TNG skant - Who would have worn it best?

All this TNG skant research got me wondering what The Next Generation might have been like if the entire cast had actually worn the unisex “skant” uniforms.

Well, if you’ve ever wondered the same thing, or what the cast might have looked like, I hope you enjoy this gallery of speculative cast photoshops!

THE NEXT GENERATION

We’ll start with Captain Picard, and just damn.

Is there anything Sir Patrick Stewart can’t pull off?!?

Riker’s a good sport.

I think Dr. Crusher pulls it off nicely, too.

Data probably wouldn’t care one way or the other. It’s not like he has any sense of pride, shame, or fashion.

He’d just show up to work in whatever the standard uniform was.

Geordi just looks so … ashamed. I feel like I’m invading his privacy or something.

Of course, it goes without saying that Worf looks glorious.

How about TNG’s supporting cast, though?

What if Q had shown up wearing the skant uniform, instead of the jumpsuit?

(I feel like he needs an umbrella too for some reason. I don’t know why.)

I dare say Broccoli might have had a few more issues to work through, but maybe I’m just projecting 21^st-century standards onto a more optimistic future.

I don’t think O’Brien’s feeling it.

Bonus entry for O’Brien, since he wore both red and gold that first season!

(Yeah, he’s really not feeling it.)

It’s a great look for Ensign Ro, though!

Nurse Ogawa pulls it off well, too.

I think there’s something inherently disarming about doctors, nurses, and other medical crew wearing the skants.

What about the Starfleet crew members of Deep Space Nine and Voyager that would have been in Starfleet during TNG’s first season?

DEEP SPACE NINE

Well, there’s the Sisko, who would’ve probably been a junior officer at the time of The Next Generation‘s first season (since we saw he was a lieutenant commander at the time of the battle of Wolf 359.)

I don’t think it’s a great look for him, but he’s freaking awesome enough that you just take the man seriously no matter what.

Jadzia Dax would also presumably have been a junior officer, since she was a full lieutenant when she arrived on Deep Space Nine about five-and-a-half years later.

Also, damn. 🙂

Dr. Bashir would have probably still been in medical school, since he was 27 at the time of The Next Generation‘s sixth season (making him about 21 during the time of its first season), Deep Space Nine was his assignment of choice, and he never mentioned any previous history of Starfleet service.

Nevertheless, I whipped up one for him just out of curiosity, and I think he pulls it off rather well.

Overall, though, I don’t think the DS9 crew were feeling the skants.

VOYAGER

And finally, what about the Starfleet members of the Voyager crew?

Janeway would have probably been a junior officer seven years prior to her first command – perhaps a full lieutenant?

I suppose she could’ve worn any of the three division colors; we primarily know her as the captain she became, but she also had a strong background in both the sciences and engineering …

Chakotay may have still been in Starfleet during the time of The Next Generation‘s first season. His specific backstory is a bit fuzzy; all we really know is that he left Starfleet to join the Maquis, which were formed about six years later.

Tom Paris’ backstory is similarly lacking in specifics, since we really only know that like Chakotay, he left Starfleet to join the Maquis.

Considering his apparent age (and the fact that his character was obviously based on Nicholas Locarno, also played by Robert Duncan McNeil, during The Next Generation‘s fifth season), he was likely a first-year Starfleet cadet four years prior.

However, I whipped up one for him anyway, on the off chance that he might’ve been an ensign by that point.

And finally, Tuvok may have also been in Starfleet during the time of The Next Generation‘s first season.

Yet again, his specific backstory is fuzzy (par for the course with Voyager); all we really know for sure is that he was in Starfleet during the TOS movie-era, left Starfleet for several decades, and returned at some point prior to Voyager.

According to Memory Alpha, he returned to Starfleet in 2349 (approximately fourteen years prior to The Next Generation‘s first season), but the only dialogue in the episode cited was that he’d left for “over fifty years.”

So just in case, here’s a look at what Tuvok might’ve looked like during the early TNG-era.

(Harry Kim would’ve barely been a teenager at the time of The Next Generation‘s first season, and the EMH had yet to be invented.)

FINAL THOUGHTS?

Overall, I’m glad the skants were confined to The Next Generation. The TNG crew had a sense of fun about them, and Sir Patrick Stewart just radiates nobility and dignity when playing Captain Picard no matter what costume they slap on him.

With the exception of Jadzia, the Deep Space Nine crew might’ve put up with the TNG skants – Sisko was a no-nonsense kind of guy – but they clearly were better suited (so to speak) for the uniforms they actually wore in that show.

I just don’t see the Bajorans, Cardassians, Klingons, Maquis, mirror universe, or Dominion taking them seriously in those uniforms.

If anyone could’ve make it work, though, it’d be the Sisko. He could make anything work through sheer force of will. I’d follow Sisko to the end of the universe no matter what uniform he was wearing.

As for Voyager … I hate to say it, but I think that crew wearing the TNG skants was just kind of embarrassing.

Janeway’d throw your ass in the brig if you criticized them, though.

Tuvok might’ve been able to pull it off, but only because he was so stoic.

Poor Harry in a skant would’ve just been one more thing for Tom Paris to mercilessly tease him about.

I’m sure Robert Picardo could’ve made the EMH just as delightfully entertaining in the TNG skant or any other uniform, but he hadn’t been invented yet … oh well.