STIV TVH

[Plumster]

Any thoughts on why Kirk appears to be wearing the uniform of an Admiral but the rank of a Captain as he's shuttling up to the 1701A?

I noticed that the uniform jacket still has the gold trim around the edge of the front folding flap.

I don't buy it that he changed the rank badge but did not have time to change the jacket.

Production error?

 

[dave_R_treker]

At this point he has already been reduced in rank back to Captain.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I don't buy it that he changed the rank badge but did not have time to change the jacket.

Maybe someone did one of those pinning ceremonies - removal of old rank, replacing with new - as he was boarding the shuttle. It's hardly seemly to force an officer to disrobe instead just because the now incorrect jacket has some non-removable, sewn-in, gold braid.

 

[sbk1234]

I don't buy it that he changed the rank badge but did not have time to change the jacket.

Production error?

Well, you just killed the rationalization I've used since 1986!

 

[guardian]

The real world reason is that they weren't going to waste time and money to get and fit Shatner for a 'Captain's' jacket for those two brief scenes.

A brief rank changing ceremony for what was in effect a 'promotion' back to Captain for Kirk (who preferred that rank) makes perfect sense for a 'Trek world' reason.

 

[Timo]

...Of course, it's possible that the shuttle flight to NCC-1701-A came several months or even years after the trial, so there would have been plenty of time to do the demotion ceremony, too.

But it could be that a demoted ex-Admiral would get to wear flag braid along with line pins, as per Starfleet protocol. Or at least as per some interpretation of it. I mean, Kirk's case must have been rather unique: it's not every millennium that you demote an Admiral as a sign of respect. Perhaps Kirk only had to give up the flag braid once Starfleet managed to come to grips with what the hell had just happened, and to rewrite the regulations to cope with such situations in the future.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[CoveTom]

^ Which begs the question: Was there really any reason to demote him? Granted, he had done some serious disobeying of orders in TSFS and, despite his heroics in TVH, TPTB might have thought it wise to at least symbolically have some consequences to his actions.

But, laying that aside for the moment, is there any reason that an admiral couldn't be made the permanent captain of a starship? We've had the discussion on here many times of rank vs. position. A commander in rank can be a captain in position, for example. So if Starfleet had wanted to give Kirk command of the Enterprise out of respect for him, why not just put him in command and leave his rank alone? Unusual, perhaps, but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

 

[Timo]

I doubt Starfleet had any respect for Kirk. They'd have keelhauled him, if not for the fact that he was a hero in the public eye.

That Kirk got a starship was probably a decision that was forced upon Starfleet by the civilian government. But Starfleet made sure Kirk got a lemon of a ship, even when they cleverly camouflaged this display of contempt as "giving Kirk a near-perfect replica of what he used to have".

Timo Saloniemi