Ultimate Star Trek: Uniforms & Departments

So since I wasn't sleepy I decided to get to work on the first and most important thing for me, deciding what the crew wears.

Much like ships, the uniform is a very important part of everyone's Star Trek experience.  Certainly the vast amount of fan designs, as well as the options on Star Trek Online shows that there is no one "universal" Starfleet uniform.

My all-time favourite uniform are what the fans call the "Monster Maroons" from Star Trek II - VI.  They certainly were a diversion from the old TOS tri-colours and a light year from the Motion Picture's tenis outfits and pajamas.  Still, as much as I love them, I find maroons to be a bit dated and a bit awkward as a regular duty uniform.

That said I will not abandon the look, but I will be using a variant of it.  More later.



So what uniform to use?  Well it is a simple choice for me, my second favourite of
all time in Star Trek history are the First Contact uniforms (also used on DS9).  These uniforms have a nice balance of classic Star Trek as well as a slight militaristic look without seeming too military.  They fit Ultimate Star Trek perfectly.

Now I want to take this moment to remind the purists out there that is this Ultimate Star Trek, the one that I most want to see, not a canon universe by any stretch of the imagination.  Just so we are all nice and clear.

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So remember earlier when I said I would use the maroons in this version, well here we go.  I found this image while searching Deviant Art.  I had, had this idea for a uniform years ago but lacked the artistic skills to create it.  I was so very happy to find this image and will use this design (with pants as an option of course) as the Class A uniform, which would be for me between Dress Uniform and the Class B duty uniform shown above.

The best of both worlds!




Admirals will use the lovely one that we saw in Insurrection and later as I think it is quite Admiralish, without being insane looking like the TNG Admiral's uniform was.

I am unsure if I want them to have department colours or go the Wrath of Khan way and give them the command white, showing that despite their assignments, they are the Admiralty and as such above departments.

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Also I will be bringing back the concept of Commodores, I really loved having something between Captain and Admiral and that works perfectly.  They will remain with their department colours and wear a slight modified uniform as show to the left.

Now some of you will not like Commodores, but I like them just fine and I guess I should warn you now that I also like the idea of the rank Fleet Captain, who would wear the same uniform as a Commodore.



Remember, Ultimate Star Trek.

So now that we got the uniforms solved, everything should be just fine right?

Not by a long shot, cause now I am going to mess with the departments.  I hated it when TNG swapped Command Gold for Operations Red.  To my mind there was a pride in being a "Red Shirt" and they just got rid of it.  Made me sad.

But then something even better happened, they showed us the 29th Century Starfleet uniforms and Command was a lovely dark blue.  That made me very very happy.

Another issue is the ever changing Medical/Sciences colour.  At the start it is blue, then it becomes teal and at one point was even a sort of aquamarine.  Le sigh.

Here are how the departments and colours breaks down for me;

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Command/Flight Control - Dark Blue 
I group these two together for the following reasons.  Firstly I think the lion's share of commanding officers would come up through the Flight Control division and secondly I liked in Wrath of Khan how Command had its own colour.  So that's what I am going to do here and with everything else, your mileage may vary.

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Operations/Engineering - Gold
If the Command division is the brains, the Ops/Eng division are the organs and nervous system.  The most numerous division in all the fleet, Ops Gold is the most common uniform colour anyone will ever see.  Many go on to the Command division, but usually command space stations and starbases.

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Science/Medical - Teal
Strange new worlds, new life and new civilizations. That's what this division is all about.  Whether they are serving on a ship or in the labs and hospitals of Starfleet, they are the ones that help push the boundaries of knowledge and life beyond the final frontier.  Sorry... it had to be said... Unless serving on a hospital ship or a science vessel, it is very rare for this division to produce command staff.

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Tactical/Security - Red
If Command are the brains, Ops the organs and Sciences the imagination, then Tac-Sec is the very blood of Starfleet.  They stand in the direct path of danger and have earned the nickname "Red Shirts" which they wear with pride.  Certainly they have the highest casualty rate of all the divisions (combined) but are also the bravest and boldest of all Starfleet.  It is not unheard of for one to break through to Command, especially during war times, but it isn't common.



Here they all are, side-by-side, for your viewing pleasure.

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Now, since this ISN'T the Next Generation, I still think there are more clothes for Starfleeters to wear, and here are some of them for your pleasure.

Engineering Jumpsuit
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Radiation Suit

Extreme Weather Coat

Medical Alternates
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Medical Alternates 2
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There are others I might add as I find them but for now that should cover the gamut of what I want for uniforms.  That said though, I am trying to find a good Enlisted duty uniform that fits with this style, so if you have any suggestions please feel free to share!

More to come...

P.S. All these images were found using Google image search and I take no credit for them other than maybe tweaking the colours here and there.