Division symbols in TOS
- Graham Kennedy
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Division symbols in TOS
So given my recent delving into the TOS world, I have been thinking about the division symbols we see in TOS.
Of course everyone in Starfleet now uses the same delta shield symbol, but in TOS each ship had their own symbol.
Enterprise :
Constellation :
Exeter :
And so on. I've been designing some of these to go with the TOS-era characters I created recently, and it's a lot of fun.
Slightly less obvious is that different departments have different symbols on the ship system.
Engineering on the left, command in the middle, science on the right. Some sources say there was also one with a small red cross, for medical, but McCoy wore the science design in every shot I have seen.
Curiously, there doesn't seem to be a security symbol. All the redshirt security types I've found wear the engineering symbol. That seems odd to me - are we to believe that the security department is under the Engineering division? Or is it the case that there is no security division, and security officers were drawn from other divisions as needed - and most/all that we saw happened to come from Engineering?
Would it be justifiable to invent a security symbol? It needs to be a relatively simple shape, clearly different from the others... crossed swords, perhaps?
Any thoughts?
Of course everyone in Starfleet now uses the same delta shield symbol, but in TOS each ship had their own symbol.
Enterprise :
Constellation :
Exeter :
And so on. I've been designing some of these to go with the TOS-era characters I created recently, and it's a lot of fun.
Slightly less obvious is that different departments have different symbols on the ship system.
Engineering on the left, command in the middle, science on the right. Some sources say there was also one with a small red cross, for medical, but McCoy wore the science design in every shot I have seen.
Curiously, there doesn't seem to be a security symbol. All the redshirt security types I've found wear the engineering symbol. That seems odd to me - are we to believe that the security department is under the Engineering division? Or is it the case that there is no security division, and security officers were drawn from other divisions as needed - and most/all that we saw happened to come from Engineering?
Would it be justifiable to invent a security symbol? It needs to be a relatively simple shape, clearly different from the others... crossed swords, perhaps?
Any thoughts?
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
Crossed swords would work. Maybe a simplified phaser?
- Graham Kennedy
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
- Graham Kennedy
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
- Graham Kennedy
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
I actually like both of those...
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
Maybe crossed halberds?
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
- Graham Kennedy
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
- Teaos
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
A tomb stone.
What does defeat mean to you?
Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
WINRARTeaos wrote:A tomb stone.
Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, don't you hear me calling you?
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
This looks like a frowning gremlin! I like it.Graham Kennedy wrote:
Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, don't you hear me calling you?
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
Now I can't unsee it. That is not a bad thing, mind.Bryan Moore wrote:This looks like a frowning gremlin! I like it.Graham Kennedy wrote:
Re: Division symbols in TOS
It was my understanding, though I may be wrong, that the swirl symbol represented "Ship's Services": Engineering, Security, Communications, Damage Control, Laundry... Basically everything not Command or Science.
- Bryan Moore
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
DonP wrote:It was my understanding, though I may be wrong, that the swirl symbol represented "Ship's Services": Engineering, Security, Communications, Damage Control, Laundry... Basically everything not Command or Science.
Heh... Laundry. Helluvah job.
Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, don't you hear me calling you?
Re: Division symbols in TOS
Yeah, my friends and I used to joke about a poor crewman who bragged to his family about working on the Enterprise until they asked him what he did, forcing him to admit it was in something like the Laundry or Waste Recycling.
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Re: Division symbols in TOS
Or, per Trip, the guy who makes boots out of shit.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer