Should they just have ditched uniforms and protocol?

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Yeah it would not have gone on like that for decades, without it becoming very weird IMO. But people live a long time in the future and 7 years was not the near the point of Starfleet losing it's grip on mores and dress. Getting in contact with the AQ and having monthly Starfleet backpats would have kept them in the fold too.

 

[Cicero]

I think ditching the uniforms would only have happened if the U.S.S. Voyager ceased to be a Starfleet vessel and became a purely civilian one.

Like the S.S. Minnow...

hmm...cannot seem to find the Star Fleet Registry for "S.S. Minnow"

...was she canon, or from an alternate reality completely?

I did find some ancillary records, confirming that she was a pleaseure craft and did have a "Skipper", and a "Gilligan", whatever that was. New life form? I will keep digging.

Those poor people . . .

 

[JeffinOakland]

"Yo! Wassup, Janie? Like my shorts?"

 

[fireproof78]

This is the military, but these people signed on with the expectation of tours ending, or retiring, or switching to other careers, or advancing in rank. You don't think military discipline would break down when the current arrangement became a life sentence?

Maybe not pajamas, but Bajorans would have certainly started wearing earrings, people might have made comfort adjustments. And eventually they would have needed to compromise and started trading technology for protection, without it being a learning experience about how Starfleet protocol is all.

I don't think that those in Starfleet necessarily look at it as a tour mentality, or itching for their stint to be up. That's not why people joined Starfleet in the utopian Federation, at least how it is presented.

I think military discipline, as well as personal discipline, would fracture, but that is all the more reason to maintain that sense of order. I'm not saying there would not be fraying, but that it would be the exception, not the rule. It would make for interesting drama, but out in the wilds of the DQ abandoning protocol doesn't make sense. Loosening it would be expected, kind of M*A*S*H, under Colonel Potter who was willing to acknowledge that civilian are not as disciplined as regular military but still would have military protocol.

 

[Garren]

What do others think?

It seems to me that ritual and procedure and habits are quite valuable in keeping people from being overwhelmed by stressful situations. Doing so reduces the number and variety of decisions individuals have to make, for example, and provides the subtle reassurance that they are in a sensible structure; also, meeting clearly known objectives, even if they are objectively silly ones like ``uniforms cleaned and pressed'', is a reassurance that you are able to successfully do things even in circumstances where getting them done is extraordinarily hard.

I agree and excellent point. To reiterate, I think the uniforms are important to allow people to hide their stress behind duty. It's easier to cope with traumatic situations when you have a focus and a responsibility. But more importantly, it helps Janeway keep order.

Without uniforms, the captain may have run a psychological risk of people starting to think as individuals which may not work well as a team. There's no way Voyager could survive as a civilian vessel. It needed everyone mentally primed at all times. Uniforms definitely do the trick.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

If it suddenly became a civilian vessel people would be like "why the fuck are we sciencing every nebula?!"

 

[JeffinOakland]

If it suddenly became a civilian vessel people would be like "why the fuck are we sciencing every nebula?!"

They's be beelining home and scanning only for wormholes.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Starfleet is not the military.

They're more like the church, back when the church had an army.

Voyager is a Federation Colony.

Or it should have been.

In the Federation, Janeway would have been beholden to a limit, to every Federation Governor she was within the limits of their jurisdiction of. And those Governors would have been able to protect the civilian rights of it's citizens, and Janeway's crew above Starfleet's edict to enforce Federation Law. Federation Citizens not in Starfleet, don't have to follow Starfleet regulations which should have to go without saying, but I've run into some real muppets in this forum over the years... And Starfleet regulations, as well as Federation law do not extend a millimetre past the exterior of Voyagers hull. Hmmm? Are Shuttles considered Federation soil? Yes I would think they were.

Are Federation Governors elected or appointed?

Janeway either didn't advertise the election, or she appointed herself without Federation Council authority to do so, even though she has ambassadorial rank to create binding agreements with other cultures, that would probably extend to her own culture, or she may have side stepped any need to have a Civilian authority by being very quiet about the subject.

Seven of Nine & Naomi Wildman had rights as Federation citizens with no obligation whatsoever to obey Starfleet regulations. Sure Janeway would have been court martialed for marooning civilians, but then they could have been put in stasis for 40 years if they had been dicks.

Neelix and the Borg kids were Foreign Nationals who could be marooned with no consequences to Janeway as long as they were alive when she left them.

