why does star fleet have so many uniform changes

[chaos42]

it depends if they have a lot of screen time like nechiev she was one i didn't care for, but i don't know if every admiral is a traitor or incompetent -ross did make a deal with section 31 but he did it in starfleets best interests and its one of the morally grey bits ds9 did so well, other than that he was fairly good at his job.

[Zargon]

Well, just like many real life groups with uniforms, many have a selection of uniform types and styles to choose from that are all "official". We often see a mix of uniform types on the show, though most ships and star bases stick to a single type...but not always.

Also, in-universe, you are talking about hundreds of years. Discovery has two types: the older 'Enterprise' blue/gray jumpsuit and the classic Technocolor ones. Even in Classic Original Trek Captain Kirk has at least two uniform types, plus a dress uniform. The Pastel Movie is a good ten years later, and Wrath of Khan is at least five years later. And Classic Trek keeps the Khan Red uniforms for the rest of the movies. The Next Generation starts off with the old style color uniforms, plus jumpsuits and a very ugly 'short skirt' uniform. A couple years into TNG the uniforms get am update, but don't change too much, and captain Picard gets his vest/coat uniform. DS9 stats just about seven years after TNG, and has the mostly black uniforms, and Voyager is again close to seven years after that with new color uniforms.

So there is a fair amount of time between uniform changes.

[Makeshift Python]

I think all the uniforms make sense for the shows/films they were made for.

The one exception though is VOYAGER having crewmembers wearing DS9 uniforms. That was an oddity, because my impression was that the DS9 uniforms were for space station personnel. For whatever reason, all of Starfleet in VOY was depicted wearing only DS9 uniforms. Yet DS9 was far more consistent in showing Starfleet HQ, vessels, etc wearing TNG uniforms. So at least for several seasons we had two shows where the main casts were wearing the same uniform, until DS9 switched to First Contact uniforms in S5.

[clearspira]

Why do these people feel the need to keep changing uniforms.

This question loses some of its spirit because so many ask the same fucking question about all the uniform changes the US military branches have been doing over the past twenty years.

Thank God they retired this one recently:



I hear the major push for it was that a sailor died falling into the ocean and drowned before they could find him because he was so well camouflaged. That then raises the entire question as to why the hell they were wearing sea cammo at sea in the first place (Because the other branches had cammo uniforms, that's why).

Yeah, I hear the sole reason for this uniform was that the navy brass cried that ''everyone else got cool uniforms''. It never made any sense to me whatsoever that men on a grey ship would wear blue - surely if you are in a situation where blue camo has become effective, your ship is now at the bottom of the ocean.

This must go down in history as one of the great American military blunders: a uniform that is both functionally useless and potentially fatal to whoever is wearing it.

Edit: Researching this (because I am bored) there is a theory from several servicemen that the US is trying to eliminate most of the uniform differences between the services to facilitate better cooperation which is one of the reasons the Navy moved to digi camo. The current office uniforms for e-6 and below look strikingly similar compared to what they used to. Personally i think that this is a good thing, but the closest I have ever been to military service is playing Battlefield 4, so what the hell do I know about it tbh.

[clearspira]

Anyway, I think the in-universe answer is ''post scarcity''. ENT had the ability to manufacture materials quite literally using your own poo. Kirk once sated in TOS that the 1701 could produce gold and diamonds. And obviously later on we have the replicator.

There is really no penalty for just waking up one day and changing the fleet's uniform design. It is probably making a job for someone.

Of more interest to me is why Starfleet keeps going with inefficient uniform designs as opposed to keeping the functional, professional, smart and hard-wearing ENT jumpsuit. It has POCKETS. It has a summer jacket. It has a another jacket for cold weather. It has a hat. The women are not wearing high heels (even as recently as VOY they were doing that). Say what you like about ENT, but its uniform design has never been bettered.

I think it says a lot that when the post-ENT crews get thrown back in time everyone assumes that they are wearing pyjamas, and when Archer was thrown back in time during the Nazi Alien episode that it was assumed he was a contemporary military man who was lost.

