Could they have gotten rid of Tasha Yar without killing her off?

[TroiFan4ever]

I vaguely remember when I first created an account on this site well over a decade ago, without going back to look it up, my first thread was asking why they killed off Tasha Yar, according to one of the users who replied it was because Denise Crosby didn't feel her character was being used sufficiently so apparently she asked to be written off the show, and so they killed her off in "Skin of Evil." Is this information accurate?

Interestingly they didn't kill off Beverly Crusher (and I'm glad they didn't because I preferred her over Pulaski) when they'd fired Gates McFadden... they killed off Tasha Yar when Denise Crosby asked to be written off, assuming that was the case.

It was a treat seeing Denise reprise her role as Tasha for "Yesterday's Enterprise" and the two-hour "All Good Things..." finale but I still can't help wishing that they'd just sent Tasha away somewhere or reassign her to another ship rather than killing her off in such a horrible way.

"Skin of Evil" is such a sad and hard-to-watch episode, not just because of Armus killing Tasha but also because of the emotional effect Armus' story and the episode itself in its entirety has on me. I especially can't bring myself to watch the part toward the end where Picard kept emotionally triggering Armus telling him he's not taking him anywhere and will just leave him there forever to be alone and forgotten. Is it wrong that I sympathize with a villain?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

There are so many other things you can do to a character - promotion, prison, marriage/family, disability, midlife crisis leading to a career change. And being Trek adds even more - time travel, change species/ascend, allying with enemy factions...death is just one of many possibilities.

Moreover, that death could be/in for any number of reasons/ways.

Given her sad backstory (hiding from violent gangs on her homeworld as a child), it's doubly tragic that she didn't get a happy ending.

 

[Imaus]

I was always sort of hoping Tasha Yar would just lean on the console one day after Picard saved yet another civilization, staring longingly at the viewscreen of the honcho saying thanks and their planet receeding to the void as the D runs off, and then decided that her home system needed help, and resigned in grace, got some tips from the crew, hooked up with a strongly-armed Fed NGO to go back there and if not restore the government, at least form a sort of frontier Ranger service armed with shuttles and phasers to stop the literal rape gangs.

That way maybe she had the option for a cameo and the greater universe at large feels more alive and actually working.

 

[Tosk]

it's doubly tragic that she didn't get a happy ending.

Depending on your perspective, she did get a happy ending. She had a life and friends she loved. And she died, in her words, doing exactly what she chose to do.

 

[Oddish]

Yes, easily.

I think the reason they killed her off was to make it so that the viewers would understand that any other character could be similarly wiped. A device for building tension. As a writer, I know that killing a character can be a useful action in terms of narrative: build tension, close off a love triangle, or clear a path for another character to assume the first's job.

Note that aside from the flurry of deaths at the end of DS9, no other major character on classic Trek was perma-killed. Even Dax was essentially just an actor replacement; Ezri was just doing the same stuff Jadzia was: shooting rifles and manning the Defiant's conn.

 

[DonIago]

^Did anyone really think at the time that Yar being killed off was an indication that the other characters weren't safe, though? I have doubts about that. It could even be the case that killing her off made the other characters seem more safe. 'Well, they won't do that again anytime soon...'

"Yesterday's Enterprise" wouldn't be the same if PrimeYar hadn't been killed, though. It might not even be a great episode at that point, since one of the factors in its favor is that it gives Yar a chance to return and get a chance to have a more meaningful death (subsequent episodes notwithstanding).

That said, I've never had an issue with characters dying meaningless deaths. It's far more true-to-life than everyone dying as a hero, and it reminds us that you can never truly know when or under what circumstances it will happen to you. Live life to the fullest.

 

[The Wormhole]

Sure, they could have written her off without killing her, but one of the factors that led to the decision to kill her was at the time there had been no main characters in the Trek franchise to die a permanent death. The closest was Spock in TWOK, but he would be resurrected in TSFS. So, believing it would be something truly unique to show a Trek character can die and not come back, the decision was made that Tasha's departure would be her death.

 

[Tosk]

Ezri was just doing the same stuff Jadzia was: shooting rifles and manning the Defiant's conn.

Ezri never piloted the Defiant. Though I'm assuming that you're being vaguely wink-wink about Dax being a glorified actor-swap, but it's hard to tell on the net.

 

[Orphalesion]

Considering the writing quality of Season 1 Tasha is lucky that she was killed off and didn't suffer a worse fate.
Imagine for one moment the writing of Skin of Evil had sunken to the low displayed by Code of Honour/Angel One/Justice and Armus had reformed by the end, turned himself into a humanoid guy and Tasha had chosen to stay with him to "teach him what love is"
Don't tell me that doesn't sound like season 1. All that's missing is Picard making a final log entry that is was "beauty who tamed the beast"

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

That said, I've never had an issue with characters dying meaningless deaths. It's far more true-to-life than everyone dying as a hero, and it reminds us that you can never truly know when or under what circumstances it will happen to you. Live life to the fullest.

It's possibly more likely to die as a hero in space as a member of Starfleet on a ship, with so many things you might be up against. Then again, there's also so many more ways to die "meaninglessly"...

