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Published Feb 26, 2013

Did Redshirts REALLY Die More Often on TOS??

Well, guess what? French and many, many red shirts like her, particularly those of the fictional kind, as seen within the original Star Trek show, are safe. In fact, they’re safer than those wearing other colors.That’s according to Matthew Barsalou, who debunked the red shirt curse for Significance Magazine by mathematically breaking down the death rates, by uniform color, of characters on the original Star Trek . A simple pie chart reveals 55 total deaths and, yes, red shirts perished in frightening numbers. A whopping 24 died, compared to 9 in yellow/gold command and 7 in blue, with 15 crossing into the final frontier in unidentified colors. However, it’s all a matter of perspective and percentages. There were 430 crewmen aboard the Enterprise, 239 of them in engineering, security or operations, and all wore red. So, in reality, they had a decent survival rate, and it was, statistically speaking – courtesy of a little something called Bayes’ theorem -- the folks in gold who were more likely to meet their maker.

Here is Barsalou’s concluding statement: “Although Enterprise crew members in redshirts suffer many more casualties than crew members in other uniforms, they suffer fewer casualties than crew members in gold uniforms when the entire population size is considered. Only 10% of the entire redshirt population was lost during the three year run of Star Trek . This is less than the 13.4% of goldshirts, but more than the 5.1% of blueshirts. What is truly hazardous is not wearing a redshirt, but being a member of the security department. The red-shirted members of security were only 20.9% of the entire crew, but there is a 61.9% chance that the next casualty is in a redshirt and 64.5% chance this red-shirted victim is a member of the security department. The remaining redshirts, operations and engineering make up the largest single population, but only have an 8.6% chance of being a casualty.”

Click HERE to read the full story in Significance Magazine and, in the meantime, consider this question: Even with Barsalou’s contentions, would you dare to be caught dead in red?

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Redshirt Deaths in TOS

In The Original Series under Captain Kirk's command, Enterprise crew members of "minor importance" were frequently killed by hostile aliens or in freak accidents, in landing parties as well as aboard the ship. Purportedly most of them wore the red uniform shirt of the engineering/security department, which earned the stock character of an expendable crewman the name "Redshirt" in popular culture. The following is a complete list of all casualties during the original Enterprise's five-year mission, with some interesting statistics.

List of Casualties

We could witness the deaths of the following crew members on screen, or they were reported to have died. The casualties are listed in chronological order (by production numbers).

"Resurrection"

The following crew member was dead by 23rd century medical standards but was brought back to life.

• Montgomery Scott was killed and later revived by Nomad in "The Changeling".

Illusory deaths

The deaths of the following crew members turned out to be just illusions. Unsurprisingly no member of the principal recurring cast of TOS ever remained dead.

• Angela Martine-Teller and Leonard McCoy appeared to have been killed in "Shore Leave".
• Pavel Chekov's death turned out an illusion in "Spectre of the Gun".

56 crew members can be confirmed to have died on the original Enterprise's five-year mission (or, to be precise, during the about three years shown in TOS). This gives us 0.7 casualties per episode, or roughly one casualty every three weeks. 26 of those 55 killed men or women were wearing a red shirt or an equivalent red engineering/security uniform. Considering that the shirt color of 15 deceased crew members remains unknown (because they were killed off screen or were not wearing a standard uniform), redshirts easily make up more than 50% of all casualties. The myth that more redshirts than other colors are killed can be confirmed. Some of the redshirts were engineers but most performed the duty of a security officer, which may be rated as intrinsically more dangerous and more likely lethal.

Looking at the subtotals we can notice that in season 1 only 4 crew members with red shirts were killed, 4 wearing blue shirts and as many as 7 with gold/yellow shirts. Considering that a couple of the two latter groups effectively acted as security officers, especially in "The Man Trap", it is possible that the red color for this department was not yet set in stone at the time. Season 2 had by far the most redshirt deaths of the series, 16 altogether. 12 of those 16 were killed in just three episodes, "The Changeling", "The Apple" and "Obsession".

Only 4 women were killed under Kirk's command, as opposed to 39 men. This is significantly less than the ratio of female to male Enterprise crew members. Considering that in the 1960s women were obviously not deemed fit for a position in the security department with its high casualty rate, the low number of female deaths appears plausible though.

The clearly most common cause of death among Kirk's crew was an attack or sabotage by aliens (38 casualties). 12 crew members died in accidents, but if we take into account that as many as 9 perished when the ship crossed the Galactic Barrier in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", accidents were otherwise not that common at all. 6 of the crew died of diseases. Regarding the places in which crew members were killed, the Enterprise proved to be just as unsafe (29 casualties) as the surface of an unexplored planet (27).

Further Commentary

The fact that the majority of the crew members that died during TOS wore a red shirt is indisputable. This doesn't mean that they are also most likely to be killed, however. There is a lot of disagreement about this question because there are various figures that the crew deaths may be referred to in order to calculate a probability.

Several articles come to the conclusion that other colors (usually gold shirts) are more likely to be killed, based on the assumption that more than 50% of Kirk's 400 or 430 crew members are redshirts. This is hard to verify because we usually see crew members besides the main characters in specific roles with specific shirt colors, which may not be representative of the crew as a whole. Yellow is quite common on the bridge, red is prevalent in engineering, sickbay is all-blue. We may want to leave such places aside, and also situations that specifically require the presence of science, medical, security or engineering personnel. If we focus on random encounters in corridors or recreation rooms, my impression is that a slight majority are gold shirts, followed by blue and red. A definite figure of 239 engineering, security and operations personnel in red on the Enterprise is sometimes cited as proof for their prevalence in articles, yet this comes from the non-canon Star Fleet Technical Manual .

There are also attempts to calculate a probability of landing party members to be killed on an alien planet. As I already summed up above, the Enterprise seems to be just as dangerous a place for the crew. Still, we may focus on those that beam down, and we may choose to exclude the main characters, who naturally always survive. In this case, the percentage of the many redshirts that die may be lower than that of the overall fewer blue and yellow shirts in landing parties.

