

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

Robert "Bob" Fletcher Wycoff (born 23 August 1922; age 98), better known simply as "Robert" or "Bob Fletcher", designed the costumes used in the first four Star Trek films. He started out in the Star Trek franchise when he was brought in by Director Robert Wise in March 1978 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, thereby replacing Star Trek: The Original Series veteran William Ware Theiss, who hitherto held the position. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 124) He earned Saturn Award nominations from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his work on all four films, winning his fourth (for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home). Starfleet uniforms based on his designs were also used in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and Star Trek Generations as well as in scenes for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.

Fletcher was also responsible for the "look" given to the Klingons and Vulcans in the Star Trek films, elements of which have been used in almost every subsequent Star Trek series, including the Klingon cranial ridges that were first adopted in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In addition, Fletcher designed the full set of rank pins used in Star Trek II and beyond. Paramount obtained several design patents based on Fletcher's work, where he is listed as the "inventor" of the design.

In 2007, Fletcher also worked as costume designer for the Starfleet uniforms for the fan-made internet series Star Trek: New Voyages episode "World Enough and Time", which features James Cawley, Jeffery Quinn, George Takei, Grace Lee Whitney, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and John Carrigan.

Fletcher is currently the oldest living production staff member who worked on Star Trek. Overall, he's the fifth oldest living person to work on Star Trek, after actors Norman Lloyd, Marsha Hunt, Nehemiah Persoff, and Reuben Klamer, a toy manufacturer who designed the phaser rifle for "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

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Career outside Star trek

Prior to his involvement with Star Trek, Bob Fletcher accumulated set, and costume design credits for predominantly television productions such as NBC Television Opera Theatre (1955), Stanley (1956), General Motors 50th Anniversary Show (1957), Music with Mary Martin (1959), The Hollywood Palace (1967-1968), A Family Thing (1968), and The Scarecrow (1972). A single movie credit, prior to The Motion Picture, was Sam Peckinpah's 1970 western The Ballad of Cable Hogue.

In addition to his Star Trek work, Fletcher designed costumes for the later films Caveman (1981), The Last Starfighter (1984), and Fright Night (1985). He also worked on the epic mini-series North and South, Book II (starring Kirstie Alley, Mary Crosby, Jonathan Frakes, Jim Metzler, Jean Simmons, Kurtwood Smith, David Ogden Stiers, and Anthony Zerbe), for which he earned an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special. The Costume Designers Guild honored Fletcher with a Career Achievement Award in 2005.

North and South and The Voyage Home were his last motion picture contributions before his retirement.

Aside from the motion picture industry, Bob Fletcher has also worked extensively for Broadway musical and theater productions, earning him three Tony Award, and one Drama Desk Award nominations, though not winning any of them.

Star Trek interviews

Further reading