An Ode to Star Trek's Undershirt Moments

This week, Star Trek: Prodigy dropped the archetypal trailer for its 2nd season, and it’s afloat of each the benignant of bully Star Trek enactment you’d want—even much truthful if, similar me, you’re a Voyager fan. But arsenic a Voyager fan, determination was 1 changeable successful peculiar that called to me: Admiral Janeway, her azygous overgarment removed, down to her high-waisted pants and a grey, Starfleet-issue vessel top.

This is simply a ludicrous happening to person your attraction drawn to, but being a Star Trek instrumentality often involves having reactions and emotions astir ludicrous things. And yet, present I was: vessel apical Janeway? Oh man, shit’s astir to spell down. To me, that’s “Macrocosm” Janeway, Ripley-ing her mode done elephantine microorganism bugs connected the compromised Voyager. It’s “Year of Hell” Janeway, hobbling done Krenim abstraction arsenic her vessel and unit are picked isolated astir her.

Sometimes the situations surrounding stripped-down Star Trek moments aren’t dire astatine all; we’ve seen radical rocking the look casually, connected blistery planets, portion moving connected thing peculiarly strenuous. What, exactly, Starfleet officers wore nether their achromatic and division-color-accented uniforms from TNG onwards has ever been successful flux—there’s long-sleeved undershirts, vests similar Janeway’s, t-shirts, each with varying plan differences—but careless of what was nether them, careless of the Trek show oregon the character, each clip you saw them, it felt similar you were witnessing thing vulnerable, thing revealing.

We’re truthful utilized to the mode the Starfleet uniforms look—and the situations they’re astir ever worn in—that they go this awesome of professionalism-under-pressure that encapsulates Star Trek’s love of competence porn. You’re wearing that azygous connected the bridge, you’re wearing it nether fire, you’re wearing it astatine the bar, you’re wearing it connected distant missions, you’re wearing it knee-deep successful isolinear chips moving connected immoderate sheet successful the ass extremity of a Jeffries tube. No substance the situation, arguably nary substance however impractical, a Starfleet serviceman does their occupation successful that uniform, looking similar a Starfleet officer. So erstwhile you portion distant layers of that uniform, retired of necessity oregon retired of casual circumstance, you’re stripping distant the layers of that mythos astir it and revealing thing astir the idiosyncratic underneath.

Screenshot: Paramount

Think astir the dishevelled look Sisko has by the extremity of “In the Pale Moonlight”, where, successful the interstitial scenes acceptable successful the present, helium progressively undresses layers of his azygous until he’s successful an unbuttoned vest and his bid undershirt is zipped down to uncover his chest, embodying his reflection of the motivation sacrifices he’s made implicit the people of the episode. Or however Picard successful First Contact, the direr the concern gets, strips down further until he’s successful thing successful his vest and trousers by the clip he’s squaring disconnected with the Borg Queen. The uncommon times we really saw 1 of our heroes either successful a concern casual capable to not warrant their afloat uniform, oregon stressful capable that they felt similar they had to portion distant parts of it, are someway burned into your minds arsenic significant—like they are for maine erstwhile I spot Janeway successful that vessel top, similar it’s a antithetic mode oregon signifier of her.

It’s specified a small, but clever spot of ocular storytelling successful Star Trek that doesn’t often travel up each that much—but erstwhile it does, it hits thing primal successful your Trek-loving encephalon to gully attraction to its significance.

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