[[StarTrek http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/redshirt1.jpg]]
[[caption-width:260:A Red Shirt in his natural state.]]

->'''Boone:''' You ever watch ''Star Trek''?\\
'''Locke:''' Not really.\\
'''Boone:''' The crew guys that would go down to the planet with the main guys -- the captain and the guy with the pointy ears? They always wore red shirts and they always got killed.\\
'''Locke:''' Yeah?\\
'''Boone:''' Yeah.\\
'''Locke:''' Sounds like a piss-poor captain.\\
-- ''{{Lost}}'', "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"

->'''Kirk:''' All right, men, this is a dangerous mission. And it's likely one of us will be killed. The landing party will consist of myself, Mr. Spock, Dr. [=McCoy=], and Ensign Ricky.\\
'''Ensign Ricky:''' [[GenreSavvy Aw, crap.]]\\
-- ''FamilyGuy''

->'''Wade:''' This is the part of the show where they pick series regulars to go on a mission. Just make sure you're not wearing a...\\
'''Kim:''' Red shirt?\\
-- ''KimPossible''

The color of shirt worn by the nameless security personnel on the original ''StarTrek'' series. Their only job was to get eaten/shot/stabbed/disrupted/sped-up-and-killed/frozen/desalinated/turned-into-a-cube-and-crushed, and give William Shatner and [=DeForest=] Kelley a corpse to emote over, and Leonard Nimoy a corpse to, well, [[TheSpock not emote over]].

A RedShirt is the good cousin of EvilMinions -- set filler for our heroes' side. Their purpose is almost exclusively to give the writers someone to kill [[SortingAlgorithmOfMortality who isn't a main character]], although they can also serve as a SpearCarrier. They are used to show how the monster works, and demonstrate that it is indeed a deadly menace, without having to lose anyone ''[[AnyoneCanDie important]]''. Expect someone to say "[[HesDeadJim He's dead, Jim.]]", lament this "valued crewmembers [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife senseless death]]", and then [[ForgottenFallenFriend promptly forget him.]] In mass quantities, they make up the RedshirtArmy. Frequently overlaps with TheBlackDudeDiesFirst.

AnyoneCanDie is the polar opposite of this trope.

Compare to TheWorfEffect where, once again, a character is brutalized to show the enemy's power, with the notable difference that it is a main character, and they don't die.

See also {{Retirony}}, MauveShirt, SacrificialLamb. Lowest of the low on the SuperWeight scale.

Also, whatever you do, ''do not'' confuse a red shirt with a [[BringMyRedJacket red jacket]]. See also LittleDeadRidingHood.

----
[[foldercontrol]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Advertising]]
* Point of interest: in honor of the new ''StarTrek'' movie, a company has released a ''RedShirt'' cologne. The slogan? "Because Tomorrow May Never Come." The packaging features a red-shirted officer in a set of crosshairs.
* [[http://www.redshirttreatment.com/ You Deserve The Redshirt Treatment]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''MobileSuitGundam'', the mass-produced federation mooks were called RGM-79 GMs, which exploded by the dozens any time they were shown in a fight. Bonus Points because their standard armor was colored like a [[http://www.mahq.net/mecha/Gundam/msgundam/rgm-79.htm red T-shirt]].
** Occurs in ''GundamSeed'', in which Athurn's buddy Rusty (who never shows his face or has any dialog) is killed. He's wearing red, which ironically is supposed to be the uniform of ZAFT's elite.
** Aside from those few exceptions, the color red specifically invokes a [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority completely different trope]] in the Gundam universe.
* In ''{{Naruto}}'', in several scenes including Kabuto's attempted assassination of Sasuke, several ANBU Black Ops are easily killed. This is to show how powerful the invaders from the Sound and Sand villages actually were.
** There's also the {{samurai}} of the Land of Iron.
* The Glasgow Model [[HumongousMecha Knightmare Frames]] through much of season one of ''CodeGeass'' being expendable in combat, many scenes depict them either getting skewered by Cornelia's pike or completely annihlated by [[Characters/CodeGeass Lancelot]].
** Interestingly, one of RedShirts served as a plot point. One of them happened to be [[spoiler:Shirley's father]], who was killed by [[spoiler:Lelouch, Shirley's crush, in a landslide]] in the battle of Narita. [[spoiler:It starts Shirley's [[BreakTheCutie cutie-breaking]] which progresses throught the series]].
