Summary
- The infamous red-shirt trope ended in 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation's new uniform colors.
- Modern Star Trek shows continue to make red the safest uniform color, with main characters wearing red uniforms.
- Death is now more meaningful in Star Trek series, with episodes focusing on the impact of losing crew members.
Star Trek's red shirt joke hasn't actually been true since 1987 when Star Trek: The Next Generation began. On Star Trek: The Original Series, the USS Enterprise's security officers wore red uniforms and were usually the first ones to die on dangerous away missions. Over the course of TOS, approximately 55 characters were killed, 24 of whom were wearing red shirts, significantly more than any other uniform color. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) often went on away missions accompanied by security officers whose deaths became an infamous running joke.
After the end of Star Trek: The Original Series, the redshirt trope took on a life of its own and has been spoofed and referenced in numerous other television shows and films. By the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation, however, the colors of Starfleet's uniforms had changed — red was now command and gold was security. This put an end to the high death count of red-shirt-wearing officers, but the trope itself had already been ingrained in popular culture. The new uniform colors introduced in TNG have remained the standard, and even Star Trek prequels have more or less abandoned the red shirt trope.
TNG’s Starfleet Uniform Color Switch Ended Star Trek: TOS’ Redshirt Joke
Regardless, the redshirt trope will likely remain a part of popular culture.
Over the years, Starfleet's uniforms have gone through many changes, often with no in-universe explanation. There may not be a clear reason for the switch from gold to red for command uniforms, but Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) quickly made the red Captain's uniform just as iconic as Captain Kirk's. With red now being the color for Starfleet officers on the command track, it actually made Star Trek characters wearing red less far likely to be killed. It was highly unlikely, after all, that Star Trek: The Next Generation was going to kill off Captain Picard or Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).
The death of gold uniform-wearing Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 and its impact on the characters also helped dispel the meaningless death red-shirt trope.
For the most part, Star Trek: The Next Generation took the deaths of crew members more seriously than Star Trek: The Original Series. While nameless crew members were sometimes killed on TNG, they were not associated with any particular uniform color. Stories like TNG season 7, episode 15, "Lower Decks" showed the devastating impact felt by Starfleet officers when one of their fellow crewmembers, Ensign Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), was killed in the line of duty. Episodes like "Lower Decks" helped turn characters who might have been considered "red shirts" on TOS into relatable characters with lives and friends, making their deaths all the more tragic.
Redshirts Are Now Star Trek’s Safest Uniform Color
Modern Star Trek shows have also made even minor characters' deaths have more impact.
In every Star Trek series set after Star Trek: The Next Generation, red is used for command uniforms, which makes it the safest uniform color. Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) of Star Trek: Voyager wore red uniforms, and they were safe as series leads. Even the shows set before Star Trek: The Original Series have put main characters in red - like Lieutenants La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Modern Star Trek shows have mostly done away with the meaningless deaths of minor characters, instead finding other ways to raise the stakes.
Death means more in modern Star Trek.
In Star Trek: Discovery, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) began wearing a red uniform when she became Captain of the USS Discovery, and it's highly unlikely Discovery will kill off its series lead. In modern Star Trek shows, red seems to be one of the safest uniform colors to wear. Ultimately, however, which Star Trek characters live or die has little to do with the color of their Starfleet uniform. Sure, security officers may go up against danger first, but life on a Starfleet vessel is inherently unpredictable and often dangerous. Death means more in modern Star Trek. Characters are given time to mourn their fallen crewmates, and their stories have become more important than whether or not they happened to be wearing red.
