OCTOBER 24, 2023 - Though here on Earth we may only dress up in fun costumes for Halloween, crew members of starships do it all the time as a way to relax after a long day of work. I’m, of course, talking about the holodeck: a place for a crew member to go and look for serenity, and maybe a bit of adventure too. Let’s see how the costumes of the future compare to the costumes of the present. Today we’ll be looking at the most fashionable, extravagant, and absolutely iconic Star Trek holodeck costumes. 

First up we have Data, Picard, and La Forge as the three musketeers in the TNG episode “Hollow Pursuits” where Reginald Barclay takes over the holodeck and forces everyone to play out his fantasies. Fortunately for us, those fantasies include some pretty sick costumes. If you look closely at this image you can also see Wesley eating a pie in the background. 

In “A Fistful of Datas” we get to see the iconic father-son duo (Worf and Alexander) dressed up as Klingon cowboys. They both look very ready to rumble and as the episode progresses, they definitely rumble. 

Next up we have basically the entire “Take me out to the Holosuite” episode of DS9. Not only is this probably the most iconic holodeck episode, the costumes are also amazing. 

Next up we have Janeway as Queen Arachnia in the Adventures of Captain Proton. We see her dressed like this in “The Bride of Chaotica!”, an episode in which an alien species effectively wages war on holodeck characters. Though the episode is a little strange, I find this outfit to be absolutely stunning, and Kate Mulgrew definitely did it justice. 

Next up we have another iconic episode with an even more iconic duo: Data and Geordi as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. “Elementary, Dear Data” is an amazing episode that birthed one of my favorite TNG characters: Moriarty. 

Next up we have Dr. T’anna and Shax having a bit too much fun on the holodeck in the Lower Decks episode “Room for Growth.” I personally think they both make wonderful gangsters and I love T’anna’s hat.

Next up we have Captain Picard dressed up as a jockey, and being the most British Frenchman in the Alpha Quadrant. This is from the TNG episode “Pen Pals” and I personally think Picard pulls off that outfit wonderfully. 

Now this is technically not from a holodeck episode, however, I think Worf and the rest of the crew (but mostly Worf) look positively amazing and as goofy as ever in this episode. This is from the episode “Qpid” where Q sticks the crew into a Robinhood story to get Picard to confess his love to Vash. This episode gave us the iconic line “I am not a merry man” so I had to include it. 

Finally, we have an outfit from one of my favorite Star Trek episodes of all time. It’s another outfit from “A Fistful of Datas.” Here we see Brent Spiner dressed up as a lady of the night. After I saw this episode I was certain that Data would make an excellent Drag Queen.

That’s all we have for you today. I hope you enjoyed looking back at some of the iconic holodeck costumes and perhaps felt some inspiration for your Halloween costume.