Uhura Calls "Red Alert"

[Extollager]

In "The Trouble with Tribbles," Uhura calls a red alert. I thought it was interesting that an officer of her rank could do this. In any of the other original series teleplays, does anyone other than Kirk (except for Uhura here) call a red alert?

Thanks.

 

[DrStrangelove]

Checkov does that in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Sulu does in The Corbomite Maneuver (TOS E1S2).

Beyond that, several characters that are neither the captain nor commanding officer do that in other series.

 

[Extollager]

Thanks -- I'll watch for Sulu's command in "Corbomite."

 

[paranoid marvin]

I always saw the Red Alert as a kind of 'emergency chain' that anyone could pull, but they'd better have a darn good reason for doing so.

In reality and under normal circumstances though, you would expect that whoever was commanding the bridge at the time of the situation would be the one to make the call.

 

[Extollager]

UHURA [on monitor]: I'm picking up a subspace distress call. Priority channel. It's from Space Station K7.
KIRK: Go to warp factor six.
CHEKOV: Code One emergency. That's a disaster call.
UHURA [OC]: This is a Red Alert. Man your battle stations. All hands.

The Star Trek Transcripts - The Trouble With Tribbles

It's interesting that she does this. Kirk and Spock and, presumably, Scott and Sulu are on the ship, which is not under threat.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I loved the idea of a Kirk calling a 'double red alert whilst trying to find an overloading phaser . The fact that there is a 'double red' is pretty ridiculous anyway, but that it causes everything to turn dark red and black is hardly likely to help when trying to find a hidden weapon!

 

[tinkerdan]

I'm thinking that Code One emergency probably triggers a specific protocol.

CHEKOV: Code One emergency. That's a disaster call.
UHURA [OC]: This is a Red Alert. Man your battle stations. All hands.

In which case UHURA is probably just doing her job.
There might also be direction in the scene that has her first look to the Captain for some sort of nod to acknowledge before proceeding.

 

[Elckerlyc]

I'm thinking that Code One emergency probably triggers a specific protocol.


In which case UHURA is probably just doing her job.
There might also be direction in the scene that has her first look to the Captain for some sort of nod to acknowledge before proceeding.

I was thinking the same thing, until I reread it. How would a 'disaster call' trigger a call to man all battle stations?
Then again, battling a disaster could be a thing of the future. Fire all guns until the disaster is obliterated.

 

[Foxbat]

There’s also the question of Yellow Alert. It seems to me that a disaster call would trigger this as a protocol in preparing the ship for any possibility without going to an actual war footing.

 

[tinkerdan]

Oddly enough, I recall in some reading-research I had done one source describing it as a high priority distress call and that Kirk was upset that they used such a call for their alleged emergency.
So I wonder what was used in the actual episode.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Presumably 'red alert' entails shields being raised to maximum and power being diverted to shields and weapons. And all hands going to their stations. Not really necessary for a distress call coming from a long distance away.

 

[tinkerdan]

If it were just the call alone and then red alert I might agree.
However there is a command to go to warp factor 6 which means they are rapidly approaching the long distance object and need to be prepared for whatever the emergency is.

 

[farntfar]

In TNG there was an episode in which Beverley Crusher earned the right to command the bridge, and a second episode (I think) showing her first such command. (She was all nervous and stuff)

Presumably anyone who has gained that right can call a red alert. Maybe Uhura had already got it. (But probably not Bones. )

 

[paranoid marvin]

Even if you're an ensign walking down a corridor and spot - for example - a horde of aliens trying to take over the ship, there surely has to be a 'red alert' they can activate on the nearest wall terminal?

 

[Vladd67]

I'm thinking that Code One emergency probably triggers a specific protocol.


In which case UHURA is probably just doing her job.
There might also be direction in the scene that has her first look to the Captain for some sort of nod to acknowledge before proceeding.

She wouldn't have looked at the Captain for a nod of acknowledgement before proceeding as Kirk wasn't on the bridge. Given the final line of the scene, there must be a standard response to such a signal.

Captain's Log, stardate 4523.3. Deep Space Station K7 has issued a priority one call. More than an emergency, it signals near or total disaster. We can only assume the Klingons have attacked the station. We're going in armed for battle.

 

[Dave]

The first season of Star Trek hadn't really nailed everything down yet. They refer to the Enterprise as a "United Earth Ship" rather than Starfleet in The Corbomite Maneuver.

No one is complaining about that glaring discrepancy; it is what it is. So I think that you are really nitpicking to complain about the Red Alert protocol being a little loose during that season.

Personally, I can easily deal with that problem. Any first Season of a show has some weird things that never ever happen again. What I couldn't accept was the idea developed in Star Trek: Enterprise that the Red Alert was really a "Reed Alert" named for the Armory Officer, Malcolm Reed!

 

[Ursa major]

What I couldn't accept was the idea developed in Star Trek: Enterprise that the Red Alert was really a "Reed Alert" named for the Armory Officer, Malcolm Reed!

One dreads to think -- it's probably best not to do so on this forum -- what the origin of Yellow Alerts might be....