TOS Episodes

Biography Inconsistencies - gaps in biographies and other anomalies

Some facts are from Memory Alpha , the HD screen caps are taken from TrekCore . Thanks to Frank Bitterhof for the hint about the technicians in "The Changeling" and the suggestion to declare Leslie's death in "Obsession".

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/database/redshirt_deaths.htm

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Lt. Leslie, killed by a dikironium cloud creature on Argus X in TOS: Obsession; he later recovered

Two redshirts in TOS: The Changeling, attack the hostile Nomad ...

...only to be killed for trying...

...before it kills two more

Redshirt is a term used by fans and staff of Star Trek to refer partially to the characters who wear red Starfleet uniforms , and mainly to refer to those characters who are expendable, and quite often killed, sometimes in great numbers, often security guards. They are the unlucky victims of attacks and sicknesses. Some redshirts could have referred to a lucky set of crew members with privileged jobs, such as a captain or a bridge crew member who never died.

In the era regularly depicted in Star Trek: The Original Series , red uniforms were worn by members of the operations division . The duties they normally performed were in security , engineering , or other Support Services (such as communications officers , administrators, and yeomen ) aboard starships and starbases .

Of these, the security personnel were quite expendable, because the Security And Tactical Division was an inherently high-risk assignment. TOS : " The Changeling " and " The Apple ", in TOS Season 2 , both featured four security redshirts dying in each episode. "The Changeling" has the most anonymity involved; all but one of the redshirts that die are unnamed ( 1 - 2 - 3 ), the other being Carlisle . (The Nomad probe, after its merger with the Tan Ru probe, also "killed" Montgomery Scott, but was kind enough to restore him at Kirk's request.)

In "The Apple," Kaplan , Marple , Hendorff , and Mallory were all on one security team , killed one-by-one by the dangers of Gamma Trianguli VI .

In " Obsession ", the dikironium cloud creature kills three security guards that are shown, all in red shirts, including Ensign Rizzo . One redshirt, however, is lucky enough to be transported to the Enterprise in critical condition. (The creature also kills one crewman aboard the ship, but the precise color of his shirt is never shown.) One of the vampire cloud's victims does not quite count – Lt. Leslie would have been a fourth redshirt killed in the outing, but a mention of him surviving was cut from the episode's final edit. He clearly appears in later episodes, so it is probable that he either has an identical twin brother, perhaps even two identical triplet brothers or three identical quadruplet brothers, or that he did indeed survive the attack.

In " By Any Other Name ", the first female redshirt to die was Yeoman Leslie Thompson . (The infamous "Get A Life" sketch from when William Shatner hosted Saturday Night Live makes her being reduced to a polyhedral shape, which then gets crushed, thereby killing her, one of its jokes.)

TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before " is the first to feature a redshirt and has the most associated deaths; twelve crew people were lost, nine of whom died instantly at the galactic barrier , and three more of the twelve victims perished in events at Delta Vega . We saw only the latter three die on screen, but we know that none of them were technically redshirts, as there were no red uniforms of the design they used in that episode, reused from TOS : " The Cage " (which, itself, featured three off-screen deaths). The operations division was wearing beige (probably described officially as "sand") at this point.

TOS : " The Tholian Web " showed the USS Defiant crew dead, with much being redshirts, making it the only non- Enterprise ship to showcase redshirts.

As portrayed in TNG: Genesis, Ensign Dern died in 2370

A DS9 crewman killed in 2371, as seen in DS9: Civil Defense

None of the officers were really killed in Star Trek: The Animated Series , but Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced a new twist to the "redshirt" lore, as the uniform colors switched and operations division wore the gold, or rather bronze, uniforms while the command division took on the red shirts. They also became likely to die; a theme of crew deaths was dominated by the continuous loss of their conn officer . Lieutenant Torres probably survived TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ", but the TNG era lost Haskell , Monroe , Dern , Nell Chilton , Hawk , and Branson . Notably, Haskell, despite manning the conn officer position, wore command division red.

Non- Enterprise crew redshirts hardly fared any better, demonstrating an alarming propensity for being killed, possessed and/or otherwise coming to bad ends. Notable examples included Captain Tryla Scott , Commander Dexter Remmick , and the entire Senior Admiralty at Starfleet Command , who were taken over by alien parasites in " Conspiracy ". Admiral Mark Jameson was killed by a de-aging medicine overdose he administered to himself in " Too Short A Season ", Captain Donald Varley was blown up in the USS Yamato in " Contagion ", Calvin Hutchinson was killed by a renegade Arkarian in " Starship Mine ", Admiral Erik Pressman was arrested in disgrace for violating the Treaty of Algeron in " The Pegasus ", and Admiral Dougherty was murdered by his Son'a co-conspirators in Star Trek: Insurrection .

The only TNG episodes to feature death in large numbers had to do with the Borg . TNG : " Q Who ", " The Best of Both Worlds ", and " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II " noted eighteen off-screen deaths, although the latter probably totaled a few more in later scenes.

The Security And Tactical Division remained a high-risk assignment in TNG, despite their change to the gold/bronze color. Natasha Yar , the first Chief of Security of the USS Enterprise -D, was killed by Armus very early in the series (namely, in TNG : " Skin Of Evil ").

The Star Trek films kept the crew losses low for the most part, but the TOS era installments were dominated by redshirt deaths, as the dominant uniform style featured all personnel wearing red. Star Trek Generations noted that crew losses from the destruction of the 1701-D were low. However, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek: First Contact , and Star Trek Nemesis all featured scores of battle-related crew deaths. As noted, the The Wrath of Khan losses were all redshirts, but the TNG losses were more varied, while continuing their pattern of conn officer attrition. It should also be noted that Spock and Kirk died in The Wrath of Khan and Generations , respectively – and in each movie, the officers wore red uniform shirts.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine featured many security personnel – such as Ensign Gordon in DS9 : " Rocks and Shoals " – and engineers dying, sometimes in large numbers. However, while this maintains the tradition of TOS's most dangerous areas to work, these officers wore yellow shirts by this era. There was no pattern of redshirted crew loss until command officers were noted as dying in the war story arcs that dominated the last half of the series. However, the first known redshirt death on DS9 came when an unnamed officer was killed in Ops by the Cardassian counter-insurgency program in " Civil Defense ". The redshirted conn officer of the USS Defiant also was killed during the ship's first battle with Dominion forces, in " The Search, Part I ". Another good example of typical redshirts on DS9 can be seen in " Empok Nor ". In the Dominion War especially, entire fleets of starships were biting the dust, indiscriminate of shirt color.

