Star Trek Strange New Worlds Security Chief La'an Character Trailer (Teaser Clip Promo Sneak Peek)

Either that or the writers aren't clear on nomenclature - when I worked for a military contractor, sometimes we'd have to warn new civilian analysts never to refer to Lieutenant Commanders as Lieutenants More likely what you said, though.

 

Either...? Both...!

It's a TV show so it sure ain't the end of the world but, given that this is all about a starship with pseudo-Naval ranks, positions and culture, all of which somewhat determine the characters, you would have thought that double-checking and getting basic details like this right should not be a difficult function for both writers and wardrobe.

A simple reference chart that all the production team can check, especially for main characters: who are they, what is their role / seniority, what is their established rank (for script and dialog) and what insignia should they be wearing (for costume). Even easier now that it can be a pdf that everyone can keep on their desktop or portable device, not just a paper chart in a production office someplace.

Yeah, I can imagine civilian staff with little or no awareness of service terminology getting LT / LCDR wrong on a regular basis (which would not go well...) -- but then TOS mixed up LCDR and CDR in script and costume so SNW are in good company...

 

Amazing how we can swing from "Starfleet isn't military! We shouldn't expect them to do things the way the military does!!!" to "Why does Starfleet use incorrect terms? Don't they know anything about the military???"

Maybe this was just a screw up on set? The actress was supposed to say Lieutenant Commander, she messed up and just said Lieutenant and no one noticed? It sure as shit wouldn't be the first time anything like that's ever happened.

 

I recall fans getting annoyed in 2009 when "Lieutenant George Kirk" was clearly a Lt-commander.

 

In Superman and Lois, a Lt. General was called "lieutenant" in several episodes. That's gotta sting.

 

If we were not inconsistent we would never be consistent.

Not to stink up the new forum with military debate, but this strikes me as far more of a fan problem than an in universe problem.

 

Should the rank be Lt. Or Lt. Cmdr, regardless of rank strips?

 

Hard to say. Realistically, a chief of security should only be a Lieutenant, but Giotto, the Enterprise's chief of security under Kirk was a Lt. Commander, while Nhan, the Enterprise's chief of security in Disco's second season was a full Commander.

So, I guess we'll have to wait until SNW airs to figure out from context what La'an's proper rank should be.

 

Well, I don't. TOS never questioned that Kirk and Spock served in an armed navy.​

 

No, this really doesn't have anything to do with the military-or-not argument. It's about simple internal consistency and lack of attention to details.

Starfleet has long been established as a hierarchical, disciplined, uniformed organization (military or not) -- and this includes established ranks with associated insignias. The characters are created within that background framework and are given roles and ranks. The production team should be able to ensure that these are referenced consistently and accurately both in the scripts and in wardrobe.

Sure, it's been an ongoing problem since TOS but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to get it right.

 

Either could be appropriate (or even Commander) depending on mission, size of department, CO's preferred candidate for the role, whatever...

I don't m ind what they choose, I'd just like them to be consistent.

 

This is it, yeah. It's a nuisance.

I worked for the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service for fifteen years at the end of my career - a uniformed, not military, service. Those folks all knew exactly what their ranks were.

 

I'm sure it won't be a problem.

 

Thing is: this series is taking a lot of its cues from the original pilot, "The Cage", and then that pilot the rank insignia on the uniforms wasn't all that fought out. For better or worse, at the start from these trailers, it appears that the production team is going with the rank insignia that was shown during Star Trek's pilot episode.

Maybe they'll move on from that or maybe they'll try and explain exactly how that rank insignia is/was interpreted by Starfleet Personnel in that era. Or maybe they'll progress and will get the rank insignia that we saw during the later episodes of TOS.

Time will tell.

 

Computer: Spock, you have a new subspace message from La'an Noonien Singh--

Hi Spock,

You might not remember me, but I served with you long ago on the Enterprise when Captain Pike was in command. I heard rumors that you found my ancestor Khan Noonien Singh some years ago and imprisoned him on some barren planet. I want to warn you that he should not be left unsupervised. Stories of his resourceful vengefulness still haunt my family even after centuries. Please keep him regularly monitored by Starfleet law enforcement so that he doesn't, I don't know, brainwash hapless victims with mind controlling worms or steal top secret Federation terraforming technology, or whatever.

La'an Noonien Singh.

Spock:

 

They should, but they haven't been able to for the past fifty years. I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

 

In The Cage, all officers wore a single stripe. In WNMHGB, Kirk wore two stripes while the other major characters all wore one; a subtle update from the original pilot that helped to identify the captain.

By the time of TOS proper, the uniform tops had been updated to brighter colors with black collars that we are all familiar with and they had also changed to the much more detailed scheme of wavy stripe +/- broken stripe sleeve braids that separately identified all ranks up to captain, beginning with plain sleeve for ensign. The full pattern existed, whether it was applied accurately is another matter -- but that has been a consistent feature in every era of Trek!

JJ-Trek adapted the classic TOS pattern of solid wavy stripes +/- broken stripes and simplified it to thick +/- thin stripes. The JJ pattern was subsequently re-used for the Enterprise uniforms in DSC S2 (when they finally remembered to include them) and we saw separate insignia for each of captain, commander, lieutenant commander and lieutenant.

SNW Pike is still wearing the specific captain insignia of the thick-thin-thick pattern that he wore in DSC. Alongside this, we have now seen several characters wearing two thick stripes and several wearing one thick + one thin -- so whatever they are doing, it's not a return to the insignia from The Cage or WNMHGB. I actually wonder if someone has mixed up the JJ/DSC pattern of thick/thin stripes with the similar (but different) pattern of contemporary naval stripes.

But I agree, time will tell.

 

Yeah, I won't hold my breath.

In fact, any inconsistencies will be documented and emailed to Paramount for every error.

 

How?

 

1. Cute girl like Alara.

2. Red shirt like Alara.

3. Presumably enhanced physical abilities like Alara’s enhanced physical abilities due to gravity issues rather than genetic ones.