Everyone:
Absolutely
everyone else:
Me: Let's talk some more about the flags!
To the best of my recollection, we never did see the Mike Okuda version of the Great Seal of the United Federation of Planets in PIC Season One. The only graphical representations I remember of governmental authority were variations of the Starfleet logo, which retained its
Franz Joseph-esque look from DIS Seasons One and Two. I never considered that a big deal, but I always felt like that design aesthetic was appropriate for a show set in the 2250s but not the 2390s.
I'm pretty sure this is the first time we see the Great Seal of the UFP in PIC, and I'm glad they used the Okuda version. I'm also glad they made one change: The version of the
Federation Flag seen in TNG, DS9, and VOY always had the English-language words "UNITED FEDERATION of PLANETS" or "UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS" written at the bottom. Good flag design avoids using writing whenever possible, so I'm really happy to see PIC S2 ditch the writing in favor of a larger Great Seal.
Looks like the Starfleet logo on the podium and on the Starfleet flag, and the Starfleet Academy flag, both retain the Franz Joseph-esque aesthetic. Again, not a big deal, but I would have preferred to use the Okuda-era Starfleet and Starfleet Academy flags and Starfleet delta design.
I'm
really curious what event Picard is speaking at, because that collection of flags could have some really interesting implications. If this is an intra-Federation event, that strongly implies that the Republic of Bajor, the Ferengi Alliance, and the Klingon Empire have become Federation Member States! It's been roughly twenty-four years since we last got a sense of what was going on with them, so it's not out of the realm of possibility.
If, on the other hand, it's an event involving both Federation and non-Federation worlds, then seeing the flags of Bajor, Ferenginar, and Qo'noS doesn't necessarily mean anything.
This
is, however, the first time we've seen flags for any of these worlds, and they're worth close looks.
The apparent Flag of the Klingon Empire is interesting in that it puts the Klingon trifoil logo into the corner near the hoist instead of the center. The Klingon design is a little fashy; maybe the designers thought the red background with a center logo comprised of black design against a white circle was just a liiiiiiiitle too close to a Nazi flag for comfort in a post-Charlottesville world? Not sure, but putting the logo near the hoist is an interesting choice:
(If the Klingons did join the Federation, do you think the Empire joined as one large Member State in its own right, or do you think maybe the Empire was split into several different polities that all joined as distinct Federation Member States? All sorts of population-size versus physical-size questions immediately come into play.)
We also see the flags of two founding Federation worlds, Vulcan and Tellar, for the first time. (In the
Rise of the Federation novels by Christopher L. Bennett, the formal names of the Vulcan and Tellarite states are the Confederacy of Vulcan and the United Planets of Tellar. I'll use those until canon establishes otherwise.)
I do kind of wonder where the flags of United Earth and the Andorian Empire are, though!
Back on DS9, we would often see vertical banners for Bajor, the UFP, and the Klingons, but this is the first time we ever see the Flag of the Republic of Bajor. More use of the red-brown aesthetic than I would have imagined -- the show often used orange tones to suggest Bajor or Bajoran spaces. I like it though. I saw it and I imagined Kira Nerys and her Resistance cell marching into the liberated capital, looking up at the Bajoran flag flying free outside the capitol building for the first time after the Cardassian occupation:
And finally, we see, again for the first time, the Flag of the Ferengi Alliance. It is appropriately gaudy, appropriately
loud. If this is an intra-UFP meeting, I really do like the idea of Grand Nagus Rom's reforms leading to the Ferengi Alliance joining the Federation:
, was used for one of the 17 flags
, giving us an official Betazoid flag! 
