• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

New uniforms in Season 2 Trailer

I don't understand why the Enterprise has different uniforms than the admiralty and the handful of ships we have seen so far. How can anyone recognize a Starfleet officer from afar if they can where whatever uniform they want?
 
I don't understand why the Enterprise has different uniforms than the admiralty and the handful of ships we have seen so far. How can anyone recognize a Starfleet officer from afar if they can where whatever uniform they want?
Well, there are variant uniforms in real organisations too. Though that they would use two different different rank systems concurrently is pretty inconceivable. DSC rank pips are terrible anyway. They're nigh invisible and a weird TNG anachronism. Even if the Disco crew keeps their ugly uniforms, I really hope they get these rank sleeve braids.
 
I don't understand why the Enterprise has different uniforms than the admiralty and the handful of ships we have seen so far. How can anyone recognize a Starfleet officer from afar if they can where whatever uniform they want?
Several people have pointed to real life examples of testbed uniforms, and the British military have used different uniforms for different branches since forever. Despite the name, uniforms are often not uniform.
 
Well, there are variant uniforms in real organisations too. Though that they would use two different different rank systems concurrently is pretty inconceivable. DSC rank pips are terrible anyway. They're nigh invisible and a weird TNG anachronism. Even if the Disco crew keeps their ugly uniforms, I really hope they get these rank sleeve braids.

In all iterations of Trek to date the fleet all wore the same uniforms. TOS had different badges but the same uniforms. There were some "exceptions" namely Admirals on DS9 took some time to switch to the FC style uniforms and Voyager was never informed of the change. I am fine if they work this in as a uniform upgrade being rolled out across the fleet in phases, but having different uniforms is not practical other than to make fans semi happy. It begs the question, why didn't they use these uniforms from the get go?
 
In all iterations of Trek to date the fleet all wore the same uniforms. TOS had different badges but the same uniforms. There were some "exceptions" namely Admirals on DS9 took some time to switch to the FC style uniforms and Voyager was never informed of the change. I am fine if they work this in as a uniform upgrade being rolled out across the fleet in phases, but having different uniforms is not practical other than to make fans semi happy. It begs the question, why didn't they use these uniforms from the get go?
The Kelvin universe had entirely different uniforms for planetside and starship personnel.
 
TNG era went through 4 different iterations of uniforms in 9 years, from Encounter to First Contact, and more often than not at least two were shown in use at the same time.

Whether you choose to explain that with the costume department budget restrictions or Starfleet's loose policy on uniform rollout is entirely up to you. :p
 
Nope, DS9/TNG crossover period.

Heck, there's an old style TNG uniform in shot as late as the peace treaty scene in What You Leave Behind

Right. There was mixing when switching there too. It always seemed to me to be more of a time and money thing. Why make new props when we can use existing ones?

The point is that it does not make sense in universe. It doesn't make sense that TNG crew had 3 main variations in uniforms in 10 years. Do they have competitions to redesign the fleet's uniforms to improve morale? Or is it just because the creative teams on new shows and movies feel the need to add their interpretation to the mix? It also doesn't make sense that the roll out is not near instantaneous when replicator's existed. I guess it is just better to ignore those aspects of it and stick to bitching about which uniform features we like or hate.
 
In all iterations of Trek to date the fleet all wore the same uniforms. TOS had different badges but the same uniforms. There were some "exceptions" namely Admirals on DS9 took some time to switch to the FC style uniforms and Voyager was never informed of the change. I am fine if they work this in as a uniform upgrade being rolled out across the fleet in phases, but having different uniforms is not practical other than to make fans semi happy. It begs the question, why didn't they use these uniforms from the get go?
Does seem inconsistent. We've seen Discovery, the rest of the fleet, Federation admiralty etc. all in monotone blue. I'm glad to see these colour changes from the previews but it's kind of amateur.
 
I really have no problem with several uniform styles existing, and unlike in Kelvin films, these actually seem to share several details (like TNG and DS9 uniforms did) so they're obviously part of the same uniform family. However, I just don't like how DSC unifroms look, so I wish they'd phase them out for that reason. It is also a bit awkward, if blue is a service colour in one uniform style and main colour in another style. They should have used neutral colour like grey if they wanted to do that.
 
Well, there are variant uniforms in real organisations too. Though that they would use two different different rank systems concurrently is pretty inconceivable. DSC rank pips are terrible anyway. They're nigh invisible and a weird TNG anachronism. Even if the Disco crew keeps their ugly uniforms, I really hope they get these rank sleeve braids.

They look like what happens when a Starfleet uniform designer of the 2230s or 2240s came up with when somebody said "those blue jumpsuits Jonathan Archer wore before the founding of the Federation were kinda practical. Let's do something that echoes those uniforms but without the zipper pockets and let's bring back the rank pips they used, only we'll emboss them on the Starfleet insignia!" Frankly, while they're far from the worst Starfleet uniform we've ever seen they're not that good.

I still think having just one collar tab and muted department colors woven in metallic fabric just look weak. Whatever the final Enterprise uniforms look like in Season 2 they're going to be a lot better than these. I'd much rather have seen them use a variant of the two-piece uniform with a belt that the Kelvin crew wore in 2233. Those uniforms had a TOS-style utility belt, separate black trousers, rank braids on the sleeves and a more TOS pilot-era color. The Kelvin officers were much closer to the aesthetic of "The Cage(TOS)" than DSC's been.
 
In all iterations of Trek to date the fleet all wore the same uniforms.
I just wanted to point out that I love this picture very much:
Enterprise-D-bridge_2371-640x266.jpg
 
Right. There was mixing when switching there too. It always seemed to me to be more of a time and money thing. Why make new props when we can use existing ones?

The point is that it does not make sense in universe. It doesn't make sense that TNG crew had 3 main variations in uniforms in 10 years. Do they have competitions to redesign the fleet's uniforms to improve morale? Or is it just because the creative teams on new shows and movies feel the need to add their interpretation to the mix? It also doesn't make sense that the roll out is not near instantaneous when replicator's existed. I guess it is just better to ignore those aspects of it and stick to bitching about which uniform features we like or hate.

Or we could be really whacky and try not bitching about inane details of a television show at all.

Bottom line: Star Trek has a demonstrated history of uniforms being all over the board and changing rapidly. Not sure why this surprises or frustrates anyone at this point.
 
I don't care whether new uniforms make sense or not, I'm just stoked we're getting them. I hope it's a sign of other things to come.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top