The Delta Emblem?

[data65]

You know where this is going. I'm guessing that in the new movie,from what I've seen, the Enterprise "unit patch" is being used as the Starfleet symbol in this movie. This has always irritated me. What did the Enterprise do that was so special that Starfleet adopted it for the entire service?

 

[urbandk]

I think the use of the delta fleetwide might have to do with its iconic status in pop culture. I bet as many or more people can identify the Star Trek delta than can identify the symbol of the Rebel Alliance. So I think the movie retconned this symbol to be the Starfleet symbol and not the Enterprise symbol. It's similar to the manner in which the 80s movies adopted the Enterprise symbol for all Starfleet. I don't think it had anything to do with the Enterprise in particular, although that was an attractive in universe explanation. I think it was just a practical realization that for many viewers, casual and otherwise, the delta is synonymous with Star Trek.

 

[Cky]

I think the use of the delta fleetwide might have to do with its iconic status in pop culture. I bet as many or more people can identify the Star Trek delta than can identify the symbol of the Rebel Alliance. So I think the movie retconned this symbol to be the Starfleet symbol and not the Enterprise symbol. It's similar to the manner in which the 80s movies adopted the Enterprise symbol for all Starfleet. I don't think it had anything to do with the Enterprise in particular, although that was an attractive in universe explanation. I think it was just a practical realization that for many viewers, casual and otherwise, the delta is synonymous with Star Trek.

Summed it up completely. The very first thing I saw after this movie was announced was the delta symbol, and straight away I knew it was something to do with Star Trek. It's nothing to be annoyed about, and I'm sure it works wonders with the non-trek fans.

 

[Classic Fan]

Dont think its explained onscreen, but a few fan fics and encyclopedias used the explanation that "out of respect for the Enterprise had acheived in its service, it adopted its delta as a universal symbol accross the fleet."

But yeah, i have no problem in it being used as a fleetwide emblem.


Imagine the non Trekkies out there that will be going "" when another Starfleet vessle turns up with a totally different emblem on the shirt. Hell, most Trekkies who dont follow/like TOS wouldnt have a clue that there was such a thing as individual idents for other ships, so they would be just as confused.


Makes sense, its a logical progression in keeping it all uniformed for the average viewer, not truely faithful but who cares, apart from Capt Robert April and Warped 9.

 

[Cky]

I just showed my wife this symbol, and asked her if she knows what it is, and she got it straight away. She doesn't watch, or even like Star Trek, except for the odd Voyager episodes and Nemesis. I asked her now she knew and she told me that "it looks like Voyagers thingybadge." So really, people who don't like/care about Star Trek knows what the symbol means.

 

[Kokomo]

i think that Emblem was used for starfleet in enterprise to.

It was very small, but yes, it was

 

[clint g]

You know where this is going. I'm guessing that in the new movie,from what I've seen, the Enterprise "unit patch" is being used as the Starfleet symbol in this movie. This has always irritated me. What did the Enterprise do that was so special that Starfleet adopted it for the entire service?

The way I'm retconing it, is that the delta symbol was the general symbol for Starfleet, not something unique to the Enterprise. Other ships that had different symbols were part of different specialized task forces. There is no on screen evidence to indicate any of this but it works in my mind *shrug*

 

[urbandk]

You know where this is going. I'm guessing that in the new movie,from what I've seen, the Enterprise "unit patch" is being used as the Starfleet symbol in this movie. This has always irritated me. What did the Enterprise do that was so special that Starfleet adopted it for the entire service?

The way I'm retconing it, is that the delta symbol was the general symbol for Starfleet, not something unique to the Enterprise. Other ships that had different symbols were part of different specialized task forces. There is no on screen evidence to indicate any of this but it works in my mind *shrug*

ha!

 

[ChristopherPike]

It was very small, but yes, it was

Except when it wasn't.

The 22nd Century version had the Delta or Chevron, side on (perhaps a Blake's Seven homage).

By Enterprise's holodeck future seen in These Are The Voyages... crewmen wore both the ship patch and a Starfleet one, on either arm.

 

[Therin of Andor]

There is no on screen evidence to indicate any of this

In a way there is. A few times in TOS, Enterprise delta patches could be seen on the uniform shirts of crewmen who had no connection with the Enterprise. Either wardrobe forgot to switch patches, or no one realized the symbols would be visible onscreen.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

Also, all of the uni patches from the other ships/starbases looked really gay.

 

[urbandk]

wasn't there one that looked like a big mayan sun or something?

 

[Praetor]

It was more like a starburst, IIRC.

Maybe in the 'original' timeline they experimented briefly with giving ships their own insignia before returning to the arrowhead as standard, because the arrowhead had meant Enterprise and Enterprise = awesome? In the altered timeline, they never began their experiment.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The 22nd Century version had the Delta or Chevron, side on (perhaps a Blake's Seven homage).

Actually, no - it was an homage to the NASA emblem.

Variations of delta/arrowheads were pretty common as logos in the aviation industry at one time.

 

[Captain Pike]

You know where this is going. I'm guessing that in the new movie,from what I've seen, the Enterprise "unit patch" is being used as the Starfleet symbol in this movie. This has always irritated me. What did the Enterprise do that was so special that Starfleet adopted it for the entire service?

Yeah it bugs me a bit too, but what you gonna do - they've been doing it since TWOK/TSFS (can't remember which).

 

[Praetor]

Well, they did save planet Earth entirely in TMP...

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The actual Star Trek TV series was inconsistent with the use of the delta insignia - many non-Enterprise personnel were shown wearing it, while sometimes they wore other insignia instead. The first consistency of treatment was in ST:TMP, where its use was officially extended to most of Starfleet (the folks at Epsilon Nine did not wear it).

The new movie is simply opting to follow the standard established in ST:TMP rather than the inconsistency of TOS.

 

[RapidNadion]

^ That brings up an interesting question that I'm sure has been asked before on the BBS, but ... was there any on-screen confirmation that Epsilon IX was, indeed, a Starfleet station, rather than some kind of other space service organization's? We saw personnel with rank ("Commander") and uniforms similar to Starfleet's, and obviously they were a Federation comm station which talked to Starfleet vessels, but ... were they actually Starfleet?

Sorry for the OT.

Re: the delta shield -- a lot of the screencaps we've got so far show the chest emblem at an angle, and it's not clear, but does it seem to anyone else that the shape of the logo itself has been "narrowed" a bit?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

^ True. A lot of military organizations today use similar uniforms across different branches of service. So the "Comms Service" uniform may be pretty much undistinguishable from the "Starfleet" uniform.

 

[Sector 7]

wasn't there one that looked like a big mayan sun or something?

I always thought it looked like a daisy.

Also, all of the uni patches from the other ships/starbases looked really gay.

It kinda goes back to that daisy thing...