen in full until the following season's episode 'Future Imperfect'. Tomalak's uniform is of the same basic design as the general Romulan design created by Durinda Wood in the previous season, but is made of a more speckled fabric of black, brown and grey squares, which still fits in with the 'mosaic' influence behind the uniform.

'The Price'

This episode involved the Enterprise hosting a conference between various alien dignitaries over the legal rights to the territory where a wormhole has been discovered, and of course getting involved in the duplicitous dealings that are afoot. The conference is being hosted by the alien Bhavani (Elizabeth Hoffman) who wears a peach coloured dress made of a rough fabric, and worn with a necklace as well.

One of the more striking costumes of the episode is worn by the alien Leyor (Kevin Peter Hall), who sports a deep purple outfit, designed in a similar fashion to Leah Abrams' dress in 'Booby Trap', with red and silver lining over the light purple fabric, and again cut in sloping diagonal patterns as well - quite a shame there isn't a full shot of this particular costume!

The Federation has their own representative for the conference, Mendoza (Castula Guerra), who sports a suit made of a grey pinstriped fabric adorned with silvery lining, and the jacket having a diagonal cut to it as well.

This episode is mostly centred around the romance that blossoms between Troi and another representative, Devinoni Ral (Matt McCoy), who sports various futuristic suits in his screentime - his first one is of a light grey material and cut into an asymmetrical pointed shape, worn over a ruffled brown shirt as well. Noticeably, one side of the suit is of a ridged material, whilst the diagonal 'flap' is of a more smooth material.

Fort most of the episode however, Ral wears a darker coloured suit of a glittery grey material, and a large panel over the front as well as larger lapels. This suit is also worn over a mottled green shirt as well.

This episode has Troi sport a rather sultry blue dress with a panel over the chest line, and is seemingly worn with stockings as well - this dress wasn't seen too well in this episode, instead being seen more clearly in the episode 'Hollow Pursuits'.

'The Vengeance Factor'

This episode involved the Enterprise trying to negotiate peace between the planet Acamar III and 'the Gatherers', a culture of bandits descended from them. The leader of Acamar III, Sovereign Marouk (Nancy Parsons) is in a bright yellow dress with a large sash-like garment over the front and a metallic piece worn over the neck. Also of note is how the dress has lining over the shoulders that go up to the collar as well.

A similar outfit is worn by Marouk's servant Yuta (Lisa Wilcox), whose dress is of a beige colour and is worn with no sash, but otherwise has the same general design with the shoulder lining (that goes down to the very bottom of the dress) and metallic piece worn over the collar.

Marouk also has a guard with her at all times, this guard wearing a tunic of leather panelling as well as, of course, the metallic piece worn over the neck.

The Gatherers themselves are all dressed in scruffy outfits very reminiscent of Norma Moriceau's costume designs for Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, being all biker jackets with various metallic pieces and circuitry stuck on them - the Gatherer's leader, Brull (Joey Aresco), in particilar has several studded pieces on his jacket as well as a large shoulder armor pad very much like the one worn by Max Rockatansky.

'The Hunted'

This episode involved the Enterprise dealing with the internal turmoil of the planet Angosia III, who have sent their former supersoldiers to a life of exile, thanks to the machinations of the prime minister Nayrok (James Cromwell). Nayrok sports an outfit that could be described as a hybrid between a business suit and a jumpsuit, worn over a jumper that has a collar that points downards in a teardrop shape, and the lapels being ridged as well. Other politicans of Angosia III are seen in similar outfits of different patterns.

The security services of Angosia III dress in similarly-designed jumpsuits, that look a bit more formal - they are only very briefly seen in one shot.

The various supersoldiers meanwhile wear grey jumpsuits that have had padded segments around the chest and knees, each one being unique in design too thanks to the position of the padded sections.

'The High Ground'

This episode involved the Enterprise crew being embroiled in the political struggles of the planet Rutia IV, which was in the grip of terrorists. One of these terrorists is the waiter Katik Shaw (Marc Buckland), who wears a silver lined burgundy jacket over a pink and blue jumper.

The security forces of Rutia IV are all in rather crisp blue uniforms, with a dark blue diagonal panel adorning one shoulder, and cuffs made of the same material, with the dark blue always having a silvery lining - usually I don't care for uniform designs, but this one is so nicely designed and futuristic that it totally warrants a place here!

