Why are the cadet uniforms only red?

[ilovestartrek17]

no yellow or blue?

I really liked when DS9 brought the other colors back for the cadet uniforms after TNG dropped them.

 

[clint g]

Probably for the same reason why West Point uniforms are gray....

 

[Captain Rob]

Probably to instill the fear of the "Curse of the redshirt". At this point in their careers they are all expendable.

 

[lyb42]

I'm with Rob on this one... Get them used to associating red shirts with death early on so that later, when they occupy a command position, they won't have to wrestle with the moral dilemma of sending someone to his or her doom. "I need a sacrificial la...er, volunteer. Johnson's wearing red. He'll do."

 

[Sector 7]

Probably to instill the fear of the "Curse of the redshirt". At this point in their careers they are all expendable.

This answer For The Win!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Probably to instill the fear of the "Curse of the redshirt". At this point in their careers they are all expendable.

This answer For The Win!

Seems that most of the class of '58 got blowed up real good.

 

[The Wormhole]

Cadet uniforms were always one colour. In TOS they were blue, in the movies, they were red (the shirt under the jacket, that is). In TNG they were red, and DS9 also depicted all red uniforms for cadets except for the episode Valiant. Note that when Nog was at the Academy he wore red, depite the fact he was training to be an engineer.

Valiant is the oddity here for showing cadets in standard department colours, just like the officers. Maybe it's just a Red Squad thing?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Actually the first time we saw a cadet uniform in TNG ("Allegiance") it was operations gold.

(And in TOS, the cadet uniform was a kind of light metallic gray. It wasn't blue.)

 

[Wynterhawk]

Probably to instill the fear of the "Curse of the redshirt". At this point in their careers they are all expendable.

And here I was about to make that joke. Yours is better!

 

[The Wormhole]

Actually the first time we saw a cadet uniform in TNG ("Allegiance") it was operations gold.

(And in TOS, the cadet uniform was a kind of light metallic gray. It wasn't blue.)

On an alien posing as a Starfleet cadet. Also, the disguise included other mistakes such as being a Boilan with hair, so we'll assume that isn't real, and Picard either just wasn't observant, or it was another thing that tipped him off about her true identity.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Actually the first time we saw a cadet uniform in TNG ("Allegiance") it was operations gold.

On an alien posing as a Starfleet cadet. Also, the disguise included other mistakes such as being a Boilan with hair, so we'll assume that isn't real, and Picard either just wasn't observant, or it was another thing that tipped him off about her true identity.

Bolians can have hair. Female ones can, anyway. In addition to this one, others with hair appeared in TNG's "Menage a Troi" and VOY's "Ashes to Ashes".

 

[The Wormhole]

My point still stands, this was the only time in TNG a cadet wasn't wearing red, and since she wasn't real anyway, it's possible this was just an error on the aliens' part.

In fact, we have an example in TNG of someone wearing red as a cadet and gold as an officer, Sito Jaxa.

 

[Sabataage]

(And in TOS, the cadet uniform was a kind of light metallic gray. It wasn't blue.)

Its light metallic gray in the same way that Command tunics are lime green. It comes off as blue.

 

[Green Shirt]

(And in TOS, the cadet uniform was a kind of light metallic gray. It wasn't blue.)

Its light metallic gray in the same way that Command tunics are lime green. It comes off as blue.

Someday the "command color is yellow myth" will be a distant memory.

 

[Michael]

^ Every Star Trek fan worth his salt knows that the shirts' color was avocado.

 

[M'Sharak]

^ Every Star Trek fan worth his salt knows that the shirts' color was avocado.

Yep.

 

[Green Shirt]

^ Every Star Trek fan worth his salt knows that the shirts' color was avocado.

Yep.

So that pit explains the bulge around Kirk's midsection.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

(And in TOS, the cadet uniform was a kind of light metallic gray. It wasn't blue.)

Its light metallic gray in the same way that Command tunics are lime green. It comes off as blue.

Yeah, I suppose it does. The lighting really makes a difference.

The original uniforms were green, red and blue for one reason: to sell color TVs. But the lighting played havoc with that. So did the wash (especially on TNG - you'll notice that whenever a 'blue uniform' wears one for the first time, it's very bright blue, whereas a character who wears blue all the time has a very faded color because it was washed over and over).

 

[Sector 7]

^That effect is more noticeable now that TOS has been remastered for HDTV!