Why didn't they change uniforms?
- Thread starter Infern0
- Start date
Would have been nice to see the change I think, even if it was a bit later than everyone else. In theory, the holodeck uses up tonnes more power than the replicator, so creating 150 or so uniforms should be easy, but they still keep visiting that damn irish village!
This also brings up the issue of how clothes/uniform storage laundry and maintenance is acomplished.
In the other shows when personnel are transferring onto a ship/station they are usually shown with a single small piece of luggage. Yet many officers have significant quantities of personal items in their quarters. Are additional possessions being brought aboard through the cargo transporters or through an airlock/shuttle bay? Are the items "stored" as patterns on some sort of data storage device for replication after coming aboard?
Once aboard, are less used items of clothing "stored" as replicator patterns, or would they still be using drawers and closets for all of their clothing?
If cleaning and/or maintenence is acomplished with transporter/replicator technology (maybe a transporter with a dirt filter) it shouldn't make much difference to change the color scheme or even the style of the uniforms, particularly since the TNG/DS9/Voyager changes are significantly less drastic than the changes between Wesley's father recording his message and "Encounter at Farpoint".
Is there an unseen "ships laundry" and repair facility? Does each crew member operate the laundry machinery (loading and retrieving their own clothes from the equipment) or are there crew members assigned to a laundry detail. If there's a laundry detail is the service offered to the entire crew, or just the senior officers? Does the laundry detail include pickup and delivery to the uniform/clothes wearer's quarters or pickup points distributed around the ship? Of course with technological differences there might have been progress after the TOS movies. Are they still using agitated water, detergent, spin dry and hot air drying?
In the other shows when personnel are transferring onto a ship/station they are usually shown with a single small piece of luggage. Yet many officers have significant quantities of personal items in their quarters. Are additional possessions being brought aboard through the cargo transporters or through an airlock/shuttle bay? Are the items "stored" as patterns on some sort of data storage device for replication after coming aboard?
Once aboard, are less used items of clothing "stored" as replicator patterns, or would they still be using drawers and closets for all of their clothing?
If cleaning and/or maintenence is acomplished with transporter/replicator technology (maybe a transporter with a dirt filter) it shouldn't make much difference to change the color scheme or even the style of the uniforms, particularly since the TNG/DS9/Voyager changes are significantly less drastic than the changes between Wesley's father recording his message and "Encounter at Farpoint".
Is there an unseen "ships laundry" and repair facility? Does each crew member operate the laundry machinery (loading and retrieving their own clothes from the equipment) or are there crew members assigned to a laundry detail. If there's a laundry detail is the service offered to the entire crew, or just the senior officers? Does the laundry detail include pickup and delivery to the uniform/clothes wearer's quarters or pickup points distributed around the ship? Of course with technological differences there might have been progress after the TOS movies. Are they still using agitated water, detergent, spin dry and hot air drying?
Actually, not to be a hater, but I don't remember that. I remember them briefly mentioning this in the first season, and randomly again in later seasons, but aside from them using the mess hall I never saw rationing on Voyager.
I'll never forget that one episode where Torres was stressed or whatever, and Neelix, in an attempt to cheer her up, goes over and replicates a thick stack of bannana pancakes. Torres walks away without touching them, and my wife literally shouts at the screen "I guess they've got a lot of energy if they can replicate food and then throw it away uneaten."
That episode where they gave away three or four shuttles to those telepathic refugees was also a great example of their lack of need for resources.
And I never bought the excuse that it didn't cost them energy to run the holodecks. Keeping off the holodeck should have been order #1.
As for the uniforms, I honestly believe the show producers didn't want to shell out the clams for making new duds for each crewmember. There's your rationing.
I always thought it didn't make sense either. Would've been nice to see the characters in the new, FC-style uniforms. I don't know if they ever addressed it, but isn't recycling a big part of how Starfleet uses resources? That is, any uneaten food or dirty uniforms are thrown into the replicator, broken down, then reformed? That would seem to make sense -- I don't think starship crews carry on several pairs of uniforms -- they're just recycled into new, fresh ones. But Baci has the correct answer -- VOY couldn't fit new uniforms in their budget! -- RR
It still uses energy. You get an initial cost to create the food, then you regain some of the resources through recycling it, but it costs you energy to break it down again. My example of Neelix replicating pancakes for Torres and Torres not eating them is certainly one where A LOT of energy was wasted, even if a small amount was regained.
You couldn't endlessly make pancakes and recycle them and have no loss/cost. It's probably better to recycle, but for a ship in Voyager's position, those replicators should have been set to OFF as far as Cheer-Me-Up Banana Pancakes are concerned.
I'm not even going to get started on what would be required to make new shuttles.
RobertScorpio
Pariah
I'm sure if they had changed the uniforms we'd now be posting in a thread about why they were able to waste all that replicator energy.
I believe that has been addressed already..running that stupid irish village was a waste of energy...so why not keep Janeway from her sperm bank and make new uniforms??
Rob
I'm sure if they had changed the uniforms we'd now be posting in a thread about why they were able to waste all that replicator energy.
