STARFLEET UNIFORMS :: Janet's Star Trek Voyager Site

WHY USS VOYAGER'S CREW WEAR THE SAME UNIFORM THROUGHOUT THE SERIES (2371-2377) EVEN THOUGH STARFLEET RE-STYLES THE UNIFORMS IN 2373

In 2266, which equates to [TNG] Season 2, the [TNG] Season 1 one-piece uniforms were slightly amended into two-piece uniforms. The change occurred so soon because the actors found the one-piece uniforms too tight with no room for growth. The amended uniforms endure for the rest of [TNG] i.e. up to and including 2370, a year before the [Voyager] series begins.

Starfleet introduces major re-styling of all uniforms in 2373, the year in which [Star Trek VIII: First Contact] is set. (New film....hence new uniforms.) Interestingly, the USS Voyager crew:

Start using the new upgraded phaser rifle; it is first seen in [#54 Macrocosm]. It is a blooper because they do so despite being out of touch with Starfleet until 2374 at the earliest, in 2374 [#82 Message In A Bottle] when the Doctor briefs Starfleet. Full discussion at Starfleet Handweapons.
Do not change to the new-style uniforms but continue to wear the old-style ones. They could, and many would say "should", have changed uniforms on being so informed at any time starting in 2374 when the Doctor visits the Alpha Quadrant and briefs Starfleet, in [#82 Message In A Bottle].

So is there a proper explanation? Yes and no.

Starfleet's decision to amend or completely re-style uniforms (also phaser rifles etc.), and when to do it, is of course actually driven by the Star Trek decision-makers. And, among other things, they are driven to develop the Star Trek universe. Whenever a Star Trek film is being produced, new things are introduced to the Star Trek universe. For each new film at least one major new item will appear, whether particular events, looks, equipment, technology, characters, relationships or....uniforms. For instance, for [Star Trek VIII: First Contact] it was a phaser rifle upgrade (the type 3b) (later seen in [#54 Macrocosm]), for [Star Trek IX: Insurrection] a major introduction was the white dress uniforms. It is convention that such items are showcased in a film first before being seen in a tv episode, and tv episodes are sometimes held back to adhere to that convention (as with the white dress uniforms and [DS9: Inter Arma Silent Leges]), with the chronology of the Star Trek universe being adjusted accordingly.

What holds for a film also holds for a new tv series. It has become traditional to introduce something new such as upgrades or innovations for a new tv series, on top of a new concept.

The introduction of an innovation, and its timing, is complicated by the fact that more than one Star Trek series may be airing at the same time:

[TNG] Season 6 occurs in 2369, the year in which [DS9] Season 1 is set. This means also that [TNG] Season 7, that series' final season, being set in 2370, is contemporaneous with [DS9] Season 2. In the series opener [#1 and #2 Caretaker] USS Voyager NCC-74656 is lost in the Badlands in 2371, and [Voyager] Season 1 is contemporaneous with [DS9] Season 3. Television air dates are also shown visually, below.

new starship, new crew, new uniforms, new Starfleet emblem, new concept - communicator which is worn (within the new Starfleet emblem), new concept - holodeck

not a new starship but a new deep space station, new crew, new uniforms, new concepts...

new starship, new crew, new Starfleet emblem
Main new concept: stranded on the other side of the galaxy, desperately trying to reach home

The [Voyager]-style uniforms are first seen earlier in [DS9] Season 1 (in 1993; the series opener is set in 2369). Rather than re-style the uniforms for [Voyager], a new Starfleet emblem was designed. Of course, the uniforms system applies to contemporaneous series or films also wear them i.e. in [DS9] Seasons 3-7 and in [Star Trek VII: Generations], although there is a query over Riker's old-style combadge in [#34 Death Wish].

Picard (combadge lost) buries the famous hero, James T. Kirk
[ST VII: Generations], 2371

[DS9] character Dax: as Jadzia Dax and as Ezri Dax;
Ezri Dax wears the uniform introduced in 2373;
combined publicity shots

Captain Picard and Commander Sisko;
publicity shot

As regards uniform changes, a change was introduced for when [DS9] started. In the [DS9] series opener [DS9: Emissary] Cmdr. Sisko and Captain Picard converse. They are wearing variants of the same uniform, and the variants form part of the same uniforms system. This establishes visually that they are part of the same system, although nothing is said in dialogue. (Such visual establishment of the principle is seen in one or two other Star Trek stories; if I recall them I will add a note here.) But this is a ploy (and a neat one) by Star Trek to introduce a new uniform style.

The "new" style is in fact a variant of the uniforms seen in later [TNG] aired earlier, and the "new" style became the standard uniform in that that variant is the one almost always seen from then onwards. All this is apparent from the text on the ST:M scans in the section Uniforms: 2366-73, but it is not explained in tv dialogue and hence leads to confusion if one has not read the relevant ST:M or TOSTFF articles. Indeed, it might seem like a blooper.