Lt. Stadi died at her post in VOY: Caretaker

In Star Trek: Voyager , the crew members who initially died on screen were wearing red uniforms, such as Stadi (who was another conn officer) and Cavit . However, over the seasons of Voyager , it became clear gold was a dangerous color in the Delta Quadrant , with most officer victims who died in the series doing so while clad in gold uniforms. Because USS Voyager had no way to replace crew, the only massive number of deaths took place in alternate timelines , with the two exceptions being the first episode, in which a large number of the senior staff were killed when the Caretaker's array displaced Voyager , and a situation in the second season episode " Deadlock " wherein both the crew and the ship were duplicated, with one of the Voyagers being destroyed not long after, along with its entire crew.

In Star Trek: Enterprise , more engineers and MACOs were lost than officers from any other division. In the case of the MACOs, this was consistent with their evolution into the Starfleet security forces. Both branches wore red as a department color (although MACOs seemed to wear splatter camouflage more than anything).

Engineer Olson falls to his death

Multiple redshirts killed by Manas

In the rebooted continuity beginning with the film Star Trek , all Starfleet Academy cadets wear red. However, Enterprise Chief Engineer Olson , prominently wearing a red space diving suit, became the first notable redshirt death in the alternate reality , as depicted in the aforementioned film.

In Star Trek Into Darkness , Kirk tells Hendorff and another security officer to "lose the red shirts" for their mission to Qo'noS to prevent them from being identified as Starfleet officers. Doing so apparently helps, as neither officer dies during the mission. At another point, Kirk tells Chekov to don a red shirt when he's replacing Montgomery Scott , which Chekov shows obvious reluctance to.

In Star Trek Beyond , multiple redshirts are killed in the Battle of Altamid . As swarm ships lodged in the Enterprise hull, boarding parties, led by Manas , were sent aboard and killed numerous crew members. Several crew members were also left " drained " of their life signs in attacks from Krall .

Appendices [ ]

See also [ ].

• Star Trek parodies and pop culture references

Background information [ ]

Writer David Gerrold

Writer/Producer Mike Sussman

David Gerrold has often joked that the character he played in DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations " must have been the luckiest redshirt ever, to have lived long enough for his hair to have turned gray. ( citation needed • edit )

Star Trek: Enterprise producer and writer Michael Sussman , a longtime fan himself, fulfilled a lifelong dream by putting on an original series red shirt to portray a dead crewman aboard the USS Defiant in " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II ". Sussman's trousers were the same ones worn by Gerrold during his DS9 cameo some eight years prior (Gerrold's name was stitched in them). Sussman's TOS -style boots had been worn previously by Avery Brooks .

"RedShirt" is the default player's name in the multi-player portion of the game Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force .

Issue #13 of IDW Publishing 's Star Trek: Ongoing comic series, " Hendorff ", explores how redshirts perceive themselves.

A recent talk at New York's Museum of Mathematics entitled "Star Trek: The Math of Khan" explored the probability that redshirts are more likely to die in TOS . By determining how many redshirts were aboard the ship at any one time, they were able to figure out though 58% of the dead were redshirts, only 10% of total redshirts died, as opposed to 18% of gold shirts and 6% of blue shirts. As for those in security positions, 20% died. [1]

In his review of Star Trek: First Contact , Star Trek author Keith R.A. DeCandido describes Lieutenant Hawk 's character as the film's "redshirt". [2]

Cultural references [ ]

The icon of the doomed redshirted crewman has to an extent nestled itself in the awareness of the general public and has been translated into a number of other pop culture and literary media and parodies .

Redshirt gingerbread cookies

One of the comics features Jason Fox offering his sister Paige gingerbread men decorated with Star Trek uniforms, all in red.

On Futurama , redshirted engineer Welshie was killed

Happy Tree Friends to be added

Further reading [ ]

• "Under the Microscope: He's dead, Jim", Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 11 , March 2000, pp. 42-43; A lighthearted analysis of just how many redshirts were killed in the making of the Original Series .

External links [ ]

• Redshirt at Wikipedia
• Redshirt at TV Tropes
• Redshirt at Lostpedia
• Star Trek Death - a pictoral analysis of TOS crewmen deaths
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 2 Jamaharon

Star Trek: Who Was the First Redshirt? (It's Complicated)

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Redshirts -- anonymous Star Trek crew members who always seemed to die so that the series regulars might live -- didn’t develop overnight. The trope started as an in-joke among hard-core Star Trek fans , who noticed that the preponderance of these crewmen wore red shirts. The fan joke turned into a trend, then a trope, and now it is a signature part of Star Trek 's universe .

It was an inadvertent side effect of The Original Series ' process of world-building, and it didn't become apparent until later in the show's run. That leaves the origins of the term a little muddied. Not to mention the question of who the first redshirt was and how they died. It depends on how the term is defined and the way it applies to Star Trek . Thankfully, the candidates and their respective demises aren’t difficult to chart.

Redshirts are loosely defined as characters specifically created to be killed to demonstrate the nature or intensity as a threat. Such characters never last more than a single episode, and series regulars don’t mention them once they’re gone. The term stems from the preponderance of crewmen fitting the description who wore red uniforms instead of yellow or blue ones.

RELATED: Star Trek: What The Next Generation Did During the Dominion War

This was largely for in-universe reasons. In The Original Series , security and engineering personnel wore red uniforms. Since they faced the greatest dangers and hazards, they suffered the highest casualties. 26 red-shirted extras were killed in the series compared to seven characters wearing blue shirts and eight wearing yellow. Not every character killed in the classic “redshirt” manner wore a red shirt in The Original Series . Indeed, crewmen wearing red shirts weren’t killed any more or less often than any other crewmen in the series’ first season. Only four literal red shirts were killed in Season 1, compared to four blue shirts and seven yellow shirts. The other 22 died in Seasons 2 and 3, meaning that the trope didn’t really get started until later in Star Trek’s run.