I believe that has been addressed already..running that stupid irish village was a waste of energy...so why not keep Janeway from her sperm bank and make new uniforms??
Rob
I'm not sure where the sperm bank comes in but it was established early in the series that the holodecks run on a separate energy source.
Yeah, I know that doesn't make much sense but there you go...
L
Lord Garth
Guest
I never really had a problem with the Voyager crew not changing their uniforms, particularly in S4-S6. They didn't have regular contact with the AQ and Starfleet is notorious for constantly changing their uniforms. If Pathfinder never happened, then how would the crew know if Starfleet hadn't changed their uniforms later on, again? I'd stick with what I have if I were Janeway.
I think it would have been more believable if the rationing was connected to the availability of raw mass in the replicator support facilities or some of the matter storage processing facilities being out of commission after the Caretaker snatching the ship up from across the galaxy.
If such was the case:
Laundry, life support, replicator and waste collection could have connections to the replicator system. Substances the crew doesn't want or need would be dematerialized and rematerialized as some sort of non-toxic easily manipulated storage medium in redundant automated "below decks" facilities.
Demands for materials, including atmospheric gases, fresh water, food and repair parts would be met by dematerialize the storage medium and using that matter/energy to materialize the desired item/commodity in life support equipment including food and repair part "replicators". System energy demands, crew use during away missions and other factors would gradually deplete the replicator matter stores. Under normal circumstances the stores would be replentished at a resupply point like a star base.
If some of the replicator matter stores were lost in the Caretaker's beam or the equipment to operate them was damaged there would be less matter available for the replicators to utilize. The ship would have to operate with less margin available to deal with emergencies. Time might be required to rebuild the stock, with the consumption of native food stocks an indirect way of adding to the supply (hey, a long range spaceship would need to be dependent on a lot of recycling anyway). Thus, each crewmember's ration would be the mass of the material he/she was using out of the replicator system's raw material stores. Returning unnecessary items to the store (like the pocket watch in one episode - possibly "The Year of Hell") would replenish the supply.
Much of what is depicted in the holodecks is photons and forcefields, thus their inability to leave the confines of the simulation (and the EMH's confinement to the "sickbay" holodeck before acquiring the portable emmiter). What material is actually replicated in the holodeck is readily returned to the matter stores along with any material crew members leave behind.
If such was the case:
Laundry, life support, replicator and waste collection could have connections to the replicator system. Substances the crew doesn't want or need would be dematerialized and rematerialized as some sort of non-toxic easily manipulated storage medium in redundant automated "below decks" facilities.
Demands for materials, including atmospheric gases, fresh water, food and repair parts would be met by dematerialize the storage medium and using that matter/energy to materialize the desired item/commodity in life support equipment including food and repair part "replicators". System energy demands, crew use during away missions and other factors would gradually deplete the replicator matter stores. Under normal circumstances the stores would be replentished at a resupply point like a star base.
If some of the replicator matter stores were lost in the Caretaker's beam or the equipment to operate them was damaged there would be less matter available for the replicators to utilize. The ship would have to operate with less margin available to deal with emergencies. Time might be required to rebuild the stock, with the consumption of native food stocks an indirect way of adding to the supply (hey, a long range spaceship would need to be dependent on a lot of recycling anyway). Thus, each crewmember's ration would be the mass of the material he/she was using out of the replicator system's raw material stores. Returning unnecessary items to the store (like the pocket watch in one episode - possibly "The Year of Hell") would replenish the supply.
Much of what is depicted in the holodecks is photons and forcefields, thus their inability to leave the confines of the simulation (and the EMH's confinement to the "sickbay" holodeck before acquiring the portable emmiter). What material is actually replicated in the holodeck is readily returned to the matter stores along with any material crew members leave behind.
To me, I think it was just a case that it wasn't important. I also think keeping the old uniforms kept a greater sense of unity for the Voyager's crew ("We are Voyager", if you will), with the commbadge being enough to signify they were also still Starfleet...
Nice point. I'm curious if it's mandatory that troops change uniforms immediately. That's a lot of uniforms going to the rag pile.
I always figured it was because they were however many light years away and for the most part out of contact. Janeway wouldn't just make the decision because of what she saw.
It would have to be an order from a higher up, and anyway the ship's replicators would likely need the pattern, they couldn't just rebuild it from a fleeting memory of what they saw someone else wearing.
Bottom line, I didn't mind, because Voyager was supposed to be isolated and on their own.
It would have to be an order from a higher up, and anyway the ship's replicators would likely need the pattern, they couldn't just rebuild it from a fleeting memory of what they saw someone else wearing.
Bottom line, I didn't mind, because Voyager was supposed to be isolated and on their own.
Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country seemed to imply that there was indeed a ship's laundry during the search for the gravity boots sequence. I'm sure that when replicator technology became widely available in the 24th century that laundries became irrelevant. I do wonder though how they disposed of their old uniforms. I agree with the suggestion that replicator rations onboard Voyager were tight and they couldn't dispense with replicating new uniforms. I always was curious as to how they would look on the Voyager crew.
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