The following production year was a BIG year for Starfleet uniforms, including the T-shirts and tank tops!
We first saw a new "desert"/"field expedition" T-shirt in
Deep Space Nine's early seventh season episode "Shadows and Symbols":
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| DS9, 7x2 "Shadows and Symbols" |
In Voyager's fifth season premiere, "Night," both Janeway and Chakotay wore a new style T-shirt (unless Tom Paris' from "The Q and the Gray" counts) - one that appears to be, for all intents and purposes, just a regular gray T-shirt with nothing weird or fancy or costume-y except the blind hemming of the sleeves:
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| VOY, 5x1 "Night" |
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| VOY, 5x1 "Night" |
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| VOY, 5x1 "Night" |
Also of note: this episode is when the
VOY jackets were introduced!
The next broadcast week, Deep Space Nine's seventh season episode "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" featured several characters in two new versions of the T-shirts.
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| DS9, 7x4 "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" |
Even more notable, however, was the introduction of what we call the male and female "hero T-shirts" of the era, as shown here on O'Brien and Ezri:
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| DS9, 7x4 "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" |
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| The Sisko upon learning Ezri and O'Brien got a new "hero T-shirt" and he didn't. |
Unlike the previous versions of the T-shirts, these were characterized by three front panels (with seams along the bust), three back panels (with similarly placed seams), and two-piece raglan sleeves.
The unique characteristics of this "hero T-shirt" were much more apparent the following broadcast week in Voyager's fifth season episode "Extreme Risk," as modeled here by Tom Paris:
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| VOY, 5x3 "Extreme Risk" |
It really makes no logical sense in-universe why these "hero T-shirts" would pop up on Voyager the same time they did on Deep Space Nine, for the same reason that it would make no sense for their uniforms to spontaneously upgrade to the DS9/NEM uniforms ...
One might say that Starfleet sent them some specs for their new standard-issue T-shirts in a message (such as back with the EMH the previous year's episode "Message in a Bottle," or in that data packet they sent in "Hunters"), with some sort of memo attached saying that they were to be put into use in 8 months or so ... but if that were the case, why not include specs for their new DS9/NEM uniform style, while they were at it?
What probably happened was just that Blackman & co. were excited about the new "hero T-shirts" and wanted to use them on both shows as much as possible.
That being the case, the question becomes why they weren't seen right off the bat in Voyager's season premiere, "Night," or on the Sisko several episodes later (only O'Brien and Ezri).
Who knows? Maybe the new "hero T-shirts" simply weren't ready yet ...
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| VOY, 5x3 "Extreme Risk" |
Anyway, also in "Extreme Risk," B'Elanna shed her uniform undershirt and sported her tank top through much of it.
Curiously, her tank top seams did not seem to intersect the edge of the neckline binding at the shoulder seams, as
Janeway's seemed to back in "Year of Hell" ... or even the armhole binding at the shoulder seams ...
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| VOY, 5x3 "Extreme Risk" |
A few broadcast weeks later, the " hero T-shirt" popped up again in Deep Space Nine's episode "The Siege of AR-558," as modeled here by Popeye:
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| DS9, 7x8 "The Siege of AR-558" |
We also learned that the "male hero T-shirts," like the female tank tops (as seen on Janeway and B'Elanna several years prior), closed in the back via an invisible zipper and hook-and-eye closure, in the same manner as the VOY undershirt:
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| DS9, 7x8 "The Siege of AR-558" |
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| VOY, 5x9 "Thirty Days" |
A few broadcast weeks after that, Tom Paris wore his " hero T-shirt" again for a significant portion of Voyager's episode "Thirty Days":
It was in this episode we clearly saw for the first time that the male version of the "hero T-shirt" had two-piece raglan sleeves; note the shoulder seam:
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| VOY, 5x9 "Thirty Days" |
Just a brief side note to provide context, it was at this time the DS9/NEM formal uniforms made their debut in the theatrical release of TNG's Insurrection:
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| Insurrection |
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| VOY, 5x10 "Counterpoint" |
Again, just to provide context, the very next Voyager episode, "Counterpoint," was the debut of the new "VOY female hero undershirt," which we mentioned in our VOY undershirt analysis.
