My Suspicion on Bajoran Uniforms

[Arpy]

...is that we never really got to see the "correct" yellow ones. The red ones and blue ones are identical, aside from their colors, but the yellow ones are made of less-intricate materials and don't include collars, rank pins, or belts. Their boots were also plainer, lacking the Bajoran symbol buckles.

I think this is because they originally only made one yellow costume for Odo and specifically made that one plainer than the others to suggest his inability to perfectly copy forms when he's shape-shifting -- just like his plain humanoid face. Other security personnel early on used the backup costumes made for René Auberonois, and when they finally did make yellow uniforms for other characters, they copied the precedent that had originally been set for budgetary reasons.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I suspected that it was that the security force on the station was more police, whilst the others were more military (when the station was being occupied during the Circle coup the security forces were all in grey and not beige).

 

[Arpy]

I suspected that it was that the security force on the station was more police, whilst the others were more military (when the station was being occupied during the Circle coup the security forces were all in grey and not beige).

Yeah, I’m not sure. The Bajoran uniforms were weird when it came to colors/branches. Were the military ones the same gray/blue as those on the station? What differentiates the red and blue divisions? And when was all that decided?

I’m still leaning to Odo’s uniform itself being plainer for his sake, especially as none of the security/police officers have any rank insignia of any kind, yet identical comm/organization badges.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Red (two-tone) = administrative/command personnel
Gray (two-tone) = operations/tactical personnel
Brown/Purple = medical personnel
Beige/Brown = police/security personnel
Gray/Green = engineering/maintenance personnel

 

[Arpy]

Oh, I know that part. But it’s seemed in Season 1 that the colors matched the Federation setup. I conjecture that the Bajoran Provisional Government copied the design of UFP, as some countries copied the design of the American flag, for example.

(I wonder what pre-Occupation Bajoran uniforms looked like.)

Only, the blue ones (or gray, as you call them, or purple, as I think they’re closest to) seemed to be for everything except security. The admirals and navarchs too were in blue, not command red.

The other ones came later and I think were more like the DS9 field jumpsuits than the TNG standard uniforms. The Bajoran nurse’s was very form fitting, and Rom’s looked like a thermal underwear lol. Also, he was the only Bajoran engineer on the station? I wonder if they came in the same materials/cuts as the red and blue ones for standard duty.

Still, I wonder if they had a bigger budget we’d see more of the yellow ones that looked like the red and blue and only Odo’s would have been plainer.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I think this is because they originally only made one yellow costume for Odo and specifically made that one plainer than the others to suggest his inability to perfectly copy forms when he's shape-shifting -- just like his plain humanoid face.

He could perfectly make the internal circuitry of a combadge though--at least that's how it appears in many episodes when he shape-shifts into something very small or flat only to retake humanoid form and have the (fully functional) badge with him. We've also seen in the likes of "Necessary Evil" and "Facets" that he can handle textile pattern and texture without any issue.

 

[DS9forever]

I think we only saw Odo's type of uniform worn by a friend of his he talks to in "The Circle".

https://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/File:Bajoran_Peace_Officer.jpg

 

[The Wormhole]

one yellow costume for Odo

Odo's uniform is brown.

the blue ones (or gray, as you call them, or purple, as I think they’re closest to)

They're clearly gray.

Anyway, Bry_Sinclair's post accurately explains the Bajoran uniforms.

 

[Arpy]

^ Ummm, okay, no?

1. The Bajoran uniforms correspond to the Starfleet primary color uniforms. They didn’t go monochromatic Cardassian or poly-patterned Romulan; they chose something Starfleet-esque. Ergo, my red/yellow/blue shorthand for them.

2. Most of Odo’s uniform is gold; only the body is brown.

3. It’s strange that station security may be run by civilian police (gold uniforms) not the Bajoran military (blue/gray/purple uniform).

