Over the many years of thrivingStar TrekTV shows and movies, there has always been special attention shown towards the overall design of the science fiction genre defining franchise. Gene Roddenberry, the show’s creator, even had a specificset of design rules for what the Federation ships were supposed to look like, ensuring that they would be instantly recognizable as Federation just from a quick glance. The importance of recognizable themes stayed strong, from the fairly logical design of the warp andtransporter technology, all the way to what is potentially the most important visual aspect of the show: the costumes.
While there have been various changes made over the years (although, notas drastic a change as that of Klingon appearances), the Starfleet uniforms stay fairly similar. With the expedition ofThe 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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Red
One of the most recognizable to anyone who is away from the age-oldStar Trekjoke about the poor officers who are donned in red. However, the idea thatwearing 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 ofThe Next Generation.InThe 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, andthe groundbreaking Uhura(played bythe late Nichelle Nichols).
After the uniform change made inTNG,the red shifted meaning. It was now reserved for the command staff, including Captains such as Picard, Janeway, and themorally questionable Sisko, as well as high ranking officers such as commander Riker, who was second in command during theTNGdays. This change was present until the Kelvin timeline films and the more recentStrange New Worldsseries, which both reverted toThe Original Seriescolor designations due to their timelines coinciding.
Blue
The blue uniform color was the one designation not to change after the great uniform change of 1987 (when the pilot episode ofTNGcame out). The blue uniform was for the science and medical staff. It was worn by officers such as the incredibly iconic lieutenant Spock fromThe Original Series, the ships' science officer, as well as the early Dr Julian Bashir on boardthe space station inDeep Space 9,although this was later changed to green.
Gold
Gold, or yellow depending on the desired grandness, was the color of command officers duringThe Original Seriesas well asStrange New Worlds,andthe 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 duringTNGonwards to represent the operations and security staff, as well as engendering.The disability-positive representing Geordi LaForgeis most notable for wearing this color for this time, being chief start of engineering.
Green
The uniforms that were actually supposed to be green, rather than the greenish yellow, were rarely seen duringThe Original Seriesand were the formal attire for command staff. Kirk is seen wearing the color on multiple occasions. DuringTNG,the green was replaced by the longer dress robe-like red uniforms often donned by Picard. Green also replaced some medical officers during theVoyagerandDS9series, which characters such asthe Holographic doctordonning 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 withinThe Original Seriesand the early days ofTNGto the more dulled down, subtly dark variations of theTNGmovies and the much grittierDS9.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. EvenEnterprise, which was set before the foundation of the Federation, used color as a visual indicator of role, following very subtly theOriginal Seriescolor coding, with the small shoulder rectangles of color on their otherwise fairly plain and similar uniforms.