All of this leads to four distinct answers to who the first Star Trek redshirt was and, thus, how they died. The most straightforward answer is Lieutenant Lee Kelso in the show’s pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” He served as the ship’s navigator and was strangled by helmsman Gary Mitchell under the influence of the strange energies of the galactic barrier. Kelso served in the ship’s operations division. While the uniforms in the pilot were less distinctive than they became on the regular series, it qualifies him as the first redshirt.

The pilot, however, features several incongruities with the show’s eventual incarnation. As the originating show, any characters' death blurs the distinction between a redshirt and a more developed supporting cast member. Without previous context, it’s hard to differentiate Kelso from Mitchell, who was not a redshirt as the episode’s antagonist.

RELATED: Star Trek's Gates McFadden Is Ready to Revamp Beverly Crusher

Jumping forward into the regular series clarifies matters somewhat. Season 1, Episode 5, “The Man Trap,” featured Crewman Darnell, a medical assistant who beams down to the planet’s surface with Kirk and McCoy. Although the three of them appear while Kirk’s voiceover explains their mission, it doesn’t mention Darnell, only McCoy. The salt vampire murders Darnell before the opening credits, confirming the first redshirt's birth. The only difficulty is that Darnell’s uniform is blue, not red, making him a symbolic rather than literal redshirt.

That comes in Season 1, Episode 9, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” when two security officers -- Matthews and Rayburn -- beam down with the away team and are murdered by the planet’s resident android. Matthews is dispatched first in the order, but his death takes place offscreen, while Rayburn is the first of them killed in full view of the audience.

The question of who came first is further muddled by the release date since “The Man Trap” aired before “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” despite being produced later. Syndication compounded the matter, meaning that many of Star Trek's early fans couldn't be sure which redshirt was first. It’s indicative of the strange way Star Trek developed and how its universe was refined slowly over time, reflecting the unvarnished nature of the series in its early days.

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8 Nastiest Star Trek Redshirt Deaths

Cannon fodder through the years

Star Trek has always needed random crewmembers to die during its missions.

With a few exceptions, the main characters don’t get offed, so this lot – with their name taken from the red security/operations shirts worn by crew in Captain Kirk’s time - ended up on the losing end of confrontations with aliens, monsters, anomalies and, er, plants.

We’re glad to see that JJ Abrams is keeping this fine tradition going in the new film, so we thought we’d celebrate just a few that the various series have lost through the years…

[page-break]

1. Crewman Hendorff

Episode: ‘The Apple’ (Star Trek, Season Two)

Actor: Mal Friedman

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Death by: Killer plant.

Captain’s log: While other crewmembers are murderlised before him, Hendorff has the distinction of being among the group of four redshirted crewmembers who die in the space of one episode, launching the pop cultural sensation that is the red shirt.

Beaming down to Gamma Trianguli VI, Hendorff notices a spiky, colourful plant moving in his peripheral vision. Because he thinks plants can’t kill people, he naturally goes to investigate.

One lethal spore shot later, he's a goner. Be warned, kids: flora can kill!

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Mr and Mrs Hendorff. I must sadly inform you that your son, whose first name escapes me at this juncture, has been killed by a vengeful vegetable on Gamma Trianguli VI.

We are therefore opening the Hendorff Memorial Garden on the ship in his name and would like to invite you on a free trip to visit the charming display of Venus Flytraps and Triffids we have on display.

Please note, the pass is good for one visit only, and is valid for one single space year. Yours, James T. Kirk, Captain.” [page-break]

2. Security Officer Matthews

Episode: ‘What Are Little Girls Made Of’ (Star Trek, Season One)

Actor: Vince Deadrick (good name!)

Death by: Sudden deceleration.

Captain’s log: Matthews accompanies the captain and nurse Christine Chapel down to the surface of the planet Exo III.

Unfortunately for Matthews, his time on the barren rock doesn’t last very long as he’s shoved (offscreen - the indignity!) into a bottomless pit by an android who looks a lot like Lurch from the Addams Family TV show. Which might be because he’s played by Ted Cassidy, who had that role.

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Mrs Matthews, I am writing to inform you of the tragic loss of your son.

He was an exemplary officer who was sadly killed when he fell into an endless cavern.

I was going to ask that you instruct any surviving children to stay away from the edge of bottomless holes, but it turns out he was murderlised by an android.

Still, safety is important, so think about it. Yours, James T. Kirk, Captain.”[page-break]

3. Lieutenant Leslie

Episode: ‘Obsession’ (Star Trek, Season Two)

Actor: Eddie Paskey

Death by: Extreme blood loss.

Captain’s log: Quite possibly the most accident-prone red shirt in Trek history, Leslie was, during his time on the Enterprise, knocked unconscious through psychic power, infected with more than one nasty virus and, um, turned into a solid block of matter.

If that wasn’t enough, his encounter with the dikironium cloud creature saw him sucked dry of red corpuscles. Not a good way to go.

There’s a happy ending, though – while he was presumed dead, he recovered and managed to appear in a few more episodes. Lucky git.

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Mr and Mrs Leslie, I regret to inform you of the death of your son.

He has been an adaptable member of my crew for years now, seemingly turning his hand to every part of ship life, including, I’m sorry to say, death. Hang on – there’s someone at my door.

Oh. I’m now informed that he’s alive again. Sorry for the inconvenience, hope this message didn’t cause undue worry. Yours, James T. Kirk, Captain.”[page-break]

4. Ensign O’Hierly

Episode: ‘Arena’ (Star Trek, Season One)

Actor: Jerry Ayres

Death by: Reptile.

Captain’s log: O’Hierly beams down alongside Kirk, Spock, Dr McCoy and several other expendable (though thoughtfully red shirt-free) security types. So guess who gets it in the neck?

