TWOK Field Vest by Elegant Whimsy: Close-Ups

This collage of photos is a set of close-up pictures of the "Wrath of Khan" Landing Party Vest, used in the movie by officers who were going on Away Team missions into potentially hostile or inclement situations, that was specially made for me by Yolanda Zachwieja of Elegant Whimsy Custom Costumes. We began this project around the beginning of July, and I got the costume in early August. The vest completes the "Away Team set" portion of my "Wrath of Khan" era Captain's Uniform Locker, a collection of just about every single duty uniform that a Command Division Starship Captain (OF-5 NATO/O-6 USA) could have chosen from between 2278 and 2350, along with my own variations and unique custom designs.

Please note that I'm going out of my way to call this particular piece of clothing a "vest," and not a "waistcoat." The term "waistcoat" has a more formal connotation, and so I like to reserve the word for the more formal Captain's Waistcoat that Captain James T. Kirk wears in the latter part of the movie "Star Trek: Generations" or the leather vest that Lieutenant Saavik wears underneath her Field Jacket in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" as those vests don't look like working uniforms while this - and Scotty's Engineer's vest - are clearly meant to be entirely functional, heavy-duty outfits.

This set of photos is intended to better demonstrate the special features Yolanda built into the vest, which I had already discussed in my previous collage submission, viewable here: fav.me/d6iol2c while also giving a better view of the vest's texture and color scheme. It also provides a good close-up view of the vest's shape, proportions and details from all directions. Finally, the last photo in this collage also shows off an item I picked up from the dealer's hall at Anime Weekend Atlanta 2011, one of the props that go with this set: the "electrical box" field communicator from "Wrath of Khan" made by Diamond Select Toys/Art Asylum.

One of the most hated versions of the famous Starfleet Communicator, this prop got its nickname because it was literally built at the last minute from an electrical box. The story goes that TWOK director Nicholas Meyer, a controversial choice at the time because he was a complete newcomer to "Star Trek" whose views often clashed with Gene Roddenberry's (and the then-current fan base's), originally envisioned the Starfleet crew using giant, bulky, walkie-talkie like packs to communicate with each other. This went totally against everything we have ever come to know or expect from Starfleet technology, but for the longest time, the production staff were unable to convince Meyer that his idea was unacceptable.

Meyer finally gave in at the last minute and essentially said, "all right, if you want a flip-phone, then build me a flip-phone." Unfortunately, by this point, there was very little time or budget remaining in the production of the movie for the prop department to design a fully updated TOS-style flip-antenna Communicator from scratch and they were forced to improvise and what you see me holding is the result: a big, bulky, metallic silver prop with a handful of labeled twist-tab controls, and three operating lights, and no visible speaker or microphone - not even a moire - that almost looked like a regression from the sleek TOS Communicator that had preceded it. (On the other hand, this Communicator, used by Saavik and Kirk among others, certainly gave the appearance of the kind of machine that could function even after being dropped in the mud, which fits its use as part of an Away Team kit.)

There is also a little-known "in-joke" in the TWOK Communicator design: one of the printed labels on the control face of the device says "TRANSLOCK." This is a reference to the fact that Communicators are often necessary to safely beam crew members to the ship without forcing the Transporter operator to guess their exact location. This is because the Transporter system is designed to lock onto a homing signal from a Communicator. This little fact has been a standard part of Starfleet operations since TOS went into production - but not many people know that the "translock" feature was the very reason the Communicator even came into existence. Gene and his staff were well aware of how powerful the Transporter was, and were keen to set limitations on the device because otherwise it would be all too easy for the Enterprise's crew to escape from troublesome situations by simply beaming back to the ship and warping away!