* {{Funimation}} voice actor VicMignogna wrote a ([[EarWorm horribly catchy]]) song about the RedShirt anime equivalents, called [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TA-QJ2d3kk "Soldier A"]]:
-->''Soldier A, Soldier A\\
The unsung hero of anime\\
Hip hooray for Soldier A\\
He only has one line but saves the day\\
He's called upon to grunt or yell or scream\\
Even if his mouth is never seen\\
Through the fray with ne'er to say\\
He'll lead the way, he's Soldier A''
*Yano in GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Mr. Immortal from ''GreatLakesAvengers'' got a RedShirt for his X-Mas present since, you know, [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway he's a red shirt army by himself...]]
* In an IDW company ''StarTrek'' comic, a red shirt security officer named Boyd outright complains about this to Chekov, Bones, and two other security officers. His words: "You're not redshirts, you two are fine. Security doesn't always make it home as much as you guys." In this troper's opinion, Boyd might turn out to be a mauve shirt.
* Phil Foglio's [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buck.html Buck Godot]] series has the evil "X-Tel" corporation, whose security forces' uniform consists of grey shirts... [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070308 and red PANTS.]]
* In one issue of Toyfare's ''TwistedToyfareTheatre'', Kirk returns from a mission in which "only a dozen redshirts died," to find himself in the Mirror Universe, where the meek and pragmatic Mirror Kirk is protected by the immortal Redshirts.
** ''TTT'' loves playing with these. There are usually Redshirts around to die in stories featuring Captain Kirk, and the title page of one of the trade paperbacks shows Kirk and Spock standing amidst a sea of Redshirts while Spock looks around uneasily.
* The XWingSeries comics started to display this later on - there were complaints after the first several arcs that, while people quit or transferred out, no one ever died. Promptly someone who'd been there since the beginning and one who'd been around for an arc got killed in ''Requiem for a Rogue'', and in the arc after ''that'' four new pilots were introduced. One instantly immersed himself in a subplot, another took equally little time to establish her status as part of a rather pragmatic ProudWarriorRace. The other two failed to do anything but sort of hang around in the background, and by the end of the book those two had been shot down and killed within two pages of each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* The Finnish ''StarTrek''/''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' spoof ''[[http://www.starwreck.com/ Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning]]'' put the Trek redshirts against the B5 security forces. The carnage was horrible.
** The redshirts throughout the ''Star Wreck'' series are also given [[MeaningfulName names that reflect their expendable nature]], such as "Lt. Suicide", "Sgt. Manshield", and "Lt. Cannonfodder".
* Cleverly spoofed in a short ''Star Trek'' parody film, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y39gHihP74 ''Steam Trek: The Moving Picture'']] (premise: ''Trek'' as it would be done 100 years ago by George Melies), where the expendable member of the away team wears a shirt with a target on the back.
** Also, this character is listed in the opening credits as "Ensign Expendable". For some reason, the opening credits were cut out of the YouTube version, but the full parody film can be seen [[http://www.sisterson.co.uk/ here]], under "Films."
* Notorious ''[[StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'' author Stephen Ratliff unironically(?) gave us [[BetterThanABareBulb Ensign Throwaway]] in his "Marrissa Picard" stories.
* Played with in ''Trek'' fanfics. Typical example [[http://liquidfic.net/mesir.html here]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films]]
* In the ''HellBoy'' movies the random B.P.R.D. agents who accompany the titular big red guy on his missions all but define redshirt.
* This trope was parodied very effectively in ''GalaxyQuest'' in the character of Guy Fleegman, "Crewman Number Six" -- who is the only cast member NOT shot or killed during the climactic final battle! (Although [[ResetButton a bit of time travel makes everyone else better]]). LampShadeHanging at its finest (also see PluckyComicRelief).
* A film that seriously plays with the concept is ''Film/{{Alien}}s''. Who can forget Hudson's "Four more weeks and out" tirade?
** Everyone who fast forwards past it because he's a whiner.
** {{Aliens}} kinda plays it straight with Crowe and Wierzbowski; one line from Crowe (said when he's offscreen), and no lines from poor Ski except a scream.
* A discreet spoof in the movie ''TheRunningMan'': Two contestants wore yellow jumpsuits while two wore red. Guess who died?
* The crew of the "Tantive IV" in the very first scenes in the first ''StarWars'' film, whose only job was to die to make ''[[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy the Stormtroopers]]'' look good.
** The captain and pilot of the Republic cruiser in ''The Phantom Menace''. They're the first characters to appear in the movie, and also the first to die.
** And let us not forget Jedi... ''frickin Jedi'' becoming redshirts for the clones to kill in ''Revenge of the Sith''. ''Jedi.'' I mean, come on, they could at least have died badass deaths, not just being shot a few times.
** An example from the film: while going to confront Darth Sidious, [[SamuelLJackson Mace Windu]] brings three nameless (to those unfamiliar with the ExpandedUniverse anyway) Jedi who are easily carved up by the [[BigBad Dark Lord]].
