Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 4 (1990)

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) )

'The Best of Both Worlds'

In this season opener for the fourth season of The Next Generation, that followed on from the cliffhanger finale of the previous season, the Enterprise are at all-out war with the Borg and have to rescue the 'assimilated' Picard (Patrick Stewart) who is now known as 'Locutus'. Whilst the Locutus costume isn't worn highlighting due to being far too similar to Durinda Wood's original Borg design (and is more or less everywhere online too), there is one notable costume worn of course by Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), who sports a mauve dress with a shinier fabric coating half of it, as well as a starched elliptical collar and angular edged hat.

'Family'

In this rather soap opera-style episode, Guinan once again reappears in a dark blue gown with a line going down the side, as well as another one of her teardrop-shaped hats.

This episode involved Worf (Michael Dorn) reuniting with his adoptive parents, his mother Helena (Goergia Brown) wearing a deep purple dress with a darker purple belt and collar lining - from the full shots, it appears that the dress is worn with purple trousers as well.

Picard meanwhile is reuniting with his own family, whose homestead is partly looked after by his brother's wife Marie (Samantha Egger), who wears a light cyan dress fitted with a stiff round collar as well as the top cut to resemble a shirt.

Marie's second dress is a simple pink dress with ruffled strips down the front.

Picard and the various other men of the homestead wear a variety of asymmetrically cut wraparound shirts, with Picard especially wearing some striking trousers that look as if they have had strips cut into them!

'Suddenly Human'

This episode had the Enterprise crew run into the 'Talarians' who have taken a human teenager, Jono (Chad Allen) as one of their own. The Talarians are a militaristic species which is shown clearly by them being all clad in uniforms, which consist of a padded brown vest and a black jumpsuit that gives the appearance of having a high waist - underneath the padded vest is the jumpsuits top half, which is a silvery ridged materal. The padded vest has a collar made of a black shiny material, which goes under the brown padding which is it self adorned with golden lining. The uniform is completed with a pair of long black gloves.

The senior officers of the Talarians wear slightly different uniforms, where the combat vest trails down to resemble a tunic, as well as some of the soldiers wearing blocky, angular helmets adorned with studs.

Briefly, a tennis game is played in the holodeck for which Picard and Jono, wear lined unitards. Picard's is grey with green lining, whilst Jono's is blue with red lining.

'Remember Me'

This episode marked the reapperance of the mysterious 'Traveler' (Eric Menyuk), who was last seen in the first season episode 'Where No One Has Gone Before' - this time however, he is in a ridged grey jumpsuit, that has been fitted with a stiff popped collar.

'Legacy'

This episode involved the Enterprise crew arrives on the planet Turkana IV, a planet stricken by civil war between two warring factions. One of the soldiers of these factions is Ishara Ya (Beth Toussaint), who when taken onboard the Enterprise, dons a form-fitting blue jumpsuit with ridging over the shoulders, which is worn with a blue belt in some scenes.

In other scenes, Ishara wears a rather more rebellious looking outfit, consisting of a leather jacket that has been cut around the lapels, worn with high-waisted orange trousers with black lining and leather kneepads as well.

'Reunion'

This episode featured the return of K'Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson), who was last seen in the second season episode 'The Emissary'. In this appearance, she is now sporting a much more formal outfit consisting of a green and grey panneled jacket, the panelling arranged to go down in a single strip down the middle, as well as exposing the green fabric around the shoulders. Fixed in the middle of the vertical chest panel is a metallic emblem.

K'Ehleyr's second outfit is a stylized top fixed with a diagonal piece of panelling that that goes over the shoulders and down to the waist, and is made up of a lined deep burgunday material, with grey lining around the panelling as well. In most of her scenes she is in dim lighting, which doesn't highlight the outfit too well.

'Future Imperfect'

In this episode, Riker (Jonathan Frakes) ends up in a strange future which he suspects is not actually real, and in this future apparently Picard has ascended in rank and wears a different type of officer's uniform, this being a crips red tunic with a black bar around the chest and black lines around the cuffs, these black segments being adorned with gold lining.

The 'future' is revealed to be a hallucination caused by a diminutive alien, who dresses in a typical 'alien abduction' perptrator, with his robe's collar and cuffs being curved in the stereotypical fashion - the material its made from is pretty interesting, however.

'Final Mission'

In this episode, the Enterprise's crew is enlisted to sort out a mining dispute, with one representative being the alien chairman Songi (Kim Hamilton), whose full dress is sadly never seen fully onscreen - it seems to be a mottled aqua deal, with the orange fabric over it being translucent - and somehow only that has the auction photos online.

