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Post by ThrorII on Jan 27, 2021 15:34:28 GMT -5
So I've been watching TOS on Netflix, which I believe is ordered on release date. Last night I watched 'Arena', and noticed something: The surviving starfleet personnel on Federation Observation Outpost Cestus III is wearing the same uniform as the commander of Earth Outpost 4 in "Balance of Terror", a gold-tannish shirt with the 'comet' insignia. As both of these stations are designated 'outposts', it seems that this is the uniform of the 'outpost' branch of starfleet.
This ties in to a memo typed in December of 1967, during filming of the TOS, where it was clarified that ALL starship personnel should be wearing the Enterprise 'arrowhead' logo, regardless of ship assignment (no individual ship insignias).
You add the fact that it seems all starbase personnel wear the usual red-blue-gold uniforms, but have the 'rose' or 'starburst' insignia, academy cadets wear a bluish-grey shirt with a small 'starburst' insignia, and the crew of the Antares ("Charlie X") wears a 'painter's pallette' insignia (merchant marines or support ship?), and you have a pretty solid case for starfleet uniforms by branch (starship, starbase, outpost, and academy).
Just interesting stuff.
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Post by starcruiser on Jan 28, 2021 12:13:22 GMT -5
Yep - much of this has been speculated for literally decades. The article below has the note you mentioned (from 'Chief Inquisitor' Bob Justman): www.startrek.com/article/starfleet-insignia-explainedThere have been those who felt that Commodore Decker's insignia was not the insignia of the U.S.S Constellation but rather, the insignia of a Star Fleet Commodore assigned to command a specific Starship. Boy, we have to reach a bit at times to account for costuming changes and goofs! |
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Post by Falconer on Jan 28, 2021 14:15:21 GMT -5
I like your formulation of starship, starbase, outpost, and academy branches. Much more Star Trekky IMO than FASA’s more “realistic” branches (Galaxy Exploration vs. Intelligence vs. Military Operations, etc.).
That said, just as a practical matter, my campaign being set after the TOS 5-year mission (but the Enterprise is back out again on another 5-year mission, and no TMP has not and will not happen), I basically adopt the fan understanding that “all of Starfleet adopted the Enterprise logo” (though this need not extend beyond the starship branch). It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it works. It allows me to then go and let an individual ship (i.e., the PCs’ ship, esp. if/when they get a heavy cruiser) have its own logo, while letting the arrowhead remain the generic logo, while explaining why the 1701 has a generic logo.
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Post by ThrorII on Jan 28, 2021 18:42:22 GMT -5
Yep - much of this has been speculated for literally decades. The article below has the note you mentioned (from 'Chief Inquisitor' Bob Justman): www.startrek.com/article/starfleet-insignia-explainedThere have been those who felt that Commodore Decker's insignia was not the insignia of the U.S.S Constellation but rather, the insignia of a Star Fleet Commodore assigned to command a specific Starship. Boy, we have to reach a bit at times to account for costuming changes and goofs! I guess I'm not as sharp as I thought.... 
Anywho, yeah, everything was in flux and settling down that first season. It seems that GR did want, after a time, that all ship personnel should have the arrowead, but it seems that costuming had their own thoughts on that matter....
Interesting fact, I was watching 'Court Martial' last night, and the non-enterprise starfleet officers did wear the arrowheads, while starbase personnel wore the starburst/rose.
Yeah, I think Decker's insignia was just part of the counter-thought that each starship had its own insignia.
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