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Published Aug 23, 2023

The Starfleet Insignia Explained

No Star Trek symbol captures the eye or imagination quite like the delta.

StarTrek.com

"The Starfleet Symbol." "The Arrowhead." "The Delta."

Star Trek uses symbols to convey a lot of things, but none captures the eye or imagination quite like the delta. In the years since The Original Series first aired, fans have tried to determine the meaning behind the various insignia shapes we see in the show. To most, it seems that the iconic delta shape is some sort of ship assignment patch meant to represent the U.S.S. Enterprise .

Some arrive at this conclusion because they see various Starfleet personnel wearing a number of different insignia. However, like any puzzle without a key, it’s impossible to precisely interpret the meaning of these other insignia.

The hidden key to the puzzle was finally uncovered a few years ago. The discovery was a memorandum written by producer Robert H. (Bob) Justman to  costume designer William Ware (Bill) Theiss . The subject? STARSHIP EMBLEMS.

A copy of that memorandum has been digitized from the Gene Roddenberry  Star Trek  Television Series Collection (held in the Library Special Collections division of the Young Research Library at UCLA in Irvine, California) and is shown below:

This memo, written during the production of the episode "The Omega Glory," and referencing Captain Ron Tracey, nullifies the long-held assumption that Starfleet assigned different insignia shapes to starships during TOS. Theiss’ inclusion of an alternate insignia for the  Exeter 's captain and chief medical officer, unfortunately, downplays how genuinely ubiquitous the delta insignia is within the  Star Trek  universe. As a result, fans of the series are left with conflicting visual information regarding the meaning of the insignia worn throughout the original series.

Nearly 50 years after Bob Justman wrote his memo, we now have the opportunity to clarify the use of each and every Starfleet uniform insignia used in   TOS. With a wee bit of Scotty's ingenuity, and a pinch of Vulcan logic, the complete picture of what Gene Roddenberry envisioned for the delta insignia should snap into focus.

There are six Starfleet duty insignia used in The Original Series:

• Starship Duty Insignia (Fleet personnel emblem)
• Spacecraft Duty Insignia (Auxiliary Fleet/ Merchant Marine personnel emblem)
• Outpost Duty Insignia (Outpost and Colony personnel emblem)
• Cadet Duty Insignia (Starfleet Academy student emblem)
• Starbase Duty Insignia (Headquarters,  Space stations, Drydocks, and Ground installation personnel emblem)
• Fleet Command Insignia (Senior field commander personnel emblem)

In the  Star Trek  universe, the delta emblem is a direct descendant of the vector component of the old NASA (and later UESPA) logos in use during Earth’s space programs of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Those symbols were worn by some of the first space explorers and adorned uniforms and ships during humanity’s first steps into the final frontier.

United Earth Space Probe Agency integrated with Starfleet as the leading United Earth space exploration service.

The delta insignia was first drawn in 1964 by costume designer William Ware Theiss with input from series creator Gene Roddenberry. The delta — or “Arrowhead” as Bill Theiss called it — has evolved into a revered symbol and one that's synonymous with  Star Trek  today.

The delta also conveys information about the wearer’s duties aboard ship using a series of division symbols. When paired with a distinctive, elongated “star,” the insignia represents someone assigned to the Command division aboard ship. When it displays the “planet” symbol, it represents the Sciences division, a stylized “e” stands for Engineering (later Operations), and a red “Swiss Cross” is worn by starship personnel assigned to the Nursing Corps.

Captain James T. Kirk wearing the Starship Duty Insignia, Command Division.

Let’s continue our study of  Star Trek ’s insignia with personnel assigned to other starships that are wearing the delta insignia.

Before we knew about this memo, we assumed that each ship had its own unique insignia, but there are problems that theory doesn't account for. For instance, does it bother you, or at least seem odd to see the surly guys in Starbase 11’s Officer's Club (in the episode "Court Martial") giving “their captain” a hard time over the presumed death of their mutual friend Ben Finney? Or, to see deceased crew members aboard the  U.S.S. Defiant  (in the episode "The Tholian Web") wearing the delta insignia?

If different starships had different symbols, why weren't they wearing them? Simple. The memo makes it clear that those Starfleet officers are not assigned to the  Enterprise ; they are simply wearing Starfleet’s standard-issue Starship Duty Insignia.

Non-Enterprise Starfleet personnel in Starbase 11’s Officer’s Club in Court Martial, and Below: Deceased U.S.S. Defiant crew member wearing the Starship Duty Insignia in "The Tholian Web."

By now, you might be saying, “What about U.S.S. Exeter ’s Captain Ron Tracey and his chief surgeon, Dr. Carter?” As these two insignia patches are the error being addressed in the memo, they need no further explanation. They alone are the anomaly (an anomaly Theiss never repeated), which led to the misconception that every ship has its own assignment insignia.

Above: Captain Ron Tracey of the U.S.S. Exeter, and Below: his CMO, Dr. Carter.

As you can see here, Theiss thoughtfully, if erroneously, provided both officers with unique assignment insignia patches, and in keeping with his fastidious reputation, insured both patches included their appropriate division symbols.

Early in TOS, we get our first look at non-delta insignia. In the episode "Charlie X,"  Antares ’ Captain Rampart and his first officer are wearing the Spacecraft Duty Insignia, which indicates that they are assigned to an auxiliary spacecraft serving in Starfleet's Merchant Marine Corps — just as Justman points out in his memo. 

Antares' Captain Rampart, and his XO wearing the Merchant Marine Spacecraft Duty Insignia.

Not long after that, we get a look at another new insignia. The Outpost Duty Insignia is worn by Starfleet personnel assigned to outposts on the very edge of Federation space, the frontier. This emblem is characterized by a gold spikelet against a black background. Warning: Do not put yourself in a situation where this insignia goes on your uniform. Personnel wearing this badge never seem to live happily ever after.

Outpost Crew from "Balance of Terror" & "Arena" pictured wearing the Outpost Duty Insignia.

A few episodes later, the Enterprise takes shore leave and Kirk reminisces about his days at the Academy. Worn by students attending Starfleet Academy, the Cadet Duty Insignia is characterized by a pewter colored, smaller version of the Starbase Duty Insignia.

Second Class Midshipman Finnegan wearing the Cadet Duty Insignia.

First seen in "The Menagerie," the Starbase Duty Insignia is worn by personnel assigned to Federation Starbases, which include Starfleet Headquarters, space stations, drydocks, and other ground installations. The emblem, which is devoid of any departmental symbol, is a stylized representation of an “Evening Starflower” (a flowering plant native to the western hemisphere of Earth).

Above: Admiral James Komack of Starfleet Command - Sector 9, and Below: Admiral Fitzpatrick.

Miss Piper, assistant to Commodore Mendez, and Lt. Areel Shaw Starbase 11 JAG Officer wearing the Starbase Duty Insignia.

So how does Commodore Wesley in "The Ultimate Computer," or Commodore Decker in "The Doomsday Machine," fit into the spectrum of Starfleet insignia?

Well, let’s talk about commodores for a moment. A commodore is a flag officer rank, one position above captain. A starship captain usually commands a single vessel, but a commodore ordinarily commands more than one ship. Usually, commodores command a group of ships (either close to their flagship or distant), or in the case of TOS, they normally command a starbase.

In charge of evaluating the operational performance of the M5 computer while it's in total control of a starship, Commodore Wesley sits in temporary command of the  U.S.S. Lexington  to lead a battle fleet in war games against the  Enterprise . Throughout the episode, Commodore Wesley continues to wear his Starbase Duty Insignia, while the  Lexington  crew would have been wearing the delta.

Commodore Bob Wesley in the transporter room briefing Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock about the M5 computer.

Finally, we come to one of my favorite characters ever — Commodore Matt Decker in "The Doomsday Machine." We saved him for last because we could only properly discuss his insignia and what it means after we talked about Starfleet’s other symbols first.

William Windom as Commodore Matt Decker

Unlike Commodore Bob Wesley, who was only in temporary command of the  Lexington , Matt Decker is a Flag Officer with permanent field command of a starship. In fact, he's the only Flag Officer we see in  Star Trek  with a field command. As a consequence of Commodore Decker's rank and status as Commander of the  U.S.S. Constellation  (his flagship), he wears the Fleet Command Insignia denoting his status as a Flag Officer in the field. If we had seen Commodore Decker's crew (may they rest in peace), we would have seen the delta shape insignia in use on their uniforms. Commodore Decker's own first officer would have held the rank of Captain and worn the Starship Duty Insignia.

It should be noted that "The Doomsday Machine," which was filmed early in Season 2, is not referenced in Bob Justman’s memo. Some speculate that Decker’s absence from the memo is further indication of the inconsistent use of emblems in  Star Trek , but that presupposes that the production staff missed that detail. However, the very existence of the Justman memo, and a whole forest of others just like it, demonstrates that the opposite is true.

The production team of  Star Trek  worked diligently to ensure that every aspect of the future they were busy creating held up under scrutiny. Gene Roddenberry was notoriously rewriting scripts himself to ensure no less than exactly what he wanted ended up on-screen, and that fastidious nature permeated the entire production staff. That Decker’s unique emblem is not mentioned in the production memo indicates that his particular insignia isn't an error at all; but represents something else.

Check out Commodore Decker's insignia. Remember that when Theiss created the insignia for Captain Ron Tracey, he went out of his way to ensure it was emblazoned with a Command Star department symbol. Commodore Decker has no such departmental symbol in his insignia patch, which places it in the same design lineage as the Starbase Duty Insignia, which is also devoid of any departmental symbol.

At this point in  Star Trek , we’ve seen a number of flag officers; but they have all worn the Starflower shape, which indicates assignment to a starbase, while Matt Decker alone in TOS series serves as a flag officer in permanent command of a starship. He is wearing an insignia that conveys his unique status, the Fleet Command Insignia, and if you look closely, you'll see that Matt Decker’s emblem is visually related to the Starbase Duty Insignia. Decker’s insignia is a stylized representation of an individual petal from the same “Evening Starflower” emblem that comprises the starbase symbol. This insignia isn't mentioned in the production memo because it's not an error at all.

Hopefully, by now, you can see how consistent the  Star Trek  costume department really was in their use of insignia, and that Bill Thiess never repeated the error he made during "The Omega Glory" after it was pointed out by the memo.

Returning to the delta, Roddenberry and Justman intended it to be a very special symbol that communicates something important. The insignia worn on Starfleet uniforms is the equivalent of the badges worn by U.S. Service members — to show how they serve, not where they serve. Both men served with distinction in World War II. Roddenberry was an Army Air Corps pilot and Justman was a radio operator in the Navy. In the air and at sea, they understood the value of visual communication. In uniform, they themselves carried those values on their chests, on their collars, and on their sleeves. Twenty years after they wore their own various insignia, they helped to create something new — a symbol to inspire others. In the 1960s, the Starfleet delta had far more in common with the golden pin awarded to a NASA astronaut than a simple mission patch, and it was intended to equal that proud emblem in both use and sentiment.

The NASA Astronaut Pin. There are two versions of this pin, a silver pin awarded to those who complete their training, and a gold pin awarded only to astronauts who have flown in space.

The delta proclaims that the person wearing it has achieved the goal of every cadet entering the Academy, and the dream of many a devoted fan — to serve aboard a starship and set sail in an endless sea of stars.

Starfleet Insignia Badge, Command Division from Star Trek Discovery

They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to.

Captain James T. Kirk

I am grateful to have an experienced and learned group of expert Star Trek fans who helped with the research on this article — Steve Fronczek, Creative Services Manager, ANOVOS; Lieutenant Commander Michael J. Quigley, United States Navy; and Dayton Ward, Star Trek author.

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This article was originally published on October 7, 2018

John Cooley is a lifelong Star Trek fan.