* The countless native African servants and carriers in the ''Allan Quartermain'' movie adaptions exist only to be eaten by crocodiles or killed by traps so that the danger can be demonstrated without killing off a main character.
* During the opening of ''IndianaJones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark'', Indy is accompanied by two random native guides. They don't make it.
* In the 2009 ''[[Film/StarTrek Star Trek]]'' movie, Kirk (in blue) and Sulu (in gold) are accompanied on a drop mission to take out a planetary drill with a character wearing red armor (to guard against the heat of re-entry). Guess which one of the trio dies?
** At first it seems to be a subversion, as he survives [[spoiler: what seems to be the obvious fate of missing the platform and falling to his death from the upper atmosphere of a planet]]. Unfortunately for the poor guy, it's a DoubleSubversion; his final fate actually manages to be fairly spectacular. [[spoiler:His parachute catches on the platform, and he gets vaporized by the drill.]]
* In ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' this is completely averted. Two crew members die in a teleporter accident, but they aren't seen to be wearing red shirts. In fact, no-one is!
* Ensign Lynch from ''StarTrekFirstContact''. Apparently, Picard attended his wedding.
** Something of a subversion, in that Captain Picard actually [[WhatTheHellHero get's called out]] for how callously he dismisses Ensign Lynch's murder.
** There's also another guy named Hawke.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Subverted in the ''StarTrek'' ExpandedUniverse novel ''The Eyes of the Beholders'', by A.C. Crispin. The apparent red shirt for a mission not only survives but saves the rest of the away team.
* Also Brilliantly skewered in the James Alan Gardner novel ''Expendable''.
* Maybe this troper missed something but the african porters of ''Congo'', the movie or the Crichton novel, seemed to regenerate like clones. "Oh, look, there are three left. Oh, wait, the apes just killed them all. Hey, where did those other two porters come from?"
* In the book ''The Stupidest Angel'', one character decides to wear a starfleet command shirt because it's a festive, Christmas-y red colour. Another character even comments on how the redshirts always died in that series. [[spoiler:Guess who gets shot in the head when the lead zombie walk's through the door? Here's a hint. He's wearing a red shirt, and it ain't the guy in the santa suit.]]
* David Weber hands out "Redshirt Awards" to fans who spot errors in his books. In the next book, he names a character after the fan, and kills him. Some of the later HonorHarrington books have had entire ships crewed by Redshirts, which then get blown up.
* Even though the ''[[WarriorCats Warriors]]'' series has a strict AnyoneCanDie policy (and how), the seldom seen Tribe of Rushing Water is made up of about 75% Red Shirts, who get killed off in bunches pretty much anytime the Tribe is featured in a book.
* In the prologue of ''{{Eragon}}'', [[ActionGirl Arya]] is accompanied by two guards who are killed in the ambush quite easily.
** And [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] (albeit a few books too late), as she was great friends with one and in love ([[OurElvesAreDifferent as much as elves can be anyway]]) with the other. Their deaths, along with y'know, being ''tortured'', are the reason she became TheStoic.
* Stackpole's XWingSeries novels tend to use this rather heavily. Any number of members of Rogue Squadron have few lines and no impact on the plot, and quickly get themselves killed in dogfights. Some of them stick around for a surprisingly long time, but they always get killed sooner or later; the characters will mourn and forget about it in about four pages. Notably in ''Isard's Revenge'' the only pilots who actually got killed were the ones who had been introduced specifically for that book. Novels by AaronAllston in that same series avert this pretty hard by use of CastOfSnowflakes and MauveShirt.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* The redshirt seen at the top of this page is actually a subversion. Lt. Leslie, played by Eddie Paskey, was actually seen in the background of over 50 episodes, and survived a number of away missions. The picture, showing the one where he didn't, gets subverted ''in the same episode'' where after his death, Eddie is seen once again walking the Enterprise hallways.
* The first broadcast episode of ''StarTrek'' ("The Man Trap") has a body count of four minor crewmen, most of whom of course become monster chow shortly after beaming down to the planet. Ironically, the casualties are two blues, a gold and one unknown wearing a hazmat suit.
** Despite it being the TropeNamer, quite a few of the characters that die in ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' are blue shirts or gold shirts. In fact, no red shirt deaths occur until the seventh episode. The dubious honor goes to Crewman Mathews, who is pushed into a bottomless pit in "What Are Little Girls Made of?"
** This is either averted or subverted in "A Taste of Armageddon". Kirk, Spock, and three redshirts beam down to Eminiar VII whereupon landing, are declared casualties of war and sent to be killed. ''All'' of them survive.
