I am not talking about the main characters, but has anyone every noticed you hardly ever see Star Fleet officers wearing command red in the backround on DS9?
Lack of Command officers on DS9?
- Thread starter GalaxyClass1701
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Yeah, for whatever reason you see nurses, engineers and security, but rarely anyone wearing command red on the actual station other than Worf and Sisko. You do see some lower-ranking command officers on the Defiant at times (such as an ensign in Starship Down). Given that the Defiant has a crew of about 50 as I recall, there must be quite a few command officers living on the station on that basis alone, and they may have responsabilities on DS9 as well (like Worf and everybody else).
You also see a lot of Bajaron personnel in ops, so there are probably also some lower -ranking Bajoran officers that report to Kira and take on some of the command responsabilities when the main command crew is off duty or away on the Defiant.
The show just sublimates this stuff for the most part, though, and lets us fanwank the details should we so desire. There's no "lower decks" type of episode that I can think of.
The Bajoran vs. Starfleet security issue gets more attention than anything else, due to friction between Odo and Starfleet command, but we know that there are also Bajoran engineers, and Kira probably has a staff of Bajoran command officers working under her as well. Basically DS9 must have a substantial complement of officers of various kinds that we never see, much like the Defiant.
Yea I agree maybe it has something to do with the Bajorian Malitia officers.
I never really thought it through before, but yeah, it could be that the writers/producers envisioned that all the command officers on the station were Bajoran and reported to Kira, except for Worf and Sisko. That would explain the systematic lack of redshirts, and why Kira seems to do most of the work while Sisko sits in his office playing with his baseball until something interesting happens
I hope we get some nerd points for figuring this out
I never really thought it through before, but yeah, it could be that the writers/producers envisioned that all the command officers on the station were Bajoran and reported to Kira, except for Worf and Sisko. That would explain the systematic lack of redshirts, and why Kira seems to do most of the work while Sisko sits in his office playing with his clock and baseball until something interesting happens
I hope we get some nerd points for figuring this out
Nerd points
Really? I'm rewatching DS9 and I may be wrong but I remember seeing plenty of officers in red (at least in the later seasons). Not speaking roles or anything, but walking on the Promenade and such, yes. Actually, I think there are more of them than science/medical officers.
You could be right, I guess, though from memory I have the same impression as GalaxyClass1701. On the other hand, I have been rewatching mostly seasons 3-4 lately, so possibly there are more incidental red shirts in later seasons.
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Agreed, I also remember seeing some red shirts often in the series..... though certainly not as many as you'd see with engineer and security uniforms, but they were there.
And also (Here comes your nerd point) the station could hold a maximum capacity of 7,000 people with 98 levels (decks) in size.... to think they only had two or three command class officers on the station at any one time would be..... illogical
When DS9 first got taken over by starfleet in seasons 1 & 2.... I think I remember hearing someone on an episode claim there were only a couple of hundred people on the station at that time.... thus when the wars break out, it can be expected that not only will the total amount of people on DS9 increase, but so too will the amount of red shirts.
Can we just go uniform colour? Jadzia was what fourth in command of the station (and 3rd with Starfleet) and didn't wear red.
Given that Sisko wasn't a captain until the third year I would have just thought there would be less command staff overall. How many do you need to run a space station?
Given that Sisko wasn't a captain until the third year I would have just thought there would be less command staff overall. How many do you need to run a space station?
I wonder if Jadzia was planning on working her way up to being a captain some day in a Janeway sort of way. If so when would she go from blue to red shirt?
I would think a lot more than a Star Ship.
We saw quite a few.
From what I understand, red simply means control of a facility/ship, whether CO/XO, or flight controller, tactical officer, etc. So this is why Worf in Season 1 of TNG wore a red uniform. And why Tom Paris in Voyager wears a red uniform also.
It also depends what one means by the term command. In all series, we've seen the focus placed on the CO, and his/her support officers (the officers running the major departments on the ship/station). So in TNG, Geordi had a crew reporting to him. Worf had a team reporting to him, as did Crusher. On DS9, it was the same. Chief Engineer, Security Chief/tactical officer and Chief of Security all are command positions in that sense.
From what I understand, red simply means control of a facility/ship, whether CO/XO, or flight controller, tactical officer, etc. So this is why Worf in Season 1 of TNG wore a red uniform. And why Tom Paris in Voyager wears a red uniform also.
It also depends what one means by the term command. In all series, we've seen the focus placed on the CO, and his/her support officers (the officers running the major departments on the ship/station). So in TNG, Geordi had a crew reporting to him. Worf had a team reporting to him, as did Crusher. On DS9, it was the same. Chief Engineer, Security Chief/tactical officer and Chief of Security all are command positions in that sense.
Anybody taking a first officer/commander or Captain position would have to take on a red uniform as far as I know.... Worf was Gold Security for the longest time but then when he veered into the command of things (strategic officer/commander of the Defiant) he went to red.
Also when he went through that episode in TNG where he kept shifting in dimensions, when he was captain of the Enterprise, he was in red.
Also, the Doctor on Voyager, when he switched to his command program, he'd switch from a medical uniform to a red uniform.
and so on.
But relatively few of them were Starfleet, the majority of the station activities overseen by Starfleet were likely handled by Bajorian civilians employed by Starfleet. Major (Colonel) Kira probably had Bajorian militia as her staff
I've just looked through the first four episodes on TrekCore, and found a fair number of command personnel:
Emmisary:
Starfleet ensign also here (on the catwalk)
Starfleet crewman also here (behind the regulars)
Three Militia persons (behind the regulars)
A Man Alone:
Militia officer (interestingly, the old and new appliances are used side-by-side)
Starfleet ensign also here (beside the Odo's deputy)
Two Militia persons
Militia person also here (middle of crowd)
Two Militia persons (edges of crowd)
Starfleet person (at gambling table)
Babel:
Militia person (else a different person)
Two Starfleet officers
Starfleet officer
Female starfleet crewman from Emmisary
Emmisary:
Starfleet ensign also here (on the catwalk)
Starfleet crewman also here (behind the regulars)
Three Militia persons (behind the regulars)
A Man Alone:
Militia officer (interestingly, the old and new appliances are used side-by-side)
Starfleet ensign also here (beside the Odo's deputy)
Two Militia persons
Militia person also here (middle of crowd)
Two Militia persons (edges of crowd)
Starfleet person (at gambling table)
Babel:
Militia person (else a different person)
Two Starfleet officers
Starfleet officer
Female starfleet crewman from Emmisary
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You get a gazillion nerd points, nicely done
It's good to know that there are plenty of officiers milling about to fill the other shifts and take care of the station when the command crew is out taking the Defiant for a spin. How comforting
I know there was a Starfleet Red Shirt in Ops in Civil Defense. In fact, he was Red Shirt in both the sense that his shirt was red and that he was expendable cannon fodder since he was among the first killed when that phaser (or weapon, or whatever) appeared in the replicator.
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