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Star trek’s starfleet uniform colors: what they mean & why they changed.

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Star Trek Fleet Command Codes (June 2024)

Star trek confirms the harsh reality of seven of nine's life after starfleet, star trek confirms captain shaw's story isn't over.

• Star Trek's uniform colors have changed over the years to reflect different meanings and visions of the franchise's costume designers.
• In the original series, blue represented medical and science divisions, gold denoted command positions, and red was worn by engineering, security, and communications divisions.
• The switch from red to gold uniforms in the 24th century was likely a decision made by Starfleet to move away from the negative association with red uniforms ("redshirt" deaths).

Star Trek 's iconic uniforms have through a variety of changes in color designation and design in the past 57 years for a variety of reasons. In Star Trek: The Original Series ' unaired pilot, there were only two colors - blue for the science and medical divisions and gold for everybody else. Due to the costs involved in mounting a second pilot for the network, the gold uniforms were retained for TOS ' successful pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". After that Star Trek embraced the gold, blue, and red uniforms that were an integral part of TOS ' iconic visual style between 1966 and 1969.

The meaning of gold, red and blue have changed over the years and so too has the way that those colors are displayed on the uniform. This is understandable for a franchise that has been running for 57 years. Each new costume designer will have their own vision for how they think Star Trek 's uniforms will look, and which characters would best suit which color. For example, Robert Blackman adapted original Starfleet uniform designer William Ware Theiss' Star Trek: The Next Generation uniforms for the 90s Trek shows and subsequent movies. Although he redesigned the outfits, Blackman honored the new color meanings decided upon by Theiss.

What Star Trek’s Uniform Colors Mean

In the entire history of Star Trek , blue has always denoted that the officer wearing the uniform is attached to Starfleet's medical or scientific divisions. During the 23rd century, the gold uniform denoted command positions and were also worn by Star Trek 's ace helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) and navigator Lt. Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig). The red shirts were worn by the engineering, security and communications divisions. The red shirts also had an unfortunate association with the countless members of Starfleet away teams that were killed in the line of duty. Meanwhile, Kirk's green uniform was usually reserved for diplomatic functions.

By the 24th century there had been a switch around of Starfleet uniform colors and their relevant associations. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) wore a red uniform throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation , rather than a gold one, so too did his Number One, Commander William T Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Meanwhile, the gold uniforms were worn by everybody with an operational role from security down to engineering, with occasional Enterprise-D helmsmen wearing red uniforms, like Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) in TNG season 1.

Why Star Trek’s Uniform Colors Changed

There's never been an in-universe explanation for the red and gold switch between Star Trek 's 23rd and 24th centuries. It can easily be explained by an operational decision made by Starfleet's wardrobe department to break away from the problematic " redshirt " association. Similarly, the more sober gray uniforms in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Star Trek: The Next Generation uniforms could have been designed to reflect the war footing that Starfleet had found itself on while in conflict with the Dominion.

The real-life explanation for why Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes weren't dressed in gold is more interesting, however. There are apocryphal stories that Stewart and Frakes didn't look as commanding in the gold uniforms designed by original Star Trek: TNG costume designer William Ware Theiss. It's certainly true that the dark red uniforms worn by Captain Picard and Commander Riker pop better on screen than the gold uniforms worn by the ops team. More interesting still, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) was supposed to be in science division blue, but it was a bad color for his pallid android skin tone.

Starfleet Uniform Variants In Star Trek

Interestingly, Scott Bakula's Star Trek: Enterprise went back to the color distinctions from Star Trek: The Original Series. Each of the blue flight suits had colored piping around the shoulders reflecting yellow for command and red for operations. The only notable difference was that Lt. Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) had the blue piping of the science division on her uniform to reflect her role as the Enterprise NX-01's linguist and translator. It's thanks to Hoshi's scientific research into alien languages that Lt Nyota Uhura (NIchelle Nichols) can maintain hailing frequencies in her operational position aboard the USS Enterprise.

Other notable uniform variants are the similarly blue uniforms from Star Trek: Discovery which had gold or silver cuffs and side panels for command and operations, respectively. The iconic crimson movie costumes had different colored turtleneck sweaters under the tunics, presumably to denote crew role. Prior to those iconic crimson outfits were the poorly received monochrome uniforms designed for Star Trek: The Motion Picture , which were sometimes referred to as space pajamas. The longer that the franchise continues into the future, the more likely it is that Starfleet uniforms will continue to adapt and change. However, Star Trek: Discovery 's far future uniforms prove that Star Trek 's command red is very much in style almost a millennium after it was first introduced.

• Star Trek: The Original Series (1966)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

Star Trek Timeline

Monday, October 2, 2017

Starfleet insignia explained.

Starfleet Starship Duty Insignia, Command Division from Star Trek: The Original Series .

"The Starfleet Symbol." "The Arrowhead." "The Delta."

Star Trek uses symbols to convey a lot of things, but none captures the eye or imagination quite like the delta. In the years since The Original Series first aired, fans have tried to determine the meaning behind the various insignia shapes we see in the show. To most it seems that the iconic delta shape is some sort of ship assignment patch meant to represent the U.S.S. Enterprise .

Some arrive at this conclusion because they see various Starfleet personnel wearing a number of different insignia. However, like any puzzle without a key, it's impossible to precisely interpret the meaning of these other insignia.

The hidden key to the puzzle was finally uncovered a few years ago.

The discovery was a memorandum written by producer Robert H. (Bob) Justman to costume designer William Ware (Bill) Theiss. The subject? STARSHIP EMBLEMS.

A copy of that memorandum has been digitized from the Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (held in the Library Special Collections division of the Young Research Library at UCLA in Irvine, California) and is shown below:

This memo, written during the production of the episode " The Omega Glory " and referencing Captain Ron Tracey, nullifies the long-held assumption that Starfleet assigned different insignia shapes to starships during TOS . Theiss' inclusion of an alternate insignia for the Exeter's captain, and chief medical officer unfortunately downplays how genuinely ubiquitous the delta insignia is within the Star Trek universe. As a result, fans of the series are left with conflicting visual information regarding the meaning of the insignia worn throughout the original series.

Nearly 50 years after Bob Justman wrote his memo, we now have the opportunity to clarify the use of each and every Starfleet uniform insignia used in TOS . With a wee bit of Scottish ingenuity, and a pinch of Vulcan logic, the complete picture of what Gene Roddenberry envisioned for the delta insignia should snap into focus.

There are six Starfleet duty insignia used in TOS :

• Starship Duty Insignia (Fleet personnel emblem)
• Spacecraft Duty Insignia (Auxiliary Fleet/ Merchant Marine personnel emblem)
• Outpost Duty Insignia (Outpost and Colony personnel emblem)
• Cadet Duty Insignia (Starfleet Academy student emblem)
• Starbase Duty Insignia (Headquarters,  Space stations, Drydocks, and Ground installation personnel emblem)
• Fleet Command Insignia (Senior field commander personnel emblem)

In the Star Trek universe, the delta emblem is a direct descendant of the vector component of the old NASA (and later UESPA) logos in use during Earth's space programs of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Those symbols were worn by some of the first space explorers and adorned uniforms and ships during humanity's first steps into the final frontier.

United Earth Space Probe Agency integrated with Starfleet as the leading United Earth space exploration service.

The delta insignia was first drawn in 1964 by costume designer William Ware Theiss with input from series creator Gene Roddenberry. The delta -- or "Arrowhead" as Bill Theiss called it -- has evolved into a revered symbol and one that's synonymous with Star Trek today.

The delta also conveys information about the wearer's duties aboard ship using a series of division symbols. When paired with a distinctive, elongated "star" the insignia represents someone assigned to the Command division aboard ship. When it displays the "planet" symbol, it represents the Sciences division, a stylized "e" stands for Engineering (later Operations), and a red "Swiss Cross" is worn by starship personnel assigned to the Nursing Corps.

Captain James T. Kirk wearing the Starship Duty Insignia, Command Division.

Let's continue our study of Star Trek 's insignia with personnel assigned to other starships that are wearing the delta insignia.

Before we knew about this memo, we assumed that each ship had its own unique insignia, but there are problems that theory doesn't account for. For instance, does it bother you, or at least seem odd to see the surly guys in Starbase 11's Officer's Club (in the episode " Court Martial ") giving "their captain" a hard time over the presumed death of their mutual friend Ben Finney? Or, to see deceased crew members aboard the U.S.S. Defiant (in the episode " The Tholian Web ") wearing the delta insignia?

If different starships had different symbols, why weren't they wearing them? Simple. The memo makes it clear that those Starfleet officers are not assigned to the Enterprise ; they are simply wearing Starfleet's standard-issue Starship Duty Insignia.

Above: Non- Enterprise Starfleet personnel in Starbase 11's Officer's Club in Court Martial, and Below: Deceased U.S.S. Defiant crew member wearing the Starship Duty Insignia in "The Tholian Web."

By now you might be saying "What about U.S.S. Exeter's Captain Ron Tracey and his chief surgeon, Doctor Carter?" As these two insignia patches are the error being addressed in the memo, they need no further explanation. They alone are the anomaly (an anomaly Theiss never repeated), which led to the misconception that every ship has its own assignment insignia.

Above: Captain Ron Tracey of the U.S.S. Exeter , and Below: his CMO, Dr. Carter.

As you can see here, Theiss thoughtfully, if erroneously, provided both officers with unique assignment insignia patches, and in keeping with his fastidious reputation insured both patches included their appropriate division symbols.

Early in TOS , we get our first look at non-delta insignia. In the episode " Charlie X ," Antares ' Captain Rampart and his first officer are wearing the Spacecraft Duty Insignia, which indicates that they are assigned to an auxiliary spacecraft serving in Starfleet's Merchant Marine Corps -- just as Justman points out in his memo. 

Antares ' Captain Rampart, and his XO wearing the Merchant Marine Spacecraft Duty Insignia.

Not long after that, we get a look at another new insignia. The Outpost Duty Insignia is worn by Starfleet personnel assigned to outposts on the very edge of Federation space, the frontier. This emblem is characterized by a gold spikelet against a black background. Warning: Do not put yourself in a situation where this insignia goes on your uniform. Personnel wearing this badge never seem to live happily ever after.

Outpost Crew from " Balance of Terror " & " Arena " pictured wearing the Outpost Duty Insignia.

A few episodes later, the Enterprise takes shore leave and Kirk reminisces about his days at the Academy. Worn by students attending Starfleet Academy, the Cadet Duty Insignia is characterized by a pewter colored, smaller version of the Starbase Duty Insignia.

Second Class Midshipman Finnegan wearing the Cadet Duty Insignia.

First seen in "The Menagerie," the Starbase Duty Insignia is worn by personnel assigned to Federation Starbases, which include Starfleet Headquarters, space stations, drydocks and other ground installations. The emblem, which is devoid of any departmental symbol, is a stylized representation of an "Evening Starflower" (a flowering plant native to the western hemisphere of Earth).

Above: Admiral James Komack of Starfleet Command - Sector 9, and Below: Admiral Fitzpatrick.

Miss Piper, assistant to Commodore Mendez, and Lt. Areel Shaw Starbase 11 JAG Officer wearing the Starbase Duty Insignia.

So how does Commodore Wesley in " The Ultimate Computer ," or Commodore Decker in " The Doomsday Machine " fit into the spectrum of Starfleet insignia?

Well, let's talk about Commodores for a moment. A Commodore is a flag officer rank, one position above Captain. A starship captain usually commands a single vessel, but a Commodore ordinarily commands more than one ship. Usually Commodores command a group of ships (either close to their flagship or distant), or in the case of TOS , they normally command a starbase.

In charge of evaluating the operational performance of the M5 computer while it's in total control of a starship, Commodore Wesley sits in temporary command of the U.S.S. Lexington to lead a battle fleet in war games against the Enterprise. Throughout the episode Commodore Wesley continues to wear his Starbase Duty Insignia, while the Lexington crew would have been wearing the delta.

