Presented below are some very detailed photos of a Babs Olusanmokun screen worn Dr. M'Benga Starfleet Surgical Tunic and Pants from the new Star Trek: Strange New Worlds television series, the 8th live action adventure series in the history of the franchise, which is set to premiere on Thursday, May 5, 2022 on Paramount+. This costume was recently on display in a special Strange New Worlds exhibit at Star Trek: Mission Chicago, a ViacomCBS sponsored fan convention that took place from April 8 - 10, 2022 at the massive McCormick Place center in Chicago, Illinois. It is a beautiful design, reminiscent of the Starfleet uniforms created by William Ware Theiss that were seen in Star Trek: The Original Series, with some delightful intricate new details present, such as a subtle repeating decorative pattern that utilizes the well known TOS symbols of the crewmember's assigned starfleet division - Command, Sciences, Engineering or Medical - actually incorporated into sections of the uniform's fabric that runs along the length of the arms and shoulder areas of the tunic. This tunic appears to be an alternate form of Sciences division shirt for use by Surgeons, with a special right hand side full body length opening flap - perhaps to make the garment easier to don in the case of a medical emergency. It features the standard Starfleet Sciences delta emblem over the left breast, but also has repeating medical crosses featured in its arm and shoulder fabric. In Star Trek: The Original Series, only Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy had alternate forms of regulation duty tops - the famous wraparound tunic occasionally seen on the Captain and the short sleeve surgical tunic infrequently seen on the Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer. It is interesting that McCoy's Surgical Tunic in TOS was a slightly lighter shade of blue than the traditional Sciences Tunic color and similarly, this Strange New Worlds medic's tunic is a lighter shade of blue as well. All of the Starfleet uniforms in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are the creations of Costume Designers Bernadette Cross and Gersha Phillips in the ST:SNW Costume Department.
Special thanks to my friend and fellow Star Trek fan T.J. Babinetz, who attended the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention, for his very gracious permission to display his detailed photography of this costume in this article. Just click on any of the images below to view an enlarged version ...
Note the bands of straight edged rank braid, similar to the style featured in the first Star Trek pilot The Cage, which is different from the scalloped edge style that was instituted during the filming of the regular season episodes of TOS. Also, as will be seen in future photostudies, the color of the rank braid on these costumes will change based on Starfleet division: Command uniforms feature Gold rank braid, Science uniforms feature Blue rank braid, Engineering uniforms feature Red rank braid, and Medical uniforms feature Silver rank braid ...
