Costume Design by:
- Dodie Shepard ( notable efforts: Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) )
Costume Design Genre: Futuristic
The very last of the Star Trek movies to star the cast of the original series (though some members of which would appear in the later Star Trek Generations in order to bridge the gap between the original series and The Next Generation), The Undiscovered Country involved the Klingons and Federation attempting to make peace with each other, even though a plot is underway to prevent the two factions from reconciling. Again there was a new costume designer, Dodie Shepard, though most of the costumes in this film were reused from the previous five movies with most of the new costumes being made for the Klingons, looking rather different to the more metallic uniforms of The Motion Picture and Search for Spock uniforms designed by Robert Fletcher (presumably these uniforms couldn't be reused thanks to their use in The Next Generation at the time of filming The Undiscovered Country).
One of the most notable new Klingon uniforms is worn by the doomed Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner), in a uniform that whilst similar in design to Fletcher's Klingon uniforms first seen in The Motion Picture, is markedly different in how the tunic now mostly consists of padded vinyl, with a large red shoulder crest and red sleeves - the wrist armor and boots are otherwise the same as the typical Klingon uniform. This design, along with the other Klingon uniforms seen in The Undiscovered Country, are rather baroque in appearance, which perhaps suits the film due to the characters quoting Shakespeare willy-nilly - sort of going full circle, considering how Fletcher's original Klingon uniforms were partly inspired by his work on an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Gorkon's daughter, and next in line in rank, is Azetbur (Rosanna DeSoto) who sports the most outfits of any character, though always wearing the bead-like metallic headpiece at all times. Her first outfit is a padded vinyl tunic with a red collar piece going over the shoulders (and often worn with a large necklace), with the same sort of trousers and boots as the typical Klingons.
This uniform is also worn with a cape, that also has red material over the shoulders, and has silver metallic lining going down the side, though this cape is never really seen fully in the film itself.
When presiding over the trial against Kirk, Azetbur is in a secondary uniform, that is never seen fully in the film at all - this version appears very similar in design to her main tunic, but now it is a pointed red collar segment going over the shoulders, with the collar itself being grey - also of note are the two Klingon guards standing in the row above her, but I have to wonder if these weren't just reused from The Next Generation.
Azetbur is also briefly seen wearing a black gown over her uniform, which also has a tabard-like fabric fixed to the front, and is again worn with a silver necklace over it.
One of the conspirators against Gorkon is the literary-minded General Chang (Christopher Plummer), who is clad in another vinyl tunic with large shoulders, the tunic made up of asymmetrical lining, and also is also worn with a pointed red collar and gold-lined sash over it - but otherwise, the uniform is almost identical to the standard Klingon outfit that Fletcher designed in the original movie. During Kirk's trial, Chang briefly wears a cloak made of an alternating pattern of grey triangles, similar in design (but not fabric or colour scheme) to the robe that Kruge wore in The Search for Spock.
The Klingons in this film have slightly different uniforms than usual, with Gorkon's military commanders all in padded vinyl tunics with large shoulders, though otherwise the uniforms are identical to Fletcher's ones (they even still keep the metallic pointed collar). The Klingon soldiers we see are in even more similar uniforms, but made of the vinyl material again, but visually has the same outline as Fletcher's originals.
The Romulans made an appearance in this movie, in the form of their ambassador Nanclus (Darryl Henriques), who sports perhaps my favorite of the film's costumes, which is a checkered tunic of blue, grey and brown with each square having a glyph inside it, with a pointed collar piece, and worn with a brown sash and trousers. This design seems rather in line with the Romulan outfits that William Ware Theiss, Durinda Wood and Robert Blackman had been designing in The Next Generation at that time, though this doesn't have the huge shoulders!
The finale at the Khitomer Conference mostly contains just reused outfits from the previous films, as well as some borrowed from The Next Generation which was airing at the time; however, according to this entry on the Startrekpropcollector website, there was a 'munitions dealer' present in the scenes who had two costumes designer for them, both of them being asymmetrically cut suits with bold lining. I am especially fond of the green deal especially, very bold.
The Federation's President (Kurtwood Smith) is seen once again in this movie (though, a different president to the one we saw in The Voyage Home), and is first seen clad in a silvery patterned tunic with black trousers - it gets a bit more of a showing on the 'special edition' director's cut, but I've not been able to find a copy of that one online...
