Icheb's death is the most gruesome. It's really a question of what's second place. Remmick's death is a contender, but I think it looks too silly to take seriously.
Yeah, it's horrible, but not sure I consider Icheb a redshirt. As a matter of fact, I'm sure I don't.
He had a red uniform on, and he was an Ensign in Starfleet, so I think it counts. On VOY, he was a recurring character. In PIC, he's a redshirt. That's how I rationalize it.
I'm pretty sure he was a Lt. But more to the point, I don't think Icheb would qualify as a redshirt. A redshirt usually is just a tertiary or background character and not someone who is a catalyst for a lead character to do things. Icheb definitely doesn't qualify as a redshirt because he was a recurring on VOYAGER, and he was a huge catalyst for Seven in PICARD.
You know, we should have a redshirt contest. Have some head to head matches, see who comes out as the winner. We can call it 'Redshirt Wrestling'.
It's been a while since I saw that episode, but isn't Remmick technically already dead when they explode him? If I remember correctly he was at that point just a meat puppet for that alien parasite.
^ Exactly. The normal bluegill parasites could exit a host (following the queen's death) without killing said host, but there was no such chance for Remmick. As soon as he was taken over, he was dead. So it's not even Remmick that Riker and Picard killed.
My immediate thought goes to Sonak and the other crewmember in TMP…so grizzly It was all the more sinister because of the implied violence (“what we got back didn’t live long, fortunately”). In TOS, growing up I was freaked out by all the salt vampire deaths in The Man Trap, as well as the relentless deaths of the redshirts in The Apple. They’re non-stop! Particularly the guy who gets blown up by the rock (who I believe actually sustained a real-life injury from the stunt as it went awry). Also let’s mention the female officer on the Bridge of Voyager with the lesions on her face in ‘Scientific Method’. The scene is made all the more tragic by Janeway’s futile attempts at CPR.
I remember that one... and I expect half those scientists lived to regret that one. The other half didn't live. Janeway was like a mama bear in a killing rage at the death of one of her cubs.
In a way, perhaps some Borg assimilations we've seen are more horrible. At least, for those dying, it's over soon.
Yeah, you're right: the scene quickly becomes chaotic and all of a sudden - without any prior introduction in the periphery - someone pops into frame for the sole purpose of showing that the stakes have been raised even further. In a way, this death was almost cartoonish (without the humor).
I have to vote for Kes. Because anyone who sleeps with Neelix must have to die a thousand times inside.