Does anyone know if they gave a reason why the uniforms changed in Season 5? Just wondering. It seems like there was no reason for it...
Did they ever give a reason for any uniform change? The real world reason is the series had to change to match the new movie uniforms, but in-universe Starfleet seems to change uniforms every few years without ever mentioning why. The exception being the Wrath of Khan uniforms, which they kept for 70-something years.
Pretty much stated. They redesigned the uniforms for First Contact and to maintain continuity they had to switch the DS9 crew over. Which was funny since you'd see the extras in the old uniforms for a number of episodes until they had enough made for them. Heck, the Admirals didn't get new uniforms until season 6. As for Voyager, they kept the old uniforms since they were separated from the Federation. Though by they were aware of the uniform change by Message in a Bottle and definitely by Pathfinder.
They couldn't afford replicator rations to make new uniforms because they needed to take advantage of the incompatible power source to the holodeck.
^Perhaps if they hadn't replicated so many shuttles. They might have been able to replicate some new uniforms.
I'm actually surprised VOY didn't change uniforms without an explanation. As for DS9, the new uniforms suited them going into the Dominion War. The Starfleet Attire and Uniform Department has to justify its existence somehow
They fitted a version of The Doctor's mobile emitter into everyone's combadges and they were all "wearing" holographic uniforms.
I liked the gray uniform. It made Starfleet officers look a little more professional in my opinion, rather than having these bright primary colors that screamed at you on the previous uniforms.
Ah yeah... because of the movie. I should have put that together. It made sense they didn't have new uniforms on VOY because for a few years, they had no contact with Starfleet. When they did eventually contact Starfleet, the people back home had the new uniforms, but the VOY crew kept their old ones. In the movie "Nemesis", Janeway is shown wearing the new uniform. I think VOY handled it in the correct way. They could not have possibly known about new uniforms. By the time they did know in Pathfinder, Message in a Bottle, etc, who cares? They were out in the middle of nowhere. And Janeway needs the replicators in tip top shape for her coffee~
Yet somehow they learned about the new, slimmer hand phasers, long before they made contact with Starfleet... Pretty much exactly so - 2278 was the earliest confirmed appearance (on the Bozeman crew in "Cause and Effect"), 2348 the last (on Jack Crusher in a holomessage recorded at Wesley's birth in "Family"). Although the uniform did change a bit along the route, and we might say this jacket-plus-pullover style was in use in TOS or Pike's days already - it's just that our heroes only wore the pullovers without the jackets when Starfleet wasn't watching. Timo Saloniemi
The TOS movie uniforms were my favorite ones. They actually looked the most like uniforms. And I loved their insignia that weren't an obvious rip off from modern militaries.
I wonder if it might actually have been longer than that. The TWOK uniforms feature a jacket over a sweater that looks like it might be too hot to wear on a planet in summer. Maybe the uniforms in TMP were a hot-weather version of the TWOK uniforms, similar to summer whites and winter blues in modern navies. The colors of the TMP uniforms and TWOK sweaters match up, for the most part.
Real-world military organizations are changing uniforms around constantly. Always trying to "improve" something. I was issued uniforms at the biginning of my basic training that were pretty-much already "obsolete" less than a year later. Apparantly Starfleet is no different on this count.
My order of preference... TOS movie uniforms TNG movie/late DS9 uniforms Early DS9/Voyager uniforms TNG uniforms TOS uniforms TMP uniforms
My personal favorite was the future uniform from All Good Things, The Visitor, and Endgame. Late DS9 Uniform Late TNG Uniform TWOK Uniform TOS Uniform Early DS9 Uniform TMP Uniform The Cage Uniform Early TNG Uniform
Knew I forgot one. I'd plug the future uniforms in between the early Ds9/VOY and TNG unifroms. I did think they had the best looking comm badge of the lot though.