Yes, the unfortunate ensign is quickly disintegrated by Gorn soldiers - large, humanoid lizard types with a lust for combat and armour that looks like they made it out of squashed bottle tops.

O'Hierly briefly looks like he's overdosed on Ready Brek but at least he got to appear in one of the series’ most famous episodes.

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Mrs O’Hierly. I must sadly inform you that your Starfleet-serving son has been wiped from existence by the disintergrator cannon of a walking lizard.

Such hazards are common here among the stars, but he displayed a notable lack of tactical thinking by standing up in clear sight and shouting that he’s seen the enemy.

So, really, it was his fault all along. Yours, James T. Kirk, Captain.”[page-break]

5. Lieutenant Van Mayter

Episode: ‘In Theory’’ (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season Four)

Actor: Georgina Shore

Death by: Decking.

Captain’s log: Poor Lt (Junior Grade) Van Mayter. One minute she’s calmly performing her duties, helping Commander La Forge investigate a series of dark matter deformations that are causing holes to appear in the ship randomly, the next… she’s in one.

Van Mayter’s death is never actually seen on screen – the budget conscious producers chose to simply have her appear half sunk into the deck. Not good for the body, that.

And she’s only an engineer, to boot – the poor woman didn’t even sign up for truly dangerous security work.

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Mr Van Mayter, Your wife has tragically met her end here on the Enterprise D. I won’t got into details, but suffice to say, she’s half the woman she was.

Just a little joke to lighten the grief, there. We have decided to leave her where she is, just with a freshly replicated tablecloth draped over her so no one stumbles across her – literally.

You are welcome to take the next shuttlecraft out and lay flowers on her head. Yours, Jean-Luc Picard, Captain.”[page-break]

6. Lieutenant Hawk

Movie: Star Trek: First Contact

Actor: Neal McDonough

Death by: Borg.

Captain’s log: The highest profile actor (which isn’t saying much) to feature as a short-lived character, McDonough played Hawk in the Borg-infested pic.

He survives a decent amount of time given the red nature of his shirt, and even gets to accompany Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Worf on to the surface of the Enterprise as they attempt to stop the Borg from turning the ship’s deflector dish into a communications unit.

Naturally, he gets stopped by the techno-aliens and assimilated. Shortly after, he crops up as a Borg and tries to smash Picard’s spacesuit faceplate, before being shot by Worf and drifting off into space, never to be seen again.

McDonough just starred in the latest Mortal Kombat movie, which has likely had the same fatal effect on his career.

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Mr and Mrs Hawk, You son – Liam, Neal, Ren or whatever the hell his name is (stupid multiple sources) was killed by the Borg.

All of us on the Enterprise want you to know how valued he was as a crewmember, even if he did give in far too easily and nearly kill me.

If you wish to sue someone for his untimely passing, please see The Borg, C/O The Delta Quadrant, Space. Yours, Jean-Luc Picard, Captain.”[page-break]

7. Lieutenant Peter Durst

Episode: ‘Faces’ (Star Trek Voyager, Season One)

Actor: Brian Markinson

Death by: Facelift.

Captain’s log: Peter Durst is one of the few redshirts (actually gold, since he was an operations office on Voyager) to have both a first name and appear more than once.

Despite these seemingly life-giving qualities, he met his end at the hands of a Vidian surgeon named Sulan. The Vidians were a race infected with the Phage, a deadly, DNA-noshing virus.

But Sulan had even nastier ambitions – aiming to sex up his captive, Chief Engineer B’Elanna Torres, Sulan killed Durst and grafted his face on to his own. The result? Not exactly romantic.

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Mrs Durst. Your husband died honourably while on duty with the USS Voyager.

However, while he was killed and his body stripped for organs (he stupidly had his organ donor card on him at the time), we feel that since the surgeon who carried out the deed stole his face, he’s not technically dead. At least as long as we remember him.

Therefore you won’t receive his pension. Yours, Kathryn Janeway, Captain.”[page-break]

Episode: ‘ Where No Fan Has Gone Before’ (Futurama, Season Four)

Actor: David Herman (voice)

Death by: Nerdy, gaseous energy being.

Captain’s log: A little bit of fun for the final entry, from one of the greatest Trek parodies ever shoved on screen.

Welshie is a character supposedly recruited for new Star Trek episodes created in the 2200s because James Doohan couldn’t yodel the tunes required of the musical shows.

In reality, the then-living Doohan refused to take part in the parody alongside his colleagues.

He gets killed by Mellvar, a super-powerful fan of the original series.

Sample from death note to family: “Dear Cousin Welsh, We’re really sorry that Welsh – or, “Welshie” as he liked to be known (we’re not sure why) died.

We didn’t have anything to do with it – it was a living blob of gas called Mellvar and he’s mean. Don’t worry – his mum is dealing with him. Yours, James T. Kirk, Captain.”

Like This? Then try...

• The 6 Original Star Trek Movie Trailers
• The 25 Greatest Star Trek Movie Moments
• The evolution of the Starship Enterprise

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Star Trek's Redshirt Death Trope Explained

When braving the farthest reaches of space, you'd hope that something as simple as your outfit wouldn't impact your likelihood of survival. We're not talking about spacesuits that keep your eyeballs getting sucked from their sockets. We mean the color scheme. Unfortunately, that was precisely the case in the early days of "Star Trek," when wearing a red shirt aboard the Enterprise meant a sealed fate for some. As part of the security or engineering departments, cracking out the crimson threads really was like having a bullseye on your back, just waiting to be hit by the phaser blast or alien threat that Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and crew were dealing with that week.

Their deaths weren't in vain, though. These red-wearing crew members who went down in the line of duty were thrown into the crossfire to demonstrate the severity of the situation. How would audiences find out how lethal the creature of the week was or how evil the newest foe of Starfleet could be without someone getting iced? What's the alternative? Kill one of the core cast, like the captain or Spock (Leonard Nimoy)? Are you out of your Vulcan mind? These walking warning signs had to take the hit. But while these casualties of space exploration may have become synonymous with being killed off on one of the most iconic entries in science fiction, it turns out that redshirts weren't as cursed as fans might think.

