As many of you probably know Archer was president of the United Federation of Planets from 2184 - 2192. I thought it'd be cool to photoshop something together of what he might look like at this time.
That is a really cool, really well-done picture!
I have only one critique: I don't agree with the idea that the Federation President would wear his Starfleet dress uniform. It seems to me that there's an important psychological/symbolic barrier between the military and the presidency, and that it's important to re-emphasize civilian control of the military by making sure the President never dresses like he's
in the military. Seeing a Federation President wearing a Starfleet uniform makes me think of Fidel Castro or Saddam Hussein or Idi Amin -- dictators who dressed up in military garb because their control of the military was what put them in charge.
But that's a very abstract, very esoteric criticism, and it by no means undermines the quality of your work!
SO ties are still worn? That's disappointing.
Well, first off, Archer's wearing a United Earth Starfleet flag officer's uniform. You might remember from ENT That UESF admirals' uniforms incorporated ties in the 2150s. It's an open question as to whether or not Federation Starfleet admirals' uniforms of the 22nd Century would incorporate ties, however.
Secondly, why is it disappointing that ties are still worn as formal dress? Neck ties are cool; they look nifty, and they add an air of power and authority to people who wear them.
Besides, the Federation allows all sorts of cultures to wear their own formal garb. We've seen Vulcans wearing robes as their formal garb. I'm sure that plenty of non-Western cultures preserve their traditions and formal garb in the Federation. Why not the Western neck tie, too?
Nerys_Myk:
By this time, he had already retired from Starfleet with the rank of Admiral. I had no idea what to "dress" him in for this time period because there is very little (to none) information out there about what uniforms were like during this particular time period (much less for Federation Presidents)
What makes you think Federation Presidents wear
uniforms, of all things? Uniforms, in a political context, are for military and paramilitary organizations, not the civilian, democratic government.
Unless you're going to say the Federation is a military government, it makes much more sense to simply depict the Federation President as wearing the formal garb of his culture. If, say, Soval were to have been elected Federation President, I'm sure he'd wear robes. If, say, Shran had been elected Federation President, I'm sure he'd wear something akin to the cape that we saw the Andorian Ambassador to United Earth wear in "Demons"/"Terra Prime." If, say, the Federation President is a native of India, she might wear a sari. Etc.
... so i assumed that since this was only 23 years after Enterprise NX-01 was decommissioned the uniforms probably hadn't changed too much.
Well, that opens up the question of whether or not the Federation Starfleet would use the same uniforms as the United Earth Starfleet. Personally, I'd theorize not.
Now, would he still be wearing a Starfleet uniform as the PResident? probably not - but it's the best i could come up with to be honest. My main focus was aging him.
Fair enough. Might I suggest that a good variant might be to just delete the rank pips and uniform stripes? I think the suite would look fine then.
President wearing a uniform?
Great photoshopping aside, I'm pretty appalled.
Appalled? Because he's wearing a starfleet uniform, when
STAdventures explained the choice of dress? Why?
Mach5 is probably responding to the symbolism I talked about earlier. Seeing a President in a military uniform can be a deeply disturbing image for people who have strong political beliefs about the importance of military subordination to the civilian authority.
I have no problem with him wearing the uniform. The 22nd Century would be a less advanced era than Kirk's and definitely Picard's.
But would it be less advanced than
ours? If John McCain had won the 2008 election, he would never have gotten away with wearing his old United States Navy uniforms while serving as President. The implications would just be too disturbing and too threatening to the idea of civilian control of the military.
As the Founder (or co-founder) he probably gets special dispensation to keep the dress uniform for flag-waving ceremonies. Referred to as Admiral, during his time in office and forever after.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He may be referred to as "Admiral" after he leaves office -- Dwight D. Eisenhower preferred to be referred to as "General" after he left office -- but Archer would
never be addressed as "Admiral" while in office. He'd be addressed as "Mister President" --
period. Anything else would be disrespectful to the office, and would undermine both the presidency and the idea of the elected Federation government controlling Starfleet.
Appalled? Because he's wearing a starfleet uniform, when
STAdventures explained the choice of dress? Why?
Because a President of a democratic country has no business wearing a uniform, commander in chief or not.
Bush Jr wore a flight suit.
That was for a widely-derided photo op, and was done out of practical concerns as much as anything else (since he flew in to the U.S.S.
Abraham Lincoln aboard a fighter plane, the first and so far only Navy One). He changed back into a business suit before delivering his infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech.