** There is in fact an even more unfortunate color to be wearing, but it's more obscure: The [[http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Hansen_(Commander) two]] [[http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Harold characters]] who wore ths same beigey-yellow shirt both died in attacks on outposts, along with everyone with them.
* Later incarnations of Trek (''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', ''StarTrekVoyager'') subverts the term by giving prominent command positions red uniforms. Numerous unimportant crew members do continue to get killed but more often than not they are wearing yellow.
** Not always, though, as the helm officer killed by Nagilum in "Where Silence Has Lease" wears a red shirt, and is a perfect example of the purpose this death generally serves.
* ''StarTrekVoyager''. Averted in the early seasons by giving some screen time to crewmembers who were slated for death in later episodes (i.e. Hogan, Jonas, Carey). But eventually they reverted to bumping off anonymous ensigns by the shuttleload. A notable subversion however occurs in "Latent Image" [[spoiler:where the Doctor is guilt-ridden over his choice to save Harry Kim as opposed to the expendable ensign.]]
** And Harry Kim seems to have been intended as a subversion, as an Ensign without much of a real job on the ship, yet he's a major character. Who never, ever makes it past Ensign (except in alternate futures).
*** ... As opposed to Tom Paris who gets a commission of Lieutenant, a demotion to Ensign, and a new promotion to Lieutenant (again).
** And Capt Janeway wore a redshirt the entire bloody time... hardcore Janeway! (Minor shoutout to TNG)
** This troper always thought of Harry as the immortal Redshirt. Since the series cannot kill an endless number of Redshirts (with few new crew members available being all alone in space) they decided to pick one character to infect with disease, mind rape, torture and if necessary (or possible) kill and resurrect over and over again. Why it had absolutely no effect on his character (except a slight friendship with Paris) still stands to question.
* In ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Valiant", the title ship is crewed by cadet group called "Red Squad". [[EverybodysDeadDave Guess what happens...]]
* ''StarTrekEnterprise''. The crew never suffered any fatal casualties in the first two seasons (despite incidents like a Romulan stealth mine blowing away a section of the hull), no doubt so as to avoid the "phaser fodder" cliché. All this changed in the third season Xindi war arc, with eighteen killed in "Azati Prime" alone. The trope is lampshaded in "The Forgotten", when Trip has to write a letter to the parents of a dead crewmember but [[WhatMeasureIsAMook can't remember much about her]], so he keeps getting her mixed up with his DeadLittleSister. There's also two classic redshirt incidents: in "The Council" an away team takes along a MACO when entering one of the mysterious Spheres, and in Season 4 "Daedalus" Reed goes searching through a dark room for a NegativeSpaceWedgie with an unnamed crewmember -- no guessing who gets killed on both occasions. Deliberately parodied in [[MirrorUniverse "In A Mirror, Darkly"]] where Mirror Reed puts on an [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series]] redshirt with fatal consequences.
* Played straight in the re-imagined ''BattlestarGalactica'' series and averted in one notable example: Helo was originally supposed to die during the miniseries, but the fans took a liking to him so the writers brought him back. Helo has since gotten his own season-long subplot, his own episode and has started a family with one of the core characters, as well as displaying morality that is more admirable and consistent than almost any other character on the show.
** Thanks to the show having LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, [[MauveShirt a lot of characters who have been around for a long time]] can and ''do'' die.
* Random military types in ''DoctorWho'' often are used as cannon fodder. UNIT personnel are frequent victims. In the New Series, they have red hats too.
** This has been subverted a few times too. At least twice the RedshirtArmy has beaten aliens the Doctor claimed they couldn't.
** In the episode Resurrection of the Daleks, the two who die in the Daleks' first assault have red hats.
* In CrimeAndPunishment shows, the newly deceased RedShirt only has [[{{Retirony}} one week left to go before retirement]]. At the opposite end of a career-span, the first ''{{CSI}}'' episode had a RedShirt who had only been on the job for a week. (Also done in ''TheBill''.)
* During the conversation in the page quote, on ''{{Lost}}'', Boone was tying red shirts to trees. Eight episodes later, he died (and was the first main character to do so.) LampshadeHanging and {{Foreshadowing}} at the same time.
** This scene is even more ironic because the actor who played Locke had been in an episode of ''[[StarTrekTheNextGeneration Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', in which he wore, you guessed it, a red shirt. He didn't die in the episode. Being that his ''Star Trek'' character got court martialed and imprisoned for his poor decisions as Captain which resulted in the deaths of his almost his entire crew and loss of his ship, he definitely doesn't have the right to call Kirk "a piss-poor Captain". (Although Kirk had his fair share of court martials as well, he only got a few redshirts killed at a time, not an entire crew in one go).