The miners themselves are led by the captain Dirgo (Nick Tate) who wears a wraparound shirt and asymmetrically cut loose jacket.

'The Loss'

This episode had Guinan once again appear, wearing a rather velvety looking blue dress with curved segments over the top half of it, as well as a disk-shaped hat too - whilst not seen fully in this episode, it was thankfully seen in much better detail in the following season's episode 'Ensign Ro', allowing us to get a shot of the full costume.

'Data's Day'

This episode involved Data having to learn about more soap opera antics, in this case how humans do weddings and other lovey-dovey stuff, whilst investigating the apparent death of the Vulcan ambassador T'Pel (Sierra Pacheur), who is clad for the most part in an ornate gown very reminiscient of the Vulcan costumes designed by Robert Fletcher for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. In other scenes, T'Pel wears a different gown much more typical of Blackman's design sense, with shinier fabric over a black undergarment and a stylized skullcap.

This episode also introduces the Enterprise's barber shop, whose staff are dress in lovely blue and orange patterned tunics which sadly don't ever get a full shot from say, the front or anything. These outfits would be seen intermittently in other seasons, but still nothing that shows it in full - it is only thanks to auction photos that we know what the full shirt looked like.

There are also smocks worn for the barber's clients in the same colour scheme, but the orange panels are down from the collar.

When trying to learn more about human relationships, Data takes a trip to the holodeck where he briefly dances with a lady in a lovely translucent golden dress

The focus of this episode is the impending marriage between Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and his newfound love Keiko (Rosalind Chao), and for the occassion Keiko wears a futuristic riff on traditional Japanese garb. The wedding dress consists of a kimono made of iridescent pink chiffon, and is worn with a round hat adorned with flowers. This dress still exists and was recently auctions by Christie's.

'The Wounded'

This episode introduced another alien species of antagonists for the Federation to face off in the form of the Cardassians, who would become especially iconic thanks to being some of the main figures in the sequel show Deep Space 9. Here however, the Cardassian uniforms are very different to the ones they sported in the later seasons of The Next Generation and the entirety of Deep Space 9. The Cardassian uniforms are made entirely of what seems to be a brown vinyl material, and have bulky armor plating around the chest and arms - of note is how the chest armor has a rounded segment right in the middle, as well as how the armor is over a material that resembles a snake's scales, emphasizing the reptilian nature of the species. When they arrive on the Enterprise, the Cardassians also wear odd-looking helmets as part of their uniform.

'Devil's Due'

A rather light-hearted episode, this one involved an alien trickster disguising itself as a deity with several magic tricks that still prove a severe annoyance for Picard and his crew. The episode starts off with a group of Federation scientists calling the Enterprise for assistance due to being attacked by the paranoid denizens of Ventax II, and the Federation scientists are all clad in grey-pinkish padded overalls with white lining around the chest and collar. These uniforms were actually seen back in the previous season's 'Who Watches the Watchers' but were barely seen at all in that episode.

The citizens of Ventax II are in a variety of bold outfits consisting of patterned capes worn at a slant over solid colour jumpsuits, the jumpsuits being fixed with large collars.

The security guards of Ventax II's leaders wear similar outfits but with a shiny fabric worn over a solid black jumpsuit with a more round collar.

The antagonist of this episode is the tricky Arda (Marta DuBois), who sports some very glamorous outfits throughout her appearances. Her first dress is a golden-lined bodysuit made of an iridescent material, what has been fixed with a translucent skirt segment that goes around the sides and back of the waist, and the leggings of the dress are worn with high heels as well.

During a brief scene where Arda tries to seduce Picard, she wears a lovely speckled nightgown of a nearly see-through material, the centre of the gown being adorned with a brooch of some design.

For the rest of the episode, Arda changes into a sleek and form-fitting green dress, which is adorned with black segments over one side of the shoulders, again playing to Blackman's talent when it comes to designing asymmetrical costumes. Like her first dress, this outfit of Arda's is also fixed with a skirt piece around the waist, and this time she wears a different set of earrings as well.

'First Contact'

This episode involved the Enterprise studying the civilisation of Malcor III, which is about to become as technologically advanced as their society. Picard has sent down Riker disguised as one of the aliens - only to be injured and sent to a hospital where the aliens realize he is not one of their own. The residents of Malcor III all have a fairly uniform style of clothing that consists of, again, asymmetrical cuts and ridging around at least one side of their jackets and tops, as seen in the patient uniform worn by Riker.

