So, what was up with Avery Brooks' comm badge in "Rapture"?

[Lance]

I don't think I've ever seen an adequate explanation for this. Memory Alpha says the uniform tunic didn't fit him to start with so they were forced to put his comm badge up on the gray portion of the uniform for a few episodes, but I can't see why the uniform not fitting him would dictate where the comm badge goes. I mean, Riker wasn't forced to wear his comm badge in a different spot when he wore Sisko's hand-me-downs in "Generations". How is it that the comm badges were fastened to the costumes anyway?

 

[Kinggodzillak]

He's the Goddamn Sisko and can do whatever he darn well likes. That's a more than adequate explanation, surely?

 

[Lance]

I was forgetting.

"DAMN it, ConSTABLE! I'll wear my COMMbadge whichEVER way I DAMN well LIKE!!!"

 

[C.E. Evans]

I don't think I've ever seen an adequate explanation for this. Memory Alpha says the uniform tunic didn't fit him to start with so they were forced to put his comm badge up on the gray portion of the uniform for a few episodes, but I can't see why the uniform not fitting him would dictate where the comm badge goes. I mean, Riker wasn't forced to wear his comm badge in a different spot when he wore Sisko's hand-me-downs in "Generations".

Totally different uniforms.

Sisko's uniform in "Rapture" was a three-piece affair with a vest and jacket. The jacket was somewhat bulky and the greyish-purple shoulder yoke was a lot bigger and extended further down than everyone else's. To keep the combadge still over his heart, it was positioned there, rather than on the lower black part.

How is it that the comm badges were fastened to the costumes anyway?

Velcro. But when a scene required a combadge to be moved, sometimes a magnet was used.

 

[StewMc]

The shoulder yoke on the three-piece wasn't really that much bigger than the (what I assume is an) all-in-one piece, an inch or two longer at most. Compare two random caps:

The badge looks far too far up even with the longer yoke. They could have put it in the normal place and it would have looked fine (IMO of course). Unless there was some physical reason why it couldn't go on the black part, maybe it kept falling off? I don't know.

The "Rapture" uniform/badge combo is also appears in most of "The Darkness and the Light" (where the left screen cap above comes from) until the last scene when they rescue Kira, where Brooks appears to be wearing the normal uniform with the V shape in the yolk and the comm badge in the correct place.

 

[C.E. Evans]

The shoulder yoke on the three-piece wasn't really that much bigger than the (what I assume is an) all-in-one piece, an inch or two longer at most. Compare two random caps:

The badge looks far too far up even with the longer yoke. They could have put it in the normal place and it would have looked fine (IMO of course). Unless there was some physical reason why it couldn't go on the black part, maybe it kept falling off? I don't know.

It was enough of an issue for the costume department not to place it with the black part of the uniform like everyone else's. But the first screencap you provided is actually from a later episode when it really is just a case of the combadge placed higher than it needed to be (more on that below).

The "Rapture" uniform/badge combo is also appears in most of "The Darkness and the Light" (where the left screen cap above comes from) until the last scene when they rescue Kira, where Brooks appears to be wearing the normal uniform with the V shape in the yolk and the comm badge in the correct place.

"The Darkness and the Light" was when Brooks got his better-fitting costume, but his combadge was still initially placed in the yoke area as it was in the previously until it was corrected during that same episode. Your initial screencap came from the early part of that story before it was fixed.

His original one in "Rapture" was bulkier (to accomodate the vest underneath) and also lacked the branch-colored piping around the cuffs.
http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/5x10/rapture_064.jpg

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Could someone help me, I really don't see the issue here. It's not like TOS: The Enemy Within, when evidently someone forgot to sew the arrowhead insignia on one of Kirk's uniforms.

The TNG-era combadges can be removed and reattached by the wearer at will, as part of their in-universe design. Right? So, the Sisko changed his mind about where he wanted it. It was more perfectly Sisko in one spot until it was time to be more perfectly Sisko in another spot. Big deal. Yes?

Or is there some quartermaster mandate about where officers must wear them to the nearest millimeter?

 

[C.E. Evans]

Could someone help me, I really don't see the issue here. It's not like TOS: The Enemy Within, when evidently someone forgot to sew the arrowhead insignia on one of Kirk's uniforms.

The TNG-era combadges can be removed and reattached by the wearer at will, as part of their in-universe design. Right? So, the Sisko changed his mind about where he wanted it. It was more perfectly Sisko in one spot until it was time to be more perfectly Sisko in another spot. Big deal. Yes?

