Star Trek and the Expendable Crew Member in Red Shirt

voyzovrezon

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I just watched the Star Trek TNG episode “Where Silence Has Lease” from season 2 episode 2.

I loved this episode. It was exciting in a frustrating way, for we feel the same amount of frustration and anxiety in not knowing who or what is holding the ship captive while toying with the crew like lab rats. The crew undergoes an attack by a Romulan ship that is easily destroyed by the enterprise’s weapons (not a true scenario) and another star ship that’s configurations are like a maze that doesn’t coincide with an actual star ship.

One highlight is when the entity we are introduced to more than half way through the show, who calls himself Nagilum, asks for a demonstration of how the male and female life forms procreate and throws Dr. Polaski half way across the bridge.

It also wants to explore death and the various ways in which the human species will die. At this point, Wesley Crusher, who was on the bridge at the earlier time, has now been replaced by an ensign Haskall. Nagilum tortures Haskall to death internally and our poor hapless ensign falls in a fetal position with eyes wide open to suggest a torturous death.

After seeing this entity’s capabilities, Crusher is now back on the bridge and the Picard and Riker cancel the auto destruct sequence they implemented when they believed Nagilum was going to practice death techniques on random crew members.



It always drove me nuts, even with the original series, how they'd bring out this crew member we'd never seen before just to be put to death by the entity. Then the star crew member is brought back and things continue as normal. We see this in the first season of TNG as well, when an engineer is electrocuted by an entity through the control panels and the bridge crew, including Councilor Troi, acts like it didn't happen. That episode was called "Lonely Among Us" and one of the worst episodes of the series.
 
That's why if I had to serve in Starfleet, of all the onscreen captains I'd choose I'd want to serve under Sisko. Picard and Kirk were always so blase about their low-ranked crewmen getting killed off, it verged on Zapp Brannigan territory.
 
That's why if I had to serve in Starfleet, of all the onscreen captains I'd choose I'd want to serve under Sisko. Picard and Kirk were always so blase about their low-ranked crewmen getting killed off, it verged on Zapp Brannigan territory.

:lmao: I hear ya! I remember watching TOS and my family always remarking, and knowing, when the expendable crew member entered. "Oh, this is a new guy. He's dead."
 
The way they killed off the two security guards on Q'onos in Into Darkness was even more laughable, and not in a funny, camp way either. They practically died offscreen, that was stupid.
 
The way they killed off the two security guards on Q'onos in Into Darkness was even more laughable, and not in a funny, camp way either. They practically died offscreen, that was stupid.

I havent' seen the movie, were they wearing red shirts? :woot:
 

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