While there have been various changes made over the years (although, not as drastic a change as that of Klingon appearances), the Starfleet uniforms stay fairly similar. With the expedition of The Original Series, the colors used by the officers have stayed fairly consistent, each representing a different job aboard the ship. So what exactly do these colors mean?
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One of the most recognizable to anyone who is away from the age-old Star Trek joke about the poor officers who are donned in red. However, the idea that wearing a red shirt in the franchise is a death sentence is not only a myth, but is something that changed drastically after the official color changes occurred at the start of The Next Generation. In The Original Series, the red uniform was the most used aboard the ship, and was worn by those in engineering, security, and communications. The most notable of red wearing characters was chief engineer Scotty, and the groundbreaking Uhura (played by the late Nichelle Nichols).
After the uniform change made in TNG, the red shifted meaning. It was now reserved for the command staff, including Captains such as Picard, Janeway, and the morally questionable Sisko, as well as high ranking officers such as commander Riker, who was second in command during the TNG days. This change was present until the Kelvin timeline films and the more recent Strange New Worlds series, which both reverted to The Original Series color designations due to their timelines coinciding.
The blue uniform color was the one designation not to change after the great uniform change of 1987 (when the pilot episode of TNG came out). The blue uniform was for the science and medical staff. It was worn by officers such as the incredibly iconic lieutenant Spock from The Original Series, the ships’ science officer, as well as the early Dr Julian Bashir on board the space station in Deep Space 9, although this was later changed to green.
Gold, or yellow depending on the desired grandness, was the color of command officers during The Original Series as well as Strange New Worlds, and the Kelvin timeline films. Kirk was most notable for wearing this, a bright yellow uniform which was actually, due to the late 60s limitations for color film, slightly green in real life. This was because the yellow didn’t record well, so the yellow-green had to be made and worn to make it look golden yellow on screen. Gold was also reserved for just the captain on board the ship, rather than those in command positions. This explains why Kirk wore gold, and Spock, his second in command, did not.
Yellow/gold then shifted in during TNG onwards to represent the operations and security staff, as well as engendering. The disability-positive representing Geordi LaForge is most notable for wearing this color for this time, being chief start of engineering.
The uniforms that were actually supposed to be green, rather than the greenish yellow, were rarely seen during The Original Series and were the formal attire for command staff. Kirk is seen wearing the color on multiple occasions. During TNG, the green was replaced by the longer dress robe-like red uniforms often donned by Picard. Green also replaced some medical officers during the Voyager and DS9 series, which characters such as the Holographic doctor donning the jungle green uniform. This change, despite being fairly obvious to some, often goes unnoticed with casual fans, as it is much less dramatic than the red and gold color switch.
There are plenty of other variations on the classic Starfleet uniform, which has gone through multiple iterations over the years. They range from the brightly colored uniforms found within The Original Series and the early days of TNG to the more dulled down, subtly dark variations of the TNG movies and the much grittier DS9. However, they have always kept a small pop of color in there to help audiences instantly know what this character’s role aboard the ship was. Even Enterprise, which was set before the foundation of the Federation, used color as a visual indicator of role, following very subtly the Original Series color coding, with the small shoulder rectangles of color on their otherwise fairly plain and similar uniforms.
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