They might have been mere cannon fodder on the Enterprise, but, on the Internet, redshirts are getting the acclaim they justly deserve. On YouTube and elsewhere, fans have made them the focus of video montages, like this entertaining mashup by comedy4cast, set, for maximum irony, to the Electric Light Orchestra’s “I’m Alive:”:

“Red Shirt Massacre,” on Stupid Videos.com, has a better soundtrack (Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust,” natch), but suffers from an annoyingly literal approach (when Freddie Mercury sings, “Through the doorway the bullets rip / To the sound of the beat,” crew members bust down a door, and an excess of non-redshirt-related padding:

The redshirt montage with the best Trekkie pedigree, though, has to be chrisis1033’s “Red Shirt Boogie Blues,” set to the song of the same name by the Enterprise Blues Band. Featuring former cast members Casey Biggs (Damar), Richard Herd (Admiral Paris), Vaughn Armstrong, and  Steve Rankin (both played one-off roles in various series), and visual effects guy Ron B. Moore, the band plays at conventions, charity events, and other Trek-related venues. They’re more than a novelty act, though: “Red Shirt Boogie Blues” is both funny and an infectious, toe-tapping, almost soulful song that even non-Trekkies could get into. In fact, it far outshadows the video’s visuals, so, if you just want to witness a string of comically absurd redshirt demises, stick with one of the other two videos:

Or, if life’s got you down to the point where you start identifying with redshirts, you can always pick up some of their merch:

And, finally, here’s an ubernerdy “tribute” to redshirts that combines Trek fandom with web analytics, math, and graphing. Matt Bailey, we kowtow to you. You truly are the Supreme Lord of Dorkiness.