The 'Tactical' division is primarily based on the blue TFF collars. I assume that Worf's position as Strategic Operations Officer also falls in this division, hence the red color in the later eras.
Navigation falls under Science from 2278 onwards, before it merges with Helm and becomes CONN.
I'm not sure if Communications in the TNG and post TNG eras is in the Science division or falls under the mustard uniforms.
'Services' is based on the lightblue division in the movies, and includes cooks, bartenders, cleaners, PT instructors and more, although I doubt they wore Starfleet uniforms in any other era than 2278-2350.
Shik
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quote:Originally posted by Harry: I'm not sure if Communications in the TNG and post TNG eras is in the Science division or falls under the mustard uniforms.
It is indeed sciences. Ref. TNG S6 "Aquiel."
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Tactical is most certainly burgundy (ie remove the question mark) in the 22nd century, as Reed has been noted by both Keating and the writers in interviews as the first real case where we've had someone who's into maintaining the ship's armoury and performing tactical functions but isn't really a security chief like Worf or Tasha.
I think it's also important to distinguish between having training in a speciality and filling a role... Hoshi is a trained linguist, and in that case is as much a scientist as, say, Cutler. However, on a practical level she operates a communications station and serves as a communications officer. Uhura, however, seemed to be more of a standard-issue officer who operated a comm station but wasn't a cutting-edge researcher in the field of linguistics (she couldn't speak Klingon, for instance). I'd say that "communications" isn't so much a discrete category as a set of onboard roles that have been filled both by scientists and nuts-and-bolts-type operators.
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Plus by the time of Uhura and Rand the Universal Translater should have taken over from the tedious job of actually learning the languages, wile knowing the right settings and how to maintain the equipment could have fallen to the sciences division......
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actually, in the movies uniforms the grey branch color also was worn by redshirts like tactical/security/operations so it not really clear whether they were wearing the science part of that color
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Well, give Uhura some credit. It appeared that she was the TOP ranking officer in her 'field' on the Enterprise. She was often seen repairing her equipment, and even told Kirk off when he kept at her about wanting what he wanted straight away.
She was a consumate professional I reckon.
I was reading "Vucan's Fury"?? Not a bad read, anyway Uhura ends up as head of Starfleet Intelligence!! Which sorta makes sense.
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If it werent for the 'gag' scene in ST:VI, her final onscreen appearance, it would continue to be assumed that Uhura knew how to speak Klingon. Most of the literature concerning her portrays her not only as a superior technician/operator, but as a linguist extraordinaire, who completed her doctorate in linguistics. Perhaps her Klingon was rusty, or she was unfamiliar with Klingon radio dialect? she had pronunciation down... Most of Diane Duane's novels, as well as "Uhura's Song" and "Tears of the Singers" had her being vital to translating languages, and as having helped Starfleet RE-program the universal translator software over the years...
i mean christ, even Kirk knew how to speak Klingon.. (in ST:III)
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In ST:3, Kirk was simply reapting what he had heard Christopher Lloyd's character say. Unless we are to believe that Kirk also knew the name of the Klingon officer who beamed them up.
Since we now know that humans have had access to the Klingon language ever since Archer's time...it would make alot more since for Uhura to know Klingon, or at least a smattering of it, than for her to not.
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i still say that uhura probably knew several klingon dialects, but was either rusty, or was speaking a dialect that she was unfamiliar with (hence the texts)
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Also, Captain, in the movies, Security wore a dark green for their division colour. I don't recall seeing an actual weapons officer on the bridge in ST II-ST VII. According to Bob Fletcher's notes, Gunnery fell under the Engeneering division, and thus, yellow ochre.
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...Of course, only one of the ships we saw in the TOS movies, the Excelsior of ST6, could be argued to have had an entire and representative complement of bridge officers and departments present for our analysis.
The Enterprise always sailed out with an impromptu crew, or one with trainees and assorted groupies as a major element. The Grissom was a small ship with a limited number of officers to begin with. The Excelsior in ST3 was undergoing trials. The Reliant was commandeered after a few tightly framed scenes showing only a handful of the officers present. The Saratoga was darkened and even fewer parts of the bridge were shown.
And I find it a bit unlikely that blue would be limited to Sciences in the TNG era, as (typically pipless) people of this color are seen serving in virtually all possible positions, from helm and navigation to maintenance and medicine. A more general division, perhaps something on the lines of
Blue = staff officers and enlisted support personnel Yellow = limited command qualifications officers and enlisted personnel Red = command qualifications officers and enlisteds
or then
Blue = people performing a mission made possible by the starship Yellow = people keeping the starship running so that the mission can be performed Red = people controlling the mission
seems more justified. The same would go for TOS, with the two "higher" colors reversed, of course.
OnToMars
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Okay, that's a five year thread bump right there.
I would take the over abundance of blue crewman in TNG more as an indication that scientific exploration was simply the more prevalent attitude of a ship like the E-D and the TNG era than it was for the E-nil and the TOS era.
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quote:Originally posted by Timo: A more general division, perhaps something on the lines of
Blue = staff officers and enlisted support personnel Yellow = limited command qualifications officers and enlisted personnel Red = command qualifications officers and enlisteds
or then
Blue = people performing a mission made possible by the starship Yellow = people keeping the starship running so that the mission can be performed Red = people controlling the mission
seems more justified. The same would go for TOS, with the two "higher" colors reversed, of course.
Timo Saloniemi
That's one of the better explanations I've seen, Timo. It makes sense -- it means the (apparently inverted) colors aren't an outgrowth of the TOS division color system, but are a simplification of the TMP uniform system that accounted for where in the hierarchy you were.
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