Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Next Generation Uniforms

Despite the purported (though according to the episode "The Outcast", questionable) equality of the sexes in the 24th century, the men and women serving aboard the USS Enterprise-D weren't exactly treated the same. While the men in the cast of TNG were given two-piece uniforms in season three that were more comfortable and more forgiving in terms of body size, the women were still required to wear the same old single-piece, spandex jumpsuits.

According to the producers, these one-piece uniforms were preferred by Gates McFadden and later Marina Sirtis, but it's hard to believe either one loved having to wear such formfitting attire while their male counterparts didn't.

Either way, Gates McFadden did get her own, custom uniform in season three, distinct from the ones worn by other female Starfleet officers. McFadden's version of the sciences division uniform was nearly identical to the standard costumes used on the show, but made of higher quality material that better resembled the wool gabardine jackets worn by her male costars. Owing to its unique construction, Doctor Crusher's medical blue uniform was a slightly different shade of blue, which is very obvious (perhaps due to lighting) in season four.

The discrepancy in Crusher's uniform color was corrected in later seasons, but hers is not an isolated case. Over the course of Star Trek: The Next Generation, numerous uniforms that are supposed to be the same color simply aren't, likely due to variations in the fabric dying process and the fact that, in the 80s and 90s, nobody anticipated we'd be watching this show decades later in glorious HD.