Star Trek: Why there were two types of uniforms during Generations

Star Trek has a weird relationship with uniforms. By now everyone knows that the command gold and engineer red of the original series were switched out for The Next Generation, turning command red and engineer gold; all because Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes “looked better” in red. There’s also the switch from the colored uniforms of the original series to the more streamlined outfits for the original series’ films.

Yet, the biggest head-scratcher comes with the three ’90s era Star Trek shows, and the subsequent movie, Star Trek: Generations. Generations started production while the Next Generation was winding down, Deep Space Nine was already airing and Voyager was gearing up for their first season. It was an interesting cross-section at the time.

The uniform stylings at the time for The Next Generation featured the division color being the base, and black trim surrounding it from the shoulders to the sides, and all the way down to the pants. Yet, on Deep Space Nine, the colors were swapped. The division color was now on the shoulders, and the rest of the uniform was a black jumpsuit.

By the time Generations went into filming, the producers wanted new uniforms but despite making some, they were scrapped and so the crew used a combination of the Next Generation uniforms and the new jump-suit uniforms on Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

ScreenRant claims that Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, and LeVar Burton had to borrow the suits of Avery Brooks, Colm Meany, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Garrett Wang respectively. Fair enough, yet, if you pay attention to the film (or the trailer if you’re just trying to verify this next part) you’ll see Stewart’s Jean Luc Picard and Burton’s Geordi La Forge wearing both sets of uniforms.

Why? Who can really say?

The uniforms of the mid-90s were a mess, and the producers of the series agreed; which is why new uniforms were debuted for Star Trek’s second TNG film, First Contact, which featured grey and black jumpers with the section color underneath. These then became the norm for the rest of the series and films; except Voyager. As Voyager was still in the Delta Quadrant, it made sense for them to retain their original uniforms.