Red Shirt/Quotes
"I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just 'Crewman Number Six'. I'm expendable. I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is. I've gotta get outta here."—Guy Fleegman, Galaxy Quest
And you always knew, if any of the main cast beamed down, they were all coming back. But if there was a new bloke beaming down with them... you got really worried about the new bloke. Especially if he was wearing a red jumper...
He's courageous, brave, and dangerously strong! / But he won't be around for very long! / 'cause his platoon gets blown away! / So let us pray for Soldier A!
Felger: You are not going to die, Coombs.
Coombs: Oh, come on, Felger! We might as well be wearing red shirts!—Stargate SG-1, "The Other Guys"
"Aliens take over facility. Marines get sent in to take care of it in the same way that bits of bread get sent into ponds to take care of the ducks."—Yahtzee Croshaw, Zero Punctuation
"I often think about how people like us always tend to be weak foils to stars like you in fiction. Whenever the supernatural protagonist appeared, we'd always be lying in a puddle of blood, just to emphasize the strength of the opponent. That's fine. It just goes to show how powerful people think we are. It's staged, so there's not much we can do."—Kinnosuke Kuzuhara, Durarara!!
Master Computer: I see The Federation has issued new uniforms.
Computer: Just gratuitous foreshadowing...
Ensign Newbie: Star Command says it's my lucky Red Shirt!
Computer: I see they've also given you brown pants to go with that Red Shirt.
Ensign: Huh?—Alien Adventure by John Freda.
Boone: You ever watch Star Trek?
Locke: Sounds like a piss-poor captain.
Locke: Not really.
Boone: The crew guys that would go down to the planet with the main guys — The Captain and the guy with the pointy ears? They always wore red shirts and they always got killed.
Locke: Yeah?
Boone: Yeah.—Lost
Under no circumstances are you to jeopardize your life or your ship. The life of your companion, however, is absolutely and thoroughly expendable.
"They wouldn't characterize this many NPCs if they weren't gonna pick them off like After Eight mints."—Yhatzee Croshaw, Zero Punctuation
"Working for the Field
of expendable agents."
Projects Division is messy business. It isn’t pleasant, and
it’s very easy to get dead. Hence, the conspiracy requires
quite a lot of cannon fodder—it may seem cliché, but not
everybody is expected to return, and Cheiron prepares for
that inevitability by stocking its FPD cells with a high volume
A monster or a mecha or a guy / doesn't matter which I'm gonna die!
"Everyone makes it to cover but the redshirt. Ouch. I mean, death by replicated shooty ball thing. What a way to go."