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

[Ragitsu]

He is definitely sentient.

That raises a question as to the nature of his existence, then; if it were actually possible to forcibly remove wickedness, would wickedness have a will unto itself? It seems...incomplete. Maybe I'm overthinking what the episode was trying to present.

 

[Nerys Myk]

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.

 

[Oddish]

Armus might not have told the truth about who he was or how he came to be. Maybe he didn't even understand it. However, he did not strike me as being purely mindlessly evil. If he was, he would have simply destroyed the entire away team, probably very painfully. The ability to toy with his victims suggests a dark, cruel, and very sentient nature.

 

[Ragitsu]

Then again, evil ranges from careful deliberation over a protracted period in order to prolong suffering to impulsive bloodshed and torture that is transient at best. Does the presence of meaningful thought invalidate the concept of "pure" evil?

 

[Oddish]

Whether he was purely evil or just mostly evil, Armus was sentient. Sentient enough for his abandonment to be as close to eternal damnation as is possible for a presumably unkillable being.

 

[Orphalesion]

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?

Exactly. Season 1 was full of "lite" remakes of TOS episodes, usually making them more awkward and worse in the process.

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.

I can see your version actually working. Especially if Armus and Tasha, at some point start recognizing how they both were hurt by others and abandoned in the past. In this version Armus would probably be a much more complex character and it could be used to reveal Tasha having a hidden resentment towards the Federation for abandoning her home planet and that could fuel a desire to leave with Armus. But that's more something I'd expect from Season 3 or later.

I meant it in that very "bad classic" Trek way were "love" is all too often reduced to attraction and physical intimacy. Tasha's beauty would just magically turn him away from pure evil and all that.
I was thinking of one of those real stinker endings where'd Armus would somehow create a "paradise" for Tasha and himself on his planet, and she'd just be so happy that there she can finally be the "woman she was always meant to be" and all the other characters would be so happy for them both and smile and nobody would acknowledge how creepy the whole thing is. An episode that would be so bad and with such unfortunate implications that it would join the "Unholy Trinity" of Season 1 stinkers (Justice, Angel One and Code of Honour)

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

"Purge yourself! It's what everyone else does! Give me your evil!"

"No...I'm going to give you my goodness."

So she and he trade places. He gets all that is good in her, she takes all that is bad in him, sacrificing herself in the process. He changes forms and goes with the crew; she remains behind, giving up her life so he can live free, something she would have done for her sister and her crew, too.

Imagine knowing that you're free because another lives in torment, by choice. How's that for a character struggle?

 

[Ragitsu]

Tasha's beauty would just magically turn him away from pure evil and all that.

...and now it's a Sailor Moon plot. Hell, she even resembles Uranus.

Spoiler

Plus, they're both somewhat tomboyish.

 

[Orphalesion]

...and now it's a Sailor Moon plot. Hell, she even resembles Uranus.

Spoiler

Plus, they're both somewhat tomboyish.

Ha. And Armus, after Tasha purges their evil, turns into someone a humanoid woman with long bluish-green hair resembling Sailor Neptune, the muck coating them even turning into pure water. They then become Star Trek's first same-sex couple and they leave on a magical ship together to fight for love and justice in the universe.
Great now I actually wish that would have happened :-P

 

[Doug Otte]

It's been clearly documented in various sources that Crosby wanted to leave the show. She felt her character wasn't being used effectively, and she thought she could launch a film career.

Roddenberry was upset, and specifically had her character killed so she couldn't return, and I guess to send a message to the rest of the cast.

 

[GeorgeKirk]

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.

Marina Sirtis has said that one of the higher-ups (Rick Berman, maybe) told her that she would've been fired from the show if Denise Crosby hadn't left because the producers felt that the cast had "too many women" in it. Roddenberry was mentally unstable and prone to bouts of raging misogyny at this point (due to his anger over alimony payments to his ex-wife), which I believe contributed to his insistence giving Tasha a deliberately pointless death as a condition of letting Crosby out of her contract.

 

[JesterFace]

It's been clearly documented in various sources that Crosby wanted to leave the show. She felt her character wasn't being used effectively, and she thought she could launch a film career.