Goldshirts had a higher risk level than redshirts in Star Trek

While redshirts were seen as guaranteed casualties in the original "Star Trek" series, some clever calculations reveal that these officers were luckier than the higher-ups in Starfleet. According to one study from mathematician James Grime, who gave a talk at the Museum of Mathematics in 2017 (via Space.com ), wearing gold came with a more considerable risk than wearing red. During the event, which was brilliantly titled "Star Trek: The Math of Khan," Grime revealed that after going off "The Star Trek Technical Manual," which logs 239 redshirts who appear on the show, only 25 die — a pretty minimal 10% of that division. However, when it comes to the 55 goldshirts that appear on the series, 10 never make it through an episode, which equates to 18%.

By Grime's calculations, then, redshirts, while high in casualties on the show, have a lower loss rate from their group in comparison to goldshirts. Even so, it did very little to shake the stigma that had, by that time, stuck with "Star Trek" for about 50 years. Now, "redshirt" remains a pillar in pop culture terminology. If there's a keen crew member of a sci-fi or fantasy series waiting to get in on the action, it won't matter who they're fighting for. In the eyes of a "Star Trek" fan, they're wearing only red.

DS9 Gave Star Trek's Red Shirt Death Problem A Greater Meaning

• "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" fixed the franchise's "redshirt" trope by giving death a greater meaning, ensuring that dying in DS9 had consequences.
• The death of Kai Opaka in "Battle Lines" had a lasting impact on DS9, shaping the show's first big story arc and paving the way for its acclaimed storylines.
• By exploring the consequences of death, DS9 added weight and gravitas to the ongoing story of Star Trek, driving the series forward to this day.

As far back as season 1, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fixed the franchise's notorious "redshirt" trope by giving death a greater meaning. Risking one's life is part and parcel of Starfleet's mission to seek out strange new worlds, but death very rarely had lasting consequences in Star Trek 's early days. The deaths of David Marcus (Merritt Butrick) and Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in the Star Trek: The Original Series movies are notable instances of tragedies that impacted the journeys of the main characters. So too is the TOS episode "Obsession", in which Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) seeks revenge for the tragedy aboard the USS Farragut.

All that being said, the "redshirt" trope exists for a reason, and it's because of how frequently unnamed security and engineering officers were killed off in Star Trek: The Original Series . 55 crew members died during TOS ' three-season run between 1966 and 1969. 24 of the 55 dead crew members were wearing red shirts, leading to the color red becoming a bad omen in the Star Trek universe. Star Trek: The Next Generation 's major death in season 1 went some way to subverting this trope, when it killed off series regular Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby). However, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine went even further, ensuring that death in DS9 had consequences.

DS9 Fixed Star Trek's "Redshirt" Death Problem

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1, episode 13, "Battle Lines" is all about death, as Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and an away team crash-land on a planet where nobody can die. This means that the war currently ravaging the planet will never end. It's a classic Star Trek allegory about the futility and cyclical nature of military conflict, but it's given extra meaning when one of DS9 's recurring characters is killed off early in the episode. Originally, "Battle Lines" would have featured a "redshirt" character that would be killed off in the shuttle crash, but the idea was abandoned in favor of killing off one of the existing DS9 characters instead.

Kai Opaka (Camille Saviola) was selected as the recurring character who was " most expendable. " Opaka's death gives "Battle Lines" way more impact than if a nameless "redshirt" had been killed instead. Both Sisko and Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) are rocked by the death, given Opaka's position as Bajor's spiritual leader. When she's later resurrected by the planet's atmosphere, she stays behind to negotiate peace, as she will die permanently upon leaving the planet. Opaka's death hasn't been magically "cured" by Star Trek science, it's permanent, and it has a lasting impact on DS9 .

DS9's Big Season 1 Death Set Up Its First Star Trek Arc

Not only did Kai Opaka's death lend "Battle Lines" more gravitas, it shaped Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's first big story arc. DS9 had been designed to better explore the consequences of Starfleet's continuing mission. And so, the story of Deep Space Nine after "Battle Lines" is squarely focused on the political and spiritual vacuum created by Opaka's death. It's a storyline that would both bring DS9 season 1 to a close, and set up season 2's three-part opener.

It's therefore tempting to view the death of Kai Opaka and the ramifications for Bajor as a dry run for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Dominion War arc. In taking the time to explore the consequences of death in Star Trek , DS9 paved the way for its most acclaimed storylines. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1 established that this would be a show that would not take death lightly, and therefore added a weight and gravitas to the ongoing story of Star Trek that continues to drive it to this day.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

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Star trek called out the red-shirt trope with a heartbreaking death.

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A popular Star Trek trope, that of the “dead red shirt ,” got called out with a heartbreaking death in a 1991 comic. Captain Kirk is piecing together a memorial service for a fallen Enterprise crew member–one of the infamous red shirts; at the funeral, Kirk gives a eulogy, one that calls out the seemingly endless stream of expendable crew members that were a hallmark of the classic Star Trek show.

Throughout its 56-year history, Star Trek has contributed much to popular culture, from phrases such as “Beam Me Up Scotty” (which was ironically never spoken on the show) to memes inspired by some of the show’s tropes. One of Star Trek’s best-known tropes is the “red shirt,” inspired by the red uniforms worn by the Enterprise’ security officers . In nearly every episode of classic Star Trek , Kirk and company would beam down to a planet with a complement of low-ranking security officers and by episode’s end, at least one of those officers would die. It happened so often that fans took notice, creating an endless stream of memes about the “red shirts.” During writer Peter David’s long-tenure on DC’s Star Trek comic, this trope got a call-out under some truly heartbreaking circumstances.

