• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x03 - "We'll Always Have Tom Paris"

Rate the episode...

  • 10 - Totally worth it, just for the plate alone.

  • 9

  • 8

  • 7

  • 6

  • 5

  • 4

  • 3

  • 2

  • 1 - We'll always have better episodes.


Results are only viewable after voting.
By the way, there were desert robes (which I totally forgot) and combat uniforms (which I should have mentioned earlier) in late DS9 as well, according to the page I posted above.
 
also, the remark that the uniforms are new and enterprise got them early is expressly stated on screen in the season 2 opener.

Well, why didn't you just say so??? End of conversation. Sheesh. Why go around and around about which ships had which duties, all of which is made-up crap that isn't at all supported by the text. Oy. The Enterprise's uniforms were new. Period. Cool.

Uh? Can’t we do both?

No. At least not with me. There's a difference between intent and obvious mistakes. I have zero interest in cataloging production mistakes and pretend they were intentional or that they should be a part of the conversation. You want to talk about that, have fun. I'll see myself out.

Seeing the new uniforms I originally thought they had made them because the FC ones didn’t look that well in animation (and I still think they don’t), up until the closing episode of s1 we’ve seen the FC ones only in flashbacks, which made a lot of sense. Now they are back, it seems, to the DS9 concept, which makes sense as well, of course.

Well, that's a great point. In an animated show, uniforms that are mostly black and grey would look dull and uninteresting. Much better to pick a bright, colorful design, hence the LD design. So since we're doing that, let's retire the FC uniforms and get rid of any pointless/confusing/needless inconsistency. The "DS9 concept" was at least clear. Here, there's no "concept" except the one in your head: "less important ships get colorful uniforms", which makes exactly zero sense.

can we? They are LITERALLY canon.

if we ignore those we might as well end here the conversation saying that any difference in uniforms is just a different interpretation of the same thing and we can imagine them wearing all the same uniform, whichever the one we like the most.

No, that is not the point. We're not meant to pretend that things are not what they appear to be.

Most of the time. However, we're not also meant to believe that everything we see onscreen is "reality." Mistakes happen in TV. Production goals fall short. Corners get cut. People screw up However, usually the intent is clear.

Up until it was digitally cleaned up for the blu-ray release, there used to be a very recognizable reflection of a crew member see in a piece of set dec in "Unification 2." Are we supposed to accept it as "canon" that there happens to be a random human in a well-guarded Romulan goverment building that Picard, Spock and Data (let alone all the Romulans) are just ignoring and are otherwise totally cool with? I'd argue, "no."

So saying that, in it's very first appearance ever, Sisko's new FC-style uniform didn't fit him properly is not meant to be a different variant of uniform, but just the production shaking itself out.
 
Here, there's no "concept" except the one in your head: "less important ships get colorful uniforms", which makes exactly zero sense.
but it’s not less important ships, it’s the engineering ships (and rank officers associated with them). At least so far it makes sense.

Or, alternatively, in universe, there is still some leeway in thinking we are a still in a period of transition and in 2381 we’re seeing some ships still using the FC uniform…there is quite some silliness in thinking this in a universe with replicators, though.

About the inconsistencies, sure, they were production errors/budget limitations, however the TNG variant that opens from the front (actually the original TNG jumpsuit modified to look closer to the new ones) are on screen for something like 4 or 5 years in every episode, they deserve some recognition as a minor variant.

speaking of variants…should we mention the skant?

anyway, as I mentioned above, the real puzzler is not the uniform, is the commbadge.

In Picard we see that Starfleet still uses the one introduced in generations at least up to 2385 (changing it by 2389), yet in 2380 with the LDS uniforms they use a totally different design. This is something that probably never happened unless you consider the varying insignia in TOS and TMP.
 
Last edited:
According to PIC the 2385-style uniforms are already in use by officers like Picard as early as 2381. In the photo at the Rikers' home on Nepenthe you can see Picard holding baby Thad Riker and he's wearing his new Admiral's uniform.
 
If the Enterprise was a brand new ship that had just been launched and we were meant to assume its flashy new uniforms were the latest style, I could buy that, too. Also not the case.
The Enterprise is the flagship. Is that not reason enough to have a special uniform?
Everyone had the vest, the just never disrobed enough for us to see it.
Incorrect. There were plenty of times on DS9 where we saw others without the jacket part of the uniform, or at least had it unzipped, and they never had a vest. Likewise there were times when Barclay was on Voyager he had the uniform unzipped and had no vest. The only ones we ever saw with the vest were Picard, Sisko, and Sloan, who were all Captains. Indeed, Memory Alpha even calls it the Captain's Vest.
 
Only the Enterprise D was called the Flagship in the Prime Universe.
Behind the scene material for Disco season 2 referred to the Enterprise as the flagship. Onscreen though the closest they got was calling the Enterprise Starfleet's most prominent ship.

So fine, allow me to rephrase. Doesn't being the most prominent justify having a special uniform?
 
Burnham and Stamets held the Enterprise in awe. If she wasn't already the flagship during Pike's command then she was at least so well-known within Starfleet that officers held her in great regard and wanted to see or even serve aboard her.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top