Commodore Bob Wesley in the transporter room briefing Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock about the M5 computer.

Finally, we come to one of my favorite characters ever, Commodore Matt Decker in "The Doomsday Machine." We saved him for last because we could only properly discuss his insignia and what it means after we talked about Starfleet's other symbols first.

The steely glare of William Windom as Commodore Matt Decker.

Unlike Commodore Bob Wesley, who was only in temporary command of the Lexington, Matt Decker is a Flag Officer with permanent field command of a starship. In fact, he's the only Flag Officer we see in Star Trek with a field command. As a consequence of Commodore Decker's rank and status as Commander of the U.S.S. Constellation (his Flagship), he wears the Fleet Command Insignia denoting his status as a Flag Officer in the field. If we had seen Commodore Decker's crew (may they Rest In Peace), we would have seen the delta shape insignia in use on their uniforms. Commodore Decker's own first officer would have held the rank of Captain and worn the Starship Duty Insignia.

It should be noted that "The Doomsday Machine," which was filmed early in season two, is not referenced in Bob Justman's memo. Some speculate that Decker's absence from the memo is further indication of the inconsistent use of emblems in Star Trek , but that presupposes that the production staff missed that detail. However, the very existence of the Justman memo, and a whole forest of others just like, it demonstrates that the opposite is true. The production team of Star Trek worked diligently to ensure that every aspect of the future they were busy creating held up under scrutiny. Gene Roddenberry was notoriously rewriting scripts himself to ensure no less than exactly what he wanted ended up on screen, and that fastidious nature permeated the entire production staff. That Decker's unique emblem is not mentioned in the production memo indicates that his particular insignia isn't an error at all, but represents something else.

Check out Commodore Decker's insignia. Remember that when Theiss created the insignia for Captain Ron Tracey, he went out of his way to ensure it was emblazoned with a Command Star department symbol. Commodore Decker has no such departmental symbol in his insignia patch, which places it in the same design lineage as the Starbase Duty Insignia, which is also devoid of any departmental symbol.

At this point in Star Trek we've seen a number of flag officers, but they have all worn the Starflower shape, which indicates assignment to a starbase, while Matt Decker alone in TOS series serves as a flag officer in permanent command of a starship. He is wearing an insignia that conveys his unique status, the Fleet Command Insignia, and if you look closely you'll see that Matt Decker's emblem is visually related to the Starbase Duty Insignia. Decker's insignia is a stylized representation of an individual petal from the same "Evening Starflower" emblem that comprises the Starbase symbol. This insignia isn't mentioned in the production memo because it's not an error at all.

Hopefully by now you can see how consistent the Star Trek costume department really was in their use of insignia, and that Bill Thiess never repeated the error he made during "The Omega Glory" after it was pointed out by the memo.

Returning to the delta, Roddenberry, and Justman intended it to be a very special symbol that communicates something important. The insignia worn on Starfleet uniforms is the equivalent of the badges worn by U.S. Service members -- to show how they serve, not where they serve. Both men served with distinction in World War II. Roddenberry was an Army Air Corps pilot and Justman was a radio operator in the Navy. In the air and at sea, they understood the value of visual communication. In uniform once themselves they carried those values on their chests, on their collars, and on their sleeves. Twenty years after they wore their own various insignia, they  helped to create something new, a symbol to inspire others. In the 1960s, the Starfleet delta had far more in common with the golden pin awarded to a NASA astronaut than a simple mission patch, and it was intended to equal that proud emblem in both use and sentiment.

The NASA Astronaut Pin. There are two versions of this pin, a silver pin awarded to those who complete their training, and a gold pin awarded only to astronauts who have flown in space.

The delta proclaims that the person wearing it has achieved the goal of every cadet entering the academy, and the dream of many a devoted fan: to serve aboard a Starship and set sail in an endless sea of stars.

Starfleet Insignia Badge, Command Division from Star Trek Discovery.

"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to." - Captain James T. Kirk

I am grateful to have an experienced and learned group of expert Star Trek fans who helped with the research on this article: Steve Fronczek, Creative Services Manager, ANOVOS; Lieutenant Commander Michael J. Quigley, United States Navy; and Dayton Ward, Star Trek author.

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What Is the Star Trek Badge Called? 4 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know

By: Author Brad Burnie

Posted on Published: June 28, 2021  - Last updated: August 26, 2022

Share the Universe!

The Star Trek badge comes all the way from Star Trek- The Original Series . Its design borrows heavily from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA) logos that were in use during the 20 th and 21 st Centuries.

These were Earth’s inaugural space agencies. It was worn by the pioneer space explorers of the Star Trek universe. It became a symbol of the Starfleet that has been maintained throughout their space excursions.

Costume designer William (Bill) Theiss simply referred to it as the Arrowhead when he came up with it during the making of The Original Series. In the Star Trek universe, the arrow-shaped pennant is called the Delta, and it is the identifying emblem of The Starfleet. It is worn on the left breast of the uniforms of all Starfleet personnel.

Over the years, we have become accustomed to the badges so much we may not have realized some subtle changes taking place and small but significant differences across badges in the Star Trek universe.

Below are 4 interesting facts about the Delta that makes it both unique and consistent.

1. They are Universal Standard Issue Starfleet Badges

The badges were meant to be similar in all vessels belonging to the Starfleet throughout Star Trek. Producer Robert H. Justman even wrote the now-famous memo to costume designer William Ware Theiss regarding a disparity in the emblems in December 1967, during the Original Series filming. He noted the captain of another starship was wearing an unfamiliar emblem, different from those of the USS Enterprise crew.

The memo was written about the 23 rd episode of the 2 nd season of the Series. The Enterprise finds the deserted USS Exeter orbiting the planet Omega IV. When they finally locate its captain Ron Tracey, we can see his badge, and that of his Chief Medical Officer is different from the USS Enterprise. This unintentional mishap left fans conflicted about the universality of Starfleet crew badges in the Star Trek Universe. This anomaly was never repeated in subsequent episodes.

2. The Delta is Exclusive to Starfleet Crew

In the same memo, Robert acknowledges the error may have alluded to a different emblem being used the previous season on the Antares in the second episode of the first season dubbed ‘Charlie X.’

He explains that since the Antares was a merchant ship, the ship’s personnel are the equivalent of merchant marine or freighter personnel and are therefore not qualified to wear the pride of the Starfleet on their breasts. The badge asserts that the wearer has achieved the level of service aboard a starship and set sail across the stars.

There are other insignia besides the delta that are dedicated to other stations or non-fleet personnel that have been used throughout the Original Series, which should be distinguished from it:

• Spacecraft Duty Insignia: Like the Antares, the subject of the memo, these are worn by merchant marines and auxiliary fleet personnel.
• Outpost Duty Insignia: It is a gold spikelet on a black background for personnel in colonies and outposts on the Federation’s edges.
• Starbase Duty Insignia: This emblem does not have any unique departmental feature. It is a replica of the evening sunflower, a plant that flourished on the earth’s Western Hemisphere. It is worn by personnel stationed at the headquarters, dry docks, space stations, and ground installation.
• Cadet Duty Insignia: This is a gray-colored smaller version of the evening sunflower used in the Starbase duty insignia. Starfleet Academy students wear it.
• Fleet Command Insignia: These had to be unique to emphasize the ranks for senior field commanders while out in the field

3. It Conveys Information About the Wearers Duty On the Ship

The Deltas have symbols representing the division where the wearer is posted.

• An elongated star means someone is assigned to the command division aboard the ship.
• The planet symbol represents the sciences division
• stylized letter ‘e’ stands for engineering, which was later converted to operations
• The red ‘Swiss Cross’ is worn by crew assigned to the nursing corps

4. It Was Modified to Function as a Communicator Badge (Combadge)

From the time of The Next Generation (2364 to 2370), Starfleet officers and enlisted personnel adopted modern communicator badges, which they wore on their left breasts.

These badges retained the shape of their traditional insignia but were more functional. They enabled communication between individuals in the ship when its communication system was not practical. They are also equipped with a universal translator with which they can instantly communicate to different species from all over the galaxy.

Later episodes and movies show the Starfleet personnel embraced the enhanced badges used throughout the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and throughout the Voyager. A combadge constituted standard equipment for all starship personnel. Taking it off was akin to taking off the uniform.

They employ the latest technology; their signal could bypass electromagnetic interference. The first combadges were made by Section 31 as early as 2256 and deployed to its members in Starfleet Delta.

We discover they are made out of silicon, the rare Beryllium, gold, and carbon 70 in the 126 th and 127 th episodes of The Next Generation, Time’s Arrow . The crew of the Enterprise has to travel back in time to save Lieutenant Commander Data . Data describes what the badge is made of at a poker game.

Confusion aside, the Delta is probably the most consistent element in the Star Trek universe from the beginning to where we are at the moment. Although some specific details may vary, there is no gainsaying the important role the insignia plays in identifying the crew members, their roles, and the time period from which they came.

Knowing how to distinguish between the Star Trek badges can be considered a Trekkie’s secret map through their universe.

Brad Burnie is the founder of Starships.com. He loves all video game genres. In his spare time, he loves reading, watching movies, and gaming

Uniforms & Costumes : Pilot Uniforms - Insignia

Insignia worn in the pilot episodes of STAR TREK: The Original Series was not yet settled into its final form — as was the case with the uniforms overall.

This article will examine Breast Insignia & Rank Insignia seen in the unaired 1st pilot, “ The Cage ” [0x01] (as re-cut into “ The Menagerie, Part I ” [1x15] & “ The Menagerie, Part II ” [1x16] ), and in the televised 2nd pilot, “ Where No Man Has Gone Before ” [1x01] .

These represent the early 2250s – when the Enterprise was commanded by Christopher Pike – through to the mid-2260s, in the early days of Captain Kirk's 5-year mission.

We will also touch upon the Merchant service, which continued to wear the "pilot-style" uniforms through the late 2260s (as represented by officers from the cargo ship Antares in “ Charlie X ” [1x07] ).

N.B.- The information presented here is a pilot-specific supplement to the main Library articles on TOS Breast Insignia and Officer Rank Insignia .

Breast Insignia

A Starfleet officer's breast insignia is an emblem that indicates current assignment type; some further contain a device corresponding to a specific Division.

The only breast insignia seen in the pilot episodes was the Starship insignia (the delta emblem), which it is now understood was worn by all Starship personnel throughout TOS — not just those assigned to the Enterprise .

This usage was present from the start: the script for “ The Cage ” [0x01] identifies the man wearing one on his Dress Uniform during Vina's dance as a uniformed space officer (not from the Enterprise) .

Starship Emblem — 1st Pilot

Starship insignia for “ The Cage ” [0x01] were quite small compared to all subsequent versions.

Licensed replicas by ANOVOS – presently the only retail offering with remarkable accuracy – are 1 ¾" tall by 1 ¼" wide (although the product information states they are only 1 ⅝" tall).

The backing is a very light gold foil sewn in a dense grid pattern with silver thread, giving the background its unique "silver sparkle" look. These replicas are embroidered with Division devices in black thread, and a ⅛" wide border in yellow-gold metallic thread.

Meanwhile, screencaps suggest that the borders on the originals were a thinner gold cord sewn down within the edge of the patch:

Starship Emblem — 2nd Pilot

Starship insignia for “ Where No Man Has Gone Before ” [1x01] were somewhat larger than those used in the 1st pilot, but certainly smaller than the final TOS patches (which were around 3" to 3 ¼" tall by 2" wide).

This version was proportionately wider than any other, with the width being about 75% of the height.