** The show itself performs many a LampshadeHanging on its ''actual'' {{red shirt}}s. The characters Scott and Steve, for instance, are always confused by important characters, even after one of them dies (Hurley's eulogy for him boils down to "Sorry I could never remember your name.") The character Dr. Arzt is introduced near the end of season 1 and complains about how everyone (i.e., the main characters) acts like a high school clique. What happens to Arzt? He gets blown up an episode later.
** A final point of irony in this quote comes from the fact that J.J. Abrams (the show's co-creator) went on to direct and produce the 2009 ''Film/StarTrek'' movie (see above).
** It's taken to pretty much the ultimate level in a Season 4 episode where one Red Shirt after another comes running out of a house during a huge gun battle, and each one is immediately mowed down. What makes it gold is that Sawyer screams at each one to go back in the house, and none of them listen.
** So in conclusion, hopefully any background castaways have learned to duck and cover if one of their fellows starts to do anything more but help out quietly.
** They haven't learned: in the second episode of season 5, Neil "Frogurt" gets hit by a flaming arrow while ''wearing'' a red shirt. Sure enough, several more redshirts get killed while the main characters successfully escape into the jungle.
** [[spoiler: Juliet Burke]] is killed in the Season 5 finale. She was the only character wearing a red shirt during the incident.
* This troper nearly had a heart attack watching a recent episode of ''{{Bones}}'' when one of the main characters infiltrated a sci-fi convention while wearing a ''Star Trek'' red shirt. Then came the car accident...
* Any [[TwentyFour CTU field agent]] who isn't Jack Bauer or the season's ColonelMakepeace is a red shirt. In season 4 and part of season 5, CTU HQ's security officers actually wore red shirts -- that is, until ''they were all killed at once in a nerve gas attack''.
* In ''{{Combat}}!'' they aren't so much red shirts as RedemptionEqualsDeath shirts. In fact, a good way to tell if someone will die is if they are given a name.
** [[FunWithAcronyms You did that on purpose]], didn't you?
* ''[[BlakesSeven Blake's Seven]]'', having been designed in response to ''StarTrek'', featured a character announcing "I am not expendable, I am not stupid, and I am not going."
* In ''{{Babylon 5}}'' the chief of security is Michael Garibaldi, who is named for the 19th century Italian revolutionary whose men were called The Red Shirts, making it possibly one of the best nods to this trope in history.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Parodied many times over in [[FilkSong filk]], from Leslie Fish's "Landing Party Blues" to "Redshirt's Lament":
-->''Tis a gift to wear a gold shirt or a blue, you see\\
But look, my dear, what they have done to me\\
Even Engineering would a blessing be\\
But no, they've made me Security\\
Whe-en the landing party's gone\\
I'll be there with my red shirt on\\
I'll make sure my estate's all orderly\\
Because that is the last that you'll see of me''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''{{Paranoia}}'' has the players taking the roles of Troubleshooters tasked with the job of shooting trouble wherever it should arise in Alpha Complex. The starting rank is "Red". As each character is part of a six-pack of clones, the body count can rack up astronomically quickly...
* [[http://www.llbbl.com/data/RPG-motivational/target68.html This]] RPG motivational poster explains it all...
* ''BrikWars'' gives Hero units the explicit ability to make other units [[HeroicSacrifice Redshirt]].
* A minor setting in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is Kill Team, where a squad of highly trained specialists go up against countless enemies, and they can purchase upgrades. The most useful: Red Shirt, a minor character who, according to the other Kill Team members, is probably going to get killed in a variety of gory ways. Can be averted in that if the Red Shirt survives, [[MauveShirt he becomes a member of the Team]], and upgraded accordingly.
* In ''Star {{Game/Munchkin}}'', there is a hireling called a red shirt. Their only use is to die when you lose a battle, thus preventing the "Bad Stuff" from happening to you. However, they have, on a success, a one in six chance of getting overexcited and sacrificing themselves anyway.
** ''The Good, the Bad and the Munchkin'' has the greenhorn, whose only purpose is to be fed to a monster so you can steal its stuff and run away while it's busy chewing.
* The ''Grave Robbers From Outer Space'' series of B-movie games has a character in at least two whose function is that he has to die before anyone else.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''{{Gears of War}}'', Carmine (whose name is a shade of red) is a rookie squadmember who is the only character to wear a helmet and mask. He's also the first squad member to die in the game (and actually one of the only two characters who die), shot in the head by a sniper after the first couple of levels.
** Repeated in part two, when Carmine's brother (who joins your team) dies even more horribily. The first Carmine's RedShirt status was {{Lampshaded}} before that by a dialogue between the brother and Dom. Parodied in the [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=219 VgCats]] webcomic.
