Watch: Certifiably Ingame breaks down Starfleet’s Divisions

Ever wonder about the Starfleet divisions? Well, a new video by Certifiably Ingame breaks down the three colors of Starfleet, what they mean, and even poise a trivia question. Any fan of Star Trek, regardless of when you got involved with the product, knows that the three colors are red, gold and blue. Yet, they haven’t always represented the same divisions, nor have they always been used.

Firstly, the three divisions are science, operations, and command. Those three divisions were first represented by blue for science, red for operations, and gold for command. That changed with the Next Generation, as producers felt Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) and Jonathan Frakes (William Riker) looked better in red than in gold, so they switched command to red and moved operations to the gold.

In between the first series and the Next Generation, Star Trek as a franchise abandoned the entire concept of colored divisional uniforms and instead went with more generic designs. First was the white and grey’s and then the eventual winter-red coat design. Each uniform had its own markings and distinguishing characteristics, like certain elements of the uniform being slightly different to represent rank and division.

By the time The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager aired, the uniforms had become the now-standardized version that is still readily used in the modern series, Picard. Before Picard, however, was Enterprise, the prequel series starring Scott Bakula.

As Jonathan Archer, Bakula’s series again changed the uniforms. This time to more routine, submarine style-jumpsuits. The uniforms however still had the original coloring, with Archer and Travis Merryweather (command) being gold, Trip Tucker and Malcolm Reed wearing red, and Hoshi Sato wearing blue. Though it was more teal/greenish than it was just the traditional Spock-blue fans saw in the original series.

The J.J. Abrams movies brought back the same original color palate for his films, giving them a sleeker, more modern look.

As for the trivia question? Watch the end of the video to find out what it is.