Taking off the glove is exactly what I'm talking about, and why he was the stupidest 'redshirt'.
Poll Was Olson the stupidest redshirt?
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
Yes. You don't just draw your weapon without orders from the superior officer on the scene.
It doesn't matter what the actual color of your shirt was. Junior officer, never seen before and definitely never again, meets a bad end through bad luck or bad judgement.
If you want to protect your invincible captain, sometimes you might have to. That's why he's SUPPOSED to be there. And that's why he was supposed to be at the brotherplucking briefing so he would have brotherplucking KNOWN not to draw his brotherplucking phaser right in front of CAPELLAN security.
> Seeking thrill
> During a highly critical mission
Olson was too dumb to even qualify for Starfleet.
> During a highly critical mission
Olson was too dumb to even qualify for Starfleet.
How many dumb or evil people have we seen in Starfleet?
The qualifications don't seem as rigorous as we might assume.
Two, I always took it as much enthusiasm to kick Romulan ass, possibly due to an ancestor fighting in the Romulan War.
The qualifications don't seem as rigorous as we might assume.
Two, I always took it as much enthusiasm to kick Romulan ass, possibly due to an ancestor fighting in the Romulan War.
True that. Kirky himself got evil after one little transporter malfunction, then got extra-stupid in BABEL since he was heading for a critical Act Two fadeout.
He's there to be firepower, IF you need it, not to go blasting away on his own initiative unless for some reason the senior officer present is dead or disabled.
He also managed to stab himself to death with a butter knife, which is almost impressive in its stupidity.
To call Lt Joe Tormolen the dumbest redshirt kind of downplays just how dumb he was. He was a blueshirt, so he signed up as a scientist on a space mission when he didn't actually believe that people had any business doing science in space. Then despite being a scientist in full protective gear investigating mysterious deaths, he thought it'd be fine to take his glove off, start touching stuff, then put his hand under his hood to smell it. Spock came up afterwards and told him not to touch anything, but he decided not to report what he did. End result: his entire crew nearly died.
The dude was literally too dumb to live, as even McCoy and all his technology couldn't save him from a minor knife wound to the gut. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew were dealing with a condition that impaired their decision making and were still able to escape the planet, cure the virus and invent time travel. Because of what they learned dealing with Tormolen's stupidity, they were able to save humanity from the Whale Probe and restore whales from extinction. This also meant that the Enterprise-D crew had the information to make their own cure and save themselves from an exploding star, and Picard later used slingshot time travel to save the Federation from becoming the Confederation.
Basically, Tormolen's stupidity is the linchpin of the Prime Timeline. But Olsen was the stupidest redshirt in any reality.
The dude was literally too dumb to live, as even McCoy and all his technology couldn't save him from a minor knife wound to the gut. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew were dealing with a condition that impaired their decision making and were still able to escape the planet, cure the virus and invent time travel. Because of what they learned dealing with Tormolen's stupidity, they were able to save humanity from the Whale Probe and restore whales from extinction. This also meant that the Enterprise-D crew had the information to make their own cure and save themselves from an exploding star, and Picard later used slingshot time travel to save the Federation from becoming the Confederation.
Basically, Tormolen's stupidity is the linchpin of the Prime Timeline. But Olsen was the stupidest redshirt in any reality.
Another dumb redshirt Commander Landry, arrogant arsehole like Olsen and Lt Evan Connolly
As a viewer, yes he is because he was written to be stupid on purpose as an homage and no other purpose. The others were stupid but necessary to move the plot along.
An homage to security guards in general, or his cloth-color?
Redshirts dying a quick death specifically. I think it’s mentioned in the commentary track.
That poor ''final guard'' in THE APPLE was just MINUTES away from the episode finish. So close and yet so dead. Alas, poor Marple. I never knew him, Spock. But do I ever, really?
Olson wasn’t the stupidest redshirt, but I’d argue his death was one of the funniest.
The poll's pretty evenly split.
More sheer torment than stupidity. At least after the beamup.
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