Star Trek's Newest Crew Finally Earn Their Starfleet Uniforms

By Jamie Lovett

Star Trek's newest crew finally donned their Starfleet uniforms for the first time. SPOILERS follow for the Star Trek: Prodigy episode "A Moral Star, Part 1." As Star Trek: Prodigy began, the young escapees from the prison planet Tars Lamora impersonated Starfleet cadets to take control of the abandoned Starfleet vessel, the USS Protostar. That was enough to appease Hologram Janeway, who has been taking them under her wing and trying to teach them how to behave according to Starfleet values. They haven't always succeeded, as evidenced by their failed first contact mission. However, in "A Moral Star, Part 1," the first half of the two-part midseason finale episode, the crew finally earns actual Starfleet uniforms.

Having escaped the Diviner's clutches once again in "Time Amok," the Protostar crew is faced with a choice. The Diviner threatens to punish those still imprisoned on Tars Lamora if the Protostar does not return. They can take the Protostar and run to Federation space, hoping against hope that Starfleet can deal with the Diviner in time to save his prisoners. Otherwise, they can choose to return to Tars Lamora and attempt to rescue the prisoners themselves. They choose the latter, which is genuinely a Starfleet thing to do in Janeway's eyes. The crew puts on Starfleet cadet uniforms similar to the Starfleet uniform worn by Chakotay in Janeway's memory files. Janeway reconfigures her appearance to match.

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(Photo: Paramount+)

The crew wears a new uniform design not seen anywhere else in the Star Trek canon. That's somewhat surprising since the series occurs between Star Trek: Lower Decks and the flashbacks in Star Trek: Picard on Star Trek's timeline, and each had distinct Starfleet uniforms. Prodigy's creators tell Inverse that the uniforms are unique to the USS Protostar, not your average Starfleet vessel.

"Since the USS Protostar is an experimental starship, we felt it gave us some freedom to create our own uniform design, as long as it fit alongside the uniforms of this era," Dan and Kevin Hageman said in a joint statement. "We, [executive producer] Ben Hibon, and our design team spent a lot of time discussing the badge and uniforms. We had to balance the style of our series, while also recognizing these kids aren't actually anywhere close to being Starfleet Officers, which is why we went for a stripped-down design."

What do you think of the Protostar crew's Starfleet uniforms? Let us know in the comments. Star Trek: Prodigy's first season to date is streaming now on Paramount+. The second half of "A Moral Star" will debut on Thursday.

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