4. The “gray” ones clearly are not a flat gray but have some color to them. I think it’s more purple than blue.

5. Everything else I said about the plain-ness.

 

[The Wormhole]

The Memory Alpha page on Bajoran Militia uniforms has written on it that the security uniforms are brown and that the gray uniforms are in fact gray. This is even how they are described in the DS9 novels. This is literally the first time in DS9's nearly 26 year history anyone has made the claim the uniforms are blue or gold or whatever.

 

[Arpy]

Okay, so everyone I know has been describing them as yellow and blue or purple since the show aired, again to correspond with the obvious Starfleet inspiration. Trekkies more blue; casual viewers more purple.

The gray ones are heavily gray, but they are unmistakably colored, not simply on the grayscale. Maybe calling them purple was too “gay” or purple-gray too complicated, so they stayed with the gray, which, again, it is heavily.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

He could perfectly make the internal circuitry of a combadge though--at least that's how it appears in many episodes when he shape-shifts into something very small or flat only to retake humanoid form and have the (fully functional) badge with him.

Stop.

Hammerspace.

 

[The Wormhole]

Okay, so everyone I know has been describing them as yellow and blue or purple since the show aired, again to correspond with the obvious Starfleet inspiration. Trekkies more blue; casual viewers more purple.

The gray ones are heavily gray, but they are unmistakably colored, not simply on the grayscale. Maybe calling them purple was too “gay” or purple-gray too complicated, so they stayed with the gray, which, again, it is heavily.

And how confused do you get when you read an officially licensed novel which describes the uniforms as gray or brown?

 

[DonIago]

I always figured Odo had an actual combadge that was just "inside" him when he was in a form that wouldn't typically have one.

 

[Kor]

I always figured Odo had an actual combadge that was just "inside" him when he was in a form that wouldn't typically have one.

Then he did a very good job of hiding it when he turned into that glowing translucent cloud in "Chimera."

Kor

 

[Arpy]

And how confused do you get when you read an officially licensed novel which describes the uniforms as gray or brown?

About as much as you do when tasked with being nice to people online?

“Officially licensed.” Ha! So were ENT and NEM. Lol, they’re actually...
{ { { c a n o n } } }

 

[Tosk]

Then he did a very good job of hiding it when he turned into that glowing translucent cloud in "Chimera."

He shifts it into the same subspace pocket that he keeps his extra mass in.

 

[kkt]

He shifts it into the same subspace pocket that he keeps his extra mass in.

'e's got a hole in 'is pocket!

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

1. The Bajoran uniforms correspond to the Starfleet primary color uniforms. They didn’t go monochromatic Cardassian or poly-patterned Romulan; they chose something Starfleet-esque. Ergo, my red/yellow/blue shorthand for them.

But they don't, you've forgotten about the Medical and later Engineering uniforms that are clearly different from the Command, Operations and Security ones

3. It’s strange that station security may be run by civilian police (gold uniforms) not the Bajoran military (blue/gray/purple uniform).

How is it strange? In towns/cities with military bases the military personnel don't handle crime, that falls to the police. DS9 doesn't live under martial law.

The gray ones are heavily gray, but they are unmistakably colored, not simply on the grayscale. Maybe calling them purple was too “gay” or purple-gray too complicated, so they stayed with the gray, which, again, it is heavily.

I never knew purple was a "gay" colour

“Officially licensed.” Ha! So were ENT and NEM. Lol, they’re actually...
{ { { c a n o n } } }

So is STD, and it's terrible (like herpes, when you get it you don't want it but have to live with it).

 

[Arpy]

But they don't, you've forgotten about the Medical and later Engineering uniforms that are clearly different from the Command, Operations and Security ones

No, I haven't. This thread is about the series' initial uniforms.

How is it strange? In towns/cities with military bases the military personnel don't handle crime, that falls to the police. DS9 doesn't live under martial law.

The police don't handle security on military bases. DS9 is not just the promenade. There isn't a separate Starfleet tactical officer.

I never knew purple was a "gay" colour

As a gay man, I'm well aware. The reason it's in quotes is that the mindset that something shouldn't appear so is very much something that would have been considered even in Hollywood in the 90's.