Having been besieged* with requests for a whale in a spacesuit, may I present:
an Inexplicable DeVice production
in association with Starfleet Cetacean Operations
and Quilted Shoulder Pads Inc.
(Oh, OK, we'll stop now. The whale is right at the end, so you're going to have to scroll through two or three sketches to get to it. I'm not sorry)
First, here is my take on an alternate timeline/universe version of the Starfleet uniform that was used from 2373 onwards (in Deep Space 9 and the Next Generation movies). This was my entry for the February Art Challenge - "Alternative Trek":
The uniforms are an unlikely combination of the 2260s Romulan Star Empire service uniform, the 2270s-2290s Starfleet "Monster Maroons", and the 2370s Starfleet standard duty uniform. The rank insignia are my own design as exquisitely modelled by @Scribble
They came about in a universe in which Torias Dax didn't die in the Infinity transwarp test shuttle accident (because transwarp worked - not the space salamander version, just a significantly faster & more efficient warp drive) and the Romulans ended up joining the Federation (just in time to save it from a massive Borg incursion - but that's another story).
Romulan models, T'Cael and Ry'iak are named after characters featured in Final Frontier by Diane Carey. You may notice that T'Cael's right hand is in a very awkward position for his fingers to be where they are on Ry'iak's hand. I'm wondering what he did for Ry'iak to hold him so uncomfortably?
I've also pondered a 2370s update to the 2250s Discovery uniform:
This is just a quick sketch to show basic design and colours. Our models today are Commander Marcelino (named after the USS Grissom comms officer actor in ST III) and Lt. j.g. zh'Ithpirin of the communications starship USS D'Hennish (named after this Cool Cat).
The off-kilter shoulder quilting and the piping along the other shoulder of this uniform makes it look too much like the 29th century Starfleet uniforms from VGR: "Relativity". I'm going to have to change them now (also, my original design notes were for a rusty bronze shoulder, not grey).
Someone pointed out a similarity to TNG Romulan shoulder pads, which were ridiculously oversized - even for the 80s! I prefer a more "Dynasty" look - still big, but with sequins and other embellishments!
As I somehow managed to get my entry for the March Art Challenge completed a few days before the deadline, I had time to continue messing around with alternate uniform designs. The sketches below are just some ideas for colour and style:
Somewhat serendipitously, the winner of March's Art Challenge has chosen a magical theme for April's challenge, so Commander DeVice up there may star in a future post here.
So, here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for: A Narwhal in a spacesuit!
Starfleet Supernatural Operations doesn't exist, of course (a ridiculous notion). Starfleet Occult Operations, on the other hand...
* i.e. two. Just two requests. Bah!
That Narwhal is a supermodel! Look at how he works the camera with his fantastic pose and smizing! Fabulous drawings!
ReplyDeleteI like the last look (Sexy Supermodel Organization) best of all. The symmetry and lines make it look very comfortable, utilitarian, and chic. The other asymmetrical, off the shoulder diagonal numbers are more for formal meet and greet, hobnobbing events. They do make me feel as if I should be holding a wine glass in hand, ready to toss its contents in the faces of my rivals, deliver a scathing remark, then proceed to bitch slapping each other and wrestling in a pool, Dynasty style.
Thank you, Eros.
DeleteI am torn. While I do love a good scathing remark, bitch slap, pool wrestle (preferably with sequins), I don't know if I'd want to give up my drink, as satisfying as it may be to throw it in my rival's face. What if they have their mouth open in shock at the time and accidentally drink my drink? I'll be livid!
What lovely sketches.... I also noticed the form fitting uniforms on the models.....
ReplyDeleteWell, you know how saying goes: "If you've got it, flaunt it!" And Starfleet personnel have got it!
Delete(But only in the first season, in most cases. From season two onwards, most tend to let themselves go and rely on girdles and muscle-padding to achieve that "Starfleet look")
Yay!!! A horned fish in a space suit!! You do like padding and quilting..... I'm sure you've done fringing and braid before.... but what about tweed?? I imagine you are now getting excited by the prospect of a tweed space suit.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ooh, tweed! Now there's an idea. I think the Romulans would look good in tweed, and they already rock the braid-and-fringe look!
DeleteWe could also provide them with Earth's existing stock of Tweed by Lenthéric (I don't think anyone uses it anymore, do they?)
I can see that narwhal being a hot item in the plush toy stakes.Better register the design quickly, my friend.
ReplyDeleteOh, no. And I thought weekends were supposed to be free from admin duties...
Delete* flails around trying to work out if a plush narwhal should be trademarked, copywrited, or secured by some other byzantine process *
Retro-fitted phaser should do the trick if anyone tries to tamper with your cunningly stitched-in-seam trade mark
DeletePhaser? You've been doing your homework!
DeleteI actually visited the haberdashery department of the posh department store opposite my office today to see what kind of fabric they had. Nothing suitable for a plush narwhal, unfortunately, but some of the pretty, pretty ribbons would make excellent uniform pieces!
"Damn it, Jim, I'm a doctor not a whale clothier!" — Dr McCoy Star Trek "The Troubles With Cetaceans"
ReplyDeleteWhich is why Dr McCoy never goes to Cetacean Ops...
DeleteIt's time for more of the whole oeuvre here on the plantation, sweetpea! Your drawings have inspired me, along with the ridiculous we-can't-go-anywhere-today weather! xoxox
ReplyDeleteUg. We've got that sort of weather, too. Rain, rain, and more rain.
DeleteStill, if it means being creative indoors, we shouldn't complain.
P.S. Marvellous short film over at yours!
"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it! Not as we know it! Not as we know it!"
ReplyDeleteJx
"There's Klingons off the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow!"
DeleteI have some uniform parts of the second worldwar somewhere here, my grandpa wore them when he came home from the East - does this count ?
ReplyDeleteI hope they whale will not fall to the ground like the only other space-whale I know about.
Old uniforms certainly do count. Inspiration needs to come from somewhere. (I, too, have some sort of brass buttoned red jacket that my granddad wore in service somewhere).
DeleteThe narwhal hasn't met a bowl of petunias yet, so hopefully he'll be spared a splattery death.
Here comes a stingray
ReplyDeleteThere goes a manta-ray
In walked a jelly fish
There goes a dog-fish
Chased by a cat-fish
In flew a sea robin
Watch out for that piranha
There goes a narwhal
HERE COMES A BIKINI WHALE!
And do not forget Eros' Candiru !
DeleteRock Lobster! Rock Lobster!
DeleteI'd rather Mitzi's array of sea life than a Candiru.
*shudders*