Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)

Costume Design by Jean-Pierre Dorléac

A very 1970s update of the 1930s space opera, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was produced by Glen A. Larson almost straight after he had realized Battlestar Galactica, and like that previous series, opened with a pilot movie. For context, this entry is only about the original pilot movie, and the series' costumes will be covered in a pair of follow-up posts.

The good guys are the 'Earth Defense Directorate' protecting the planet from intergalactic threats, with the titular William 'Buck' Rogers (Gil Gerard) and female lead Wilma Deering (Erin Gray) among their ranks - their spandex uniforms are worn with white boots, a popped collar and lining around the chest. It is worn with an armband of the Directorate's rainbow insignia, designed by production artist William Stout. The uniform is sometimes worn with a sleek futuristic helmet. The uniforms were phased out in the follow-up series due to Gerard putting on weight.

The Defense Directorate is led by Dr Elias Huer (Tim O'Connor), who is distinguished by wearing a ridged white jacket, with a similar collar design, worn over the same spandex pants and boots worn by the other members of the Directorate - like the standard uniform, this would also be worn in a few episodes of the subsequent television series, before being replaced with new costumes.

The cast take part in a very, very 1970s 'futuristic' dance party sequence; the Directorate officers attending wear a dress uniform consisting of a buttoned jacket worn over their spandex pants; the pants are worn with leather boots, and a red sash is worn around the waist. Huer's jacket is cut to be more like a coat.

The women dancers in the party are dressed in differently coloured versions of the same general design, which like the Directorate dress uniforms combines the past with futuristic flourishes, as the dresses all have large collars and sleeves fixed with streaming ribbon strips, whilst being worn with a rounded hat also fixed with ribbons.

Opposing Earth is the Draconian Empire, whose royal princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley) happens to be clad in some of the film's most lavish outfits - Ardala is first seen in a reddish nightgown whose cuffs and collar have been fixed with a shiny black material, worn with a beautiful black crown-like headpiece consisting of dangling black jewellery.

Ardala's second outfit is sadly not seen fully in the film; a gold-lined black kimono-like robe, with additional golden markings all over. The robe is worn with the same crown-like headpiece as the red nightgown, as well as a black choker fixed with a jewel.

Another outfit of Ardala's that sadly does not get much screentime is this rather revealing purple and silver dress, which is worn with a massive collar that itself has been adorned with jewel-like pieces, and is worn with a very ornate (and rather abstract) headdress that has purple gems hanging down from the front.

The last of Ardala's outfits consists of a white and gold bikini and pants. The pants are fixed with necklace-like jewellery going down to the feet, and the biking is worn with a fur-lined cape and horned headdress. The headdress's horns (themselves adorned with hanging jewellery) are coated in golden lining, and attached to a golden wig with fur around the sides of the horns. Also note the collar of Ardala's dress, designed to resemble a flower.

Ardala also has handmaidens attending to her, all of them wearing golden headdresses and midriff-baring short tops with white skirts.

Ardala's father, King Draco (Joseph Wiseman), is only barely seen in the theatrical cut, wearing a golden tunic worn with a large fur coat, and a crown consisting of glass-like plates, that is similar in design to the headdress worn by Ardala with her third dress. Unfortunately, this does feel racist, and I worry that 'yellowface' makeup may have been applied to Wiseman for the role.

Helping Ardala is her surly aide, Kane (Henry Silva), first seen in a relatively simple mottled black tunic, worn with a large belt and with golden pieces fitted on the collars. The tunic is worn with black trousers and boots.

Kane's second outfit is of the same cut but made out of a gold patterned material, worn with the same belt and trousers - this outfit in particular was altered by costume designer Al Lehman in the follow-up series, adding black piping to the shoulders and collar. This tunic is worn with the same trousers and boots as the earlier design.

Ardala's bodyguard is the Tigerman (Duke Butler) who wears a vest and pants both coated in imitation tiger fur (according to auction listings for the costume), worn with a necklace consisting of metal pieces and bones, and a red sash. His trousers have golden kneepads, and he is wearing pointed shoes slightly reminiscent of 'crakow' shoes.

These same shoes are worn by other Draconian minions, such as the briefly seen technicians who wear burgundy tunics emblazoned with an emblem on the chest.

The Draconian Empire's soldiers wear futuristic spins on samurai armor, with the helmets fitted with goggles and golden chest armor; the large waistband was not worn in the TV series, and is only seen better thanks to costume auction photos.

