Star Trek Babe: Red Shirt, The Expendable Crew Member
A
"redshirt" is a stock character in fiction who dies soon after being
introduced. The term originates with fans of Star Trek (1966–1969), from the
red shirts worn by Starfleet security officers who frequently die during
episodes. Redshirt deaths are often used to dramatize the potential peril that
the main characters face.
In many
episodes of Star Trek, red-uniformed security officers and engineers
accompanying the main characters on landing parties quickly die. In the Pocket
Books Star Trek novel Killing Time, a crew member says, "you don't want to
wear a red shirt on landing-party duty". The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
book Legends of the Ferengi says Starfleet security personnel "rarely
survive beyond the second act break". The eleventh Star Trek film (2009)
features a red-uniformed character who dies early on a mission in homage to the
original series.
Influence
Early
scripts for the television series Lost (ABC 2004–2010) describe the character
of Hurley as a "red shirt". Galaxy Quest (1999), a comedy about
actors from a defunct science-fiction television series serving on a real
starship, including an actor who is terrified that he's going to die because
his only appearance was as a "red shirt" character. The only
character injured in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Older and Far
Away" wears a red shirt; writer Drew Greenberg confirmed that this
"redshirt" reference was intentional. The term is also used in the
Warehouse 13 episode "Implosion".
The core
of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated
Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.