Imagine for one moment the writing of Skin of Evil had sunken to the low displayed by Code of Honour/Angel One/Justice and Armus had reformed by the end, turned himself into a humanoid guy and Tasha had chosen to stay with him to "teach him what love is"

Yeeeeccch. There are other ways to reform a blob.

 

[Nerys Myk]

They could have Chuck Cunninghamed her. Sent her upstairs never to be mentioned again.

 

[Qonundrum]

They could have Chuck Cunninghamed her. Sent her upstairs never to be mentioned again.

Ditto for Judy Winslow, as the show became more and more "The Urkel Show"...


Yar came back in a cool way - as Sela - though the writers were quick to turn her into Looney Tunes and Sela wasn't seen ever again, either. Really cool origin, though - a character in our universe based on an alternate universe character interceding due to temporal deviation. But Sela became a considerable figure... only to be scripted worse than Elmer Fudd or Daffy Duck.

 

[at Quark's]

Imagine for one moment the writing of Skin of Evil had sunken to the low displayed by Code of Honour/Angel One/Justice and Armus had reformed by the end, turned himself into a humanoid guy and Tasha had chosen to stay with him to "teach him what love is"

Sounds like a whole spade of extremely wrong fanfics would have fermented from that scene ... I believe I'm very grateful the producers apparently never conveived of that idea (or at least, never went with it).

 

[Qonundrum]

Considering the writing quality of Season 1 Tasha is lucky that she was killed off and didn't suffer a worse fate.
Imagine for one moment the writing of Skin of Evil had sunken to the low displayed by Code of Honour/Angel One/Justice and Armus had reformed by the end, turned himself into a humanoid guy and Tasha had chosen to stay with him to "teach him what love is"
Don't tell me that doesn't sound like season 1. All that's missing is Picard making a final log entry that is was "beauty who tamed the beast"

Considering how many tropes TNG was trying to subvert and/or invert, it's a right miracle that they didn't do the equivalent of anyone "teaching love" like how Kirk was "dining and ditching" every other week. (Well, not every week, but not once per season either... is too right an emoticon... )

 

[Orphalesion]

In general the biggest crime about the whole thing was that they didn't replace her with a new action-oriented female character in season 2 or 3. The show had too few female main characters, and after Season 2 they were all gentle care-givers. And one didn't even get a uniform until Season 6.

They could have Chuck Cunninghamed her. Sent her upstairs never to be mentioned again.

Isn't that what they did with Pulaski? (Well they mentioned her once)
Buy yeah, it would have been as easy as having her transfer to another ship. That way she could have come back once Crosby's movie career flopped Crosby decided she was invested in the character after all.
(I'm not blaming Crosby for leaving, I just think her desire to return to the show in some way had more to do with her aspirations as a movie actress not being fulfilled to her satisfaction)

Ditto for Judy Winslow, as the show became more and more "The Urkel Show"...

When I saw the reruns of that show (I actually forgot the title) as a kid I always thought Judy was Aunt Rachel's daughter and moved out with her.

 

[TroiFan4ever]

Imagine for one moment the writing of Skin of Evil had sunken to the low displayed by Code of Honour/Angel One/Justice and Armus had reformed by the end, turned himself into a humanoid guy and Tasha had chosen to stay with him to "teach him what love is"

Uh... I actually would've liked that outcome... I think.

Armus was written to be some evil, sadistic being but with the way the character was written, it's a character designed to feel pity for since it was just left to be stranded in the middle of Vagra II, and perhaps that was a catalyst as to how Armus became as evil as it was. I'm not suggesting being stranded in the middle of nowhere for a long period of time is a reason to be evil and hurt people but the writers could've certainly gone that way, making Armus evil because it wanted revenge due to feeling betrayed and left stranded there to be forgotten but reforming it somehow with Tasha maybe finding Armus a way off that planet or at least that area and teaching it how to love and have good morals and whatnot.

I especially always have to turn away and mute my TV at the part where Picard tells Armus he's not taking it anywhere, he beams off, and Armus is left wailing in anger.

 

[Ragitsu]

Imagine for one moment the writing of Skin of Evil had sunken to the low displayed by Code of Honour/Angel One/Justice and Armus had reformed by the end, turned himself into a humanoid guy and Tasha had chosen to stay with him to "teach him what love is"

...

Don't tell me that doesn't sound like season 1. All that's missing is Picard making a final log entry that is was "beauty who tamed the beast"

It's funny that you remark on how it seems like a Season 1 story when there was a TOS episode with a highly similar premise. Zefram Cochrane in "Metamorphosis", anyone?

 

[Oddish]

I especially always have to turn away and mute my TV at the part where Picard tells Armus he's not taking it anywhere, he beams off, and Armus is left wailing in anger.

For killing a main character, he receives an eternity in a self-created hell. Does even such as he deserve that?

 

[Ragitsu]

That depends on the degree to which Armus is sentient, yes? Is pure evil unthinking? Is pure good unthinking? Can a metaphysical concept truly possess volition?

 

[Oddish]

He is definitely sentient.