Janet's Star Trek Voyager Site

WHY 2394 IS THE LAST SERVICE DATE FOR THE
UNIFORMS INTRODUCED IN 2373

PAGE CONTENTSbackground, the question, the answer, the exception

 

BACKGROUND

The uniforms system comprising jackets with a light grey-coloured shoulder stripe (though it looks purple depending on the television studio or film set lighting, sources note that it is grey) and coloured departmental shirts is introduced in 2373. Uniforms of the new system are first seen in [ST VIII: First Contact]. They are worn by all Starfleet personnel except for the USS Voyager crew who, until their return to the Alpha Quadrant at the end of 2377, instead continue to use the uniform variants introduced in 2369. See also Why USS Voyager's crew wear the same uniform throughout the series (2371-2377) even though Starfleet re-styles the uniforms in 2373. The 2373 uniforms are seen in [DS9], introduced part-way through Season 5, and then appear throughout Seasons 6 and 7. They are also seen in [ST IX: Insurrection] and [ST X: Nemesis], and for those films a new-style dress uniform is seen, which is predominantly white, and is also seen in [DS9: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges]. This means, perhaps confusingly, that Starfleet personnel such as Counsellor Troi, Admiral Paris and others at Project Pathfinder are seen in [Voyager] wearing the 2373 uniforms at the same time that USS Voyager's crew wear the 2369 variants introduced for [DS9]. The altered Barclay hologram also wears the 2373 uniform in [#152 Inside Man]. In [ST X: Nemesis], set in 2378, Admiral Kathryn Janeway wears the 2373 uniform.

 

THE QUESTION

At first it would seem that no accurate end-stop can be placed on the service life of the 2373 uniforms, although they are of course in service up to and including the events of 2378 depicted in [ST X: Nemesis] as they are worn in that film. But, in fact, the last service year for the uniforms is considered to be 2394. Why? What is the reason for the choice of 2394/95?

 

THE ANSWER

The answer is that it is because a different uniform system is seen in Q's anti-time of 2395, depicted in [TNG: All Good Things], and the uniforms in that system are those seen in 2404 in the eventually unrealised timeline depicted in [#171 and #172 Endgame]. Star Trek production ensures that this is the interpretation of events, due to the style of uniform seen in those stories. In addition, the re-styled Starfleet emblem/combadge style is the same in [TNG: All Good Things...] and in [#171 and #172 Endgame]. The uniform worn by Captain La Forge in [#100 Timeless] does not contradict that because he is in 2390. Not only is he before 2394, but his time becomes an unrealised timeline (but see next heading 'The Exception' as regards his Starfleet emblem/combadge). 2394 is the end-stop date because it assumes the change in the uniforms system will be the same regardless of individual personal events e.g. Troi's premature death, Picard's neurological terminal illness, Beverly Crusher becoming captain, all of which happen in Q's anti-time as depicted in [TNG: All Good Things...].

However, without Star Trek's explicit statement of dates, I would prefer to say, as it is more accurate, that the new uniforms system is introduced by 2395, and I would even allow that it comes in between 2390 and 2395.

 

THE EXCEPTION


Captain La Forge
[#100 Timeless]		 In [#100 Timeless], in the eventually unrealised timeline, in 2390 Captain Geordi La Forge wears the grey-on-black uniform introduced by Starfleet sometime in 2373 (the stardate of [ST VIII: First Contact] is unknown), but he wears the Starfleet emblem/combadge introduced with the future uniforms shown in [TNG: All Good Things...], [DS9: Season 4: The Visitor] and [#171 and #172 Endgame].

From that, assuming that individual events (like whether USS Voyager ends up with a dead crew) do not affect Starfleet's policy on uniforms (an assumption that Star Trek takes), we could conclude that there is a gradual change in the uniforms system as regards the Starfleet emblem/combadge i.e. the latter gets introduced by 2390 (in time for Capt. La Forge to wear it in [#100 Timeless]) but personnel only gradually start wearing the future uniforms seen in, for instance, [#171 and #172 Endgame]. That speculation does not seem sound to me, for there is no major precedent, because when the [Voyager]-style combadge is first introduced (in 2371, for [ST VII: Generations] and the start of [Voyager]) all Starfleet personnel in other Star Trek start wearing it. The only exception is Cmdr. Will Riker in [#34 Death Wish] who wears the old-style combadge despite the date of his abstraction from the Alpha Quadrant occurring in 2372, a year after the [Voyager]-style combadge has been introduced throughout all of Starfleet/Star Trek.


Cmdr. Riker
[#34 Death Wish]

 

TOP   BACK   STARFLEET UNIFORMS INDEX   CHRONOLOGY   BRIDGE