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Thread: Statistical Analysis of Redshirt Death

  1. #1
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    Cool Statistical Analysis of Redshirt Death

    ... or "Starfleet Needs Women"!

    Enjoy.
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  2. #2
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    OMG! This is a great article, if I am ever a High School Teacher, I am so using this.

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  3. #3
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    Hmm so the moral of the story is, if Kirk gets laid, there's more universal peace love and understanding. Hmm and Trek was made in the 60's Shame it only really applies to Kirk too!
    Ta Muchly

  4. #4
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    Does anyone know if the data is accruate?
    I recall an article in Star Trek Magazine where they tracked the fatalsities from TOS, and it turned out that more people in Blue uniforms actuallied died than those in red.

    Does anyone know if someone has done up a listing of fatalities by episode for TOS?

    It would be interesting to know if the article is accurate of if the author just made the numbers up to support his desire to "explore stange new worlds" populated by scantily clad babes.

    I7d have just reminded the Captain that such planets increase his chances of a romantic subplot, lower his tailor bills, and ensure that he will be in the spotlight for the episode.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by tonyg
    Does anyone know if the data is accruate?
    I recall an article in Star Trek Magazine where they tracked the fatalsities from TOS, and it turned out that more people in Blue uniforms actuallied died than those in red.
    I believe you're mis-remembering.

    In the March 2000 issue of Star Trek: The Magazine was an article titled "He's dead, Jim." that tracked deaths among the crew during TOS.

    Their results do differ a bit from Matt Bailey's.
    First, their data pool:
    They only counted members of the crew (not, for instance, miners killed by the Horta), and then only if they were seen or named on-screen. Thus, if Uhura tells Kirk that 6 people just died in Engineering, that doesn't count because we never saw them, and we don't know their names.
    They count 34 deaths in 79 episodes, where Mr. Bailey counted 59.
    Further, they found that all of those 34 deaths occurred in just 17 episodes, including 3 episodes that each feature 4 crew deaths ("The Man Trap", "The Changeling", and "The Apple"). I guess appearing in an episode that began with "The" is not good for your health.
    Broken down by season, 11 die in the first season, 16 during the second, and only 4 in the third.

    An example of a death Mr. Bailey probably counted where ST:TM did not: in "Catspaw", a crewman named Jackson drops to the ground dead just over 1 minute into the episode. The folks at the magazine believed he was already dead before the episode began (and was an animated corpse for his 76 seconds of fame), and thus they didn't count him since he didn't die during the episode. (Which is a bit of a silly distinction, if you ask me.)

    Their breakdown was as follows:
    4 dead goldshirts, 6 dead blueshirts, and 24 who either wore redshirts or some "unusual uniform" that they decided to rule also indicated either Security or Engineering.

    And in the entire show, nobody gets killed by a Klingon, and only one crewman dies in an episode with Klingons in it.


    I suspect that the main reason for the difference in the death counts between the magazine and Mr. Baliey's work is due to the differences in what they felt was a qulifying death, rather than to a lack of accuracy on either part.
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  6. #6
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    I circulated this to other members of my faculty, a good laugh was had by all.

  7. #7
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    spyone,
    Thanks for the clairification.

    I wonder if/how they counted people who get killed, but then brought back to life by the end of the episode?

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