Who knows how it's spelled? I'm sure he didn't often have the need to write his name down anywhere, anyway.
Even this guy would have a better chance of being able to write his name...
But I don't suppose spelling would be an issue for him, either...
Skin of Evil
- Thread starter Captain Nebula
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Who knows how it's spelled? I'm sure he didn't often have the need to write his name down anywhere, anyway.
Even this guy would have a better chance of being able to write his name...
But I don't suppose spelling would be an issue for him, either...
Pretty sure the character is named for production staffer Burton Armus.
One of my favourite season 1 episodes. Yar's memorial always makes me emotional. A really good Troi episode as well, which was very rare then. Shame about the terrible effects.
I really, really love Armus as a villain. Sure, he's got his defeciencies production-wise, but the concept is terrific. A villain who is evil simply "because", who can't be reasoned with, one who torments Troi and ridicules Geordi and who kills Tasha arbitarily for no reason other than because he can, and then just says "I'm bored now" and moves onto the next victim. Ron Gans gives an excellent vocal performance, truly putting across the character's sheer maliciousness. He's a genuinely interesting (and very different for Star Trek) type of villain. He could have stepped straight out of TOS, but in a very good way. He gives the regular cast plenty to play off.
Agreed. Now I seem to remember folks first wanted Armus to have a more quiet, Roddy McDowell kind of evil...
That is a character I'd like to see again, or the beings that cast him off. With the CGI of today, he'd go all shoggoth.
It's pretty typical for a season one episode though it's not as bad as some episodes are. It's nice to have a villain who's outright evil for a change so that makes it stand out.
KaineMorrison
Lieutenant Commander
Is he/it outright Evil though?
Armus was was abandoned on that Planet. He was acting out because of that.
I can't watch this episode since one of my favorite characters bites the dust. On the other hand, it was a big deal at the time since a major character in Trek was killed off....with the intent of not bringing her back. (Even with Spock 6 years before, there was some idea of bringing him back one way or another).
Armus was...interesting...
Armus was...interesting...
I watched this episode a few days ago and I wondered if it was the best idea for Picard to leave Armus (who is immortal?) in his personal hell on the planet. Wouldn't it be safer for all parties if he beamed Armus directly into the system's sun?
It's hard not to feel a teensy bit sorry for Armus in his final screams as he realises that Picard has tricked him and he is going to be abandoned. Picard's final line though, is awesome.
"I'm not taking you anywhere"
I've quoted this bit, but your whole post hits the nail squarely on the head IMO.
What's interesting about the "predictable deeds of action heroes" angle is that it mirrors the "fairy tale" angle related about Alt-Yar's eventual fate. To paraphrase, a Romulan officer saw her and fell in love at first sight, saving her and her comrades from death at the hands of the Evil Establishment. Clearly by the mid-to-late season of TNG, more convential storytelling tropes had taken hold.
Given that their offspring grew into an extreme Romulan fanatic, I get the feeling the underlying story is a tad more complicated. Though I'm not sure I want to think about how.
I'm not a big fan of the episode, though it gets points for fooling any viewer who thought Crusher would find some way of restoring Yar. Armus' story sounds almost like a Pandora's Box myth. I thought the memorial service was twice as long as it needed to be, just to give Crosby screen time.
Cheap character death, cartoony villain. Honestly, why didn't they just call him something as er...subtle as his look/act, such as..."Mal'Evolence" (the apostrophe shoehorned into a name in typically overused TNG-ENT fashion). Poor episode in a dreary season.
It's an inspiring, alternate point of view. You could almost say one man's loss (departure of the character) is the other man's gain here (bold story telling).
Since TREK_GOD_1 has issues with the episode, here is one anecdote he would have even "liked" more:
When I visited the sets back in February 1988 Andrew Probert took me to the stage with the shuttle crash site and told me: "Would you believe that one of the producers originally wanted the shuttlecraft to penetrate the rock and come out intact on the other side?"
Bob
I'm pretty sure killing a living, sentient, being in such a manner would violate some code of ethic.
Anyway, a "meh" episode. I have no real passion for it one way or another.
I don't, however, get how her death in this episode is later referred to as being meaningless and empty. I mean, she was rushing in to try and save a fellow crew member from a hostile enemy. How is that meaningless and empty?
And, yeah, I really don't know what the makeup people were thinking with that reddish splotch on Tasha's cheek to indicate her injury. I mean, my 10-year-old niece can do better makeup effects with a $20 kit she got from Toys 'R' Us.
Here is a qoute from Ron D. Moore from the closed thread about the Trek ship with the third letter of the alphabet:
Ron Moore: "We brought Denise back to kill off Tasha Yar a second time. It was a great opportunity to send the character off in a big heroic sacrifice because nobody was really happy with the way she left the series in the first season. Nobody on the show really liked it, the fans didn't like it, I'm not sure even she really liked it. So 'Yesterday's Enterprise' was a chance to kill her right."
David Carson (director) also stated in a 2008 interview that with "Yesterday's Enterprise" they had given her a "meaningful death" (suggesting that he didn't feel her death in "Skin of Evil" to be that "meaningful").
Here is an illustration I made regarding the "meaningful" or "meaningless" theme (sorry, forgot about her sacrifice in the alternate Q-line of "All Good Things"):
Bob
Supposedly dying at Narendra III would have been meaningful ... if anyone outside of the audience knew about it. But, if it were left there, it would have been a much better way of going out than in Skin of Evil.
However, the retcon to have her survive in order to create Sela screwed that up and gave her a lamer death than the one from Armus.
You could also say she died yet again in All Good Things along with the rest of the 2364 Enterprise-D crew. Pretty meaningful since it helped to preserve the universe, though it was removed from time.
In conclusion, Yar just can't catch a break and is fated to have lame deaths.
However, the retcon to have her survive in order to create Sela screwed that up and gave her a lamer death than the one from Armus.
You could also say she died yet again in All Good Things along with the rest of the 2364 Enterprise-D crew. Pretty meaningful since it helped to preserve the universe, though it was removed from time.
In conclusion, Yar just can't catch a break and is fated to have lame deaths.
To me, the fact that none of her shipmates knew what she did for the C at Narendra made it more meaningful, not less. It hightened the selfless sacrifice angle because she would never get recognition for being a hero. She would simply have given her life willingly for a just cause.
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