Foreshadowing

I watched another episode of the original Star Trek series from the 1960s.  You figure out pretty early on in the series that any crew member not part of the regular cast is toast if they are transported down to a strange planet with the regular cast.  Typically, they die long before the halfway point of the episode.

Last night something even more telling occurred.  Two landing parties were beamed down to a planet at the outset of an episode.  A quick assessment revealed five nameless crew members were there.  Four men and one striking blonde woman.

“Uh-oh,” I said to my cat, “This is going to be a tough episode for the generic dudes.   But the woman will be fine.  Pretty blonde woman crew members don’t get killed on Star Trek.”

Within ten minutes, three of the generic males were dead.   The fourth one lasted until very near the end.

—Mitchell Hegman