The various terrorists meanwhile are dressed more tatty, in leather jackets that have had segments of shiny material stuck on to resemble futuristic armor.

'Deja Q'

This episode once again involved the tricky omnipotent being Q (John de Lancie) in a much less omnipotent role as a mortla human, where he of course is made to wear a grey bodysuit with ridged lining around the back and shoulders, worn over a green jumper that is shown by the deep collar. I see this outfit made fun of a lot by the usual suspects (boring nerd websites) but really, in this episode Q sees himself as a prisoner, so of course the outfit should look like that.

Guinan appears in this episode, wearing a lovely red gown, which has shiny brown lining adorning the shoulders and sleeves, and of course is worn with a teardrop-shaped hat made of the same glittery brown material, with red lining around the top of it.

Q's loss of powers coincides with the planet Bre'el IV suffering from a disaster, for which it has called the Enterprise for help. The denizens of Bre'el IV wear green jumpsuits with ruffled sleeves, and a segment of brown material over the shoulders - the jumpsuit is fitted with a hood with a pointed top as well - these costumes were originally seen in the episode 'Booby Trap' of this season, but were worn by corpse props.

Also briefly seen are two random girls summoned by Q when he gets his powers once more, both of them in very risque shiny outfits exposing a lot of skin! One of the girls wears a bikini made of a ridged material that slightly makes me think of a shell too.

'A Matter of Perspective'

In this episode, Riker (Jonathan Frakes) is framed for the murder of the untrustworthy scientist Nel Apgar (Mark Margolis), who sports a futuristic spin on the typical business suit - Apgar's suit has no visible buttons, and seems to be worn over a stylized futuristic jumper of beige and red, with even the brown material of the jacket seeming to be of a glittery texture as well.

The investigator Krag (Craig Richard Nelson) wears a similar suit to Apgar, though this one is black and has an asymmetrical diagonal cut to the jacket, as well as the jumper being grey and blue underneath.

Meanwhile Apgar's assistant Tayna (Julian Donald) spends the entire episode in an entirely grey outfit, with the top being made out of a ruffled material. The dresses worn by Apgar's wife aren't terribly interesting to me personally, and so aren't covered.

The drama around this incident resulted from Riker supposedly having had feelings for Nels' wife Manua, who sports a white dress with pink material underneath a silver lined flap over the chest, as well as exposed elbows.

'Yesterday's Enterprise'

Taking place in an altered timeline, the only new costume in this episode was of course worn by Guinan, who wears a blue dress made of a ridged blue fabric, with an angular top and of course worn with a hat that again has a teardrop shape to it.

'The Offspring'

In this episode, Data creates an android that he views as his child - the 'child' android, named Lal (Hallie Todd) spends most of it in a pale lilac dress with large straps going over the shoulders, worn over a red top.

There are also several potential forms that Lal tries out, with one of the most striking being the Andorian form, which is dressed in a yellow jumpsuit with colourful accents around the shoulders and collar - however, being seen only via a filter, its true colour is never seen properly. There is also a male human form displayed, wearing a red jumpsuit with a lighter panel over the chest.

This episode had Guinan once again appear, this time in an olive-green gown worn with a hat that pointed up into a flat polygonal shape. The top of the gown also had a circular collar, and seemed to be made of a more stiff and coarser material than the rest of the costume.

This episode introduced a new uniform for Starfleet senior officers, which is a red tunic with a black bar over the shoulders, as well as a black triangle pointing downwards, the black patches being adorned with golden lining.

'Allegiance'

In this slightly sinister episode, Picard is kidnapped by an unknown entity and placed in a cell with various other prisoners of alien species, one of which is the cowardly Kova Tholl (Stephen Markle), who sports a rather drab suit of an asymmetrical cut, as well a headpiece made of a serrated material - ignoring the Sydney Opera House jokes, this was a design sense that Blackman would revisit in Deep Space 9, with the Bajoran priestess Winn Adami wearing a headdress of a similar shape.

Another prisoner is the vicious alien Esoqq (Reiner Schone), who sports an outfit consisting of leather armor pieces, the shoulders covered in a studded metallic plate, as well as metallic lining the edges of the leather armor - this outfit was later reused in the sequel series Deep Space Nine, worn by the much less imposing alien barfly Morn, but without the shiny armor plates on the shoulders.

