If you read this website, you know that redshirts always die. But what if this supposed doomed fate for Star Trek’s scarlet tunics is more myth than fact?
We all know that no uniform color is more foreboding than Star Trek’s red shirts. It’s so ingrained in us that this very website has perhaps the most apt name in all of Trek fandom: Redshirts Always Die.
But what if there was proof that not only do redshirts not always die, but they’re actually statistically the least likely color to die among the original series’ spectrum of colors? Believe it or not, if you’re unlucky enough to be on an away team (and not part of the main cast, of course), you have a higher chance of meeting your maker in either a gold or blue tunic.
Check out the video below as it breaks down your statistical chances of dying by color group (what do you mean, this is macabre?)
If you didn’t watch the video or want the final tallies, 10 gold shirts went on away missions, 15 blue shirts, and 66 of our noble red shirt brethren braved alien worlds and ships over the course of the original series.
Of those 10 gold shirts, four died. Five blue shirts died, and a staggering 18 red shirts died on away missions. Yeah, that’s a lot of bodies, but when you look at the percentages, wearing a red shirt is actually your safest color.
40 percent of golds died, 33 percent of blue shirts died, and a mere 27.3 percent of red shirts died. If you have to go on away missions, your best bet is to be a part of the permanent cast, but if you can’t get that lofty gig, you’re better off wearing a red shirt.
Next: Charlottesville and what we can learn from The Cage
Which is great, because while “Redshirts die pretty often, but less than other shirts” would be a terrible name for a website, it’s admittedly a bit more accurate.