Has anyone else ever found it strange that in the TWOK - TUC movies almost all of the Starfleet personnel we see are senior officers? Just looking at the Enterprise-A alone, there are three Captains and almost everyone else is a full Commander. Even when we see the crew of other ships or Starfleet headquarters personnel, most are Commanders or above; this being especially blatant on the Reliant, where every officer who is not Terrell holds the rank. The few lower ranking personnel we do see are almost always Junior Grade Lieutenants or enlisted crew. Full Lieutenants and Lieutenant-Commanders are rare and Ensigns totally absent.
I can recall only seeing two full Lieutenants throughout those five movies in the form of the Grissom's communications officer and Christian Slater's unnamed Excelsior officer in TUC.
Lt.-Commanders were even more rare until TUC when we finally see that rank as held by Valeris, Valtane and the Excelsior helmsman but since Valeris was only ever referred to as "Lieutenant" and the subject of an obvious costume screw-up; then only the second two sightings of the rank could be considered legitimate.
Ensigns seem to be totally excluded in the post-TMP TOS era movies and the first sighting of the rank pin I remember seeing didn't occur until the 6th season of TNG in "Tapestry".
Making certain lower ranks rare (or not at all) in the TOS movies always seemed odd and not very well thought out to me. In both the TOS series and all the future spin-offs, senior Lieutenants were one of the most present ranks and Ensigns were also fairly common, especially when the story required an officer to be portrayed as inexperienced and green. This also mirrored real-life, where lower to mid ranking personnel make up the majority of the military, whether it be officers or enlisted.
While I remember reading somewhere the designer of the post-TMP uniforms didn't give much thought into figuring out rank pins for Ensigns, Lieutenants and Lt-Commanders when TWOK was being produced, but that leads to a chicken and egg question. Where those ranks rarely seen or not until several movies later because initial designs were never made for them or did no one bother to initially make the designs only because the TWOK script or production didn't call for anyone with those ranks?
Either way, it gives the TOS movie Starfleet the impression of a lopsided hierarchy with almost every commissioned officer either a Lt. (JG) or Commander and above. By waiting till the later movies (or TNG) to show some of those ranks it only added to the confusion of what the canon version of them was supposed to look like since before they were shown on the screen, the only sources were unofficial technical manuals, FASA guides and comic books that seemed to be all over the place with each showing contradictory designs, most that proved wrong.
I can recall only seeing two full Lieutenants throughout those five movies in the form of the Grissom's communications officer and Christian Slater's unnamed Excelsior officer in TUC.
Lt.-Commanders were even more rare until TUC when we finally see that rank as held by Valeris, Valtane and the Excelsior helmsman but since Valeris was only ever referred to as "Lieutenant" and the subject of an obvious costume screw-up; then only the second two sightings of the rank could be considered legitimate.
Ensigns seem to be totally excluded in the post-TMP TOS era movies and the first sighting of the rank pin I remember seeing didn't occur until the 6th season of TNG in "Tapestry".
Making certain lower ranks rare (or not at all) in the TOS movies always seemed odd and not very well thought out to me. In both the TOS series and all the future spin-offs, senior Lieutenants were one of the most present ranks and Ensigns were also fairly common, especially when the story required an officer to be portrayed as inexperienced and green. This also mirrored real-life, where lower to mid ranking personnel make up the majority of the military, whether it be officers or enlisted.
While I remember reading somewhere the designer of the post-TMP uniforms didn't give much thought into figuring out rank pins for Ensigns, Lieutenants and Lt-Commanders when TWOK was being produced, but that leads to a chicken and egg question. Where those ranks rarely seen or not until several movies later because initial designs were never made for them or did no one bother to initially make the designs only because the TWOK script or production didn't call for anyone with those ranks?
Either way, it gives the TOS movie Starfleet the impression of a lopsided hierarchy with almost every commissioned officer either a Lt. (JG) or Commander and above. By waiting till the later movies (or TNG) to show some of those ranks it only added to the confusion of what the canon version of them was supposed to look like since before they were shown on the screen, the only sources were unofficial technical manuals, FASA guides and comic books that seemed to be all over the place with each showing contradictory designs, most that proved wrong.
