The Red Shirt Effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_(character)
In the original 1966 Star Trek series, security officers, who wear red, meet tragic ends in many episodes. Typically, a landing party includes at least one red-shirted security officer accompanying the main characters. The officer is typically killed soon after the mission begins.[2]
In the Pocket Books Star Trek novel Killing Time, a time-tampering plot twist turns Captain James T. Kirk into an ensign. While he is dressing for duty, a fellow crew member says, "Let's just say that on this ship — or probably any other — you don't want to wear a red shirt on landing-party duty."[3] Similar sentiments are expressed by a security officer in the third issue of the Star Trek: Mission's End comic book series, when he confronts Doctor McCoy and Chekov over the perception that crew members wearing blue or gold seem to have a much higher probability of survival.
In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine book Legends of the Ferengi, an entry comparing the life-span of various beings with the shelf life of gold-pressed latinum includes the entry "Lifespan of a Federation hew-mon working for Starfleet security (who for some reason are called red-shirts even though they wear yellow): Rarely survive beyond the second act break".[4]
In the Family Guy episode "I Never Met the Dead Man", this concept is parodied with Ensign Ricky, the token redshirt. Kirk outlines that an upcoming mission is dangerous with a high probability of one of them dying. As such, his choice of landing party is himself, Mr. Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Ensign Ricky; Ricky, aware of the fate of redshirts, simply replies, "Aww crap." The viewer is then surprised when William Shatner, who plays Kirk, is run over by Meg in the family car. Ensign Ricky, among the spectators, comments, "Wow, did not see that coming."