*** Oddly, Benjamin Carmine (one of the original's three brothers, and the one in ''Gears 2'') manages to last a lot longer, nearly to the end of the game. He also was pretty danm good sniper (he always seem to have used a sniper rilfe during this troper's playthrough).
** Also in ''Gears of War'', the member of Alpha Squad who runs off and is instantly killed by the berserker is listed in the credits as Redshirt Gyules.
* Almost every friendly NPC in the first-person shooter ''{{Half-Life}}'' was a redshirt. The security guards would tag along and give support, but their low hit points and wimpy pistols meant they never lasted long. And the scientists, oh those poor scientists. Almost all of them only existed to die in scripted set-pieces to remind you of how insanely dangerous everything was.
** One of the guards, however, got his own spin-off. You don't mess with Barney.
* Parodied in ''SpaceQuest 5'', where miscellaneous crew members all wear blue shirt, and Roger Wilco, the protagonist (and ''ship's captain'') is the one who wears a red shirt. Guess who gets shot at all the time?
-->'''Droole:''' This may be dangerous, lets split up so we can cover more territory.\\
'''Roger:''' Don't you think we should stick together?\\
'''Droole:''' Only if you do a quick wardrobe change, sir.\\
'''Roger:''' This is hardly a time play Fashion critic.\\
'''Droole:''' It's not that, it's your shirt... it's... well... so '''red'''... It's bad luck.\\
''(they separate, only for Roger to be attacked later)''
* ''StarTrekVoyager - Elite Force'' lampshades this by giving the "Redshirt Award" to the teammate who died the most during a Capture the Flag or Team Deathmatch game.
* The amateur PC AdventureGame ''Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment'', which is pretty much what it sounds like, takes the trope to its logical extreme by making redshirts into a commodity cloned and sold in 5-packs. They die in a great number of interesting ways. In fact it's actually impossible for an away mission to end any way ''but'' the death of the redshirt.
* Jean Jack Gibson, from ''{{SNATCHER}}''. His outfit is more of a burgundy-orange, but it doesn't change the fact that his only purpose in-story is [[http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/9143/gibsongs5.jpg to be brutally murdered half an hour into the game.]]
* In ''MassEffect'', the introductory mission on Eden Prime begins with a squadmate named Richard [[LeeroyJenkins L. Jenkins]]. Guess what happens the first time you encounter any enemies. Go on, guess.
* Real-life game related example: Introvision Software, creators of ''{{Uplink}}'', included a bunch of bonus materials with the game. The catch? They (weakly) encrypted them via a encryption called "Red Shirt". Guess how long they expected it to take the fans to break the encryption? They also encrypted some game data (most notably, saved games) with the method, and replaced it with an update, called Red Shirt 2, in later versions. Their next game, ''Darwinia'', also use a modified version of Red Shirt 2 for its saved games.
** The LAN admins give their co-workers surprisingly obvious passwords, as if they wanted their friends' machines to get hacked into.
* ''Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis'' lampshaded this. All the named characters who died appear in the ending... in pictures, wearing red shirts.
* The oarsmen on the ship to Tolbi in ''GoldenSun'' exist only to be slain by sea monsters, thus giving the player a chance to veer the ship off its course -- and they're all wearing red bandanas.
* In ''FireEmblem'', since the games are known for having [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters]], you would think that there would not be many red shirts. However, on numerous occasions green colored "Other" units will be found either as generic guards or NPC reinforcements. They are of the class "Soldier", which no main character will ever have (though they are also sometimes seen as enemy units), and when witnessed in battle sequences are wearing red armor. Worse still, they have some of the lowest Hit points in the game and carry spears, putting them at an immediate disadvantage to most enemy units.
* Most of [[ResidentEvil S.T.A.R.S.]]
* ''QuestForGlory 5'' has "Kokeeno Pookameeso" as one of your competitors for the throne. This translates into "Red Shirt". Guess which of your competitors is first to die?
* Parodied and lampshaded in the fourth movie based off of ''Mastermind: World Conqueror''.
-->'''Male Patsy:''' I'm not dying to prove the situation is ''critical''! I won't go down like a goddamned redshirt!\\
'''The Tudor:''' You know, we're all wearing red shirts...\\
'''Female Patsy:''' Oh, [[SoundEffectBleep ****]] me, none of us are safe! He could kill one of us at any time...!\\
'''Mastermind:''' While I appreciate, and thank you for, the ''StarTrek'' reference, you got me. I was going to test this [[DeathRay portable Doom Laser]] out on [[YouHaveFailedMe one of you]].