The residents of Malcor III seem to have settled on a fashion sense not too dissimilar from Earth's as their suits have pinstrip patterns as well, judging by the two officials who are in charge of the hospital that Riker is trapped inside of.

One of the other scientists is in a dark green suit, which again has the ruffled ridging along one side of the jacket part of it, worn with green leggings. The various scientists of the Malcor III hospital however, are not really worth covering, being just stiff labcoats.

There are two politicans of Malcor III embroiled in the events, these being Chancellor Durken (George Coe) and Security Minister Krola (Michael Ensign), both of them again in formal wear very similar to contemporary Earth menswear - both wear buttonless turtleneck-like shirts underneath their suits, and Durken's is of an asymmetrical cut. The Startrekpropcollector lists an alternate suit that I wonder was a prototype for the character, perhaps?

Lastly for this episode is the suit worn by the science minister Mirasta (Carolyn Seymour), who wears a deepl pink suit and skirt over a shirt and leggings that are of a lighter shade, and the jacket is again adorning with ridged lining as well as being of a slanting diagonal cut.

'Galaxy's Child'

This episode had La Forge (LeVar Burton) meeting the real Leah Brahms (Susan Gibney), who La Forge met a holographic version of in the previous season's 'Booby Trap'. This episode once again has an appearance from Guinan, who sports a lovely red dress of a soft material and small circular hat. This dress seems to be an all-red version of the canary yellow dress Guinan wore in the previous season's 'Hollow Pursuits' - I actually wonder of this dress wasnt just the same one but dyed to be a different colour?

Leah Brahms first appears in a very crisp suit consisting of a jacket made of panelled grey fabrics, with the panels on the shoulders and front being made of a lined silver material, and worn over a skirt of the same pattern. Noticeably, both the suit and the skirt end in a pointed 'prong' shape, adding some pleasant sense of unity to the design.

For the rest of the episode, Brahms wears a lovely purple dress consisting of a sloping curved pattern, making it appear that the dress is of a spiral design, and of course is worn with sandals and leggings of the same colour as well.

'Night Terrors'

This episode involved the Enterprise crew becoming increasingly sleepless and aggressive after encountering a derelict starship, with one sign that all is not well being O'Brien having an argument with his wife Keiko. During this brief altercation, Keiko is wearing a red velvet jumpsuit that is worn with a brown vest of a coarser material.

Guinan is in this episode, in a more stiff outfit than usual - this one is a purple gown with white lining, with a large grey sash worn over it, and of course a large disk-shaped hat. This dress would be partly reused in several other episodes after this one such as the following season's 'Ensign Ro', but noticeably without the grey sash anymore.

This wave of strange emotional outbursts is caused when the crew find a derelict vessel, whose only surviving member is another 'Betazoid' empath wearing a grey tunic with large shoulders - this was reused in later episodes, but still can only be seen fully thanks to auction website photos.

'Qpid'

This episode featured the return of the intergalactic archaelogist Vash (Jennifer Hetrick), who has unfortunately drawn the attention of the godlike being Q (John de Lancie) who of course causes the usual mayhem for the Enterprise's crew. Vash is seen sporting a futuristic, asymetrical (I am going to be saying that a lot in these entries!) pinstriped suit and skirt, with one panel being a plain black fabric rather than pinstriped and has a silvery metalic strip stuck on it.

Beverley Crusher also sports a heavy blue jumper in this episode, worn with black tights.

'The Drumhead'

This episode involved the Enterprise being host to a trial by a dogmatic criminal investigator, Norah Satie (Jean Simmons), who is intent on proving that an accidental explosion onboard the ship was actually a deliberate act of sabotage. Satie spends the episode in a dress that comes in two different versions, buth both are red and have a large open collar. The first version of the dress has light pink fabric on the insides of the collar, making it resemble a flower almost, whilst the second version has a darker coloured garment worn over the dress, as well as covering the neckline.

Satie also has two assistants with her, Sabin Genestra (Bruce French) and Nellen Tore (Ann Shea), the former in a wraparound grey tunic with black lining and a cape worn over it, and the latter in a white and black dress where the white section is made of a fabric that resembles netting.

Satie is trying to prove the Klingon J'Dan is responsible for the explosion, who wears a brown leather outfit designed with panelling over the top, and several tassles on the tail of the jacket and sleeves.

'Half a Life'

This episode featured this season's appearance of Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett), who falls in love with an alien who is doomed to die via ritual suicide as per his planet's custom for dealing with their elderly, with Lwaxana anguished by this revelation. Naturally, being a Lwaxana episode, she of course dresses in several show-stopping outfits, her first being a shiny cyan deal adorned with gold lining and a translucent segment on one sleeve and shoulder, which is worn with a multicoloured sash.