Their captors are revealed to be an alien species that functions as a hive-mind, and whose members all are clad in shiny blue bodysuits, who have shiny golden markings adorning their belts, collars, gloves and shoes - this is honestly one of my favorite designs not just in this episode, but perhaps the whole season, personally!

Much less colourful, but more sleek, is this beige dress worn by Beverley Crusher, with bands of fabric around the shoulders and chest.

'Captain's Holiday'

This episode involved Picard going on holiday, only to then get involved in an archaological messup with the explorer Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) - Picard is first seen wearing a top that has one side made of a ruffled material, whilst Vash wears a shiny swimsuit cut to show a bit of the midriff, worn with a shiny pink top.

Vash then briefly sports a pink dress, that is adorned with a silvery leaf-like piece around one shoulder.

The two are being chased by the Ferengi Sovak (Max Grodenchik), who sports this in a very, very 1990s (yes, I know this was 1989, I'll let it slip) top of a mottled green, red and yellow pattern, that is in two pieces, and worn with green shorts.

Lastly are the time-travelling 'Vorgon' aliens, who wear some of the strangest costumes in this episode, being segmented bodysuits of a rough yet slightly shiny material that make the costume look rather like the body of an arthropod, with shiny purple translucent pieces adorning the collars, crotches, cuffs and boots.

'Tin Man'

The only new costume in this episode was worn by the Betazoid emissary Elbrun (Harry Groener), who sports a green shirt with ruffled sections around the collar and sleeves, as well as pointed ends at the bottom, worn over brown trousers made of a similarly ruffled material.

'Hollow Pursuits'

Most of this episode was spent in the holodeck in a pastiche of The Three Musketeers, though none of the costumes were particularly notable. However, Guinan made an appearance in this episode wearing a lovely canary coloured robe and hat, that sadly doesn't get a full shot in the episode at all, and seemingly hasnt been listed for auction by now either.

'The Most Toys'

This episode involved the android Data being captured by a sleazy and duplicitous toy collector, Kivas Fajo (Saul Rubinek), who throughout the entire episode sports a rather lovely plum coloured outfit, the top covered in a curved pattern of a lighter colour, and the leggings shaped like riding breeches. Kivas Fajo also wears a little badge on his chest, and a gold-lined purple skullcap as well.

It should be worth noting that Fajo originally had a very different appearance, costume included - he was originally played by David Rappaport (perhaps most famous for his role in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits), who in his scenes sported two slightly different asymmetrical patterned jumpsuits, both of them consisting of the colours blue, purple, red and blue. The circumstances behind Rappaport's replacement by Rubinek is definitely upsetting. Rappaport was suffering from severe, suicidal depression at the time of filming, and was replaced when after two days of filming, he attempted to kill himself - tragically, this was a month before he finally did take his own life.

It is interesting that the extra's costumes were designed with the same sense as Rappaport's Kivas Fajo, as they all consist of similar jumpsuits with the legs fashioned like breeches, and the tops being two-tone diagonal colour schemes, such as the unlucky Varria's (Jane Daly) purple and blue jumpsuit.

Data himself is made to wear a slightly similar costume, this one being of a lilac top and grey bottom and cuffs.

Kivas Fajo's other workers are in similar jumpsuits of grey and green colourschemes.

Kivas Fajo tries to show his collection off to another wealthy (and very ugly!) alien, Toff (Nehemiah Persoff), who wears a shiny gold-green robe with golden bracelets and also some golden thing stuck in what I assume is his nose - ugh! It seems according to costume auction photos, this was originally meant to have a large bow on the front of the waist - though I think here it was actually worn at the back.

'Sarek'

This episode involved the return of the titular Sarek (Mark Lenard) and his struggles to organize an intergalactic conference, and is first seen wearing an asymmetrical grey tunic with a curved shoulder panel with golden lettering going down the side, which is then worn with jewellery and a white robe. These designs were obviously inspired by Robert Fletcher's various Vulcan costume designs for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but this is definitely more Blackman's design rather than an imitation of Fletcher's, with Blackman's penchant for asymmetrical cuts and curved panelling.

