Fragmentary
April 1st, 2005, 12:45 AM
All of the mentions in the recent press that refer to the original series as cheesy, got me thinking about what those critics could be referring to. And if you go looking for it, like anything else, you may find it. But when you sit and just watch an episode, it’s hard to miss how hard the creative people tried to NOT trap the show in the popular trends of the time.
Looking at the costumes specifically, you can tell that a lot of effort was made to avoid any obvious trends. Thinking back to the period when the show was on the air, the common fashion tell tales were things like flared pant legs, giant lapels, and those wide collars for shirts. But Galactica uniforms avoid all of the pit falls. The pant legs are tucked into boots. Rugged looking warrior boots or timeless dress boots. The jackets have no lapels at all, just a conservative collar that hints at a military tailoring. And the collars of the uniforms are as simple as they can be, avoiding any of the clichés of the time. Even the colors work universally. No jarring disco paisleys or white leisure suit fabric (like, say Buck Rogers). Instead we get the earthy Warrior uniforms and the Naval bridge uniforms.
In fact, the Battlestar Galactica costumes are probably some of the most timeless of all sci-fi attempts. Most other shows dress their characters in what basically boil down to drab coveralls or something akin to pajamas. And as an added bonus, the uniforms tailored for the extras in each episode almost always fit as well as those for the stars. That was almost unheard for television in the 70s and 80s.
Looking at the costumes specifically, you can tell that a lot of effort was made to avoid any obvious trends. Thinking back to the period when the show was on the air, the common fashion tell tales were things like flared pant legs, giant lapels, and those wide collars for shirts. But Galactica uniforms avoid all of the pit falls. The pant legs are tucked into boots. Rugged looking warrior boots or timeless dress boots. The jackets have no lapels at all, just a conservative collar that hints at a military tailoring. And the collars of the uniforms are as simple as they can be, avoiding any of the clichés of the time. Even the colors work universally. No jarring disco paisleys or white leisure suit fabric (like, say Buck Rogers). Instead we get the earthy Warrior uniforms and the Naval bridge uniforms.
In fact, the Battlestar Galactica costumes are probably some of the most timeless of all sci-fi attempts. Most other shows dress their characters in what basically boil down to drab coveralls or something akin to pajamas. And as an added bonus, the uniforms tailored for the extras in each episode almost always fit as well as those for the stars. That was almost unheard for television in the 70s and 80s.