Lwaxana's second outfit is a deep purple costume that has been fitted with bands of iridescent material around the chest and sleeves in a manner similar to a bra and armbands respectively - these bands are also adorned with golden lining, as is the collar.

Lwaxana's third dress in this episode is a solid brown deal that consists of a jumper-like top and a large skirt part, with a jewellery piece on the belt and pieces around the shoulders as well.

Lwaxana's last outfit in this episode is her funeral attire and as such is perhaps her most understated in all her appearances, being a dark red gown with patterns around the shoulders and closed with a large golden piece.

Lwaxana's faithful servant Mr Homn is also in this episode, wearing a dark green-blue jumpsuit with a golden robe over it - sadly, barely seen in the episode itself.

Lwaxana has fallen in love with the doomed Timicin (David Odgen Stiers), who wears two notable outfits in this episode. For most of the episode he wears a blue top with one side of its tail longer than the other, and one half of the top being of a much darker shade of the blue than the rest of the outfit. However, in some other scenes he wears a different outfit of the same colourscheme, but instead the darker blue colour is in the form of rounded patterns on the chest, collar and sleeves.

Other aliens of Timicin's species instead wear jumpsuits, but these have the same patterns as his second outfit did, albeit in colours of red and green instead of blue.

It should be worth noting that Timicin briefly breaks with this fashion sense when in his quarters, where he wears an asymmetrically cut vest with a deep collar and made of a ridged brown material.

'The Host'

This episode was another one where a member of the Enterprise fell in love with an alien, though this time it was Beverly Crusher falling in love with an alien mediator, Odan (Franc Luz) who happens to sort of actually be the host for a very different looking creature. Odan sports at first a two-tone blue green robe with a diagonal cut around the bottom.

The episode ends with the 'symbiont' inside his body going to a new host who happens to be a woman - she wears the same sort of gown as the previous host, but in a dark purple-ish colour scheme.

Midway in the episode, the symbiont is taken out and placed into Riker, who wears civilian garb consistant of a shiny blue shirt and dark blue jacket.

Odan is acting as mediator for the Pelians, who are suffering internal conflicts between their systems. The Pelian leader, Leka Trion (Barbara Tarbuck) is perhaps the design highlight of the episode, wearing a lilac and black gown, the top of which is covered in various multiculoured pieces (makes me think of confectionary, almost...) and of course worn with a large conical headpiece as well.

Other members of the Pelian species are in similar outfits to Leka, with their outfits cut to resemble tunics, but otherwise have the same headpiece design and speckled pieces coating the top halves of their tunics, though one of them only has the pieces on each shoulder.

This episode introduced yet another variant of Romulan uniform, this one again emphasizing the 'mosaic' design sense of their famous large-shoulder tunics - this variant is of a darker grey, with lighter coloured squares all over it and worn with a golden version of the belt. It should be worth noting that these screenshots don't come from this episode, instead coming from the sixth season episodes 'The Chase' and 'Face of the Enemy', as it is not shown well in this one!

'In Theory'

Guinan made an appearance in this episode, sporting a lovely purple outfit with a sloping cut to the top, as well as another large hat - a crying shame then that it is never really seen fully in the entire show, even when it reappeared in the following season's 'I, Borg'.

'Redemption'

This was the season's finale and was once again a cliffhanger episode to lead into the following season, which involved the Klingon's empire breaking out in civil war, thanks to a group of conspirators vying for leadership. Guinan briefly appears to offer some advice to Worf, and wears a mustard-coloured dress that again has a different fabric used for the shoulders, and worn with a hat that has an angular flat top - it seems from auction sites that the costume was originally meant to have one of the classic teardrop hats instead?

Lastly, are some of the main conspiractors of the chaos: the conniving Duras sisters, Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynyth Walsh), who both wear rather more risque and feminine versions of the standard Klingon uniform that was originally designed by Robert Fletcher for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Lursa and B'Etor both have had their armor modified to expose their cleavage, though Lursa's is differentiated by not having the armor plate for the breasts, which B'Etor does. Both of their armored uniforms have trailing leather skirt pieces, and also have their collars, armored cuffs and wooly sleeves all brightly coloured red, rather than the typical black. In their following appearances in the TV series, the red parts would be coloured green, and then black for their final appearance in Star Trek Generations.

Lastly is the Romulan officer Sela (Denise Crosby), who wears yet another variation of the Romulan uniform, this one having light mauve squares all over it. This particular uniform would be reused several times in later series.