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We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future: Difference between revisions

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We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:LostInSpaceMugShot.jpg|link=Lost in Space|rightframe|Future space explorers from the far off 1997 mock our outdated concept of "pockets" and "purses".]]
 
 
[[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], we've gone [[Crystal Spires and Togas]], everything is decked out in this nice futuristic [[Zeerust]], and everybody wears [[Space Clothes|spandex]] that has no pockets.
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This isn't as outlandish as you might think (see the [[Real Life]] examples below). Still, the lack of visible pockets in future clothes is a near ubiquitous trope in [[Speculative Fiction]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
 
▲{{examples|Examples:}}
== [[Comics]] ==
* This was quite common in [[Silver Age]] superhero costumes to the point where [[The Tick (animation)]]'s mind was blown when he discovered he had them (he wasn't even concerned about the huge roll of cash he produced from one of them).
** [[Silver Age]] [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]]'s cape contained a hidden pocket where he keeps his (compressed-by-his-super-strength-somehow) Clark Kent clothes.
 
== [[Film]] ==
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== [[Literature]] ==
* The children's book ''Bill's New Frock'' is about [[Gender Bender|a boy who wakes up as a girl]] and no-one seems to notice. The lack of pockets in the frilly dress he's given to wear is just one of the things he discovers is [[Different for Girls]].
 
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* [[Word of God]] is that the creator of ''[[Babylon 5 (TV)|Babylon 5]]'', [[J. Michael Straczynski]], made sure the uniforms had visual pockets as this trope has always [[It Just Bugs Me|bugged him]].
** However, one episode featured a pickpocket stealing a pouch hanging from a person's belt in a market, which would have been a lot more at home in the Middle Ages, as would the method of the theft (literal cutpursing).
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the ''[[Crusade (TV)|Crusade]]'' spin-off, when a clothing designer comes aboard the ''[[Cool Starship|Excalibur]]'' to make new uniforms for the senior officers. [[The Captain|Gideon]] complains that these uniforms lack pockets, to which the designer replies that a captain shouldn't have to carry things around. There are subordinates for that.
* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'': The actors, at least, [[Fridge Logic|have wondered]] about this very impractical lack of pockets (sure, most of the time they're only carrying around their phasers, and the science officer gets a Tricorder, but still).
** The justification being that there's no money in the Federation, or keys when you have voice-activated doors, thus no need for pockets.
** It was mentioned in at least one ''Star Trek'' book, however, that the lack of pockets in uniforms is done for security reasons; it prevents anyone from being able to smuggle hidden weapons without great difficulty.
** Some officers, however, are seen with vest pockets; also, "The Cage" and the ''TOS'' movies gave us field jackets with visible pockets. Otherwise, Starfleet tends to stick to hard-sided cases and the odd tool belt. Miles O'Brien of ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' was occasionally seen with a bunch of tools (or dental implements, it's hard to tell) stuffed into a breast pocket. No one else seemed to have this pocket.
** Especially bad in one ''Deep Space Nine'' episode that featured a Starfleet infantryman (or possibly Marine; in any case, apparently not just a shipboard security officer) deployed in combat on a planet. Not wearing any kind of armor might be understandable; the same with not carrying any secondary weapon or "ammo"/energy cells for his phaser rifle (who can say how many shots it could fire, or if it could be recharged in the field)...but he didn't have any ability to carry ''anything'' without holding it in his hands, or over his shoulder. Not even a ''canteen''.
*** Averted in the ''Elite Force'' video games, as the Hazard Team combat squad would definitely need to carry stuff around, in addition to their guns. So they were all given portable personal transporter buffers, which keeps items in a state of perpetual atomic dis-assembly, until they are needed. It's basically a futuristic version of a [[Bag of Holding]].
** The jumpsuits on ''[[Star Trek Enterprise (TV)|Star Trek: Enterprise]]'', being based on NASA jumpsuits, had zipped pockets.
** Some uniforms do have pockets: the one-piece coveralls from ''[[Star Trek: the Motion Picture (Film)|Star Trek theThe Motion Picture]]'', and the cadet uniforms seen in the later series both had cargo pockets. Also, on several occasions we see characters removing things from their pockets, usually small hand phasers. In "The Mind's Eye" Geordi LaForge clearly has a phaser hidden in a small hip pocket. It was implied that the futuristic materials made pockets (as well as fastenings) virtually invisible until they were needed. Somehow.
** The second uniforms of TNG ''did'' have small pockets roughly near the hip with the openings facing outward toward the camera so you could quickly tuck a phaser or a tricorder in there, but half would stick out. Picard's later "Captain's jacket" uniform had pockets in the lining.
** On the [[DVD Commentary]] of ''[[Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan (Film)|Star Trek II theThe Wrath of Khan]]'', Nicholas Meyer says that he wanted the new uniforms to have pockets, but the budget wasn't high enough as they would have had to make pockets for each individual uniform. The field jackets Kirk and Bones wear on Regula, though, ''do'' have some hefty pockets in that movie.
** In the fourth season of ''[[Voyager]]'', B'Elanna Torres was often wearing a vest with tool pockets while in engineering. However, this was only used because [[Hide Your Pregnancy|Roxanne Dawson was pregnant at the time and it couldn't be realistically worked into the plot]].
* ''[[Buck Rogers'' (within Gilthe Gerard)25th Century]]'' suffered from this. Men and women wore skin-tight uniforms that didn't permit pockets.
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Averted in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. While there's not really visible pockets, Tali mentions that her exosuit has "more pockets than you'd think", apparently with sufficient space to allow her to cart around a significant amount of geth parts.
 
 
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== [[Real Life]] ==
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* The uniforms for some fast food chains have fake pockets, presumably because they don't [[Stealing From the Till|trust their employees]]. Others do not.
** The uniform for at least one credit card manufacturer does not have pockets, and it's ''definitely'' for [[Stealing From the Till|security reasons]].
* Employees at theme park games will usually only have one pocket in the rear. Probably so they wontwon't have anywhere to stealstash handledstolen money, and to prevent them from sitting down.
** Goes for plenty of other theme park workers as well, including those that never get near money.
* Both pants and suitcoats used as theater props frequently have the pockets sewn shut to prevent actors from putting their hands in their pockets.
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[[Category:We Will Not Use an Index In The Future]]
[[Category:Costume Tropes]]
[[Category:We Will Not Have Pockets Inin Thethe Future]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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