 

[HIjol]

If it suddenly became a civilian vessel people would be like "why the fuck are we sciencing every nebula?!"

They's be beelining home and scanning only for wormholes.

Commandeering and commanding every beatable vessel or people that came their way, gaming a way to get home. TechnoBeg, borrow and Steal.

Like I said Earlier, Toombs Janeway and her Merc Crew, like in Riddick.

 

[JeffinOakland]

If it suddenly became a civilian vessel people would be like "why the fuck are we sciencing every nebula?!"

They's be beelining home and scanning only for wormholes.

Commandeering and commanding every beatable vessel or people that came their way, gaming a way to get home. TechnoBeg, borrow and Steal.

Like I said Earlier, Toombs Janeway and her Merc Crew, like in Riddick.

Absolutely, without the trappings of Starfleet, they're just a bunch of people trying to get home...by any means necessary.

 

[Makarov]

In any realistic sense, Voyager would be dealing with mutanies all the time. Not from any of the Maquis stuff, but just from human nature of a bunch of people being stranded and having disagreements. It would be like Game of Thrones with different groups on the ship trying to assert power over others. I'm not sure that would make a better show however, because I like my star trek to by idealistic and preachy like TNG.

 

[Orphalesion]

If it suddenly became a civilian vessel people would be like "why the fuck are we sciencing every nebula?!"

They's be beelining home and scanning only for wormholes.

Wouldn't that be a good idea and made far more sense than sciencing nebulas and making first contact with species the Federation won't encounter again for decades or possibly centuries?

People died on those away missions.

They's be beelining home and scanning only for wormholes.

Commandeering and commanding every beatable vessel or people that came their way, gaming a way to get home. TechnoBeg, borrow and Steal.

Like I said Earlier, Toombs Janeway and her Merc Crew, like in Riddick.

Absolutely, without the trappings of Starfleet, they're just a bunch of people trying to get home...by any means necessary.

I do not agree that a civilian ship would automatically mean space pirates... or a strictly Starfleet vessel automatically mean that they are noble explorers who do none harm.
The Equinox was, after all a Starfleet vessel as well, with uniforms and protocol and they ended up doing unsavory things.

In any realistic sense, Voyager would be dealing with mutanies all the time. Not from any of the Maquis stuff, but just from human nature of a bunch of people being stranded and having disagreements. It would be like Game of Thrones with different groups on the ship trying to assert power over others. I'm not sure that would make a better show however, because I like my star trek to by idealistic and preachy like TNG.

Ugh, I wasn't even thinking that far, but you are right, it would have turned into the re-imagined BSG and nobody wants that (or at least I don't)
Come to think of it was there any way to actually execute the premise of Voy without losing the idealism of Trek?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Ugh, I wasn't even thinking that far, but you are right, it would have turned into the re-imagined BSG and nobody wants that (or at least I don't)
Come to think of it was there any way to actually execute the premise of Voy without losing the idealism of Trek?

It's easy, you just listen to Picard earnestly saying "we work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity" over and over as you do the executing.

 

[Catarina]

my shortest answer ever: No.

 

[SPCTRE]

They should have downloaded the 2 kb file that contained the replicator schematics for the FC uniforms once they had re-established contact with Starfleet.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Too much grey.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Sisko had to change into a TNG era Uniform when he went to earth in Paradise Lost.

Uniforms are not replicated fresh every day. Geordie actually wore uniforms from two different eras in Generations. The extras in the background were mismatched and all over the place. A more paranoid person might assume that there was a 2nd Shattered-like time travel adventure going on at the same time as Kirk was playing with his ribbon if I didn't know better since crew from different points in the last seven years kept walking in and out of scenes as if half of most everything was happening in the past.

KEIKO: After two weeks I couldn't stand it any more. I bundled them up and put them in the cleaning processor. And I'm still doing it.

But it is where they go to die.

WILDMAN: It seems like every time I turn around I'm recycling her clothes back into the replicator.

 

[Melakon]

Since replicator resources were already limited, they should have dispensed with uniforms and just walked around in their underwear or less. Maybe there would have been more than 2 babies after 7 years.

 

[Guy Gardener]

One phaser blast is probably as much power as the crew spent on food for a month.

That being said, if they go on half food for two months, it could be the one phaser blast they need to survive a meaty brawl.

Replicator efficiency was increased fourfold in The Void.

Do you think they put those savings towards more food, or more phaser blasts?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

They put it towards more clothes cleaning!