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As Star Trek: Lower Decks continues its self-aware exploration of the Star Trek mythos, one infamous Star Trek trope stands ripe for deconstruction.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 6, “The Spy Humongous,” streaming now on Paramount+.
From Starfleet’s dirty, dark side being explored to the return of some of Star Trek‘s strangest aliens, Star Trek: Lower Decks has always been a self-aware celebration of the quirkier aspects of Star Trek. And as the animated series follows the junior officers onboard one of Starfleet’s least vital starships taking on the most mundane missions the Federation has to offer, Ensign Brad Boimler stumbles on an exclusive support group for one of Star Trek‘s oldest and most infamous tropes as he joins a group of fellow redshirts serving on the Cerritos to elevate themselves beyond the cursed legacy long associated with the Starfleet personnel bearing the crimson color.
As several of his friends find themselves roped into consolidating the various anomalies the Cerritos has gathered across the cosmos — one of the more tedious and occasionally dangerous tasks for the junior officers — Boimler is approached by a different group of junior officers instead. Dubbing themselves the “redshirts” by the red-tinged uniforms they wear, the junior officers all dream of rising to the rank of starship captain within Starfleet someday, an aspiration that Boimler has similarly shared and informed his decision to accept a brief assignment on the Titan in between Seasons 1 and 2. And in this ambition, the redshirts are looking to dispel the negative association with their uniform color.
Star Trek: The Original Series had Starfleet’s security, engineering and communications personnel wearing bright red uniforms, in contrast to the command personnel wearing gold and the science and medical personnel wearing blue. Given the lethal threats that the Enterprise often faced, the fan-dubbed redshirts saw a noticeably high mortality rate in comparison to their alternately colored counterparts and gave them something of a longstanding reputation as cannon fodder. Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent Star Trek series would somewhat subvert this reputation by having the command personnel wearing red and security and engineering personnel wear gold. However, the infamous association has continued to stick with the franchise.
Given its overall placement in the Star Trek timeline, the Cerritos’ redshirts are command personnel and relatively unaffected by the high mortality rate endured by TOS‘ redshirts. Instead, this small group of redshirted junior officers intends to rise through the ranks and approach Boimler precisely because he was selected to serve on the bridge crew for a starship as important as the Titan under the storied command of Captain Will Riker. However, having gotten a taste of the pressures of being part of the bridge crew, Boimler sees more value in helping his friends than the redshirt grandstanding and ultimately does not fit in with the redshirt ringleader.
The redshirts may not be dying left, right and center like they were during TOS, but they still find themselves banding together to show Starfleet what they’re really made of. And while no redshirts were harmed in the making of Lower Decks‘ latest episode, it’s assuming to see how much a maligned group of Starfleet personnel has confronted its own reputation. Boimler perhaps is the most aware and appreciative of what makes Starfleet so special, regardless of what color uniform he wears, showing audiences just what exactly a redshirt can do.
Star Trek: Lower Decks is streaming now on Paramount+, with new episodes released on Thursdays.
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