Star Trek: Red Shirt Analytics

If you're a fan of the original Star Trek, you know about the Red Shirt Phenomenon. This is the odd but reliable occurrence in which Captain Kirk beams down to some wacky new planet with, let's say, Spock, McCoy, and Feldenkrantz, some guy in a red shirt. Pretty soon there's an ambush, and when the phaser fire starts flyin', who do you think catches a fatal blow? Yep. Red shirt guy.

But how often does this really happen? And how can we find out more about the Red Shirt Phenomenon?

Matt Bailey has brilliantly and hilariously applied web analytics to these vital questions, and he reached some conclusions in great detail -- including PowerPoint slides.

Comments

[suttonhoo]

this is brilliant.

but they don't explore whether the various death rates correlate to costuming constraints in the wardrobe department.

[Mr_Outlandish]

There's a red shirt T-shirt for sale on Ziraxia!