They have no choice, Kirk killed off entire generations of Redshirts.
They discovered that away mission casualties are greatly reduced when the personnel involved have plot armor, and changed the regulations accordingly.
This sounds like the plot of John Scalzi's Redshirts
Feel like Stargate SG-1 had a much better approach for this. Send an anthropologist, a techy, the muscle and the team lead. Probably would have been a little more realistic if they had a squad of Navy Seals go first, but I think half they time they allude that they did off screen.
Super SG-1 nerd here, they often speak of the "marines" that get sent in to scout places first.
That said, the "front-line team", as they are called here and there, gets priority on a lot of the big missions.
Besides, you really think sg-12 is capable of tackling a galaxy-ending scenario every 6-12 months? They can barely sort their crayons at chow time.
They send a disposable robot first, technically.
How big was the video cable drum? That wormhole seemed quite long.
MALP tumbles off into space
"Well, there goes another MALP..."
I always wondered if the Atlantis team went to recover the MALPs when they exited a space gate. I mean, it can't get TOO far, given how slow it moves, but space is big and empty and by the time a mission gets approved it could be many miles away in a big empty void.
From what I remember of what little Stargate I've seen, a fair bit of it is "let's go see what happened to the Navy Seals" (or whatever spec ops they sent). The best way to do that being to sent the upper management of the project, as is tradition.
Always the least believable part of Star Trek.
It's funny that early on in TNG they make the point that Picard shouldn't go on away missions, but then the rest of the senior staff beam down every week.
They do this on the Orville too. At least with Trek it was either the Captain or the XO, not both. In the Orville they both always go down. Loved that series but that always struck me as odd.
Wasn't there a TNG episode centered around Troi being in charge pecause Picard and Riker being away?
I believe that was a situation where they were still on the ship, but there was an emergency because different parts of the ship were cut off from each other.
There was an episode where Geordi was in charge because Riker and Picard had transported to the surface. That was the first season, and he was a bridge officer (and I think a lieutenant or even lieutenant junior grade) at the time.
In TOS it was both captain and XO (Spock) every single time.
DS-9 is even worse about this. Entire senior staff and Captain on secret mission on the Defiant into a war zone, practically every other episode of seasons 5 and 6. Still somehow better track record of returning home without ado than Bashir's attempting to attend a medical conference.
At least the captain doesn't go down with them most of the time, unlike a previous one.
Check out the willful child series of books. The captain Hadrian Sawback (possibly spelt wrong I've only listened to audiobooks.) Always sends down all of the top officers and is constantly reminded of how bad an idea it is.
Feel like this would fit better if they were Klingon. Lead from the front like a true warrior.
A generalist Sci-Fi meme community.
