An initially joky but now often seriously used item of critical Terminology, based on fans' observation that red-shirted security officers in the original Star Trek (1966-1969) tended to be rather quickly killed off. Thus a red shirt (or redshirt) is an expendable spear-carrier who does not survive for long. As with virtually every aspect of Star Trek, this trope is sent up in {GALAXY QUEST} (1999). [DRL]
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