A Brief History of Skin-Tight Catsuits

 

 

What with my regular gig at ComicsAlliance, some of you might’ve forgotten that I stay on my freelance hustle, which is why today, I’m proud to direct your eyes to what I hope is the first of many articles I’ve contributed to the SyFy Channel’s SciFiWire.com! For my first assignment, I was given a pretty enjoyable piece to write: a look back at five decades of catsuits in sci-fi!

It’s meant to be a comprehensive, chronological overview of the skin-tight outfits and what it means about our society that we’ve spent 50 years saying that’s what women are going to wear in the utopian/dystopian/video-gamey future. Which is a fancy way of saying “hey, go look at these pictures of pretty girls and enjoy my jokes about America’s most beloved astrophysicist.”

Seriously though, this was a fun one to write. Not just for the obvious reasons, but because they let me keep the punchline I wanted for the entire article. So here’s hoping I get to do another!

15 thoughts on “A Brief History of Skin-Tight Catsuits

  1. How does it feel to get “you forgot”-ed at a new place? Do you not feel like the process is finished until someone makes sure that you are aware that you omitted something?

  2. Was Zoe supposed to be arm candy on Doctor Who? I’ve heard tell that her co-companion Jaime was supposed to be eye candy for the ladies, but I’ve never really heard anyone say that she was (and why didn’t Leela get a shout out?)

    Let me say a heartfelt thank you on two points:

    One, I, too, have never been too keen on Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and the outfit is part of the reason.

    Two, you are the only other person I know of who has publicly observed that The Island is a remake of Parts: The Clonus Horror. It’s amazing how few people realize that.

    And you were right to mention Raquel Welch in Fantastic Voyage, but you should have mentioned Marge Simpson in the parody of Fantastic Voyage — for this line if nothing else:

    Marge: Why is my suit so revealing?
    Homer: Because that’s what turns a mediocre voyage into a fantastic voyage!

  3. “Haven’t looked, don’t plan to.”

    Well, you forgot Jessica Alba and Natalie Portman in that one movie franchise you don’t talk about!

  4. Chris: you didn’t forget anything. I know I’m not supposed to tell you that, and I will be laughed out of the ISB Lounge, but it’s true: you covered everyone. In fact, you brought up people I forgot, which means I need to write a post to myself about that. Also, a friend of mine got me an autographed photo of Yvonne Craig — the very photo you use — at San Diego to years ago. She signed it “You’re welcome,” which might be the sexiest thing someone I don’t know has ever said to me. In writing.

  5. I am so stoked that you included Zoe! She’s one of my favorite companions (for the brains, no really…) and the Second Doctor is my favorite. And yeah, the end of the list burned my eyes, but I’m just thankful that you didn’t put the live-action Riddler there, which is what I was kind of bracing myself for.

    You’re a good man, Mr. Sims.

  6. “Sci-fi wire did a similar thing today. Not as well, of course…”

    Not as well. Ha. Ha ha. Bwahahaha!

    “Haven’t looked, don’t plan to.”

    One of the things pointed out over there was where are all the pictures of men in skin-tight outfits (other than the last one, which I’m not sure counts). The title of the article doesn’t say it’s only the women.

  7. Dude, that Sims guy is totally ripping you off. I did a Google search, and every single thing you’ve written about, so has he. What a hack!

  8. Let’s be honest here–it all begins and ends with Julie Newmar. I was six-seven when BATMAN aired, and she damn near kick-started me into puberty the first time she appeared.