Related: Kirk Only Commands the Enterprise Because of a Minor Star Trek Character

Star Trek #19 by Peter David and Gordon Purcell opens with Kirk attempting to write a eulogy for Ensign Lee, who was killed by pirates trying to hijack the Enterprise . Kirk realizes he knows nothing about Lee, and talks to other officers to try and get the bigger picture. Chekov, Lee’s commanding officer, admits he knew very little about Lee and other crew members are not much help either. At Lee’s memorial service, Kirk begins by reading a standard Starfleet eulogy, but breaks the script. He goes on to say that no one knew Lee–and this is not acceptable. Kirk refers to Lee as “ just another expendable security guard who won’t come back. ” Kirk regrets that he did not know Lee–despite the latter saving his life. Kirk concludes his eulogy saying that while they are exploring space, they must not lose sight of each other, because “ the death of even one of us, diminishes us all .”

At this point, the dead red shirt meme is used mostly for comedy, but Kirk reminds here that it is no laughing matter. Ensign Lee becomes a stand-in for all the red-shirted crew members killed by alien salt vampires or rogue AIs. In this story, Lee was mysterious; no one on the ship knew much about him beyond his name. Many of the red shirts that would beam down with Kirk and Spock just got names, if even that–viewers never got the chance to know them and Kirk’s eulogy calls that fact out. Kirk used the word “expendable” when describing Ensign Lee, and the eulogy goes into meta territory, almost as if Kirk himself knows about the red shirt meme–and is not happy with it.

Later generations of Star Trek writers have retired the red shirt trope. While deaths still happen on away missions, they do not occur as frequently, but this one Star Trek comic was ahead of the curve, calling the red shirt trope out in a heartbreaking way.

Next: New Star Trek Series Is Officially a Deep Space Nine Sequel

Trek Analysis: The Red-Shirt Phenomenon

By chris higgins | aug 6, 2007.

Here's one for the old-school Star Trek fans. Matt Bailey of SiteLogic has posted data and an in-depth analysis of red-shirt deaths on the original series. Bailey comes from a web analytics background -- a domain concerned with measuring web traffic and analyzing data to recognize and exploit trends. By applying these techniques to the Trek data, Bailey uncovers some surprising trends in the data. Here are some samples from the article:

Data Segmentation: However, we need to segment the overall mortality (conversion) rate in order to gain the specific information that we need: Yellow-shirt crewperson deaths: 6 (10%) Blue-Shirt crewperson deaths: 5 (8 %) Engineering smock crewperson deaths: 4 Red-Shirt crewperson deaths: 43 (73%)

Q: What causes a red-shirted crewman to die? On-board incident - 42.5% Beaming down to the planet - 57.5%

Besides not beaming down, another factor that showed to increase the survival rate of the red-shirts was the nature of the relationship between the alien life and captain Kirk. When Captain Kirk meets an alien woman and "makes contact" the survival rate of the red-shirted crewmen increases by 84%. In fact, out of Captain Kirks' 24 "relationships" there were only three instances of red-shirt vaporization.

Read the full article for more, including advanced analysis showing the complex relationship between Kirk's conquests and red-shirt death. See also: Wikipedia on red-shirts .

The Percentage Of 'Star Trek' Deaths By Shirt Color, Visualized

"Star Trek" fans use the term " redshirt " to refer to anonymous, expendable security guards and other low-level Starfleet employees who get killed on the series to move the plot along. But is the idea that characters in red shirts are most likely to die on "Star Trek" actually backed by data?

In order to see whether this trope actually holds water, Reddit user LodlopSeputhChakk has broken down all the characters who die in the "Star Trek" series by the color of shirt they're wearing :

Based on  u/LodlopSeputhChakk's chart , red-shirt-wearing officers do indeed make up the largest percentage of deaths on the "Star Trek" series. Red shirt deaths, however, only lead by a small margin: red-shirted officers may claim 32.3% of "Star Trek" deaths, but officers wearing yellow shirts also take up 29.1%.

The close race between red and yellow shirt deaths may be explained by a uniform color change that occurred between series. While the security personnel of "The Original Series" wore red and the commanding officers wore gold, the colors were switched on "The Next Generation," according to "Star Trek" wiki Memory Alpha . 

And as YouTuber EC Henry has  pointed out , it's actually not entirely accurate to assume red shirts have the highest fatality rates in Starfleet. If you look at the overall number of characters who wear red shirts in "The Original Series" and compare them to the ones who were killed off, redshirt characters actually have a higher survival rate than, say, characters wearing blue or gold shirts, who are much smaller in number.

[Via Reddit ]

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A Sobering Compilation of Red Shirt Deaths in the Original ‘Star Trek’ Series

• June 14, 2022

John DiMarco put together a rather sobering video compilation of those characters who sadly met an untimely end wearing an infamous red shirt in the Original Series of Star Trek . May they all rest in peace.

As we could see in The Original Series, boldly going where no man has gone before can be very hazardous to your health. In particular, if you were wearing a redshirt, your days were probably numbered.

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Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry , playing guitar , taking photos and mixing craft cocktails .

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Star Trek "Red Shirts": the Harsh, Statistical Truth

Being a "Red Shirt" on the USS Enterprise is one of the most dangerous jobs in any (imaginary) military. Don't believe me? SiteLogic founder Matt Bailey crunched the numbers : 13.7% of Kirk's crew died during their three-year televised mission. 73% of the deaths were Red Shirts.

What might save Red Shirts' lives?

Besides not getting involved in fights, which usually proved fatal, the crewmen could avoid beaming down to the planet's surface, which is inherent to their end. However, that could result in a court-martial for failure to obey orders. * Besides not beaming down, another factor that showed to increase the survival rate of the Red Shirts was the nature of the relationship between the alien life and Captain Kirk. When Captain Kirk meets an alien woman and "makes contact" the survival rate of the red-shirted crewmen increases by 84%. In fact, out of Captain Kirk's 24 "relationships" there were only three instances of Red-Shirt vaporization.

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Star Trek: Debunking The Red Shirt Myth

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Star Trek has achieved many things since its creation in the late 1960s, from influencing modern technology , to creating a vast and blossoming universe that has been the inspiration for the plethora of Star Trek TV shows and movies. While the shows have changed a lot over the year, veering away from the classic show that Gene Roddenberry envisioned right from the start , that’s not to say the effect of The Original Series is not felt today.

