Tasha Yar was to command saucer section in Farpoint in early draft

[GulBahana]

I was reading a Trek book today and David Gerrold said that Fontana wrote for Tasha Yar to command the saucer section in Farpoint. Apparently, Roddenberry wrote in the character of Worf so that didn't happen. This upset Fontana. I don't remember hearing this before. That's really messed up if true. David Gerrold also said that Roddenberry rejected the idea of a Klingon on the Enterprise bridge before that.

 

[CoveTom]

David Gerrold has a bit of an axe to grind with Roddenberry and doesn't always relay things 100% accurately. I'm not saying it couldn't be true. But that doesn't match up with any other version of Worf's creation that I've ever heard of from anyone.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I've never heard that story and I've no idea if there's any truth to it, but don't know if Fontana would've been annoyed at Tasha having to stay with the other main characters and do stuff in the episode instead of flying off-screen until the courtroom scenes were over.

 

[somebuddyX]

Yeah it's a bit weird to be annoyed over that. The stardrive was going into battle and so they had the tactical officer. Tasha got more screen time that way. You could also say something about Worf being in red making him the best officer onboard to run the saucer.

 

[Tomalak]

Yes, strange thing to get annoyed about as it was obviously better for her character to stay in the thick of the action.

 

[Doug Otte]

I was reading a Trek book today and David Gerrold said that Fontana wrote for Tasha Yar to command the saucer section in Farpoint. Apparently, Roddenberry wrote in the character of Worf so that didn't happen. This upset Fontana. I don't remember hearing this before. That's really messed up if true. David Gerrold also said that Roddenberry rejected the idea of a Klingon on the Enterprise bridge before that.

Source?

 

[GulBahana]

The Center Seat - 55 Years of Trek (quote from David Gerrold in the TNG section) I have the Kindle version so no page number.

 

[Michael]

As far as I can tell it’s probably this moment that’s in the History Channel documentary on which the book seems to be based:

Gerrold: We were telling people: “Don’t suggest putting a Klingon on the ship. Gene says no”. We get to ‘Encounter at Farpoint’ and Dorothy writes it where Tasha Yar is in command. And Gene rewrites it and introduces the character of Worf, so he won't have to have a woman in the command chair.

Narrator: And suddenly David and Fontana had their Klingon on the bridge. But Gene had burned a bridge in the process.

Fontana: He added to my pilot script and that was the first thing that was a little disappointing. […]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[CoveTom]

It would make no sense anyway. You're sending the families off to safety in the saucer section. The stardrive section is heading into combat with a hostile alien of unknown origin/capabilities. Where is your head security/tactical officer going to go? To send her with the saucer would be ridiculous.

 

[DonIago]

I'd like to believe Gerrold was simply misinformed or misremembering here, though...I do have some reservations.

 

[Skipper]

It would make no sense anyway. You're sending the families off to safety in the saucer section. The stardrive section is heading into combat with a hostile alien of unknown origin/capabilities. Where is your head security/tactical officer going to go? To send her with the saucer would be ridiculous.

I don't know why they didn't split the roles between Tasha and Worf. The latter didn't have a lot to do in the first episodes.

 

[Tomalak]

I'd like to believe Gerrold was simply misinformed or misremembering here, though...I do have some reservations.

He's got a grudge with Gene, so he chooses to present Roddenberry agreeing to Bob Justman's insistence for a Klingon character as a sexist slight on Yar.

It may well be that she commander the saucer in the earlier drafts, but I'd be surprised if the motivation he ascribes was entirely correct.

 

[Christopher]

I don't know why they didn't split the roles between Tasha and Worf. The latter didn't have a lot to do in the first episodes.

Worf's job in most of season 1 was the bridge watch officer -- he filled in for everyone else's posts when they were away, and commanded the bridge when the captain and first officer were away. That's why he took over security when Tasha was killed. So basically he "split roles" with everyone.

Mmmm... split rolls... anyone got any butter?

 

[Daddy Todd]

The Center Seat - 55 Years of Trek

I found this book to be about as factually rigorous as Cash Markman's books. Or your average clickbait YouTuber. Have fun, but DON'T assume it's particularly factual.

 

[GulBahana]

I found this book to be about as factually rigorous as Cash Markman's books. Or your average clickbait YouTuber. Have fun, but assume it's particularly factual.

I understand. The narrative is made up quotes from people who worked on the show. I am skeptical of what Gerrold says, at times. That's one reason why I posted it here, to see if others had heard that before.

 

[Skipper]

Yes, strange thing to get annoyed about as it was obviously better for her character to stay in the thick of the action.

Come to think of it, let's say this had been written before Worf was added to the cast: Riker wasn't on the Enterprise yet, who was left of the main cast fit to lead the saucer section?

 

[Christopher]

It would make no sense anyway. You're sending the families off to safety in the saucer section. The stardrive section is heading into combat with a hostile alien of unknown origin/capabilities. Where is your head security/tactical officer going to go? To send her with the saucer would be ridiculous.

Come to think of it, the problem is that they treated the security chief and the tactical officer as the same job, when they're really two different jobs. Tactical is fighting battles with things outside the ship, while security is protecting the people inside the ship. So if Tasha had just been the security chief, it would've made sense for her to shepherd the civilians to safety in the saucer, while a separate tactical officer ran the battle from the battle bridge.

It's long bothered me that Trek tends to treat security chiefs as just people who fire phasers and get into fights. That's overlooking what the word security means. It's more a protective role than a combat role. If a fight breaks out, then security has already failed in its job.

 

[GulBahana]

It makes me wonder if David saw that version of the script or if he's just going off what he's heard. Fontana was annoyed with Roddenberry to begin with because she thought she would write the pilot herself.

 

[Christopher]

Fontana was annoyed with Roddenberry to begin with because she thought she would write the pilot herself.

She did write "Farpoint" herself. She wrote the original 90-minute version of the pilot, the part involving Farpoint Station, the Bandi, and the space creatures. When the decision was made to expand it to 2 hours, Roddenberry tacked on the Q subplot to pad it out -- which is why Q has no actual impact on the story after they arrive at Deneb IV, but just pops in occasionally to kibitz. So 3/4 of the pilot is Fontana's, which is why she got top billing in the writing credit. ("Written by D.C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry," the spelled out "and" indicating that they worked on separate drafts. If two writers work as a team, "&" is used instead.)

Normally, co-writing the pilot would mean that Fontana was entitled to co-creator credit for the series, but Roddenberry campaigned to deny her credit. That's what she was probably annoyed by.

 

[CoveTom]

She did write "Farpoint" herself. She wrote the original 90-minute version of the pilot, the part involving Farpoint Station, the Bandi, and the space creatures. When the decision was made to expand it to 2 hours, Roddenberry tacked on the Q subplot to pad it out -- which is why Q has no actual impact on the story after they arrive at Deneb IV, but just pops in occasionally to kibitz. So 3/4 of the pilot is Fontana's, which is why she got top billing in the writing credit. ("Written by D.C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry," the spelled out "and" indicating that they worked on separate drafts. If two writers work as a team, "&" is used instead.)

Normally, co-writing the pilot would mean that Fontana was entitled to co-creator credit for the series, but Roddenberry campaigned to deny her credit. That's what she was probably annoyed by.

Also, Fontana didn't like the addition of the Q plot and thought it out of place in that story.

David Gerrold also felt he was entitled to co-creator credit since he was there from the beginning and wrote the first draft of the series "bible." However, the Writer's Guild ruled that because Roddenberry had created the original source material (TOS), he was entitled to the sole creator credit.