Talk: Assignment patch

Revision as of 20:36, 25 November 2008

23rd Century Example Pictures

I've replaced the last obscure 23rd Century badges from the animated series with more recognizable ones. And to follow the format shown with the 22nd Century display examples of two starships, a space station, and Starfleet's insignia of that time period. --AC84 22:13, 9 Nov 2005 (PST)

Differing Symbols inside main assignment patches?

I had never noticed before, but aside from the recognizable outer symbol on the assignment badges in TOS, the inner symbol is different for various crewmembers: Kirk has the familiar star, while McCoy has a circle (or some round shape). I headed right over here looking for further details, but found it wasnt even mentioned! Anyone know anything about this?

The symbols on the patch match each division: the star for command (gold uniforms), the circle thingy for science & medicine (blue uniforms), and some loopy symbol for engineering & security (red uniforms). If it's not in the article, that's because no one has taken the time to add it or they just forgot about it. --From Andoria with Love 15:42, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Chapel also sometimes wore a different inner symbol -- a red cross.--DNJimerson 14:39, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

TMP -- different assignment patches?

I'm not sure individual ships had different patches by the time TMP came along. Kirk wore the Enterprise crest BEFORE his meeting with Admiral Nogura, only after which was he reassigned to Enterprise. Also, no other Starfleet personnel were seen to wear anything other, with the possible exception of the Epsilon IX station -- which may not have been a Starfleet outpost; it could have been another Federation agency with clearance to monitor Starfleet channels (similar to, say, the US Coast Guard). Or it could be that it was so far out that the uniform/patch changes simply hadn't reached them yet.

The Starfleet insignia on the exterior of the ship is problematic, too -- the Defiant, for example, had the same signage as the Enterprise in the TOS era. It seems unlikely that Starfleet would use different symbols between ships for only a few years and then go back to a uniform stylization, as it clearly had by the time of STII. --DNJimerson 14:48, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Possibly. I'm pretty certain that Epsilon IX was meant to be a Starfleet station, though: the crew had Starfleet rank insignia and, though my memory is spotty at best, I think Gene wrote that it was a Starfleet base in the novelisation (not canon, I know, but it would show his intention).

Another interesting thing to consider is the new Star Trek XI movie. Set before TOS, there are no assignment patches used anymore. Everyone appears to be wearing the Enterprise arrowhead as the Starfleet badge (the Enterprise crew, cadets at the Academy and even signposts on the Academy set are decorated with it), and it is even woven into the fabric of the tunics. Either something has to be ignored, or we say that Starfleet stopped using mission patches sometime in the middle of the 23rd century, only to start them up again for a decade or so. --Mada101 20:36, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 The Starfleet insignia on the exterior of the ship is problematic, too -- the Defiant, for example, had the same signage as the Enterprise in the TOS era.  It seems unlikely that Starfleet would use different symbols between ships for only a few years and then go back to a uniform stylization, as it clearly had by the time of STII. --[[User:DNJimerson|DNJimerson]] 14:48, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
+:Possibly. I'm pretty certain that Epsilon IX was meant to be a Starfleet station, though: the crew had Starfleet rank insignia and, though my memory is spotty at best, I think Gene wrote that it was a Starfleet base in the novelisation (not canon, I know, but it would show his intention).
+:Another interesting thing to consider is the new Star Trek XI movie. Set before TOS, there are no assignment patches used anymore. Everyone appears to be wearing the Enterprise arrowhead as the Starfleet badge (the Enterprise crew, cadets at the Academy and even signposts on the Academy set are decorated with it), and it is even woven into the fabric of the tunics. Either something has to be ignored, or we say that Starfleet stopped using mission patches sometime in the middle of the 23rd century, only to start them up again for a decade or so. --[[User:Mada101|Mada101]] 20:36, 25 November 2008 (UTC)