I think Denise was too quick to judge how her character was treated.
First season and only about 20 episodes, how about waiting for a little bit longer if her character might get more action?
The entire franchise was finding its new form, the Tasha Yar show had to wait.
Well, in the end it turned out for the better I guess, first 'Yesterday's Enterprise' and later 'All Good Things...'.

 

[Orphalesion]

Marina Sirtis has said that one of the higher-ups (Rick Berman, maybe) told her that she would've been fired from the show if Denise Crosby hadn't left because the producers felt that the cast had "too many women" in it. Roddenberry was mentally unstable and prone to bouts of raging misogyny at this point (due to his anger over alimony payments to his ex-wife), which I believe contributed to his insistence giving Tasha a deliberately pointless death as a condition of letting Crosby out of her contract.

I am aware of that.
I still think that not I troducing a replacement for Yar was a crime.

 

[DonIago]

Yar dying was the best thing that ever happened to Worf.

 

[Doug Otte]

I think Denise was too quick to judge how her character was treated.
First season and only about 20 episodes, how about waiting for a little bit longer if her character might get more action?
The entire franchise was finding its new form, the Tasha Yar show had to wait.
Well, in the end it turned out for the better I guess, first 'Yesterday's Enterprise' and later 'All Good Things...'.

I expect she's regretted that rash decision ever since then.

 

[Orphalesion]

I think Denise was too quick to judge how her character was treated.
First season and only about 20 episodes, how about waiting for a little bit longer if her character might get more action?
The entire franchise was finding its new form, the Tasha Yar show had to wait.
Well, in the end it turned out for the better I guess, first 'Yesterday's Enterprise' and later 'All Good Things...'.

I seem to remember an itnerview from the DVDs where she said she went to talk to Roddenberry whether her character could get more focus in the future, and he told her that the show was really going to be about Picard, Data and Riker, which caused her to become disillusioned with the role.
Yes, in hindsight it was a rash decision, especially considering how quickly Roddenberry lost influence with the show after Season 1/2, bu from the POV of Crosby back then I can understand it; if the guy in charge of the show tells you that you're just there to look pretty, say "hailing frequencies open" and occasionally do that awkward flailing Season 1 tried to sell as Tasha "fighting" opponents, then I can understand that she didn't exactly look forward to multiple seasons of that.

It seems Marina Sirtis was similarly underwhelmed with the material for Troi, but had more of a "at least it's a job" attitude that allowed her to stick with the show.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

...and now it's a Sailor Moon plot. Hell, she even resembles Uranus.

Spoiler

Plus, they're both somewhat tomboyish.

Clearly Tasha attended the Enterprise’s Halloween costume as Sailor Uranus. I bet Deanna joined the theme as Sailor Neptune.

Back to the original topic, there certainly were ways for Tasha to be written out without killing her, BUT... Gene Roddenberry was said to have specifically take advantage of Denise’s departure to show how dangerous working in space and exploring the unknown was by killing her off, and doing so in the way of your average redshirt extra, and not some grander centerpiece of the episode.

Which, honestly, I respect, much as the general impression is that it was underwhelming. I tend to say Tasha died like a firefighter - the metaphor is that she entered a burning building to save people and was struck by debris before she could do anything to save the people inside, but that is still a noble and honorable death in the line of duty.

 

[suarezguy]

How similarly Yar and Pulaski are generally regarded (usually not really thought of as one of the main characters) does support that their final fates didn't really effect much, dying vs. just being transferred doesn't make much different in reaction (after being in the cast for just one year), although I do think just being transferred is more underwhelming and goes against the idea that the ship and crew are the best in the fleet, people wouldn't really want to be transferred away.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

being transferred is more underwhelming and goes against the idea that the ship and crew are the best in the fleet, people wouldn't really want to be transferred away.

I can think of a few reasons:
* Low self-esteem - the pressure to be the best and live up to the reputation is too stressful
* Wanting a more relaxed work schedule, either due to lifestyle or personal situation (family, health, etc)
* Having a particular specialty that can be better utilized on another mission.
* Wanting to get away from a bad situation (tragedy, bad break-up, disagreement/difficulties with co-workers/superiors

 

[suarezguy]

But the main characters are generally portrayed as both being idealized and not having a lot of friction with their co-workers, except with Pulaski it was pretty strongly implied that she transferred for not getting along or becoming close enough with the co-workers (or at best she just got a better job offer but not loving the current job was part of that).