Star Trek 2017 TV Series - Delta Shield Insignia

Star Trek 2017 TV Series - Delta Shield Insignia

Canon alert! Canon alert! The good ship Discovery may need this extra state of readiness over and above the Red and Yellow varieties if the signs are true that they've already 'dissed' the history and sent Trekker hearts into fits of despair with but one teaser trailer: it's true, they've shown uniforms with insignia that's almost the Delta Shield, when, as any good Trekker knows, each ship of this era had its own design, and it was only post-'TOS' that the Enterprise's chevron was chosen to represent the entire Starfleet, and the reason we see it on all the other Trek series' (bar prequel 'Enterprise'). But that's the trouble with prequels, you're adding detail to an era we already know about and it would be hard to accept that the Delta Shield was actually common as muck across the board before it became the Enterprise insignia, before becoming rare again. But let us examine the facts or lack of facts so far before we lose our heads: technically, the new Delta Shield isn't exactly the same as the Enterprise's because it has a slice out of the right side. A narrow piece of logic, I know, as narrow as the slice out of the badge, but if we're being completely thorough about it, it's true. It would be a poor choice if it were simply a branding decision, but it could also show that they do care about the details that they'd give us such a close approximation, yet one that is actually different and allows for the canon.

I don't believe it was actually stated anywhere on screen (which is where all canon comes from), that every ship had a different insignia, but that intent was obvious from what was seen on screen, with various ships or posts appearing in 'TOS' with their own unique identification badges, something that was continued in the 'Enterprise' two-parter which recreated the missing USS Defiant ('In A Mirror, Darkly'), and added new insignia, as none had been seen for it previously. But this is set in the Pike era, so we don't know for sure what the policy was. We're also in the dark about the situation of the series, and its narrative backdrop, so we can't really comment on it as being wrong or divisive until we know why the series logo includes a split Delta Shield, something that has caused much speculation. Would I have preferred the insignia to be unique to the USS Discovery (or more unique, to be precise)? Yes, of course. Would I be appalled if the series' intent is to use the branding, whether that's badges, uniforms or characters, as the draw, at the expense of the history of 'Star Trek'? Absolutely. But we don't know this to be the case, as yet, and I'm willing to suspend judgement and wait for an in-universe explanation, as can always be given by the writers to solidify canon. I'd best not mention that the uniform is blue, yet the badge shows an Engineering symbol. Oh no, oops...

Anticipation Rating: ***