The answer is "The script says...".
...Scotty was so skilled at the controls that he could rematerialize people with their underwear on top of their Uniforms, and woe be to anybody who pissed him off.
As for the having an alternate uniform part, that's one of the perks of command. Picard had one, too. It wasn't specifically called out as "casual" in TOS. All I ever remember seeing in Theiss' notes was "alternate". As for it being green... Well, that's a fun delve into color timing, set lighting, and camera filters.So, I've seen enough pictures from TOS recently, where kirk was in a green uniform shirt... what was up with that, was there ever a rationale for what that switch was supposed to mean? was it given on the show, was the reason made up by fans and novelists years after the fact? Was it casual Friday?
I've noticed the "Command" tunics do tend to look more green than gold in scenes where the lighting isn't particularly bright. In episodes from the first two seasons, anyway--I've read they actually used a "mustard yellow" fabric for the uniforms in the third season....When the decision was made to air Star Trek "in living color on NBC", they punched up all the colors. The practical lights on the sets got color gels, the bridge rail and turbolift dors got a bright red paint job, and the drab uniforms of the pilots got replaced by much brighter sparkle-velour uniforms in the primary colors of the color TV phosphors -- red, green, and blue. Because of the weirdness of all the lighting stuff I mentioned above, though, the green command uniforms came through looking more mustard-yellow (with a faint greenish tinge if you really look)...
I've heard the explanation of TOS uniforms being green but showing up as gold under studio lighting. And decades of this.
What I could never reconcile this with, is the scenes filmed outside. While still using artificial lighting, it's NOT the same lighting, and there was still so much ambient natural lighting. Shore Leave. Arena are two first season episodes. You can see some green in the gold of the uniforms, but they are the exact same colour as indoor set lighting.
I just can't imagine that they would replicate that lighting so perfectly in outdoor shots to get the same colours. Especially the same green as Kirk's alternate wrap around uniform.
On a side note, I get a kick out of the episode Charlie X, where Charlie gets a suede looking version of that wrap around to wear. And it looks pretty damned cool.
When the decision was made to air Star Trek "in living color on NBC", they punched up all the colors. The practical lights on the sets got color gels, the bridge rail and turbolift dors got a bright red paint job, and the drab uniforms of the pilots got replaced by much brighter sparkle-velour uniforms in the primary colors of the color TV phosphors -- red, green, and blue. Because of the weirdness of all the lighting stuff I mentioned above, though, the green command uniforms came through looking more mustard-yellow (with a faint greenish tinge if you really look). When Kirk got his alternate uniform tops, they used a different fabric, but the same color. And because of the difference in fabric texture and reflectivity, it's still green.
Thank you, and you beat me to it. It was bugging me that I wasn't remembering precisely, so I went back to the reference stacks to dig through Theiss' notes and found just that. The word that was coming to mind was "tenne", but I knew that was a later, fan-originated term. Yeah, all the third-season ones were avocado green. The first-season one I've seen in person was an irritatingly-impossible-to-describe '60s color... There were both green and golden light kicks, but it looked more green-tinged than how it appeared on screen.Out of the 6 Screen-Used Command Velours I have personally examined I have never seen a “Green” one
For the 3rd season Commands I have examined as well as owned none have been “Mustard-yellow” they are and were as Theiss once said “Avocado”
In 45 years of my examining and owning those Tunics, the one thing that is constant is the difficulty in describing the colors of those Tunics.
The velours I have seen did have a slight green tinge but were more gold imo
Peoples perceptions can greatly differ
I was astonished when 5 years ago, Joseph Kerzeman was able to set up an order of the actual season 3 double knit fabrics from the company that originally made them. Apparently they still had the dye recipes and access to materials to make that exact weave again. The order had to be 700 yards of each color minimum, but the fact that the company offered and did it is amazing.
afw42, actually... Xscape Props did that about a decade ago for one of the (non-Axanar) fan series. I can't remember which one right now. Sourced and commissioned a run of sparkle velour to match the originals. Same story with the minimums, too, so they were making uniforms to sell, as well as selling off raw yardage. I've got a few yards of Science blue here. Maybe contact them for more information...?