The good old days of space pioneering is referenced a lot within the modern iterations into the franchise, but they are also referenced a lot with modern day culture. From memes about Spock , to that famous, albeit misquoted, "beam me up Scottie," they’re all common knowledge to those who haven’t even seen the shows. However, there is one misconception that has spread through the internet like wildfire: A red shirt means death.

RELATED: Similarities Between Star Wars' Hondo Ohnaka and Star Trek's Ferengi

Where The Red Shirt Curse Comes From

The misconception has produced various memes and even catchphrases to those watching The Original Series , and stems from the perception that if a crew member was wearing a red uniform, they are far more likely to die than the other members of the crew. (This is specific to The Original Series specific, as in later additions into the Star Trek universe, the uniforms changed: red became the color of command positions, with yellow switching to security.) It’s often joked that in a scene where there is an officer in red, they will most likely meet their demise in whatever mission they were being sent on. Fans joke that crew members would tremble in their boots upon hearing they are not only going to be going to fight some deadly Gorn for example, but that they were going to be donning the cursed red uniform.

To a certain extent, this is true. The Original Series shows the untimely demise of 25 redshirts in total over the three seasons that it aired, where only 10 gold-attired officers, and eight blue-uniformed officers died. While this may seem like confirmation of the redshirt curse, it’s important to remember what these uniforms meant. In The Original Series, as well as the Kelvin timeline Star Trek films , gold uniforms were reserved for those in positions of command, including the one and only Captain Kirk, and helmsman Lieutenant Sulu. Blue uniforms were worn by the science officers, including the medical staff and the ever so cheerful Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. Lastly, red was for the real nitty-gritty, hard workers of Starfleet. This included engineering and, most notably, security.

It makes sense, then that with security in red, the redshirts were more likely to perish. Simply put, they were the ones whose job it was to be in harm's way. When Kirk would need a team of people to scout a planet or area out, he wasn't going to send down a whole load of doctors; he would send the highly trained and often deadly team of security officers. While these people were not quite at pre-heartbreak Worf levels of greatness , these were still the best fighters Starfleet had to officer. It was also a great way for the show writers to show how dangerous a situation was, to kill a non-vital character who just so happened to be a security officer. It’s also worth noting here that the red uniform color was also shared with engineering. Both the the groundbreaking Uhura and tough nut Scotty survived the entire show, despite their red attire.

Why The Curse Isn't Real

So why is the redshirt curse a misconception, despite it being proven that more redshirts die than any other color? This comes down to the wonderful world of mathematics and statistics. While 25 redshirts sounds like a lot, the crew of the USS Enterprise comprised, at least to begin with, 239 redshirts on active duty. This means that approximately 10% of the redshirts perished during the three seasons. Compare this to the 55 yellow-shirted command officers, 10 of whom died — this makes the mortality rate of yellow uniforms around 18%, almost twice as high as the redshirts. It seems to be far more dangerous to work in command during these dangerous Federation missions. Meanwhile, only 6% of blue shirts died during the show — it seems this is the safest color.

Star Trek has created a world rich with history, a lot of it taking on a life of its own and transcending the confines of the fiction world into the real one. With warp drives being researched seriously in modern science, and the almost universally recognized hand gesture for living long and prospering, it’s only fair that over the years things will have been exaggerated somewhat. While a lot of red shirts do die during the show, donning the red uniform strangely gives one a greater chance of survival than being in command. They really should have told Kirk about this before his expedition started.

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Rebecca Ferguson doesn’t mind people knowing she’s claustrophobic. “Expose it!” she says. “I’m quite happy people know because if they listen, they’ll be like, ‘Okay, good to know, she’ll take the stairs when she comes.’”

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The claustrophobia is a little ironic, considering that Ferguson is both executive producer and star of “ Silo ,” the Apple TV+ series set in a dystopian future where the outside world has become uninhabitable and humanity lives together in an underground silo. Ferguson says people bring this up all the time. “But it’s a location. It’s sets. I know my exits.” Listen below!

“Silo” premiered in May 2023, which makes it (and Ferguson) eligible for this year’s Emmy race. And it also helped cement her place as a bit of a sci-fi icon, along with her work as Lady Jessica in the “Dune” movies. Again, it’s a little ironic, as Ferguson doesn’t necessarily see herself as a fan of the genre, that she generally gravitates towards small indies. “When I say ‘indie,’ I mean when the director has the power over his own material,” she clarifies. “When you read a script and you think, ‘That is the film and no one’s going to change it.’”

Such is the case with Juliette Nichols, her character in “Silo,” who begins to question what life outside their contained existence might be. The character is, like many of Ferguson’s, a badass. “The word badass doesn’t mean that she is constantly out struggling and doing cool shit. It is decisions, it’s consequences, it’s rawness, it’s sadness. It’s constantly meeting something hard, and getting over it and finding a new solution. And that’s sort of the heart of the character.”

In her quest for answers, Juliette ruffles some feathers and catches the eye of those in power. While many people would be happy to follow the status quo, Ferguson says she relates to this aspect of the character. “I provoke. But I provoke out of curiosity, I don’t provoke to active something and be mean. I just question all the time,” she says. “Like, I’m married but not religious. I got married because it’s something fun to do. But the ring doesn’t hold me closer to my partner than if I didn’t have it. It was like, ‘Other people have done it, let’s try it!’ Not until death parts us – you know, if you mess up and I mess up, we move on.”

Ferguson has been touched by the popularity of the show, noting that even on the carpet for a “Mission Impossible” movie she’ll hear people shouting the name of the show. It’s one of several roles she’s recognized for – in fact, upon seeing her in person, there is a flicker of discomfort that one later realizes is because you’re looking at the diabolical Rose the Hat from the film version of Stephen King’s “Doctor Sleep.” Even with so many iconic costars in her career, it’s an instinct Ferguson understands. “I still do it with actors, even though it’s my word. It takes two seconds for your brain to go – television, not real, move on.” Ask her jokingly if that means she was intimidated opposite Hugh Jackman, her costar in “The Greatest Showman,” and she jokes, “No, absolutely not. I’m like, ‘Hugh sit down. Put your shirt on. Stop it, Hugh.’”

Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jenelle Riley, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post weekly.

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