My Dream Party-Cinema Spotlight on Star Trek The Original Series Journey to Babel

Now despite the title of the post I actually hate parties.   I'm extremely shy and rather socially awkward and basically my ideal of hell is a cocktail party filled with people unfamiliar to me.  Even family parties make me nervous.  However, I love looking at vintage pictures of Holiday parties.  The more pedestrian the party the better.

These people look quite happy, or at least tipsy.

I love the tinsel on the tree here.

The dress on the girl on the left is just divine.

I love this guys shirt or whatever it is he is wearing.

However, there is only one party I'd like to attend and it is a fictional one, and unsurprisingly it is from the Star Trek universe.

I mean how fabulous is this party!

The episode is one from the original series second season, Journey to Babel, it aired in 1967 and the fabulous colorful kitschiness of the 60s is all over it.  The plot involves the Enterprise hosting a gathering of alien diplomats, including Spock's father, not all of whom have benign intentions.  The story is clever and well done, but what  I love most about the episode is the costume and set design.  William Ware Theiss, Star Trek's first costume designer, who I wrote about here, outdid himself in this episode.  

Usually Theiss's designs where emblematic of the swinging 60s and rather skimpy, focusing viewer attention on ample amounts of alien skin, but as this episode basically deals with an intergalactic U.N. summit the costumes are more covered up and Theiss had lots of fun with fabrics, colors, and trims.   I love every single outfit!

The Vulcans are very covered up and regal.  Lady Amanda Spock's human mother arrives in a vest over some sort of 60s column dress with a huge stand up collar.  My favorite touch is the elbow length gloves.   I also love Sarek's, Spock's vulcan father, military inspired tunic.

Sarek has some nice brocade on his party outfit:

But being a Vulcan it's still for Star Trek at least a rather subdued look.  Lady Amanda being a human gets to have more fun with her clothes.  Like the Vulcan's she is covered up and elegant, but there are plenty of fun touches.  Her party outfit is a psychedelic 60s caftan:

And later she wears a high necked red dress with pink marabou feather trim on the sleeves.

The Vulcan's are just the tip of the costuming ice berg in the episode though.  There is the pig people race, they seem to love shiny fabrics, 

and the little gold people in fezzes. I love the look of the cocktails they are carrying, are those some sort of futuristic gum drop ice cubes?

There are also tons of colorfully costumed extras in the background.  Each more outrageously attired then the last.

The only alien race with slightly boring costumes are the blue skinned Andorians who are wearing chain mail with leather vests.  They are kind of the bad guys of the episode though so maybe Theiss thought they should dress down.  

The Star Fleet dress uniforms on Kirk, Spock and McCoy are my favorite of all the costumes. I love, love, love the gold braid.

The set design in the party scene is also amazing I am obsessed with the psychedelically colored fruit and the brightly colored squares, I guess they are ice cubes?  And the decanters filled with futuristic cocktails.

I even have the perfect outfit to wear to this party if only I could go!  My Mexican Patio Set it even has the gold braid and everything!

Seriously though, I just love this image of a bright, colorful, and diversely costumed future.   So much better then the functional, drab, and boring direction that fashion is heading.