Like the male and female "hero T-shirts," the "female hero undershirt" had three panels in the front, three panels in the back, and raglan sleeves:
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| VOY, 5x10 "Counterpoint" |
A few more broadcast weeks after Voyager's episode "Counterpoint," Deep Space Nine's episode "Prodigal Daughter" featured Ezri in her " hero T-shirt" again:
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| DS9, 7x11 "Prodigal Daughter" |
A couple broadcast weeks later, Janeway sported her new "hero T-shirt" in
Voyager's episode "Latent Image":
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| VOY, 5x11 "Latent Image" |
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| VOY, 5x11 "Latent Image" |
With this appearance, we were able to confirm that the female version of the "hero T-shirt" also had two-piece raglan sleeves:
A couple weeks after that came Tom Paris' and Tuvok's aforementioned magic shirts in Voyager's episode "Gravity":
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| VOY, 5x13 "Gravity" |
What made this even more of a head-scratcher was that Tom was clearly wearing a tank top when they were arrived, but this magically transformed into the "hero T-shirt" at some point:
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| VOY, 5x13 "Gravity" |
Also of note in "Gravity" is that Tuvok's tank top adopted the tradition of the female tank top (as seen on Janeway and B'Elanna previously) of placing two front seams along the bust:
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| VOY, 5x13 "Gravity" |
Oddly (are you surprised with "Gravity" at this point?), Tuvok's tank top seams did not follow
the model of either Janeway's or Torres' except in general placement; they neither aligned with the neckline binding at the shoulder seam or intersected with the armhole binding at any point.
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| VOY, 5x13 "Gravity" |
Furthermore, neither Tom's or Tuvok's tank tops had the cornered front neckline with mitered binding like Picard's, but they were instead rounded like Janeway's and B'Elanna's (perhaps establishing the rounded neckline as a VOY standard and the cornered/mitered neckline as a DS9/NEM standard?).
This theory is further supported by Harry's rounded tank top neckline in "The Disease" (see below).
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| VOY, 5x16 "Dark Frontier" |
A couple production weeks after "Gravity," Janeway donned her "VOY female hero undershirt" again in Voyager's feature-length episode "Dark Frontier":
The following week, Harry Kim sported his new tank top in Voyager's episode "The Disease":
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| VOY, 5x19 "The Disease" |
Also note the deep, rounded neckline, supporting our theory that rounded was the VOY standard, and the cornered neckline with mitered binding was the DS9/NEM standard.
Again, as a brief side note to provide context, the next broadcast week was Deep Space Nine's episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges," introduced the DS9/NEM formal uniforms from Insurrection into the show:
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| DS9, 7x16 "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" |
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| VOY, 5x18 "Course: Oblivion" |
That same broadcast week (same airdate, actually!), we saw Torres (er, faux-Torres) in her tank top again in Voyager's episode "Course: Oblivion":
A few broadcast weeks after that, Ezri donned her "hero T-shirt" again for the first several installments of Deep Space Nine's epic 10-part conclusion:
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| DS9, 7x17 "Penumbra" |
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DS9, 7x18
"Til Death Do Us Part" |
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DS9, 7x19
"Strange Bedfellows" |
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DS9, 7x20
"The Changing Face of Evil" |
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Only a couple days prior to Deep Space Nine's episode "The Changing Face of Evil," B'Elanna wore her tank top yet again in Voyager's episode "Juggernaut":
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| VOY, 5x21 "Juggernaut" |
Then she made some fans really happy!
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| VOY, 5x21 "Juggernaut" |
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| VOY, 5x23 "11:59" |
Lastly of note that season, Janeway sported her "VOY female hero undershirt" one more time, in Voyager's late season 5 episode "11:59":
Whew! Was that a busy production year for Starfleet uniforms, or what?!?!?
B'Elanna wore the tank top so much that The Powers That Be deemed it worth wearing in publicity photos:
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