Example of confusion:
In 2372 Q abstracts Riker and brings him aboard USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. Riker is wearing the "old"-style uniform complete with old-style combadge, while of course Janeway is wearing the standard variant or latest style. However, it does not explain why Riker does not wear the new re-styled Starfleet emblem. Unless one knows the Star Trek explanation, it looks like a blooper.

above and right: [#34 Death Wish]

As Riker hangs his head in shame, Janeway tells her crew:
"No one will mention Commander Riker's combadge. That's an order."

The ST:M (and TOSTFF) explanation therefore accounts for different uniform styles being seen. But it does not necessarily explain why, in 2373, when Starfleet makes a major re-styling to the uniforms, why the Voyager crew retain the previous style. (They could, of course, only ever start wearing them from the time they are notified of the change, and the earliest time would be on the Doctor's return from briefing Starfleet at the end of [#82 Message In A Bottle], which takes place in 2374. Additionally, it cannot be that they are still short of replicator power to produce the new uniforms, because in late 2372, in [#38 Innocence], they acquire for USS Voyager a recrystalliser which ends the fuel shortage, occasional crises excepted.) The answer would seem to depend on how major a re-styling it is considered to be and whether Starfleet is interested in ordering the Voyager crew to change uniforms, or let them retain the previous style, or is indifferent whether they do or not. As the subject is not mentioned on the tv screen, we can speculate but cannot know. The real answer has to do with television production and is given in the ANSWER below.

The explanation given by ST:M was published in the April 2001 issue i.e. barely a month before the [Voyager] series ended in the U.S. and several years after [TNG] and [DS9] ended. Until then, confusion loomed for fans who never saw the Picard-Sisko scene in [DS9: Emissary], in which the new-style uniform is introduced as being a "variant" within the same uniforms system. As the Picard-Sisko scene is not mentioned in that ST:M article, to those confused fans it seems merely to be an explanation thought up belatedly by the Star Trek staff. The text explanation to support the indications given visually on tv could only be inserted into canon by being put into ST:M and TOSTFF (and other canon publications) because after [Voyager] finished airing in May 2001 there was no Star Trek series being aired which was set in the 2370's into which dialogue could be inserted to provide the explanation in the more 'proper' way (at that time [Enterprise] was to start airing in September 2001 but it is set in the 2150's). But it does not necessarily help as regards the uniform re-styling of 2373.

SUMMARY

skip to ANSWER The question: why does USS Voyager's crew wear the same uniform throughout the series (2371-77) even though Starfleet re-styles the uniforms in 2373? In summary, the answer depends, and is a mix of reality in the Star Trek universe and the 'real life' of 20th/21st century television production.

There are variants within a uniforms system, and this was used as a dramatic device to introduce what is basically a new uniform style when the [DS9] series started; the variants ploy is established visually on tv, and in writing via the ST:M article published in April 2001's magazine issue, which is barely a month before [Voyager] ended and several years after [TNG] and [DS9] ended. A new uniform style was introduced by Starfleet in 2373 because Star Trek producers wanted new uniforms (among other things) for the film [Star Trek VIII: First Contact] which is set in that year (and in the past, due to time-travel). The Star Trek producers decided not to update the uniforms on [Voyager], but to do so on [DS9]; the update would, if it took place, have to be at a time after the Doctor's briefing at Starfleet in 2374 in [#82 Message In A Bottle]. As it is not mentioned on tv, we must speculate that Starfleet either decided to let the Voyager crew retain the 'old'-style uniforms or did not interest itself in the subject at all. It also depends how much Starfleet considers the re-styling to be a major one or not. The question "why does USS Voyager's crew wear the same uniform....?" arises because the uniforms from 2373 onwards in the Alpha Quadrant have a number of quite noticeable changes, making many fans consider the changes to form a major re-styling. Starfleet, it seems, does not decide to order the USS Voyager crew to wear the re-styled uniforms. The real answer, however, has to do with television production, and is as follows:

ANSWER

[TNG] set the precedent that one crew continues to wear the same uniform style even though the rest of Starfleet wear a re-styled uniform. In [TNG: Season 3], set in 2366, the Starfleet uniforms introduced in 2364 are amended to two-piece suits, stand-up collar and loss of braiding. That change was the result of actors' complaints that the one-piece suits of [TNG] Seasons 1 and 2 were too tight and allowed no room for growth. Those uniforms were worn throughout the rest of [TNG], i.e. up to and including 2370, a year before the [Voyager] series begins. This means that the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D crew carry on wearing the uniform even though a version new to tv viewers is seen in the next Star Trek series [DS9] and whose first two Seasons are aired at the same time as the last two Seasons of [TNG]; that new version is presented as simply a variant of the existing uniforms system. Star Trek likes to introduce innovations (among other things) into a new series or a film. For [ST VII: Generations] and conveniently-timed for [Voyager], the uniform style introduced for [DS9] is worn but the innovation of a new Starfleet emblem is introduced. When it came to the re-styling of uniforms for [ST VIII: First Contact], the Star Trek authorities decided that the [Voyager] crew would follow the [TNG] precedent and carry on wearing their uniforms for the rest of that series. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Starfleet, crew would wear the [ST VIII: First Contact]-style uniforms. Once back in the Alpha Quadrant, Admiral Kathryn Janeway in 2378 wears the [ST VIII: First Contact]-style uniform, in [ST X: Nemesis].

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