Or is there some quartermaster mandate about where officers must wear them to the nearest millimeter?

It's kind of where the uniformity in uniforms come from. Otherwise, people can wear combadges wherever or however they want--left, right, upside-down, sideways, on the sleeves, etc.

 

[The Borg Queen]

Maybe he'd hurt his elbow and it was simply more comfortable to reach his comm badge when it was in that position on his chest.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Could someone help me, I really don't see the issue here. It's not like TOS: The Enemy Within, when evidently someone forgot to sew the arrowhead insignia on one of Kirk's uniforms.

The TNG-era combadges can be removed and reattached by the wearer at will, as part of their in-universe design. Right? So, the Sisko changed his mind about where he wanted it. It was more perfectly Sisko in one spot until it was time to be more perfectly Sisko in another spot. Big deal. Yes?

Or is there some quartermaster mandate about where officers must wear them to the nearest millimeter?

It's kind of where the uniformity in uniforms come from. Otherwise, people can wear combadges wherever or however they want--left, right, upside-down, sideways, on the sleeves, etc.

So, it's either to the nearest millimeter or every which way, eh, with nothing in between? You didn't really answer my question.

Maybe he'd hurt his elbow and it was simply more comfortable to reach his comm badge when it was in that position on his chest.

This is what I was thinking, actually.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Could someone help me, I really don't see the issue here. It's not like TOS: The Enemy Within, when evidently someone forgot to sew the arrowhead insignia on one of Kirk's uniforms.

The TNG-era combadges can be removed and reattached by the wearer at will, as part of their in-universe design. Right? So, the Sisko changed his mind about where he wanted it. It was more perfectly Sisko in one spot until it was time to be more perfectly Sisko in another spot. Big deal. Yes?

Or is there some quartermaster mandate about where officers must wear them to the nearest millimeter?

It's kind of where the uniformity in uniforms come from. Otherwise, people can wear combadges wherever or however they want--left, right, upside-down, sideways, on the sleeves, etc.

So, it's either to the nearest millimeter or every which way, eh, with nothing in between? You didn't really answer my question.

You weren't paying attention, so I'll simplify it--if there isn't an official place to wear a combadge on a uniform, then people could wear them any old kind of way. Same thing likely applies to rank insignia in which there is a specific spot and way for them to be displayed on the collar. It's really very simple.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Well, again, to rephrase my question, who says both places aren't officially acceptable to the quartermaster? Is that clear enough?

 

[C.E. Evans]

Well, again, to rephrase my question, who says both places aren't officially acceptable to the quartermaster? Is that clear enough?

Do you understand what a uniform is?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Well, again, to rephrase my question, who says both places aren't officially acceptable to the quartermaster? Is that clear enough?

Do you understand what a uniform is?

So, you don't know, in other words. It's an assumption you have. We saw numerous variants allowed in the uniforms over the run of the show. You don't have any reason to suppose that this isn't a variant acceptable to Starfleet code, because you don't know what that code is.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Well, again, to rephrase my question, who says both places aren't officially acceptable to the quartermaster? Is that clear enough?

Do you understand what a uniform is?

So, you don't know, in other words. It's an assumption you have. We saw numerous variants allowed in the uniforms over the run of the show. You don't have any reason to suppose that this isn't a variant acceptable to Starfleet code, because you don't know what that code is.

So you don't know what a uniform is.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Rich.

Of course I know what a uniform is. I know that there were many different uniforms shown on the show, too, all from Starfleet and in the same era.

So.... next.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Even with different uniforms, there are specific places and ways to wear various insignia. Kind of a no-brainer.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Even with different uniforms, there are specific places and ways to wear various insignia. Kind of a no-brainer.

Yeah, but this is not a mere ornament, is it? It's something that the officer has to be able to manually activate. There would be ergonomic considerations in an enlightened institution, would there not?

How do you know that the Starfleet uniform code doesn't allow reasonable variation in the placement of combadges, for reasons including, but not limited to, the medical needs of the officer?

You don't, do you.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I've got onscreen evidence to go by that people wear insignia in specific places on their uniforms.

What do you have that says differently?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Looking at post #5 of this thread, I'd say I have on screen evidence, that Sisko can wear his combadge in either place. Anyway, toodles. I'm done with this. My question has been answered. It may or may not have been a costume snafu, but it's hardly significant, and there's no in-universe problem with it in any case. Thanks!