Although the exact size is unknown, a good estimate would be somewhere around 2 ⅛" tall by 1 ⅝" wide. This was arrived at by using screencaps to visually compare the height of the patch to the bottom hem of the uniform shirt (and/or the distance from the bottom of the cuff to the rank stripe), which is known to be 2"

The backing appears to have been a light gold foil (light enough that some argue it was silver). The border colour was changed to black, while the Division device remained black.

Division Devices

The 3 most common Starship insignia devices were present in both pilots:

• Star – Command
• Globe – Sciences
• Spiral – Services (a.k.a. Engineering & Support Services )

The 4th device pictured amongst the ANOVOS patches above – a stylised square-cornered " C " for Cadet – was seen only in “ The Cage ” [0x01] , as worn by two fresh-faced young men in blue shirts on the bridge:

Division Combinations

Unlike later TOS, it was relatively common to see an officer wearing a device that didn't correspond to the Division colour of his shirt.

That holds true even when ignoring the unfortunate wardrobe department error that transposed all Sciences and Services insignia in “ Where No Man Has Gone Before ” [1x01] , resulting most noticeably in Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner wearing the wrong devices:

For legitimate examples, navigator José Tyler under Captain Pike wore a Command shirt with a Services breast insignia, as did Yeoman Smith under Captain Kirk (and Yeoman Rand in advance publicity photos before the new TOS uniforms were made):

Rank Insignia

Commercially-available ~½" wide gold metallic trim was used for rank stripes, although the type & specifications changed from the 1st pilot to the 2nd.

Braid — 1st Pilot

“ The Cage ” [0x01] stripes were likely a military flat braid that contained gilt (i.e.- real metal) threads.

• Officers ranked Lieutenant through Captain wore a single gold stripe.
• Midshipmen (cadets) , Ensigns , and presumably Lieutenants Junior Grade (J.G.) wore no stripe.

It took on a distinctly warm "rosy" tone under the lights – sometimes even hinting of copper in shots with excess red bias – although it was certainly gold.

Currently, the author's favourite trim for 2250s replicas is "Metallic Flat Braid 1/2 inch" in Bright Gold from The Quartermaster General , shown here at the bottom :

It contains 5% pure silver metal, and takes on the warm tone of the original. In comparison, the upper braid is simply "Gold" — which is also gilt, but uses less expensive aluminium and remains a paler yellow.

One other type of rank insignia was seen: a stripe of gold metallic "ladder braid" worn by CPO Garison (the Bridge Chief Petty Officer ) on his Services shirt.

It appears to be about ⅝" wide, with each edge being about ⅛" wide. The connecting "rungs" appear to be about ¼", and spaced ¼" apart.

N.B.- It must be emphasised here that Gene Roddenberry was adamant there were no separate "officer" and "enlisted men" categories, explained extensively in Ratings and Enlisted Men . ( Every man and woman aboard the USS Enterprise is the equivalent of a qualified astronaut, therefore an officer. ) The presence of a Chief Petty Officer explored the idea of placing a non-commissioned rank into the unified ladder of "officers" — an idea that he and Bill Theiss would revisit for TNG in 1987, defining a single black pip ("half-pip") as Chief Warrant Officer, beneath Ensign.

Braid — 2nd Pilot

“ Where No Man Has Gone Before ” [1x01] stripes were gold metallic "middy braid" : a synthetic trim with parallel ribs, each about 1⁄16" wide.

• Captain Kirk – unlike his predecessor – wore two stripes on each sleeve, with the 2nd being spaced ½" to ⅝" above the 1st.
• Other commissioned officer ranks wore one or no stripes, in the same manner as the 1st pilot.
• There was no indication of any cadets or non-commissioned officers being present onboard the Enterprise under Kirk's command.

A clipping from a William Shatner publicity photo shows about 8 ribs in total:

In contrast to the previous trim, the middy braid remained a shiny yellow-gold when lit.

Unfortunately, the author is unaware of any major supplier who sells a worthy replica trim "as-is".

However, the cheaper modern version of "Gold Metallic Middy Braid" – such as Trim 065A (9⁄16") from Vogue Fabrics – can be used as the basis for an imperfect workaround:

The upper sample shows it in its original state, which is ultra-reflective and rather flimsy. The bottom sample has been misted with gold metallic spray paint; this mattes it down to an acceptable level of reflectivity while imparting a small amount of much-needed rigidity.

Regrettably, the ribs are typically about 1⁄24" rather than the desired 1⁄16" — and many merchants will use the same default product photo for all sizes, meaning that the rib width isn't clear at the time of purchase.

Conjectural

Consistent with TOS standards, rank stripes were placed beginning 2" up from the bottom of the cuff.

However , each was simply sewn on top with a single line of stitching down the centre, overlapping at the inner sleeve:

The trim was presumably removed daily before cleaning the shirts, to prevent its becoming damaged — and here we realise a practical advantage of the cuff vents, which facilitate access to the inside of the sleeve for reattachment!

This may explain why some anecdotes still claim that rank stripes were regularly removed along with Breast Insignia, despite that the later TOS rank braid was sewn semi-permanently into the seam, with a line of machine stitching down each edge.

Division Colours

Starfleet Division colours are ostensibly related to insignia, and will be covered here at present.

Pilot uniform shirts were made of the same velour fabric that was used throughout seasons 1 & 2.

The colours as perceived on-screen are somewhat different than in-person, being filmed under tungsten light and then subjected to certain chemical corruptions inherent in 1960s colour process film. (Even today, lighting & white balance continue to greatly affect final photograph colours.)

* Reportedly, Services became red in TOS because camel was too similar to Command gold on colour television — which in 1966 was in less than 20% of American households, but receiving a major push.

Prototype TOS Uniforms

After the 2nd pilot passed muster, an advance STAR TREK publicity shoot was conducted with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Grace Lee Whitney, prior to the final costumes being available for filming.

The Breast Insignia remained the same as worn in “ Where No Man Has Gone Before ” [1x01] .

Yeoman Rand's entire uniform was simply a re-use of Yeoman Smith's from that episode, except that she's erroneously wearing a rank stripe.

Meanwhile, Captain Kirk and Mister Spock wear pilot-style shirts retrofitted with large rounded black rib-knit collars.

On these, the Rank Insignia matched the configuration of the 2nd pilot — but it appears to be some sort of reflective gold Mylar that was never used before or after.

Another utterly unique feature of this shoot was Spock's insignia combination: having switched back to a blue Sciences shirt as per the 1st pilot, but still retaining his Command insignia as per the 2nd.

Although never seen on-screen – and therefore technically not canon – this design's appearance in official promotional material could perhaps be regarded as a prototype that Starfleet was testing out with its Starship crews prior to finalising the TOS uniforms.

Merchant Marine

The "pilot-style" uniforms were also worn by licensed officers in the Merchant service through the late 2260s, as represented by Captain Ramart and his First Officer / Navigator (Tom Nellis) from the cargo ship Antares in “ Charlie X ” [1x07] .

The shirts were altered to be more stylistically in line with TOS Season 1: both men were wearing their smallest reasonable size and the bodies were shortened by about 2", giving a trimmer appearance than the hip-length "easy fit" that was previously favoured by Starfleet.

Of course, their Breast Insignia emblem was entirely different, being Merchant Marine (or freighter) rather than Starship personnel.

Interestingly – although both breast insignia featured a star device (indicating Command ) – both shirts were of the same brown-beige that Starfleet previously used for its Services division. The insignia-free shirt furnished for Charles Evans was the same colour.

In-universe, it is probable that the Merchant service used brown-beige shirts for all its personnel, just as some 20th century services use "khaki".

Behind-the-scenes, these "abandoned" shirts were likely the only stock that still had the original ribbed collars. Frugal re-use of old production assets had seen the gold & blue shirts from the pilot episodes retrofitted with black V-neck collars for use as background costumes in early episodes.

Rank insignia was the same "middy braid" type as used in “ Where No Man Has Gone Before ” [1x01] , and followed a similar system: the captain had 2 stripes; his first officer had 1.

Further Reading

The articles on Breast Insignia and Officer Rank Insignia examine each in their final form, as they appeared throughout the main body of TOS.

Acknowledgements

• Star Trek: TOS screencaps from TrekCore .

Star Trek: Discovery’s Uniforms, Decoded

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Discovery: Why Doctor Kovich's Real Name Has Major Star Trek Implications

Star trek: discovery series finale ending, explained, 'we have to go back': lost gets new streaming home.

Star Trek has a long tradition of color-coded uniforms that signify in which divisions Starfleet personnel serve. Perhaps most memorably, on The Original Series command division was gold, science and medical were blue, and operations, engineering and security were red. Naturally, that approach continues on CBS's franchise revival Star Trek: Discovery , with some notable alterations.

RELATED: Every Star Trek TV Pilot, Ranked

Set a decade before Kirk, Spock & Co. set off on their five-year mission, the new show eschews the bright colors of The Original Series , and opts instead for uniforms more akin to those of Enterprise , the 2001-2005 drama that took place about a century earlier, during the early days of interstellar travel. The color piping on the blue fitted jumpsuits corresponded with each of the divisions of the beloved 1960s television series, but designated ranks with silver pips displayed on the right chest, rather than on the sleeves.

"We looked at Enterprise ," executive producer Akiva Goldsman recently explained , "we looked at The Original Series , at that point in canon, and we tried to pull across the color palette."

However, Discovery trades in the Skittles rainbow for something a little more subdued (albeit a lot more metallic), with gold, silver and bronze, a little closer to the divisional designations used in the unaired 1965 pilot "The Cage."

"We are looking at doing the red, blue and gold shirts," said costume designer Gersha Phillips. "We've come up with a system where we're doing a foiled compression panel and delta panels that we're putting in on the jackets that tell that same story of the departments."

As with The Original Series and its prequel Enterprise , the Starfleet uniforms of Discovery use gold to designate the command division, which traditionally encompasses officers and crewmen in command (of course) and control functions. That includes captains, executive officers, helmsmen and navigators.

RELATED: Star Trek: Discovery Will Push Boundaries, Drop F-Bombs, When Necessary

On Star Trek: Discovery , First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) notably wear gold accents.

Instead of the blue of The Original Series , silver is used on Discovery to specify the sciences division, which covers Starfleet officers and crewmen in scientific and medical research and control functions. Those can include a wide range of departments and duties, from sensors and research to surgery and medics.

On Discovery , science officers Saru (Doug Jones) and Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), and medical officer Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) notably wear silver accents.

The largest division of most any Starfleet crew, operations encompasses such functions as engineering, security, communications and tactical. On The Original Series operations personnel wore red, which gave rise to the term "redshirt," meaning a stock character who dies soon after being introduced. However, on Discovery , operations officers and crew are designated by bronze accents on their blue uniforms.

RELATED: Star Trek: TNG's "Sarek" Is Required Viewing Before Discovery

On the new series, operations personnel include security officer Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) and Cadet Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman).

Ranks and Division Badges

The color coding of the Starfleet uniforms on Star Trek: Discovery continues with the metallic badges, which correspond to the gold, silver and bronze of each of the divisions. What's more, those badges display the division insignia as seen on The Original Series : the stylized star for command, a "ringed planet" for sciences and a spiral for operations.

But there's a twist, with ranks on Discovery indicated with pips, akin to those of Star Trek: The Next Generation , only here displayed on the badges themselves: four pips for a captain, three for a commander, and so on.

In the United States, Star Trek: Discovery debuts Sunday, Sept. 24, at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, before moving to the CBS All Access streaming service for subsequent episodes. In Canada, the series debuts on CTV and Space at 8:30 pm ET, with its second episode set to air immediately after on Space — subsequent episodes will air Sundays through Nov. 5. Internationally, the series will stream on Netflix.