Sarek also briefly wears a ridged white gown that also is designed with an asymmetrical cut (that feels more like Blackman's design sensibilities than emulating Robert Fletcher's) with golden lining adorning the gown's panelling.

Sarek's wife Perrin (Joanna Miles) mostly spends the episode in a red gown with jewellery worn over the chest and head, though she is briefly seen wearing another outfit under it, which consists of a red and silvery dress with a sash going over one shoulder.

Sarek has a Vulcan aide, Sakkath (Rocco Sisto), who wears a lovely silver lined brown tunic and robe, with pointed shoulders and sigils of the Vulcan language adorning one side of the tunic underneath the robe.

Another aide of Sarek is Mendrossen (William Denis), who sports a silver lined blue tunic with a diagonal cut to the front, letting one side of the tunic have a longer tail than the other - like Perrin, he wears a silvery sash over the tunic, adorned with the sigils of the Vulcan language.

'Menage a Troi'

Troi's larger than life mother Lwaxana (Majel Barrett) appears once more in this episode, where a Ferengi gets rather romantic feelings for her and won't take 'no' for an answer. Lwaxana first appears in a rather dashing brown and golden dress that is designed like some sort of futuristic zebra print, with a diagonal hole cut for the chest. This dress also has leggings made out of the same golden zebra-print material (as seen by when she sits down), and is worn with a large brown skirt piece as well.

Lwaxana's second dress is a pink deal with lovingly designed floral segments adorning the shoulders and chest, with two floral patterned strips attached to the skirt section of the dress. This particular costume was then reused in the Deep Space 9 episode 'The Forsaken', worn in that particular episode with a floral pink wig as well. I will update this entry to include that appearance when I cover Deep Space 9. The costume can be seen clearly thanks to it being sold via auction on the Icollector website.

Lwaxana's third outfit is made for her by the Ferengi, and as such is a bottle-green dress with a glittery translucent shawl, though the only time we see the costume in a full shot is when she is lying on her back being experimented on.

Lwaxana's faithful servant Homn (Carel Struycken) briefly appears in this episode, though only seen from a distance, with the costume being seen again briefly in the fifth season's 'The Cost of Living'. This outfit can be seen clearly better thanks to being sold in an auction at Christie's which shows the ornate cut and green and orange patterns much more clearly.

A male Betazoid (the species of Troi and Lwaxana) is also seen in this episode, Grax (Rudoplh Willrich), who is clad in a very colour outfit consisting of a multicoloured shirt of red, blue and black, worn with a shiny toga-like red garment over it - sadly this outfit doesn't get many clear shots, which is a crying shame in my opinion.

Troi and Riker ditch their uniforms for some more comfortable wear, Riker wearing a ridged blue shirt and Troi a purple and lilac dress coated in strips around the shoulder and front. I'm going to be honest, I'm not fond of Troi's dress here, looking rather cheap and messy - usually I love Blackman's designs but this is a bit of a miss for me personally, sorry.

Lwaxana is briefly experimented on by the Ferengi, who wear medical scrubs made of a similar iridescent green material as the lining on their uniforms.

Brieflys seen is an alien musician wearing a cloak of a black and gold patterned material, though this alien was seen again as a background extra in the following season's 'Qpid'.

'Transfigurations'

This episode involved an alien prisoner, that the crew name 'John Doe' (Mark LaMura), who spends almost the whole episode in an all-white jumpsuit with ridging around the collar and shoulders.

After John Doe is the alien captain Sunad (Charles Denis) who sports a much more ornate jumpsuit, made of a grey material with silvery shiny segments around the shoulders, a similar chevron shape around the torso as well. The shiny segments are all covered in a pattern that almost resembles glyphs, as if it is the alien's language adorning his uniform. According to costume auction photos, this uniform was originally meant to be worn with a cap of the same patterned material.

There was another appearance from Christy in this episode, whose most notable onscreen outfit is this asymmetrically cut dress with a little golden markings on one shoulder - however, according to costume auction sites, she was meant to wear another outfit, this being a blueish top with a mesh-like ruff around the collar.

Lastly is Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) who briefly appears in the sickbay for an injury he got when in a kayaking trip in the holodeck, where he sports a swimsuit worn with a multicoloured patterned vest of teal, lime and lilac.