* The repair team in ''DeadSpace'' consist of three named characters and some additional guards. They are all dead within in minute.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* [[HomestarRunner Cheat Commandos]] parodies this with its Green Helmets. "We've got, like, fifty of them!"
* Lampshaded in ''Stone Trek'': Every time a redshirt dies, a "Dead Redshirt Count" is shown.
** Played with in the episode ''Star Trekkin'' just about everyone but Kirkstone, Sprock, and RcCoy (sp?) dies, though Sprock is transformed into one of the creepy jellyfish (his head on their tentacles)
* Lampshaded in ''WormsTrek Rhapsody. One gets hit by a Klingon missile (Scotty's line "Hit by Klingon missiles, no!"), one gets fired out of a torpedo bay ("Photon torpedooooooos!") and other instances this troper can't remember.
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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Completely subverted in ''StarslipCrisis'' with the introduction of Quine, a "Protocol Officer" who's in charge of building relationships with new species. While he has a tendency to die on every "away mission", upon death, a clone is awakened on ship with all of his memories up to the time of death intact. The trope is outright inverted by the fact that he's the only member on the ship with this privilege (due to the rarity and importance of the protocol officer).
* Subverted in ''SchlockMercenary'', where the appropriately red-shirted Lieutenant (later Lieutenant-Commander) Der Trihs (Red Shirt [[SdrawkcabName spelled backwards]]) is repeatedly injured in various grievous ways, including being reduced to a head-in-a-jar a couple of times, but never actually dies. Instead, he actually "wins the game" by retiring from the mercenary business to live with a pretty girl on a paradisaical vacation-planet. [[spoiler:It is revealed at one point that his skull is quite nearly impervious to harm.]]
* ''[[http://intragalacticcomic.com/ Intragalactic]]'' has its Enstant Ensigns, who are apparently mass-produced disposable [[CloningBlues clones]] is stylish red outfits. They work hard and die with great efficiency, some even climbing into their disposal Ensacks before the ship crashes, to save time. Then, when the ship docks, they are taken off to the Ensignerator.
* Officers Getskilled and Oneshot in ''{{Girly}}''. Amusingly, neither of them die, and Getskilled goes on to become a minor part of the ensemble until at last he [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence meets his eventual fate]]. It's pretty cool.
* Parodied several times in ''SluggyFreelance'':
** [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060806 This]] strip from the ''"Stick Figures in Spaaaaace"'' series of stick-figure FillerStrips.
** And [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060813 this]] one.
** During "Oceans Unmoving", Quartermaster Flipp complains about not getting any characterization... and is knocked overboard to certain death in the very next strip. Of course, it's subverted when, after the whole plot and the deaths of many major and minor characters, it's revealed that he didn't die, but instead is sent through time.
** ''Sluggy'' has been on long enough to have hit this trope dozens of times. Without even bringing in the number of disposable elves who die in the formerly annual Christmas messes, there's:
*** [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=971011 "We'll be sending some expendable crewmembers to investigate..."]]
*** [[http://pics.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=971014 "Wow! It knows to go after the extras first!"]]
* ''{{I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space}}'' features at least two strips {{lampshading}} this trope, as seen [[http://rosalarian.com/lesbianpirates/?p=196 here]].
* Played with in [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20081228 this]] PhilFoglio comic:
-->'''"Snapper" [=McFipt=]:''' Shipman. You know when a monster or ninja or something sneaks on board and attacks a crewman to show how evil it is? Well, the person it attacks is [=McFipt=], and he's getting pretty tired of it.
* Parodied in ''LegostarGalactica'' where one of the main charactors is Ensign Redshirt and is continually being killed yet is always brought back to life.
** It's to the point that a laser shot ''in the opposite direction'' will actually ''bend'' just to hit him. It is subverted later, however, when a series of accidents fall on another character while sparing Ensign Redshirt, who's the first surprised.
* Played with in [[http://metroid.bobandgeorge.com/index.php?comic=480&num=1 Strip 480]] of ''Metroid: Third Derivative'' in which Joey asks for red paint so he can paint a red shirt on all the other degenerates.
* Heavily subverted and parodied in the ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'', where two nameless redshirts manage to survive ([[MauveShirt and even become secondary characters]]) by the rule of NominalImportance. Belkar even referred to them as "the two redshirts" at the beginning.
* Referenced in [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01775.png this]] ''{{Freefall}}'' strip.
* And in [[http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20030821 this]] ''{{Unshelved}}'' strip.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* Finding creative ways to kill off redshirts was part of the fun for some of the writers of the ''{{League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions}}'' (other writers thought we were sick).
* [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/popculture/9722/ This shirt.]]