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• Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

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Get A Closer Look At The ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Starfleet Uniforms

| February 28, 2022 | By: TrekMovie Editors 84 comments so far

This week may have two brand-new Star Trek episodes, one of which is season 2 premiere of Star Trek: Picard , but there is still much more to come in 2022, including the series debut of Strange New Worlds  in May. And now we can get a nice, close look at the new Starfleet uniforms for the highly anticipated series set on Captain Pike’s Enterprise.

Strange New Uniforms

We got our first glimpse at the new design of the Strange New Worlds USS Enterprise uniforms last fall, and there hasn’t been much since then. However, thanks to a nice display on Star Trek: The Cruise—which set sail over the weekend and is still ongoing—we can now see the uniforms in detail. On display were uniforms for Captain Pike, Number One. Spock, and Cadet Uhura.

There were also information cards with more details (noted under each uniform below). Uniforms are designed by Bernadette Cross and Gersha Phillips. All the photos were provided by friend of the site Marina Kravchuk .

Captain Pike (Anson Mount)

Captain Pike uniform

Uniform details (from display card):

Starfleet Duty Uniform, Command Division, circa 2259 Authorized for wear by those personnel specializing in the command and control tasks aboard starships as well as ground and space-based installations, along with Starfleet Command’s upper leadership hierarchy. The assigned division is represented by the uniform tunic’s gold color, with the officer’s rank denoted by stripes on the tunic’s sleeves.

Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley “Number One” (Rebecca Romijn)

Number One’s uniform

Uniform details (same as Pike)

Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck)

Spock’s uniform

Starfleet Duty Uniform, Science Division, circa 2259 Authorized for wear by personnel assigned to any of the numerous science-based disciplines typical of a starship’s crew, along with similar tasks performed by officers detailed to starbases and other permanent facilities. Examples of typical specializations include biological studies, technicians including sensor and other computer-based information collection and analysis, medics, nurses, and surgeons. The assigned division is represented by the uniform tunic’s prevailing blue color, with the officer’s rank denoted by stripes on the tunic’s sleeves.

Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding)

Uhura’s uniform

Starfleet Duty Uniform, Operations  Division, circa 2259 Authorized for wear by those personnel specializing in the communications, engineering, security, and tactical functions aboard starships as well as starbases and planet-based installations. The uniform tunic’s predominant maroon color indicates the assigned division, with the officer’s rank denoted by stripes on the tunic’s sleeves.

A closer look

Looking closer at the uniforms reveal some fine details, including how division insignia are woven into the shoulders and arms.

Detail on Captain Pike’s tunic

Detail on Uhura’s tunic

Detail on Spock’s tunic

The men’s trousers also have subtle stripes.

Detail on Pike’s trousers

The female tunic extends longer to form a skirt, worn with leggings that do not have the same stripe as the men’s trousers.

Detail on Number One’s tunic and leggings

The unisex boots have an angled toe, fabric back, and zipper on the inside seam. They also include a Starfleet insignia on the heel.

Captain Pike’s boots

Number One’s boots

See the uniforms in new Paramount promo

A brand new Paramount+ promo features both Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck in their Strange New Worlds uniforms.

Find more Strange New Worlds at TrekMovie.com .

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Love these uniforms as much as I love the ones from season 2 of discovery and the short trek episodes and as much as I love the normal season 1 and two dsc uniforms and the season 4 dsc uniforms and the lower deck and prodigy and picard uniforms they are all so very cool looking

I can’t say I like them as much as the ones from S2 of Discovery. They just look so obscenely casual.

Much like other Star Trek uniform of the mid 23rd century not to mention Starfleet is not a full time space military branch for the federation most of the time they are the space exploration and scientific research and diplomatic branch of the federation

Interesting season 1 looks to be set in 2259 a year after the events of the season2 dsc finale epilogue wonder if I am correct in thinking each season will be in a different year aka season 2 being in 2260 season 3 2261 season 4 2262 season 5 2263 season 6 2264 and season 7 2265 which would bring us to the year Kirk took command

I don’t think you can make the assumption though of a one-for-one year to season relationship given there are only 10 eps per season.

They are doing it with lower decks season 1 was 2380 season 2 2381 and season two of picard starts in 2400 with season 1 was mainly in 2399 and season 3 of discovery was 3180 and season 4 3181

Yeah they have done it with LDS, PIC and DIS so far but it’s probably not etched in stone either. It can probably change if they are telling a particular story. The old shows were basically set in a different year every season as well, but sometimes it got tricky with all the season finale cliffhangers that started the story right up again the next season and not a year later but no one thinks about it too much ;).

Not really. Lower Decks started to compress its stardates in season 2, and Mike McMahan said the series won’t get to the flashback scenes in Picard, no matter how many seasons they end up doing…. And Picard is jumping 1.5 years in season 2.

Spare me with uniforms. The show starts in less than 9 weeks and we haven´t even got a teaser trailer. It is really getting ridicilous…..

Jesus, dude. That is one of the most entitled things I’ve seen anyone post here.

Why do you so frequently attack people that you disagree with? It’s getting old.

And “where is the trailer” is kind of an obvious comment to make given we are getting so close now. Totally weird how anyone would take offense to that opinion?

I don’t, so your point is moot. I don’t care if people disagree with me, nor did I indicate I agree or disagree with anything so I have no idea where you’re coming from on that. The comment I posted is a valid one–there are a lot of entitled fans here–and getting worked up because a trailer isn’t available on one’s timetable IS entitlement.

I thought personal attacks were against the rules here?

Season 2 of Picard hasn’t even started yet. Did you really expect a SNW trailer before then?

Personally, I was half expecting a Super Bowl commercial for it.

The insatiable need (and unreasonable expectation) to have all content immediately! We have had a teaser. And who really cares? We’re getting at least 2 seasons of the show, so chill.

The dude’s excited and wants a trailer given we are only 2 months out? Perhaps you need to chill…just saying? :-) IDIC

You’re right… My bad. We’re all chomping at the bit for the trailer! It was just the “spare me with the uniforms” comment; the good people at this site work hard to bring us all sorts of interesting news!

And you are right on that part of it. No worries! We’re all excited, obviously!

I have not been this excited about TV Trek since the DS9 premiere.

LOL. Come on, man. After your comment to me above?

I don’t think you’re alone with that frustration but it hit me for the first time a week ago they are probably doing it this way to give Picard the limelight in the marketing since it’s coming so soon. I think the strategy is to just market whatever show is on now of course and rev up for the next one. They don’t want people too focus on SNW until the next show is released.

When you look at it that way, you become more calm lol. And now that Picard will start so soon then we will probably get our first trailer a few weeks later now. And once the marketing starts it will probably go into overdrive like they do Discovery and now Picard.

So its coming! For now, let’s focus on Discovery giving us (hopefully) a solid fourth season finale and Picard coming out of the gate strong this week! I have a feeling there is going to be tons to talk about in March with these three shows. :)

Wait seriously TM?? You removed my link to the video footage? Um, why??

I wish you guys will just TELL US what is ok to post and not to post since nothing I posted was out of bounds and was posted publicly on Paramount’s site weeks ago. So what was the problem? No one is going to get into trouble for that.

It’s just frustrating when you’re just trying to share things with other fans here. Or just post it yourselves. I’m sure they would appreciate it since not many have seen it.

And not a single response. It would at least be nice to be told why?

Did you post SNW footage from the Paramount investors meeting? Paramount has been very clear that they do not want that available online.

The investors meeting is posted online on the official Paramount site . They posted it a few days after the event for anyone to stream it. It’s 2 hours and 19 minutes long. Type in Paramount and investorsevent you will see it. The footage is there for all to see. The part I posted is around the the 53rd minute of the video. It’s barely a minute long.

What you’re talking about is they didn’t want the TRAILER available online which is redacted from the video I’m talking about. The stuff I posted is up on their site and all over Youtube now. If hey didn’t want that shown, they would’ve just redacted that like they did the trailer as well.

Again if they don’t want us to post certain things, FINE, but at least explain what they are. It’s frustrating because this is the third time this has happened and like the other two times no one just tells me why it was pulled and they clearly read the boards.

I got shut down once for daring to gripe about Orville posts on a Star Trek site ;) lol

Copying any footage from ANY part of the investor meeting including screenshots is disallowed, anything online is considered pirated. There was a warning at top of the meeting making that clear. Obviously, if it was allowed we would have reported on it long ago. Please give us some credit.

I don’t think you’re alone with that frustration but it hit me for the first time a week ago they are probably doing it this way to give Picard the limelight in the marketing since it’s coming so soon.

It’s not like there are too many Trek shows playing at once, and that one might cannibalize from another. Surely Paramount would be too wise to get into *that* situation.

I know how you feel but I rather the problem is too much Trek being made then no Trek at all; which would’ve been the case for the last 5 years if we still only had the movies to wait for….and still waiting.

No one wants that void again I think.

Those of us in international markets in which there’s no P+ don’t even know whether the show will be available here. I can only assume the worst, which is that it will join DSC S4 in the limbo universe of dumb Paramount executive decisions

Uniforms are looking great.

Boy, they’ve really captured the flavour of TOS with these uniforms! Nice.

I’m just happy the Enterprise will be flying again.

Uniforms are amazing!

The hockey fan in me likes them a lot.

What’s hockey got to do with it? Seriously, just asking. Are these like hockey uniforms or something?

Love those details!! I hope we get some female characters in proper pants, I’m not in love with these being plain leggings, but it’s fine. The cut and color blocks and the whole design otherwise makes up for it a lot, as does the footwear. I have some jackets with the same kind of, um, side panels?? I guess they’re called, like that and I really like them..

You aren’t seeing it. They’re wearing the exact same sin tight “leggings” as the men. The only difference is they provided a longer top to avoid sexualizing the women. It pays homage to the original uniforms while being progressive in design.

The sensible thing to do would’ve been to give the women pants… like they wear in The Cage. They could’ve had a canon rationale not to have goofily gendered uniforms in the year 2022. These female uniforms are probably at the insistence of Akiva Goldsman, you know, the guy who was pushing for incest in Picard and who always has sound judgement.

What are you talking about in the last bit sounds like something made up by a certain group of YouTubers if you remember season2 of discovery commander Nhan wore black leggings under her uniform also if you take a look at other images shown these are optional female uniforms number one and LT Erica ortegas are wearing the other uniform with the v neck top and pants

I am glad they appear to have the optional pants for practical reasons. Exploring planets, fight scenes etc. in dresses might make things a bit difficult. I still want to see M’Benga’s medical tunic and Chapel’s medical outfit. Hopefully their close-ups are forthcoming.

Her outfit looks to be a white version of the dress seen here

A little too bland for my taste. They probably were so afraid to deviate from the original show–thanks to the screeching reaction of vocal fans to Discovery, that they held their creative energies in check. Sad.

I like them! Yeah, a bit casual but who are we kidding so was the original uniforms. And sorry to say this but if Discovery had these uniforms in season one, it probably would’ve been easier to keep it in the 23rd century. But same time, I can’t really imagine these uniforms on that ship either. They come off so bubbly, cloying…and happy. Nothing about Discovery felt that way first season. ;)

“ first season.”

First season?????

They’re gorgeous. I want to wear the commamd uniform so bad.

It seems the uniforms in the Paramount+ promo don’t have the tiny insignias on the shoulders. Perhaps an earlier variant before they shot the season? Even in HD they’re not visible in the promo.

yes they were there

Just awesome!!!!!

They look good on mannequins but let’s see how they function on living, moving people. The short clips I’ve seen make them look…well, frankly, not good. TOS uniforms look better to my eye. The black around the collar is important, it can’t be too thick a la STID, can’t be too thin like these sometimes are, particularly in the Pike promo shot.

