# Star Trek "red shirt" joke

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [February 5, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245 "2016-02-05T17:06:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245/1 "2016-02-05T17:06:39Z")

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My wife thinks I am making this up but I could swear the writers sneaked in a ‘red shirt’ reference/joke into one episode of TNG. Does anyone else remember it? I think it may have been Riker the made the remark? (although I confess I don’t even specifically remember the joke just that they made some kind of reference). Can anyone maybe help out with the season/episode? (or if I’m really imagining it then let the truth be known)

[edit: whoops can someone move this to Café Society? thanks.]

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**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245/2 "2016-02-05T17:15:41Z")

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I don’t remember anything from STNG, but the Wiki does mention the DS9 Valiant episode, which reminded me of, The Lord of the Flies.

> **[Redshirt (stock character)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_(character))**
>
> A "redshirt" is a stock character in fiction who dies soon after being introduced. The term originates from the original Star Trek (NBC, 1966–69) television series in which the red-shirted security personnel frequently die during episodes. Redshirt deaths are often used to dramatize the potential peril the main characters face.
> red-shirted security guards \[who\] often got torn apart by a monster or dematerialized by a Klingon In Star Trek, red-uniformed security officers and engineers who acco...

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**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245/3 "2016-02-05T18:15:29Z")

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I suppose it’s possible it could have even been DS9 or Voyager

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**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245/4 "2016-02-05T18:23:24Z")

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Doesn’t seem likely to me as all the command personnel in STNG wore “red shirts” or red jumpsuits.

Their version of red shirts would have to be gold or blue.

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**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245/5 "2016-02-05T18:55:56Z")

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Nevermind. Just figured it out. It was from the movie “Into Darkness” (scene w/ Chekov)

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**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-red-shirt-joke/745245/6 "2016-02-05T20:22:41Z")

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I guess you found it, but Galaxy Quest contains a couple of lines in reference to the idea, though not specifically to the color of the shirt. Quoted from here: [Redshirt | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Redshirt)

> [@](#):
>
> ```
> Guy Fleegman (the actor who portrayed "Crewman Number 6" in one episode of the first television series) lamented in the middle of a crisis "I'm expendable! I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is!" 
> 
> At another point Gwen DeMarco (Lt. Tawny Madison) comments upon seeing a group of innocent-looking aliens turn into savage monsters "We'd better get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!" 
> 
> ```