Red Shirts who survive.

January 11, 2013 7:42 AM

It is commonly known that on Star Trek the red shirts die. Take a look at these dead guys or these dead guys. I need some help identifying red shirts that don't die or even red shirts who have survived a very long time.

I'm doing my best to keep my sense of humour during a "re-org". I'm pretty sure I've been handed a red shirt and whilst I can do all the things logical and practical to work through the process of the re-structure, it's also fun/necessary to have a stress relief valve. I'd like to believe that I can be the longest surviving red shirt.

posted by YukonQuirm to society & culture (25 answers total)

Montgomery Scott.
posted by likeso at 7:47 AM on January 11 [6 favorites]

Read the recent book "Redshirts: A Novel and Three Codas" by John Scalzi. A group of Redshirts working in a interplanetary federation must learn to fight their fate.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:48 AM on January 11 [4 favorites]

Uhura
posted by Thorzdad at 7:49 AM on January 11 [3 favorites]

Star Trek Death is a pictoral list of TOS deaths. This picture mentions that in "Mirror, Mirror" George Takei wears a red shirt...and survives!
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 7:50 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Also this picture: "One of these dead, Lt. Leslie, actually appears in many later episodes. "
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 7:52 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Geordi LaForge was a red shirt in the beginning, but quickly got his ass off the bridge and into engineering around the same time Nagilum started messing with the comm officers.
posted by yellowbinder at 7:52 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Jonathan Goldsmith, The Most Interesting Man in the World, doesn't always wear a red shirt. But when he does, he survives the episode.
posted by bfranklin at 7:55 AM on January 11 [11 favorites]

You should watch Galaxy Quest. Pay particular attention to the character of Guy, who is convinced that he's the "redshirt" throughout the movie:

Guy Fleegman: I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just "Crewman Number Six." I'm expendable. I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is. I've gotta get outta here.

...

Guy Fleegman: I'm just a glorified extra, Fred. I'm a dead man anyway. If I'm gonna die, I'd rather go out a hero than a coward.
Fred Kwan: Guy, Guy... maybe you're the plucky comic relief. You ever think about that?
Guy Fleegman: Plucky?

SPOILER ALERT: Guy survives the movie and has a happy ending.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:07 AM on January 11 [5 favorites]

Ensign Garrovick.
posted by audi alteram partem at 8:09 AM on January 11

You may want to also check the TV Tropes page for Mauve Shirt, which pretty much describes this phenomenon.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 8:12 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

There's a difference between redshirts who were security (those were the phaser-fodder), and those who were engineering/communications (eg, Scotty).

And to confuse things even more, TNG's red shirts were usually command (obviously Picard survives), and gold was security (Worf, etc) and engineering.

A bit more detail here.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:13 AM on January 11

gold was security (Worf

Though Worf was in a redshirt for Season One! It might be a useful thing to keep in mind, OP, for your inspirational purposes; he basically plays the role of cannon-fodder under Yar, but survives and thrives through SHEER MOTHERFUCKIN KLINGON TENACITY
posted by Greg Nog at 8:19 AM on January 11 [4 favorites]

You could extend the concept, and think of Wedge Antilles as a Star Wars redshirt. Rebel pilot, only non-main character to appear in all three movies.

Yes, post-trilogy stuff has him becoming a general or whatever. In the trilogy, he was just a pilot.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:26 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Poor Worf. He's role is basically "take over this recently vacated workstation!" until Yar is gone and he becomes head of security. (And finally loses the damn pageboy haircut.)

And yeah, if you're talking "redshirts", you're talking TOS. In TOS, the colors were generally:
Gold: Command / Helm
Blue: Science / Medical
Red: Security / Engineering / Ops
It was the frequent death of security personnel that gave us the term "redshirt".

In TNG, DS9, and VOY, the colors were generally:
Gold: Security / Engineering / Ops
Blue: Science / Medical
Red: Command / Helm
posted by xedrik at 8:30 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]

I'll second Leslie, look him up on Memory Alpha. That guy game back from the dead more than once...
posted by kaszeta at 8:31 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

But yeah, Scotty's gotta be the ultimate "redshirt who survives". Make Scotty your inspiration here; if anyone was a master of pulling a miracle out of thin air while under pressure, it's was Scotty.
posted by xedrik at 8:32 AM on January 11 [3 favorites]

On Enterprise (yeah, I know, but), Malcolm Reed makes it all the way through.
posted by General Malaise at 8:56 AM on January 11

Tom Paris, from Voyager, also survived despite being both a red shirt and a flight controller (and thus very likely to die, at least based on how often the conn was killed in TNG).
posted by asnider at 9:08 AM on January 11

I was just watching the TOS episode By Any Other Name last night, and one of the redshirts in the away team, Ensign Shea, survives. The other redshirt does not.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:13 AM on January 11

Just off the top of my head, Ensign Ro survives in TNG, although she eventually leaves Starfleet. Ensign Gates, who could be seen at the helm from time to time, wore red and survived.

Then you have Wesley. He had a field commission to the rank of Ensign for quite some time and was wearing red. He was still in Starfleet Academy when he went off with the Traveller. When we see him next, it's in the background of Troi and Riker's wedding and he's wearing engineering colours. But he still lasted quite a while in command red before he went off to the Academy and again when he's seen in his cadet outfit, which is black with red shoulders (The Game, The First Duty, Journey's End).

Speaking of cadets, Nog from DS9 is seen wearing his own cadet uniform (grey with red). Interestingly, I thought Nog on DS9 would be wearing red when he got his promotion to Ensign, but no, he's wearing engineering colours. However, he, like Wesley, survived his cadet years despite wearing all that red.

Also, Worf goes back to the command path after TNG when he shows up in DS9 and survives (at the rank of Lt. Commander).

As noted, Tom Paris also survives, despite being a relatively low-ranking officer who wears red.

Obviously, you also also then have the higher-ranked folks: Picard, Riker, Janeway and Chakotay all survive. (Jury's out on Sisko. Also, you can certainly argue that Chakotay isn't a real Starfleet officer, but he lives anyhow.)
posted by juliebug at 10:10 AM on January 11

Thank you - this was the most stress relief I've felt in weeks - but also I've found some really interesting web pages about the statistics associated with red shirts. Red shirts have a 73% chance of dieing but it is the red shirts that get been down to other planets that really are the fodder and there is a better chance of surviving a female alien planet - especially if Cpt Kirk has a little one on one with a female alien. Read Analytics According to Captain Kirk for specific survival stats.
posted by YukonQuirm at 12:55 PM on January 11

Janice Rand never died; she just disappeared for no reason like Mandy from "West Wing."
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:15 PM on January 11

In DS9, it's actually the teal shirt (or blue, science, if you prefer) from the main cast to die, while all red shirts make it through. Red-wearing Captain Sisko even survives his death in a way.

In TNG, Commander Riker does the opposite of dying a red shirt death via transporter accident. Instead of expiring, he gets cloned and both Rikers - William and Thomas - survive.
posted by MinusCelsius at 3:16 PM on January 11

Lieutenant Riker (Thomas) was actually a yellow shirt. Whether that makes him fit the pattern better or worse I do not know.
posted by yellowbinder at 3:46 PM on January 11

A few days late, but I got an e-mail plugging this gitftset, which seemed pertinent.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 10:37 PM on January 15