** Also, {{Exactly What It Says On The Tin}}.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Perfectly parodied in the ''SouthPark'' episode "City on the Edge of Forever". The school bus is trapped teetering on the edge of a cliff and the bus driver leaves to find help, ordering the kids to remain on the bus or else a big black monster will eat them. After a long time of waiting, the children grow nervous and antsy. One of the kids -- a child wearing an actual Star Trek red shirt outfit can't take the waiting and leaves the bus to find help. No black monster appears and the kid even waves back to the other kids, causing remarks from the main characters about how the bus driver must have lied... only for the big black monster to immediately appear and eat the red-shirted kid.
* Parodied in ''{{Futurama}}'', "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", in which the entire ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' cast is threatened by a jealous energy being, but only Welshy (a parody of JonasQuinn for Scotty), who's dressed in the classic Red Shirt, gets killed. [[RuleOfThree Three times over.]] Additionally, Zapp Brannigan's entire brigade all wear red which accurately shows how he often sacrifices them freely and considers all missions suicide missions.
** In the same episode, a flashback of the so-called ''Star Trek Wars'' is shown where some officials are throwing redshirted ''Star Trek'' devotees into a volcano while chanting ''"He's dead Jim."''
* Parodied in ''KimPossible'', in the TrappedInTVLand episode called "Dimension Twist", when Kim is temporarily sent to a ''StarTrek''-esque TV show and appears in a red uniform:
-->'''Wade:''' This is the part of the show where they pick series regulars to go on a mission. Just make sure you're not the one wearing...\\
'''Kim:''' ... A red shirt?\\
'''Pseudo-Kirk:''' And... ''(to Kim)'' you! You're expendable.
* Parodied in the same ''FamilyGuy'' episode that the quote at the top of this article comes from: when Peter is running in the road with William Shatner, the latter gets hit and killed by a car. The camera then pans to Ensign Ricky, who declares: "I did ''not'' see that coming."
** In the episode "There's Something About Paulie", it is more subtly parodied. After Louis’s and Peter's car get blown up with a valet inside, Peter remarks that nobody important got hurt, while the valet's red vest slowly falls to the ground.
* ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'' made use of this trope in the episode "Lair of Grievous", in which Jedi Master Kit Fisto was accompanied on his mission by his never-before-mentioned Padawan Nahdar Vebb and a group of clone troopers. Predictably enough, each of them had died a horrible death by the end of the episode. The writers were aware of this convention and gave the clones red-striped body armour.
** This troper would like to add to ''The Clone Wars'' cartoon on CN that any clone that bears completely white armor would be dead by the end of the episode.
* Lampshaded endlessly in an episode of ''TheVentureBros'', where {{Mauve Shirt}} Henchmen #21 and #24 repeatedly taunt the previously unseen Henchman #1 for his red shirt status. By the end of the episode, [[spoiler:#1 is beaten to death by Brock Samson, as the {{genre savvy}} #21 and #24 miraculously escape harm.]]
* The Red Shirt gets his revenge in ''RobotChicken'' with a ''StarTrek'' sketch. When the crew teleported down to a planet to survive the ''Enterprise'' exploding, the crew reasons that to survive one of them must be sacrificed as food. Obviously they choose the Red Shirt first, but the Red Shirt tells them off by saying "On behalf of all the redshirts that fell before me, it makes me proud to say the following sentence... I'm the only one who brought a gun." He proceeds to kill and eat them all.
* Subverted during "Garbage Trek", a ''Star Trek''-mocking episode from ''TheBackyardigans''. Tasha wore a [[http://img.webme.com/pic/f/fanbackyardigans/garbagetrek011.png red dress]] (meaning she was the captain), yet she survived.
** To be fair, the show IS intended for 5-year-olds.
* Spoofed mercilessly in ''Sev Trek: Puss in Boots'' (the Australian CGI spoof of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''). An alien asks the ''Enterforaprize'' to supply [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong hosts for its young]], as they're reputed to have "endless supplies of expendable ensigns". After the offer is curtly refused ("Each ensign is a valuable member of our crew!") the alien runs rampant on the ship causing the death of 47 ensigns, mainly due to {{Failsafe Failure}}s and the lousy aim of the main characters. The ensigns have names ranging from Ensign Anonymous to (naturally) Ensign Expendable. One dying ensign laments the fact that he would have been promoted to lieutenant in a few days, therefore becoming immune.
* The Klokateers in ''{{Metalocalypse}}''
-->'''Facebones:''' And most important, remember -- death is an everyday part of the workplace! So, when you see a dead body, don't freak out!\\
'''Toki:''' ''(is taking out the trash and comes across a rotting corpse)'' Wowee!\\
'''Facebones:''' Just... ring your Deth-bell!\\
'''Toki:''' ''(rings his Deth-bell)''
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