Also I made this comment yesterday on the Picard post, but Starfleet has a real uniform problem in general. The issue with making a zillion different Starfleet uniforms is…well, how are we supposed to feel attached to any single one? It’s like, TOS had one uniform. TNG had two. DS9 had two, and VOY had one. ENT had one. Discovery has now at least two, three if you include the TOS variant. Picard has half a dozen. Lower Decks has a couple. It’s like they’re cosplaying Starfleet, everyone gets their own take. The result is that it cheapens any single design, because there are 50 of them to choose from. How are you supposed to feel like a fleet when everyone’s got their own uni?

And to drive it all home, Gizmodo made this very same point today: https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-uniforms-revealed-1848603985

I tend to agree. It helps when uniforms are a little more… well, uniform.

24th century had several changes tmp maroon monsters without the turtleneck undershirts which were used from 2300-2359 and the season 1 and 2 jumpsuits which were used from 2360-2365 the season 3-4 they had a two piece that had a seam down the center were used from 2365-2367and then seasons 5-7 had a solid version of the uniform top minus the seam down the center which were used from 2367-2370 then they were changed and there was two versions of the 2370-2372 a jump suit version and two piece version and then they changed again in 2373-2379 and a new set of uniforms came in in 2380-2383 and another two variant uniform were in service till 2385 when another new uniform design came around in 2385-2390 and then another uniform came in 2391-2399

The 23rd century had several uniforms from 2239-2293 those blue uniforms from discovery were the main Starfleet uniforms In use since 2239-2257 with only only certain ships having the normal 3 color uniform turtleneck tops in gold,grey,tan which would be out of main use and replaced with gold blue and red with black pants version of the standard blue Starfleet uniform in 2257 and they were replaced with gold blue and red v neck tops with black crew neck undershirts with optional dress and black leggings for the main Starfleet uniforms from 2259-2270 and then Starfleet changed the uniforms again and were used from 2271-2280 and then from 2281-2293 they used the monster maroons with turtleneck undershirts

I agree. Especially the late 24th century is a mess now with Lower Decks, Picard and Protostar all doing their own thing.

Heels on the boots? They killed Kenny. Okay, I laughed at that.

I do not like these. You do not need the Starfleet logo embedded in texture in uniforms. It makes them look gaudy (and unnecessarily expensive to produce). I also do not see why the women’s uniforms should be so different from the men’s.

Expensive to produce? They are all replicated!

I don’t know what you mean by the women’s uniforms being different from the men’s? Are you just referring to the skirt uniforms or something else?

They do not have the Starfleet logo in the texture of the uniforms but department logos for which each uniform belongs to and the dress version is a optional uniform for anyone to were if they choose to they also have the top and pants version for anyone who wants to wear that uniform

They do not have the Starfleet logo in the texture of the uniforms but department logos

Way to miss the forest for the trees.

At any rate, the season 1-3 Discovery uniforms have the Starfleet logo printed on the side panels. The boots also appear to have it. Militaries do not go out of their way to put insignia everywhere, a point that Kirk made clear in TVH, incidentally.

The Kelvin uniforms were *covered* with the delta insignia.

What is it with new Trek and uniforms? Why do we get new ones for every season?

They should’ve used silver for Spock’s rank stripes as well. This is too subtle to tell the rank from a distance.

So Una and Spock were promoted.

Love the uniforms. Boots…..hmm…hope they are comfy. If they have to be on set 12+ hrs each day, they look very painful. Hope they build them with shoe experts. :D

Those 12+ hour days involve a lot of sitting around and waiting for the actors. Still, you would hope that the shoes are as comfortable as possible. If anybody can complain about uncomfortable boots it’s Doug Jones ;-)

Doug is amazing. All the makeup, his unique Kelpien legs and walk. He should get a special award every year, just for his outstanding presence/performance on the show.

Saru has been so well created right from the beginning, that you forget There is a “hyoo-män” inside this amazing Kelpien.

Hope we can see him again yelling, fighting, and running at super speeds. :P

Yeah, I might be unique here but I don’t give one iota about how the uniforms look. Never been too bothered about that aspect of the franchise. The plotting and characterization on the other hand is key to the success of the show for me. I also don’t care how the new Enterprise looks either.

The visually retconed enterprise looks beautiful inside and out and fits perfectly between the nx-01 and the tmp refit 1701 way more then the 60’s tos e version ever did and way more believable then the 60’s tos version ever did inside and out

Well, it’s pretty clear from the promo the gold women’s uniform shown here isn’t Number One’s–she’s wearing the same tunic and pants as Pike. Personally, I think they should have stuck with same Enterprise uniforms from Discovery. Why do the women get a comfortable open collar while the men’s tunics are more restrictive? Heck, why aren’t these unisex?

It’s pretty clear form the publicity shot that it is Number One’s. So apparentyl women can choose between styles.

I think both the men and women have black undershirts, with a bit more showing for the women.

I’m all in favor of “visual reboots,” and have long thought the TOS uniform could use one, but I’m not entirely on board here considering, for example, that the pilot uniforms (and those we saw in Discovery and Short Treks) were a lot more unisex-looking. The rank stripes come more from the Kelvin uniforms, but those were themselves a little more similar to the pilot versions. Still, not a big deal, I guess.

I think the Beyond uniforms are still my favourite. The first time I saw Pike in the uniform, I thought the collar just looked like a cheap v-neck, but they’re growing on me. The fabric just looks very stiff.

Why does each of these streaming shows each get randonly new uniforms? If none of thrm actually take place in the same universe, it wwould finally explain a lot.

Because DS9 didn’t get a new uniform after TNG? Lower Decks has shown Dominion War uniforms, indicating a transition from that uniform to the LD one. I don’t have an issue with uniform changes as in universe they change frequently. You can see they’re trying to bring it in line with TOS, but they’re obviously not going to go with the 60s uniforms. They used them in the DS9 and ENT episodes but it was more of a novelty then. Sustaining it over a whole series would be pastiche on the level of fan productions. That being said, as I mention in another comment, I don’t love these uniforms and would have preferred something like we saw in Beyond which came very close to TOS while still being modern.

But the old shows didn’t switch uniforms every season.

Not ken on the patterned shoulders and arms. Maybe a slightly different shade of the main colour would’ve been nicer, but the division texture just seems odd. Maybe a slightly taller collar as well… Other than that, I really like these. A fantastic update of the original uniforms!

I like these new costumes; they look less restrictive than the previous versions in DSC (I don’t know if that was due to how the fabric looked on-screen or if it was the tailoring). But I’m curious as to why the men’s black collar is arranged higher here than what was seen in the character reveal trailer several months back.

I really like these costumes. A nice update on TOS era uniforms but with movie-quality materials and finishing. Kudos to everyone involved. From what I can see SNW is looking very good indeed.

What is the deal with the inconsistent sleeves? Seems like such a simple thing to get right. In the TOS, Chekov was the rank of an ensign, which is the lowest officer, but he lacked a dashed-line stripe. Imagine a navy where an enlisted crew member and the lowest ranking officer have no sleeve cuff difference. It’s abusrd. It would have made sense for him to have a dashed stripe because a lieutenant was a single full stripe. Therefore, an ensign should be a dotted line stripe, but he didn’t have anything. Always bothered me. Now Pike has the full stripe, thin stripe, and full stripe, and his position is captain. The “number one” first officer has two full stripes. Her rank is lieutenant commander yet her sleeve has two full stripes. So, Pike is a rank higher and he has two stripes and a half stripe. Does that make his rank commander, since the first officer has two full stripes and is a lieutenant commander. If that’s the case, In TOS, two full stripes was a full commander (Spock in the TOS) and a full stripe with a dashed stripe was a lieutenant commander (Scotty in the TOS and McCoy in the TOS). Here we have a lieutenant commander with two full stripes (“number one”). And, here Spock has a full stripe and a thin stripe, but he is a Lieutenant. It’s absurd. What I don’t understand is why an ensign isn’t a thin stripe, a lieutenant a single thick stripe, a lieutenant commander a thick stripe and a thin stripe, a full commander two thick stripes, and a captain (as in the rank of captain) two full stripes with a thin stripe between them.

The talented Kristian Trigwell (aka “Reverend”) spent many months researching hundreds of logos, insignia, and symbols seen in every Star Trek series and movie, and then faithfully reproduced them as vector artwork. He also included a few original designs of his own. Do you wonder what the governmental emblem of Angosia III looked like? Or are you looking for a good version of the insignia for the Department of Temporal Investigations? From the Great Seal of the Federation to the logo of Dyson-Yoyodyne Corporation, there’s a good chance it’s listed here!

Disclaimer: All images in this section are copyright © 2004-2009 Kristian Trigwell, and are reproduced with the permission of the artist. Star Trek is a registered trademark of CBS Studios Inc. No copyright infringement is intended. These images are intended for noncommercial purposes only. Read the complete legal notice for more information.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Command Delta Badge

Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 131): Computation results in '-Infinity'%

This magnetic delta comes to you directly from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . It is full-size and true to the show's scale in size and finish. The delta features a brushed metal finish. The delta has two vertical magnetic clutches and a back plate to hold it securely in place. While manufactured with FanSets normal attention to detail, this delta is not manufactured as a prop replica.

• True to the show's scale in size and finish
• Ships on May 15, 2024

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Star Trek: Picard Magnetic Delta Badge

This magnetic pin comes to you directly from the   Star Trek: Picard . It is a full-size delta. While manufactured with FanSets normal attention to detail this pin is not meant to be an exact prop replica. With a bright silver delta over a matte finish black nickel it measures 2 ¾" tall. Revised for screen accuracy this new version of the Picard Delta features a groove in the silver overlay. This magnet lets everyone know how much you enjoy Star Trek: Picard.

Product Details:

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Star Trek: The Next Generation Badge

Star Trek: The Next Generation Delta This delta comes to you directly from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  It is a full-size delta that features a matte brushed metal finish.  The magnetic version has two horizontal magnets or clutches to hold it securely in place. While manufactured with FanSets normal attention to detail, this delta is not manufactured as a prop replica.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks Badge

Forged from resilient materials, the Star Trek: Lower Decks Badge proudly showcases the iconic Delta Shield insignia, adorned with the unique colors and design motifs of the U.S.S. Cerritos crew. Whether you stand among the esteemed senior officers or serve as a humble ensign, this badge serves as a beacon of your dedication to Starfleet and the Lower Decks team.

• This magnetic delta comes to you directly from Star Trek: Lower Decks .
• Measures at 2.25" tall
• The delta features a brushed metal finish.
• The magnet has two vertical magnetic clutches to hold it securely in place.
• While manufactured with FanSets normal attention to detail, this delta is not manufactured as a prop replica.

