The Way The Red Shirt Died

[Rush Limborg]

Okay. Usually, the red-shirt dies because, for some strange reason, the bad guy just happens to target him first.

Sometimes, it's more legit--the red shirt's standing guard, and the bad guy takes him out, a la "What Are Little Girls..."

In rare instances, it's because the red-shirt's either too scared or otherwise poorly disciplined to shoot first, a la "Devil in the Dark".

But NEVER have we ever seen the red-shirt bite the dust because HE WAS HAVING TOO MUCH FUN!!!

Lo and Behold...Engineer Olson--who arguably was the most critical member of the team, because he had the charges--neglects to pull his chute until way too late.

Kirk and Sulu are screaming at him to pull his chute, but he brushes it off with, "Not yet! Not yet!".

And then, "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

And then--because he pulls his chute too close to the platform, the force pushes him away from the surface...and he gets sucked into the drill, getting burned up.

Now--I LOVE this film, but...I always wondered what Olson's problem was....

Any thoughts?

 

[BillJ]

Okay. Usually, the red-shirt dies because, for some strange reason, the bad guy just happens to target him first.

Sometimes, it's more legit--the red shirt's standing guard, and the bad guy takes him out, a la "What Are Little Girls..."

In rare instances, it's because the red-shirt's either too scared or otherwise poorly disciplined to shoot first, a la "Devil in the Dark".

But NEVER have we ever seen the red-shirt bite the dust because HE WAS HAVING TOO MUCH FUN!!!

Lo and Behold...Engineer Olson--who arguably was the most critical member of the team, because he had the charges--neglects to pull his chute until way too late.

Kirk and Sulu are screaming at him to pull his chute, but he brushes it off with, "Not yet! Not yet!".

And then, "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

And then--because he pulls his chute too close to the platform, the force pushes him away from the surface...and he gets sucked into the drill, getting burned up.

Now--I LOVE this film, but...I always wondered what Olson's problem was....

Any thoughts?

While it is a cool scene, it really makes no sense. An engineer of all people would know the minimal distance needed to make a safe landing. Or he was a really poor engineer.

 

[Wynterhawk]

Adrenaline junkie gone too far? Hopped up on wanting to kill Romulans?

Poor red shirts.

 

[Starbreaker]

He knew what he was doing. Just an idiot.

 

[pookha]

talking about kicking romulan ass after one romulan ship just knocked off several ships wasnt very smart.

 

[npsf3000]

Impaired judgment, he wants to kill Romulan's, and was obviously like the decent (Adrenaline) and thought he knew what the minimum safe distance was.

He was wrong.

 

[Sector 7]

This was discussed in an earlier thread. Those of us who have parachuting experience have seen it before. Also pilots who take off their mask experience it. Lack of oxygen to the brain can cause a narcosis which impairs judgment. At the moment I cannot recall the proper name for it... it has been a long day.

My guess is that Abrams/writers were attempting to mimic this.

 

[abaldwin360]

Engineer Olson came off as sort of an overenthusiastic ass from the first time he speaks.

 

[SilentP]

Plus he was overestimating the threat of any possible Romulan fire coming their way with deployed chutes. I think he does say something to that effect while the others are shouting at him, but it's a bit hard to understand what he saying while going 'Wahooo!' half the time.

 

[Vigilance]

I think he was remembering Pike's orders about waiting till the last minute.

Also, both Kirk and Sulu almost go over the side too, so it's hard to argue he did something blatantly stupid while they were smart.

Two near misses, one miss. It was a tough jump.

 

[SilentP]

I think he was remembering Pike's orders about waiting till the last minute.

That's exactly what I was thinking of.

Also, both Kirk and Sulu almost go over the side too, so it's hard to argue he did something blatantly stupid while they were smart.

Two near misses, one miss. It was a tough jump.

Good point actually, now that I think about it, it did seem that the additional distance that Olson covered without a deployed chute didn't seem to make a massive difference to how easy it was for Sulu and Kirk to land on the platform.

Then again it is hard for us to judge how easy it is to pull of an orbital para jump, so who are we to judge?

 

[Sabataage]

Really he existed to make Kirk look good. Your proper introduction to Kirk happens just as he's steals his step-dad's car and then drives it off the cliff, only bailing out at the last second. Your introduction to him as a young man is picking a fight with four burly cadets at a bar. He's reckless and thrill-seeking to the point of having a death wish. And yet while space-jumping (which is an awesome rush) he's able to recognize when they're near enough to the platform and that they are there to do a job.
Plus he's followng Sulu's lead, which makes him a better teammate than Olsen as well. If arguably, everyone in the film relates to Kirk in some way, the redshirt was there demonstrate the worst version of his bad habits. A blood-thirsty adrenaline junkie, who disregards orders that might save his and other's lives.

 

[OneBuckFilms]

Humanity may evolve a great deal in the next 300 years, but sometimes idiocy has a way of surviving evolution.

Olson obviously wanted to be the winner of the 2258 Darwin Awards

 

[Nerys Myk]

At least he didn't step on an exploding rock.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Okay...what say you I post a poll on whether or not Olson had a good excuse for bitin' the dust?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Red shirt played playing a non-regular on a landing party. Best reasons ever.

 

[startrekrcks]

Poor Red Shirt why in Star Trek do Red Shirts get killed just wondering

 

[SilentP]

^ Because they're the most numerous of the colours by dint of the departments they represent, i.e. general ship operations, under which Security, Tactical and Engineering are organised. Statistically, by the mere fact there's more of them, they're more likely to die, and due to their duties, they're in harm's way more of the time, i.e. security always sending officers in landing parties, engineers forming damage control teams or repairing systems that are likely to go kablooey etc.

 

[startrekrcks]

Oh is that why thanks for answering my question

 

[Alpha_Geek]

I can't remember if I laughed or cried
as Engineer Olson fried,
but something touched me deep inside
the way the redshirt died.

So bye, bye ensign redshirt, goodbye
Mr Spock said it was safe
but that was a lie.

Them good ol boys on the Romulan side
sayin' that's a really bad way to die,
that's a really bad way to die