Poll of the Week: Nothing But Red Shirts

[Jo Marshall]

Over the many years of Star Trek, we've seen multiple Red Shirt deaths to the point it's one of the most popular memes — if not the most popular — in the fandom. Nothing says "you're about to kick it" like being summoned on an Away Team with all the major characters, and you turn up wearing red. Like a flag to a bull, no matter the direction someone fires their phaser in, somehow it's going to end up slap bang in the middle of the Red Shirt.  Synonyms for the redshirt include sacrificial lamb and spear-carrier, so you know what conotations are a given. 

HOWEVER!

Someone did the science! In a recent Star Trek: The Math of Khan talk at the Museum of Mathematics, one determined trekkie, James Grime, discovered out of three seasons of our beloved Original Series, only 25 died out of 239, a stunning 10 percent of deaths. However, out of 55 gold shirts, 10 of them died, resulting in 18 percent. In true defiance of everything we hold dear, if you wanted to cheat death, science came out alive with a staggering 6 percent dead. 

Perhaps the Scientists and Doctors have it right all along. Wear the blue, avoid the chop. 

Regardless, in honour of this humble trope, we're asking you this week to choose your favourite red shirt death from the Original Series. You've got a few good ones to choose from, so let us know which plucked at your heart strings the most!

 

[Sal Taybrim]

Omega Gloriously Hammy Acting, FTW

[Alora DeVeau]

Death by plants.  Resonates so much with Alora. 😄  @Roshanara Rahman too, I bet! 😄