One off admiral uniform?

[JoeZhang]

I was watching "the die is cast" and Sisko and the crew are having a conference call with a Admiral who is wearing the TNG engineering uniform but with the admiral pips on each side.

Did we ever see that version of the Admiral uniform again or a admiral who wasn't in command red?

 

[clint g]

That was pretty much the first and only time we saw that type of admiral uniform. It was more than a TNG uniform with admiral pips as well. It was a modified uniform with the gold braiding, just like the red admiral uniforms so to me at least, it seems like it was a conscious decision on the part of the costume designers to have a gold admiral uniform and not a choice made simply because they couldnt find any other uniforms around.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Given the nature of the episodes, the uniform would represent Starfleet security, rather than engineering.

Yeah, it was odd.

 

[Timo]

Or perhaps Starfleet Intelligence, another branch that was first mentioned around that time, both in TNG and DS9. We never saw an officer who would have been explicitly said to be part of Starfleet Intelligence, other than the redshirt Admiral Pressman who was said to work for Starfleet Intelligence in "The Pegasus", so the color of that organization might just as well be yellow.

And it's entirely possible that the other two yellowshirt branches mentioned, Engineering and Security, are also headed by yellowcoat flag officers. Since no such admirals were ever shown on screen, their shirt color could not be established one way or the other.

But in show production terms, yes, this was a unique appearance, and it's a bit curious why the costume made no further forays to our screens...

For related trivia, let's remember that flag officers in TOS were seen wearing both gold and red to roughly equal degree. Let's also remember that early TNG after the first season had some one-off or two-off "nonstandard" flag uniforms until they settled on the model that persisted till ST:FC; perhaps this reflects the great degree of freedom that the high brass has in customizing its personal wear?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[USS Intrepid]

I've always thought that there are probably plenty of division-coloured Admirals, we just don't see them.

 

[Jefferies]

^^ would make perfect sense to me aswell.

 

[sbk1234]

Also, considering that in today's military you'll sometimes see flag officers wearing standard battle fatigues if the situation calls for it, makes perfect sense.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I was watching "the die is cast" and Sisko and the crew are having a conference call with a Admiral who is wearing the TNG engineering uniform but with the admiral pips on each side.

That was Vice Admiral Toddman of Starfleet Security. He is the only 24th century flag officer in canon to wear anything other than red.

 

[Timo]

To be sure, that was Vice Admiral Toddman of nothing particular.

The script says Starfleet Security, but scripts tend to say all sorts of silly things. The bit about Toddman's employer never made it on screen; for all we know, he might have been a top engineer, and Sisko's former boss.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Jefferies]

That was Vice Admiral Toddman of Starfleet Security. He is the only 24th century flag officer in canon to wear anything other than red.

I could swear there was a second admiral who appeared on a later DS9 episode who also wore the yellow department colour but with a First Contact uniform. Am I imagining this?

 

[clint g]

That was Vice Admiral Toddman of Starfleet Security. He is the only 24th century flag officer in canon to wear anything other than red.

I could swear there was a second admiral who appeared on a later DS9 episode who also wore the yellow department colour but with a First Contact uniform. Am I imagining this?

I think the only DS9 admiral we see wearing the First Contact uniform was Admiral Ross, and he was a red shirt

 

[Red Ranger]

It would make sense to me that there must be admirals wearing the other division colors, gold and blue. Too bad we never saw a blue-suited admiral. I recall in the TOS ep Court Martial, the other members of the court martial board wore the other two colors, and they were at least of captain rank, I believe. -- RR

 

[AdmiralGarak]

Though it would make you wonder why Admiral McCoy wasn't wearing blue. If any Admiral wore blue, you'd think it would be him. I can't imagine McCoy accepting a command post.

 

[Timo]

Well, we never saw Admiral McCoy in uniform, now did we?

What he wore in "Encounter at Farpoint" did have a military flair to it, of course: epaulets to the grey sweater, Starfleet-style boots and bell-bottom pants. Probably not regulation, but perhaps containing elements of former regulation wear? The undershirt is deep green, similar to but not the same as the lighter medical green of the era between the 2270s and the 2340s. It's quite possible that McCoy retired before the 2350s, and thus never wore the modern blue style - but if the undershirt is part of his old uniform, he would indeed be another case of "branch-specific" uniform coloring.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Snaploud]

Top ranking (non-Trek) individuals (of various professions) often get more leeway when it comes to uniforms. I wouldn't be suprised if McCoy's admiral uniform were unique among the admiralty.

 

[Timo]

If the woolen... thing on him was his uniform, I'd be mightily surprised if it weren't unique.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I've always thought that there are probably plenty of division-coloured Admirals, we just don't see them.

Makes perfect sense to me - the Admirals we normally see are giving out missions and order to the crew, so they'd of course be wearing the command colors.

If I recall correctly, the recent New Frontier comic included an admiral in science blue (though it was an TNG style Admiral uniform, but...)

 

[USS Excelsior]

One contradiction is when Eddington from DS9 said that you don't get to become a Captain in a gold uniform. But we have seen Scotty with the gold division colour with a captain rank symbol though.

You would think that if any flag officers had blue or yellow part of their duties would be to partake in scientific or engineering duties otherwise they would be command officers and would wear red.

 

[USS Triumphant]

One contradiction is when Eddington from DS9 said that you don't get to become a Captain in a gold uniform. But we have seen Scotty with the gold division colour with a captain rank symbol though.

Well, there are two meanings of the word "captain". One is the actual rank, the other indicates that a person is the captain of a ship. A Lieutenant Commander placed in command of a scout ship, for example, would still be the Captain.

The fact that the two "captains" frequently correlate on Trek is either a big coincidence, the result of ignorance on the part of some writers, or a consequence of the fact that the majority of the classes of ships that have been focused on have for one reason or another merited a captain as their captain.

 

[Jefferies]

The fact that the two "captains" frequently correlate on Trek is either a big coincidence, the result of ignorance on the part of some writers, or a consequence of the fact that the majority of the classes of ships that have been focused on have for one reason or another merited a captain as their captain.

I believe not all cases where ships had captain captains were warranted. Just think of the Equinox, a tiny ship, but it still had a Captain. There must be many more examples like this. I think the only time we got to see a break with this habit was when Sisko became CO of DS9 and remained a Commander for three years until DS9 become a really important base.