The Continuity GuideUniforms
by Martin Willey
The Continuity Guide
The helmets are fibreglass casts from Bell Star motorcycle helmets with bubble visors. The US company Bell introduced the first full-face helmet, the Star, in 1968 for race car driving, and started a motorcycle version in 1971. The shape was more recognisable in the 1970s. The Bell company still exists, now based in Belgium. Inside the helmet are straps which can be adjusted to fit. The front of the ridge at the top of the helmet was originally dark, as were the rectangles around the visor.
During Year 2 some helmets were repainted, and these features became the same yellow as the rest of the helmet. This is noticeable on the camera helmet introduced in The A B Chrysalis, which, like another helmet, loses the stripes on the back.
Kander in The Bringers Of Wonder part 1 has a "Records Unit" sticker attached to his helmet.
An air pipe connects the PLSS backpack, which has four connectors, to a socket on the rear left of the helmet. Usually the left-most connector on the PLSS is used, but some backpacks have damaged connectors later in the series, so others are used.
In The Bringers Of Wonder part 2 Alan and Ehrlich try to remove Koenig's air pipe.
The air pipe attaches to the rear left of the helmet. The EVA pack does not connect to the helmet, and later in The Exiles they have no back-packs of any type. Presumably there is a secondary oxygen tank in the DCM chest pack, and a hidden air supply to the helmet.
The camera helmet was introduced in The A B Chrysalis. The black edge of the top ridge, and the rectangles around the visor, are now yellow. Koenig wears it again in The Bringers Of Wonder part 1 and part 2.
On the back of the helmet are usually 5 vertical black stripes, which look like vents but are actually black tape. By Year 2, a number of helmets are been repainted and lost these black stripes (for instance, the camera helmet has none in The A B Chrysalis, but they are back in The Bringers Of Wonder part 1).
Two helmets were painted silver, and used with the silver spacesuit seen in Brian The Brain and The Seance Spectre. The visor glass is still tinted yellow.
The Brian The Brain helmets have an orange collar, but the The Seance Spectre Anti Radiation suit collar is repainted silver.
Copyright Martin Willey