Moon Zero Two (1969)

Costume Design by:

- Carl Toms ( notable efforts: She (1965), Those Fantastic Flying Fools (1967), The Vengeance of She (1968), When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) )

Costume Design Genre: Futuristic

One of the few proper science-fiction efforts produced by esteemed British studio Hammer, Moon Zero Two had an admittedly conventional 'Western in space' plot (in fact, the film billed itself as 'the first moon western'), but is definitely most remembered for its various colourful futuristic costumes often made with vinyl. One of the first outfits seen is worn by Clementine (Catherine Schell), and consists of a dark olive-green bodysuit with brown belt and a large hooded headpiece going over the shoulders - sadly, no full shot of it ever gets on the screen.

Clementine later sports a brown bodysuit worn with a light brown tunic and shiny vinyl belt worn over it, as well as a banged wig, though unfortunately the full outfit is never really seen properly at all.

Most of the other citizens of the moon base are in a variety of vinyl jackets, a lot of them printed with a plaid texture (in keeping with the 'Western' theme of the film), with other extras in tunics cut very similarly to Clementine's second suit, and worn with banged haircuts (or wigs, most likely) as well. There definitely seems to be an influence of the fashion designs of Pierre Cardin on a lot of these costumes!

Liz (Adrienne Cori) is the head of the moon city's security, but in her first appearance she isn't in uniform, instead in a flowing white dress with jewels adorning her front, worn with a glorious pink hairdo.

Liz spends the rest of the film in her Moon City Security uniform, which is another one of the film's more inventive costumes, consisting of a purple tunic and frilly blue shirt with large sleeves, worn with shiny latex or vinyl stockings, gloves and a ridged headpiece - briefly seen are other security guards in uniforms that are similar but entirely blue, but sadly they are only seen very briefly in the film, but were seen more clearly in a series of pin-up images (posted on the David Sisson Models website) made as a tie-in for the film - with some original outfits thrown in for some variety!

This theme of the uniforms having vinyl clothing or lining is continued with the uniforms of the Moon City customs officials, most of them being in grey overalls with blue vinyl lining, but with one officer in a vinyl cap and sealed to the side.

The hostess on the train ride is in a brown and beige uniform consisting of buttoned tunic worn over a jumpsuit, and worn with a large stiff kepi.

The unscrupulous Hubbard (Warren Mitchell) arrives on Moon City to help acquire an asteroid of sapphire, and is first seen in a cap and smoking jacket, both made out of vinyl! For the rest of his formal appearances, he is in a form uniform of a black jumpsuit with stiff white collars, cuffs and belt - always worn with a monocle.

In his quarters, however, Hubbard sports a very different outfit of a long flowing purple gown with blue lining on the collars and side, but again still worn with that monocle.

Hubbard is usually followed by two maids, who in their first appearance are wearing black and white coats and plastic headpieces with beige bodysuits, and in their final appearance wear green and red skimpy tops and miniskirts, with multicoloured banged hairstyles.

In Hubbard's quarters, they are in much more extravagant purple and pink dresses worn with golden jewel pieces and bangles, completed with large wigs coloured the same as their dress and fixed with golden pieces.

There are some hairdressers on Moon City (who else must do all these banged hairdos...), who are in white midriff-baring tops and skirts fixed with silver chain pieces, with their hair died blue.

At Moon City's bar, there are of course several dancers, who at first are in white bodysuits with black and white plastic bangles, chains on the waist and headdresses of circular plastic pieces with several stuck on. In other appearances though, they are in yellow bodysuits and boots with either white vinyl cowboy hats and gloves, or orange feathers and 'tail' pieces - well, this was billing itself as 'the first moon Western' after all.

Of course, being a film set on the moon, there are spacesuits, these possibly being the film's lasting legacy - the suits would have a long 'career' of sorts in British genre TV, with the suits appearing in the children's series Here Come the Double Deckers, as well as brief;y reused in the Space: 1999 episode 'Mission of the Darians' and the helmets being used in the Doctor Who story 'The Ambassadors of Death'. It is easy to see why, as the suits are very slick designs, being bodysuits with plastic pieces around the chest, legs and arms, with of course the helmet.

The suits are not just in one coloure scheme however - whilst Kemp and Karminski's are in grey, everyone else's is their own colour; Clementine's is blue, Hubbard's is red, and his goons are in yellow, orange and green.

There is a second variant of spacesuit seen however, which is a more simple design, being entirely made out of vinyl except for the helmets, which are bulbous but simplistic - like the other spacesuits, they are also colour coded for each character, with Kemp and Clementine in white and blue, and the three goons that accost them in red, green and yellow.

As for more information on the production aspects and designs of this film, there is the section devoted to the film on the David Sisson Models website, which is really informative and is also the source of the calendar images used in this entry.