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Tuesday, April 23

Red shirt in mourning


Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

I am now, officially, Star Trek Addie - complete with red uniform!

Throughout Star Trek: TOS (1966–69), male officers on the USS Enterprise wore a colored shirt (green/gold, red, or blue shirts with black collars and undershirts) with a delta-shaped insignia on the left breast, dark gray pants (which appeared black on camera), and black boots.

Female officers wore a uniform minidress, black tights, and boots, although they occasionally wore the "male" uniform. 

The red uniforms, or redshirts, were worn by operations, engineering, and security personnel.

A "redshirt" has become a stock fictional character who dies soon after being introduced. The term originated from the red shirts worn by Starfleet security personnel who frequently died during episodes. Redshirt deaths were often used to dramatize the potential peril that the main characters faced.


Analysis of the original Star Trek episodes shows that of the 59 crew members killed in the series, 43 (73 percent) were wearing red shirts!

Somehow that reminds me of the rhyme of the ancient mariners:

"Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky in morning, sailors take warning."

However, just because I wear a red uniform doesn't mean I will go down without a fight.

I'd like to see anyone kill me! 

I shall live long and prosper.

 

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