[Nealithi]

Anyway, I think the in-universe answer is ''post scarcity''. ENT had the ability to manufacture materials quite literally using your own poo. Kirk once sated in TOS that the 1701 could produce gold and diamonds. And obviously later on we have the replicator.

There is really no penalty for just waking up one day and changing the fleet's uniform design. It is probably making a job for someone.

Of more interest to me is why Starfleet keeps going with inefficient uniform designs as opposed to keeping the functional, professional, smart and hard-wearing ENT jumpsuit. It has POCKETS. It has a summer jacket. It has a another jacket for cold weather. It has a hat. The women are not wearing high heels (even as recently as VOY they were doing that). Say what you like about ENT, but its uniform design has never been bettered.

I think it says a lot that when the post-ENT crews get thrown back in time everyone assumes that they are wearing pyjamas, and when Archer was thrown back in time during the Nazi Alien episode that it was assumed he was a contemporary military man who was lost.

That last part actually sounds like why they may have changed things. The whole 'We are not military' mantra.

[clearspira]

Anyway, I think the in-universe answer is ''post scarcity''. ENT had the ability to manufacture materials quite literally using your own poo. Kirk once sated in TOS that the 1701 could produce gold and diamonds. And obviously later on we have the replicator.

There is really no penalty for just waking up one day and changing the fleet's uniform design. It is probably making a job for someone.

Of more interest to me is why Starfleet keeps going with inefficient uniform designs as opposed to keeping the functional, professional, smart and hard-wearing ENT jumpsuit. It has POCKETS. It has a summer jacket. It has a another jacket for cold weather. It has a hat. The women are not wearing high heels (even as recently as VOY they were doing that). Say what you like about ENT, but its uniform design has never been bettered.

I think it says a lot that when the post-ENT crews get thrown back in time everyone assumes that they are wearing pyjamas, and when Archer was thrown back in time during the Nazi Alien episode that it was assumed he was a contemporary military man who was lost.

That last part actually sounds like why they may have changed things. The whole 'We are not military' mantra.

Good point. Although as Chuck has noted, the idea that Starfleet is not a military is such rubbish. How can anyone sit there in-universe and look at an organization that uses military ranks, military discipline, has something called a court martial as a punishment and uses weapons that makes A-bombs look like feather dusters and say that they are not a military is beyond me.

That and it really is kind of offensive to the real world military to hold them in such disregard. Imo I have always thought of soldiers and doctors as two sides of the same coin, its just that soldiers use guns to save lives instead of bandages.

[chaos42]

agreed starfleet has always been a military its just that the first 2 seasons had gene's meddling. Militaries are not evil in and of themselves and they do more than go into battle.

But the uniform issue still bugs me why keep doing it, i remember someone once tried saying it was a way to identify when you are for time travelers- a little crazy if you ask me

[clearspira]

agreed starfleet has always been a military its just that the first 2 seasons had gene's meddling. Militaries are not evil in and of themselves and they do more than go into battle.

But the uniform issue still bugs me why keep doing it, i remember someone once tried saying it was a way to identify when you are for time travelers- a little crazy if you ask me

As opposed to using a watch?

[GreyICE]

I think it's accurate to say that Starfleet is largely modeled on the military in many regards - specifically Earth's military, as many alien militaries are vastly different. But I don't think it's fair to say it's a military. I mean I can count the number of ships in America's military with a science officer on the bridge. Zero, the count is zero. And if there was one for some reason, they'd be irritating the soldiers, not a valuable member whose insight often overrules other crew members.

Starfleet serves as the military, because someone has to. But until the Defiant, Starfleet had no ship designed entirely for combat. Imagine asking someone in the Navy about where the classrooms were, or the art galleries, or the science labs. People were running experiments all the time.

But yeah, the uniforms needed pockets. How many times has someone stood there and held something awkwardly?