I just figured that Chapel belonged to an auxiliary Nursing Corps, similar to those in service in World War II. There's quite a story about the various nursing corps and how they were regarded back then, IMO.
Spoilers Ah, the NEW uniforms...!
- Thread starter Blue Squadron
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I suppose the red cross insignia could be replaced with something a little more "secular". As I mentioned above, Fletcher introduced the caduceus in TMP, used through TUC, which could possibly be used, albeit slightly predating its actual canonical use in the prime universe:
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DSC already stretches the boundaries of canonical ship designs, sets & uniforms in the TOS era. Why not this? It's small & innocuous and everybody recognizes it.
Yep, that would have been my choice — I mentioned it back at the start of this particular discussion!
Sadly, it’s still rather Earth-centric in its origins but it’s a pretty well-established medical symbol throughout almost all the iterations of Trek now, so it would probably have been the most appropriate option.
As for its relative origins, yes, Fletcher first used it for McCoy’s white outfit in TMP but in-universe it has appeared as far back as ENT, so it’s perfectly plausible to have it around in the original (pre-TOS) era of DSC / SNW.
I think it would also make sense if command and security personnel had their own unique colors. It's kind of why I don't really mind Detmer wearing gold instead of the traditional red.
I mean, you're still writing for an Earth based audience so having a symbol familiar to the audience would be appropriate. I think that any form of indication that this is a medical personnel would be helpful in the uniform code in Starfleet.
I seem to recall a thread discussing redesign different uniforms. I remember thinking it would be nice to have some measure of distinction than just the three big departments and their standardized logos. I think it would be nice to have department colors and then different division insignia within the department.
I suppose the red cross insignia could be replaced with something a little more "secular". As I mentioned above, Fletcher introduced the caduceus in TMP, used through TUC, which could possibly be used, albeit slightly predating its actual canonical use in the prime universe:
View attachment 21725
DSC already stretches the boundaries of canonical ship designs, sets & uniforms in the TOS era. Why not this? It's small & innocuous and everybody recognizes it.
Indeed...
It actually works OK inside a delta badge. It's a bit tricky with the S1-3 Disco badges but that's just because those badges are way over-designed... (!).
I definitely prefer this to the black cross they actually used.
Yes, it's a TV show made on Earth -- some relatively obvious symbolism the audience can recognise is always going to be necessary! Just like all aliens from Central Casting still have American accents...
I was playing with a kind of mash-up of the DSC "future" uniforms and the Picard "flashback" uniforms, just to see what might be possible. I deliberately wanted to make Security/Tactical and Medical more readily identifiable but also wanted to try to do it without getting into the myriad rainbow of branches and colours that Robert Fletcher had for the undershirts of the maroon TWOK uniforms!
Standard uniforms -- Command / Sciences / Operations:
Flag Officers: (Admiral of the Fleet / C-in-C on the left)
Using some variations on the basic colour scheme:
- Security/Tactical reverses the standard Operations colours to have black with yellow details;
- Medical has white in place of black for the standard uniform and then a white with grey and teal details for the clinical working uniform.
Both sub-branches' uniforms still have the visual links to their broader "parent" divisions but are also immediately recognisable as specialist roles.
For what it's worth, the collar ranks are smaller and elliptical instead of circular -- and are worn vertically, thus deliberately a much closer match to the format of the rank markings as they appear on the TriComBadges:
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"He's a Horta!!" XD
But that apparently happens on planes IRL as well when someone booked as Dr [name].
Ah yes, the old symbol of trade, economy, and messaging... a real medical symbol (the one with only one worm) would make more sense
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Ah yes, the old symbol of trade, economy, and messaging... a real medical symbol (the one with only one worm) would make more sense
Oh, don’t even go there... (!).
I fully agree — but the stylized Starfleet version of the caduceus is at least a well-established symbol in-universe...
Whether the use of the caduceus by the US Army was a mistake, and a complete misunderstanding of classical symbology, or whether it really was intended simply to signify medical staff as “non-combatant,” as some have argued, I doubt we will ever truly know.
Either way, the single serpent on the staff of Asklepios, Greek god of healing, would be the more correct classical symbol for medicine. It would sure fit into the centre of the delta badges more easily!
Fletcher’s version of the caduceus is clever because it moves on from the Greek original:
The simplified coils of the entwined twin serpents from the classical caduceus now suggest the double-helix structure of DNA — which is a really neat idea and is a pretty universal concept for organic life throughout Trek. (Yes, OK, silicon-based Horta and whatever the Tholians are...) I guess the staff and wings now becomes almost an angelic figure — maybe it can be argued to have some significance to other Federation species beyond just the human influence...?
It’s stretching a point — but at least by not using a traditional caduceus, it leaves the door open for it to be something other than a historical mistake, even though it’s also a symbol still recognizable to the contemporary audience.
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Wasn't it because Spiner only looked good in yellow?
They did away with a lot of stuff, such as the engineering/security distinction.
Same here.
Not exactly.
They tried blue, at first, but he didn't look good that way, so that's why he was named "operations" officer and not sciences.
He has worn red, though, and didn't look too bad in that.
My recollection is that Data was originally the Science Officer but the blue didn’t look good with the makeup.So the previously unheard of position of Ops was created and Data was placed in gold.
So, is there any reason why Starfleet is happy to visually distinguish medical from science aboard their ships, but not security from engineering?
Lieutenant Willa and her staff look good with the black shoulder piece, but Glen Rhys isn’t wearing it aboard Discovery.
The non-canon Star Trek: Enterprise: Rise of the Federation novels establish a version of 2160s-era Federation Starfleet uniform with four division colors: command green, science blue, engineering red, and security gray. Image link (art by RoTF author Christopher L. Bennett): https://christopherlbennett.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/earlystarfleetuniform1.jpg
Lieutenant Willa and her staff look good with the black shoulder piece, but Glen Rhys isn’t wearing it aboard Discovery.
The non-canon Star Trek: Enterprise: Rise of the Federation novels establish a version of 2160s-era Federation Starfleet uniform with four division colors: command green, science blue, engineering red, and security gray. Image link (art by RoTF author Christopher L. Bennett): https://christopherlbennett.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/earlystarfleetuniform1.jpg
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"Warp core breach!!!! Do something!"
Takes out phaser and shoots warp core
Ship explodes.
Perhaps I've lost track but why is Geordie in green? Also that green doesn't fit with the TNG palette. Too bright.What could have been eh...
Just the talk about giving each division it's own colours - and green is the unused colour
More muted if you prefer
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Geordi: "Data. Do you like my new uniform?"
Data: "It is... It is... It is green."
Data: "It is... It is... It is green."
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