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Starfleet Insignia: Evolution of the Star Trek Delta Shield

U.S.S. ENTERPRISE NCC -170I LEGEND Colors shown near insignias DIVISIONS listed with each insignia or color band identifies the division assignment of the wearer. indicate base colors of uniforms that the insignias have been commonly worn with. THE FIRST PILOT Mission designation: "The Cage" (1965) Commander: Captain Christopher Pike NCC-1701 1965 COMMAND SCIENCES OPERATIONS THE SECOND PILOT Mission designation: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" ( 1966) Commander: Captain James T. Kirk* :A A A NCC:(700 19686 COMMAND SCIENCES OPERATIONS Despite Kirk's tombstone in this episode reading "James R. Kirk". STARFLEET INSIGNIA EVOLUTION OF THE STAR TREK DELTA SHIELD On the original television series, all members of the starship Enterprise were seen wearing arrowhead-shaped patches on their uniforms. In combination with the symbol shown within it and the base color of their outfit, they helped identify that crewperson's department or division on the ship. As originally conceived, each starship in Starfleet had its own uniquely designed insignia patch. But as shown in the V'ger Incident told in The Motion Picture, Starfleet had adopted the insignia of the Enterprise to use universally across all Starfleet uniforms, starships and starship markings. This infographic presents that insignia, also known as the "delta shield", in the various forms it appeared on uniform tops in nearly fifty years of Star Trek, from the unsold pilot through to The Next Generation, various time streams, and alternate universes. THE ORIGINAL SERIES 1966-1969 COMMAND SCIENCES OPERATIONS MEDICAL THE ANIMATED SERIES 1973 -1975 AAA NCC-1701 1971 COMMAND SCIENCES OPERATIONS THE MOTION PICTURE and its sequels 1979 -1991 -O :A A A A A A ADMIRALTY COMMAND SCIENCES MEDICAL ENGINEERING OPERATIONS SECURITY Mission designation: "The Wrath of Khan" 1982 ENLISTED/TRAINEE OFFICER Refit: 1979; A: 1987 ENLISTED TRAINEE COMMAND MEDICAL OPS (HELM, ENGINEERING) OPS (COMMUNICATIONS) OPERATIONS (SECURITY) CADET THE NEXT GENERATION and beyond 1987-2004 MISSION: "Future Imperfect" (TNG) MISSION: "All Good Things..." (TNG) MISSION: "Future's End" (VOY) 1996 Standard Version 1 Standard Version 2 1987 1990 1994 1995 THE ALTERNATE REALITY UNIVERSE 2009-2013 NCSATO STARFLEET U.S.S. KELVIN 2009 DUTY UNIFORM DUTY UNIFORM DUTY UNIFORM DUTY UNIFORM COMMAND SCIENCES OPERATIONS MEDICAL V. ACADEMY COLLAR PIN ACADEMY JUMPSUIT ACADEMY STARFLEET UNDERSHIRT STARFLEET DRESS UNIFORM DRESS UNIFORM DRESS UNIFORM ADMIRALTY COMMAND SCIENCES OPERATIONS Design & Graphics : FRANKPEPITO.com

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The One And Only Time Star Trek: The Original Series Showed The Federation Flag

Because "Star Trek" is set in a presumably idyllic future — when war is at an end, money has been removed from the equation, and diplomatic togetherness rules the day — one will see few open displays of tribalism or jingoism. No one in "Star Trek" can yell about how much they love their country because, functionally, there are no countries. At least not on Earth. Occasionally, Chekov (Walter Koenig) will express pride, or even smugness, about his Russian heritage , but his attitude couldn't be read as "patriotism." Instead, he has become a smaller part of a large human tapestry, now united and working together to explore the galaxy, expand knowledge, and share ideas. 

Perhaps ironically, the widespread multiculturalism of the United Federation of Planets is dressed in military uniforms and sails about the heavens in starships armed with phasers and photon torpedoes. "Star Trek" has all the visual trappings of tribalism while constantly preaching anti-colonialist philosophies. This may be why one doesn't see a lot of flags in "Star Trek." Characters don't pledge allegiance to a flag in "Star Trek," but make oaths to protect all life, keep fighting to a minimum, expand their knowledge, and uphold the open-minded progressive ideals of Starfleet. It's no mystery why the Starfleet "delta" symbol points upward. 

There is a flag for the United Federation of Planets, but it was only on-screen in one episode of the original series: "And the Children Shall Lead" (October 11, 1968). Weirdly, the episode has nothing to do with the workings of the Federation, nor intergalactic politics. One cannot say why the UFP flag was employed here. 

The Star Trek flag for the United Federation of Planet

"And the Children Shall Lead" is actually about a group of kids, all under 12, who have been manipulated by a charismatic ghost alien (played by real-life lawyer Melvin Belli) into murdering their parents and, later, taking over the Enterprise. The episode's early scenes see the children obliviously playing tag among their parents' graves, and one of them knocks over a UFP pennant. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) hoists it up and replants it in the dirt.

The UFP pennant would be the only on-screen Federation flag in "Star Trek" until "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" in 1982 . Naturally, enterprising fans would make their own pennants, and expanded universe lore and nerdy sourcebooks would have plenty of diagrams explaining the pennant and its meaning. In Joseph Franz's 1975 book "Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual," the pennant was sketched out in detail, but in black and white, explaining that the lettering should be white and the stars should be silver. This color description, as one can see above, doesn't match the on-screen version from "Children." There is no explanation as to why there are 13 stars on the pennant, as the Federation was founded by four worlds: Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar. 

In the episode "The Ultimate Computer" (March 8, 1968), an eagle-eyed Trekkie might notice the UFP pennant painted on the exterior of a Federation space station, but know that it was added digitally when the effects for the episode were remastered. "Children" came later in the series, but is still the first appearance of the UFP flag. 

The flag on Spock's coffin

The Federation flag from other episodes of "Star Trek" were, by the admission of the showrunners, merely the UN flag, usually filmed in such a way as to be obscure. In "Wrath of Khan," however, the crew of the Enterprise holds a full-blown funeral for Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and, in military fashion, they drape his coffin in a Federation flag. As one can see, the flag was now rectangular, blue, and emblazoned with a starfield and a laurel wreath, or olive branches. 

A similar version of that flag would appear a few years later on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," showing that the Federation logo was now a globe-like starfield with laurels on either side of it. That UFP symbol would appear frequently throughout '90s Trek as it would appear on screens after top-secret communiqués. The laurels/olive branches presumably stood for peace. 

Weirdly, in the 2013 film "Star Trek Into Darkness," the alternate universe UFP flag would still feature the starfield and the olive branches, but the starfield was superimposed over a "cogwheel"-shaped gear-like image. Around this time, the UFP flag started to be handled like an American flag at military functions, not only draped over officers' coffins, but meticulously folded and handed to others as a symbol of mourning and respect. The folding took place in the "Star Trek: Discovery" episode "All is Possible" (November 9, 2021).

Trekkies, meanwhile, are perfectly fine to spend their mid-capitalist dollars on "Star Trek" merch slathered with the UFP flag. My current mousepad sports the logo. "Star Trek" may be above jingoistic devotion to a flag, but we here back in the 21st century still love to let our fan flags fly. 

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So what's up with the black badges?

Discussion in ' Star Trek: Discovery ' started by Mr. Laser Beam , Oct 3, 2017 .

Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

When the prisoners are being brought aboard Discovery in ep 3, they mention the black comm badges (and we see a few). Any guess as to what those mean?  

Mirror Mirror Commodore Commodore

Section 31 is most peoples guess  

Then why doesn't Lorca have one? And even so, it would be extremely sloppy for Section 31 operatives to openly put evidence of it on their uniforms . It's supposed to be a secret and borderline-illegal organization, after all.  

Dr. San Guinary said: ↑ Then why doesn't Lorca have one? Click to expand...

Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

Dr. San Guinary said: ↑ When the prisoners are being brought aboard Discovery in ep 3, they mention the black comm badges (and we see a few). Any guess as to what those mean? Click to expand...

I don't think it's an enlisted vs. officer thing. We've already seen enlisted types on the show, haven't we? Cadets such as Tilly do have a different badge, but it's not all black. Perhaps this is the return of the little known (and less understood) Starfleet Marine Corps?  

Spider Dirty Old Man Premium Member

Todays military has several levels of "law enforcement", some are just regular MP types and others are more black ops or fast responder units. Black badges could be anything.  

BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

Longinus Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

Mirror Mirror said: ↑ Section 31 is most peoples guess Click to expand...

Jayson1 Fleet Admiral Admiral

I think it's Section 31 but it's possible that not everyone on the ship is Section 31 and many were drafted like Burnham and the spore guy. I also think the only ones who might know about Section 31 is Lorca and security though i'm not sure Lorca himself is section 31. Perhaps Starfleet high command and Section 31 are working together in secret and Lorca is regular starfleet who was put in charge to make whatever plan they have come together. Jason  

Longinus said: ↑ It is also funny how the prisoners are saying that they've not seen black SF badges even though Michael has been wearing one the whole time she's been with them... Click to expand...

cultcross The Slay of the Doctor Moderator

Longinus said: ↑ Yep, it totally makes sense for a super secret organisation that no one is supposed to know of to have a clear way to visually identify its agents Click to expand...

Longinus said: ↑ Yep, it totally makes sense for a super secret organisation that no one is supposed to know of to have a clear way to visually identify its agents. I mean it still can be the case, but it would be hella stupid. It is also funny how the prisoners are saying that they've not seen black SF badges even though Michael has been wearing one the whole time she's been with them... Click to expand...

Mirror Mirror said: ↑ Why not their own badges? Click to expand...

Cpt. Kyle Amasov Commodore Commodore

Maybe the black badges is just starfleet intelligence? Or some kind of 23rd century equivalent of a private military contractors? Enlisted guns for hire? I doubt they bring Section 31 into play. Maybe they are pulling the strings in the background, but it has become convenient to blame every shady operation on 31, with Into Darkness being the low point. Remember when evil flag officers used to be just evil flag officers?  

Mirror Mirror said: ↑ Also In this era, we do not know much about section 31. They have always had their own resources. Why not their own badges? Click to expand...

cultcross said: ↑ Because they're a secret! Click to expand...

Ricky Spanish said: ↑ Its dark, dark, dark, dark, dark gray! Get with the program! Click to expand...

Mirror Mirror said: ↑ They have been established as starfleets black ops unit. Click to expand...

Longinus said: ↑ Originally S31 was just rogue element, a secret society. As stupid as that was, it isn't quite a stupid as some sort of Starfleet Gestapo it became in Kelvinverse and apparently in the heads of many fans. Click to expand...

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IDIC was an acronym for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations , the basis of Vulcan philosophy , celebrating the vast array of variables in the universe . The philosophy, as well as the Vulcan people, were often represented by a triangle-over-circle insignia , referred to as an "IDIC." ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ", DIS : " Will You Take My Hand? ")

• 1.1 As a Philosophy
• 1.2 As an Emblem
• 2.1 References
• 2.2 Background information
• 2.3 External links

History [ ]

The IDIC on Surak's katric ark

In the Vulcan language , the term for "infinite diversity in infinite combinations" was Kol-Ut-Shan . ( VOY : " Gravity ")

IDIC symbols were in use at least as early as the 4th century AD , as one appeared on Surak 's katric ark . According to Syrran , the symbol represented Surak's enlightenment atop Mount Seleya . ( ENT : " The Forge ")

After the reunification of the Vulcans and Romulans , the IDIC was combined with the Romulan logo. This new symbol was worn as a badge on the clothing of the President of Ni'Var , the Peers , and other top officials in Ni'Var society in the 32nd century . ( DIS : " Unification III ")

As a Philosophy [ ]

In 2269 , James T. Kirk reminded a giant clone of Spock of the concept, asking him whether an army of Spocks could defy this concept by attempting to impose peace and Phylosian philosophy on others. ( TAS : " The Infinite Vulcan ")

As an Emblem [ ]

In the 23rd century , the flag of the Vulcan people was an IDIC over a red background. ( DIS : " Will You Take My Hand? ")

When referring to the symbol in the English language , it was pronounced " ih-dihk ". ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ")

Vulcan stones with the symbol

The IDIC was featured several times at the Vulcan monastery at P'Jem . It appeared on the wooden arch at the doorway of the monastery and was visible on stones which were used by Jonathan Archer for creating a map of the catacombs . The IDIC symbol was also imprinted on the Stone of J'Kah . ( ENT : " The Andorian Incident ")

Gaby 's drawing " Vulcan " featured a green - skinned Vulcan wearing an IDIC pin. ( ENT : " Breaking the Ice ")

In 2154 , T'Les smuggled a holographic map to her daughter T'Pol inside an IDIC medallion pendant . ( ENT : " The Forge ") On 22 January 2155 , T'Pol hung the same medallion on the side of an incubator containing her baby daughter, Elizabeth . Following the child 's death , T'Pol was holding the medallion close to her in her quarters when the baby's father , Charles Tucker III , arrived. Moments later, they held hands over the medallion. ( ENT : " Terra Prime ")

