Tasha Yar Presents: "Making Good Career Decisions"

[Doug Otte]

tharpdevenport wrote:

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I seem to recall reading in a TNG magazine (maybe even the failed "Star Trek: The Magazine") that she was let go because they didn't have the bduget and Gene and/or the studio wanted to focus on Worf. And Gene regretted it.

Being a background character at the time, I imagine his salary went up as soon as he became a regular cast member.

You're mistaken. She chose to leave, because she was unhappy w/ the lack of direction for her character, and she thought she could launch a film career. Roddenberry was upset that she was leaving, so had her character killed to avoid any possibility of her coming back.

Doug

[Alrik]

^

Yup. I believe she then went on to do that block buster, 'Pet Sematary'. Everyone remembers that one, right?

[alte]

I remember when Crosby came back as Sela.
I thought her new look reminded me of
Becky from "Roseanne"...



Either way, BOTH left their hit TV shows
and well...you know the rest

[Praetor]

I hated first Becky.

[Joel_Kirk]

Praetor wrote:

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I hated first Becky.

I liked the second Becky, myself.

I thought the first Vivian was cooler than the second....(i.e. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).

I don't know how I feel about the Darren's (sp?) from Bewitched, however....

Anywho, I'm a Yar fan....but I absolutely hated Sela, and that hair....and that Romulan uniform. (That characters should have came to a bitter end...)

However, if she wore something akin to the Romulan Commander of the classic 'Enterprise Incident'......I might see things a bit...differently....

[DGCatAniSiri]

I do think that Denise made a hasty decision to leave, but I can also understand why. The writers had no idea how to write ANY of the female characters, and were still struggling with it in season seven. But throw in a female character in what was traditionally a male role while also trying to have it played as 'this is an everyday kind of thing, it's not questioned' and the writers of the time were probably trying to figure 'how do we have an episode about Tasha that doesn't focus on a woman trying to do a man's job and doesn't come across as sexist?' Like I said, they had enough trouble with the female characters in the more maternal roles, that doesn't speak as well to writing a female character in a 'protector' oriented role. Denise probably figured that it wasn't going to get any better and, rather than just become scenery, she asked out.

And on top of the above, and as a warning, this is where I start ranting, there was the 'our characters DON'T' clause put in by Roddenberry that I've harped on a couple of times. Tasha's background was richer than all of the other Enterprise crews combined and could have been a goldmine... Except Gene Roddenberry said that 'humans no longer do X, these characters can't do Y,' etc. Symbiosis, for example, could have been a powerful Tasha episode where she comes face to face with her own prior use of drugs while on her homeworld, but because these characters were supposed to be 'perfect,' apparently, pre-Starfleet Tasha was supposed to be a paragon of virtue who, despite having nothing, wanting everything, fighting for her very survival, never turned to drugs. Her infamous 'drugs are bad, m'kay?' speech to Wesley has a subtext that she once was an addict, but because these characters had to be 'perfect,' she couldn't come out and say it. It's that clause, that 'make the characters perfect' requirement that was put into place, that seriously hurt Tasha as a character because they couldn't dig into her background too seriously without violating it.

Looking back on it now, sure, we can come up with a million different ways to have taken the character. But hindsight is 20/20. Now, there are a ton of various 'action female' characters to draw from who could be an inspiration into how to write a Tasha Yar character. These characters did not exist twenty years ago.

[billcosby]

This thread is terrific.

Denise Crosby made irrational decisions.

The writing from the first season.... wow. I'm surprised the entire crew of the Enterprise - D didn't quit. Those that stuck around made great progress, especially Troi, Geordi, Worf.

That comparison pic of Roseanne's Becky is fuct! It's messing with my mind in a way that a rip in space/time would. I hope I don't wake up tomorrow as my own daughter.

[Praetor]

Joel_Kirk wrote:

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I liked the second Becky, myself.

I thought the first Vivian was cooler than the second....(i.e. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).

I don't know how I feel about the Darren's (sp?) from Bewitched, however....

First Viv was better, and so was first Darren. Second Darren was too smarmy.

Anywho, I'm a Yar fan....but I absolutely hated Sela, and that hair....and that Romulan uniform. (That characters should have came to a bitter end...)

However, if she wore something akin to the Romulan Commander of the classic 'Enterprise Incident'......I might see things a bit...differently....

You know, the female Romulans of TNG onward were pretty much anti-sexy.

I can't really fault Denise for her decision to leave, given how things were. However, I can kinda fault her for trying to claw her way back into the show at every turn after her career didnt go well and TNG became successful.

[Seven of Five]

I know! She lives off the success of the show that got better in later seasons, despite her leaving in the first season.

[CaptainStoner]

Although she did not become an A-list film star, the overall popular myth that she did nothing since TNG, and lives off the franchise, falls apart if one looks at her actual film career, especially in comparison to the other TNG cast members who have about as many, even less, credits than she does.
But it is a lot funnier to think of this person who left what was to become a hit show, and never worked again.

[billcosby]

She made a lot of guest appearances. I was rewatching Dexter and forgot she was in the first episode (or one of the first few?)... in a rather signifignant role. She was in a short lived drama set in the Florida keys.... I think it was called "Key West." A lawyer in Jackie Brown... That's all I can come up with from the top of my head. Anyway, she pops up everywhere.

[Praetor]

I don't mean to diss her. It's just odd that she left, and then it was like she realized she'd made this huge mistake and came running back.

[Alrik]

Praetor wrote:

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You know, the female Romulans of TNG onward were pretty much anti-sexy.

*cough* Donatra *cough*

[Marten]

She made a little role in Mad Men last year.

[billcosby]

Marten wrote:

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She made a little role in Mad Men last year.

The stablemaster. You're right, I forgot about that!