Spoilers Differences Between "The Cage" and Discovery (Minor "Desperate Hours" Spoilers)

[Campe]

There's a great article over on Inverse Entertainment (I've never heard of them before either... a friend posted this on Facebook) that talks to David Mack's novel Desperate Hours, in which it deals with the issues of the supposed continuity violations between "The Cage" and Star Trek: Discovery.

If you don't know, in the novel, the Shenzhou and Enterprise meet up and Mack addresses the issues that many fans have regarding the seeming visual discrepancies between the two takes on Trek. The uniforms we see in Discovery are older and those from "The Cage" are being utilized on the Constitution-Class Starships. This, of course, has precedence with the uniforms seen in DS9 and Voyager being different than those in Next Generation.

As for the designs of the ship itself, while we don't know how old, but at the flashback at the beginning of "Battle at the Binary Stars," Captain Georgiou indicates Shenzhou is "old, but she gets us where we need to go." A quote from the novel, Spock thinks:

It was clear to him that the two ships had been designed and constructed in different eras, according to very different aesthetic standards. Such drastic changes in a short span of time were not unusual among the humans of Earth, though it had proved a constant source of bemusement among their Vulcan and Andorian allies.

In the end, I don't need an in-universe explanation, because I see it as an extrapolation of future based upon where we are in 2017 as opposed to 1964. I respect and appreciate this is not a good enough answer for everyone, but I thought it was worth sharing.

 

[seigezunt]

That's great, and not surprising.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Thank you for relaying some of that information! While some folks will be satisfied with that, I find it kind of arbitrary and contrived. Only one class of starship in the fleet wears one kind of uniform, while the rest of the fleet wears something else altogether? Nah, not buying it.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Continuity violations between "The Cage" and Star Trek: Discovery? Visual discrepancies? What do they mean? I didn’t notice anything. It’s one big happy Prime canon universe.

 

[Relayer1]

Thank you for relaying some of that information! While some folks will be satisfied with that, I find it kind of arbitrary and contrived. Only one class of starship in the fleet wears one kind of uniform, while the rest of the fleet wears something else altogether? Nah, not buying it.

It's not unusual for roll-outs of new eqipment to be in stages (especially before replicators are commonplace).

A brand new ship like Enterprise would have all the latest kit.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

It's not unusual for roll outs of new eqipment to be in stages (especially before replicators are commonplace).

A brand new ship like Enterprise would have all the latest kit.

Depending on the launch date they consider, Enterprise may not be that new. If she was launched in 2245, she's 11 years old by DSC.

Plus, wouldn't there also be other new starships built, not just Connies? How come they wouldn't have the velour uniforms?

 

[Relayer1]

Your guess is as good as mine.

Make something up !

 

[GilmourD]

The Cage happened in 2254, at least a year before Discovery. Uniform rollouts shouldn't take over a year, and that bears out with previous uniform changes in TNG and DS9/movies.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

If it were a uniform rollout, how come a starship in deep space has the newest uniforms, yet not even a Starfleet Admiral has one?

 

[BillJ]

If it were a uniform rollout, how come a starship in deep space has the newest uniforms, yet not even a Starfleet Admiral has one?

It also looked like the judges were wearing the older uniform as well.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Different uniforms for different mission types.

 

[F. King Daniel]

So all of Starfleet looks like Discovery except for the Enterprise and her sister ships which is living in the 1960's vision of the future?

Nah.

 

[Kemaiku]

When the 1701 appears, she'll be updated accordingly.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Or perhaps fleets have fleet-specific uniforms. Or the Enterprise ones are the casual duty uniforms.

 

[Longinus]

This parallel uniforms thing would work better if they shared more design elements. TNG and DS9 uniforms obviously belong to the same uniform family, the Cage and DIS uniforms not so much.

 

[CaptGrumpy]

Thank you for relaying some of that information! While some folks will be satisfied with that, I find it kind of arbitrary and contrived. Only one class of starship in the fleet wears one kind of uniform, while the rest of the fleet wears something else altogether? Nah, not buying it.

How about in TNG when they had 2 uniforms, the primarily red, gold and blue tops, alongside the primarily black uniforms with the red, gold and blue shoulders. Those uniforms were also used on DS9

 

[KirkusOveractus]

This parallel uniforms thing would work better if they shared more design elements. TNG and DS9 uniforms obviously belong to the same uniform family, the Cage and DIS uniforms not so much.

I agree. While I understand the need to not make them 1960's velour, I would have much rather seen the uniforms Fuller originally wanted, which would be an update, but would be conceivably of the same timeframe.

 

[Kemaiku]

Or perhaps fleets have fleet-specific uniforms. Or the Enterprise ones are the casual duty uniforms.

These are the Starfleet 2250's uniforms now.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

How about in TNG when they had 2 uniforms, the primarily red, gold and blue tops, alongside the primarily black uniforms with the red, gold and blue shoulders. Those uniforms were also used on DS9

It's like what @Longinus said. Those uniforms were visually in the same family. DSC and The Cage uniforms aren't even remotely similar.

 

[Timo]

I'd certainly argue Casual for Kirk in TOS. These folks are out there, far out, and get to do things behind the backs of their superiors (such as Kirk forging logs left and right). They'd opt for the least silly and uncomfortable of the available uniform types. Except on formal Fleet occasions - which is why I hope to see jackets at least somewhat similar to the TOS ones on such occasions in DSC, as jackets are doable as something today's audiences would find fashionable (and were done in the Abramsverse).

Believing in "the" uniform doesn't pay off when so many of the spinoffs and movies show there are always multiple types for each era.

Timo Saloniemi