Monday, March 13, 2006

klingons off the starboard bow

Which Star Trek Character Are You?
You are An Expendable Character (Redshirt)
90% Geordi LaForge
90% Mr. Scott
75% Deanna Troi
75% Spock
64% Data
63% Jean-Luc Picard
60% Worf
55% Chekov
50% Will Riker
45% Leonard McCoy (Bones)
45% Beverly Crusher
45% Uhura
40% Mr. Sulu
40% James T. Kirk (Captain)
25% Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed, and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable.
That doesn't mean your job isn't important but if you were in Star Trek you would be killed off in the first episode you appeared in.

okay, i can accept this but i have to take exception with it. allow me to make my case.

i'll admit i've gone through start trek periods in my life. when i was younger, before videos, before star wars, star trek was the only thing on worth watching on sundays. i remember the redshirts and have joked about them myself. however i think of this as one of those cases of growing older, hopefully wiser, and realizing the more one knows, the less one knows.

i think it's kind of crazy, but so appropriate in this horrible age of abuse and decay, that someone who performs what is acknowledged as an important job can be killed off with nary a thought to those on board the enterprise. the redshirt, or average person, has much more worth and soul than is given credit for on the series. alfred hitchcock made a career of showing people who would have been redshirts in the 25th century, or whenever the hell the show takes place. but these normal, everyday people showed what they were worth as dozens of killers and entire governments were out to get them. it's the redshirts who rise up when the going gets tough, by sheer force of will and tenacity. just so they can get back to dinner with the family and to wash the car on the weekend. unless they happened to be gunned down bloodlessly by a phaser gun wielding thug.

yet kirk is the one who gets all the glory because he lives like a type-a command and control leader 24/7, and people love that shit. i forgot who said it but it's applicable in this case to the kirk type vs. a redshirt: anyone can be a hero, it is the day to day grind that really takes its toll. i bet yasujiro ozu could have done an epic about the afternoon in the life of a so-called redshirt.

you know what, i proud to be a redshirt. as cheesy as the show was, it was probably better to be killed off at the beginning of an episode anyway, so one could piss off to a bar before noon. call it a day and start living, i say.

redshirts unite! we shall stand tall and not accept defeat by blindly following our misguided leaders. we will question the reasoning of ours orders, we will look for an escape route, and if we have to, wear a different colored shirt. in short, we shall live longer and prosper!!!

shout out to lilly for providing the site in the first place.
here's the link the the damnable thing. take the star trek quiz at your own risk.

3 Comments:

Blogger paintergirl said...

You know I still cannot see how you are a redshirt, but I understand your philosophy behind this.

You do go unnoticed. it's because of your low key personality. In the scheme of things you do matter. if it weren't for you a certain number of things/events/people would completely fall apart.

redshirts do need to change their manifesto and I like your ideas. that's why you are different.

2:45 PM  
Blogger Lilly said...

Melvin! I love your whole philosophy behind the Redshirts! I turned out to be 30% Redshirt myself and I remember Alan making fun of this -- I will make sure he reads what you've written! Yes, let us unite as Redshirts --- whaheyyyy!

3:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good one, Alan! :)

8:45 AM  

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