Michael Burnham and other graduates of the Vulcan Science Academy each wore an IDIC badge on their graduation day on Vulcan . ( DIS : " Lethe ")

Spock's IDIC pin

On formal occasions, Spock wore his IDIC medallion in pin form as part of his Starfleet dress uniform . During a dinner function aboard the USS Enterprise , Doctor Miranda Jones had noticed Spock's Vulcan IDIC pin on his dress uniform. She inquired if it was to serve as a reminder to Jones that, as a Vulcan, Spock could mind link with the Medusans far better than she could. Spock noted, on the contrary, that he donned it to honor Dr. Jones and her achievements. ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ")

In 2285 , as captain of the Enterprise , Spock had a large IDIC mosaic on a wall in his quarters, next to his meditation nook. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

The Vulcan ship T'Vran had IDIC emblems on the back wall of the bridge . ( DS9 : " Vortex ")

Solok sporting Logicians teamwear

Vulcan IDIC pins were considered collectible merchandise in the retail markets of the 24th century , not easily acquired in the Bajor sector . In late 2370 , Quark listed Vulcan IDIC pins as plausible items that he could sell over the monitors on board of Deep Space 9 if given permission by Commander Benjamin Sisko . As well as IDIC pins, other collectibles Quark listed that he could sell at a significant discount included Andorian jewelry and Bolian crystalsteel . ( DS9 : " The Jem'Hadar ")

The Logicians , an all-Vulcan baseball team formed from members of the crew of the USS T'Kumbra , featured the IDIC on their baseball caps. ( DS9 : " Take Me Out to the Holosuite ")

While posing as a Vulcan commodore , Oh kept a decorative box with an IDIC on her desk among other Vulcan decorations. ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

In preparing a room for the T'Kal-in-ket aboard the USS Discovery , the crew had placed the IDIC symbol on one of the walls , along with other symbols, which represented the three major factions on Ni'Var . ( DIS : " Unification III ")

Appendices [ ]

References [ ].

• TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "
• TNG : " Unification II "
• " For the Cause "
• " Take Me Out to the Holosuite "
• " Flashback "
• " Hunters "
• " Riddles "
• " Endgame "
• " The Andorian Incident "
• " Breaking the Ice "
• " The Seventh "
• " Future Tense "
• " The Forge "
• " Kir'Shara "
• " Awakening "
• " Terra Prime "
• " The Vulcan Hello "
• " Battle at the Binary Stars "
• " Will You Take My Hand? "
• " Unification III "
• PIC : " Maps and Legends "
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Background information [ ]

The invention of the IDIC by Gene Roddenberry caused friction between him and Leonard Nimoy , who saw it as a cheap ploy to sell replica merchandise to fans. ( I Am Spock , 1st ed., pp. 66-67) The symbol, first introduced in " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ", was designed by William Ware Theiss . [1] Michael and Denise Okuda have credited Roddenberry himself with designing the symbol, though Theiss' design sketches as published in Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook and The Art of Star Trek seem to contradict this. ( ENT : " The Forge " text commentary ; ENT Season 4 DVD special feature; Star Trek Encyclopedia  (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 357))

In the IDIC seen from the 4th century, the triangle portion is perfectly vertical and elongated, in contrast to the angle it is displayed at in the 22nd century forward.

The Jellyfish cockpit

In the Vulcan Jellyfish ship from Star Trek , the cockpit appears to form an IDIC with the chair, the controls, and the circular window. The IDIC as a design motif is continued in the Star Trek video game, where it forms the shape of every Vulcan airlock .

A wall decoration displayed in the Vulcan High Command in " Awakening " and " Kir'Shara " was sold on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. The image, resembling a vertical IDIC, had the auction description "the panels form an image of the sun rising over Mount Seleya ". [2]

The Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 357) stated the IDIC emblem had come to be used as a Vulcan national symbol.

External links [ ]

• IDIC at Wikipedia
• IDIC at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Don't Know Much About (Vulcan) Philosophy at Star Trek Fact Check
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 Calypso (episode)

Discovery: Why Dr. Kovich's Real Name Has Major Star Trek Implications

• Star Trek: Discovery revealed Dr. Kovich is Agent Daniels, which connects him to Star Trek: Enterprise.
• Played by David Cronenberg, Dr. Kovich is a cultural historian, perfect for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
• The inclusion of Agent Daniels ties Discovery to past Star Trek series, offering fun new connections.

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, now streaming on Paramount+ .

The series finale of Star Trek: Discovery provides answers to the ongoing mission of Season 5, what happens to Captain Michael Burnham and even pays off an old Short Treks episode. However, one scene involving the mysterious Dr. Kovich reveals his "real name," which ties him back to the beginnings of Starfleet and, possibly, every other series. It's an interesting decision, raising questions about whether or not one Starfleet Time Agent is actually Star Trek 's first immortal.

Dr. Kovich is already a recognizable face, played by acclaimed director and actor David Cronenberg. When asked what brought him to Discovery , he told Star Trek Explorer magazine, "I like to say…I'm cheap and I'm available and I live in Toronto" where the series films. Producer Alex Kurtzman reached out to casting directors who also worked with him, asking if he'd like a role. Since Season 3, Cronenberg has appeared in 10 episodes, and he may possibly show up in the new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy . Yet, in his final Discovery scene, Kovich reveals his real name is Agent Daniels, a key player in Star Trek 's past.

Who Is Doctor Kovich on Star Trek: Discovery?

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Dr. Kovich first appeared in Star Trek: Discovery in Season 3, overseeing the interrogation of Philippa Georgiou, the former Terran Emperor . After she caused his holographic interrogators to glitch, he revealed he was fascinated by Star Trek 's Mirror Universe. He said that Terrans were revealed to have a genetic predisposition for violence and cruelty, but Georgiou seemed to believe he was lying. Later, he helped Dr. Hugh Culber figure out Georgiou was dying because of her presence in the Prime Timeline's future. He also casually revealed that the Kelvin Timeline was "canon" and known to the Prime Universe's Federation.

In Season 4, Dr. Kovich also showed up to talk Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly into joining Starfleet Academy . The institution was shut down when the Burn made warp travel almost impossible in the 32nd Century. After the USS Discovery crew solved that mystery and found a planet ostensibly made of dilithium, it was reopened. He was consulting with the Academy, but he also is a trained physician, specializing in "cognitive sciences." According to his TriCom Badge, he holds the rank of Commodore in Starfleet, though his actual job isn't so clear.

In the Season 5 Premiere, he issued the Red Directive that sent the USS Discovery on their hunt for the Progenitors' technology. He traveled with them on the ship in the first episode. When Michael Burnham failed to retrieve Dr. Vellek's journal, containing the location of the first clue, she convinced him to send the ship on their quest. It doesn't seem like Section 31 still exists in the 32nd Century. However, Dr. Kovich is privy to classified secrets, and he seems to be doing the job Stafleet's clandestine agency once did.

How Doctor Kovich Revealed He Was Agent Daniels

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After Michael Burnham made the choice to destroy the Progenitors' technology, she went back to Kovich's office to talk to him. She used the object he gave her when issuing the Red Directive, a transparent infinity symbol with a small sphere traveling through it. Burnham tried to give it back to him, but he told her to keep it. "I've lived many years, captain," he said, adding, "And many lives. I've met few who've impressed me and aggravated me as much as you." It's also revealed that he plans to give Moll the choice to work for him as one of his agents rather than spending her time in Starfleet prison .

Kovich mentioned the Temporal War from Enterprise when the USS Discovery arrived in the 32nd Century, accusing them of possibly being involved in that fight. While that seemed like a fun Easter egg at first, it turns out to be more personal for him. Burnham recognizes that "Kovich" is a code name, asking him what he's really called. He introduces himself as Agent Daniels, which fans of Star Trek: Enterprise will recognize as the name of the Time Agent who was stationed on the NX-01 Enterprise for a time .

He also identifies his ship as the USS Enterprise, which could suggest Cronenberg's Daniels, or a younger, recast version, might appear on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds at some point. However, the Star Trek Easter eggs in his office suggest he's been active throughout the canon. There is a shot of a baseball on a stand just like Captain Benjamin Sisko kept on his desk on Deep Space 9. There is a bottle of wine from Jean-Luc Picard's family vineyard on display. He also seems to have come into possession of the visor Geordi La Forge wore in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the first film.

Who Is Agent Daniels in Star Trek?

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Introduced during the first season of Enterprise , Crewman Daniels (Matt Winston) was revealed to be a Time Agent stationed on the NX-01 . The Temporal Cold War was underway during that series, and agents of the opposing side tried to stop the historic voyage of Starfleet's first Warp 5 vessel. He was embedded in the past to capture the Sulaban cabal leader Silik. Captain Archer and Daniels worked together to stop his plan, but Silik seemingly killed Daniels with a phaser. While this appeared to be the end of Agent Daniels, death in Star Trek is sometimes merely a flesh wound.

The rules of time travel in Star Trek aren't hard and fast, but how Agent Daniels survived remains unclear. He appeared in eight total episodes, including in Season 4 when Archer's actions seemingly helped end the Temporal War. In the two-part Enterprise Season 2 episode "Shockwave," Agent Daniels tries to rescue Archer from certain death by bringing him to the future. This causes other problems, but it also revealed that the young Agent Daniels was based in the 31st Century. Thus, it's not inconceivable that Agent Daniels would've lived into the late 32nd Century where Seasons 3, 4 and 5 of Star Trek: Discovery take place.

Despite dying more than once, Agent Daniels is not Star Trek 's first immortal . However, because of his status as a Time Agent, he's able to travel to the 22nd Century when Enterprise takes place, as well as the 23rd Century of Strange New Worlds or the 24th Century of the second-wave Star Trek series. In the 2021 Star Trek Explorer interview, Cronenberg revealed that Kovich is a kind of "cultural historian," which may mean his status as Time Agent Daniels was known (at least to producers) from his introduction.

What Does It Mean for Star Trek That Doctor Kovich Is Agent Daniels?

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The final season of Star Trek: Discovery just solved a franchise mystery that's been left open since a classic episode of The Original Series aired.

When the United Paramount Network failed , Enterprise was the first casualty canceled in Season 4. It's a series that, at the time, didn't get the respect it deserved. Since then, however, projects like Strange New Worlds , Star Trek Beyond and, now, Discovery have all made direct references to the show. By revealing that Dr. Kovich is really Agent Daniels, it marks the first time that a character from Enterprise has reappeared in the Star Trek canon, albeit with a different actor. It also means that since the end of the Temporal War, Daniels has kept watch over Starfleet in his present (and likely the past) ever since.

The inclusion of items from past Star Trek series, like Sisko's ball or Geordi's visor, suggests that Agent Daniels has traveled into other times and settings familiar to fans . Temporal Agents came to visit Benjamin Sisko after he traveled to 2024 and took Gabriel Bell's place in history in the two-part Deep Space Nine episode, "Past Tense." Temporal Agents also interacted with Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager . The inclusion of the elder Agent Daniels is just another way that Discovery weaves connections to the universe's past into its narrative.

Still, as Cronenberg said, he's cheap, available and on-site in Toronto. This means that Dr. Kovich, or Agent Daniels, could appear in a future series. Starfleet Academy will be set during the same timeframe as Discovery . However, Strange New Worlds is no stranger to time travel, either. Daniels could show up as a crewmember on the USS Enterprise and play a key role in averting some canon-destroying event. Still, even if he doesn't, Discovery 's nod to Enterprise 's Agent Daniels is a fun way to connect the two eras of Star Trek storytelling.

The complete Enterprise and Star Trek: Discovery series are streaming on Paramount+ .

Star Trek: Discovery

Release Date September 24, 2017

Cast Oyin Oladejo, Emily Coutts, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman

Main Genre Sci-Fi

Genres Drama, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Rating TV-14