The Star Trek franchise has a few key phrases forever linked to it. “Live Long and Prosper,” “I’m a doctor!” and of course, “Red Alert!” It’s a line one hears often whenever a starship crew encounters a deadly threat in space, ever since the earliest days of the original series. And now, someone compiled the best Red Alert moments from 55 years of the franchise. So sound the klaxon, and get to your battle stations. You can watch this fun Red Alert montage right here:
The video, created by Star Trek YouTuber John DiMarco, (via Geeks Are Sexy) covers not only various TV series, but most of the films as well. It starts with Captain Kirk sounding the alarm, first on the original series, and then on Star Trek: The Animated Series. Then, the first six feature films, featuring the original Enterprise crew. Then it’s Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Lower Decks, and Prodigy. For unknown reasons, they didn’t include Red Alert signals from Star Trek: Discovery and the Kelvin Timeline films in this video. But rest assured, they sure do have them. And they are just as loud.
Despite what many out there believe (including us), the official “Red Alert” designation is a Star Trek invention. Of course, it’s based on real alert states like “Code Red” and “Condition Red.” The real “red alert state” found in military vessels is “General Quarters.” Or, if you’re serving on a British ship, “Action Stations.” But “Red Alert” as an official emergency designation? That seems to be a Gene Roddenberry invention. In fact, the prequel series Enterprise even came up with an “origin story” for Red Alert. They attributed it to Lt. Malcolm Reed, who was told to name it “Reed Alert.” But he chose the less vain “Red Alert” instead. And the rest is future history.
